Customer Reviews

Beginning PHP5, Apache, and MySQL Web Development (Programmer to Programmer)

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

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.

This is a decent book, but the MySQL syntax is very out-of-date.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.

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.

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.

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.

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 !

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.

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.

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.

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.