Print Book $9.95
Print Book £6.95
By Rasmus Lerdorf
Second Edition
November 2002
Pages: 138
Series: Pocket References
ISBN 10: 0-596-00402-8 |
ISBN 13: 9780596004026
(Average of 5 Customer Reviews)
Simple, to the point, and compact, the second edition of PHP Pocket Reference is thoroughly updated to include the specifics of PHP 4. It is both a handy introduction to PHP syntax and structure, and a quick reference to the vast array of functions provided by PHP. The quick reference section organizes all the core functions of PHP alphabetically so you can find what you need easily.
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Second Edition: November 2002
Series:
Pocket References
ISBN: 0-596-00402-8
Pages: 138
Average Customer Reviews: (Based on 5 Reviews)
Featured customer reviews
Not a good purchase, May 12 2005
The functions should be organized by category, based on their use (strings, MySQL-centric, images, etc) like the first edition! I'm not sure who decided that form of organization was bad, but it was what made the reference useful. This edition is collecting dust. Just what I wanted to spend my money on. :-|
NOT Recommended Purchase, May 12 2005
Do NOT purchase this book unless you enjoy being frustrated trying to find useful information in a flash.
As others have stated above, the first part of the book is awesome, and useful to newbies (and forgetful oldies) ... BUT
Indexing functions simply by alphabetical order introduces chaos to a reference system of a programming language. What happened to the succinct, well-organized idea of the first edition, where functions were organized by their uses? For example... all functions dealing with MySQL in one block, functions dealing with strings in another block and then THOSE blocks alphabetized.
I understand that the publisher might have thought not having to put in category headers would save some pages on printing, but their losing outright purchases due to the uselessness of this edition.
I don't even bother packing this when I travel; now I just troll php.net like I have for years while waiting for the new pocket edition. Guess I'm repeating that operating mode again for another year or so.....
Very hard to undestand, September 16 2004
I think this book doesnt describe the functions enouugh. What i'm trying to say is that it would be much better if each function also included an example. Like it is on http://www.php.net/manual/
I wouldn't recomend this book to anyone i think it is much easier to download and use the original PHP manual utility.
PHP Pocket Reference, 2nd Edition Review, July 30 2003
I agree 100% with the previous comment. The first 30 or so pages are great, then it bites hard. Its impossible to find anything in it....is an index just to much to ask for a pocket ref?
PHP Pocket Reference, 2nd Edition Review, May 20 2003
Summary: Bad organization undermines usefulness.
The book starts off with a good summary of syntax, data types and the like. This is very useful, and PHP being what it is to developers familiar with Perl or C, you could get a good start on the language just from the first 34 pages.
The remaining pages (a 132 page book), however, are a disappointment. They comprise a function reference, with the functions organized alphabetically. I really believe this organization to be ill-conceived. To me, the book would have been far, far more useful -- perhaps 2 or 3 "owls" more -- if the functions were organized according to categories: math functions, database functions, string functions, and so forth.
One can only hope the 3rd edition will correct this. As it stands, I'm sorry to say I don't recommend buying it.
Media reviews
"[Consumers] will find the fine 'pocket references' produced by O'Reilly to be compact and affordable."
-- James Cox, The Computer Shelf: Midwest Book Review
"Indispensible"
--Tom Yager, InfoWorld, Jan 28, 2002
"This slim quick reference is a handy companion for all PHP developers."
--Tim Anderson, amazon.co.uk
