Advanced Ajax: Architecture and Best Practices Review

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Advanced Ajax: Architecture and Best Practices Review"Advanced AJAX" is targeted towards AJAX application architects. Note that readers should be comfortable learning by reading code. For example, chapter 1 has two pages of code for a GUI widget. This seems heavy for a conceptual book. Elsewhere, the main idea got lost in six pages of view code.
I liked the non-technology specific sections. Browser tools included Safari and Opera plugins. All the "hot" security topics were covered (SQL injection, XSS, CSRF.) Tradeoffs were listed for different alternatives. Performance included CPU, memory and bandwidth. Trying out examples on the companion website was nice.
Many server side techniques were PHP specific, such as SQL injection. While six pages of code is good for PHP developers, I was surprised. The code was readable without being fluent in PHP, but unnecessarily narrows the audience. The 15 pages of screenshots/description on the PHP documentation tool could have been used for another topic. Wouldn't a PHP developer already know how to use PHP?
While I liked the presence of an accessibility chapter, I found it confusing. WCAG and Section 508 were introduced clearly early in the chapter. For the rest of the chapter, I wasn't clear on what pertained to WCAG, what was 508 complaint and what was coming in the future.
If you are a hands on PHP AJAX developer interested in architecture, this is an excellent book. Non-PHP developers or people who want to focus on architecture (rather than code) are better off with a different book.Advanced Ajax: Architecture and Best Practices Overview"I very much enjoyed how this book covers the full Ajax application lifecycle and not only coding techniques. Anyone who is looking to become a professional front-end developer will appreciate the architectural insight and best practices delivered by this book."— Andi Gutmans, Co-Founder & Co-Chief Technology Officer of Zend TechnologiesMission-Critical Ajax: Maximizing Scalability, Performance, Security, Reliability, and MaintainabilityAdvanced Ajax: Architecture and Best Practices is the definitive guide to building business-critical, production-quality Web applications with Ajax. Shawn M. Lauriat systematically addresses the design, architecture, and development issues associated with Ajax, offering proven patterns and robust code examples available in no other book. You'll find best practices for addressing the full spectrum of issues enterprise Ajax developers face: scalability, performance, security, reliability, flexibility, maintainability, and reusability. Writing for experienced Web developers, Lauriat delivers fresh ideas and elegant solutions: meaty technical content, presented with exceptional clarity. Among the many topics he covers in unprecedented depth: cleanly implementing JavaScript custom events to reduce coupling and to enhance flexibility; overcoming Ajax's traditional accessibility limitations; reducing network latency through compression and other techniques; and much more. Coverage includesPlanning Ajax interfaces for simplicity, clarity, and intuitiveness Creating scalable, maintainable architectures for client-side JavaScript Using the latest tools to profile, validate, and debug client-side code Architecting the server side for security and functionality, while restricting loaded data, objects, and actions to current requests Protecting against the most widespread and significant Ajax security risks Optimizing every component of an Ajax application, from server-side scripts to database interactions Introducing cutting-edge Ajax: game development, Ajax with canvas, and Ajax for enterprise applicationsAbout the Web SiteThis book's companion Web site (http://advancedajax.frozen-o.com) doesn't just provide all the code: It shows code examples in action, as building blocks of a real Web application interface.

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Pro PHP XML and Web Services Review

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Pro PHP XML and Web Services ReviewThis is first and foremost an XML reference. The author takes the reader through over 100 pages XML background in the first three chapters, then an overview of a few utilities like XPath and XPointer before he touches on PHP. Having provided some grounding in the basics, he then proceeds to develop the use of XML in PHP from the basic topics of DOM (Document Object Model) and XSLT (Extensible Stylesheet Language Transformations) to the more advanced topics of SOAP (Simple Object Access Protocol) and web services.
Along the way Richards introduces the reader to utility classes like SimpleXML, SAX (Simple API for XML), XMLReader. He also touches on PEAR (PHP Extension and Application Repository) utility classes and topics like security, RSS (Really Simple Syndication) and UDDI (Universal Description, Discovery and Integration). The author's examples are reasonably concise and readable; making the necessary points without getting carried away.
The bottom line is that this is a highly effective reference (that means fairly comprehensive, but dry reading; I read cover to cover, but it was relatively tedious) on XML and its varied uses in association with PHP. This is not a book for the newcomer to programming, nor is it a cookbook for examples for the casual programmer/web developer, although the author does provide PEAR examples for connecting with major web services like Amazon, Google and Yahoo (among others). My suggestion for readers is to review what you need of the first 11-12 chapters to ensure a firm grounding in XML, and then hop to the chapters specific to the problem being faced.
P-)Pro PHP XML and Web Services Overview
Pro PHP XML and Web Services is the authoritative guide to using the XML features of PHP 5 and PHP 6. No other book covers XML and Web Services in PHP as deeply as this title. The first four chapters introduce the core concepts of XML required for proficiency, and will bring you up to speed on the terminology and key concepts you need to proceed with the rest of the book. Next, the book explores utilizing XML and Web Services with PHP5. Topics include DOM, SimpleXML, SAX, xmlReader, XSLT, RDF, RSS, WDDX, XML-RPC, REST, SOAP, and UDDI.

Author Robert Richards, a major contributor to the PHP XML codebase, is a leading expert in the PHP community. In this book, Richards covers all topics in depth, blending theory with practical examples. You'll find case studies for the most popular web services like Amazon, Google, eBay, and Yahoo. The book also covers XML capabilities, demonstrated through informative examples, in the PEAR libraries.

Table of Contents
Introduction to XML and Web Services
XML Structure
Validation
XPath, XPointer, XInclude, and the Future
PHP and XML
Document Object Model (DOM)
SimpleXML
Simple API for XML (SAX)
XMLReader
Extensible Stylesheet Language Transformations (XSLT)
Effective and Efficient Processing
XML Security
PEAR and XML
Content Syndication: RSS and Atom
Web Distributed Data Exchange (WDDX)
XML-RPC
Representational State Transfer (REST)
SOAP
Universal Description, Discovery, and Integration (UDDI)
PEAR and Web Services
Other XML Technologies and Extensions


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WordPress Complete: A comprehensive, step-by-step guide on how to set up, customize, and market your blog using WordPress Review

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WordPress Complete: A comprehensive, step-by-step guide on how to set up, customize, and market your blog using WordPress Review"Complete" in no way describes this book. I have yet to find any mention of tagging, sessions, pages, or many other important aspects of WP. Part of the problem is that the book's index is almost non-existent. In all fairness, the author says that the book is for beginners; that said, the author spends far too much time reiterating the easy stuff (installation, how to create a basic blog entry, etc) that is explained for free on the WP web site (and dare I say in a much clearer way). Also, the figures look like they were printed-on-demand on a laser printer; this is not acceptable for a price tag like this (cf. O'Reilly's production values). I returned it right away.WordPress Complete: A comprehensive, step-by-step guide on how to set up, customize, and market your blog using WordPress OverviewWordPress is a simple and powerful way to start blogging. If you're not an IT expert but want to use a state-of-the-art blogging system to give your blog the best chance of success, while giving you the time to focus on content and your readers, WordPress is the right system for you, and this book is the right place to start. It will give you a rapid and straightforward introduction to the rich and powerful features of WordPress and get you up and running with a state-of-the-art blog as quickly and painlessly as possible. This book is a beginner's guide to WordPress, for people who are new to blogging and want to create their own blogs in a simple and straightforward manner. It does not require any detailed knowledge of programming or web development, and any IT-confident user will be able to use the book to produce an impressive blog.

