Why Use PHP and MySQL?

When setting out to build an e-commerce site, you could use many different products.

You need to choose the following:

• Hardware for the web server
• An operating system
• Web server software
• A database management system
• A programming or scripting language

Some of these choices are dependent on the others. For example, not all operating systems run on all hardware, not all scripting languages can connect to all databases, and
so on.

Some of PHP´s Strengths

Some of PHP´s main competitors are Perl, Microsoft ASP.NET, JavaServer Pages (JSP), and ColdFusion.
In comparison to these products, PHP has many strengths, including the following:

• High performance
• Interfaces to many different database systems
• Built-in libraries for many common web tasks
• Low cost
• Ease of learning and use
• Strong object-oriented support
• Portability
• Availability of source code
• Availability of support

A more detailed discussion of these strengths follows.

Performance

PHP is very efficient. Using a single inexpensive server, you can serve millions of hits per day. If you use large numbers of commodity servers, your capacity is effectively unlimited.
Benchmarks published by Zend Technologies (http://www.zend.com) show PHP outperforming its competition.

Database Integration

PHP has native connections available to many database systems. In addition to MySQL, you can directly connect to PostgreSQL, mSQL, Oracle, dbm, FilePro, Hyperwave,
Informix, InterBase, and Sybase databases, among others. PHP 5 also has a built-in SQL interface to a flat file, called SQLite.

Introduction

Using the Open Database Connectivity Standard (ODBC), you can connect to any database that provides an ODBC driver.This includes Microsoft products and many others.

Built-in Libraries

Because PHP was designed for use on the Web, it has many built-in functions for performing many useful web-related tasks.You can generate GIF images on the fly, connect
to web services and other network services, parse XML, send email, work with cookies, and generate PDF documents, all with just a few lines of code.

Cost

PHP is free.You can download the latest version at any time from http://www.php.net for no charge.

Ease of Learning PHP

The syntax of PHP is based on other programming languages, primarily C and Perl. If you already know C or Perl, or a C-like language such as C++ or Java, you will be productive
using PHP almost immediately.

Object-Oriented Support

PHP version 5 has well-designed object-oriented features. If you learned to program in Java or C++, you will find the features (and generally the syntax) that you expect, such
as inheritance, private and protected attributes and methods, abstract classes and methods, interfaces, constructors, and destructors.You will even find some less common features such as built-in iteration behavior. Some of this functionality was available in PHP versions 3 and 4, but the object-oriented support in version 5 is much more complete.

Portability

PHP is available for many different operating systems.You can write PHP code on free Unix-like operating systems such as Linux and FreeBSD, commercial Unix versions such
as Solaris and IRIX, or on different versions of Microsoft Windows. Well-written code will usually work without modification on a different system running PHP.

Source Code

You have access to PHP´s source code.With PHP, unlike commercial, closed-source products, if you want to modify something or add to the language, you are free to do so.
You do not need to wait for the manufacturer to release patches.You also don´t need to worry about the manufacturer going out of business or deciding to stop supporting a
product.

Availability of Support

Zend Technologies (www.zend.com), the company behind the engine that powers PHP, funds its PHP development by offering support and related software on a commercial
basis.

What Is New in PHP 5.0?

You may have recently moved to PHP 5.0 from one of the PHP 4.x versions. As you would expect in a new major version, it has some significant changes.The Zend engine
beneath PHP has been rewritten for this version. Major new features are as follows:

• Better object-oriented support built around a completely new object model
• Exceptions for scalable, maintainable error handling
• SimpleXML for easy handling of XML data

Other changes include moving some extensions out of the default PHP install and into the PECL library, improving streams support, and adding SQLite.

Some of MySQL´s Strengths

MySQL´s main competitors are PostgreSQL, Microsoft SQL Server, and Oracle.
MySQL has many strengths, including the following:

• High performance
• Low cost
• Ease of configuration and learning
• Portability
• Availability of source code
• Availability of support

A more detailed discussion of these strengths follows.

Performance

MySQL is undeniably fast.You can see the developers´ benchmark page at http://web.mysql.com/benchmark.html. Many of these benchmarks show MySQL to be
orders of magnitude faster than the competition. In 2002, eWeek published a benchmark comparing five databases powering a web application.The best result was a tie between
MySQL and the much more expensive Oracle.
Introduction

Low Cost

MySQL is available at no cost under an open source license or at low cost under a commercial license.You need a license if you want to redistribute MySQL as part of an
application and do not want to license your application under an Open Source license. If you do not intend to distribute your application or are working on Free Software, you
do not need to buy a license.

Ease of Use

Most modern databases use SQL. If you have used another RDBMS, you should have no trouble adapting to this one. MySQL is also easier to set up than many similar products.

Portability

MySQL can be used on many different Unix systems as well as under Microsoft
Windows.

Source Code

As with PHP, you can obtain and modify the source code for MySQL.This point is not important to most users most of the time, but it provides you with excellent peace of
mind, ensuring future continuity and giving you options in an emergency.

Availability of Support

Not all open source products have a parent company offering support, training, consulting,
and certification, but you can get all of these benefits from MySQL AB
(www.mysql.com).

What Is New in MySQL 5.0?

