[COLUG] Best PHP/Apache/MySQL/Linux book?

[William Yang]

Peter Kukla wrote:
> COLUGers,
> 
> I have found myself the admin of a Linux-based web
> server built around Apache/PHP/MySQL.  I am a longtime
> Linux & Apache user, but I haven't used PHP or MySQL
> before.  I'm familiar enough with similar stuff that I
> can feel my way through both PHP and MySQL without
> much trouble...I'm looking for an overview of website
> design in such an environment more than anything.

You seem to have an idea of what you're doing already, so please don't take
this the wrong way.  I don't think any book or set of books will be a
panacea here -- if you're using someone's custom PHP code, getting to know
that code base is going to probably take some time and effort--even for
skilled programmers--unless the earlier PHP developer was pretty
disciplined.  Books and the like are only going to give you the building
blocks to analyze the code base that someone else put together.

In terms of "good web system design", I think the key issues are:

(1)  Secure coding practices.

I'm personally far from an expert in secure PHP coding, but there are a
huge number of potential gotchas in the security space for any broad
programming language.  Make sure you understand why security features exist
in your PHP installation, and make sure they're not disabled unless you
really understand what you're doing.  Dead trees probably won't get you to
this understanding by themselves, unless they're printouts of PHP's and
MySQL's security discussions from their websites.

(2)  Maintainability.

When you design a system, you want to ensure modularity, code reuse,
simplicity, as well as working hard on documenting what things do what and
why.  This can sometimes be assisted by adopting a coding style standard
such as (as an example):
http://www.dagbladet.no/development/phpcodingstandard/.

(3)  Making sure your site is both attractive and usable.

Web design style goes far beyond the technical issues.  Aesthetics plays a
major role, as does an understanding of ergonomics and user psychology.
This isn't a mechanical issue... it's more artistic.  I personally like the
book _Don't Make Me Think_ as a style guide for web site design, but it's
not the only one of value out there.

These three aspects work together and interact significantly and can, when
skillfully positioned, even be aligned together.

	-Bill
-- 
William Yang
wyang at gcfn.net