MySQL and Perl for the Web (Landmark) [Paperback]

Paul's "MySQL and Perl for the Web" touches upon some topics
that NONE OF THE BOOKS out there ever covered in so much details.

The style and examples are amazing. He makes use of Perl5's Object
Oriented features which itself tells you that it's a professional
textbook for professional web-programmers.

The book teaches you neither Perl nor MySQL from basics. It
assumes you already have some basic knowledge of Perl and MySQL.
So it starts off at the most fun part without waisting neither his nor
the readers' time.

Here I'll go over the chapters in case the table of contents
don't tell you much (they didn't to me).

Chapter 1 and chapter 2 go over some basic things that you need
in order to understand and/or try out the examples in the book.

Chapter 2 goes over configurting your MySQL and Apache. I believe
if you are on a hosting service, this should've been done for you already.
It also teaches you to write "A Simple Web-Based Application - To-do List
Maintenance". Although the application doesn't require a lot of
brains to create, but it does cover some basic concepts that
you'll be using all the time in web-programming.

Chapter 3 gives some information on "Improving Performance with mod_perl"
and how to write scripts that work in mod_perl compiled servers.

Chapter 4, "Generating and Proccessing Forms" goes over "Form Anatomy"
and does introduce some concepts of "Form Desgin Issues"

Chapter 5, "Writing form-Based applications" is probably the wealthiest
chapter of the book. Following sections are available under this chapter:
"Product registration", "Using Email from Within Applications", "Running a
Giveaway contest", "Conducting a Poll", "Storing and Retriving Images",
"Electronic Greeting Cards - Send a Friend a Greeting".
This chapter lasts over 80 pages.

Chapter 6, "Automating the Form-Handling process" introduces some
concepts that you can make use of in order to automate the form handling
process through the use of MySQL's table metadata, which is available
through DESC table_name ( or SHOW COLUMNS FROM table_name ) query.
Using his concept I introduced a new module to CPAN.org, MySQL::TableInfo.

Chapter 7, "Performing Searches" covers "Writing a Form-Based Serch
Application" and "Extending" it. It also introduces the concept of
"Link-Based Navigation". It also teaches you how to split the results of the search
over several pages; suppose you have a result of 100 rows in your search, and
you show only 20 results at a page, and provide [previos] and [next] links
so that users could navigate over your pages. Neat, isn't it?

Cahpter 8, "Session Management" was the one I have been wating for so long.
It goes over some "State Maintenance Techqniques" used in web applications, then
introduces the most favorite one, "Active Client Identification" method.
The sections the chapter covers are: "State Maintenance Techqniques", "Implementing
Session Support", "Expiring Sessions", "Storing User Prefernces", "Implementing Resumable
Sessions" and "When Sessions aren't enough"

Chapter 9, "Security and Privacy" teaches you the ways of precaution you could
take against "bad guys" ( hackers? ) to insure the security of your site/database.
Also shows you how to write a login page to provide access to some sensitive information
using the techniques he just mentioned.

Chapter 10, "E-Commerce Applications" covers such topics as Shopping carts,
credit card validation and in the end of the chapter completed a fully operating
commercial web-site.

Although the book concentrates on MySQL, I wrote several applications that make use of
Berkeley Database using the same techniques as Paul suggested. I tell you, I lerned a lot....

Most of what is covered in this book can be found on the web and in mail archives BUT be prepared for many many hours of scouring obscure sites, trying not-so-hot code and out dated examples. I began working with Perl many years ago, but only in the last 2 years have I been using Perl and Mysql in production web sites.

The first thought that came to mind when I thumbed through this book was 'Man I wish I had seen this book a year and a half a go'. Most of the solutions presented I have figured out myself, but after a long time of head banging and trial and error. I've been going through my code and comparing it the methods and examples found in this book and have been able to make many improvements.

The writing is clear and code examples evolve with the concepts presented.

You should have a basic understanding of Perl before digging into this book, or at least have a good Perl reference book handy. You can also download (and try out) scripts and libraries (...)

I do wish I'd seen this book a year or so ago. It would have saved me a lot of time and effort.

-Z

Though not for total beginners - have Paul's excellent previous book "MySQL", as well as the some reference like the Camel book handy if you have little or no background in MySQL or Perl - it is written in a concise, easy to read manner that allows one to fully understand what each application does and how the examples could be the basis for use in their own code.

In addition, it's a fine repository of tips, and not all are limited to MySQL and Perl. For example, the section on configuring Apache for secure connections using mod_ssl and OpenSSL, could easily save a newbie seeking SSL knowledge hours of research over many sites and through many README's.

Each chapter builds on the examples of the previous, from the simple to the complex. The book covers, amongst other subjects ...

Form generation and design
Processing forms
Using e-mail to enhance your web site
Storing and retrieving images
The use of MySQL to power your forms
Effective MySQL table design
Automating form handling
Generating form elements from tables
Forms navigation
Forms error handling
Advanced MySQL statements
Indexing and searching your data
Intermediate to advanced Perl usage
Session Management
Maintenance techniques with sessions
Security and privacy, both remotely and locally
Writing secure applications
E-commerce applications
Implementing different payment collection techniques

In other words, it touches on just about every aspect someone looking to leverage MySQL and Perl for web development could want, all in a single source. I learned a lot from this book and think it's easily worth the price.