Learning PHP, MySQL, and JavaScript: A Step-By-Step Guide to Creating Dynamic Websites

by Robin Nixon

If you know HTML, this guide will have you building interactive websites quickly. You'll learn how to create responsive, data-driven websites with PHP, MySQL, and JavaScript, regardless of whether you already know how to program. Discover how the powerful combination of PHP and MySQL provides an easy way to build modern websites complete with dynamic data and user interaction. You'll also learn how to add JavaScript to create rich Internet applications and websites.Learning PHP, MySQL and JavaScript explains each technology separately, shows you how to combine them, and introduces valuable web programming concepts, including objects, XHTML, cookies, and session management. You'll practice what you've learned with review questions in each chapter, and find a sample social networking platform built with the elements introduced in this book.This book will help PHP essentials and the basics of object-oriented programmingMaster MySQL, from database structure to complex queriesCreate web pages with PHP and MySQL by integrating forms and other HTML featuresLearn about JavaScript, from functions and event handling to accessing the Document Object ModelUse libraries and packages, including the Smarty web template system, PEAR program repository, and the Yahoo! User Interface LibraryMake Ajax calls and turn your website into a highly dynamic environmentUpload and manipulate files and images, validate user input, and secure your applications

Genres: Programming, Reference, Computer Science, Nonfiction, Technology, Website Design, Technical

952 pages, Kindle Edition

First published July 1, 2009

About the author

Robin has over 30 years experience of writing software, and developing websites and apps. He also has an extensive history of writing about computers and technology, with a portfolio of over 500 published magazine articles and almost 30 books, many of which have been translated into other languages. He is also a prolific Internet video course instructor.

As well as IT, his interests include motivational psychology (which he also writes about), artificial intelligence research, many types of music (both playing and listening to), playing and creating board games, and enjoying good food and drink .

Robin lives on the south-east coast of England (where he writes full time), along with his five children and wife, Julie (a trained nurse and university lecturer). Between them they also foster three disabled children.

Reviews

[Manny · Rating 3 out of 5]

My colleague has just departed our project, and I am at least temporarily taking over responsibility for the 20,000 or so lines of PHP she's left behind. I have never really used PHP, though I've seen her code and discussed it with her many times. I thought it would be a good idea to go through a comprehensive introduction.

This book is, needless to say, staggeringly dull, but how could it be anything else? It gets the job done, and it's easy to read; although it's over eight hundred pages long, I finished it in a little more than a week. I feel much more confident that I know how PHP works. It's not a hard language, but the practical problem is that there's so much of it. In an ideal world, you'd just use one language to create web apps. Here, you have five and a half languages. At the bottom, you've got good old HTML - nowadays, almost everyone knows at least a bit of HTML. PHP gives you an easy way to write code which runs on a webserver and creates HTML on the fly. But then you also need SQL to access the database, JavaScript to access and dynamically modify the HTML, and CSS to specify the formatting; jQuery, a large JavaScript library that everyone uses, is almost a sixth language. There's no way that this can be the optimal solution. Alas, it's what we've got.

My colleague professed amazement that I'd actually read a book on PHP. Why didn't I just look things up on Google? But as I said to her, there's a simple answer. You can only look something up if you know what you're looking for. The book most clearly showed its value by revealing to me several things I hadn't even known existed. In particular, there are many clever tricks you can do in the HTML5 "canvas" element that make graphics a whole lot simpler. For example, I didn't know how easy it now is to write code that lets you draw on the screen with the mouse, or drag and drop elements from one place to another. The HTML5 people have done a good job.

I still don't love PHP, but I think I'll be able to live with it and feel reasonably comfortable. Call it a marriage of convenience.
____________________

And about an hour later, I've checked some of the other reviews and found Gavin's, which links to this scathing list of all the things that are wrong with PHP.

Hm. Maybe there was a reason why I felt suspicious and unenthusiastic.

