IT programming books related reviews
Product: Book Paperback
Title: Sams Teach Yourself Microsoft SQL Server 2000 in 21 Days (2nd Edition, Book Only)
Publisher: Sams
Authors: Richard Waymire, Rick Sawtell
Rating: 5/5
Title: Sams Teach Yourself Microsoft SQL Server 2000 in 21 Days (2nd Edition, Book Only)
Publisher: Sams
Authors: Richard Waymire, Rick Sawtell
Rating: 5/5
If you are an absolute SQL Server 2000 beginner but understand (basically) what a database is, this is the book for you. I have no experience in programming or SQL, and I've been able to ramp up VERY quickly with SQL Server, creating databases, tables, queries, and stored procedures with ease using the examples. The book is clearly laid out and has good examples. However, it IS a book about the server itself, not programming SQL. It contains a great deal of information on using ALL of the features included in SQL Server 2000. If all you want to do is learn to do is write queries, you might want to skip this and go for a book with a more narrow focus. This book's treatment of SQL Server is very broad.
Product: Book Paperback
Title: SQL Queries for Mere Mortals: A Hands-On Guide to Data Manipulation in SQL
Publisher: Addison-Wesley Professional
Authors: Michael J. Hernandez, John L. Viescas
Rating: 1/5
Title: SQL Queries for Mere Mortals: A Hands-On Guide to Data Manipulation in SQL
Publisher: Addison-Wesley Professional
Authors: Michael J. Hernandez, John L. Viescas
Rating: 1/5
The authors seem to believe that the simplest concepts need to be illustrated with overly complex diagrams and hugely complex SQL statements. The concepts contained in this book are not complex, although they are portrayed as such. If you want a fantastic introduction to SQL, get Sams Teach Yourself SQL in 10 Minutes, 2nd ed. by Ben Forta (ISBN 0672321289).
Product: Book Paperback
Title: Professional PHP Programming
Publisher:
Authors: Jesus Castagnetto, Sascha Schumann, Harish Rawat, Chris Scollo, Deepak T. Veliath
Rating: 3/5
Title: Professional PHP Programming
Publisher:
Authors: Jesus Castagnetto, Sascha Schumann, Harish Rawat, Chris Scollo, Deepak T. Veliath
Rating: 3/5
This book is great for those with some experience in programming in C/C++ and little or no experience with server-side scripting languages. After struggling for a while learing PHP using the on-line manual, this book enabled me to get up to speed writing useful PHP scripts for some DB-backed websites. I chose to use PostgreSQL rather than MySQL and I found their examples were fairly easy to adapt. The only gaffe I have with the book is that some of the examples have some bugs, but if you pay attention to the first seven chapters and use the On-line Manual as a reference, the bugs are fairly easy to spot and fix. I highly recommend this book for anyone needing to get a website up and running fast!
Product: Book Paperback
Title: SQL Server 2000 Programming by Example
Publisher: Que
Authors: Carlos Rojas, Fernando Guerrero
Rating: 5/5
Title: SQL Server 2000 Programming by Example
Publisher: Que
Authors: Carlos Rojas, Fernando Guerrero
Rating: 5/5
The most comprehensive, the most thorough, and the one book I can use in training.
Product: Book Paperback
Title: PC Annoyances, Second Edition
Publisher: O'Reilly
Authors: Steve Bass
Rating: 5/5
Title: PC Annoyances, Second Edition
Publisher: O'Reilly
Authors: Steve Bass
Rating: 5/5
If you use a PC, you should consider picking up this book. I've subscribed to Bass's free PC World newsletter (http://www.pcworld.com/resource/columni st/0,colid,43,00.asp), which I also recommend, for more than a year. I bought PC Annoyances mainly as a gesture of appreciation for the newsletter, and it's turned out to be a great purchase, with lots of helpful tips (finally I can delete old System Restore points) and URLs for mostly free software. Details, including a sample chapter, are available at http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/pcannoy2/ .
<br />
And no, I haven't taken a bribe from Bass for this review, though my PayPal account, like the Hotel California, is programmed to receive.
