PHP Book

[austinrock000]

Hey, I've been wanting to learn PHP for awhile now, and since this seems like a good time to me, do any of you have suggestions for a good book to get?

[Dynasty]

Personally speaking I learned from one of those teach yourself in 24 hour books, and it does give a nice starting point, but you learn a lot more by loking around the net for tutorials, and also in the helpfile, after you actually read the book.

[designersblock]

I found a book for $19.99 and ite pretty useful. I bought it and its better than my other php books I've learned alot.
http://search.barnesandnoble.com/textbooks/booksearch/isbninquiry.asp?userid=0E84O8LKWW&isbn=0201727870

maybe when you learned what that book has to offer try

http://search.barnesandnoble.com/booksearch/isbnInquiry.asp?userid=0E84O8LKWW&isbn=0201775972

[BoR|S]

I have 'Professional PHP Programming' by WROX... but I don't use it too often, as dbindel said, online tutorials and message boards are the best to learn PHP...

[austinrock000]

Thanks for your answers, you've been very helpful.

[BoR|S]

Also logon to http://www.amazon.com and type 'PHP' in the search area...

[wizbug]

I started learing PHP from scratch from a book by Larry Ullman titled "PHP FOR THE WORLD WIDE WEB" there are also links u should visit that contain a lot of information for beginners at www.php.net and www.devshed.com

[stevejrice]

Hi All,
while I agree in principal that you can get all you need from the internet (and you certainly can), a real good book that I have found invaluable because of it's very practical approach to Apache, PHP and mySQL and their use in website production is:
PHP and MySQL Web Development by Luke Welling and Laura Thomson
Published by Sams: ISBN 0-672-31784
An excellent book with a CD included which has versions of all software, slightly out of date but at least they all work together and you can upgrade if you wish. Mentioned earlier, I wouldn't upgrade Apache to version 2 yet. Definite problems getting it to work.

[pezland]

I think at least in the very beginning you should learn from a book, to get comfortable with the syntax, database/file interactions, etc. I started out with PHP Essentials by Julie C. Meloni as my (very, very.... very) basic primer, which is really all it took to get started, and its a fairly small book, a night's reading. I also got a reference book along with it, such as Core PHP Programming, which helped with the major functions. It only took a day or two for me to know enough to start coding websites.

Of course PHP changes rapidly so they weren't much use after a few months, but by then you already know the language and are ready to learn the new additions to it through online tutorials and the like.

[sandeepji]

hi just go for "w3schools.com" later you go for http://www.tuxradar.com/practicalphp
i think that's well for you.

[chihairtools]

Personally talking I wise from one of those educate yourself in 24 hour publications, and it does give a pleasant beginning issue, but you discover many more by loking round the snare for tutorials, and furthermore in the helpfile, after you really read the book.

[xing000]

thanks for this posting..

[ExpertsGuide]

w3schools and php.net are more than enough.