IT programming books related reviews
Product: Book Paperback
Title: MCSE SQL Server 2000 Administration for Dummies (with CD-ROM, covers test #70-228)
Publisher: For Dummies
Authors: Rozanne Whalen, Dan Whalen
Rating: 5/5
Title: MCSE SQL Server 2000 Administration for Dummies (with CD-ROM, covers test #70-228)
Publisher: For Dummies
Authors: Rozanne Whalen, Dan Whalen
Rating: 5/5
This book is the first I've read from the "Dummies" series and it provided a solid foundation for exam 70-228. It's a practical guide for working through and understanding the objectives for the exam. If you have little or no experience with SQL Server, the hands-on exercises will quickly get you on track with SQL administration. I read this book, worked through the exercises and studied the Transcenders to pass the exam.
Product: Book Paperback
Title: Oracle PL/SQL Best Practices
Publisher: O'Reilly
Authors: Steven Feuerstein
Rating: 1/5
Title: Oracle PL/SQL Best Practices
Publisher: O'Reilly
Authors: Steven Feuerstein
Rating: 1/5
I have been an avid reader of Steven's books ever since I started learning PL/SQL as part of my career in Oracle. Without a doubt he is an authority on this proprietary language from Oracle and has a vast repository of code that he can proudly claim his own. This book is ideal for those who have experience working with applications built on Oracle. You may have encountered situations in which you probably chose an approach to solve a problem or get something done in a hurry without thinking through the implications on performance or taking recourse to some useful features in PL/SQL. These practices classified by topic will not only explain the wisdom but also illustrate how to use it.Make sure you keep it handy and follow these guidelines religiously in your application code.Hats off to Steven and O'Reilly for another useful title !
Product: Book Paperback
Title: Core PHP Programming: Using PHP to Build Dynamic Web Sites (2nd Edition)
Publisher: Pearson Education
Authors: Leon Atkinson
Rating: 4/5
Title: Core PHP Programming: Using PHP to Build Dynamic Web Sites (2nd Edition)
Publisher: Pearson Education
Authors: Leon Atkinson
Rating: 4/5
This book provides an excellent reference material. If you are looking for a book to teach you PHP, this isn't it. I would recommend the PHP Bible for introductory material. However, if you have programming experience and feel comfortable in scripting languages such as ASP and JSP this book will provide you with the most commonly used functions, their syntax, and what they do.
Product: Book Paperback
Title: PHP for the World Wide Web : Visual QuickStart Guide (2nd Edition) (Visual Quickstart Guides)
Publisher: Peachpit Press
Authors: Larry Ullman
Rating: 1/5
Title: PHP for the World Wide Web : Visual QuickStart Guide (2nd Edition) (Visual Quickstart Guides)
Publisher: Peachpit Press
Authors: Larry Ullman
Rating: 1/5
...and has lots of mistakes. Eg: The code sample, on page 93, to print all prime numbers below 1000 has an incorrect algorithm. No wonder 49 and 77 show up in page 94, where primes through 100 are displayed. Like I said, this book is very basic. Does not talk about Sessions and Objects, using PHP and XML together, for example.
Product: Book Paperback
Title: MySQL/PHP Database Applications
Publisher: Wiley
Authors: Jay Greenspan, Brad Bulger
Rating: 2/5
Title: MySQL/PHP Database Applications
Publisher: Wiley
Authors: Jay Greenspan, Brad Bulger
Rating: 2/5
You've probably read elements of this review in other people's posts. Here's the straight dope for beginners:Start with something else. PHP FAST & EASY is much better than this. I've read that and still don't know what to do with this book. I thought I was ready for it, but to be honest it's just poorly laid out.What the authors SHOULD have done was take each section and force you to write the scripts giving you step-by-step examples and explanations to each. This never happens. Instead what you do is cover all functions and the basics of programming first, AND THEN they insert elements of each important aspect of the scripts. This forces you to look at the CD and try and match up with the book. (Which is not EXACT!)I'm sure I could figure out how to write these apps given a few months worth of exploring and trial and error, so why did I buy this thing when I can do that from tutorials on the net?This book is a waste of money for those that want to learn powerful applications in a 1 - 2 - 3 step manor. If you enjoy cross referencing, if you enjoy the author telling how to write the script one way in the book, but showing you another way on the CD then this is the book for you!
