IT programming books related reviews
Product: Book Paperback
Title: Microsoft SQL Server 2000 Reporting Services
Publisher: McGraw-Hill Osborne Media
Authors: Brian Larson
Rating: 5/5
Title: Microsoft SQL Server 2000 Reporting Services
Publisher: McGraw-Hill Osborne Media
Authors: Brian Larson
Rating: 5/5
I found Microsoft SQL Server 2000 Reporting Services by Brian Larson to be both entertaining and highly informative. The three main attributes that I like were the assumed knowledge level of the reader, the order in which Mr. Larson worked through the examples he provided, and the business need paradigm which frames the whole book.Microsoft SQL Server 2000 Reporting Services assumes very little knowledge on the part of the reader, but manages to provide explanations and detail procedures in a manner that doesn't belittle the novice nor frustrate the more advanced user. Mr. Larson avoids the trap into which many other technical writers have fallen: abandoning the novice as the book advances. As the complexity of the examples increases, so does the assumed knowledge base of the user, but there is always a well defined trail of bread crumbs leading the novice back to the appropriate spot in the book where the skill was originally explained.Microsoft SQL Server 2000 Reporting Services works through concepts in a way that I found effective. First, Mr. Larson tells us what Reporting Services features are to be explored. Next, the business/reporting need is explained, followed by an overview of how the reader will meet that need. We then work through a task list with detailed, step-by-step instructions including images and screenshots. This is accomplished both within the confines of the friendly Visual Studio wizards, and without the wizard so the reader is exposed to what's happening behind the scenes. Finally, Mr. Larson provides the reader with further context and explanations for why tasks were necessary or why they were performed in the manner and order in which they were performed.Finally, the entire book is framed by a desire to meet the business needs of a fictitious shipping company. Though the business and business model are highly entertaining, and I caught myself laughing aloud on several occasions, the needs of its employees are much the same as any terrestrial, real world company. Because of this, the reader stays grounded, and is led to think of ways to apply the examples, and the skills or features they illustrate, to their own business environment. In my opinion, it is this aspect of Microsoft SQL Server 2000 Reporting Services that is the most valuable.
Product: Book Paperback
Title: The Sybase SQL Server Survival Guide
Publisher: Wiley
Authors: Jim Panttaja, Mary Panttaja, Judy Bowman
Rating: 3/5
Title: The Sybase SQL Server Survival Guide
Publisher: Wiley
Authors: Jim Panttaja, Mary Panttaja, Judy Bowman
Rating: 3/5
I am a certified DBA for other systems & servers. I haven't worked with Sybase servers for several years. This book was just what I needed to jog my memory and compare programs & procedures with other database systems that I am more familiar with. If you are experienced with other database servers this book is the handy reference book that explains how Sybase interprets the basics of database programming and development. If you are a beginner - then I would use this book as a suppliment to other materials. It is a great "quick-reference" book with a Sybase perspective on database development & programming.
Product: Book Unknown Binding
Title: PHP and MySQL Web Development (3rd Edition)
Publisher: Sams
Authors: Luke Welling, Laura Thomson
Rating: 4/5
Title: PHP and MySQL Web Development (3rd Edition)
Publisher: Sams
Authors: Luke Welling, Laura Thomson
Rating: 4/5
In open source usage, the book describes a powerful and popular combination of PHP and MySQL to build websites. Each program has several texts devoted solely to it. But it is in the interaction between the two that often developers need assistance on.
The book does start with chapters exclusively on explaining PHP, and other chapters on MySQL. In themselves, you might find these to be concise and useful explanations.
But the meat of the book is given in several chapters, where each chapter is devoted to making one common application. Like constructing a shopping cart. Or a Web-based email service. These are things that you have surely experienced as a user. Now you get to see how to code them in PHP and MySQL. Which explains some of the book's size. There are 10 chapters in this section. Enough to give you plenty of examples to draw ideas from.
Product: Book Paperback
Title: Professional PHP Programming
Publisher:
Authors: Jesus Castagnetto, Sascha Schumann, Harish Rawat, Chris Scollo, Deepak T. Veliath
Rating: 3/5
Title: Professional PHP Programming
Publisher:
Authors: Jesus Castagnetto, Sascha Schumann, Harish Rawat, Chris Scollo, Deepak T. Veliath
Rating: 3/5
Whilst the authors spend much of the preface thanking their editors, it seems that the editors could have done more. There is much in this book that is poorly written, examples and coding style are inconsistent throughout, and it is completely apparent that different sections have been written by different authors.This is not a book for novice programmers. Although it starts out slowly it quickly ramps up. If you do not have a good grounding in at least one other programming language you will get lost quickly.Neither is this a book particularly suited to professionals, as the title might suggest. The topics and examples seem to be geared towards small and mid-sized web sites. The featured shopping cart program for example is fairly naive - it supports only offline credit card purchases.Much of the book is structured around explaining PHP feature-by-feature. This makes it read like a reference book, but the explanations are liberally illustrated with examples which make it less easy to look things up here than in the official PHP documentation. There is little discussion of high-level concepts, structured programming techniques and architectural considerations, which is a pity - how to design a PHP program for use on the web would be a much more useful topic than the mechanics of using the language itself.That said, this book is not without value - it is certainly worthwhile to get different perspectives on things. This book provides an alternative source of information to the official PHP documentation, and one that is fleshed out with commentary and examples. I did learn things from this book and have referred to it whilst writing programs. Overall, a reasonably useful book but perhaps not worth the rather high price.
