In 2001, I started playing with LAMP (GNU/LiNUX, Apache, MySQL, PHP). Some tutorials and the php online documentation were a great help to getting started with this scripting language but they weren't enough.

In 2003, I bought this book and it helped me a lot to get a strong knowledge of PHP programming. Also in 2003, I got my first job and my very first task was to participate in the development of three applications using PHP. This book is special to me.

Let's talk about the book itself, the chapters I like and I recommend are:

• Chapter 31: PHP and XML
• Chapter 32: Web Services
• Chapter 36: Security and Cryptography

I also found the Appendix A: PHP for C Programmers very interesting because I had been a C programmer since 1993.

Abner Ballardo Urco