Foundations of PEAR: Rapid PHP Development [Paperback]

Allan Kent (Author), Nathan A. Good (Author)

Book Description

Series: Foundations | Publication Date: November 21, 2006

PEAR, the PHP Extension and Application Repository, is a bountiful resource for any PHP developer. Within its confines lie the tools that you need to do your job more quickly and efficiently. You need to be able to quickly assess and determine which PEAR package is the right one for the task you are up against. Then you need to know the API and see some examples of how to best use it. Foundations of PEAR is your one-stop resource for locating the PEAR package you need. Authors Nathan Good and Allan Kent have carefully selected the most useful and widely used packages for this book.

Each package is broken down logically by function, and each one is covered in detail. The book presents each package in a manner that allows you to jump quickly to the key items you need to implement a solution. The authors understand that you need to see the packages in action—each performing in real-world applications. So they’ve included four projects in the book that each use a combination of PEAR packages in their implementations. Once you’re armed with the knowledge in this book, you’ll be set to take your PHP development to a new level.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Allan Kent lives, works, and plays in Cape Town, South Africa. In the last four years, he's been implicated in at least 10 books dealing with PHP and web-related topics. When not being harassed by persistent editors about deadlines, he works doing new media design at Lodestone, which he co-owns. When not writing or programming, he enjoys relaxing at home with Wendy and their cats.

Nathan A. Good lives in the Twin Cities area of Minnesota. He is a contractor with Alliance of Computer Professionals in Bloomington. When he isn't writing software, Nathan enjoys building PCs and servers, reading about and working with new technologies, and trying to get all his friends to make the move to open source software. When he's not at a computer (which he admits is not often), he spends time with his family, at his church, and at the movies.

Product Details

• Paperback: 640 pages
• Publisher: Apress; 1 edition (November 21, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1590597397
• ISBN-13: 978-1590597392
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 7.1 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 2.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,658,380 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great introduction to the basics of PEAR, February 3, 2007

By 

Harold McFarland (Florida) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Foundations of PEAR: Rapid PHP Development (Paperback)

The first thing I should address with Foundations of PEAR (PHP Extensions and Applications Repository) is the appropriate audience for this book. Since it is a book on PHP extensions and applications repositories the authors assume that the reader already has a basic understanding of PHP5. If you already know the rules of basic syntax, using variables, creating objects and similar items then you will probably be interested in looking at this book.

After a brief introduction to PEAR including how to install and configure it the rest of the book is a compendium of PEAR packages, their content, and how to use them. For each package it includes information on common usages, related packages, dependencies, the API, and examples. The book is broadly divided into ten topical sections - Authentication, Utilities and Tools, Dates and Numbers, HTML, Images and Text, Database, Files and Formats, HTTP, XML, and Mail. Each of these sections contains several packages that fall under that category.

The index is complete and detailed and makes the book a great resource. A solid reference book that is sure to be on the shelf of most PHP5 programmers Foundations of PEAR is highly recommended.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Big on whitespace, short on information., July 27, 2007

By 

Lee Cramer "leecramer" (Riverside, NJ United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Foundations of PEAR: Rapid PHP Development (Paperback)

This book is lacking in both breadth and depth. Here is an example of each:

1. In the XML section, only three of the 13 classes in the XML package are discussed. In fact, only ten of the nearly three dozen PEAR packages are covered.

2. In the discussion of the File class, the third parameter is the file lock mode. The text reads, "The type of file lock to use," but fails to explain what those lock modes are.

Considering this, I consider the book overpriced and of value only to the beginner who is having difficulty getting started with PEAR. If this is the your situation, I recommend looking for a used copy.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Lacking explainations, December 12, 2007

By 

M. Morimoto "Miles M" (NC) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Foundations of PEAR: Rapid PHP Development (Paperback)

After spending about a half a day with this book and working on trying to get a simple exercise in the book to work on mime email, I've just about given up. This book reads like a dictionary giving very little explaination and leaving you to the Internet to find the answers.

The book does have a lot of information, but if the examples don't work, then you're stuck. A little help from the authors on how to overcome common problems would have been great. Instead, it just goes on to the next definition of functions.

I guess it's worth the $6 in the used category, but not $45 which is list.