Correction, September 2026: This 2011 post described a commercially published book as a “high-resolution PDF” and linked to a third-party file host. I cannot confirm from the publisher’s or authors’ official materials that the file was authorized for distribution, so the link has been removed. This page does not provide the full book, mirrors, cloud-drive links, passwords, or instructions for bypassing payment or lending controls.
Table of Contents
First identify the book
The old title appears to refer to the fourth edition of PHP and MySQL Web Development by Luke Welling and Laura Thomson, but a filename is not reliable bibliographic evidence. The official InformIT product page from Pearson confirms the following details for the English edition:
| Field | Publisher record |
|---|---|
| Title | PHP and MySQL Web Development, 4th Edition |
| Authors | Luke Welling and Laura Thomson |
| Edition | Fourth |
| Publication information | InformIT lists publication on October 1, 2008; the copyright year is 2009 |
| ISBN | ISBN-10: 0-672-32916-6; ISBN-13: 978-0-672-32916-6 |
| Current status | The publisher marks the book out of print and not for sale |
The old post used a Chinese translated title, but this review did not find an accessible official catalog page from the Chinese publisher. I therefore will not guess the translation’s ISBN, translator, page count, or current availability. The English ISBN also cannot authenticate a Chinese PDF: translations, bindings, and electronic formats commonly have separate identifiers and rights arrangements.
A legal-access sequence
1. Start with the publisher
The publisher page is the best starting point for the English title, authors, edition, and ISBN. It currently offers publisher-authorized sample pages, an errata route, and limited corrections to accompanying code; use those materials within the scope stated on the page. An authorized sample does not authorize a third party to distribute a scan of the complete book.
The page explicitly marks the print book out of print and not for sale, so I cannot promise that a new print or electronic edition remains available from the publisher. This review also found no publisher- or author-authorized free edition of the complete book.
2. Search library holdings
Enter the verified ISBN-13 9780672329166 in a public or university library catalog, or in the WorldCat union catalog. If your library does not hold it, ask about interlibrary loan, in-library access, or legally controlled digital lending. Availability, copying limits, and remote access depend on the library and local rules.
Even when a catalog says “electronic resource,” check the provider and access conditions. A controlled library loan or publisher platform is not equivalent to an anonymous user-uploaded “free download.”
3. Verify used physical copies
Before buying a used copy, ask the seller to show the cover, copyright page, and ISBN rather than relying on the listing title. Match the authors, edition, publisher, date, language, format, and identifier, and check whether any legitimate media originally supplied with the book is missing. A seller’s unsolicited cloud-drive PDF is not automatically licensed merely because it accompanies a physical-book sale.
4. Supplement old material with official documentation
The publisher’s description says this edition focuses on PHP 5.3 and MySQL 5.1. It remains useful as historical context, but it should not be the sole authority for a 2026 production system. Use the current official PHP manual and official MySQL documentation to recheck installation, database drivers, password handling, sessions, security defaults, and APIs that have since been deprecated or removed.
How to verify an edition and ISBN
- Transcribe the copyright-page data from a physical book or licensed e-book; do not infer an edition from a filename.
- Match title, authors, edition, language, publisher, date, format, and ISBN against the publisher or library record.
- Remove hyphens when searching an ISBN, but retain its standard grouping when displaying it so transcription errors are easier to see.
- Remember that an ISBN normally identifies a specific edition and format; hardcover, paperback, e-book, and translated editions may differ.
- An ISBN check digit can indicate a syntactically valid number, but it cannot prove that a file is authentic, complete, lawful, or safe.
If records conflict, pause and ask the publisher or a librarian. Do not simply select whichever record best matches the download filename.
Avoid malicious “download mirrors”
Unknown file hosts create both copyright and security risks. “Free PDF” offers may instead install download managers, browser extensions, or malware. The U.S. FTC’s malware guidance advises against downloading free content from unfamiliar sites or using peer-to-peer file-sharing services.
- Avoid search ads, redirects, countdowns, and images disguised as download buttons. Type the publisher or library domain yourself.
- A PDF should not require an executable, script, or command, nor should it ask you to disable security software, install an extension, or grant remote control.
- A
.pdflabel alone does not make a file safe. Check the real file type and use an updated operating system, browser, PDF reader, and security scanner. - Do not provide card details, identity documents, email passwords, or one-time codes to “unlock” a file.
- If you opened a suspicious file, stop signing in to important accounts, update and run your security software, and then change possibly exposed passwords from a trusted device and enable multifactor authentication.
Limits of this correction
I did not visit or test the old file host, and I am not asserting that the specific file was infringing or malicious. What can be established is that the old post supplied no adequate evidence of authorization. When legitimacy cannot be confirmed through the rights holder or a library, the safest copyright and security decision is not to redistribute the route.
This archive is not legal advice. It preserves the post’s historical location while directing readers to verifiable publisher information, library access, and current official technical documentation.