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Building Online Communities With Drupal, phpBB, and WordPress Review

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Building Online Communities With Drupal, phpBB, and WordPress ReviewWhen I picked up this book I knew what phpBB was (my main reason for getting the book), but the other two applications were foreign to me. So, let me start off by briefly pointing out what each application is and does:
- Drupal is a CMS, content management system, (think Wikipedia) that allows users to input and update information
- phpBB is bulletin board software (very much like Invision or Jolt from surface appearances)
- WordPress is blogging software (do I really need to say more after 2005, the year of the Blog)
The publisher has chosen to group what amounts to three separate books on three open source applications together based upon the 'community' aspects that they engender, allowing groups of users to come together to post, comment and counter-comment.
The book is effectively a collected user manual for these three applications, but that does not really go far enough. Yes, the material for each is available online, but this book collects the documentation together in a user friendly manner. Anyone that has tried to install and operate a complex piece of software based upon the canned manuals can appreciate the complexity involved. Using this book is essentially like having an experienced guru looking over your shoulder offering advice as you go through the process. This can be the difference between 30-60 minutes of simple work and 5-6 hours of confusion, frustration and ranting.
Add to this the advice on configuration and usage/management for avoiding pitfalls and achieving best case results, and this book can pay for itself in no time (I bill at $50 an hour and consider my personal time even more valuable).
Bottom line, if you want to keep users on your site (i.e. not farm out these services), and want to use a CMS, bBoard, or Blog using open source software, it is worth your time to check out these options. If you then decide to use one of them, this book can save you a chunk of time and frustration.
P-)Building Online Communities With Drupal, phpBB, and WordPress OverviewWhether you want to build a community with a content management system, a bulletin board, or a blog, Building Online Communities with Drupal, phpBB, and WordPress is the authoritative guide using Open Source software. Drupal (http://www.drupal.org/) is a full content management system that allows you to create any type of web site you desire, from an eCommerce to a community-based site. With phpBB (http://www.phpbb.com/) you can set up a bulletin board or forum. And WordPress is fast becoming the software of choice for the exploding blog community. Building Online Communities with Drupal, phpBB, and Wordpress is authored by a team of experts, including Jared Smith, a long time support team member of the phpBBHacks.com web site who has been building sites with phpBB since the first beta releases, and Mike Little, the founder and a contributing developer of the WordPress project.

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PHP: The Complete Reference Review

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PHP: The Complete Reference ReviewPHP, The Complete Reference may be a good book to start learning from. In addition, it does touch on most of the major topics.
However, calling it "Complete" is a joke. I have been writing software for over 40 years, and this is the first language "reference" book I have found that does not fully describe the built-in functions supported by the language. For example, on pages 82-84 the author lists about 100 string functions in a 2 column table. The first column is the function name, and the 2nd column is a single phrase that states the purpose of the function. No syntax is shown, no arguments, no return value information and no usage information. In the few pages that follow, there are in-line examples of a couple of the 90+ functions.
The same is true for other groups of functions. Having to go online to find out information that should be in a "complete reference" obviates the need for a book. At the price charged for this book, you'd be better off using the abundant information available online.PHP: The Complete Reference Overview
Your One-Stop Guide to Web Development with PHP--Covers PHP 5.2

Build dynamic, cross-browser Web applications with PHP--the server-side programming language that's taken the Internet by storm. Through detailed explanations and downloadable code examples, this comprehensive guide shows you, step-by-step, how to configure PHP, create PHP-enabled Web pages, and put every advanced development tool to work.

PHP: The Complete Reference explains how to personalize the PHP work space, define operators and variables, manipulate strings and arrays, deploy HTML forms and buttons, and process user input. You'll learn how to access database information, track client-side preferences using cookies, execute FTP and e-mail transactions, and publish your applications to the Web. You'll also get in-depth coverage of PHP's next-generation Web 2.0 design features, including AJAX, XML, and RSS.

Install PHP and set up a customized development environment

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Beginning PHP and PostgreSQL 8: From Novice to Professional (Beginning: From Novice to Professional) Review

