Book Description
PHP has gained a following among non-technical web designers who need to add interactive aspects to their sites. Offering a gentle learning curve, PHP is an accessible yet powerful language for creating dynamic web pages. As its popularity has grown, PHP's basic feature set has become increasingly more sophisticated. Now PHP 5 boasts advanced features--such as new object-oriented capabilities and support for XML and Web Services--that will please even the most experienced web professionals while still remaining user-friendly enough for those with a lower tolerance for technical jargon. If you've wanted to try your hand at PHP but haven't known where to start, then Learning PHP 5 is the book you need. If you've wanted to try your hand at PHP but haven't known where to start, then Learning PHP 5 is the book you need. With attention to both PHP 4 and the new PHP version 5, it provides everything from a explanation of how PHP works with your web server and web browser to the ins and outs of working with databases and HTML forms. Written by the co-author of the popular PHP Cookbook, this book is for intelligent (but not necessarily highly-technical) readers. Learning PHP 5 guides you through every aspect of the language you'll need to master for professional web programming results. This book provides a hands-on learning experience complete with exercises to make sure the lessons stick. Learning PHP 5 covers the following topics, and more:How PHP works with your web browser and web serverPHP language basics, including data, variables, logic and loopingWorking with arrays and functionsMaking web formsWorking with databases like MySQLRemembering users with sessionsParsing and generating XMLDebuggingWritten by David Sklar, coauthor of the PHP Cookbook and an instructor in PHP, this book offers the ideal classroom learning experience whether you're in a classroom or on your own. From learning how to install PHP to designing database-backed web applications, Learning PHP 5 will guide you through every aspect of the language you'll need to master to achieve professional web programming results.

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The Barnes & Noble Review
Here￯﾿ﾽs a PHP 5 book that￯﾿ﾽs equally useful for experienced programmers and nonprogrammers who simply want to deliver dynamic web content without too much hassle. David Sklar covers all you need to create forms, integrate with databases, manage users, create dynamic graphics, send email, and do plenty more. What must you know before you start? HTML -- that￯﾿ﾽs all.

Sklar starts by clearly explaining how PHP interacts with web browsers and servers. He shows how to handle text and numbers; create and reuse functions; write programs that make decisions based on user input; and work with arrays. You￯﾿ﾽll write cookies, interact with files, even work with XML. There￯﾿ﾽs a full chapter on debugging, too. If you build web sites, this book will quickly get PHP into your toolbox, where it belongs. Bill Camarda

Bill Camarda is a consultant, writer, and web/multimedia content developer. His 15 books include Special Edition Using Word 2003 and Upgrading & Fixing Networks for Dummies, Second Edition.

FROM THE PUBLISHER