[Abdollah2 · Rating 5 out of 5]

اين كتاب باعث شد اسم رابين نيكسون هيچ وقت از خاطرم نره به خاطر نگارش فوق العاده روانش. كتاب خوبي بود. اينم كه روي نگارشش تاكيد دارم به خاطر اينه كه مثلا موقع خوندن كتاب هاي ديگه اذيت شدم. گاهي يه مطلب خيلي ساده رو كلي توضيح مي دن كه كسل كننده است.از جمله اخيرا ديدم ويرايش سوم Learning jQuery كه خود جان رزگ پيشگفتارش رو مي نويسه اينطوريه

[Eric Phetteplace · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book gets a lot right but also has plenty of weaknesses. It's great to see MySQL (a database), JavaScript (a programming language that runs in the web browser), & PHP (a language that runs on the web server) taught together so one gets a sense of how they interact & why you would need all three to create dynamic sites. I suspect that learning any one in isolation would be frustrating, as you might get a solid understanding of the language but not be able to see how to integrate it into a working application. MySQL on its own, for instance, isn't going to help you do much on the web. It was also a nice touch that the final chapter involves creating a social networking site, since that appeals to a lot of people & is the sort of site which people both understand & are fascinated with.
But this book also frustrated me at several points. It goes on a few detours that are either unnecessary or not developed enough. Why the chapter on PHP templating if you're not really going to do anything with it? Why introduce XMLHttpRequest in JavaScript without discussing half of what's going on, including HTTP headers? The MySQL portion was the worst, as it introduces indexing, transactions, and basic database theory but doesn't give the reader enough applications to work with. A stronger book might skip some of these more sophisticated topics while better fleshing out the basic interrelations between the three tools. Also, while the sample code was helpful, the quizzes at the end of each chapter weren't effective. Make the reader write code in response to questions, not prose about programming languages.
Lastly, most of the markup produced in the examples is extremely poor. The book creates bad habits, like over-reliance on break & font tags. The social networking site of the final chapter never closes its body or html tags. None of this is awful, but it made it more difficult for me to see how to generate good HTML content using scripting languages. For instance, I'm still not sure what the best way to write large blocks of HTML using PHP is, whether it's multi-line echo statements, templating, or repeatedly closing & opening PHP tags inside a larger HTML document.
In any case, "Creating Dynamic Websites" is a great introduction to some useful & important web development tools. Despite its shortcomings, there is probably no other single volume that can leave you ready to write a web app that uses server & client side scripting plus a database.

[Gavin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Half of the internet runs on PHP, a language which was not initially intended to be used for actual programs. This article, PHP: A Fractal of Bad Design, a long list of design criticisms and roaring frustration, is how I learned the language in the first place. It is indispensable, rigorous, and wise. I had to look up not a few terms in it, because I am not a computer scientist at all, but a sneaky back-stairs conversion boy.

All inquiry is hard; this might be because the mind was not initially intended to be used for real, permanent inquiry. But an often overlooked fact is that people are looking out for you; that is what half of all books are. In the tech world they cry lookout! a click away. If you care.

*

I didn't read tech books during my first year, instead just blundering on with the step debugger and StackOverflow. This was a serious mistake, not least because my brain is geared towards book-learning and depth-first top-down imposition of order. This is excellent for people starting from 0, but too slow for anyone with much practical experience.

[Ben · Rating 4 out of 5]

My Squirrel Code

This is a great multi-faceted book to learn a whole bunch!

I recommend giving this book a go, and you will get a lot of important language knowledge of pretty widely-used languages.

Although there are languages I would sooner recommend learning over PHP and jQuery, I still think that MySQL, JavaScript, CSS, and HTML5 are very much still valid skills to know.

Check it out! Also, I liked the cover squirrels!

4.1/5

[Jocelyn · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a helpful book for a beginner in PHP and MySQL. I wish there were more references to all the built-in functions of the languages in the appendix but these are readily available on the developer sites for both MySQL and PHP.

I ordered the e-book version through O'Reilly and I really wished that it was a little more updated. The installation guidelines were obsolete which I would expect in a print book, but I had hoped the e-books were updated more frequently.

I missed seeing examples of how to call MySQL inside a PHP file. There are slight changes to syntax that I would have loved to see explained. Luckily I had other books that explained this process in detail.

Security breaches, from my understanding, is one of the big risks of using PHP. It didn't really explain how to prevent any. But for beginners, learning the syntax and logic of the language is the most important to start. Other than these minor details, I found the book to be fairly thorough as a beginner's guide to becoming acquainted with the languages.

I'll be sure to update this review once I finish the remaining Javascript section.

[Marc · Rating 2 out of 5]

Good information, but too technical with little application. I need to work through problems, not simply input pre-written code to get my head around programming concepts. Might be a good reference later. But what I did get through was a hard slog.

