Essential PHP Tools: Modules, Extensions, and Accelerators

THis INTRODUCTION lays out who the book is written for, provides an overview of what is covered, and gives some background details on a package management utility you''ll use to install many of the add-ons covered in the book. Who This Book Is For Al... Read more

THis INTRODUCTION lays out who the book is written for, provides an overview of what is covered, and gives some background details on a package management utility you''ll use to install many of the add-ons covered in the book. Who This Book Is For Although PHP has a lot of built-in functionality, many common Web program­ ming tasks are simpler with add-on modules and packages. This book is for you if you are looking for an easier way to do these kinds of tasks with PHP: • Access a database. • Generate robust Web forms. • Use a page templating system. • Create or parse XML documents. • Request or serve XML-RPC or SOAP methods. • Send HTML or multipart e-mail messages. • Authenticate users. • Inspect your scripts with a debugger. • Boost server performance without rewriting any code. This book assumes you have a basic knowledge of PHP programming: You know how to perform tasks such as include files, write functions, create objects, and look in $_REQUEST, $_GET, or $_POST to find submitted form data. Less