PHP 5 Power Programming [Paperback]

Andi Gutmans (Author), Stig Bakken (Author), Derick Rethans (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

"This book, written by my colleague, Andi Gutmans, and two very prominent PHP developers, Stig Bakken and Derick Rethans, holds the key to unlocking the riches of PHP 5. It thoroughly covers all of the features of this new version, and is a must have for all PHP developers interested in exploring PHP 5's advanced features"

—Zeev Suraski, Co-Designer of PHP 5 and Co-Creator of the Zend Engine

• Expert PHP 5 programming techniques, direct from PHP 5 co-creator and key developers
• Definitive coverage of the PHP object model, design patterns, XML/SOAP integration, and more
• Solid introduction and expert insights into performance tuning, PEAR, extensions, and database access
• The definitive introduction to PHP 5's advanced features!
• The definitive introduction for today's most powerful PHP 5 techniques

In this book, PHP 5's co-creator and two leading PHP developers show you how to make the most of PHP 5's industrial-strength enhancements in any project—no matter how large or complex. Their unique insights and realistic examples illuminate PHP 5's new object model, powerful design patterns, improved XML Web services support, and much more. Whether you're creating web applications, extensions, packages, or shell scripts—or migrating PHP 4 code—here are high-powered solutions you won't find anywhere else.

Review PHP's syntax and master its object-oriented capabilities—from properties and methods to polymorphism, interfaces, and reflection

• Master the four most important design patterns for PHP development
• Write powerful web applications: handle input, cookies, session extension, and more
• Integrate with MySQL, SQLite, and other database engines
• Provide efficient error handling that's transparent to your users
• Leverage PHP 5's improved XML support—including parsing, XSLT conversions, and more
• Build XML-based web services with XML-RPC and SOAP
• Make the most of PEAR: work with the repository, use key packages, and create your own
• Upgrade PHP 4 code to PHP 5—compatibility issues, techniques, and practical workarounds
• Improve script performance: tips and tools for PHP optimization
• Use PHP extensions to handle files/streams, regular expressions, dates/times, and graphics
• Create original extensions and shell scripts

If you're a software developer new to PHP, you'll leap quickly into PHP and its new object-oriented capabilities. If you're an experienced PHP programmer, you already recognize PHP's convenience and simplicity. Now, discover all of its extraordinary power!

ABOUT THE SOFTWARE

At this book's link to Zend.com, download a fully functional 90-day version of Zend Studio, today's breakthrough tool for developing, managing, and debugging PHP code.

Series Editor Bruce Perens' is an open source evangelist, developer, and consultant whose software is a major component of most commercial embedded Linux offerings. He founded or cofounded Linux Standard Base, Open Source Initiative, and Software in the Public Interest. As Debian GNU/Linux Project Leader, he was instrumental in getting the system on two U.S. space shuttle flights.

© Copyright Pearson Education. All rights reserved.

About the Author

ANDI GUTMANS co-created PHP 3 and all versions since. A member of the PHP core team, he is one of the world¿s most highly regarded PHP developers.

STIG SÆTHER BAKKEN, also a member of the PHP core team, created PEAR: PHP Extension and Application Repository, the framework and global distribution system for reusable PHP components. Gutmans and Bakken are members of the PHP Hall of Fame.

DERICK RETHANS is a PHP code contributor and leader of the PHP QA team.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 720 pages
• Publisher: Prentice Hall; 1 edition (November 6, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 013147149X
• ISBN-13: 978-0131471498
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 7 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #215,970 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

51 of 54 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Multiple Talents Or Just Plain Scam?, March 18, 2006

By 

Fadi El-Eter "Fadi" (Montreal, Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: PHP 5 Power Programming (Paperback)

