Customer Reviews

Flash and PHP Bible

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

This is a solid book, with great examples of PHP and Flash together; however, this isn't ideal for PHP novices .

I've waited for this book for a while, and I put off sharpening my PHP skills until I received it. I wish instead I had more experience building MySQL databases with PHP first. It's odd, there is some introduction to PHP and MySQL, but it doesn't really prep you enough if you're a newbie...

The title "Bible" is misleading; rather, it's more a cookbook. There is a lot of great info in here- lots of code and explanation of it, but the scope of the explanation is only how it pertains to the example given. For example, while explaining an example to output dynamic XML from a database, the author only focuses on the PHP script to retrieve the data, then parsing it into XML. I would have liked to have seen the XML as a file and how the MySQL database was structured. It would be repetitive, but that's what makes a good teaching book- or at least a "Bible" book.

The other drawback for Mac PHP newbs will be: the author does a good job of explaining installation of Apache and PHP on Windows and Unix, but NOT Mac. I contacted the author as he promptly replied:

"The reason for no OS X install notes was due to OS X shipping with a version of PHP which would cause issues without a large amount of editing and modifying.. which I felt was beyond the scope of the book."

He did tho, create a forum on his website for readers to post questions. He quickly replies. On this forum I posted a walkthrough (with pictures) on how to quickly get PHP and MySQL running on your mac.

On the whole, it's full of excellent code and various examples, but the scope is narrow and explanation is right to the point. Experienced users will welcome it, others may feel discouraged and have to look to other sources to fill in the gaps.

This book is not for beginners, but full of real world examples if you understand the basics of PHP, MySQL, and Actionscript already. I liked the fact that the book doesn't treat you like an amateur and gets down to the working examples right at the start (after a short part about creating a server). Its full of code that's usable right out of the book, like a shopping cart and a user login service and many more advanced topics.

I found this book very helpful and a good reference resource to add to my collection. I like the no nonsense approach to writing and the fact that it gets right down to real world examples and code you can reuse. I appreciate the non linear format rather than having to read it cover to cover and have used it (and will continue to) to find specific information for my projects.

I do agree with an earlier review that the title "Bible" would be better changed to "Cookbook" but having read the editorial review I already had the impression that's what it would be and was not disappointed.

Overall a very solid reference book with lots of useful examples and code that will fall into the "keep it handy" section of my bookshelf.

I am on the 4th chapter of this book and so far, NONE of the code examples have worked. I know I have Apache Server, PHP and MySQL installed properly because I have found other tutorials online and they work. Whoever wrote the positive remarks about this book must either be the Author or friends thereof because it's not a good book. Then I get on here and find others who are having the same issue, so I know it's not a coincidence. I would like a refund Mr. Keefe, or atleast a free version of one with working code!

I bought this book about four months ago, and have tried to use it quite a lot. I agree with one of the other reviewers in their assessment the book is not for beginners. A have no problem with that. Also, I have no problem with the book's structure. It is loaded with what look to be interesting examples.

But the book has an absolutely unacceptable flaw. Many, many of the examples do not work. And be aware, the publisher and author have not taken the time to post any errata. So you are on your own in identifying and fixing the glitches you will encounter in many of the examples! It is very clear the book's publisher went to print without validating its contents (or maybe knew about the issues but published anway). It is also clear the author, Mathew Keefe, could not be bothered to check his own work. Otherwise, he could not have considered the book to be finished!

Here is just one example, in chapter 14 the author has a "Poll Application" example. Everything in the example should work, but the author seems to have apparently got tired of this one and did not complete the actionscript that is needed in his Flash for it to work. You can build the code following the book or download the code for this example from the publisher's site. Either way, you will see the author simply stopped before the example was done. There is no way the author could have thought they had finished the example. That is totally exexcusable.

Like the other review, i also was waiting for this book to come out, but found it to be pretty disappointing when it did. The topics covered are useful for real world projects but its the way the book is laid out that had me confused.

For example, in the section for installation of PHP the author describes what to do for Windows, then Linux then on the same page of installation for Linux it says about configuring PHP, does this mean for Linux or Windows or both? There are quite a few cases like this that spoil the book.

The books just seems a bit garbled and not put together as well as it could have been.

I read the book reviews before buying it. I took a chance to buying it. This book is fill with errors. The source files had errors.
This is not a good book. Don't waste your money.

I bought this book essentially to learn Actionscript 3. I had used AS2 before and was quite adapted to it, but with PHP and MySQL my experience was zero. By reading this book and really taking time to go through the examples taught in it, I can say that I now feel comfortable with both AS3 and PHP + MySQL. I think the most important thing is to not just read and understand, but to actually try the things by yourself. Modify, try things... trial and error, guys. That's how we learn, and this book gave me a really good base understanding to start from.

I am sorry to say this, but this has been one of the worst books I have ever read on Flash and/or other type programs.

I made it to Chapter 5, and was hoping it will get better, but no such luck..it was getting worse.

Particularly, whether you are an advanced or a novice programmer, if you try using the book's examples with the available downloads, it will be a nightmare.