IT programming books related reviews
Product: Book Paperback
Title: Oracle9i PL/SQL Programming
Publisher: McGraw-Hill Osborne Media
Authors: Scott Urman
Rating: 5/5
Title: Oracle9i PL/SQL Programming
Publisher: McGraw-Hill Osborne Media
Authors: Scott Urman
Rating: 5/5
I purchased this book knowing nothing about PL/SQL. I read the entire book and worked through most of the examples in a week of dedicated self-training. The material is presented in a logical order. All the examples worked. Although all scripts are provided on the CD that comes with the book, I typed in all examples which helped in learning the material. The only issue I had with some of the examples is the use of the DBMS_OUTPUT package. This package writes the output of some of the examples to the screen. However, it only does so in SQL*Plus or Server Manager. I was using a tool by Quest called TOAD. I compensated for this by sending the output to a temp table provided by the author and then queried the temp table to retrieve the results. It worked just fine. Working through the examples requires the Oracle database, which shouldn't be a problem since anyone can download Oracle for free from Oracle's website. I give the book a big thumbs up! I definitely feel I have the knowledge necessary to go out and write PL/SQL.
Product: Book Paperback
Title: SQL Server 7 Essential Reference
Publisher: Sams
Authors: Sharon Dooley
Rating: 5/5
Title: SQL Server 7 Essential Reference
Publisher: Sams
Authors: Sharon Dooley
Rating: 5/5
I believe that this book is to the DBA side of SQL Server what Inside SQL Server by Kalen Delaney is to the developers side, Awesome. I have two copies 1 for work and 1 for home. I often find myself jogging my memory with things in the book. Buy it you won't regret it.
Product: Book Paperback
Title: Learning PHP 5
Publisher: O'Reilly
Authors: David Sklar
Rating: 2/5
Title: Learning PHP 5
Publisher: O'Reilly
Authors: David Sklar
Rating: 2/5
I got this book because I figured it would be a good introduction to PHP, but it was not. I have experience programming applications (in java and C), but not for the web and was curious about php.
It feels that after reading the entire book, I hardly know about php 5. If all you want to know is how to make basic forms or how to interact with a database in a basic way then this book may be for you, but if you want to know the ins and outs of php this book is horrible.
I definitely think this book is pretty much useless for experienced programmers, but I would also be inclined to believe that its not good for beginners either. Oh well, I'm off to shop for a new book on php!
Product: Book Paperback
Title: Writing Apache Modules with Perl and C
Publisher: O'Reilly
Authors: Lincoln Stein, Doug MacEachern
Rating: 4/5
Title: Writing Apache Modules with Perl and C
Publisher: O'Reilly
Authors: Lincoln Stein, Doug MacEachern
Rating: 4/5
It's amazing to see that the same company that wrote the otherwise worthless book, "Apache: The Definitive Guide," could have published an outstanding book such as this one. I love O'Reilly, hated the original Apache book, *love* this one =) Excellent work!
Product: Book Paperback
Title: Microsoft SQL Server(TM) 2000 Administrator's Pocket Consultant (It-Administrator's Pocket Consultant)
Publisher: Microsoft Press
Authors: William R. Stanek
Rating: 4/5
Title: Microsoft SQL Server(TM) 2000 Administrator's Pocket Consultant (It-Administrator's Pocket Consultant)
Publisher: Microsoft Press
Authors: William R. Stanek
Rating: 4/5
Book works pretty well as a pocket consultant. Easy to reference and it's certainly small enough (especially if you're moving from 7.0 to 2000)that you can carry it around. If you're looking for in-depth information, look somewhere else.
Product: Book Paperback
Title: PHP and MySQL Web Development
Publisher: Sams
Authors: Luke Welling, Laura Thomson
Rating: 5/5
Title: PHP and MySQL Web Development
Publisher: Sams
Authors: Luke Welling, Laura Thomson
Rating: 5/5
The first thing that caught my attention was that this book had me programming a real-world script, that applied exactly to what I wanted to do, within the first chapter! The tutorial just got better from there. This is a good reference book as well but I wouldn't buy it for that purpose. It really is a tutorial and should be read front to back, as opposed to somewhere in between. In that capacity it is excelent.I had about four months experience teaching myself PERL (a language similar to PHP) before I picked up this book. After only a few days with this book I was easily performing more complex tasks with PHP than I was ever able to do with PERL! Frankly if you're still doing web/database integration in PERL you're living in the Dark Ages.
