PHP and MySQL Web Development

Posted by admin | August 11, 2009 .

$31.49

Amazon. com Review
The PHP server-side scripting language and the MySQL database management system (DBMS) make a potent pair. Both are open-source products–free of charge for most purposes–remarkably strong, and capable of handling all but the most enormous transaction loads. Both are supported by large, skilled, and enthusiastic communities of architects, programmers, and designers. PHP and MySQL Web Development introduces readers (who are assumed to have little or no experience with the title subjects) to PHP and MySQL for the purpose of creating dynamic Internet sites. It teaches the same skills as introductory Active Server Pages (ASP) and ColdFusion books–technologies that address the same niche. Authors Luke Welling and Laura Thomson’s technique aims to get readers going on their own projects as soon as possible. They present easily digestible sections on specific technical processes–”Accessing array contents” and “Using encryption with PHP” are two examples. Each section centers on a sample program that strips the task at hand down to its essentials, enabling the reader to fit the process into his or her own solutions as required. Tables that list options and other nuggets of reference material appear as well, but the many examples and the authors’ commentary on them take center stage. For reference material on MySQL, have a look at Paul DuBois’s MySQL. On the PHP side, Web Application Development with PHP 4. 0 is excellent. –David Wall Topics covered: The MySQL database server (for both Unix and Windows) Accessing MySQL databases through PHP scripting (the letters don’t really stand for anything) Database creation and modification PHP tricks in order of increasing complexity–everything from basic SQL queries to secure transactions for commerce Authentication Network connectivity Session management Content customization–This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Review
“This book by Welling & Thomson is theonly one which I have found to be indispensable. The writing is clear and straightforwardbut never wastes my time. The book isextremely well laid out. The chapters are theright length and chapter titles quickly takeyou where you want to go. ”—Wright Sullivan, President,A&EEngineering, Inc. , Greer South Carolina“There are several good introductorybooks on PHP, but Welling & Thomson is anexcellent handbook for those who wish tobuild up complex and reliable systems. It’sobvious that the authors have a strong backgroundin the development of professionalapplications and they teach not onlythe language itself, but also how to use itwith good software engineering practices. ”—Javier Garcia, senior telecom engineer,Telefonica R&D Labs, Madrid“This book rocks! I am an experiencedprogrammer, so I didn’t need a lot of helpwith PHP syntax; after all, it’s very close toC/C++. I don’t know a thing aboutdatabases, though, so when I wanted todevelop a book review engine (amongother projects) I wanted a solid referenceto using MySQL with PHP. I haveO’Reilly’s mSQL and MySQL book, andit’s probably a better pure-SQL reference,but this book has earned a place on myreference shelf…Highly recommended. ”—Paul Robichaux“The true PHP/MySQL bible, PHPand MySQL Web Development by LukeWelling and Laura Thomson, made merealize that programming and databases arenow available to the commoners. Again, Iknow 1/10000th of what there is to know,and already I’m enthralled. ”—Tim Luoma,TnTLuoma. com

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Damek August 12, 2009 1:58 am

This review is from: PHP and MySQL Web Development (Paperback)

I have just started learning some PHP & MySQL development using “PHP & MySQL Web Development” published by Sams and “Web Database Applications with PHP & MySQL” from O’Reilly. Prospective readers might be wondering the difference between the two in deciding which one to buy, so I hope to shed some light on the issue. Sams: The Welling and Thomson book is more “hands-on” in that it takes the reader step-by-step in developing an e-commerce website. The chapters are organized in a goal-oriented manner: PHP, MySQL, the basics of e-commerce, security, and design of the site. O’Reilly: The Williams and Lane book is structured in a similar way by showing readers PHP and then MySQL. Examples to reinforce concepts are also provided. While the O’Reilly book also tries to take the reader in developing an e-commerce site, it is a bit more theoretical. Also, there are some differences in focus: the O’Reilly book has a section on using JavaScript while the Sams book has a final chapter on creating PDF files using PHP. If I had to choose just one book, I would go with the Sams book due to its more gentle learning curve. However, I believe that the O’Reilly book is no slouch, and I will probably come to appreciate it more once I gain more experience in PHP and MySQL development. One last word about my programming background: I knew a bit of Perl, Java, HTML, and JavaScript before tackling PHP and MySQL. I consider myself to be an “advanced beginner” (an oxymoron, of course). To get the most out of these two books, you should know HTML well enough to read it (you should at least recognize some tags) and it would definitely be helpful if you have some programming experience. You could very well make PHP your first programming language, but I would advise against it. Start with something like Perl (whose syntax is very similar to PHP’s). I highly recommend both books to prospective PHP and MySQL developers who are willing to spend some time and effort.

PHP and MySQL Web Development

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