PHP books

If you want to build dynamic Web sites that encourage users to interact with them, PHP and MySQL are among the best tools you’ll find. PHP is a scripting language designed specifically for use on the Web, while MySQL is a database management system that works with it perfectly. Best of all, they’re free. It’s hard to beat that combination!

PHP & MySQL Web Development All-in-One Desk Reference For Dummies is kind of one-stop shopping for the information you need to get up and running with these tools and put them to good use. It’s divided into six handy minibooks that cover setting up your environment, PHP programming, using MySQL, security, PHP extensions, and PHP Web applications. They make it easy to create a Web site where visitors can sign on, use shopping carts, complete forms, and do business with your business.

It’s easy to find what you need in this handy guide. You’ll discover how to:

• Find and acquire all the tools you need and set up your development environment
• Build PHP scripts to make your Web site work
• Create a MySQL database that visitors can access
• Summarize and sort data results
• Design and implement user access control
• Build a shopping cart application
• Create extensions that make your site more useful

With PHP & MySQL Web Development All-in-One Desk Reference For Dummies by your side, you’ll be a Web site guru before you know it!

Build user friendly Web 2.0 Applications with JavaScript and PHP

• Create faster, lighter, better web applications by using the AJAX technologies to their full potential
• Leverage the power of PHP and MySQL to create powerful back-end functionality and make it work in harmony with a responsive AJAX clientWrite better JavaScript code to enable powerful web features
• Understand the complete client-server mechanism by following complete, step-by-step case studies

In Detail

AJAX enables interactive interfaces that can replace traditional user interfaces. Enhance the user experience of your PHP website using AJAX with this practical and friendly tutorial! This book is the most efficient resource you can get to enter the exciting world of AJAX with PHP. Based on numerous examples and detailed case studies, this AJAX with PHP tutorial will build your foundation knowledge for creating faster, better web applications.

The best AJAX tutorial for PHP developers has been completely rewritten to be your friendly guide to modern Web 2.0 development techniques! AJAX and PHP: Building Modern Web Applications, 2nd Edition covers every significant aspect of creating and maintaining AJAX and PHP applications.

This book will teach you how to use PHP, JavaScript, MySQL and jQuery to build modern, responsive web applications. After building a strong foundation, the book will walk you through numerous real-world case studies covering techniques you'll be likely to need for your own applications:

• Learn how to write unobtrusive, degradable, portable, SEO-friendly AJAX code
• Understand the object-oriented model of JavaScript and JSON
• Learn how to use the jQuery JavaScript library by going through two complete case studies
• Debug your AJAX and PHP code using modern tools
• Assess the security implications of writing AJAX code and avoid security risks such as cross-site scripting
• Learn advanced AJAX and PHP patterns and techniques such as predictive fetching, progress indicator, graceful degradation, cross-domain calls, and more
• Understand the complete client-server mechanism by going through complete, step-by-step case studies, including AJAX Form Validation, and AJAX Online Chat and AJAX Editable DataGrid with jQuery

What you will learn from this book

• Create faster, lighter, better web applications by using the AJAX technologies to their full potential
• Learn to use PHP and MySQL on the server, and Javascript and jQuery on the client, to build real-world AJAX applications
• Combine client-side and server-side functionality to enhance the user experience of your site using AJAX
• Learn to simulate private, instance, and static class members in JavaScript
• ld an AJAX-enabled form validation page, which is safe to work even if the client doesn't support JavaScript and AJAX

Approach

This book is a step-by-step, example-driven AJAX tutorial, featuring complete case studies. Each chapter contains a friendly mix of theory and practice, so that your journey through the book will be pleasant, yet efficient. You'll be coding your first AJAX application at the end of the first chapter, and with each new chapter you'll develop increasingly complex AJAX applications featuring advanced techniques and coding patterns.

Who this book is written for

AJAX and PHP: Building Modern Web Applications, 2nd Edition, is written for PHP developers who:

• Want to learn how to use PHP, JavaScript, MySQL and jQuery to implement Web 2.0 applications
• Are looking for a step-by-step, example-driven AJAX tutorial
• Want to learn advanced AJAX coding patterns and techniques and be able to assess the security and SEO implications of their code

Over the past three years PHP has evolved from being a niche language used to add dynamic functionality to small sites to a powerful tool making strong inroads into large-scale, business-critical Web systems.

