IT programming books related reviews
Product: Book Textbook Binding
Title: McSe Training Guide: SQL Server 6.5 Design and Implementation (Training Guides (New Riders))
Publisher: New Riders Pub
Authors: David Besch, Sean Baird
Rating: 5/5
Title: McSe Training Guide: SQL Server 6.5 Design and Implementation (Training Guides (New Riders))
Publisher: New Riders Pub
Authors: David Besch, Sean Baird
Rating: 5/5
I believe that the level of the text is reasonably geared for the intended audience. (If you're an old SQL pro, you probably don't really need a book like this and if you're a complete novice, you're probably not ready to think about taking the exam) This series uses the framework of the published Microsoft Exam topics to arrange the material covered. Despite the constraint, this book does a rather decent job of actually teaching one to use SQL Server. The authors frequently reference outside material, often the online docs, for further study. There are extensive exercises and question sets at the end of each chapter, though the questions are not "exam sound alikes". In any case I would suggest that someone hitting SQL cold, would do well to first spend some time with MS Access to learn the fundamentals of Relational Data Base Design (Teach Yourself Access 97 in 14 Days from Sams might be a good choice). Follow up with this book, and then the SQL Server online docs.
Product: Book Paperback
Title: Oracle SQL Tuning Pocket Reference
Publisher: O'Reilly
Authors: Mark Gurry
Rating: 5/5
Title: Oracle SQL Tuning Pocket Reference
Publisher: O'Reilly
Authors: Mark Gurry
Rating: 5/5
Yesterday, I saw this pocket book, then I decide to buy it because...
* Clear clarification on which optimizer (cost-based and rule- based) is used for a specific situation and its problems.
* Sorts, indexes, IN/EXISTS, OR/UNION, Loop, joins with tables...etc related performance issues and rating , giving a reader a reminder on the criteria to write a well-performed SQL.
* What is bad SQL?How to use SQL Hints?
* How to analyze table with DBMS_STATS package?
* How to pre-define outline for your execution plan ?I have bought DBA checklist and Oracle with UNIX, they are my nice partners as well. Haha...I still remember I deal with a staging database problem in my work, I cannot find a solution from a THICK and HEAVY book but from them.If you need handy guides, pocket references are excellent and light, haha...I want to buy RMAN reference later :D, they seem a series of fiction.
Product: Book Paperback
Title: Advanced Transact-SQL for SQL Server 2000
Publisher: Apress
Authors: Itzik Ben-Gan, Tom Moreau
Rating: 2/5
Title: Advanced Transact-SQL for SQL Server 2000
Publisher: Apress
Authors: Itzik Ben-Gan, Tom Moreau
Rating: 2/5
It's not that this book is very bad, it's just that it doesn't live up to its title. Frankly, I think the real problem here is that Henderson's Guru's Guide book has redefined the word "advanced." His book is _advanced_ - really advanced. So much so that, if you're a complete beginner, you may struggle with it. From that standpoint, this book pales in comparison and is not really advanced. Now, that doesn't mean it's a bad book, it's just that it's not as advanced as people have come to expect - not a good thing when you call yourself "advanced."
Product: Book Paperback
Title: Instant SQL Server 2000 Applications
Publisher: McGraw-Hill Companies
Authors: Greg Buczek
Rating: 5/5
Title: Instant SQL Server 2000 Applications
Publisher: McGraw-Hill Companies
Authors: Greg Buczek
Rating: 5/5
This book is unbelievable! I had been looking for a book explaining stored procedures. I had bought four or five books on SQL Server but they turned out to be very disappointing: only one chapter on stored procedures and only examples that were less than convincing on the use of stored procedures.This book shows you real life examples where stored procedures are used. I understood right away what other authors were trying to explain.Mr. Buczek's book consists of small but complete real life applications. By using complete projects, we understand how and why using stored procedures.But the book is not only about stored procedures; using defined functions and triggers are also used.What makes this book stand-out among other books on SQL Server, is the coupling of SQL Server with a user interface: each applications use an interface: some of Mr. Buczek applications use VB6, others use VB.Net (beta 1: at that time VB.Net beta 2 had not been launched), others use Access and others use ASP pages. This is the book you need if you are tired, as I am, to throw your money through the windows by buying computing books that are written by people who should never have written books at all. As far as I am concerned, Mr. Buczek is the only person who desserves the right to write computer books. He is the only one who knows what he is doing.
Product: Book Paperback
Title: Transact-SQL Programming
Publisher: O'Reilly
Authors: Lee Gould, Andrew Zanevsky, Kevin Kline
Rating: 1/5
Title: Transact-SQL Programming
Publisher: O'Reilly
Authors: Lee Gould, Andrew Zanevsky, Kevin Kline
Rating: 1/5
Compared to the other T-SQL books on the market, this book makes a good reference for programmers concerned with writing compliant SQL for Microsoft and Sybase databases. Everytime I go to use this book, another developer seems to be borrowing it. That statement alone proves to me that this book is worthy of being in any technical library. Although the book is bit outdated (only goes up to Sybase 11.5), it does have a number of good examples. The book does a nice job of telling you what T-SQL statements apply to MS-SQL and Sybase-SQL. My only critique: Mr. Kline should have expanded the section on error handling.
