I have read several PHP-MySQL books recently. I would not recommend purchase or even wasting time reading this book. Others have said it is very out of date with MySQL and it is, however it also has so many errors in the sample code it makes the language near impossible to learn. The downloaded code from the 'Wrox' site is no better. After 3 years on the site it hasn't been fixed. All one needs to do is look at the book's forum on the site, particularly threads about Chapter 6 and Chapter 10 to see the un-addressed errors. Readers have attempted to post fixes but often it's a case of the blind leading the blind as their fixes don't work either. This book was basically a minor rewrite of the same book published in 2004 with most of the same errors. It was also written by committee which is rarely a good book to buy. In this case the authors can stand in a circle and point left as to whose fault this rotten code is. They and the publisher apparently have no shame or sense of duty to correct the online code so the book would be useful. A new version is due in 2009 with most of the same authors but after two failures I don't see how this update will be more accurate. I did down load the Chapter 10 code of the new book and found that it works. However they did not just fix this books code, they completely rewrote the code and simplified it making it not so useful to use for this book. I know this review is very harsh but I believe it is well deserved by all those involved in publishing this book.

I would truly love to give this book 5 stars; however, as some of the more recent commentators have indicated, it's out of date. Unfortunately, that's a show stopper when you're using the most recent version of MySQL! I was going over this book as a refresher course, since I have been generally well satisfied with Wrox's books, but the outdated syntax in the MySQL sections are real deal-killers. It's been years since I touched PHP, so I figured I could pick this up and get back into the groove of things and truly get into MySQL at the same time -- no dice on that one.

In short, this book is largely handicapped by two things:

1. It needs to be revamped for the latest version of MySQL and PHP (6 is right around the corner), and
2. The errata section on the website needs to point some of these things out.

I'm giving it four-out-of-five stars because it would have been a righteous book in 2005.

This is a decent book, but the MySQL syntax is very out-of-date. If you're working with a current version of MySQL, this isn't going to do you any favors. Until they see fit to update this volume, I recommend buying something else.

I've had great luck with "PHP, MySQL and Apache" by Julie C. Meloni (Sams Teach Yourself) third edition (2007). Its example projects are different and not quite as applicable to what I'm needing to do, but who knows - they may be just what you need. The biggest benefit is that it uses the mysqli commands that PHP 5.xx demands.

For a novice in these 3 fields, it's a good introductory and step-by-step guide to get familiar with them.
However, since the book was first published in 2005, many contents about installations are outdated. An update in these parts will benefit new readers because it can help them get into the main topics easier.

Great book for those, like me, who wants to start from zero with PHP5 and MySQL. I had no previous knowledge about this two languages, and in short time began to understand about it all. You may buy this book for sure!

I bought this book a couple of days ago after reading the cover (Bad Jon, never judge a book by its cover) and learning that it teaches you in both Windows and Linux. This is not the case. I am still in chapter one trying to configure Mysql under Linux. There is very basic linux setup configuration and then the book just assumes Windows is what you will use. I am retiring this book and picking up another.

I almost gave it two stars, but that wouldn't quite be fair. The book is written in a comfortable, informal tone and is easy to understand. It is well edited. The trouble is that it, like many programming books, doesn't TEACH YOU THE LANGUAGE. To use metaphor, it teaches you how to say, "Where's the bathroom" in PHP, but not what "Where's," "the" and "bathroom" mean and how to use them in other sentences. It uses the tools of PHP to make a jig for you to perform one very specific task, but it doesn't give you the tools.

Put directly, this book gives you complete code for a specific task and then loosely explains what the code does IN THAT CONTEXT. I want a book that teaches me the specifics of the function and syntax of various commands, allows me to use them to solve problems on my own, and THEN talks about broader programming techniques.

I'm about half way through this and have browsed the remaining half already. This book is a good beginning book for PHP and MySQL. They cover the basics quickly, yet effectively. The numerous examples give you the opportunity to apply the knowledge and practice writing code.

For those who have complained... you can download the code from the Wrox website. However, I have found that typing in the expamples helps me to digest and remeber the lessons. I even went so far and creating new files every time rather than just modifying.

I too had typos with the code... However, they have thus far, always been on my end. The code in the book hasn't seemed flawed yet - although a few times I was convinced it was, only to finally see the missing quote mark or semicolon in MY code.

I do wish that they would have gone into a bit more description about the details of conecting from PHP to MySQL, although I can do it, I don't entirely understand some of the code.

With this book you learn good, practial information about how to use PHP in conjunction with MySQL - The Apche piece is really only relevent for getting you PHP going. They cover what the book claims.

This book right from the very beginning contradticts itself, it is full of different code for different things and typos.
I created several pages just as they said in the book and all worked, but had nasty looking error codes all over them.

If you are a beginner, which with a title like this books i presume so, don't even think about getting this. Its difficult to follow at the best of times.
However all the code does work, just not well.

Well, I must say that I am a beginner and this book is not geared towards them. I bought this because a friend (who's probably in the top 5% of programmers) recommended it. I feel like they skip over a lot of information or they expect you to know it already. It's like asking the question "how does a car work" and answering "you push the accelerator". Yes, that is a correct answer, but I left out a lot of crucial information. Which, makes it hard for beginners to understand especially because your figuring it out on your own.

The other problem I have with the book is chapter 2 could've easily been divided into 10 separate chapters. I've spent about 20 hours on chapter 2 alone trying to figure out what the basics are (if there are any).

I'm sure I'm forgetting other things that irratate me about this book, but I need to spend another 4 hours trying to figure out how the answer for question 6 in chapter 2 works. Because, it doesn't do what the question asked at all.

