Most books, I've read are written by full-time authors, rather than contractors (i.e. practitioners) ... and it shows ... in the "hello world", foo-bar examples ... for lack of immagination. This author has, clearly, been developing websites - for years; it's so evident throughout. Moreover, the author is VERY well read and aware of the latest development theories, practices, principles and design patterns. He writes with the wisdom of someone who has lived through long wars of website development and, more importantly to the reader, has found most practical ways to weave current design theory into guidelines for getting things done with PHP.
Programming with the C++ Standard Library can certainly be difficult, but Nicolai Josuttis's The C++ Standard Library provides one ...