IT programming books related reviews
Product: Book Paperback
Title: Joe Celko's SQL Puzzles and Answers (The Morgan Kaufmann Series in Data Management Systems)
Publisher: Morgan Kaufmann
Authors: Joe Celko
Rating: 5/5
Title: Joe Celko's SQL Puzzles and Answers (The Morgan Kaufmann Series in Data Management Systems)
Publisher: Morgan Kaufmann
Authors: Joe Celko
Rating: 5/5
Great problems and amazing solutions. I'll probably never have to use a cursor again. I'm not lending my copy to anyone. They'll have to get their own.
Product: Book Paperback
Title: Using Informix SQL (2nd Edition)
Publisher: Addison Wesley Longman
Authors: Jonathan Leffler
Rating: 4/5
Title: Using Informix SQL (2nd Edition)
Publisher: Addison Wesley Longman
Authors: Jonathan Leffler
Rating: 4/5
A very good book for anyone who uses Informix SQL
Product: Book Paperback
Title: SQL Server The Complete Reference
Publisher: Osborne Publishing
Authors: Gayle Coffman
Rating: 5/5
Title: SQL Server The Complete Reference
Publisher: Osborne Publishing
Authors: Gayle Coffman
Rating: 5/5
This appears to be the first book published on SQL Server 7.0, and the author does a suprisingly good job of covering the new features in the first 1/3 of the book. The remainder of the book is Transact SQL reference material, which is more easily referenced in Books-online, unless you enjoy reading that kind of stuff in bed at night. I am still looking forward to some other books (like SQL Server 7 Unleashed) that will take me under the hood and explain how it really works, and also cover the things that do NOT work as they should.
Product: Book Paperback
Title: Mastering SQL Server 2000 Security (Gearhead Press--In the Trenches)
Publisher: Wiley
Authors: Mike Young, Curtis W. Young
Rating: 2/5
Title: Mastering SQL Server 2000 Security (Gearhead Press--In the Trenches)
Publisher: Wiley
Authors: Mike Young, Curtis W. Young
Rating: 2/5
If you are a dba with I would say less than 1-2 years experience, then maybe get this book. For a seasoned dba, its going to be a big disappointment. I was expecting explanations at a much more granular level covering much more complex topics. Its basically a primer on how to do the most basic things via the gui (oh, and by the way there is a stored procedure way to do things too). If you are new to SQL Server EM and are unfamiliar with the menus, wizards, and the gui, then it might be a good "get me out of the frying pan quickly" book. And I say "might" because most people can figure things out just by going through the gui and looking at Books Online. The most useful chapter, I found, was the auditing chapter. Some things the authors point out about security I would actually disagree with if I was building a "highly" secure system. For example, which accounts to put in the admins group. For what its worth, I got a lot more from the MS site believe it or not.
Product: Book Paperback
Title: The Guru's Guide to SQL Server Architecture and Internals
Publisher: Addison-Wesley Professional
Authors: Ken Henderson
Rating: 4/5
Title: The Guru's Guide to SQL Server Architecture and Internals
Publisher: Addison-Wesley Professional
Authors: Ken Henderson
Rating: 4/5
This book is getting rave reviews, but I'm not as sold on it as everyone else. There are four parts to the book, and the first part, the fundamentals, is over 400 pages of a 1000 page book. Four hundred pages dedicated to teaching programming basics like memory management, file I/O, network I/O, and other basics. These basics are taught outside of SQL server altogether. The author argues that they are required for an understanding of the internals, but I wonder if they could have been moved to the back, or explained in the context of digging into the internals.
In addition there is some repeat coverage with Hendersons other two books. The coverage is still excellent, but one wonders why it needs to be there when people are buying all three books as a set.
For a book on internals there are some chapters that are written still at a very high level. For example the chapter on XML, which while it is a solid chapter, doesn't drill down the way you would expect from a book with this title.
There is some very valuable unique content in this volume. This is why I recommend it. Examples include the sections on the chapter on Data Transformation Services. But then there are some points, like the brief 'Pseudo techie tactics 101' which are funny, but add nothing and just as easily could have been on a website.
Overall, a little unfocused, but still very valuable for those that make a living on SQL Server.
