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I was perplexed as to why Larry Ullman left out one of the most salient features of PHP version 4—Session Management—until I learned that he has a second book coming out soon, PHP Advanced.
This lack of coverage of the most awaited new capability in the most popular server scripting tool was a mystery, and Ullman should really have told us that he omitted, and why. If you know about Sessions, then its complete absence from this book is a mystery, and the one black mark against what is a very good introduction to the subject of PHP.
Had I not known PHP for the World Wide Web’s elder sister is about to turn up, I would have awarded this book a lower rating than I have. But PHP for the World Wide Web deserves good marks despite its minor failing. It is a Visual QuickStart Guide, and in the tradition of QuickStart Guides it is possibly the single best book to obtain when you are contemplating taking up PHP. Especially if you are a designer looking to add some server-side coding to your skill set.
As with all other Guides in this series, PHP for the World Wide Web is copiously illustrated with screenshots and code listings within step-by-step mini-tutorials. You get an immediate taste for what PHP is and what it can do. I have several other much, much larger volumes on the same subject written in a very different style, and this one is the best introduction to PHP.
Consider PHP for the World Wide Web as the first volume in a two volume set. Buy this one first and then its companion when it comes out, and you will have one of the best books on this fast, easy to code and increasingly popular server-side scripting language.
The Book:
- Title: PHP for the World Wide Web
- Author: Larry Ullman
- Publisher: Peachpit Press
- Publication Year: 2001
- Pages: 232
- Illustrations: Monochrome
- ISBN: 0210727870
- Rating: 4
The Chapters:
- Getting Started with PHP
- Variables
- HTML Forms and PHP
- Using Numbers
- Using Strings
- Control Structures
- Using Arrays
- Regular Expressions
- Creating Functions
- Files and Directories
- Databases
- Cookies
- Creating Web Applications
- Debugging
- Appendix A: Installation and Configuration
- Appendix B: Security
- Appendix C: PHP Resources
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