IT programming books related reviews
Product: Book Paperback
Title: The Guru's Guide to Transact-SQL
Publisher: Addison-Wesley Professional
Authors: Ken Henderson
Rating: 5/5
Title: The Guru's Guide to Transact-SQL
Publisher: Addison-Wesley Professional
Authors: Ken Henderson
Rating: 5/5
I've been waiting for a book like this for a long time. I wanted a book that was thorough, yet up-to-date. I wanted a book that was deep, yet informal. I wanted a book that showed how to solve hard problems, but that also gave be a solid theoretical footing. This book does it all. The author has a way with words that makes understanding difficult topics (for example: transactions) easy. His coverage of these topics is second to none. I highly recommend this for anyone wanting to become a "virtuoso of the language" (to quote the back cover) as quickly as possibly.
Product: Book Paperback
Title: PHP Essentials
Publisher: Muska & Lipman/Premier-Trade
Authors: Julie C. Meloni
Rating: 2/5
Title: PHP Essentials
Publisher: Muska & Lipman/Premier-Trade
Authors: Julie C. Meloni
Rating: 2/5
This book is a classic example of an author/publisher rushing to be the first on the market to cover a new version of a programming language. There were some helpful portions, such as an abbridged function reference, but all in all, many other newer books cover using PHP, especially PHP 4, far better and in greater detail. Even the book's function reference is easily out done by the documentation on PHP's web site. I was quite disapointed.
Product: Book Paperback
Title: Php Fast & Easy Web Development (Fast & Easy Web Development)
Publisher: Premier Press
Authors: Julie C. Meloni
Rating: 1/5
Title: Php Fast & Easy Web Development (Fast & Easy Web Development)
Publisher: Premier Press
Authors: Julie C. Meloni
Rating: 1/5
After following the authors Oh so SIMPLE installation instructions, I was left utterly lost and confused. I have searched the web for four days and I still can't get everything configured. Looking ahead, the examples appear to be very easy to understand and helpful. Although, I can't be too sure without a properly configured system! If you are a newbie like me to php, mysql, and apache; I would recommend finding a book that covers the installation process thoroughly. I hope this helps.
Product: Book Paperback
Title: Beginning Java Databases: JDBC, SQL, J2EE, EJB, JSP, XML
Publisher: Wrox Press
Authors: Kevin Mukhar, Todd Lauinger, John Carnell
Rating: 4/5
Title: Beginning Java Databases: JDBC, SQL, J2EE, EJB, JSP, XML
Publisher: Wrox Press
Authors: Kevin Mukhar, Todd Lauinger, John Carnell
Rating: 4/5
This book is somewhat dated. It still is a GREAT book for someone who knows how to compile java programs with packages and who wants to get a solid introduction to database programming, including some good chapters on how to create a good logical model, before you create the physical model. If this were 2002, I would give it 5 stars for what it is. I am a database administrator by profession. If it covered Hibernate, I'd still give it 5 stars, although they present the idea of using a JDBC framework predecessor to Hibernate in the book. Good CD includes a Java database to play with, including ODBC drivers. For advanced ideas, they switch to how to program to Oracle JDBC drivers.
Product: Book Paperback
Title: MCSE Administering SQL Server 7 Exam Cram (Exam: 70-028)
Publisher: Coriolis Group Books
Authors: Jeffrey Garbus, David Pascuzzi, Alvin Chang
Rating: 1/5
Title: MCSE Administering SQL Server 7 Exam Cram (Exam: 70-028)
Publisher: Coriolis Group Books
Authors: Jeffrey Garbus, David Pascuzzi, Alvin Chang
Rating: 1/5
I used the Exam Cram series to study for my MCSE tests. All 6 books were very close to the tests and were very well written. I would highly recommend those books. Then came my MCSE+I. I choose SQL, and this Exam Cram book based on the previous Exam Cram books. This book was horrible. From a "technical review" standpoint, aside from the test, it was also horrible. It lacked any structure, and had no correlation to the test questions what-so-ever. This book was written simply by cutting and pasting every possible command line statement and all possible syntax and parameters/switches that relate to these commands. It was like reading the appendix to the SQL user's manual. The test did not have a single command line question - it was all GUI, or rights or replication methodologies and design philosphies. I can not see how this book could possibly be helpful for either the test or the real world. Do yourself a favor and look elsewhere... Thank God I had used the Transcender exam as a backup!
Product: Book Paperback
Title: Advanced PHP Programming
Publisher: Sams
Authors: George Schlossnagle
Rating: 5/5
Title: Advanced PHP Programming
Publisher: Sams
Authors: George Schlossnagle
Rating: 5/5
I've been programming in PHP full-time for 5 years now. I remember when I was first learning, how all the books felt a little over my head, in a good way. Very slowly I understood things that didn't make sense before. And then very slowly I'd start to incorporate those things into my day-to-day programming.After 2 years or so, I missed that feeling. I'd check out new PHP books and flip through every chapter saying, "Yeah yeah yeah...". I realized I had become an expert.I was honestly impressed looking at the table of contents of this book. This is NOT your usual PHP book! That's obvious right away. So I ordered it. And it just arrived yesterday.I was up all night reading it, and again today. This is the most amazing PHP book for experienced PHP programmers I've ever seen. (Wait - this is the ONLY book for experienced PHP programmers I've ever seen!)The author really knows his stuff, and uses best-practices, throughout. Really well thought-out code with a lot to learn from.The fact that it's all based on the new PHP5 style makes it even better! A great way to get to know the new object approach to PHP5: to see it in real-world examples, so that after a few hours with this book it's second-nature.For the first time in three years, I feel wonderfully over-my-head with a LOT to learn here in this one amazing book. Thanks George!
