...if you have seen true object-oriented development, and have had trouble using these concepts in PHP; don't despair any longer. Matt (Zandstra) has done all the work for you--all you need is a weekend or two to do a little reading.
— Daniel Holmes, Slashdot Contributor
While being an easy read, Zandstra's introduction to the object-oriented features is, I believe, perfectly adequate to get started with object-oriented PHP programming.
— Lasse Koskela, JavaRanch Bartender
PHP 5's object-oriented enhancements are among the most significant improvements in the 10+ year history of the language. This book introduces you to those new features and the many opportunities they provide, as well as a number of tools that will help you maximize development efforts.
The book begins with a broad overview of PHP 5's object-oriented features, introducing key topics like class declaration, object instantiation, inheritance, and method and property encapsulation. You'll also learn about advanced topics including static methods and properties, abstract classes, interfaces, exception handling, object cloning, and more. You'll also benefit from an extensive discussion regarding object-oriented design best practices.
The next part of the book is devoted to a topic that is often a natural extension of any object-oriented introduction: design patterns. PHP 5 is particularly well-suited to the deployment of these solutions for commonly occurring programming problems. The author will introduce pattern concepts and show you how to implement several key patterns in your PHP applications.
The last segment introduces a number of great utilities that help you document, manage, test, and build your PHP applications, including Phing, PHPUnit2, phpDocumentor, PEAR, and CVS.
Customer Reviews
Average Rating:
Rating: - Buy both of them!
This book does borrow heavily from the "Gang of Four" book as other reviewers have mentioned. But the latter is the definative book on Design Patterns.
I would recommend buying both books as they do complement each other quite well. The examples in "PHP 5 Objects, Patterns, and Practice" tended be be a bit obscure but were clear and practical.
I recommend this book.
Rating: - Almost Perfect
Zandstra has created a masterful overview of OO for PHP and provides the patterns to go with it. However, the code presented in a number of sections is far from self-documenting, particularly the Enterprise patterns section. A really great additional feature would have been to tie up, broadly, how the patterns interact with one another at various layers of enterprise design; as the book is written, it becomes hard to keep track of all of the objects Zandstra has created over the chapter, and many ... Read More
Rating: - PHP + mini version of Gang of Four
Overall a very nice book. Certainly not a replacement for either "Gang of Four", OO design and PHP books, but a nice compilation. Don't expect any ground breaking strategies or patters. Good book for a person who wants to know HOW to use patters specifically for PHP. Pretty vague on WHY.
Rating: - More like Gang of Shut the Heck Up
The first quarter of this book is an excellent primer on what's new and different in PHP5's objects; much better than the terse, incomplete, and often times grammatically broken, descriptions one finds in the free online documentation. The remaining three quarters, while generally well written when you look at individual segments, commit the most heinous of errors the author strives to warn against: repetition. It seems like every other page contains a "Gang of Four" reference, complete with a thorough ... Read More
Rating: - Best PHP Book I've Come Across
If you want to take your PHP coding up to the next level (object oriented), this is the book for you. It has become my primary source for PHP object design concepts.
- Buy both of them!
- Almost Perfect
- More like Gang of Shut the Heck Up
