PHP 4 Bible [Paperback]

Tim Converse (Author), Joyce Park (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 076454716X | ISBN-13: 978-0764547164 | Publication Date: August 17, 2000 | Edition: 1

The PHP 4 Bible is a comprehensive tutorial and reference to PHP. The Bible provides a clear, coherent description of PHP and how to use it whether you are a web developer, someone with ASP experience, or a C programmer. The book covers why users need PHP, how to get started, how to add PHP to HTML, and how to connect HTML web pages to databases. The authors take advantage of their own extensive experience using PHP to provides case studies of how and where to use PHP, along with advanced topics such as HTTP, cookies, redirection, building graphics, and sessions.

Why you need this book:
* Comprehensive tutorial for PHP4: covers all the basics of PHP 4, and how to use PHP to connect HTML- and XML-based web pages to databases.
* Essential reference for programmers: provides extensive PHP case studies, and appendices that get you up and running quickly if you have a experience with JavaScript, ASP, Perl and C/C++
* Covers the key features and improvements in PHP 4
* Advance topics include: building graphics, classes and objects, sessions, cookies, and real-life case studies
* Expert authors: Tim Converse is a programmer with experience in web developer and who instructs at the University of Chicago. Joyce Park is a writer on open source topics and web developer who creates sites using PHP.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

One issue that dampens enthusiasm for open-source products is a lack of mainstream documentation and tutorials that are written by professionals. PHP 4 Bible takes care of that little detail for PHP, the cross-platform (and free) server-side scripting language for the Web.

PHP 4 Bible is as comprehensive a discussion as you will find about this fascinating language, which can hold its own against commercial competitors like Microsoft Active Server Pages and Allaire ColdFusion. It covers the core elements of the language and its syntax with critical applications of PHP, such as database access and XML integration. The chapters follow a traditional tutorial style, which is helpful to those who are new to PHP.

An introduction to the basic language constructs, control structures, and functions leads off this book in a comfortable way for readers who are versed in other languages, such as Visual Basic. Very practical chapters, such as "Basic PHP Gotchas," help keep students out of trouble as they get their feet wet in PHP. For database access--a critical application of PHP in the real world--the focus is appropriately on MySQL, a simple, cross-platform SQL database.

Plenty of code examples and a companion Web site with downloadable code fill out this tutorial nicely. It is a one-stop way to learn PHP inside and out. --Stephen W. Plain

Topics covered:

• PHP syntax
• Variables
• Data types
• Control structures
• Custom functions
• Specialized functions
• File-system functions
• Style tips
• PHP "gotchas"
• SQL introduction
• Database access
• Sessions
• Cookies
• JavaScript integration
• E-mail access
• XML integration
• Object-oriented programming by using PHP

From the Publisher

Inside you'll find complete coverage of PHP 4:

Get up to speed on relational database design
Connect Web pages to backend databases
Build complete user experiences with session-tracking
Use PHP for object-oriented programming
Connect your PHP code directly to e-mail programs
Secure your Web site against attacks
Employ cookies and redirection
Avoid common bugs and development stumbling blocks

BONUS COMPANION WEB-SITE packed with code and examples

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 689 pages
• Publisher: Wiley; 1 edition (August 17, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 076454716X
• ISBN-13: 978-0764547164
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 7.4 x 1.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.8 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (29 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,419,465 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

43 of 45 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Complete, but confusing, September 8, 2000

By 

Erica Douglass (Solana Beach, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: PHP 4 Bible (Paperback)

This book contains the most complete reference to PHP4 that I've seen (besides the online manual, of course.) However, a lot of the examples hold no real-world value, and much of the book is an introduction that Julie Meloni does much better in PHP Essentials. The end of the book finally gets into some real-world examples, but earlier chapters can be downright confusing to a beginning programmer. One subheader in Chapter 7 reads "Careful with nonintegral comparisons," which means little to those of us who are not experienced programmers.

4 stars for completeness and sheer bulk, and because it makes an EXCELLENT reference for PHP programmers. It tries to do too much, however... and doesn't provide a good introduction to PHP. If you're new to PHP and programming, I recommend PHP Essentials be your first book, and that PHP 4 Bible be your guide after you outgrow PHP Essentials.

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars PHP Bible's promise of happiness in PHP world can come true, December 17, 2000

By 

Peter (Vancouver, BC, Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: PHP 4 Bible (Paperback)

PHP Bible (written by Tim Converse and Joyce Park)

The book in 32 chapters which are logically structured into three parts:

Part I - Basics contains first fifteen chapters

Part II - the very important part dealing with relations of PHP and Databases contains chapters 16 to twenty-four

Part III - Advanced techniques contains last eight chapters of the book.

This nice structure is extremely useful in dishing the info to different levels of reader's understanding. While seasoned programmer can just skim the first part it gives plenty of information for newbie, but it refrains from overflooding with unnecessary details. The book is truly building comprehension in manageable doses with clear references to the future "explorations in the field". The only thing I felt as underestimated was the installation of PHP on the Windows, which is basically left on the use of Microsoft's own server products IIS versus PWS, while my explorations in this matter shows that interest in PHP in the Windows community grows steadily with server preferences shifting towards Apache or other servers. At the same time I have to give authors the due credit for putting necessary references straight at the end of the chapter. There are few references missed however, because (for example) the installation of PHP working with an excellent "Sambar" server are actually documented straight in the server's FAQ file and installation should not take more then five minutes even to the greenest of all newbies. .... .

The second part of the book is devoted to the databases from the short introduction - through their tremendous impact on the Web data processing ending in long list of all databases supported by PHP. In total agreement with public preferences authors picked MySQL as a database in the focus. Following the short expose to SQL terminology lightly sprinkled with database design we are fast forwarded through the MySQL related functions of PHP and their use in processing the forms and output of database querries. Not only we can find the examples through the whole text, but also we have "real-live" lookalike example in the whole chapter 22. I can only attest that this "twenty-two" makes things really easier to understand in opposition to the infamous "Catch-22" of Yossarian fame.

The third part starts with logically the most needed information following the databases - sessions and cookies. Then it goes back to OOP, Security and configuration and tuning of PHP system. The sample code is again supported by excellent explanations, which as in previous chapters are unasuming, informative so the book left me at the end with the feeling of no major question to answer and ultimately with happines which authors (in accordance with the real Bible) were proclaiming through the text. Thus their First rule proclaimed in the chapter 6:"Don't worry, Be happy" supports now my programming confidence and I am sure it will do the same to anybody lucky enough to acquire this book.

14 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars PHP Unexplained, November 7, 2000

By 

Greg C Cole (Eugene, OR United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: PHP 4 Bible (Paperback)

I've found most books in the Bible series to be quite good and in-depth. This is not the case with the PHP4 Bile, which barely scratches the surface on the subject of the greatest open-source server side scripting language (PHP). The book is very simplistic, yet at the same time not descriptive enough of the simple examples it gives. Two exapmples in ch 27 did not work without having to change the coding. The book offers very little above and beyong the online manual. The book would better be titled PHP4 Bible For Beginners. If you're looking for a good explanation of useful php functions with real-world examples, buy Professional PHP Programming from Wrox.