Rating:  - Advanced best-practices EVERYONE should be aware of
This book introduces and elaborates on very good programming practices that not many self-made programmers are aware of. I've had contact with some 5 or 6 other programming languages at university and I've had my share of contact with good programming practices, but they were never presented to me so clear-cut and in a so motivating way as in this book. That, alongside with the fact that I just love PHP, makes this the absolutely most important book I would recommend to any fellow programmer.
This book doesn't teach PHP, it teaches efficiency, maintainability and some really good programming notions. The fact that it uses PHP as a vehicle is just the icing on the cake. The source code used is manytimes from real open source projects, a nice effort from the author.
Oh, and I would also like to mention the author's style of writing: he comes across as a very open-minded individual who routinely recognises his own errors and isn't in any way superior to the rest of us not-so-enlightned programmers.
On a final note, let me just say I wish my copy of this book would magically turn into a spell-checked hardcover edition :)
Rating: - Only best practices
I started programming only a little over a year ago, with a JavaScript book I bought. Shortly after that I started with PHP.
My first PHP book was Glasshaus' "Dreamweaver MX: PHP Web Development" (had to start somewhere). I then bought Sams' "PHP & MySQL web development". That was a big step forward.
Meanwhile, I learned all about separating the different layers on the front end through the use of XHTML, CSS and W3C DOM-based JavaScript, and I wanted to learn to achieve the same kind of maintainability in server-side scripting. I wanted more advanced programming techniques and I wanted to learn about `best practices' and OOP.
I then got the SitePoint PHP Anthology volumes. I liked its use of OOP for the various solutions, but they're just that. A lot of cook book style solutions. I learned some good things from looking at all the solutions, but I wanted a more direct approach teaching me how to program PHP on a professional level, rather than just learn how to implement professional solutions.
A few weeks ago I got the book Advanced PHP Programming. Finally I have a book that seems to really have what I was looking for. This teaches not only how OOP works in PHP, but it also shows in general how OO techniques apply to different situations (design patterns). A lot of other topics in the book are a little over my head right now, but it is good to know it's there for when I need it.
While reading the many examples in the previously mentioned PHP books, I kept asking myself "is this really the best way to handle this?". Not with this one. I somehow know that this book can teach me all I ever wanted to know about programming PHP on a professional level and not teach me any 'bad practices' along the way.
This is definately not the first book I should have bought on PHP, but it seems this may well be the last book I will be needing for a long time.
Rating: - A superbly organized and definitive instructional guide
George Schlossnagle's Advanced PHP Programming is the superbly organized and definitive instructional guide to developing large-scale PHP applications. Comprehensive, expertly detailed, authoritative, "learner friendly", Advanced PHP Programming is an invaluable addition to any professional quality computer science reference collection.
Rating: - I love this book
Wow, I love this book! Not just because the content is great, but also because the other has his head held high. PHP is fine environment for doing web development and we should be proud, especially with version 5, which this book covers in depth.
The book starts with PHP coding patterns, then covers design patterns in the second chapter. This is wonderful because the PHP community needs to understand these principles and embrace them. With PHP 5 we now have support in the tool to build high quality well-architected web sites, and this book points the way right from the get-go.
Chapter four covers Smarty. It's a good, though brief introduction. It's still better than that standard documentation. If you don't know about Smarty you should really check it out. It's a great way to separate the user interface from the business logic.
Chapter six covers unit testing and test driven design. The coverage is concise and doesn't pander to the reader. The examples are bit abstract. But the section is valuable as an introduction to the topic and to it's implementation with PHP.
The book then continues on into truly advanced topics such as extending PHP using the SAPI, web services, caching, performance and profiling and a number of other topics.
Rating: - Just when you thought you knew it all
I've been programming in PHP full-time for 5 years now. I remember when I was first learning, how all the books felt a little over my head, in a good way. Very slowly I understood things that didn't make sense before. And then very slowly I'd start to incorporate those things into my day-to-day programming.
After 2 years or so, I missed that feeling. I'd check out new PHP books and flip through every chapter saying, "Yeah yeah yeah...". I realized I had become an expert.
I was honestly impressed looking at the table of contents of this book. This is NOT your usual PHP book! That's obvious right away. So I ordered it. And it just arrived yesterday.
I was up all night reading it, and again today. This is the most amazing PHP book for experienced PHP programmers I've ever seen. (Wait - this is the ONLY book for experienced PHP programmers I've ever seen!)
The author really knows his stuff, and uses best-practices, throughout. Really well thought-out code with a lot to learn from.
The fact that it's all based on the new PHP5 style makes it even better! A great way to get to know the new object approach to PHP5: to see it in real-world examples, so that after a few hours with this book it's second-nature.
For the first time in three years, I feel wonderfully over-my-head with a LOT to learn here in this one amazing book. Thanks George!
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