One step at a time, PHP and MySQL Web Development walks students through the entire process of building dynamic, secure, commercial Web sites and applications with two of the worlds most widely-used open source tools: PHP and MySQL.. Luke Welling and Laura Thomson use the same clear and practical teaching style that has made their two previous editions so popular with students. They have thoroughly updated this edition to reflect the major enhancements in PHP 5 and MySQL 4.x -- especially PHP object-oriented programming, validation, and MySQL stored procedures. The book uses real-world examples and sample projects to show students how to integrate and implement PHP scripts and MySQL databases. It also covers related technologies needed to build a commercial Web site, including SSL, shopping carts, and payment systems. Along the way, the authors introduce a wide range of advanced techniques, including interacting with file systems, generating images, using network and protocol functions, controlling sessions, and more. The final section contains several practical PHP and MySQL projects, including user authentication and personalization, content management systems, Web-based email services, mailing list managers, Web forums, even automatic generation of personalized PDF documents.