IT programming books related reviews
Product: Book Paperback
Title: PHP and MySQL for Dynamic Web Sites: Visual QuickPro Guide
Publisher: Peachpit Press
Authors: Larry Ullman
Rating: 5/5
Title: PHP and MySQL for Dynamic Web Sites: Visual QuickPro Guide
Publisher: Peachpit Press
Authors: Larry Ullman
Rating: 5/5
What more is there to say. I decided a year ago that I wanted to start a webdesign / web programming business, and quickly came across the need to understand PHP and MySQL. Right now, I feel confident enough to actually start building applications or using opensource scripts that I adapt myself.Larry takes a clean and crisp approach to teaching you from scratch up to an adequate level. And the accompanying website is GREAT!!! The forum is frequented by other readers and the man himself, so if you ever got stuck you need not worry. Buy this book if you're serious about learning PHP and (in a lesser degree, but still quite useful) MySQL.
Product: Book Paperback
Title: The Guru's Guide to SQL Server Stored Procedures, XML, and HTML (With CD-ROM)
Publisher: Addison-Wesley Professional
Authors: Ken Henderson
Rating: 5/5
Title: The Guru's Guide to SQL Server Stored Procedures, XML, and HTML (With CD-ROM)
Publisher: Addison-Wesley Professional
Authors: Ken Henderson
Rating: 5/5
I don't know why no one else ever thought of it before but this is the only book I know of that treats T-Sql like a real language. It teaches that you have to work at it to master it and follow a disciplined engineering approach to it to be really good with it. For example, the chapter on design patterns takes the patterns made famous by Grady Booch and co. and applies them to T-Sql. It seems obvious now, but I never thought of this before and haven't read any other books that cover this.The Visual Source Safe integration is simply excellent. The book shows how to hook up Query Analzyer with VSS and even provides a tool to help manage your source code. I know a lot of shops that don't have any real management of their T-Sql code that would do themselves a favor to read an follow this chapter to the letter.The Undocumented stuff is also really good. I had no idea half of these undocumented stored procedures, extended procedures, functions and DBCC commands were even in there. A couple of come in really handy, but mostly they just provide some insight into how the server really works which, like most of the book, is invaluable.
Product: Book Paperback
Title: Sams Teach Yourself PL/SQL in 21 Days (2nd Edition)
Publisher: Sams
Authors: Jonathan Gennick, Tom Luers
Rating: 4/5
Title: Sams Teach Yourself PL/SQL in 21 Days (2nd Edition)
Publisher: Sams
Authors: Jonathan Gennick, Tom Luers
Rating: 4/5
I generally agree with the other reviewers on this book - despite some errors, it is a solid set of PL/SQL lessons. Great results can be produced by using the book as designed (download a copy of Personal Oracle, and spend three hours a day hacking the &@:=#! out of it). However, these favorable reviews can be misleading, as they lack a "Who is this book for?" section. Unlike many "Teach Yourself" titles, this is not good reading for the absolute novice. To get the most from this book, you should have:1. Functional and theoretical knowledge of at least one high-level programming language.2. A good understanding of database theory and terminology.3. Some experience with SQL (and ideally with Oracle, but if you can make Access do tricks, you'll be fine).4. Three weeks off. ;-)
Product: Book Paperback
Title: PHP and MySQL Web Development
Publisher: Sams
Authors: Luke Welling, Laura Thomson
Rating: 5/5
Title: PHP and MySQL Web Development
Publisher: Sams
Authors: Luke Welling, Laura Thomson
Rating: 5/5
This was the first book of 7 or so that I purchased and I think it's by far the best. The authors clearly explain various aspects of both PHP and MySQL. The book is one of those rare ones that does a great job for the beginners and winds up being a great reference for somewhat and mostly seasoned developers. I keep rereading various parts over and over and it's very helpful. If I was going to recommend just one book on the subject - this would definitely be it.
Product: Book Paperback
Title: Professional Linux Programming
Publisher: Peer Information Inc.
Authors: Neil Matthew and Richard Stones, Brad Clements, Andrew Froggatt, David J. Goodger, Ivan Griffin, Jeff Licquia, Ronald van Loon, Harish Rawat, Udaya Ranawake, Marius Sundbakken, Deepak Thomas, Stephen J. Turnbull, David Woodhouse, Richard Stones, Christopher Browne
Rating: 5/5
Title: Professional Linux Programming
Publisher: Peer Information Inc.
Authors: Neil Matthew and Richard Stones, Brad Clements, Andrew Froggatt, David J. Goodger, Ivan Griffin, Jeff Licquia, Ronald van Loon, Harish Rawat, Udaya Ranawake, Marius Sundbakken, Deepak Thomas, Stephen J. Turnbull, David Woodhouse, Richard Stones, Christopher Browne
Rating: 5/5
I have found this book to be the excellent follow-up to the Beginning Linux Programming title, with just a few remarks. I don't like the title, more than "Professional" is it much more a second part of the first book, even if it discusses advanced topics. It's just one book, so the view of different topics isn't very thorough sometimes, it's just the introduction. But the book is still great for this purpose, I liked it very much. I don't have any access to my Linux box for a few months, so I wasn't able to check the validity of source code provided.
Product: Book Paperback
Title: Joe Celko's SQL for Smarties: Advanced SQL Programming (The Morgan Kaufmann Series in Data Management Systems)
Publisher: Morgan Kaufmann
Authors: Joe Celko
Rating: 5/5
Title: Joe Celko's SQL for Smarties: Advanced SQL Programming (The Morgan Kaufmann Series in Data Management Systems)
Publisher: Morgan Kaufmann
Authors: Joe Celko
Rating: 5/5
"The examples that come to mind are his organizational trees. Who cares about that?" I do! Our company has a hierarchical structure with imperfections. His examples cut the number of queries we use in half and allow flexibility for future expansion.
