IT programming books related reviews
Product: Book Paperback
Title: Sams Teach Yourself SQL in 10 Minutes, Third Edition
Publisher: Sams
Authors: Ben Forta
Rating: 5/5
Title: Sams Teach Yourself SQL in 10 Minutes, Third Edition
Publisher: Sams
Authors: Ben Forta
Rating: 5/5
I was asked to review the pre-release version of this book and I'm glad I did! Although this book is not an all-encompassing-bible (and is not intended to be so,) it delivers a high magnitude of information in a easy-to-use and digestable manner. This book is great for beginners that wish to broaden their SQL knowledge and excellent for the "old pro" to use for quick reference. I also wish that I had this book when I was learning SQL. Great job Ben!
Product: Book Paperback
Title: PHP 5 Fast & Easy Web Development
Publisher: Muska & Lipman/Premier-Trade
Authors: Julie C. Meloni
Rating: 3/5
Title: PHP 5 Fast & Easy Web Development
Publisher: Muska & Lipman/Premier-Trade
Authors: Julie C. Meloni
Rating: 3/5
This is an "ok" book for web developers. It has some nice features if you can get past the amount of errors in the coded examples and the sometimes confusing and contradictory explanations. There is very little discussion of basic concepts, therefore, I would not recommend this book for anyone who does not have some programming background.
The title, PHP 5 fast & easy web development, is indicative of the book's contents. It provides a series of potentially useful PHP scripts that you can adapt to develop database interactive web pages (emphasis is on the MySQL database). However, like the 2nd edition of Julie Meloni's "PHP fast & easy web development," this book is plagued with coding errors which are not only annoying, but also make understanding the various features of PHP more difficult.
The book starts with instructions on how to install PHP, Apache and MySQL. The remainder of the book consists of a series of increasingly complex scripts, detailed step-by-step. For the first half of the book, the examples are relatively easy to read and carefully documented. However, halfway through the book, segments of code begin to appear without adequate explanation, and as the book progresses, it becomes more a cookbook of code to retype rather than a clear explanation of what the code mean. Instructions about where to insert new lines of code are difficult to follow. In addition, some explanations appear contradictory, which adds to the confusion. The errors in the coded examples are excessive. I can understand a few typos, but lines of code that are substantially different or are missing completely can be found in every chapter. This is unacceptable and unprofessional in a book that is supposed to help you learn a new programming language.
Product: Book Paperback
Title: Beginning Java Databases: JDBC, SQL, J2EE, EJB, JSP, XML
Publisher: Wrox Press
Authors: Kevin Mukhar, Todd Lauinger, John Carnell
Rating: 4/5
Title: Beginning Java Databases: JDBC, SQL, J2EE, EJB, JSP, XML
Publisher: Wrox Press
Authors: Kevin Mukhar, Todd Lauinger, John Carnell
Rating: 4/5
I'm using this book as my text book for my independent study of database programming with Java. This book is the tops! The primary focus is programming with the Cloudscape database, but it does give you code snippets to use if you're using Oracle or one of the Microsoft databases (like SQL Server). What impresses me about the book is it's one of the few instructional books that teaches a programmer how to wade in the water before it teaches the programmer how to dive in 20-ft deep water and swim.Although the book is HUGE, it really explains in detail why the programmer is writing the particular code.I also liked the idea that it dedicates a few chapters on SQL and database concepts. Although this may appear to be a rehash for experienced database programmers, it's still good to review, since it covers the topics from a Java perspective.I teach at a college part-time. If the college decides to offer a third-level Java programming course to its students, then I would highly recommend this book for the class.Excellent job again, WROX Press!
Product: Book Paperback
Title: Sams Teach Yourself Transact-SQL in 21 Days (2nd Edition)
Publisher: Sams
Authors: Lowell Mauer
Rating: 5/5
Title: Sams Teach Yourself Transact-SQL in 21 Days (2nd Edition)
Publisher: Sams
Authors: Lowell Mauer
Rating: 5/5
This is an excellent beginner level book for anyone new to SQL Server or anyone who has a need to learn Transact SQL. The examples where very helpful and easy to understand.
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: 3/5
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: 3/5
This is my second SQL book, and I selected it because it provides a lot of examples to work through. Generally it is well written, and I have referred to it often. This could be an outstanding book for novices IF the authors would provide simple examples and problems when they introduce a new topic. Too often however, they rush to include previous concepts which can inhibit comprehension of the new topic and present unnecessarily complex examples. I have had to consult other SQL books and resources to gain a clearer understanding of some of these topics.Also, I have found several instances in the exercises wherein the solution code appears to be incorrect - it does not generate the correct result set, such as producing 0 rows instead of 2, etc.
