136 lines
7.3 KiB
HTML
136 lines
7.3 KiB
HTML
<!--startcut ==============================================-->
|
|
<!-- *** BEGIN HTML header *** -->
|
|
<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 3.2//EN">
|
|
<HTML><HEAD>
|
|
<title>PHP Essentials (book review) LG #59</title>
|
|
</HEAD>
|
|
<BODY BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#000000" LINK="#0000FF" VLINK="#0000AF"
|
|
ALINK="#FF0000">
|
|
<!-- *** END HTML header *** -->
|
|
|
|
<CENTER>
|
|
<A HREF="http://www.linuxgazette.com/">
|
|
<H1><IMG ALT="LINUX GAZETTE" SRC="../gx/lglogo.jpg"
|
|
WIDTH="600" HEIGHT="124" border="0"></H1></A>
|
|
|
|
<!-- *** BEGIN navbar *** -->
|
|
<IMG ALT="" SRC="../gx/navbar/left.jpg" WIDTH="14" HEIGHT="45" BORDER="0" ALIGN="bottom"><A HREF="kasten.html"><IMG ALT="[ Prev ]" SRC="../gx/navbar/prev.jpg" WIDTH="16" HEIGHT="45" BORDER="0" ALIGN="bottom"></A><A HREF="index.html"><IMG ALT="[ Table of Contents ]" SRC="../gx/navbar/toc.jpg" WIDTH="220" HEIGHT="45" BORDER="0" ALIGN="bottom" ></A><A HREF="../index.html"><IMG ALT="[ Front Page ]" SRC="../gx/navbar/frontpage.jpg" WIDTH="137" HEIGHT="45" BORDER="0" ALIGN="bottom"></A><A HREF="http://www.linuxgazette.com/cgi-bin/talkback/all.py?site=LG&article=http://www.linuxgazette.com/issue59/lambert.html"><IMG ALT="[ Talkback ]" SRC="../gx/navbar/talkback.jpg" WIDTH="121" HEIGHT="45" BORDER="0" ALIGN="bottom" ></A><A HREF="../faq/index.html"><IMG ALT="[ FAQ ]" SRC="./../gx/navbar/faq.jpg"WIDTH="62" HEIGHT="45" BORDER="0" ALIGN="bottom"></A><A HREF="nazario.html"><IMG ALT="[ Next ]" SRC="../gx/navbar/next.jpg" WIDTH="15" HEIGHT="45" BORDER="0" ALIGN="bottom" ></A><IMG ALT="" SRC="../gx/navbar/right.jpg" WIDTH="15" HEIGHT="45" ALIGN="bottom">
|
|
<!-- *** END navbar *** -->
|
|
<P>
|
|
</CENTER>
|
|
|
|
<!--endcut ============================================================-->
|
|
|
|
<H4 ALIGN="center">
|
|
"Linux Gazette...<I>making Linux just a little more fun!</I>"
|
|
</H4>
|
|
|
|
<P> <HR> <P>
|
|
<!--===================================================================-->
|
|
|
|
<center>
|
|
<H1><font color="maroon">PHP Essentials (book review)</font></H1>
|
|
<H4>By <a href="mailto:drow@post.com">Patrick Lambert</a></H4>
|
|
</center>
|
|
<P> <HR> <P>
|
|
|
|
<!-- END header -->
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
<P> In this short article I will talk about a book on PHP, a web scripting
|
|
language. But before going into the book itself, let's see what web
|
|
scripting is and what PHP is all about. Web sites, 5 years ago, were
|
|
simple text files with some images inserted. They were all done using
|
|
HTML, the standard markup language. Now, in the year 2000, things have
|
|
changed dramatically. Sites now provide more than just static, textual
|
|
information. Web sites include dynamic information, animation files,
|
|
session management (which allows them to recognize you at each visit)
|
|
and other modern features. All of these features can't be created using
|
|
only static HTML pages. Scripting languages need to be used to make the
|
|
connection to the databases, to handle session management and to do all
|
|
of the other back-end processing required to have good, modern pages.
|
|
|
|
<P> PHP is a server-side scripting language. This means that it is composed
|
|
of lines of code inserted in HTML pages. The web server processes the
|
|
code, and its output is printed on the web page. Several other
|
|
server-based scripting languages exist, including Microsoft ASP and
|
|
CodeFusion. PHP is available on most Unix platforms and on Microsoft
|
|
Windows.
|
|
|
|
<P> <em>PHP Essentials</em> is a book for the HTML writer who wants to get into web
|
|
scripting. If you have experience in making simple web sites and want to
|
|
do complex dynamic sites, then this is the book for you. The book was
|
|
published in Spring 2000 by Prima Publishing, a company that publishes
|
|
dozens of computer books, and was written by Julie Meloni, a
|
|
technical director for a multimedia company located in Campbell,
|
|
California.
