Beginning PHP, Apache, MySQL Web Development
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Spotlight Customer Reviews
Average Customer Rating: 3.5Customer Rating: 5
Summary: Easy to Understand
Comment: I was forced into the world of PHP, MySQL and Apache by my boss, and I wasn't sure which book to get. I chose this book and I thought it was great! I did see a few typos, but in a way it made me actually learn the stuff, instead of blindly typing away and hoping the programs worked. I understood what they were doing and it has made me catch my own mistakes too. For someone who didn't really know what they were doing, I feel like an expert now! And it was nice to have useable applications when I was done- we are actively using several of these now (such as the emailing script and the user/login script- and we have plans to do more). My boss thinks I'm a genius.
I was reading these other reviews and while I can't speak for other books, I had no problems with deprecated code (I never saw that "mysql_create_db" function once in the whole book and I've been through most of it already) or the missing sql script from chapter 6 (it was the same database used in chapters 3, 4, & 5.. duh!) so I don't know what's up with these other guys. But oh well to each his own.
At any rate, if you want a good primer, get this book.
Customer Rating: 1
Summary: Don't get this book if you compiled PHP4 with MySQL4
Comment: Overall the book is ok, I gave it 1 star because of the mysql statements they are using is the depreciated commands.
Example: mysql_create_db()
exerpt from http://www.php.net/mysql_create_db
Note: The function mysql_create_db() is deprecated. It is preferable to use mysql_query() to issue a SQL CREATE DATABASE Statement instead.
If you compile your php4 with mysql4, the depreciated command will not work and be very frustrating to a beginner.
exerpt from same page: This function will not be available if the MySQL extension was built against a MySQL 4.x client library.
I do expect errors in books as nothing is perfect. I would think though, that all the code they provide would have been tested before publishing.
Customer Rating: 2
Summary: Terrible for beginners!
Comment: Unless you're looking for the challenge of picking out errors in code and fixing them yourself, do not buy this book. The syntax is awful and inconsistent. Minimal time is spent on explaining syntax and had me taking most of the code on faith. One part that should be considered a major blemish is where they tell you to use the script named "chapter6.mysql" and it is nowhere to be found. Can't continue without it though!
After posting a question to the p2p board, the official response was, "We are looking into this issue and hope to post a reply soon." That was in early April, and it's alredy almost mid-May. Still nothing. This shows the commitment the publishers and authors have to their books. I will never again buy a Wrox book.
If you still want to learn PHP and MySQL (minus Apache, which is discussed minimally in this book anyway), check out Larry Ullman's Visual QuickPro Guide "PHP and MySQL for Dynamic Web Sites." He is very thorough and is VERY clear about syntax as well as logic, and gives good examples.