PHP and MySQL Web Development

This is quite simply, the best computer book I've ever read, and the book I wish I'd had ten years ago when I was just starting with websites. It explains PHP and MySQL and how to create even large and complicated websites clearly and concisely. Its examples are well chosen for both their practical uses and how they illustrate the concepts at hand and explained with just about the right mixture of code and explanation, but it doesn't limit itself to just that. It doesn't really ever bog itself down in the minutiae, but stays clear on covering the concepts. For some, this might be a weakness because it doesn't walk you by the hand through every single function php has, but personally I'd rather use the manual for the details and was rather hoping for something that explained as the more complicated concepts behind how to use the functions, which precisely this does. It also handles concepts like security, how to organize code, and what you should want out of a website, whether you're programming brochureware or a technically innovative ecommerce site. Which strictly might not fall directly under PHP or MySQL, but considering the audience for this type of book, is some damn useful information. I'm relatively experienced, but I still feel that I learned a lot from this book, and am recommending it to some friends who have been making noises about learning to program some basic websites as the best starter book once you know some HTML. Why Use Php And Mysql? 2 -- Some Of Php's Strengths 3 -- Some Of Mysql's Strengths 4 -- How Is This Book Organized? 5 -- What's New In Php Version 4? 6 -- Finally 6 -- Part I Using Php 7 -- 1 Php Crash Course 9 -- Using Php 11 -- Sample Application: Bob's Auto Parts 11 -- Embedding Php In Html 13 -- Adding Dynamic Content 17 -- Accessing Form Variables 19 -- Identifiers 21 -- User-declared Variables 22 -- Assigning Values To Variables 22 -- Variable Types 22 -- Constants 24 -- Variable Scope 25 -- Operators 25 -- Using Operators: Working Out The Form Totals 33 -- Precedence And Associativity: Evaluating Expressions 34 -- Variable Functions 36 -- Control Structures 38 -- Making Decisions With Conditionals 38 -- Iteration: Repeating Actions 43 -- Breaking Out Of A Control Structure Or Script 47 -- Next: Saving The Customer's Order 47 -- 2 Storing And Retrieving Data 49 -- Saving Data For Later 50 -- Storing And Retrieving Bob's Orders 50 -- Overview Of File Processing 52 -- Opening A File 52 -- Writing To A File 57 -- Closing A File 58 -- Reading From A File 59 -- Other Useful File Functions 63 -- File Locking 65 -- Doing It A Better Way: Database Management Systems 66 -- 3 Using Arrays 69 -- What Is An Array? 70 -- Numerically Indexed Arrays 71 -- Associative Arrays 73 -- Multidimensional Arrays 75 -- Sorting Arrays 79 -- Sorting Multidimensional Arrays 80 -- Reordering Arrays 83 -- Loading Arrays From Files 85 -- Other Array Manipulations 88 -- 4 String Manipulation And Regular Expressions 93 -- Example Application: Smart Form Mail 94 -- Formatting Strings 96 -- Joining And Splitting Strings With String Functions 101 -- Comparing Strings 104 -- Matching And Replacing Substrings With String Functions 105 -- Introduction To Regular Expressions 109 -- Finding Substrings With Regular Expressions 114 -- Replacing Substrings With Regular Expressions 115 -- Splitting Strings With Regular Expressions 115 -- Comparison Of String Functions And Regular Expression Functions 116 -- 5 Reusing Code And Writing Functions 117 -- Why Reuse Code? 118 -- Using Require() And Include() 119 -- Using Require() For Web Site Templates 121 -- Using Functions In Php 129 -- Why Should You Define Your Own Functions? 