PHP Objects, Patterns, and Practice

This Apress book is great for beginners and veterans alike. The first several chapters focus entirely on the foundations of Object-Oriented PHP (OOPhp), while later chapters teach various patterns such as the Factory, Singleton, Observer, and more. The author, Matt Zandstra, places major emphasis on good programming habits and strives to teach as many enterprise level practices as space allows. The last chapters introduce the reader to a series of productivity tools which cover version control, documentation, automated builds, and unit testing. This text will complement any OOPhp application developer, and I recommend it to anyone looking to dive in, or a seasoned OOPhp developer looking to pick up some new tricks and tools.

PHP Design Patterns

Seasoned programmers looking for a good book on PHP design patterns will thoroughly enjoy this title. Weighing in under 250 pages of readable content, it presents a truckload of philosophy and pattern samples in a well-condensed format, with short, consistent chapters. The title starts off with a quick explanation of patterns, champions their usage, and by chapter 3, the user is thrust right into the Adapter Pattern. For the next seventeen chapters, the user is given a synopsis, a problem/solution summary, a UML diagram, and code examples for each of the patterns in the discussed in the book. Generally, the code provides a typical approach, and then a modified approach using the chapter's pattern.

Purchasers of this title should be fairly experienced in Object-Oriented PHP, as there is absolutely no hand-holding in that arena. I recommend this book for PHP developers who have put a year or two of OO under their belt, and are looking to take a few of the patterns they know to the next level. I keep this book near for its first hundred and fifty pages, as a quick reminder and usage reference for the 17 patterns explained within. A great title by Aaron Saray from the Wrox Programmer to Programmer series.