Head First PHP & MySQL

• #5 in Best PHP Books
• #8 in Best Mysql Books

35 Reviews

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I've been a big fan of the Heads First series for a long time. The format of the Head First books is unique, engaging and effective. One could consider the Head First series to be comic book like. This is one of the series' great virtues. The interactive layout and thoughtful way illustrations are integrated to text in order to explain 'hard to get concepts' really works.

I use the series to learn and teach advanced programming topics. All the exciting things about the Heads First series shines through in PHP & MySQL.

Heads First PHP & MySQL is for beginners. There is little prerequisite knowledge required to get benefit from the book. I have learned from years of teaching and mentoring that beginners learn best when presented with information in a way that is fun and hands on. Heads First PHP & MySQL meets this requirement with no problem.

The book covers the range of topics that is standard for having a good foundation in programming in general and programming in PHP in particular. After finishing this book the reader will be able to create a data driven web site in PHP, leveraging that special relationship between the PHP programming language and the MySQL database. The reader will know why and how PHP and MySQL go hand in hand.

The book throws in some extra tidbits. For example it teaches you how to make a data drive Rss Feed. It's a good example that has real world bearing.

Again, this is a beginners book. I caution 'bosses' that while giving this book to aspiring PHP developers is a good thing to do, you should not think that the book will create production ready coders. Coding in a production environment requires experience that is beyond the scope of this work.

This being said, I look forward to reading an follow up volume to this work titled, Heads First Really Programming in PHP and MySQL in which the topics of object oriented programming in PHP and implementing the basic software design patterns are explained in a way that only a Heads First book could.

Heads First PHP and MySQL is a great beginners book, one that should be on the bookshelf of every up and coming PHP developer.

I have been trying to learn PHP and MySQL for a couple of months now. I have read (well, started) about 4 beginner's books. I would understand a little bit of it, but then the more I got into a book, the more confused I would get. It just seemed like things were either coming at me too fast or the writing style didn't flow, at which point I stopped learning. Not so with Head First PHP & MySQL. This book I absolutely cannot put down. The style makes learning so easy and fun that I just want to keep reading it. The funny thing is, the first time I saw a Head First book, I thought the layout would hinder my learning, not help it. Boy, was I wrong.
Another great thing about this book is the flow. Most PHP and MySQL books start off with about 3-4 chapters of PHP, then 3-4 chapters of MySQL, then the rest of the book teaching you how to use the two programs together. But by the time I got to the chapters learning how to use them together, I had forgotten half the PHP from the first chapters! This book has you writing scripts using PHP AND MySQL in chapter two. but you don't feel rushed.
Let me close in describing who I think this book is good for, and who it isn't. If you are three days away from a test in these two subjects, and just need to cram to pass the class and don't care about learning, just passing, then get another book. There are books out there that have specific areas dedicated to each term (variable, array, etc) summed up on two pages. Once you learn something in this book, you will keep using it throughout the book, which is very helpful. I personally have to do things myself, more than once, to pick them up, and this book covers that perfectly, without making one second of this book boring.
If you are looking for a specific PHP and MySQL reference to sit on your desk, and quickly look in the index, find a term, and use it, get another book. As the authors state, this is not a reference book. It is meant to be a learners book, read in sequence.
If you know some HTML and CSS (didn't seem to me like you even had to know very much), are completely new to PHP and programming in general, and want to learn in a way that allows you to retain what knowledge you pick up, BUY THIS BOOK! It is excellent. All the examples do a wonderful job of illustrating what you just went over in that chapter. Both writers are truly gifted, and have an excellent writing style. The layout is perfect. I can't shower enough praise on this book. Brand new beginners to intermediate level programmers will all benefit from this book. Two thumbs way up!