The rapid maturation of PHP has created a skeptical population of users from more traditional "enterprise" languages who question the readiness and ability of PHP to scale, as well as a large population of PHP developers without formal computer science backgrounds who have learned through the hands-on experimentation while developing small and midsize applications in PHP.

While there are many books on learning PHP and developing small applications with it, there is a serious lack of information on "scaling" PHP for large-scale, business-critical systems. Schlossnagle's Advanced PHP Programming fills that void, demonstrating that PHP is ready for enterprise Web applications by showing the reader how to develop PHP-based applications for maximum performance, stability, and extensibility.

Dreamweaver CS4 is a massive step forward in terms of integration with the rest of the CS4 suite (Flash, Fireworks, Photoshop, etc.), and also includes a whole host of exciting new features of its own. The Essential Guide to Dreamweaver CS4 with CSS, Ajax, and PHP concentrates on getting the best out of Dreamweaver CS4, rather than going into every menu item and toolbar icon. The emphasis is on developing websites compliant with the latest web standards, using CSS, JavaScript libraries (with particular emphasis on Spry, Adobe's implementation of Ajax), and PHP.

The book covers all aspects of the new user interface, including workspace layouts, iconic panels, the related documents feature, Live View, Code Navigator, and Live Code. It also shows how to use the improved CSS editing features, and JavaScript code introspection. There is also coverage of other new features, such as version control through Subversion integration, and the improved support for Photoshop integration through the use of Smart Objects.

What you'll learn

• Streamline your workflow with the Related Files toolbar, Live view, and the Code Navigator
• Bring your pages alive with Ajax widgets from Spry, jQuery, and the Yahoo! User Interface Library
• Use server-side includes, templates, and Adobe's InContext Editing online service
• Create dynamic web applications using Dreamweaver's PHP server behaviors
• Build real world web site functions, such as form validation, random quote generator, search function, user management/login pages, dynamic Ajax gallery, and much more
• Consume RSS feeds and create Spry data sets
• How to publish your site after you've created it

Taking care to focus solely on those topics that will have the most impact on experienced PHP developers, Pro PHP is written for readers seeking to take their understanding of both PHP and sound software development practices to the next level. Advanced object–oriented features, documentation, debugging, software patterns, and the Standard PHP Library are just a few of the topics covered in extensive detail.

Author and noted PHP expert Kevin McArthur also examines emerging practices and trends such as the MVC architecture as applied to PHP, with special emphasis placed upon the increasingly popular Zend Framework.

With Ajax and web services crucial to the success of todays web applications, the book concludes with several chapters covering JSON, the SOAP extension, and advanced web services topics.

If youre seeking to go beyond the basics, Pro PHP is the book for you.

Beginning PHP and MySQL E-Commerce: From Novice to Professional, Second Edition covers every step of the design and building process involved in creating powerful, extendable e–commerce web sites. Based around a real–world example involving a web site selling t–shirts, you’ll learn how to create and manage a product catalog, build and integrate a shopping cart, and process customer accounts and PayPal/credit card transactions.

With the e–commerce framework in place, authors Emilian Balanescu and Cristian Darie show you how to integrate advanced features sure to set your web site apart from the competition. You’ll learn how to expand your catalog using Amazon Web Services, optimize the web site for the search engines, and take advantage of Ajax to build an even more user–friendly shopping cart.

Other highlights:

• The authors show you how to build a complex, extendable e–commerce web site using sound development practices.
• This second edition has been updated to take advantage of a more flexible templating system, and new chapters cover Ajax integration and search engine optimization.
• The text goes beyond basic product and customer management, showing you how to integrate product reviews, process payments using both credit cards and PayPal, and expand your web site catalog using third–party services such as Amazons affiliate program.

What you’ll learn

• Build an extensible e–commerce web site using sound development techniques.
• Increase sales through proven techniques such as cross–selling, upselling, and enhancing customer service offerings.
• Expand your product and service offerings by integrating with reseller programs such as Amazon Affiliates via XML web services.
• Take advantage of search engine optimization techniques to make your web site more easy to find.

Who is this book for?

This book was written for individuals seeking to build e–commerce web sites using the PHP language and MySQL database.

