Sams Teach Yourself PHP, MySQL, and Apache in 24 Hours combines coverage of these three popular open-source Web development tools into one easy-to-understand book -- and it comes with one easy-to-use Starter Kit CD-ROM for Windows or Linux.

The book teaches the reader to install, configure and set up the PHP scripting language, the MySQL database system, and the Apache Web server.

By the end of this book the reader will understand how these technologies work, and -- more importantly -- how they can work together to create a dynamic Web site.

After creating a simple Web site using these tools, the reader will be able to manage a simple mailing list, and to create an online address book, shopping cart, and storefront.

The book also teaches the reader how to fine tune Apache and MySQL, and covers simple Web server security.

Julie Meloni is the technical director for i2i Interactive, a multimedia company located in Campbell, CA. She has been developing Web-based applications since the early days of the Web, and is the author of several books and articles on Web-based programming languages and database topics, such as Sams Teach Yourself MySQL in 24 Hours and Blogging in a Snap.

Three popular Web development tools, covered together in an easy-to-understand book. Carefully steps the reader through the basic installation and set-up of PHP, MySQL, and Apache. Shows the beginner how to combine these technologies to quickly create simple interactive Web applications. CD-ROM Starter Kit allows the reader to easily install a safe, foolproof learning environment for either a Windows- or Linux-based PC. Sams Teach Yourself PHP, MySQL, and Apache in 24 Hours combines coverage of these three popular open-source Web development tools into one easy-to-understand book -- and it comes packaged with one easy-to-use Starter Kit CD for Windows or Linux. The book teaches the reader to install, configure and set up the PHP scripting language, the MySQL database system, and the Apache Web server. By the end of this book the reader will understand how these technologies work, and--more importantly-- how they can work together to create a dynamic Web site. After creating a simple Web site using these tools, the reader will be able to manage a simple mailing list, and to create an online address book, shopping cart, and storefront. The book also teaches the reader how to fine tune Apache and MySQL, and covers simple Web server security. Julie Meloni is the technical director for i2i Interactive, a multimedia company located in Campbell, CA. She has been developing Web-based applications since the early days of the Web, and is the author of several books and articles on Web-based programming languages and database topics, such as Sams Teach Yourself MySQL in 24 Hours.

You own your own business. You have also created a website for your business that details the products or services that you offer, but it doesn't allow potential customers to purchase anything online. Don't risk losing business-learn to create a dynamic online environment using only three programs. PHP, MySQL and Apache are three popular open-source tools that can work together to help you create a dynamic website, such as an online shopping experience. Sams Teach Yourself PHP, MySQL and Apache All in One is a complete reference manual for all three development tools. You will learn how to install, configure and set up the PHP scripting language, use the MySQL database system, and work with the Apache Web server. Then you'll take it a step further and discover how they work together to create a dynamic website. Use the book and the included CD to create a simple website, as well as a mailing list, online address book, shopping cart and storefront. Updated to reflect the most recent developments in PHP and MySQL, including the final stable release of MySQL 5.0, you will open your website to limitless possibilities with Sams Teach Yourself PHP, MySQL and Apache All in One.

Sams Teach Yourself PHP, MySQL and Apache in 24 Hours combines these most popular open source Web development tools into one easy-to-understand book, packaged with one easy-to-use Starter Kit CD. This book teaches the reader to install, configure and set up the PHP scripting language, the MySQL database system, and the Apache Web server. By the end of this book the reader will understand how these technologies work, and more importantly, how they work together to create a dynamic Web site. After creating a simple Web site using these tools, the reader will be able to manage a simple mailing list, and to create an online address book, shopping cart, and storefront.

Sams Teach Yourself PHP, MySQL and Apache in 24 Hours also teaches the reader how to fine-tune Apache and MySQL, and covers simple Web server security.

Solid addition to my book collection
This is a solid book if your looking for information on the relationship between Apache, MySQL, and PHP. This is not a beginner’s book, nor is it advanced. Rather its purpose is to explain how these three components work together, the combination of which is if not the most popular then close to the most popular basic framework used on the web. For example, all Wordpress blogs are based on the PHP, MySQL, and Apache setup. Plus, all three are free and can be easily setup on your own computer for development purposes.

