Rating:  - This book is "Get to the point programming"
I've checked out many PHP books. Unfortunately most of them has a slow pace geared toward the beginner programmer. I have experience in C programming. I don't have time to do another "Hello World". The crash course in PHP from this book is great. It tells me everything I need to know about the syntax usage of PHP. It even shows numerous tables depicting syntax examples as a great way to look up references. The PHP crash course section gets to the point. No fluff, no cheasy long paragraphs to explain what is declaration or initialization. It is definitely a book for people with programming experience.
This book will save me a lot of time understanding PHP. I've only read a few chapters but it has already gotten me much farther then some other books I've tried.
Rating:  - not that great
I was catched by the hype "best book" and so on, so now I'm reading it, though i'm only on page 200, but still the book isn't so great. Sometimes I think I'd better read PHP online manual, but not the book (now I'm reading both), because authors sometimes misleadingly present information. For example with __set() and __get() methods in the class, authors claim that these methods are always implicitly invoked when setting the value, but PHP manual clearly states "These methods will only be triggered when your object or inherited object doesn't contain the member or method you're trying to access".
Chapter about objects is very weak, I wonder if I hadn't previous experience with Java, I guess I wouldn't understand at all what objects and classes are, what they do, how they do it and so on.
Overall I can't judge if the book is better or worse than other PHP books, this is my first on the subject, so I give it a 3 stars.
I wish Bruce Eckel would write a book on PHP :)
Rating:  - Not that great
I had hoped this book would help me with my site, but much of the code DOES NOT WORK. At least with my setup of PHP 4.4, MySQL 4 and MS IIS. You can get all this information and more just by searching the internet. What a waste of money.
Rating: - I can't recommend this book highly enough!
This book will help you understand everything you want to understand about PHP and MySQL, period.
This is the second book I've read by Luke Welling and Laura Thompson, and I have to say that they produce incredibly well-organized and well-conceived books that teach whatever subjects they tackle remarkably well.
I have read many other PHP books on the market, and this book is covers the topic, both in breadth and depth, far greater than any other book I've read.
You may have heard that MySQL and PHP come with significant security considerations. Try to find a plain-english explanation of these security considerations in any other popular PHP book out there, and you'll be disappointed. After reading this book, you will be able to make informed security decisions that don't simply parrot the prescriptive security measures described in other texts.
Beyond simply recommending this book, I recommend the authors. If you're considering *any* topic that this writing duo has addressed, I recommend them, hands down. Their writing style is clear, the examples are methodical and concise, and their explanations are extremely informative!
Rating: - Exactly what I ever wanted in a web development book.
These people know how to write concisely and very clearly. Their explanations were ordered in a manner which allowed me to learn the most content the quickest. Right now I'm on page 255 of 864 and they still have my attention. Because of this book I want to do more PHP and MySQL programming than I wanted to before.
Specifically their explanations were not over-filled with emotional cracks and fillibusters like many other books I've read on Web Design (note that Web Design and Development are different things). At the outset of reading this book I had very little programming experience (took a college course in C++ about 3 years ago) and a I had worked on 2 or 3 mid-sized (10 to 20 tables) MS Access databases. This book went at exactly the right pace for my experience level.
Thanks Welling and Thomson!!!
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