Build a Real-World PHP Application—Not Just Another Tutorial

PHP, MySQL & MySQLi Procedural Programming: Build a Real-World Application is an advanced, project-based guide for aspiring developers who are ready to move beyond disconnected code snippets and build a complete application they can explain, test, secure, deploy, and improve.

Written by Emmanuel Bollie with Africa's rising programmers in mind, and especially students in Liberia, this book speaks to learners who are hungry for practical skills, professional confidence, and the ability to create technology that solves real problems.

Throughout the book, you will build TaskFlow, a multi-user task-management application. Instead of studying isolated concepts, you will apply each lesson to a growing real-world project. You will work through application architecture, relational database design, reusable PHP code, authentication, ownership-aware CRUD operations, search, filtering, sorting, pagination, dashboards, transactions, security hardening, testing, debugging, deployment, accessibility, backup restoration, and operational readiness.

Project Focus: Build TaskFlow from the ground up and learn how modern PHP applications are designed, secured, tested, and deployed.

What You Will Learn

  • Build structured applications with procedural PHP
  • Design MySQL databases with appropriate data types, constraints, foreign keys, indexes, and verified query plans
  • Connect PHP securely to MySQL using the MySQLi procedural API
  • Organise reusable helpers, configuration files, and shared views
  • Process requests using validation, authorisation, database operations, feedback messages, and safe redirects
  • Implement registration, login, logout, password rehashing, secure sessions, inactivity controls, and protected pages
  • Enforce resource ownership and prevent horizontal unauthorised access
  • Build secure search, filtering, sorting, pagination, and dashboard queries
  • Escape SQL LIKE metacharacters correctly
  • Use InnoDB transactions for reliable multi-step operations and tested rollback procedures
  • Apply CSRF protection, output encoding, rate limiting, least-privilege access, and safe error handling
  • Inspect schemas and query plans using SHOW CREATE TABLE and EXPLAIN
  • Test normal, invalid, hostile, duplicate, and concurrency-sensitive input
  • Prepare deployment runbooks, smoke tests, backups, restoration procedures, monitoring checks, and rollback plans
  • Evaluate a finished project using measurable milestones and a weighted assessment rubric

This Book Is for You If You

  • Already understand HTML and basic PHP syntax
  • Know how variables, conditions, loops, arrays, functions, and forms work
  • Have a basic understanding of relational databases
  • Can read code, investigate errors, and work through problems independently
  • Want to transform foundational knowledge into practical application development skills
  • Are willing to type examples, test assumptions, debug mistakes, complete exercises, and explain design decisions
This is not a beginner's introduction to programming. It is an advanced course for serious learners who want to understand the complete journey from an incoming browser request to database operations, secure output, testing evidence, and production deployment.

Every chapter includes practical code examples, hands-on exercises, checkpoints, quizzes, answers, extended practice, and security guidance. You will reproduce failures, test hostile input, inspect database behaviour, verify authorisation rules, confirm transaction rollback, and collect evidence before marking work complete.

A dedicated Answer Key provides additional reasoning, while the final capstone challenges you to demonstrate TaskFlow as a complete, secure, and explainable application.

This edition is fully self-contained. Follow the chapters in order, type and test the examples, complete every hands-on checkpoint, and attempt each challenge before consulting the answers.

This is not a course about copying code blindly. It is a course about learning how to think, test, troubleshoot, secure, and build like a professional developer.

Start Building TaskFlow

Prove that you can take a PHP application from database design to secure deployment and responsible operation.