Great PHP book...
I was looking for a PHP book that wasn't just a reprint of the manual (like most of them are). This book is great for newbies and expirienced programmers alike. This is the book that'll be on your desk 24 a day -- since you'll keep refering back to it. Should be on every serious PHP developer's book shelf. The only thing I didn't like about the book was that the chapter on PHP and XML didn't provide as much details as I was hoping for. But since I got it really cheap using a coupon from UnderTag.com, I can't really complain.
This book needed an editor.
The book would explain PHP well if there weren't so many grammatical errors. The first few chapters were well worth reading, but about halfway through, stilted sentences and the incorrect use of "which" and "that" put me off the treatise entirely. I know that books of this ilk must be written hurriedly so the technology described in the book doesn't get a chance to change substantially before the book goes to market, but this is ridiculous. If I were shopping for a PHP book, I'd look seriously at some others.
Terrible Book for a real world programming
This book might be worthwhile as a classroom workbook where you go through each and every chapter in order. As a book for somebody who wants to get things done this book is terrible. You have to wade through entire chapters to find what you want and the index is useless.For my real world projects I have never found what I wanted to know in this book. You are better off just looking at online documentation.
It is also out of date and lacks coverage of sessions (there is a newer edition of the book that might include this but I am not going to buy it).
Good, but needs updating to PHP4
I bought "Beginning PHP4" first, expecting to learn more later from "Professional PHP". Unfortunately, the "Professional" book was written in 1999 and mostly covers PHP3; the first half of this book is introductory material similar to that covered in "Beginning". The "Beginning" book was written in 2000, and covers PHP4. Therefore, the two books don't confer a chronological sense of "Part 1" and "Part 2", as I had anticipated.In my opinion, if you have one of these two Wrox books, you won't need the other. Since "Beginning PHP4" is newer, get that one for an excellent introduction to the subject, then get "PHP Black Book" or another advanced book to continue your studies.
By the way, I hope that "extremeperl" gives more thought to book ratings in the future. He gave this book a 1 star rating because he thought that PHP was a poorly written language, and preferred Perl. Since the authors had no hand in creating the PHP language, it's extremely unfair to criticize PHP by giving poor ratings to this book ...
IS the BOOK
I'have the book. A lot of more books from Wrox are in my hands. This is a very good on PHP. Examples, bits of code explained step by step, huge amount of info, lack of some other (in programming NONE was perfect and complete). Good point to start serious programming with DB (MySQL or other ones). 4 stars only because God is not a programming writer, not Schumann and the others in this are, and I cannot put a 4 and half stars....If you dont know HTML, learn first. Then, read this book. I repeat, READ IT! Like a novel, not as reference one. Every page contains valuable information, only have your eyes wide open to catch it! Put it beside your bed or your WC!
Results: a large Internet project, an ecommerce site, a tutorials online site, a.... well, you know what I mean. With this book, I'm mastering PHP with no fears!
BUY IT NOW!
