I'm not a web guru; but got stuck with converting a Javascript, Java Server Pages, Oracle website I designed years ago to PHP, et al.  So I armed myself with the PHP Cookbook, PHP and MySQL Web Development and Mastering phpMyAdmin3.1 and gingerly stepped into battle.  When I received the books in the mail and began reading, the PHP Cookbook damaged by brain, so it was placed on the self to collect dust and I dug into PHP and MySQL Web Development to begin experimenting.  It didn't take too long to decide to use the Object Oriented PHP paradigm for implementation.  Once that decision was made and I had programmed a few pieces of the puzzle, I dusted off the PHP Cookbook and took another look at it.  I found the Cookbook to be a truly amazing piece of work.  These authors know what the reader is looking for, know how to organize the material, and leave few bases uncovered.  Take, for example the 'Receipe' 9.7 "Validating Form Input: Checkboxes".  In the section on "Discussion" the authors state "For PHP to handle multiple checkbox values properly, the checkboxes' name attribute must end with [ ],.....Those multiple values are formatted in $_POST as an array.  Since the checkbox name in ......is food[ ], $_POST[ 'food' ] holds the array of values from the checked boxes."  End of story.  This is exactly what the programmer needs to know to process the checkbox form input.  I am finding this book to be an excellent reference.  The reader, of course, needs some experience before tearing into this book; but it could be bought at any point during the implementation process and set aside as a valued reference.  Web development gurus (you know who you are) may find this book lacking; but being on the short side of being a guru, I give the book 4 1/2 stars.  I downgrade it 1/2 star since it didn't come with a companion CD, which I always like to have to facilitate quick searches of the material.

PHP Cookbook PDF

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