Customer Rating: 
Summary: Perfect Study Guide
Comment: The "Zend PHP Certification Study Guide" is the perfect book for those wanting to take, and pass the "Zend PHP Certification Exam".Relatively new to PHP myself, I found the majority of this book useful. With a "Terms You'll Need To Understand" and a "Techniques You'll Need To Master" section at the start of each chapter, the areas you are expected to know for the exam is explained. Also, with "Exam Prep Questions" at the end of each chapter, you are given a chance to put what you've just learned into practice. Although it covers the basics, I would not recommend this to anyone wanting to learn PHP. The book, as stated in the Introduction "...is not a PHP development tutorial or a reference book on the language and its extensions.", so those with no experience in PHP that are looking to take the exam should seek to learn the basics elsewhere before buying this book. Wanting to take the exam doesn't have to be the only reason to purchase this book. It serves as a useful reminder to those out of practice, and may even teach you a few new things you've yet to discover about PHP. There is no doubt however, that this guide is invaluable to those looking to get certified. And written by those who write the exam questions, who's to argue with that?
Customer Rating: 
Summary: Highly Dissapointed
Comment: I purchased this book because it was supposed to be a study guide for a certification test. From what i have seen this book is filled with typo's and error that have been corrected in the errata. Not only that but i have talked to people whom have read the guide and taken the test and they said there were things on the exam that were never covered in the book.
Customer Rating:
Summary: A good start... but not deep enough for the exam.
Comment: This book will really help get your mind geared toward the exam, but don't think that you'll be ready just by reading this book. The breakdown of topics by chapter are a great way to get familiar with the exam subjects. I read every word on every page about 3 times, and while it helped for the test, it wasn't 100% inclusive of the material you'll be expected to know. Get the practice exam book, and spend some serious time with the relevant sections of the php manual online, writing code trying out questions you don't understand/ got wrong, and going through the php-recommended.ini file that is distributed with PHP 4.*. Of course, programming experience will be helpful, but many of the subjects are in areas that you might not used on a daily basis, especially to the knowledge level you'll need for the exam.
Good luck!
Customer Rating:
Summary: Good Study Guide
Comment: This book albeit different from what I was expecting, did live up to other expectations that I had prior to reading. I was expecting a high quality, in-depth book that was written by those with real php knowledge, as well as some examples of snippets in action. These were fulfilled, with Zend PHP Certification having very in-depth chapters, relative to the sections which are covered in the "PHP Exam."Zend PHP Certification is as its title suggests; it is a practice guide for the "PHP Exam" not a guide for those who are new to php. It is a thorough guide to php, starting a chapter with the basics, then moving up to the advanced scripts which can be compiled using that code. I believe it is a must for those serious about their php coding. I believe some areas of the book could have done with more explanation, but this in its rights, maybe because I am still relatively new to php. Zend PHP Certification is a great guide and once again, I strongly recommend it to those who are serious about, or want to take their php seriously.
-Vercz-
Customer Rating:
Summary: Excellent
Comment: Zend PHP Certification Study Guide Written by: Rhonda Mize-Tinch, Shelley Johnston, Damon Jordan and George E. Nedeff
The "Zend PHP Certification Guide" from Zend Technologies is the perfect companion for any PHP programmer who is either aiming to sit the PHP Certification, or simply wants to have an excellent tour through the major constituents of PHP. This shouldn't be mistaken for neither a complete reference of PHP nor a beginner's guide to PHP. The introduction of the guide emphasises this point: "...this book is not a PHP development tutorial...Our goal in developing the guide is to provide you with a study aid" It is crucial to make this clear, however it certainly shouldn't be considered a black mark - I'll come back to that later.
This book from Zend is clearly designed for a programmer who will be sitting the exam sometime soon. Because of this, the book does not focus on the new aspect of PHP 5. However it does provide an excellent layout which focuses your attention on exactly what you're going to be asked about. The beginning of each chapter contains a list of "Terms you'll need to understand" - these are the core learning points of the chapter which provides an excellent checklist before you sit the exam. There is also a list of "Techniques you'll need to master" which outlines the practical skills you should have after you read that chapter. To ensure you understand what has been discussed, there are numerous "Exam prep questions" at the end of the chapter, which show you examples of questions you are likely to be asked. Detailed answers are provided to the questions, showing you why the other choices are incorrect.
The "Zend PHP Certification Guide" is written by the experts of the PHP exam, the people who created it. Because of this it is the only book available which deals with exactly what is covered. The book is laid out over 13 main chapters, 12 of which deal with PHP and a final chapter which explains the format of the exam. Each of the first 12 chapters contains clear code listings which are often taken from real life examples. An explanation of the code then follows, illustrating the good and/or the bad points of that method. These chapters also include common pitfalls and show how to avoid making coding mistakes. Easy to follow figures and tables have been used throughout the book to help make topics easier to understand. The 13th chapter contains valuable information for candidates, and uses excellent screenshots of how the exam is structured. This final chapter has priceless advice on how to tackle sitting the exam, and how to avoid a resit. A further 18 exam questions can the be attempted using any topic included in the book. These are excellent to uncover areas of difficulty or certain chapters which may need to be rechecked before sitting the exam. An in-depth glossary and index make finding specific topics very simple - making the whole book one which is worthy of the name "Zend".
While it is the main purpose of the book to ensure the exam is covered, this doesn't need to be the sole reasoning behind its purchase. The "Zend PHP Certification Guide" includes extremely useful advice, reminders and maybe even a few things you haven't yet discovered. Some other PHP books either try to crush in the entire PHP manual or are too busy focusing on basics for beginners. This guide, however, focuses on highlighting parts of code which are most likely to be used daily by PHP programmers. The book does move fast though, and someone who has never wrote PHP before may find it a little thin when explaining the basics. There is no doubt that the "Zend PHP Certification Guide" is an invaluable book for anyone looking to get certified. Code, questions and technique are all covered in this guide, written by the people who know more about the exam than anyone else. The study guide is also useful for PHP coders who simply want to sharpen their knowledge of PHP. An excellent overall guide, something we'd expect from Zend - The PHP Company.
-Vulture-
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