Rating: 
Summary: Made my deadline
Review: I'm not the type of programmer that likes to copy & paste other people's code in my applications, however, every so often I run into problems that I'm not quite sure of the proper way to solve; this book has become invaluable in these cases, whether it is performing HTTP Post requests (hint, use cURL), or parsing data with regular expressions, the book provides a handy reference for all the common and not so common tasks that you might encounter. One of the things that I really appreciate about the book is that it is written by two PHP core developers, and they often show their knowledge, telling you what goes on behind the scene, offering a variety of different solutions, and then offering the best solution. I've found this information helpful in solving future problems, as I learned what was going on under the hood, therefore, I knew how to optimize the solution. An excellent book, if you want solutions to problems that you'll constantly encounter, its meant to be a reference on the programmer's bookshelf, not a way to learn PHP (although it definitely has _improved_ my PHP knowledge), .... ...
Rating:
Summary: Excellent Second PHP Book
Review: If you have learned PHP - then you must own this book. The regexp and file handeling sections are great. Best book to date for someone who knows a little PHP.
Rating: 
Summary: Will not apperl to everyone.
Review: It's a good book! It suits me admirably. Starting from knowing no PHP I could code reasonable complex things within a week. However a few warnings to others. 1) It assumes you are an experienced programmer. An if you are not then this is not really the best first choice. 2) It is tasked based. In other words you have to define the task in your mind (like I want to invert a character string) and find where it teaches that. So it is laid out in sections labeled 'Problem' and 'Solution'. eg Problem: I want to locate a record in binary file and update it in place: Solution: A chunk of code which solves the problem.. ...often more than one way, then an explanation of how an why 3) It is not a true reference. There are no tables of regular expressions, function lists, special symbols etc. 4) If you know PERL then this IS the book for you as it draws frequent comparison and borrows from your perl experience. If you do not then it will be more difficult. (possibly other list based languages would do just as well) The above are criticisms in the true sense of the word. For me the book is excellent. Incidentally, it's a pig trying to switch backwards and forwards between PERL and PHP. They are JUST different enough that you keep using the wrong syntax - at least I am during these early days.
Rating:
Summary: A Cookbook, not a "For Dummies" book
Review: Like a true cookbook, this book gives you recipes for how to make certain meals. It doesn't explain every tool and ingredient in your kitchen: that information can be had anywhere. The authors present several example projects, then go about solving them, introducing you to certain PHP fundementals (and not-so-fundamentals) along the way. If you are trying to learn PHP from scratch, then maybe this isn't the book for you. This isn't "PHP Cooking for Dummies" ... and I, for one, am glad.
Rating:
Summary: A Cookbook, not a "For Dummies" book
Review: Like a true cookbook, this book gives you recipes for how to make certain meals. It doesn't explain every tool and ingredient in your kitchen: that information can be had anywhere. The authors present several example projects, then go about solving them, introducing you to certain PHP fundementals (and not-so-fundamentals) along the way. If you are trying to learn PHP from scratch, then maybe this isn't the book for you. This isn't "PHP Cooking for Dummies" ... and I, for one, am glad.
Rating:
Summary: A fine wine in a 7-up bottle
Review: Most of the great texts are appropriately named and hold themselves in particularly high esteem. This book doesn't do that, its about solutions. It offers practical solutions to every day problems (really, the book in many cases has actually had the exact solution to the problems I had!) And not only that, but the book is also very easy to read from front to back. Although its not intended as a book that should be read fluently, reading it chapter by chapter will actually increase your knowledge of PHP a hundred fold, both authors are on the PHP Development team, and they explain how PHP really works, inside out. A must have for any intermediate-experienced coder, looking to take there coding skills to the next level.
Rating:
Summary: Best php book for intermediate php coders
Review: Not for beginners but excellent for someone who knows the basics of php! Best php book I ever bought, real value for money.
Rating: 
Summary: Don't buy
Review: The book has very poorly designed code example and a lot of them don't work. I only read two chapters, but I almost pulled my hair off! I'm a pretty good C programmer but this book has nothing to do with programming at all!
Rating:
Summary: Right on the money
Review: The description "task-based reference" from the back is right on the money. So many books claim to do this; but few really do it well. And the book does not limit itself to mundane everyday jobs. It picks a good sampling of both simple and sophisticated techniques, walks the user through how the example works and provides a good jumping off point for integrating these ideas into working sites. This is the PHP book I wish I'd had when I was starting out to learn it; but even more than a year later, it's very useful.
Rating:
Summary: GREAT JOB
Review: The table of contents is misleading. When I saw, "Working with Strings", "Dates and Times", "Arrays", etc., I was sure I'd wasted my money. Nothing could have been further from the truth. I thought I was pretty good at PHP until I read this book. It was a bit humbling. In PHP, it's easy to connect to a database, pull out some data, and throw it up on the screen. This can lead to complacency and perhaps cause one to put issues of efficiency and security on the back burner (not that I'm speaking from experience or anything...). The material here makes the difference between "knowing" PHP and being truly good and professional at it. Wrox's "Professional PHP Programming" is the cake, this book is the icing.
| 
