IT programming books related reviews
Product: Book Paperback
Title: SQL: The Complete Reference, Second Edition
Publisher: McGraw-Hill Osborne Media
Authors: James R Groff, Paul N. Weinberg
Rating: 5/5
Title: SQL: The Complete Reference, Second Edition
Publisher: McGraw-Hill Osborne Media
Authors: James R Groff, Paul N. Weinberg
Rating: 5/5
Excellent book, I bought it simply because I wanted to have a reference book for SQL syntax. Don't expect this book to teach you about normal forms and whatnot, it covers the ANSI SQL standard (even SQL2) only, thereby, you'd need to pick up a book on normalization.A note to people starting with databases: this book covers SQL syntax, it contains evaluation versions of SQL Server, DB2, and etc. It doesn't cover the actual DBMS themselves, there are books reserved for that. Lastly, before you buy this book, know the theories of relational database design such as normalization, the ideology behind relational database design is fundamental to database design, administration, and maintenance.
Product: Book Paperback
Title: Apache: the Definitive Guide (With CD-ROM)
Publisher: O'Reilly
Authors: Ben Laurie, Peter Laurie
Rating: 2/5
Title: Apache: the Definitive Guide (With CD-ROM)
Publisher: O'Reilly
Authors: Ben Laurie, Peter Laurie
Rating: 2/5
I could have written this book by struggling through with installing and understanding Apache myself. In fact, by installing Apache and looking through the documentation, I knew most of what was in the book already. There was no unique information here, or unique solutions to real-world problems. I think this book may save you time in an emergency or in general, but beyond that it's a bit dissappointing. I think the publisher said, "O'K', let's get two guys, have them install Apache, and write a book about it." That's just my opinion, though.
Product: Book Paperback
Title: Programming PHP
Publisher: O'Reilly
Authors: Rasmus Lerdorf, Kevin Tatroe
Rating: 5/5
Title: Programming PHP
Publisher: O'Reilly
Authors: Rasmus Lerdorf, Kevin Tatroe
Rating: 5/5
This is probably the first book you should buy if you want to learn PHP.Edited by the "father of PHP", Rasmus takes you through all the key problems and issues that you are likely to come across as you learn the language. definitely a good book to recommend to a new PHP programmer!
Product: Book Paperback
Title: Oracle8 DBA: SQL and PL/SQL Exam Cram (Exam: 1Z0-001)
Publisher: Coriolis Group Books
Authors: Michael R. Ault, Michael L. Ault
Rating: 5/5
Title: Oracle8 DBA: SQL and PL/SQL Exam Cram (Exam: 1Z0-001)
Publisher: Coriolis Group Books
Authors: Michael R. Ault, Michael L. Ault
Rating: 5/5
I read the other reviews before buying this book, and I admit I was hesitant to buy the book. However, I am very happy with it. It's a no frills, here's the information type of book. The format is excellent, the questions and tips are very well thought out. Like I said, it's a tough read, but well worth it. IMHO
Product: Book Paperback
Title: Microsoft SQL Server 7 for Dummies
Publisher: For Dummies
Authors: Anthony T. Mann
Rating: 3/5
Title: Microsoft SQL Server 7 for Dummies
Publisher: For Dummies
Authors: Anthony T. Mann
Rating: 3/5
Whilst this book is a good start for a person who knows all but nothing about SQL, it only touches the surface. By no means use this as your only book. If you know a little bit about SQL, then steer clear. Otherwise, use it as a stepping stone, but be prepared to spend more on other titles.
Product: Book Paperback
Title: Microsoft SQL Server(TM) 7.0 Administrator's Pocket Consultant
Publisher: Microsoft Press
Authors: William R. Stanek
Rating: 3/5
Title: Microsoft SQL Server(TM) 7.0 Administrator's Pocket Consultant
Publisher: Microsoft Press
Authors: William R. Stanek
Rating: 3/5
This book is compact (although pocket means coat pocket in this case) and well-indexed, so it's very handy to have with you if you in a pinch. Unfortunately, much of the book is devoted to explaining where things are in the UI (this button does this, that button does that). There are a few good how-does-this-work sections and lots of tip/best practice/real world insets, but in the final analysis they are only occasionally more helpful to me than the Books Online. Also, as another reviewer mentioned, there is precious little here about the gotchas inherent in certain operations--good SQL and GUI examples of how to accomplish a task, but not much to help you if something goes wrong. In short, if you're asking yourself how much depth there could be in a book whose title advertises that it will fit in your pocket, you should probably buy something else. But there are a lot of topics covered here, and the newer you are to SQL Server 7, the more use this book will be to you.
