PHP and MySQL For Dummies - 4th Edition product reviews

As web technologies increase in features and decrease in technical skill required to use them, it's great to see books like this one getting updated to keep up with the needs of the users. Gone is the need to know huge strings of arcane code, written in a manner that looks l\more like a chicken has tap-danced across the keyboard than anything a mere human could hope to comprehend. These are the days of scripts with the power and flexibility of full-blown applications... and the fruits of such coding are now being called such, for that is indeed what they are becoming.

Today, a website coded by whipping something up in Word or Notepad and "Saving As... HTML" is just not going to impress anyone but the poor sod who created it. If you don't run a database behind it, it's basically treated as little more than the result of a child's playtime. And rightly so IMHO. As the brains behind the key technologies work harder, the job of the user becomes simpler. Huge arrays of code that lock together to form a function are now being replaced with a short function call and a few variables parsed in and out again after processing. A website that can greet you by name, correct your mistakes and thank you afterwards, storing all the results of the transaction for later processing and interpretation, are becoming so commonplace that one simply must create such products simply to be reaching 'basic proficiency' level.

If you haven't already done so, here's where you start.

With clear, easy steps, example code (in the book, and downloadable from the support site to save you the typing), and concise explanations of what each and every bit does, and why, you know you can do it and learn the basics at every step.

As someone who has played in the waters of PHP and MySQL only up to my metaphorical waist, I can tell you that this book covers the basics so well that it even reminded me of a couple of basic tenets I have been forgetting in my code-play.

This book will take you through two main types of site, from blank file to finished site live online, and along the way teaches you all the best practices you will need, from structuring the pages in a coherent layout, handling inputs and the security aspects of processing user-submitted data, adding/deleting/updating information in the database, pulling the data back for processing, display and interaction, and even sorting out good practices for finding webhosting and how to go about it. This really is the one-stop-shop on how to get started.

Overall, for those who want to get into web design and development, be it a personal project or the start of training towards a high-end career, then you really should consider this book to be your first step. Even if the project you have in mind isn't an exact match for the examples, you will certainly learn the processes, and afterwards be well-equipped to modify the files and code to suit any needs.