I would love some recommendations on what books are most helpful for learning PHP.

I know XHTML, CSS, some Javascript. I do know some PHP as well.

Also can someone also recommend some books on Advanced PHP, that actually shows how to create a fully functional and somewhat complex website/application. (Like RailSpace does for Ruby on Rails)

The good book for learning PHP especially for beginners is PHP for Dummies, www.dummies.com.

Author: Larry Ullman writes some very good books on Php and MySql.
The beginning book is called "PHP: Visual QuickStart Guide (2nd Ed.)", and the next one is titled "PHP and MySQL: Visual QuickPro Guide (2nd Ed.)".
There is another one that is for intermediate/advanced users named "PHP 5 Advanced: Visual QuickPro Guide (2nd Ed.)".

He also has a series of books about MySql programming. Very clearly written. Easy to follow.
I have several of them and they are the ones I keep going back to reference when I have a problem.

Information about these books can be found at his web site located at http://www.dmcinsights.com/ .

Awesome teaching methods and uses real examples. Check with your library, or look them up at a book store near you...

i dont see why you would need a book to learn php or html (: im 16 and i learned it pretty quick.. just through testing stuff out! haha
and my site is fully php now.. it might have some errors.. but it works for me ha!

Why don't you do both? You try something out yourself, and you try to get help from a book.. that's the way I learned it, and I'm still learning

The PHP for dummies is indeed a very good book, I used it too, but after a little while you can easily do without, so I would try to borrow it somewhere, maybe by a library, instead of buying it.. just an advice

Learning by testing
What Are The Best Books For Learning Php

Replying to gisellebebegirl
You say you learned PHP by trying stuff and it "works for you".
But all that means is that it works on one web server (the one you tested on - e.G. Apache?) and in one browser on the client side (e.G. Microsoft Internet Explorer 6?).

What happens if your ISP changes to another web server (e.G. IIS)? What happens if your users are using Firefox? Or Safari? or MSIE 5? or MSIE 7?

It will break, that's what will happen.

That's why you must NEVER "learn" a language just by trial and error. Understand what is SPECIFIED in the language definition. Then, later, you may need to make tweaks for bugs in specific browsers or servers. But you will be doing that from a solid base.

The way you have learned it, you are building on quicksand.


-reply by Nostromo