If you’re looking for a singular focus on one or two of the three, then you’ll be disappointed. If you do not have any or very little experience with the web, then go buy a "for dummies" or an explicitly labeled "Beginners" book.

If you want to gain a solid knowledge on the Apache, MySQL, PHP framework, this book provides an excellent explanation with sufficient in-depth focus on each and how they relate to one another.

Buy a different book !
This has to be the worst teach yourself book I have come across!
There are errors and omissions which will cause the newcomer hours of frustration when the software doesn’t do what he expects.
For example in chapter 18, when describing the use of the mysqli_connect() function, the example erroneously gives the code as mysqli().There is no such function!! This is simply shoddy proof reading. Fortunately in this case, the code on the CD is correct. There are other examples which are not so obvious.
Another significant problem is the way the book skips over many details of the set-up of PHP and the way it links to MySQL. For example, there is no mention of tailoring the PHP.INI file to ensure that it loads the appropriate DLL files to run with MySQL. In my case, having set the software up (running under Windows XP) as described in the manual, PHP would not connect to MySQL, and because the book provided no guide as to how to turn on PHP error reporting, I was completely in the dark as to the cause of the problem. It took several hours of searching the web to identify how to turn on error reporting which then enabled me to identify the missing DLL files. Further web searches showed me how to include these PHP components and I now have a working set-up. No thanks to the authors of this book.

A Great PHP and MySQL Starter but...
I’m two thirds through and found this to be a great introduction to PHP and MySQL. By following the examples and experimenting I have become adept in a language which I had no knowledge of 2 weeks earlier.

The text guides you through the development process, from simple HTML additions to "stateful" HTML Forms which allow development of Shopping Carts, etc. I have plenty of ’C’ programming knowledge and found the sections on PHP syntax and string/date manipulation a bit drawn out, but overall the text is well-paced and builds on earlier chapters.

The SQL/MySQL sections cover this complex subject at a fairly high level, but give enough information for you to get started. My objective in reading this book was to understand enough PHP to build an eCommerce site, driven by a MySQL database, and the text has certainly given me the knowledge to do this.

Critisms? Only one - the proof-reading is terrible.

The book’s examples often don’t run because of some syntax error, or the documented answers are cut-and-paste errors!

$num_tries = (isset($_POST[num_tries])) ? $num_tries + 1 : 0;

may look very similar to what should have been written:

$num_tries = (isset($_POST[num_tries])) ? $_POST[num_tries] + 1 : 0;

...but let me assure you that when you’ve spent 3 hours trying to figure out why you can’t get this new language to work for you then you’ll be equally indignant!

So, you decide. As a PHP & MySQL introduction its great, but as for proof-reading Julie Meloni should be speaking with her publisher...

Simple, Detailed, Illustrative
"PHP, MySQL and Apache All in One" is a good way to begin learning those technologies. It is simple enough and has lots of visual examples, code examples, tables, figures, etc to break down bigger concepts into manageable ones. Also, its an easy read. I normally don’t rate anything perfectly, but I couldn’t think of any reason why I wouldn’t give it 5 stars. I must add though that I may be biased since I wasn’t a beginner to PHP or MySQL and used this textbook for a grad course.

php, php, and php
As a reasonably experienced Windows webmaster, this book was a waste of my money. The first 4 chapters (the installs and configs) were why I bought it (I already have a better php book). The small amount of space dedicated to troubleshooting installs is pretty much worthless. The author refers us to the web every time anything goes wrong. Thanks! 8^)

It IS a reasonable primer for those brand new to coding techniques, but do not assume that you will learn how to install and configure the web server and database, nor anything about their interoperability through this book. My title is more accurate...

Trouble at first then smooth sailing
Like some others who left reviews, I’m a complete beginner to coding, php, mysql, and apache. Given that, I found the installation utterly confusing and spent three days unable to get past chapter 4 where the real content is. A tip for others like me, skip the manual installation. The author cautions about using pre-configured instances of the software, but I found WAMP5 to be a life saver. It’s pre-configured and comes in an MSI file. However, as much as I hate to admit it, the struggles I faced in trying to follow the instructions did teach me a lot about the basic configuration, even if that wasn’t the author’s intent. Since then, I’ve found the content to be good and am gaining a fundamental understanding of the tools. I know this won’t be the end-all php, apache, mysql bible, but it’s a good place to start.

