Sams Teach Yourself PHP, MySQL and Apache in 24 Hours Review

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Sams Teach Yourself PHP, MySQL and Apache in 24 Hours ReviewI have been a mainframe programmer for 13 years and have done web design for the past year. The following is my experience with this book.
First the good news:

1. I was able to successfully install PHP, Apache & MySQL.
2. I was able to successfully complete all the projects in the book.
3. I published one of my projects on a website.
Now the bad news:
1. There were critical typos in the book--not just captions under the wrong pictures but incorrect code. I spent many hours debugging the PHP code for the projects. The code errors I found were not in the errata on the SAMS website OR on thickbook.com. I sent one code correction to the editors and received an acknowledgement, but I just checked and the code typo is not included in the errata. There are code errors on pp. 245, 406, 417. E-mail me if you are also having problems with the code on those pages as the SAMS people do not seem to be concerned or aware of these errors.
2. The installation of the products did not go as smoothly as I hoped either. The instructions on what to download did not match how the websites now look. There was some missing information. I was able to get it all working only with a lot of trial and error.
This book contained projects that I was interested in learning: address book, storefront, shopping cart. With a little more diligence on the part of the proofreaders and technical editors, this book would have been great and I would have given it 5 stars.Sams Teach Yourself PHP, MySQL and Apache in 24 Hours OverviewSams Teach Yourself PHP, MySQL, and Apache in 24 Hours combines coverage of these three popular open-source Web development tools into one easy-to-understand book -- and it comes with one easy-to-use Starter Kit CD-ROM for Windows or Linux.The book teaches the reader to install, configure and set up the PHP scripting language, the MySQL database system, and the Apache Web server.By the end of this book the reader will understand how these technologies work, and -- more importantly -- how they can work together to create a dynamic Web site.After creating a simple Web site using these tools, the reader will be able to manage a simple mailing list, and to create an online address book, shopping cart, and storefront.The book also teaches the reader how to fine tune Apache and MySQL, and covers simple Web server security.

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PHP and MySQL Web Development Review

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PHP and MySQL Web Development ReviewThis is such a good book that I wanted to take the time to write a review and give it 5 stars, which it richly deserves. The other glowing reviews helped me to choose this book over others, and they were right on the money.
I'm an experienced C/C++ programmer on Windows, but I knew nothing about PHP and MySQL -- and very little about Apache and Unix -- prior to opening this book. I've now read about 80% of it and, in the process, I've built a commercial-grade Website with user registration and shopping cart facilities, which was my objective. Reading this book was a very efficient use of my time -- it gave me exactly what I needed to build a practical Web application system with PHP and MySQL, and very little extraneous stuff.
The main prerequisite for this book is a working knowledge of HTML, and just a little background in procedural programming. Some of the earliest examples use HTML tags for tables and forms, with PHP use thoroughly explained, but without many notes on the HTML. A beginning programmer can learn effectively from this book, but as an experienced programmer I felt that it also worked well to bring me up to speed quickly on a new language.
Another value of this book not mentioned in other reviews are the many good recommendations for organizing your PHP code (applying basic software engineering principles) as your Web application gets larger and more complex. Many, many Websites have been built haphazardly and are now difficult to maintain because they haven't followed the excellent advice in this book.
I did notice the typos mentioned by other reviewers, but after reading 80% of this (867-page) book I feel they are very minor and really do not detract from the book significantly at all.
All in all, this is one of those rare books that is probably worth ten times the amount that you pay for it, and much more if you use it effectively.PHP and MySQL Web Development OverviewPHP & MySQL Web Development teaches the reader to develop dynamic, secure e-commerce Web sites and Web applications. The book shows how to integrate and implement these technologies by following real-world examples and working sample projects. It also covers the related technologies needed to build a commercial Web site such as SSL, shopping carts, and payment systems. The CD includes a Linux distribution, MySQL, PHP4 and utilities for the projects and code listings.

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Pro Active Record: Databases with Ruby and Rails (Expert's Voice) Review

