PHP: the Good Parts - Short Review

After working my way through JavaScript: The Good Parts I decided to put away all my misconceptions and give PHP a try. While I’m not actually looking to write any projects in the language at the moment I was interested to see how much of the PHP bashing was still based in fact and to learn what an expert in the language could show me. So I bought PHP: The Good Parts, which is a completely different book from the previous title in the series.

While Javascript the good parts was a little dry (and a lot opinionated) it did provide an excellent overview of the language and showed why it shouldn’t be overlooked or treated as a toy. The PHP version on the other hand is a decent beginners guide for the very inexperienced.

If you’re looking for an introduction to the language then this book’s an acceptable choice. It’s short, seems to cover all the basics and is readable in a single sitting. If you’re coming from another programming language, looking for in-depth advanced PHP knowledge or a book similar to Crockfords then this isn’t the book for you.

Score: 6/10 as a beginners book.