Essential PHP Tools: Modules, Extensions, and Accelerators

From the reviews:

"This book intends to simplify programming tasks through the use ... . The intended audience is intermediate-to-advanced, although I believe it is also of great use to the uninitiated. The Introduction provides a solid introduction to the use of PEAR ... . The section on databases is required reading for anyone wishing to ... . The Smarty chapter is an excellent introduction into templating ... . Especially enjoyable is the chapter on PEAR’s Mail_mime ... . I particularly enjoyed the level of detail given ... ." (Mitchell Pirtle, International PHP Magazine, Issue no. 4, 2004)