Because learning and using most of these technologies can be rather challenging to a Web developer, perhaps the best way to get started doing so is by using all of them to create a single Web-based application, with no pretense at mastering any one of them. This is the approach taken in Quentin Zervaas's book, Practical Web 2.0 Applications with PHP."

The book (see its web page here) covers lots of different technologies and seeks to be pretty comprehensive and, at around 570 pages, crams as much between its covers as it can. He goes through some parts of the book specifically but glosses over some for the sake of the length of the review.

From the review:

The primary strength of this book is the significant amount of information provided to the reader, in the form of summaries of critical Web programming problems, working PHP code that addresses those problems, discussion as to why each particular approach was taken, and occasional asides that warn the reader about special difficulties that they might encounter as they implement the solutions within their own development environments and for their own projects

They also talk about the contents of the (cook)book, other strengths and weaknesses and the target audience the book shoots for. You can find out more about the book, including purchasing options on its page on the SitePoint website.

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