Customer Reviews

PHP 4: A Beginner's Guide

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Don't do it!! If you're new to programming, I recommend staying away from this book. It teaches programming using programming language. It's like trying to learn Greek by reading a Greek newspaper.

Here is an example from the book, it explains what an environmental variable is:
"Environment variables are used to store options and parameters that customize the application environment. Applications can access the values of environment variables and adjust their behavior accordingly."

If this example didn't make sense to you, don't expect the author to clarified it any further. For the most part, the entire book is written using programming jargon and not much plain English at all.

Here's another example, (one of my favorites):
"A database table should contain only atomic values. That is, no column should have a composite value."

I am sure this means something to someone, but to explain atomic values by saying they're not composite values is far from plain English! I nearly threw the book after reading this!

Nowhere did I find a simpler explanation of what is meant by atomic values. I guess the author thought "not composite" was sufficient enough.

I had to get this book for a class. I have read over half of it and still have no clue how to program with php. I actually experience anxiety when having to complete reading assignments from this book because I know it will only cause confusion and frustration.

Plus I have yet to figure out if there is any logical order to the way the material is presented. Each chapter seems to be independent of itself - not building on much of the previous chapters.

All in all, a very disappointing book. Despite the title, this is not a beginner's guide. If you already understand programming than maybe this will help you learn php. But if you are new to programming, stay away from this book... far, far away!

The examples in this book are decent. It has a path from beginner to intermediate that is acceptable. I think its main setback is that it doesnt really get into how the data is being parsed based on the code you write. Something he doesnt explain in the book that I found out the hardway (getting laughed at by the geeks in efnet-#php) is that globals are not turned on by default. This book assumes they are and doesnt tell you what thats all about. I would recommened this book to someone who doesnt want to learn php, but is more interested in stealing some codebits to put some projects up quickly. While I refer to it from time to time, when I do, im usually looking for the mickey mouse approach which this book seems to embrace. I wonder if I am allowed to say mickey mouse in a review.

This is my first review. I don't normaly write them except that I found this book to be exactly what I was looking for. I needed to learn php and I had to do it on my own.I am a complete beginner in this area.
The chapters were clear and concise. The code was explained without 'over explaining" it.
There are small quizes in each section to help reinforce the learning.
I didn't find any problems with the source code.
If you're looking for a place to start with php I don't think you can find a better book.

I, for one, don't expect myself to know anything about a topic when I first start reading a book around it - especially when that book has the word 'Beginner' in the title. However, I DO expect the author to know quite a bit, and to pass on that knowledge. Others may find it excusable that, with recent releases of PHP (meaning 4.2.0 and later), the scripts in chapter four won't actually work with a default PHP configuration - but I don't. I found it infuriating to have such a result, especially since it took me about an hour to resolve. (Kudos to php.net's page on 'Using Register Globals' for explaining things.)
Also, what kind of author calls a project a 'Busy Box?!' C'mon. That's all I can say. C'mon. Osborne has put out some excellent books (such as Herb Schildt's C++ books), but this one is _not_ up to their standard. It's an easy read, and a reasonable way for an experienced programmer to pick up PHP quickly (aside from the aforementioned caveats), but there have GOT to be better books out there.

This book looked promising from the reviews. The code examples were buggy, I stopped trying to work through this book and picked up PHP Essentials by Julie Meloni and had a much better experience.

There are better beginner books, get one of those instead.

I just recently bought this book, and I must say that it has helped me a lot, and I am not even half way through it yet. I had always wanted to learn PHP, and I tried to get tutorials over the internet, but I was getting nowhere. Then I saw this book and decided to pick it up. within the night I got it, I was already writing simple PHP scripts. This book has many visual examples written out that you can modify and add to. Overall, I would recommend it to anyone that wishes to learn the power of PHP!

I started web development writing out pages and pages of HTML and started to want a little more from my websites. I decided to learn a web programming language, and php was the language that i chose. I decided that if i were really going to learn the language, i would need to buy a book on it. After looking for a while, i found this book and from the reviews and other sources, it looked like a great book.

After reading through the first couple of chapters and learning the basics of PHP i knew i had bought a good book. My favorite part about this book is the vast amounts of code snippets that it has incorporated into it. I can just look up something in the index, go to the page, type the code into my website, and that feature will be added to my site. I would suggest this book to anyone who wants a quick introduction into the PHP language. You dont need to know any previous knowledge about php, for it starts from the basics and works its way up.

Don't waste your money

I bought this book after reading the reviews here and my experience with one of their other books (A Beginners Guide Flash MX, this was a very good book). I have had nothing but a headache trying to get the code to work from chapter 4 and 5. I've given up and don't recommend this book to anybody until the code is debugged. I feel I shouldn't have to go to PHP sites to get help in debugging code. Too bad from the reviews it looked promising but alas buy another book on introductory PHP.

Great for a n00b. Really helped me understand some things. Don't get me wrong PHP stuff is all over the net but sometimes, I hate to say it, we are all not plugged in and it helps to read (bathroom, car, airplane) That is why I don't just use the internet for reinforcement.

Most programming is intuitive, you have to catch on or you don't make it in the programming world... This is a really good intro to PHP. What you start with in this book can then be filled in and filled out with online resources and a sharing community of fellow programmers and techs.
And yes, PHP5 is in use now... but don't let that stop you from this introduction if you really want to jump in to implementing PHP for secure interactive content on your site!