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Pro Active Record: Databases with Ruby and Rails (Expert's Voice) ReviewRight at the start of Pro Active Record the authors address a possible problem some may have with it: that there's not enough in Active Record to warrant a full book. They point out that the basics are well covered as sections elsewhere but that this is the first book to really dig into working with legacy schema and other `advanced' uses. That's fair enough, but after reading the book I am still left with the question of why, then, they dedicate the first half to covering ActiveRecord's most basic concepts?
Judging from postings on the rails email list, there's certainly a lot of confusion about ActiveRecord, associations, observers, how to work with legacy table names and primary keys, and so on. But in a book with a title prefix of "Pro" I was expecting to jump straight into the nitty gritty of topics like compound/composite primary keys and performance tuning, probably with some real world examples, and maybe with a serious exploration of AR's internals. As it is, such topics only get a quick treatment in the final chapter (the compound/composite primary keys section is a paragraph referring users to a plugin).
It's almost always instructive reading other developers' code and it would be unfair to claim that I didn't spot a couple of tips that may prove useful, but they were passing things. And sometimes I found myself wondering what happened to the tech review process, particularly in the coverage of the has_one association, where not only is the variable naming confusing, but they seem to be calling the each method on a single ActiveRecord instance.
I'm left wondering what the audience is for this book. The title and blurbs suggest it's pitched at people who want to go deeper into ActiveRecord than they have before, but the content is better suited for someone with some database experience who wants to pick up ActiveRecord to write some scripts. As it is, if you've worked with ActiveRecord before your time will be better spent writing plugins and exploring the internals for yourself, and if you've not you'll get most of the same material from a decent Rails book and some time exploring.
Disclaimer: I was sent a copy of this book for review by the publisher.Pro Active Record: Databases with Ruby and Rails (Expert's Voice) OverviewDespite it's less than catchy name, ActiveRecord is a key part of the "magic" that makes Ruby on Rails such a hit. Without ActiveRecord, there would be no Rails. ActiveRecord is the connection between a Rails application and its data. Ruby and Ruby on Rails developers who want to exploit all the features of Ruby, of Rails, of their chosen database must learn ActiveRecord.Pro ActiveRecord for Ruby picks up with ActiveRecord where most books on Ruby and the Rails framework leave off. Readers begin by learning about all the built-in assumptions that make it so wondrously easy to create freshly-built Rails applications from scratch. Next, readers learn how to adapt ActiveRecord to work with databases - and this includes just about all preexisting databases - that were designed without those assumptions in mind. Readers go on to learn how to tie ActiveRecord in with database-specific features such as stored procedures and large objects, how to migrate legacy database designs to work better with ActiveRecord, and how to extend ActiveRecord to provide new and innovative database functionality to their applications. Readers who absorb the knowledge given in this book will have a significant competitive advantage over those with only a superficial knowledge of the topic.

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PHP and MySQL for Dynamic Web Sites: Visual QuickPro Guide Review

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PHP and MySQL for Dynamic Web Sites: Visual QuickPro Guide ReviewAs the author of the book, I regret having to do this (submit a review) but it seems to be the most immediate and effective way to correct a misunderstanding. The first edition of the book is based upon PHP 4 and came out in 2003. The second edition came out in 2005 and covers PHP 5. So, the book HAS been updated, despite what other reviews incorrectly state. Just click on "All Editions" under "Product Details" to find the most recent edition of this (or any) book.
[...]
Thanks,
LarryPHP and MySQL for Dynamic Web Sites: Visual QuickPro Guide OverviewWhen static HTML pages no longer cut it, you need to step up to dynamic, database-driven sites that represent the future of the Web. In PHP and MySQL for Dynamic Web Sites: Visual QuickPro Guide, the author of best-selling guides to both the database program (MySQL) and the scripting language (PHP) returns to cover the winning pair in tandem—the way users work with them today to build dynamic sites using Open Source tools. Using step-by-step instructions, clearly written scripts, and expert tips to ease the way, author Larry Ullman discusses PHP and MySQL separately before going on to cover security, sessions and cookies, and using additional Web tools, with several sections devoted to creating sample applications. A companion Web site includes source code and demonstrations of techniques used in the volume. If you're already at home with HTML, you'll find this volume the perfect launching pad to creating dynamic sites with PHP and MySQL.

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Beginning PHP and MySQL 5: From Novice to Professional (Beginning: From Novice to Professional) Review

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Beginning PHP and MySQL 5: From Novice to Professional (Beginning: From Novice to Professional) Review[Updated for Second Edition]
A beginning PHP book, not a beginning programming book. The subtitle, 'From Novice to Professional', can be a tad misleading for the novice coder. A beginning programming book covers a lot of material that this book assumes the reader already understands. Many software books include a 'Who Is This Book For' section that offers some guidance on the suitable reader knowledge level, not this one.
That said, I found this book to be very helpful. The sections on installing and configuring Apache, PHP and MySQL certainly saved me many hours of reading the online documentation and tweaking of settings while setting up my local test bed. That, in itself, made me a very happy camper. The author goes on to cover the various aspects from the basics of the PHP language and class libraries to topics like Authentication, Security, Session Handlers and eMail functionality that help anyone new to PHP setup some fairly sophisticated site capabilities.
The second edition has been supplemented with an added 200 pages, including a new section on PEAR (PHP Extension and Application Repository). This is a wealth of prewritten classes and packages that can be used to add even more sophisticated functionality to the novice's web development toolbox. The author demonstrates several of the more prominent packages.
The second edition has greatly beefed up with additional coverage of MySQL 5, including chapters on stored procedures, triggers and the PHP mysqli extension (all missed in the first edition). Most of the examples offered are clean and general enough to be useful templates for the reader's tailoring.
My suggestion for novices to PHP is read through chapter 9, then skip to the various sections that solve specific problems being faced or are of particular interest, including installing and configuring your local test bed.
Bottom line, the first edition was a good book for intermediate to veteran programmers looking for a quick tutorial on PHP (circa version 5.0); the second edition is even better. Novice programmers should ensure that they have a full understanding of the basics of programming (and OOP) before attempting it. I would now use this book to teach a class on PHP.
P-)Beginning PHP and MySQL 5: From Novice to Professional (Beginning: From Novice to Professional) Overview

