IT programming books related reviews
Product: Book Paperback
Title: VB.NET & SQL Server 2000: Building an Effective Data Layer
Publisher: Peer Information
Authors: Tony Bain, Denise Gosnell, Jonathan A. Walsh
Rating: 5/5
Title: VB.NET & SQL Server 2000: Building an Effective Data Layer
Publisher: Peer Information
Authors: Tony Bain, Denise Gosnell, Jonathan A. Walsh
Rating: 5/5
A lost classic
This is a great book -unfortunatly overlooked.
A great partner to my other fave Wrox title-Proffesional VB Design patterns.My favorite chapters are Chapter 9 Component Services and Chapter 12 Case Study IBank
You will have to work really hard on the case study 40hrs-80hrs + to get a real gain from this book but unlike some other Wrox books - its not over the top.
Product: Book Paperback
Title: Oracle PL/SQL Programming, Third Edition
Publisher: O'Reilly
Authors: Steven Feuerstein
Rating: 5/5
Title: Oracle PL/SQL Programming, Third Edition
Publisher: O'Reilly
Authors: Steven Feuerstein
Rating: 5/5
I have been writing PL/SQL for a long time, and feel it's definitely one of the best. I use it as a reference and would be lost with out it.
Product: Book Paperback
Title: Sams Teach Yourself PHP, MySQL and Apache in 24 Hours
Publisher: Sams
Authors: Julie C. Meloni
Rating: 4/5
Title: Sams Teach Yourself PHP, MySQL and Apache in 24 Hours
Publisher: Sams
Authors: Julie C. Meloni
Rating: 4/5
I wasn't new to programming, having coded in C for years. However, I wasn't too familiar with database based programming or even web-based programming. This book gives you a very good start into these areas. I could finish it in fact in less than 10 hrs. This book is most useful to novices who have no prior knowledge of programming of any sort and have to start off with php. This is just an introductory book. It isn't adequate for advanced programming, but that's not the objective of the bookAll in all, worth investing!
Product: Book Paperback
Title: Professional SQL Server 2000 Programming
Publisher: Wrox
Authors: Robert Vieira
Rating: 1/5
Title: Professional SQL Server 2000 Programming
Publisher: Wrox
Authors: Robert Vieira
Rating: 1/5
This book is actually really good. I thought Database programming and design would be one of the most boring things I've ever studied in my life, but with this book it was actually quite interesting. They would do well to trim off about 200 pages, but otherwise it's good. I don't like the fact that the book holds your hand so much, but I guess it's understandable since the target audience is people who have never done any database programming. If you're looking for a good introductory book to dealing with SQL Server from a non API standpoint (as in dealing directly with the Enterprise Manager, etc), then you can't really go wrong with this book.
Product: Book Paperback
Title: Dreamweaver MX: PHP Web Development
Publisher: Peer Information
Authors: Bruno Mairlot, Gareth Downes-Powell, Tim Green
Rating: 3/5
Title: Dreamweaver MX: PHP Web Development
Publisher: Peer Information
Authors: Bruno Mairlot, Gareth Downes-Powell, Tim Green
Rating: 3/5
This was a good start to php but I found that at the end of it I had a working web site but a lot of what was done was not explained. It leads you step by step but doesn't tell you the why behind it. If you want something more advanced to take you deeper this is not the book for you.
Product: Book Hardcover
Title: Microsoft SQL Server 7 Administrator's Guide
Publisher: Muska & Lipman/Premier-Trade
Authors: Ron Talmage
Rating: 1/5
Title: Microsoft SQL Server 7 Administrator's Guide
Publisher: Muska & Lipman/Premier-Trade
Authors: Ron Talmage
Rating: 1/5
What is new in SQL 7 is the content of this book. I really like how the author highlight every important points that had changed from SQL 6.X. From its relational engine to data architecture to store procedures, all the essential points and new features of SQL 7 are clearly presented. This book is a good resource for DBA who has general knowledge of SQL 6.X and needs to get up to date quickly on SQL 7. Although on the back cover it said for user level of intermediate to advanced, it is also a good book for beginners too.
