Programming PHP

Rating:
Summary: Great PHP book, but for programmers
Review: The creator of PHP himself, Rasmus Lerdorf, put together a thorough and enlightening guide to PHP. In this book you will find everything you need to know about PHP from variables to a long list of all the PHP functions and how to use them. I found many features of PHP that I had no idea existed (such as creating PDF files). I use this book as a reference for a PHP course I teach, and its examples have been more than helpful to me in designing lesson plans.

The one caveat of this book is that it is not geared toward brand new web programmers. PHP as a language derives from C, C++ and Perl, and if you are not at least somewhat familiar with these langauges, you can get lost in this book. The authors really want to draw a parallel between PHP and its predecessor languages so that programmers can pick up PHP more easily. I really like the fact they try to do that, and it has helped me enjoy this book more. But on the flip side, it will be more difficult for new programmers to read this book. I really hope O'Reilly comes up with a "Learning PHP" book that will be more for beginning programmers, because PHP is a great language to learn, and it would be nice to have books to appeal to all levels.

In any case, for a book about PHP, you can ask for no better book than one written by the author itself. This book does keep up the tradition of professional, useful O'Reilly programming books, and is worth the time for web programmers to read. Thus I think it earns 5 stars.

Rating:
Summary: Great PHP book, but for programmers
Review: The creator of PHP himself, Rasmus Lerdorf, put together a thorough and enlightening guide to PHP. In this book you will find everything you need to know about PHP from variables to a long list of all the PHP functions and how to use them. I found many features of PHP that I had no idea existed (such as creating PDF files). I use this book as a reference for a PHP course I teach, and its examples have been more than helpful to me in designing lesson plans.

The one caveat of this book is that it is not geared toward brand new web programmers. PHP as a language derives from C, C++ and Perl, and if you are not at least somewhat familiar with these langauges, you can get lost in this book. The authors really want to draw a parallel between PHP and its predecessor languages so that programmers can pick up PHP more easily. I really like the fact they try to do that, and it has helped me enjoy this book more. But on the flip side, it will be more difficult for new programmers to read this book. I really hope O'Reilly comes up with a "Learning PHP" book that will be more for beginning programmers, because PHP is a great language to learn, and it would be nice to have books to appeal to all levels.

In any case, for a book about PHP, you can ask for no better book than one written by the author itself. This book does keep up the tradition of professional, useful O'Reilly programming books, and is worth the time for web programmers to read. Thus I think it earns 5 stars.

Rating:
Summary: Full Of Errors, Not For Beginners
Review: This book has code examples which are full of typos. For example, the code for "self-processing pages" on page 166 won't parse. The publisher's list of unconfirmed errata goes on for 12 printed pages. This is in addition to the confirmed errata, another 2 pages. It does not look like the book's authors want to acknowledge their mistakes or participate in correcting them.

If you are a beginner, steer clear of this book. If you do get it, be prepared to spend a considerable amount of time researching each and every parse error.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent First PHP Book
Review: This book is an excellent introduction to the PHP scripting language, which is one of the most popular ways to add dynamic content to the web; PHP seems to be displacing Perl on Unix and ASP on Microsoft platforms for this purpose. PHP is suitable for low to medium traffic sites, and is said to be faster than either Perl or ASP. Because it's an interpreted language, it's not as fast as JSP or natively compiled cgis, but few sites need the level of speed or the complexity that comes with those technologies.

"Programming PHP" does an excellent job of teaching the language to those with a little bit of software background, for example in Perl or C. The first few chapters quickly demonstrate what can be done with the language and document the language basics, which, while C-like, have a few differences that are important to be aware of. The book is clear enough that it may be useful to a savvy person with no computer language background.

The rest of the chapters cover specific issues in more detail. There are chapters both on more involved language features, like PHP's treatment of strings, arrays, and objects, and on applications of the language, such as using databases with PHP and how best to handle web site security issues in a PHP based site. These chapters are independent of each other, so the reader can focus on various issues as they come up - though a few, like the security chapter and the application techniques chapter, are worth reading earlier if you have time, as they will help you set up your web site scripts so as to prevent headaches later on.

The text has many examples, which are well designed to succinctly document language features. These examples seem to be largely accurate and bug free. It may help that one of the authors, Rasmus Lerdorf, is the original creator of PHP.

Rating:
Summary: average php book
Review: this is a thin, mediocre book. at 373 pages, not counting the appendix, this is not a thorough treatment of the language. Maybe Oreilly should rename this "Learning PHP, and put out a thicker, more in depth book that will teach you everything you could possible want to know about php. Think Programming Perl 3rd Edition.

Rating:
Summary: A Gift if you like PHP
Review: This was not my first PHP book, and probably it is not the best first book because it doesn't have a fun project to get you psyched. If you've got some of the thick books and feel like you sort of know PHP, this book is like taking a class from a master, with an emphasis on fundamentals. Disorganized and others have said some errors, but you are going to learn something. It is the book I always refer to first and it usually answers my question. I like the fact that it is thin by programming book standards. So to summarize, if you are going to buy 2 or more PHP books I highly recommend this one!

Rating:
Summary: Great Book For Beginner/Intermediate Level
Review: Very good book, everything is well explained and very well organized so you can find just what you're looking for without too much effort. Great to have as a reference book, a must have if you're a PHP developer.

Rating:
Summary: Not bad...
Review: Very helpful aside from minor coding errors.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent!
Review: With one of the authors, Rasmus Lerdorf, being the creator of PHP you know you are in for a good book and "Programming PHP" certainly doesn't disappoint. This book will take you from the ground floor to developing your own web applications. As with most books, it begins simple and progresses to more advanced topics.

When reading the book cover to cover, you are taught in a logical manner. The concepts of functions and arrays are taught before databases for example. Many books out there today jump ahead too quickly before the foundations are in place. This book does not. While teaching the foundations, Rasmus and Kevin show great programming style. As the preface mentions, their goal is not that you just become a PHP programmer, but a good PHP programmer.

Beyond the basic foundations presented in this book, it also covers topics such as creating images with GD, using the PDF features of PHP, and XML. For those that really want to get knee deep into PHP, they also have a chapter devoted to extending PHP by creating your own extensions. They walk you through creating a simple rot13 extension, then show you what you need to know in order to create more complicated extensions. There is also a chapter devoted to programming in PHP securely. This addresses issues that every PHP programmer, new and seasoned alike, need to pay attention to.

If you are looking for a book to break into the world of PHP, this one should be among the top of the list.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent Beginner's Reference for PHP Programming
Review: Written in part by PHP's creator Rasmus Lerdorf, O'Reilly's Programming PHP is an excellent beginner's reference for PHP programming.

The book covers language fundamentals--many of which are similar enough to Java, C, JavaScript, etc. that a programmer with even a modicum of experience with those languages will quickly pick up the syntax--and then goes into detail on various aspects of PHP programming, from web programming to database integration.

The book does only touch on some areas; the database chapters, for instance, concetrate mainly on the MySQL interface, though PHP can easily be used with PostGRESQL and even products like Oracle and Microsoft SQLServer. However, there are more in-depth books for readers wishing to explore those topics in detail.

The programmer's function reference and other appendices are useful as well, although at times finding a function in the index will only direct you to a short entry in the function reference, not an in-depth explanation as to its application.

If you want to set up a scripted, interactive web site without having to learn the more difficult (and at times less suitable) Perl, then PHP is for you. As the language exists on both Unix and Windows platforms, PHP can serve as an alternative to other scripting languages as well such as ASP / VBScript. This book is the key to getting started.