Welcome to this review of "PHP5 Recipes: A Problem-Solution Approach", published by Apress. Although PHP5 has been available for quite some time now, I must admit that I'm still beginner myself when it comes to PHP5's new features, so this book is exactly what I need, and I bet many others do as well. Read on to learn more about this book.

The bulk of the review covers the contents of the book (all sixteen chapters) and includes the topics of introductory OOP techniques/terms, using dates/times, regular expressions, functions, using forms, and using MySQL.

The reviewer's opinion of the book was not good. While the name implies a book focused on "what's new" in PHP5, it's really more of a beginner book, taking a developer through more of a "what's PHP" tour. There were a few points where PHP5 features shined through, though.

With all the books being published recently about PHP a new one will need to find and fill a niche to distinguish itself. PHP 5 Recipes: A Problem-Solution Approach, published by Apress, has done so, in my view.

This is an intermediate-level volume exploring PHP 5 using a recipe approach where the basics of PHP 5's functionality are expressed systematically but in a small-topic by small-topic manner. Cook-book style, each topic is relatively autonomous and can be individually selected, as necessary, for information or review, similarly to how many refer to the Joy of Cooking for help on a cooking project. It's a source for instant solutions to common PHP-related problems. There are over 200 such recipes presented.

He continues the review, looking at what the "recipies" are what topics they cover, and how they integrate into the larger projects defined near the end of the book. Overall, though, he agrees that this book is "useful book to have in a programmer's library"...]]> Wed, 07 Dec 2005 19:48:25 -0600