Best PHP Books for beginners and advanced PHP programmers
These are some of the best PHP books in the programming category on many online book stores.
PHP and MySQL Web Development -- by Luke Welling and Laura Thomson
The books covers most of the topics related to web development such as The MySQL database server (for both Unix and Windows), accessing MySQL databases through PHP scripting, Database creation and modification, PHP tricks in order of increasing complexity - everything from basic SQL queries to secure transactions for commerce, Authentication, Network connectivity, Session management and Content customization.
Programming PHP -- by Kevin Tatroe, Peter MacIntyre and Rasmus Lerdorf
The PHP programming language, for people who are coming to PHP with a bit of programming experience in other languages or who want to expand their existing PHP knowledge beyond the basics. Sections deal with the core language, as well as HTTP session management, database connectivity (to MySQL and Oracle, as well as with PHP Extension and Application Repository--PEAR), graphics file manipulation, XML parsing, and PDF creation. There are instructions for building a PHP extension library in C, as well as a function reference and guide to existing extensions
PHP Cookbook -- by Adam Trachtenberg and David Sklar
PHP Cookbook has a wealth of solutions for problems that you'll face regularly. With topics that range from beginner questions to advanced web programming techniques, this guide contains practical examples -- or "recipes" -- for anyone who uses this scripting language to generate dynamic web content. Updated for PHP 5, this book provides solutions that explain how to use the new language features in detail, including the vastly improved object-oriented capabilities and the new PDO data access extension. New sections on classes and objects are included, along with new material on processing XML, building web services with PHP, and working with SOAP/REST architectures. With each recipe, the authors include a discussion that explains the logic and concepts underlying the solution.
Beginning PHP and MySQL: From Novice to Professional, Third Edition -- by W. Jason Gilmore
This book is written for developers seeking to take advantage of the PHP language and MySQL database to create powerful web applications. Beginning PHP and MySQL: From Novice to Professional is essentially three books in one, readers not only profit from extensive introductions to the core features of each technology, but also learn how to effectively integrate the two in order to build robust data-driven applications. Packed with practical examples and insight into the real-world challenges faced by developers based on author W. Jason Gilmore's 7 years of expertise working with these technologies, readers will repeatedly return to this book as both a valuable instructional tool and reference guide.