Ever since it was created in 1995. PHP has been a favorite of developers for server-side web programming. In fact, in some surveys, it now stands as today's most popular web programming language. By most counts, over a million web sites have been written in PHP, including portions of today's largest, most recognizable sites, and often in tandem with MySQL as the database. As a result, there's a continuing demand for web developers who know how to use PHP and MySQL at the professional level. And with this book, you can become one of them.

This book was developed by the same team that authored Murach's JavaScript and DOM Scripting, and it has the same strong content organization that lets you focus on what you need to know, when you need to know it.

So it's a great first book in web programming if you're just starting out:

• It shows you how to get an Apache web server environment set up, so you can test the apps on your computer
• It gives you a quick-start course that shows you how to develop, test, and debug PHP applications that get data from a MySQL database...in just 6 chapters

Then, whether you're a beginning or experienced web developer, the rest of the book gives you a full set of professional PHP and MySQL skills:

• The 9-chapter section on PHP teaches you how to build web applications using all the skills that make for a smooth user experience...like how to handle forms, strings, dates, arrays, cookies, sessions, and exceptions
• The 5-chapter section on MySQL teaches you all the standard features you need to know for working with databases...like how to design and create a database and how to use SQL and PHP to work with database data
• The 4-chapter section on advanced skills teaches you how to handle professional requirements, like ensuring security, generating email, processing images, and working with code from other web sites (like YouTube videos)...and it culminates with a Guitar Shop web site that shows how everything in the book ties together

Regardless of what you're learning next, each chapter covers skills from the simple to the complex. So you can go deeper and deeper to gain a sophisticated set of web and database skills, at your own pace.

So don't wait! Get your copy right away. I think you'll be delighted at how quickly you'll be creating your own database-driven websites using PHP and MySQL.