Useful Books and Software

• Written for the budding web developer searching for a powerful, low-cost solution for building flexible, dynamic web sites.
• Essentially three books in one: provides thorough introductions to the PHP language and the MySQL database, and shows you how these two technologies can be effectively integrated to build powerful websites.
• Provides over 500 code examples, including real-world tasks such as creating an auto-login feature, sending HTML-formatted e-mail, testing password guessability, and uploading files via a web interface.
• Updated for MySQL 5, includes new chapters introducing triggers, stored procedures, and views.

From the Back Cover

Interested in becoming a master of the PHP language and MySQL database but don't know where to begin? This best-selling book ranks among the most thorough and practical guides in print, covering all of the key concepts and features, and showing you how to effectively integrate PHP and MySQL to build powerful web sites.

The book begins with a vast overview of PHP's capabilities, starting with a survey of the installation and configuration process on both the Windows and Linux platforms. Next, several chapters are devoted to basic PHP concepts, including variables, datatypes, arrays, functions, string manipulation, and processing user input. Other key PHP topics are also covered, including PEAR, session handling, LDAP integration, the Smarty templating engine, Web services, and PDO.

Next up is a presentation of MySQL's key features. You're first guided through MySQL's installation and configuration process, and are presented with an introduction to its storage engines, datatypes, administration utilities, security features, and data import/export facilities. New MySQL 5�specific chapters have been added in this edition, covering triggers, stored procedures, and views. Along the way, you'll gain insight into PHP's assortment of MySQL functions (using both the mysql and mysqli extensions), and learn how to create and execute queries, perform searches, and carry out key database tasks from within your Web application.

What You Will Learn from This Book

• Install and configure Apache, PHP, and MySQL on both Windows and Linux.
• Accept and process information submitted via HTML forms.
• Authenticate users and track user preferences and data using PHP's session-handling capabilities.
• Process web-based file uploads using the HTTP_Upload PEAR package.
• Create your own RSS aggregator using Magpie, and process XML files in amazingly efficient fashion using SimpleXML.
• Use both command-line and graphical MySQL clients to effectively manage your data.
• Secure the MySQL server, creating roles and restricting access even at very granular levels.
• Effectively integrate PHP and MySQL to create dynamic, data-driven web applications.

New Price: $19.69 / Used Price: $10.48

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As the industry standard book on PHP, all of the essentials are covered in a clear and concise manner. Language syntax and programming techniques are coupled with numerous examples that illustrate both correct usage and common idioms. With style tips and practical programming advice, this book will help you become not just a PHP programmer, but a "good" PHP programmer. "Programming PHP, Second Edition" covers everything you need to know to create effective web applications with PHP. Contents include: Detailed information on the basics of the PHP language, including data types, variables, operators, and flow control statements Chapters outlining the basics of functions, strings, arrays, and objects Coverage of common PHP web application techniques, such as form processing and validation, session tracking, and cookies Material on interacting with relational databases, such as MySQL and Oracle, using the database-independent PEAR DB library and the new PDO Library Chapters that show you how to generate dynamic images, create PDF files, and parse XML files with PHP Advanced topics, such as creating secure scripts, error handling, performance tuning, and writing your own C language extensions to PHP A handy quickreference to all the core functions in PHP and all the standard extensions that ship with PHP

Praise for the first edition:

"If you are just getting into the dynamic Web development world or you are considering migrating from another dynamic web product to PHP, "Programming PHP" is the book of choice to get you up, running, and productive in a short time."

--Peter MacIntrye, eWeek

"I think this is a great book for programmers who want to start developing dynamic websites with PHP. It gives a detailed overview of PHP, lots of valuable tips, and a good sense of PHP's strengths."

--David Dooling, Slashdot.org

PHP is far more than a cult language or open-source icon. It's a remarkably capable language that's well integrated with lots of technologies--notably mSQL and MySQL database servers--and quite easy to learn. Programming PHP helps you up the PHP learning curve, very nearly guaranteeing that you'll find in its pages an example that illustrates every fundamental aspect of the language and its most important extension modules. Plus, there's some cool advanced stuff, like recipes for manipulating images, working with Extensible Markup Language (XML) content, and generating Adobe Acrobat (PDF) files. Rasmus Lerdorf invented PHP and quarterbacks its ongoing evolution, so there's little question of the content's authority.