[Sunaina]

I would recommend doing some basic Codecademy.com courses in PHP/SQL before diving into this book. I think this is a decent book, but I agree with the others who say you need SOME sort of background to really get the most out of this.

[Kai · Rating 2 out of 5]

Why would you want to learn web development? You probably already have a firm preconception of what the web offers and of the different components that can make up web pages and you know want to learn how to build these things yourself. I most appreciate textbooks that develop these notions into more comprehensive understandings before they teach you how to best realize them with state-of-the-art tools at the reader's disposal. Unfortunately, Learning PHP, MySQL and JavaScript wasn't this.

It makes for a reading experience that comes close to browsing through online documentations. There are no exercises that actually have you write code. Instead, there are only the Questions sections at the end of each chapter, exercises of the first problem set in an exam variety. Solving these improves your theoretical understanding, but you won't gain any experience in building websites (or even coding in general).

It's only on page 243 that you are presented with the first somewhat real-world practical example. Until then the listings literally receive names like `test.html` that will probably cause your brain to perceive them as dull and without the involvement of actual learning. If you ever visited a programming class (or worked through an online tutorial) I'm sure you are familiar with the unit-conversion problem. The given textbook gives us a strikingly uninspired attempt to liven things up: "for a bit of fun, can you find a value for which Fahrenheit and Celsius are the same?" I don't see how this makes you a better web developer.

There are some puzzling aspects about even the better examples. Example 16-3 presents a somewhat lengthy case of form handling. Still, the author didn't put in the code to handle the case when the program is called up for the first time. Of course, you will encounter this scenario for logical reasons. If you don't scroll down and read the warning you might wonder why you get all the errors after you ran the example on your own computer – that's perfectly normal. You might argue it would have distracted from the main points of the example; still, the main point should be to create a realistic form.

What is worse, there are examples that explain bad practice. For instance, in the section on MySQL there is a case that only works because the example was arbitrarily designed so that the years were coincidentally unique. Similarly, sometimes it's difficult to understand the point behind examples. The combination of a `customers` table and a `classics` table is a good case in point. The example intents to show how to combine tables using SELECT, and it does. But the result has a row like "Mary Smith, Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice", which is barely meaningful. It fails to explain the rationale for using the command in the first place.

There was another example that left me a bit puzzled: "In Chapter 9, I talked about First, Second, and Third Normal Form. You may have noticed that the classics table doesn’t satisfy these, because both author and book details are included within the same table. That’s because we created this table before encountering normalization. However, for the purposes of illustrating access to MySQL from PHP, reusing this table avoids the hassle of typing in a new set of test data, so we’ll stick with it for the time being." I can somehow see the rationale. Still, isn't this basically saying that the example isn't very good, but it would be too much of a hassle to compose something that better exemplifies good practice?

It's not only the examples that leave you wanting. There is a section on how to set up your computer to start getting your hands dirty. Or so it says. For Linux users there is only the remark that there are too many distros and that the author cannot be bothered to explain it for the lot of them. While it's technically true that there are many distros, most users will run a Debian derivate like Ubuntu or Linux Mint. Moreover, I'm sure that there are many similarities between the different environments, so that you can have three code listings for Arch-based, Debian-based and Fedora-based installing the required software and then point to the different locations of the same files. As it stands, the whole chapter could have been removed as it leaves inexperienced users with the impression that setting up the system was more difficult than it actually is.

The subpar examples and the (lack of) exercises are not the only reason why this wasn't a very practical or hands-on introduction. The titles are not problem-oriented, but the text is structured by commands. For instance, it often has things like "UPDATE...SET" rather than saying what exactly you can accomplish with a command like this. I prefer textbooks that tell you how to do things, instead of teaching you linguistic knowledge of a computer language. When facing a problem in your day-to-day programming you would search for documentation online rather than picking up a textbook again.

Some concepts are explained at surprising places. The `in` keyword – as to be used with a `for` loop – is not mentioned in the section about loops, but buried in the next chapter under "Associative Arrays". This is especially surprising given the fact that this kind of arrays are not actually built into JavaScript, at least not in form of straight-forward syntactic sugar. Given how often you would use this `for each` kind of loop (well, so I suppose?), I don't think that this is a very well motivated style of presentation.