I have read the review below by P. N. Payne about the paid reviews. Immediately, I checked on the "See All My Reviews" link for Herrington, Boudville, and Matlock. Here's what I found:
Herrington: Reviewed 20 books on March 8th (no exaggeration), ranging from "RFID Essentials" (whatever that means), "Web site Cookbook", "Open GL", to "Degunking Your Home". Suspiciously, almost all of these reviews got 5 stars, where the pros stated are almost identical to those stated by the publisher, and the cons are really funny ones, such as "I would have liked full color throughout".
W Boudville: Reviewed 15 books on March 15th, including "Nanoelectronics and Nanosystems : From Transistors to Molecular and Quantum Devices", "The Origins of Cauchy's Rigorous Calculus (Dover Books on Mathematics)", "The Norton Anthology of English Literature: The Major Authors", "Natural Resources and Violent Conflict: Options and Actions", and of course "Computational Geometry in C (Cambridge Tracts in Theoretical Computer Science)". This guy usually gives all his books 4 starts. I think he's playing it safer than Herrington.
John Matlock: This guy reviewed 11 books on March 15th. Apparently, he read the "Handbook of Parallel Computing and Statistics", "Practical Poser 6", "The Rock from Mars : A Detective Story on Two Planets", "Carrara 5 Pro Handbook", "Beginning Visual C# 2005", "The Glorious Cause : The American Revolution, 1763-1789", and of course a book about marketing, seeing how marketing relates to the American revolution, C#, Carrara, Astronomy, Posing, and Statistics. Matlock opts for the 5 stars on all his reviews.
Now about this book, I'm buying it, because I read some excerpts in the library and I think it's great, not because of the rating of these guys. My 5 stars are given for the book, and the people who wrote the book, but certainly not for the publisher. Now I'm not against anyone making a quick buck, but I'm certainly against people getting paid for misleading others. I think Amazon has a real challenge over here:
1. Review their rating system, raising an alarm when someone has a way above normal number of reviews/day.
2. Dealing with unethical publishers encouraging and paying for this trash, and I think this is the hardest challenge for Amazon.
I just hope that Amazon is not aware of this, which I really find it hard to believe.

67 of 78 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Truth about Paid Reviews, January 18, 2006

By 

P. N. Payne (Albuquerque, NM United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: PHP 5 Power Programming (Paperback)

Look behind the high star ratings, particularly those which come out right after a book prints. Ie: If the reviewer writes several reviews a day, and they are all high ratings, and you believe it, then you have just been scammed. Matlock writes up to 12 review a day, on all different kinds of books. 5 stars each. He actually reads 12 books including computer programming books in one 24 hour day plus has time to write and send 12 reviews? What ever happened to honesty? How much do these guy get paid for this garbage? This book may be outstanding, but you can not trust Matlock, Boudville, or Herrington to tell you that. Too bad, because my quick scan made me think it is a fairly good advanced PHP book.

I have purchased too many computer books based on these biased reviews, and feel like I have been cheated. This is a lousy way to treat your customers. Maybe CBS or NBC or Fox will expose this on national TV. One star for lack of honesty in paying for or participating in this scam.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Superb Advanced Topic Coverage, May 24, 2005

By 

Relentless "skepticalbeliever" (Gainesville, FL) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: PHP 5 Power Programming (Paperback)

This book is one of those rarities in computer-book industry that are actually worth reading and a place in your bookshelf. The authors do an excellent job at uncovering what lies beneath the hood, so to speak. The first few chapters are a great refresher for those of us who come from a different programming language background. The intorduction to OO programming and patterns is one of the best I've read coming from a non-academic source. Thereafter is when the real substance surfaces. Showing how to take full advantage of not only PHP5's OO, but also of the C-based Zend engine and PEAR modules. The chapters on database connectivity are absolutely outstanding. The book is well written, and in some parts goes down to the time and space complexity and also the data structures used by the engine. Very good book overall. The only reason I did not give five stars to this excellent primer is because I found at least five or six typographical errors in the first few chapters. Not a big deal, just a matter of personal preference.
A must for PHP power developers.