The "Visual Quickstart" technique - placing instruction and code in side by side columns is the best learning device I have ever used. The instruction is clear and detailed, and the layout makes it easy to skim-over what you already know and focus on what you need to learn. I used the Quickstart book for learning HTML4 and now for PHP. I would recommend this series to anyone regardless of level.

I was looking for a decent introduction to PHP, and stumbled across this on Amazon. I can only speak as someone with a programming background, but this was exactly what I was looking for. Mr. Ullman takes you through PHP from the ground up, but the layout of the book and the thoroughness of the index makes it a pretty good reference if you just want to know some particular piece of the puzzle.
Want to create an online form using PHP? This book walks you through a project that does just that.
Want to figure out how arrays work in PHP? You can jump to that section, and migrate your own programming knowledge over to the PHP environment.
PHP (and, for that matter, HTML) programming is a little counterintuitive , particularly if you have previous experience in other languages. This book makes the move a lot easier!
Again, my review is from the standpoint of someone with experience in programming. However, the approach that the book takes - walking you step-by-step through practical examples - probably would work really well for those who are new to programming, too.
I bought it along with the companion book on PHP and MySQL (PHP and MySQL for Dynamic Web Sites: Visual QuickPro Guide (2nd Edition) (Visual QuickPro Guide)), which turned out to be a great idea - both are getting dog-eared as I build a website using dynamic content.
A great book, well worth purchasing!

An excellent resource book, with step-by-step instructions. It is easy to understand yet has useful examples. Great book!

This book was perfect for the newbie to PHP programming. It walks you through examples with perfect clarity and a great explanation of why. I wish more how-to books were written just like this one. Other programming how-to books are very difficult to read and require a reference library to comrehend all the unexplained material. This books explains everything it introduces. I will look for more books from Mr. Ullman.

I like this book series. They provide a foundation that I find much easier to "digest" than online tutorials, articles, or guides. [Am a note-taking learner who needs a solid resource around, afterwards.]

The topic flow is nice; you ease into a wider scope of applications
with simple examples that can be built upon. It's very helpful when authors provide online errata, resources, forums, etc. and Larry Ullman's text does.

- a beginner who made progress ;-)

$novice = "I don't know the first thing about PHP and I really want to learn it";
$advanced = "Already know a fair amount of PHP and want to get the finishing touches on my wealth of knowledge";
if ($phpUnderstanding == $novice){
print "This book was so helpful. It took me from zero knowledge to building basic web applications. It doesn't supply you with every ounce of knowledge to build the next DIGG. It does, however, get you on the road. This is a must read for beginners wanting to learn PHP. //see variable $novice.
}elseif ($phpUnderstanding == $advanced){
print "This book really isnt for you. It is a beginners book and is meant for folks who dont know the first thing about PHP. Ullman wrote another book for Advanced PHP. Get that one.}

Easy to follow and done at a nice pace. I am a total beginner and I had no real problems with it. I did find it difficult to convert the examples in to usable applications though.
I will be going on to the next book in the series pretty soon though.
PHP and MySQL for Dynamic Web Sites: Visual QuickPro Guide (2nd Edition) (Visual QuickPro Guide)

This is a great book I think anybody could write php scripts for their website after reading just this book. I used to use Perl and PHP is just so much nicer. I'm actually rereading this book again to refresh my memory.

I had bought PHP From Novice to Professional(Apress,Author:Gilmore) that book is not a very friendly beginner book let alone novice so I've decided not to review it until I finish Php For The World Wide Web.

I know actionscript pretty good and am wanting to learn php. Unlike the book mentiond above this book is great for someone that knows nothing about php, I am nearly finished with it and I've only had it two days. It is a good read to get up to speed with the php programming language.I have gotten his other book "Php and Mysql for Dynamic Websites" from my local library and if that book is a good as this one is I will not hesitate to purchase a copy right away.

Purchasing Larry Ullman's book is as good as signing up for any online course in PHP. The exercises in the book are perfectly explained in simple language; I'm 1/3 through, and NOTHING has confused me yet. Any questions that are not answered in the text can be addressed in the online forum which is frequented by the author. I won't hesitate to buy any of Larry's other titles.

This is the most perfect programming book I've read, and the most easily understood. I only wish I'd had it 3 years ago. It's great for beginners not only to PHP but to programming in general.

