O.K. I am wanting to build webpages using PHP because it heard that it was an easy language to learn (which is nice for me), but there are a few questions I have about it.
One. Can I edit database files using PHP?
Two. Do I have to know SQL in order to edit database files?
Three. How hard is it to grab info from a database to display on a page?
Four. Is it a language that I can do complex calculations?

I just have some website ideas that I have been dying to create but all of the other languages that I attempt to learn make it difficult. Python is a wonderfully simple language, fun to program in, but Django makes me feel like running head first into a brickwall. Ruby is a Kluge of a 3 languages, and RoR ends up taking up massive resources and losses speed after so many transactions. If I spend about 2 hours a night, how long will it take me to learn what I need to in order to make a cheap easy, dynamic page?

Thank you,
-TD

1. Yes
2. Yes
3. Not very difficult
4. Yes

Here are the PHP tutorials on this site
Here is the PHP manual

PHP is easy as syntax and structure, but the programming in PHP is not so easy...

Oh, and with two hours on night in for example in 3 months you will finish to learn everything about PHP. No way! Programming you will learn in a life...because of the evolution. You will need to learn the basics of it.

I have started learning PHP last year, and now I still can't say I have learned something...so...good luck

PHP is a simple language to learn, because almost everything will run. However, thins makes it harder to learn to program in it, because the most ugly code will run correctly. If you know how to program, it is very easy to learn the php basics imho.

I suggest you take a look at The PHP Easy Start Guide which no mod seems to want to stick for me >_>