IT programming books related reviews
Product: Book Paperback
Title: Web Database Applications with PHP & MySQL, 2nd Edition
Publisher: O'Reilly
Authors: Hugh E. Williams
Rating: 5/5
Title: Web Database Applications with PHP & MySQL, 2nd Edition
Publisher: O'Reilly
Authors: Hugh E. Williams
Rating: 5/5
I bought this book for a university assignment(create online bookstore, with functionality like Amazon). It helped me a lot, lots of example. The best part about this book is it's Appendix, which contain a short, yet useful tutorial on how to DESIGN your database. My friend has the book by Welling and I read it, I think this one explain the concepts better.One more thing, this book is a lot smaller than the book by Welling, but it contain everything I needed for the assignment, cheaper, lighter to carry, easy read = GREAT BUY
Product: Book Hardcover
Title: The database experts' guide to SQL (The database experts' series)
Publisher: McGraw-Hill
Authors: Frank Lusardi
Rating: 4/5
Title: The database experts' guide to SQL (The database experts' series)
Publisher: McGraw-Hill
Authors: Frank Lusardi
Rating: 4/5
The book is an old one,and not really for experts only-maybe the title kept customer away.But a nice book, easy to read.
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: 2/5
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: 2/5
The book provides a good overview of SQL Implementation, but is not enough. Read the book (skip it's questions and CD), then study the Transcender exams. Assuming you are not a novice, you should pass. I passed on the first attempt using these two resources.
Product: Book Paperback
Title: Professional Apache Tomcat 5
Publisher: Wrox
Authors: Vivek Chopra, Amit Bakore, Jon Eaves, Ben Galbraith, Sing Li, Chanoch Wiggers
Rating: 3/5
Title: Professional Apache Tomcat 5
Publisher: Wrox
Authors: Vivek Chopra, Amit Bakore, Jon Eaves, Ben Galbraith, Sing Li, Chanoch Wiggers
Rating: 3/5
There is a lot of good information in this book, and it's true that it gets into JMX, the web-based manager and admin apps, etc., etc.
But I have some real concerns with this book. Here are four everyday "real world" tasks that a professional really needs to know and that one is hard-pressed to find accurately and succinctly discussioned in this book: (1) JVM memory settings -- in what file to set them; (2) How to pre-compile JSPs so that they are not compiled "on the fly" after deployment (absolutely crucial for the real world); (3) how to define a context.xml file and put it in your app's META-INF directory; (4) How to get an app deployed to the root.
I hope the authors can address these issues in the next edition.
Here's some more detail on these issues:
(1) Memory settings: p. 417: Gives switches for memory optimization, but doesn't say what is the best file in the Tomcat deployment for updating such settings. (The info in "Shared Tomcat Hosting," pp. 392-393, doesn't help for the easy case.) There is no discussion that if you use the Windows Service, the memory settings are set through the "Configure Tomcat" GUI application (and catalina.bat isn't used). A *general* item for "memory settings" is not listed in the index under JVM.
(2) How to pre-compile JSPs: Nothing. A better book would provide a working ant target for this. jspc (and/or org.apache.jasper.JspC) isn't even in the index.
(3) How to use a context.xml file and put it in your web-app's META-INF: Nothing. This is incredibly important because it's how you would define a DataSource without having to meddle with the server.xml file.
(4) How to get an app deployed to the root path. While there is some discussion of the root (e.g., p. 92), I don't see anything that points out the crucial piece of information, which is that the .war must be named ROOT.war (you can deploy another .war to the root, but with some settings it won't get redeployed properly after a fresh startup).
-----
I also wish the discussion of the JK and JK2 connectors was more complete. The discussion of the internals are interesting, but you would never learn about the no-jk environment variable (crucial for getting Apache to skip JK for certain paths) for JK. And if there is such a feature for JK2 (I don't think there is), you'd never find it here.
In short, I keep this near my desk, but I probably wouldn't recommend it to someone.
Product: Book Paperback
Title: Professional PHP4 Programming
Publisher: Wrox Press
Authors: Deepak Thomas, Wankyu Choi, John Coggeshall, Ken Egervari, Martin Geisler, Zak Greant, Andrew Hill, Chris Hubbard, James Moore, Devon O'Dell, Jon Parise, Harish Rawat, Tarique Sani, Christopher Scollo, Chris Ullman, et al
Rating: 2/5
Title: Professional PHP4 Programming
Publisher: Wrox Press
Authors: Deepak Thomas, Wankyu Choi, John Coggeshall, Ken Egervari, Martin Geisler, Zak Greant, Andrew Hill, Chris Hubbard, James Moore, Devon O'Dell, Jon Parise, Harish Rawat, Tarique Sani, Christopher Scollo, Chris Ullman, et al
Rating: 2/5
In reading this book, it's clear to me that the authors don't have a clear focus on who their audience is supposed to be and what they are trying to accomplish.They sprinkle the book with trivial examples that don't give any "meat", concentrate on the details of what low-level functions are available, and gloss over completely how to make the best use of the features.This book contains a lot of information, but it is not organized to get an experienced developer up to speed on a new language, nor is it geared towards a beginning programmer who might need basic concepts explained.I don't know who would find this book at the "right level", but I wish I hadn't spent my money on it. I've gotten more out of the website than I got out of this book.
