IT programming books related reviews
Product: Book Paperback
Title: Google Hacking for Penetration Testers
Publisher: Syngress
Authors: Johnny Long
Rating: 5/5
Title: Google Hacking for Penetration Testers
Publisher: Syngress
Authors: Johnny Long
Rating: 5/5
Want to be completely unnerved by the power and (mis-)use of Google? If you're at all concerned about system security, you really need to get a copy of Google Hacking For Penetration Testers by Johnny Long (Syngress). The world is more insecure than I thought...
Chapter List: Introduction; Google Searching Basics; Advanced Operators; Google Hacking Basics; Preassessment; Network Mapping; Locating Exploits and Finding Targets; Ten Simple Security Searches That Work; Tracking Down Web Servers, Login Portals, and Network Hardware; Usernames, Passwords, and Secret Stuff, Oh My!; Document Grinding and Database Digging; Protecting Yourself from Google Hackers; Automating Google Searches; Professional Security Testing; An Introduction to Web Application Security; Google Hacking Database; Index
Long walks a fine line in this book, and I think he does it pretty well. His goal is to show the reader how Google can be used to discover a vast array of information that most companies would not willingly divulge. He refrains from showing exact search criteria for finding things like social security number and credit card lists. Additionally, his screen prints of results appropriately blur exact URL information so that he's not giving up personal information. But he does give you enough information that you can understand how certain searches could be used to find files that you may not have realized were indexed.
If you have never used Google for anything more than simple searches from the main page, you'll get a lot of benefit from the first few chapters. He details the Google search keywords and how they can be mixed and matched to dramatically narrow your search focus. Even the simple act of learning how to filter for file types can be immensely valuable. The book kicks into high gear following those first chapters. Long works through various security assessment situations and shows how Google can map your environment far better than you imagined. Simple things like searching for "Powered By" messages or log files with certain strings can tell an attacker what software is running and at what version. This then allows a more refined attack based on known exploits. But instead of leaving the book at that point, he offers some strategies for limiting the amount of information Google can access, as well as ways to remove data that has already gotten out there.
Google Hacking could well be one of the most important security books you buy this year. Even if you're not in charge of security for a company or organization, you should explore some of the techniques to search for your own personal information. Just because *you* didn't expose it doesn't mean that someone else didn't. Highly recommended read...
Product: Book Paperback
Title: SQL: A Beginner's Guide, Second Edition
Publisher: McGraw-Hill Osborne Media
Authors: Robert Sheldon
Rating: 4/5
Title: SQL: A Beginner's Guide, Second Edition
Publisher: McGraw-Hill Osborne Media
Authors: Robert Sheldon
Rating: 4/5
This book helped me get my web development project well on the way. I am using PowerBuilder to build a web based application and I needed to learn SQL programming quickly for the database component. The author was easy to understand and uses lesson plans that make it easy to learn SQL at a reasonable pace. I was able to get up and running with the basics and am becoming more proficient as I implement more of the examples in the book.
I recommend this book to anyone new to SQL. I think it may be useful to experienced SQL developers also but I cannot speak for the more advanced users since I am so new.
Product: Book Paperback
Title: Core PHP Programming: Using PHP to Build Dynamic Web Sites (2nd Edition)
Publisher: Pearson Education
Authors: Leon Atkinson
Rating: 2/5
Title: Core PHP Programming: Using PHP to Build Dynamic Web Sites (2nd Edition)
Publisher: Pearson Education
Authors: Leon Atkinson
Rating: 2/5
a php novice, i purchased this book and immediately set out to do two quick php projects, the first with MySQL and the second with PostgreSQL. the MySQL project went fairly well; the flaws in the book didn't become clear until the PostgreSQL project when i realized that the author had apparently never used the PHP3/PostgreSQL API and never tested his examples. Additionally, for a 700+ page book, it doesn't cover many things that might be encountered in reading older php code.
Product: Book Paperback
Title: Beginning Php 4 (Programmer to Programmer)
Publisher: Peer Information
Authors: Chris Lea, Allan Kent, Ganesh Prasad, Chris Ullman
Rating: 2/5
Title: Beginning Php 4 (Programmer to Programmer)
Publisher: Peer Information
Authors: Chris Lea, Allan Kent, Ganesh Prasad, Chris Ullman
Rating: 2/5
This book is a good material to start off with PHP; however, it's just too much errors. Worst part is, there's one error not covered in the errata (on WROX web site), that is on page 419 (populating table name: user), it immediately gives error:ERROR 1136: Column count doesn't match value count at row 1
after I tried to populate the table USER. This errors drove me nuts. It could've been the best book on (beginning) PHP on the planet. Try to wait for the next edition, if the authors have the courage to do so.
Product: Book Paperback
Title: Transact-SQL Programming
Publisher: O'Reilly
Authors: Lee Gould, Andrew Zanevsky, Kevin Kline
Rating: 1/5
Title: Transact-SQL Programming
Publisher: O'Reilly
Authors: Lee Gould, Andrew Zanevsky, Kevin Kline
Rating: 1/5
I didn't get much use from this book for the following reasons:+The code is quite dated. It looks like old Sybase code for the most part.+The distinction between Sybase code and Microsoft code is often blurred, making it impossible to tell which code runs on which platform.+The text is generally hard to read and disorganized. I don't think the narrative flows logically.FWIW, a far better T-SQL book is Henderson's The Guru's Guide to Transact-SQL. First and foremost, it's a great coder's book, something Klein and company could really learn from.
