Difference between #4 and #5 of The complete beginner's study guide for the Yii Framework

Studying the framework
----------------------

Start studying the **MVC pattern**. You will understand the roles of the model,
the view and the controller and know where goes each part of the code.

- [MVC on the
Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Model%E2%80%93view%E2%80%93controller
"")
- [MVC on the guide](http://www.yiiframework.com/doc/guide/1.1/en/basics.mvc
"")
- [MVC on the excellentexellent article Yii for
Beginners](http://www.yiiframework.com/wiki/250/yii-for-beginners#hh2
"")

Read **[the guide](http://www.yiiframework.com/doc/guide/1.1/en/index
"")**. It is the most important step in learning Yii. A few tips:

- Click on the links throughout the guide, especially the links to the API
documentation.
- Explore the API and click on "show" to see the code behind the
methods.

Explore the **[API documentation](http://www.yiiframework.com/doc/api/
"")**. See the relationship of the classes, how they extend and are
extended by each other and how they are organized in packages.

Very important classes (check them and their extended/extending classes
throughly):

- [YiiBase](http://www.yiiframework.com/doc/api/1.1/YiiBase "")
- [Yii](http://www.yiiframework.com/doc/api/1.1/Yii "")
- [CComponent](http://www.yiiframework.com/doc/api/1.1/CComponent "")
- [CModule](http://www.yiiframework.com/doc/api/1.1/CModule "")
- [CApplication](http://www.yiiframework.com/doc/api/1.1/CApplication
"")
- [CWebApplication](http://www.yiiframework.com/doc/api/1.1/CWebApplication
"")
- [CController](http://www.yiiframework.com/doc/api/1.1/CController
"")
- [CModel](http://www.yiiframework.com/doc/api/1.1/CModel "")
- [CActiveRecord](http://www.yiiframework.com/doc/api/1.1/CActiveRecord
"")

Explore **Yii's website**. There you'll find:

- The [demos](http://www.yiiframework.com/demos/ "").
- The [extensions](http://www.yiiframework.com/extensions/ ""). You
can browse by categories, by
[rating](http://www.yiiframework.com/extensions/?sort=rating.desc "")
or by the [number of
downloads](http://www.yiiframework.com/extensions/?sort=downloads.desc
"").
- The [wiki](http://www.yiiframework.com/wiki/ "") (here!), a great
source of information about the framework. You will find great articles when
sorting by [rating](http://www.yiiframework.com/wiki/?sort=rating.desc
""), by [views](http://www.yiiframework.com/wiki/?sort=views.desc
""), and by
[comments](http://www.yiiframework.com/wiki/?sort=comments.desc "").
- The [forum](http://www.yiiframework.com/forum/ ""). A great resource
to meet people and learn more about the framework. [Create an
account](http://www.yiiframework.com/forum/index.php?app=core&module=global&section=register
"") there and you'll be able to post your questions.

Then, you can start a fresh Web app project to do anything you want to learn the
framework. I suggest that you read the framework's source files and follow the
execution path of the methods you call. You'll learn a lot about how it works
internally. This knowledge will prove very useful in the future, trust me.

Selected wiki articles that will help you hit the ground running:

- [Yii for beginners](http://www.yiiframework.com/wiki/250/yii-for-beginners
"")
- [Guidelines for good schema
design](http://www.yiiframework.com/wiki/227/guidelines-for-good-schema-design/
"")
- [NetBeans IDE and Yii
projects](http://www.yiiframework.com/wiki/83/netbeans-ide-and-yii-projects/
"")
- [Configuring PhpStorm IDE for
Yii](http://www.yiiframework.com/wiki/92/configuring-phpstorm-ide-for-yii/
"")
- [The directory structure of the Yii project
site](http://www.yiiframework.com/wiki/155/the-directory-structure-of-the-yii-project-site/
"")
- [Relations: BELONGS_TO versus
HAS_ONE](http://www.yiiframework.com/wiki/181/relations-belongs_to-versus-has_one/
"")
- [By Example: CHtml](http://www.yiiframework.com/wiki/48/by-example-chtml/
"")
- [Understanding the view rendering
flow](http://www.yiiframework.com/wiki/249/understanding-the-view-rendering-flow/
"")
- [Understanding
"Assets"](http://www.yiiframework.com/wiki/148/understanding-assets/
"")
- [Understanding Virtual Attributes and get/set
methods](http://www.yiiframework.com/wiki/167/understanding-virtual-attributes-and-get-set-methods/
"")
- [Using Yii with Nginx and
PHP-FPM](http://www.yiiframework.com/wiki/153/using-yii-with-nginx-and-php-fpm/
"")
- [Url: hide index.php](http://www.yiiframework.com/wiki/214/url-hide-index-php/
"")

Selected extensions that will help you get started quickly:

- [bootstrap](http://www.yiiframework.com/extension/bootstrap/ "")
- [giix](http://www.yiiframework.com/extension/giix/ "")
- [cfile](http://www.yiiframework.com/extension/cfile/ "")
- [yii-debug-toolbar](http://www.yiiframework.com/extension/yii-debug-toolbar/
"") or [yiidebugtb](http://www.yiiframework.com/extension/yiidebugtb/
"")