5 comments about Sams Teach Yourself PHP, MySQL and Apache All in One (4th Edition) (Sams Teach Yourself).

1. This is good for those who have incredible amounts of patience and like solving problems. The setup alone took at least three hours and a lot of searching on Google. Many important steps are left out (such as how to add and use a database from the MySQL command line, how to configure PHP to support mysqli, and how to configure Apache properly to support PHP.) The PHP functions used in this book are the mysqli_* family and require special setup in the php.ini file. There are no instructions however to set this up. Without this you can't write any SQL programs.
   
   There are also numerous typos in the code. It's obvious that none of the code in this book is actually tested to see if it works. There are simple things such as variable name inconsistencies and function typos that throw off the whole script. When you're new to a progamming language these aren't easy to spot.
   
   Overall, however, there is still plenty you can take from this book. If you have the patience the problem solving will probably cement the concepts more solidly in your brain because you will be figuring them out for yourself.



2. I am stuck on chapters three and four and can not continue with this book. I could not get Apache to work with PHP. In the "Troubleshooting" section of the book on page 58 the solution to getting Apache to work is this: To solve this problem, you need to stop the running server or change the Apache configuration to listen on a different port. Well, if you know how to do this, buy the book. If you don't, you are forever suck and can't continue with the rest of the book. I tried to change the ports and address as suggested in the book, but it didn't work. Be sure to read "Who Should Read This Book" in the introduction section of the book. I probably don't have the required experience to work the material in this book.



3. Like some others who left reviews, I'm a complete beginner to coding, php, mysql, and apache. Given that, I found the installation utterly confusing and spent three days unable to get past chapter 4 where the real content is. A tip for others like me, skip the manual installation. The author cautions about using pre-configured instances of the software, but I found WAMP5 to be a life saver. It's pre-configured and comes in an MSI file. However, as much as I hate to admit it, the struggles I faced in trying to follow the instructions did teach me a lot about the basic configuration, even if that wasn't the author's intent. Since then, I've found the content to be good and am gaining a fundamental understanding of the tools. I know this won't be the end-all php, apache, mysql bible, but it's a good place to start.



4. "PHP, MySQL and Apache All in One" is a good way to begin learning those technologies. It is simple enough and has lots of visual examples, code examples, tables, figures, etc to break down bigger concepts into manageable ones. Also, its an easy read. I normally don't rate anything perfectly, but I couldn't think of any reason why I wouldn't give it 5 stars. I must add though that I may be biased since I wasn't a beginner to PHP or MySQL and used this textbook for a grad course.



5. This is a solid book if your looking for information on the relationship between Apache, MySQL, and PHP. This is not a beginner's book, nor is it advanced. Rather its purpose is to explain how these three components work together, the combination of which is if not the most popular then close to the most popular basic framework used on the web. For example, all Wordpress blogs are based on the PHP, MySQL, and Apache setup. Plus, all three are free and can be easily setup on your own computer for development purposes.
   
   If you're looking for a singular focus on one or two of the three, then you'll be disappointed. If you do not have any or very little experience with the web, then go buy a "for dummies" or an explicitly labeled "Beginners" book.
   
   If you want to gain a solid knowledge on the Apache, MySQL, PHP framework, this book provides an excellent explanation with sufficient in-depth focus on each and how they relate to one another.

5 comments about PHP & MySQL For Dummies 3rd edition (For Dummies (Computer/Tech)).

1. I own this book, personally I think its awful. The way it is structured doesn't seem to work too well for the purpose. I read the entire thing once and still felt like I knew nothing. I found some tutorials online easier to follow and the lack of working examples didn't help either. Perhaps if it we're written by a programmer and not a professional author it would have been easier to follow. It didn't help me much however you be the judge and read it for your self maybe you'll find it more useful.



2. I've read many Dummies books, and like the "Monkey read, Monkey see, Monkey do" approach. This monkey learns better when all the steps are clearly shown and executed in the text. Unfortunately, this book is more like "Monkey read, Monkey lost". For example, Chapter 4, "Building a Database". The author describes 2 sample databases then discusses the various operations (queries) that can be performed on the databases without detailed, step by step instructions along the way. With some trial and error, the steps can be deduced, but this can be very frustrating and may not always work.
   
   p.s.: Janet Valade has written several beginner books on PHP/MySQL. Maybe, eventually, she will get it right. She is so close...



