The authors writing style leaves a lot to be desired. He's hard to understand sometimes. He uses a game to illustrate the concepts of PHP & understanding the game was more difficult than the code. It's not bad - it's just OK. I'd recommend Charles Wyke-Smith "Codin for the Web" for a clear explanation of rudimentary PHP MySQL concepts with real world examples - not stupid games.

My son was looking for an introduction to web development, and I couldn't think of a better place than PHP with which to start.

I found the author's writing style very enjoyable - and was particularly impressed by his choice of example programs. For instance, the chapter on databases introduces concepts using an adventure game!

The only problem I had was the lightweight treatment of Content Management Systems (in particular the discussion of PHP-Nuke), which ended up being much too generic to be of use.

However, that doesn't really detract from the quality of the rest of the book, which is highly recommended.

Unfortunately this book, despite its best efforts, falls flat on its face when it comes to teaching php. I am a beginner to the language and I ordered the book recently to begin teaching myself. The code in the book did not work at all, even when I uploaded the pages stored on the CD rom directly to my site they didn't work properly, which let me know that even though I'm new to the language the errors weren't my fault. The script is incomplete and poorly written, as told to me by professional web site authors I know. It lacks the most important parts of the script to make them work and if you're on your own you won't be able to figure out why it isn't working, unless you find the answer in a forum or something. I recommend this book instead, PHP 6 and MySQL 5 for Dynamic Web Sites: Visual QuickPro Guide. The code in this book actually works and any errors are insignificant plus have corrections online at the author's site. Don't make the same mistake I did in buying this book. It will just disappoint you and waste your money.

This book is physically easy for me to read. It is clearly written and helpful for me as a rank beginner in PHP programming. The reader needs some background in programming with HTML and CSS.

The book seems to do an OK job of getting the major points across, but I would have liked to see a clearer progression of information with a separate section for a quick reference. I like the CD with the code available to use. That is a valuable asset for the book.