Customer Rating:  
Summary: Great beginning to end, but still not The Bible
Comment: I have to agree with Dave Hilton's review. I love PHP, MySQL and ORA, but as good as this book was to give you a beginning to end HOW TO of creating a database backed web site with the two, it's far from a definitive guide. I'm still waiting for a Canonical PHP book and definitely for a decent MySQL book. There really isn't anything in this book you can't learn from PHP.net, MySQL.org and DevShed, but if you want a nice and compact "course" type book, this one will do. You'll still need to reference PHP.net.Unfortunately, after taking a Database Design class in Oracle, I've become a lot more aware of MySQL's limitations. Yes, it's free, but postgreSQL may be a better choice if some of MySQL's lacking features aren't added in the next version.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Great Roadmap for Building Dynamic, Data-driven sites
Comment: For seasoned developers, this could be the book that you wish you'd had when you started out building web database apps and data-driven sites. Keeping a copy around for reference, especially if you frequently jump back and forth between projects in different languages/environments, also might be helpful - for those occasions when you need of a quick refresher in PHP/MySQL dev. Moreover, if you find yourself in the position of having to mentor junior developers (or helping non-coder friends) tasked with building or maintaining PHP/MySQL-based sites or apps, then lending them your copy or recommending that they buy their own could save you quite a bit of time and frustration. You almost couldn't ask for a better step-by-step guide.
Customer Rating:
Summary: A solid and accessible resource for web programmers
Comment: Web Database Applications by Hugh E. Williams (Senior Lecturer, School of Computer Science & IT, RMIT University, Melbourne, Australia) and David Lane (Software Engineer and IT Manager, Multimedia Database Systems Group, RMIT University, Melbourne, Australia) is a solid and accessible resource for web programmers who seek to create powerful, practical, and useful web database applications. Individual chapters address a brief overview of PHP and MySQL, shopping carts, security features, effective querying, and much more. Sample code, black-and-white screenshots, and straightforward instructional text make Web Database Applications a first-class reference and a highly recommended instructional guide.
Customer Rating:
Summary: An excellent introductory text
Comment: For anyone first learning how to write database-backed Web applications, this is an excellent introductory self-contained text. The selection and organisation of topics, style of presentation, emphasis and writing are all excellent. The main topic lacking from its online shopping example is the issue of online payment, and hopefully this will be included in a second edition. Despite being an introduction the text goes far enough to allow readers to implement serious applications.It would make a very suitable text for an undergraduate course, though, as it lacks exercises, instructors need to invent their own application development assignments. Also, for a class inexperienced in data modelling, it would be useful to supplement the text with a wider range of examples, such as those in Wellings and Thomson, PHP and MySQL Web Development (SAMS, 2001). One reviewer here criticised the text for not going far enough, but this is unfair as it's only intended as an introduction; experienced developers would certainly need to access more advanced material. This does not detract from the value of this text to its intended readers.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Another solid O'Reilly Title
Comment: You know a little HTML. You know a little programming. Perhaps you've used Perl to create a simple CGI form handler so that you can get feedback from a website. Williams and Lane methodically guide the reader through the steps needed to create a MySQL-driven web application written in PHP. Readers will get a solid introduction to using PHP, SQL and a deeper understanding the HTTP protocol than they may have had already. Williams and Lane use the practical example of building a retail website to highlight such issues as taint-checking user input and automating application maintenance with cron. Sure, veterans of web application design may not learn many new tricks here, but for those that want to become veterans some day, this book provides an excellent launch pad.
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