Written for the budding web developer searching for a powerful, low-cost solution for building flexible, dynamic web sites.
Essentially three books in one: provides thorough introductions to the PHP language and the MySQL database, and shows you how these two technologies can be effectively integrated to build powerful websites.
Provides over 500 code examples, including real-world tasks such as creating an auto-login feature, sending HTML-formatted e-mail, testing password guessability, and uploading files via a web interface.
Updated for MySQL 5, includes new chapters introducing triggers, stored procedures, and views.



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PHP and MySQL Web Development (4th Edition) Review

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PHP and MySQL Web Development (4th Edition) ReviewAlthough i love the book itself and would give it a 5 star rating, i have to say that the Kindle edition is a blatant rip off. First, its the same price as the paperback with a CD-Rom included, second, they did not bother to make the sources of the CD-Rom available (via a Website) to those who bought it electronically ... . Searched in vain for a link to an online resource for the examples until i got confirmation that this is not included in the electronic delivery (even though its full price) ...PHP and MySQL Web Development (4th Edition) OverviewPHP and MySQL are popular open-source technologies that are ideal for quickly developing database-driven Web applications. PHP is a powerful scripting language designed to enable developers to create highly featured Web applications quickly, and MySQL is a fast, reliable database that integrates well with PHP and is suited for dynamic Internet-based applications.
PHP and MySQL Web Development shows how to use these tools together to produce effective, interactive Web applications. It clearly describes the basics of the PHP language, explains how to set up and work with a MySQL database, and then shows how to use PHP to interact with the database and the server.

This practical, hands-on book includes numerous examples that demonstrate common tasks such as authenticating users, constructing a shopping cart, generating PDF documents and images dynamically, sending and managing email, facilitating user discussions, connecting to Web services using XML, and developing Web 2.0 applications with Ajax-based interactivity.

The fourth edition of PHP and MySQL Web Development has been thoroughly updated, revised, and expanded to cover developments in PHP 5 through version 5.3, such as namespaces and closures, as well as features introduced in MySQL 5.1.





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PHP and MySQL by Example Review

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PHP and MySQL by Example ReviewThe book and cd code are error prone. The co-author writes a five star review trying to come off as an instructor in a php boot camp. Come on!! This book should not even have been published in this state.PHP and MySQL by Example Overview
Quickly master dynamic, database-driven Web development—no experience necessary!
Even if you're completely new to PHP, MySQL, and Web database development, this book will guide you through every step of building powerful, database-driven, dynamic Web sites. Direct from the world's top scripting instructor, Ellie Quigley, PHP and MySQL by Example illuminates every concept with tested code examples, screen shots showing program output, and clear, line-by-line explanations.

Classroom-tested in Ellie Quigley's Silicon Valley training courses and at Marko Gargenta's Marakana training company in San Francisco, this book takes you from the simplest PHP scripting and SQL querying techniques all the way to dynamic, database driven Web site construction with PHP and MySQL. From simple fill-in forms to program security and debugging, it's the only PHP/MySQL book you'll ever need!

This book covers

Complete PHP fundamentals, including operators, strings, conditionals, loops, arrays, functions, and more
PHP QuickStart for more advanced readers—makes you productive with PHP in the space of just fifteen book pages
Essential Web development techniques, from file handling to validating user input with regular expressions
Powerful PHP features, including user-defined functions and self-processing PHP Forms
Day-to-day MySQL administration
A complete SQL tutorial for creating queries, retrieving data, and writing data with MySQL
Session management and cookies
Object Oriented PHP
Best practices for using PHP and MySQL together

Nearly 100,000 professionals and power users have relied on Ellie Quigley's books to master scripting languages. With PHP and MySQL by Example, you can, too. And once you've become an expert, you'll turn to this book constantly as your go-to source for reliable answers, solutions, and code.

About the CD-ROM
The CD-ROM contains versions of PHP and MySQL for Windows and UNIX/Linux, plus a comprehensive code library for creating your own sites and database-enabled Web applications, including this book's powerful Art Gallery case study application.

Lab Solutions
Solutions to the end-of-chapter labs are available at www.prenhallprofessional.com/title/0131875086.