An advanced book & not for beginners
I am stuck on chapters three and four and can not continue with this book. I could not get Apache to work with PHP. In the "Troubleshooting" section of the book on page 58 the solution to getting Apache to work is this: To solve this problem, you need to stop the running server or change the Apache configuration to listen on a different port. Well, if you know how to do this, buy the book. If you don’t, you are forever suck and can’t continue with the rest of the book. I tried to change the ports and address as suggested in the book, but it didn’t work. Be sure to read "Who Should Read This Book" in the introduction section of the book. I probably don’t have the required experience to work the material in this book.

Decent if you’re patient
This is good for those who have incredible amounts of patience and like solving problems. The setup alone took at least three hours and a lot of searching on Google. Many important steps are left out (such as how to add and use a database from the MySQL command line, how to configure PHP to support mysqli, and how to configure Apache properly to support PHP.) The PHP functions used in this book are the mysqli_* family and require special setup in the php.ini file. There are no instructions however to set this up. Without this you can’t write any SQL programs.

There are also numerous typos in the code. It’s obvious that none of the code in this book is actually tested to see if it works. There are simple things such as variable name inconsistencies and function typos that throw off the whole script. When you’re new to a progamming language these aren’t easy to spot.

Overall, however, there is still plenty you can take from this book. If you have the patience the problem solving will probably cement the concepts more solidly in your brain because you will be figuring them out for yourself.

I gave up
These comments relate to the April 2007 edition.

I’m a complete layman here, having only a rough knowledge of HTML, though I have put together 3 reasonable web sites on the back of this.

I have to say I just got stuck with this book. The first few rungs of the ladder I could climb, but then there seemed to be several rungs missing, and I felt I was expected to jump to the next level, and I couldn’t.

To me it felt like there were too many assumptions being made about what I should know before reading the book, and it seemed to lack a clear progression from the simple to the more complex, with each stage building on the last. So, for example, some of the basic starting stuff about PHP is shoved in at the end of a chapter about something else entirely, whereas to my mind it should be trumpeted as the start of the trail of learning.

I can imagine this book might come in useful once I’ve learned more about PhP, but as a starter book for a non-geek, I can’t recommend it. It feels like the author has forgotten what it’s like to be a complete beginner.

Sorry for a lukewarm review! I’m not stupid, but I did get stuck!

Not helpful
One of the worst "beginner" books I’ve read for computer programming. The book frequently directs the reader to external web pages for critical tasks... and I’m thinking, "Gee. I bought the book to walk me through this". The code is poorly explained. The examples frequently didn’t work. Steps are omitted.

If you want to split your time between a book and online searches for manuals... this book is for you. If you want to get your $35 worth of a book and expect to have it be enough (not the end all, be all, but enough) of a beginning... go elsewhere.

Sams Teach Yourself PHP,MySQL and Apache All in One
I bought this book for my husband and here is his review.
Meloni is a teacher before she is an author. All the technical you
need,but the reading is so easy you don’t realize it untill you reach the end. Great for beginners.

Sams Teach Yourself PHP,MySQL and Apache All in One
I bought this book for my husband and here is his review.

Meloni is a teacher before she is an author. All the technical you

need,but the reading is so easy you don’t realize it untill you reach the end. Great for beginners.

Pretty good book - got my books database up
This book provides a good start for a big topic: PHP/MYSQL/Apache.

Luckily for me I have a fairly decent Linux background and this book strictly was used for its section on PHP and Mysql.

Examples were pretty good and I used the ones especially around page 371 as a good starting point. Watchout for your own typos - it took forever to find a missing { or " or ’. Ugh.

Look carefully at this book and compare to other books and make sure it matches your needs.

Pretty good book - got my books database up
This book provides a good start for a big topic_ PHP/MYSQL/Apache.

Luckily for me I have a fairly decent Linux background and this book strictly was used for its section on PHP and Mysql.

Examples were pretty good and I used the ones especially around page 371 as a good starting point. Watchout for your own typos - it took forever to find a missing { or " or ’. Ugh.

