IT programming books related reviews
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
This book is an excellent reference for anyone needing assistance on stored procedures, triggers, cursors, or TSQL. The detail very good and the examples helpful. Pair this book with a good reference for administration, and the DBA library is complete.
Product: Book Paperback
Title: Microsoft SQL Server 7.0 Resource Guide (It-Resource Kit)
Publisher: Microsoft Pr Rating: 4/5
Title: Microsoft SQL Server 7.0 Resource Guide (It-Resource Kit)
Publisher: Microsoft Pr Rating: 4/5
This is a good, solid reference book. I use it in conjunction with the Administrator's Pocket Consultant to fill in the substance which the Pocket Consultant only lightly describes. I have not used the tools from the CD yet, but they should be pretty handy from the description.This is not a book to be read cover-to-cover, but is good for looking up specific information as needed.
Product: Book Paperback
Title: Optimizing Transact-SQL : Advanced Programming Techniques
Publisher: SQL Forum Press
Authors: David Rozenshtein, Anatoly Abramovich, Eugene Birger
Rating: 5/5
Title: Optimizing Transact-SQL : Advanced Programming Techniques
Publisher: SQL Forum Press
Authors: David Rozenshtein, Anatoly Abramovich, Eugene Birger
Rating: 5/5
You don't have to read the whole book, just first three chapters of this book will more than pay for itself. It seems complicated in the beginning with new notations, and their notations hide the simplicity and elegance of characteristic functions. However, once you get the concept of characteristic functions, it can help you enormously. I can't say enough about how good this is, it is such a simple and elegant idea for set-based db-engine, wonder why nobody else had thought of it sooner. I find myself deriving different characteristic functions for all kinds of tasks, and that in it of itself is fun. A must read for anybody using set-based db-engine such as Sybase and MS-SQL server ( despite their claims to the contrary for their latest versions ). Not much help in using this concept in ORACLE, since ORACLE seems to create implicit cursors anyway. I have improved speed in stored procedures by more than ten-fold by using the characteristic functions. Hooorrray!!!!
Product: Book Hardcover
Title: MCSE: SQL Server 2000 Design Study Guide (Exam 70-229)
Publisher: Sybex
Authors: Marc Israel, J. Steven Jones, Marc Israel, Steve Jones
Rating: 4/5
Title: MCSE: SQL Server 2000 Design Study Guide (Exam 70-229)
Publisher: Sybex
Authors: Marc Israel, J. Steven Jones, Marc Israel, Steve Jones
Rating: 4/5
This is a good book which has comprehensive coervage of most of the exam objectives and also important concepts not required by the exam, like extent, page and physical storage of records. There is one chapter devoted to index storage, statistics and fragmentation with some under the hood information. I passed the exam the second time but I don't blame it on the book. Most of the exam questions are case-scenario based and no book will ever cover every possible case. Understanding business logic and creating logical models is a matter of experience and common sense rather than mouth-fed knowledge from books. This book does have its drawbacks. The book must be hastily published and there are numerous mistakes. The proof-reading job was donely poorly. One should go to Sybex's web site to find the correction to these errors. The CD includes two bonus exams in addition to those already in the book. The layout of the options in a question is the worst I have seen. When the options are long, each option is contained in a two line scrollable box. It is impossible to compare one option from the next.
The parts that are not adquately covered include Index Tuning Wizard and using SQL Profiler to create traces, the latter is tested in greater depth in 70-228. On the whole this is a great book for anyone who wants to learn SQL Server 2000 and is recommended as the principal material for the exam. I would give it 4 and a half stars.
Product: Book Paperback
Title: MCDBA SQL Server 7 Database Design, Study Guide (Exam 70-29)
Publisher: McGraw-Hill Companies Rating: 1/5
Title: MCDBA SQL Server 7 Database Design, Study Guide (Exam 70-29)
Publisher: McGraw-Hill Companies Rating: 1/5
This book is a waste of paper! It is full of errors. The examples are basic and when they are not full of errors do not illustrate or reinforce the points in the book. It does not follow a logical flow when discussing the concepts. I must agree that this one was rushed to press! It did nothing to prepare me for the exam! Nor did it give me any new information on the product. Save your $$$ and put it toward your exam (since you'll likely take it twice!)
Product: Book Paperback
Title: SQL/400 Developer's Guide
Publisher: 29th Street Press
Authors: Paul Conte, Mike Cravitz
Rating: 5/5
Title: SQL/400 Developer's Guide
Publisher: 29th Street Press
Authors: Paul Conte, Mike Cravitz
Rating: 5/5
This book is required reading for new hires in my shop and our veteran programmers keep copies close at hand for ready reference. This is the ultimate guide to SQL on the AS/400 -- from database and SQL fundamentals to in-depth coverage of SQL programming and a top-notch treatment of data modeling and design principles.