*update*
The code available from the wrox website doesn't match the code in the book. Their errata list at the wrox site shows 0.01% of the corrections the book actually needs. Chapter 4 is a train wreck and they have 1 or 2 corrections posted for it. Also, they throw in "code jargin" whenever they feel like it and don't explain what it is, what it does, or why it's there. Example: &/nbsp/;. I assume it's code for a symbol like "copyright", but I'll never know.

**update**
The code from the site has so many errors in it that the pages will not open properly. The pages of code are so long it takes hours to discover where the extra "white space" is or why it's not connecting to your data base. It's totally luck of the draw; chapters 2 and 3 weren't too bad, but chapter 4 is a complete train wreck. Every page you open displays wrong or sends an error message. It's this way straight from their web site. I would change my review score to 0 stars, but I don't think I have that option any more.

I tried to learn from this book and spent hours weeding out THEIR errors, but it's too much. It's 4 hours of debugging and 1 minute of learning. The authors had better update their code and corrections at their site because this book is a wall to wall mess.

Enjoy.

Well, I must say that I am a beginner and this book is not geared towards them. I bought this because a friend (who's probably in the top 5% of programmers) recommended it. I feel like they skip over a lot of information or they expect you to know it already. It's like asking the question "how does a car work" and answering "you push the accelerator". Yes, that is a correct answer, but I left out a lot of crucial information. Which, makes it hard for beginners to understand especially because your figuring it out on your own.

The other problem I have with the book is chapter 2 could've easily been divided into 10 separate chapters. I've spent about 20 hours on chapter 2 alone trying to figure out what the basics are (if there are any).

I'm sure I'm forgetting other things that irratate me about this book, but I need to spend another 4 hours trying to figure out how the answer for question 6 in chapter 2 works. Because, it doesn't do what the question asked at all.

Enjoy.

Good points:
- very well explained
- good structure
- plenty of tips and explanations about advantages/disadvantages
- usefull examples
- nice way of programming and well documented
Bad points:
- Found the "pure" SQL part not enough documented, if you buy the book and are not a SQL geek, buy an additional book for SQL only
- Since you are reading this review, you haven't read it yet !

The book makes you copy a lot of code every chapter and then explains some of it. The code given has typos that cause errors you have to figure out by yourself. It also has some logical mistakes that was a lot harder to solve. For me as an absolute beginner these were challenging.

The book was written by several different people and they use slightly different code. One example is to connect to the mysql server they use either $link or $connect variable. Now I understand that the name of the variable doesn't matter, but it was confusing at the first place and the book is full of confusing stuff like this one.

It also introduces you to sophisticated programming concepts early on. I felt these shouldn't be for beginners.

I learned the most by figuring out the book's mistakes though. I also liked the exercises at the end of the chapters. The book also gives you links to current websites and the PHP community. I really needed these where the book was hard to comprehend.

After all I can say I can build websites now. But if you are a total novice then be prepared for lots of annoying error messages. You will need your patience towards the book.

Hi,

I work as an ISP development staff member and from time to time write monitoring tools for our support team.
I wanted to start learning php in order to add some web interfaces to our tools.

I have found this book a very good book for the php/mysql beginner like me, great for the fact that it deals also with the installation part and even gives you all the php modules/commands you can use.

the interaction with mysql is also great from the begining and you start develop your skills using these 2 great tools.

one thing I would like to see is interaction with the system, with the exec commands for example.

beside that, this book is great.

In the first few pages of this book, the new user of PHP, Apache, MySQL for web development gets a fast track into getting a server up and running fast, took me about 30 minutes. The remainder of the book is an excellent reference, with step by step howtos. This book brings the difficulty of getting a webserver running down to a level that brings success.

This book presents a really good practical guidance to those who need a quick track in to AMP technology. It gives you a complete view on how all three components interact each other. It is nice to have some programming experience to better understand the projects that authors develop in front of your eyes in seamless and elegant way. And programming approach utilized with these projects could be easily crafted for your own needs. I believe it is a right way to get educated with the AMP by reading the books like given one.
The material is well-laid with the exclusion of one case where pictures 16-4 and 16-5 were just disordered, though it is obvious and not really confusing.
I like the book and keep it as a reference for a while.

I initially bought this book because it was the only book in the store that delved right in and immediatly began giving tools to use in a website. Most other books, at the time, seemed to acedemic with much to much theory. However, after reading the majority of this book, I realized that I really didn't learn much of anything. The book spits out large chunks of code and tries to explain parts of it but it doesn't explain other areas that I guess the authors just expect you to figure out on your own.

While this book did give me some basic tools and some decent code (the code is actually very good in this book), I didn't learn enough through out the book to really expand on it.

I returned this book, purchased "PHP and MYSQL Web Development(THIRD EDITION)" by Luke Welling/Laura Thomson, and havn't looked back. I guess, for me, a book that takes a slightly more acedemic approach isn't all bad after all.

If I were just starting off to do a dynamic page web site, that is database driven, this is exactly the software set that I would use. And here in one book is the majority of the software that you'd need to make it work. The only things missing are the operating system (Linux of course) and the mail package.

The nice thing about having all this in one package is that you have a consistent form of writing from software package to package. And you have a consistent set of needs. You don't need to talk about MySQL in business applications, you only need to know how it works in a web environment.

This is a programmer to programmer, beginner level book. It does not spend much time on the actual installation of the programs. I rate this as OK, because many of the Linux books (yes, you also have to have a Linux book) provide a distribution of Linux that include all of this software with instructions on how to install it. This book then picks up with comments on configuring the installation to best suit, this includes things like making PHP point to MySQL which may be lacking in the general installation instructions of the Linux book.

If you are headed to working with AMP (Apache, MySQL & PHP) this is an excellent place to start. It's well written, leads you through the building of a site, and by the end of the book you are well started.