The reason I bought this book was because I breezed through the Head First HTML with CSS & XHTML in less than a week and found it to be a superb tutorial. I soon found out that NOT ALL HEAD FIRST BOOKS ARE NOT CREATED EQUAL however. Head First PHP & MySQL has a horrible format for training someone. You're reading along and it's telling you about various concepts and you're thinking ok, am I supposed to code this now? But instead of spelling out exactly how the code should be written in PHP they never get that detailed. They just keep using hypothetical labels, as if you're having a conversation with someone who has no intention of actually making such a page. Then after covering about 5 new concepts they finally tell you to stop and create a page that displays this, moves that, inputs this, calculates that (as if you've been doing this long enough to already know all the details by memory). Even if you do manage to piece together what they want you to do, it always has errors because they intend for it to be that way! After agonizing for hours about what I could have done wrong, I finally just gave up and decided to read past it where I encountered "So... such and such didn't work right? Here's what you need to do to fix it," followed by "better, but we still need to change blah blah blah for it to work," followed by "we're getting there, but you should have done blah blah blah," each time telling you to upload the page and test it out again. You may get some general concepts or techniques out of just reading through the book, but don't expect to be able to follow along and get any real hands-on experience.

This book gets you writing database driven applications right from the start. The book makes learning PHP and MySQL interesting by getting you writing useful programs right away, adding the theory as you go. I can't tell you how many books I've given up on just because they chose to tell you every possible PHP function and syntax variation before they even began to show you how all this is related to an actual database application. The Head First books are just plain fun. Get a few practical apps up and running, then go back to the reference books to learn the nuances of the language.

Well. I bought this book based on a misleading forum post. I'm a PHP programmer myself and wanted to get more in depth on certain areas regarding the language. If you like confusion, then this book is the one you should get. I couldn't get past reading one page, I tried and tried but all of the drawings, funny pictures of people (what the hell what that for?), and graphical elements I just couldn't, basically impossible. What a mess. Never returned a book to Amazon before, ever, but this one I sent back... It was very disappointing. Just think that a page of this book tries to explain something simple using a Graffiti like form. HUH ? PHP is not hard at all, why make it look like it?

PHP is a difficult subject matter. These guys do a pretty good job of helping you understand and get the concept. Good beginner book. However, there are some problems. As stated in some of the other negative reviews, there is a lot of ambiguous text throughout the book where 'solutions' are given but no instruction is given on what to do. Occasionally there are parts where you are told "Now start coding!" with a few things left out. For example: In Chapter 9 you are told to create your first function out of already existing code. However, at some points of the lesson there is no instruction given on how to apply the 'return' statements of that function. Sure, if you're very focused you can figure it out, but when you put full trust into this book, you're constantly asking yourself "Am I supposed to do this? Is this part of the lesson? Will I turn the page and will it say 'Hey the page didn't work right? Here's why!'"

The learning format is a bit disorganized because the book is supposed to be 'rebellious' and 'fun' to read. But the constant placement of 'help comments' all over the page keeps your eyes bouncing on every page.

I've reported a few errors and for all those who do choose to buy this book...FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, ENABLE PHP ERRORS so you can catch theirs! (Not a lot, but hair-pulling errors)

Bottom Line: You WILL learn PHP
Bottom Bottom Line: You will at times STRESS learning PHP because of the book.

Bought another book,PHP6 and MYSQL 5, and the Head First book at the same time. PHP6 and MYSQL 5 is great--can't recommend the Head First book at all. Programming is a linear activity and needs to be taught in a linear way, so that you can easily understand what you need to do and how you can do it. The Head First book buries the material you need in a maze of pictures and exercises. The information you need may be in there, but it's just too hard to find it.

I have several HEAD FIRST books. I like the format for beginning study of the topics. If you already have a good grasp or are a quick study, you might get turned off by the wordiness. After awhile, you just want to get to the main point. What I like about this book is that it covers the details very well and gets you going quickly. The info on mySQL is a little sparse but you can get information online to help you out when needed. Very good beginner book and I would definitely reoommend it for beginners. By the end of the book you won't feel like a beginner.

Lynn Beighley and Michael Morrison's HEAD FIRST PHP & MYSQL: A BRAIN-FRIENDLY GUIDE is also for web programming libraries catering to programmers: it shows how to take HTML web pages to the next level, building database-driven sites using PHP and MYSQL. Chapters cover the basics of building a range of applications, from video games to message boards, and from working with cookies to performing database queries.

I was skeptical about using this book because of the mixed reviews here. But I went ahead and got it anyway and I'm very glad I did! I'm only on chapter 3, but so far I feel like I've retained so much more in these first 100 pages (out of just over 750 pages in the book) than any of the other tutorials I've used! The style is very laid back, as if you were being taught by a friend (rather than some tech-geek). So far they have started with a fun little project about a guy whose dog was kidnapped by aliens and you are helping him track it down via a website we are building for him.

