After spending about a half a day with this book and working on trying to get a simple exercise in the book to work on mime email, I've just about given up. This book reads like a dictionary giving very little explaination and leaving you to the Internet to find the answers.

The book does have a lot of information, but if the examples don't work, then you're stuck. A little help from the authors on how to overcome common problems would have been great. Instead, it just goes on to the next definition of functions.

I guess it's worth the $6 in the used category, but not $45 which is list.

This book is lacking in both breadth and depth. Here is an example of each:

1. In the XML section, only three of the 13 classes in the XML package are discussed. In fact, only ten of the nearly three dozen PEAR packages are covered.

2. In the discussion of the File class, the third parameter is the file lock mode. The text reads, "The type of file lock to use," but fails to explain what those lock modes are.

Considering this, I consider the book overpriced and of value only to the beginner who is having difficulty getting started with PEAR. If this is the your situation, I recommend looking for a used copy.

The first thing I should address with Foundations of PEAR (PHP Extensions and Applications Repository) is the appropriate audience for this book. Since it is a book on PHP extensions and applications repositories the authors assume that the reader already has a basic understanding of PHP5. If you already know the rules of basic syntax, using variables, creating objects and similar items then you will probably be interested in looking at this book.

After a brief introduction to PEAR including how to install and configure it the rest of the book is a compendium of PEAR packages, their content, and how to use them. For each package it includes information on common usages, related packages, dependencies, the API, and examples. The book is broadly divided into ten topical sections - Authentication, Utilities and Tools, Dates and Numbers, HTML, Images and Text, Database, Files and Formats, HTTP, XML, and Mail. Each of these sections contains several packages that fall under that category.

The index is complete and detailed and makes the book a great resource. A solid reference book that is sure to be on the shelf of most PHP5 programmers Foundations of PEAR is highly recommended.