Think of all the things you could do in 24 hours. Go sightseeing. Read a book. Learn PHP. Sams Teach Yourself PHP in 24 Hours is a unique learning tool that is divided into 24 one-hour lessons over five sections. Starting with the basics, you will discover the fundamentals of PHP and how to apply that knowledge to create dynamic websites with forms, cookies and authentication functions. You will also find out how to access databases, as well as how to integrate system components, e-mail, LDAP, network sockets and more. A support website includes access to source code, PHP updates, errata and links to other relevant websites. Sams Teach Yourself PHP in 24 Hours is a quick and easy way to learn how to create interactive websites for your end user.

Amazon.com® Reader Reviews (Ranked by Helpfulness)

Average Amazon.com® Rating:  Based on 17 Ratings

Teaches authors they can publish a book (only) - 2006-01-18
Reviewer Rating:
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.

It worked for me - 2005-12-18
Reviewer Rating:
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!

Great reference, ok learning tool - 2006-02-02
Reviewer Rating:
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!

The best PHP primer - 2009-09-05
Reviewer Rating:
This is not a PHP programming book. This book will teach you about the very basics of PHP syntax and structure and while it will not get you anywhere near proficiency, it will give you a very solid, albeit simple, foundation from which to continue. With literally thousands of included functions and thousands more specialized functions available for all forms of tasks, PHP is a rich and subtle language not easily learned in a hurry. This book will provide the foundation to continue exploring the language in a very straight forward and understandable presentation.

For example, the book covers arrays with 19 sections which gives a good knowledge base and allows the beginner to begin to use these incredibly useful entities but it doesn't come close to the available 77 array functions contained within the language. Or the 21 string functions covered in the book versus the 97 functions available in the language.

Anybody interested in learning PHP will also want to bookmark [...] as the definitive source of information regarding the language.

While knowledge of HTML/XHTML is not needed to learn PHP the typical usage of PHP will require a good understanding of markup languages and knowledge of HTTP will go a long way to making your life easier too. Because of PHP's versatility, the successful programmer will soon be learning SQL and XML to name only two.

I encourage any beginning PHP programmer to buy this book for the basics. To glimpse PHP programming issues, I would refer you to 'PHP Solutions: Dynamic web design made easy' by David Powers from Friends of Ed as the next step in you education.

PHP Solutions: Dynamic Web Design Made Easy

Sam's Teach Yourself:PHP - 2008-08-07
Reviewer Rating:
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.

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