Rating:  - Excellent starting point
If you are new to PHP and MySQL, this is a great book to get you started. I am a MS CS graduate. I never feared programming. But I just have a hard time finding a good book... I tried many other books that deals with PHP and MySQL. None of them I like because they only covers the bare basic. I needed more than that. I need something more like a complete project that goes from zero to finish. =) and I found this book.
I love the example from this book. It covers the concepts of the design (three-tiered design). I think that is important because nowaday, applications are getting more complex. It is only natural to separate the different tasks.
The use of template (SMARTY) engine is very cleaver. Some people may not like it, because it may be 'new' (many people I spoke to dont know what SMARTY is). And therefore think that it introduced another layer of difficulty. but, once you grasp it, it works nicely. (maybe because I am from an OOP world, that everything just fits)
I also like the flow of the book. each chapter tackles a specific task. and my favorites is the screenshots of how should it looks like. Each chapters starts w/ an intro. and some concepts and some background of the functions to be implemented. The author gives clear explanation of how each peice of the code works. Which I find that not many other authors do. This helps a lot when you are a beginner. =)
Of course, as this title suggested, this is a beginner's book. if you are looking for some details of anything specific, you might want to look else where. something like those complete reference books. =)
Again, if you are new to web technology and want to learn to get something up and running, this is a great book to start. that is what I did. =)
O, BTW, the author is a great help with my questions. Thank you Cristian.
Rating: - Turnkey E-Commerce Website
I am a newbie when it comes to Website programming (although I am familiar with SQL theory and programming logic from programming in Delphi). I have worked the last eight weeks on a website from scratch (using this code from the book as the basis). Through trial and error (and internet searches), I am only now beginning to understand the whole PHP/MySQL concept. Nonetheless, we will be going LIVE this following Tuesday with a living, breathing, dynamic (as opposed to static), fully functional, secure website. It's hard to believe.
We will have 128 bit SSL Security and Trust Certificate (thru Comodo purchased through our website host) with a live payment pipeline (purchased through Verisign). This means that we will be able to authorize and collect (after inventory is confirmed) MC/Visa payments in real time (seconds), with instant email confirmation of Order Received and Order Shipped. There is NO WAY I could've done this on my own... especially in 8 weeks. I know 8 weeks seems like a long time, but in terms of a fully functional, SECURE website, it really isn't. I have 'tweaked' the website a great deal to fit our look and requirements, but the basic MySQL database and logic are unchanged. I may have added another field here or there, and that is about it.
A couple of precautions though... you MUST have it hosted on a webhosting site that has PHP5 (save the frustration). You MUST have the webhosting company install the Pear Mail for your 'libs' folder on your server. And your webhosting company will have to recompile php5 on their server with pfpro (verisign's payment gateway file library). That's it... If I would've known this to start with, it would've gone quicker than 8 weeks.
I don't know if it's OK to put in a plug for the webhosting company I am using (I am not a part of the company), but Nexcess.net out of Michigan has been terrific to work with. I probably wouldn't have been able to find out all of the above paragraph without their help. They never complained... they only worked with me to get the job done. Probably other webhosting sites will do that also. I'm just pleased with them.
Rating:  - Smarty E-Commerce
The other reviewers did not emphasize a point I did not grasp until I bought the book. The book does not just introduce Smarty as a concept. A major trust of the book is Smarty. It could even be argued that the book is really about using Smarty for e-commerce and how to write PHP code to support Smarty. There is very little MySQL-specific info (mainly just an introduction to PEAR DB and use of standard SQL queries). If you are not planning to use Smarty for presentation templating, there is not much to be gained from reading this book. If you are going to use Smarty, then this book offers a cookbook approach with some theory.
As I will not be using Smarty in my project, I am dissapointed in the book and have gleaned just a few new ideas. Reading this book has also confirmed my decision to not use Smarty. In my opinion, Smarty needlessly adds a level of complexity on top of the PHP code and is not designed for editing in WYSIWYG editors such as Dreamweaver. There are several templating engines that are simpler to learn and use than Smarty (eg, Flexy). It seems to me that the whole book would have benefited from using a simpler templating engine and making the book less dependent on a single method of presentation (ie, Smarty).
Rating:  - Not bad
I read most of this book and the writing approach is not bad, but there is no way that this book is for professionals.
The topics covered are well explained and the code is precisely structured and properly divided, just like it should be with any object oriented book. The downfalls I consider for this book is that, it does not cover topics such as multiple database connections, which many websites now have (connecting to MySQL, Oracle, MSSQL simultaneously). And another extremely important topic not covered is the multi-lingual design. Most sites now require programmers to create sites in more than two languages (English, French, German, etc.) and I would like to see that in future versions of this book. Still this book is an excellent start for an E-commerce website with PHP (furthermore, the logic behind it is great for any e-commerce website).
Rating: - Very good - but make sure host has php5.
I like the book - the language - the examples. I'm new to PHP so I didn't understand the implications of the requirement to have PHP5 vs PHP4. Chapter 1 and 2 code examples worked OK with some minor tweeking (My host has PHP4xx). Chapter 3 is another story. I've looked around and most hosting companies have 4xx. I'm guessing this will change soon, but not sure if I should wait or fork out $$ to change host.
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