Product: Book Paperback
Title: Apache Server Administrator's Handbook
Publisher: Hungry Minds
Authors: Mohammed J. Kabir, Kabir
Rating: 5/5
Title: Apache Server Administrator's Handbook
Publisher: Hungry Minds
Authors: Mohammed J. Kabir, Kabir
Rating: 5/5
It looks like a ORA book and reads like one too! IDG finally decided to write books for advanced readers. I have Kabir's Apache Bible; it helped me a lot and now that I am in kind of the advanced administrator level, I think this book will be staying on my desk a lot. After reading the bible, I am prepared for this one! Great look and feel and not to mention easy reading. Keep up the good work. I recommend this book for those who don't need a lot of handholding and just need to find the details quickly. If you are starting out with Apache, get the Apache Server Bible instead. This one is for us ex-ORA readers!
Product: Book Paperback
Title: Php Fast & Easy Web Development (Fast & Easy Web Development)
Publisher: Premier Press
Authors: Julie C. Meloni
Rating: 4/5
Title: Php Fast & Easy Web Development (Fast & Easy Web Development)
Publisher: Premier Press
Authors: Julie C. Meloni
Rating: 4/5
The author has constructed example exercises beginning with the basics and moving on to form submission, error checking and database management. You will want to sit down in front of your computer and dig in! Examples support both the Windows and Linux OS. In the first chapter, you will use the CD-ROM included to set up your own Apache Web Server with PHP4 and MySQL! This make the entire process easy for anyone to use, right on your own machine. Some basic knowledge of open-source programming is helpful as details on errors that you encounter are pretty skinny. The book assumes that each example works and moves on. PHP does help you through this as each error will echo a parse error indicating the line that you need to fix. With a little patience and some basic knowledge of scripting such as Javascript or Perl, you will learn to use PHP4 in no time!
Product: Book Paperback
Title: Oracle PL/SQL Programming, Third Edition
Publisher: O'Reilly
Authors: Steven Feuerstein
Rating: 1/5
Title: Oracle PL/SQL Programming, Third Edition
Publisher: O'Reilly
Authors: Steven Feuerstein
Rating: 1/5
This book starts with "What is PL/SQL?". But through the following 900 pages, I could not find a simple example showing how to test run a simple PL/SQL code or procedure through Oracle sqlplus or other Oracle calling interface, such as OCI and Proc. Well, my rating above might be biased. I made a career change from physics to become a professional C/C++ programmer by reading K&R's C Programming Language to begin with. However, I do not feel reading this book alone can get me anywhere but waste all my time. If five stars for K&R's, one star is all for this book. It's a matter of Simple and Beautiful vs Complicate and Ugly.
Product: Book Hardcover
Title: MCDBA SQL Server 7 Administration Study Guide (Book/CD-ROM Set)
Publisher: Mcgraw-Hill Osborne Media
Authors: Syngress
Rating: 1/5
Title: MCDBA SQL Server 7 Administration Study Guide (Book/CD-ROM Set)
Publisher: Mcgraw-Hill Osborne Media
Authors: Syngress
Rating: 1/5
Waste of time & Money. After using this guide, I failed my 1st out of 9 exams (all others successful on 1st try). The Books Online in far more useful and even easier to read. The practice questions had no resemblence to the actual test at all, and whole areas of importance were glossed over.
Product: Book Paperback
Title: Microsoft(r) SQL Server(tm) 2000 Analysis Services Step by Step
Publisher: Microsoft Press
Authors: OLAP Train, Reed Jacobson
Rating: 4/5
Title: Microsoft(r) SQL Server(tm) 2000 Analysis Services Step by Step
Publisher: Microsoft Press
Authors: OLAP Train, Reed Jacobson
Rating: 4/5
This author is able to explain complex ideas simply. Everything works! Not only is this author knowledgeable, the text reflects actual experience in using Analysis Services to do real projects. The topics are relevant AND the author's sequencing of topics shows great talent as an instructor. A beginner will not get lost. At the same time, experienced users will pick up valuable tips. This book should be nominated for an award!
Product: Book Paperback
Title: Oracle PL/SQL 101
Publisher: McGraw-Hill Osborne Media
Authors: Christopher Allen
Rating: 5/5
Title: Oracle PL/SQL 101
Publisher: McGraw-Hill Osborne Media
Authors: Christopher Allen
Rating: 5/5
This is an excellent investment if you do not know SQL and want to learn PL/SQL. I actually took an instructor led course on this to get me ready for the first Oracle test and found this book to be much better at explaining the concepts then my instructor. Blasted! =-> Highly recommend this book.
