

Ask HN: How do I learn LAMP? - frapbot

I need your help HN. I&#x27;m a new developer and I need to learn everything about LAMP for a business project. How do I do it?
======
onion2k
I'd go so far as to say it's impossible to learn it _everything_ about the
LAMP stack - the four elements involved are vast and complex, not to mention
you'll also need to learn HTML, CSS, JS, and design if you're not contracting
the front-end work to someone else. But fortunately, you don't need to.

Pay for a hosting account with a reliable and reputable company. That takes
care of the Linux, MySQL installation and most of the Apache stuff.

You'll need to learn some Apache configuration things if you're using fancy
URLs, security or caching but that's it. You can be up to speed in a few days
with a good book.

The PHP side and the SQL side (DBA side really) are more tricky. It depends on
you. If you're a tinkerer, just read tutorials and start changing the source
in open projects. Learn by doing. If you're a reader, buy two O'Reilly books -
one about PHP and a PHP cookbook. If you need hand-holding, get on Treehouse
or Khan's Academy. Whatever route you choose though, try to find a mentor -
having someone you can email occasionally with those "WTF have I done? This
should be working!" questions is so, _so_ useful. You'll learn much faster.

Philosophically though, and only in my opinion, learning LAMP in order to
complete a single project is a waste of your time. Pay a contractor. The
project will succeed if you spend time on it in useful ways - learning the
tech basics is not a good use of that time. And you might not like it, or be
competent at it, or be capable of coding it if it's especially complicated -
I've been a developer for 15 years and I still run away from some particularly
difficult coding jobs. As a complete amateur you aren't in a position to know
what you're getting in to - someone with experience would be able to evaluate
the proposition, and see the potential pitfalls, far better than you.

~~~
frapbot
This is basically what I have to accomplish:

 _Take a CSV file containing logs and crawl through it._ _Log snippets should
be linked to specific links (in this case, solutions)._ __Generate an output
(another csv with the links added).

~~~
LarryMade2
So the project entails specifically this, beyond just learning LAMP, this will
help you focus on your PHP research:

> Take a CSV file containing logs and crawl through it.

google this: PHP parse Log Files

> Log snippets should be linked to specific links (in this case, solutions)

so you need to use Regex (probably using preg_match()) to locate certain
string occurrences in the log file and use a look-up table of solutions (if it
is small could be a hard coded array, if it is big probably a MySQL Table.)

> generate output

either echo results enclosed in <pre> tags with or with appropriate header()
options...

That's it basically. Good Luck

------
simplemts
Start:[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LAMP_(software_bundle)](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LAMP_\(software_bundle\))
Simple: [http://www.techrepublic.com/blog/web-designer/how-to-set-
up-...](http://www.techrepublic.com/blog/web-designer/how-to-set-up-lamp-for-
quick-and-easy-web-page-hosting/)

or simpler: [http://www.wikihow.com/Create-a-LAMP-Server-Using-
Ubuntu](http://www.wikihow.com/Create-a-LAMP-Server-Using-Ubuntu)

also easy:
[https://help.ubuntu.com/community/ApacheMySQLPHP](https://help.ubuntu.com/community/ApacheMySQLPHP)

~~~
frapbot
Do you have any book recommendations I can gobble up? I prefer learning
through reading a lot of books then trying them in the real world.

~~~
calibwam
A server stack is more than just LAMP, and what you need to learn is more than
just a book covers. Try setting it up first, develop some small applications
and see if you can do what you want to do.

------
davyjones
The LAMP guide at Linode Library gives a step-by-step procedure:
[https://library.linode.com/lamp-guides](https://library.linode.com/lamp-
guides)

------
skram
Perhaps check out [http://teamtreehouse.com/library/the-treehouse-
show/episode-...](http://teamtreehouse.com/library/the-treehouse-
show/episode-4-lamp-on-mountain-lion) as a jumping off point.. if you're on a
Mac

------
jimymodi
Are you aware what is LAMP?

~~~
frapbot
Yes. I just need a little guidance on what's the best way to start learning.

