Build Your Own Database Using PHP & MySQL

Back then, PHP and MySQL were special – heck, they were downright miraculous! But over the years, they have gained plenty of fast-moving competition. In an age when anyone with a free WordPress account can set up a full-featured blog in 30 seconds flat, it’s no longer enough for a programming language like PHP to be easy to learn; nor is it enough for a database like MySQL to be free.

PHP has completely abandoned several of the beginner-friendly features that gave it a competitive advantage in 2001, because they turned out to be oversimplifications, or could lead inexperienced programmers into building web sites with gaping security holes. This is a problem if you’re the author of a beginner’s book about PHP and MySQL.