Product: Book Paperback
Title: Professional SQL Server Reporting Services
Publisher: Wrox
Authors: Paul Turley, Todd Bryant, James Counihan, George McKee, Dave DuVarney
Rating: 1/5
Title: Professional SQL Server Reporting Services
Publisher: Wrox
Authors: Paul Turley, Todd Bryant, James Counihan, George McKee, Dave DuVarney
Rating: 1/5
I have never wrote a review online here at amazon, but this book was such a disappointment that i decided to tell people about it. Basically this is an extension of "The Rational Guide to: SQL Server Reporting Services" by Anthony T. Mann, book with lots of screen shots. It does have a few simple excersises but thats about it. For example on pages 80-81 of the book in the grooping section it reads: "Tabular or matrix data may be sorted and grouped on one or multiple levels" then there is a nice screen shot of grouped design, it does not tell you how to do it. Then a few paragraphs later after the another screen shot it reads: "In this design for this report, there are four list controls placed inside one another. Grouping have been created for each of the lists to organize them into hierarchy" It says nothing about designing such a thing. Basically the book lacks hands on excersises. I found it totally useless.
Product: Book Paperback
Title: Google Pocket Guide
Publisher: O'Reilly
Authors: Tara Calishain, Rael Dornfest, DJ Adams
Rating: 5/5
Title: Google Pocket Guide
Publisher: O'Reilly
Authors: Tara Calishain, Rael Dornfest, DJ Adams
Rating: 5/5
Review
When I got this book from O'Reilly, my first thought was "How cute! A little book for people who can't figure out a search engine." After reading it, I either have to include myself in that group or change my opinion of the book. This is really good stuff!I knew there was more to Google than what I was probably using. I've seen the Google groups area, I've used the image area, and of course I've done web searches. But I didn't realize the power of the search syntax they use on the site. I didn't know that you can restrict searches to document types, include/exclude sites or domains, include/exclude based on posted/updated date, decide whether you want the search term in the title, the entire page, or as part of an anchor link. I didn't realize you could modify the URL on the fly to refine your search without going back to the search page each time. I didn't know anything about Froogle. And I definitely didn't know you could change your interface page to a variety of languages, including Klingon and pig Latin!In a very concise, readable manner, the authors show you all you need to know to get started with the creation of much more powerful searches than you've had in the past. And they repeatedly emphasize that learning how to use Google is best done by experimentation. After reading this book (and it won't take you that long), you'll never view web searches in quite the same way again.Conclusion
I used to say that if you give me five minutes, I can find what I'm looking for on the web. After reading this book, I may have to revise that to three minutes. If you get a chance to get this book, do so!
Product: Book Paperback
Title: PHP Developer's Cookbook (2nd Edition)
Publisher: Sams
Authors: Sterling Hughes, Andrei Zmievski
Rating: 5/5
Title: PHP Developer's Cookbook (2nd Edition)
Publisher: Sams
Authors: Sterling Hughes, Andrei Zmievski
Rating: 5/5
The table of contents is misleading. When I saw, "Working with Strings", "Dates and Times", "Arrays", etc., I was sure I'd wasted my money. Nothing could have been further from the truth. I thought I was pretty good at PHP until I read this book. It was a bit humbling. In PHP, it's easy to connect to a database, pull out some data, and throw it up on the screen. This can lead to complacency and perhaps cause one to put issues of efficiency and security on the back burner (not that I'm speaking from experience or anything...).The material here makes the difference between "knowing" PHP and being truly good and professional at it. Wrox's "Professional PHP Programming" is the cake, this book is the icing.
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
In addition to being a great resource for learning SQL and PL/SQL, this book gives clear, understandable introductions to database structure, relational integrity, security, and ODBC. Even tells you how to link to an Oracle database from within Access. I was surprised at how much stuff it covers.
