10. "I understand..." In response to In response to 9 Wed Aug-27-08 03:33 PM by Triptych
Just starting out I was in your same boat.
I'll just say that it's much, much rarer than you think that you'll come up with a problem that isn't already very well studied in computer programming.
you'll really just need to learn for the right things to search for, and that will probably just come with experience.
For instance, for something I'm working on now I might search for "Python dynamic object composition" or "Python metaprogramming". But to even search for that I need to have a pretty good understanding of the problem I'm trying to solve AND a good knowledge of how that problem is described in the programming community.
I'll recommend you pick up the O'Reilly PHP Cookbook. And just read it, like cover to cover pretty much.
It should be a decent introduction to doing things the right way in PHP, as well as a good introduction to the topics and basic methodologies in web programming, regardless of language.