This is the first time I've ever given a review, but I felt compelled because I feel the book is just that good.

It might not be right for the seasoned pro, but that's obviously not who the book is targeted for. I myself am a graphic designer with ActionScript3 experience and have found the book to be great for someone of my level...

Hope that helps, enjoy! :)

I learn best by doing, and this book had me creating sites, then modifying them to add the next logical step. The book is easy to read, easy to understand, and a little fun besides.

This was the first HeadFirst book I've ever bought and it was my final choice after trying to decide from several in the book store. And I must say, this was by far the BEST choice!

I've picked up other books in the past when trying to learn PHP and they left me more confused than anything. But the HeadFirst PHP & MySQL actually explains things to where I can understand them instead of just assuming I'll somehow understand it on my own.

I got about half way through the book and was able to venture off writing my own web apps and had the ability to understand more complex functions and syntax. This book was an awesome foundation for beginning PHP!

The reason I left one star off was after a few chapters, they become not-so-clear on where or how to add the code to the work-along scripts and therefore it leaves you using the downloaded ones off their site. I'd rather write it all out myself to help me understand it, practice writing it, and help memorize technicalities of the syntax.

But all in all, this is an awesome book and a great one for anyone serious about wanting to learn PHP.

I purchased three PHP/MySQL books to get a feel for the language and learn how to do things. I was skeptical with this book given how strange it appeared. I liked the style where they really asked you to think about possible answers to things before they told you how to do it. In some cases this was far too early and overly silly given you could really have NO clue whatsoever, but it's fun to look back and see how your guesses worked out. I think Head First is on to something. If you actually do the pencil and thinking exercises without just going for the answer you really do pick things up nicely.

I'll compare this against other books, but I did not love the way it had you do certain things early in chapters you would never do in real coding. Why teach you to write code you won't write, only to say you should do it the way they end. I'd have started with how it should look and explain why you shouldn't just do repetition or you should have clean files with calls to other PHP files, so think that way. I found it confusing at times to have to shift gears from thinking about how to do something then realize I just learned it the wrong way and I'd have to do it another way.

In all this was a helpful book. There are some errors in the book's code as well as the downloadable code online. Mostly with sticky forms. This was annoying as I thought it was an exercise to figure out how I screwed up when I first encountered it. Still, the book was entertaining and kept me interested and coding in my first experience with the language. It really brought concepts together and I can see a number of things I'll use in the real world. But for the code errors I'd have given it a four.

This book can teach you dynamic web development using PHP and MySQL quickly. I bought this book because I needed to learn PHP quickly for a site I planned to build. I was able to write scripts quickly using this book. I gave this book four stars because there were problems with setting up the environment which could of been avoided if they gave more attention to the setup. For beginners that never setup a local test environment, this will be very frustrating. But, that's the only problem. The book keeps you on your toes and noticed as you went along in the book they left stuff out of the instructions because at that point in the book you should know what to do. So you get weened off the hand holding for simple tasks such as creating a database. So, this is a great learning book. Don't get scared off by the setup. I found if you google WAMP and download the WAMP server, it will set the environment up for you. They should mention that in the book. If you're purpose is to learn PHP and MySQL, this book is the one to get.

I used this book to learn PHP for the first time. It is a great book to read and i couldn't stop reading it once I got the book. I finished the book in a week and made the database and website that I wanted in another week. It's a great way to start and I finished reading a book this thick faster than reading Harry Potter. However, it's not the perfect book for advanced user who only need references on the desk. It's hard to find organized information through the narrative contents. But still, I love this book and I will recommend this to anyone who wants to start learning about php and mysql.

This is a well-thought out book. At first look, it might appear simplistic and eye-grabbing...and it is. However, amidst the graphics and loose layout is serious content...and well-presented. The vocabulary is mainstreet and understandable (you needn't be a total geek). I have many tech-oriented books that, while they are content-rich, are presented in such a manner as to be somewhat painful reading. This is my first book in this series and the reading is fun, interesting, and rewarding. Excellent work!

This was a good book. After reading this book my second application on oDesk was accepted and I completed my first web development job earning 5 out of 5 stars in all areas for the work that I did.

