IT programming books related reviews
Title: Inside Microsoft SQL Server 6.5 (Microsoft Programming Series)
Publisher: Microsoft Pr
Authors: Ron Soukup
Rating: 5/5
I had a lot of expectations for this book when I ordered it, and it has fulfilled those expectations. An excellent book no matter where you are in your experience with SQL. It has excellent tips, background material, and technical examples. I highly recommend this book.
Title: Transact-SQL Cookbook (O'Reilly Windows)
Publisher: O'Reilly
Authors: Ales Spetic, Jonathan Gennick
Rating: 4/5
Almost everything in this book can be found in the books on-line. This is like a printed version of them. If you need a printed version of the bol, get this book.
Title: PHP and MySQL Web Development
Publisher: Sams
Authors: Luke Welling, Laura Thomson
Rating: 3/5
I purchased this book after reading reviews on 3 different websites for it. The montra seemed to be "great for beginners or folks who have very little programming experience". That's me! I found the book to be extremely helpful...through chapter one. It explained basic concepts, syntax, etc. After that, it's like the author assumes that you have become an intermediate to expert programmer. He no longer tells you "insert this code at the bottom of (insert file name here)," but starts in with "if you program in C, then this will be very familiar to you."There are also errors. Granted, you can go to the authors website and find the addendums, but when the addendums also contain errors, it's very frustrating (like when he spells the word "tire" in the book and then as "tyre" in the "corrected" code on his website.Heed the books user level category....intermediate to advanced programmers. Be warned, if you are a beginning programmer in any language, this book will just confuse you and frustrate you to no end no matter what others say...
Title: PC Annoyances, Second Edition
Publisher: O'Reilly
Authors: Steve Bass
Rating: 5/5
I loved both of Steve Bass' PC Annoyance books. I find them very helpful when encountering PC problems and Windows problems. Reading through his book, I find things that hadn't even occurred to me and used his fixes to make my typing and surfing experiences easier. I definitely recommend you buy this book! It's not very expensive, but it will save you lots of time and headaches.
Title: SQL Server System Administration (The Landmark Series)
Publisher: Sams
Authors: Chris Miller, Sean Baird, John Lynn, Michael Hotek, Denis Darveau
Rating: 4/5
I found this book to be a very good reference source to the new version of SQL Server. The chapter on Replication was of particular interest to me and I even found it to be slightly entertaining...a big feat for such a technical topic!
Title: Oracle DBA SQL Quick Reference
Publisher: Prentice Hall PTR
Authors: Charlie Russel, Robert Cordingley
Rating: 5/5
The book is truly what the title suggest - a quick reference guide. It makes an Oracle user's life easy by putting SQL commands in a clear concise manner.
If you are an Oracle user, who uses Oracle extensively using SQL command interface and not the GUI, this book is for you.
Title: The Administrator's Guide to Microsoft SQL Server 6.5
Publisher: 29th Street Press
Authors: Kevin Cox, William Jones, Bill Jones
Rating: 4/5
It is a great book to have when you need to do some admin job and want to have a checklist of what to look out for. The book mainly draws from the authors personal experiences and so is filled with practical tips and what to watch out for. I really like the replication part...
Title: Sams Teach Yourself Microsoft SQL Server 7 in 21 Days
Publisher: Sams
Authors: Richard Waymire, Rick Sawtell
Rating: 4/5
This work does a good job of showing you how to use the major features of MS SQL Server 7.0. It describes how to install and configure SQL Server, indicating along the way platform-specific constraints and limitations, the implications of configuration choices, as well as recommended settings.It contains many great examples and screen shots, many from a beta release, but the author is up front about that fact.I disagree with the preface which says that this book will teach you how to be an SQL Server Administrator. What this book will teach you is how to use the tools and administrator will use which is 50% of what you need to know. The other 50% will come from on-the-job training as well as other less tool-oriented texts in database design, security, and programming.The cover blurb does better job: Learn the skills and concepts to master SQL Server 7.0 in just 21 days.
Title: Oracle PL/SQL Interactive Workbook (2nd Edition)
Publisher: Prentice Hall PTR
Authors: Benjamin Rosenzweig, Elena Silvestrova
Rating: 2/5
Grammar mistakes that lead you to wonder exactly what they are attempting to say, not systematic in explaining all the parameters/options of a command/function, and only skimming the surface of many concepts. Save your money, there's got to be a better book out there...
Title: Advanced Transact-SQL for SQL Server 2000
Publisher: Apress
Authors: Itzik Ben-Gan, Tom Moreau
Rating: 1/5
Gotta be the worst database book I ever read. Just terrible. Bad writing, silly examples, stupid topics. Total waste of money.