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Beginning PHP and PostgreSQL 8: From Novice to Professional (Beginning: From Novice to Professional) ReviewIf you are like me, you have probably dabbled in PHP and MySQL driven CMS solutions, simply because that combination is so prevalent. I consider myself to be primarily a front-end developer / graphic designer, and am not terribly interested in knowing every server-side language there is, so long as whatever I am using can get the job done. Suffice it to say that while I am eager to learn and expand my horizons, my exposure to more than LAMP has been limited.
So, when Jason Gilmore sent me a review copy of his latest book, that he co-authored with Robert Treat, I was glad to be learning about this powerful database. The title is Beginning PHP and PostgreSQL 8, and the structure of the text mirrors closely that of Jason's other best-selling book on PHP and MySQL 5, now in its second edition. To get a feel of the PHP aspect of both these books, read my other previous reviews on the First Edition and the Second Edition...
[...]
This saves me having to repeat myself, covering the PHP side of things as much. Suffice it to say that it is extensive and well worth reading. Now, allow me to focus on the second aspect of this book, PostgreSQL. While MySQL bosts being the world's most popular open source database, PostgreSQL has stake to the claim of being the world's most advanced open source database. Are these two in competition? Well, yes and no. I will expound further on that, but first a brief history lesson.
In 1986 at UC Berkeley, professor Michael Stonebreaker set out to build a better open source database than his previous project, called INGRES. Since the first project was a huge success, he decided to entitle the follow-up Post-GRES. So, while the first name was an acronym, Postgres is simply a derived nick-name that grew out of it. Postgres became so popular that providing tech support was becoming far too time consuming for Stonebreaker and his team. Eventually they ceased development to focus on teaching.
But, since it was released under the BSD license, development was picked up by Andrew Yu and Jolly Chen, who added in SQL functionality. Eventually this hybrid grew into the PostgreSQL database we know today. Their mantra has always been stability first, speed second. Whereas MySQL is built for responsiveness, PostgreSQL is designed to be rock-solid. This mentality is reflected in the choices of database mascots: a Dolphin vs. an Elephant.
You might have been hearing about PostgreSQL more lately because of the rising interest around the Django Project, which recommends PG as their database of choice. While it is of course driven by Python and not PHP, this further illustrates the scalable versatility of PostgreSQL. When reading this book, I was blown away by some of the server strain that PG can handle.
Consider these examples: Afilias Incorporated, the Internet registrar company responsible for managing the .info domain name extension, handles over 1000 database inserts per second! The NOAA weather service Weather.gov has scaled their operations across 150 PG servers. Whitepages.com runs PG databases exceeding 375 gigabytes with over 250 million rows. Big newspaper sites also run PG, such as Lawrence.com, KUSports.com and LJWorld.com.
Mega-churches such as FellowshipChurch.com also make use of PostgreSQL. When you have 20,000 people that go to your church, each one needing to check up on what's happening on a dynamically driven PHP website, that can be quite a server strain. To handle this, you either need an expensive proprietary platform, or a scalable open source solution. Fellowship opted to roll their own CMS and power it with PG.
Okay, so now you get the point that PostgreSQL is a force to be reckoned with. Allow me to touch briefly on the code aspects of what I thought was cool in this book. Robert has done a great job of flowing with Jason's proven writing-style. Many times, multi-author books differing topics can seem disjointed, but that is not the case here. He explains things very thoroughly without mincing words.
One of the cool features of PG is Multi Version Concurrency Control or MVCC for short. This allows "snapshots" of your database to be taken at set intervals, so that you can serve up cached data without repeatedly hitting the database, risking a hardware lock-up. This is commonly referred to as the "Digg Effect" or becoming a victim of being "Slashdotted," in which high-traffic websites send a flurry of incoming visitors to a lesser server which cannot handle the load.
PostgreSQL also supports MySQL style row-level locking, but the MVCC method is preferred because of its stability. Another nice feature is the ability to store commonly used queries, and even create abbreviations for frequently called procedures. You could think of it like referring to a best friend by a nick-name. This set of features has been native to PG for some time now, and is something that MySQL has recently implemented as of version 5.
The way I think of the differences between MySQL and PostgreSQL is that PG is a more transactional database. Meaning, if you want large enterprise level sites that handle many insertions and modifications throughout any given day, PostgreSQL is probably the way to go. MySQL can do this with with the InnoDB table type, but PG has better native support for it. PG also sports Foreign key support, Views, Stored procedures, Triggers, Unions and Full joins.
On the flip-side of that coin is that MySQL is typically a bit faster, has a more simplified database layout, and does not require vacuuming. Vacuum is a command that must be run from time to time, and typically is set as an automated process. One of the ways PG maintains consistent stability is through the previously mentioned MVCC method, which disperses duplicate data in order to avoid hitting one particular location repeatedly. Periodically, these duplicates need to be reigned in or vacuumed, to clean up disk space.
In comparing PostgreSQL with MySQL side by side, there is not a clear-cut winner, because it is a bit like comparing apples and oranges. If you want a fast and responsive site, MySQL is probably the way to go. If you are managing one that has a high amount of traffic and needs to handle enterprise level or "mission critical" data, PostgreSQL should be one of the solutions you consider. I think of it this way: MySQL is a ninja, PostgreSQL is a samurai. One is quick and nimble, the other more heavily armored. If you want to learn more about the latter, then this is the book for you; Also available as an eBook, PDF file from the Apress website...
[...]Beginning PHP and PostgreSQL 8: From Novice to Professional (Beginning: From Novice to Professional) OverviewBeginning PHP 5 and PostgreSQL 8 is the first and most comprehensive book to delve into the latest versions of two popular open source web development technologies, the PostgreSQL 8 database server and PHP 5 scripting language. Readers reap the knowledge of these core technologies and gain valuable insight into how they are used in unison to create dynamic data-driven web applications.This is an ideal guide for the web designer, programmer, hobbyist, or novice who wants to learn how to create applications with PHP 5 and PostgreSQL 8.

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PHP5 and MySQL Bible Review

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PHP5 and MySQL Bible ReviewWhile I'm not finished reading it all (over 1,000 pages) I have to say that I now understand PHP and MySQL so much better than before. I previously purchased the "Visual Quickstart Guide - PHP" and "Visual Quickpro Guide - Advanced PHP" but have to say this book is so much better. It goes through everything you need to know in seperate chapters and provides text on the why's and how's of PHP. For anyone who has tried taking the advice of many and "RTFM" but has become overwhelmed, this book is great. (I'm definitly not saying forget the online manual; it is essential.)
Thank you PHP5 and MySQL Bible.PHP5 and MySQL Bible Overview
This comprehensive tutorial and reference covers all the basics of PHP 5, a popular open source Web scripting language, and MySQL 4.012, the most popular open source database engine
Explores why users need PHP and MySQL, how to get started, how to add PHP to HTML, and how to connect HTML Web pages to MySQL
Offers an extensive tutorial for developing applications with PHP and MySQL
Includes coverage of how to install, administer, and design MySQL databases independently of PHP; exception and error handling; debugging techniques; PostgreSQL database system; and PEAR database functions
The authors provide unique case studies of how and where to use PHP drawn from their own extensive Web experience


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PHP6 and MySQL Bible Review

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PHP6 and MySQL Bible ReviewHello.
I am a web developer with experience in multiple languages.
I'd say, this book is good, but not "great", and definitely not a "bible" (if you consider the bible a good thing).
PROS
---Part 1(PHP) is very well organized, and gives you an ordered path to learn PHP.
---The same goes with part III(advanced PHP).
---It gives a chunk of useful PHP things at the end in part V.
CONS
---Part 2 was nearly horrifying. Seeing as how this book was written even before PHP 6 came out, you would assume the authors would stop using deprecated HTML tags. Also, when is says "PHP and MySQL", it means exactly that. The author is assuming you already know SQL, and tries to throw in the whole SQL language in maybe a chapter and a half.
YOU PICKS (Things I don't care about, but some people might, I didn't read most of these)
---Part IV has a bunch of chapters explaining how to work with other databases (postgreSQL, Oracle, etc)
---Part VI has some case studies(which I read, but you know...)
---The appendix has some references for C, Perl, Pear, and HTML backgrounds.
All in all, I think it is worth getting, but don't bother getting a $70 new copy thinking it will be a life-long reference... get the $5 used one, and when you're done, it probably won't have a very prominant place on your bookshelf.PHP6 and MySQL Bible OverviewMySQL is the leading open source database on the market and PHP continues to dominate the server side of the scripting market—together, they are the most popular and common team for creating dynamic, database-driven web sites. This comprehensive book covers the newest version of PHP and MySQL and is packed with extensive code examples, full working applications, and valuable troubleshooting advice. You'll explore installing, developing, and debugging the latest versions of PHP and MySQL and get insight on advanced topics such as error handling, debugging, PEAR, security, HTTP, cookies, and OOP.

