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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
119 of 129 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Not worth the price, though worth buying?,
By A Customer
This review is from: Build Your Own Database Driven Website Using PHP & MySQL (Paperback)
I am an absolute beginner when it comes to php/mysql, so my review should be helpful to the majority of people considering this book. I decided to buy it after reading the positive reviews here, and while I don't wholefully regret buying it, I can certainly tell you it's not worth the $35 cost.Very first thing you should know about this book is that it's incredibly thin and small- about the size of your printer's manual, if you have one of those. So small in fact, I wasn't sure it was the book when I first received it (thought it was a booklet that came with the book). The 230 page count doesn't do this book's minute size justice. The book is written completely in a top-bottom, tutorial fashion. It builds on a single example for the most part, first telling you how to view and define your database, then slowly populate and manipulate the tables inside. Such a style means that it's hard to get left behind, even if you're the absolute beginner and non-geek. Bottom line, I did learn how to create a database and add to it dummy values using PHP through this book. If that's your stumbling block- the absolute first step- this book will help you overcome it. The book's top-bottom/single example style is its allure, though ultimately, its fatal flaw too. Now to elaborate on the reasons why "Build your own database driven site (php/mysql)" isn't all that great, and not worth the $[money]: 1) From the get-go, you can obviously tell it wasn't put together in a professional setting- lots of spelling mistakes, unprofessional font (for the example codes). "Not a big deal" I told myself as I worked my way through. However, I quickly realized the book doesn't even contain an INDEX at the end! Having read the book once already, it became a nightmare to try and quickly brush up on a particular syntax without wasting tons of time flipping through pages. I end up just going to [the website] often and looking up the syntax directly. This means the book is useful only for the first read, 2nd at most. As another irritating side note, the book is so small, I can't even get it to open up without having to press my fingers between the two covers to keep it open at all times. Otherwise, it'll just fold back up. 2) The book is truly for absolute beginners, and not just in its writing style, but amount of information contained inside as well. Having just read another beginner's book on mysql, I gradually realized just how much essential (not advanced, essential) information on mysql syntax was left out of it, info that's invaluable when you're just creating your first database. Syntax like variations of the various commands that make it so much easier to insert and modify tables, how to populate data via a text file etc, were all not included. And for the info that was there, as mentioned above, since there is no index, they're hard to look up. 3) This book is priced at $35. I guess the author thought he could get away with it, since there are currently no other php/mysql books written in such a tutorial and gentle style. Perhaps, though is that justification to price it at the highest price level of similar books, and for one that's 1/3 the size and amount of info as the rest? The amount of editing done is also significantly less than most other books (lack of index, spelling mistakes etc). I feel like being in the mix of a price fix here. The moment I saw the size of the book and to the end, I couldn't help but feel cheated, even though the info contained inside is good. Bottom line, as mentioned above, if your stumbling block at this point is the absolute first step in creating mysql databases and using php to interact with it, this book is worth getting, though not "worth it" any way you look at it. Do I have another suggestion then? Buy a couple of other beginner books on the subject first, and if you still don't get it, come to this one (buy used if possible). You're feel a lot more comfortable with your decision then, as it was your last resort anyway.
62 of 66 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Introduction for beginners, has technical flaws,
By Jack D. Herrington "engineer and author" (Silicon Valley, CA) - See all my reviews (VINE VOICE) (REAL NAME)
This review is from: Build Your Own Database Driven Website Using PHP and MySQL (Paperback)
I'd like to recommend this book because there is a lot going for it. The text is readable. The illustrations and screenshots are well done. And the book presents a nice learning curve from beginner to reasonably high level concepts. But the book has some technical flaws that other beginning PHP books do not. An example is the authors use of SQL, a primary feature of this type of book, which is implemented using string concatenation. This type of SQL is not only inefficient, it's also prone to SQL injection attacks which means that any code based on this book will have serious security issues.
There are some very good parts, however. The chapter that introduces relational databases is very well done. I recommend O'Reilly's Learning PHP 5 as an alternative to this book.
28 of 28 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Great place to start when diving into the topic,
By
This review is from: Build Your Own Database Driven Website Using PHP and MySQL (Paperback)
This book is for those who like step-by-step directions accompanied by explanations of how things work. I learned many things using this approach. This book is a stepping stone to creating dynamic Web sites.
Yank does a fine job covering a little of everything without overpowering the reader with too much. Anyone who has experimented with Perl, PHP, ASP.NET, MySQl, Access, some of them or all of them will like the book. Those who can write PHP and MySQL with little help need to find a more advanced book (don't have suggestions, but I am sure others do). I rarely ran into problems while following the examples. I've worked with other technical books and hit a brick wall at times requiring a call for help or serious research. While working with this book, I only got stuck once and immediately figured out the problem with a little research. Yank uses visual aids and avoids jargon when explaining the process of laying out the database tables. A reviewer commented that Yank missed important concepts regarding databases. This book is not meant to go into such details. There are other books for that. This book is well-rounded in covering all the necessary components of building a Web site using a database. While adding data, viewing tables, and querying the database, you're learning tasks that will come in handy for future projects. Not only do you get instructions for PHP and MySQL, but also advice on structuring code so that it's used effectively. If you've never installed Apache, PHP, or MySQL or can't recall how to do it, the steps for Windows, Linux, and Mac OS X are in the first chapter. Since the latest edition covers PHP 5, the author addresses the differences in PHP 4.3. When working on the first PHP script, there is no "Hello World!" for a change. The early chapters provide a good overview of PHP and MySQL. By Chapter 4, the contents of the earlier chapters are integrated as the backend database connects to the Web page with PHP. The next chapters show how to use forms to manage, add, delete, edit, and search data. By midpoint, the reader has designed a database, organized it, created Web pages for the data, added administration pages, and administered the database. Yank also explains how to generate cookies and build a simple shopping cart. The appendices include MySQL syntax, functions, column types, and PHP functions to use with MySQL. The book has an accompanying Web site that includes errata and four free sample chapters. Having edited a few tech books, I know how easy it is to miss things when you're working on different computer set ups and application versions. Check the site especially since it has the code from the book. When running into problems, compare your code to the code from the site. One chapter has a challenge along with the solution (a couple of pages later, so you're not tempted to peek). Having a challenge like this in most chapters, I believe, would help cement the learning. Overall, it will make the purchaser happy. The four free sample chapters give you a good idea of what the book is about and its style <http://sitepoint.com/books/phpmysql1/>.
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