Customer Reviews

Sams Teach Yourself PHP, MySQL and Apache All in One

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

I wasn't new to programming, having coded in C for years. However, I wasn't too familiar with database based programming or even web-based programming. This book gives you a very good start into these areas. I could finish it in fact in less than 10 hrs. This book is most useful to novices who have no prior knowledge of programming of any sort and have to start off with php. This is just an introductory book. It isn't adequate for advanced programming, but that's not the objective of the book

All in all, worth investing!

I have never written a book review on Amazon before, but this book was so bad I figured I owed it to other buyers to tell them about it. The simple fact is that is poorly written. I have been a Coldfusion programmer for many years and have been blessed by well written books from Ben Forta. This author consistently took simple concepts and made them difficult. The examples were horrible. Instead of just showing simple the new concept could do, she made each new concept a review of the entire book. There were many things introduced that has no examples at all. I have never swore at a book more!

I should have known not to buy this book after having read "Sam's Teach Yourself Flash MX Actionscript in 24 hours"--also poorly written. The main problem with this book as well as the sam's flash book is that it leaves HUGE gaps in its explanations which force the reader to supplement the lessons with the Internet. For example, the beginning of the book says that no prior knowledge is necessary except for an understanding of HTML; in the intro chapters, it introduces you to databases in general, explaining what they're for. The next chapter on databases (besides the one on how to install mysql) however ("learning basic sql commands") is prefaced by saying:

"...This is a very hands-on hour, and it assumes that you are able to issue queries through the MySQL monitor on Windows or Linux/Unix. Alternatively, if you use a GUI to MySQL, this hour assumes you know the methods for issuing queries through those interfaces."

What is that!? It goes from explaining what a db is to magically expecting you to know about issuing mysql queries without anything in between? I'm sorry, but this makes no sense whatsoever.

I'm sorry I cannot recommend another book, but perhaps you'd have better luck with ANY OTHER MYSQL,PHP, or APACHE book!

Before purchasing this book, I tried to install Apache, MySQL and PHP on my Windows machine without any luck. I was frustrated because this is all quite effortless if you use any flavor of Linux (Red Hat 9 in my case).

I purchased the Dummies book on the same subject(s) and I found it confusing, particularly getting PHP to interact with Apache. I returned the book and got this one and I was up and running with Apache, MySQL and PHP in about an hour.

This book was exasperating to use. It described easy topics at length while leaving important details murky or omitted altogether. Many commmands and structures are described out of context, leaving you with little idea of *why* a person might use a particular form. It doesn't try to put the ideas together into a unified application until the end.

Much better is _PHP and MySQL Web Development_ by Welling and Thomson, which introduces concepts in the context of building an e-commerce site. Even though it is longer than the SAMS book, the writing is tighter, more concise, better organized, and generally much easier to understand.

I checked out many books on PHP trying to learn it. This one has been the best so far. the explanations are very clear and concise. This will teach you the fundamentals of all you need to know to master PHP. It does not go into object oriented programming, but that does not matter to me because I have no use for it. It starts from a beginning level and teaches you about variables, operators and control statements and goes on to teach you about the whole PHP file system. The section on mySQL is done very well also. It shows you all the basic SQL commands that you will need to perform most tasks. The only thing I did not like about this book is that it talked about the Apache web server, which I was expecting (from the title). Since I am not running my own web server this information was useless to me, but it was explained in great detail. This reason will not make me lower my rating though, since I realize this was one of the books purposes. I am very fond of the Sam's series and I hope they continue to produce better and better books about programming. Great book overall.

First, be sure you purchase the latest edition of every tech book you buy. Unfortunately, Amazon doesn't have the latest edition under Meloni's or Zandsta's name. You have to type the isbn number, 0672326205, in the search box to find the newest edition as of this review. Also keep in mind when reading reviews that Amazon mixes reviews of older editions with new editions which makes it very difficult to make an assessment unless the edition is mentioned in the review. New editions usually correct the complaints given in bad reviews so don't pass judgment so quickly unless you know exactly which edition the reviewer is writing about.

This is an excellent book for beginners who know nothing about programming. However you must know XHTML before beginning this book.

This book and "Teach Yourself PHP in 24 Hours" by Zandstra are built using exactly, word for word, much of the same content. However Meloni's book occasionally has more explicate examples and explanation, however it is missing four essential chapters that can be found in Zandstra's book.

1. Arrays
2. Objects
3. Regular Expressions
4. PEAR - Reusable Components to Extend the Power of PHP

No real concern, because the reader could research these topics on php.net or other sites and my have to do so in order to complete the book since it refers to arrays but doesn't explain them.

Meloni's book, compared to Zandsta's, does have better examples with actual programs that may be usful to you. Meloni's book, as the title emplies, also goes deeper into Apache and MySQL.

After reading this book, you'll wont to get something like, The PHP Anthology By Harry Fuecks Vol. 1&2... or PHP and MySQL Web Development, Second Edition by Luke Welling, Laura Thomson. These books will teach you by example and are excellent.

A note to beginners... Learning to program can be very difficult. Unless you are some kind of genius, you must be dedicated and patient with your quest. Programming is a totally different way of thinking and there is a lot to learn... I think this book is a great way to learn PHP and to learn how to program in general.

Good Luck!

I picked up a number of PHP and MySQL books along with this one and find myself using this one the most. If you already know how to program in another language and want to get up to speed fast on PHP and MySQL this is the book you need. Some issues I ran into I could not find the answer anywhere in other books or on the web, then I grabbed this book as a last resort and wa-la the answer was there. Now this is the first book I look for answers to questions in.

If you just need a little examples of how to do things in PHP and MySQL this book does it.

I have been a mainframe programmer for 13 years and have done web design for the past year. The following is my experience with this book.

First the good news:

1. I was able to successfully install PHP, Apache & MySQL.
2. I was able to successfully complete all the projects in the book.
3. I published one of my projects on a website.

Now the bad news:

1. There were critical typos in the book--not just captions under the wrong pictures but incorrect code. I spent many hours debugging the PHP code for the projects. The code errors I found were not in the errata on the SAMS website OR on thickbook.com. I sent one code correction to the editors and received an acknowledgement, but I just checked and the code typo is not included in the errata. There are code errors on pp. 245, 406, 417. E-mail me if you are also having problems with the code on those pages as the SAMS people do not seem to be concerned or aware of these errors.

2. The installation of the products did not go as smoothly as I hoped either. The instructions on what to download did not match how the websites now look. There was some missing information. I was able to get it all working only with a lot of trial and error.

This book contained projects that I was interested in learning: address book, storefront, shopping cart. With a little more diligence on the part of the proofreaders and technical editors, this book would have been great and I would have given it 5 stars.

I'm fairly new to Linux/Unix but I am no newbie to software. The installation instructions for MySQL on Linux are sketchy and basically say read the man page. If the man page was enough I wouldn't be buying a book. After stumbling thru the install there is no explanation of actually starting the MySQL software. Because I can't seem to get MySQL installed and running, PHP won't configure and install. I'm dead in the water so I don't know if the rest of the book was any good or not, I can't make it that far.

For troubleshooting there are several recommendations for paid support. It looks like the author assumes a broad knowledge of Linux/Unix because the Windows installation instructions are very detailed.