PHP and MySQL for Dynamic Web Sites: Visual QuickPro Guide

Beginning PHP 5 and MySQL: From Novice to Professional

PHP and MySQL for Dummies, Second Edition

Php Books

PHP 5 / MySQL Programming for the Absolute Beginner (For the Absolute Beginner)

Format: Paperback
Author: Andy Harris
ReleaseDate: 23 July, 2004
Publisher: Course Technology PTR
Rating:

Is what it says
When I say absolute I mean it. I am an Absolute beginner. My education was spent in the history department and reading through texts written centuries ago. I took my last math class as a college freshman and only in the past couple of years opened up a web design program and got to learning html.

Programming is an entirely foreign world for me. It is an entirely foreign way of thinking for me. I can happily write twenty or more pages on some obscure incident in the late Roman Empire but show me a bit of code and my brain fogs over.

This being the case I found Andy Harris' book to be exceptionally helpful. He takes you step by step, explaining key concepts and vocabulary, inserting bits of humor and the occasional tangent, keeping the lessons fresh.

The first seven chapters deal more directly with the basics of PHP. The rest deal mostly with MySQL.

I got into PHP through my wrestling with Wordpress, and my interest in working with other CMS systems for an education environment. Underlying these great open source programs are PHP and MySQL. Harris' book, then, serves as a wonderful foundation for my pursuits as I move past being an absolute beginner.

It may not be appropriate for those with a stronger foundation in programming, but then the title should give that away. There are the very occasional errors in the code, but these are fixed in the provided CD, so it gives a person experience in discovering how to fix broken code, another great lesson. As most of the errors in the code come from my own mistakes, not the book's, getting good at comparing my work with the cd is a useful lesson indeed.

Because of this book I am no longer an absolute beginner but instead someone able to both develop new projects and work much more effectively with established open source programs. Andy Harris has written what I consider a "fog-lifter" book, a rarity in the programming instruction world. .

Little taught in a 428 page book, bad coding, not helpful
I learned very little from this book and not enough for a functional php/mysql website. In 428 pages, the book barely moves past control structures. Functions are not explained well and very few are included. The author uses old and bad coding practices.
As far as the PHP parts go, online tutorials have been more helpful. The title implies that the book is not only about PHP but ALSO largly about MySQL. It only touches on MySQL.
This book was useless. I had trouble installing PHP and MySQL despite the book's instructions. The software on the CD is not usable if you want the most recent versions. The coding on the CD did not all work correctly and was incomplete.

Great Book
. I have used many different books and resources to learn programming languages and this seris is by far the best I have ever used.