Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #570 in Books
• Published on: 2008-01-02
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 648 pages

Synopsis
It hasn't taken Web developers long to discover that when it comes to creating dynamic, database-driven Web sites, MySQL and PHP provide a winning open source combination. Add this book to the mix, and there's no limit to the powerful, interactive Web sites that developers can create. With step-by-step instructions, complete scripts, and expert tips to guide readers, veteran author and database designer Larry Ullman gets right down to business: After grounding readers with separate discussions of first the scripting language (PHP) and then the database program (MySQL), he goes on to cover security, sessions and cookies, and using additional Web tools, with several sections devoted to creating sample applications. This guide is indispensable for intermediate- to advanced level Web designers who want to replace their static sites with something dynamic. In this edition, the bulk of the new material covers the latest versions of both technologies: PHP 6 (due out in 2008) and MySQL 5 (available now). The book's publication date is likely to beat the official release of PHP 6, making it one of the first books available on the subject.

About the Author
Larry Ullman is the Director of Digital Media Technologies and Lead PHP Programmer at DMC Insights, Inc., a firm specializing in information technology. In addition to writing, Larry develops dynamic Web applications, conducts training seminars, and is an Extension Instructor for the University of California at Berkeley.

Customer Reviews

Gets you up and running within a few pages
I didn't know any php and am already putting it into practical use (contact forms etc). Very clear and enjoyable to follow. I wish more manuals were like this.

well, 4 and a half really!
I'm a slow reader, but determined and I know what I want. I wanted to learn php and mysql. I followed this book from page 1 to 692 (more than most books) by Larry Ullman who is clear and direct but not in a manner which is too steep. Infact, you'll go from zero to hero in 3 months (yes, I told you I was slow) but like I said, if you want to learn php, this will show you the way.

Php is not easy no matter what people say. Its a programming language and will be as hard or easy as you make it. For some its harder than others, but you won't get a better guide than Larry, who answers almost all emails and has a forum of equally friendly and helpfull readers. This should be the first step for every budding php developer.

I should just mention, getting sql up and running with a cooperative server can be a real ordeal - It took me a week of reading a serious amount of things before I got it sorted. It's not the books fault, its the complexity of the situation. Don't be put off though, php is getting more exciting for me every day!

A good solid way to learn PHP and MySQL fast.
I had some previous experience with IIS, ASP SQL Server, but I needed to up to speed with Apache, PHP and MySQL. With the help of this book - and official online documentation - I managed to get all three installed on my computer and immediately start writing simple functional scripts with hardly any problems.
As with a lot of books of this type you rapidly start to feel confident that you know what you are doing. But unlike most other books of this type when you actually come to apply your newly gained knowledge to a real system you do actually find that this confidence is *not* false! This may be because PHP and MySQL are much simpler than alternative software - PHP particularly so.
The biggest drawback to the book is that it assumes you are already proficient in HTML. A brief reference in an appendix would have been useful. As well as HTML the reader would benefit from some programming experience as the coding style in the example scripts throughout the book is pretty awful.
A strength of the book are the side-bars throughout the book pointing up possible pitfalls and explaining some of the oddities of PHP and the differences between versions 4 and 5 of PHP.