About the Apress Beginning Series

The Beginning series from Apress is the right choice to get the information you need to land that crucial entry–level job. These books will teach you a standard and important technology from the ground up because they are explicitly designed to take you from “novice to professional.” You’ll start your journey by seeing what you need to know—but without needless theory and filler. You’ll build your skill set by learning how to put together real–world projects step by step. So whether your goal is your next career challenge or a new learning opportunity, the Beginning series from Apress will take you there—it is your trusted guide through unfamiliar territory!

Want to assert yourself as a cutting-edge PHP web developer? Take a practical approach, learning by example from author Quentin Zervaas, and discover how to bring together the many technologies needed to create a successful, modern web application.

In Practical Web 2.0 Applications with PHP, PHP, MySQL, CSS, XHTML, and JavaScript/Ajax development techniques are brought together to show you how to create the hottest PHP web applications, from planning and design up to final implementation, without going over unnecessary basics that will hold you back. This book includes must-have application features such as search functionality, maps, blogs, dynamic image galleries, and personalized user areas. The Zend Framework is used extensively to build the application, allowing you to focus on developing the application rather than on reinventing the wheel.

Topics covered include application planning and design; setting up the application framework; using CSS for easier styling; adding dynamic effects the easy way using JavaScript libraries such as Prototype and script.aculo.us; and implementing several must-have web application features such as user login, blogs, dynamic image galleries, search functionality, mapping with Google Maps, and much more. Zervaas covers everything in a practical, tutorial style so you can start working on your own projects as quickly as possible.

• Create cutting-edge PHP/MySQL web applications.
• Implement must-have functionality such as blogs, maps, search functionality, and dynamic image galleries.
• Master styling with CSS and dynamic effects using Ajax/JavaScript libraries.

What you'll learn

• How to set up the perfect PHP/MySQL application development environment
• How to implement basic user management functionality
• How to use many of the components from the Zend Framework
• How to effectively make use of the Prototype and script.aculo.us JavaScript libraries, including many examples of developing custom JavaScript classes
• How to create standards-compliant and accessible HTML code and effectively style it using CSS
• How to create a basic blog system and enhance it with Ajax
• How to add personalized user areas to your web application
• How to create a dynamic image gallery
• How to add search functionality to your application
• How to use the Google Maps API to add maps to your application
• How to implement popular Web 2.0 features, such as microformats, tags, and web feeds

Who is this book for?

This book is for any PHP developer who wants to stay ahead of the curve, with practical, high-level web application development techniques.

About the Apress Practical Series

The Practical series from Apress is your best choice for getting the job done, period. From professional to expert, this series lets you apply project-motivated templates (or frameworks) step by step in a very direct, practical, and efficient manner toward current real-world projects that may be sitting on your desk. So whatever your career goal, Apress can be your trusted guide to take you where you want to go on your IT career empowerment path.

Publishing in tandem with the long-awaited release of PHP 6, this book reveals the inside scoop for pushing the limits of how to maximize the full feature set of PHP 6. You’ll learn how to use PHP 6 in the larger scheme of enterprise-class software development and practical examples and behind-the-scenes information will improve your skills for designing and building better large-scale, high-performance platforms using PHP 6.

To keep programming productive and enjoyable, state-of-the-art practices and principles are essential. Object-oriented programming and design help manage complexity by keeping components cleanly separated. Unit testing helps prevent endless, exhausting debugging sessions. Refactoring keeps code supple and readable. PHP offers all this-and more.

This book shows you how to apply PHP techniques and principles to all the most common challenges of web programming, including:

Web presentation and templates User interaction including the Model-View-Contoller architecture Input validation and form handling Database connection and querying and abstraction Object persistence

Are you ready to begin programming with PHP and MySQL? Then get ready to jump right in. You'll get an introduction to programming with a specific focus on programming web servers with the PHP programming language. Much of the original content from the first edition (1931841322) is retained, but you'll also cover updates relating to the upcoming PHP 5.0 release. Following the same format as the popular first edition, this book provides easy-to-follow instruction. You will use the concepts presented in the book to create games using PHP and MySQL. As each concept is put to the test, you'll acquire programming skills that will easily transition to real-world projects. A true beginner's guide, this book enables you to acquire programming skills that you can use in the next language that you tackle.