Looking for a good PHP book

[markw10]

As I do more work with my website I want to be able to make some modifications to PHP and possibly make new modules. I'm wondering if anyone has some good books to suggest that I can use to learn these and also use as references. These are the books that have gotten my attention:

PHP Solutions Dynamic Web Design Made Easy David Powers
PHP for Dreamweaver 8 Friends of Ed
Build Your Own Database Driven Website Using PHP & MySQL by Kevin Yank

Are these good books or are there others that anyone suggestions? I know in the case of some of the above they aren't very new books
Also, I know one of the above books references Dreamweaver. I plan to purchase Dreamweaver but is it important to buy a book that relates to Dreamweaver or do I need Dreamweaver to work with PHP or can I simply do it with a text editor?

[kobra]

I plan to purchase Dreamweaver but is it important to buy a book that relates to Dreamweaver or do I need Dreamweaver to work with PHP or can I simply do it with a text editor?

See post #7 in this thread
http://www.zen-cart.com/forum/showthread.php?t=124265

DW is not a very robust environment for php.

Depending upon how you learn - - a book might not be the best

Look at online tutorials and reference material: Some:

http://www.w3schools.com/PHP/DEfaULT.asP
http://www.php.net/tut.php
http://www.tizag.com/phpT/
http://www.goodphptutorials.com/
http://www.tutorialized.com/tutorials/PHP/1

Genreal:
http://www.w3schools.com/default.asp
http://www.alistapart.com/

[kuroi]

If you're serious about learning and using PHP, I wouldn't recommend spending money on Dreamweaver (ex Dreamweaver user here!). Although you can use the code view for PHP, you wold basically be spending money buying a ton of WYSIWYG features that you probably won't use.

Instead I'd suggest taking a look at a integrated development environment explicitly designed to support web development and PHP in particular.

There are several good and free options available. The PDT version of Eclipse is good and getting better. Personally, I use Aptana (also free though there's an inexpensive Pro version too) with the PHP add-in. It's based on Eclipse and has the advantage of a community forum in which Aptana employees participate.

On the books, I'm alas a few thousand miles from mine at the moment, but can confirm that the Kevin Yank book is useful practical guide to PHP & MySQL and will get you off the ground. Once flying, the php.net site and Google are great reference sources for specific PHP information.