IT programming books related reviews
Product: Book Paperback
Title: Microsoft SQL Server 7.0 Database Implementation Training Kit (Training Kit)
Publisher: Microsoft Press Rating: 5/5
Title: Microsoft SQL Server 7.0 Database Implementation Training Kit (Training Kit)
Publisher: Microsoft Press Rating: 5/5
I took the Microsoft Course and purchased the book and the new book by Lance Mortensen. I nearly passed. The problem is that the material required for the test is in many cases not covered in the books. The new Transender exam is available in beta form.
Product: Book Paperback
Title: Building Research Tools with Google For Dummies
Publisher: For Dummies
Authors: Harold Davis
Rating: 5/5
Title: Building Research Tools with Google For Dummies
Publisher: For Dummies
Authors: Harold Davis
Rating: 5/5
I'm a webmaster, and I use Google everyday - both in connection with my sites, and also to research all kinds of things. This book will have you building research tools that extend Google. But more important, it will you teach about how to research, what is Google and what is not, how Google works, how to evaluate the credibility of what you find, and much more. If you teach someone to fish, you feed them for life. This book will help you research for life. It's the best book about Google I've read, and believe me I've read a few. If Google touches your life, get this book.
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 have been writing PL/SQL for a long time, and feel it's definitely one of the best. I use it as a reference and would be lost with out it.
Product: Book Paperback
Title: Secure PHP Development: Building 50 Practical Applications
Publisher: Wiley
Authors: Mohammed J. Kabir, Mohammed J. Kabir
Rating: 1/5
Title: Secure PHP Development: Building 50 Practical Applications
Publisher: Wiley
Authors: Mohammed J. Kabir, Mohammed J. Kabir
Rating: 1/5
Like other reviewers, I bought this book with high hopes, only to end up feeling victimized. At least 2/3 of the book is simply a print-out of the source code contained in the accompanying CD--no elaboration, no value-added. I might be fine with that, if the source were of any value, but it's riddled with errors: I counted 47 show-stoppers in the first 100 pages of printouts, then quit counting. It is literally impossible that the author ever tested this source as it is--not only are entire files missing from the CD, but there are misnamed variables and other bugs that prevent even the most basic parts of his 'framework' from ever running. The author's website (Evoknow) claims to have updated source, but the link to it is broken.The source also contains plenty of hints that nobody copy-edited before printing (my favorite: a comment in a main application class--faithfully reprinted in the book's text--that asks "Asif, what is this function doing here?" For the record, I don't know what it's doing there either, Asif.). Some listings are printed twice, one instance running right into the next; other bad/good coding-practice comparisons make it difficult to tell whether you're looking at the bad or the good. Possibly the worst job of copy editing I've ever seen in any book--and regrettably, I read a lot of badly edited books. I'll never buy another book by this author, and my trust in Wiley has been seriously damaged as well.
Product: Book Paperback
Title: Apache: the Definitive Guide (With CD-ROM)
Publisher: O'Reilly
Authors: Ben Laurie, Peter Laurie
Rating: 2/5
Title: Apache: the Definitive Guide (With CD-ROM)
Publisher: O'Reilly
Authors: Ben Laurie, Peter Laurie
Rating: 2/5
As someone else wrote, "I could have written this book after compiling and installing apache myself". There really is nothing to this book that will save you any time. Go to apache.org or usenet via dejanews. I really was expecting a book that would address some real-world issues that are not easy to find. E.g,using mod_perl with apache (trial and error and reading bad docs worked but a lot of time wasted and I don't feel I am aware of the full potential)java servlets (okay maybe they need to update the book but they are taking the entirely wrong tack anyhow. Show exactly how it is done from line one)How can I insert headers and footers on all my pages via apache rather than server-side includes in all the html docs. This is possible but I gave up finding out how.Using the clickthrough cookie monster. Very interesting but where is that explored? Not at all. Just mentioned. I learned how to implement this in other places.I have learned nothing from this book but to be more careful in selecting books.
Product: Book Paperback
Title: Sams Teach Yourself Microsoft SQL Server 7 in 21 Days
Publisher: Sams
Authors: Richard Waymire, Rick Sawtell
Rating: 5/5
Title: Sams Teach Yourself Microsoft SQL Server 7 in 21 Days
Publisher: Sams
Authors: Richard Waymire, Rick Sawtell
Rating: 5/5
I bought this book after reading the reviews. My boss told me to research on SQL Server 7 because our Foxpro tables are now more than 2GB in sizes and still growing. This book helped me on how to install SQL Server 7, configure it then setup the databases. I then started to import our Foxpro databases directly using DTS. Then I learned the data types and how they differ from Foxpro's field types. Their explanation on data types is clearer than the BOL. I must add though that I still use BOL with this book whenever I run into a wall or something. It's really a beginner's book so guys, buy it. My boss is happy I'm making progress in just a week of installing and using this book. They even reimbursed the cost of the book to me.
