PHP and MySQL for Beginners

I believe this is a great programming book for PHP. I like the fact that Mark explains how to set the environment up before getting started. I have studied several programming languages and I believe the flow and presentation of concepts is done well. It was nice to follow along and code as Mark was presenting the concepts. Then at the end of each chapter there are exercises that reinforce the concepts that were just learned. The exercises are relevant to what was covered in each chapter. Chapter 9 was one of my favorite chapters as I learned how to create a Web application that integrated with MySQL. The concepts were presented in a clear manner and each chapter was structured well. Mark asks some questions throughout each chapter on key subject matter to reinforce this information. In addition, information is provided such as reference to the http://www.php.net site to assist with further growth in programming this language.I would have given this book five stars, but as some of the reviewers noted, there are a lot of typos in this book. Also, I found that the email example in Chapter 8 does not work in the Windows environment. I believe Mark could perform some more extensive editing and validation. However, that being said, I still highly recommend this book as it helped me learn to program PHP.

Honestly I started to interest myself to wed design because I needed to set up a web site so I read a book about HTML, very interesting but I quickly realized that PHP is a must to dig deeper in the programmation. This book is all about getting in touch for the first time with PHP ! It's a must !

First, the bad news …HORRIBLE print formatting! The type is faint, and the "aside" notes are so faint and small, as to be almost unreadable. I ended up putting a desk lamp right above the book, and kept a magnifying glass handy. This may sound trivial, but when you're using a book to learn a new skill, it gets a bit aggravating. Also, as this is a programming book, lots of example code is sprinkled throughout the book. However, there is nowhere to download the code – it must be typed in to try it. So much of my “learning time” ends up a typing exercise. MOST inconsiderate!Having said that …This is a good book for beginning PHP programmers. I’m experience in other programming areas, but needed to get up to speed in PHP and MySQL. This book helped me get there. If you can live with the shortcomings listed above (or if the next version of this book fixes them), this book is a good choice.

I'm giving this book one star not because I hate it - I actually really like it - but when you're writing a coding/programmer book typos are unacceptable. It's the kind of book that won't let you rely only on its content, which is a shame because the book is pretty complete, there isn't much information out there about how to use PHP and MYSQL together, so for exploring the subject I think it deserves some respect, apart from the typos which makes it impossible for a beginner to get the job done.So my advice for the readers is: if you are a total beginner and has never heard of php and mysql, good luck! You might get the main idea, but the typos will get you stuck (it's just wrong coding), in the other hand if you are an intermediate and just needs a path on how to connect the php files to your database (what I needed), this book shows you how to do it.I took a picture of one typo example that got me stuck for a while. Writer and Publisher... This book can be pure GOLD if you read the reviews and revise the codes.

It's a good book but code could be more efficient and up-to-standards... Seems like it goes into the nooks and cranny's of all your basics (arrays, loops etc.) but doesn't take on method chaining or object oriented programming - which I believe tends to be the trend being used by programmers who know what they are doing...

I agree that book is absolutely terrible when it comes to errors. The step by step learning format is great and I appreciated the fact that it was clearly presented and straight to the point. However, you spend too much time and energy trying to figure out why your results aren't the same as the book. (His results are wrong according to the sample code given.) I'm a total beginner but I've managed to figure out the errors. This makes things confusing and very time consuming. It literally made me anxious and unable to learn. It seems that the someone was a bit careless in proofreading the book. I wouldn't recommend but, it would've been perfect if it weren't for so many errors.

A great book for the experienced programmer who wants to know how to use PHP for data processing while at the same time basic programming concepts are clearly explained for the novice programmer. I agree with other reviewers that typos such as "<br/>" occasionally occur, but overall this is an excellent book to get you started

I found lot of ambiguity and typos in the content, had to google to clarify the confusion.Good presentation and examples.