IT programming books related reviews
Product: Book Paperback
Title: Sams Teach Yourself SQL in 24 Hours (3rd Edition)
Publisher: Sams
Authors: Ryan Stephens, Ron Plew
Rating: 5/5
Title: Sams Teach Yourself SQL in 24 Hours (3rd Edition)
Publisher: Sams
Authors: Ryan Stephens, Ron Plew
Rating: 5/5
This would be a better library book to flip through. The book *tries* to teach you how to be a sql query writer; a sql administrator; a programmer with interfaces in sql. As one might expect, this is too broad a scope for any book, much less for one that is supposed to teach you everything in 24 hours! The book does a good job of walking you step by step through the lessons, and each is very easy to understand. After you've got the basics of query structure and language though, there is not enough reference material to help you get to intermediate queries. I'd keep looking or spend an hour with it in the library.
Product: Book Paperback
Title: 10 Projects You Can Do with Microsoft,(r) SQL Server 7
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
Authors: Karen Watterson, Bill Shadish, Garth Wells
Rating: 2/5
Title: 10 Projects You Can Do with Microsoft,(r) SQL Server 7
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
Authors: Karen Watterson, Bill Shadish, Garth Wells
Rating: 2/5
Working on real example projects with SQL Server sounded like a great way to learn the application, so I really anticipated this book to be better than it turned out to be. The projects would be more fruitful if they were easier to follow. For one thing, the instructions never tell you when they're just giving you some background and when you should actually be following along with some "examples". You might be reading about the script to create a database (with them never once telling you to run the script) then you discover, several pages later, that you really needed to run that script in order to continue with what they're talking about. What's also frustrating is its tendency to go into step-by-step detail about some of the most basic things that most people know how to do, yet when it comes to the more expert implementation it just sort of breezes through like you should already be familiar with how this is done. Also, for a book that should do more with hands-on productions, it launches into too many filler pages of background information that we could get elsewhere.
Product: Book Paperback
Title: Beginning PHP 5 and MySQL: From Novice to Professional
Publisher: Apress
Authors: W. J. Gilmore
Rating: 2/5
Title: Beginning PHP 5 and MySQL: From Novice to Professional
Publisher: Apress
Authors: W. J. Gilmore
Rating: 2/5
I'm a seasoned ASP developer looking to move away from M$ to something a little more solid...PHP! So...I definitely needed a book that would serve as a good introduction to both PHP and MySQL. Unfortunately this book does not serve that purpose. If you're looking for a 'beginners' book on PHP and have no prior PHP experience...look elsewhere!
Granted, to an existing PHP user this book will likely serve its purpose as a decent reference book. It definitely covers alot of ground. But it's the terminology that messed me up. Word of advice to the author...don't assume that your readers already know something but don't treat them like idiots either. For example, in the chapter for installing and configuring PHP, I found that the explanations for many of the PHP settings to be confusing at best. For this section, I would have given a good solid introduction to the basics of installing PHP then given more detailed configuration later once the reader has gotten their feet wet. Too much info early on with terms that I don't understand. So...I jumped ahead to Chapter 3...the basics! Again, the terminology stumped me. When I got to the Output section and saw: boolean print(argument) What the hell is 'boolean' have to do with this? No explanation. Then theres this: void echo(string) Umm...ok...void...that's the opposite of boolean right? It wasn't until I saw the Tip box later on till I got even a brief explanation as to the context of these terms. The final draw for me was the explanations for printf() commands...or the lack of it. I found the authors explanations to be lacking.
So..to sum up, if you're an existing PHP developer then this may be the book for you. If you're a beginner...find another book! Nuff said.
Product: Book Paperback
Title: PHP Essentials
Publisher: Muska & Lipman/Premier-Trade
Authors: Julie C. Meloni
Rating: 5/5
Title: PHP Essentials
Publisher: Muska & Lipman/Premier-Trade
Authors: Julie C. Meloni
Rating: 5/5
This book isn't written like a novel. It's not made to make you laugh, cry, or write art forms for programs. This is one of the most straighforward intro programming books I have covered in a long time.. and it was FUN -- I was up until 05:00 one night after starting into the book, just playing around with each new feature as Julie talked of them, writing my own test code as I went.The book covers many aspects of PHP in enough detail to get you started with the language. The first 8 pages of chapter 2 contain an HTML refresher on forms, tables, lists, etc, which was helpful to me: I haven't dabbled in HTML for some time. Also included is a pretty good Appendix (Appendix A) which contains a lot of reference material which makes reviewing the small details of functions you've previously read of quite easy. Though almost anyone can pick up the book and get started with some PHP, you'll get maximum enjoyment and will move faster through the book if you know some basic C++, as the loops are set up pretty much the exact same way. As well, knowledge of basic HTML (things such as the <img> and <font> tags, and the attributes that many tags can take.)If I could change something about the book it'd be: 1- more tables in the book (i.e., in the section on writing/reading data files, it lists the modes, but a table would make that very similar text easier to parse, and see differences.) 2- Add a small section early on with information on loops and general style for the 100% neophyte computer programmer. 3- A section on host security would be nice.. but that's just a personal wish, and can't really be expected in this type of book for beginning.To sum up-- if you want to jump into the language, hit every base while having fun and moving FAST, while having fun, jump all over this book. Want to get deep with PHP? When you're done, you'll be able to play with all of the features and continue into a book more concentrated on a certain aspect of the language. The author also has another PHP book out which I have yet to read, but I'll definantly thumb through it the next time I'm at the bookstore.
