Help me improve my PHP and MySQL skills with useful resources on the web.

Orthogonality - Could you please use titles for the books, not acronyms? I'd like to read them, but am having a hard time googling the titles...

"For MySQL I'm looking to improve my knowledge of efficient query building, DB optimization and indexing." Run explain on your queries, and understand the output. Explain the difference between table scans and index scans. Understand n-tuple indices, and when it's better not to have an index. Understand why and when a join implies a sort. Understand the difference between MyISAM and InnoDB tables. Read up on MySQL internals, and understand what B-trees and R-trees are. Write your own B-Tree classes in PHP, and some Visitors that perform Pre-, Post- and In-Order traversals. Read up on normal form, Boyce-Codd, and relational algebra. Know what a predicate is, and what a tuple is. Understand why and how M-M relations are implemented, and how an M-M is like two 1-Ms. Understand what null means, and the different meanings of null, and how the SQL standard fails to distinguish them.

I think orthogonality's probably talking sense, but I thought I'd add a glossary for his comment above (apologies if you know all this already; future Askers may not): 3GL: 3rd-generation language. Basically any language that a human can understand, as opposed to a bunch of 1 and 0's or processor instructions. RDBMS: Relational database management system. Does exactly what it says on the tin. GOF: The "Gang of Four" were authors of a book about design patterns - a bunch of abstract, reusable solutions to common problems in architecture/programming. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gang_of_Four_%28software%29 Stroustroup: Invented C++. Wrote http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Design_and_Evolution_of_C%2B%2B, the Design and Evolution of C++.

"PHP 5 in Practice" or the "PHP Cookbook" are both cookbooks of PHP code - have a problem, look it up, find a solution. Reading through them is a good way to see snippets of efficient code written by competent programmers that address commonly-seen problems. There's also a MySQL cookbook. But I don't know if that would help you as much as just reading a bit about database normalization. Once you "get it", you get it forever, at least as far as SQL and relational databases go. Free bonus: Lerdorf discusses neat tricks you can http://talks.php.net/show/torkey06.

SpecialK http://ask.metafilter.com/mefi/47267#719547 "Orthogonality - Could you please use titles for the books, not acronyms? I'd like to read them, but am having a hard time googling the titles..." I googled on each title before I posted, to ensure they could be googled. ;) http://www.google.com/search?lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=GOF%20book: Design Patterns: Elements of Reusable Object-Oriented Software, Erich Gamma, Richard Helm, Ralph Johnson, John M. Vlissides. Published by Addison Wesley http://www.google.com/search?lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=Coplien's%20Idioms: Advanced C++ Programming Styles and Idioms, James O. Coplien http://www.google.com/search?lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=Stroustrup's%20D%26E%2C: The Design and Evolution of C++, eritten by Bjarne Stroustrup, the designer of C++.

Commenting on the previous comments: --The GOF book is vaguely useful, inasmuch as PHP 5 is now fully object-oriented. However, there are other books, such as "PHP 5 Objects, Patterns and Practice", which will cover OO patterns with respect to PHP. --Coplien's Idioms - I don't see how this applies to the submitter's question. The idioms of C++ are not, in fact, the idioms of PHP. It's as if you replied to the submitter's question about his cat by saying, "Get a dog - and here's a book about dog grooming once you've got the dog." --Stroustrup's D&E - again, while this book is certainly interesting on its own, it has almost exactly nothing to do with PHP or THE SUBMITTER'S QUESTION.

jellicle http://ask.metafilter.com/mefi/47267#719572 "Coplien's Idioms - I don't see how this applies to the submitter's question. The idioms of C++ are not, in fact, the idioms of PHP. " Understand that Coplien's Handle-Body "Idiom" is applicable to any object oriented language, and in fact it's pretty much the GOF Bridge Pattern. More important, as Coplien builds it up chapter by chapter, he introduces a lot of OO principles. Patterns are applicable to any OO language, and the general principles (motivations and consequences, in GOF speak) in any language; I've made good use of Decorator and Chain of Responsibility in SQL. (Indeed, the whole point of a SQL view is to use it as a Decorator or a Facade.) "Stroustrup's D&E - again, while this book is certainly interesting on its own, it has almost exactly nothing to do with PHP or THE SUBMITTER'S QUESTION." D&E explains the trade-offs involved in building any large-scale system, and the design compromises attendant to any language ((including PHP). Yes, it's about C++, but any OO language user will learn a lot from it.

http://www.w3schools.com/ has tutorials on http://www.w3schools.com/php/default.asp and http://www.w3schools.com/sql/default.asp (and tons of other tutorials). SitePoint has http://www.sitepoint.com/subcat/php-tutorials tutorials, including a recent series (parts http://www.sitepoint.com/article/getting-started-mysql, http://www.sitepoint.com/article/mysql-3-getting-started-php, and http://www.sitepoint.com/article/publishing-mysql-data-web are especially helpful). The O'Reilly Networks http://www.onlamp.com/php/ has some good articles; they also have http://www.onlamp.com/onlamp/general/mysql.csp.

Many thanks to all for the useful answers. I think I'll take the advice and lay out for some books, to thoroughly understand what I'm doing. Though I would still appreciate suggestions for the best PHP and SQL forums, and any other useful links about improving programming proficiency.