132 -- Basic Function Structure 132 -- Parameters 134 -- Pass By Reference Versus Pass By Value 138 -- Returning From Functions 140 -- Returning Values From Functions 141 -- Recursion 143 -- 6 Object-oriented Php 147 -- Object-oriented Concepts 148 -- Creating Classes, Attributes, Operations In Php 150 -- Instantiation 152 -- Using Class Attributes 152 -- Calling Class Operations 154 -- Implementing Inheritance In Php 155 -- Designing Classes 158 -- Writing The Code For Your Class 159 -- Part Ii Using Mysql 169 -- 7 Designing Your Web Database 171 -- Relational Database Concepts 172 -- How To Design Your Web Database 176 -- Web Database Architecture 180 -- 8 Creating Your Web Database 183 -- A Note On Using The Mysql Monitor 185 -- How To Log In To Mysql 185 -- Creating Databases And Users 187 -- Users And Privileges 187 -- Introduction To Mysql's Privilege System 188 -- Setting Up A User For The Web 193 -- Using The Right Database 193 -- Creating Database Tables 194 -- Mysql Identifiers 199 -- Column Data Types 200 -- 9 Working With Your Mysql Database 207 -- What Is Sql? 208 -- Inserting Data Into The Database 209 -- Retrieving Data From The Database 211 -- Updating Records In The Database 223 -- Altering Tables After Creation 223 -- Deleting Records From The Database 225 -- Dropping Tables 226 -- Dropping A Whole Database 226 -- 10 Accessing Your Mysql Database From The Web With Php 227 -- How Web Database Architectures Work 228 -- Basic Steps In Querying A Database From The Web 232 -- Checking And Filtering7 Input Data 232 -- Setting Up A Connection 234 -- Choosing A Database To Use 235 -- Querying The Database 235 -- Retrieving The Query Results 236 -- Disconnecting From The Database 238 -- Putting New Information In The Database 238 -- Other Useful Php-mysql Functions 241 -- Other Php-database Interfaces 242 -- 11 Advanced Mysql 245 -- Understanding The Privilege System In Detail 246 -- Making Your Mysql Database Secure 251 -- Getting More Information About Databases 254 -- Speeding Up Queries With Indexes 261 -- General Optimization Tips 261 -- Different Table Types 263 -- Loading Data From A File 263 -- Part Iii E-commerce And Security 265 -- 12 Running An E-commerce Site 267 -- What Do You Want To Achieve? 268 -- Types Of Commercial Web Sites 268 -- Risks And Threats 277 -- Deciding On A Strategy 280 -- Next 280 -- 13 E-commerce Security Issues 281 -- How Important Is Your Information? 282 -- Security Threats 283 -- Balancing Usability, Performance, Cost, And Security 290 -- Creating A Security Policy 291 -- Authentication Principles 291 -- Using Authentication 292 -- Encryption Basics 293 -- Private Key Encryption 294 -- Public Key Encryption 295 -- Digital Signatures 296 -- Digital Certificates 297 -- Secure Web Servers 298 -- Auditing And Logging 299 -- Firewalls 300 -- Backing Up Data 301 -- Physical Security 302 -- Next 302 -- 14 Implementing Authentication With Php And Mysql 303 -- Identifying Visitors 304 -- Implementing Access Control 305 -- Basic Authentication 312 -- Using Basic Authentication In Php 314 -- Using Basic Authentication With Apache's .htaccess Files 316 -- Using Basic Authentication With Iis 319 -- Using Mod_auth_mysql Authentication 321 -- Creating Your Own Custom Authentication 324 -- 15 Implementing Secure Transactions With Php And Mysql 327 -- Providing Secure Transactions 328 -- Using Secure Sockets Layer (ssl) 332 -- Screening User Input 336 -- Providing Secure Storage 336 -- Why Are You Storing Credit Card Numbers? 338 -- Using Encryption In Php 338 -- Part Iv Advanced Php Techniques 349 -- 16 Interacting With The File System And The Server 351 -- Introduction To File Upload 352 -- Using Directory Functions 358 -- Interacting With The File System 361 -- Using Program Execution Functions 365 -- Interacting With The Environment: Getenv() And Putenv() 367 -- 17 Using Network And Protocol Functions 369 -- Overview Of Protocols 370 -- Sending And Reading Email 371 -- Using Other Web Services 371 -- Using Network Lookup Functions 374 -- Using Ftp 378 -- Generic Network Communications With Curl 387 -- 18 Managing The Date And Time 391 -- Getting The Date And Time From Php 392 -- Converting Between Php And Mysql Date Formats 396 -- Date Calculations 398 -- Using The Calendar Functions 399 -- 19 Generating Images 401 -- Setting Up Image Support In Php 402 -- Image Formats 403 -- Creating Images 404 -- Using Automatically Generated Images In Other Pages 410 -- Using Text And Fonts To Create Images 410 -- Drawing Figures And Graphing Data 419 -- Other Image Functions 428 -- 20 Using Session Control In Php 429 -- What Session Control Is 430 -- Basic Session Functionality 430 -- Implementing Simple Sessions 433 -- Simple Session Example 435 -- Configuring Session Control 437 -- Implementing Authentication With Session Control 438 -- 21 Other Useful