What is the best php, mysql book to learn from?

Just want to know which books you guys prefer!

[robobat]

Hi, new to the forum and just want to know which book(s) do you guys use to learn php and msql?
I myself, want to learn php and msql, but there are so many to choose from, if anyone could help me narrow the best down, it would be greatly appreciated;)

[jatar_k]

try this thread
Learning PHP - Books, Tutorials and Online Resources [webmasterworld.com]

[ergophobe]

Look in the forum library (link on upper left of all pages) for a thread on the best books and resources for learning PHP.

[edit] Jatar_K beat me to it![/edit]

[robobat]

After looking around and checking the links that you guys gave me, would it be safe to say that "php and mysql web development" is one the best books to learn from? what about "building your own database driven website" by kevin yank? is that a good also? thx in advance

[danmccarthy]

Kevin Yank's book is great. I read it, and in less than a week I was able to create a database driven site, with a login system and such. His writing style is explicit, and concise at the same time. That said, I haven't read any other PHP books, so I can't compare his to other books.

[jatar_k]

my suggestion is to look at both of them.

Go to a big bookstore, pick the 2 of them up and find one of those comfy chairs they seem to always have now.

Take a spin through, look at some of the examples and explanations and see which style you like. Which book has a method that fits with the way you look at things?

I never used a book, php.net and a couple of scripts to fix and we were off to the races. Everyone's different so you need to find out for yourself. I have looked through the majority of the PHP books that are around and found very few that were bad.

It all depends on how you work.

[dreamcatcher]

At one time I had a shelf full of PHP books. LOL! Like jatar_k said, everyone is different. You could buy a dozen books and I think you would learn a little bit from each. Amazon and Ebay have a lot of really cheap books, so keep an eye out there.

Also, a really great way to learn is to download other peoples scripts and see how its done. Not steal the code, but actually make sense of the code. Its a great learning curve.

Good luck!

[robobat]

Hi,

but is there a book that stands out from the rest of the bunch? i heard great things from php and mysql web development, but after looking through barnesandnoble.com and amazon and other sites, i've notice other php and mysql books that are among the top web development sellers as well. So if you had to choose one, which one will it be? thx in advace

[dreamcatcher]

I would definitely choose 'PHP & MySQL WEB DEVELOPMENT' by Laura Thomson and Luke Welling. Easy to understand, informative with all the latest code changes/additions for PHP5. It also has some projects you can do to get you started, such as a mailing list, message board, cms etc

[ergophobe]

Yeah, I've never owned or read a PHP book either. I've looked at some in the bookstores, but always thought the manual was just more to my liking.

I think it depends a little on whether you've done any programming. If you've done a little something in some other language, you'll find most of the concepts are similar and you really just need to learn about syntax and features. That's a challenge in PHP because, compared to any language I've used previously, it is feature rich to say the least, but like Jatar_K, I think the easiest approach is to find a script that does sort of what you want and try to modify it to do exactly what you want, manual in hand as it were (bookmarked to be more accurate).

If you've never programmed, you'll want some programming book. I'm trying to think of a way to say what I mean, but basically learning to program and learning PHP are two different things... In fact I've been thinking of starting a thread on that topic and I think I will :-)

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