Rating: 
Summary: IS the BOOK
Review: I'have the book. A lot of more books from Wrox are in my hands. This is a very good on PHP. Examples, bits of code explained step by step, huge amount of info, lack of some other (in programming NONE was perfect and complete). Good point to start serious programming with DB (MySQL or other ones). 4 stars only because God is not a programming writer, not Schumann and the others in this are, and I cannot put a 4 and half stars....If you dont know HTML, learn first. Then, read this book. I repeat, READ IT! Like a novel, not as reference one. Every page contains valuable information, only have your eyes wide open to catch it! Put it beside your bed or your WC! Results: a large Internet project, an ecommerce site, a tutorials online site, a.... well, you know what I mean. With this book, I'm mastering PHP with no fears! BUY IT NOW!
Rating: 
Summary: Great book for intermediate programmers
Review: Before buying this book I was familar with PERL, C++, ASP, and SQL. I bought this book looking for a quick way to learn the syntax of PHP and how to use it with MySQL. This book proved to do that very well, but I am unsure how well this book would have done had I been without my prior programming experience. Some of the topics go by fairly fast and without some previous knowledge it might be hard for a beginner to grasp some of the ideas. Nonetheless, this is a great book which outlines the basics of PHP extremely well. Though I don't yet consider myself an expert on the topic, this book was perfect as an introduction and a good enough introduction that I feel confident that I can go out an develop my own PHP applications.
Rating:
Summary: Great PHP book...
Review: I was looking for a PHP book that wasn't just a reprint of the manual (like most of them are). This book is great for newbies and expirienced programmers alike. This is the book that'll be on your desk 24 a day -- since you'll keep refering back to it. Should be on every serious PHP developer's book shelf. The only thing I didn't like about the book was that the chapter on PHP and XML didn't provide as much details as I was hoping for. But since I got it really cheap using a coupon from UnderTag.com, I can't really complain.
Rating:
Summary: Good insight, many holes
Review: I bought this book to supplement a graduate class in which we were researching a solution for an online automobile insurance application. We compared C++, PERL, ASP, JSP, and PHP. If you have programmed with another language, I would recommend this book. The syntax of loops, ifs, and case statements was covered. The object-oriented model of PHP was also expained. The book covered the two subjects I was primarily concerned with: databases and LDAP. These subjects are treated with vague explanations and some examples. I thought the examples were a bit skimpy and hard to follow. Some people have recommended using the online documentation. I would recommend buying this book to get a good foundation of PHP. Then, buy the PHP developer's cookbook to find solutions to problems you encounter. The online documentation is good as a reference manual. This book is good for some reference, but mostly to read from beginning to end in order to uncover the power of PHP. Once you understand the principles behind PHP, you can scour the web and the "Cookbook" for specific code for the solution you have devised within the limitations of PHP.
Rating: 
Summary: Good and bad
Review: For someone starting off php development, this book is definately wonderful. It helps you understand the syntax, get a foot in with security basics, and provides some nice application examples. However, it suffers from a terrible index, some really poor short examples, and quite a few missing functions. (In my opinion, If you simply provide a function name and don't talk about it, the function is missing - check the imap section). The above however is true for people looking at providing advanced solutions with php. This book does make a handy reference when you what to look up information quickly (provided you get to it with the index), and I do recommend this book if you're starting off or looking to expand on your core basics. However, programmers looking for advanced solutions should check out Web Application development with PHP 4, or live off php forums.
Rating: 
Summary: A reference, and nothing more.
Review: When I first glanced at this title, I was overwhelmed by the sheer volume: 1,000 pages about PHP! My admiration passed away soon, though. The book doesn't cover programming concepts: it's focuses on technical coverage of PHP's language. From experience I know that this is much easier than writing about abstract techniques, development methodologies and the advanced parts of a programming language. And even with restricting itself to this kind of reference material, the 1,000 pages are constructed artificially: over 300 pages consist of (yet another) function quick reference and a totally unrelated "Wrox HTML Database Listing". If you like having a fat printed function reference on your desk, this book is for you - but whether it is that much better than the searchable, light-weight official manual, I'd like lo leave for you to judge. For the advanced software developer (as the cover claims), Professional PHP is not: function syntax description can be found online, and the concepts behind the APIs are not described in a manner justifying the cost of this book.
Rating:
Summary: This book needed an editor.
Review: The book would explain PHP well if there weren't so many grammatical errors. The first few chapters were well worth reading, but about halfway through, stilted sentences and the incorrect use of "which" and "that" put me off the treatise entirely. I know that books of this ilk must be written hurriedly so the technology described in the book doesn't get a chance to change substantially before the book goes to market, but this is ridiculous. If I were shopping for a PHP book, I'd look seriously at some others.
Rating:
Summary: Terrible Book for a real world programming
Review: This book might be worthwhile as a classroom workbook where you go through each and every chapter in order. As a book for somebody who wants to get things done this book is terrible. You have to wade through entire chapters to find what you want and the index is useless. For my real world projects I have never found what I wanted to know in this book. You are better off just looking at online documentation. It is also out of date and lacks coverage of sessions (there is a newer edition of the book that might include this but I am not going to buy it).
Rating:
Summary: Good, but needs updating to PHP4
Review: I bought "Beginning PHP4" first, expecting to learn more later from "Professional PHP". Unfortunately, the "Professional" book was written in 1999 and mostly covers PHP3; the first half of this book is introductory material similar to that covered in "Beginning". The "Beginning" book was written in 2000, and covers PHP4. Therefore, the two books don't confer a chronological sense of "Part 1" and "Part 2", as I had anticipated. In my opinion, if you have one of these two Wrox books, you won't need the other. Since "Beginning PHP4" is newer, get that one for an excellent introduction to the subject, then get "PHP Black Book" or another advanced book to continue your studies. By the way, I hope that "extremeperl" gives more thought to book ratings in the future. He gave this book a 1 star rating because he thought that PHP was a poorly written language, and preferred Perl. Since the authors had no hand in creating the PHP language, it's extremely unfair to criticize PHP by giving poor ratings to this book ...
Rating: 
Summary: Wrox is the best BUT
Review: The authors in this book explained PHP very well as with any WROX author. You will need HTML knowledge before reading this book but no other programming experience needed. Takes you from, basic php page to advance options and mysql connectivity. BUT ... php IS a poorly done programming language. I reccommend Learning Perl with Beginning Perl or Professional Perl. ...
| 
