Book review – AJAX and PHP

Ajax and PHP – second edition is a book aimed at programmers and developers who are looking to expand their knowledge of web based technologies to build powerful web applications with usable interfaces. Packed with helpful examples and step by step tutorials this book offers something for developers of all calibers.

Author: Bogdan Brinzarea-lamandi, Christian Daire & Audra Hendrix

Rating:

Verdict: A good book for programmers who want to get to grips with Javascript.

Target audience

The books target audience is primarily PHP developers who are seeking to deploy the power of AJAX in modern web applications, however the book is written in such a way that any programmer with experience in languages such as C++ or JAVA would be able to understand and participate.

The book’s format

Broken down into 9 easy to read chapters PHP and AJAX covers a wide breadth of subject matter. It starts out with core concepts, then gently peppers in examples and step by step tutorials to reinforce what is being taught. Each chapter is divided into subtopics, which makes the book easier to pick up and put down without feeling overwhelmed.

The good

One of the greatest aspects of this book is it does not assume that you ‘get’ all concepts of javascript and PHP before you begin reading, thus the authors take time to explain the core concepts such as JSON,  XML and most importantly OO in javascript. This is extended into the PHP and AJAX side of things, with a lot of very helpful diagrams and visual aids. The examples and tutorials also offer useful and relevant reasons to deploy AJAX whilst making sure to educate the reader on the merits and overuse of AJAX in web projects.

The bad

The are no real ‘bad’ aspects to this book, it offers a well written concise guide to learning some very complicated theories. If I had to be critical of one aspect however it would be that the authors put too much focus on the use of core javascript xmlHttpRequests when giving the initial tutorials on the use of AJAX. I should point out that in later chapters the book does use the jQuery framework for AJAX calls, it is simply my personal view that a framework could have been introduced earlier in the book. Aside from this the book is first class and the authors should be credited for their efforts.

To sum it up

AJAX and PHP is a great resource for PHP developers who want to expand their knowledge into front end web languages. It offers sound advice and does a great job of explaining complicated theories clearly and backs them up with worthwhile tutorials. I would recommend this to any developer who wants to grasp the basics of javascript, or maybe just wants to brush up on their skill sets.