Book Review: Spring Into PHP 5

Not a bad book for people who have a little PHP knowledge … but if you are a total programming novice, you will need to get another book … or better yet, my php videos for novices! I don’t usually plug my own stuff … but what the heck.

The thing that stands out for me, is the way the author is able to cover various PHP topics in a concise manner. He has also chosen topics that I think would interest most PHP programmers – they are practical.

Some highlights:

• The section on string manipulation is very good.
• Great coverage on the powerful sprintf function – something you don’t see often.
• HTML form processing (chapter 5) shines.

My only complaint:

… though the book says that all you need to know is HTML, this is clearly not the case. Most web designers will have problems if they try to tackle this book from scratch.

Final comment:

If you have a little PHP background, this is a good book to get. I’m happy to have it on my nerd-book shelves.