IT programming books related reviews
Product: Book Paperback
Title: Professional SQL Server 2000 DTS (Data Transformation Services)
Publisher: Wrox
Authors: Mark Chaffin, Brian Knight, Todd Robinson
Rating: 5/5
Title: Professional SQL Server 2000 DTS (Data Transformation Services)
Publisher: Wrox
Authors: Mark Chaffin, Brian Knight, Todd Robinson
Rating: 5/5
I have been a DBA/Developer for many years, and finding any text on DTs was a challenge. This book is awesome, and really put together very well with excellent examples. I would recommend this book for anyone looking to increase his or her understanding of DTs. I can't wait until the authors come out with a more advanced version working with Classes and VB. Killer book!!!!
Product: Book Paperback
Title: Professional PHP Web Services
Publisher: Wrox Press
Authors: James Fuller, Ken Egervari, Harry Fuecks, Bryan Waters, Jon Stephens, Daniel Solin
Rating: 1/5
Title: Professional PHP Web Services
Publisher: Wrox Press
Authors: James Fuller, Ken Egervari, Harry Fuecks, Bryan Waters, Jon Stephens, Daniel Solin
Rating: 1/5
...the content is actually quite good. I was surprised to see that there were more OO examples and the book's structure was well thought-out. I wouldn't expect too much from a book on PHP Web Services however, since PHP has a lot of maturing to do and you won't learn much else other than XML-RPC, SOAP and WSDL and how to use these technologies in PHP. I believe an amateur can learn these technologies using PHP in the better part of a day.Another gripe about the book is that it's the standard price of a Wrox book but it's only around 500 pages (unlike the usual 800-1000). If you refer to initial arguments, where is that extra money going for these missing pages? Surely not to the contributors.In any case, please think twice before you purchase the book. Not only is this a highly specialized topic that can be easily learned without the book, but the overall value and ethical consequences make it even worse. Don't expect the contributors to benefit from your purchase.
Product: Book Paperback
Title: Oracle 9i Java Programming: Solutions for Developers Using PL/SQL and Java
Publisher: Peer Information
Authors: Bjarki Holm, John Carnell, Tomas Stubbs, Poornachandra Sarang, Kevin Mukhar, Sant Singh, Jaeda Goodman, Ben Marcotte, Mauricio Naranjo, Anand Raj, Mark Piermanini
Rating: 1/5
Title: Oracle 9i Java Programming: Solutions for Developers Using PL/SQL and Java
Publisher: Peer Information
Authors: Bjarki Holm, John Carnell, Tomas Stubbs, Poornachandra Sarang, Kevin Mukhar, Sant Singh, Jaeda Goodman, Ben Marcotte, Mauricio Naranjo, Anand Raj, Mark Piermanini
Rating: 1/5
This book is a great guide to writing Oracle Java stored procedures. Of course, it has its cons and pros. On the bad side, there are the obvious differences in writing style and flavour of the different chapters (although not to the level of irritation), which is probably a result of so many authors. Although I had some experience with Java, JDBC and SQLJ before, I really liked many of the chapters dealing with the fundamentals, especially the Exception chapter. I found much of the Oracle-Java specific material very useful, such as the chapters on Java and SQL performance, on using Java and PL/SQL together, and more. All in all, this book is packed with useful examples and practical solutions to real-life issues (mostly scalability and performance related), which made it very useful and pleasent to read.
Product: Book Paperback
Title: Core PHP Programming: Using PHP to Build Dynamic Web Sites (2nd Edition)
Publisher: Pearson Education
Authors: Leon Atkinson
Rating: 5/5
Title: Core PHP Programming: Using PHP to Build Dynamic Web Sites (2nd Edition)
Publisher: Pearson Education
Authors: Leon Atkinson
Rating: 5/5
I wasn't going to review this book until I read Robert Peters' review. It is factually incorrect. I had to respond. I can only guess that Robert got a copy of the FIRST edition, which apparently ... This second edition is great.First, Robert suggests that the book is "just a fat manual that lists functions" -- like a reference. Part 2 of the book is indeed titled "Functional Reference" and consists of 450 pages of functions (with sample code for most functions, organized into logical sections, like "Image Functions" and "Database Functions"). However, the book has THREE other parts, consisting of 300 more pages!Part 1 is titled "An Introduction To PHP" (7 chapters, about 120 pages). It teaches the fundamentals of programming, has tons of screenshots and sample code, and is written in a conversational style that makes it easy to understand the technical stuff. The author's explanation of variables (page 16) is good, and he also covers loops, functions, arrays, etc. If Robert's other criticism of the book, that "it won't teach you how to use the language" is true, then what is all of Part 1 for?Part 3 is titled "Algorithms" (5 chapters, about 100 pages). It steps you through real-world examples, and while none of the examples are huge (like "here's a complete e-commerce shopping cart solution"), they are all practical and can be combined to create what is needed. For instance, modify the discussion forum sample on pages 635-641, combine it with the code samples for session handling, and you could allow users to enter and store "preferences" for your Web site, or you could allow users to append comments to articles, like ZDnet does.Part 4 is titled "Software Engineering" (3 chapters, 80 pages). It addresses one of the big controversies with server-parsed HTML, and that is: "gasp, you've combined code with HTML!" The author talks about why it is an issue, and outlines different ways to embed PHP in HTML. I don't like his conclusion (turn everything into PHP and use "print" to output HTML), but I must admit I am elated to see someone discussing the issue.In conclusion, Robert's other criticisms of the book -- that it doesn't show how to "build dynamic web sites" and that the book doesn't explain how to use functions "within the context of a script" -- just shows he didn't bother to actually read it. Almost EVERY function has a code sample. And almost ALL the database examples are used precisely for building dynamic Web sites. Perhaps Robert thinks "dynamic Web sites" is the same as "Dynamic HTML" -- if so, he should get a book on JavaScript and leave Core PHP Programming to those of us who are ready to learn about database-driven sites. Because as far as I'm concerned, this book is great for learning and using PHP. Better than the PHP Bible.