Very, very, very good book. I couldn't be happier. I even bought the php & mysql visual quickpro by the same author, and I am anxiously awaiting the release of the advanced php. The author is very friendly and happily provides help. I have been very happy with all the visual quickstart and quickpro books I've purchased.

Ok, so I know very little about computers... I needed to learn some php as part of my work... And I chose Larry's book because the table of contents seemed to touch on a good variety of functions and all under 300 pages (and it was a good price too)!
I cannot say how much this book surprised me with its clarity, its great approach and clear language.
Larry is a great teacher, and there is a really good website and forum to go with the book. I ran into trouble a few times, and got answers very quickly. Larry posts frequently and solves problems online with you as clearly as in the book: he's really supportive of his readers!!

This book is a great reference to anyone who is learning or already has learned PHP. The step-by step instructions in each lesson explain things well, and the accompanying pictures are a big help.

If you want to learn PHP quicky, I highly recommend this book.

I had borrowed a number of books on PHP, and foundered around playing with code snippets without a true understanding of what I was doing. I then got my hands on Larry Ullman's book, and in less than a week, I was writing and understanding PHP code. Concise & to the point, the examples and explanations work flawlessly. I now own a copy of this book and keep referring to it all the time. I know whose book on MySQL I'll be buying!

I first read Ullman's PHP for WWW (2nd Edition) in June 2004, along with a couple other PHP books. Ullman made it easy, and did not waste my time. He covers the subject effeciently without being verbose. The explanation & examples are good & to the point. Although Object Oriented Programing is not covered, it is covered in his PHP Advanced book. I still return to Ullman's books from time to time as a reference. Quick & to the point. Highly recommended.

I am a big believer in learning by doing, and I have a really hard time finding computer/software related books that "work" for me. But this books exercise-oriented approach to learning PHP really got me up and running in no time at all. It's very easy for the novice to understand. My only complaint is that I found some of the scripts to be buggy or not functional as written and had to find work arounds to get them to work. In the end I'm a better scripter for it. I highly recommend this book if you're looking to learn PHP quickly and are a novice.

I'd like to congratulate the author for writing such helpful books. I have "PHP for the World Wide Web" and "PHP and MySQL for Dynamic Web Sites." Within a couple of days I went from knowing nothing about PHP to being able to use it to develop a useful and enjoyable dynamic web site. I don't think that his books are intended to teach the basics of HTML, but they did a great job of that, too. Before I read those books, I knew next to nothing about HTML, so I could create web pages only in programs with a WYSIWYG editor. After reading the HTML code in his books, I finally "got" HTML, and I now prefer to hand-code many things (it's amazing how much "junk" gets inserted into the page source code by using a WYSIWYG editor, especially if the page has been revised several times).

I can't say enough about the author, too. He definitely believes in "service after the sale." He has a help forum on his publisher's web site (http://www.dmcinsights.com/phorum/list.php?10), and he personally and promptly responds to many of the postings--he responded to one of my postings an hour later! This is particularly amazing since he must be flooded with requests for help via the forum and e-mail.

The book helped me to pick up PHP language very quickly. The author uses plain English and detailed illustrations to make the book easy to follow and understand.

Read this and Larry Ullman's PHP-MySql book. You won't be sorry. I've read bunches and bunches of PHP and MySql books, his are the most "real world".

the cover of this book asserts that the book covers PHP 4 and 5. This is, a blatant marketing ploy. The core of PHP5 which its Object-Oriented approach was not explained or even alluded to.
As for what this book is, it definitely is a great introductory book. Even if you an advanced programmer using a different language, migrating to PHP can be somewhat tough and perhaps even counterintuitive. However, Mr. Ullman does an exceptional job at getting you up an running without trying to sound overly smart (by using a thesaurus, like most computer-book authors). He has a no-fuss approach. Very easy to understand. Great for people who are tired of 900-page+ computer books with nothing but rubbish inside them. Highly recommind for beginners as well for those who are coming from a different programming language background.

Peachpit's Visual Quickstart Guide philosophy is just about the best I've seen in getting you started in a new technology quickly. They seem to follow the philosophy of getting a fairly complex task programmed and running quickly. Then you can look around and see the individual steps that made it happen.

