PHP 5 / MySQL Programming for the Absolute Beginner

• #16 in Best Mysql Books
• #19 in Best PHP Books

19 Reviews

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I'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!

I am an Absolute beginner. When I say absolute I mean it. My education was spent in the history department and reading through texts written centuries ago. I took my last math class as a college freshman and only in the past couple of years opened up a web design program and got to learning html.

Programming is an entirely foreign world for me. It is an entirely foreign way of thinking for me. I can happily write twenty or more pages on some obscure incident in the late Roman Empire but show me a bit of code and my brain fogs over.

This being the case I found Andy Harris' book to be exceptionally helpful. He takes you step by step, explaining key concepts and vocabulary, inserting bits of humor and the occasional tangent, keeping the lessons fresh.

The first seven chapters deal more directly with the basics of PHP. The rest deal mostly with MySQL.

I got into PHP through my wrestling with Wordpress, and my interest in working with other CMS systems for an education environment. Underlying these great open source programs are PHP and MySQL. Harris' book, then, serves as a wonderful foundation for my pursuits as I move past being an absolute beginner.

It may not be appropriate for those with a stronger foundation in programming, but then the title should give that away. There are the very occasional errors in the code, but these are fixed in the provided CD, so it gives a person experience in discovering how to fix broken code, another great lesson. As most of the errors in the code come from my own mistakes, not the book's, getting good at comparing my work with the cd is a useful lesson indeed.

Because of this book I am no longer an absolute beginner but instead someone able to both develop new projects and work much more effectively with established open source programs. Andy Harris has written what I consider a "fog-lifter" book, a rarity in the programming instruction world.

While the concept of a book for "absolute beginners" is great, it seems the author has skimped out on spending actual effort in writing the book. There are a few gems and insights, but the vast majority of passages include obvious bromides, such as a whole paragraph wasted on the real-world tip: "don't include your real password if you share your code for mysql_db_connect."

Despite its title, the book only spends a short chapter on actual integration of php and mysql--and it doesn't even broach up the suppression operator (@mysql_connect(l,u,p) OR die('can't connect to mysql')). Moreover, the XML/PHP part is too brief.

In the file chapter, the guy implies that using file saving methods isn't efficient because in a real-world website, two users might write to the same file at once--thus, he won't spend much time talking about files, but will broach up more on multiple-user access in the XML chapter... which he seems to have forgotten (or did he expect us to waste $30 on a book just to go back to the easy-to-install php nuke system instead of actually designing our own functional CMS system allowing for multiple user file writes).

The code snipplets include a number of typo'ed functions (as do the text descriptions following them). Moreover, a lot of functions are used without adequate explanation. The book expects you to read through the documentation on php.net or to suffer through countless hours of frustration trying to get the exact code to work.

I'd say that this book is good to skim over (say, 20 minutes) if you don't know how to program. If you trust the guy's code snipplets and attempt to learn from those, then... may the author's non-existent errata help you.

If you disagree with any of this and have actually read the book, please contact me via jackline.hunter at gmail dot com.

This book is an excellent resource for people who have had NO programming experience or very little. For people (like some of the more recent reviewers) who do have programming experience in PHP or other programming languages, I imagine this book would be remedial as it covers basic programming concepts (which are the same in all programming language) like variables, loops, and arrays, in great detail. For the complete Novice, this is excellent. For the experienced, I'm sure this feels like a waste of time--but really--what can you expect from a book that says in its title "For the Absolute Beginner".

As it is titled "For the Absolute Beginner" and IS indeed for that type of person, I have no complaints whatsoever. And the other reviewer who said "The Code is outdated" is incorrect. PHP 5 is currently the latest version of PHP, and this book covers PHP 5. I've yet to have a piece of code not execute from this book (except when I mess up the coding...)

I'd highly recommend this book for a person with no real programming experience. I myself was 'hobbyist' programmer in BASIC fiften years ago...and this was an EXCELLENT book to remind me of all the things I had long forgotten as I delved into writing PHP and using MySQL.

There are TONS of topics and coding that is not covered here, but hey...for absolute beginner...this is THE PLACE TO START. After digesting this book, I would recommend going over to Jason Gilmore's "Beginning PHP 5 & MySQL". I purchased Jason's book first...was utterly lost...and then purchased this one. Now, after understanding these concepts much better, Jason's book makes MUCH more sense...and is a great resource in my PHP library.

The author Andy Harris comes across as a very nice guy in this book and he really is trying hard to think on a beginner level, but this book simply is not designed for someone with no programming experience. I have gone through many PHP books (as well as other programming language books) labeled "beginner" and it seems that none are able to truly grasp what a newbie to programming is going through. I ran into several errors in the book and, alas, there is no accompanament website that lists errata. NEVER purchase a book that does not have a frequently updated accopanying website.

There are some good things that you can pick up from this book, but if you rely on it for your sole introduction to PHP than you will go insane. I recommend finding a programming mentor -either in real life or online- and searching for peices of the puzzle on the internet. A great place to start is simply www.PHP.net.