Product: Book Paperback
Title: Visual Developer SQL Database Programming with Java: Creating Fast, Efficient Database Applications for the Web
Publisher: Coriolis Group Books
Authors: Bill McCarty, Bill McCarthy
Rating: 2/5
Title: Visual Developer SQL Database Programming with Java: Creating Fast, Efficient Database Applications for the Web
Publisher: Coriolis Group Books
Authors: Bill McCarty, Bill McCarthy
Rating: 2/5
I needed a book to give an efficient overview of SQL as used with the JDBC. This book has not suited my needs. In the "Why I Wrote This Book" section of the Introduction, the author says "There are many good books on SQL, but almost all focus on interactive SQL..." As far as I know, SQL is SQL whether it is used interactively (queries entered directly by end-user) or from application code. Also, this book contains way too much Microsoft Access and Microsoft SQL Server specific SQL, not the makings for a database-independent Java application.
Product: Book Paperback
Title: Official Guide to Mini SQL 2.0
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
Authors: Brian Jepson, David J. Hughes
Rating: 5/5
Title: Official Guide to Mini SQL 2.0
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
Authors: Brian Jepson, David J. Hughes
Rating: 5/5
Boy, was I glad when this book finally came out. Sure, there are mailing lists and discussion groups devoted to MiniSQL (aka mSQL), but what I really wanted was a well-edited, authoritative guide to the best nearly free SQL database implementation. "Official Guide to MiniSQL 2.0" is almost everything I was hoping for. It certainly is authoritative, given that mSQL's creator, David Hughes, is the coauthor. It's also comprehensive, covering not only what mSQL can do but also, and more importantly for practical purposes, how you can interface with mSQL via Java, Perl, and other languages by using existing APIs. The downside to that breadth of coverage, however, is fewer examples of complete database applications. Ironically, mSQL doesn't really need the in-depth coverage as much as do the various APIs (from MsqlPerl to DBD::mSQL). Nevertheless, "Offical Guide to MiniSQL 2.0" is an indispensable resource for anyone using or considering MiniSQL.
Product: Book Paperback
Title: Microsoft SQL Server 6.5 Unleashed (Unleashed)
Publisher: Sams Pub
Authors: David Solomon, Ray Rankins, David S. Solomon, Jeff Steinmetz
Rating: 1/5
Title: Microsoft SQL Server 6.5 Unleashed (Unleashed)
Publisher: Sams Pub
Authors: David Solomon, Ray Rankins, David S. Solomon, Jeff Steinmetz
Rating: 1/5
While I will not disagree with the comments of other reviews I have given the rating of one star because you can not even begin to use the DB on the CD of you are already not proficient at SQL Server. Here is what I have found wrong and what I did to fix it.First Sams does not have any fixes posted at its web site for this book. Shame on Sams!2nd: pages 6 & 7 of the book use the command line to install the database which is ok but Sql Server 6.5 is GUI. The instructions/commands given did install the db structure but would not let the data be put in via bcp commands. Database was locked because it was loading; loading what?? Also the log file is put in the data file. This is a huge no no. The log file should be seperate so you can recover the DB. Once I did that I could move data to the DB from the Bcp command line.3rd: the pubdata.dmp file is missing so you cannot install the bigpubs database off the CD. You must copy the pubs database to bigpubs to obtain the table structure. This must be done before using the bcp command line.4th: the names of the tables in pubs do not align with the names in bigpubs so when using the bcp command line you need to be aware of this. The cd uses the 8.3 format.5th: the sales file has 168725 rows which is ridiculously large. It files the log files (at 168000, just 725 rows short) and aborts the install of the sales file. Finally did the following to get the sales data into the sales table:bcp bigpubs..sales in sales.bcp -Usa -p -c -b1000This forces commitment at every 1,000 rows so the darn thing will work. It won't file the log files either!!!!6th: the note on page 7 refers to pubdata.bmp!! A bitmap?? Think what it should have been .dmp. Anyway the dmp file is NO Where on the CD.7th: the book doesn't have a rating on the back cover for novice, beginner, intermediate, etc. If you are a beginner you probably did not understand the fixes I did. You may still obtain a lot out of the book but pages 6 & 7 will prove difficult. Hopefully you will have access to someone who can assist you with the above.Sams usually does a better job than this. Since the book has been out since May of 98 it is inexcusable that there are not any fixes posted to the Sams web site for this problem.I have emailed Sams and asked them to review this so they can get the fixes on their web site.Regards and Best Wishes to all.
Product: Book Paperback
Title: Hitchhiker's Guide to Visual Basic and SQL Server
Publisher: Microsoft Press
Authors: William R. Vaughn
Rating: 2/5
Title: Hitchhiker's Guide to Visual Basic and SQL Server
Publisher: Microsoft Press
Authors: William R. Vaughn
Rating: 2/5
The author uses very loose language. I don't know how a company like Microsoft can publish a book without editing for language. Lot of the sentences in the book begin with No, or Yes. Is that a way to write a professional book? William Vaughn brags too much about working at Microsoft. Ok so he works at Microsoft and he is a big shot blah blah blah... but who cares. When one pays for a book one expects to be taught on the subject and not hear about how great and big the author is. The book is filled with unnecessary nonsense and the author's stupid jokes which makes it bulky. On the other hand this is probably the only complete and dedicated refrence for information on accessing SQL server using Visual Basic. Most of the stuff is covered in this book. It has good examples which work unlike some other books. Given no real choice I would say a VB programmer accessing SQL server needs to have this book.
