PHP & MySQL: The Missing Manual

If you can build websites with CSS and JavaScript, this book takes you to the next level—creating dynamic, database-driven websites with PHP and MySQL. Learn how to build a database, manage your content, and interact with users through queries and web forms. With step-by-step tutorials, real-world examples, and jargon-free explanations, you’ll soon discover the power of server-side programming.

The important stuff you need to know:

• Get a running start. Write PHP scripts and create a web form right away.
• Learn the language. Get up to speed on PHP and SQL syntax quickly.
• Build a database. Use MySQL to store user information and other data.
• Make it dynamic. Create pages that change with each new viewing.
• Be ready for mistakes. Plan error messages to help direct users.
• Manage your content. Use the file system to access user data, including images and other binary files.
• Control operations. Create an administrative interface to oversee your site.

Brett McLaughlin is a bestselling and award-winning non-fiction author. His books on computer programming, home theater, and analysis and design have sold in excess of 100,000 copies. He has been writing, editing, and producing technical books for nearly a decade, and is as comfortable in front of a word processor as he is behind a guitar, chasing his two sons and his daughter around the house, or laughing at reruns of Arrested Development with his wife.

Brett spends most of his time these days on cognitive theory, codifying and expanding on the learning principles that shaped the Head First series into a bestselling phenomenon. He's curious about how humans best learn, why Star Wars was so formulaic and still so successful, and is adamant that a good video game is the most effective learning paradigm we have.