What book would you guys recommend on php? Something that has complete overall coverage of the language.
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What book would you guys recommend on php? Something that has complete overall coverage of the language.
-PHP Anthology by Harry (so cute)
and other books here in site point are great too ..
You will find many posts about best php books here if you searched this forum
"The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil ..
.. is for good men to do nothing" Edmund Burke.
I'll second the anthology. It does depend on what your current knowledge is though!
I never found any use from PHP books. Reading in depth tutorials helped me.
That and just experiementing myself while reading php.net
Yeah, I would say php.net is by far one of the best resources and severly underused to if you ask me. Sometimes though, its just nice to see things in a book. I guess it all depends how you learn!
The most I got from a PHP Book was the very basics and a little bit of the syntax.
Now that I think about it I'm not sure what gave me the boost in learning PHP.
I read Kevin Yanks book "Build Your Own Database Driven Website Using PHP & MySQL" from sitepoint. It covers most of the basic terms of the language and is a great way to start learning both PHP and MySQL.
The PHP anthology requires you to have some knowledge of the language, so it's a great follow up book.
The manual on php.net is great, no doubt about it, but if you're completly new, it's a bit overwhelming. Once you get the hang of the basics though, it's a great resource.
I would say I do have a bit of an understanding of the language. In that case what do you suggest?
Now I see there is 2 volumes....oh jeez. Do I need both?
Anything by WROX publication is awesome. I started with Beginning PHP 4 and then got Professional PHP 4.
As the guys have mentioned above, php.net is a sweet place to go to as well.
My first PHP book was Core PHP Programming by Leon Atkinson. It was very well written. Can be used also for Reference later on. Especially the first version i own (which covered PHP 3) is heavily marked with a highlighter pen
Also as grego002 says, PHP and MySQL WebDev is REALLY well written if you don't have any programming background.
When you get some experience, purchase O'Reilly 's PHP Cookbook. After that you only need the official (Enhanced prefered) PHP Manual version for quick references and user examples.
Don't Drink & Surf The Net
Totally agree, I learned what I know from it and "Beginning PHP4" from Wrox which is out of date by now.Originally Posted by gregor002
-Melchior (Stephen Craton)
Whatever you get make sure it provides you with a taste of OOP ... My recommendation would be to read something like the book I posted then move on to the PHP Anthology: I've only seen the sample chapters but they look great!
How do you use php.net to improve you skills? How should i use it to help me?Yeah, I would say php.net is by far one of the best resources and severly underused to if you ask me. Sometimes though, its just nice to see things in a book. I guess it all depends how you learn!
So what is the best way to use php.net? How would i use it to help me better understand the language?
php.net, sitepoint.com & phpFreaks.com, that's it.
I have "Professional PHP4" and "PHP developer's cookbook". They are pretty good as reference.
i will suggest you to read Kevin Yanks and php.net is where you can have every thing ...........
Where there is a will there is a way
ArunKumar
The best reference you can possible get is php.net.
-Melchior (Stephen Craton)
I agree with the others, the best "book" is by far php.net. That and reading articles around the web, such as sitepoint, devarticles, zend, phpfreaks..etc.
If your looking for programming concepts and techniques with php I'm sure the books listed above would be your best bet, but for pure php nothing beats the manual.
The best way to use php.net is as refference. When you hit a snag and just can not figure out how, for instance, to do something with an array. Check php.net in its array section and take a look at the built in functions and there ussually is one that either will do it for you, or get you a lot closer to your goal.
Before I started learning PHP, I knew absolutly nothing about programming at all. I didn't even know what a variable was, much less for loops and functions.
On PHP net, you don't find statments like
"a variable is a name given to an imaginary box into which any value may be placed." (at least I haven't seen any).
The manuall on Php.net is amazing, but hard to figure if someone is completly new to the whole scripting idea.
You'll find such basic information in Kevin Yanks book among others.
It all depends on the knowledge about both PHP and programming in general the person has.
Isnt that what we are all looking for? Having the nails and lumber is nice, but if you don't have plans and tools you can not build a house.
Also my eyes hurt enough as it is, I dont need to be reading detailed coding information on my monitor. Plus what will I read in the bathroom between monthly maxim deliveries?
I really hated wrox beginning in php 4 actually they, write to much theoritical stuff, i liked sitepoints book better since they gave me solutions which i could use in my own projects while learning..
Go visit my site :-D you know you want to ;-)
www.mech7.net
Well the original author of this thread said complete overall coverage of the language, and the best place to find that is the manual. However if he was meaning programming concepts as well as everything in the language then the other books combined with the manual is the best bet.
Even still the manual is an invaluable resource.
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