Book Review of Professional Codeigniter - Wrox Publishing
Author: Thomas Myer
First Published: 2008
Pages: 314
Purchased From: amazon.co.uk
ISBN: 978-0470282458
Skill Level: Intermediate to Advanced
Categories: PHP, PHP Frameworks, Programming, Technical
Reason for purchasing book:
I had been playing around with my own MVC design pattern in PHP for a while and decided that it was time to learn a framework. After looking at the various ones out there, I decided that codeigniter would be the [first] one for me. I chose 'Professional Codeigniter' as the title suggests (and having bought other Wrox Books) that it is aimed at people who have moved past being a 'Beginner'.
Initial Thoughts
The book starts off with a little introduction about the author and many of the other things that you would normally find at the beginning of a book.
He also explains in detail why he started using the framework in the first place. This was very much welcomed as you can see that Thomas Myer was indeed a programmer who had a real need for using the framework, rather than just being another author who saw an opportunity to make some money from creating a book.
Structure
One of the stand out features of this book is the way the order of each section is delivered to you. First we have an introduction to the world of MVC and why it is such a great design pattern. For those who have never used the MVC, this section is a great introduction, is written well and will bring many a coder up to speed in a short amount of time. This is mainly achieved by looking at older coding styles and how they lack structure of a real design pattern. He also looks at other PHP frameworks so that you understand how each one works and why Codeigniter is such a good choice. We then get on to the main part of the site and how to build a website (specifically an ecommerce website) using Codeigniter and it does this very well, taking you from the early stages right of concept creation and customer meetings right through to the delivery.
Technical Considerations
Part of modern web design and development now focuses on an Agile Methodology, whereby software is created in small manageable sections using teams. This section is also explained very well, so if this concept is something that is new to you or you need certain points clarifying.
Something else I should point out is that this book really could be split in to three separate sections. From chapters 1-4 you are giving a great deal information on how to use Codeigniter to create a website and how to get it working. Chapters 5-8 are more along the lines of adding the ecommerce sections and finally chapters 9 and 10 on how to secure and launch the site. For me the stand out chapter was chapter 3 and in its own right would serve as a great reference.
I do have slight problem with this book and that is the lack of content on Codeigniter's form validation. When you create a website, especially an e-commerce website, you create many, many forms. These forms, especially when dealing with commerce is extremely important and the data that you collect has to be absolutely spot on. I understand that the scenarios in the book may have not required the use of the Form Validation class to be used to the level, but I do feel these methods should have been addressed.
He does use the form validator but not to the extent that uses the rules and data filters. Instead I found myself turning to the web and using online guides to help me with this. One thing I add though, is that like many open source frameworks, Codeigniter moves at a very swift pace and the libraries that are available now may be very different to the ones that were used when the book was written, so for that reason I will give the author the benefit of the doubt.
Final Thoughts
Overall, a fantastic book. You will not be disappointed with this title and you will definitely be able to use Codeigniter fluently by the time you have finished with it. Like I mentioned the only problem is the lack of depth in the form validation class, but these pages will fill in any gaps:
http://codeigniter.com/user_guide/libraries/form_validation.html
http://www.packtpub.com/article/form-validation-with-codeigniter-1.7
Score: 4.5 out of 5 - Highly Recommeded
First Published: 2008
Pages: 314
Purchased From: amazon.co.uk
ISBN: 978-0470282458
Skill Level: Intermediate to Advanced
Categories: PHP, PHP Frameworks, Programming, Technical
Reason for purchasing book:
I had been playing around with my own MVC design pattern in PHP for a while and decided that it was time to learn a framework. After looking at the various ones out there, I decided that codeigniter would be the [first] one for me. I chose 'Professional Codeigniter' as the title suggests (and having bought other Wrox Books) that it is aimed at people who have moved past being a 'Beginner'.
Initial Thoughts
The book starts off with a little introduction about the author and many of the other things that you would normally find at the beginning of a book.
He also explains in detail why he started using the framework in the first place. This was very much welcomed as you can see that Thomas Myer was indeed a programmer who had a real need for using the framework, rather than just being another author who saw an opportunity to make some money from creating a book.
Structure
One of the stand out features of this book is the way the order of each section is delivered to you. First we have an introduction to the world of MVC and why it is such a great design pattern. For those who have never used the MVC, this section is a great introduction, is written well and will bring many a coder up to speed in a short amount of time. This is mainly achieved by looking at older coding styles and how they lack structure of a real design pattern. He also looks at other PHP frameworks so that you understand how each one works and why Codeigniter is such a good choice. We then get on to the main part of the site and how to build a website (specifically an ecommerce website) using Codeigniter and it does this very well, taking you from the early stages right of concept creation and customer meetings right through to the delivery.
Technical Considerations
Part of modern web design and development now focuses on an Agile Methodology, whereby software is created in small manageable sections using teams. This section is also explained very well, so if this concept is something that is new to you or you need certain points clarifying.
Something else I should point out is that this book really could be split in to three separate sections. From chapters 1-4 you are giving a great deal information on how to use Codeigniter to create a website and how to get it working. Chapters 5-8 are more along the lines of adding the ecommerce sections and finally chapters 9 and 10 on how to secure and launch the site. For me the stand out chapter was chapter 3 and in its own right would serve as a great reference.
I do have slight problem with this book and that is the lack of content on Codeigniter's form validation. When you create a website, especially an e-commerce website, you create many, many forms. These forms, especially when dealing with commerce is extremely important and the data that you collect has to be absolutely spot on. I understand that the scenarios in the book may have not required the use of the Form Validation class to be used to the level, but I do feel these methods should have been addressed.
He does use the form validator but not to the extent that uses the rules and data filters. Instead I found myself turning to the web and using online guides to help me with this. One thing I add though, is that like many open source frameworks, Codeigniter moves at a very swift pace and the libraries that are available now may be very different to the ones that were used when the book was written, so for that reason I will give the author the benefit of the doubt.
Final Thoughts
Overall, a fantastic book. You will not be disappointed with this title and you will definitely be able to use Codeigniter fluently by the time you have finished with it. Like I mentioned the only problem is the lack of depth in the form validation class, but these pages will fill in any gaps:
http://codeigniter.com/user_guide/libraries/form_validation.html
http://www.packtpub.com/article/form-validation-with-codeigniter-1.7
Score: 4.5 out of 5 - Highly Recommeded
Labels: Book Reviews, CodeIgniter, MVC, PHP, PHP Frameworks
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