Overall I believe the book is pretty good at teaching the language. But I must admit, I was pretty confused and still haven't resolved the problem on how to construct a server, which is instructed in Chapter 2. But when it comes to the coding itself, its very understandable, it explains what each code means and tells you your options. But I do wish it gave answers to the exercises it gives at the end of the chapters.

When i bought this book, i already knew console based C++, so this isn't my first plunge into programming. I didn't, however, have a lick of PHP knowledge.

As a learning tool, it is ok. The first few chapters are very easy to learn. However, about 1/3-1/2 the way through the book, the learning curve steepens. The concepts become harder to grasp, but if you have had some programming in the past, this shouldn't be too much of a problem.

Now that i have learned PHP, mostly from this book, but also from the php.net website as well as some forums (forums.devshed.com has a great developer forum), this book is a great reference. It is well indexed, and if I happen to forget something, i can look it up very quickly. If the book doesn't have it, i can usually find it on the php website or on forums.

I'd also like to comment on another review before this one,
on T. Sagert "whambulance"'s post. This isn't a ""no programming needed" beginner MySQL" as this ISN'T A MYSQL BOOK!

Well, after reading the reviews on EVERY "no programming needed" beginner MySQL book available on Amazon.com, I am convinced NONE of them teach a "beginner" anything. Commodore language was my "beginner" programming, but decided to pick it up again.

One thing this book and ALL of these books dont tell you is WHAT DO YOU DO WITH THE CODE ONCE YOU WRITE IT? WHERE THE HELL DOES IT GO?

After two years of on-and-off study, I still dont know anything, I just have a stack of books rotting in the garage ready for the next 25-cent rummage sale.

I have a small shelf filled with PHP books. They all helped me a little bit (perhaps I'm just a slow learner.) But it wasn't until I worked through the 24 lessons in this book that I finally began to feel that I was getting a firm grip on the fundamentals of writing solid PHP code. This is the book that turned me from a bumbling amateur to someone on a respectable intermediate level, completely comfortable with reading through more advanced books on PHP (books that go beyond the usual: "here's how to build a simple shopping cart.")

If you're starting out with PHP, I'd recommend that you start with this book of 24 lessons. By the end you'll actually feel competent and that you are sure-footedly headed toward the goal of mastery!

I'm an experienced PHP coder, since early PHP4. I started learning PHP from a (slightly earlier edition of) this book (although it has the same ISBN), from reading other scripts and then coding them. Even now, as experienced as I am, I still find it a very useful resource; most of the time it's easier to find something in there than by searching on a search engine or the PHP.net website.

You could do a *LOT* worse than to buy this. Learn PHP, expand your knowledge of it, or get it just for general reference if/when you get stuck!