3. I liked this book and it's great for starters. The book had minimal errors. You learn how to program complete projects. When you're done with the projects, you are off to the races coding your own projects. I e-mailed the author and recieved a reply! The author cares about her work and it shows in this book. Happy coding and welcome to the PHP world never to look back...



4. The title of this review says it all. I bought my first copy of this book in 2001 and when I lent it to a friend, I couldn't wait to get it back so I bought another copy. Although not for the novice (despite the name) this is a good resource for people who are not professional programmers. To get the maximum benefit from this book, you need a basic knowledge of programming in general, but with that capability you can follow the text to get where you want to go.
   
   There are some good examples of how to use the concepts covered in the book, and the information can be used in order, or by need (the author even tells you that the book is designed this way).
   
   From this text, I was able to build my first web application, just the way I wanted it and this is just a hobby for me. Highly recommended.



5. This book really got me on my feet. I had never programmed with server side languages before and this book taught me everything I needed to know. Now, I'm a professional web developer and I make pretty good money.

5 comments about Learning MySQL (Learning).

1. The first twelve chapters of "Learning MySQL" appear to be a textbook written in the mid-1990s for teaching MySQL to college students. Chapter 13 appears to have been added in 1999, about using MySQL with PHP to build websites. The first twelve chapters require using a terminal or command line (shell) interface to MySQL. My hosting service no longer supports command line interfaces, you're required to use PHPmyAdmin, which is faster and easier. Without access to a command line interface I couldn't do the exercises in the first twelve chapters; without understanding the first twelve chapters you can't figure out chapter 13. Chapter 13 teaches the PHP mysql extensions, which were superseded in 2004 by the mysqli ("i" for "improved") extensions. So the book is two generations out of date. Chapter 14 is about using Perl with PHP -- has anyone built a website with Perl in the last five years? There are other annoyances, such as you're taught to read data out of your database before you're taught to insert data into your database. After flipping back and forth between sections trying to find missing information I gave up. It's hard to believe that O'Reilly published this dinosaur in 2006. I recommend instead "Beginning PHP and MySQL 5: From Novice to Professional," by W. Jason Gilmore.



2. This book is great. The text doesn't assume you have any advanced knowledge of anything. This is actually my second MySQL book. The first book didn't explain how to install and setup MySQL and then it didn't explain how to use the keyline MySQL monitor. So I was stuck after the first chapter.
   
   "Learning MySQL" was a real life saver. You're given actual examples to follow along with and they actually explain what's going on.
   Thank you sooooo much... I'm already using my new found MySQL knowledge at my job and now the book serves as a great resource for my new projects.



3. That's a good book, not for advanced SQL programmers though.
   Easy to understand with great examples. I would recommend this book if you are starting to learn MySQL or are a intermediate programmer and needs a good database like MySQL. This book can be a reference for your studies. If I had this book before I could spent less time learning MySQL. But I probably would not recommend for heavy advanced SQL users, since the book have an overall idea of the SQL commands and some linux/php/database coding. Digg in!



4. Learning MySQL (Learning)
   
   Get this book! This O'Reilly book "Learning MySQL" first appeared in the book stores at the beginning of the year 2007. The book is written by two PhD authors who seem to have thoroughly tried its contents on their students, at RMIT University in Melbourne, Australia. You can buy this book and then create a splendid software career for yourself, programming Relational Databases. And live happily ever after.
   
   If you are a total SQL beginner, please also buy a more simple-minded introductory SQL text as well; make you favorite pick among the 20-odd SQL texts available in your local bookstore, or read Amazon's reviews associated with all the other SQL books.
   
   Now back to "Learning MySQL". I'm enjoying this book wherever I go, inserting my USB flash drive on any Windows machine I can lay my hands on. I have installed my free copy of MySQL on this low-cost device ($20 for a 4 GigB flash drive), together with Java, Apache Tomcat, FireFox, and other opensource goodies. My point is that this MySQL book covers Windows as well as it deals with Linux and Mac OS X, almost always in the same breath.
   
