Dev Tips | Become a Better Developer, One Tip at a Time.

AJAX and PHP, Building Modern Web Apps – Book Review

As many of you know, I'm a huge fan of reading actual web development books to increase ones skills. Sometimes, you just need to step away from the computer and read an actual physical book. I recently had the pleasure of reading AJAX and PHP: Building Modern Web Applications - Second Edition, and I absolutely loved it. I'm going to take some time today to go over the some of the book, and what I feel it has to offer the average reader.

Review Overview

• Book Summary
• Who is this book for?
• Subject Matter
• Notable content/features
• Final Thoughts

Book Summary

The main focus of AJAX and PHP: Building Modern Web Apps is to get you up and running using raw Javascript and php to build practical and useful applications. I was happy to see the book mentions Javascript libraries, but really teaches the reader how to do things with plain old Javacript while accounting for all browsers. It was actually fun learning how to create your own AJAX cross browse compatible objects, which is something I never though I'd say.

To quote the books description and give you a better idea of the subject matter:

This book is a step-by-step, example-driven AJAX tutorial, featuring complete case studies. Each chapter contains a friendly mix of theory and practice, so that your journey through the book will be pleasant, yet efficient. You’ll be coding your first AJAX application at the end of the first chapter, and with each new chapter you’ll develop increasingly complex AJAX applications featuring advanced techniques and coding patterns.

Who is this book for?

In my opinion this book is great for beginners to web development, intermediate web developers looking to polish their AJAX and php skills, or advanced users who may have not had much experience using raw Javascript in web applications.

Anyone wanting to learn how php and Javascript can integrate asynchronosuly together will probably find this book behooving.

Subject Matter

I can't reveal all the details, but there are some seriously awesome applications and tutorials used in this book.

You are first introduced and walked through the basics of everything you'll need to get started, there is also a great primer on Javascript and even OOP style of Javascript, which is a nice bonus.

After that, you jump right in to building example AJAX applications, taking advantage of different web services and API.

Both XML and JSON formats are covered, which is essential.

Notable Content/Features

The section dealing with JSON vs XML is just awesome no matter which side of the fence you happen to stand on. Truth is, both data formats are in wide use, so it's helpful to know how to use them both when it relate to AJAX and PHP.

Another feature of the book I really enjoyed was the bonus on "Design Patterns" where common JS and PHP design patterns are evaluated and explained, it's very helpful for anyone trying to improve their application workflow.

Lastly, I'm very happy with how thorough of a job the authors did when it came to handling and dealing with cross browser issues. This isn't the most fun thing in the world, but any developer knows it's vital that their app work seamlessly across all common browsers.

Final Thoughts

As with nearly every single book from Packt, AJAX and PHP: Building Modern Web Applications is absolutely worth the price. It's a book to keep on your shelf when you're done reading to resort back to anytime you want to get your hands dirty with AJAX, and want things explained in a clear and precise manner.

As Always...

As always, I like to show all of you that I do in fact read all of these books I talk about and review, so here is my wonderfully extremely good looking self rocking the book:

Drew approves; he needs a haircut too!

Get It Now!

You can pick up the book directly from PacktPubs website and get started with AJAX and PHP today

If you enjoyed this article, you might consider subscribing to our rss feed to stay updated with all the latest tips and articles!

Article Sponsored by:

Covering everything from getting started to expanding your business, How to Be a Rockstar Freelancer is the official FreelanceSwitch book. Written by Collis and Cyan Ta'eed - the founders of the site.