Look carefully at this book and compare to other books and make sure it matches your needs.

Get your website up and running quickly
This book was a great one when I was getting started a few years back. I re-read the latest edition and have to say they actually found a way to make a good thing better. The hands-on, leave nothing unexplained approach is by far the best way to learn and this book offers just that. I would have liked a few "big" projects towards the end of the book but overall I took away a lot of valuable information that I still use to this day.

Also if you are looking to quickly deploy a local testing machine without digging the web for a 100 different ways to accomplish that, this book is the answer. They explain how to install on Windows and Linux in a step-by-step approach.

My only note of concern to the reader is to check the website of the product you are installing rather than using the provided content so you are up to date with all security and feature changes.

Hot Garbage!!!
Do NOT buy this book. The biggest flaw this book has is the lack of organization and a poor understanding of it’s target audience’s needs. I purchased this book with the hope of finally understanding how to install and use these free software tools to create and maintain my own internet business. I spent the first day just trying to get the software to load properly. I couldn’t find the troubleshooting section in this book and it offered no online support. It did offer three different methods of installation on different OS but the sections just ran together with no clearly defined break between OS’s. The book store I bought it from wouldn’t take it back because there policy wouldn’t allow a refund on books that have the software envelope torn open. How are we supposed to know if the book is any good with out installing the software that comes with it? The two are designed to go with each other. All I can tell you is save yourself some trouble and buy a different book. Sam really dropped the ball on this one.

A lesson in frustration
Being a "glass half full" type of person, I’ll start with the positive - The CD makes the installation a breeze. Unfortunately, that’s about the only positive.

There are way too many typos in this book that leave you frustrated. Plus, this book makes too many assumptions, and as a result, skips steps that have left me clueless. I’d found myself going to bookstores to look at other books to help me fill in the blanks that this one left out. Unfortunately, I wouldn’t recommend this book to anyone.

A very irritating book
These comments apply to edition 1.

This turned out to be the most irritating book I have ever had the
misfortune to open in 64 years of opening books. It is probably capable as far as it goes. It wades right in at the start by explaining where to download from, then how to install and create privileges. But NOWHERE AT ALL does it say what the purpose of these languages is. Nowhere.

What do they do? No idea.

There is also a suggestion, but I’m not sure; it’s kind of a hint; that these programs should be installed on a server and not on a *standard* desktop machine (whatever that is). But absolutely no explanation or elaboration.

[...]

Brian

One of your best options for learning PHP, but forget the MySQL section.
Studying towards a degree in programming, I have access to a large selection of programming books at my institute. Having sampled at least half a dozen PHP books, this was definitely the most help. PHP is a fairly easy language to learn (especially if you have some experience with HTML), although many other books will overcomplicate the learning process by elaborating on small details to a ridiculous extent (think the Wiley ’Bible’ books).

This book teaches you everything you need to know to learn PHP’s fundamentals and by the time you’ve finished the PHP section of the book, you’ll be capable of writing various PHP scripts. Everything you learn is accompanied with examples. Everything is explained clearly. I didn’t find myself losing track even once. Thorough but to the point, this book is my highest recommendation for anybody wishing to learn PHP. A few days after finishing the book, I had written a purely-PHP image gallery interface that thumbnails and displays details for all of the images in a folder on a web server. I had to use forums to finish the gallery off, but the book is owed the main thanks.

As with most programming books, you won’t walk away able to program the most complex scripts. "Expert" is a title no book will get you. Luckily, there are countless forums online that will expand your knowledge of the language further than any book on the market.

Unfortunately, the book’s section on MySQL is rather poor. It assumes you have foundational knowledge of MySQL’s commands and using the command prompt to modify database tables (why would you?). Quite disappointing, really, as the PHP section of the book (almost 300 pages) is fantastic.

Still, this book puts many of the other PHP books out there to shame.

