With the release of PHP 5 web developers need a guide to developing with PHP 5 to both learn its complex new features and more fully implement the long-standing features on which PHP’s success is built. PHP 5 in Practice is a reference guide that provides developers with easy-to-use and easily extensible code to solve common PHP problems. It focuses on providing real code solutions to problems, allowing the reader to learn by seeing exactly what is happening behind the scenes to get your solution. Because a real-life situation will rarely match the book’s example problems precisely, PHP 5 in Practice explains the solution well enough that you will understand it and can learn how to truly solve your own problem.

With the release of PHP 5 web developers need a guide to developing with PHP 5 to both learn its complex new features and more fully implement the long-standing features on which PHP’s success is built. PHP 5 in Practice is a reference guide that provides developers with easy-to-use and easily extensible code to solve common PHP problems. It focuses on providing real code solutions to problems, allowing the reader to learn by seeing exactly what is happening behind the scenes to get your solution. Because a real-life situation will rarely match the book’s example problems precisely, PHP 5 in Practice explains the solution well enough that you will understand it and can learn how to truly solve your own problem.

Elliott White III has been a professional programmer since 1995. He has given various presentations at international PHP and Web conferences on topics such as PHP, CSS, and XHTML, as well as helping Brainbench develop some of their programming certifications. He currently works for Digg.com as a senior PHP programmer.

Jonathan Eisenhamer has served as systems administrator and software developer for the Astronomy department at UCLA. From there, he moved on to the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI), where he began his work in PHP, developing websites to disseminate the scientific results from the Hubble Space Telescope to the general public. He currently is the supervisor of the Web and Print group at STScI.

With the release of PHP 5 web developers need a guide to developing with PHP 5 to both learn its complex new features and more fully implement the long-standing features on which PHP’s success is built. PHP 5 in Practice is a reference guide that provides developers with easy-to-use and easily extensible code to solve common PHP problems. It focuses on providing real code solutions to problems, allowing the reader to learn by seeing exactly what is happening behind the scenes to get your solution. Because a real-life situation will rarely match the book’s example problems precisely, PHP 5 in Practice explains the solution well enough that you will understand it and can learn how to truly solve your own problem.

Great for PHP Developers of All Levels
I had taken a beginner’s course in PHP web development and wanted to learn some more in depth techniques. I had read a positive review of this book on another website and went ahead and bought it. When I got the book, I read the table of contents and found a whole chapter on email. All other books I have read only spent a paragraph or two on email. The chapter in this book went into formatting, verifying and sending email. That chapter alone made it worth the money.

The rest of the book is very easy to read and very informative. Each chapter opens up with an overview of the topics and a reference to the functions used in the chapter. This book makes a great desktop reference as well as a learning tool. So whatever your experience level, I recomend this book.

Someday I really need to start using PHP
I started my web site in the 90’s and used Perl for everything. Over the years, Perl has just intertwined my site so thoroughly that I HAVE to use it. But I do recognize that PHP is the more popular choice, so I’m always interested in books like this.

I like the "Quick Hits" sections - these are at the beginning of chapters and just give quick examples of relevant functions. The first chapter started with string handling, certainly a common task in web programming and it was helpful to see that quick overview.

I also liked that the author deals with real world examples. The title is "in practice", and he lives up to that. He examines real web site problems and desires, and provides PHP solutions.

I enjoyed this. If I can get off my duff and move forward with PHP, I’m sure this will be helpful.