Is there a PHP for Morons book or link available?

Ohl

Okay, I have PHP installed and from all outward appearances it appears to be working correctly. I also installed PHPDEV ver 4.23 and it seems to have installed without a hitch as well. So now the question.

If I was to use a php website template and just used a program like Dreamweaver MX to modify it with my information, where can I find a nice, simple easy to read and understand reference to publishing your website into a php/apache server.

Please don't tell me to read the documentation that comes with apache and php. If you think those were written for a knuckle-dragging newbie to read and digest, you need to get out and get some sun. I am looking for something along the lines of "PHP for Utter and Complete Morons" And no this is not an attempt to circumvent the learning of PHP, its more like me trying to avoid the flop-sweat I get from reading some PHD's essay on PHP, that he tries to convince me is a beginners manual. Your help is appreciated and then maybe my eyes will stop glazing over when I read this stuff.

Ohl

driverdave

Yes.

It's called php.net

ape-man

'PHP and MySQL Web Development' which is published by Sams seemed to be a good read.

2nd edition of it should be out soonish i think.

kilbey1

As good as php.net is, I find the answers are geared to people with previous programming experience. Same with the O'Reilly books. They don't go into detail IMO.

I use PHP for the WWW Visual Quickstart Guide, by Larry Ullman - gives examples, step-by-step instructions, and views of what output should look like. He also has out PHP Advanced for the WWW Visual Quickstart Guide when you're ready for the next step.

Deeman

ive found ol' webmonkey to be quite good:
http://hotwired.lycos.com/webmonkey

bastien

www.thickbook.com is the companion site for 'php essentials' by julie meloni...give it a try

rainmaker

I bought PHP Essentials by Julie Meloni because I was looking for an easy read, sort of a "PHP for Dummies" type book. What I found was that, while easy to read, it didn't go anywhere deep enough into anything to be of real use.

I found a book by SAMS called PHP and MySQL Web Development by Welling and Thomson - this seems to be a much better resource. I would highly recommend it. Atkinson's Core PHP Programming book is also good. Neither has the simplicity of an "idiot's guide" book, but they still rate in my book.

Good luck!

R Dulay
rainmaker@yalia-dot-com