Rating: 
Summary: Not the best... Not the worst...
Review: I am a newb when it comes to PHP, but not when it comes to programming in general. The Content is very cleanly laid out. It is straightforward, but by no means simple. For using some detailed code, I was surprised at the lack of commenting on the code. He steps into some areas not expected by me. For instance, he lays out some XML / XSL based code that I was itching to know and now I do! However, he also covers some topics that are so basic that I felt it hurt the book overall... I learned most basic code from such books as Sams Teach Yourself PHP in 24 hours... so to cover the few basic topics like he did felt more appropriate for a beginners book... But he does make up for it with some VERY in-depth code. Just wish he commented his advanced code to help the newbs a little more... If you're going to get a book to help you with specific issues? This is your book... (as long as your issues are his) If you want to learn PHP? Get Sams Teach Yourself PHP in 24 hours... Either way, do yourself a favor and check out the Index here on Amazon... You might just find exactly what you are hoping to do, in which case, his coding is great...
Rating: 
Summary: Great book
Review: I found this book to be very helpful to me while developing in PHP. Some reviewers complained that this book isn't a good book for beginners. Well, of course it isn't. If you would have read the introduction and purpose in the book, it clearly states that this book "is meant to help you solve the everyday problems that you encounter as a programmer". Besides, thats what a cookbook is; a collection of recipes. A cookbook isn't meant to teach you HOW to cook. The same goes for this book, it shows you many solutions to many problems that you will encounter as a PHP programmer.
Rating: 
Summary: I like it!
Review: I like this book. For me as a semi-advanced programmer (with quite big perl background), is well written. It takes you directly to the battlefield, giving solutions to most common problems you could encounter. But, there should me more. Sometimes examples are quite large - larger than the explanation.
I wish, there could be more content, more examples, more problems to solve. 500 pages is not enough.
Rating:
Summary: The approach is different then what you may be used to
Review: I love books that are organized by commands when it comes to programming languages. I also love books that give tips for specific solutions(ex. 1001 Java Programming Tips). This book is based on solutions like a mail form or a shopping cart. So, I guess it depends on what style you like. For me, its a nice reference to the commands with "how to use it" added in. Then a tips book would be great for quick tips on specific programming situations. So with that said, I give this book a middle-of-road rating. You might get something out of it, but its not as useful as others that I have used in other languages. I have yet to find a PHP book that I really like.
Rating:
Summary: A god-sent book for the PHP masses....
Review: I love this book! You know how you sometimes get a little bugger of a problem while coding? Chances are you'll find a solution for it in here. This book has saved me countless hours while coding -- skip searching and get the solution right away. Plus I used a coupon from UnderTag.com, so it was almost free for me.
Rating:
Summary: A cookbook for every PHP kitchen
Review: I spent a lot of time reading reviews and thumbing books in stores before I decided to buy this one. I needed a good quality book that would extend my PHP knowledge without treating me like an idiot for the first four chapters or wasting my time with high end stuff I'll never use. I appreciate cookbooks, I have the Perl Cookbook, Perl CGI/Cookbook and a couple of similar C volumes and find they are useful to get me pointed in thie right direction in both method and style. Often, of course, the code I end up with bears little resemblance to the cookbook code but it saves me time. They also provide a large number of examples of how to perform real world tasks with a language which I find an easier way of learning a language than some dry textbook with short snippets of example code. In the 24 sections this book covers a huge range of tasks, from the simple, such as string manipulation, through to the highly complex such as drawing graphics with GD and outputting XML. Each section is broken down into a number (the average is about 8 or 9) problems, each problem comes with at least one solution and a discussion. The discussion will often mention other avenues of approach for variations of the original problem as well as detailing the various parts of the solution. This book is extremely well structured, well written and useful. I would recommend it for anyone already using PHP or intending to do so in the future.
Rating:
Summary: Every experienced PHP programmer should have this book
Review: I stumpled upon this book by accident, and only after 10 minutes of reading, I just had to get it. The book is targeting at experienced php programmers, and assumes good grasp of php and its functionalities. Unless you are have gone through at least one other book (like Wrox's PHP programming) and have had some serious project, you may not fully understand the need for some of these techniques. For example, php has specific functions written for each database. This cause portability problem of the code when switching databases. We all know a databases API is badly needed, and quite a few books have touched on this topic, but none which actually go through the code and explain in detail how they work, how database wrappers are created and used. Another example is the session handlers. Almost every php book includes a chapter on session, and briefly mentions how we can write our own session handlers, but they read more like a reference book. PHP developer's cookbook, again, actually take you through the steps of create them and how to incoporate them into your scripts. Other examples in this book include: how to interface with other programs and languages(sockets, COM, Java methods and classes). How to work with php images functions, php XML functions, ZEND API. Again, I wish I have found this book ealier, it would have saved me a bunch of headache and time. I truely suggest this book to any experienced PHP programmers out there.
Rating: 
Summary: NO CD provided for code and examples
Review: I'm a intermediate-advanced PHP coder. I own 13 PHP books, some I use more than others. The only book of the 13 that has NEVER been useful for a single thing was this (sorry) "cookbook." Explanations are poor and the index is horrible. I wonder if the people giving this book high marks have really tried to use it. For real answers to how to do things give me Professional PHP or PHP and MYSL Web Development. Or if you're really stuck and need a clue, check out the DevShed.com forums. Cookbook? More like "compost heap." I think the authors just decided to take a bunch or random code they'd written and paste it all together into a "book." Gosh, maybe I should take some of my old stuff and publish it too.
Rating: 
Summary: Complete waste of money.
Review: I'm a intermediate-advanced PHP coder. I own 13 PHP books, some I use more than others. The only book of the 13 that has NEVER been useful for a single thing was this (sorry) "cookbook." Explanations are poor and the index is horrible. I wonder if the people giving this book high marks have really tried to use it. For real answers to how to do things give me Professional PHP or PHP and MYSL Web Development. Or if you're really stuck and need a clue, check out the DevShed.com forums. Cookbook? More like "compost heap." I think the authors just decided to take a bunch or random code they'd written and paste it all together into a "book." Gosh, maybe I should take some of my old stuff and publish it too.
Rating:
Summary: Not useful for beginning/intermediate coder
Review: I'm new to programming, since I started a crash course in learning PHP and Mysql. I'm now pretty decent and have built a complicated commercial site. The code ain't pretty, but it works. I have bought nearly every PHP book published (except for those which got extremely negative reviews on Amazon.) Ones I find useful are Professional PHP Programming (WROX), Beginning PHP4 (WROX), PHP Fast &Easy Web Development by Meloni, Visual Quickstart Guide, and Sams Teach Yourself PHP4. By far the best for the novice to get started is Meloni's book PHP Fast & Easy Web Development. Great great book! The Developer's Cookbook has not been helpful. It may be useful for an advanced programmer, but I find the code explanations too terse to be helpful. Whenever I find a piece of code in the book I think might be helpful, it's not explained adequately or turns out not to be quite what I wanted. Also, the index is poor, so that I can't use it as a reference. Even basic terms and concepts are often not listed in the index, so I can rarely find what I'm looking for. Using the other books I listed above, I've always been able to find code examples I needed, or at least enough hints to work out the code myself. As a result, I've only used the Cookbook a few times since I've had it, but I use the other books many times a day.
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