Product: Book Paperback
Title: Select--SQL: The Relational Database Language
Publisher: Prentice Hall
Authors: Lawrence R. Newcomer
Rating: 4/5
Title: Select--SQL: The Relational Database Language
Publisher: Prentice Hall
Authors: Lawrence R. Newcomer
Rating: 4/5
Even old (1992) this book is the right format and concept for studying. It has good examples. Maybe, sometimes, the author spent more space talking about different versions of SQL and vendors, but if it was organized in different way, it would not be a minus. My main objection: this book does not have a separate apendix dedicated for SQL command syntax.
Product: Book Paperback
Title: Oracle SQL*Plus: The Definitive Guide
Publisher: O'Reilly
Authors: Jonathan Gennick
Rating: 1/5
Title: Oracle SQL*Plus: The Definitive Guide
Publisher: O'Reilly
Authors: Jonathan Gennick
Rating: 1/5
This book finally answers a need for SQL*Plus users that need something more than a quick reference card, but not an inaccurate tome, like "Oracle 8: the complete reference". For instance, when it comes to looping, on page 254 you can read "There is no way to write a real loop using SQL*Plus." If you see this, you won't search through another 100 pages of manual trying to find a meaningful example. Excellent, correct, and an excellent balance between conciseness and completeness.I have even adopted this book for my undergraduate database class.
Product: Book Paperback
Title: Instant PHP 4
Publisher: McGraw-Hill Companies
Authors: Michael Walker, Robert Cox, Neal Anders
Rating: 3/5
Title: Instant PHP 4
Publisher: McGraw-Hill Companies
Authors: Michael Walker, Robert Cox, Neal Anders
Rating: 3/5
This book has several worth-while projects, including an on-line store shopping cart, a PHP information console, and an on-line address book, and a couple of others. If you already know a little PHP you can get some good examples from the book. If you're wanting learn PHP, look elsewhere. I also found it a bit $$Pricey$$ which is why I gave it 3 stars instead of 4.
Product: Book Paperback
Title: Internet Annoyances
Publisher: O'Reilly
Authors: Preston Gralla
Rating: 4/5
Title: Internet Annoyances
Publisher: O'Reilly
Authors: Preston Gralla
Rating: 4/5
For most of us, a huge value of our computers is being able to hook to the Internet. This once science fictional dream has now become an everyday reality. Alas, as this book mentions, such a reality also includes many annoying problems.
One way to read this book is to divide those annoyances into two groups. The first group is the little things, like tweaking the various Microsoft Office products. The second group of annoyances can be more troublesome. Like viruses/worms and spam. Malware.
Consider spam. The universal scourge. The book has a good, quick discussion of the main antispam techniques, like Bayesians or hashing. Plus advice that is a little cynical, but realistic. Like how the Can Spam act has largely proved useless. Or how you should not use naughty words in your outgoing email, to minimise chances of it being tagged as spam by your recipient's email provider.
Hotspots are also discussed heavily, due to their popularity and often insecure mode of operation. There is a great danger of someone running a packet sniffer. So your key communications should use https, if you are engaged in sensitive matters, like using your credit card. But the book does not go into how a phisher could launch a deadlier man in the middle attack. Where she replaces the hot spot device with her own, or subverts the device's software. Then, she runs a pocket universe, where she might have copied the websites of various banks, and she directs http queries to those banks to her fake websites [pharms]. This method totally negates https. Granted, it is technically quite hard to do and so is still somewhat uncommon. But the book should warn of it, if you want to stay ahead of the curve.
Product: Book Paperback
Title: Oracle Web Applications: Pl/Sql Developer's Introduction
Publisher:
Authors: Andrew Odewahn
Rating: 3/5
Title: Oracle Web Applications: Pl/Sql Developer's Introduction
Publisher:
Authors: Andrew Odewahn
Rating: 3/5
I have used this book as a handbook reference in teaching advanced Oracle & Relational Database Development. As I metioned, it is a very good theoretical book. I particularly liked Chapters 3 (WebDB), 4 (OAS) & 9 (XML). Should you require more hands on examples & sample usage, however, you will have to look elsewhere.