The authors use a Talmudic style to explore PHP's capabilities and explain them to their readers, meaning that they like to present code and commentary in close formation, with each enhancing the other. Typically, they'll present a capability generically and show the relevant code. Then they'll dig into variations on the theme, calling attention to required code alterations as they go. This is a book about PHP itself, so practically no attention is paid to PHP Builder or other development tools. Regardless, this book will help you solve programming challenges with PHP, and enable you to write efficient, attractive code. --David Wall

Topics covered: The PHP programming language, for people who are coming to PHP with a bit of programming experience in other languages or who want to expand their existing PHP knowledge beyond the basics. Sections deal with the core language, as well as HTTP session management, database connectivity (to MySQL and Oracle, as well as with PHP Extension and Application Repository--PEAR), graphics file manipulation, XML parsing, and PDF creation. There are instructions for building a PHP extension library in C, as well as a function reference and guide to existing extensions.

Publisher: O'Reilly Media, Inc.
Authors: Rasmus Lerdorf, Kevin Tatroe, Peter MacIntyre
Release Date: 2006-04-28
ISBN/EAN: 0596006810 / 9780596006815

New Price: $22.87 / Used Price: $21.86

Over the years the book has helped countless programmers learn:

how to support computer peripherals under the Linux operating system

how to develop and write software for new hardware under Linux

the basics of Linux operation even if they are not expecting to write a driver

The new edition of "Linux Device Drivers" is better than ever. The book covers all the significant changes to Version 2.6 of the Linux kernel, which simplifies many activities, and contains subtle new features that can make a driver both more efficient and more flexible. Readers will find new chapters on important types of drivers not covered previously, such as consoles, USB drivers, and more.

Best of all, you don't have to be a kernel hacker to understand and enjoy this book. All you need is an understanding of the C programming language and some background in Unix system calls. And for maximum ease-of-use, the book uses full-featured examples that you can compile and run without special hardware.

Today Linux holds fast as the most rapidly growing segment of the computer market and continues to win over enthusiastic adherents in many applicationareas. With this increasing support, Linux is now absolutely mainstream, and viewed as a solid platform for embedded systems. If you're writing device drivers, you'll want this book. In fact, you'll wonder how drivers are ever written without it.

Updated to cover version 2.4.x of the Linux kernel, the second edition of Linux Device Drivers remains the best general-purpose, paper-bound guide for programmers wishing to make hardware devices work under the world's most popular open-source operating system. The authors take care to show how to write drivers that are portable--that is, that compile and run under all popular Linux platforms. That, along with the fact that they're careful to explain and illustrate concepts, makes this book very well suited to any programmer familiar with C but not with the hardware-software interface. It's worth noting that the emphasis in the title is on "device drivers" as much as "Linux." This book will make sense to you if you've never written a driver for any platform before. It helps if you have some Linux or Unix background, but even that is secondary as a prerequisite to C skill.

For a programming text--and one concerned with low-level instructions and data structures, at that--this book is remarkably rich in prose. You'll typically want to read this book straight through, more or less skipping the code samples, before sketching out your plan for the driver you need to write. Then, go back and pay closer attention to the sections on specific details you need to implement, like custom task queues. For coding-time details about specific system calls and programming techniques, count on the index to point you to the right passages. --David Wall

Topics covered: Techniques for writing hardware device drivers that run under Linux kernels 2.0.x through 2.2.x. Sections show how to manage memory, time, interrupts, ports, and other details of the hardware-software interface.

Publisher: O'Reilly Media, Inc.
Authors: Jonathan Corbet, Alessandro Rubini, Greg Kroah-Hartman
Release Date: 2005-02-07
ISBN/EAN: 0596005903 / 9780596005900

New Price: $21.49 / Used Price: $11.82

In addition, it covers a lot of tips, strategies and best practices for Struts based application design and development, many of them not found elsewhere. It tells you how to fill the gaps in Struts and what features are important in J2EE projects.

The book provides a robust exception handling strategy that is production-ready. You will learn how to edit List based forms in Struts. You will also see how to use Paging framework with Struts and neat tricks. You will see when does customizing Struts really make sense in real projects.

