Rating:  - Great Book for Beginer and Intermediate Programmers
This book walks you through some very applicable examples of PHP and MySQL. This and SAMS Teach Yourself PHP in 24 Hour have taught me so much about PHP. I used them to create a gaming website back in high school (knowing nothing about programming to creating a website with a database of users, a calendar, message board, and even a score and ranking system).
I now write PHP code for a living through college. This book was DEFINATELY a valuable asset to my learning PHP. (also, for you newbie PHP people, be sure to use PHP.net if you can't find a function... it is like a function dictionary - it's amazing).
Rating: - cyberkid
This book has excellent coverage from database creation to web development with the most prominent open source tools available as the title implies. I used one of the models in the book to guide in developing a website for my Web Administration class project from start to finish earning an "A" in the project. I purchased this book as a supplement to the text book used in class that lack the explecit coverage that I found in this book.
Great job.
Rating: - Excellent Introduction to PHP and MySQL
Before reading this book I had an abundance of programming experience in C/C++ but none with HTML or programming a dynamic website. This book allowed me to quickly realize that there is not much difference between traditional programming and server-side web programming. True, one has to know a little something about html to present input and output, start a session, keep track of session and form variables, and interact with a database, but aside from this the programming is much the same: variables, loops, control statements, functions, and objects. And may be the strength of this book is that Welling's and Thomson's presentation makes this very clear. The presentation is no more difficult than it needs to be to get a web application up and running, whether it is a simple on-line survey, or an industrial strength e-commerce site. I was almost alarmed at how easy it seemed to zip through the chapters, or skim through later chapters finding the right tidbits of helpful information.
I found the chapters on MySQL very good, although I did supplement them with Parts I and II "The Relational Model of Data" from Christopher Date's "Introduction to Database Systems", as I wanted to have a slightly more advanced perspective on SQL database querying and a better understanding of what comprises a database system.
Finally, I should note that a benefit of using MySQL and PHP is that both tools have very good online reference manuals that will answer questions about advanced syntax and use that is omitted from this book (although I must say that this book covers a significant amount of both manuals, and places them well within the context of actual website development).
I couldn't have asked for a better book.
Rating: - Great book
This is a great PHP, MySQL book. If you are new to PHP and MySQL but have experience in other programming or scripting language, this is the book for you.
It does not bore you with reference information that you can find online, it explains the basics and then provides a vast array of example code that helps you understand and develop your own code.
If you want to develop PHP/MySQL web applications I strongly recommend this book.
Rating:  - A Beginner's Love
When I first got a job in the web development business I had no idea what I was getting into and, like many people out there, I was simply the most qualified person in the company. After 2 years of programming primarily with DHTML and XML I realized, painfully, that the knowledge I had just wasn't cutting it and began looking for alternatives. Thankfully, the server I had been operating on was running PHP and I was able to immediately begin testing scripts that I was learning through the internet. But learning through online tutorials wasn't enough.
A friend of mine who was getting out of the web development business gave PHP and MySQL Web Development to me and, after reading the first chapter, I fell in love. The great thing about this book is its multitude of examples. Spread throughout each chapter are sections of fully articulated scripts meaning that when I need to do something likeset up an array I can just flip over to the arrays chapter and take a look at the example and read the descriptions. Another great thing is that the explanations are focused on what something can do instead of on how it does what it does, a plus for a beginner.
All in all great book. The only reason I gave it only 4 stars is that it is a bit dated making it not as relevant today as it was when I first began programming with it.
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