Decent reference
Sometimes you just need the parms for a function and a quick reference - this book is great for that when your offline.
A reference indeed
I often use the php.net documentation, online. For some time I thought it would be great to have a shorter printed version, to put in my pocket, and read a bit while waiting for the train etc.
So I thought this book was what I was looking for.
But how dissapointed I am.
Yes, the book is a reference, and I'm sure it has all the php functions in it, but very little information on all the functions. It comes with 30 (rough estimate) functions on a page, and the fontsize is so small that I (No, I dont need glasses) can hardly read it.
As an example, here's the documentation about the strftime() function:
string strftime (string $format [, int $timestamp])
Extension: Date/Time (Date and Time Functions)
Format a local time/date according to locale settings.
You see it doesn't give a lot of useful information. It doesn't say anything about the conversion specifiers in the format string. I do understand that it isn't possible to put al the useful information from the php.net in a book like this, but a bit more information would have been useful, but then, that might have made the font-size even smaller.
Maybe it's just me, hoping for something completely different when I ordered the book. The only time when such a reference can be handy (to me), is if you're not connected to the internet. But I think that's pretty rare for a PHP programmer.
It was not an expensive book though, and all profit goes to the Canadian Red Cross' Hurricane Katrina Relief Fund, so you might buy it for this reason.
(2 reviews)