PHP Crash Course: The Complete, Modern, Hands-On Guide

by Matt Smith

Start off your web development journey the right way with this beginner-friendly introduction to PHP programming.

This book will take you from beginner-level to professional PHP programming, through hundreds of in-depth examples and hands-on exercises. You’ll explore best practices for developing fast, secure, and easy-to-maintain websites, while establishing a broad foundation of programming knowledge and experience. 

You’ll learn how  
Create consistent, modern-looking web pages with easily customizable templates by combining dynamic PHP scripts, static HTML code, and Bootstrap styling
Write server-side scripts for responding to HTTP requests, processing forms, and validating data 
Use browser sessions to implement shopping carts and user logins, and to store other user data
Write scripts that can communicate with MySQL and other PDO databases, enabling database-driven, data-rich web applications
Implement modern, best-practice website security, including user data sanitization, session-based logins using hashed passwords, and database prepared statements
Save time with up-to-date, professional, open-source tools, including Composer dependency management and the Twig templating library

As you follow along, you’ll learn real-life patterns and modern programming techniques for creating, extending, and modifying web applications, all using the powerful PHP language.

693 pages, Kindle Edition

Published January 21, 2025

About the author

A product of the American midwest, Matt grew up with interests in gaming, computer hardware and writing. After some trial and error, he discovered how to combine these three into a career, and now works as a full time freelance writer based in Portland, Oregon.

Matt has written for numerous publications in the past, including gaming sites such as Thunderbolt, The Escapist and Games Radar. Today he contributes to MakeUseOf as a staff writer, news writer and the assistant editor of MakeUseOf Answers. His love for hardware shows itself in his work for PC Perspective and Digital Trends, where he is responsible for reviewing laptops, tablets and smartphones. If you need buying advice about mobile hardware, he’s your guy.

Besides these professional interests, Matt runs two blogs. One is SmidgenPC, a blog about mobile hardware that he uses to channel his theories, advice and rants. The other is SWTOR Class Guides, which provides tips and advice centered on the character classes in Star Wars: The Old Republic.