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WordPress Plugin Development (Beginner's Guide) Review

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WordPress Plugin Development (Beginner's Guide) ReviewThis book talks about the why and how of WordPress plugin development with heavy emphasis on the "how". The book's tagline "Learn by doing: less theory, more results" describes the book quite well. There is an introductory chapter that talks about the many benefits of learning WordPress plugin development. After that, the book immediately jumps right into showing you how to develop a series of 6 increasingly challenging WordPress plugins from scratch. It then finishes up by talking about plugin localization, promotion, and support tips.
Even though this book is a "Beginner's Guide," there are a lot things in there that many advanced WordPress plugin developers can benefit from. I don't consider myself a beginner in WordPress plugin development (see my WordPress plugins), and I have definitely learned quite a bit of things after reading this book.
[...]WordPress Plugin Development (Beginner's Guide) OverviewBuild powerful, interactive plug-ins for your blog and to share online
Everything you need to create and distribute your own plug-ins following WordPress coding standards
Walk through the development of six complete, feature-rich, real-world plug-ins that are being used by thousands of WP users
Written by Vladimir Prelovac, WordPress expert and developer of WordPress plug-ins such as Smart YouTube and Plugin Central
Part of Packt's Beginners Guide series: expect step-by-step instructions with an emphasis on experimentation and tweaking code

In Detail
If you can write WordPress plug-ins, you can make WordPress do just about anything. From making the site easier to administer, to adding the odd tweak or new feature, to completely changing the way your blog works, plug-ins are the method WordPress offers to customize and extend its functionality. This book will show you how to build all sorts of WordPress plug-ins: admin plug-ins, Widgets, plug-ins that alter your post output, present custom "views" of your blog, and more.
WordPress Plug-in Development (Beginner's Guide) focuses on teaching you all aspects of modern WordPress development. The book uses real and published WordPress plug-ins and follows their creation from the idea to the finishing touches, in a series of carefully picked, easy-to-follow tutorials. You will discover how to use the WordPress API in all typical situations, from displaying output on the site in the beginning to turning WordPress into a CMS in the last chapter. In Chapters 2 to 7 you will develop six concrete plug-ins and conquer all aspects of WordPress development.
Each new chapter and each new plug-in introduces different features of WordPress and how to put them to good use, allowing you to gradually advance your knowledge. This book is written as a guide to take your WordPress skills from the very beginning to the level where you are able to completely understand how WordPress works and how you can use it to your advantage.
What you will learn from this book?

Get to know the WordPress code base, WordPress's plug-in architecture, and the plug-in application programming interface (API) and learn how to hack it
Master the WordPress database and the API - access and manipulate data, handle user roles and permissions, posts, and so on
Hook into the rest of WordPress using actions and filters
Change the way your WordPress backend looks by customizing menus, submenus, and the plug-in admin panel
Integrate AJAX and jQuery into your plug-ins to dynamically generate content
Hook directly to WordPress edit pages and use AJAX to generate fast searches
Integrate your plug-in with WordPress panels and the tinyMCE editor
Access and work with third-party APIs like Flickr
Implement localization support for users of other languages
Maintain and manage your plug-in using SVN and publish it to the WordPress Plugin Repository
Handle security issues and make your plug-ins safer to use
We cover the development of six plug-ins from start to finish:
Digg-this: Adds a Digg This button to each post.
Live Blogroll: Adds a recent posts popup for each blog in your blogroll.
The Wall widget: Displays comments on the sidebar without reloading the page.
Snazzy Archives: Presents your site archives in a unique visual way.
Insights: Access your articles and Flickr images from within the WordPress edit page.
Post Types: Provides pre-defined post templates to quickly add a photo or a link to your blog.
Approach
This is a Packt Beginners Guide, which means it focuses on practical examples and has a fast-paced but friendly approach, with the opportunity to learn by experiment and play. Each chapter builds a practical plug-in from the ground up using step-by-step instructions. Individual sections show you how to code some functionality into your plug-in and follow up with a discussion of concepts.
Who this book is written for?
This book is for programmers working with WordPress, who want to develop custom plug-ins and to hack the code base. You need to be familiar with the basics of WordPress and PHP programming and believe that code is poetry; this book will handle the rest.


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PHPEclipse: A User Guide: Take advantage of the leading open source integrated development environment to develop, organize, and debug your PHP web development projects. Review

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PHPEclipse: A User Guide: Take advantage of the leading open source integrated development environment to develop, organize, and debug your PHP web development projects. ReviewWhen you are first learning a new computer language such as PHP, you will want to complete each line of code and each phase of the program by hand and without using any shortcuts. This is the best way to learn. But as we all know, in the real world, we are all pressed for time. Many programmers turn to an IDE (integrated development environment) to keep them organized and to streamline the workflow. This book by Shu-Wai Chow will show you how to install, setup and use PHPEclipse which is a popular open source IDE for PHP programmers.
The author begins with an introduction to IDE's covering their main features and the pros and cons of using them. Following this, is an introduction to PHPEclipse, its history and architecture. Then the fun begins. Chow's tutorial-styled narrative walks you through each step as you install the main software; Apache, PHP, Java, Eclipse and PHPEclipse. I especially liked that he used the free, open source distribution/installation software called XAMPP which automates the installation of Apache, MySQL, PHP and Perl. He covers the installation for Windows, Mac and Linux. At this point you also install Java and PHPEclipse. Finally, he thoroughly discusses the user interface, the views (palettes) and dialog boxes and how you might want to customize these.
Once you have these installed, you begin to work on a real PHP application project which is a database driven website for an animal shelter. You learn how to set up this project's files and folders within PHPEclipse. Then you begin building the PHP code and supporting HTML, JavaScript and CSS files for the website. You also begin to work on the database, program objects and classes. Chow introduces some helpful tools at this point including WTP (Web Tools Platform project), HTML Tidy, Eclipse Tidy and phpDocumentor. I especially liked the phpDocumentor feature that builds the documentation for your application from your source code comments.
Debugging is the next topic and after an introduction to terms and concepts, Chow shows how to install and setup the DBG debugger. With this feature, you can use more sophisticated debugging practices than the basic echo ( ) function we all know so well. Chow walks you through a complete debugging session and discusses common strategies.
The next step is to turn PHPEclipse into a database client by the addition of the Quantum DB plug-in. Chow demonstrates how to use this with a relational database and how to perform common tasks such as writing SQL statements and manipulating tables.
Depending on your projects, you may or may not feel that you need the help of version control software to keep track of the changes made to your application. However, you will be surprised at how helpful this software is with even the simplest project. Chow helps you install, setup and use the CVS version control software with PHPEclipse and also discusses some common terms and concepts along the way. Lastly, Chow covers how to setup PHPEclipse to work with FTP, Secure FTP, WebDAV and Ant for publishing your new site.
As you can see, this book is more than just instructions on how to install these programs. It also gives you hands-on practice using them. You can download the complete application and sample files from the supporting website. Shu-Wai Chow has been working in the programming field for over eight years and is proficient in Java, JSP, PHP, ColdFusion, ASP, LDAP, XSLT and XSL-FO.PHPEclipse: A User Guide: Take advantage of the leading open source integrated development environment to develop, organize, and debug your PHP web development projects. OverviewPHPEclipse brings PHP functionality to the Eclipse platform, enhancing it as an environment for developing web applications and focusing on what PHP web developers need to create an application. PHPEclipse's development is active and its tool-set provides everything you need to write web applications in PHP. This book is written for PHP developers who want an open source development environment for creating web applications. You do not need any knowledge of Java or prior experience of Eclipse to use this book.

