PHP: hypertext preprocessor (PHP) and MySQL are components of the open-source Linux, Apache, MySQL, PHP (LAMP) Web platform. This book covers PHP in 23 chapters, and MySQL in 14 chapters. The book has the right mix of subject matter and practicality.

The author spends a great deal of time covering almost all aspects of PHP. The PHP section is exhaustive and well written, and will be sufficient for any developer. It covers basic concepts, the PHP extension and application repository (PEAR), lightweight directory access protocol (LDAP), PHP data objects (PDO), Web services, and so on. The author also covers important topics like file uploading, networking, and authentication. The sequence of chapters and descriptions will be friendly to newcomers as well as to seasoned developers.

PHP has powerful features and tools to handle file systems, and to execute programs at the shell level. The author presents these features nicely. PHP, as a command-level interpreter, does wonders; they are brought out in this book. PEAR is another associative technology that helps with code reuse. The book highlights the PEAR package splendidly.

The installation and configuration of PHP are explained for the Windows as well as Unix environments. Novices will have no trouble following the steps. There is also sufficient light shed on the basic programming and object-oriented programming (OOP) features of PHP. The OOP concepts themselves are covered at length; this will help readers who have relatively little background in OOP, or who have forgotten what they once knew about it. Errors and exception handling are also covered, and there is an in-depth explanation of topics such as strings and expressions.

The book also includes discussions centered on creating Web-based applications that work with directory servers. Session handling and MySQL server handling are presented. Web services are now changing the landscape of application development. How important Web services and their syndication are is briefly described in the book. Towards the end of the PHP section, PHP’s own SQLite, SQLite libraries, functions, and directives are presented.

The next major section is on MySQL, the “M” in LAMP. Many database services and PDO are explained. The introduction to MySQL starts with the installation and configuration of MySQL, in two chapters. MySQL clients and storage engines are presented nicely; secured MySQL is also covered.

One finds comparisons of MySQL versions 4.0.2 and 5.0.3 here and there in the book, though they are not complete. PHP’s MySQL extensions are revealed in one chapter. Basic database operations, such as selection, projection, and union of data, are discussed well. The author describes views, stored procedures, and triggers, and their implementation. There are practical database queries, and indexes, searching, transactions, and the importing and exporting of data are thoroughly discussed. The index at the end of the book is huge; I found it to be very useful. The book’s coverage of its subjects is commendable. I would strongly recommend it to anyone working with these technologies.