Features 447 -- Using Magic Quotes 448 -- Evaluating Strings: Eval() 449 -- Terminating Execution: Die And Exit 450 -- Serialization 450 -- Getting Information About The Php Environment 451 -- Loading Extensions Dynamically 453 -- Temporarily Altering The Runtime Environment 453 -- Source Highlighting 454 -- Part V Building Practical Php And Mysql Projects 457 -- 22 Using Php And Mysql For Large Projects 459 -- Applying Software Engineering To Web Development 460 -- Planning And Running A Web Application Project 461 -- Reusing Code 462 -- Writing Maintainable Code 463 -- Implementing Version Control 467 -- Choosing A Development Environment 469 -- Documenting Your Projects 470 -- Prototyping 471 -- Separating Logic And Content 471 -- Optimizing Code 472 -- Testing 474 -- 23 Debugging 477 -- Programming Errors 478 -- Variable Debugging Aid 486 -- Error Reporting Levels 489 -- Altering The Error Reporting Settings 490 -- Triggering Your Own Errors 492 -- Handling Errors Gracefully 492 -- Remote Debugging 494 -- 24 Building User Authentication And Personalization 497 -- Implementing The Database 502 -- Implementing The Basic Site 504 -- Implementing User Authentication 506 -- Implementing Bookmark Storage And Retrieval 526 -- Implementing Recommendations 532 -- Wrapping Up And Possible Extensions 537 -- 25 Building A Shopping Cart 539 -- Implementing The Database 546 -- Implementing The Online Catalog 548 -- Implementing The Shopping Cart 556 -- Implementing Payment 572 -- Implementing An Administration Interface 575 -- Extending The Project 584 -- Using An Existing System 584 -- 26 Building A Content Management System 587 -- Solution Requirements 588 -- Editing Content 589 -- Using Metadata 592 -- Formatting The Output 593 -- Image Manipulation 594 -- Solution Design/overview 596 -- Designing The Database 598 -- Implementation 599 -- Extending The Project 615 -- 27 Building A Web-based Email Service 617 -- Setting Up The Database 622 -- Script Architecture 623 -- Logging In And Out 629 -- Setting Up Accounts 632 -- Reading Mail 637 -- Sending Mail 649 -- Extending The Project 652 -- 28 Building A Mailing List Manager 655 -- File Upload 657 -- Sending Mail With Attachments 658 -- Solution Overview 658 -- Setting Up The Database 660 -- Script Architecture 663. Luke Welling And Laura Thomson. Includes Index. Includes Bibliographical References And Index. The PHP server-side scripting language and the MySQL database management system (DBMS) make a potent pair. Both are open-source products - free of charge for most purposes - remarkably strong, and capable of handling all but the most enormous transaction loads. Both are supported by large, skilled, and enthusiastic communities of architects, programmers, and designers. PHP and MySQL Web Development introduces readers (who are assumed to have little or no experience with the title subjects) to PHP and MySQL for the purpose of creating dynamic Internet sites. It teaches the same skills as introductory Active Server Pages (ASP) and ColdFusion books - technologies that address the same niche.Authors Luke Welling and Laura Thomson's technique aims to get readers going on their own projects as soon as possible. They present easily digestible sections on specific technical processes - "Accessing array contents" and "Using encryption with PHP" are two examples. Each section centers on a sample program that strips the task at hand down to its essentials, enabling the reader to fit the process into his or her own solutions as required. Tables that list options and other nuggets of reference material appear as well, but the many examples and the authors' commentary on them take center stage. Annotation PHP and MySQL Web Development teaches & you to develop dynamic, secure, commercial Web sites. Using the same accessible, popular teaching style of the three previous editions, this book has been thoroughly updated to reflect the rapidly changing landscape of MySQL and PHP. & The fourth edition of PHP and MySQL Web Development & includes updated examples and coverage of recent versions of PHP 5.1, new coverage of PHP security and Web 2.0 social networks, and advance information on the features of the forthcoming PHP 6, including Unicode and new object-oriented functionality. &