   I typically try out the book's examples at the mysql> command prompt, but my own final application right now happens to consist of Java servlets, talking to MySQL databases, and running in Tomcat under the Java Virtual Machine (JVM), all on the puny USB flash drive without disturbing the particular Windows machine I'm visiting.
   
   By following the book's examples I have built up a mental toolbox containing all the standard SQL techniques and all the helpful but proprietary MySQL extensions to SQL. Extensions which you might, or might not, want to assimilate, depending on your purity point of view.
   
   As you go through the book's examples on your own mysql> command line, you realize that each example probably in an explanation triggered by questions from the authors' bright MySQL students. It is like sitting in their classroom lapping up the authours' knowledge. And, these authors know their stuff, something that cannot always be said of other SQL books.
   
   One feature, among others in the book, is the authors' short but wonderful Chapter 4, where the reader is led by the hand through The Entity Relationship Model, and through the authors' database examples illustrating the super-important topic of How to map Entities and Relationships to Database Tables. There, the authors also point out existing tools to draw ER diagrams, such as the good free tool "Dia", or MySQL's own free "MySQL Workbench program" which is a very powerful visual database design tool, although still in the beta testing phase.
   
   One last, but not least, comment. It appears that the book is extremely well suited to those Perl or PHP lovers, who want to get their MySQL teeth sharpened. But this reviewer is not into Perl nor PHP, yet, so don't take my word for it.



5. this book is a very completed and updated quick look to database world and optimal reference book for sql/mySQL primer.
   Stefano Gallozzi

5 comments about Backup & Recovery.

1. In the realm of important things in the world of computers are good backups and equally important is the ability to properly restore those backups. My initial attraction to this book had to do with it being tapered toward open system solutions. I am an avid user of Linux and open-source software, so I was interesting in learning about the free tools that the author writes about.
   
   The author starts out by discussing "The Philosophy of Backup" which covers why backups are so important and how you to find a solution that both meets your needs and your budget. Chapter two goes over what to backup, how often and at what levels. It also discussed what types of disaster to be prepared for, automation, storage, testing and things to look out for on various OS's.
   
   Chapters 3-7 cover open-source backup utilities. In chapter three the author discusses and provides examples of how to use basic utilities such as dump, cpio, tar and dd for Unix systems, ntbackup and System Restore for the Window's crowd, ditto for Mac, and the GNU versions of tar, cpio, and rsync. Chapter's 4-6 discuss Amanda, BackupPC and Bacula. Chapter seven digs into near-continuous data protection and how the open-source community is achieving this, and what tools to use.
   
   By chapter 8 and 9 the author is discussing commercial backup solutions. This section is different from the last in that it doesn't really discuss specific tools and how to use them, but rather it discusses the features of commercial products. This section also covers the various types of backup hardware on the market in an effort to help the reader decide what media best meets their needs.
   
   Chapters 10-14 covers "Bare-Metal Recovery". The author takes you through the process of a bare-metal recovery with Solaris, Linux, Windows, HP-UX, AIX, and Mac OS X.
   
   By chapters 15-22 the author has moved on to database backups and takes you through the various solutions for Oracle, Sybase, IBM DB2, SQL Server, Exchange, PostegreSQL, and MySQL. Finally the author wraps up the book with VMware server backup solutions and discussing data protection.
   
   CONCLUSION
   --
   I found this book to be a very interesting read. I especially enjoyed the open-source, bare-metal recovery, and database sections. The author does an excellent job of taking the reader through all of the steps including example syntax needed to perform a backup and restore with the various tools discussed. Another high point is that the author includes current tools and techniques. This book holds lots of real world wisdom and I would recommend it to any system administrator, developer, or user who is interested in protecting their data.



2. W. Curtis Preston is the king of backups, and his book Backup and Recovery (BAR) is easily the best book available on the subject. Preston makes many good decisions in this book, covering open source projects and considerations for commercial solutions. Tool discussions are accompanied by sound advice and plenty of short war stories. If the author addresses the few concerns I have in his next edition, that should be a five star book.
   