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Building PHP Applications with Symfony, CakePHP, and Zend Framework Review

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Building PHP Applications with Symfony, CakePHP, and Zend Framework ReviewAuthors undertook a difficult task of presenting the reader with the most common PHP frameworks. Three authors, and three frameworks there are.
The book walks you through many features of a modern PHP application. It has chapters on testing, and internationalization, which is something not all recent publications take into consideration. While reading, sooner or later you'll probably want to focus on one of the frameworks, and you can easily skip the other ones. What's good is that the book offers you choice, and you can get an actual feel of how a different framework looks from the inside out, without having to spend too much time going too deep into something you would not actually need.
Apart from the implementation details the book also contains the theory necessary to grasp the actual idea behind the code, like design patterns or some database theory. The code's also conveniently accessible from the publishers website, so it's easier to try it "on".
Overall I give it thumbs up, and recommend it to you if you want to start developing your own applications in any of the tree frameworks. And if you are already using one of them, to see what the other two are up to.Building PHP Applications with Symfony, CakePHP, and Zend Framework OverviewThe first detailed, unbiased comparison of the three leading PHP frameworks
Web developers have been eager for an impartial comparison of leading PHP frameworks so they can make educated decisions about the most effective tool for their needs. This guide uses Symfony, CakePHP, and Zend Framework to solve key problems, providing source code examples and comparisons for each. It explains the approach and reviews the similarities and differences in the three frameworks, providing reliable information on which to base your decisions.
Symfony, CakePHP, and Zend Framework are considered the leading PHP frameworks; developers need an unbiased comparison to choose which one works best for their individual situations
This guide uses each framework to solve the same problems, illustrating the solutions with source code examples and working applications
Covers wide range of topics, from installation and configuration to most advanced features like AJAX, web services and automated testing.
Includes an appendix of new PHP frameworks, including CodeIgniter, Lithium, and Agavi
Bestselling PHP author Elizabeth Naramore serves as technical editor

Comparison of PHP Web Frameworks provides the impartial, side-by-side comparison that developers have been looking for.

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Smashing WordPress: Beyond the Blog (Smashing Magazine Book Series) Review

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Smashing WordPress: Beyond the Blog (Smashing Magazine Book Series) ReviewLet me preface this review by saying this is NOT a beginner Wordpress book. That said, the folks who leave a mediocre review for this book due to this being over their head are ridiculous. If your looking for a book that teaches you "how to get started" with wordpress this is not your book. You will NOT find sections on how to create a post, add tags, install plugins, etcetera. This book is to teach you how to do advanced secure installs, understand the wordpress framework, template tags (the code snippets that make things work), how to create themes and plugins, and start working with some examples.
This book was an amazing for me because of where I am at in my wordpress development. Before reading this book I knew how to install wordpress, set up permalinks, work with .htaccess files, create posts, add plugins, and even do some minor tweaking. I did not however understand the core code concepts of wordpress that make it work, thus I could not advance beyond an "advanced beginner." When I would go to read advanced wordpress books they were all written in techie speak and I always ended up feeling lost.
Enter Smashing Wordpress:
From the moment I started reading this book it was right at the level I needed. I had finished my knowledge of the beginner to mid level stages of wordpress and Smashing Wordpress took me to a solid level of advanced wordpress techniques and theme/plugin building. It is written in PLAIN ENGLISH and not techie speak like most advanced technology books (please remember you must have a solid beginner level understanding or this book will seem complicated).
If your looking to start understanding all that code that makes themes and plugins work and you have a solid understanding of the basics of wordpress this book is for you.
From the very first chapter this book I stated to absorb the wordpress code concepts and advanced techniques I was craving to learn. I am half way through this book and I am quickly becoming the advanced wordpress theme creator that I have been wanting to be. (This book will also give you a solid ability to modify even the most advanced themes)
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED TO WORDPRESS USERS READY TO UNDERSTAND AND BUILD OR MODIFY WORDPRESS THEME AND PLUGINS.Smashing WordPress: Beyond the Blog (Smashing Magazine Book Series) OverviewSmashing WordPress shows you how to utilize the power of the WordPress platform, and provides a creative spark to help you build WordPress-powered sites that go beyond the obvious. The second edition of Smashing WordPress has been updated for WordPress 3.1+, which includes internal, custom post types, the admin bar, and lots of other useful new features. You will learn the core concepts used to post types, the admin bar, and lots of other useful new features. You will learn the core concepts used to build just about anything in WordPress, resulting in fast deployments and greater design flexibility.
Inside, WordPress expert Thord Daniel Hedengren takes you beyond d the blog and shows you how WordPress can serve as a CMS, a photo gallery, and e-commerce site, and more. This edition includes new and upgraded examples of cool WordPress usage.
You Will Learn How To:
Build Beautiful WordPress Themes, including Child Themes

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Web Application Obfuscation: '-/WAFs..Evasion..Filters//alert(/Obfuscation/)-' Review

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Web Application Obfuscation: '-/WAFs..Evasion..Filters//alert(/Obfuscation/)-' ReviewI had really no idea what to expect when I started reading Web Application Obfuscation (WAO). I hoped it would address attacks on Web technologies, perhaps including evasion methods, but beyond that I didn't even really know how to think about whatever problem this book might address. After finishing WAO, it's only appropriate to say "wow." In short, I had no idea that Web browsers (often called "user agents" in WAO) are so universally broken. Web browser developers would probably reply that they're just trying to handle as much broken HTML as possible, but the WAO authors show this approach makes Web "security" basically impossible. I recommend reading WAO to learn just how crazy one can be when interacting with Web apps.
Speaking of crazy: ch 4 was off the hook. For example, p 121 speaks of the "great Javascript Charwall" by saying: "6 is the fewest number of characters possible which allow arbitrary Javascript to be executed." What!? I had no idea anyone spent time on these sorts of issues, and worse, that intruders could use these techniques to evade a slew of security mechanisms. This was a primary strength of WAO: bringing the reader into a world where obfuscation is an obsession.
I liked many other aspects of WAO. The book was very thorough. For one example, check the table on p 27. For another, see the regex explanation with examples in ch 1. The book has many such sections where the authors offer great detail on the subject at hand. I also enjoyed the many references to outside work. Authors of all technical books should follow WAO's lead, because 1) it gives credit where due and 2) it shows the authors are aware of outside influences and up-to-date.
WAO also does a nice job explaining how we arrived at the current state of broken Web technologies. Their history lesson of the browser wars in ch 2 set the stage for the chaos that follows. I'll finish my praises by mentioning the Web site the authors created as a companion to the book, complete with errata and code listings; it's a nice addition to the book.
If you're wondering why I rated WAO four instead of five stars, the reason involves the audience. I think too often the authors advance pretty far beyond the uninitiated reader. You have to admit that if obfuscation is your world, you're probably not going to read this book. However, if you're a newbie like me, you need the authors to spend more time explaining what they're doing and more importantly, WHY. Just what is the purpose of this technique or that attack? I think if the authors recruited some outside help to walk through the book, slow them down, and answer some basic questions, a second edition would be an easy five star work.
On the production side, a new edition should redraw figures 5.2 - 5.14. They look like they came straight from a PowerPoint pitch.
Overall, WAO is a great book to shatter any assumptions you may have about how Web clients and servers render content. Maybe the authors would care to describe how best one can operate in such a dangerous environment, i.e., is their an OpenBSD for Web technologies? All of the engines seem bad -- what's a user to do?Web Application Obfuscation: '-/WAFs..Evasion..Filters//alert(/Obfuscation/)-' Overview
Web applications are used every day by millions of users, which is why they are one of the most popular vectors for attackers. Obfuscation of code has allowed hackers to take one attack and create hundreds-if not millions-of variants that can evade your security measures. Web Application Obfuscation takes a look at common Web infrastructure and security controls from an attacker's perspective, allowing the reader to understand the shortcomings of their security systems. Find out how an attacker would bypass different types of security controls, how these very security controls introduce new types of vulnerabilities, and how to avoid common pitfalls in order to strengthen your defenses.

