IT programming books related reviews
Product: Book Hardcover
Title: Inside Microsoft SQL Server 2000 (With CD-ROM)
Publisher: Microsoft Press
Authors: Kalen Delaney
Rating: 5/5
Title: Inside Microsoft SQL Server 2000 (With CD-ROM)
Publisher: Microsoft Press
Authors: Kalen Delaney
Rating: 5/5
This book takes you to a unique level of detail into the inner workings of SQL Server. If you grasp what's in this book, you should be able to meet almost any challenge in your SQL Server environment and develop world-class applications with it. I have been developing, troubleshooting, and helping administer SQL Server applications for a long time, and my successes have been based on knowing what is happening in the product at the lowest levels. This book, like its predecessors, has been the single most important reference for me in doing this effectively. I liken this book to the aircraft manuals I had in my military flying days, where knowing things like the details of the fuel system - not just the stick and rudder user interface - helped keep me alive.
Product: Book Paperback
Title: Apache Jakarta-Tomcat
Publisher: Apress
Authors: James Goodwill
Rating: 2/5
Title: Apache Jakarta-Tomcat
Publisher: Apress
Authors: James Goodwill
Rating: 2/5
Does little more then scratch the surface in most areas.
Would only be of any use for the novice.Ken
Product: Book Paperback
Title: PHP Pocket Reference, 2nd Edition
Publisher: O'Reilly
Authors: Rasmus Lerdorf
Rating: 3/5
Title: PHP Pocket Reference, 2nd Edition
Publisher: O'Reilly
Authors: Rasmus Lerdorf
Rating: 3/5
Aside from the fact that this book is now outdated I must disagree with the Editorial Review that says "This small book acts as a perfect tutorial for learning the basics of developing Web applications with PHP." For someone who has never used PHP before (unless perhaps they are an experienced programmer) this would not be a good starting point. It is strictly a reference for those who already have some knowledge and experience with PHP and for that it is very good. Anyone who has O'Reilly's "Webmaster in a Nutshell", 2nd Edition does not need this book as it is the same as Nutshell's section on PHP.
Product: Book Paperback
Title: PHP and MySQL Web Development, Second Edition
Publisher: Sams
Authors: Luke Welling, Laura Thomson
Rating: 1/5
Title: PHP and MySQL Web Development, Second Edition
Publisher: Sams
Authors: Luke Welling, Laura Thomson
Rating: 1/5
This book could SO EASILY have walked away with five stars. After all, it's probably the only book out there that talks about online credit card processing in detail. That's a pretty powerful claim to fame!I've had the book for a few days now and I was looking forward to giving it quite a high mark and a general thumbs up all round.But unfortunately I've just discovered something which (in my mind) ABSOLUTELY *ruins* this entire book. The trouble is this...When you're writing PHP scripts you can (as I'm sure many of you are aware) use "include" files to save you from re-writing certain sections over and over again. But the trouble with this book is that the programming style goes WAY overboard with the include files.For example, in the online shopping cart program that's discussed, if you look at the book, then the script looks fairly short and refreshingly simple. "Great!"- I hear you say. *BUT* if you look closely you'll notice that the program has a line which basically says "include such and such a file". Ok, so now you have to cross reference two separate scripts. That's a bit of a pain, but you're probably still not too bothered and eager to carry on with the book. *BUT* dig this! When you go to that include file, it's filed with lots and lots of other include files!!!!To make things even worse, the include files that you get on the CD are just massive horizontal blobs of text. The authors didn't even bother to hit return at the end of each line!!! HOW LAZY IS THAT??????!!!! And by the way... everything that I've described so far is just for one tiny part of the shopping cart program (the "display item" page). If you were seriously thinking of building the entire online shopping cart program from scratch then you can conseravitely multiply the above process by 20 or 30!It's just a mass of confusion!Oh, and don't think you'll be able to figure out what's going on from the book- the book doesn't even discuss most of the include files!So, all of this means that if you *really* wanted to work out how to build an online shop from this book, then you'd have to spend literally weeks (perhaps even months!) untangling the massive ball of string that is all the include files. What a terrible way to write a book about programming!This reason alone renders this book useless. Not poor. Not badly written. USELESS! I'd even go so far as to say it's almost as though the authors are really paranoid about the idea of other people actually learning how to build professional PHP applications!This book SHOULD have been a four or a five. A face value it has everything going for it. But the bottom line is, if you want to learn how to build PHP applications, it'll do nothing but slow you down. There are many other great PHP books here on Amazon. I advise you to forget this particular book and move on.
Product: Book Paperback
Title: Building Microsoft SQL Server 7 Web Sites
Publisher: Prentice Hall
Authors: Jeffrey Byrne, Jeffry Byrne
Rating: 1/5
Title: Building Microsoft SQL Server 7 Web Sites
Publisher: Prentice Hall
Authors: Jeffrey Byrne, Jeffry Byrne
Rating: 1/5
This book concentrates on the mechanics of setting up NT, IIS, etc. and has very little about actually building SQL server Web sites. There's almost no guidence about how to design a relational database with SQL server.