Product: Book Paperback
Title: The Sybase SQL Server Survival Guide
Publisher: Wiley
Authors: Jim Panttaja, Mary Panttaja, Judy Bowman
Rating: 1/5
Title: The Sybase SQL Server Survival Guide
Publisher: Wiley
Authors: Jim Panttaja, Mary Panttaja, Judy Bowman
Rating: 1/5
I have been a DBA for the past 5 years, but using other database systems. I am now working with Sybase, of which I have been the primary admin at my shop for the past year. Just what this book is useful for I have yet to encounter. Every time I have run into a hard problem requiring urgent attention, this book has been useless and sometimes doesn't even address my particular problem, let alone offer a solution. I used to pull it down and look for a solution when I got into trouble. Now I don't bother - it's just gathering dust.
Product: Book Paperback
Title: Core PHP Programming: Using PHP to Build Dynamic Web Sites (2nd Edition)
Publisher: Pearson Education
Authors: Leon Atkinson
Rating: 5/5
Title: Core PHP Programming: Using PHP to Build Dynamic Web Sites (2nd Edition)
Publisher: Pearson Education
Authors: Leon Atkinson
Rating: 5/5
PHP has been the greatest resource I have ever used, superior to ASP on so many levels. This book really helped me master this powerful and flexible scripting language.
Product: Book Paperback
Title: Beginning PHP 5 and MySQL: From Novice to Professional
Publisher: Apress
Authors: W. J. Gilmore
Rating: 4/5
Title: Beginning PHP 5 and MySQL: From Novice to Professional
Publisher: Apress
Authors: W. J. Gilmore
Rating: 4/5
I'm very picky about what books I will read to learn a new language, and even more so about writing a review. This book was a pleasant surprise.
The book is a good read. Gilmore has a quick style that gets to the points he makes without burdening the reader with a lot of nonsense. His wit and sense of humor shows through the text on occasions which lightens-up the material.
The book is well structured and has plenty of good examples that experienced programmers will understand immediately and novices will find as good stepping stones on the path of learning.
Enjoy.
Product: Book Paperback
Title: Mastering Oracle SQL
Publisher: O'Reilly
Authors: Sanjay Mishra, Alan Beaulieu
Rating: 5/5
Title: Mastering Oracle SQL
Publisher: O'Reilly
Authors: Sanjay Mishra, Alan Beaulieu
Rating: 5/5
This particular book should be read by all Oracle programmers dealing with SQL, experienced and novice alike. Here are the reasons why:(1) New features -
Programming languages used with Oracle (SQL, procedural languages like PL/SQL & Java, and even the Oracle database for that matter) are increasingly overlapping into each other's domain and functionality. Java can be used to perform the role of PL/SQL; PL/SQL & the Oracle database can now deal with objects; SQL can now make procedural programming unnecessary in some instances. Especially for Oracle 8i and above, it is imperative for an Oracle programmer to learn about the new features of SQL, and understand when it makes more sense to use SQL instead of other languages mentioned above. This book is excellent in explaining new features.(2) Clarity of writing - Writing style is lucid, and easy to read and follow. Complex topics are explained quite intuitively. One line seems to clarify what others might take a few paragraphs to explain. Examples are simple enough, but yet relevant enough, to convey the main point across. Too many books submerge the main point in examples that are unnecessarily complex. This book doesn't explain tuning of Oracle SQL statements in exhaustive detail (though it touches on tuning issues throughout).
Product: Book Paperback
Title: Advanced PHP for Web Professionals
Publisher: Prentice Hall PTR
Authors: Christopher Cosentino, Chris Cosentino
Rating: 5/5
Title: Advanced PHP for Web Professionals
Publisher: Prentice Hall PTR
Authors: Christopher Cosentino, Chris Cosentino
Rating: 5/5
You need this book just after understanding the basic concept of PHP, and start to apply it to a real website. How to connect to database(s); how to put in dynamic graphics; how to manage sessions like in e-commerce sites. Windows and Linux are included in discussion.
A real treasure for me.
