20 of 20 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
OK, but sloppy, March 25, 2003
Having previously read Wrox's Professional ASP Programming, I tried this book, hoping for something of equal merit.
This volume is has some decent material, but is marred by a tendecy to sloppiness.
Firstly, as other reviewers have noted, there are too many authors (count 'em - 16!), which is unnecessary, and leads to inconsistencies in presentation. The book could quite easily have been authored by a single writer. There are only a few chapters that required specialist knowledge.
For example, the early chapters are quite good at advising the reader on PHP settings. Since there's no option explicit in PHP,the author correctly advises the reader to increase their error setting to report unused variables. Later, however, much of the code uses uninitialised variables. This is particularly the case in the chapter on form handling, the approach to which is too crude, and uses form variables directly in code, whereas a better approach would be to capture them and process them using isset(). The isset() function isn't even covered in this chapter,but is used correctly in other chapters.
Secondly, while the converstational tone of Wrox books is often appealing, it can also be a problem at times. The presentation is not always comprehensive enough, and Wrox authors have a tendency to give overly clever examples.
Strangely, there's no reference section. I found some of the explanations sloppy and confusing, especially the section of session variables. (I still can't get the WAP application to work properly.)
Thirdly, the chapter on OO design leaves the reader stranded. After a decent theoretical discussion, the writer informs the reader that there will be no code examples, as the reader now knows enough theory to work an example out for themselves! If I've paid for the book, I don't really want to have it set homework for me.
Fourthly, there are an annoying number of errors in the code. Many of these are corrected in the online errata, but there are quite a few that aren't at present. Furthermore, some of them are not typos, but seem to be the result of misconceptions on the part of the writer. This tends to reinforce the impression that some of the authors are relatively inexperienced.
Lastly, there are a large number of errors in the downloadable code. I suppose supplied code should be seen as a bonus, but it's poor quality control, and greatly adds to the user's annoyance.
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9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent Database functionality coverage, January 29, 2002
With the book market flooded with compendia on PHP and MySQL,
I have been looking avidly around for a PHP book with coverage on PostgreSQL and ODBC.
This book has come at the right time for me - It covers the functionality aspects of MySQL,
PostgreSQL and ODBC - MS access and SQL server, through a common application that
runs through each of these chapters. I must admit however that the application was not high-end, but
it served very well the purpose of demonstrating the functionality of each database with PHP. I further
appreciated the use of GTK to develop a standalone app for the same database application. I am looking
forward to buying more of these common-theme-thread books - It has really helped me to good effect.
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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The next Step to Professional PHP Programming, January 29, 2002
Firstly i must admit that i have been waiting for a book like this to be released.I am the proud owner of three PHP books - PHP Pocket reference,Professional PHP Programming and Beginning PHP4.These books have influenced my career tremendously and shaped my development direction.
The Professional PHP4 is a well structured follow-up to the all of the above mentioned books and a must buy for anyone who wants to take their PHP skills further.
Well structured... because it takes you from the Professional rudimentaries to core PHP syntax,functions and OO to issues outside typical web application environment.It also covers multi-tier development using four different databases and even covers aspects of Il18n,optimisation and security.
I have now recommended this book to replace Professional PHP Programming in our local PHP education forum.
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