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Summary: Concise, helpful, and full of programming wisdom!
Review: I've read *all* other PHP books and this is the best for more programmers with some experience. It is not only a reference but teaches alot about the programming principles such as style, debugging, version management. The coolest part is the one about extending PHP with C! I've already written a library for PHP using this book as reference and I'm soon going to contribute it to CVS!
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Summary: good book
Review: It has some good tips on how to develop application
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Summary: From Web developer to Web application developer !
Review: Knowing how to code PHP is quite simple, especilly if you come from c/c++, but when you need to build a full scale Web application, this book will be very very useful. I go back to it all the time and always find something more out of it, a real thumb up !
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Summary: A must-have classical for advanced PHP development
Review: Most definitely, this book is not for beginners - but if you're an intermediate to advanced programmers, either with experience in PHP or another programming language, you'll want this book. The best aspect of this book, and the reason I think it has the potential to become a true classical for the PHP language, is that it covers the concepts behind web application development. After all, you have the online reference if you need to quickly check the syntax of a function! But where's the manual that teaches you about coding style, project layout and management, security, usability, session management, user authentication and advanced XML topics?The authors write about development concepts, PHP's advanced syntax, application design, web application concepts and strategies, the Phplib, XML applications, and extending PHP with C. While presenting a lot of extremely valuable information in a condensed format (for example, most longer code examples are not printed in the book but can be found only on the CDROM), the authors still write in an easy and friendly manner. You always see that they really know the PHP language, and that they love working with PHP - indeed, both are well respected in the community. The quotes from the Dao De Jing (or Tao Te Ching) really add atmosphere to the book and bring up the level of Perl's Camel book. A definitive thumbs-up for this excellent title!
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Summary: A Fantastic Reference
Review: No, this book is not for beginners. Maybe it's not for absolute gurus, either. But for those of us in the middle-to-advanced stage, it's a godsend. This is the first PHP book I found that explained the entire process and didn't just regurgitate the PHP function reference with a few extra snippets of code. The authors, by the way, have written some great PHP tools. If I hadn't seen PHPMyAdmin, I probably would not be using PHP or MySQL. They have had a huge impact on the PHP community and are extremely skilled at writing both code and books like this. Evaluate your needs. If you don't know anything about programming or PHP, start with Julie Meloni's book or the Wrox books. If you've been programming for 20 years, know how to create a complex application, know all about CVS and PHPLib, go get a function reference and dig in. If you have some PHP under your belt and are looking for a reference to help you understand application development, GET THIS BOOK.
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Summary: i read it!!!! finally...
Review: the best book ive ever seen!!!! not for rookies about programming but it opened my eyes about lots of tricks and capabilities of the best scripting language :) a must for every PHPer!!!! :)
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Summary: A tale full of sound and fury, signifying nothing
Review: The book was written when php 4 was still in beta, and most of the new php4 functions aren't mentioned, or used in the examples (other than the session management stuff, which was around since the earliest of php4 betas) I feel sorry for the dead trees that went into making the section on phplib -- like we really needed a 'phplib overview' or whatever the chapter is supposed to be. The online documentation for phplib is much better. Phplib is so vast, they could have dedicated 2 or 3 chapters to some real-world uses of some of its libraries - instead we get a look at its db abstraction (boring) and a quick look at its templates module. There is a lot more to phplib than this -- but everyone seems to be regurgitating the same stuff about it... The Case studies chapter is just a brochure on why open source is so great, and how real web sites are using it. Except, there is no 'how' - just a bunch of rachet-jaws telling us nothing. Save the propoganda on how great open source is for someone else, I paid 50 bucks to learn, not be preached to. The most interesting part of the book is the section on self modifying code. Of course, this is only mentioned in passing, with one full example given. There is a section on coding standards in php. Indent 4 lines, blah. Gee thanks. They walk us through the planning of phpChat, which involves an interesting look at HTML streaming and semaphores, but when it comes time to illustrating with code, the authors drop the ball. A whole chapter dedicated to arrays. Neato. Not advanced array concepts, but the simple stuff you can find anywhere. The section on xml is equally as useless - plenty of code, but again, rachet jawing, useless code. There is even a section on web usability. Bottom line: The authors are super smart, no doubt about it. In their attempts to be all things to all people, they totally blew it - big time. This is the first book in 3 years I've ever sent back for a refund. I didn't even bother to open the CDRom (which appears to be offered as an afterthought) which does seem to have some interesting things - a pdf version of the book, etc. Do yourself a favor - buy the Medinets book, or the red book by Jesus and the gang of 4. They provide more real life examples, more problem solving and more meat than this book ever considered delivering. I believe you will be dissapointed by this book. Don't misunderstand: The authors are obviously very bright, but they strike out here big time. I don't need a cure-all web usability book with a touch of C, XML and 'Case Studies'. I need stuff that challenges me, solves problems in new ways and uses some of phps more advanced features. Will anyone ever write a php book that breaks new ground? How about detailing talking to COM or Java - not just two line examples - but real world uses? This book would be a great OUTLINE, or rough-rough-rough-rough-rough draft. 50 bucks? Never in life.
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Summary: Not much here.. pay attention to the bad reviews
Review: The problem is not that the book is for more advanced programmers, or that there is not useful information here. There is some quite useful information on Web Applications here, but little to help with PHP4.0 at all. Other reviews here go into detail about what is actually in the book, but I think the most glaring example is the chapter "Database Access with PHP", which basically gives an overview of PHPLib, including the parts that have nothing to do with database access, and almost no information or examples on actual database access with PHP.
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Summary: Title is too broad based on material
Review: This book has great content, but the title is too broad for the subject matter. When I first saw the title of the book, I was excited because I thought it was going to cover PHP web development. Instead, the book explains certain subjects within development, not all "web" development per se either. Talking about proper coding techniques is nice, but not what one would expect based on the title. I was hoping for coverage on HTTP variables and how to extract data from them when using Form tags. Especially, SELECT tags with multiple selections allowed. Unfortunately, the authors chose to talk about how it works behind the scenes. This is nice to know, but as a developer, I thought the book would have covered more on "development"! There is some good information on security and on array processing. Its written so the reader can get a good understanding on how web processing is done, problems to avoid, and how to use PHP in a very professional manner. I wouldn't recommend this as a reference book, but as a good book to read for any intermediate or advanced PHP web developer. It could enhance your current skills and coding practices. As for me, I was hoping for a PHP web development book that provided aspects on using php to build various common web applications, like shopping carts, and how/when to extract HTTP globals, session variables, logins, menus, form tags, etc. This is what I was expecting when I saw the title. While I was dispointed that it didn't cover this material, the book did provide some useful information in certain areas.
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Summary: Misleading title and content
Review: This book is a big disappointment. They give all kinds of content on unrelated and unnecessary subjects with virtually no fundamentals or syntax explanations. This was a waste of time and money.
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