Decent reference
Sometimes you just need the parms for a function and a quick reference - this book is great for that when your offline.

A reference indeed
I often use the php.net documentation, online. For some time I thought it would be great to have a shorter printed version, to put in my pocket, and read a bit while waiting for the train etc.
So I thought this book was what I was looking for.
But how dissapointed I am.
Yes, the book is a reference, and I’m sure it has all the php functions in it, but very little information on all the functions. It comes with 30 (rough estimate) functions on a page, and the fontsize is so small that I (No, I dont need glasses) can hardly read it.

As an example, here’s the documentation about the strftime() function:
string strftime (string $format [, int $timestamp])
Extension: Date/Time (Date and Time Functions)
Format a local time/date according to locale settings.

You see it doesn’t give a lot of useful information. It doesn’t say anything about the conversion specifiers in the format string. I do understand that it isn’t possible to put al the useful information from the php.net in a book like this, but a bit more information would have been useful, but then, that might have made the font-size even smaller.

Maybe it’s just me, hoping for something completely different when I ordered the book. The only time when such a reference can be handy (to me), is if you’re not connected to the internet. But I think that’s pretty rare for a PHP programmer.

It was not an expensive book though, and all profit goes to the Canadian Red Cross’ Hurricane Katrina Relief Fund, so you might buy it for this reason.