IT programming books related reviews
Product: Book Paperback
Title: .NET Enterprise Design with Visual Basic .NET and SQL Server 2000
Publisher: Sams
Authors: Jimmy Nilsson, Jimmy Nilsson
Rating: 5/5
Title: .NET Enterprise Design with Visual Basic .NET and SQL Server 2000
Publisher: Sams
Authors: Jimmy Nilsson, Jimmy Nilsson
Rating: 5/5
This book is perfect for the VB developer who is interested in Enterprise programming, which I define as building apps that scale well and have a maximum amount of fault tolerance and are easy to maintain. It doesn't hold your hand with sample code or screenshots. Instead, it provides Jimmy Nillson's insight into how large, real-world programming projects are built. Its very well written, and Jimmy Nillson provides several different solutions to problems in addition to the one he prefers.It is well worth buying. One caveat is that this book doesn't cover the details of the language such as ADO.net data access, etc. so you'll want a separate book for that. This is actually the strength of the book because you can find all of that information in the helpfiles, whereas the information you'll find in this book won't be easy to find anywhere else.
Product: Book Paperback
Title: Oracle PL/SQL Programming, Third Edition
Publisher: O'Reilly
Authors: Steven Feuerstein
Rating: 4/5
Title: Oracle PL/SQL Programming, Third Edition
Publisher: O'Reilly
Authors: Steven Feuerstein
Rating: 4/5
I really thought I knew PL/SQL until I read this book.It contains so much great, hidden information.It is a great value at triple its price. If you do any serious Oracle PL/SQL coding, GET THIS BOOK!
Product: Book Paperback
Title: Core PHP Programming: Using PHP to Build Dynamic Web Sites (2nd Edition)
Publisher: Pearson Education
Authors: Leon Atkinson
Rating: 2/5
Title: Core PHP Programming: Using PHP to Build Dynamic Web Sites (2nd Edition)
Publisher: Pearson Education
Authors: Leon Atkinson
Rating: 2/5
I found this book to be a decent reference, but any time I wanted to know more than the basics of how to call a function or use its return results, I would discover that it didn't have the detail I was looking for.This book was the first on the market to cover PHP, and it feels as though it was rushed. It's not sloppy, but it isn't deep, and I've ultimately decided that I'm better off with the online manual than this book, because all I can use it for is for function references, and the online manual is more current.
Product: Book Paperback
Title: PHP Pocket Reference, 2nd Edition
Publisher: O'Reilly
Authors: Rasmus Lerdorf
Rating: 4/5
Title: PHP Pocket Reference, 2nd Edition
Publisher: O'Reilly
Authors: Rasmus Lerdorf
Rating: 4/5
PHP pocket reference is just that, a language reference. It lists all the functions with a short reminder of its purpose. It is an indispensable tool for any serious PHP coder, and an inexpensive one at that. It must not be mistaken for a comprehensive index of all commands and objects as that is not its intended purpose. For details, check php.net for the full annotated manual. When you just need to look up command syntax or port that antique DBase code to SQL Server 7, you'll save loads of time with this handy accessory.
Product: Book Paperback
Title: Beginning Php 4 (Programmer to Programmer)
Publisher: Peer Information
Authors: Chris Lea, Allan Kent, Ganesh Prasad, Chris Ullman
Rating: 3/5
Title: Beginning Php 4 (Programmer to Programmer)
Publisher: Peer Information
Authors: Chris Lea, Allan Kent, Ganesh Prasad, Chris Ullman
Rating: 3/5
this book is heavy, its thick and its almost completely useless. well not totally useless, but it does lack alot of details and explanation about how some functions are created and used. there is alot more detail about installing php and mysql than there is about anything else. buy this book for a coaster, not if you want to learn php.
Product: Book Paperback
Title: Programming Microsoft SQL Server 2000 with Microsoft Visual Basic .NET
Publisher: Microsoft Press
Authors: Rick Dobson
Rating: 5/5
Title: Programming Microsoft SQL Server 2000 with Microsoft Visual Basic .NET
Publisher: Microsoft Press
Authors: Rick Dobson
Rating: 5/5
Like most people, I appreciate humor. But when I'm pressed for time and need to learn the nuts and bolts of a programming language, I'd rather an author save his chuckles for his own time. Or her own time. Whatever. Dobson's book is right up my alley. It's serious, but not complicated. The pages are filled with good, technical information, supported by concise examples and efficient diagrams. No wasted space, no wasted words.In contrast, Karl Moore's book (VB .Net: The Tutorials), though quite informative, was annoying in its silliness. This tome served as a refreshing antidote. Of course reasonable people can disagree on the humor thing--the disagreeable can go to Moore's work. In this book, multiple topics are covered well: SQL programming, including the all-powerful stored procedure, Windows application programming, XML programming and ASP.Net programming. Dobson's treatment of SQL in concert with VB .Net should help anyone get up to speed writing DB applications in no time. It is a wonderful text that successfully paints with a broad and serious stroke.
