- Paperback: 432 pages
- Publisher: O'Reilly Media; 2 edition (24 Aug 2007)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0596514018
- ISBN-13: 978-0596514013
- Product Dimensions: 22.9 x 17.5 x 2.8 cm
- Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
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Amazon Bestsellers Rank:
515,667 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #14 in Books > Computers & Internet > Computer Science > Programming > Introduction to Programming > PHP
- #24 in Books > Computers & Internet > Computer Science > Databases > Applications > MySQL > Introduction
- #38 in Books > Computers & Internet > Computer Science > Databases > Java & Databases
- See Complete Table of Contents
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More About the Author
Product Description
Product Description
PHP and MySQL are quickly becoming the de facto standard for rapid development of dynamic, database-driven web sites. This book is perfect for newcomers to programming as well as hobbyists who are intimidated by harder-to-follow books. With concepts explained in plain English, the new edition starts with the basics of the PHP language, and explains how to work with MySQL, the popular open source database. You then learn how to put the two together to generate dynamic content.
If you come from a web design or graphics design background and know your way around HTML, Learning PHP & MySQL is the book you've been looking for. The content includes:
- PHP basics such as strings and arrays, and pattern matching
- A detailed discussion of the variances in different PHP versions
- MySQL data fundamentals like tables and statements
- Information on SQL data access for language
- A new chapter on XHTML
- Error handling, security, HTTP authentication, and more
About the Author
Michele E. Davis has co-authored and authored over 11 books and has been a career writer since she sold her first poem to CRICKET magazine in second grade. She has an MFA in Writing from Hamline University and is always trying to improve her writing technique. Someday it will be perfect.
Jon A. Phillips is a software engineer who loves Open Source technology. He's been working with web development and databases for over 12 years and is always exploring new technology. Additionally, he co-authored a Dreamweaver for Dummies book that came out July 2006.
Inside This Book
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Good overall introduction to using php and mysql, that also introduces you to using tools like PEAR and the smarty template engine. I bought the book because a) I've been impressed with O'REilly books before and b) It included chapters on Security and on Sessions and Access Controls. I was also impressed that the Mysql parts included basic dba necessities such as backups, imports and use of indexes etc. However (and this is why I'm not giving the full 5 stars) there were a lot of silly typos in the code I typed in from the book. Once I looked at the Oreilly site (they correct some typos there) I was able to hunt down the rest. I suspect it would be a showstopper for someone who hasn't the relevant programming experience however. Since the book didn't come with code on disk I can only give 3 stars (or three and a half).
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I'm on the verge of giving up with this book. I'm not a qualified programmer, so I want to be able to trust that the book I'm using is accurate. This book isn't.
Some typos are stupid simple things that anyone with internet experience can probably fix - e.g. it says apache.or/... when it means apache.org/... They'll cause what you're doing to fail, but will only cost you about 5 minutes to fix and a few units of sanity as you curse O'Reily Media for being so shockingly unprofessional.
Others are fatal (figurativly speaking!), or at least for someone like me of the level this book pretends to be aimed at (experience with HTML & CSS, no formal programming background). E.g. when it's guiding you through setting up PHP to run with Apache, it leads you by the hand as far as opening the .conf file you need to modify in notepad, takes you to the right section in the file, and then... "Restart Apache so it can read the new configuration". But I haven't changed the configuration! They seem to have literally forgotten to write what I actually need to do! Even worse, the things they did bother to explain (e.g. that I might want to use notepad.exe) I could have worked out for myself. There's a screenshot, which has different code to what's on my screen, but copying it so they match doesn't work...
An experienced programmer who knows and understands php, mysql, apache etc would have no trouble working out what to do. But why would such a person need or want this book? What's the point of a teaching book when you need to already know everything in the book in order to spot when the book itself is wrong?
As for the explanations, they're sometimes good and easy to follow, but again there are careless slips. This book is quite often guilty of taking you by the hand through the simple things to the point of being patronising and then dumping a whole pile of new, difficult material on you without any real explanation.