Help for install
I basically bought this book(2nd ed.) because I was having trouble installing the software from the versions I’d downloaded seperatly. The instructions that came with them seemed to assume you knew what you were doing "simply do this, and change that setting in the thingy" and as a beginner (complete novice) in all three subjects, I had no idea what they were talking about.
So, I bought an earlier version of this book an used it to get everything set up reletively painlesly. Sure it’s not an ’in depth’ book about any of them, it’s not meant to be, the most imortant bits of are the CD, and the first couple of chapters. Once you are up and running, the rest gives you a basic grounding in stuff after which you can read other stuff for the specific info you need.
I would and have recomended this book to friends who want to get all three application up and running on their PC’s.

Dont use for MYSQL
Its a good starter book, it has the free apps on the CD. However it doesnt cover MYSQL in enough detail and what it does, its not indepth so i struggled with it. Dont recommend it if you havent used mysql before but php and apache its a good starting block.

Errors galore
This book is full of errors from the very first page. You will spend a lot of very frustrating time trying to get the stuff installed because the paths in her commands are usually incorrect. Save your money!

Great Book for Beginners
I love this book. When I initially purchased this book I had a pretty good handle on PHP already, but with the examples and carefully crafted explanations this book became a great asset. This book is great at explaining the fundamentals of PHP, MySQL and Apache system configurations, scripting and much more. The book comes with a CD that is loaded with example scripts that you can use as foundations to build more complex scripts.

Fantastic!
’SAMS Teach Yourself PHP, MySQL and Apache’ is a brilliant guide whether you are a complete beginner or a pro.

I bought this with only prior knowledge of HTML and managed to sucessfully learn PHP with MySQL in a few weeks using only this book. A year later I am still using this book as a good reference.

The author covers everything from setting up a local server with Apache to manipulating images using PHP. And most importantly, talking to a MySQL database from PHP.
If you had no idea what I was just talking about don’t worry because the book covers it all. There is also a handful of example projects to do using what you’ve learned from earlier on in the book.


I would recommend that you have at least some experience with programming, but it’s not essential. However I would suggest learning HTML (or even better, XHTML) is essential before learning any server-side language, not just PHP.

Fantastic!
’SAMS Teach Yourself PHP, MySQL and Apache’ is a brilliant guide whether you are a complete beginner or a pro.

I bought this with only prior knowledge of HTML and managed to sucessfully learn PHP with MySQL in a few weeks using only this book. A year later I am still using this book as a good reference.

The author covers everything from setting up a local server with Apache to manipulating images using PHP. And most importantly, talking to a MySQL database from PHP.
If you had no idea what I was just talking about don’t worry because the book covers it all. There is also a handful of example projects to do using what you’ve learned from earlier on in the book.


I would recommend that you have at least some experience with programming, but it’s not essential. However I would suggest learning HTML (or even better, XHTML) is essential before learning any server-side language, not just PHP.

Great Book
I needed to develop a dynamic, database-backed website and thanks to this book it was a very enjoyable experience.

Although I had no prior experience with PhP and MySQL (I have just general programming background and working knowledge of MS Access), the book is very clearly written and helped me to develop online database of structural software located at bridgeart.net/software_database within a couple of months.

For complete beginners, it might require some effort to set up Apache, MySQL and PHP, but it should be achiveable through some additional online reading and research.

Good for PHP & MySQL amateurs
If you are relatively new to php and mysql, this book is probably the one that you need to kickstart your engine.

Do not expect this book to teach you more than the basics. I have been able to use most of the stuff in this book for a small school as well as a personal project.

A good book to start with for my case, I have been able to improve the php codes as I progress and the chapter on the building blocks of php and mysql & php interaction are exceptionally useful

typos and errata sheets
The book has several sections where there is a huge gap between steps that cost me a lot of time. Even using the errata sheet from www.thickbook.com, there were errors in the author’s source code. I would like to see more detailed explanations of what the code is doing, instead of just summarizing what it does.

sams teach yourself......or do you?
Well I could’nt believe my luck when i saw this title, I thought that this would be the answer that I was looking for, but, when I recieved it and started to read, and looking at the source code from the cd I realised it was partly incorrect.

The examples in the book are very good for beginners, if they worked, personally I think that you need to be an advanced user to figure out the error messages out.

Installation was not a problem, straight in no problems I soon had the phpinfo() screen showing, I was so pleased I had a cup of tea to celebrate! And the MySql interface was working as soon as I could press the finish button!

