PHP Programming for Windows (Landmark (New Riders)) (Paperback)

by Andrew Stopford (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
PHP Programming for Windows the authoritative guide to developing web applications with PHP on the Microsoft Windows platform. It is the first book of its kind to offer a Windows centric stance on PHP with the intermediate to advanced audience in mind. This book covers PHP from the ground up and benefits both those new to PHP to PHP experts. The book covers new ground like using PHP with Windows databases such as Access and SQL Server plus other topics such as the Microsoft SOAP SDK and using PHP with the Active Directory.

From the Back Cover
PHP Programming for Windows the authoritative guide to developing web applications with PHP on the Microsoft Windows platform. It is the first book of its kind to offer a Windows centric stance on PHP with the intermediate to advanced audience in mind. This book covers PHP from the ground up and benefits both those new to PHP to PHP experts. The book covers new ground like using PHP with Windows databases such as Access and SQL Server plus other topics such as the Microsoft SOAP SDK and using PHP with the Active Directory.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 360 pages
• Publisher: Sams; 1st edition (May 17, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0735711690
• ISBN-13: 978-0735711693
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 7 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,260,995 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A good way to use your existing MS infrastructure with PHP, August 29, 2002

By	Jason A. Salas (Dededo, Guam Guam) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I just had the pleasure of reading New Riders' "PHP Programming for Windows" by Andrew Stopford. This book is excellent, and despite what the title may imply is actually geared towards both PHP and ASP developers, not trying to detract you from migrating away from a Microsoft-centric infrastructure (i.e., Windows 2000/XP, SQL Server, ASP, .NET, etc). Rather, it lends a helping hand for developers needing to cross-integrate a project with an existing infrastructure, with an emphasis on performance. You can take your existing ASP knowledge and extend it, even if only for the moment.

As such, the book offers a quick run-though of the structure of PHP as a developmental platform and gives a brief introduction into PHP programming. Admittedly, some experience with PHP or having read another book on learning how to program with PHP is helpful if one is to get the most out of this book; but if you're only looking to use PHP in an integration project, you'll learn enough to get by.

The book is concise and to the point, being a quick 294 pages long. It's a fast read, and well worth it. The book's content is up-to-date, providing discussions about integrating PHP with .NET, as well as with Windows DNA architectures.

The book's tone is written in such a way as to provide an academic, historical perspective on the evolution of PHP in the world of dynamic Web development, and defends against the popular and important theory that PHP has no place in the Web services arena, as most open-source communities tend to be disenfranchised when a new paradigm comes about. You can still create XML Web services using Microsoft technologies, and call them via PHP scripts, and an excellent discussion of using PHP to call remote/local COM objects within the scope of a Microsoft platform to create powerful XML Web services is presented.

The most significant discussions I found were the chapters on using PHP with Windows servers, using PHP to call COM objects, data access using SQL Server, Oracle, and MySQL back-ends, XML management, and how to work with Active Directory. But the biggest value for me was on a healthy discussion of sharing session information with ASP 3.0 and ASP.NET Web apps through Web-distributed data exchange (WDDX). Really cool stuff.

However, like many New Riders titles, some additional proofreading could have been helpful. The code was a bit buggy in some places, and there were sporadic, yet annoying writing snafus.

But the benefits far outweigh the shortcomings, of which there are very few. In short, if you're a Microsoft developer, and know a little bit about PHP already (or have a couple of days to spend practicing), this book will take you a long way.

3.0 out of 5 stars Surprisingly light on the Windows, April 27, 2004

By	Jack D. Herrington "engineer and author" (Silicon Valley, CA) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

For a book about Windows, this book has surprisingly little Windows specific information in it. The first chapter, on installation, is Windows specific. But then it doesn't go Windows specific until about 3/4s of the way through the book in section three, where it talks about COM, ADO, Active Directory and a couple of other Windows-specfic technologies.

It's a short book, so the mid-section which is not Windows specific is a general reference for PHP. It's a brief reference though, weighing in at less than 100 pages, where other books (PHP and MySQL Web Development) spend over 150 pages on just the basics.

I can't recommend this book unless you have a specific need for introductory information on PHP installation for Windows, or use of Windows specific back-end technologies like COM, ADO or the Active Directory.

4.0 out of 5 stars Nice little book on a very specific topic, January 19, 2003

By	Foti Massimo (Vezia (Switzerland)) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This is a nice little book on a very specific topic. In my opinion the author spend too much time (actually half of the book) revisiting basic concepts that any PHP developer should know pretty well, still he manages to provide very interesting information on topics that you hardly find covered elsewhere, like integrating PHP with COM, .NET, ADO or Active Directory