PHP has gained a following among non-technical web designers who need to add interactive aspects to their sites. Offering a gentle learning curve, PHP is an accessible yet powerful language for creating dynamic web pages. As its popularity has grown, PHP's basic feature set has become increasingly more sophisticated. Now PHP 5 boasts advanced features--such as new object-oriented capabilities and support for XML and Web Services--that will please even the most experienced web professionals while still remaining user-friendly enough for those with a lower tolerance for technical jargon. If you've wanted to try your hand at PHP but haven't known where to start, then Learning PHP 5 is the book you need. If you've wanted to try your hand at PHP but haven't known where to start, then Learning PHP 5 is the book you need. With attention to both PHP 4 and the new PHP version 5, it provides everything from a explanation of how PHP works with your web server and web browser to the ins and outs of working with databases and HTML forms. Written by the co-author of the popular PHP Cookbook, this book is for intelligent (but not necessarily highly-technical) readers. Learning PHP 5 guides you through every aspect of the language you'll need to master for professional web programming results. This book provides a hands-on learning experience complete with exercises to make sure the lessons stick. Learning PHP 5 covers the following topics, and more: How PHP works with your web browser and web server PHP language basics, including data, variables, logic and looping Working with arrays and functions Making web forms Working with databases like MySQL Remembering users with sessions Parsing and generating XML Debugging Written by David Sklar, coauthor of the PHP Cookbook and an instructor in PHP, this book offers the ideal classroom learning experience whether you're in a classroom or on your own. From learning how to install PHP to designing database-backed web applications, Learning PHP 5 will guide you through every aspect of the language you'll need to master to achieve professional web programming results.
Easy read. There are also so many examples, that I just want to test each one out. I highly recommend for anyone who doesn't know anything about PHP.
very useful, easy to learn book
Published by Thriftbooks.com User , 18 years ago
I took my last programming language class 10 years ago, haven't programmed for more than 5 years. After I read this book for 3 days, I can do many easy PHP programs. Well worth the price paid.
Great book if you are new to PHP.
Published by Thriftbooks.com User , 19 years ago
Great book if you are a beginner. The book will teach you everything you should know to read avanced books. After reading Learning PHP 5 I got everything that I wanted from this book. It presented the basics in a clear and concise way- so that you do not have to dig through the text to find what a particular thing means. Although it will not make you an advanced or expert PHP programmer, nor does it attempt to, you will learn how to write some basic functions and more importantly for me - read PHP code.
Magnificent How-To Guide to Real World PHP
Published by Thriftbooks.com User , 20 years ago
This book is fabulous! I've been programming PHP for some time now, though I've never tackled a large project. And I wasn't really sure how to do it, frankly, until stumbling across Mr. Sklar. After seeing him speak at the last O'Reilly Open Source convention here in Portland, and realizing I'd already read one of his other books, I decided to look at this one. I was quite surprised! Usually O'Reilly's Learning titles are a little slow, but this one is Perfect. You start with the basics, and he's rather good at not telling you more than you really do need to know, and by the end of the book his examples have built on each other to the point that you have a wonderful and flexible library for passing data between forms, your app, and a database. His explanations are well written and not too wordy. You really come away with a much deeper understanding of the language than any other book I've read can provide. I highly recommend this title. I'm giving it five stars. Keep up the great work, Mr. Sklar!
Practical PHP, not just a language summary
Published by Thriftbooks.com User , 20 years ago
From the title I would have expected that the book spend all of it's slim 300 page frame on a soup to nuts language introduction. For the first six chapters it looks that way as it rolls through language basics, variables, conditionals, arrays, etc. But then it veers into the practical for the rest of the book and covers topics such as database access through Pear DB and the use of XML. There is a lot to like about this book. The chapters are short, focused and practical. And I have no issues recommending the book on a technical level. Especially the database section which advocates simple safe SQL practices. In particular you should follow the advice on page 126 about using the '?' operator in your SQL queries. There isn't much new for PHP 4 programmers looking to learn about PHP 5. In fact there is little or no emphasis placed on teaching you to write classes. The only information about classes is about their consumption. This is definitely not a book for the experienced PHP developer, but for a beginner this is one of the best.
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