Product: Book Hardcover
Title: OCP Introduction to Oracle9i: SQL Exam Guide
Publisher: McGraw-Hill Osborne Media
Authors: Jason Couchman
Rating: 2/5
Title: OCP Introduction to Oracle9i: SQL Exam Guide
Publisher: McGraw-Hill Osborne Media
Authors: Jason Couchman
Rating: 2/5
At first glance you may be tempted to think that this title is an authoritative preparation resource for the first exam in the OCP DBA Oracle 9i track. After all it is from Oracle Press which is a part of Oracle Corporation. But the book and the CD have been shoddily produced without any regard for correctness. There are plentiful mistakes which can mislead you. The errata on the website is incomplete and the author sends you an automated reply to a request for help. The CD has problems with its interface and a few answers are wrong. It fails to give you confidence. The glossy cover and the methodology for reinforcement are good but nothing else. Very little contentfor 9i is another sore point.I would recommend that you look elsewhere such as the Sybex title for this exam as well as the self test software. the sybex title is thorough and has challenging questions. even the errors are well documented. the bonus practice exams are very good. self test offers great practice. Shun this book from oracle press unless you don't mind wading through that content which will teach you the basics. don't rely on it solely to pass the test
Product: Book
Title: Getting The Search Engine Ranking Your Website Deserves: : META Tags Yield To Google's PageRank As Search Engine Standard
Publisher:
Authors: John Henderson
Rating: 5/5
Title: Getting The Search Engine Ranking Your Website Deserves: : META Tags Yield To Google's PageRank As Search Engine Standard
Publisher:
Authors: John Henderson
Rating: 5/5
The concept of the author's article is excellent. I have discussed the idea of "page ranking" versus "site ranking" with fellow memebers at work and the process is right. There appears to be no way to trick or fool search engines. You can buy pay-per-click ranking (That's expensive.) or work to make your pages worth something to the search engines. I'd advise every webmaster to re-set their thinking. Concentrate on page ranking!
Product: Book Paperback
Title: Macromedia Dreamweaver MX 2004 with ASP, ColdFusion, and PHP : Training from the Source
Publisher: Macromedia Press
Authors: Jeffrey Bardzell
Rating: 5/5
Title: Macromedia Dreamweaver MX 2004 with ASP, ColdFusion, and PHP : Training from the Source
Publisher: Macromedia Press
Authors: Jeffrey Bardzell
Rating: 5/5
I have 2 books about ColdFusion. This one and ColdFusion MX Bible.This book: Wonderful if you want to learn how to create applications with Dreamweaver MX 2004 specifically, as it goes through all the dialog based application development.The other book (ColdFusion MX Bible): Great if you want to learn how to hand-code applications using ColdFusion MX. Very in-depth covering all aspects of ColdFusion. This book does not deal with dialog based apps like Dreamweaver. You can hand-code with DW, however.Both books are excellent. I have both because I want to know the code behind my apps but I don't necessarily want to have to always type code.
Product: Book Textbook Binding
Title: McSe Training Guide: SQL Server 6.5 Design and Implementation (Training Guides (New Riders))
Publisher: New Riders Pub
Authors: David Besch, Sean Baird
Rating: 4/5
Title: McSe Training Guide: SQL Server 6.5 Design and Implementation (Training Guides (New Riders))
Publisher: New Riders Pub
Authors: David Besch, Sean Baird
Rating: 4/5
Provides good overview of topics covered in exam
Not extremely detailed or thorough in all topics
Review questions at end of each chapter are too easy and sometimes down-right wrong or contradict the text itself
Exercises are too easy.
Overall, good review for exam; should complement another study guide.
Product: Book Paperback
Title: Admin911: SQL Server 2000
Publisher: McGraw-Hill Companies
Authors: Brian Knight
Rating: 4/5
Title: Admin911: SQL Server 2000
Publisher: McGraw-Hill Companies
Authors: Brian Knight
Rating: 4/5
This is an excellent book. The coverage of SQL Server is very solid. However, if you plan to purchase the author's newest book, SQL Server 2000 for Experienced DBAs, DO NOT purchase this book. The newer book covers everything this book covers, in addition to the topic of high availability. Owning both books would be completly redundant, a mistake I personally made.
Product: Book
Title: How to Use Google : The 30 Most Important Tips, Hacks and Tricks
Publisher:
Authors: Tod Sacerdoti
Rating: 5/5
Title: How to Use Google : The 30 Most Important Tips, Hacks and Tricks
Publisher:
Authors: Tod Sacerdoti
Rating: 5/5
I've had to use Google up to 20 times a day doing research for my summer job and I never knew how powerful it could be. "How to Use Google" helped me conduct much more effective, targeted, in-depth searches and has allowed me to find information that I had previously overlooked. The book is just the right length and provides advanced enough information to take you to the next level without being overwhelming. I highly recommend this book to anyone who has ever or will ever Google.
