In this book author David Wall shows us how to create a PHP application based specifically on a multi-tier architecture and design. The question is: does it live up to the claims?
At this point in PHP's dynamic evolution there is a new buzzword doing the rounds: "enterprise". It is becoming commonly accepted that PHP is a capable language choice as part of an enterprise solution; this book plays upon those thoughts and offers the readers a chance to witness the author build a complete PHP application with multi-tier architecture and scalability at its core, something of a dream for those of us who are at the level where they are progressing beyond the single server/application environment.
He explores the book, noting that it might have missed the target audience a bit. The book also suffers from content that can cause what he calls the "chapter skipping syndrome" - dropping chapters as you go along because of their attempt to match a wider audience. The book covers what you'd expect - an intro to multi-tier (from an MVC approach, using SOAP), creating classes, HTTP protocols, and more. Richard's overall view of the book?
But for those who were really hoping for a solid grounding in multi-tier application design and implementation, you'll be left feeling cheated out of your hard earned money. There is a large gap in the PHP book market for a title of this nature, sadly this one doesn't come close to filling it.