Product: Book Hardcover
Title: OCP Introduction to Oracle9i: SQL Exam Guide
Publisher: McGraw-Hill Osborne Media
Authors: Jason Couchman
Rating: 4/5
Title: OCP Introduction to Oracle9i: SQL Exam Guide
Publisher: McGraw-Hill Osborne Media
Authors: Jason Couchman
Rating: 4/5
I used this book to pass the SQL exam. It isn't to teach you SQL, but to prepare you for the exam. It has good sample questions that are a lot like the questions on the exam, and it helped me, I passed.
Product: Book Hardcover
Title: OCA/OCP: Introduction to Oracle9i SQL Study Guide
Publisher: Sybex
Authors: Chip Dawes, Biju Thomas, Chip Dawes, Biju Thomas
Rating: 5/5
Title: OCA/OCP: Introduction to Oracle9i SQL Study Guide
Publisher: Sybex
Authors: Chip Dawes, Biju Thomas, Chip Dawes, Biju Thomas
Rating: 5/5
I recently passed the exam. Scored 54/57. I used this book and the materials that come in the CD (review questions, flash cards and 2 BONUS exams). Plus my several years of experience in Oracle also helped a lot. In my opinion, this is the only book needed to get through the exam. Although, bit of practical experience is needed to come out in flying colors. There are few mistakes, but they are easier to identify. The book covers a lot of topics - more than 100% of what is needed to pass the exam. Real exam would be a cake-walk. This book is a definite preparatory material.
Product: Book Paperback
Title: MCSE Administering SQL Server 7 Exam Cram (Exam: 70-028)
Publisher: Coriolis Group Books
Authors: Jeffrey Garbus, David Pascuzzi, Alvin Chang
Rating: 1/5
Title: MCSE Administering SQL Server 7 Exam Cram (Exam: 70-028)
Publisher: Coriolis Group Books
Authors: Jeffrey Garbus, David Pascuzzi, Alvin Chang
Rating: 1/5
This book is a bad review for SQL Server 7.0. This book is about 99% syntax which is not what SQL Server 7.0 is totally about. I'm not sure if Jeffrey Garbus has ever really seen SQL Server 7.0. either. If he had he would see that it is heavily designed with the GUI interface in mind. This book is not the book to study for the exam. I ordered it from the Coriolis Group store. I hope I can get my money back. The Sybex book SQL Server7 Administration study guide is a much better (and longer) choice. They (Sybex) covers both sides of the exam (syntax and GUI) very well.
Product: Book Paperback
Title: Sams Teach Yourself SQL in 21 Days (4th Edition)
Publisher: Sams
Authors: Ron Plew, Ryan Stephens
Rating: 4/5
Title: Sams Teach Yourself SQL in 21 Days (4th Edition)
Publisher: Sams
Authors: Ron Plew, Ryan Stephens
Rating: 4/5
I have no prior knowledge of SQL and only a fair idea of what databases can do. If you want to start learning the very basic fundamentals of SQL this is a good start. If you have no clue about databases you may want to look else where first, then come back to this book. A lot of space is wasted reminding the reader to check your documentation for the correct syntax since there are several flavors of SQL. Some of the examples seem to be very repetative. Overall, I have a good idea of what I can do with SQL and now it is which way to go, Oracle or Transact-SQL. If you have some SQL knowledge this may be too basic to be worth the time. I did finish the book in less than 21 hours.
Product: Book
Title: Google Advertising A-Z: Essential AdWords & Image Ads Tips for Getting the Most Clicks at the Lowest Cost
Publisher:
Authors: Editors of BottleTree Books LLC
Rating: 5/5
Title: Google Advertising A-Z: Essential AdWords & Image Ads Tips for Getting the Most Clicks at the Lowest Cost
Publisher:
Authors: Editors of BottleTree Books LLC
Rating: 5/5
AdWords was developed by the highly educated people at Google and as a result there is a science to it. I bought Google Advertising A-Z to help me and was surprised at how it brought all the many nuances together to get higher click-throughs. I never realized that the time of day the Google clock is set by affects when you will get the most clicks, especially for a U.S. advertiser who is getting clicks in Europe while sleeping. The book also has Adsense, Froogle, Zeitgeist (that I've never heard of), and Google Print sections. It was money well spent!
