I purchased this book after a few minuets of flipping through the first couple of chapters.  They seemed to do a good enough job with the WHAT and WHY aspect of learning.  That soon changed as I got through further chapters of the book.  It's quite evident that the developers of the code/book thought the reader would be able to grasp concepts of the code rather than just plainly explaining HOW and WHY it was written that way.  Very frustrating book if you are new to PHP mysql.  I then purchased the HEAD FIRST book on beginning PHP and mysql and it was a world of difference.  WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY better book.  Explains everything in detail (sometimes too much) but you certainly get everything drilled into your brain as any good teacher would do to make sure you absolutely understand your topic.  Anyway, this book here was a waste of time and is, from my perspective, a suckers snare trap if you're new and not sure what book to start with.  It is a big book though, and I'm sure it will make for good fire starter!

Beginning PHP5, Apache, and MySQL Web Development (Programmer to Programmer) PDF

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