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Head First SQL: Your Brain on SQL -- A Learner's Guide Review

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Head First SQL: Your Brain on SQL -- A Learner's Guide ReviewBefore I talk about Head First SQL, let me tell you about other database books I have used in the classroom. I teach an enterprise databases sequence (DBs I and II) at a tribal college in Montana. On the course evaluations for this sequence, students have a common complaint: "Liked the class. Hated the book.", "The book was painful to read.", "Please get a different book!"
Each year my colleagues and I are on the watch for a better, more engaging database book. We have tried three books over the past five years, but the difference between those books is like the difference between shades of grey. In the classroom, most of my time is spent mediating the daunting abstractness of those books or breaking down huge lumps of difficult technical material written in plodding and pedantic prose. This year a spot of color showed up: Head First SQL!

I discovered Head First SQL too late to use it as the primary text for my Fall quarter DBs class, but I liked it so much, I added it as an optional textbook for the quarter and told my students it would be the main textbook for the Winter quarter. I did so because the energy of the class was waning rapidly, and the book I had originally chosen was not helping. I needed to add some excitement to homework and lectures. Within two days of using Head First SQL, the classroom became a far more engaging environment.

I compiled this list for anyone interested in learning databases and SQL, especially anyone who teaches it.

Eleven Things I like about Head First SQL:

1. The book starts where my students start. The first questions my students have are questions of relevance: Why do I want to know this? What have I done before that's like this? What will this material add to my career and my life? Head First SQL starts by ushering the student through those questions: What is a database? Who cares about databases? What will a database do for me?

2. My students are able to read SQL, think SQL, and write SQL after the first chapter. Head First SQL starts students on the command-line, the same command-line professional database administrators use during 80-95% of their workday. My students start out with good command-line habits like using a DESCRIBE statement to view database structure and columns before writing a SELECT statement that references those columns.

3. The book invites my students to make mistakes and anticipates the most common mistakes I see students make. On quizzes, students who've dug into the book don't make those mistakes again.

4. The book's sequence of topics fits the way I teach and the way my students learn: queries come before design and theory. Head First SQL does not set out to be a comprehensive database design book, but it does an excellent job of immersing the learner in the critical thinking that goes into database design and table design strategy. I applaud Lynn Beighley and the Head First Team. They have laid an excellent foundation for the learner to smoothly transition into abstract database design concepts such as normalization, primary and foreign keys, entity-relationship diagrams (ERDs), and E.F. Codd's 12 principles of relational design.
5. Students don't read the book. They work the book. They play the book. They do the book.

6. Like Socrates, Head First SQL pushes my class and I to ask deeper questions about data, information, table design, normalization. Three different times during fall quarter, we had substantive arguments about which data types to use for certain columns. To hear my students using critical thinking and applying it to table design strategy is rewarding.

7. Like a guide, an outfitter, a trusted companion, HF SQL walks beside the student. The books I have used before talk down to students, talk over their heads, or just plain pontificate.

8. Theater in a database classroom? Yes. My students and I act out things like "Confessions of a NULL" -- fun, mysterious, memorable -- a great way to turn an abstract concept into a concrete and palpable one.

9. At conferences, committee meetings, training seminars, my colleagues and I talk about student engagement and the new "three Rs": rigor, relationships, and relevance. Using Head First SQL in my classroom changed my class noticeably, and I attribute that change to Head First's focus on those three Rs. My students started showing up early for class, spent more time in the lab outside of class, and performed far better on quizzes.
10. My quizzes and tests consist of sample tables and data. The open-ended questions on those tests ask students to write SQL to solve problems--a daunting task but the best way to assess whether students really "get" the concepts. In the past, students scores have ranged from 10% to 87%. A score of 92% was rare. A score of 95% almost unattainable. With Head First SQL, that range increased to between 70% and 98%. If that's not proof of Head First SQL's effectiveness, I don't know what is.

11. You will laugh your [body part here] off! And be warned: no matter what body part you substitute into the brackets, you will laugh several other body parts off as well.
I highly recommend this book to anyone teaching or learning SQL, relational database design, or MySQL.
Head First SQL: Your Brain on SQL -- A Learner's Guide Overview
Is your data dragging you down? Are your tables all tangled up? Well we've got the tools to teach you just how to wrangle your databases into submission. Using the latest research in neurobiology, cognitive science, and learning theory to craft a multi-sensory SQL learning experience, Head First SQL has a visually rich format designed for the way your brain works, not a text-heavy approach that puts you to sleep. Maybe you've written some simple SQL queries to interact with databases. But now you want more, you want to really dig into those databases and work with your data. Head First SQL will show you the fundamentals of SQL and how to really take advantage of it. We'll take you on a journey through the language, from basic INSERT statements and SELECT queries to hardcore database manipulation with indices, joins, and transactions. We all know "Data is Power" - but we'll show you how to have "Power over your Data". Expect to have fun, expect to learn, and expect to be querying, normalizing, and joining your data like a pro by the time you're finished reading!