Product: Book Hardcover
Title: MCSE Training Kit : Microsoft SQL Server 2000 Database Design and Implementation (Exam 70-229)
Publisher: Microsoft Press
Authors: Microsoft Corporation
Rating: 4/5
Title: MCSE Training Kit : Microsoft SQL Server 2000 Database Design and Implementation (Exam 70-229)
Publisher: Microsoft Press
Authors: Microsoft Corporation
Rating: 4/5
When I finished studying this book, I had my 1st test in the review CD (the CD with the other book), Scoring only 64%. Then, I looked to the SQL books on line (in this book' CD) for some news on the parameters of the main TSQL statements (Create Table-Index-View-Procedure-Trigger, Begin Transaction, and so on). In the following tests on the review I scored every time 92/94%.
After 15 days studying not so much, I passed the exam at the 1st try.
Product: Book Paperback
Title: Beginning PHP 5 and MySQL: From Novice to Professional
Publisher: Apress
Authors: W. J. Gilmore
Rating: 5/5
Title: Beginning PHP 5 and MySQL: From Novice to Professional
Publisher: Apress
Authors: W. J. Gilmore
Rating: 5/5
I have several PHP books and if I had to choose one..this would be it.
Every PHP book is going to assume a certain amount of prior knowledge from its reader. If it assumes the reader is completely new then it probably won't be as deep.
Gilmore's book does assume some knowledge, but not a huge amount, and still takes you into the more extensive features of PHP. Most people new to PHP will often receive the advice to go to PHP.net. While that's not bad advice, new PHP programmers usually find it more help as a reference guide instead of a learning tool. I personally find it assumes more knowledge than this book.
Specifically, Gilmore's book has a good emphasis on secure PHP programming throughout (and a chapter specifically about it). When exposing the workings of a function or code snippet, he'll often show how the code could be misused and what the remedy is. Many times it is downright frightening what a nefarious individual can do if secure programming techniques aren't employed. This book opened my eyes to potential problems and, better yet, their solutions.
The writing style and organization are excellent. It's what you'd expect from a programmer and he doesn't let you down. For example, in the Arrays chapter there will be subheadings that sort the array functions by use -- such as "Sorting Arrays", "Determining Array Size and Uniqueness", "Transversing Arrays", etc. The examples are practical and useful. They don't introduce techniques or functions that he hasn't shown yet.
The book also has a very nice coding style. It's understandable, clean and concise. It doesn't rely on outside classes or libraries. I have another PHP book that unfortunately relies on using PEAR in a lot of examples-which detracts from its quality.
There is also a helpful section on PHP's configuration directives. It lists in an orderly fashion the configuration options, what they mean, the default values and the scope (how they can be changed). Whether you're programming on a local or remote server, it's helpful to know what these options are, their default and how they can be changed.
There is also an excellent exposition of PHP's new object model. There are two chapters on OOP and it seems quite comprehensive (haven't quite finished them yet).
The support from the author is fantastic. I had a question on one section and the author quickly (within a couple hours)and cheerfully answered my question. He also encouraged me to send him any other questions I have.
Overall, I'd highly recommend this book to anyone interested in PHP programming. If you're a complete beginner I'd also recommend "PHP-your visual blueprint for creating open source, server-side content" in ADDITION (not instead of) Gilmore's book. The PHP visual blueprint book is a little out of date on a few sections (there will be a new version pretty soon) and nowhere near as deep but it could be helpful for someone having problems on the basics. Good luck everyone.
Product: Book Paperback
Title: Sams Teach Yourself Microsoft SQL Server 7 in 10 Minutes (Sams Teach Yourself)
Publisher: Sams
Authors: William Robison, William Robinson
Rating: 5/5
Title: Sams Teach Yourself Microsoft SQL Server 7 in 10 Minutes (Sams Teach Yourself)
Publisher: Sams
Authors: William Robison, William Robinson
Rating: 5/5
SQL Server is a vast subject. I was sure a '10 Minute' book couldn't be worth anybody's time or money. But as it turns out, it's just because this book doesn't drown you in details, that it fills an urgent need for an approachable beginner's book.This book gives you the framework and practical understanding so that when you move on to other more detailed tomes you'll know where those details fit in. I'll be teaching both SQL Server 7 certification classes next semester and I intend to recommend this book to my students. It's a great place to start! (an the price ain't bad either ;-)
Product: Book Paperback
Title: Professional Apache (Professional)
Publisher: Wrox Press
Authors: Peter Wainwright
Rating: 5/5
Title: Professional Apache (Professional)
Publisher: Wrox Press
Authors: Peter Wainwright
Rating: 5/5
This book doesn't waste much time spoon feeding people. I love it. When Peter starts a topic, he explores it completely and IN DETAIL.Nice work.
