Customer Reviews

A Programmer's Introduction to PHP 4.0

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This book is well done. It is easy to understand and the code and examples are great. Its starts off with a section on the fundamentals of using PHP in a web site. It has a great section on File I/O and the file system. The most useful part of the text for me was the section toward the end of the book on dynamic web sites (chapters covering forms and databases - specifically MySQL).

I have read and reviewed (for text adoption at the college I work at) a number of PHP/MySQL books in the past year and I found the Gilmore text (A Programmer's Introduciton to PHP 4.0) targeted to people who already understand HTML and static web development and some basic programming concepts. The text is full of solid code and clear explainations.

This text is geared for people who want to implement an open source PHP and MySQL or other database solution. Mr Gilmore gets right to the point quickly brings you up to speed. Many of my junior and senior level students also liked the book.

The curriculum I use in class (at the college) is well supported by this book. The following is a list of key elements I cover in my PHP/MySQL class (and is well supported by this book):

PHP Introduction - Server Environment (usernames/passwords) Server Side Includes, Redirects, Date Functions (1 week) Intermingling HTML and PHP, Variables, Form Processing, and E-mail Handling (1 week) Introduction to SQL and MySQL - working with tables and data (in and out) (3 weeks) Web-Based Registration Systems - forms to register, send data, get data, relational databases, etc. (2 weeks) PHP Fundamentals - More of Variables, Functions, Arrays, etc. (3 weeks) PHP File Management (1 week) PHP Searching and Sorting (1 week) PHP Security and .htaccess Security (1 week)

This is actually the only PHP book that I can finish reading. Those thick books from Sam's and Wrox are just too much for me. (They don't lay on my lap nicely while I'm typing either) Great book for programmers who don't want hello world examples, but real-world working examples. I enjoyed it from the beginning till the end, even for the first half intoducing the core syntax. The array and database sections even serve as a handy reference I look up everyday (filled with useful examples). Topics regarding ODBC, XML, COM, Templates & Javascript are good to introduce the topics, but not too long to bore you. I highly recommend this book!

This book starts with the understanding that you know how to write programs. It gets right into the particulars, without bogging you down in the details of what conditionals or objects are. There are a few holes though, so I would suggest getting a more detailed book like the "PHP 4 Bible", by Tim Converse and Joyce Park from IDG Books, as a supplemental reference.

Not for newbies to programming but if you know the basics
of html and javascript and basic database stuff but want the
heads up on PHP then this book is great !!!... Just the facts described short, sweet and to the point. Examples are perfect
without being overly complex. Good stuff.

I haven't read a lot of PHP books, but as far as programming books in general go, this is one of the better ones. It does what it says, and fulfills the basic need to jump start your PHP development. You really don't need to know much to get maximum benefit from the book, because it starts from the beginning. The word programmer in the title seems to be simply a caveat so the author can move through the material at a brisk pace.

Why is this book such a good buy?... What this book does is give you a quick reference to the basics of the language WITHOUT getting bogged down with the lengthy explanations that a raw beginner might need. The book is so concise and well organized that you can find clear examples and explanations on almost any common topic with no hassle.

I really have to emphasize how much this will speed up your early PHP development.

Topics covered include: Installation, Configuration, Variables, Arrays, Expressions, Operators, Control Structures, Functions, Libraries, OOP, Files, Strings, Regular Expressions, Templates, HTML Forms, Databases (MySQL), Cookies, Session Tracking, XML, Javascript, COM, and Security.

OK, on the upside: This book is very readable, very light. Some texts are so dense that they almost necessitate being read in 10-page increments. Thankfully, this book is comparably straightforward, and there is a lot of relevant content covered.

Unfortunately, there are quite a few typos and numerous instances of ambiguous code that could easily throw off beginning programmers. These include:

1.) Multiple instances where "-" (single minus sign) is used as a decrement operator, which will not work (i.e., $x-; whereas it should be $x--;).

2.) Page 68 - Presents the do..while loop in VB-style syntax (that is, with the do keyword followed by a colon and then line-separated statements, rather than with a C-style code block in {braces}). On the next page, the author then informs us that the VB-style syntax, which is offered for while loops and for loops, is actually not available for the do..while loop. So why was it presented that way on the previous page? I suppose it was meant to be a pseudo-code representation, and not the actual syntax - but it's certainly misleading.