Product: Book Paperback
Title: Sams Teach Yourself SQL in 10 Minutes, Third Edition
Publisher: Sams
Authors: Ben Forta
Rating: 4/5
Title: Sams Teach Yourself SQL in 10 Minutes, Third Edition
Publisher: Sams
Authors: Ben Forta
Rating: 4/5
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.
Product: Book Paperback
Title: PHP Essentials
Publisher: Muska & Lipman/Premier-Trade
Authors: Julie C. Meloni
Rating: 4/5
Title: PHP Essentials
Publisher: Muska & Lipman/Premier-Trade
Authors: Julie C. Meloni
Rating: 4/5
I had a requirement at work to write a small Web server application and had never done any Web server programming. Php is the perfect language for this and this is the perfect book to get you up and running right away. The book is written in the form of a series of easy to follow tutorials. I also purchased a WROX book with the idea that it would take me past the essentials. The only thing that I used this second book for was regular expressions, which PHP Essentials only touches upon briefly.
Product: Book Paperback
Title: Admin911: SQL Server 2000
Publisher: McGraw-Hill Companies
Authors: Brian Knight
Rating: 5/5
Title: Admin911: SQL Server 2000
Publisher: McGraw-Hill Companies
Authors: Brian Knight
Rating: 5/5
SQL Server 2000 Administration headaches? ... Well if you need a rapid reference on system administrative functions that could not only save your company $$$ on downtime and system availability but improve your response to difficult situations this is a DBA must have. I have purchased more books attempting to get reliable information and tips to make my Administration of SQL Server Database systems robust, reliable, and rapid on response I have finally found the information I needed in "One" book. I would recommend this book for Mid to Senior level Database Administrators and as a guide for training Junior level DBA's to prevent bad habits and teach the proper habits of monitoring, managing and maintaining SQL Server databases overall. Oh and the nice touch is that TIPS: and CAUTION: notices throughout the book educate the creative "out of the box" approach to proper system risk management. I hope Mr. Knight considers sharing his talent with future Administrative Guides !!!
Product: Book Paperback
Title: PHP and MySQL Web Development, Second Edition
Publisher: Sams
Authors: Luke Welling, Laura Thomson
Rating: 5/5
Title: PHP and MySQL Web Development, Second Edition
Publisher: Sams
Authors: Luke Welling, Laura Thomson
Rating: 5/5
Since 1997, I have been developing dynamic Open Source-based web sites for my clients and myself. I have settled on two solutions: Zope sites using its incorporated ZODB -- for which I suggest the Zope Bible -- and PHP/MySQL sites, for which I recommend this one-stop solution, PHP and MySQL Web Development, Second Edition. I had the first edition, and that was my bible until this edition came out recently. If you need one book, and your solution for creating powerful web applications is PHP/MySQL, then this is the book for you. I am the president and lead developer for zdev Corporation. We at zdev develop Content Management Solutions using Open Source solutions. Half the solutions are Zope-based, including Plone; otherwise, our solutions are most often Nuke-based -- namely Post Nuke and phpWebsite -- which are PHP/MySQL solutions.Although amazingly powerful, PHP has been attacked as being an insecure solution. This presumption is based on many things that have been fixed and blocked in the evolution of PHP; but there is always coder-error and this fine resources focuses almost exclusively on helping the coder take what started out as Personal Home Page (PHP) which was the main solution for script kiddies and 14-year-old freaks and geeks to what it has become and what it can be:The finest and most flexible solution for any and all commercial and e-commerce solutions. In accomplishing this, this book focuses on becoming a careful, ever-vigilant, coder of PHP. This education includes many remedial courses in dealing with having a database-backed website on the Internet, which has nothing to do with PHP or MySQL. In my humble opinion, the reputation that PHP has as an insecure solution is based on it being a perfect "teaching language" and as such, many newbies and neophytes are empowered to deploy some powerful solutions without being first formally informed in the issues of data integrity and online-security.As our coder-base matures -- along with the language(s) -- we will see that the problems had nothing to do with the power and elegance of the code, but rather with the newness, freedom, accessibility, and immaturity of many of our colleagues, the coders ourselves.In much the same way the Ben Forta book on Cold Fusion years ago legitimized Cold Fusion as THE solution for the web -- towards the Enterprise level -- Luke Welling and Laura Thomson's book, PHP and MySQL Web Development is on its way towards bringing PHP and MySQL the kind of attention and legitimacy it deserves.Every day I see more and more Corporate-level and Enterprise-level solutions on the web and am oftentimes blown away by its ubiquity on the web. The next time you are on a site you love, check out the file-types of the pages you are visiting. If you see .php anywhere in the URL, you have discovered yet another PHP site!I recommend you buy this book. It will be the only one you'll need.
Product: Book Paperback
Title: PHP Pocket Reference, 2nd Edition
Publisher: O'Reilly
Authors: Rasmus Lerdorf
Rating: 1/5
Title: PHP Pocket Reference, 2nd Edition
Publisher: O'Reilly
Authors: Rasmus Lerdorf
Rating: 1/5
The book needs an index...also, the function list.. (very lengthy) is very poorly organized and layed out..
each line starts with the output type of the function.. (int,string,bool) etc.consequently scanning the index for the function you're looking for is extreemely difficult.You cant even easily find where you are in the alphabetized list without sifting through a buncha lines starting with 'string','int','bool'it's a worthless pocket reference.
