PHP for the World Wide Web : Visual QuickStart Guide (2nd Edition) (Visual Quickstart Guides)

HTML for the World Wide Web with XHTML and CSS: Visual QuickStart Guide, Fifth Edition

Beginning PHP 5 and MySQL: From Novice to Professional

JavaScript for the World Wide Web: Visual QuickStart Guide, Fifth Edition

Databases

PHP and MySQL for Dynamic Web Sites: Visual QuickPro Guide

Format: Paperback
Author: Larry Ullman
ReleaseDate: 21 May, 2003
Publisher: Peachpit Press
Rating:

The best start to learn PHPand MYSQL
The book covers PHP 5 and MYSQL 4. PHP and MYSQL for dynamic websites for Larry Ullman is another member of Visual Quick Pro Guide series that gives you a fast efficient way to learn.1 for beginners, intermediate and advanced users.
The introduction of the book gives you a fast definition for some important terminology about dynamic websites, what is PHP, why use PHP, how it works and what is MYSQL.
The first chapter is an introduction to PHP language, the basic Syntax, sending data to browser, writing comments, variables, strings, numbers, constants and quotation marks.
The second chapter covers the programming with PHP such as creating forms and validating forms data. The next chapter covers dynamic websites.
Chapter 4 and 5 covers SQL and MYSQL. And using PHP with MYSQL is covered in chapter 7.
The following chapters covers different related issues such as web application developing, cookies, sessions, security, CMS example and ecommerce example.
The book is good start for beginner to learn web developing with PHP and SQL.

Excellent guide to using PHP and MySQL
It is not the book to get for a basic introduction to the languages, or for an in-depth tour of esoteric constructions. This book has a ton of practical tips and examples for the real-world usage of PHP and MySQL. Where it excels is its coverage of a broad range of issues relating to installation, layout and security of your website; database design, layout and manipulation; and lots of particular examples of PHP to solve intermediate-complexity problems. For one small example, every security cheat-sheet says you should strip_tags when processing most form inputs, but how many discuss the problem of making sure the data really came from your own form, not someone else's?

The examples are not just a grab-bag of esoterica, like the " Cookbook" series. They build up as solutions to problems which arise in the course of implementing the usual examples (shopping cart, CMS, etc. ). The real "value-added" is that Ullman goes beyond the basics necessary to get a minimal example running. He then goes into the practical follow-on problems that most books never mention.

Minor quibbles:
(A) It uses two-column layout. This makes some of the code nearly unreadable, as the listing comes out almost vertical.
(B) There does not appear to be a companion website of the code.

I have a shelf of PHP and MySQL books, sorted from "shouldn't have bought" to "check first". This one goes directly into the check-first end! Considering the time and frustration saved, it's worth far more than the price.

Great for beginners, Not so much for Intermediates
Each new idea is immediately followed by an application/example. This is a great book for beginners. If, like me, all you know is that you need to learn both together, pick this book up. If you already know PHP and want to expand your knowledge to use MySQL, a few chapters you can skip, but this is still recommended for you.

My only complaints would be the lack of information on necessary functions for most programming purposes. I had to search online for information on obtaining the length of an array in PHP and how to easily insert a value from an array in with text being displayed through echo or print or into a string like I would in Perl.

Nonetheless, this has been a great book to get me to start using PHP and MySQL, though you will want to get a book devoted solely to PHP after you make your way through this book.