Customer Reviews

Foundations of PEAR: Rapid PHP Development

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

 

 

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.

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.

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.

I bought this book hoping to learn PEAR, but what I discovered is the book better serves PHP interested programmers already knowledgeable of the workings of PEAR. It is a good reference manual for PEAR experienced individuals, but not a good instruction manual for those of us inexperienced with and thirsting for knowledge of the intricacies and usefulness of PEAR in PHP programming. I am not a PHP expert, but I do understand the PHP language and I have written numerous server-side web pages. I was hoping this book would open the door to facilitate the PHP experience and increase my PHP knowledge; it did not. And the examples in the book do nothing to help. I thought book examples were supposed to mirror templates thus giving the reader a visible and workable solution regarding use of the material and to help the reader better understand the material by giving the reader an already workable example of the book material, but I think the authors had something different in mind. It appears I have to finish the examples to get them to work.

If anyone reading this review can post some suggestions of good books actually explaining PEAR, I will be very thankful.

This book is only valuable at Introduction. Even in it, there is a great deal of difference from my running pear (Linux).

I started with the first module "AUTH". There is no way you can figure out how it works with this book. The code does not work, the explanation is almost non-existing, and it is almost a copy-and-paste printout from the Pear's online document.

I wonder any *real* learners have *any* input to this book. I thought a "book" should have information better digested and organized. It is not the case for this, well I hesitate to say, "book".

It is a piece of junk which took me hours to figure out I can learn nothing from it.

One of the worst, if not THE worst, technical "books" I have ever touched. (If this book is renamed Manual of PEAR, I would not object. And of course, I would not have touched it.)

It also changed my view toward the publisher, Apress. I cannot believe *any* decent publisher would publish such (well-formatted) crap.

I gave this two stars because it has pretty good examples in the back that you can use to see PEAR packages working together in some projects that have practical value.

For the most part, this is no better than the online manual for PEAR. Not much detailed information, methods missing, parameter constraints not discussed, etc. I realize that completely documenting every package would be impractical, but at the very least give us something of value beyond what we could get for free on the PEAR website.

I found this book to be an excellent reference. Therefore, this book assumes that you already know the basics of PHP5 Syntax, variables, language behavior. Almost all of the examples are based on generic PHP and work with PHP4 (except PHPUnit2 that needs PHP5). The book has details and it is extensive.

The book starts with introduction, then goes into authentication and authentication as it applies to HTTP (Auth_HTTP), then in Auth_PrefManager it explains how user preferences can be retrieved from DB. Basic essentials are described in Utilities and Tools that includes Cache_Lite, Config, Even_Dispatcher, Log, PHPUnit2, and PhpDocumentor, The names here are fairly good descriptive of what you can find. The PHPUnit2 is really helpful in writing testable and not detestable code as the authors, like to refer to it. Next, in Dates and Numbers, you find Date_Holidays, and Numbers Roman and Words section.

Heavy lifting starts with HTML that includes HTML-Crypt, HTML_Form, HTML_JavaScript, HTML Menu, Progress2_Lite, QuickForm, Safe, Table. In the Images and Text you find everything you need for images. This includes Image Color, Text, CAPTCHA (which can tell you if the user is a human or a robot) Password, and Wiki. Again, the names are fairly descriptive of what it does. In the Database, you find an introduction, then DataObject, Paper, and Table. In Files and formats, you can find anything you need in Vcard_Build and Parse, Archives, Files, and File_HtAccess You will not be disappointed in the HTTP section. It has Client, Download, Header, Request, and Upload. I was impressed with the XML section. The XML_Beautifier, SOAP, and Services_WebServicehelps help you to understand these things as they relate to PHP. Then go to mail, which has three practical Projects.

Having this book sit right next to my computer helps me quickly find those things that I want. It also is a good comprehensive "All About" PEAR.

No book can have all details, otherwise they will have 1,000 pages. However, this book does give us the foundation so we can build on it later.