Schedule for learning Php & Programming
I decided two months ago to learn Web-Programming with the goal of becoming a freelance web-programmer asap(urgently need a source of income). I want to be able to start earning something in a few months and building up professionalism with experience and learning over the years (I have seen many times on SO that it takes 10 years to become a GOOD programmer but no one said it take 10 years to start earning with programming).  I had no background except simple tinkering with C++ 15 years ago. I was considering a course that starts off with teaching c++ and oop intensively afterwards moving to php and mysql. However the people I spoke to told me that it is too longwinded and I should dive straight into Php using books which is what I am doing.

BUT I soon realized that while the book is teaching me Php very well explaining all the example scripts etc. and I know how to understand Php and copy the scripts for my own purposes it doesn't teach how to Program i.e. think through a problem, convert it into an appropriate algorithm, decide how to break up code into functions(encapsulation) etc. and I was just marveling at the solutions provided without learning the creative process myself. Then I bought Problem Solving in C++ by Walter Savitch which after reading through it began to open my eyes to pseudo-code etc. The book also has about 50 exercises for every chapter precisely to get you to create your own functions etc. and I was sometimes wishing that I could drop everything and just work through the book till I learn the process of Programming! (I saw on SO people recommending CodeComplete and a lot of other books on this topic - what do you say about this book?)

My question is how should I structure my learning to learn Php and Programming? 
At the moment I am finding myself in an infinite loop of spending a little time on Php, a little bit on Programming, another bit on StackOverflow and another bit learning Touch-Typing and another bit tinkering around finding the IDE that I want to use and yet some more time browsing through opensource projects and I am going nowhere fast! And while everything will be useful at some point if I am maxing 5 hours a day of time invested in learning Php and it is getting split in five it will take me years till I ever(if ever) get somewhere that I can start working! Should I do one thing at a time or maybe assign percentages to learn simultaneously?

I have seen similar questions on SO(which I have waded through) but I think my question is unique in asking how to prioritize and schedule Php with Programming.

Thanks




Schedule for learning Php & Programming
===

I decided two months ago to learn Web-Programming with the goal of becoming a freelance web-programmer asap(urgently need a source of income). I want to be able to start earning something in a few months and building up professionalism with experience and learning over the years (I have seen many times on SO that it takes 10 years to become a GOOD programmer but no one said it take 10 years to start earning with programming).  I had no background except simple tinkering with C++ 15 years ago. I was considering a course that starts off with teaching c++ and oop intensively afterwards moving to php and mysql. However the people I spoke to told me that it is too longwinded and I should dive straight into Php using books which is what I am doing.

BUT I soon realized that while the book is teaching me Php very well explaining all the example scripts etc. and I know how to understand Php and copy the scripts for my own purposes it doesn't teach how to Program i.e. think through a problem, convert it into an appropriate algorithm, decide how to break up code into functions(encapsulation) etc. and I was just marveling at the solutions provided without learning the creative process myself. Then I bought Problem Solving in C++ by Walter Savitch which after reading through it began to open my eyes to pseudo-code etc. The book also has about 50 exercises for every chapter precisely to get you to create your own functions etc. and I was sometimes wishing that I could drop everything and just work through the book till I learn the process of Programming! (I saw on SO people recommending CodeComplete and a lot of other books on this topic - what do you say about this book?)

My question is how should I structure my learning to learn Php and Programming? 
At the moment I am finding myself in an infinite loop of spending a little time on Php, a little bit on Programming, another bit on StackOverflow and another bit learning Touch-Typing and another bit tinkering around finding the IDE that I want to use and yet some more time browsing through opensource projects and I am going nowhere fast! And while everything will be useful at some point if I am maxing 5 hours a day of time invested in learning Php and it is getting split in five it will take me years till I ever(if ever) get somewhere that I can start working! Should I do one thing at a time or maybe assign percentages to learn simultaneously?

I have seen similar questions on SO(which I have waded through) but I think my question is unique in asking how to prioritize and schedule Php with Programming.

Thanks