Product: Book Hardcover
Title: Microsoft SQL Server 2000(TM) Performance Tuning Technical Reference
Publisher: Microsoft Press
Authors: Edward Whalen, Marcilina Garcia
Rating: 5/5
Title: Microsoft SQL Server 2000(TM) Performance Tuning Technical Reference
Publisher: Microsoft Press
Authors: Edward Whalen, Marcilina Garcia
Rating: 5/5
I tell my clients and users that the two most important services that a DBA provides are security and performance, but not necessarily in that order. If you are a professional SQL Server DBA or a DBA wannabe, performance has to be one of your top skills.
This book, by Edward Whalen, gives you the information that you will need to accomplish the very important task of planning a new SQL Server installation. There is a lot of very useful discussion that relate the physical hardware parameters of the server to the expected performance that users will experience. This discussion includes a comprehensive survey of how the I/O subsytem contributes to the overall server performance. There are also two chapters on sizing and capacity planning, with carefully worked-through examples detailing how to size memory and how to determine appropriate disk and processor configurations for a new installation.
Of course, the other major task in the performance arena is troubleshooting. Although Whalen's book doesn't present a performance troubleshooting checklist, the major theme of this book centers on recognizing and remediating performance problems. In many cases, the book also discusses the origins of the preformance problems. By the time you internalize this book, you'll be able write your own troubleshooting checklist.In my opinion, the two best aspects of this book are:
a) Unlike some other "Performance" books that I have read, this book focuses on performance and not a million other things. It discusses performance, not DTS, not Security, not Internet, etc. It just talks about performance.
b) With the Acknowledgments section thanking Bill Gates twice, and this book being written by Microsoft insiders, I would have expected lots of hype. Pleasantly suprising, but true, this book has no hype. Just plain facts about performance. Good show.I did have one small disappointment with this book, though - I was hoping to get more insight into the use of the Query Analyzer execution plan tools. The fact is that Whalen's discussion of this facility is probably the best information that's out there, but it still falls short. If the authors write another edition, we would all benefit if they could work up some detailed examples that explain the various aspects of the execution plan tools. It would be super if they would provide samples that we could download.
Product: Book Hardcover
Title: Microsoft SQL Server 2000(TM) Performance Tuning Technical Reference
Publisher: Microsoft Press
Authors: Edward Whalen, Marcilina Garcia
Rating: 5/5
Title: Microsoft SQL Server 2000(TM) Performance Tuning Technical Reference
Publisher: Microsoft Press
Authors: Edward Whalen, Marcilina Garcia
Rating: 5/5
Considering the difficulty of the topic, this book is a fairly easy read. The single best thing about the book is that the advice is actionable. You can read this book and immediately begin tuning.Coverage is excellent - performance tuning, capacity planning, setting up disk drives, managing cpu, I/O, network, and memory, index tuning, backups, replication, OLTP versus OLAP, etc.For each subject area, the authors explain the applicable concepts and SQL Server tools, and then systematically explain their application using practical examples.Compared to other performance tuning books, it is an 80/20 book. By this I mean that the authors focus on what is most important and then move on to the next topic. They don't get carried away demonstrating how much they know about each concept or go into the minutia of the options of each SQL Server tool.I hope they write more books.
Product: Book Paperback
Title: Learning PHP 5
Publisher: O'Reilly
Authors: David Sklar
Rating: 5/5
Title: Learning PHP 5
Publisher: O'Reilly
Authors: David Sklar
Rating: 5/5
This book is absolutly the best for learning PHP quickly, and learning useful thing's in the process.
With this book I was able to write many high-end scripts within a month:
* A forum
* several blog's
* Data managment \ Website managment
* Chat room
* Full blown text MMORPG
My text MMORPG is still in progress, but it will be compelted soon thanks to this book.
I highly recomend it for anyone looking to learn PHP fast and easily!
Product: Book Paperback
Title: Php Fast & Easy Web Development (Fast & Easy Web Development)
Publisher: Premier Press
Authors: Julie C. Meloni
Rating: 3/5
Title: Php Fast & Easy Web Development (Fast & Easy Web Development)
Publisher: Premier Press
Authors: Julie C. Meloni
Rating: 3/5
In a nutshell, this book didn't teach me a thing I couldn't learn online for free. The stuff was _too_ simple, and none of it applicable for what I needed. If you're a complete beginner, buy it. If not, get something with more beef to the bones, and learn more usable PHP.
