PHP and other server-side programming languages are tricky. The manual can be tough to decipher, and there isn’t really a way to “validate” a PHP script. If you’re new to programming, you may lost and not know where to look for help. When I first started programming, I spent hours pulling my hair out, digging through manuals, and poring over books. It wasn’t until I found a great online community that I really started to get in the swing with PHP and felt like I was actually accomplishing something.

Here at Smashing Magazine, we want to help out PHP programmers who are just getting started or who want to improve their programming chops. Our goal is to support our community by answering their questions and trying to find solutions to their problems.

While Chris Coyier takes care of CSS and JavaScript-related questions, from now on me, Jason Lengstorf, will take care of your PHP- and MySQL-related questions. Posts focused on Ruby, Python, Photoshop and Illustrator are coming as well.