Useful Books

These are some of the books I tend to use often for reference - they're very handy to have around. Even if you are already experienced, the books listed here are excellent for reference!

If you do decide to buy one of these, please buy it from Amazon by clicking the link or the book's image. I earn a 5% referral fee for any books you buy if you follow my links - it's a tiny amount, but it could help me to afford my hosting fees.

Programming Perl Larry Wall, Tom Christiansen, Jon Orwant This book is probably not a great book to buy if you don't know anything about Perl and have no programming experience. If that's the case, look at Learning Perl (below). But, if you have previous programming experience or are already familiar with Perl, you'll find this book an invaluable reference source to keep close to hand. Just about anything you'll need to look up while writing even the most complex of Perl scripts can be found quickly in this book. Buy >>

Learning Perl Randal L. Schwartz, Tom Christiansen If you have no prior programming experience and are just trying to learn Perl, this book is likely to be your perfect partner. "Learning Perl" will introduce you to the power and flexibility of Perl, and teach you gently how to start writing your own scripts to accomplish whatever you want. Buy >>

Programming PHP Rasmus Lerdorf, Kevin Tatroe PHP is arguably more suited to dynamic web page generation than Perl - it's easy to embed in HTML pages, and provides comparable power. This book starts by introducing you to PHP, teaching you the basics of the language, and how to install it. The later chapters go into more detail and provide an excellent reference. Buy >>

Managing & Using MySQL George Reese, Randy Jay Yarger, Tim King If you want to build powerful dynamic database-driven websites, MySQL is the industry-standard open-source database. It's free, it's powerful, it's reliable, and it's easy. This book is a perfect tutor and reference, both for those developing dynamic sites with MySQL and those responsible for MySQL administration (in reality, often the same person!). MySQL integrates easily with Perl or PHP. Buy >>

None of the books above are what you need? Search Amazon using the box below, you're bound to find a book that'll fit your needs exactly.