Customer Reviews

Professional PHP4

5 star:		(28)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

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.

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.

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.

Ok, so you have read PHP Programming for the Mentally Challanged, or Learn PHP in 23.5 minutes, or some other similar tome that seems to regurgitate itself every week or two...

Now you are thinking, "What should I do to take the next step?"
Answer: Read this book.

While this book has its share of typos, errors and other "burps" it is quite well presented, and if you take the time to use it, and truely study it, the errors will be easily fixed.

I have been working with PHP for all too long now, and I have given this book to a number of collegues to get them up to speed, and I have not been disappointed yet.

Good book to start serious programming with DB (MySQL or other ones) outside of learning to do
real medium to large scale web app development with PHP.
Also notice that this book has been written by authoritative peers like Luis Argerich (i am a fan of
his phpbuilder articles), Thomas,Rawat and scollo(from the earlier Professional PHP Programming) and
James Moore (moderator on PHP-GTK) and reviewed by many memebers from the PHP quality team.

I am mastering professional PHP knowledge undaunted.BUY IT NOW!

I bought this book based on the reviews i read here on amazon.I had learnt the PHP language from Beginning PHP4 by the publisher.
I have now read this book from front to back and i must admit that i have gained professional knowledge on diversified PHP topics.It has already helped me at my day job in streaming my project forward in the last week or so -- I truly felt i had gained a notch above the Beginning PHP Programmer. This book is a must read for anyone who has basic mark-up and c-like programming skills.

Another excellent red book on PHP. I have learned PHP through several books, extensive articles, tutorials, and now Professional PHP4 tops the list of useful PHP literature.
Things that i found really helpful:
* Explanation for all those buggy installation problems
* Handling files on the server's file system, and how to upload files from the web browser
* Sending e-mail and posting new articles with PHP, working with SMTP, POP/IMAP and NNTP
* An exhaustive case study (76 pages!) on building a shopping cart application for mobile phones
* Using PHP as a command line script interpreter
* PHP with XML
This book has a pretty exhaustive view of most topics, and is the ideal book for PHP developers wanting to add professionalism to their web application development. I shall continue using this as a reference for all topics PHP (till I get another red book with photos).

Professional PHP4 Programming is the newer version after "Professional PHP" by Wrox. A lot of information regarding sessions and some on security. I would have liked more case examples, such as this book's previous version used. Granted, most examples are not adequate as full-blown applications, but they give you a good idea on how to structure your programs. NOT for the beginning PHP programmer; if you're unfamiliar with PHP, look for "PHP Fast & Easy Web Development" by J. Meloni, as it has a lot of simple applications to get you started.

In all, this is an excellent book; it's also very useful as a reference on the subject. I'm giving it four stars instead of five because, as stated, some example apps. would have been helpful.

I bought a copy of this book last month and this is what i
achieved between then and now:
A large Internet project, an medium scale ecommerce site and a site devoted to biotechnology articles and white papers.
There is ample and valuable information in the book for programmers who have just basic HTML knowledge and C-like programming skills.

I even found a chapter introducing Multi-tier programming:).Good job

I learnt PHP3 from Leon Atkinson's Core PHP programming, but i had to refer to the manual and the list archives for several problems.I came across this book recently from KY's review corner - I have been able to raise my level of PHP knowledge after reading through this book.This book is an asset for Professional PHP developers who can refresh their PHP knowledge with the excellent case studies. For beginners there are several examples throughout the book that will help them understand how to use PHP to create fully featured active sites.This book also has extensive database treatment - using PHP with MySQL,PostgreSQL and ODBC.
It is a must for anyone wanting to use PHP or make the move from PHP3 to PHP4!