PHP books

Hi,

I started reading a few threads in this forum yesterday. Learning PHP has been a lil' ambition of mine for a while. Only yesterday did I discover you can download 'server emulators', if you will, to learn PHP and test scripts locally. Thanks for whoever answered in somebody else's thread. Anyway, I download PHPdev4 (with mySQL) and did all the scripties from the basic tutorial included with that *excellent* package.

Now, I have just finished the design for my new website in HTML. Most of the code of each HTML file is the same as in the rest and the actual content uses very little of the code. Anyway, what I would like to do is make a PHP template and then include files for the content. I've seen a small tutorial at PHP Haven. Anyway, that's not for this thread.

What I would like to know is... what PHP manuals/books would you recommend for a beginner who hopes to become quite adept? By this I mean, what books are good at introducing methods and be a continuingly good reference?

Thanks for unknowingly providing me with the knowledge to get started at PHP. *grateful* :D

Congrtulations on your choice. :)

php and phpdev is very good.

Back in the day this is the first tutorial I read:

http://www.mysql.com/articles/ddws/

This get's you started with database interactivity. It is quite good.

Sessions are always good to learn as well and this the tutorial I learned that from:

http://www.webmasterbase.com/article/319

as well as this one:

http://hotwired.lycos.com/webmonkey/00/05/index2a.html?tw=programming


DevShed also has many good tutorials on PHP:

http://www.devshed.com/Server_Side/PHP

lol - I take it Spookster feels the same as I do about PHP books ???

most PHP books (and I dont actually own one) would be useless after a couple of weeks if that, why ? well once you get over the basics PHP is so simple, there are so many functions for almost all possibilities that many common tasks, complex in other languages require little knowledge to get off the ground with.

Plus there are so many great resources on the net for PHP it just aint funny , + loads of free scripts to deconstruct etc.


If you want to further your PHP knowledge you would actually be better off investing $$ in books about say apache administration or learn about DNS, HTTP, TCP/IP *NIX or SQL etc as these are where you will hit walls later on, PHP will be the easy part of the equation (IMO)

Take a peek at the resources that Spookster posted and also check out the great online manual at www.php.net/any_function_name

Thanks. I know there are many great online resources for PHP, but many thanks for the links... I'll be sure to bookmark them. When I've been dealing with JS, which I am not at all proficient at, I have found I like to have a book I can reach for to check out the little things. I know I can just connect but I have a thing about books. Thanks for the advice. I'll see if I can find something better (read: CDs or domain name) to spend my money on.