If you have a knack for programming and want to learn how to develop some cool web based applications using the latest technologies like PhP, MySQL, CSS, XHTML, and JavaScript/Ajax, this is just what the doctor ordered. Apress has just released a highly rated and recommended book aptly titled - Practical Web 2.0 Applications with PHP.
The book has been written by Quentin Zervaas. There is not much information available about the author but the book’s web page has the following to say about the author’s work,
In Practical Web 2.0 Applications with PHP, PHP, MySQL, CSS, XHTML, and JavaScript/Ajax development techniques are brought together to show you how to create the hottest PHP web applications, from planning and design up to final implementation, without going over unnecessary basics that will hold you back. This book includes must–have application features such as search functionality, maps, blogs, dynamic image galleries, and personalized user areas. The Zend Framework is used extensively to build the application, allowing you to focus on developing the application rather than on reinventing the wheel.
Additionally the book covers complete application planning and setting up the framework. It also has a hands on tutorial on CSS, which decides the look and feel of the website, using JavaScript to implement dynamic effect, (I have used JS to implement client side validation of the forms primarily and populating fields like zip code etc.), embedding tools like maps and making use of APIs from other sites like Google etc.
Those who have developed applications earlier would know about the MVC architecture mentioned in the book. MVC stands for Model View Controller and is one of the most popularly used frameworks in building software applications for the way it separates the building blocks of the application.
The whole game plan with the book is to get you started asap with real world applications but at the same time the focus is on those developers who want to stay ahead of the curve with practical, high level development. Which implies you need to have some preliminary knowledge and programming experience to take the maximum benefit out of this book.
The online webpage of the book has an errata section where users of the book can submit anomalies in the book, which would then be used to improve and work upon the next edition of the book. Since the book has been launched recently, nobody has submitted any errors so far.
This book can be a good investment by those in the web programming industry or still in college interested in web technologies and hoping to launch that next great killer app from the garage
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