By: Kevin Yank

July 2nd, 2009

Reader Rating: 9

PHP and MySQL have changed.

Back in 2001, when I wrote the first edition of this book, readers were astonished to discover that you could create a site full of web pages without having to write a separate HTML file for each page. PHP stood out from the crowd of programming languages, mainly because it was easy enough for almost anyone to learn and free to download and install. The MySQL database, likewise, provided a simple and free solution to a problem that, up until that point, had been solvable only by expert programmers with corporate budgets.

Back then, PHP and MySQL were special—heck, they were downright miraculous! But over the years, they have gained plenty of fast-moving competition. In an age when anyone with a free WordPress account can set up a full-featured blog in 30 seconds flat, it’s no longer enough for a programming language like PHP to be easy to learn; nor is it enough for a database like MySQL to be free.

Indeed, as you sit down to read this book, you probably have ambitions that extend beyond what you can throw together using the free point-and-click tools of the Web. You might even be thinking of building an exciting, new point-and-click tool of your own. WordPress, after all, is built using PHP and MySQL, so why limit your vision to anything less?

To keep up with the competition, and with the needs of more demanding projects, PHP and MySQL have had to evolve. PHP is now a far more intricate and powerful language than it was back in 2001, and MySQL is a vastly more complex and capable database. Learning PHP and MySQL today opens up a lot of doors that would have remained closed to the PHP and MySQL experts of 2001.

That’s the good news. The bad news is that, in the same way that a butter knife is easier to figure out than a Swiss Army knife (and less likely to cause self-injury!), all these dazzling new features and improvements have indisputably made PHP and MySQL more difficult for beginners to learn.

Worse yet, PHP has completely abandoned several of the beginner-friendly features that gave it a competitive advantage in 2001, because they turned out to be oversimplifications, or could lead inexperienced programmers into building web sites with gaping security holes. This is a problem if you’re the author of a beginner’s book about PHP and MySQL.

PHP and MySQL have changed, and those changes have made writing this book a lot more difficult. But they have also made this book a lot more important. The more twisty the path, the more valuable the map, right?

In this book, I’ll provide you with a hands-on look at what’s involved in building a database driven web site using PHP and MySQL. If your web host provides PHP and MySQL support, you’re in great shape. If not, I’ll show you how to install them on Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux computers, so don’t sweat it.

This book is your map to the twisty path that every beginner must navigate to learn PHP and MySQL today. Grab your favorite walking stick; let’s go hiking!

Who Should Read this Series?

This article series is aimed at intermediate and advanced web designers looking to make the leap into server-side programming. You’ll be expected to be comfortable with simple HTML, as I’ll make use of it without much in the way of explanation. No knowledge of Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) or JavaScript is assumed or required, but if you do know JavaScript, you’ll find it will make learning PHP a breeze, since these languages are quite similar.

By the end of this series, you can expect to have a grasp of what’s involved in building a database driven web site. If you follow the examples, you’ll also learn the basics of PHP (a server-side scripting language that gives you easy access to a database, and a lot more) and Structured Query Language (SQL—the standard language for interacting with relational databases) as supported by MySQL, the most popular free database engine available today. Most importantly, you’ll come away with everything you need to start on your very own database driven site!

What's in this Series?

This series comprises the following 4 chapters. Read them in order from beginning to end to gain a complete understanding of the subject, or skip around if you need a refresher on a particular topic.

Chapter 1: Installation [1]

Before you can start building your database driven web site, you must first ensure that you have the right tools for the job. In this first chapter, I’ll tell you where to obtain the two essential components you’ll need: the PHP scripting language and the MySQL database management system. I’ll step you through the setup procedures on Windows, Linux, and Mac OS X, and show you how to test that PHP is operational on your web server.

Chapter 2: Getting Started with MySQL [2]

Although I’m sure you’ll be anxious to start building dynamic web pages, I’ll begin with an introduction to databases in general, and the MySQL relational database management system in particular. If you have never worked with a relational database before, this should definitely be an enlightening chapter that will whet your appetite for what’s to come! In the process, you’ll build up a simple database to be used in later chapters.

Chapter 3: Introducing PHP [3]

Here’s where the fun really starts. In this chapter, I’ll introduce you to the PHP scripting language, which you can use to build dynamic web pages that present up-to-the-moment information to your visitors. Readers with previous programming experience will probably only need a quick skim of this chapter, as I explain the essentials of the language from the ground up. This is a must-read chapter for beginners, however, as the rest of this book relies heavily on the basic concepts presented here.

Chapter 4: Publishing MySQL Data on the Web [4]

In this chapter you’ll bring together PHP and MySQL, which you’ll have seen separately in the previous chapters, to create some of your first database driven web pages. You’ll explore the basic techniques of using PHP to retrieve information from a database and display it on the Web in real time. I’ll also show you how to use PHP to create web-based forms for adding new entries to, and modifying existing information in, a MySQL database on the fly.

The Book

The four chapters in this series are actually only the first part of this book. Build Your Own Database Driven Website Using PHP & MySQL [5] contains not only the four chapters above, but eight more chapters that cover advanced database concepts, the design of a complete content management system, MySQL server administration, and much, much more! The book also includes a complete set of appendices to make it the ideal desk reference for PHP and MySQL Web development. For more information, see the book page [6].

If you prefer to read the Adobe Acrobat PDF version of these first four chapters, you can Download the first Four Chapters FREE [7].

Your Feedback

If you have a question about any of the information covered in this series, your best chance of a quick response is to post your query in the SitePoint.com Forums [8].

If you can't find your answer through the forums, or if you wish to contact me for any other reason, the best place to write is here [9]. We have a well-manned email support system set up to track your inquiries, and if our support staff is unable to answer your question, they send it straight to me. Suggestions for improvement as well as notices of any mistakes you may find are especially welcome.

And so, without further ado, let's get started!

[1] http://www.sitepoint.com/article/php-amp-mysql-1-installation/
[2] http://www.sitepoint.com/article/getting-started-mysql/
[3] http://www.sitepoint.com/article/mysql-3-getting-started-php/
[4] http://www.sitepoint.com/article/publishing-mysql-data-web/
[5] http://www.sitepoint.com/books/phpmysql4/
[6] http://www.sitepoint.com/books/phpmysql4/
[7] http://www.sitepoint.com/books/phpmysql4/samplechapters.php
[8] http://www.sitepoint.com/forums/
[9] http://www.sitepoint.com/books/contact.php
[10] http://www.sitepoint.com/article/525