Audience for This Book

PHP is a melting pot of cultures. Web designers appreciate its accessibility and convenience, while programmers appreciate its flexibility and speed. Both cultures need a clear and accurate reference to the language.

If you're a programmer, this book is for you. We show the big picture of the PHP language, then discuss the details without wasting your time. The many examples clarify the explanations, and the practical programming advice and many style tips will help you become not just a PHP programmer, but a good PHP programmer.

If you're a web designer, you'll appreciate the clear and useful guides to specific technologies, such as XML, sessions, and graphics. And you'll be able to quickly get the information you need from the language chapters, which explain basic programming concepts in simple terms.

This book does assume a working knowledge of HTML. If you don't know HTML, you should gain some experience with simple web pages before you try to tackle PHP. For more information on HTML, we recommend HTML & XHTML: The Definitive Guide, by Chuck Musciano and Bill Kennedy (O'Reilly).