3.) Page 76 - Convoluted description of "continue n;" syntax: "The optional n acts as the opposite of the n accompanying the break statement, specifying to the end of how many levels of enclosing loops the continue statement should skip." Eh? I found this one to be rather difficult to comprehend, especially since no example was provided.

4.) Page 66 - At the top of the page, the first line of code reads, 'if ($food == "pasta")', but the accompanying comment for that line reads, '//check $pasta value', even though it is the value of $food we are checking (NOT the value of $pasta).

5.) For example, on pp. 90-91, the syntax for the 'include' function is listed first as 'include(path/filename);' (parentheses but no quotes around path) and then, alternatively, as 'include "path/filename";' (with quotes around path, but no parens). But in the example that follows, it is written as 'include ("array_sorting.inc");' - which contains both quotes AND parentheses. I suppose all three are acceptable - but this is not stated explicitly, and as such, it's very unclear.

All in all, not a bad book in terms of content covered, but it definitely should have been edited more carefully. If you're relatively comfortable with another programming language already, you'll probably catch most of the typos - but I'd still keep the PHP documentation handy.

This is a great book. I am not a professional programmer but have some experience with Perl and needed to use PHP. Gilmore's book not only got me going successfully with PHP, but has also taught me some essential things about programming, databases and how a web site works. The presentation is elegantly simple and an enormous amount of information and experience is transmitted in a small number of very astutely chosen examples of immediate usefulness. Congratulations.

Before reading this book I was a very discouraged CIS student. I was losing interest and fast. Programming no longer seemed as romantic as it once was (it once did...honest). But then I read this book at it changed my entire perspective. The author has quite a knack for guiding you through the world of PHP. I even caught up on some programming concepts I never quite understood in college classes. Now, not only am I constructing advanced websites with the wonderful modularity PHP offers, but I'm also trying out my new-found knowledge on other languages as well. If you're interested in making webpages...or you're just a programmer who's itching to learn a new and fun (fun!!!) language then you need this book.

As a Java Web programmer of a couple of years I found this book an excellent resource that got me working quickly. It is definitely not for the beginning programmer as there are other books better suited to that task. Mr. Gilmore presents PHP in a clear and concise format. In the first chapters he covers, as he should, the structure, language syntax, and logical constructs with sufficient prose to get the experienced programmer working quickly. I found the depth of these topic slightly more detailed than needed but I breezed through them. He even includes an entire chapter on Strings and Regular Expression if you need the refresher.

The second section is also well written and concise. He covers how to use PHP as a web scripting language and the database access aspects of it as well. If you are not familiar with how web apps work, Mr. Gilmore gets you workinq quickly with ideas and hints to using templates and dynamic page generation techniques. The chapters each complete with a sample PHP web app.

The final section covers XML, Javascript/COM, and security. The security chapter is a must read for beginnig PHP programmers so the don't leave gaping holes in there sites.

I highly recommend this book for any programmer looking to move to PHP. PHP is a high level productive web development environment and Mr. Gilmore made it even more so for me.

I admit I have learned new things from this book: for instance, the new block syntax/constructs, using "if (conditions):" and "endif;", instead of curly braces (and this also applies to for constructs). Also, the require_once and include_once functions, that seem pretty self-explanatory compared to require() and include().

However the book misses a lot that is elementary to (web) application development. For instance, it does not discuss how to use define() to declare CONSTANTS, so that you can absolutely avoid over-writing some key information. And the book purports to discuss integrating Javascript into PHP/Web applications, and then spends only about 6 or 8 pages of uselessly vague information on this topic (instead, it might have been interesting to contrast the way the two languages implement regular expressions, so, for instance, you could sync up client side Javascript form validation code with server side PHP form validation code).

Therefore, I would place this book at the beginning to intermediate level, rather than the intermediate to advanced level I was hoping for. I don't foresee using this book much now that I've bought it, but am glad I have a protege to whom I can pass it along.