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Book suggestions for a noob?
Posted: Mon Oct 30, 2006 11:05 am
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 ::

+
and perhaps this one ::
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!
Posted: Mon Oct 30, 2006 11:12 am
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.
Posted: Mon Oct 30, 2006 11:14 am
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.
Posted: Mon Oct 30, 2006 11:26 am
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.
Posted: Mon Oct 30, 2006 11:36 am
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 ?
Posted: Mon Oct 30, 2006 11:36 am
by RobertGonzalez
Kevin Yank's Sitepoint book '
Build Your Own Database Driven Website Using PHP & MySQL' is a great little beginner book.
Posted: Mon Oct 30, 2006 11:41 am
by DarkOne
Yep, I saw those links, thanks again!
Also, thanks for not pointing and laughing at the noobie !!!

Posted: Mon Oct 30, 2006 11:48 am
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).
Posted: Mon Oct 30, 2006 12:06 pm
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
Posted: Mon Oct 30, 2006 12:20 pm
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 !!
Posted: Mon Oct 30, 2006 2:42 pm
by Ollie Saunders
I think
these tutorials are good too.
Posted: Mon Oct 30, 2006 3:30 pm
by aaronhall
Ouch.. didn't realize they were offering that for free. Maybe Borders will take mine back...
Posted: Mon Oct 30, 2006 7:35 pm
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.
Posted: Mon Oct 30, 2006 11:10 pm
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).