Best PHP Book Beginner to Intermediate

Anon

I'm looking for a PHP book that is good for the beginner to intermediate level. I basically know how to pass variables and display results from a database. I'm looking to learn about arrays, more functions, and user sessions. What is a good book that includes usable code samples that I can work with?

I've considered getting the PHP Bible
or "Web Application Development with PHP 4.0"

Anon

I haven't looked at either of the two books you mentioned. I started with Professional PHP and it helped me get going and had some useful code for me (but it predates PHP4).

Another good place to look is www.thickbook.com which is Julie Meloni's site. She has a couple of books out which, if her online tutorials are any indication, should be good.

Hope it helps.

Rob

Anon

I am an ASP programmer and when I started to look into PHP, I started off reading the Sam Teach Yourself PHP4 in 24 Hours. This book gives you some foundamental stuff and gets you going right away. Then, to further understanding about PHP4, I got the Web Application Development with PHP 4.0. It is a great book in terms of Web Development concepts and some advanced issues about PHP4.
I haven't read the PHP Bible, but it will be my next collection. =)

Anon

I got Professional PHP by Wrox and am pretty happy with it. But I was surprised how little I needed the book compared to learning ASP, Perl, etc. There are so many good resources available online. The function lookup from the manual at www.php.net has been one of the most valuable resources, along with phpbuilder.com. I rarely find mysef using the book for syntax or sample code or definitions of functions because the info is so easy to find online. But the book is useful for getting general concepts that are harder to gather online. I didn't find any problems with the book being based on PHP3 instead PHP4. So if you want a book I would put in a good recommendation for Professional PHP.

Anon

I have no doubt that Wrox publishes good technical books (In fact I have a lot of books from them). But I would recommend buying books that cover PHP4. Wrox will have a new one covering PHP4 later in November.

Anon

On the contrary, IMO, the differences between PHP3 and PHP4 are among the things that are easiest to pick up from the online manual and least require a book. I personally wouldn't choose a book on that basis.

Anon

Although people may argue, I like Core PHP. The second edition, which covers PHP 4, is now available. You might also just try the PHP manual. I, among many others, learned the basics (and much more) of PHP solely from that reference.