Product: Book Paperback
Title: Advanced Transact-SQL for SQL Server 2000
Publisher: Apress
Authors: Itzik Ben-Gan, Tom Moreau
Rating: 1/5
Title: Advanced Transact-SQL for SQL Server 2000
Publisher: Apress
Authors: Itzik Ben-Gan, Tom Moreau
Rating: 1/5
The book is horrible. From the first page to the last, there's no end to the nonsense. Who cares about Itzik's martial arts instructor? Who cares about whether he met someone with the same name? And the examples...sheesh! Most are either too simple to be really useful (lots of fantasy world scenarios) or get off into things no one cares about. The book was a complete waste of money and I'm returning it!
Product: Book Paperback
Title: Hitchhiker's Guide to Visual Basic and SQL Server
Publisher: Microsoft Press
Authors: William R. Vaughn
Rating: 3/5
Title: Hitchhiker's Guide to Visual Basic and SQL Server
Publisher: Microsoft Press
Authors: William R. Vaughn
Rating: 3/5
I was hoping for a HOW-TO type of book and thought it would be. It is not a HOW-TO type of book. This book is a discussion about the various ways that VB can attach to a database and why to use those particular avenues. The first 2/3 of the book is a leading up to ADO but once you are there, the how-to part is NOT.
Product: Book Paperback
Title: Oracle PL/SQL Interactive Workbook (2nd Edition)
Publisher: Prentice Hall PTR
Authors: Benjamin Rosenzweig, Elena Silvestrova
Rating: 2/5
Title: Oracle PL/SQL Interactive Workbook (2nd Edition)
Publisher: Prentice Hall PTR
Authors: Benjamin Rosenzweig, Elena Silvestrova
Rating: 2/5
The book isn't bad as an introduction to PL/SQL. It's straight forward and gives nice examples and test-your-knowledge that make you think about what you just read (which is a good way to learn when you can immediately apply somethin you read, unlike other books that just present the information).Now the bad. 1) They introduce something but don't necessarily explain it - like "SELECT x INTO y FROM dual". I've been using SQL for several years now and never saw "dual" used before, what is it and why is it used? (There was no table named "Dual").2) The self review questions don't sequence their answers right so you get: Question: A) Answer A B) Answer B C) Answer C C) Answer DOne is answered wrong in the back where the question is: Q:When a commit has been issued, which is true..? A) Blah B) Blah C) You have to get Married C) BlahThe answers in the back list A & C as correct!3) Answers don't really explain the "Why" like they say you can't do noncongrous sequences but they don't explain why..I am left to interpret that it's because you can't gaurantee a congrous number..is that the reason or is there something else?If it wasn't for wanting to do the examples I would drop this book, but the hands-on examples and questions do kind of help (though I'd prefer the questions were less simplistic & more like a college level text).
Product: Book Paperback
Title: Oracle PL/SQL Developer's Workbook
Publisher: O'Reilly
Authors: Steven Feuerstein
Rating: 4/5
Title: Oracle PL/SQL Developer's Workbook
Publisher: O'Reilly
Authors: Steven Feuerstein
Rating: 4/5
Only a few book can jump start you to another level, and this is one of them. Great to learn and work for newbie and even experienced pl/sql developers.
Product: Book Paperback
Title: Microsoft SQL Server 2000 for Dummies
Publisher: For Dummies
Authors: Anthony T. Mann
Rating: 2/5
Title: Microsoft SQL Server 2000 for Dummies
Publisher: For Dummies
Authors: Anthony T. Mann
Rating: 2/5
The only perceived value of this book could be the enclosed CD, a 120 day Evaluation version of the SQL 2K Server, Enterprise Edition, a couple thousand retail, which will need a updater to SP3a on the MS support website. This will bring the app to the latest version, since "Yukon" is currently in beta, will not be released until Late 04. You probably can get an Eval CD directly from MS for small shipping, or free at a trade show, such as Comdex, at a local MS Sales office, or SQL Server Users Group (UG). No additional files are on the CD. You can install this on Server 2K, Server 2K3, Server NT4SP6, and Win98SE; but the installation chapter is a download from the publisher's website to save book space!The heart of the book, Part II DataBase (DB) Design, has 4 chapters over 112 pages for describing relational DB, creating a Customer DB, indexing, triggers, programming, and procedures. He devotes 2+ pages to Locking. Then in Part III Interface Design, he has 3 chapters covering 80 pages for describing SQL, Query, and Import/Export. Slim pickings for a budding DBA, many tables; maybe one can use this book as an abridged reference.Then there's more, Part IV Enterprise Issues, Chap 11 goes over making a DB backup / restore that I agree needs to be covered. And Chap 12 covering web serving your DB is OK, but I'd hold the line on Chap 13 where he covers Distributed Queries over multiple servers, to exploit the Enterprise version capability. Like most budding DBAs are going to have multiple, remote, networked DB servers at his disposal? Nonetheless, this chapter seems to be the author's pride and joy. I'd highly recommend the author use these 12 precious pages to beef up what he has already covered.But most superfilous is his Appendix A, where he expends over 18 precious pages for Wizard flowcharts. What a waste! The Security chapter is a download from the publisher's website. The author is at tmann at vbasic dot com .His book's most significant failing is not showing how to display or print out a result or report of a DB query. Perhaps the author hasn't found out that reports are the life-blood of business. He gives a half page mention of the Crystal Report Writer in the last chapter (p338), but neither integrates reports in his book, nor indicates that an older v4.5 (96) version is bundled with the SQL Server 2K. SQL Server Help for reports is useless as Crystal has its own separate Help. As demoed in our local UG, MS has just released its own Reporting Services module (free download) to supplant the highly regarded Crystal Reports.
