Rating: 
Summary: Good but there are some errors
Review: This book is pretty easy to follow, but at times there were some syntax errors in the example code shown in the book and numerous grammatical mistakes. I just think more time should have been put into proofreading the code and grammar. Other than that I enjoyed the book.
Rating:
Summary: Tie it all together in one book
Review: This book covers php and mysql effectively. It covers each seperately then together in an example shopping cart application.This book does a particularly good job of covering the mysql priviledge system.
Rating:
Summary: If you want a book of PHP/MySQL examples this is your book
Review: This book is a good examples book. It's organized more like two books in one cover having a fairly discinctive set of PHP and MySQL sections. It tries to be all to everyone for both, and actually does a credible job of pulling this off.
Rating: 
Summary: Definitely not Five Stars
Review: I ordered this book in the hope to find a cleanly structured book aiding me in real-world web development. Having read all of Ben Forta's books as well as lots of other web development books, I was expecting a thorough treatment on what PHP and mySQL can do to aid me in my PHP applications. Here are reasons why this book does not deserve the five-star ratings it's been getting: - The real-world functions (such as Mail()) are incorrectly described, leaving the reader no other option than reading the manual; - The string chapter in the manual is more thorough and written more fluently; - The coding conventions used in the book set a bad example for the reader, even though they are preaching to be consistent; - There is no thorough function reference; - The book is thrown off-balance with too much "soft" content such as web usability and e-commerce, which should NOT be in the scope of this book; - The writing style is inconsistent and not always fluent. I'll keep the book but won't heartily recommend it. They should copy Ben Forta's framework for a more clear description of PHP.
Rating: 
Summary: Great book
Review: This book is different from anything I read in past. Different approach than in most similar thematics books makes reading much faster and more interested. All problems described in this book (including quite complex web shops etc.) are solved clearly. There are no contemplations about PHP/MySQL theory... only practical examples are shown, and all the necessary things are easly introduced. Once more, really great book. I want to recommend it to all people interested in PHP/MySQL development, especially those with programming in other languages expierience.
Rating:
Summary: sleek and purple
Review: Although it has a purple spine, this book contains everything a person would hope to know about php and mysql. From the basics of php 4.0 to mysql privleges, Welling and Thomson provide quick easy and painless reading. It provides it's message to the windows crowd, which in itself is a beautiful concept; usually books about php and mysql are directed at unix users (rightfully so, I admit). I am a user of windows, and the php installation instructions for either the windows build of Apache or MS IIS were definately adequate. The php crash course chapter is an especially good reference. For example, other books I've purchased on php ignored some of the useful variations of the if-then control structure. The chapter on php session control was beautifully simple, although at first it came as a surprise, since other php books didn't cover it (session control was first implemented in php 4.0). I did have some difficulty installing and using the gd image library, since most of the sites listed in the book didn't exist. Windows users, just remember that the php.ini file needs to be edited (remove the semicolon before the gd dll) and the gd dll needs to be moved into the php working directory. Of course, maybe that's intuitive and I'm just a moron. In conclusion, it's a good book.
Rating:
Summary: The best book ever on this.
Review: SAMS got it right with this book when realising that companies and web hosts are including PHP/MySQL combos all over the place. he.net has been doing it for years and as cgi-bins become less common and people want in-line code and dynamic sites, there needed to be the killer book on the duet that always ends up dominating: PHP & MySQL. Soon, O'Reilly is going to come out with one too but if its a good as their mSQL and MySQL book, don't bother and buy this one!
Rating:
Summary: Complete resource for practical PHP/MySQL Web applications
Review: This is such a good book that I wanted to take the time to write a review and give it 5 stars, which it richly deserves. The other glowing reviews helped me to choose this book over others, and they were right on the money. I'm an experienced C/C++ programmer on Windows, but I knew nothing about PHP and MySQL -- and very little about Apache and Unix -- prior to opening this book. I've now read about 80% of it and, in the process, I've built a commercial-grade Website with user registration and shopping cart facilities, which was my objective. Reading this book was a very efficient use of my time -- it gave me exactly what I needed to build a practical Web application system with PHP and MySQL, and very little extraneous stuff. The main prerequisite for this book is a working knowledge of HTML, and just a little background in procedural programming. Some of the earliest examples use HTML tags for tables and forms, with PHP use thoroughly explained, but without many notes on the HTML. A beginning programmer can learn effectively from this book, but as an experienced programmer I felt that it also worked well to bring me up to speed quickly on a new language. Another value of this book not mentioned in other reviews are the many good recommendations for organizing your PHP code (applying basic software engineering principles) as your Web application gets larger and more complex. Many, many Websites have been built haphazardly and are now difficult to maintain because they haven't followed the excellent advice in this book. I did notice the typos mentioned by other reviewers, but after reading 80% of this (867-page) book I feel they are very minor and really do not detract from the book significantly at all. All in all, this is one of those rare books that is probably worth ten times the amount that you pay for it, and much more if you use it effectively.
Rating:
Summary: Great resource ... with a catch
Review: "PHP and MySQL Web Development" is admittedly a great resource. It covers pretty much all of the bases that I can think of and many that I never would. I love the 'real world' applications that the author uses to teach. With this book by my side I have been able to build some pretty complex PHP/MySQL database-driven dynamic websites. The catch is this - there is no good way to cross reference back to information that is previously presented. As with any programming language, what you learn at the beginning will stay with you for throughout your use of it. Near the end of the book, I found the author referring to many concepts which had been covered in the beginning with no reference to them in between. Because I paced the complexity of my own pages with the advancement of the book, I had forgotten much of this information. I found myself wasting a lot of time flipping through chapters or scouring the ambiguous and incomplete index. If the author had only included page or section references when using a topic, it would have been much easier and more efficient. Furthermore, there are a few examples where the author states that a topic was covered earlier in the book, but in actuality were not. However, as a whole, this is a great resource, but make sure you ahve a back-up or function reference with you when trying to plow through the information.
Rating:
Summary: Great newbie book... watch out for poor editing.
Review: With very little PHP experience, but a fair amount of other language experience (Java, VB, HTML), I learned a considerable amount of information from this book. I'm very glad I purchased it, although I wish the book had at least been read by someone before sending it to the press. Many of the typos were glaring. Like: a word was supposed to be dotted-underlined to signify a foreign key (p. 184), or a table was referred to, but no table existed (sorry, can't find the specific referrence, but I know it was there). Either way, if a second edition comes out with updates such as XML, WAP, etc. with some editing, buy it with confidence. Other than that, buy it with the understanding that problems exist but you will still definately benefit overall.
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