E.g. it explains in withering detail the concept of multiplication coming before addition unless there are brackets (thank you, but I did actually go to school...) then the very next page it casually mentions that ~ means 'bitwise NOT' without any explanation of what the 'bitwise' part means. So they expect be to have failed pre-GCSE-level maths, but to know technical programming jargon...
This is the second time I've been let down by an O'Reily book that claims to be accessible to and usable by non-programmers. Never again.
(p.s. after having looked for the ommitted information, I think it's the 1st edition of the book I've been struggling with. However, it seems from other reviews and discussions that the 2nd edition has exactly the same problems, and I can't find the information I need anywhere, including on the O'Reilly website. Therefore what I say still stands, although the particular typos and omissions might be different, hence 2 stars instead of 1)
Some typos are stupid simple things that anyone with internet experience can probably fix - e.g. it says apache.or/... when it means apache.org/... They'll cause what you're doing to fail, but will only cost you about 5 minutes to fix and a few units of sanity as you curse O'Reily Media for being so shockingly unprofessional.
Others are fatal (figurativly speaking!), or at least for someone like me of the level this book pretends to be aimed at (experience with HTML & CSS, no formal programming background). E.g. when it's guiding you through setting up PHP to run with Apache, it leads you by the hand as far as opening the .conf file you need to modify in notepad, takes you to the right section in the file, and then... "Restart Apache so it can read the new configuration". But I haven't changed the configuration! They seem to have literally forgotten to write what I actually need to do! Even worse, the things they did bother to explain (e.g. that I might want to use notepad.exe) I could have worked out for myself. There's a screenshot, which has different code to what's on my screen, but copying it so they match doesn't work...
An experienced programmer who knows and understands php, mysql, apache etc would have no trouble working out what to do. But why would such a person need or want this book? What's the point of a teaching book when you need to already know everything in the book in order to spot when the book itself is wrong?
As for the explanations, they're sometimes good and easy to follow, but again there are careless slips. This book is quite often guilty of taking you by the hand through the simple things to the point of being patronising and then dumping a whole pile of new, difficult material on you without any real explanation.
E.g. it explains in withering detail the concept of multiplication coming before addition unless there are brackets (thank you, but I did actually go to school...) then the very next page it casually mentions that ~ means 'bitwise NOT' without any explanation of what the 'bitwise' part means. So they expect be to have failed pre-GCSE-level maths, but to know technical programming jargon...
This is the second time I've been let down by an O'Reily book that claims to be accessible to and usable by non-programmers. Never again.
(p.s. after having looked for the ommitted information, I think it's the 1st edition of the book I've been struggling with. However, it seems from other reviews and discussions that the 2nd edition has exactly the same problems, and I can't find the information I need anywhere, including on the O'Reilly website. Therefore what I say still stands, although the particular typos and omissions might be different, hence 2 stars instead of 1)
6 of 7 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
This is an adequate, though uninspired, look through the basics of using PHP and MySQL to build dynamic web sites. Because it is trying to cover two major topics from a starter level it is unable to treat either in the depth needed for the reader to become fluent in either the use of SQL databases, or PHP.
However, the book also suffers from a serious flaw which renders it unfit to be used by those wishing to learn the subjects involved. The sample PHP code is frequently incorrect, and this will cause endless confusion for newcomers. It is clear that insufficient attention has been paid to making sure the code is correct, which would seem to indicate that the authors haven't even tried to run the code they present.
What the editors at O'Reilly were thinking of when they let this go through, I really don't know.
Not recommended.
However, the book also suffers from a serious flaw which renders it unfit to be used by those wishing to learn the subjects involved. The sample PHP code is frequently incorrect, and this will cause endless confusion for newcomers. It is clear that insufficient attention has been paid to making sure the code is correct, which would seem to indicate that the authors haven't even tried to run the code they present.
What the editors at O'Reilly were thinking of when they let this go through, I really don't know.
Not recommended.
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