PHP was my first scripting language that I picked up. Javascript scared me in the past for some reason. I picked up Kevin Yank’s book and it really got my feet wet. I’d say it took me about a month of writing some basic code and editing the samples in the book before the bulb started flashing in my head about the way things were supposed to work.
In the beggining, i remember having a hard time debugging the code becuase i’d make careless nubie errors here and there. Luckily I have a good editor with syntax highlighting and bracket matching which really helped me with parsing errors. After enough mistakes, i knew exactly what the error codes were and where to spot them when i made them. Things got easier and easier from there.
Like everyone else said before, you’ll constantly be learning throughout the process. Even when you think you’ve got it down, you’ll find a code snippet soemwhere that does something that you didnt think was possible and vu la, you learned something new.
I started out with an idea for a site that I always wanted to create. I knew it was going to be a major under taking. 1.5 years later i’m still working on the same project. Its amazing how when i look back at the code i was writing in the begging, how horrible it was. It wasnt efficient or very well structured, but i’ve to keep adding to it over the past year revising the really bad parts.
This project alone has taught me alot. I’m almost nearing the “end” where I can say I have a great product that is 95% stable (i cant account for the other 5% because its probably things I cant think of until something breaks and I realize my errors). As with anything, a project is never really finished, you can always tweak things, add more functions, make it more efficient. I can see my current project still being in the works for another year as i think of more and more features I can add. Its been a labor of loves.
I’ve made hardly squat off of it (soon to change once i finish it and feel comfortable with my product and can actually start selling it, its in quasi beta stage), but the feedback i’ve recieved has been a good motivating factor when i’ve been spent.
To make the long story short. PHP took me about a month to write some basic stuff, about 3-4 months to have a really good handle and about the rest of the time to learning new techniques and using functions more efficiently. I bought the sitepoint OOP PHP, but havent had the time to sit down and get into it. But thats my next stage that will take me to the next level.
What i most enjoy about learning a functional langue is that it creates opportunites. It gives you a means to bring an idea you have to life. The creation of something “tangible” from nothing is really cool in my opinon.
Anyhow, good luck. Stick with it, you may end up creating the next ‘big thing’.