Programming PHP, Second Edition is the authoritative guide to PHP 5 and is filled with the unique knowledge of the creator of PHP (Rasmus Lerdorf) and other PHP... » 

Programming PHP, Second Edition is the authoritative guide to PHP 5 and is filled with the unique knowledge of the creator of PHP (Rasmus Lerdorf) and other PHP experts. When it comes to creating web sites, the PHP scripting language is truly a red-hot property. In fact, PHP is currently used on more than 19 million web sites, surpassing Microsoft's ASP .NET technology in popularity. Programmers love its flexibility and speed; designers love its accessibility and convenience. As the industry standard book on PHP, all of the essentials are covered in a clear and concise manner. Language syntax and programming techniques are coupled with numerous examples that illustrate both correct usage and common idioms. With style tips and practical programming advice, this book will help you become not just a PHP programmer, but also a good PHP programmer. Programming PHP, Second Edition covers everything you need to know to create effective web applications with PHP. Contents include:Detailed information on the basics of the PHP language, including data types, variables, operators, and flow control statementsChapters outlining the basics of functions, strings, arrays, and objectsCoverage of common PHP web application techniques, such as form processing and validation, session tracking, and cookiesMaterial on interacting with relational databases, such as MySQL and Oracle, using the database-independent PEAR DB library and the new PDO LibraryChapters that show you how to generate dynamic images, create PDF files, and parse XML files with PHPAdvanced topics, such as creating secure scripts, error handling, performance tuning, and writing your own C language extensions to PHPA handy quick reference to all the core functions in PHP and all the standard extensions that ship with PHP «