Rating: 
Summary: Stick to the Subject Matter
Review: A good book overall for getting up and running with PHP. It is technical, so keep that in mind if you are adequate in HTML and want more. There are beginner's books for PHP that might be a better start. For a book that states PHP 4.0 in the title, there is TOO much conversation about PHP 3.0, what you can and can't do with it, its shortcomings, etc. If I wanted to know about PHP 3.0 I would have bought the book, "Web Application Development with PHP 3.0." For example, I really don't care that PHP 3.0 does not implement proper garbage collection. So what!
Rating: 
Summary: a book for all-times
Review: A terrific book! This is a truly concept book - it won't get uotdated, as the PHP syntax changes. Although it deals heavily with syntax of the language, still there are very useful parts that deal with 'philosophy' of web applications development that would probably remain true as the syntax will deveiate from that we have now! if you're looking for a reference manual or a guide - this is not the book for you, BUT if you're willing to develop your application planning and writing skills - this is definetely the way to go!!!
Rating: 
Summary: Too biased
Review: As a web applications developer, I tried out PHP on my own and then bought this book. This book is good, in terms of the theories behind PHP, however I think the author has a tremendous bias towards PHP. This is fair but he doesn't credit other CGI languages as much.In chapter 8, the author discusses why certain companies chose PHP over say, Perl. I was in close touch with the first company he discusses and if you go to their website you will see why one probably should stay away from PHP - PHP slows the sites down tremendously. Stick to Perl. The amount of modules available for Perl are tremendous, and same goes for regular expressions, security, and speed (which I feel PHP lacks all those). With the HTML::Mason module it is possible to embed Perl into .html files. If you know Perl, no need to really buy a book on PHP. It's easy as the syntax of PHP is borrowed from C, Java and Perl. Buy the book if you want to learn some interested general theories about the way web applications work, not how to code PHP.
Rating:
Summary: Not a PHP4 Book
Review: As another reviewer pointed out, this book was written when php4 was in beta. Despite it's title, this book is NOT a PHP 4.0 book. The extension of every example file throughout the book is .php3. The authors even present a round-about way of maintaining state using the uniqid function and rewriting the url. ??? If you're using PHP3 or if you don't mind filtering out the PHP4 relevant information, you might find this book useful, otherwise look at PHP4 Programming and/or the O'Reilly books.
Rating:
Summary: Not a PHP4 Book
Review: As another reviewer pointed out, this book was written when php4 was in beta. Despite it's title, this book is NOT a PHP 4.0 book. The extension of every example file throughout the book is .php3. The authors even present a round-about way of maintaining state using the uniqid function and rewriting the url. ??? If you're using PHP3 or if you don't mind filtering out the PHP4 relevant information, you might find this book useful, otherwise look at PHP4 Programming and/or the O'Reilly books.
Rating: 
Summary: RE: Good tips and tricks for advanced development.
Review: Definitely not for novices. Is loaded with tips and tricks on data handling, specially liked the session handling techniques in the book. Could've been a bit more in depth though. But good book to get anyhow.
Rating:
Summary: RE: Good tips and tricks for advanced development.
Review: Definitely not for novices. Is loaded with tips and tricks on data handling, specially liked the session handling techniques in the book. Could've been a bit more in depth though. But good book to get anyhow.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent 4 project managers, useless 4 everyday programmers
Review: Finished reading this book, I have to say it is a good book as it is. The authers did an excellent job putting so much info in less than 400 pages. But It is almost useless for everyday programmers. There is not enough covering of anything mentioned in the book for writing code quickly, let alone PHP4. It is though excellent for project managers who are putting a web app together from scratch. The book touched upon every aspect of web app dev and provided analysis and many alterative tech. For everyday programmers, don't buy this book, read the online manual instead. For project managers, go get the book now!
Rating:
Summary: Very Advanced
Review: I am a beginner and this book is way too advanced for me. This book is for those who already know everything about PHP but need a way to apply it in a Professional Application. It explains how to plan, implement and launch a project on a commercial level as a true professional.
Rating:
Summary: Dreadful writing poorly organized
Review: I had such high hopes after I'd picked up David Beazley's excellent Python reference in the same series. Unfortunately, the writing is just awful and apparently unedited. There's no cohesion, no real goals apparent in the prose. The first chapter is a rambling discussion of why you should use good descriptive variable names. Later on, personal anecdotes about the history of the web world dot the pages, as if they added something. Editors! Editors! We need more editors! See also "Professional PHP Programming" for another book badly in need of an editor.
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