Product: Book Paperback
Title: Oracle PL/SQL 101
Publisher: McGraw-Hill Osborne Media
Authors: Christopher Allen
Rating: 5/5
Title: Oracle PL/SQL 101
Publisher: McGraw-Hill Osborne Media
Authors: Christopher Allen
Rating: 5/5
This is a fantastic book, and one of the best that I have read. Christopher manages to make sure you have a full understanding of all the basics before he takes you deeper into the PL/SQL world. He explains the reasons needed to understand the first section in the book, and as you progress, you realise how much sense that makes. He touches on the DBA side of Oracle and clarifies all aspects of relational database logic. Each chapter comes with its own test and tasks for you to do, which I actually found very helpful. They also ensure you can move on to study the next chunk of information.
The book is also written with humour, which always helps when studying anything.
I initially bought the book as a refresher, but I can see this taking pride of place on my desk!
I would recommend to those with limited experience and those that are just refreshing their skills.
Product: Book Paperback
Title: Building Microsoft SQL Server 7 Web Sites
Publisher: Prentice Hall
Authors: Jeffrey Byrne, Jeffry Byrne
Rating: 4/5
Title: Building Microsoft SQL Server 7 Web Sites
Publisher: Prentice Hall
Authors: Jeffrey Byrne, Jeffry Byrne
Rating: 4/5
This book walks you through the process of setting up an NT box, setting up IIS, and setting up SQL, all step-by-step.Pretty thorough, but I ordered it mainly because of a hang-up I was having trying make my site work with SQL server.If you have limited experience with Internet Information Server, NT, and SQL server, then this book is for you.
Product: Book Paperback
Title: SQL In A Nutshell, 2nd Edition
Publisher: O'Reilly
Authors: Kevin Kline, Daniel Kline, Brand Hunt
Rating: 4/5
Title: SQL In A Nutshell, 2nd Edition
Publisher: O'Reilly
Authors: Kevin Kline, Daniel Kline, Brand Hunt
Rating: 4/5
Reviewers seem to be pretty mixed on this book; Casual SQL users like it, SQL Programmers don't. From reading the book, I would agree. If I were a SQL Programmer, this would be a terrible reference, as it does give the basics for MS-SQL, MySQL, Oracle and PostgreSQL (which does tends to look a little muddled for those of us who scan a lot). But I am not a SQL Programmer. I am a casual SQL user, who writes the occasional query for Access and MS-SQL databases. I know the general syntax and base language (which this book did show me), and any time I get in a jam, I've been able to solve my issue using this reference. It was worth the purchase and has never let me down.
Product: Book Paperback
Title: Php 4 Bible (Bible (Wiley))
Publisher: Hungry Minds
Authors: Tim Converse, Joyce Park
Rating: 5/5
Title: Php 4 Bible (Bible (Wiley))
Publisher: Hungry Minds
Authors: Tim Converse, Joyce Park
Rating: 5/5
PHP Bible (written by Tim Converse and Joyce Park)The book in 32 chapters which are logically structured into three parts:Part I - Basics contains first fifteen chaptersPart II - the very important part dealing with relations of PHP and Databases contains chapters 16 to twenty-fourPart III - Advanced techniques contains last eight chapters of the book.This nice structure is extremely useful in dishing the info to different levels of reader's understanding. While seasoned programmer can just skim the first part it gives plenty of information for newbie, but it refrains from overflooding with unnecessary details. The book is truly building comprehension in manageable doses with clear references to the future "explorations in the field". The only thing I felt as underestimated was the installation of PHP on the Windows, which is basically left on the use of Microsoft's own server products IIS versus PWS, while my explorations in this matter shows that interest in PHP in the Windows community grows steadily with server preferences shifting towards Apache or other servers. At the same time I have to give authors the due credit for putting necessary references straight at the end of the chapter. There are few references missed however, because (for example) the installation of PHP working with an excellent "Sambar" server are actually documented straight in the server's FAQ file and installation should not take more then five minutes even to the greenest of all newbies. .... .The second part of the book is devoted to the databases from the short introduction - through their tremendous impact on the Web data processing ending in long list of all databases supported by PHP. In total agreement with public preferences authors picked MySQL as a database in the focus. Following the short expose to SQL terminology lightly sprinkled with database design we are fast forwarded through the MySQL related functions of PHP and their use in processing the forms and output of database querries. Not only we can find the examples through the whole text, but also we have "real-live" lookalike example in the whole chapter 22. I can only attest that this "twenty-two" makes things really easier to understand in opposition to the infamous "Catch-22" of Yossarian fame.The third part starts with logically the most needed information following the databases - sessions and cookies. Then it goes back to OOP, Security and configuration and tuning of PHP system. The sample code is again supported by excellent explanations, which as in previous chapters are unasuming, informative so the book left me at the end with the feeling of no major question to answer and ultimately with happines which authors (in accordance with the real Bible) were proclaiming through the text. Thus their First rule proclaimed in the chapter 6:"Don't worry, Be happy" supports now my programming confidence and I am sure it will do the same to anybody lucky enough to acquire this book.