Product: Book Paperback
Title: SQL In A Nutshell, 2nd Edition
Publisher: O'Reilly
Authors: Kevin Kline, Daniel Kline, Brand Hunt
Rating: 2/5
Title: SQL In A Nutshell, 2nd Edition
Publisher: O'Reilly
Authors: Kevin Kline, Daniel Kline, Brand Hunt
Rating: 2/5
The author's relatives and PR flacks notwithstanding, this is one of the poorest Nutshell books O'Reilly has published. It is also unusually expensive -- $29.95 for 214 pages vs. the 560 pages in the infinitely better "Web Design in a Nutshell".Except for some of the PostgreSQL and MySQL sections, I read the book cover to cover, but I wouldn't consider it even a good review of the subject. Part of the problem is SQL itself -- the standard bears little relationship to reality given both the standard's writers' overly academic approach and the vendors' disinclination to follow it. It might have been better to skip SQL99 altogether and just talk about the real products. You can't program a standards document.The concepts chapter is very thin and the documentation of SQL functions almost non-existent. There is almost no useful coverage of stored procedures. I'm not convinced MySQL and PostgreSQL are even worth including -- are they really used by more people than Sybase and DB2? (I think Informix and Ingres can be safely omitted by now.) Are any open source products used by people willing and able to pay this much for such a short book?The book consistently gives the impression of having been rushed out in a hurry. Perhaps the third edition will be worth having. Meanwhile, get Kline's "Transact-SQL Programming" if you are using Sybase or an older version of MS SQL Server, or "The Guru's Guide to Transact-SQL" if you have a newer version of SQL Server.
Product: Book Hardcover
Title: MCSE: SQL Server 2000 Design Study Guide (Exam 70-229)
Publisher: Sybex
Authors: Marc Israel, J. Steven Jones, Marc Israel, Steve Jones
Rating: 3/5
Title: MCSE: SQL Server 2000 Design Study Guide (Exam 70-229)
Publisher: Sybex
Authors: Marc Israel, J. Steven Jones, Marc Israel, Steve Jones
Rating: 3/5
I have used MOC (The first mistake), and MSPRESS (Another mistake), then QUE (I think this book needs serious revamp) only to find out all of them do not cover what you need to know for the exam, until I came across this book. It explains concepts for 70-229 very well. It has a lot of exercises that reinforce the concepts. I gave three stars because there are still many typos and review questions with wrong answers.
Product: Book Paperback
Title: Oracle SQL & PL/SQL Annotated Archives
Publisher: Osborne/McGraw-Hill
Authors: Kevin Loney, Rachel Carmichael
Rating: 4/5
Title: Oracle SQL & PL/SQL Annotated Archives
Publisher: Osborne/McGraw-Hill
Authors: Kevin Loney, Rachel Carmichael
Rating: 4/5
I received my copy of this book today and have already located scripts to begin using. This book will be instrumental in setting up our "DBA" processes and procedures. I especially like how each script is documented as to what it is doing and why and when you would want to use it. This book will save me many hours in script-writing. Thanks Kevin and Rachel.
Product: Book Paperback
Title: The Guru's Guide to Transact-SQL
Publisher: Addison-Wesley Professional
Authors: Ken Henderson
Rating: 5/5
Title: The Guru's Guide to Transact-SQL
Publisher: Addison-Wesley Professional
Authors: Ken Henderson
Rating: 5/5
I have all the T-SQL books out there, and this one is by far the best of the lot. In fact, it's one of the best tech books I've ever purchased. The Cursors chapters and the one on performance and tuning are, alone, worth your money. The writing is lucid, funny, and colored by years of experience in the trenches. If you are looking for the ultimate T-SQL book, look no further.
Product: Book Paperback
Title: Microsoft SQL Server(TM) 7.0 Administrator's Pocket Consultant
Publisher: Microsoft Press
Authors: William R. Stanek
Rating: 5/5
Title: Microsoft SQL Server(TM) 7.0 Administrator's Pocket Consultant
Publisher: Microsoft Press
Authors: William R. Stanek
Rating: 5/5
First time I saw this book I wasn't sure. I thumbed through it and it looked really good. I went home logged on and searched for Sql books. I bought another book based on reviews. Few weeks ago after getting nowhere with the other book. I bought this book. The rest as they say is history. I am now a firm believer (I've even bought two other books in this series)! If you want to learn Sql server this is the best book. I use it just about every day and it has come to the rescue more than once.Buy this book you won't be disappointed!
