MySQL (2nd edition) Sams, 2003
The reason for bringing out a second edition is because MySQL has undergone a major upgrade in version 4.0, which finally became the recommended production version in mid-March. The book details all the new features and illustrates them with working examples, including union joins, multiple table deletes and updates, transactions, and fulltext searches. Features planned for v4.1 are also covered, such as subselects and support for different languages in the same table (a major leap forward for anyone dealing with multilingual applications). Initially I was disappointed that, like MySQL4 itself, this edition is an upgrade, not a completely new product. But the more I use it, the more I realize just how indispensible it is, and my well-thumbed first edition has now been retired to the back of the bookshelf. Make no mistake, there's a lot of new material in here, as evidenced by the fact the page count has increased by 500, although some of that is accounted for by a larger, clearer typeface (which makes things easier to find). For experienced users and beginners alike, this should definitely be first on your list of MySQL books. This edition is 1,200 pages long - nearly half of it made up of useful reference sections devoted to SQL syntax, column types, operators and functions, as well as PHP and the Perl DBI. Because of the major changes to MySQL, Paul DuBois is careful to point out which version new features are available from, so there's no problem using it if you're still on MySQL 3.23. One minor gripe - it would have been much more user-friendly to put the version number right next to the sub-title for each feature, rather than at the end of the description. Still, that's a minor failing in a such a comprehensive and well-written book. Publishing note: although originally planned for release under the New Riders imprint, it's now published by Sams in their Developer's Library that also includes the new edition of Welling and Thomson's first class "PHP and MySQL Web Development". |
Dreamweaver MX: Advanced PHP Web Development Glasshaus, 2003
The book is written by the same team that produced "Dreamweaver MX: PHP Web Development" (also reviewed on this site - and recommended for beginners). Although it's a sequel, it avoids the annoying habit of some series of constantly referring you back to the other volume, so you don't have to have read it to get the most out of this one. The authors do use some of Dreamweaver MX's PHP functionality, but most of the book is pure PHP, so readers need to be prepared to dive in and get hand-coding. That's very much a plus, because to get the most out of any dynamic technology, not just PHP, hand-coding is essential. Dreamweaver's automatic code generation is great, but it can only get you so far. Subjects covered include graphics (particularly useful for creating bar and pie charts from dynamic data), file handling, e-mail, and a fascinating insight into working with XML. For me, though, the highlight of the book is the Content Management System case study by Gareth Downes-Powell. It not only brought alive for me the power of custom classes in PHP, it gave me the confidence to start creating my own. Even if the book were twice the price, it would be worth buying it for this case study alone. |
Database Design for Mere Mortals (2nd edition) Addison-Wesley, 2003
Michael Hernandez's book addresses all these issues, and guides you through the lengthy decision process. He urges readers to devote plenty of time to the planning process, advice that's hard to take when you're raring to go, but which will save much heartache later on. The advice in this book is not only sound, it's invaluable. A particular strong point is the software-independent approach. This is not a "how to do it in Access", or "how to do it in MySQL" book. It's how all relational databases should be built. The "mere mortals" in the title tells you that the book is written in everyday language, avoiding the abstruse terminology of many technical books on database design. Everything is presented in a clear, logical order. If anything, Michael Hernandez's determination to make everything crystal clear leads to excessive wordiness, but he never talks down to his readers - just gives plain, sensible advice. The contents of the second edition are essentially the same as the first edition published in 1997, although some extra material has been added. Do not be put off by the age of the content. This book deals with practical and fundamental design issues that have not been changed by software developments. |
Beginning PHP4 Wrox, 2003
This is one of the few books that Wiley decided to acquire when Wrox went into liquidation in early 2003. It has now been reissued with a different ISBN number, but the content remains the same as the original Wrox edition published in 2000. |
PHP Cookbook O'Reilly, 2002
The book contains more than 250 "recipes", ranging from the elementary - such as how to change a string from upper case to lower case - to much more complex tasks, including parsing XML and handling SOAP requests. It's not recommended for anyone just starting out with PHP. You would be far better learning the basics first from "PHP and MySQL Web Development", "Dreamweaver MX: PHP Web Development", or "Beginning PHP4" (all reviewed on this site). The attraction of a book like this is that it's designed for browsing. You need an instant solution for a problem, and this is where you turn to. The subjects are laid out logically in 20 chapters, along with a guide to PEAR - the collection of Open Source classes that take PHP functionality to a higher level. It's also bang up to date, using PHP 4.3.0 and indicating wherever changes need to be made to scripts that need to support earlier versions of PHP. Within days of getting hold of this book, I was turning to it daily for solutions. If asked to choose between this and "PHP Developer's Cookbook" published by Sams, I'd go for this every time. |
MySQL Cookbook O'Reilly, 2002
"MySQL Cookbook" is aimed at all levels from novice to advanced. It also covers both MySQL 3.23 (the current stable release) and MySQL 4.0, so it's not likely to go out of date in a hurry. The book does not teach the basics of MySQL, or such important topics as database administration and maintenance. For that you'll need another title, such as the Sams book, "MySQL", also by Paul DuBois. Perfect companions, both deserve a place on the bookshelf. |
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The subtitle of this new edition really says it all - "The definitive guide to using, programming and administering MySQL4". Whether you're a beginner or an advanced user, this book contains just about everything you need to know about running MySQL. Paul DuBois has a clear, engaging style that neither talks down to experts nor goes way over the head of novices. There's everything here from a beginner's tutorial to advanced joins and serious administration issues like database replication.
Only recently started out with PHP? Don't be put off by the "advanced" in the title. You'll certainly be advanced by the time you finish, but you don't need to be a PHP guru before you start. Anyone with a basic or intermediate knowledge of PHP wanting to take their skills to a higher level will find this an invaluable book. I was one of the technical reviewers, and working through each chapter I found my skills improving by leaps and bounds. The authors take time to explain how a particular technique works, so that it becomes part of your own knowledge, enabling you to move on and apply it to projects of your own. Far better than simply copying a routine because "that's the way it's done".
With the growing popularity of dynamic websites, there are lots of books that will teach you how to create a database-driven site with ASP, PHP, ColdFusion or whatever. What they don't teach you is the most fundamental aspect - how to design the database itself. Creating tables is easy, but how should you decide what goes in them? How do you avoid creating redundant data? More importantly, how do you ensure its integrity once the database is up and running? Expert database designers say they often spend more time designing the underlying structure on paper than actually writing the code.
A very thorough and user-friendly way of learning a new subject. The authors assume complete familiarity with HTML, but no prior knowledge of either PHP or any other programming language. The book covers all the basics (including installation on both Windows and Linux) through to relatively advanced database manipulation in combination with MySQL. It contains an excellent routine for displaying search results over several pages.
As soon as you've learned the basics of any scripting language, you want to break away from the standard routines you've picked up. The question is: how? O'Reilly has a reputation for producing solid, no-nonsense guides to computer-related issues; and this is a worthy addition to its series of "cookbooks" providing solutions to everyday scripting problems.
Stumped by a particular database problem - how to sort results by a particular day of the week, sorting hostnames in domain order, finding cumulative sums and running averages? Look no further. This is a collection of more than 300 ready-made solutions to common - and not so common - database problems. The queries are well headlined, each with a simple description of the problem, an outline of the answer, and then a detailed explanation with worked examples. All the files can downloaded from a companion web site, so you can actually see them in action yourself. What's nice about Paul DuBois' style is that he not only tells you how to achieve something, but explains why it works that way. As a result, even if he doesn't have the answer to your particular problem, there's a good chance he'll lead you in the right direction.
