Rating: 
Summary: the best book on the subject
Review: If you want to learn how to build a large scale php web app from start to finish this is the best book you can buy. Nearly every question i had was clearly explained, from user input validation to file uploads, from database queries to session management, its all here. Some books show you lots of small toy projects, this one builds a (nearly) industrial strength e-commerce site. The lessons are fairly universal, too - i used what i learned form this book to build a full scale dating web site.The only beef i have with this book is that the code is entirely procedural, as opposed to object-oriented. This may not be a problem for most people, but i really feel that, after a site reaches a certain level of complexity, objects really make the code a lot easier to manage. There are also a truly heroic number of typos, so be sure to read the errata on the books web site. That i can still give this book 5 stars is just another testament to its excellence.
Rating: 
Summary: Very good in principle but falls down on errata
Review: Like others I've found this text an absolute corker for getting started with on-line databases.
However, after struggling with one of the examples for several hours I was disappointed to finally realise that the code was woefully short.
Just in case, I thought, I'll check the book's web site for errata, and found several pages of it! Some of which contains errors, like wrong page number!!!!!
I don't know about you but I find it hard to learn new stuff when the examples don't work. Well I finally got the code to work and I've submitted it to the publishers. But, whilst I'm quite an experienced developer, I've only been looking at PHP, MySQl & Java for a couple of weeks and presumably it takes longer to write a book.
So how come the readers are fixing the authors code?
Maybe I should write a book ... Was going to give 4* but because of the errors went down to 3.
Rating: 
Summary: Not Worth It
Review: My background - a little bit of perl, BASIC language, html. This book in the first 2 or 3 chapters walks you through as to 'what is PHP?', after that it becomes confusing, like what one reviewer have posted, the book becomes more of theoritical in its approach. I would highly recommend 'PHP and MySQL Web Development' for those who are looking for that 'step by step' approach. Nothing like PHP for Dummies but just an indepth guide to proper PHP scripting. The authors of 'Web Database Application' may be experts in PHP scripting but should need to develop their teaching ability. Needless to say, this book is gathering dust.
Rating:
Summary: Comprehensive review and examples
Review: Serving up dynamic content with scripting applications is all the rage now in the website development world. These scripting applications can provide customized information pages, shopping carts and content-management systems, and user-influenced web experiences. While "old-fashioned" static sites and pages still have their place, dynamic content sites are becoming more and more prevalent, primarily due to their obvious advantages, but also to their modest costs. The reason for these low costs is because the software applications are generally free, thanks to the open-source movement. Apache is an open-source web server application widely used. The most prevalent and preferred scripting application is PHP; MySQL is the predominant database management program. These three drive the great increase in dynamic content web development. While essentially free, their installation, configuration, and use requires some technical and programming skills and knowledge, but small and medium-size database-driven web sites can be managed by those not expert in programming or database management. While there is a lot of material available on the Internet about this software and database-driven sites, and a number of books available on these topics, none is as thorough and complete as "Web Database Applications with PHP and MySQL", by Hugh E. Williams and David Lane. This volume is in its 2nd edition and is a 2004 publication of O'Reilly Media Inc. The book presents an overview of dynamic web sites using open-source software and relates the principles behind generating dynamic content with database applications. The focus is on PHP, the scripting language, and MySQL, the database management software. As befits a couple of university-associated authors, the book reads much like a college textbook. The twenty chapters include an introduction to PHP, SQL (Structured Query Language), and my SQL, covering PHP v.5, the very latest version and MySQL 4.1. The PHP chapters describe the components of the language and its syntax, variables, conditions, loops, arrays, functions, types, and more. The SQL and mySQL chapters cover database basics, tables, queries, and functions. All this material is presented systemically and thoroughly. The thrust of the earlier chapters is to prepare for the comprehensive web example of "Hugh and Dave's Online Wines" site. That site is constructed from the component materials covered individually in the prior chapters - how to manage customers, creating a shopping cart, dealing with orders and shipping, searching the inventory, and authentication of buyers. There is a lot to developing a medium-sized site like this, but everything one needs to know is described and explained as the book progresses. Extra materials are included as well, including information on PEAR, which is the repository of PHP extensions - script additions which are additional functionings to PHP, or are pre-made containers of code to be used modularly with your existing code; an introduction to object-oriented programming in PHP 5; a chapter on error handling and reporting , including customized reporting; a chapter on the mixed usage of Javascript and PHP; and an important chapter on security of scripts and databases. All this includes access to the code snips at a website maintained at O'Reilly for downloading. For intermediate level developers, this is a worthwhile resource.
Rating:
Summary: A substandard O'Reilly offering
Review: This book has its conceptual merits and demerits. But let's give the authors the benefit of the doubt, and let's assume that this is a decent introduction to its subject matter. I'd still advise against purchasing it, as in detail it's extremely unreliable and often confused. Since I started counting, I've found an error every 4 to 5 pages. Some are cosmetic, but some seriously damage the value of the examples and descriptions. The text contradicts itself at several points; some examples don't produce the results the text says they will; some figures are glaringly broken. This book is the victim of an obviously poor editing job, for which I blame O'Reilly more than the authors. Either way, you should probably look elsewhere unless you already know enough to silently correct all the errors you'll find.
Rating:
Summary: Good book but it's only for Unix/Linux users
Review: This book is excelent for Unix/Linux users, it explains everything for the Unix/Linux users. For other operating system users it will be a pain in the head.
Rating:
Summary: A serious book
Review: This book is the only technie guide that discusses the theory behind building a web database application. It's written in a concise, information packed style. You'll learn everything you need to know from the ground up, and you'll think a lot more about applications as you build them after you've worked your way through the book. Great book guys! The only downside is that it is about PHP 4.0 and not 4.3. However, the authors have put up PHP 4.2 code on their website. I can't agree with the negative reviews of this book. You need an attention span to read it -- it's a serious book. If you "learn by visual" (I don't understand what this means) or you don't want it too "theoritical" (you can't even spell it "A reader"), then this isn't the book for you. It worries me what sort of programmers these people are. Can you really learn a serious topic with pictures and no theory? I don't think so.
Rating:
Summary: Save time - Have fun
Review: This book is truly amazing. It gives you in-depth information in a compact book, and it makes finding things very easy. If you are learning MySql and you seem to always have a question, this book is for you. It has given me shortcuts when coding and gives full detail on why certain ways work better. This book is top on my charts.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent book for php and mysql
Review: This book is worth the first 7 chapters alone, but also covers advanced sql commands, how to create pdf's with php, has a fantastic section on using regular expressions, and an excellent set of appendices. It's perfect for beginners and still a very good reference for those of who just need a reference book or refresher course on certain sections. My personal copy is quickly joining the ranks of beat up books that I have that are filled with post it notes and bookmarks.
Rating: 
Summary: PHP and MySQL straightforward and made clear
Review: This book, as most O'Reilly books I own, contains a wealth of information that has taken me from being a novice to being able to construct my own dynamic website. I recommend this book for both beginners and experience users as it is a great reference too. The authors have also been helpful when prompted for questions and help. The code in the book is available for download and also contains updated code for PHP 4.2. The only drawback is this version of the book does not address the changes in 4.2, but I would assume the next version will. In any case: I Highly Recommend!!!
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