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 time around Leon Atkinson teamed up with Zeev Suraski, one of the PHP project's team members and co-developer of the Zend Engine -- the scripting language that powers PHP. Structurally, the book is laid out very much the same as it's predecessor. There are four parts followed by several appendices. This format works well and is easy to navigate. The layout has a more polished look to it.One of the many things I really enjoy about this book are the examples that are provided, they are concise but well thought out and usually show related functions that help with code generation. As a heavy Index user I am happy to say that this one doesn't disappoint. Some effort was put into organizing this information, for people like me, to thumb through and find things quickly. The book has been updated to include the full features for PHP 5. This is good for those of us who have dealt with feature creep over the years and get stumped by subtle changes in the way functions work.I highly recommend this book. It is a great resource for the PHP programmer regardless of skill level.
Product: Book Paperback
Title: Core PHP Programming: Using PHP to Build Dynamic Web Sites (2nd Edition)
Publisher: Pearson Education
Authors: Leon Atkinson
Rating: 3/5
Title: Core PHP Programming: Using PHP to Build Dynamic Web Sites (2nd Edition)
Publisher: Pearson Education
Authors: Leon Atkinson
Rating: 3/5
This book was the first of five I now own on the topic, and while many of the criticisms written previously here are accurate (especially the irritating example code which doesn't show you the resulting output), I still find myself pulling this one off the shelf because of some of its virtues :1) It's a decent introduction to PHP, because it won't overwhelm the first-time web programmer, and pretty much assumes you don't know much of anything2) Despite the amazingly disorgranized approach to the topic, certain sections are quite useful : regular expressions, various sorting methods, generating graphics on the fly, and basic approaches to integrating HTML & PHP are well covered.3) Even though it's an apparent ploy to boost the page count of a book of somewhat shallow content depth, the fact that the type is larger than average with huge bold headlines for each function really helps if you're just flipping through looking for something specific.4) The cover is actually attractive, unlike the usual monstrosity of a cover of Professional PHP Programming (why does WROX think we acutally want the faces of the authors staring up at you all the time ? ). OF course, Professional PHP Programming is far and away the best book on this topic if you have any programming experience.
Product: Book Paperback
Title: Microsoft SQL Server 7 for Dummies
Publisher: For Dummies
Authors: Anthony T. Mann
Rating: 5/5
Title: Microsoft SQL Server 7 for Dummies
Publisher: For Dummies
Authors: Anthony T. Mann
Rating: 5/5
Did you know that such things as Primary and Foreign Keys, Clustered Indexes, Triggers, etc. can actually be explained quite simply? Without "here, read these 1,000 pages"? Buy this book if you've been turned off my SQL Server confusion and want to get turned on to a great database.
Product: Book Paperback
Title: PHP: Your Visual Blueprint for Creating Open Source, Server-Side Content
Publisher: Visual
Authors: Paul Whitehead, Joel Desamero
Rating: 5/5
Title: PHP: Your Visual Blueprint for Creating Open Source, Server-Side Content
Publisher: Visual
Authors: Paul Whitehead, Joel Desamero
Rating: 5/5
This is not the book to be used for developing an e-commerce site (security issues left out)nor is it for advanced PHP features nor is it reference of all the PHP features. Its a book for someone who has had some little exposure to some other programming language and would like to develop a web site in PHP. This book takes from you from beginning through intermediate level and it does it very well and very clearly without confusing you with endless options and parameters and permutations of every PHP function. It covers the most usefull and basic fucntions and does a very good job. I have three books on PHP, this is the one I start with to learn a concept because it is quick, clear, and to the point. As I want to learn more advanced features I consult other books later or php.net
Product: Book Paperback
Title: Advanced Transact-SQL for SQL Server 2000
Publisher: Apress
Authors: Itzik Ben-Gan, Tom Moreau
Rating: 2/5
Title: Advanced Transact-SQL for SQL Server 2000
Publisher: Apress
Authors: Itzik Ben-Gan, Tom Moreau
Rating: 2/5
I bought this one after I heard that a couple guys from the forums wrote it. What a disappointment! Not only is it not a very good book, I'm not sure much of it would make for a good newsgroup posting! The examples are frought with errors and bad advice. The code is inane and often useless from a practical standpoint. This is another one of those books that should never have been published. A real disappointment.
Product: Book Paperback
Title: SQL Server 7 Essential Reference
Publisher: Sams
Authors: Sharon Dooley
Rating: 5/5
Title: SQL Server 7 Essential Reference
Publisher: Sams
Authors: Sharon Dooley
Rating: 5/5
Sharon Dooley does a fantastic job in the reference book. This book is the expert sitting in the chair next to you when you have a DBA task to do and you need help. If you're new to SQL Server, this guide isn't for you YET. Sharon Dooley covers the how, the why, and the when. She assumes you already know the what, so learn the "what", and then you'll LOVE this book for many crises to come.-MCSD from the NW