Product: Book Paperback
Title: Learning SQL: A Step-By-Step Guide Using Oracle
Publisher: Addison Wesley
Authors: Richard Earp, Sikha Bagui
Rating: 2/5
Title: Learning SQL: A Step-By-Step Guide Using Oracle
Publisher: Addison Wesley
Authors: Richard Earp, Sikha Bagui
Rating: 2/5
I bought this book to refresh my knowledge of SQL, especially the new stuff that has been added in the past few years, such as GROUP BY ROLLUP. THIS BOOK DOES NOT COVER RECENT CHANGES TO SQL FOR ORACLE.
Product: Book Paperback
Title: Core PHP Programming, Third Edition
Publisher: Prentice Hall PTR
Authors: Leon Atkinson, Zeev Suraski
Rating: 5/5
Title: Core PHP Programming, Third Edition
Publisher: Prentice Hall PTR
Authors: Leon Atkinson, Zeev Suraski
Rating: 5/5
This is a fantastic book if you already know PHP. If you're like me -- transitioning from ASP to PHP -- this book is completely, utterly, worthless.In order to understand the programming syntax, you must already be familiar with C. The book does a poor job of acclimating you to it's backwards, excessively abbreviated method of coding.The vast majority of functions and methods described in the book have absolutely NO CODE EXAMPLES whatsoever. Many functions get exactly one small paragraph of description, without any detail of input, output or expected return data. A great example is the $_REQUEST pregen variable. How do you use it? Don't rely on this book to figure it out. There's NO DOCUMENTATION. What if you want to know how to connect to a MySQL server that isn't your "localhost"? This book doesn't even touch the syntax of mysql_connect. All of the examples in the book use "localhost" over and over again. Apparently, the good people at PHP don't think that you would ever ever in a million years connect to a MySQL server that isn't on your local system. Oops.Furthermore, the Index is also worthless. Referring to the previous example, let's say you wanted to find what little information there is on the $_REQUEST pregen variable. If you look under "R", you won't find it. If you look under "$", you still won't find it. Somehow, you must magically know to look under "pregenerated variables" in order to find the index entry for $_REQUEST. That's great if you already knew that you were looking for something that was classified as a pregen variable. But, if you didn't know that tidbit of information, then this book left you high & dry.This book makes great leaps of abstraction. They explain a small amount of syntax, and expect you to re-apply that syntax haphazardly when you write your code. Here is a brief allegory of their style of explanation, so you understand what we're talking about:1. The universe is made from sub-atomic particles.
2. Sub-atomic particles make atoms.
3. From this, we can understand how Man creates skyscrapers.That's how this insipid book reads from cover to cover.The second half of this book ignores the concept of "reference manual" completely, and dives into program theory. It's a great computer science 101 refresher course on sorting algoriths and program structure, and even coding styles!To sum up, if you already know PHP and you enjoy a trip through abstracted fantasy land, buy this book. On the other hand, if you exist in reality and you want to learn how to write PHP code, skip this useless paperweight.
Product: Book Paperback
Title: Build Your Own Database Driven Website Using PHP and MySQL
Publisher: SitePoint
Authors: Kevin Yank
Rating: 5/5
Title: Build Your Own Database Driven Website Using PHP and MySQL
Publisher: SitePoint
Authors: Kevin Yank
Rating: 5/5
This is a great book for someone getting started in serving up dynamic webpages. It provides an excellent introduction to PHP and MySQL (including installation) and how to make them work together. The power user will want to go on to other resources, but this one will get you over the startup hump.
Product: Book Paperback
Title: Microsoft(r) SQL Server(tm) 2000 Analysis Services Step by Step
Publisher: Microsoft Press
Authors: OLAP Train, Reed Jacobson
Rating: 5/5
Title: Microsoft(r) SQL Server(tm) 2000 Analysis Services Step by Step
Publisher: Microsoft Press
Authors: OLAP Train, Reed Jacobson
Rating: 5/5
The book covers Analysis Services quite well if you are willing to go through the steps that they have for each section. As the name implies it steps you through examples and is NOT a reference guide by any means. It is also not a step by step guide that you can just read. You must be working through the examples while you read or you will get lost pretty fast because many examples build on previous ones. Their coverage of MDX is fairly weak unless you need exactly what they query on. Other than that they cover the topics pretty well.