   The best aspect of BAR is the author's obvious expertise in this subject. He does a good job sharing lots of his knowledge with the reader. Probably the most valuable conceptual framework I learned in BAR is the difference between backups and archives. Pages 696-7 summarize this nicely: "Backups are the secondary copy of primary data... Archives are the primary copy of secondary data." In this section and elsewhere, Preston describes how archives are the repository one should create when answering ediscovery requests and similar queries -- not backups. This is an extremely powerful idea and I plan to see how my employer deals with this issue.
   
   The second best aspect of BAR involves multiple chapters on backing up various databases. One can usually find similar coverage in single books on specific databases, but having all information in one book is useful for purposes of comparison. Chapter 15 provides an overview of the entire problem by discussing terminology and features found in many databases. This chapter helps storage admins understand the database admin world. Of particular note was the coverage of Microsoft Exchange, which the book calls a specialized database. I had not thought of Exchange in this light, but it's true -- especially when Microsoft indicates future versions will have SQL Server replacing Extensible Storage Engine. I only read chapters on SQL Server, Exchange, and MySQL.
   
   The third best aspect of BAR includes OS-specific chapters on bare-metal recovery. Although my OS of choice (FreeBSD) didn't merit its own chapter, I felt the material in the bare-metal section was robust enough to help me perform this work if necessary. I really only read the chapters on Windows/Linux and ignored Solaris, HP-UX, AIX, and Mac OS X.
   
   BAR is a good book, so why not five stars? First, I thought the chapters on open source backup options (especially ch 7 on "Open-Source Near CDP") were weak. I wanted to learn a lot more about rdiff-backup, for example, but the tool merited about 5 pages and introduced only the simplest possible invocation. Rsnapshot was also undercovered. It seemed like too many pages were spent on utilities I would probably never use (given newer options) like dump and cpio. I was also not confident I could get very far with Amanda, BackupPC, or Bacula given the detail given to each open source product. (Regarding BackupPC -- I had to guess it was open source and then only found out the truth when its Web site at sf.net was mentioned late in the chapter!)
   
   Second, some topics never really made sense. For example, I still do not understand how snapshots actually work. Calling it a "picture" means nothing to me. Snapshots are mentioned throughout the text, and the explanation that finally appears near the end of the book in a miscellanea chapter doesn't help.
   
   Third, I would really have liked to hear more about services offering backup to the Internet, like Amazon's S3 and others. This MUST be covered in the next edition.
   
   Finally, although the book has lots of advice, it would have been nice to have had a case study chapter where multiple example enterprises demonstrate their backup and recovery solutions. After finishing the book I have lots of ideas floating around, but seeing how a one-person, 100-person, 10,000-person, and 500,000-person environment implement BAR would be greatly appreciated.



3. I have used many backup utilities in linux, Unix, Windows, and found this book to be only a very basic view of the backup, DR realm.



4. Short Summary:
   This book's does not only teaches you have to create safe backup but it takes you to the next level where a large organization can save tons of dollars a year by making their backup and restore faster and more reliable process.
   
   Detail Summary:
   Backup and Recovery is the most interesting subject to me. I have always enjoyed reading and writing about this subject. I personally believe that without proper backup and ability to restore the backup to recover the system to original state, any organization is at great risk. Biggest change in the recent industry has been the proliferation of Windows, Exchange and SQL Server.
   
   This book is aimed at the people who feel that the commercial software precuts aren't meeting all their needs. Almost everything which is discussed in this book is either included with operating system or application. This book vastly covers the tools which are open-source projects. This book covers how to back up and recover everything from a basic Linux, Windows, or Max OS workstation to a complicated DB2, Oracle, Sybase or SQL Server (my favorite) databases as well many other things.
   
   This book suggests tools which are less than $100 or in most of the cases almost free. This book is for every developer or system administrator. This book tells users how exactly to choose which backup tool is best. This book stays away from ever changing product names. It focuses on concepts only - what a novel approach! I appreciate author for the same.
   
