PHP 5

About This Book

Think of this book as a friendly introduction to programming in PHP. This book is both an introduction to programming and an introduction to PHP. The book starts with the basics of PHP, including how to tell whether you need to install it. (Full installation instructions are included in Appendix A.) The book describes the basic features of PHP with examples of their use. If you have experience with programming, you can probably just skim this sec¬tion, but if you don’t, all the programming basics are here.

The book goes on to describe the most common uses of PHP. It shows how to write scripts for Web sites, file manipulation, databases, and other common tasks. It provides techniques and shortcuts and warns against common errors. Both beginners and experienced programmers can write useful scripts for many common applications in a very short time by using the information in the application section (Part IV) of the book.

How This Book Is Organized

This book is divided into six parts. The content ranges from an introduction to PHP basics to common applications for PHP.

Part I: Say Hello to the PHP Scripting Language

This part provides an overview of PHP, including how it works and its many uses. You discover how to set up your environment for using PHP. Finally, this part shows you how to create your first PHP program.

Part II: Variables and Data

Variables are the fundamental feature of PHP. This section shows you how to create variables and use them. It also describes the kind of data that you can store in a variable as well as how to handle the various types of data. Then, you find out how to create and use complex variables called arrays.

Part III: Basic PHP Programming

This part shows you how to program PHP scripts. You find out about the basic features of PHP and the details of how to use them to create your scripts. This part also introduces you to object-oriented programming.

Part IV: Common PHP Applications

Part IV provides the techniques needed to write scripts for the most common PHP applications. You find out how to write scripts for use in your Web site, such as how to display HTML forms and how to process information that users type into forms. You find out how to use PHP to interact with databases. Using PHP to perform system tasks, such as writing files on your hard disk and exe¬cuting operating system commands, is also described.

Part V: The Part of Tens

This part provides some useful lists of things to do and not do when writing PHP scripts, as well as a listing of PHP resources.

Part VI: Appendixes

This part provides detailed instructions for installing PHP for those who need to install it themselves. Appendix B is a list of functions available in PHP, intended to be a useful reference while you write your scripts.
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