Beginning PHP, Apache, MySQL Web Development

Rating:
Summary: Easy to Understand
Review: I have about every book related to PHP, Apache, and MySQL out there--from beginning to advanced. This book has several things in it that are excellent, even to the professional.

I have read some of the recent responses. I would hope these guys at least know what PHP is before buying a book. This is EXCELLENT for beginners. And quite honestly, what books don't have a few typos?

The book requires you to have a working knowledge of these items.

I would recommend this book to those that want to increase their knowledge beyond "Hello world".

Rating:
Summary: Finally
Review: I have one word to say, Finally! This book is perfect for the newbie to PHP, Apache, MySQL. Though it only touches the surface of the AMP model it really gets you to roll your sleeves up and dig in. The code is explained very well and shouldn't give any troubles to someone who wants to learn how to build dynamic sites utilizing AMP. The only reason I didn't give it 5 stars is because i haven't finished the book yet and did find a couple of errors in some of the codes. Though it was challenge, I was able to work through them as it should be when learning to program! However,I did feel the book was worthy of a good review and some "atta boys" way to go WROX!

This book is great, I mean "AWESOME" and worth every penny!

that's my take,
I'm out <><

Rating:
Summary: Easy to Understand
Review: I was forced into the world of PHP, MySQL and Apache by my boss, and I wasn't sure which book to get. I chose this book and I thought it was great! I did see a few typos, but in a way it made me actually learn the stuff, instead of blindly typing away and hoping the programs worked. I understood what they were doing and it has made me catch my own mistakes too. For someone who didn't really know what they were doing, I feel like an expert now! And it was nice to have useable applications when I was done- we are actively using several of these now (such as the emailing script and the user/login script- and we have plans to do more). My boss thinks I'm a genius.

I was reading these other reviews and while I can't speak for other books, I had no problems with deprecated code (I never saw that "mysql_create_db" function once in the whole book and I've been through most of it already) or the missing sql script from chapter 6 (it was the same database used in chapters 3, 4, & 5.. duh!) so I don't know what's up with these other guys. But oh well to each his own.

At any rate, if you want a good primer, get this book.

Rating:
Summary: Don't get this book if you compiled PHP4 with MySQL4
Review: Overall the book is ok, I gave it 1 star because of the mysql statements they are using is the depreciated commands.
Example: mysql_create_db()
exerpt from http://www.php.net/mysql_create_db
Note: The function mysql_create_db() is deprecated. It is preferable to use mysql_query() to issue a SQL CREATE DATABASE Statement instead.

If you compile your php4 with mysql4, the depreciated command will not work and be very frustrating to a beginner.

exerpt from same page: This function will not be available if the MySQL extension was built against a MySQL 4.x client library.

I do expect errors in books as nothing is perfect. I would think though, that all the code they provide would have been tested before publishing.

Rating:
Summary: Great beginner's book
Review: This is a great book for beginners. It covers everything you will need to start out and it's written very well - very easy to understand. The appendeces at the end are also wonderful, they cover php functions, mysql data types, etc. Also very helpful is the fact that you can access help forums that are specific to this book as well as downloadable files for every project in the book.
I have several other php books and this is by far the best: the easiest to understand, the most comprehensive.

Rating:
Summary: Terrible for beginners!
Review: Unless you're looking for the challenge of picking out errors in code and fixing them yourself, do not buy this book. The syntax is awful and inconsistent. Minimal time is spent on explaining syntax and had me taking most of the code on faith. One part that should be considered a major blemish is where they tell you to use the script named "chapter6.mysql" and it is nowhere to be found. Can't continue without it though!

After posting a question to the p2p board, the official response was, "We are looking into this issue and hope to post a reply soon." That was in early April, and it's alredy almost mid-May. Still nothing. This shows the commitment the publishers and authors have to their books. I will never again buy a Wrox book.

If you still want to learn PHP and MySQL (minus Apache, which is discussed minimally in this book anyway), check out Larry Ullman's Visual QuickPro Guide "PHP and MySQL for Dynamic Web Sites." He is very thorough and is VERY clear about syntax as well as logic, and gives good examples.