Murach's PHP and MySQL, 2nd Edition / Joel Murach, Ray Harris

"I can't count how many PHP books I have purchased over the years trying to learn the language. Murach's was the first book that helped me grasp the concepts and got me onto actually scripting in PHP."

That's what one developer said in an online review of the first edition of Murach's PHP and MySQL. Now, this 2nd Edition does an even better job of delivering the real-world skills you need to develop database-driven websites using PHP and MySQL, two of today's most popular open-source software tools.

Section 1 is a quick-start course that shows how to use the latest versions of PHP, MySQL, the Apache web server, and the NetBeans IDE to build your first PHP applications. And right from the start, you'll learn to create applications that conform to the MVC pattern, so they'll be easier to maintain as they grow.

Then, Section 2 takes you deep into PHP by covering the skills you'll use every day in professional applications, like how to work with form data, dates, arrays, sessions, cookies, functions, objects, regular expressions, and exceptions. Likewise, Section 3 dives into MySQL, teaching you how to design and create a database, as well as how to access and maintain the data in a database like the professionals do. Finally, Section 4 teaches you important web programming skills like how to secure web pages, prevent SQL injection attacks, guard against XSS attacks, send email, upload files, process images, and access content from other websites.

Complete sample applications (all using HTML5 and CSS3) along with chapter exercises provide training support throughout. A great choice for any developer who wants to master PHP without a lot of frustration and unnecessary expense.