Andy Harris has written a gem of a book. He is clearly an educator who has thought about how to teach programming. This book takes you step by step through php, introducing excellent examples and adding to them as the book moves along. This is a good text to use as an instructor or it would be great for self study. Clearly the best beginning book on the subject.

While the book covers php and mysql from the beginning, it would help if the reader had a background in html, css and some programming.

This book is awesome for someone who is just beginning to learn PHP. Probably the best intro book I've ever read. The examples and concepts are explained very clearly. It is also easy to follow.

I am also a student in the department where Mr. Harris teaches, and I've taken a number of distributed education courses where he is the instructor on the videos. He's a great instructor and has been helpful to me when I've emailed him. If anybody is in the area, I'd highly recommend that you take one of his courses. The videos compliment what he talks about in his books.

I was a little scared about other people comments, but I decided to buy the book and give a try, thanks God!... I did it,
I have learned so much with this book, if I can give 10 stars I will, hoping the author continue making books like this in a series, excellent work.

Firstly, there are no clarifications for Mac OS X users (who have the advantage of having Apache already installed).

Secondly, I was told in a PHP forum that the code in this book is outdated, thus the reason why I can't get any of them to work. Mind you, when I copy and paste coding from online sources, they work fine; So I know my PHP is working. the code is bad.

Finally, while I enjoy reading from a book better than from screen, I have found the tutorials at http://devzone.zend.com/node/view/id/627
infinitely more helpful. Their code has comments telling you exactly what each segment of it does. Their pace and progression is better.

My advice would be to make sure that the book you want to buy was written recently, and not an updated version of an older book. Look for books that the code is prominent and well explained. But online tutorials abound.

In 428 pages, the book barely moves past control structures. I learned very little from this book and not enough for a functional php/mysql website. Functions are not explained well and very few are included. The author uses old and bad coding practices.
As far as the PHP parts go, online tutorials have been more helpful. The title implies that the book is not only about PHP but ALSO largly about MySQL. It only touches on MySQL.
This book was useless. I had trouble installing PHP and MySQL despite the book's instructions. The software on the CD is not usable if you want the most recent versions. The coding on the CD did not all work correctly and was incomplete.

Unfortunately this book, despite its best efforts, falls flat on its face when it comes to teaching php. I am a beginner to the language and I ordered the book recently to begin teaching myself. The code in the book did not work at all, even when I uploaded the pages stored on the CD rom directly to my site they didn't work properly, which let me know that even though I'm new to the language the errors weren't my fault. The script is incomplete and poorly written, as told to me by professional web site authors I know. It lacks the most important parts of the script to make them work and if you're on your own you won't be able to figure out why it isn't working, unless you find the answer in a forum or something. I recommend this book instead, PHP 6 and MySQL 5 for Dynamic Web Sites: Visual QuickPro Guide. The code in this book actually works and any errors are insignificant plus have corrections online at the author's site. Don't make the same mistake I did in buying this book. It will just disappoint you and waste your money.

When it comes to programming, Mac users appear to be at a disadvantage. However, with a little research via the internet, I've been able to take advantage of the programming material that is mostly geared towards Windows. This book is no exception. The most difficult part of the process is getting PHP and MySQL set up and that has nothing to do with this book! A quick search on the internet shows that a lot of people have this problem.
Initially, I thought there were some problems with the code, but I always discovered that is was MY code, not what was written in the book. It's very easy to forget a semi-colon or a bracket or even a period and not see it even after carefully re-checking. (It can help to print it out instead of trying to read it from the screen.) Personally, I think programming can be quite dull, especially for someone who enjoys "design." But, that's part of what makes this book good, it does incorporate design and it uses concepts that are actually fun. I'm still learning, but I'm enjoying the process and I can't wait to start using some of things I've learned on my own website.

This is an excellent book for the beginner. It steps you through the functions and has good sample code. I really recommend this book.

This book is the best. As I read it I clearly understood all I had in my head for my new web site. It is simple and there is a lot of useful examples. Thank you!

The authors writing style leaves a lot to be desired. He's hard to understand sometimes. He uses a game to illustrate the concepts of PHP & understanding the game was more difficult than the code. It's not bad - it's just OK. I'd recommend Charles Wyke-Smith "Codin for the Web" for a clear explanation of rudimentary PHP MySQL concepts with real world examples - not stupid games.

My son was looking for an introduction to web development, and I couldn't think of a better place than PHP with which to start.

I found the author's writing style very enjoyable - and was particularly impressed by his choice of example programs. For instance, the chapter on databases introduces concepts using an adventure game!

The only problem I had was the lightweight treatment of Content Management Systems (in particular the discussion of PHP-Nuke), which ended up being much too generic to be of use.

However, that doesn't really detract from the quality of the rest of the book, which is highly recommended.

This book is physically easy for me to read. It is clearly written and helpful for me as a rank beginner in PHP programming. The reader needs some background in programming with HTML and CSS.

The book seems to do an OK job of getting the major points across, but I would have liked to see a clearer progression of information with a separate section for a quick reference. I like the CD with the code available to use. That is a valuable asset for the book.

I have used many different books and resources to learn programming languages and this seris is by far the best I have ever used.