[...]... Farah Malegam, Adam and Anna, Stephen King, Shakira, Anahita Marker, Park End, John le Carre, Barry White, Gwen Stefani, Robert Crais, Robert B Parker, Baz Luhrmann, Stefy, Anna Kournikova, John Connolly, Wasabi, Omega, Pidgin, Cal Evans, xix Copyright © 2009 by The McGraw-Hill Companies Click here for terms of use xx PHP: A Beginner’s Guide Ling’s Pavilion, Tonka and his evil twin Bonka, Din Tai... task-focused chapters Part I: Understanding PHP Basics Chapter 1: Introducing PHP introduces the PHP programming language, explains why it’s so popular for Web application development, and explains how the components of a typical PHP system interact Chapter 2: Using Variables and Operators explains PHP s data types, variables, and operators, and discusses one of PHP s most popular applications, form... result that PHP developers can today read and write the GIF, JPEG, and PNG image formats; send and receive e-mail using the SMTP, IMAP, and POP3 protocols; interface with Web services using the SOAP and REST protocols; validate input using Perl regular expressions; and create and manipulate PDF documents Heck, PHP can even access C libraries, Java classes, and COM objects and take advantage of program code... such stalwarts of the OOP paradigm as abstract classes, destructors, multiple interfaces, and class type hints PHP 5.0 also introduced various new and important tools: a common database access layer; Java-style exception handling; and an integrated database engine PHP 5.3, the most recent version (and the version used throughout this book), was released in January 2008 It improves on the new features... performance and response time Portability PHP is available for UNIX, Microsoft Windows, Mac OS, and OS/2, and PHP programs are portable between platforms As a result, a PHP application developed on, say, Windows will typically run on UNIX without any significant issues This ability to easily undertake cross-platform development is a valuable one, especially when operating in a multiplatform corporate... computers for a long time In that time, I have moved between more languages than I can count With each new language, I have always said that once you learn how to program properly, everything else is just syntax I still believe that’s true for a lot of languages, but for PHP, that may be an oversimplification In PHP, there are usually several ways to accomplish any given task Some of them are better than others,... users who are new to the PHP programming language Unlike many other books, PHP: A Beginner’s Guide doesn’t assume prior knowledge of Web programming or database fundamentals Rather, it teaches by example, using in-chapter projects and examples to explain basic concepts and, thus, gradually increase the reader’s familiarity with PHP concepts and programming tools Therefore, it is most suitable for novice... it had support for form input and the mSQL database, it lacked many of the security features and add-ons found in modern PHP versions Lerdorf later improved PHP/ F1 1.0 and released it as PHP/ FI 2.0, but it was only in 1997, when the developers Andi Gutmans and Zeev Suraski rewrote the PHP parser Chapter 1: Introducing PHP and released it as PHP 3.0, that the PHP movement really began to pick up steam... for novice programmers who are familiar with HTML and CSS, and are interested in widening their skill set to also build dynamic, data-driven sites using PHP What This Book Covers PHP: A Beginner’s Guide contains information on the PHP 5.2 and 5.3-alpha programming toolkit and its most commonly used features: MySQL and SQLite database integration, XML processing capabilities, and third-party extensions... faster than those written in other scripting languages, with numerous independent benchmarks putting the language ahead of 5 6 PHP: A Beginner’s Guide competing alternatives like JSP, ASP.NET, and Perl The PHP 5.0 engine was completely redesigned with an optimized memory manager to improve performance, and is noticeably faster than previous versions In addition, third-party accelerators are available . Michael, Kylie Minogue, Buffy, Farah Malegam, Adam and Anna, Stephen King, Shakira, Anahita Marker, Park End, John le Carre, Barry White, Gwen Stefani,. enjoyable than it usually is, thanks to: Patrick Quinlan, Ian Fleming, Bryan Adams, the Stones, Peter O’Donnell, MAD Magazine, Scott Adams, FHM, Gary Larson,