Learning PHP, MySQL & JavaScript: With jQuery, CSS & HTML5 (Learning Php, Mysql, Javascript, Css & Html5)

This is a great book, full of information on current web creation technology, covering modern usage of PHP, MySQL, JavaScript and jQuery. It serves as a good reference book, while at the same time, providing brief examples to illustrate how to use each command or function as it is presented. I found the book easy to read and understand, and the examples clear and to the point. When I first opened this book I considered myself a reasonably proficient PHP and MySQL coder, though I was using these technologies as they existed eight years ago, when I first learned them. The book opened my eyes to the newer tools that are now available as well as more modern approaches to coding, including object-oriented programming and the power of jQuery. I think this book would serve a beginning coder well, but would be even more valuable to someone who already has some experience under their belt using one or more of these technologies. This book has become my go-to book for any coding or syntax questions, and a good book to just browse through to learn a new trick or two. I recommend it without hesitation to anyone that would like to improve their programming skills in the covered topics.

Let me start off with I don't seem to have a head for programming. I enjoy what I can do, but otherwise have little use for programming, except that I have classes in the topic and want to be able to program things that I don't like doing manually. With other books, I always seemed to get stuck at the questions. The answers were probably there, but by the time I'm to the questions, I am beyond frustrated. I'm usually lost and despite my trying, I give up. That didn't happen with this book. In fact, it was written in such a way that it really allowed me to learn. I found the answer to every question, and if I couldn't, I could look in the back with the answers. Before I did that though, I had my theory of what the answer was and just wanted the proof that I was right...or learn trying. I'd say that was the single biggest difference. I could look up the answers and know I would find the answers. Yeah, I might have been able to Google them, but if I don't know what I'm looking for, how do I know when I found it? Again, didn't have to worry about that with this book. In fact, I read the complete thing and walked through all of the examples and all of the questions. First time ever (which is about 8 years). Because of my total lack of frustration and the confidence this book helped instill in me, I give it five stars. I appreciate this book and I hope that if you buy it, you will too.

I have to say that I've been very frustrated with this book a number of times. The issue is not whether or not the author knows what he is talking about; it is very detailed and fairly easy to follow along with. I do have to preface this with saying that I skipped directly to the JavaScript section (thus skipping the PHP section that is often referred to in the JavaScript section). It is possible that his examples are better in the PHP section. My main complaint is the examples. The examples are very confusing, in my opinion. For example, when he talks about objects and classes within JavaScript, he uses an object named "details", and does not give any sort of scenario where it would help the reader understand why the object details would be created. Also, when he talks about the "this" keyword, such as this.property, he does not fully explain that the object will inherit such properties. To me, this makes it very hard to follow what he is trying to explain. If he were to have used a name, such as "john", then it would be much easier to follow when he talks about the object john having the properties of firstname, username, and password. For example, I found a YouTube video where the class User is created, and then an object (user) is created, named john. Then the example gave properties to the object john, such as lastname, firstname, and credit. In this book, an object details is created, and then the properties of forename, username, and password are created in the details object. To me, it's much easier to grasp a real world example of a user named John creating an account (and thus creating an object in the User class) than it is to talk about an arbitrary object of details and then creating arbitrary properties for it. Another example, is when he is trying to give an example of a multidimensional array in JavaScript. To try to explain this, he uses an 8x8 checkerboard, which consists of a number of spaces and 'o' letters, in order to create a nice pattern that looks very cool when printed out. However, to try to really grasp the concept of a multidimensional array, a checkerboard sucks, in my opinion. In order to really understand why you'd want to create an multidimensional array, it would be helpful to have some sort of real-world example of the need for one to begin with, and finally how to implement it in such a way as to meet that need. For example, I found a website that gave an example of needing to list activities and how many hours were spent doing those activities - that is something that is easier to grasp, in my opinion, than an 8x8 checkerboard. So, in summary, the book is good in that I'm learning how to use JavaScript (really, remembering, as I learned a number of years previously, but only from teaching myself). However, have a computer or something handy so that you can look up better examples if you really want to grasp the concepts being presented and have an idea of what they can be used for.

I was trying to get a used, newer, copy of this book. It is good, covers basics but I would prefer a newer one as technology changes quickly.

After a couple years of coding HTML, CSS, and Javascript/Jquery, I decided to dive into PHP/MySQL to start building some backend chops. To be fair, I'm comparing this book to Learning Web Design by Jennifer Robbins and Javascript/JQuery: The Missing Manual by David Sawyer McFarland, which I consulted to learn all my front-end knowledge and which have to be two of the most straightforward, well-organized, example-driven books I've ever read. Sadly, Nixon's book didn't have the same great qualities. There's no doubt this guy knows PHP backward and forward. The trouble is that he doesn't really seem to know how to convey that knowledge to a beginner. His writing doesn't seem to have much organization to it- there's a lot of "Hey, PHP can do this, oh and while I'm at it, it can also do this. And by the way, it can also do this, but I'm only showing it to you because you really don't want to do it this way." He also, in my opinion, takes for granted that you already understand how internet databases work, which in my case was a poor assumption. My biggest complaint is the lack of PRACTICAL examples. For every concept he describes, he provides a small, isolated example, but they often don't make sense because you don't understand WHY or in what context he's trying to perform the action he's performing. I'm the kind of guy that really needs to see the bigger picture in order to learn what each detail is contributing to it. And those bigger picture examples just weren't there for me. All in all, I think the author really knows what he's talking about and probably provides a lot of good information, but as a complete beginner to PHP and back-end programming, I couldn't get any utility out of it. The writing was just too disorganized. This review does not apply to the Javascript section of the book, as I already know how to code JS and didn't read that.

Great book for learning PHP, My SQL, & JavaScript. This book provides a strong foundation from which to build ones knowledge as a developer. I like the authors writing style he made the information flow in a logical manner and covered pretty much all the bases from start to finish. The only things that were left out were the higher concepts that were far beyond the cope of the book. But he gives references to other material if one wants to become a more advanced developer in the individual languages. With this book you can build a fully functional modern website from scratch.

This is an excellent book. After reading a couple other books on web programming, I found this one to be far better. The author is very clear and practical. He stays on a the point, and the book has a very linear layout. I have been trying to learn how to program in interactive website. I found basically every chapter to be relevant. The chapters break down each language required with going into any subject to deep as to lose a novice. The book progresses logically and then leads up the a final trial website, simple but a great example of a fundamental outline.

One of the best-written books I've come across in many years. Its amazing how 3 major dev environments could be covered so thoroughly in 1 book. Not just a regurg of reference materials elsewhere - good *practical* topics discussed. Buy it - you won't be sorry. (and No, I'm not some shill for this book).