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Using Drupal Review

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Using Drupal ReviewThis book has been eagerly awaited as the first O'Reilly volume covering Drupal, and having been written by such a rockstar team of Drupal pros.
It's also the first book to focus on a wide range of third party contributed modules rather than just Drupal core, or a narrow subject area of modules. It's written for Drupal 6, although the book would be fairly applicable to Drupal 5 (with the caveat that one of the major modules, Views, is completely different for Drupal 6 - the underlying concepts are similar though).
The first thing that struck me about this book is its fundamentally different approach from most early Drupal books, as well as the kinds of books you find in the early stages of any new technology's mainstream acceptance. It's not simply a higher quality rehashing of handbook pages and technical how-tos, but it has an incredibly cohesive and clever process through the entire book.
Every main chapter of the book will:
* Introduce an example scenario that's easy to relate to. For example, an early chapter that covers creating a simple site for a Mom & Pop shop has this sample case study: "in order to update the web page content each week, they currently pay their next-door neighbor Goldie to hand-edit the page"
* Outline what you're going to be building
* Explain why certain decisions or trade-offs were made when creating this site, and highlight alternative choices depending on your particular situation
* Explains step-by-step how to complete the site with lots of tables and screenshots, pointing out gotchas and important concepts along the way
* Ends with a "Taking It Further" section with suggestions for other features or future modules to watch that are related to the site recipe
The hands-on approach of this book takes you through a single, cohesive example in each chapter. This gets you building a site to completion at every step. This approach reminds me of the different ways to learn a musical instrument such as piano or guitar - you can start with theory and technique and practice your scales first, or you can just learn some chords and be able to whip out a few simple pop songs your first afternoon. This book is the chords.
It also has some great moments of explaining fuzzy concepts that are difficult to understand without significant Drupal experience. The Using Drupal team shows their years of expertise training users and implementing Drupal sites in gems such as this, describing whether you should use taxonomy or a CCK field for content categorization:
A general rule of thumb is that if you can remove the field and the content type still makes sense, use Taxonomy. An article filed under a "Technology" category is still an article if you remove the category association, so Taxonomy is a good fit. If the field is part of a piece of content, such as an album's recording artist, then CCK is generally a better choice.

Using Drupal will take you through building a:
* Simple website with blog for a mom & pop grocery store, including a WYSIWYG editor and uploading images to content
* Job posting board for a university, which introduces the key CCK and Views modules
* Product reviews site with user ratings, Amazon product data importing, some simple CSS tweaks using the CSS Injector module, and more CCK/Views
* Wiki, which brings in revisions, input formats, and Pathauto module
* Local arts news site, which takes you into Actions, Triggers, Workspace, Workflow (both as a concept and module), and Views Bulk Operations to create an administration page
* Photo gallery, with ImageField, ImageCache, much more Views and some site display tweaks
* Multilingual website with a strong overview of concepts, then Locale, i18n, and the Localization Client
* Event management site with calendar and attendees
* Online store using Ubercart (focuses on basic store setup, products, attributes, and orders - you'll still need to set up payment methods)
It also covers a few additional topics:
* An overview of Drupal, and where to get help
* Basic theming (this is the only time you'll see code!)
* Installing and upgrading Drupal and modules
* How to choose modules and participate in the community
So what's it missing?
Obviously Using Drupal only scratches the surface of the many, many types of sites you can build with Drupal. There are a few major topics you won't find covered in here - membership sites with protected user access, Organic Groups (a chapter that didn't quite make it due to module readiness for D6), more advanced magazine/newspaper-style sites with modules like Node Queue and Panels, multimedia (there's another book for that!), or social networking sites. However, I think they picked a great selection of site recipes to cover in a relatively small amount of space, and each recipe will get you a solid site built.
The book will also direct you to two additional resources available online: the finished demo site for each chapter for you to browse, and a download package containing installation profiles with the same versions of modules and themes used on each site. The installation profiles will set you up with a clean slate with your modules all prepared for you to start following along step-by-step in each chapter.
Other things I really love about this book:
* It isn't afraid to recommend helpful modules early, such as Administration Menu
* It highlights common newbie gotchas, such as using the blog module when you really want a story
* It points out future modules or alternatives to watch, for example, the WYSIWYG API
* It gives contrib modules such as CCK and Views the foregrounding they deserve when learning Drupal
This is the book I wish I had when learning Drupal. We're even giving away copies of it at [...] because we love it so much. I would recommend it wholeheartedly to anyone new to Drupal, intermediate users who want to take their skills to the next level or brush up on Drupal 6/Views 2, or anyone who actually needs to build a site similar to the recipes listed above. And, y'know, anyone else who's ever built or wanted to build a website :)Using Drupal Overview
With the recipes in this book, you can take full advantage of the vast collection of community-contributed modules that make the Drupal web framework useful and unique. You'll get the information you need about how to combine modules in interesting ways (with a minimum of code-wrangling) to develop a variety of community-driven websites. Each chapter describes a case study and outlines specific requirements for one of several projects included in the book -- a wiki, publishing workflow site, photo gallery, product review site, online store, user group site, and more. With Using Drupal, you will:

Get an overview of Drupal concepts and key modules introduced in each chapter, with a bird's-eye view of each module's specialty and how it works
Explore various solutions within Drupal that meet the requirements for the project, with details about which modules are selected and why
Learn how to configure modules, with step-by-step recipes for building the precise functionality the project requires
Get information on additional modules that will make the project even more powerful
Be able to access the modules used in the chapter, along with other resources

Newcomers will find a thorough introduction to the framework, while experienced Drupal developers will learn best practices for building powerful websites. With Using Drupal, you'll find concrete and creative solutions for developing the exact community website you have in mind.


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Beginning Zend Framework (Expert's Voice in Open Source) Review

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Beginning Zend Framework (Expert's Voice in Open Source) ReviewThe code in this book flat out doesn't work. The forum that is supposed to support the book is moribund -- the author is missing in action. He's actually closed it down through the front door because of the unhappy comments, although it's still reachable at [...]
The whole book is based upon building a Web App which is promised to be run at [...] There's nothing there. In October 2009, I wrote on the message board. The author said that he'd get the site up "shortly". It's now January 2010 and nothing. Why do you think it's hard to deploy an application which has already been built and tested for a book? My guess -- from trying to work through the code samples myself -- is that it's so buggy, that it's unusable.
My experience with this book is so poor that I'm going to be very skeptical about future purchases from Apress.
Give this book a pass.Beginning Zend Framework (Expert's Voice in Open Source) OverviewThe Zend Framework is one of today's most popular PHP-based Web application development frameworks.Beginning Zend Framework is one of the first books on Zend Framework and perhaps the first beginners' guide to learning and using the Zend Framework.This book covers the installation to the applicable items of the framework to get the reader up and running quickly. It includes practical sample PHP-based Web-driven applications to illustrate Zend Framework in practice.

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Web Database Applications with PHP & MySQL, 2nd Edition Review

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Web Database Applications with PHP & MySQL, 2nd Edition ReviewI have just started learning some PHP & MySQL development using "PHP & MySQL Web Development" published by Sams and "Web Database Applications with PHP & MySQL" from O'Reilly. Prospective readers might be wondering the difference between the two in deciding which one to buy, so I hope to shed some light on the issue.
Sams: The Welling and Thomson book is more "hands-on" in that it takes the reader step-by-step in developing an e-commerce website. The chapters are organized in a goal-oriented manner: PHP, MySQL, the basics of e-commerce, security, and design of the site.
O'Reilly: The Williams and Lane book is structured in a similar way by showing readers PHP and then MySQL. Examples to reinforce concepts are also provided. While the O'Reilly book also tries to take the reader in developing an e-commerce site, it is a bit more theoretical. Also, there are some differences in focus: the O'Reilly book has a section on using JavaScript while the Sams book has a final chapter on creating PDF files using PHP.
If I had to choose just one book, I would go with the Sams book due to its more gentle learning curve. However, I believe that the O'Reilly book is no slouch, and I will probably come to appreciate it more once I gain more experience in PHP and MySQL development.
One last word about my programming background: I knew a bit of Perl, Java, HTML, and JavaScript before tackling PHP and MySQL. I consider myself to be an "advanced beginner" (an oxymoron, of course). To get the most out of these two books, you should know HTML well enough to read it (you should at least recognize some tags) and it would definitely be helpful if you have some programming experience. You could very well make PHP your first programming language, but I would advise against it. Start with something like Perl (whose syntax is very similar to PHP's).
I highly recommend both books to prospective PHP and MySQL developers who are willing to spend some time and effort.Web Database Applications with PHP & MySQL, 2nd Edition Overview

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PHP 6 and MySQL 5 for Dynamic Web Sites: Visual QuickPro Guide Review

