Book suggestions for a noob?

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DarkOne
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Book suggestions for a noob?

Post by DarkOne »

Greetings everyone... So far I've found a LOT of useful links and discussions on this board which is greatly appreciated, and helpful so far. I hope to return here often as I develop my skills...

I'm looking for some "Teach-Yourself" books on PHP and am wondering if anyone had any strong recommendations before I purchase a book that sucks. So far it looks like I'm going to snag a copy of ::
Image + Image

and perhaps this one ::
Image


I've been a graphic artist most of my life, and professionally for 12 years, and have recently been attempting to master my HTML / CSS skills, but desperately need to move on to PHP / MySQL / AJAX ect., to stay competitive in today's job market! Any help and advice you guys are willing to provide a noobie like me is most appreciated, and thanks in advance for your suggestions!

Oh yeah, I'm also a musician, so if you like Metal, check out my links below!
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aaronhall
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Post by aaronhall »

I recently bought PHP5 Power Programming by Andi Gutmans (Zend Founder), Stik Bakken (PEAR founder), et al. Thorough book, well written and organized.
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Luke
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Post by Luke »

Matt Zandstra wrote a really good intro to PHP a while ago... It was for sams publishing... he may have updated it and put out a new version... if so, grab it. He's great.
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DarkOne
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Post by DarkOne »

THANKS guys...

I'm a total beginner to PHP for the most part, and what I really like in "Teach Yourself" books are step by step examples that show you how to build a working project. So far I'm not sure I've seen any books like that with PHP.

I used the "Teaching from the Source" books for Dreamweaver and Flash when I began using those programs and found them really helpful. Kinda hoping I'd find the same kinda thing.
mcog_esteban
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Post by mcog_esteban »

You don't need to spend money on a book ou download even one.
Try reading the stickys from this forum and there's plenty of sites with tutorials.

PS: Are the you same DarkOne from LFS ?
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RobertGonzalez
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Post by RobertGonzalez »

Kevin Yank's Sitepoint book 'Build Your Own Database Driven Website Using PHP & MySQL' is a great little beginner book.
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DarkOne
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Post by DarkOne »

Yep, I saw those links, thanks again!

Also, thanks for not pointing and laughing at the noobie !!!

:D
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Luke
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Post by Luke »

mcog_esteban wrote:You don't need to spend money on a book ou download even one.
Although the internet is a great source of learning php and virtually ANYTHING else, the inconsistancy of author's style, and inaccuracy of some author's explanations/reasoning makes the internet a hard place to learn anything from the beginning. I find it much easier to grab a book from the beginning and then when you question an online tutorial, you can consult your book as well as this community (and maybe others as well).
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wtf
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Post by wtf »

Here's a direct link to PHP Power Programming. You can buy the book or download it for free. It's legal free download, nothing to worry.

http://www.phptr.com/content/images/013 ... X_book.pdf
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DarkOne
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Post by DarkOne »

sweeeeeeet...

things around my day job are pretty slow, so I'm gonna try and make the most of my time while I have it !!
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Ollie Saunders
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Post by Ollie Saunders »

I think these tutorials are good too.
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aaronhall
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Post by aaronhall »

wtf wrote:Here's a direct link to PHP Power Programming. You can buy the book or download it for free. It's legal free download, nothing to worry.

http://www.phptr.com/content/images/013 ... X_book.pdf
Ouch.. didn't realize they were offering that for free. Maybe Borders will take mine back...
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feyd
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Post by feyd »

I've posted on many occasions recommendations for books on many subjects relating to our work. If you're interested, search my posts for ISBN.
Superman859
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Post by Superman859 »

I'm just starting to learn PHP and MySQL as well.

I purchased the two books you mentioned by Larry Ullman. I think they are pretty good for beginners. They seem to provide plenty of content, although I cannot say how far they go or how much they teach as I am beginning my studies.

I do recommend getting both of them if you do go that route. The first one, PHP for the world wide web, is lots of help with teaching PHP, but hardly dives into databases. It has an intro chapter, but the chapter was a little confusing. The second book, PHP and MySQL Dynamic Web Sites or whatever it's called, focuses a lot more on databases. I skipped the chapter on databases in the PHP book and simply started learning about them in the second book - it focuses on them more and starts you out right at the beginning learning SQL before you even start adding PHP and MySQL together.

Combined, it's a good set. Separately, you're left knowing PHP without SQL, or you learn PHP in 3 chapters (PHP/MySQL book essentially fits the whole PHP book into the first 3 chapters of PHP/MySQL - might be a bit too quick).
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