It is probably better to do only a few chapters carefully (following their advice in bullet number 9 to "write a lot of code") than it is to rush through the book too fast. Chapters 1 through 6 could possibly be enough for many quick jobs or small sites. You'll need chapter 7 if you are interested in keeping track of users (it covers cookies, and also HTTP authentication). Chapter 8 has good rules and guidelines on how to organize your database to avoid inconsistencies and problems.

The other chapters are: chapter 9 covers custom and string functions, chapter 10 covers regular expressions, chapter 11 covers a graphics library, and chapter 12 covers web services and syndication.

These could possibly be skipped if the reader already has a reasonably good background in programming (e.g. has taken two or three courses at the undergraduate level in software development), or does not expect that that those are necessarily needed for the task at hand.

For example, a good programmer who has learned programming fundamentals may be able to pick up how to use the GD graphics library just from the documentation that comes with PHP.

You can always come back to those chapters at a later time (after all you've got to help Owen save his dog!)

I've only done one job, so I speak here mostly from that experience. I would grant that it is quite possible that those topics in chapters 9 through 12 may come in very handy, speed things up, and improve performance for other contract jobs, interviews, or full-time positions.

Just practicing and exploring things can help a lot as well.

Feel free to laugh at all the jokes, and be sure to do all the exercises. Some of the advice may sound a little bit silly or extraneous (for example, talk about the topic out loud, or drink a lot of water while you are studying), but I think they are reasonable tips and suggestions for helping to learn, and I think they helped me.

I also used [...] (entirely as an observer, just reading the kind of questions that people have can help), and of course the PHP.net site which has all the documentation.

It can take some time to figure out how to navigate the PHP.net site, but everything is there. You can click around and find what you need.

Before I took the oDesk exam I also got on Safari the book Programming PHP by Rasmus Lerdorf (the inventor of the language). That book goes into more depth. I read chapter 6 on classes to learn more details.

That review of chapter 6 in Programming PHP was helpful when I took the oDesk skills test which helped me to get my first job on oDesk.

Like all technical books there is some errata which has remained unfixed on Safari Books. If you see something that looks like a mistake and are using Safari Books you can click on Extras and then go to Errata. There is also a forum on [...] for people to ask questions on. You can see some of Michael Morrison's posts on there.

On oDesk many people said that it took them a few weeks to get their first job. On the second day of looking I found that an employer had written a specification, which I looked at and then began working on in PHP. I submitted my cover letter along with a URL to the work that I had done. I bid what the employer asked for which was about 20% of the average bid. While others had required a few weeks before getting their first job; with the training from Safari Books I got a job in about a day and a half. I built a customer relationship management web application frontend that worked with Zoho CRM.

One interesting comment about my job is related to chapter 8 and has to do with database normalization and having for each table a primary key. The job that I worked on had a 12 page specification and they had in the specification a schema but there was no primary key for the only table in the database. In the middle of the contract I asked graciously whether it was possible to add one column to the table so that there would be a primary key. After demonstrating that I could help with the task my employer (who is an engineer and scientist but not a web developer or database administrator) agreed readily. I think this was a good example of applying Dale Carnegie principles. If I had asked to make this change at the beginning before establishing more of a relationship, and demonstrating that I could help with the task, the employer might have still agreed, however, I think it would have been more awkward. I might have to try to explain why such a decision constitutes good design.

I enjoyed the book a great deal. It helped to lift up my spirits when I was depressed about being unsuccessful in graduate school.

Maybe it would have better to have delayed my review after gaining more experience trying to get a position in the conventional job market, or having done more freelance work on sites like elance, oDesk, or possibly TopCoder. However, I think as time goes by I'll see this book as being very useful.

I'm eager to read more Head First books, because I think the model is a very good one. For web development in particular I'm thinking about reading Head First JavaScript also by Michael Morrison. However, I may read some of the Head First Java book so that I can learn enough to start competing on TopCoder algorithm competitions.

I think Head First SQL (also by Lynn Beighley) may also be very useful for learning SQL in more detail toward the goal of gaining a MySQL certification.

David

P.S. You'll need of course a good editor or IDE to go through the book and for PHP/MySQL coding tasks. I was weaned on Emacs, but when doing the book, and the contract I used HTML-kit.

