Rating: 
Summary: Good Book
Review: I liked this book as it gives complete applications which can be deployed within hours, if not minutes, on a live web server.
Rating: 
Summary: Cover to cover, a great book to get you started
Review: I loved this book. 2 years after reading it, I'm now programming php and mysql database applications professionally. This book is a great way to get started using php and mysql.
Rating: 
Summary: Look elsewhere for learning PHP DB programming
Review: I plain didn't like the layout of the book. The chapter titles weren't very informative. Where would one look when trying to learn the how to connect to a database? I would at least expect a "hello world" example of connecting to a database not just a reference listing of the function call under "PHP's Built-in Functions". The examples given in the book aren't bad except that there is no mention of the file names so one could look them up on the CD. There has to be better books.
Rating:
Summary: Not for the beginner
Review: I probably should have taken more notice of the Reader Level on the back of this book, which lists "Intermediate to Advanced". Unfortunately it was the only book available at the time that seemed to cover both PHP and mySql, so I went ahead and bought it. I've bought coding/scripting books in the past for "beginner" levels and found myself screaming through the book at 10 pages a minute, and ending up not learning much at all, hence I wasn't too concerned about the level listed for this book. In hindsight, this was pretty stupid. I'm halfway through this book and my head is spinning. I don't think i've taken in a single thing so far, or nothing I could replicate anyway. I was hoping that once I got to the coding examples, i'd start to pick things up. Unfortunately, the author doesn't take you through the creation of the scripts, rather presenting the finished script on the CD for analysis. Anyway, i'm about to head out and buy a book aimed at the PHP beginner level, hopefully PHP Essentials by Julie Meloni, or PHP Fast and Easy Web Development, also by Meloni.
Rating:
Summary: Without PHP and MySQL experience
Review: I think this book is not so bad. It is good for beginners who don't have PHP/MySQL experience. Although the authors don't go into details of MySQL, you'd sort of pick it up along the way. You'll gain more from the book by playing and browsing through the CD. I installed Apache, PHP and MySQL on a Windows machine and everything works fine. Where other books are more targetted towards the Linux platform, this book assumes little about your underlying operating system. If you're experienced PHP programme and if you're looking for a book with detailed information, this is not the book for you.
Rating: 
Summary: Good Book - I Recommend this
Review: I would like to state that this book is quite good.
I've used it quite extensively. It was exactly what I needed. I've read some of the other reviews.
No, if you never programmed before, then this may not be the
book for you. Though, if you understand the basics of
programming. You should be able to understand it.
If you're already an expert at MYSQL & PHP - This is not the
book for you either. (And, why would you buy it then?) This is simply a good book to learn MYSQL & PHP in web applications. This Book was written fairly well. Easy to understand. He
also points out the problems that may arise up when developing
web pages. I recommend this book to anybody who:
Knows programming fundamentals, and wants to develop applications in PHP & MYSQL. I give it 4 stars. Because I think there's room for a little improvement.
Rating:
Summary: Loved it!
Review: I'm puzzled by the negative reviews. I'm a 30 year vet in computing, recently retired, and doing web/tech computing part time. I've needed to grasp parts of computing that I haven't been involved with, and boy did these guys get it right!
I loved the comment about "The bulk of this chapter is for those of you who have made it to the early 21st century without working with relational databases!" That's me! And the writing was just right in terms of code hints and kinks along with clear explainations of database concepts.
I'm reading the first edition, saw the second edition was out, and ordered it.
I will agree, however, that there are *many* editing mistakes where they mistake terms or have errors in their tables/code. Hopefully the 2nd edition solves this.
Rating:
Summary: Not a Good Learning Tool
Review: If you want to take some code off of a CD and get something up and running in a short period of time, this book is ok, but if that's your purpose you'll find more useful code on the web. If you're looking to learn PHP and MySQL by doing something useful and writing code and such, this isn't the book for you. 85% of the code is written for you in this book, and included on the CD. While you would think this would leave room in the book for thorough coverage of other things, that just isn't the case. The first 7 chapters do little more than introduce a user to MySQL and PHP, and the NINE APPENDICES in back do little more than that. The projects in between are worthy projects for novice PHP programmers I suppose, but I don't imagine you learn much when you're not really writing any of the code! It's all done for you, leaving you to write a few menial blocks that do nothing but call the files that are already written to use those functions - which is nearly useless if you want to learn PHP.
Rating:
Summary: hard to grasp
Review: It seemed as though this book was meant for people that already have a understanding of the foundation of PHP. Basic programming skills are definitely required. The introduction chapter dives you right into some PHP script that I copied verbatim and got an error result. Im returning the book.
Rating:
Summary: Rife with errors
Review: Making the transition from flat HTML to PHP/Mysql, this COULD'VE been a great book. However, because of the numerous errors contained in the application scripts, none of them see to work out of the box, and it ends up being more confusing for the novice. I suppose it is good debugging training, but it's a rough way to learn! If anyone ever comes up with an "Errata" site or updated scripts, please let me know. The editor/proofreader should be out of a job. Meanwhile, I'm out $30!!
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