So the synopsis of this book is simple, if you have been doing web design for a few years, get it, if your starting out, enrol at your local training center.

sams teach yourself......or do you?
Well I could’nt believe my luck when i saw this title, I thought that this would be the answer that I was looking for, but, when I recieved it and started to read, and looking at the source code from the cd I realised it was partly incorrect.

The examples in the book are very good for beginners, if they worked, personally I think that you need to be an advanced user to figure out the error messages out.

Installation was not a problem, straight in no problems I soon had the phpinfo() screen showing, I was so pleased I had a cup of tea to celebrate! And the MySql interface was working as soon as I could press the finish button!

So the synopsis of this book is simple, if you have been doing web design for a few years, get it, if your starting out, enrol at your local training center.

Introduces all the essentials
This is as excellent beginners introduction to development with PHP and MySql.
The Basics are covered - functions, arrays, objects and forms etc. This is followed by example projects to build a store front, shopping cart etc. Other important subjects such as authenticiation are also covered.
I would have given the book 5 stars if it wasn’t for the fact that most of the examples were copied from the earlier Sams book ’Teach yourself PHP in 24 hours’

Introduces all the essentials
This is as excellent beginners introduction to development with PHP and MySql.
The Basics are covered - functions, arrays, objects and forms etc. This is followed by example projects to build a store front, shopping cart etc. Other important subjects such as authenticiation are also covered.
I would have given the book 5 stars if it wasn’t for the fact that most of the examples were copied from the earlier Sams book ’Teach yourself PHP in 24 hours’

Teach Yourself? You might as well...
Having bought many a title from the Sam’s Teach Yourself range, I took this home keen to learn how to create dynamic web pages.

This book does do that, if you can get through the installation process. I eventually figured it out, but following the step-by-step guide for installing Apache led me down completely the wrong path.

The indexing in this book is poor, and the coverage of what MySQL can do, although stretching for many pages, is quite low.

But perhaps the most annoying discrepancy is the huge contradiction running throughout the book. The opening pages ensure the user that they will need "no programming skills, although some C++ would be an advantage". Great! But at the beginning of the MySQL chapter, it is assumed that the reader has "some knowledge of issuing SQL commands through MySQL". Actually no, I don’t. That’s kind of why I bought the book?!?

Getting this book will provide the user with a small understanding of PHP and MySQL, but there are many far better than this.

Teach Yourself? You might as well...
Having bought many a title from the Sam’s Teach Yourself range, I took this home keen to learn how to create dynamic web pages.

This book does do that, if you can get through the installation process. I eventually figured it out, but following the step-by-step guide for installing Apache led me down completely the wrong path.

The indexing in this book is poor, and the coverage of what MySQL can do, although stretching for many pages, is quite low.

But perhaps the most annoying discrepancy is the huge contradiction running throughout the book. The opening pages ensure the user that they will need "no programming skills, although some C++ would be an advantage". Great! But at the beginning of the MySQL chapter, it is assumed that the reader has "some knowledge of issuing SQL commands through MySQL". Actually no, I don’t. That’s kind of why I bought the book?!?

Getting this book will provide the user with a small understanding of PHP and MySQL, but there are many far better than this.

Almost everything you need to get started with PHP
Before reading this book I had plenty of experience with HTML and had studied SQL and C in school (but hadn’t used it for ages). I found this book gave me everything I needed to get started. I did find some mistakes in the examples but they were minor and obvious. If you have any prior experience with programming you should be fine going through this book. If you already know PHP but want to know more about Apache or MySQL there are probably better books out there. I also had a little bit of difficulty getting the installation right but once i had it right I was away and now I am programming database driven sites with ease. All thanks to SAMS.

Unreliable book
I m a beginner in php & MySQL so i bought this book to get started.I foundit very confusing and hard to read.It does not use a step by steplearning process and i gave up on the 5th chapter, getting a very poorknowledge at the end.I don’t recommend it to beginners.

Unreliable book
I m a beginner in php & MySQL so i bought this book to get started.I foundit very confusing and hard to read.It does not use a step by steplearning process and i gave up on the 5th chapter, getting a very poorknowledge at the end.I don’t recommend it to beginners.