[thelist] PHP/MySQL book first impressions

Seyon evoltlist at delime.com
Thu Aug 5 21:51:31 CDT 2004


I got a new PHP/MySQL book a week ago from Amazon and promised to share my 
thoughts with thelist.

Before I begin here are the vital stats on the book:
Title: Web Database Applications with PHP and MySQL, 2nd edition
Authors: Hugh E. Williams, David Lane
Publisher: O'Reilly
ISBN: 0-596-00543-1
Price: $30.57 on Amazon
Pages: just shy of 800 (it's a typically hefty O'Reilly book!)

I wanted to give a very brief version of my thoughts to date, but I 
realised I was still talking about the first section of the book and the 
email was already 700 words long. Too much for first impressions, but if 
anyone is curious contact me and I'll send it along.

**I have not read the entire book yet. I've done the first 4-5 chapters and 
glossed through the rest, and spent some time in the index trying to find 
specific topics (and invariably failing)**

Here are the key points:
1. The book is divided into four broad sections (4-6 chapters each, 20 
chapters in the book) :
- Introduction to PHP, MySQL & SQL
- More detailed look at developing database-driven sites, specifically at 
accessing the database but also portions on validation and using sessions
- Advanced techniques such as error handling, OOP and a whole chapter on 
generating PDFs
- Putting it all together to build a fictitious online store

2. This is not a beginner's book. The authors quite honestly say this and I 
concur. If you don't know server-side programming you'll be out of your 
depth fast. If you know other languages but not PHP you may be ok, but 
depends on how strong your programming brain is. If you know some PHP you 
should be able to follow along.

3. This book doesn't strike me as a reference book. The chapters are too 
fast with lots crammed in - PHP variables, strings, arrays and manipulating 
all of the above are covered in two chapters. It's hard to look up specific 
topics, eg functions or syntax. Examples, I tried to look up the heredoc 
syntax and how to access environment variables with PHP. In each case I 
couldn't find what I wanted in the book. The index is large but not very 
useful (or at least it wasn't for me). I ended up using the online 
documentation.

4. I think the online documentation is the *best* resource for looking up 
functions. Especially when coupled with the user comments at the bottom of 
each page.

5. I think the real value of this book will be later on when the authors 
demonstrate how all the principles are put together practically to build a 
site that manages customers, inventory, ordering, etc.

Conclusion - would I recommend this book? Honestly I'm not sure yet. I've 
got 3+ years ASP experience and a couple using PHP. I was looking for a 
book to do two things - as a reference so I wouldn't have to run to the 
online docs, and as a reference to building some of the more common website 
services - shopping carts, login systems, etc.

I think the book will do the latter, but so far it's been failing at the 
former.

If this was useful to you and you'd like to hear what I think when I'm done 
reading the book let me know. I'll try to write a detailed review and 
submit it to evolt.

regards.
-marc

--
Trinidad Carnival in all its photographic glory. Playyuhself.com
http://www.playyuhself.com/


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