   This book focuses on two people mainly - Database Administrators (DBA) and System Administrator (SA). Concepts for both the roles are explained in detail in this book. In author's own word "I explained the backup utilities in plain language so that any DBA can understand them, and I explain database architecture in such a way that an SA, even one who has never before seen a database, can understand it."
   
   A book on Backup and Recovery are incomplete without discussing Bare-Metal Recovery. When operating system disk is lost and it is needed to recovered, it is called Bare-Metal Recovery. Out of hundreds of way to recover, this book focuses on best ways for Bare-Metal Recovery.
   
   Working as SQL Server Principal Database Administrator, I have been involved with Database Backup since day one. In several years of my career, I have seen many large organizations ignoring backup of master database. I was very glad when I see in just three lines author has conveyed clear message about master database. These three lines explain the understanding of author for SQL Server.
   
   "It is extremely important to backup the master database on regular basis. This database holds all the configuration information for the running system as well as all the configuration information for all databases and other information such as logon accounts. Without this database, the rest of the system is useless!"
   
   Rating: 4 and 1/2 stars
   
   In Summary, Backup and Recovery is not everything. This book takes you to highest level of the backup and recovery at conceptually strong working examples.
   
   Pinal Dave
   Principal Database Administrator
   (blog.sqlauthority.com)



5. I am a programmer by trade, but don't have much experience with the server management side of IT. I have had scares with backups for my home PCs. Finally I decided to do something about it with this book. A few days of reading gave me a great deal of knowledge. The final solution I decided on was BackupPC, which is now automatically backing up 7 PCs in our house, every night. My stress level has been reduced completely. Worth the price many times over.

5 comments about MySQL 5.0 Certification Study Guide (MySQL Press).

1. I like this book. It's easy, clear, and absolutely suitable for new guys to MySQL and preparing for taking the MySQL DBA test.



2. If you need the information to study for the MySQL dev and dba exams, this is the book. It covers most everything, but it is more of a manual than a book covering the subject. So although it covers all the material (and then some), it isn't a comfy read.



3. This is the book for MySQL CMDBA, CMDEV, and CMA certifications!
   
   But please note we do not include vouchers for the exams in the latest printing.



4. Well I've been using Mysql for the last 5 years now and got to say that I already had pretty good hold on it. But through this book I came across numerous interesting things that I was unaware of and no prizes for guessing that I cleared the exam with ease. The book has each and every detail of topics that are asked in the exam and hence is a must for anyone looking to give the exam



5. The book is quite big and my first impression was it's going to take a long time and it's full of useless info. But once I started reading, I had a nice surprise. The book actually covers 2 certifications (Dev and DBA), 2 exams each. I can't speak for the Dev part, but the DBA part was very well structured and each exam required less than 200 pages of reading. The information was dense enough and always up to the point. The practice questions were really not a question samples, but more like a 60 pages summary of possible exam topics.
   
   I also liked the style very much. It's very proffesional but not too dry and reading is not boring.
   
   There are a few glitches here and there (table of content is off, the CD ROM didn't work well), but they are not really impacting your study.
   
   Overall, I liked it very much and I wish more vendors would adopt that format and style.
   
   And, by the way, I passed both exams at the first try using this book only (well, I've been working with MySQL a bit in the past, but I clearly had holes in my knowledge before).
   
   So I highly recommend this book as a perfect MySQL certification guide and general reference.

5 comments about SQL Pocket Guide (Pocket References).

1. This book is the best form of remember SQLScript by engine details and lexical diference; I'm using Oracle v7, v8, v10 and SQLServer in my job; and mySQL and Oracle v10 in my own SOHO applications.



2. I love this little book since I work with many RDBMs and need use different syntaxes to accomplish the same thing. That's what this reference is good for - to remind you of material that you've forgotten.



3. I'm writing a review because of how impressed I've become with this over time. I have several SQL references and this gets used by far the most. I'm a big O'Reilly fan and I think I bought this title in addition to the Nutshell book because it was cheap and I also wanted multiple SQL reference books so I could have some at home as well as the office.
   
