IT programming books related reviews
Product: Book Paperback
Title: Professional SQL Server 2000 Programming
Publisher: Wrox
Authors: Robert Vieira
Rating: 5/5
Title: Professional SQL Server 2000 Programming
Publisher: Wrox
Authors: Robert Vieira
Rating: 5/5
I just passed Microsoft's "Designing and Implementing Databases with Microsoft SQL Server 2000 Enterprise Edition" for by 4th and final test to obtain my MCSD certification. This book was almost all I needed. I was glad Viera was comprehensive (1000+ pages); it was needed. This is also a great reference book. If you need to find a specific SQL programming detail in an area that you might not use everday this is the perfect book.I did not want to buy a number of texts for this test and I researched which book to buy very carefully. There are some really poor ones on the market. I assure you this book is far out in front of the rest.Microsoft's Training Kit book on SQL 2000 Database Design and Devlopment was somewhat useful but really almost an outline and incomplete in some areas. "Professional SQL Server 2000 Programming" and the "Transcender" tests are all you need (with maybe a little help from "Books On Line").
Product: Book Paperback
Title: Transact-SQL Programming
Publisher: O'Reilly
Authors: Lee Gould, Andrew Zanevsky, Kevin Kline
Rating: 4/5
Title: Transact-SQL Programming
Publisher: O'Reilly
Authors: Lee Gould, Andrew Zanevsky, Kevin Kline
Rating: 4/5
I bought this book to get more out of my SQL Server code, and to have a printed reference for stored procedures and triggers. The information in the book is very thorough and complete, though it is a bit out of date (an example would be I critiqued a programmer for declaring varchar (4000) because SQL Server only allowed 255 characters in 6.5. He was correct because we use 7.0..). However, this book also explains the underlying fundamentals of SQL Server and how it operates, how it physically stores the data, provides optimization hints, tricks, and tips that have made a marked improvement in my code. This book is perfect for the intermediate developer who is looking to move on in their skills. Combined with SQL In A Nutshell, also from O'Reilly which just came out, I can find almost everything I need to know about SQL Server.
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 learning how to use ColdFusion and I quickly realized that I needed to have a good knowledge of SQL to succeed with CF. I picked up SQL in Ten Minutes, read it on the train, and came back with the ability to code basic queries and post informaition to the database. Every concept is clearly explained, but there are (thankfully) no long-winded examples to follow, so you get what you need and get out. I also recommend it as a reference book, although it does not explain every keyword in SQL, such as "ONCE." But it's small and will not take up a lot of space on your desk or briefcase.
Product: Book Paperback
Title: Oracle SQL*Plus: The Definitive Guide
Publisher: O'Reilly
Authors: Jonathan Gennick
Rating: 1/5
Title: Oracle SQL*Plus: The Definitive Guide
Publisher: O'Reilly
Authors: Jonathan Gennick
Rating: 1/5
This book is usefull only for extracting data. There is nothing about inserting updating or deleating. How can it be called "Definitive"?
Product: Book Paperback
Title: PHP Professional Projects
Publisher: Muska & Lipman/Premier-Trade
Authors: Ashish Wilfred, Meeta Gupta, Kartik Bhatnagar
Rating: 2/5
Title: PHP Professional Projects
Publisher: Muska & Lipman/Premier-Trade
Authors: Ashish Wilfred, Meeta Gupta, Kartik Bhatnagar
Rating: 2/5
Its not the worst book I've own, but it is very much a "type this in and view it" type book. No real explaining of deep concepts or anything like that. As far as the typos, sheesh(!), they are everywhere. And the code examples are so misaligned and wrapped around the page so strangely it is the very definition of unreadable code.Skip this one,...
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
Ah, where to begin. This book is a masterpiece. It is over the top. It distills, in one volume, all that's worth knowing about advanced Transact-SQL. If you've read the Books Online, this book is a natural next step in your T-SQL education. It took me from a rank amateur to an advanced coder within days. It gave me insights into new ways of coding that I'd never have thought of on my own. It showed me how to work in harmony with T-SQL and SQL Server, rather than try to get them to do things they weren't designed to do. The best chapters, are, IMHO, these:
- DML Insights
- DDL Insights
- The Mighty SELECT
- Statistical Functions
- Transactions
- Cursors
- Sets
- Arrays
- Stored Procedures and Triggers
- T-SQL Performance Tuning
- Administrative T-SQL
- OLE Automation
- Undocumented T-SQLThere's so much good info in this book, it's hard to pick a list of the "best chapters." To be sure, there's not a weak chapter in the book, and you should read every last one of them.[...] This book is a must-read for anyone serious about coding in Transact-SQL.
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
This book changed the way I think about Transact-SQL as a language. It showed me ways of doing things that I never knew existed. It has techniques you will find nowhere else. My favorite things:- sp_generate_script - an ingenious piece of code no DBA should be without- the OLE Automation chapter - I had no idea you could do so many wonderful things with OLE Automation and T-SQL- the ranking and set queries - very clever use of some of the language's more essoteric features- the quotes that open each chapter - insightful and even downright funny at times- Henderson's dry wit and no-frills style of writing - this has produced my favorite technical book in years- Too many other things too numerous to listThe book is a work of art. Get your copy now and start learning from the guru.
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
I consult for Fortune 500 firms across the U.S. and have come to rely heavily on this book. It has SQL examples that no other book has. Particuarly with respect to the nitty-gritties of TSQL performance and tuning, you will not find a better book. The attention to detail is startling. The sheer volume of example code is startling. And I love the fact that the examples are self-contained -- no need to create an example database (most examples in the book use either the pubs or northwind database), or to create example tables -- each script includes all it needs to run. My hat is off to the author for writing such a comprehensive tome on the subject material -- I would that all technical books were this good.
Product: Book Paperback
Title: PHP Certification Study Guide
Publisher: Sams Rating: 5/5
Title: PHP Certification Study Guide
Publisher: Sams Rating: 5/5
Let's be blunt, Assume you are hiring someone to oversee your PHP system and have it narrowed down to two candidates. One of the candidates says, "Oh yeah, I know all about PHP." The other candidate says, "Oh yeah, I know all about PHP, I've passed the Zend certification exam." Your next question is likely to be "What's Zend Certification?" And the job candidate says, "A PHP specialist company, you can learn more about them at zend.com." After that, all other things being equal, the certified candidate is the one you're likely to hire.
This book is not the one I'd pick to learn PHP. There are others better suited. But to pass the Zend certification exam, this is the one. It tells you specifically what you need to know, has a sample exam and doesn't cost very much. What more can you want?
Product: Book Paperback
Title: The Comprehensive Guide to the JDBC SQL API: Develop High-Powered Database Solutions for Your Site
Publisher: Ventana Communications Group
Authors: Daniel I. Joshi, Rodney Runolfson, Ramesh Chandak
Rating: 1/5
Title: The Comprehensive Guide to the JDBC SQL API: Develop High-Powered Database Solutions for Your Site
Publisher: Ventana Communications Group
Authors: Daniel I. Joshi, Rodney Runolfson, Ramesh Chandak
Rating: 1/5
Not only does this book fail to deliver on its promise to be a "Comprehensive Guide to the SQL API", it provides information that is just plain wrong. The first page I read (301) had serious errors, showing methods with incorrect (and inconsistent) argument types. A quick glance showed the book full of this type of error. This is inexcusable. The beginner will be confused, the experienced frustrated, and both will quickly realize that the book should should be thrown away. A book that has not been edited should not be published.
