Beginning PHP5 (Programmer to Programmer) [Paperback]

Dan Squier (Author), David Mercer (Author), Allan Kent (Author), Steven Nowicki (Author), Clark Morgan (Author), Wankyu Choi (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0764557831 | ISBN-13: 978-0764557835 | Publication Date: July 16, 2004 | Edition: 1

What is this book about?

Beginning PHP5 is a complete tutorial in PHP5's language features and functionality, beginning with the basics and building up to the design and construction of complex data-driven Web sites. Fully functioning applications are developed through the course of the book. Other features of the book include installation guide and troubleshooting tips, introduction to relational databases, practical working examples and applications, and a detailed language reference.

Here are the new topics in this edition:

• OOP
• PEAR
• GTK
• MSI
• CLI
• SQLite
• Error handling with try/catch

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

PHP5 is the newest version of the preferred language for rapidly creating dynamic Web page content. While its main use is as a cross-platform, HTML-embedded, server-side Web scripting language, it now works equally well when creating multi-tiered applications or XML-based applications as well as Web applications. This book teaches you the features and functionality of PHP5, from installing and configuring it to designing and constructing complex data-driven Web sites.

As you proceed, you will build a number of fully functional applications. You’ll be introduced to basic programming logic, relational databases, OOP, PEAR, GTK, MSI, CLI, SQLite, and more. When you’re finished, you will understand how to create, test, debug, and put your applications to work in the real world.

What you will learn from this book

• The fundamentals of object-oriented programming in PHP5
• How to write PHP5 applications that run on Windows®, Linux®, Mac OS® X, and other operating systems
• Why PHP5 works effectively in small to enterprise-level applications
• Error handling with try/catch
• Data manipulation in MySQL® using PHP
• How to build practical applications such as an online text editor, a Web-based e-mail application, and an object-oriented contact manager application
• Command-line scripting and GUI application development
• Effective methods of maintaining and organizing your code, and more

Who this book is for
This book is for beginning programmers as well as experienced developers who want to learn what is possible with the latest version of PHP.

About the Author

Dave W. Mercer has 15 years’ experience in industrial and process engineering, and systems analysis, and is CTO for a B2B, responsible for the development and deployment of online automated business services. His entire site hosting server, and the applications he builds for hosted clients are programmed in PHP using Postgres or MySQL as the database.

Allan Kent is a PHP programmer who runs his own company and is a co-author of Beginning PHP 4. Alan has been programming seriously for the past dozen years and, other than the single blemish when he achieved a diploma in Cobol programming is entirely self-taught.

Steven D. Nowicki is Director of Software development at The Content Project, a Santa Monica, California-based consulting firm currently developing a massive enterprise resource planning and contact management system comprising more than 300,000 lines of OOPHP code. He has a decade of experience in large-scale software development and system architecture on all major platforms.

David Mercer is a PHP programmer and contributed to Beginning PHP 4. He has a keen interest in all things open source ever since he managed to put together a working Beowulf cluster by nicking old computer parts from colleagues and assembling them under his desk. He has worked on Wrox open source titles about PHP, Perl, and Linux.

Dan Squier is a longtime contributor to the Wrox community and a PHP Programmer.

Wankyu Choi is an accomplished PHP programmer and lead author of Beginning PHP 4. He holds a Master’s degree in English/Korean interpretation and translation form the Graduate School of Translation & Interpretation.

Heow Eide-Goodman is a member of NYPHP and LispNYC who uses PHP in his day job to doWeb sites, services, and back-office transformations among SQL Server, Interbase/Firebird, and MySQL.

Edward Lecky-Thompson is the founder and director of Ashridge New Media, a professional new media technology consultancy based in Berkhamsted, just north of London, England. Self-described as “utterly obsessed with PHP,” Ed has more than six years’ experience in commercial software development and enterprise-level systems architecture across myriad platforms, with particularly strong exposure to PHP and Apache on Linux-based platforms.

Clark Morgan is an experienced programmer who creates and administers databases with Web sites using PHP and MySQL for Fusion Computing and Media.

Product Details

• Paperback: 888 pages
• Publisher: Wrox; 1 edition (July 16, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0764557831
• ISBN-13: 978-0764557835
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 7.4 x 1.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.9 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 2.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #984,453 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Look for another book!, November 20, 2005

By 

Chris Gaeden (Santa Rosa, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Beginning PHP5 (Programmer to Programmer) (Paperback)

The numerous grammar and coding errors in this book make it one to completely avoid if you are new to PHP programming. Fortunately, I was familiar enough with PHP to catch most of the coding errors.

The thing that probably bothered me the most was the fact that many of the explanations of the code given in the book refer to code that isn't even printed in the book! The explanations seemed to refer to a previous revision, rather than the code in the final printed version. Whoever was the project manager and/or proofreader of this book should be shamed and then fired.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This book has been extremely useful, October 21, 2004

By 

Christine Davis (California) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Beginning PHP5 (Programmer to Programmer) (Paperback)

(...)PHP code can be used on a local machine as well as uploaded to your server and used in the real world. You may need to make modifications to the code to reflect the domain name, etc. of your particular server.
With that out of the way, let me say that this book has been extremely useful to me (a beginner). Not only does it start with the fundamentals of PHP, including installation, it continues through many advanced areas of programming so that you do not need to rush out and buy another book to complete your project. It even covers some basic HTML integration for those that are new to that too.
All in all, I have not seen any other book on PHP5 with the depth and ease-of-use of this one.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Sloppy, March 4, 2007

By 

John Bonham (Brisbane, QLD, Australia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Beginning PHP5 (Programmer to Programmer) (Paperback)

I gave up on this book due to the abundance of coding errors. Each time there was a mistake in their code, it took me quite a lot of time to figure out what the error was and fix it - time I don't have, when trying to learn something new.

Wrox needs to be tougher with its authors and technical reviewers. Instead of accepting that errors are just part of the publishing experience, they should be trying to inculcate a culture of meticulousness and excellence. Until then, people like me will drop their books flat.