I've got an interest in MyBB Plugin Development and I'm slowly learning PHP, granted I'm struggling slightly but I'm making an effort.
What 'stage' would I need to get to or amount of PHP would I need to know to effectively code little plugins for myself as a hobby?
Thanks
That's a fairly vague question.
To develop MyBB plugins, one must understand enough PHP to perform basic processing. Just as importantly, the dev must understand MyBB's framework well enough to be able to facilitate the features desired.
That being said, my first project was altering an existing plugin to behave as I wanted it to. I learned a lot, in terms of the MyBB system and PHP in general. If you choose to examine existing plugins, I would suggest starting with known, experienced, and trusted developers such as Euan T., Matt, Devilshakerz, etc.
There is no real answer to that question. It has to many variables that change the possible answer.
It depends on what you are interested to create. How complicated the "plugin" would be.
Basic knowledge of PHP is no where near enough although needed.
Though you can teach yourself to get there. I've been writing PHP for over 10 years now (self taught). Only recent started writing MyBB plugins for the public. Where I've had a fair share of practice with MyBB for about 2 to 3 years. Writing custom modules for just 1 forum.
If you do it for just 1 forum you don't really have to care about the installation part of the plugin. Although it would be nicer to do so you can easily come away with manually adding templates, stylesheets and settings.
Definitly start reading all the developer documentation to start to understand how MyBB functions.
The main thing you need to know is the MyBB . The phP doesn't have much role , but you need to know its basic roles . About the mybb , Read that documentation the first poster had provided you .