Rating: 
Summary: Better than the on-line documentation
Review: The book is a good introduction to PHP programming and would probably well serve a beginner. Myself, I like to have a book instead of on-line docs, and this book is just fine for that.I don't think the 1 star ratings are justified. The advantage that this book has over the on-line documentation is that on-line documentation is only good if you already understand how to program. If you are new to programming, it is good to be shown the basics, which is something this book does well.
Rating: 
Summary: Informative and Fresh
Review: As my opinion is worth practically nothing, well I own 2 books. Teach yourself C in 21 days by guess who, Leon Atkinson. No I never did learn to write C, but It did help me understand other languages. I bought Core PHP programming also by Mr. Atkinson was great. It thought me enough PHP in 1 week to write an interactive database backend site. I wonder if he wrote any books on mySQL or if he is planning on it :-)
Rating: 
Summary: Weak All Around
Review: Weak writing. Weak explanations. Weak examples. Weak editing. And don't forget weak production. (What's up with all this glue?) And all the early raves are simply weak attempts to market what I feel to be the weakest programming book I ever laid my eyes on. What a farce. About 350 pages of online doc reprints makes up the bulk of this tripe. The remainder reminds me of the line from the Talking Heads tune; "You talk alot, but you're not saying much". Guess we'll have to wait for O'Reilly to get the job done right...
Rating:
Summary: LEON ATKINSON : THE MAN THAT INSPIRED A NATION
Review: Oh wait...maybe it was just me. This is a great book for anyone wanting to learn PHP, or who doesnt feel like scrolling through that boring online manual. The included CD with Apache and Xitami (and examples) is very nice.
This is the kind of book that makes you want to buy more books, and then put them on your shelf and tell people you read all of them! I was so inspired that I took the time to teach my pet monkey, Mojo, to speak rastafarian!
GREAT JOB, LEON!
Rating: 
Summary: Good book for beginners
Review: If you are new to C like programming languages and you'd like to use PHP, this book is a good reference. Someone who's more than a beginner will surelly find out more in the PHP mailing lists and discussion forums. Poor examples without output printout.
Rating:
Summary: Very Unimpressed
Review: I wanted something with more than the online documentation. This book isn't it. After a hour of working on a PHP script I find that looking at the online documentation at php3.com is better than using the book. Maybe for users who really are very, very new to programming this is a good book. Then again newbies aren't likey to start with PHP3. The type is large and I get the feeling it was rushed out. So far everything I have looked up isn't covered in any real depth (one page on forms, classes covered in 4 pages with examples and a lot which space). Oh well....
Rating:
Summary: Just Plain Lousy
Review: This is weak. I'm sending it back. Examples don't even work. Lot's of fluff like huge screen shots to help take up space and make it look like you are actually getting something. The book is mostly just a reprint of the online documentation though, with minimal supplementation. And to all of those (1) who provided the glowing reviews; shame on you. If you're totally clueless about programming and PHP, and/or desparate to have a book on PHP decorating your shelf, then this may be of some service to you. You're not going to learn much about PHP from it though.
Rating:
Summary: Credit My Account Amazon...
Review: Cuz this one is on it's way back to Seattle. After reading the initial reviews, I was quite eager for my copy to arrive. But now that it has I see I have fallen victim to an obvious pad job. More recent reviews paint a more accurate picture: this book is mediocre at best, and mostly lousy. The review from Cologne, Germany is spot on, as this text offers little more than minimally supplemented online docs and some basic programming concepts. And yes, there is an inordinate amount of whitespace. So it would seem the book shares some commonality with the early reviews. Both exhibit a lot padding!
Rating:
Summary: Not much more than the online documentation
Review: This book offers just a little more than the online documentation of php. 90% of the book is just like a printout of the doc. It adds some simple stuff, like sorting.
Rating:
Summary: Grab this one if you love whitespace
Review: Nice to have a PHP book available, but I feel the raves are either from the author's buddies or induhviduals who are all too easily impressed. This book is probably nice for someone coming to PHP w/o any programming background, but lacks the meat to appeal to intermediate and advanced folks. Just where is the beef? Too many pages are devoted to reprinting of online command docs, with minimal supplementation and examples. This is better than a sharp stick in the eye though and compliments the online docs, which in my opinion basically suck. On a more positive note, the author does seem to know how to write. A skill which eludes many of us geek types.
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