PHP has rapidly extablished itself as an extremely popular open-source server-side scripting language for creating dynamic Web pages for e-Commerce and other Web applications. It runs on any Web server, and it offers a simple, intuitive, and universal solution for easy-to-perform dynamic Web pages.
PHP 5, which is expected in final form in the fall of 2002, is a significant new version of PHP tha tuses a new architecture and that makes better use of Apache 2 for improvements in performance. PHP 5 will require significant changes in the way most Web developers approach their programming tasks.
PHP 5, by Luke Welling and Laura Thomson, provides a concise, fast-paced introduction to PHP generally - and PHP 5 specifically - for experienced developers. The material focuses exclusively on what's unique about PHP, and avoids general programming topics except where unique concerns are encountered.