7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
An outstanding book, October 19, 2009
This review is from: Easy PHP Websites with the Zend Framework (Perfect Paperback)
I ordered this book at the same time as a few others, and at first I was quite disappointed. Leafing through page after page of stuff I had already figured out online, such as installation of test bed software and the framework, basic PHP, etc.
Moving on from that section, I found myself immediately in somewhat familiar territory, and from there on on almost every page had a light-bulb moment tucked away somewhere.
This book is currently still sitting on my desk looking like a porcupine with all the post-it markers stuck onto sections that stood out as a piece of the puzzle I had been missing.
A great investment for anyone learning Zend Framework. It starts out slowly and then ramps up, explaining and expanding as it goes. It even takes the time to explain the alternatives and things that you might need to do when customizing their examples, even though it doesn't apply directly to what they are showing. Excellent, excellent stuff.
I'm giving it 4 stars, simply for the fact that the first quarter of the book was of little use to me, but seriously, the rest of the book was like gold to me. The middle third of the book alone was well worth the cost of the book.
An excellent starting point.
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Using a Framework is much more then just understand how their classes work., March 15, 2011
This book is indeed a great book. I love it.
I bought the 1st version of this book, and I now have a *second edition* that has MUCH more things to talk about.
(btw, The second edition is for free for those who bought the first edition, and I found that, just great :) ).
Anyway, about this new book version itself:
The GOOD parts:
I love it because, one of the main steps a newbie developer (like me) must face is, to know, NOT ONLY how to accomplish specific tasks using a framework - seriously, we can get tons of that over the internet - BUT, actually, start to understand what MUST change on your developer process itself.
I had other Zend Framework books, they were quite advanced - they assumed that I already had my developer process workflow guaranteed and that I know a LOT about design patterns. I couldn't follow the book.
I had other Zend Beginner books, they were quite ok for learning the basics but that was not enough, even on those that actually introduce you do some design patterns, I just asked myself, what for?
Because I didn't understand the big question: HOW DOES THIS ALL CONNECTS ?
*And that is where this book really shines.*
It may not cover all little framework beginners details that some may expect. (I got them from searching the internet);
It may not be best book to learn about advanced design patterns regarding some applications architectures.
But it truly is a great book to break the bridge on two key points:
A) Developer tools.
When you design your application using Zend Framework, you NEED to have new tools, you cannot simply rely on having a simple lamp server installed locally. What about Unit testing? What about using the powerful zf tool?
Chapter 11. Unit Testing Your Project
Chapter 2. Creating Your First Zend Framework Project
Answers this.
What about deployment ?
I mean, if I use Zend Framework, I understand that I'm building no websites, or webpages, instead, I'm build authentic web applications. Should we deploy applications, with so much dependency and details, the same way we do with blog pages?
I believed not. And Easy Php Websites With Zend Framework told that to, on this second edition:
Chapter 12. Deploying Your Website with Capistrano
And on this same chapter, you get introduced to another very important tool, Git.
On the sub-chapter:
- Installing a Version Control Solution
B) New Applications Paradigm.
Applications are no longer static, and it's sure nice to learn a framework but it was so mysterious for me to understand how to integrate this, with Ajax. What should I do, where should I go? Absolutely lost. Api integrations? I knew that Zend have them, I understand the examples... but how does ALL this glue together?
Well, on this book I get those answered as well:
Chapter 9. Creating Rich User Interfaces with JavaScript and Ajax
Chapter 10. Integrating Web Services
C) Support:
As others had pointed out (on the first version reviews), with this book, you also have access to a lot of free casts related to the subject, to learn more things about this subject.
Even with all this the truth is:
We all have our specific way of work so, I had some questions regarding this workflow process and, well... I wanted no less but to ask the author himself what were his thoughts about my specific question. Ambitious me, I thought.
But you know what? He just replies back to me, I got my question clear.
So... this may sound to enthusiastic, I know, but it's just the way I feel about this book.
It as really help me out.
Still, not all are roses, so...
The BAD PARTS: - or better saying: About the parts that I didn't like:
A) Doctrine.
I know it's a nice new feature and all, but, if we are beginners on all this, let's play with real sql syntax and learn how to do that.
Zend_DB abstraction is quite strange when we have to deal with some complex queries.
If above all this, we add Doctrine. It gets really REALLY strange.
Could have it's benefits. I'm not saying otherwise, BUT, for those who want to learn, on my honest opinion, that is not the best way for learning it.
B) File Upload - Image Upload (omitted?)
For me this IS indeed a common request. We often want to allow our users to upload some files, and normally several of then, associated with a profile, a product...
How can we do that using Zend Framework? How couldn't that be covered here?
Conclusion:
Anyway, and for me, and realising that we can never ever have a perfect book, this really have help me out, and the good parts clearly supplants the bad ones, so I could just say:
If you need to glue a LOT about the little tutorials that you are reading here and there, then, this book is absolutely for you.
Regards,
Márcio
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent! Great Book, Includes free PDF of the Book, Videos and User Forum!, November 30, 2009
This review is from: Easy PHP Websites with the Zend Framework (Perfect Paperback)
This book, and all the free support material is NO Joke.
I don't really want to draw any more attention to the "one star / joke" review, but that review is what has compelled me to write my review before any more time goes by.
I feel so strongly because it was that review that almost prevented me from buying this book. I have made so much progress with the help of this book that I can't believe I almost passed this book by...
Fortunately the remaining reviews (all 4 and 5 stars) gave such glowing reviews that I took the chance with the book!
Please note - The August 20 review is "technically correct" in that the Zend Framework is introduced at page 102/Chapter 5, but I see this as a strength and not a weakness of the books strategy. The simplicity of the examples lets the author (and you) focus on getting started with PHP and the Zend Framework. I am an experienced developer (25 years) but I have mostly worked with other languages and technologies (C/C++/Java/C#). PHP and the Zend Framework have "captured" a lot of "wisdom" and the methodical and deliberate approach that this book takes helps the reader see and understand many of these subtleties.
I would imagine that anyone new to PHP and especially the Zend Framework will be very well served by this book! Even somewhat experienced users would probably find useful information (integration with Google Maps, Facebook, PayPal, etc.)
I could keep going, but rather than repeat what has been said before, I will say that I agree with all the positive comments of the reviews that were written before me!
The size if the book is definitely deceptive. I have seen less info in 500 page books.
Highly Recommended! Period!
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