Looks at security tools like IDS/IPS that are often the only defense in protecting sensitive data and assets
Evaluates Web application vulnerabilties from the attacker's perspective and explains how these very systems introduce new types of vulnerabilities
Teaches how to secure your data, including info on browser quirks, new attacks and syntax tricks to add to your defenses against XSS, SQL injection, and more


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PHP Cookbook: Solutions and Examples for PHP Programmers Review

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PHP Cookbook: Solutions and Examples for PHP Programmers ReviewThis is my first O'Reilly book in the "Cookbook" series. At first I thought this book would probably contain the code and instructions for building a couple of web applications such as a shopping cart or a blog engine. This isn't that book. Rather it provides the reader with code snippets that can be used as building blocks for all kinds of applications. If I had to describe this book in one sentence I would say it is as if the author took down all the "Hmm..., I wonder how that is done?" questions and created an answer key.
One thing I like about this book is that the authors don't waste the first few chapters trying to teach or give an overview of the language. Instead they hop right into the usage of the language that relates to real world stuff.
So here is a brief overview. The book covers PHP 5 and goes over many of the new and improved features. The first six chapters provide recipes for more basic subjects (strings, numbers, dates & times, arrays, variables, and functions. Again, this isn't an intro to PHP, that is another book such as Programming PHP from O'Reilly. This is that book you reach for once you have moved from PHP basics and are ready to build some real world stuff.
By chapter seven the authors are discussing classes and objects. I like using classes when coding in C++, so this is a good chapter for those who like OOP. The next nine chapters go over web stuff starting out with basic things like cookies, forms, and databases. Then the authors go into more advanced areas like session management, XML, automation and web services (REST, SOAP, Mail, FTP, LDAP, and DNS to name a few).
The next chapter [17] is on the topic of graphics. This is a cool chapter if you like to create dynamic images. Things like creating a button image on the fly, or generating charts. Graphics are great to have a knowledge of because everyone likes graphical presentation of data and this chapter can help you get there.
Chapter 18 is on security and encryption which I found rather helpful. No one wants there web application to be the link that allows data to be compromised, and this chapter deals with many of those problem areas. Chapter 19 covers localization, chapter 20 is on debugging and testing. The debugging section does a great job of getting a person setup with the tools they need to properly debug an application including creating your own exception class. This is an outstanding chapter that every programmer can appreciate since every application needs debugging.
The remaining chapters cover performance tuning, regular expressions, files, directories, command line PHP, PERL and PECL. Being a Perl guy I found it interesting to see how the authors utilized regular expressions in PHP. And the chapter on command-line PHP was outstanding; I thought the recipe for creating a PHP command shell was pretty cool.
CONCLUSION
--
This book is like having the answer key to most of the random questions a person comes up with when writing code. I found this book to be very useful, it will be one of those references that I keep close, and gets very little shelf time. It is a solid book. It is hard to say what parts I liked best because this is one of those books that you like and must have, but then as time goes on and you use it more and more its value grows. This is an excellent book and I would strongly recommend it the PHP users that want to move to the next level.PHP Cookbook: Solutions and Examples for PHP Programmers Overview
When it comes to creating dynamic web sites, the open source PHP language is red-hot property: used on more than 20 million web sites today, PHP is now more popular than Microsoft's ASP.NET technology. With our Cookbook's unique format, you can learn how to build dynamic web applications that work on any web browser. This revised new edition makes it easy to find specific solutions for programming challenges.

PHP Cookbook has a wealth of solutions for problems that you'll face regularly. With topics that range from beginner questions to advanced web programming techniques, this guide contains practical examples -- or "recipes" -- for anyone who uses this scripting language to generate dynamic web content. Updated for PHP 5, this book provides solutions that explain how to use the new language features in detail, including the vastly improved object-oriented capabilities and the new PDO data access extension. New sections on classes and objects are included, along with new material on processing XML, building web services with PHP, and working with SOAP/REST architectures. With each recipe, the authors include a discussion that explains the logic and concepts underlying the solution.


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Drupal 7 Module Development Review

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Drupal 7 Module Development Review(Full disclosure: The publisher of this book sent me a review copy)
This book will serve as a tremendously helpful introduction to Drupal programming for programmers. It does assume you know PHP, and warns you (or comforts you, depending) early on that there won't be much OOP here and there will be a lot of structured arrays. The chapters don't necessarily follow in order one to the next, and aren't explicitly linked one with another.
For programmers new to Drupal chapter one should be required reading. And while occasionally the book slips into "what's new" mode, for the most part the reader is considered a competent PHP coder but not necessarily someone fluent in Drupal programming.
The examples given throughout are mostly useful. One thing I hate about programming texts is when they show what the language/system can do with ridiculous examples. With the glaring exception of the Javascript chapter, this book does not stoop to such levels, instead giving real-world problems solved through the Drupal API.
The style of the book is nicely conversational. The overt humor is sparse, but at the same time you don't ever feel that you're sitting in a lecture hall. The authors seem quite well-versed in the material and aren't subjecting you to death-by-powerpoint-by-screenshot. They don't talk down to you, ever, guiding the reader through the API as a comrade. Even in the areas of security and best practice, when it would be easy to slip into browbeat mode, they resist, presenting facts instead of opinion and advice rather than orders.
The main problem I had with this book is that I feel there are parts missing. The book begins talking about how we'll use modern techniques, and mentions Drush, the Drupal shell, one of my favorite tools. And that's the last we'll here of it. Seriously. Even when the installation profile chapter says we can use profiles at the command line, we end up writing a command line PHP script instead of leveraging Drush. An oversight in the editing, perhaps, to mention it at all?
Also absent any real treatment is *contributing* rather than simply *developing*. A "10 minute git tutorial" appendix wouldn't have been out of line. There's no mention of how to be a good module maintainer, dealing with releases, submitting your module to drupal.org, or any such thing. While that's not necessarily within scope, such a discussion is noticeable in its absence, particularly when the community is perhaps the strongest thing about Drupal. Given the status of the authors as top-tier contributors, it's a curious omission.
There are some nitpicks, some spelling errors, wrong screenshots, and discussions of things (ie., drush) that just aren't there. No more, perhaps, than any other book of its size, and nothing that was too glaring or anything that would stop one in their tracks. We do occasionally slide away from coding standards (eg, after singing the praises of Doxygen comments earlier in the book, chapter seven contains no code comments at all), but it's nothing too big.
I was very happy to read through this book. It's well written by competent authors. It gets me excited to write some custom code of my own for Drupal 7. While there's not too much that will serve as a desk reference within the book (the authors are quick to point us to api.drupal.org, early and often), Drupal 7 Module Development is a worthy addition to the shelf and serves as a wonderful introduction to coding for Drupal.Drupal 7 Module Development OverviewThis book takes a hands-on, practical approach to software development. The authors, all professional Drupal developers and contributors to the Drupal project, provide accessible coding samples designed to exhibit not only the technical merits and abilities of Drupal, but also proper architectural and stylistic approaches to coding on one of the world's most popular content management systems. Every chapter provides fully functional code samples illustrating the APIs and strategies discussed in the chapter. With this foundation, developers can quickly build sophisticated tools on their own by making use of the strategies and techniques exemplified in this book. If you are a PHP developer or a Drupal user looking to dive into Drupal development then you will find this book an excellent introduction to coding within Drupal. Those with some Drupal experience will also find this an invaluable tool for updating their knowledge about the powerful new features of Drupal 7. Theme developers looking to extend their abilities will find this an accessible introduction to PHP coding within the Drupal environment. This book assumes that you are familiar with basic PHP programming, along with HTML and CSS. No experience with programming Drupal is required, although it is also a handy way for experienced Drupal developers to get up to speed with Drupal 7.

