Originally Posted by ncmason Thanks, I'm looking at the PHP & mySQL for Dummies book. It's lookin' good so far. Thanks, Mason

Don't get anything from the for dummies series. The books are slow and the attempts at humor are poor. Get PHP5 in easy steps by Mike McGrath.

Originally Posted by trs21219 it also makes your applications run faster

Not normally true, OOP normally takes longer but its advantages outweigh the speed issues if you use it for the right thing.

Don't worry about OOP till it comes, large scale techniques wont even be an issue for a long time.

As for PHP and SQL, mysql will make itself apparent when the time comes. Working with databases is a large part of PHP so learn mysql when the time comes. It probably won't make too much sense until you have a practical use anyway.