Can you get good at PHP/MySQL by fiddling/editting other peoples code?

[powlesY]

For example, a few years back i used to run some forums coded by a mate of mine. After he went on to better things i kept it going aswell as learning and adding certain features myself with basic programming.

So i know some of the basics but i'm looking to get back into learning. I'm not sure whether i should start from scratch and see how i get on or get back to that source code and carry on where i left off really.

 

[powlesY]

Well that's it, the source code i used a few years back has 50-60% of the stuff i'd be aiming to create anyway and i know how it all works, where everything is etc. It makes complete sense to reuse it but at the same time is it a good platform to continue to learn from or should i be starting my own projects from scratch?

There isn't any sort of timescale but everyone would rather do things the quicker way.