Customer Rating: 
Summary: PHP from A to Z
Comment: Tired of writing boring static websites? Then PHP is your answer and "PHP and MySQL Web Development" is your book.PHP is much more powerful than Javascript, faster than Perl, it's free unlike ColdFusion, and much easier to learn than JSP or ASP. Everything you need to know about writing PHP/MySQL is in this great book. Very well written and very easy to understand. Whether you're new to programming in general or you're a seasoned pro....this book is for you. If want to get a few more books (which I recommend) to compliment this book, I'd get a PHP reference book like "PHP Functions Essential Reference" from New Riders. I'd also get a book on MySQL, don't get "Core MySQL". I'd also pick up a book with a ton of PHP exmaples and projects like, "Instant PHP 4". And for the advanced PHPer, pick up "PHP 4 Multimedia" from Wrox Press.
Customer Rating:
Summary: This book touched me.
Comment: I always borrow computer books from library and buy some from bookstores. This book is one of few that really touched me and make me "love" it. I can't put it in my bookshelf, I must put in a touchable place on my working brench as I always like to refer from it.
Its structure is good, wordings are simple and straight forward, examples are clear and step by step. Before I read it, I know nothing from PHP and mySQL. After reading it, I have confidence and skill to develop any complicated web application as this book does not only make you know "what to do" but it also explains to you "why and how to do".
After reading some chapters of it, I started to eager to read all pages of this book. It is really a computer book that makes me so excited while keep on reading it and following it to do my coding. And I love its real application examples too, they gave me lot of ideas of how to make a real-life application. I promised myself I must write a review in Amazon.com to let others to know how good is this book. So I suggest if you really want to do some PHP web application, buy this book before it is out of stock. I tried to help my friend to get 1 in local bookstore but already failed.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Excellent feature demonstration -- a buyer!
Comment: I don't write alot of reviews, and hardly ever give 5 stars, but this one is worth it. This massive text (800+ pages) includes all of the basic elements that either a beginner or an advanced user may look to a text for assistance with (note: these subjects, PHP and web databases, are traditionally self-taught at this time, a good text is ESSENTIAL!). The CD includes open source licensed Apache, PHP and MySQL (Linux and WIN), and all code from the book. The book format is logical and good for self-pacing; early sections teach PHP language features (including arrays, regular expressions, objects/classes), then MySQL language and calling constructs (RDMS design theory, SELECT, UPDATE, INSERT, and advanced SQL). Later chapters discuss implementing user authentication and security, session mgmt and other advanced concepts. Final chapters (over 250 pages) provide ample example web database applications that probably cover about any project you would use these languages for (including shopping cart, content mgmt, web-based e-mail, mailing list mgr and a web-based forum). The final chapter describes using PDF to format text documents (my ISP does not provide this module therefore I skipped that section). I recently began a private web database project and made the decision to proceed open source (PHP, MySQL) versus going the Microsoft way (ASP, SQL Server). This meant I had to learn PHP and MySQL. I purchased 4 books and the Welling & Thomson text was most utilized of all. My only gripe is they don't provide summary reference sections on PHP and MySQL functions / commands. You will probably just download the official user manuals for these anyway. This book is well worth the price, IMHO.
Customer Rating:
Summary: One of the most thorough computer books I've ever read
Comment: This book is God. I've ordered a lot of books from Amazon over years about everything from Flash animation to Unix system administration and this book is seriously fantastic. It starts off with some theory explaining PHP and MySQL basics (all brand new for me), then gets right into hands on tutorials with PHP for about 100 pages, followed by about 50 pages of SQL tutorials, then puts them together with excellent tutorials for the next 500 pages or so. I feel like someone should give me a diploma, or a really high paying job. I HIGHLY recommend this book to anyone who wants to jump in the deep end with database driven web application programming. I wish more computer books were organized this way.
Customer Rating: 
Summary: Over-rated
Comment: Even something like PHP Developer's Cookbook is much better. This uses three words for every one required, almost like it's trying to pad the book out to make it look as if it's worth more.The best choice is probably Programming PHP by Lerdorf and Tatroe - much more concise, and much more authoritative. I'm taking my copy of this book back for a refund!
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