IT programming books related reviews
Product: Book Paperback
Title: PHP Professional Projects
Publisher: Muska & Lipman/Premier-Trade
Authors: Ashish Wilfred, Meeta Gupta, Kartik Bhatnagar
Rating: 5/5
Title: PHP Professional Projects
Publisher: Muska & Lipman/Premier-Trade
Authors: Ashish Wilfred, Meeta Gupta, Kartik Bhatnagar
Rating: 5/5
I am new to PHP, but I found this book to be a gem despite the fact that it targets advanced PHP audience. The projects are certainly real-life. Absolute worth for money.
Product: Book Paperback
Title: Learn SQL Server 2000 Administration
Publisher: Wordware Publishing, Inc.
Authors: Jeffrey Garbus
Rating: 1/5
Title: Learn SQL Server 2000 Administration
Publisher: Wordware Publishing, Inc.
Authors: Jeffrey Garbus
Rating: 1/5
This is a terrible book, which only tells you very basic things, which anyone who clicks around Enterprise Manager for a while would know... It pads out the pages by showing output of long DBCC runs.. Each chapter describes what it's going to teach you, then proceeds to teach you nothing. Later it refers back to what you learned in previous chapters.. A complete joke.
Product: Book Paperback
Title: Beginning E-Commerce with Visual Basic, ASP, SQL Server 7.0 and MTS
Publisher: Peer Information
Authors: Matthew Reynolds
Rating: 4/5
Title: Beginning E-Commerce with Visual Basic, ASP, SQL Server 7.0 and MTS
Publisher: Peer Information
Authors: Matthew Reynolds
Rating: 4/5
For whatever reason, there are a lot of E-commerce applications still running using Visual Basic 6.0, ASP 3.0, SQL Server 7.0, and MTS (i.e. Windows NT 4.0). These applications may be in the process of being converted to newer technologies or they may be "Legacy" code, but they still need someone to support them. Matthew Reynolds book provides the needed skills to do just that. This is a good book for aquiring those skills.
Product: Book Hardcover
Title: MCSE: SQL Server 7 Administration Study Guide
Publisher:
Authors: Lance Mortensen, Rick Sawtell
Rating: 2/5
Title: MCSE: SQL Server 7 Administration Study Guide
Publisher:
Authors: Lance Mortensen, Rick Sawtell
Rating: 2/5
I am no stranger to Microsoft and certifications. This book assumes that the reader knows the lingo of databases, and yet it fails utterly to prepare one for the certification exam. It does not give enough detail for a beginner, but would probably bore the advanced user of Microsoft SQL. I have the latest version of this book, and the errata posted on Sybex's website are already corrected in it. Nonetheless, after a year in circulation, most of the T-SQL statements printed in the exercises STILL have incorrect syntax. Imagine spending 2 hours to debug an excercise which should have taken 5 minutes! I used this book in conjunction with the Transcender test (which was previously a "guaranteed pass" combination for me). As always, I learned some from the book, more from the BOL, but the most about practical application from the Transcender test. Sybex has a lot of work to do to make this volume worth the price I paid.I'm buying the Microsoft SQL Self-Study Kit right now...
Product: Book Paperback
Title: MCSE SQL 2000 Administration Exam Cram (Exam: 70-228)
Publisher: Coriolis Group Books
Authors: Kalani Kirk Hausman
Rating: 2/5
Title: MCSE SQL 2000 Administration Exam Cram (Exam: 70-228)
Publisher: Coriolis Group Books
Authors: Kalani Kirk Hausman
Rating: 2/5
Throughout the whole book the author consistently refers to the MODAL database. It should obviously be the MODEL database. In Chapter 3, the capabilities of the various versions of SQL Server are wrong. In Chapter 4 they list the installation paths of SQL Server. It is virtually identical for the default instance, named instances, and various other installations. It would have been much more instructive to list the basic path ONCE and list where it deviated for the various install flavors. But, they felt it necessary to list out the same things over and over and over and over. In Chapter 9 they list the sytax of most of the DBCC commands with little to no explaination--what is the point of listing the syntax ONLY and NEVER highlighting the more important options? This is supposed to be Exam Cram...not Exam Filler! In short, this book gives you a PARTIAL overview of the various elements in SQL Server 2000 administration--but I could have gotten that from the Books on line table of contents MORE easily. So many things that the book did NOT cover were on the exam--SQL Server can do C2 auditing, but it can be very slow. So many things that the book did cover were NOT on the exam--MS is NEVER going to ask you a question like: how many processors can SQL Server 2000 enterprise edition use on NT 4? My advice: Use the books online and use Wrox's Programming SQL Server 2000. Do not use this book.
