Name: PHP and MySQL Web development
ISBN: 9780672329166

What Hacker News says

wuhhhApr 2026

Well over twenty years ago I decided I wanted to be a web developer. I've always learned best on my own an at my own speed, so I bought myself a copy of Welling & Thomas's book, PHP and MySQL Web Development (https://repository.unikom.ac.id/32751/1/php%20and%20mysql%20web%20dev.pdf). The book was just over 800 pages long, covering database design, security, e-commerce and so on. I read that thing cover to cover and returned to it many times in my first years starting out as a freelancer - it is probably the most useful book I've ever read in terms of what it unlocked for me "career" wise, though much of what I do in front of a screen is also a hobby for me.

Now, I'm looking for that experience again, I'd like a fat book on some new topic - could be web adjacent or something more obliquely related to programming. For context, I've just started running a Linux homelab and I'm finding gaps in my bash and sysadmin knowledge, I've also recently started dabbling with audio DSP in Rust - those might be good areas for suggestions - but I'm happy to hear any random recommendations!

Let this thread to be a space for both recommendations (preferably modern-ish editions) and publications that were pivotal for you in work and life.

One of the main reasons for posting is I'm seeing more and more content move online, but paging through digital books / websites and/or watching YouTube videos is just not the same as flipping through a good book for me.

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kaysonAug 2022

This really speaks to my heart. I learned programming as a young kid when my uncle taught my pascal. But I just couldn't see the point of console programs and never really got into it. Eventually I picked up late 90s HTML (hello geocities!) and php was a natural next step. I still remember going to the library to borrow the book PHP and MySQL web development. It was so empowering. I could make any kind of application I wanted and see the result in my browser, GUI and all (Win32 API was way beyond me at that age). I made my own forums, ebay clone, and a few web apps for an old Korean MMO.

Fast forward a few decades, and things look very different. Tons of web app backends being written in go, nodeJS/TS, and I recently learned people write them in rust+webasm. It's just crazy to me. I've worked on FOSS projects that are massively over-complicated because of their platform/language choice, when they would've been very straightforward php choices. But php still has this weird stigma about it despite most of the old concerns having been addressed.

I do have to say, though, that front end web development is way better than before with the advent of React and co, webpack, css libraries etc. Doing all that html/js/css by hand was always painful.

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timwaaghDec 2019

PHP and MySql Web Development and Real World Haskell are what you might consider formative for me.

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faroutFeb 2011

I went crazy too trying to learn everything. Everyone had the same advice: just use the Internet.

Try this book. it is phenomenal. Learning PHP, MySQL, and JavaScript: A Step-By-Step Guide to Creating Dynamic Websites http://www.amazon.com/Learning-MySQL-JavaScript-Step---Step/...

After you are done with that, try this book: PHP and MySQL Web Development http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Dst...

And after you are done with it. Beef up your css with this one:CSS Mastery: Advanced Web Standards Solutions http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Dst...

Once you are done with that, get your jQuery groove on with this: jQuery: Novice to Ninja http://www.amazon.com/jQuery-Novice-Ninja-Earle-Castledine/d...

then you can go on to jQuery cookbook and Professional JavaScript for Web Developers

Personally I love ruby for rails (ror) rather than php. But for development/sys admin and the developer community, I would stick with php. I have used cakephp which is ok. Not like RoR (which I pine for). But the development community is much nicer. If you decide to learn RoR go with: Head First Rails and Agile Web Development with Rails. There are some others that I have not read but are have good reviews in Amazon.

Oh yeah - stay away from Dreamweaver. What a piece of crap.

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mattybJul 2009

I'm a bookworm, so I sought out well-regarded books on Amazon. I started with 'PHP and MySQL Web Development' by Welling & Thomson, and could not have been happier. It's hefty (nearly 1,000 pages for the latest edition), but was well worth the time. Next up was 'PHP in Action', which is similar to the later chapters in Mark Pilgrim's Dive Into Python (one hell of a book, btw) and was coauthored by Chris Shiflett.

I've since read two of Ullman's books (PHP for the WWW and PHP 5 Advanced), the Powers books (PHP Solutions and PHP Object-Oriented Solutions), and Shiflett's 'Essential PHP Security' (the PHPSec guide is required reading also).

The two Apress Pro books ('PHP Objects, Patterns and Practice' and 'Pro PHP'), 'Essential PHP Tools', 'PHP5 Power Programming' (Andi Gutmans is a coauthor) and 'Advanced PHP Programming' by Schlossnagle are up next, although I'm currently working through SICP.

(Note: I switched to Postgres since reading Welling & Thomson; there are basically 10x as many MySQL books as PostgreSQL ones, unfortunately)

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DevFactorFeb 2015

Daily.

Before enrolling at the UW, I was coding thanks to C# Primer Plus and PHP & MySQL web development.

Educational books have provided me employment opportunities (first coding job @ 100m+ company @ age 16 from self teaching) && recreational books have really changed the way I think about the world and problems (outliers, smartcuts).

Books inspired me to write, and publish my first coding book and more recently inspired me to start a free educational channel: https://www.youtube.com/devfactor

There is so much you can distill into a book, its difficult to match with other mediums.

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