[4Th Edition 3Yrs Old - Still Relevant?]

Hello and welcome to the forums.

 

In my opinion, this is still the best book for getting started with PHP/MySQL. Virtually everything in it is still relevant, and most importantly, it'll give you that great base, which is very easy to build on and use to then learn all of the most recent best practices.

 

In short, don't delay any longer. Start reading and writing code, as this is still the best PHP/MySQL book around.

 

Thanks HartleySan!

[4Th Edition 3Yrs Old - Still Relevant?]

Hello Larry & Forum members,

 

I originally bought this book over 10yrs ago in its 1st Edition (I love the "Covers PHP3 & PHP4" Tagline on that cover!), and had grand plans to absorb the book cover to cover.  Seeing as that never happened, I re-bought this book again about 3yrs ago in it's 4th Edition.

 

Well, the same grand plan never did quite happen with fully reading the 4th Edition either (life happens!).  However, I just dusted the book off my bookshelf again with the intention to really give a full read this time starting back at Page 1.

 

I do see that he 4th Edition forum is still very active -- but I do have to ask if this book is still fully relevant learning materials here in late December 2014?  It's a full 3yrs since the release of this book, and many versions of both PHP and MySQL have been released since this book hit the market, not to mention the rapidly-changing development landscape over a 3yr period.

 

Would this book still be a good starting point for someone that is looking to get more in-depth development experience with PHP/MySQL?  My development skills are intermediate at best, as my focus for many years has been more on internet marketing and server admin work.  I've always been fascinated by some of the amazing PHP work that is out there, and would love to get more involved in that side of the industry.

 

Any/all responses are greatly appreciated!

 

- Kevin