PHP, book recommendations?

By orthoducks on 30 Apr 2008 at 15:22 UTC

I'm working on my first Drupal project and learning PHP at the same time. I started with a book that was highly recommended by the reviews on Amazon.com (PHP Solutions: Dynamic Web Design Made Easy). It turned out to be a book for designers, and I'm a professional programmer; it didn't have anything like the technical depth I want.

I want to get another book that will bridge the gap between PHP Solutions and the online documentation on PHP.net. I'm looking for thorough coverage of advanced techniques, such as object handling, and of best practices -- both what and why. What would you recommend?

Comments

platypus

BrianKlinger commented 30 April 2008 at 16:20

I personally love my "platypus book". It's called "Web Database Applications with PHP and MySQL" and has a platypus on the cover, published by O'Reilly. I am learning, myself, and it was recommended to me by people who are in the php and mysql business.

I second this! As an

BladeRider commented 30 April 2008 at 22:43

I second this! As an experienced programmer with other languages, this book delivers most of the "PHP-isms" you'll need and as a bonus covers the MySQL/PHP interactions, which really helps when you get into advanced Drupal coding.

I used "Beginning PHP and

WorldFallz commented 30 April 2008 at 17:52

I used "Beginning PHP and MySQL: From Novice to Professional" (there's new version as of 3/08) and "PHP and MySQL Web Development (3rd Edition) (Developer's Library)".

I know the "novice" in the first book might scare you off, but it's actually very thorough. If you look it up on amazon, you can take a look inside. It's also one of the most recent-- all the other books seem to have 2005/2006 editions.

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Borders not well stocked

orthoducks commented 3 May 2008 at 14:54

I visited a local Borders (North Michigan Ave in Chicago) to take a look. There were no platypi in stock. They did have a Galapagos land iguana (PHP Cookbook), and I thought it was the best of the books I looked at for my purposes, but it covers PHP only, and information about MySQL would be nice to have.

I tried the nearby Barnes & Noble, but I found no computer books at all. There were coffee table books, gift books, curiosity books... books for every imaginable purpose except reading. Fully a quarter of their floor space was given over to the latte bar. Boo. Hiss.

I will continue this quest when I have time to visit a computer store that is big enough to have technical books.

Meanwhile, thanks to everyone for the suggestions.