Product: Book Paperback
Title: Web Application Development with PHP 4.0 (with CD-ROM)
Publisher: Sams
Authors: Tobias Ratschiller, Till Gerken
Rating: 2/5
Title: Web Application Development with PHP 4.0 (with CD-ROM)
Publisher: Sams
Authors: Tobias Ratschiller, Till Gerken
Rating: 2/5
The book was written when php 4 was still in beta, and most of the new php4 functions aren't mentioned, or used in the examples (other than the session management stuff, which was around since the earliest of php4 betas)I feel sorry for the dead trees that went into making the section on phplib -- like we really needed a 'phplib overview' or whatever the chapter is supposed to be. The online documentation for phplib is much better. Phplib is so vast, they could have dedicated 2 or 3 chapters to some real-world uses of some of its libraries - instead we get a look at its db abstraction (boring) and a quick look at its templates module. There is a lot more to phplib than this -- but everyone seems to be regurgitating the same stuff about it...The Case studies chapter is just a brochure on why open source is so great, and how real web sites are using it. Except, there is no 'how' - just a bunch of rachet-jaws telling us nothing. Save the propoganda on how great open source is for someone else, I paid 50 bucks to learn, not be preached to.The most interesting part of the book is the section on self modifying code. Of course, this is only mentioned in passing, with one full example given. There is a section on coding standards in php. Indent 4 lines, blah. Gee thanks.They walk us through the planning of phpChat, which involves an interesting look at HTML streaming and semaphores, but when it comes time to illustrating with code, the authors drop the ball.A whole chapter dedicated to arrays. Neato. Not advanced array concepts, but the simple stuff you can find anywhere.The section on xml is equally as useless - plenty of code, but again, rachet jawing, useless code.There is even a section on web usability.Bottom line: The authors are super smart, no doubt about it. In their attempts to be all things to all people, they totally blew it - big time. This is the first book in 3 years I've ever sent back for a refund. I didn't even bother to open the CDRom (which appears to be offered as an afterthought) which does seem to have some interesting things - a pdf version of the book, etc.Do yourself a favor - buy the Medinets book, or the red book by Jesus and the gang of 4. They provide more real life examples, more problem solving and more meat than this book ever considered delivering. I believe you will be dissapointed by this book.Don't misunderstand: The authors are obviously very bright, but they strike out here big time. I don't need a cure-all web usability book with a touch of C, XML and 'Case Studies'. I need stuff that challenges me, solves problems in new ways and uses some of phps more advanced features.Will anyone ever write a php book that breaks new ground? How about detailing talking to COM or Java - not just two line examples - but real world uses?This book would be a great OUTLINE, or rough-rough-rough-rough-rough draft. 50 bucks? Never in life.
Product: Book Paperback
Title: Oracle SQL High-Performance Tuning (2nd Edition)
Publisher: Prentice Hall PTR
Authors: Guy Harrison
Rating: 5/5
Title: Oracle SQL High-Performance Tuning (2nd Edition)
Publisher: Prentice Hall PTR
Authors: Guy Harrison
Rating: 5/5
Except for some missing hints (pg. 57-59) and some mixed up hint syntax, I found the book accurate and very enlightening. I've now used it on two from-scratch VLDB projects. Almost every page has something I was able to use to refine SQL statements & PL/SQL server-side code. For example, pg. 206, the section on MAX & MIN statements was the key to my latest project being able to process 20X the number of records we currently do. The section on learning to read tkprof output was helpful. The bibliography was also great (but is probably outdated now). Worth every penny!
Product: Book Paperback
Title: PHP and MySQL Web Development
Publisher: Sams
Authors: Luke Welling, Laura Thomson
Rating: 5/5
Title: PHP and MySQL Web Development
Publisher: Sams
Authors: Luke Welling, Laura Thomson
Rating: 5/5
This book was hard to follow in places and the code included with the book didn't seem to work half the time. Trying the simple examples given on page 506 (Listing 24.4) I spend good part of an 8 hour work day trying all kinds of things to make that simple script to work, but to no avail. I eliminated the if statement, the only code in the example, and it worked. This experience and the haphazard presentation and confusing explanations of the examples that followed I gave up on using the code in this book and found alternative examples elsewhere.On a positive note this book has a good introduction to SQL functions.
Product: Book Paperback
Title: PHP and MySQL Web Development, Second Edition
Publisher: Sams
Authors: Luke Welling, Laura Thomson
Rating: 2/5
Title: PHP and MySQL Web Development, Second Edition
Publisher: Sams
Authors: Luke Welling, Laura Thomson
Rating: 2/5
I purchased this book in '03 hoping to get a complete over of MySQL as an addition to the already familiar PHP. I was hoping to see a lot of focus on MySQL and what I could do to fully understand it's integration. What I got wasn't exactly what I was hoping for...This book focuses on PHP alone and MySQL alone, leaving the integration for it's projects starting about half way through the book. I was dissapointed also on the length of MySQL query language. The section skimmed over MANY of the operators, only explaining about 1/3 of them, and leaving the other 2/3 to learn from months of trial and error. I was thoroughly dissapointed that they even kept things such as joining tables to perhaps 1 sample query and a 2 paragraphs at most. I was hoping to see beyond "SELECT * from table WHERE ID > 5 ORDER by title DESC", but that is about as far as most of this book will take you...I also found that the coding techniques used are a bit too "orthodox" and not very present day. I say this because they use far too many lines/functions than needed. I've probably learned more from re-writing their code to my style than reading their code in general.There are only about 1 or 2 coding mistakes (which I've found, however I guess that was a learning experience) that plague this book, so I have to definitely say the integrity is excellent.If you are looking to start PHP and MySQL I'd reccomend this as a reference book, keep the core learning seperate. I'd reccomend the PHP Bible (which touches on MySQL integration nearly as much as this does..), but I have not yet found THE MySQL book. I'd reccomend the MySQL Bible but it goes far beyond PHP and not into queries as much as it could...In summary: Learning book? Eh.. Reference book? Sound's more like it..
