Beginning PHP 5.3 (Wrox Programmer to Programmer)

This book is intended for anyone starting out with PHP programming. If you ve previously worked in another programming language such as Java, C#, or Perl, you ll probably pick up the concepts in the earlier chapters quickly; however, the book assumes no prior experience of programming or of building Web applications.

That said, because PHP is primarily a Web technology, it will help if you have at least some knowledge of other Web technologies, particularly HTML and CSS.

Many Web applications make use of a database to store data, and this book contains three chapters on working with MySQL databases. Once again, if you re already familiar with databases in general and MySQL in particular you ll be able to fly through these chapters. However, even if you ve never touched a database before in your life, you should still be able to pick up a working knowledge by reading through these chapters.