At the end of a section on XML there is a single sentence that points out that most developers now use JSON (which is true). The author then goes on – to not explain JSON. Perfect, I thought to myself. Now I'm perfectly capable to apply the method only few people use, and I even know the name of the method that most people use! In a similar vein, I don't like how more advanced topics are treated. CSS3, jQuery, and HTML5 there are entire chapters that read like the release notes. I honestly wouldn't be surprised if the author actually expended on them in writing these sections.

This all being said, it does offer helpful explanations on many topics. Especially the sections on security and form handling can function as good reference points. The concise introduction on regular expressions was very well-written, too. But as always with these almost all-encompassing overview books, don't expect to learn the underlying ideas of object-oriented programming or database design. Above I called this a documentation-style work – which can be done better or worse. This is certainly among the better.

So, you want to build something cool while learning new stimulating ideas and best practices? Then you should buy another book. As a reference manual it does a solid job, though.

Rating: 2/5

[Andres · Rating 4 out of 5]

Despite the title (and as I expected,) this book is not the be-all end-all guide to everything PHP/MySQL/JavaScript. It gives you a good solid foundation for the tools you have on hand with all three technologies, and guides you down a simple path to integrating all three into the framework of a simple dynamic website. It gives you just enough exposure to make something concrete, but don't expect to learn about the more powerful tools you have at your disposal with each one.

Personally, the book's scope was perfect. However, I do have a long history of working with older web technologies, and have a strong background in the fundamentals of object oriented programming. The book was direct, to-the-point, presented in a logical order, and gave me the information I needed and the common examples I needed to hit the ground running.

For anyone who is completely new to web/software development, my recommendation hinges entirely on why you're interested in the book in the first place. If all you want is the ability to do some tinkering on an already existing framework, this book will at least familiarize you with what you'll be looking at in the field. If you're looking to do some small-scale ground-up development, I can see this being a good kick-start to that purpose. Current professionals looking for a quick primer to kick-start their foray into PHP/MySQL/Javascript would also enjoy this book.

However, if you're looking for a reference that will take you in depth into any of the three technologies, I would advise looking elsewhere. The author here does a good job of getting the reader's feet wet, but never does much more than point at the deeper end of the pool. Look elsewhere if that's what you need.

[Holly]

I decided not to rate this book (the 3rd edition), because while it's a perfectly excellent book, the Goodreads star system grades books on enjoyability. I did not particularly enjoy this book. It's a text book. It was required for my class, which is required for my degree, and therefore it was useful.

Scripting is apparently something I am just not good at; therefore it's unfair of me to rank this book.

I'll be keeping the book though, and not only because the bookstore won't buy it back with a new edition in the offing, but because it has information I may need again.

However, the instructions in this book were obsolete, requiring the installation of Zendfree which is no longer free. My instructor was unaware of the updated material available on the website, and this caused a good bit of stress on my part. I hear there is a new edition (the 4th), which I'm sure will have corrected this problem.

But if you're shopping, buy the latest edition! Save yourself at least one headache that way.

[Wolf · Rating 4 out of 5]

As an aspiring web-developer, I often find myself overwhelmed by the number of different technologies and content existing around the topic. This is where this book caught my attention.
Approaching from both front-end and back-end, the book will offer to the reader a grounding in the following main technologies: PHP, MySQL, JavaScript, CSS/CSS3, HTML5, and jQuery altogether and dynamically, with the focus being sporadically well-paced throughout the book. But does it pay off after all? It surely does.
Requering just a basic HTML knowledge, the content may seem a bit harsh for others when it comes to learning about the PHP and MySQL sections without a previous comprehension about the subject (taking into account different reviews). With no preceding knowledge of PHP myself before reading the book, I'd say that it worked well for me since it is the way I was searching for: it is not designed for mastering each one of the languages presented, but to provide you a synchronous grounding in order for you to potentialize the knowledge once the book is finished.

• Rating: 4.5/5.

[Charlie Hebert · Rating 1 out of 5]

Although the book offers a decent introduction to some of the technologies outlined in its title and how they work together, I would not recommend this to someone wishing to start web development in 2014. The book's redeeming quality is that its chapters on MySQL, Javascript and CSS are somewhat useful as a basic introduction to some of the tools used in web development. It also provides some useful help in setting up a development environment.

I would argue, however, that the chapters on PHP could be particularly damaging to novices. The author follows poor coding practices (for example he mixes PHP directly with HTML - a big no no), his examples are a convoluted mess and much of his PHP code contains features of the language that are deprecated.