The way they do this is with an awful lot of screen shots with a fairly minimal amount of typing.

This is combined with a well thought out and complete index and allows you to quickly find out about any of the details that you might have missed.

There's only one real complaint I have about the book. It's printed using two columns per page. This makes reading some of the instructions more difficult (since they are multi line) than if there was only one column.

Great way to get started quickly.

If you want to get started on becoming a PHP programmer, this is the book for you. Larry Ullman explains every php code he writes, and what the codes accomplish. Larry's writting style is so unique, that everything he writes gets stuck in your head, for days and days.

I highly recommend this book for beginning programmers, or just programmers who want a better understanding on how codes are executed.

This book is great.

As a beginner web designer/programmer, i knew some html, some css, and a little javascript. I bought this book because I was working on my first interactive site, and I wanted to write it in php. It was almost as though the author had read my mind, because there was either a page or chapter devoted to almost every single aspect of what I needed to accomplish with my site. The tips and side notes are extremely valuable as well.

I have 2 other 'Quickstart' books from Peachpit Press, and while I found the other 2 mostly 'fluff', this one really is packed with information.

While there are topics that don't cover everything (of course many of these topics could be a book within themselves), the author does a great job of realizing this, and pointing you in the right direction should you need more in-depth information.

The author also has an online forum where he is very good at answering php-related questions, and providing support for the book.

This book constantly sits about 3 feet away from my computer as a constant reference, and I can't think of anything I've ever spent less than $20 on that was as valuable as this.

Larry Ullman provides a clear and excellent intro to PHP in this 2nd edition. I am a beginnning programmer and I have found this to be not only a really clear introduction, but also a reference manual as I go along.

Plus, the author has created an online discussion forum that is actually active and works.

From my somewhat thorough review, this is the best intro PHP book out there!

Joshua
Ogden Little Bags
http://www.ogdenlittle.com

This is the third PHP book I read and covers PHP versions 4 and 5. I worked through all its examples without any problems. Somebody reviewing it said there were errors, but I did not find them using PHP V4.3.2. Following the examples were a lot easier than in other computer books, like Visual Basic 6 by Petroutsos, which I had to abandon three years ago for lack of error-free exercises.

The VQS format appears to waste a lot of space, but it has its advantages. There is never any doubt what the script has to be, because it is repeated in its entirety even when only a few lines change. Some books cut this short, and give frugal explanation for what the clear script should be. In the end, one often wastes time in such cases.

I have the PHP Manual on my hard disk, and consulting it aids in extending the applications on hand. Once I learned the examples in the book, I was able to extend the scripts, make them more versatile and produce more attractive displays.

I started out stating it is my third book on PHP, and reading this book serves as an in-depth review. This book clarified some of the features I thought I learned before. This does not imply that one must have used other PHP books previously. It is an excellent first book on PHP. Of course, one should know some HTML before using this book.

Because of the VQS format I would like to rate this four and a half stars, even though the format improves on clarity. Even with this view, the book deserves five-stars.

This book is great for those new to PHP. I came in with only a little knowledge of HTML, and came out with the basics of PHP + better HTML skills. If you want to learn PHP's basics fast before you use a more complex book, this should be your choice. Its cheap, and a great learning utility along with reference. I recommend it for everyone who wants to learn PHP with close to no knowledge of any other languages.

This book quickly got me to the point that I felt comfortable experimenting on my own. I have been doing VB and C programming for several years, having little web programming experience. This book was perfect to help me get familiar with the syntax and concepts of PHP and start putting up data-driven pages.

The only specific problem I had with the code samples was that by default register_globals was set to off in the php.ini file of PHP4. I believe this caused a minor problem for one of the form handling examples.

just a quick addition to my review. i noticed that the badly needed 2nd edition i said was needed is indeed coming out in january of 2004. do yourself a favor and wait for it if you can.

I am familar with Perl and shell scripting but decided to purchase this since I had no familiarity with PHP.

The book is too simplistic if you currently know the basics of programming such as loops, if/else, how to assign variables and the like. So if you can write a Perl script or a shell script of medium complexity I would skip this book and look for something more advanced.