HTML-kit worked fine, and is a good program. On the other I'm thinking that Emacs might be better for different reasons:

1. Automatic indenting.
2. Matching parenthesis.
3. Incremental search (find might have some bug in HTML-kit)

Eclipse is probably now the most advanced IDE (possibly too sophisticated for the kinds of jobs I'd be working on in the near future).

How To Win Friends and Influence People
Programming PHP
Head First Java, 2nd Edition
Head First JavaScript
Head First SQL: Your Brain on SQL -- A Learner's Guide

This book shows much promise, but when it comes down to it you spend more time trying to figure out what the author failed to tell you you needed to do to get the examples to work. To make it even more difficult, the downloadable code does not include code for each of the checkpoints or "test drives" so you cannot always compare your code to a working version of what it should look like up to that point. And there are a lot of times where you will have to spend up to an hour on google trying to figure out what the hell you need to do to get something working where the author does not bother to give you a certain gem of info to help you along. Usually the author has you "download the code" and run it to see how it works. That defeats the purpose of learning how to do the code based on examples. To learn to code, you need to go through and type in the code, not just download and run the final product! There are several instances in ch 6 and 7 where the author leaves out steps for entire sections of code that are required to get the project to work, so you end up spending way too much digging through the final code to find what you need to get your mid chapter program to work. Also, the author does a lot of the HTML coding that is "deprecated" and goes against what is recommended in Head First's great book on HTML with CSS and XHTML. I don't expect to have to do a lot of banging my head against the wall to figure out what is going on in a Head First title, but that's what ended up happening.

This book was exactly what I ordered, excellent condition, and great delivery time! While I have not read the entire book year, it is exactly what I need to get started with PHP. I knew nothing about PHP before receiving this book, and I am now well on my way to becoming a PHP programmer! This is a great book for beginners, and is an excellent shelf item for reference for those who already know what they are doing.

This is an excellent book to learn a valuable skill. I think that this is a new way of writing text books that has a more definitive impact on the learner. I feel much more confident with the subject matter and appreciate that people are still innovating new ways to learn. I will continue to use HEAD FIRST for future topics that I wish to learn.

I knew nothing about MySQL or PHP except that if I didn't update my ancient website my business would be toast. I bought PHP & MySQL for Dummies and found it extremely confusing.

I needed hand holding and have found the OReilly books to be just the right mix of handholding and depth. I needed to understand, not just do. O Reilly books and this one in particular succeed. Sure it's goofy and even fun but what do I care? I need to learn and if goofiness works then great!

I'm sure I'll use the Dummies book as a reference, as it does have more depth, but if you need to start from only knowledge of HTML and basic database concepts, this is the book for you.

The materials presented in this book are very confusing I had to stop reading and pick up another PHP book.

The writers quiz you on stuff they haven't talked about and wants you to learn from the answer afterward... How annoying!

I am giving the book two stars because I did learn a few things from it.

The Head First series is the first O'Reilly alternate imprint that really struck gold (IMO). The Head First approach combines the detailed and wizened perspective that most "weird animal" O'Reilly books routinely offer with a new youth-oriented long-form narrative scenario-based meta-story. You still study the topic, but you also follow and enact a series of developmental moments in the evolution of a number of applications. You also get to understand the application from the perspective of different characters, each with different motivations. This is not your dad's "Northwind" database.

The result is that you get a real feel for what it is like to develop with a set of tools, and more importantly, WHY programmers in a technology made/make evolutionary steps toward what has become the expected practices of professional developers. For example in one chapter an application which allows users to post video game high-scores needs to be modified to make it more difficult for cheaters who lie about their exploits.

The Head First series is what is sometimes called a polyvocal text, in other words it presents the reader many voices, rather than following a single monolithic perspective. This frees the user in different ways. The result is that the application development milieu is revealed to be a lot more interesting than ordinary technical manuals (and more like it really is).

Instructional designers and teachers are going to be reading the Head First series for a long time, trying to figure out how they are put together and mining them for insights into how to really create a learning experience for students. I know I am.

As a counterpoint, I can imagine people who are already well-trained in learning technical topics NOT seeing the value of this approach. As a seasoned programmer, possibly in a related technology, I would only be looking for syntax examples, samples which show the "PHP/MySQL" way to solve familiar problems: data access, self-posting forms, various kinds of persistence between pages/forms, etc.

