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Other Resources

The online annotated PHP Manual (http://www.php.net/manual) is a great resource for exploring PHP's extensive function library. Plenty of user-contributed comments offer helpful advice and sample code, too. Additionally, there are many PHP mailing lists covering installation, programming, extending PHP, and various other topics. You can learn about and subscribe to these mailing lists at http://www.php.net/mailing-lists.php. A read-only web interface to the mailing lists is at http://news.php.net. Also worth exploring is the PHP Presentation System archive at http://talks.php.net. This is a collection of presentations about PHP that have been delivered at various conferences.

After you're comfortable with the material in this book, the following books about PHP are good next steps:

  • Programming PHP, by Rasmus Lerdorf and Kevin Tatroe (O'Reilly). A more detailed and technical look at how to write PHP programs. Includes information on generating graphics and PDFs.

  • PHP Cookbook, by David Sklar and Adam Trachtenberg (O'Reilly). A comprehensive collection of common PHP programming problems and their solutions.

  • Essential PHP Tools, by David Sklar (Apress). Examples and explanations about many popular PHP add-on libraries and modules including HTML_QuickForm, SOAP, and the Smarty templating system.

  • Upgrading to PHP 5, by Adam Trachtenberg (O'Reilly). A comprehensive look at the new features of PHP 5, including coverage of features for XML handling and object-oriented programming.

These books are helpful for learning about databases, SQL, and MySQL:

  • Web Database Applications with PHP & MySQL, by David Lane and Hugh E. Williams (O'Reilly). How to make PHP and MySQL sing in harmony to make a robust dynamic web site.

  • SQL in a Nutshell, by Kevin E. Kline (O'Reilly). The essentials you need to know to write SQL queries. Covers the SQL dialects used by Microsoft SQL Server, MySQL, Oracle, and PostgreSQL.

  • MySQL Cookbook, by Paul DuBois (O'Reilly). A comprehensive collection of common MySQL tasks.

  • MySQL Reference Manual (http://dev.mysql.com/doc/mysql). The ultimate source for information about MySQL's features and SQL dialect.

These books are helpful for learning about HTML and HTTP:

  • HTML & XHTML: The Definitive Guide, by Bill Kennedy and Chuck Musciano (O'Reilly). If you've got a question about HTML, this book answers it.

  • Dynamic HTML: The Definitive Reference, by Danny Goodman (O'Reilly). Full of useful information you need if you're using JavaScript or Dynamic HTML as part of the web pages your PHP programs output.

  • HTTP Developer's Handbook, by Chris Shiflett (Sams Publishing). With this book, you'll better understand how your web browser and a web server communicate with each other.

These books are helpful for learning about security and cryptography:

  • Web Security, Privacy & Commerce, by Simson Garfinkel (O'Reilly). A readable and complete overview of the various aspects of web-related security and privacy.

  • Practical Unix & Internet Security, by Simson Garfinkel, Alan Schwartz, and Gene Spafford (O'Reilly). A classic exploration of all facets of computer security.

  • Applied Cryptography, by Bruce Schneier (John Wiley & Sons). The nitty gritty on how different cryptographic algorithms work and why.

These books are helpful for learning about supplementary topics that this book touches on like XML processing and regular expressions:

  • Learning XML, by Erik T. Ray (O'Reilly). Where to go for more in-depth information on XML than Chapter 11.

  • Learning XSLT, by Michael Fitzgerald (O'Reilly). Your guide to XML stylesheets and XSL transformations.

  • Mastering Regular Expressions, by Jeffrey E.F. Friedl (O'Reilly). After you've digested Appendix B, turn to this book for everything you ever wanted to know about regular expressions.

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