Product: Book Paperback
Title: Professional SQL Server 2000 Programming
Publisher: Wrox
Authors: Robert Vieira
Rating: 5/5
Title: Professional SQL Server 2000 Programming
Publisher: Wrox
Authors: Robert Vieira
Rating: 5/5
Whenever I read reviews on this site, I inevitably start with the lowest first, because I like to see criticisms. Call me strange. I did the same with this book, and although I feel some of the low ratings were justified, I also would like to defend this book to some degree.If you are a beginner, this book is great. YES, the author does spend a lot of time making little jokes here and there (which are usually humorous enough to make you chuckle) and YES the author's wording is chit chatty, but some people like that and find it makes for a more enjoyable read. If you want it to be extremely terse, don't buy this book and save yourself the disappointment. If you want a read that will give you the basics in a way that is friendly, this is a good book, though you will not be likely to want to use it as a reference after that point, since the book does not provide you with things such as the correct syntax for any number of very useful T-SQL functions.I do think that the word "Professional" in the book's title may be a bit misleading, I think if it was replaced with the word "Beginning" instead, there would be fewer bad reviews for this book. In general, when people buy a book for which small amount of research would have proven it to be less-than ideal for their particular needs, they tend to blame the book rather than themselves. "Don't judge a book by its cover" is a caveat that holds true here. "Professional?!" Maybe not. But good? Yes, if you are in the beginner to intermediate group. And besides, just who fits the labels 'beginner' and 'intermediate' is open to discussion . . .
Product: Book Paperback
Title: Foundation PHP for Flash
Publisher: Friends of Ed
Authors: Steve Webster
Rating: 3/5
Title: Foundation PHP for Flash
Publisher: Friends of Ed
Authors: Steve Webster
Rating: 3/5
This book would be most useful to the Flash developer who has basically no programming experience. While the idea is good - and I always love to see PHP getting some attention - the material is VERY foundational. My expectations were a book highlighting how to blend PHP and Flash. To some extent I guess the book does that. But unfortunately there just isn't alot to it. It equates to about two lines of text: "Export variable to PHP, Import variable to Flash" - of course with the slightly more technical explanation to make it work.If you are looking for the technical "know-how" of how to make PHP and Flash talk you would be better served searching the net. About 15 - 20 minutes of research and you will be able to cull the total technical information offered in this book.If you know zilch about programming, and want to see some cute examples of how you might use this - enjoy!
Product: Book Paperback
Title: Sams Teach Yourself Transact-SQL in 21 Days (2nd Edition)
Publisher: Sams
Authors: Lowell Mauer
Rating: 3/5
Title: Sams Teach Yourself Transact-SQL in 21 Days (2nd Edition)
Publisher: Sams
Authors: Lowell Mauer
Rating: 3/5
The book is used each day by members of our analytics team. Very helpful and resourceful.
Product: Book Paperback
Title: Sams Teach Yourself SQL in 10 Minutes, Third Edition
Publisher: Sams
Authors: Ben Forta
Rating: 5/5
Title: Sams Teach Yourself SQL in 10 Minutes, Third Edition
Publisher: Sams
Authors: Ben Forta
Rating: 5/5
Ok, I would give it 4 1/2 if I could, but can't so I will round down. If you are learning SQL or are going to in a class room, this is a GREAT way to start, even before you start taking lessons. this book will break up learning into "10 minute" lessons, which the first few can be done thourghly in 5. (Possibly because I had already learned it but oh well). Anyway, if you go through every lesson seriously, you will walk away with a GOOD knowledge of SQL, take it from someone who uses SQL in the field.