Only after reading this book did I find out how damaging its lessons are. I urge aspiring web developers to give this book a miss.

[Dr. T Loves Books · Rating 1 out of 5]

As part of a coding class, I had to learn HTML, CSS, PHP, MySQL, and JavaScript in 8 weeks. This book was not very helpful for the second half of that learning. I found it difficult to follow, with references to things I didn't get scattered throughout. This is mostly because I'm a code noob and idiot, probably. But I found HTML and CSS: Visual QuickStart Guide by Elizabeth Castro to be incredibly accessible and helpful, so this title had some stiff competition. This probably wasn't helped by the fact that the professor's recorded lectures were also extremely helpful and detailed, so my forays into this book were infrequent and a bit scattered. So I am willing to take the blame off of Nixon and put it squarely on my own shoulders.

[Danielle Calhoun · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is truly a great read for anyone looking to expand their knowledge of PHP/MySQL/JavaScript/Ajax/CSS etc. I do think a general foundation of how internet programming/coding works is essential to dive right in, but I am by no means a professional or even at the intermediate level of many of these things and I understood everything pretty well. If you take some time to digest the info, it will work in your favor. If you take the time to follow along with the hands-on coding examples so you can see how it runs for yourself, I'm sure that adds another level of understanding. I did not do this - but intend on using this as a reference in the future.

[Brandon Cole · Rating 3 out of 5]

It is a nice book that helped start me into PHP programming. Decent read but the book I think should have went more in depth on PHP programming and done less with MySQL. The storage of the information is easily worked out but the programming features take a bit more and are less easily grasped. This book along with a book or some information on OOP PHP would make a great way to learn PHP web development.

[Shaher Jamal Eddin · Rating 2 out of 5]

It is a solid book in terms of introductory information for the discussed technologies, however I did not like the structure of the book especially the HTML5 section, as I think the canvas element was over-explained over the other features. I would not recommend this book to a total beginner as I think he/she would be lost in no time.

[Liz · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was helping me a lot to understand PHP and MySQL way better. It's an easy guide and if you want to get involved with programming and creating dynamic websites, you should definitely check it out.

[Joshua Mooney · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent introduction to the basics of web design that teaches all the necessary components for designing very a simple, functional website. Highly recommended to those eager to learn about web design, but unsure of where to start.

[David Mackey · Rating 4 out of 5]

Solid read. One of the best I have read that approaches multiple technologies simultaneously. That said, some sections will be difficult for those without prior programming experience, other sections could perhaps have been condensed as the commands are not utilized frequently.

[Sam · Rating 3 out of 5]

Decent foundation, but it seemed like some of the techniques were dated. Not a bad first book on the subject, though it could have been shorter.

[J.E. Spatafore · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of the better books out there on the subject. When paired with PHP and MySQL Web Development, makes for a good and solid understanding of how to program for the web world.

[Bilal · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was attracted to this book because of the collection of essential topics or tools needed to make any starter web application. I am glad I read it: The exposition is very clear; it is easy to follow, and nowhere does the author leave the reader wondering what-if this or that! Finally, the examples downloaded from the provided link work perfectly.

As for the project in the last chapter, initially I felt that it is a bit too simple. Later I concluded that it is a good thing that the author has kept it simple enough: Projects are more interesting when they are one's own, and by the last chapter one has all the tools to realize one of their own.

[PRJ Greenwell · Rating 3 out of 5]

Like every other computing book, it's out-of-date the moment it leaves the printers, even this 7th edition I read. It's still a solid read and people learning PHP will get something out of it. What was interesting was zero mention of MariaDB. The "MySQL" that comes with most LAMP setups is actually MariaDB, but the author has either ignored this or just neglected it.

[Robert Corey · Rating 5 out of 5]

this book got me started programming for fun and now i make fat stacks

[Vishnu · Rating 5 out of 5]

Best for beginners.
If at all I can change my life, this will be the first facilitator for that happening. Beauty <3

[Ibrahim · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of the best books that gives initial information and examples for a beginner web developer

[Farhan Najmi · Rating 2 out of 5]

Is an okay book. I learn my basic from this book about web development but not easy to understand.

[Abdul Wahid · Rating 4 out of 5]

i love this book for website coding...

[Mahmood · Rating 5 out of 5]

It would be a good start for who wants to learn so many thing quickly and get basic knowledge to design a website.