Comments on: PHP 6 Fast and Easy Web Development

By: Justin Mackey

Justin Mackey — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 06:55:14 +0000

I have to say that I have not purchased this book but am going to. I Went to my local bookstore and had a chance to look at the PHP 5 and PHP 6 books and the screen resolution the screenshots were taken in the PHP 6 book was really high. The text in the screenshots are really hard to read. I had a chance to look at the PHP 5 book and they were alot bigger. If you have a hard time reading small text I would suggest that you get the PHP 5 book.Other that that the content looks superb.
Rating: 4 / 5

By: L. Lai

L. Lai — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 06:30:14 +0000

I have to say, this book is not horrible, but it’s also not worth the money. Though the book does cover a handful of common and helpful code samples such as creating tables, inserting data into tables, adding users, working with sessions and creating simple mailing lists, I can’t remember a single code example in this book that I didn’t find a better, more detailed version of for free online.

The book is solid, they make a good effort guiding the reader and the examples are useful, but in a world where the internet is loaded with the same free simple code samples, a book like this doesn’t serve much of a purpose. Go ahead and charge more if necessary, but I would have liked more complexity and explanation in the code samples. Don’t be fooled by the number of pages – this thing could have easily been half the size.

Rating: 2 / 5

By: mDave

mDave — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 05:24:05 +0000

I don’t remember if I bought this book on amazon or via my local bookstore. I usually look at reviews but my thought process was since I’m learning I’ll start with PHP 6 so by the time it’s released I will be ready. At the time I recall that there wasn’t much of a selection. So I purchased this book and the best of hopes.

I’m about half way through the book now and discovered 2 errors in the code examples already. I’m sure this wouldn’t be a problem for someone familiar with PHP but since I’m just learning I had spent hours looking over my code trying to figure out my mistakes. After searching online I discovered the error was not in my code but the example which was very frustrating. An additional problem I have encountered is there is not enough description what certain parts of the code does nor how the syntax works. So I’m going through the examples but not sure what every piece of code does.

Since I’m half way through I’m going to continue but I doubt that when I’m done I will have a good foundation to write my own code. While I hate writing bad reviews because of the time and effort put into a book I can’t help but advise someone starting out in PHP not to purchase this book.
Rating: 2 / 5

By: Ahmad Fuad

Ahmad Fuad — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 04:42:45 +0000

Julie c Meloni. After 3rd publication and

you still didn’t take serious enough about

your previously readers review. By 3rd

edition you should have already corrected

if not all, some critical negative, bad response

or error about the book. But seems here; you’re NOT.

This proves that the author didn’t care at all (so

why should you?).

If this kind of attitude still goes on and the

4th publication came out (PHP 7?), then the

author is not to be blamed but the publisher.

(And if it does happen, probably the publisher

is mad…soon, he/she will run his/her business dry.)
Rating: 1 / 5

By: Nick Name

Nick Name — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 02:14:30 +0000

I've been a computer guy for years. I've used Sams, Wrox, and Deitel for various aids.

This book is perhaps one of the best "teach yourself" books I've ever used.

I'm brand new to PHP (but not to HTML)

This book explains new concepts in an simple fashion (without demeaning the reader).

Regarding the PHP version this book uses.

Obviously, the book is intended for PHP 6, however as of the books publication (and this review writing), PHP 6.0 is not yet GA.

However, I'm using PHP Version 5.2.5 along with the book just fine.

The only suggestion I have regarding any improvement in this book would be the instructions the book provides regarding configuration and environment set up of Apache, MYSQL, and PHP.

The book uses screen shot examples (vs. detailed instructions on how to configure).
Example--Page 30= ="Installing Apache" (even if I used a magnifying glass, I don't think I could read those instructions).

With that said:
I would also highly recommend that anyone using PHP/MYSQL/Apache for the first time, consider using XAMPP--from Apache friends. Save yourself the configuration frustration/delays and use the preconfigured XAMPP package to get up and running in a matter of minutes.

(I wasted countless hours trying to configure my install until I discovered XAMPP on a discussion thread regarding installation problems for newbies). Rating: 5 / 5