Learning PHP, MySQL, and JavaScript: A Step-By-Step Guide to Creating Dynamic Websites (Animal Guide) [Paperback]

Robin Nixon (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 21, 2009 | ISBN-10: 0596157134 | ISBN-13: 978-0596157135 | Edition: 1

If you know HTML, this guide will have you building interactive websites quickly. You'll learn how to create responsive, data-driven websites with PHP, MySQL, and JavaScript, regardless of whether you already know how to program. Discover how the powerful combination of PHP and MySQL provides an easy way to build modern websites complete with dynamic data and user interaction. You'll also learn how to add JavaScript to create rich Internet applications and websites.

Learning PHP, MySQL, and JavaScript explains each technology separately, shows you how to combine them, and introduces valuable web programming concepts, including objects, XHTML, cookies, and session management. You'll practice what you've learned with review questions in each chapter, and find a sample social networking platform built with the elements introduced in this book.

This book will help you:

• Understand PHP essentials and the basics of object-oriented programming
• Master MySQL, from database structure to complex queries
• Create web pages with PHP and MySQL by integrating forms and other HTML features
• Learn about JavaScript, from functions and event handling to accessing the Document Object Model
• Use libraries and packages, including the Smarty web template system, PEAR program repository, and the Yahoo! User Interface Library
  
• Make Ajax calls and turn your website into a highly dynamic environment
• Upload and manipulate files and images, validate user input, and secure your applications

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Just get this book... [it] will work like a miracle for you." - Abdul Khan --Amazon Canada

"Excellent! Easy to read, straightforward guide. Already learned several very useful things." - Holly --Good Reads

"Finally a comprehensive resource for HTML users who want to move to the next level, and implement data-driven access to their websites." - Michael L. Kleper --The Kleper Report

"After the first chapter of introducing terms; I knew that I had to purchase this book." - Graysen --Greysen Oh's Blog

"This is a superb start for learning the ins and outs of PHP, MySQL and JavaScript." - Jonny IT Guy --Amazon UK

From the Author

Having developed for the Internet since the mid 1990s I have used a number of programming languages, beginning with Perl, which was the first tool I mastered. However I soon found that great though Perl was for developing with, at the time it didn't have the power I needed for ultra busy websites, and so the load averages of the servers I used was going through the roof.

So I rewrote all the processor-intensive code in C and was able to substantially slow down our server acquisition rate. But while C is powerful, it takes a lot of coding to replicate even basic Perl functions. So when PHP came along I was very pleasantly surprised to discover that even though it is interpreted (that is, re-compiled each time it is run), it placed far less of a strain on the servers than Perl, and also took up far less development time.

Since then I have used PHP in combination with MySQL for all my server side development. And with JavaScript gaining the XMLHttpRequest object, and hence the beginnings of Ajax, the three technologies are now my mainstays for web development.

So when O'Reilly asked me to write this book I jumped at the opportunity. In it I have tried to take you from first steps, without assuming any prior knowledge other than basic HTML and maybe some CSS, through each of the technologies in turn, and along the way point out the shortcuts and pitfalls I have discovered, to give you the headstart I didn't have.

I maintain an active discussion forum on the book's topics, which is linked to via the companion website at lpmj.net, and am always happy to answer any questions you may have.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 528 pages
• Publisher: O'Reilly Media; 1 edition (July 21, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0596157134
• ISBN-13: 978-0596157135
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 7.1 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (58 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #6,125 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #2 in Books > Computers & Technology > Databases > SQL
  • #4 in Books > Computers & Technology > Programming > Introductory & Beginning
  • #10 in Books > Computers & Technology > Web Development > Programming

More About the Author

Robin Nixon has been a writer for 30 years, producing in excess of 500 articles for many of the UK's top magazines, and has authored over 15 books. He started his writing career in the Cheshire homes for disabled people, where he was responsible for setting up computer rooms in a number of their residential homes, evaluating and tailoring hardware and software so that disabled people could use the new technology, and writing supporting documentation and articles for a selection of national publications.

After this Robin joined a large magazine publisher, where he held a variety of different editorial positions, before leaving to become a self-employed writer, and later branching out into developing websites (including the world's first licensed Internet radio station). In order to enable people to continue to surf while listening, Robin also developed the first known pop-up windows.

Robin and his family have relocated to the USA twice, once to run a web design company in California, and then again to set up an English Tearoom in Texas. In between times they ran several successful pubs, bed and breakfasts and nightclubs in England. But in recent years Robin has returned to writing, focusing on motivation and personal improvement, while still continuing to produce his popular series of books on computing, many of which have now been translated into multiple languages.

Robin lives on the south-east coast of England (where he writes full time), along with his five children and wife Julie (a trained nurse and university lecturer) - between them they also foster three disabled children.