The thing to keep in mind is to determine which kind of reader you are. These concerns would also be especially dire for readers who are not strong English readers, and/or who are not comfortable with youth culture, and/or who WANT to work in a dispassionate "heads-down" kind of way.

I bought this book for my wife, a print graphic designer trying to move into web design. She's found it confusing. When she asks me for clarification, it's clear that the authors never really tried out the book on a non-engineer.

1. The first example throws a mailto: link in a web page. My wife wasted an hour configuring her desktop email client (she normally uses gmail) before turning to the next page to see "haha, that's not actually related to anything we want to do".
2. The next example is sending email from a server. This would have been a great example ten years ago, when you could actually get mail out from a random machine without it being discarded as spam.
3. SQL statements are displayed without semi-colons. It's mentioned once, but this book is supposed to be for beginners.
4. The first example of SQL is vulnerable to SQL injection. Fine, it's the first example, but at least say it isn't suitable for production code.
5. Later on, they talk about SQL injection, but the solution they give is to remove unsafe characters, rather than the preferred method of parameterized queries.

These are a handful of specific problems I've seen. I'm sure there are more. In general, it's mostly written to the level of a beginner (which I wanted), but it has too many errors in the details for a beginner to actually follow along.

Also, the examples have the longest names I've ever seen. I don't see what the reader is going to gain by being forced to type "date_this_happened_on" repeatedly.

That's what I would want from this book! It's definitely "over the top" in the fun department, even for a head first title, you can really see how the authors put some real talent and imagination to create the "case studies" for the code examples.. I just wish they had exercised the same level of talent and effort on the technical quality of the examples, which is unfortunately severely lacking, even for a beginner level text. There is way too little code, and the little that is present is way too simple and primitive. The end result is that this book reads like a very funny comic book with a little technical detail inside instead of what is really meant to be, a technical book with humour and creativity to make it more engaging. I think this has to do with the fact that both authors are more "creative types" than programmers at heart, so they naturally ended up concentrating on the side they care more about... overturning the rationale behind the head firts series. So.. a little less conversation, a little more action guys, or at least put as much action as conversation..
So if you're interested in checking out how much creativity and fun can be put into a programming book you might consider to give a look at this title, but for really learning to program in php, I would go somewhere else...

I bought this book immediately after finishing the Headfirst HTML with CSS & XHTML. I'm an engineer but not much of a programmer, I had some experience with HTML back in the earlier days, 1994-1997, but since then hadn't done anything with the web before getting into the Head First series. I'm a do-it-yourself web developer for my home businesses, scuba instruction and home studio recording, and these two Head First books quickly got me up and running with a modern-looking web application that provided some interactivity to my website.

I found the Head First style to be a very engaging read, although I'll admit I skipped some of the MySQL exercises and, as a result, my retention wasn't as good as the HTML guide. However, I still feel I've been adequately introduced to the power of MySQL and PHP driven queries. I've used the skills learned from this book to start building a MySQL database for user data and intend to further develop the database into a social networking tool for my clients, but I'll admit as I applied the knowledge from this book I quickly realized I should probably do some more reading with more advanced guides.

Still, as noted in the title of this review, this was a good introduction allowing me to get started without exposing my site to any security risks, and it also confirmed my decision to use PHP and MySQL instead of other options out there. I also know I will use this book as a reference, and the hands-on exercises help to guide me to the right chapter to find what I'm looking for.

Because of the style, careful pace, and thorough coverage, this book is excellent for beginners and for those transitioning from another web programming language to PHP.

Pros: The style of the book is graphical and there are large numbers of examples. Each chapter contains a specific set of goals to accomplish.

Chapter 1-2:

Shows how PHP and MySQL interact with the HTML code to produce interactive web pages.

Chapter 3:

Shows how to set up tables in MySQL and retrieve the data.

Chapter 4-5:

Creating interactive web pages to gather data from the user.

Chapter 6:

Security; Securing the web application

Chapter 7:

Persistence, Session Management, Cookie Management, Logging in. Creating template pages and include pages.

Chapter 8-11:

Adding functionality to pages using PHP functions and the MySQL database.

Chapter 12:

Publishing with XML, RSS, video.

In each chapter, the lessons are taught using a combination of pictures and story telling. This is an entertaining way of presenting the material and should help new PHP programmers understand the material better. The information is shown in a non-threatening way. This will be welcoming to those who think "normal" computer books are condescending to newbies.

