Originally Posted by Blaz

Briefly, (since I'm still at work as of the writing of this...), PHP is a server-side scripting language used to create dynamic html pages.

It's learning curve depends on the individual's background experience with general programming concepts and what they intend to do with PHP.

For example, someone who has some C++ background will recognize the various keywords like for or while and easily pick up on how to implement them since the syntax is basically the same.

At the same time, if someone is looking to design a site that is expected to be quite large (possibly a corporation's website with several databases working simultaneously) the amount of the PHP language needed to know how to do that is going to be much greater than say, a 10 page site that is using PHP to cut down on code duplication.

Since PHP is a hybrid of both procedural and object oriented programming, it really all depends on how much you want to learn and how far you want to go with it. Basic scripts are very easy to understand and can be found all over the web. Check out some examples and see for yourself.

Personally, I found it very easy to pick up and learned it in my spare time, but than again I have several years of programming experience, so going by my account is probably not such a great idea. My suggestion is go to http://www.php.net and check out their beginners examples and take it from there.