Product: Book Paperback
Title: Sams Teach Yourself Microsoft SQL Server 7 in 21 Days
Publisher: Sams
Authors: Richard Waymire, Rick Sawtell
Rating: 5/5
Title: Sams Teach Yourself Microsoft SQL Server 7 in 21 Days
Publisher: Sams
Authors: Richard Waymire, Rick Sawtell
Rating: 5/5
I bought this book because I failed my MCSE test and wanted to review the material. I found this book was easyer to read and better put to gether then the sybex sql book. Sybex just did not go into the details like they should have, this book did. To just lean SQL or to study for the MCSE test(with transcenders) I recomend this book. I now feel confident that I will pass my MCSE test.
Product: Book
Title: How to Use Google : The 30 Most Important Tips, Hacks and Tricks
Publisher:
Authors: Tod Sacerdoti
Rating: 2/5
Title: How to Use Google : The 30 Most Important Tips, Hacks and Tricks
Publisher:
Authors: Tod Sacerdoti
Rating: 2/5
I bought this on an impulse -- hey, Amazon is recommending this for me, and it's cheap -- and I didn't do my homework. I didn't read these reviews and I didn't check it out.
I won't ask for my money back -- I did, after all, order it, and it's cheap. But I was very disappointed. I already knew all except 2 of the "tricks", and those 2 weren't very useful (one returned no info!).
Unless you're a complete Google newbie, this e-book just isn't worth the time or the money. Sorry!
PS: Don't assume that Amazon's recommendations are good! (I guess that's obvious...)
Product: Book Paperback
Title: Beginning PHP 5 and MySQL: From Novice to Professional
Publisher: Apress
Authors: W. J. Gilmore
Rating: 5/5
Title: Beginning PHP 5 and MySQL: From Novice to Professional
Publisher: Apress
Authors: W. J. Gilmore
Rating: 5/5
I am always skeptical when a book claims to be able to take someone from novice level to professional or even to serve the needs of both the novice and professional. If it is written for the novice then it is too basic for the professional. If it is written for the professional then it is too technical for the novice. "Beginning PHP 5 and MySQL: From Novice to Professional" is one of the very few books that lives up to its claim.
It is written in a highly readable style and organized in such a way that the professional can easily skip over the basic stuff and get right to what they need. Yet the novice can work through the book and soon become quite proficient. Areas covered in the PHP section of the book include installing and configuring PHP5, using variables, flow control, arrays, advanced OOP, error handling, expressions, forms, authentication, networking, and LDAP. Areas covered in the MySQL section include installation and configuration, table structures, and database queries.
For such a large book it contains almost no filler information. Every page contains useful information, the examples are appropriate and detailed, and descriptions are clear and useful. Author W. Jason Gilmore has a rare and wonderful talent for taking the complex and describing it in a simple, easy to understand manner so that anyone at any level can understand how to do it.
"Beginning PHP 5 and MySQL: From Novice to Professional" is a book you will want to have if you currently work with PHP or plan to in the near future. It is not only highly recommended but is the best book I've seen on PHP and I will be clearing some space off my book shelf for it since it easily replaces three or four of my favorite ones. I will have to note that the section on MySQL does not cover that subject anywhere nearly as well as the book covers PHP. Buy the book, read it, and keep it for the PHP section. For MySQL try "The Definitive Guide to MySQL, Second Edition" also from Apress.
Product: Book Hardcover
Title: OCA/OCP: Introduction to Oracle9i SQL Study Guide
Publisher: Sybex
Authors: Chip Dawes, Biju Thomas, Chip Dawes, Biju Thomas
Rating: 5/5
Title: OCA/OCP: Introduction to Oracle9i SQL Study Guide
Publisher: Sybex
Authors: Chip Dawes, Biju Thomas, Chip Dawes, Biju Thomas
Rating: 5/5
A very good book for getting upto speed with the Oracle 9i SQL enhancements. Good for both the test and as an Oracle 9i SQL reference. I took the exam and passed easily.
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
I purchased this book to supplement my growing library of computer reference books, and on the whole was not dissapointed. I used the book mostly as reference and ended up flipping to the index to reference specific information. I found all the explanations to be clear and code snippets were fruitful while not being overwhelming. Welling and Thomson do a great job covering the diverse aspects of PHP use and offer many common in-depth examples such as a sophisticated shopping cart and web forum. Even though more advanced PHP functionality cannot be found here (try Professional PHP4 for that), if you're willing to get your hands a little dirty, this is a great place to start.