   I at first assumed that the Pocket guide would be inferior to the Nutshell book but I've found the reverse to be true for me. The strengths of this book are passages are always straight to the point, with tons of examples, and ALWAYS is very clear on relevant differences between different flavors of SQL (DB2, Oracle, SQL Server, & MySQL) without any blah blah blah.
   
   For knuckleheads who have worked in so many languages that they can't remember any syntax anymore, and who prefer a good terse example to a big syntax tree, this reference is highly recommended.



4. this pocket book is useful in that it touches on command sets from mysql, sql server, and also oracle. this cross platform approach is helpful when learning sql, or if one was to switch from one enterprise level system to the next. this mini book was shipped out in a timely fashion. i can say that the reference available in this book was well worth the moderate expense, as well as the shipping time.



5. A comprehensive and detailed SQL reference with sample code and result sets to make the content clear. An excellent pocket guide to take anywhere.

5 comments about PHP Solutions: Dynamic Web Design Made Easy (Solutions).

1. I wish more of the books I have seen on programming were written like this one. The author presents a practical application of what can be done with PHP in each chapter and these are things that are likely going to be needed in the majority of PHP websites. He also explains step by step how to install and set up Apache, MySQL and PHP. A great way to learn PHP.



2. Good stuff. I have had to keep staring at PHP code long enough to absorb where to start. This book gives you a good amount of "enough" to write a decent program. Would recommend..........



3. This is my first book on learning PHP, so maybe that's why it was difficult for me, but I would often give up on something, then search the web or other books for a tutorial, only to find that the answers were in this book all along.
   
   I wanted to create an image gallery using php, and found a halfway decent tutorial on the net, but didn't realize that this book actually covers image galleries.
   
   Some nice tutorials in this book revolve around,
   
   - blogs
   - event lists
   - user registrations
   - file uploads
   - image galleries
   - and a bunch of other stuff.
   
   If your learning PHP this is a good book to buy, even if you don't understand everything, you can bounce around to different books or online tutorials, then refer back to this book and maybe it'll make more sense.



4. I decided I wanted to add PHP to my website to make it more dynamic and reduce maintenance. But I didn't know any PHP. So I picked up PHP Solutions and within an hour or two of opening the front cover, I had converted my website to PHP and added several dynamic features that were demonstrated in the book!
   
   This book is brilliant. It provides a good background and understanding of PHP and the examples are easy to follow and apply straight away. It also shows you how to keep your code safe and avoid ugly error messages.



5. I purchesed this book hoping it would give good examples. NOT!!! Just another book for people who already know what they are doing. Now this is my opinion and this book did nothing to help explain the INCLUDE function or how to handle directories in php which is the help I was looking for.

5 comments about Web Database Applications with PHP & MySQL, 2nd Edition.

1. I'm new to PHP and MySQL, but a programmer for over 3 decades. I'm customizing some PHP code, using code examples for ideas. When I (a) see something I want to understand better or (b) want to find the PHP analog for basic functions, I naturally turn to the index to try to find the information I need. However, I found the index very disappointing because of what it doesn't have. For example, simple and basic keywords are not in the index: "comment", "logical operator", "and", "or", etc. I'm going to have order a different book as a PHP reference.



2. If your having trouble deciding on a book for your php & mysql development buy this book. It covers all major aspects of php and mysql web development and then some. You will find something useful on every page of this book, and theres a good amount of book here.



3. The book got me off the ground with my first client application, a rudimentary database maintenance system. Most valuable were the techniques and thorough understanding required to build a satisfactory security component.
   
   However, it falls way short as a reference tool and could have included a more comprehensive list of mysql functions.



4. I really like this book--direct, no-nonsense, and intelligently written with a minimum of jokes.
   
   One thing that seems strange, that I'm hoping someone can clarify:
   
   In the section of chapter 8 dealing with transactions and concurrency, there is no mention of setting transaction isolation levels (SET TRANSACTION ISOLATION LEVEL command in MySQL). Instead, concurrency is achieved solely by setting table locks.
   
   I can sort of understand this in that the authors are using MyISAM tables. But why no mention of transaction isolation levels using INNODB tables, given that this is the more standard way of dealing with concurrency issues?



5. As usual in text books, there is a lot of useless information that is not necessary, but since writers are paid by the word, this is to be expected.
   