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PHP Bible, 2nd Edition Review

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PHP Bible, 2nd Edition ReviewI bought this book because I needed a good PHP reference, and I don't regret it. It is current through PHP 4.2 and it describes many features that are available in Zend Engine 2 (ZE2 wasn't released yet at time of publication).
It is an easy read (an important element often overlooked in technical references), without leaving out any of the requisite technical 'goodies', but I would have liked a little more in-depth advanced information. While technically correct, several 'advanced' topics only received the most superficial of explanations, and in one case, a common (and beguiling) misconception involving Object Oriented Programming techniques was explained away as "Obscure".
There are plenty of excellent discussions about the most awkward aspects of PHP development, and it is obvious that the authors are experienced web developers. I learned much that I didn't know, and I enjoyed the authors' candor when, in several instances, they admit that they were confused or stumped at first by one feature or another.
I think most beginning to intermediate web developers, whether independent or as part of a team, will find this book very useful and full of good information; but if you need a truly advanced understanding of PHP, you'd better look elsewhere.PHP Bible, 2nd Edition Overview* Covers why users need PHP, how to get started, how to add PHP to HTML, and how to connect HTML Web pages to MySQL or Oracle databases.* Authors have extensive experience using PHP and provide case studies of how and where to use PHP.* Covers advanced topics, such as HTTP, cookies, Web services, redirection, building graphics, and sessions.

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Professional WordPress Plugin Development Review

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Professional WordPress Plugin Development ReviewA formula for success:
1. Put together an idea and outline for a book that hasn't been covered in-depth before.
2. Gather three of the most talented WordPress developers/writers and have them write the book.
3. Release the book and watch the Elves return back to Middle Earth to rejoice with men.
Professional Plugin Development, written by Ozh Richard, Justin Tadlock, and Brad Williams, is a much-needed and very timely book.
There have been several aspiring developers that have approached me saying they needed a start-from-the-basics WordPress plugin development book. And while Professional Plugin Development does teach the basics of plugin development, it quickly moves on to much more complex topics.
The book covers the topics I care most about, such as:
* WordPress Plugin Foundation and Best Practices
* WordPress Security
* WordPress Actions and Filters (aka, hooks)
* And Ajax
But the book goes beyond basic plugin development. It teaches you about plugin options, CRON for scheduling common tasks, storing data (whether it is via post types, transients, or options), the HTTP API (for retrieving remote data), users (how to set up roles and capabilities), localization (err, internationalization), and how to test plugin performance.
For a novice PHP and WordPress developer, this is a good starting point. But don't think of this book as your way to learn PHP, jQuery, or even basic WordPress (there's WordPress for Dummies for that).
This is a book written by developers for developers. And I must say that I learned a lot from this book, and I've been developing WordPress plugins and themes for almost six years.
Here are the things I learned most from this book:
* The Why. I've used a lot of the techniques from the book before, but now I have a better understanding of why the techniques should be implemented. An example is security and WordPress coding best practices.
* Rewrites and Cron. These two topics escape me (no pun intended) for some reason, but I have a much better understanding of how everything works behind the scenes.
* Security. Security can not be stressed enough, and very solid security tips are sprinkled throughout the book (and the topic even receives treatment via its own dedicated chapter).
* Multisite. I've been working with multisite for almost a year now, and it's a topic I'm still learning in-depth. The chapter gives a great explanation of terms and common pitfalls.
Last, but certainly not least, the book goes into great detail for what you should do after you've released a plugin, whether you want to release it for free in the official WordPress repo, or have it available exclusively on your own site (whether commercial or free). The book explains marketing, how to set up automatic updates (albeit a bit glossed over), and how to get the plugin on the official repo.
This is a highly recommended book, whether it be the print version, or digital.Professional WordPress Plugin Development OverviewAs one of the most popular open source content management systems available today, WordPress boasts a framework that allows you to easily customize and extend it through plugins. This comprehensive book shows you how plugins work, reviews the tools and APIs available in WordPress, and demonstrates how to extend the functionality of WordPress with plugins.The trio of established authors provides a practical, solutions-based approach along with a collection of timely examples and plenty of code, all aimed at clearly explaining how to create a plugin file, work with users, integrate widgets, add menus and submenus, secure your plugins, and more. You will quickly come to understand how to develop custom plugins so that you can take WordPress to the next corporate and enterprise level.Professional WordPress Plugin Development:
Details the range of complexity in plugins, from a very simple plugin to an extremely elaborate social network package
Addresses how to integrate into WordPress, save settings, create widgets and shortcodes, and implement uninstall
Learn the proper techniques for storing data, customizing user roles, and security best practices
Shares techniques for using custom post types and creating and using custom taxonomies
How to create plugins for WordPress Multisite networks
Integrate user and role management
Explores the HTTP API, JavaScript and AJAX, Cron, the Rewrite API, and more


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PHP Objects, Patterns and Practice (Expert's Voice in Open Source) Review

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PHP Objects, Patterns and Practice (Expert's Voice in Open Source) ReviewIn terms of content, this is an excellent book. It is probably a little too heavy for absolute PHP beginners, unless you're already well-versed in other modern programming languages. For people who only know PHP, or who don't know any languages and are looking to start with PHP, you should make sure you have a strong grasp of procedural PHP before heading this way.
That being said, the Kindle version has one major issue: the code samples. They look like someone printed them out with a dot-matrix printer, then scanned them at 150 DPI, saved as BMPs to preserve all the visual errors on the scan, and pasted them into the book as images. In other words, the code samples are not text at all - they are really, really crappy images and you will often find yourself squinting to make out all the details of the fuzzy "text".
This isn't a dealbreaker - after all, any programming book you buy today has downloadable samples of all code available somewhere on the Internet... but it IS an annoyance. Why they couldn't produce the code in real text with an alternate font I have no idea. Why they couldn't present higher quality images of the code I also have no idea.
Suffice to say, if you buy this for the Kindle, expect 5 star content with 3 star presentation - thereby bringing us to 4 overall.PHP Objects, Patterns and Practice (Expert's Voice in Open Source) Overview
This book takes you beyond the PHP basics to the enterprise development practices used by professional programmers. Updated for PHP 5.3 with new sections on closures, namespaces, and continuous integration, this edition will teach you about object features such as abstract classes, reflection, interfaces, and error handling. You'll also discover object tools to help you learn more about your classes, objects, and methods.

