Head First PHP & MySQL

Lynn Beighley & Michael Morrison

Book 1 of Head First

Language: English

Publisher: O'Reilly Media

Published: Jan 1, 2009

Description:

If you're ready to create web pages more complex than those you can build with HTML and CSS, Head First PHP & MySQL is the ultimate learning guide to building dynamic, database-driven websites using PHP and MySQL. Packed with real-world examples, this book teaches you all the essentials of server-side programming, from the fundamentals of PHP and MySQL coding to advanced topics such as form validation, session IDs, cookies, database queries and joins, file I/O operations, content management, and more.

Head First PHP & MySQL offers the same visually rich format that's turned every title in the Head First series into a bestseller, with plenty of exercises, quizzes, puzzles, and other interactive features to help you retain what you've learned.

  • Use PHP to transform static HTML pages into dynamic web sites
  • Create and populate your own MySQL database tables, and work with data stored in files
  • Perform sophisticated MySQL queries with joins, and refine your results with LIMIT and ORDER BY
  • Use cookies and sessions to track visitors' login information and personalize the site for users
  • Protect your data from SQL injection attacks
  • Use regular expressions to validate information on forms
  • Dynamically display text based on session info and create images on the fly
  • Pull syndicated data from other sites using PHP and XML

Throughout the book, you'll build sophisticated examples -- including a mailing list, a job board, and an online dating site -- to help you learn how to harness the power of PHP and MySQL in a variety of contexts. If you're ready to build a truly dynamic website, Head First PHP & MySQL is the ideal way to get going.