Product: Book Paperback
Title: Code Centric: T-SQL Programming with Stored Procedures and Triggers
Publisher: Apress
Authors: Garth Wells
Rating: 5/5
Title: Code Centric: T-SQL Programming with Stored Procedures and Triggers
Publisher: Apress
Authors: Garth Wells
Rating: 5/5
Really it is an excellent book for SQL server.iam new programmer to SQLserver 2000.i tired with trying to learn many books on SQLServer2000. Only this book i picked up very Fast.i don't know why some reviewers not satisfied with this book...
Product: Book Hardcover
Title: MCSE: SQL Server 2000 Design Study Guide (Exam 70-229)
Publisher: Sybex
Authors: Marc Israel, J. Steven Jones, Marc Israel, Steve Jones
Rating: 2/5
Title: MCSE: SQL Server 2000 Design Study Guide (Exam 70-229)
Publisher: Sybex
Authors: Marc Israel, J. Steven Jones, Marc Israel, Steve Jones
Rating: 2/5
I originally graded this a 3, but the more I read into the book, the worse it gets and the more frustrating for me it becomes. The problem isn't that it's too complicated or moves too quickly. The book travels at a nice pace and explains a lot of useful details. The probem is that there are too many errors all over the book. Before you finish the second chapter, you will have noticed over 2 dozen anomalies. Some of them are minor typos that you can easily ignore. But most of them are errors in the syntax part of the writing and inconsistencies in the concept explanations. Lots of small errors during crucial sections (such as forgetting a 'not' or saying it CAN instead of it CAN'T) throw the meaning totally off. The more errors I discovered the less faith I had in the authors and the more frustrating the experience became. Only when the same information is repeated 2-3 times and explained in depth can I feel sure about the material. But because of all the errors, when the authors only state a certain concept once, I don't feel like I can trust them. Occasionally, some of the review questions give the wrong answers too. The authors and editors (if there happened to be any at all) should feel ashamed for releasing such a poor quality book. To top it off, the code on the CD is pathetic, as mentioned by other people. C'mon guys, this is supposed to be a tech book.. Is it too much to ask to have error free writing during the SYNTAX part, correct information about the MAIN concepts and a CD that works??
Product: Book Paperback
Title: The Guru's Guide to Transact-SQL
Publisher: Addison-Wesley Professional
Authors: Ken Henderson
Rating: 5/5
Title: The Guru's Guide to Transact-SQL
Publisher: Addison-Wesley Professional
Authors: Ken Henderson
Rating: 5/5
...get this book. I couldn't believe all the hidden undocumented features, commands, functions, variables, and stored procs there are. This book tells you about all of them, how to use them and how not to use them, and what to watch out for. This alone was worth the price of the book because you get to look under the hood as it were and see how the server really works.
Product: Book Paperback
Title: Oracle SQL Interactive Workbook (2nd Edition)
Publisher: Prentice Hall PTR
Authors: Alice Rischert
Rating: 5/5
Title: Oracle SQL Interactive Workbook (2nd Edition)
Publisher: Prentice Hall PTR
Authors: Alice Rischert
Rating: 5/5
I really liked reading and doing the lessons in this book. The hands-on exercises are fantastic. Better yet, there were a few things I didn't understand clearly, and so I e-mail the author and she answers any questions that I might have. There are a few minor glitches in the book, some proof-read errors, which most of them are corrected on their web site which are listed on theot errata page. I've already reported a couple errors that I found and will update their proof-read error page. One annoying thing was having to turn back and forth to the back of the book to see the database schema diagram. The best thing to do is just photo copy the diagram so you don't have to constantly turn to the back of the book while doing the exercises.
Product: Book Paperback
Title: SQL Server 2000 Stored Procedure Programming
Publisher: Osborne/McGraw-Hill
Authors: Dejan Sunderic, Tom Woodhead
Rating: 5/5
Title: SQL Server 2000 Stored Procedure Programming
Publisher: Osborne/McGraw-Hill
Authors: Dejan Sunderic, Tom Woodhead
Rating: 5/5
Excellent book, comprehensive coverage of the material and well written - not a five minute read. Skipping around as opposed to a cover-to-cover approach can be done but continuity is lost as well as some dependent ideas. Required for every SQL Server consultant.