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PHP 6 and MySQL 5 for Dynamic Web Sites: Visual QuickPro Guide ReviewAlthough I have some background with programming (Basic, Pascal, COBAL) and desktop db business applications, I had been somewhat intimidated by the idea of server-side programming.
I can only tell you that I did in fact take this book one chapter at a time, sometimes re-reading some sections several times, and marking-up certain parts with a hi-liter and a red pen. I followed the tutorials, downloaded the scripts from the book's associated website, and even got help directly from the author at his website's forum.
Don't misunderstand me, that I marked-up the book, did homework, and asked questions was a reflection of how the book did engage me - AND TAUGHT ME. The book is well written, methodical, detailed, and its intended audience seemed to be someone with my background (pretty fluent in HTML, handy with CSS, has a basic understanding of databases and programming concepts, and who enjoys the learning process under a good professor).
This book will get you started and on your way - correctly. It was the perfect launch site for me (once you get through this book you will be in a good position to evaluate what you need to learn next). As for me, this book (alone) taught me to write programs/scripts to login users, develop MySQL databases, write database reports, do user input forms and process them at the back-end updating the database tables, sessions, cookies, etc. etc.
Select this book. Your php output will be, primarily, html markup. So if you don't know HTML - spend some time with that first -- along with CSS (I recommend CSS The Missing Manual by David S. McFarland).
PHP 6 and MySQL 5 for Dynamic Web Sites: Visual QuickPro Guide OverviewIt hasn't taken Web developers long to discover that when it comes to creating dynamic, database-driven Web sites, MySQL and PHP provide a winning open source combination. Add this book to the mix, and there's no limit to the powerful, interactive Web sites that developers can create. With step-by-step instructions, complete scripts, and expert tips to guide readers, veteran author and database designer Larry Ullman gets right down to business: After grounding readers with separate discussions of first the scripting language (PHP) and then the database program (MySQL), he goes on to cover security, sessions and cookies, and using additional Web tools, with several sections devoted to creating sample applications. This guide is indispensable for intermediate- to advanced level Web designers who want to replace their static sites with something dynamic. In this edition, the bulk of the new material covers the latest versions of both technologies: PHP 6 (due out in 2008) and MySQL 5 (available now). The book's publication date is likely to beat the official release of PHP 6, making it one of the first books available on the subject.

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Zend Framework in Action Review

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Zend Framework in Action ReviewOverall I found this book to be helpful in understanding the inner workings of the Zend Framework. The low score I gave this book is attributed to the several errors in the code examples. It seems this book was rushed to publication and nobody verified that the code examples worked.
If you are like me and like to build the code as you read each chapter then this book is NOT for you. I could never get the code to work as written in the book. I would advise that you download the companion code from the publisher's website. The code from the site seems to have been tweaked after the publication of the book and does run correctly. Problem is it does not match the code in the book therefore you have to investigate why the book says one way while the code shows it another way. Very frustrating the say the least!
I can only recommend this book if the publisher decides to release a second edition with these errors fixed.
Regards.Zend Framework in Action Overview
From rather humble beginnings as thePersonal Home Pagescripting language, PHP has found its way into almost every server, corporation, and dev shop in the world. On an average day, somewhere between 500,000 and 2 million coders do something in PHP. Even when you use a well-understood language like PHP, building a modern web application requires tools that decrease development time and cost while improving code quality. Frameworks such as Ruby-on-Rails and Django have been getting a lot of attention as a result.

For PHP coders, the Zend Framework offers that same promise without the need to move away from PHP. This powerful collection of components can be used in part or as a whole to speed up the development process. Zend Framework has the backing of Zend Technologies; the driving force behind the PHP programming language in which it is written. The first production release of the Zend Framework became available in July of 2007.

Zend Framework in Action is a comprehensive tutorial that shows how to use the Zend Framework to create web-based applications and web services. This book takes you on anover-the-shouldertour of the components of the Zend Framework as you build a high quality, real-world web application. This book is organized around the techniques you'll use every day as a web developer"data handling, forms, authentication, and so forth. As you follow the running example, you'll learn to build interactive Ajax-driven features into your application without sacrificing nuts-and-bolts considerations like security and performance.

This book is aimed at the competent PHP developer who wants to master framework-driven web development. Zend Framework in Action goes beyond the docs but still provides quick access to the most common topics encountered in the development of web applications.


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SQL: A Beginner's Guide, Second Edition Review

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SQL: A Beginner's Guide, Second Edition ReviewThis book helped me get my web development project well on the way. I am using PowerBuilder to build a web based application and I needed to learn SQL programming quickly for the database component. The author was easy to understand and uses lesson plans that make it easy to learn SQL at a reasonable pace. I was able to get up and running with the basics and am becoming more proficient as I implement more of the examples in the book.
I recommend this book to anyone new to SQL. I think it may be useful to experienced SQL developers also but I cannot speak for the more advanced users since I am so new.SQL: A Beginner's Guide, Second Edition OverviewHere is the foundation upon which you can build your relational database design and programming, then apply those skills to any SQL-based product. Carefully organized for beginners, you�ll learn step-by-step how to create a database, create tables, enforce data integrity, query and modify data, and implement advanced data access techniques.

