My first server-side web code was perl.  Having worked with Unix for many years, and having authored volumes of C and sh/ksh, I was of course drawn to Linux for serving web.

Then, literally, I was at a bar going on all about my perl scripting (this was back in 2001), when someone said; "Pal, you really need to try PHP!".

I looked at it the next day, and haven't written a line of perl since.  When I hopped on it was PHP3, and I love where the language has gone!

So to get started, there is one very righteous site you need to know about.  I don't even bookmark it: I just type php.net in the address bar.  If you know anything about writing software you will appreciate that site.  And, you'll know what to do when you get there.  My first instinct was to download the language documentation.  Looking back, that's kind of funny.  Don't bother: that site is there for you like death and taxes my friend.

The other site I'd point you to is phpclasses.org.  You'll find lots of PHP code there to read and study, some good, some... not so much.  Internet learning certainly requires a more critical eye than book learning... but not much more.  After all, you should not go off thinking code is good because it was printed and bound!

I don't have a long list of PHP bookmarks... because all I really need to do is open a browser and type p-h-p-dot-n-e-t.  And when the site loads, I just feel better... like cracking a cold diet mountain dew.