Product: Book Textbook Binding
Title: McSe Testprep: SQL Server 6.5 Design & Implementation (Testperp Series)
Publisher: New Riders Publishing
Authors: Rob Scrimger
Rating: 1/5
Title: McSe Testprep: SQL Server 6.5 Design & Implementation (Testperp Series)
Publisher: New Riders Publishing
Authors: Rob Scrimger
Rating: 1/5
A few mistakes in the answer keys are understandable; however, mistake prone book such as this, is rediculous. Yes, the book is inexpensive; but learning from an inaccurate source and not passing the test, NOW, that's expensive! This book left me wonder if all other books published from this company are just as poorly written as this......
Product: Book Paperback
Title: Oracle PL/SQL Programming, Third Edition
Publisher: O'Reilly
Authors: Steven Feuerstein
Rating: 5/5
Title: Oracle PL/SQL Programming, Third Edition
Publisher: O'Reilly
Authors: Steven Feuerstein
Rating: 5/5
I really thought I knew PL/SQL until I read this book.It contains so much great, hidden information.It is a great value at triple its price. If you do any serious Oracle PL/SQL coding, GET THIS BOOK!
Product: Book Paperback
Title: SQL server 2000 Stored Procedure Handbook
Publisher: Wrox Press
Authors: Tony Bain, Robin Dewson, Chuck Hawkins, Louis Davidson
Rating: 2/5
Title: SQL server 2000 Stored Procedure Handbook
Publisher: Wrox Press
Authors: Tony Bain, Robin Dewson, Chuck Hawkins, Louis Davidson
Rating: 2/5
If you don't know a lot about stored procedures, this book is not for you. It is a really small book (only about 200 pages). The explanations of the code is not very understandable. After learning more about stored procedures from other books like the "programming with SQL Server 2000 (I think it is a Microsoft book, sorry I couldn't give more info about the book), and "SQL Server 2000 Stored Procedure & XML" (ISBN: 0-07-222896-2), the best use I can find for this book is quick reference book.
It lacks the depth to completely cover stored procedures for a person that is learning.
Product: Book Paperback
Title: Foundation PHP for Flash
Publisher: Friends of Ed
Authors: Steve Webster
Rating: 5/5
Title: Foundation PHP for Flash
Publisher: Friends of Ed
Authors: Steve Webster
Rating: 5/5
This was my second book on Flash that I had purchased after absorbing all that "Macromedia Flash 5 Advanced - Visual Quickpro" had to offer. My prior programming knowledge only consisted of the ancients -- BASIC and some Turbo Pascal from back in the day. I also had a fairly good amount of exposure to Actionscript.With that said, I think this book was a great purchase. Although at times, even I found that it could be very "fundamental" like some reviewers pointed out, but that word wouldn't be in the title of the book, if it weren't, now would it? And if I didn't have the prior experience with programming, then those "fundamental" sections would have been essential to understanding the rest of the book.The concepts covered in this book help ease the way for unexperienced programmers to integrate Macromedia's masterpiece with a powerful server-side script and database. This book will help you add new meaning to your "dynamic" flash sites. It presents ideas in useful/practical ways and stirs an appetite to learn more advanced PHP.On a scale of 1 to 10 on the level of Flash Advancement, I'd say this book could improve you 2-3 points worth. I would recommend you have a strong hold of the basics of Flash and be comfortable working with Actionscript before tackling this book. If not, the Visual Quickpro Guide book that I had mentioned above would be a better place to start for improving your Flash skills.
Product: Book Paperback
Title: Sybase Transact SQL Guidelines Best Practices
Publisher: Isosf Software
Authors: Mich Talebzadeh, Ryan Thomas Putnam
Rating: 2/5
Title: Sybase Transact SQL Guidelines Best Practices
Publisher: Isosf Software
Authors: Mich Talebzadeh, Ryan Thomas Putnam
Rating: 2/5
Got a free copy at TechWave 2004. It looked promising, but I was disappointed: I could not find much substantial material that will really help me as a DBA. This book claims to be much more than it delivers, as its actually pretty superficial. I just cannot recommend spending $45 on this book -- it doesn't add much to what's already available for free (in Sybase's own manuals).
