IT programming books related reviews
Product: Book Paperback
Title: Professional SQL Server 2000 Data Warehousing with Analysis Services
Publisher: Peer Information Inc.
Authors: Chris Graves, Mark Scott, Mike Benkovich, Paul Turley, Robert Skoglund, Robin Dewson, Sakhr Youness, Denny Lee, Sam Ferguson, Tony Bain, Terrence Joubert
Rating: 5/5
Title: Professional SQL Server 2000 Data Warehousing with Analysis Services
Publisher: Peer Information Inc.
Authors: Chris Graves, Mark Scott, Mike Benkovich, Paul Turley, Robert Skoglund, Robin Dewson, Sakhr Youness, Denny Lee, Sam Ferguson, Tony Bain, Terrence Joubert
Rating: 5/5
I bought Sakhrs version of this book for SQL Server 7. This is not just an upgrade but a look at the new functionlity found within SQL Server 2000.This book is a dream if you are involved within Analysis and even looking at the new DTS Analysis functions has helped me. Comparing this with other books, by far this is the one that is well written and doesnt just come out with the obvious.
Product: Book Paperback
Title: Microsoft SQL Server 2000 Unleashed (2nd Edition)
Publisher: Sams
Authors: Ray Rankins, Paul Jensen, Paul Bertucci
Rating: 1/5
Title: Microsoft SQL Server 2000 Unleashed (2nd Edition)
Publisher: Sams
Authors: Ray Rankins, Paul Jensen, Paul Bertucci
Rating: 1/5
I would hardly call this book to be "Unleashed" book. It still does not unleash enough details about SQL servers, such as XML and .NET Platform. Examples are very basic. I would much appreciate books that have some practical step-by-steps rather than pages of illustrations.There were about one or two that I could actually use. I guess that's why they are publishing the second edition.
Product: Book Paperback
Title: PHP Game Programming
Publisher: Muska & Lipman/Premier-Trade
Authors: Matt Rutledge
Rating: 2/5
Title: PHP Game Programming
Publisher: Muska & Lipman/Premier-Trade
Authors: Matt Rutledge
Rating: 2/5
... not that good. It's unfortunate that the only book dedicated to php game programming really falls short on many levels. The main problem with this book, is it jumps from the very basics of php and mysql to extremely advanced topics all within a matter of a few pages... entirely omitting users of intermediate php/mysql knowledge. The book has a chapter about creating a MMO (my sole purpose for buying the book).. yet it doesn't tell you anything about HOW to make the MMO. The source code for the MMO has 150+ files, yet the chapter is only 20 pages long...
The author does a great job explaining how to use php and mysql.. including great instructions for installation... the problem is that other books dedicated to learning these subjects do it better. This book should be about learning how to program a game in php/mysql, and it's not. This book is a book about learning the basics of php/mysql with some source code WAY more advanced than anything the book will cover. If you're advanced enough to decipher the authors code, then you don't need this book in the first place becaues you could already make games if you wanted. This book contains no content on game planning or design.
The author write effectively.. I'd love for him to take a second pass at writing this... perhaps sit down and write a book dedicated to teaching you how to program a game. The MMO that comes within the book is certainly complex enough to deserve a book of it's own. Ultimately, this book is 280 pages long.. you cannot teach someone how to make a game in php/mysql in 280 pages.
I'd love to see an author write a book that illustrates making a game from concept to design to code... the how and the why of the processes, and have it return a good game you can use as a foundation for creating other game.
I really looked forward to getting this book before it was published. Now almost a year later, having been through the book 3 times fully, I can say I'm no closer to having any idea how to make a game than when I started.
Product: Book Paperback
Title: Transact-SQL Programming
Publisher: O'Reilly
Authors: Lee Gould, Andrew Zanevsky, Kevin Kline
Rating: 3/5
Title: Transact-SQL Programming
Publisher: O'Reilly
Authors: Lee Gould, Andrew Zanevsky, Kevin Kline
Rating: 3/5
Excellent guide to T-SQL and MS SQL Server 6.5. But the changes in SQL 7 and 2000 are great enough that it is too out of date to recommend. I'll be first in line to buy the SQL 2002 version, if it ever comes!
