PHP in a Nutshell: A Desktop Quick Reference

Doesn't waste my time with how to run an editor and doesn't assume I know too much, either. The examples are concise. This book works well as a handbook and as a text. Highly recommended!

This is a great reference for beginning and advanced PHP programmers alike. I have used this book to furhter my knowledge with PHP and still use it when I need to refer to a paticular feature or tag in PHP.

'PHP in a Nutshell' is a fantastic book for learning the ins and outs of PHP so you will be able to start programming quicker, smarter, and better than ever! Some of the 'Nutshell' books are simply too short to do proper justice for many topics, but that is not the case here. Densely packed into 350 pages, all the yummy stuff is covered here: object oriented programming databases file i/o XML regular expressions plus all the standard jargon for learning a new programming language: variable declaration, control structures, etc etc etc If you are going to be programming in PHP (and why wouldn't you, being open source and sooo easy to use) and you want to get a headstart on how to begin doing just that, you owe it to yourself to read this wonderful guide. Well written, and a nice size that is easy to digest, I found this book to be a pleasure throughout. Buyer beware only that this is not for the savviest of PHP programmers, but the majority will find it well worth the time and money. ***** HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

I am Fan of Hudson's writing since the day I saw online version of this book in his website, much before than this book published. He writes smoothly and maintains consistency which doesn't disappoint readers. This book targets quite experienced developers as well as just fresher. This book describes almost every chapter in depth. Some really Basic chapters like variables, operators," Object Oriented PHP" and "The PHP Language" are really worthy for fresher. I never saw any book which discusses these in such a depth. Chapter 7 "Function and Reference" discuss some pretty useful functions and their real life uses. Professionals will find "Output Buffering", "Files"; "Distributing your Codes" chapters are simply awesome. However, beside PDFLib as the PDF generation library for PHP, I think he must highlight some other well structured open source libraries serving the same purpose, like FPDF. I just bow Hudson for such an awesome Book. Those who are preparing for ZCE will find this book extremely handy for exam, no doubt. Hudson tried to describe almost everything in a simplistic way so that everyone likes his writing style. Hudson, you simply make this book a great knowledge base for PHP developers, Kudos.

This book is written in a clear straightforward voice. The well-placed examples illustrate the function or concept at hand. More often than not, the code examples have been directly useful to the problem I'm trying to solve. More than just a reference, this book provides many useful tips and resources for getting the most out of PHP. This outline gives an idea of the book's scope and coverage: 1. Introduction to PHP...1 2. Installing PHP...11 3. The PHP Interpreter...19 4. The PHP Language...23 5. Variables and Constants...47 6. Operators...79 7. Function Reference...89 8. Object-Oriented PHP...128 9. HTML Forms...157 10. Cookies and Sessions...170 11. Output Buffering...181 12. Security...190 13. Files...195 14. Databases...216 15. Regular Expressions...234 16. Manipulating Images...244 17. Creating PDFs...271 18. Creating Flash...277 19. XML & XSLT...284 20. Network Programming...293 21. Distributing Your Code...313 22. Debugging...317 23. Performance...335 Index...339