I have to admit that I learned PHP primarily by reading this book, but I wouldn't recommend it for others. Beside the errors (which would confuse the heck out of non-programmers), I find the book repetitive and hard to read for long amounts of time. In fact, I believe there are two tables both defining the same escape characters, but now that I search for them, the index doesn't point to any tables at all. The book definitely has TOO MANY FRICKIN SCREENSHOTS. Sure, screenshots are alright for some things, but when it's one or two lines of formatted HTML, you might as well include it inline instead of taking up 1/3 of the page. Another thing I don't like about the book is that no matter what chapter you read, it still reads as though you've never programmed PHP before. Example (page 189):



10. Close the for loop:



}





I ask, is this really necessary? One-third of the book could be easily condensed, and I'm not even eggagerating. This nonsense runs throughout the book. The examples are very useful, but for me, it was very hard to read cover to cover. Personally, I think you should find something else.

I have to admit that I learned PHP primarily by reading this book, but I wouldn't recommend it for others. Beside the errors (which would confuse the heck out of non-programmers), I find the book repetitive and hard to read for long amounts of time. In fact, I believe there are two tables both defining the same escape characters, but now that I search for them, the index doesn't point to any tables at all. The book definitely has TOO MANY FRICKIN SCREENSHOTS. Sure, screenshots are alright for some things, but when it's one or two lines of formatted HTML, you might as well include it inline instead of taking up 1/3 of the page. Another thing I don't like about the book is that no matter what chapter you read, it still reads as though you've never programmed PHP before. Example (page 189):

10. Close the for loop:

}


I ask, is this really necessary? One-third of the book could be easily condensed, and I'm not even eggagerating. This nonsense runs throughout the book. The examples are very useful, but for me, it was very hard to read cover to cover. Personally, I think you should find something else.

I have to admit that I learned PHP primarily by reading this book, but I wouldn't recommend it for others. Beside the errors (which would confuse the heck out of non-programmers), I find the book repetitive and hard to read for long amounts of time. In fact, I believe there are two tables both defining the same escape characters, but now that I search for them, the index doesn't point to any tables at all. The book definitely has TOO MANY FRICKIN SCREENSHOTS. Sure, screenshots are alright for some things, but when it's one or two lines of formatted HTML, you might as well include it inline instead of taking up 1/3 of the page. Another thing I don't like about the book is that no matter what chapter you read, it still reads as though you've never programmed PHP before. Example (page 189):

10. Close the for loop:

}


I ask, is this really necessary? One-third of the book could be easily condensed, and I'm not even eggagerating. This nonsense runs throughout the book. The examples are very useful, but for me, it was very hard to read cover to cover. Personally, I think you should find something else.

This book sits right here on my shelf next to my PC along with my Photoshop, UNIX, and C++ books. It's a great resource for things PHP related.

The step-by-stel method works well with this book and it explains things in clear, plain english. This is a PHP book for someone who loves HTML, but has never ventured into PHP before. It will be of limited use for someone who uses PHP all the time, save for the refrence section, which is like a shortened and easily explained version of www.php.net

The biggest problem I had with this was that it tries to show you PHP/SQL applications without really teaching you mySQL. So you'll get the jist of the database workings (They even throw in a section on normalization!), but no real sense of the database itself.

If you're going to buy this book, buy an easy SQL book and go through that first so you understand how to make databases, tables, etc. It'll make this one a lot easier once you hit the DB part of it.

Just come prepared, and this book will be worth it.

I couldn't get past page 8 in this book. The mysqld-opt command to use to start the mysql server is not what www.mysql.com recommends for a windows machine. The book looks like it's easy to read. But I couldnt get out of the starting block with the mysql effort in the first chapter. It was easier to buy a mysql book and do it the correct way. Some URL's are needed in the install area that take one to some type of Mysql installation help. There are some at the back of the book, but I only saw those as I was dropping the book in the trash.

It's probably not the books fault, but mysql installations on a windows machine... well you have to be lucky. There is no forum easily accessbile at mysql.com and google points mostly to linux resources...

This is one of the best "introduction to" books I've used in a long time. Essentially, you're retyping simple, but potentially useful, well-documented examples -- much friendlier than the "this is left to the reader as an exercise" approach of textbooks I've read. This book **does** assume you know some programming. You should know basic concepts such as variables, arrays, loops, etc. before purchasing this book. Of course, had the author discussed these concepts, this book would be many pages longer and cost 25% more. The examples in the book are available in the publisher's website, although when I downloaded them, the example code wasn't organized well to match the book. The book, likewise, has a few, but critical typos. Also, not that **any** programming book I've read helps you debug code, but if you mistype something and have to debug your code, you're totally left on your own (although I haven't emailed the author like another reviewer did). A very good introduction to PHP!