In addition to this, it is pretty obvious that this book was written for PHP version 3 and then a few paragraphs added to say it is version 4 compliant. I would say they need a new edition of this book to really say it covers version 4. The most annoying and obvious example of this is how values are passed from a form to a PHP script. There is a major change between version 3 and 4 and the book only uses version 3 examples. If you go to the author's web site there is an errata section that tells you how to do it in version 4. The problem is, since you are just learning PHP, you will probably spend a good 30 minutes thinking you are screwing up somehow before you realize the book is wrong. Then after you figure it out you have to constantly do things a different way throughout the entire book and it is not always straight forward.

2 years ago this book would probably be a solid 4 stars perhaps even 5. Now in late 2003 going on 2004 it is outdated and riddled with known errors. It is in dire need of a new edition to bring it up to date. If you have very little experience with scripting/programming, don't mind checking a website a couple times each chapter for errors, and are strapped on cash, this book is not so bad. Otherwise I would recommend you look elsewhere.

Unlike many other programming books, "PHP For the World Wide Web" takes the high-quality low-fluff approach to introducing readers to PHP. Don't let the small size of the book fool you; it is jam-packed with the most important information you'll need to start programming in PHP right away. Whether you are a beginner or a seasoned programmer, this book will take you step-by-step through the core concepts of the language in the least amount of pages possible. It's hard to say if the shortness of the book is due to the teaching mastery of Larry Ullman or the genius of the PHP language. Either way, this book will serve as an excellent tutorial and great reference guide for future projects.

PHP is very similar to other languages and my programming background made learning PHP much easier. However, this book's approach and working examples should serve as an excellent tutorial for beginners as well as programmers. Keep in mind that the book is designed to give you a working knowledge of the language and is not a comprehensive course on PHP programming. After reading the book, however, you will be in a much better position to continue your PHP education through PHP's homepage (PHP.net), learning additional functions and techniques as your projects dictate (and as the PHP language continues to grow).

(To me, the chapter on databases alone was worth the price of the book. PHP is amazing when it comes to building web-based applications around databases and this book gives you what you need to get started as well using files and directories, cookies and even an intro on creating web applications.)

After a good deal of searching for a good PHP book, I finally found this one. It's a great book, yeah, and I went through it without problem and found the layout of the book extremely easy to understand. For beginners, Ullman did a very good job of explaining the -basics- of PHP.

That said, after a good number of phrases like 'beyond the scope of this book', I grew to feel like it was just meant to be a stepping stone for PHP Advanced for the World Wide Web. The object-oriented side of PHP was not discussed, along with other aspects of the language. Ullman often tells you to go to various sites (including the PHP home page) instead of explaining it himself, which I found particularly annoying. I did not buy the book to be redirected to other sites I could have gone to anyway.

The examples, although I don't feel that they are an important aspect of the book, are usually pretty useless. This is something I have found with a lot of the Visual Quickstart books, but I don't feel that it should bring the book's value down much.

Overall, PHP for the World Wide Web is a useful book if you don't mind spending [$] to learn the very basics of PHP.

Visual Quickstart guides are incredibly clear and easy-to-use. This book tackles basic PHP features like date functions and making text appear on screen, goes through conditions and loops and includes more advanced chapters on arrays, basic MySQL integration, cookies, and dealing with external files.

I've always found it easier to try to figure things out from examples - this book displays clear code examples with explanations side-by-side. Highlighting the new code examples in red is a real help.

This book can get you from no knowledge of PHP to an impressive intermediate level in just a few days, even if you don't have a background in programming or scripting.

Finally - while there's no CD, the accompanying website allows you to download the script examples chapter-by-chapter.

This book is very easy to use. It's organized so that you can go right to the stuff you need. Some of the examples continue from previous chapters but they are clear enough that you can apply them to your needs at any point. The companion website it amazing. The author moderates a forum where he and other knowledgable PHP'ers respond with useful, thoughtful suggestions very quickly.

Some of the code is outdated because of new releases of PHP, but that's the nature of the topic. The website identifies many of the most important changes, and how to modify your scripts to work with newer releases.

I'm glad I bought it when I did, but the author has since come out with "PHP and MySQL for Dynamic Web Sites." I'd probably buy that instead since I'm also trying to learn mySQL.

Easy to follow and useful subject matter I've been able to put to use right away. The book's companion website forums were (and are) active with other folks of varying skill levels ready to offer help and feedback as I worked through the sample scripts in the book.