I do not think that PHP is getting more advanced for a beginner programmer. I remember back to the days when a programmer took me under their wing to teach me how to write code. That flashes me back to the day he took me to the bookstore. I remember myself running about grabbing all of the syntax books for many different languages. He had me put them all back and handed me about 4 books that he wanted me to read, they were all about the theory behind programming. Even books on the object oriented programming model. He told me that syntax was fairly easy to learn, but the concepts behind development were often more difficult and it was best to understand that in the beginning and then choose the syntax later.

I guess what I am trying to say, is find a language that will allow you to do what you want/need to do and then learn about what OO is and other concepts that make up good coding practices, then learn the syntax of the language of your choice. You will most likely learn many different languages on your journey of becoming a developer.