Major changes introduced for MySQL 5.0 include

• Stored procedures
• Cursor support

Other changes include more ANSI standard compliance and speed improvements. If you are still using an early 4.x version or a 3.x version of the MySQL server, you
should know that the following features were added to various versions from 4.0:

• Subquery support
• GIS types for storing geographical data
• Improved support for internationalization
• The transaction-safe storage engine InnoDB included as standard
• The MySQL query cache, which greatly improves the speed of repetitive queries as often run by web applications

Course Content

Ajax

• Ajax - What is Ajax
• Ajax - Connecting to server using JavaScript
• Ajax - Downloading data behind scenes
• Ajax - Modifying web pages on the fly
• Ajax - Creating an XML Http Request Object in different browsers
• Ajax - Checking the XML Http Request Object´s ready State property
• Ajax - Checking the XML Http Request Object´s status property
• Ajax - Getting Your Data With the XML Http Request Object
• Ajax - Problems creating an XML Http Request Object
• Ajax - Fetching Text Data From the server
• Ajax - Using the text data received through XML Http Request

PHP - Strings & Patterns

• PHP - Quoting
• PHP - Matching
• PHP - Extracting
• PHP - Searching
• PHP - Replacing
• PHP - Formatting
• PHP - PCRE
• PHP - HEREDOC and NOWDOC
• PHP - Encodings

PHP - Security

• PHP - Configuration
• PHP - Session Security
• PHP - Cross-Site Scripting
• PHP - Cross-Site Request Forgeries
• PHP - SQL Injection
• PHP - Remote Code Injection
• PHP - Email Injection
• PHP - Filter Input
• PHP - Escape Output
• PHP - Encryption, Hashing algorithms
• PHP - File uploads
• PHP - Data storage
• PHP - SSL

XML - Data Format & Types

• XML - XML Basics
• XML - SimpleXML
• XML - XML Extension
• XML - Xpath
• XML - Webservices Basics
• XML - SOAP
• XML - REST
• XML - JSON & AJAX
• XML - DateTime
• XML - DOMDocument

PHP - SMS API

• PHP - What is SMS API?
• PHP - Methods of API
• PHP - Sent SMS
• PHP - Receive SMS
• PHP - DB/TB for SMS API
• PHP - CRUD SMS API

MySQL - Databases

• MySQL - SQL
• MySQL - Joins
• MySQL - Analyzing Queries
• MySQL - Prepared Statements
• MySQL - Transactions
• MySQL - PDO

Smarty (Library For Creating HTML Templates)

• Smarty - Discussion of smarty
• Smarty - Smarty principles
• Smarty - Smarty application directories
• Smarty - Application html library
• Smarty - The Smarty installation
• Smarty - ~/smarty/assocation/libs/
• Smarty - Association.lib.php
• Smarty - Configuration files
• Smarty - Templates Files
• Smarty - Variables
• Smarty - Conditionality and iteration
• Smarty - Output formatting

PEAR (PHP Extension and Application Repository)

• PEAR - What is PEAR
• PEAR - PEAR Website
• PEAR - Obtaining and Installing PEAR
• PEAR - The PEAR Community
• PEAR - Using PEAR Components
• PEAR - Contributing to PEAR
• PEAR - The Future of PEAR
• PEAR - Practical application of pear in combination with smarty

OS Commerce (Open Source Shopping Cart)

• OS Commerce - Introduction to Shopping Cart
• OS Commerce - Introduction to osCommerce opensource
• OS Commerce - Discussion of various module of osCommerce
• OS Commerce - Customization of existing template and module
• OS Commerce - PayPal integration

Joomla

• Joomla - Introduction
• Joomla - Joomla 1.5 Installation
• Joomla - A Tour of Your New Website
• Joomla - Customizing Joomla!—Language and Templates
• Joomla - Configuration of Joomla! Administration
• Joomla - Site Menu
• Joomla - The Menus Menu
• Joomla - Content Menu
• Joomla - Components Menu
• Joomla - Extensions Menu
• Joomla - Tools
• Joomla - More on Extensions
• Joomla - Writing Your Own Joomla! Templates
• Joomla - Understanding Joomla templates
• Joomla - Understanding Joomla template files
• Joomla - Understanding the index.php file
• Joomla - Understanding the XML file
• Joomla - Getting the HTML comp ready for conversion
• Joomla - Creating a PNG thumbnail
• Joomla - Creating a new index.php file
• Joomla - Creating a new XML file
• Joomla - Creating and installing the package file
• Joomla - Fixing typical installation problems
• Joomla - Assigning templates and modules
• Joomla - Finding where all the pretty went
• Joomla - Using the Firefox Web Developer toolbar
• Joomla - Getting the content area styling back
• Joomla - Making the news more interesting
• Joomla - Placing a random image
• Joomla - Configuring menus and submenus
• Joomla - Styling a poll
• Joomla - Styling a footer
• Joomla - Assigning optional regions in a Joomla template
• Joomla - Changing the favicon
• Joomla - Barrier Freedom and Joomla!
• Joomla - Your Own Components, Modules, and Plug-ins
• Joomla - A Website with Joomla!
• Joomla - Troubleshooting in Joomla

Introduction of Drupal

Introduction of WordPress

Introduction of Zend Frameworks