   I wish there was a section on MySQL commands.

5 comments about Programming PHP.

1. I really liked this book. I'ts easy to understand, and it covers the basics. Just as a warning, this book is focused in people that already have som basic knowledrge of programing and HML.



2. I read through this in a couple evenings. It highlighted some PHP functions which I should be using to streamline my code. It also overviews available PHP extensions such as database interfaces and PDF and graphics libraries. Nice to have a summary all in one place and right at hand.



3. O'Reily books have the same pattern. They take content that should have been one book for maybe $100, and divide it out into 3 or more books adding up to a heftier profit. This book a nice quick reference, but doesn't cover the language in it's entirety (or close enough to from my experience with other books) or provide any actual examples, rather brief one line syntax examples. I've programed C++, JavaScript, Perl, PHP, and SQL while attending a state university for a degree in computer science. While examples can be redundant because concepts of programming are understood, a decent example is truly the best way to observe case implications of syntax. For example, when the book talks about constants and the define("name",value) function, it fails to mention when used in a string and output, the constant is not interpolated (the user sees COUNT, instead of say 3). In my experience I've run into a dozen of these situations I wish the book would have at least mentioned. This is important to know, and more important to know how to work around and do what you want. It's these details that make a solid programming manual, which this book claims to be. It is truly and introduction and quick reference. If you are not already an experienced PHP programmer, and you are going to deal with PHP at least somewhat in depth, you are better off looking elsewhere.



4. I bought this book after learning some Javascript and ColdFusion, thiking it would have some of the same concepts as most other scripting languages. Well PHP has some other features like the direction arrows, etc. This book didnt explain all the features of PHP very well to which I couldnt really understand what was going on, and I can understand most Javascript applications. I had to buy another bookto explain all of the basics better, and then I went back to this book and it was a great book after that! But if you are just starting PHP or scripting, I reccommend getting another book before buying this book.



5. Don't get me wrong, the book is okay. But I feel O'Reilly simply slung out a new version of the book for PHP 5, without really updating the content to reflect PHP 5's enhancements. Especially the chapter covering OOP development with PHP 5. The content in that chapter is pure PHP 4. Not cool.

5 comments about MySQL Crash Course (Sams Teach Yourself in 10 Minutes).

1. Great book to get you start into mysql. Very good examples and explanations. rather basic in some things, but overall it is worth the money. I got this book and O'Reilly's "MySQL cookbook". A good combination, that got me started with MySQL in no time. Mind you, I knew all the relational database stuff and sql queries already, but didn't know the specifics of MySQL. I was working with MS Access, but Access cannot handle large amounts of data I needed to upload for data mining projects. MySQL is just great -and free. These two books are excellent. I highly recommend them.



2. I am a PHP guy not a database guy. I know what I want to do most of the time but I don't know the exact syntax. This book is great, quick reference for just that. I use it probably 3-5 times a day. Great book for a reference!



3. You do not have to know anything about MYSQL or relational databases in order to start this book; a true novice can begin here. This book is desgined to get you up and running quickly. Although this book can also be used as a reference, it is intended as a series of hands on lessons. Forta's Teach Yourself SQL is also good, but if you are using MYSQL, this is the one to get.



4. If MySQL will suite your needs then this book is for you. I read the book cover-to-cover in my downtime at work over a few days and walked away with a solid understanding of MySQL.
   Unfortunately MySQL isn't the most mature database solution, but if it's good enough for your project, then this is a great resource.



5. As others have said, this is a great book for beginners, whether in MySQL or in databases in general. Because I have a lot of database experience, I went throught it very quickly.
   
   When I started to apply some of the techniques I learned to existing applications, I found out VERY quickly that this is insufficient as a reference. Each topic has enough hands-on examples to give you a start, but not nearly enough depth to use for looking things up.
   
   I thought that Appendix B on creating the sample tables might have been a little abbreviated for the novice user. It refers to Chapter 2 to create a new datasource, but I think it was a little confusing jumping back and forth between the appendix and the chapter. This might be better as an exercise right in the chapter.
   
   Overall, I would recommend this book as a starting point.