Reviews for Pro PHP: Patterns, Frameworks, Testing & More: Patterns, Frameworks, Testing and More

1. The best advance PHP book

   Rated 5 out of 5 stars, May 12th, 2009

   This is an excellent book, I read it cover to cover, but I keep going back to it for reference all the time.
   Before this book I bought the also great "PHP Objects Patterns, and Practice" if you are undecided which one to buy don't be as you should get both, if you must pick one think this:
   If you know your way with OOP, have consciously used design patterns in your projects, go for this book, just the section on SPL is worth the price cover.
   If you are not confident with OOP and you want to finally get what design patterns are all about and what they can do for you go for Matt Zandstra "PHP Objects Patterns, and Practices".
   

2. Good structural approach

   Rated 4 out of 5 stars, April 12nd, 2009

   The book assumes that you know the basic syntax of PHP. Though OOP experience is not strictly needed, some basic understanding of OO principles can speed up the reading. If you want get some new ideas about PHP, OO in PHP and learn design patterns: this book is the best so far. I'd recommend it.

3. A great intro to patterns, frameworks, testing and more

   Rated 5 out of 5 stars, June 12th, 2008

   I recently received a copy of this book to review from the publisher and thought I would post a quick review here.
   
   The book covers a variety of topics and manages to fit everything in to a little over 300 pages. As such, although each section is a good introduction to the topic being discussed, it is only an introduction. If you're looking to get this book as a complete reference to one particular subject covered there may be better books available. Taking this book for what it is though you are not going to be disappointed. It is very well written, repetition is kept to a minimum and the examples are easy to follow. I haven't tested all the code samples but if they have been checked as well as the text then errors are unlikely to be present.
   
   The OOP and Patterns section is a nice introduction to the subject and added detail to my understanding of some areas.
   
   The Testing and Documentation section is the only section I found less than entirely satisfying. That isn't to say that what's there isn't very good, but that I would have liked to see more discussion of testing and less on documentation.
   
   The SPL section gives a very nice introduction to an area with less than stellar documentation. If you want to search around you can find the first chapter of this section on the devzone over at Zend.
   
   The section on the MVC pattern quickly focuses on the Zend framework. The discussion quickly moves away from the MVC pattern to touch on other areas of the Zend framework so in one sense the title for the section is slightly misleading. It is a very good introduction to a selection of the most important pieces of functionality present in the Zend framework though so I certainly wasn't disappointed.
   
   Finally the book moves on to touching on a variety of subjects you may be interested in. AJAX, web services and certificate authentication are all given some attention. The chapter on certificate authentication is freely available on the publishers website.
   
   Star ratings are always difficult to get right but for me the content is an easy 4 stars, which I'm taking to mean recommended, and the writing a comfortable 5 stars.
   

4. Awesome book

   Rated 5 out of 5 stars, March 12th, 2008

   This is an awesome book, shame I didn't get a mention in the credits and acknowledgements.
   
   /me sporks StormTide