What's inside
Struts basics - architecture, validation, tags, I18N
Best Practices for designing Action classes
Action chaining
Robust exception handling with Struts
Using Image buttons in Forms
List Forms
Paging libraries for Struts
Handling Duplicate Form submission in generic way
Customizing Struts

Publisher: ObjectSource Publications
Authors: Srikanth Shenoy, Nithin Mallya
Release Date: 2004-02
ISBN/EAN: 0974848808 / 9780974848808

New Price: n.a. / Used Price: $14.47

Each technology has uses outside of this context, of course, but within it they form something greater than the sum of their parts. This book shows you how to take full advantage of this power, walking you through all the steps required to lay your Linux foundation, install and configure your Apache web server, and then begin using PHP to access content stored in MySQL. Here are a few of the specific topics you'll find covered inside:

• Installing and configuring qmail with support for IMAP, POP3, SMTP, virtual domains, spam filtering, and antivirus
• Managing system users and groups
• Configuring your network
• Creating a custom firewall script using IP tables
• Recognizing when a system is in distress
• Handling MySQL database replication
• Configuring virtual domains
• Writing a basic PHP script that integrates with MySQL

If you're new to all of this, you'll quickly get to where you need to be to start developing and deploying the higher-level pieces of your web application. Even if you have experience with one or all of these technologies, this book—including its quick-start installation appendix—is a resource you'll want close by whenever you're setting up or fine-tuning your LAMP system.

Publisher: Sybex
Authors: Eric Rosebrock, Eric Filson
Release Date: 2004-07-22
ISBN/EAN: 0782143377 / 9780782143379

New Price: $10.45 / Used Price: $5.32

• Installation and startup procedures



• Configuring Tomcat-including realms, roles, users, servlet sessions, and JNDI resources including JDBC DataSources



• Deploying web applications-individual servlets and JSP pages, and web application archive files



• Tuning Tomcat to measure and improve performance



• Integrating Tomcat with Apache Web Server



• Securing Tomcat to keep online thugs at bay



• Tomcat configuration files-server.xml and web.xml, and more



• Debugging and Troubleshooting-diagnosing problems with Tomcat or a web application



• Compiling your own Tomcat, rather than using the pre-built release



• Running two or more Tomcat servlet containers in parallel

New Price: $21.43 / Used Price: $23.91

Apache Server For Dummies is your blueprint to providing dynamic content on the Web with Apache. Topics covered include installing the Apache Web server, using CGI and Perl scripts, creating password-protected Web pages, troubleshooting, documenting access to your Web server, and monitoring server activity.

The CD-ROM that accompanies Apache Server For Dummies features the latest version of the Apache Web server software, the GNU ANSI C compiler, debugging tools and utilities, reference materials, and much more.

Publisher: For Dummies
Author: Ken A. L. Coar
Release Date: 1998-01
ISBN/EAN: 0764502913 / 9780764502910

New Price: $60.46 / Used Price: $17.87

• Showcases three fully functional Web site examples, with implementations for both Windows and Linux, that readers can incorporate into their own projects
• Updates include a new chapter on PHP5 features and functions, a new example Web site application, and updates to PHP5 throughout the text

New Price: $28.65 / Used Price: $18.00

Security is an issue that demands attention, given the growing frequency of attacks on web sites. Essential PHP Security explains the most common types of attacks and how to write code that isn't susceptible to them. By examining specific attacks and the techniques used to protect against them, you will have a deeper understanding and appreciation of the safeguards you are about to learn in this book.

In the much-needed (and highly-requested) Essential PHP Security, each chapter covers an aspect of a web application (such as form processing, database programming, session management, and authentication). Chapters describe potential attacks with examples and then explain techniques to help you prevent those attacks.

Topics covered include:

• Preventing cross-site scripting (XSS) vulnerabilities
• Protecting against SQL injection attacks
• Complicating session hijacking attempts

You are in good hands with author Chris Shiflett, an internationally-recognized expert in the field of PHP security. Shiflett is also the founder and President of Brain Bulb, a PHP consultancy that offers a variety of services to clients around the world.

New Price: $16.27 / Used Price: $12.94