Simon Willison’s Weblog

What are some good examples of a first PHP app to build for someone who is learning?

2nd January 2012

My answer to What are some good examples of a first PHP app to build for someone who is learning? on Quora

Build a blog. Blog engines are, in my opinion, the ideal starter project for learning any server-side web technology.

They can be incredibly simple (just a reverse ordered list of posts—a single SQL query) and can be useful after implementing a tiny subset of functionality—but they offer almost limitless scope for extension and learning new things.

Start with a single entries table and homepage. Now add a form for adding new entries. Then add edit and delete functionality. Add a simple login mechanism.

Next, add tags (and learn about many-to-many database tables). Add pagination or month/year based archives.

Next, an Atom feed (learning about syndication and XML output in the process).

Add comments—and learn about XSS and other issues involved in accepting user-entered content.

A blog engine us a great learning project because it can be as simple or complicated as you like.