PHP Programming with MySQL: The Web Technologies Series

I was scared silly when I read the reviews about this book. I sent an email to my teacher who informed me that she had used this book and her classes liked it. The reason that the reviews for the book are so low probably has to do with these folks have not had very much experience with programming languages before using this book. PHP is a very powerful language and that is another way of saying if you don't know what you are doing you are apt to get into trouble. Before taking this PHP course I have had Visual Basic, C++, XHTML, XML and Java Script. If anything this book helps me understand better some of the things that I found confusing in earlier classes. However, with that said, this book does not go into all the detail that a person needs to understand concerning the fundamental basics of programming. So if you understand how to program in other languages this is an EXCELLENT book to learn PHP from. If you are just starting out learning to program maybe you would be better advised to search for a different book.

Good information in the book. Organized in the sense that information is given in an "as needed" and "building upon" format. Also has a separately available and optional study guide. Not all current text books have that. However, I don't like how it asks you to write the code in little sections. Write this: because this is why. Now write this, this is why. Place this right after that. Couch this within the other. Step by step. You can get lost in it. I'd much rather see the program written out. Analyze the code. And have a step by step discussion of the code, wherein you can look at the code and even at specific line numbers or sections while reading the discussion about the code. And you can compare one program to another more easily with the programs clearly readable. Flip the page, see how this program works with that one, see how this program is changed from that one. Additionally, the programs discussed should be downloadable. True, actual typing of code is good to get into, but that can be done in exercises, not as part of the meat of the chapters. This above style I describe aids in 3 dimensional thinking. Contrast the above clear and smooth method of presentation, with the step by step method in this book. This book makes you feel like you are drowning in mud. It is also just a way to eat up pages, without adding to the substance available in the book. Additionally, upon starting the class, there were about 4 pages of serious errata to incorporate into each Chapter, such that whole programs were incorrect if you didn't have or follow carefully the errata sheet. When I purchased the book, I didn't know about the errata sheet. So, if I purchased it online without the class, I'm not sure the purchaser, would know about the errata sheet. They might stumble upon it, it they went to the website. Might not. I don't know about this part. I urge educational institutions and the publishing company to seriously consider asking Don Gosselin et al for a rewrite toward a smoother method of presentation. Please compare it to Tony Gaddis's Java: Early Objects book. That is the absolute best book / style for teaching programming that I have encountered so far.

I have read a few guides now, having enrolled in college courses for PHP and many other essential classes needed for IT professionals. But this book takes things to a level of learning that even some computer novices entering the IT field will appreciate. No coding, programming language or server-based protocols are easy to learn, but with this book, I have found that learning PHP is easier than I would initially have thought. I just took my mid-term at NMSU and with the help of this book, I do believe I aced it. Having said that though, there is one thing I would improve: Either having a table in the back of the book which has a complete and concise list of syntax and modifiers, or perhaps a seperate handbook with it. Because even though this book is very good with explaining how to make the PHP work and the proper use of the language, I still had to look up a few things on the net to make some of my source work. But I guess many books are like this also, so I still give this book five stars. :)

I am not a total newbie but I'm not an experienced coder. I enjoyed this book and it helped me learn a lot -- I don't understand all the negative reviews. I did come across a couple syntax/typo errors here and there, but if you're paying attention they're easy to spot and fix. If you encounter a server error that you don't understand, just Google it. I like that it has exercises at the end of each chapter and an ongoing final project that you keep adding to as you learn more. The text was easy to understand and didn't put me to sleep. In my opinion, the best way to learn code is to just do it. There are a lot of exercises where you are expected to type the code exactly as it appears in the book. Doing this repeatedly will make it stick. If you're copy/pasting all the time, you're never going to learn the syntax. This book covers a lot. It starts with data types, variables and control structures for the beginners, goes in depth about database integration with MySQL and end with state information and an overview of OOP concepts. I got this for a college course and got an 'A', so that says something. I don't think it's worth the cost to purchase, but I rented it from Amazon and have no regrets there...

I have bought a lot of PHP books. Without a shadow of a doubt this is the best book to use for learning PHP. No wonder that is the reference book at the college. It is old but still the best. I cannot wait to see the updated version of it.

All chapters are intact! Great condition considering how old the book is. Thanks!

I'm using this book for an online class, and I'm not thrilled with it. IMHO, the authors were so excessively concerned with making the book "elementary" that it is lacking in detail, so that I never feel like the topic was thoroughly discussed. There is too much emphasis on teaching by going through examples, which is an inefficient teaching method (what happens if you have a problem that isn't similar to any of the examples?). I don't feel like I'm really learning how to program in PHP from using this book. I was undecided whether to give a 1-star or 2-star rating, but chapters 8 and 9 convinced me that a 1-star rating was justified. The authors made a total mishmash out of chapter 8, which should be a straight-forward topic. Chapter 9 is a complete mess. Putting a 7-page example in the middle of the chapter that contains code that doesn't use anything that the chapter covers is bizarre. This book is one of the most poorly organized textbooks that I've ever had to use. Topics are covered as needed for use in the example programs rather than where they might most logically fit. For example, the round function, which designates the precision of floating point numbers, is covered in a discussion on validating web forms rather than in a discussion on the floating point data type or in a discussion about formatting output. This style of "organization" makes it almost impossible to find things in the book, as you essentially have to read the entire book to find where a particular topic is presented. I usually check the w3schools website to find the syntax of a library function call rather than trying to find it in this book. I don't care at all for the practice of covering a little material, then working through an example, then covering a little more material, then working through another example, and so on. In the later chapters, the examples become rather lengthy, so that the flow is broken up and it becomes difficult to view the material in a chapter as a coherent topic. I still don't feel comfortable with the various functions for reading files because discussion of them is spread out over several dozen pages. What is worse, the examples in the book ignore widely-accepted programming conventions. The exercises at the end of the chapters do little to reinforce the material presented in the chapters. In fact, you can do many of the exercises without having read the chapters.

I needed this book for a class. It's well organized and well written and there are a lot of useful tips. But I've used a couple of the Dietel How To Program series and I much prefer those.

Great Textbook!