Chapter 5. The Building Blocks of PHP

In this chapter, you learn the following:

• About variables—what they are, why you need to use them, and how to use them

• How to define and access variables

• About data types

• About some of the more commonly used operators

• How to use operators to create expressions

• How to define and use constants

In this chapter, you get your hands dirty with some of the nuts and bolts of the PHP scripting language. Those of you new to programming might feel overwhelmed at times, but don’t worry—you can always refer to this chapter later on. Concentrate on understanding the concepts, rather than memorizing the features covered, because these elements are repeated throughout the scripts in this book. Eventually you’ll ...

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