|
|
|
|
<P> The information is very well presented; it is easy to read and is always
|
|
supported with examples. Another plus is that it uses real life scenarios--
|
|
works you may need to accomplish in a real life situation where you need
|
|
to create web sites. For example, most sites use databases to store user
|
|
data, so the book thoroughly discusses database
|
|
connections.
|
|
|
|
<P> The author also provides an in-depth coverage of most topics. For example, in the first
|
|
chapter, she talks about the installation phase and describes
|
|
how to install PHP on various platforms and with several web servers,
|
|
including Apache and Internet Information Server. In the database
|
|
section, the book spends some time describing database systems as well
|
|
as basic queries.
|
|
|
|
<P> Also, the book is very up to date. It covers the latest PHP version,
|
|
PHP4. Database examples are based on the MySQL database, which is
|
|
currently the most popular database with Linux users. It is a recent
|
|
book, and it shows.
|
|
|
|
<P> While these are good features, there are also some problems. First,
|
|
while it covers certain subjects in depth, it doesn't cover everything.
|
|
Some topics that might be useful for web developers
|
|
are not covered at all--the book is quite short.
|
|
|
|
<P> Another thing that would have been nice is a
|
|
CD-ROM with the example source code and with PHP itself. The book comes
|
|
with no CD-ROM at all, and this is a down point.
|
|
|
|
<P> Globally, <em>PHP Essentials</em> is a very good book for people who want to
|
|
learn more about advanced web development using the PHP language. The
|
|
book is listed at $39.99, which is very reasonable for a computer book.
|
|
It's not the first book about PHP and most likely will not be the last,
|
|
but it is the best choice for people beginning with PHP programming.
|
|
|
|
<BLOCKQUOTE><EM>
|
|
[The publisher's site is
|
|
<A HREF="http://www.prima-tech.com/book.asp?ID=4520">www.prima-tech.com</A>.
|
|
The program listings in the book are at
|
|
<A HREF="http://www.thickbook.com/srccode/index.phtml?b=pe">
|
|
www.thickbook.com</A>. The hyperlink should go right to the page, but if it
|
|
doesn't, go to the site and choose "code" on the main menu.
|
|
-Ed.]
|
|
</EM></BLOCKQUOTE>
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
<!-- *** BEGIN copyright *** -->
|
|
<P> <hr> <!-- P -->
|
|
<H5 ALIGN=center>
|
|
|
|
Copyright © 2000, Patrick Lambert.
|
|
Copying license <A HREF="../copying.html">http://www.linuxgazette.com/copying.html</A><BR>
|
|
Published in Issue 59 of <i>Linux Gazette</i>, November 2000</H5>
|
|
<!-- *** END copyright *** -->
|
|
|
|
<!--startcut ==========================================================-->
|
|
<HR><P>
|
|
<CENTER>
|
|
<!-- *** BEGIN navbar *** -->
|
|
<IMG ALT="" SRC="../gx/navbar/left.jpg" WIDTH="14" HEIGHT="45" BORDER="0" ALIGN="bottom"><A HREF="kasten.html"><IMG ALT="[ Prev ]" SRC="../gx/navbar/prev.jpg" WIDTH="16" HEIGHT="45" BORDER="0" ALIGN="bottom"></A><A HREF="index.html"><IMG ALT="[ Table of Contents ]" SRC="../gx/navbar/toc.jpg" WIDTH="220" HEIGHT="45" BORDER="0" ALIGN="bottom" ></A><A HREF="../index.html"><IMG ALT="[ Front Page ]" SRC="../gx/navbar/frontpage.jpg" WIDTH="137" HEIGHT="45" BORDER="0" ALIGN="bottom"></A><A HREF="http://www.linuxgazette.com/cgi-bin/talkback/all.py?site=LG&article=http://www.linuxgazette.com/issue59/lambert.html"><IMG ALT="[ Talkback ]" SRC="../gx/navbar/talkback.jpg" WIDTH="121" HEIGHT="45" BORDER="0" ALIGN="bottom" ></A><A HREF="../faq/index.html"><IMG ALT="[ FAQ ]" SRC="./../gx/navbar/faq.jpg"WIDTH="62" HEIGHT="45" BORDER="0" ALIGN="bottom"></A><A HREF="nazario.html"><IMG ALT="[ Next ]" SRC="../gx/navbar/next.jpg" WIDTH="15" HEIGHT="45" BORDER="0" ALIGN="bottom" ></A><IMG ALT="" SRC="../gx/navbar/right.jpg" WIDTH="15" HEIGHT="45" ALIGN="bottom">
|
|
<!-- *** END navbar *** -->
|
|
</CENTER>
|
|
</BODY></HTML>
|
|
<!--endcut ============================================================-->
|