Rating: 
Summary: Does what it says
Review: This book is typical of the Sams Teach Yourself in 24 Hours series. It does a good job of giving developers new to PHP enough familiarity with the syntax to be productive fairly quickly, including somewhat more advanced topics such as database integration and object orientation, which apparently is supported much better in PHP4 than in version 3.In fact, one of the strong points of the book is to point out what's new and improved over PHP3. I was also able to use the provided file upload utility "out of the box", unlike the one in OReilly's just released CGI Programming with Perl, 2d edition. This in itself has convinced me to do a lot of my future web programming with PHP. However, I have a couple of issues with the file upload utility. For one, I suspect it was in large measure influenced by "Core PHP Programming"; see pp 76-78 of that tome and compare it with pp 152-155 of "Teach Yourself PHP4". Plus I question the use of a hidden field for setting the maximum file size. After all, it's just going to get turned into a PHP variable anyway, so if you want to stop anyone from viewing source and seeing what you've set the maximum field size to, just set a variable or even constant right in the script. Other similar questionable programming practices are recommended. For instance, the author dissuades the reader from using "break" and/or "continue" when constructing loops because they can be buggy. Hogwash! For instance, it is standard practice to use "break" to exit a loop if you were looping over values just to find one -- you "break" when you've found the desired value. If you put these concerns aside, though, the book is good both for beginners, and for the more experienced who want an idea of what's new in PHP4.
Rating: 
Summary: Very Straight Forward and Easy to Follow
Review: This book is very clear and easy to follow. It does not have the depth of Professional PHP Programming which is still the best PHP reference so far. It also does not have any in depth practical examples. However, this book is excellent for beginners. Every concept is explained, nothing is assumed. This book also makes a good reference because it it well organized. I give it 5 stars because it is the clearest, easiest to follow and best written PHP book to date. To summarize, if you want an easy to follow, easy to read book on PHP, buy this one. If you want an in depth reference with actual in depth programming examples, by Professional PHP Programming. If you want an easy well written introduction to using databases with PHP, buy PHP Essentials.
Rating:
Summary: A wonderful book to open the door to PHP programming.
Review: This book took me from the level of never having made an online program ever to building up a decent sized website with a peak of 50 members (for an online gaming community). This book taught me everything i know about PHP, and i know a lot. It is a great resource for beginers and it covers all the basics of PHP. This books explains how to work queries on certain databases while explaining the simple, need-to-know things that many books assume already known to the reader. If PHP is where you think you're headed, this book will get you right into the language and give you a command over it that you will have to have to create major projects. This has been the best and most used computer book (out of about a half dozen) i have purchased.
Rating: 
Summary: A very good PHP book, especially for beginners
Review: This book will really get you started if you're beginning with PHP. It's not one of those complicated books that assumes you have a bunch of random prerequisites covered before you start. Rather, it is a book where you can really learn from the ground up--and to a rather proficient level, I must say. I read through probably 75% of the book and I often use it for reference or when I'm looking up how to do something. It does a good job explaining language building blocks, including variables, dynamic variables, flow control, functions, string manipulation basics, regular expressions and so forth. It actually does a good job explaining how to connect and access what you need from a MySQL database as well. Basically this book will give you a good functional and pragmatic understanding of PHP and its potential applications. It is not comprehensive, however, as I have often found myself looking elsewhere (specifically online) for guidance. But since PHP is open source, you really don't need a book 100% for it, and you'll find just about everything you need online. It is nice, however, to have a book to read from, especially if you're a beginner. If you're new to PHP and you really want to get started with PHP web development I would most certainly recommend this book.
Rating:
Summary: A decent introduction
Review: This is a fairly solid introduction to the language, though it might be tough going for a reader with no programming experience at all. The organisation is good, and it walks you through all the basics you would require for straightforward bread and butter projects. As others have noted, there are far too many typos, but an alert reader should pick most of them up easily enough. In general, though, the book is better on the "how" than the "why". For example, in an early chapter is has a perfectly decent outline of PHP Dynamic Variables, but the inexperienced reader will find little guidance on why such a feature can be useful. Overall, then, a good place to start for the inexperienced programmer, and for a small project it might serve well enough on its own. For anything more ambitious, you would need to move on to more meaty guidance on issues such as site architecture, security, data validation, error handling and session management strategies.
Rating:
Summary: For PHP4: this is The One.
Review: This is the best computer book I have. It may be that PHP is easier than Perl (yes), but I've never gotten away with only having one book on any Web topic. This book is so good that I went from "Hello World" to a live, MySQL-driven, online page editor in just 4 hours. The book is well laid out, with good typography, charts, and images. The chapters are organized very well, either for front-to-back reading, or salad-bar style. I skipped around the book for my first couple hours and then just used the Index to find everything else. Anything I couldn't find in the Index I found with the Table of Contents. I'm not a "Dummy" but I also wasn't born wearing a propellor-hat. I already knew Perl and SQL before I started PHP, which helped me a lot. I don't know how it would be for a programming beginner. (If you're a beginner, skip Perl and go with PHP.) If you're using PHP4, don't get another book. Get this book.
Rating:
Summary: the dog's bollocks
Review: very well presented, straight to the point and also very practical. I've already used the examples on the use of databases to build my very first dynamic web site!
Rating:
Summary: Rough Start ¿ But Moving Forward
Review: When I first opened this book I knew html pretty good and did not understand this book at all.... It has taken well over 24 hours and I had to find coding off the internet to see live working examples but once I got a look at how PHP worked, I am whipping through this book. It's a good book if you have dabbled around in PHP but really had no idea what you were doing,
Rating:
Summary: A Very Good Starting Point
Review: Great way to learn PHP. Probably not as basic as Julie Meloni's "PHP Fast & Easy Web Development," but it doesn't assume that you already know a lot. There's no CD, which might bother some, but I believe you learn and retain the code better if you type it in yourself. If you've enjoyed other Sam's 24 hour/21 day books, then you'll probably like this one. I've read a few of them and this is my favorite so far. Like PHP Fast & Easy, Teach Yourself PHP4 in 24 Hours is great for beginners. As far as which is better, it's really just a matter of taste. This one might be a little more to-the-point, whereas Julie's book might seem a little friendlier to absolute beginners; she holds your hand every step of the way. If you're already progressing with PHP, or if you're already familiar with programming in general, you might want something a little more advanced. For those just starting, this book (along with the online PHP manual at php.net, of course), should have you programming with PHP in no time.
| 
