Customer Reviews

PHP 6/MySQL Programming for the Absolute Beginner

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

 

 

This book is in fact an absolute beginner's guide to PHP/MySQL!

This does NOT mean that my grandma would be able to learn how to make dynamic web sites by reading this book, despite the fact that she's never touched a computer in her life.
The scope of this book does not encompass a beginner's guide on how to use a computer nor the basics of web development (such as HTML and CSS) - those things are EXPECTED of those who want to learn PHP.
Without understanding HTML, the very basis of any web document, there is not much point in attempting to learn a web scripting language, such as PHP, which amongst other things deals with dynamically creating HTML by processing various user and browser inputs.

The negative reviews are quite annoying, because the people are voting not on the quality of the material, but on it's subjective incomprehensibility, caused by their own lack of preparation for the consumption of the knowledge contained in this book. It's like you're disappointed that you weren't able to fly an F-15 fighter jet, when you've never operated an aircraft in your life!
Try performing a modicum of research on various web technologies and how they interrelate before buying the first book you see.

As the old adage says: "Learn to walk before you run".

For those who have had some experience in static website creation, this is an excellent book, full of useful examples.
If the code give you errors - check the version of PHP you have installed (type: "php --version" into your server's shell (without the quotations)).
I tried most of the examples (used this book in a class) and they ran just fine under PHP 5.2

And if you encounter some material that's challenging, well that's just a little side-effect of trying to learn something new. It's not always easy, nor should it be.
Contact the author or ask your instructor for clarification (if you're using this at school) and they will surely abide.

I am giving this two stars because this is actually not a good book for beginners but really a book for more intermediate PHP users or those programmers interested in gaming development. It suffers from too much reliance on arcane examples plus a first couple of chapters that really provide more frustration than value to a real beginner.

Chapter one actually does nothing to really help you set up a php server. The book assumes that you know a good deal about local server technology and that you are comfortable setting up a local server on your machine. It assumes that you know the subtleties of how a local host file system works. It also assumes extensive experience in static web page development xhtml coding, CSS, etc.

In chapter two the book jumps from being very basic to using some advanced tools as examples. The concepts used require that you spend some extremely careful time reading the provided code used in the examples to understand the relevance of specific functions. The examples are interesting but are not directly applicable to a beginner.

In chapter 3 the book becomes a reasonable teaching tool yet its reliance on dice games as examples makes it somewhat irrelevant for what most users are studying this to do on the web. It does provide the new programmer, and even more experienced ones, with some foundation of how php code works but not in a web related context. It does develop good practices and explains how and why the programming works. It explains very well the differences in control structures, and where one shines over another. It makes arrays accessible but not friendly and provides a basic introduction into MySQL. With very careful study you can probably actually put all of it into practical applications but many times you will be left cold when applying it to more day to day web applications.

My advice is if you already have this book then use it as an auxiliary in conjunction with another book that will give you a more grounded perspective without so detailed reliance on complex game type examples. My personal recommendation is "PHP Visual Quick Start Guide Third Edition" by Larry Ullman. This is a real beginners book that actually teaches and will have you proficient in PHP in no time.

This was an amazing book for the material and the price! The only thing I can see is that the title could be a bit misleading. And as someone learning all of thsi stuff the hard way, I can feel your pain, but...

To all of the negative reviews:
this is not a beginner's guide to (X)HTML/CSS or Javascript!

You need an understanding of those languages before you can dive into this. This is about doing something with your pretty HTML/CSS web pages, that maybe pretty and well designed... can't really do much of anything.

Like posting a high score for a game you created w Flash or Java. Or are trying to see who is visiting your site, and would want to respond to your viewers with an e-mail. If you are at this level, then this is the book for you!

I'll admit, I haven't even made it through the first chapter yet. I have high hopes for this book, but the Amazon description left out one crucial detail: you need to REALLY know your XHTML 1.0 strict before hoping to handle PHP. The book makes this very statement on page 3. That would have been really nice to know before I bought the book, since I don't know the first thing about XHTML. Guess if I'm going to get my money out of this, I'll have to buy a book on XHTML first! >:/

This book suggests in the title that it is for the absolute beginner. Chapter 1 alone proves that this is clearly not the case. For example, he tells you to make changes to one of the core files for your local server program, but doesn't tell you what those files mean or what needs to be changed. He eve includes a note warning that changing files without understanding them can cause problems, but again, doesn't explain the possible changes. Also, he tells you two ways on how NOT to open the file, but then only partially describes how to open it by saying that you need to submit an http request but doesn't tell you how to properly type that request for your local machine. I tried what seemed to be the most obvious options, but none of them worked. Honestly, this is NOT the book to start with in learning PHP, and I wish my class would not have required it.

This book should not have been released yet. It is filled with errors - even beyond the errata sheet. The introduction says "I do not expect you to have any previous programming experience." Then on page 3 is says "make sure you can write solid HTML by hand." Isn't that programming? If I didn't have prior programming experience, I would not even be able to read the book. I tried to follow the examples in the book, but could not, there were three errors in chapter 3 alone. There are so many codes within the programs that are not even explained - this book is not for beginners. I am now purchasing additional books and referring to several different web pages to get through my class.

This book isn't for an absolute beginner, but that wasn't an issue for me because an absolute beginner shouldn't start by learning PHP or MySQL. Also, I don't know why they named it PHP 6, when the current beta release atm is 5.4. That rally doesn't make sense. Once PHP 6 acutally comes out, there will be a whole new engine that they are saying they are designing, so this book, won't help in the future.

Just the book I was looking for. Great price and fast shipping. What more could you ask for? It even came with the CD/DVD and I've tried using it and it works 100% fine. Thanks!