The book uses another approach to pass on the ideas. It shows the programmer how to get the page working first, then explains why the first attempt is not optimal. As you proceed through the chapter, it explains ways to improve the initial code. Because of this the book builds up to a better and better site, but the reader will not easily be able to skip around. The book works best when read from start to finish instead of choosing topics here and there.

Other mechanisms used are checklists. Critical areas have lists that the reader can follow to make sure they have accomplished specific tasks. This is very useful to prevent the reader from missing an important step, getting to far ahead, then not knowing why the examples do not work.

There are also "dumb question" sections that ask and answer what are actually very good questions. These are generally used to clarify points that tend to be confusing.

"Sharpen your pencil" areas give the reader a question to answer or a learning check to do. There are lines to write answers into the book itself. Readers should probably get the answer correct then copy the answer into the book to avoid making a mess out of the pages.

Summary: This book is excellent for beginners, intermediate programmers, students, and those transitioning from a different web programming language. Definitely recommended for these groups.

Cons: Because the book is intended for beginners, the pace may frustrate experienced programmers that are looking up a specific topic. Also, the book states many concepts that would be known by an expert to be "obvious". It is these same features that make the book great for beginners and intermediate PHP programmers and/or non-professional programmers.

Additionally, the book focuses on "getting things done" A.K.A. getting the projects up and running. Many best practices are mentioned and even emphasized;however, some security concepts are skipped in favor of easier ways to accomplish the goal. For example, the book recommends closing the database connection when done (great tip) but also uses query strings to interact with the database rather than using stored procedures (not so great). This style may leave security holes in the applications. In my opinion, I would rather see the security concepts rolled into the training material even if the security concepts were not the focus.

Note: Chapter 6 covers security topics well. Following chapter 6 will result in a reasonably secure site. I would have rather seen the "security stuff" incorporated in all chapters though then explained later in chapter 6. For example, in chapter 2, stored procedures could have been used to access the data rather than queries. This would have required teaching MySQL procedures though, which would have been more difficult. It is a balancing act to be sure. The book needs to encourage beginners (which it does) but also produce secure code. Perhaps a compromise would be to add notes to pages saying "be sure to see how to secure this topic in chapter 6".

While this pretty much goes over the basics of PHP and MySQL, a subject that I had broached more than 8 years ago, the shine on -this- particular book comes from the way that knowledge and information is presented. It brings it to you up front, clear and concise but it tricks you into learning by making it weird, and interesting. IE FUN!!!

I found myself moving through the book, and on more than one occasion saying. "Hey I never thought of it that way!" or just plain laughing out loud. I love this book, and this format, and can't wait to see what the do with advanced topics, such as Object Oriented PHP, and the likes.

Good job dudes!!!

This book gets you going. I had bought 2 books prior to this but I couldn't get excited about php. Now I am. The examples are good, but I tended to create my own apps as I was going along which is good about this book in that it is flexible.
Definitely sign onto their blog for error notices and such. I hit a snag and someone got back to me overnight so they have a good support community.
Enjoy. I know I looking forward to my next Head First book.

This product was delivered to me very quickly and is a very informative book. Very nice buy!! :)

Disregard the one star rating because I nver got this book. Some glitch at Amazon decided my address was undeliverable even though I've been getting packages for 10 years. I was really hoping to get this book because I like the HTML CSS book by the same group. Amazon, please look into this glitch.

I'm just over half way through this book and I'm loving the way that it teaches you!

This is another well presented book in the Head First series. Their visual and pinch of redundancy teaching methodology makes one learn important concepts without ever feeling overwhelmed. The examples they chose to illustrate the concepts are engaging and never gimmicky.

I found this book great at not just teaching me the PHP language and MySQL mechanics, but substantially stepping out into web development 101 concepts like Cookies and Sessions, GETs and POSTs, etc. so that the context of use (which is web development) is illuminated by these tools.

I was starting to learn PHP and MySQl and bought countless other books. Each of them had many errors or were just outdated. When I got this book, I read to page 100 on the first day. They constantly repeated things which made me remember it and most of it was pictures. Once you buy this book, you'll never need another. I recommend this for anyone wanting to learn PHP.

Good to learn how this stuff works. Still making my way through the book but I'm surprisingly absorbing a lot in just a short time from it.