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PHP 5 / MySQL Programming for the Absolute Beginner Review

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PHP 5 / MySQL Programming for the Absolute Beginner ReviewI've been reading this book to learn PHP and it is undoubtedly the best book for beginners you're going to find. I've been trying to learn PHP since version 3 (yea, finally there is a book that I can understand). If you're new to programming, and new to PHP, do not listen to people who say 'oh, just go to www.php.net'
The online help manual for PHP is not geared towards beginners. It's geared towards the type of people who simply have to read the rules of a programming language and then can go and program with it effectively. Basically, it's for people who know what they're doing. They have the programming mind already. I am not that type of person and many people who are new to programming are not like that.
Andy Harris' book teaches you PHP, but you will have to have a solid foundation in HTML/CSS (which I have) and it says that in the book. The only errors I've noticed in the book so far are HTML and they're nothing major. If you know HTML you'll be able to see them right off the bat and correct them for yourself (it's not like the book is $50 or something, it's just a minor inconvenience you'll only encounter maybe two or three times in the entire 12 chapter book). Also, the examples in the book are sometimes different from the ones on the CD (which implies that the CD is much more up to date than the book). Those are usually only minor changes to the code.
In any case, while reading this book everything is explained and introduced in a way that is easy for me to understand. I think the way he introduces concepts is great. He doesn't simply say 'these are the rules and let me explain them' like the other books. No, he gradually works you up to them, preparing your mind. I find that this is more effective and this is a beginning programmer talking, after years of trying to find a good book. The one thing that I think is great is that this book uses examples that are relevant to what you will be programming. Too many times (back when PHP 3 and 4 came out) have I read those books that use boring examples that I'll never use (like some math formula for example). Instead, the examples in this book are challenging, yet fun and practical, and he goes over every part of the code so that you understand what each part is doing. Sometimes the examples are really big, but this isn't a problem. Even if there is an area where his explaining doesn't do it for me, if I simply go over everything in my mind and break things down on a piece of paper I'm able to understand. The only reason I'm able to understand is because the concepts have been introduced in a way that I can know what's going on. The only issue is then figuring out what a large example is doing and that's something you have to figure out for yourself. I haven't run into a problem I haven't been able to figure out so far.
This book is shaping my mind into a programmer's mind. I can now see the planning involved in each program and I'm finally starting to see the method. It's a lot more effective than other books that simply give you the syntax, explain it, and then give you a problem to do without giving you relevant examples on how to use what you just learning and shaping your mind so that you'll know when each tool is effective, when you'll need to use it, and how they work in different situations. I now know the reason why I couldn't get through those books. I knew the rules, but my mind didn't know how to think like a programmer. All those so-called beginner books don't teach you that at all. Andy Haris' book does. I feel like I can go on to other programming languages now because I finally read a book that taught me the method.
PHP5/MySQL Programming for the Absolute Beginner is not the PHP5 bible but it explains PHP5 enough so that by the time you're done you'll be able to do what you want and get out there and learn more without being intimidated. If you're a beginner to PHP5, don't waste your time with other books that won't introduce you to the mechanics of programming. Get this book!PHP 5 / MySQL Programming for the Absolute Beginner OverviewThis book is an introduction to programming with a specific focus on programming web servers with the PHP programming language. Much of the original content from the first edition (1931841322) will be retained, while also including updates relating to the upcoming PHP 5.0 release. Following the same format as the popular first edition, this book provides easy-to-follow instruction. Readers will use the concepts presented in the book to create games using PHP and MySQL. As each concept is put to the test, readers will acquire programming skills that will easily transition to real-world projects. A true beginner's guide, this book enables readers to acquire programming skills that they will be able to use in the next language that they tackle.

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PHP and MySQL: Create - Modify - Reuse Review

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PHP and MySQL: Create - Modify - Reuse ReviewDefinitely not for beginners, the book has complete PHP coding examples for common web programming projects. The author seems to know his stuff and many of his solutions are thorough and elegant. That said, however, the code being offered has errors, with the code in the book being more correct than the downloadable version. Beware that if you use the code in this book as a basis for your projects, you will hit a brick wall or two until you work through the errors. After using the code in Chapter 1, I felt the book was "rushed" to publication because of the errors I found. Since many of the errors were in the downloadable version of the code, you would think somebody would correct this, so that new owners of the book would stop downloading buggy code.
The WROX website has user forums for their books. Check the one for this book and you will get a taste of what's to come. ([...])
I like the book and used the login scripts in Chapter 1 as a basis for the admin login for my website. I would think that a 2nd edition would be an opportunity to correct the errors and add addtional PHP code examples.PHP and MySQL: Create - Modify - Reuse OverviewLearn everything about the dynamic power of PHP and MySQL in real-world applications with the practical information and step-by-step instructions in PHP and MySQL: Create - Modify – Reuse. The authors, experts in tune with common web development tasks, will guide you through several projects that are complete, tested, and ready to be implemented, so that you can understand by doing. Understand all aspects of design, such as portability, design flow, and integration, and become proficient at solving problems that developers face in everyday circumstances.

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