Then you'll move into design patterns and the principles that make patterns powerful. You'll learn both classic design patterns and enterprise and database patterns with easy-to-follow examples.

Finally, you'll discover how to put it all into practice to help turn great code into successful projects. You'll learn how to manage multiple developers with Subversion, and how to build and install using Phing and PEAR. You'll also learn strategies for automated testing and building, including continuous integration.

Taken together, these three elements-object fundamentals, design principles, and best practices-will help you develop elegant and rock-solid systems.

What you'll learn
Learn to work with object fundamentals: writing classes and methods, instantiating objects, and creating powerful class hierarchies using inheritance.
Master advanced object-oriented features, including static methods and properties.
Learn how to manage error conditions with exceptions, and create abstract classes and interfaces.
Understand and use design principles to deploy objects and classes effectively in your projects.
Learn about design patterns, their purpose and structure, and the underlying principles that govern them.
Discover a set of powerful patterns that you can deploy in your own projects.
Learn about the tools and practices that can guarantee a successful project including unit testing; version control; build, installation, and package management; and continuous integration.

Who this book is for
This book is suitable for anyone with at least a basic knowledge of PHP who wants to use its object-oriented features in their projects.

Those who already know their interfaces from their abstracts may well still find it hard to use these features in their projects. These users will benefit from the book's emphasis on design. They will learn how to choose and combine the participants of a system, how to read design patterns, and how to use them in their code.

Finally, this book is for PHP coders who want to learn about the practices and tools (version control, testing, continuous integration, etc.) that can make projects safe, elegant, and stable.

Table of Contents
PHP: Design and Management
PHP and Objects
Object Basics
Advanced Features
Object Tools
Objects and Design
What Are Design Patterns? Why Use Them?
Some Pattern Principles
Generating Objects
Patterns for Flexible Object Programming
Performing and Representing Tasks
Enterprise Patterns
Database Patterns
Good (and Bad) Practice
An Introduction to PEAR and Pyrus
Generating Documentation with phpDocumentor
Version Control with Subversion
Testing with PHPUnit
Automated Build with Phing
Continuous Integration
Objects, Patterns, Practice


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MySQL Administrator's Bible (Bible (Wiley)) Review

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MySQL Administrator's Bible (Bible (Wiley)) ReviewSome background first: I've used MySQL for two decently-sized programming projects in the past, on the developer side. More recently I was hired to design, build and administer the back-end of a web application. MySQL seemed the natural choice. With background only in the developer's role, I had a huge amount to learn.
I started out by buying the MySQL Administrator's Guide and Reference:
http://www.amazon.com/MySQL-Administrators-Guide-Language-Reference/dp/0672328704/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1244855803&sr=8-4
and a more general book on Database Administration:
http://www.amazon.com/Database-Administration-Complete-Practices-Procedures/dp/0201741296/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1244855921&sr=8-1
The former was pretty terrible, and it's all available online anyways so there's absolutely no reason to buy it. Why is it so bad? Despite being written by MySQL, it is completely impractical and totally bogged down with details. I defy you to figure out how to efficiently back up your database by using that guide. I couldn't.
The latter was very useful for introducing concepts like data normalization and, while a little out of date, gives a quick sense of the products that are out there. I highly recommend it as a first read. but it's not MySQL specific - so where to go then?
Finally, I found this book. It took me about 1 minute to find the tools I would need to back up a database and another 10 seconds to find a detailed discussion of what's going on when you back up a database.
It's also very recent (as of 2009/06) - it really reflects the state of the tools out there and I was pleasantly surprised to find that all of the developments I had been reading about in my online research were reflected in the book. Instead of glossing over complex topics like MySQL Cluster, memcached, DRBD, Linux HA (see, I wasn't kidding about its coverage), it points you to external resources that are actually helpful.
I haven't yet read all of it but, to my knowledge, there is nothing comparable out there. If you have a good idea of the basics behind database administration and need a practical guide to how to actually administer a MySQL database, including the tools available to you, I'd seriously recommend that you take a look at this book.
LIMITATIONS:
- I was a bit concerned about the book's information on early-stage tools like MySQL Proxy and MySQL 6.0. They haven't been released for general use and are not certified as stable, but the book just lists them with other tools as if you could just drop them in. Be careful.
- As another reader pointed out, it's not the easiest read. But then, if you've never used SQL, never mind MySQL before, then trying to understand concepts like the difference between READ COMMITTED and SERIALIZABLE isolation levels will surely result in pain and death. This book is much better if you have a question like "How do I backup a MySQL database?", "How do I make a trigger", or "How do I set up replication?"MySQL Administrator's Bible (Bible (Wiley)) OverviewWith special focus on the next major release of MySQL, this resource provides a solid framework for anyone new to MySQL or transitioning from another database platform, as well as experience MySQL administrators. The high-profile author duo provides essential coverage of the fundamentals of MySQL database management—including MySQL's unique approach to basic database features and functions—as well as coverage of SQL queries, data and index types, stores procedure and functions, triggers and views, and transactions. They also present comprehensive coverage of such topics as MySQL server tuning, managing storage engines, caching, backup and recovery, managing users, index tuning, database and performance monitoring, security, and more.

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Real-World Solutions for Developing High-Quality PHP Frameworks and Applications Review

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Real-World Solutions for Developing High-Quality PHP Frameworks and Applications ReviewFinally a book written for serious PHP application developers. This book really gets it. Using Test-Driven Development from the very first chapter, the book explains practical TDD such as using in-memory databases. There are clear examples of stubs and mocks. Caring so much about TDD, this book also teaches how to write proper Object-oriented Code, utilizing proven best practices and design patterns.
As if that weren't enough, this book also covers PHP frameworks but by no means relies on them. Just glancing at the table of contents was enough for me to buy this book--as there weren't yet any reviews written for it on Amazon.
After reading the first chapter alone--where the authors quote "Uncle Bob's" Clean Code book--I had a good feeling that I was reading something that would finally help PHP developers write truly good code.
I haven't made it through the whole book yet but it has already earned its way as my favorite PHP book, and I have read a lot of them over the last several years.Real-World Solutions for Developing High-Quality PHP Frameworks and Applications OverviewLearn to develop high-quality applications and frameworks in PHP
Packed with in-depth information and step-by-step guidance, this book escorts you through the process of creating, maintaining and extending sustainable software of high quality with PHP. World-renowned PHP experts present real-world case studies for developing high-quality applications and frameworks in PHP that can easily be adapted to changing business requirements. . They offer different approaches to solving typical development and quality assurance problems that every developer needs to know and master.
Details the process for creating high-quality PHP frameworks and applications that can easily be adapted to changing business requirements
Covers the planning, execution, and automation of tests for the different layers and tiers of a Web application
Demonstrates how to establish a successful development process
Shares real-world case studies from well-known companies and their PHP experts

With this book, you'll learn to develop high-quality PHP frameworks and applications that can easily be maintained with reasonable cost and effort.

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