How to learn Yii?!

Here is a step by step To-Do list for Yii beginners. The list is an advice of what tutorials and documentation you can walk through to get a full understanding of the Yii Framework. These can be a help to learn Yii.

BASICS ¶

1. Learn PHP
   You need to know how to program in PHP. You can find many tutorials on the web, or buy a book. The Basis/Advanced/Database tutorials from w3schools are a good start. Two other tutorials can be found on webmonkey and home&learn. Tip: Always use the php.net search function for documentation!
2. Learn OOP
   You need to know the basics of how Object Oriented Programming works. Same as above, use Google or buy a book. Click here for a normal tutorial, or a video tutorial.
3. MVC
   It is very important to understand what the Model-View-Controller pattern means! If you don't, you will think Yii is chaos. As soon as MVC "clicks" in your mind, you will see the very logical pattern. Read up on one, two and three. You can also find an article here about Understanding MVC.

YII ¶

1. Easy introduction
   Visual explanation is the best! So check the screencasts. :) After that, read up on Larry's easy tutorial series.
2. The Guide!
   The Definitive Guide is very helpful! Just walk through all pages from top to the bottom. Tip: Also check out the comments on the bottom of the pages.
3. Doing stuff
   Okay, now you should actually get your hands dirty! Either grab the Yii Agile Web Application Development book, or do the Blog tutorial. (Or both!) Note: If you read the book, make sure you check the forums for errata.
4. Got confused what's happening?
   You can trace all variables to the Yii Log to see what's in them. You can find more info here: log&debug vars using CWeblogRoute Irreplaceable for everyone to see whats happening! This is the best trick you ever learn:

>   Yii::trace(CVarDumper::dumpAsString( $var ), 'NAMEOFYOURTRACE');

WHAT THEN? ¶

1. Extra's
   There are a lot of good tips in the Yii Application Development Cookbook. Also check out the Yii Wiki and the Yii Class Reference. Tip: You can view Yii source code directly in the API docs. Also, the lookup/search box in there is invaluable.
2. Community
   If you have questions, head towards the Community forums or the irc chatroom at #yii on irc.freenode.org.
3. More tools
   There are a lot of extensions for Yii. These are extra "toolboxes", made by the Yii community, that you can re-use in your applications.

Basics - Step 1 & 2, can take days, weeks or years. ;)
Basics - Step 3 and Yii - Step 1& 2, takes a few hours.
The rest takes days, or a few weeks if you're doing things parttime. After all that, you should go into the depths of building your own custom Yii stuff!

Have fun with Yiiing!
Kind regards,
Jeroen