Hello Jason, Im looking for someone to write PHP for Absolute Beginners, and I was wondering if you would be interested. I like your Simple CMS tutorials; they look like just the thing for this type of book. Please let me know if you are interested. Thanks! Michelle Lowman
I, of course, assumed it was some kind of joke. I replied with something like, Yeah, okay, sure. I'll write a book. And then a contract showed up in the mail. Now, not even six months later, the book is almost ready to go to press, and I'm happy to say that Im proud of the result. This book is the book I wish Id had when I first started programming. It assumes no knowledge of PHP, but it doesnt spend hundreds of pages on programming theory or the history of the language. Sure, it covers that, but what I really wanted to do was jump right in and teach you how to build something that you could use. I chose a blogging application because it feels like everybody has a blog these days, and why shouldn't you know how to build one? In this book, I've tried to write exactly the way Id teach you one-on-one: you should feel comfortable with whats being discussed, but not bored. The material should move quickly, but remain easy-to-follow. I also want you to feel like you're learning, not memorizing. And most importantly, when youve finished this project, I want you to turn around and build another one this time without any help. PHP is a great language, and it provides developers with the ability to build pretty much anything they can imagine when paired with a database and some good ol HTML. However, it can also seem intimidating. Its not visual like front-end design, theres all this theory involved, and its just, you know, harder. But that doesnt have to be the case, and its my sincere hope that this book will allow you to get your hands dirty with PHP without ever feeling intimidated, lost, or hopeless. It wasn't long ago that I was struggling through complex, boring how-tos on PHP, so I know how it is to feel completely overwhelmed by the massive amounts of information about the language. It's my sincere hope that I've written a book that will allow you to learn everything you need to know in a far less stressful manner. So take a deep breath and turn the page. Let's do this!