Product: Book Paperback
Title: The Guru's Guide to SQL Server Stored Procedures, XML, and HTML (With CD-ROM)
Publisher: Addison-Wesley Professional
Authors: Ken Henderson
Rating: 5/5
Title: The Guru's Guide to SQL Server Stored Procedures, XML, and HTML (With CD-ROM)
Publisher: Addison-Wesley Professional
Authors: Ken Henderson
Rating: 5/5
With over 700 code samples, this book is literally loaded with good stuff. The SQL XML example code (especially sp_run_xml_proc) alone is worth the cost of the book. The code is top notch and explained by a master. I'm an old programmer at heart, so I love this stuff. I've never seen someone pull off being so code-centric but so in-depth with the explanations and advice. You can definitely tell the author "has been there." That's why he writes stuff like sp_run_xml_proc, ingenious in its simplicity, infinitely useful -- like most of the code in the book. If you want a coder's take on SQL XML, .NET, xprocs, OLE Automation, and, above all, Tsql Stored Procedure programming, this is the book for you.TJDP.S. I just bought his other book, The Guru's Guide to Tsql, and it looks just as good!
Product: Book Paperback
Title: Professional SQL Server 2000 Programming
Publisher: Wrox
Authors: Robert Vieira
Rating: 4/5
Title: Professional SQL Server 2000 Programming
Publisher: Wrox
Authors: Robert Vieira
Rating: 4/5
I think that Author is a perfect teacher: reading the book you get complex ideas very easily.
But I found that sometimes Author doesn't understand some principle concepts! Example - 1st normal form. In his example he shows that "repeating groups of data" are _rows_, containing repeating groups of data! And truth is that 1NF is about repeating groups of _columns_, like ItemNo1, ItemName1, ItemNo2, ItemName2, etc.
A chapter on DTS also has a bad error: author believes that File Transfer Protocol Task can both download and _upload_ data, which is not true.
Anyway, I'm learning a lot from this book so I can recommend it to you but don't believe everything written in it.
Product: Book Paperback
Title: Dreamweaver MX: PHP Web Development
Publisher: Peer Information
Authors: Bruno Mairlot, Gareth Downes-Powell, Tim Green
Rating: 5/5
Title: Dreamweaver MX: PHP Web Development
Publisher: Peer Information
Authors: Bruno Mairlot, Gareth Downes-Powell, Tim Green
Rating: 5/5
This is literally the book you are looking for if you have a basic handle on how the three pieces of this puzzle look & feel but want to see the completed puzzle itself. The authors take you through the conception, design, & creation of a PHP/MySQL web application using Dreamweaver MX. They cover installation of MySQL & PHP on IIS boxes & Apache - watch that you're using the right version of PHP & the PHP MySQL admin tool they recommend! - and take you by the hand through the whole project. Great stuff and they could easily write another book covering this subject.
Product: Book Paperback
Title: The Guru's Guide to SQL Server Architecture and Internals
Publisher: Addison-Wesley Professional
Authors: Ken Henderson
Rating: 5/5
Title: The Guru's Guide to SQL Server Architecture and Internals
Publisher: Addison-Wesley Professional
Authors: Ken Henderson
Rating: 5/5
What can I say: this guy starts a SQL Server book on explaining you how Windows kernel works and spends an entire chapter on the memory management mechanism (throwing some C/C++ and Assembly here ad there)!
I bet some Microsoft folk will be using this too...
He already wrote an excellent one, but I definitely didn't expect this much onthis edition.
Great.
Product: Book Paperback
Title: SQL Server 2000 for Experienced DBAs
Publisher: McGraw-Hill Osborne Media
Authors: Brian Knight
Rating: 1/5
Title: SQL Server 2000 for Experienced DBAs
Publisher: McGraw-Hill Osborne Media
Authors: Brian Knight
Rating: 1/5
I just returned this because it is the worst Sql Server book I have ever read. It is full of bad advice and generalizations. The book tries to tell you that it doesn't get into details because it assumes only experienced DBAs will read it, but the real story is that it glosses over lots of important details and doesn't tell you anything that isn't already in the books online. Just a terrible, terrible book.
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
George Schlossnagle's Advanced PHP Programming is the superbly organized and definitive instructional guide to developing large-scale PHP applications. Comprehensive, expertly detailed, authoritative, "learner friendly", Advanced PHP Programming is an invaluable addition to any professional quality computer science reference collection.