I am so disapointed in this text. Not only does the content/code on the CD NOT match the text in the book, some of it is just plain wrong. An errata is available on the book's Web site to some minor credit of the author but with errors in a book for beginners is completely unprofessional. Don't waste your money on this text. Sadly, this book is rated highly by others. I wonder if they got though the code.

Update: The latest version of this book, geared for PHP5 users is a huge improvement over this text.

I am so disapointed in this text. Not only does the content/code on the CD NOT match the text in the book, some of it is just plain wrong. An errata is available on the book's Web site to some minor credit of the author but with errors in a book for beginners is completely unprofessional. Don't waste your money on this text. Sadly, this book is rated highly by others. I wonder if they got though the code.

Update: The latest version of this book, geared for PHP5 users is a huge improvement over this text.

This book is out of date. The code in it WILL NOT WORK with the current version of php. I have spent more time trying to find out why things are wrong. There are also quite a few typo's, and the book company apparently has gone out of business (all the websites for help are gone).

Again, buy a more recent book, also the directions for setting up mysql are incorrect, and the versions of everything on the CD are out of date and insecure.

If you're the type of learner who benefits from *doing* and *playing around with possibilities*, I think you'll find Meloni's approach workable. I hadn't done any programming for decades (and that obviously was neither MySQL nor web-based), and was used to FoxBase and Filemaker style databases, but this book was the easiest of all those PHP/MySQL books I looked into -- so that I was able to get set up and connect with my ISP's MySQL db and begin playing around with web pages through PHP.

Sometimes the examples are worked through with painfully repetitive details, but this enabled me to get more comfortable with the PHP approach to sending commands and getting information from a MySQL database. The examples (code helpfully available for online download) left with models whose operation I understood and could modify into boilerplate for experimenting with my own projects. And for me it really worked to be able to get into the throws of development BEFORE I had to learn vast amounts of PHP that was not yet relevant to me.

The book begins with a section of installation and configuration of PHP, MySQL, and Apache (which was unneeded since I used my ISP's setup. Then three brief chapters nicely outline just the basics of PHP you'll need for using its language. In a third section she shows the use of PHP for querying for types of browsers and operating systems, sending email, and working with files through a browser. Finally, the fourth section walks you through basic MySQL database processes such as creating the db and its tables, listing information about them, and displaying selections of their data -- all done through PHP/HTML in browser pages (e.g., for a 'My Music Collection' db) in ways that you'll want to use when you develop your own sites. - Very helpful!

The fifth section has chapters to help you regulate visitors to your site -- setting up ids & passwords, storing them in the database and in cookies.The sixth section puts all this together in a full "Contact Management System" - still walking you slowly through the process.

There is not a lot of detailed explanation about exactly why one must use the exact PHP or MySQL commands (from among alternate strategies), but I'm content now to start learning that from intermediate level books. What Meloni offered me that other "introductions" did not was a quick way to get in and actually toy around with my own actual MySQL dbs through PHP/HTML pages that I created and got online. As a beginning experience - it sure worked for me!

This book is a very good starting point for anyone who wishes to begin programming in PHP.

I picked this book up in hopes of getting somewhat of a grasp of PHP. The book was very successful in presenting appropriate concepts for beginners such as: varibables, arrays and operators. The book also had a few chapters on using MySQL, which is very helpful for anyone who wishes to create full-blown web applications such as shopping carts, forums and news services on their websites.

However, the book was somewhat vague in the amount of content presented. The book is like a giant PHP coding tutorial, which isn't necessarily a bad thing, if you're not a beginner. For a complete introduction to PHP/MySQL I would suggest buying this book AND PHP/MySQL Web Development by Luke Welling and Laura Thompson. With these two books, a beginner will be on the right path down the complicated road of online applications.

This is a great book to start out with. It tells you what you need to know to start using PHP very quickly. Within 2 hours I was writing my own PHP scripts. I would not recommend it for experienced users.

I had never written any PHP, C or Java before this - I had been brought up on Pascal, some VB and lost of System/370 assembler and Rexx. I had a clear understanding of web sites and html and I would now say that I am now a fairly competent PHP programmer.

The book explains very clearly how to set up Apache, MySQL and PHP on your Windows or Linux system and takes you through some examples. It also points you at further sources on the web then once you are going, the book becomes fairly redundant.

The first one-third of the book is pretty good. But beginning Chapter 12, you will begin to find too many codes which simply do not work. I guess the authors did not bother to test the codes even once. If you have any doubt about what I wrote, please go to a local bookstore and check the codes on pages 181-191 (files: "show_createtable. html," :do_showfielddef.php," and "do_createtable.php." I cannot understand why this book got such a good feedback. I regret buying this book a lot.

This book has too many codes that do not function. If you do not want to waste time trying to figure out the wrong codes, do not buy this horrible book. In all appearances, the authors did not test the codes even once.