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: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,169,587 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

54 of 57 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

Format: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. Read more ›

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful

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

By Relentless

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

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.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Highly Recommended July 27, 2005

By Adaera

Format:Paperback

PHP 5 Power Programming is the ideal introduction to PHP 5 for those who are already familiar with the PHP language. This book, written by some of the best known in the world of PHP, brings together all of the new and powerful features that PHP 5 has to offer, from polymorphism and interfaces to SQLite and SOAP. Anyone who knows PHP 4 and are wanting to make the change to PHP 5 would benefit from the "Making the Move" chapter. Watch out beginners, while the book does offer a "Basic Language" chapter, it isn't designed to introduce new programmers to the language. Those who are familiar with similar programming languages may be able to learn PHP from this short chapter, however don't expect the rest of the book to stop and wait for you.

PHP 5 Power Programming succeeds in showing the new features of PHP. The principle addition to PHP is the improvement of OOP. This book dedicated two chapters to introduce PHP 5's Object Orientated language and makes a fine job of simplifying something which appears complicated even to an experienced programmer. If you ever wanted someone to make sense of what PHP 5's OOP can accomplish, this book delivers it without fail. One of my personal favourites about this book is Chapter 5. Unlike the myriads of other PHP books, Chapter 5 actually deals with real life situations, such as file uploads and basic (but important!) file architecture. This chapter deals with the problems faced with cookies and sessions, and provides an excellent way around them. By the time you reach Chapter 6, you could be wondering what's left to be learned. The answer? Lots. So sit back and enjoy the journey through PHP 5, your in the hands of very experienced authors....

Not only does this book provide you with the "definitive introduction to PHP 5's advanced features" it also includes an extended 90-day trial of Zend Studio - the ideal Development Environment for PHP. This may make it a tempting purchase for programmers who are new to PHP. Even if the back cover encourages new developers to buy this book, I would strongly recommend against doing so. Chapter 2 does help set down the basics, but be prepared to take the plunge as Chapter 3 goes straight into OOP. If you're new to PHP and sure about choosing this book, I would suggest skipping both Chapters 3 and 4, head into Chapter 5 and see how the language should be used to the best of its ability.

PHP 5 Power Programming by Andi Gutmans (co-creator, PHP 5), Stig Saether Bakken (PHP core team member, creator of PEAR) and Derick Rethans (PHP contributor and the PHP QA team leader) is the perfect purchase for PHP developers wishing to bring their skills and programs into a new level. This book wastes no time in getting stuck into the advanced new features of PHP 5 and soon you'll be putting a big of reflection into all of your code. While not ideal for beginners, anyone who has experience with languages such as C, Perl or Java will find themselves understanding PHP in no time. Read more ›

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Upgrade Book July 19, 2005

By Brown Dog Speaks

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

If you're already writing PHP and want to hone your skills, this is the book for which you've been searching. Bring a highlighter because you will want to go back for quick references since the book is packed with so much good information.

If you don't write code and think OOP is a sound you make when you drop something, you will never have to buy another book as it will take you a lifetime to finish this one.

18 of 24 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Solid and valuable, but terse in style November 8, 2004

By Jack D. Herrington VINE™ VOICE

Format:Paperback

Reasonably experience web or PHP engineers will like this book. The PHP language introduction at the beginning is a brief seventy pages which sets the tone for the rest of the book; fast and concise.

After the first three chapters that introduce PHP there is an excellent chapter on design patterns. From there he heads into PHP application design in another solid chapter that effectively mixes code and illustrations to demonstrate best practices.

I found some fault in the database chapter that follows. He shows the use of string substitution in building SQL queries. This is never ever a good idea because the database access is slow and more importantly, vulnerable to SQL injection attacks. He fixes it though by showing proper use of replacement operators with the section on PEAR.

The heart of the book, which I believe is the first seven chapters, finishes of with a strong chapter on exception handling. The chapters that follow cover XML, regular expressions, file I/O, and graphics. The regular expressions chapter is very good.

There are chapters on installing and configuring PHP and PEAR. There is also a very good chapter on extending PHP with C.

In the appendices are some reference sections. In particular there is a listing of PEAR modules that is handy, but not particularly well organized. I would have much rather have had the modules organized into groups of related technologies.

There is room for improvement. There could be more illustrations, and the text could use some more exposition. But this is a solid book that will be valuable for PHP programmers looking to flesh out their knowledge of the platform.