PHP and MySQL® For Dummies® (For Dummies (Computers))

click here for more details, find new or used items	Janet Valade New from £16.45 Used from £2.59 Pages: 456 (Paperback) ISBN: 0764555898 Pub: John Wiley & Sons Pub date: 2004-04-08 Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 62387

Reader Reviews:

4 Stars for complete dummies (3/3 people found this helpful)

I picked this book up after a few weeks of playing around with PHP and MySQL and found it a very good book to get started with. The reason I say this is 4 stars for Dummies is because for the very new people, I think this book is great. It shows you good examples of the basics and enough to get you running in to PHP/MySQL but thats it. It doesn't go in to vast details but I think that is not what this book is about.

To be fair, the bit on installing PHP/MySQL is TERRIBLE. I got SO stuck on this, so my advice, google a tutorial on this, as its very simple, but for some reason, this book makes it complicated, I can do it with my eyes closed now, but back then, this book did me no favours.

Putting that aside however, once you get to the actual code its a good book. If you are very new to the world of PHP/MySQL I fully support getting this. I now code Javascript. VB, PHP/MySQL, SOAP, Ruby, C++, Java, ASP, .NET and it all comes from starting with PHP and fundermentally, this book.

Alot of people might slate this book, I can see why, its just not for them, but for me back then it was great. Two big projects to work on at the end, and massive referance at the beggining, good for having at your table when you first start out.

Severely lacking for the beginner with little practical advice (6/6 people found this helpful)

I picked up this book because I have enjoyed and found other 'for Dummies' books useful and friendly. Sadly I found this book to be poorly written and excessively dry (especially for a 'Dummies' book).

The author takes an excessive amount of time explaining the basics of PHP and MySQL and does so poorly, (you get the impression that she was a bit lost trying to explain them), while at the same time skipping over practical information and advice. The first two chapters left me with more questions than answers, and this is coming from somebody with a background in Computer Science and Software Engineering!

If you're looking for a practical, easy to understand, step-by-step guide to getting PHP and MySQL set up and running on your computer, then this definitely isn't it. The author spends far too much space explaining all the possible permutations of web-servers that you might possibly have, in a very theoretical way, whilst providing very little practical advice for the rest of us on a home computer.

The author also provides absolutely no explanation of how to use an existing database (for example, from Microsoft Access) with SQL and PHP, but instead only explains how to create one from scratch.

Also, I'm surprised that the author recommends the user learns HTML4, instead of recommending its successor XHTML. In this day and age, HTML 4 should not be mentioned to beginners, let alone recommended.

That said, there are some good tutorials at the end of the book, (like creating a "members only" website), but if you're looking for something to give you a solid grounding in PHP and MySQL I wouldn't recommend this.

I'm very disapointed in this book as it didn't fill any of the criteria I wanted from a PHP and MySQL tutorial, namely *practical*, real-world application, and instead seemed entirely too focused on theory.

Useful to a point (2/2 people found this helpful)

Unlike many of the dummies books, and I have loads of them, this one took more time in reading. A lot of the examples and the use of the code wasn't explained well enough in my opinion. I got the impression that you should have some basic knowledge of php before reading it. Though with that said, I still think it's a good book.

Good if you know your way around a hard drive..... (3/3 people found this helpful)

I bought this book as a tool for setting up a dynamic web site quickly - I just wanted a "recipe", with step by step instructions and explanations for a competent non-expert. The book is very easy to follow, with clear explanations and step by step instructions for installation, set up etc. So far so good.... However I quickly discovered that MySQL installation is not that simple! And when problems occur - which they do - this book alone is not enough. The other thing to be aware of is that, even though this is the 2nd Ed (2004) of the book, it's already out of date as the software is constantly changing. Again, this can lead to confusion. If you are more confident at finding your way around a hard drive, then this may be a useful book for you, if not, then be prepared to spend a lot of time sorting out conflicting advice and asking elsewhere for help.

Good for something but not perfect (7/7 people found this helpful)

This is quite a nice book. Its well written and easy to understand.

PHP and MySQL for dummies spends quite a lot of time talking about the considerations you have to make when producing a data driven website. These considerations are not necessary specific to PHP and MySQL. If you are looking to understand these two systems in any depth I'd suggest buying more specialist books as this book is really only an elborate cheat sheet for these two languages.

I found the book slightly frustrating telling how to plan a website and consider all the things I'd want to include when i just wanted to get down to some nitty gritty.

However PHP and MySQL for dummies is great for helping you set up simple data driven websites and coping with the many areas of difficulty that commonly arise. In particular it provides well commented PHP/MySQL code for things like displaying product listings, adding new products, user login all that stuff.

Summary:
Good if you want to create a simple data driven website and you've not got any database experience or any idea of how these systems work.

Not so good but still useful if you have some databases and web development experience or you have specific/demanding requirement for your site. Could still proove useful in answering some common questions but for the most part not be in depth enough.

Similar Products

PHP 5 For Dummies^® (For Dummies (Computers))

PHP & MySQL^® Everyday Apps For Dummies^® (For Dummies)

Sams Teach Yourself PHP, MySQL and Apache All in One (Sams Teach Yourself)

CSS Web Design For Dummies^® (For Dummies)

JavaScript^TM For Dummies^® (For Dummies)

Categories

Amazon.co.uk places this book into the following categories: