What's a good book for learning PHP?

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What is the best PHP programming book?

Let me start off with saying, I know this question has been asked multiple times. I ,however, could not find any up-to-date answers. Anyways, I'm fairly experienced with HTML/CSS. I would like to get into server side programming. I don't have that much programming experience. However, I am familiar with the basics. OOP, loops, variables, etc. I'm looking for a book that is not aimed at teaching me HTML/CSS/PHP/ETC. It would be nice if the book was only aimed at PHP and maybe MySQL. Please feel free to remove this question if you find a recent similar question(I looked but didn't see anything).

Thanks a lot!

Update:
Huge thanks for all the answers! I really appreciated it!

Answer 1

I have PHP for absolute beginners. I found it very helpful.

http://www.amazon.com/PHP-Absolute-Beginners-Jason-Lengstorf/dp/1430224738/ref=sr_1_17?s=STORE&ie=UTF8&qid=1284773473&sr=1-17

Answer 2

I started out with this book: http://www.amazon.com/PHP-MySQL-Web-Development-4th/dp/0672329166/ref=sr_1_10?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1284773472&sr=8-10

It teaches MySQL as well, which is something you will probably want to learn too as it pairs well with PHP. Also, most books from O'Reilly are excellent as well, if you don't like the link I posted. One of my favorites is this Cookbook-style book:

http://www.amazon.com/PHP-Cookbook-Solutions-Examples-Programmers/dp/0596101015/ref=pd_sim_b_10

It provides Question/Answer solutions to common PHP tasks; array manipulation, database access, number handling, security, etc.

Also, this is a Cookbook-style book for MySQL:

http://www.amazon.com/MySQL-Cookbook-Paul-DuBois/dp/059652708X/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1284774081&sr=1-1

The cookbooks are more of desktop references, so if I were you I wouldn't get them until I had gotten a pretty good handle on PHP and MySQL basics. That being said, there are still some great examples of the basics in the cookbooks. I guess it just depends on your personal preference.

Answer 3

Here are some good resource

• http://php.about.com/
• http://php.net
• Great and easy book would be link

Answer 4

The For Dummies series is usually good for getting started with. I know there are a few titles involving PHP or PHP and MySQL.

Answer 5

It would be nice if the book was only aimed at PHP and maybe MySQL

I found this a really good book(does focus mostly on PHP/MYSQL) that also teaches you to write professional PHP.

PHP Objects, Patterns and Practice

Answer 6

Personally, I think you should have multiple (perhaps not dozens, but definitely more than one) books as sources of info for any topic you study... Perhaps one book will describe a given topic in a way that's better suited to your learning style than the description in an alternate book might be... And you may find yourself switching back-and-forth between books... Anyway... With that in mind, I think you can't go wrong with materials from the following publishers: Sams (in ten minutes, in 24 hours, in 21 days, etc..) Apress (from Novice to Professional) Packt (usually specific sub-topics and applications) O'Reilly (all - "animal" series slightly more technical, "Head First" series a different approach altogether...)