Learning PHP & MySQL: Step-by-Step Guide to Creating Database-Driven Web Sites
Product Description
PHP and MySQL are quickly becoming the de facto standard for rapid development of dynamic, database-driven web sites. This book is perfect for newcomers to programming as well as hobbyists who are intimidated by harder-to-follow books. With concepts explained in plain English, the new edition starts with the basics of the PHP language, and explains how to work with MySQL, the popular open source database. You then learn how to put the two together to generate dynami… More >>
Learning PHP & MySQL: Step-by-Step Guide to Creating Database-Driven Web Sites
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I’m no PHP expert (and I really don’t want to be), but I do know a thing or two about MySQL, and I’ve tinkered around enough with my own blogging software to understand the reasoning behind developing a dynamic web application. I tend to judge an author’s ability to explain new concepts to me by how well they explain what I already know. To that end, “Learning PHP & MySQL” thundered so quickly and clumsily through it’s rudimentary explanation of server-side application theory (one typo, two flagrant contradictions in one paragraph, and a smattering of poorly-executed visuals), that I have to wonder what care Davis & Phillips devote to the rest of their project.
The answer was pretty clear by the time I skimmed past the “How to install Apache, PHP, and MySQL” explanation and landed smack in a very dry, code-littered treatise on PHP variables and strings, conditionals, and arrays. So much for the foreplay.
Like 99% of the free information available in the open source community (and every other O’Reilly reference I’ve ever purchased -you think I would have learned my lesson by now), this book is poorly organized, shoddily edited, sparse, and mind-numbingly arcane.
Rating: 1 / 5
I was utterly wrong.
I am really a fan of the O’Reilly books, they are pretty well made, except for this one.
There are quite a few errors in the coding where I get a TON of parsing errors.
It would be really nice if they could completely re-write the book and take out using PEAR, It may be a useful tool, but I don’t like it that much.
I would suggest not getting this book, but for one of the other O’Reilly books, like “Headfirst PHP and MySQL”.
Rating: 2 / 5
Rating: 1 / 5
[update] The second half of the book is a bit better, I would recommend skipping the first few chapters and start at Practical PHP.
Rating: 2 / 5
Don’t make the assumption you’ll learn lots of PHP and MySQL from one book! You’ll get an introduction to both that is much lighter than covered in other O’Reilly books. Where this book shines is in the juncture of the two; it really makes clear some of the ways you can customize web pages using a database. Once you lay this one down you should spend a few hours with a favorite beverage; just toss some of the possibilities around in your head.
If you have a beginning understanding of PHP and/or MySQL, this book will help you take the next step. It will also help you understand technologies like Joomla and other database-driven websites. You won’t learn how to program, in a general sense, but you’ll get turned on by the possibilities. If you’re already a coder but new to PHP and MySQL, you’ll get a taste of what can be accomplished with this powerful combination.
Rating: 4 / 5