Rating: 
Summary: Not as bad as many think - for beginners
Review: This book was the first of five I now own on the topic, and while many of the criticisms written previously here are accurate (especially the irritating example code which doesn't show you the resulting output), I still find myself pulling this one off the shelf because of some of its virtues :1) It's a decent introduction to PHP, because it won't overwhelm the first-time web programmer, and pretty much assumes you don't know much of anything 2) Despite the amazingly disorgranized approach to the topic, certain sections are quite useful : regular expressions, various sorting methods, generating graphics on the fly, and basic approaches to integrating HTML & PHP are well covered. 3) Even though it's an apparent ploy to boost the page count of a book of somewhat shallow content depth, the fact that the type is larger than average with huge bold headlines for each function really helps if you're just flipping through looking for something specific. 4) The cover is actually attractive, unlike the usual monstrosity of a cover of Professional PHP Programming (why does WROX think we acutally want the faces of the authors staring up at you all the time ? ). OF course, Professional PHP Programming is far and away the best book on this topic if you have any programming experience.
Rating:
Summary: Nice but.......
Review: This was the first book I bought on PHP. I had bought Core Java 1 & 2 before as recommendation from a friend and was thrilled to find Core PHP. I liked it from the start. I was just beginning PHP programming for a database course and used this as reference. I had some programming experience in Java, and therefore didn't need a real beginners book to start me up on PHP.
However, as time went along and I got a little more advanced in PHP I found the book fell short on me. I couldn't always find what I was looking for and since I was programming online anyway I found myself more and more ignoring the book and just using the php online manual at php dot net where you can find any function and everything is up to date. That is the beauty of PHP as it is. So I think most people would be better of finding a book that helps them along with programming (I honestly couldn't say which, I have only used this and php.net) instead of a reference, like this book is, or trying to be. You don't really need a reference since php.net is a good enough and free reference on it's own.
Rating: 
Summary: big, friendly and not useful
Review: [Reviewing 2nd edition.] This is definitely not a CORE quality book (especially compared to the outstanding CORE Java series).
Section 1, 100 pages of introductory material, tell you what RAM is (sort of), but doesn't tell you what happens when a cookie and a POST variable have the same name.
Section 2, 450 pages of this book, is a function reference, but the online php manual is free, easier to read and has more examples.
Section 3 has some exploratory examples -- I think there are better examples in the online manual and elsewhere on the net.
The book is confused about its audience. Beginning programmers should NOT start with php (or any scripting language) unless they are forced to put up a php web site overnight -- in which case they need a "cookbook", which this is definitely not. Experienced programmers will be terminally frustrated with the book's disorganization, poor layout and lack of crucial information.
Summary: It's not a cookbook, not a usable reference book and has no best practices advice.
Rating:
Summary: big, friendly and not useful
Review: [Reviewing 2nd edition.] This is definitely not a CORE quality book (especially compared to the outstanding CORE Java series).
Section 1, 100 pages of introductory material, tell you what RAM is (sort of), but doesn't tell you what happens when a cookie and a POST variable have the same name.
Section 2, 450 pages of this book, is a function reference, but the online php manual is free, easier to read and has more examples.
Section 3 has some exploratory examples -- I think there are better examples in the online manual and elsewhere on the net.
The book is confused about its audience. Beginning programmers should NOT start with php (or any scripting language) unless they are forced to put up a php web site overnight -- in which case they need a "cookbook", which this is definitely not. Experienced programmers will be terminally frustrated with the book's disorganization, poor layout and lack of crucial information.
Summary: It's not a cookbook, not a usable reference book and has no best practices advice.
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