IT programming books related reviews
Product: Book Hardcover
Title: Inside Microsoft SQL Server 7.0
Publisher: Microsoft Press
Authors: Ron Soukup, Kalen Delaney
Rating: 5/5
Title: Inside Microsoft SQL Server 7.0
Publisher: Microsoft Press
Authors: Ron Soukup, Kalen Delaney
Rating: 5/5
I bought this book to find out what goes on under the hood. That's what it is. And it's good. If you want to learn how data is stored, what happens internally when you create and run a stored procedure, how the query optimizer operates or how indexes work, then this book will help you. You'll even get a history of the product and learn why it's only offered on the WIN NT platform. If you want info about OLAP or Data Warehousing get a different book.
Product: Book Paperback
Title: PHP and MySQL for Dynamic Web Sites: Visual QuickPro Guide
Publisher: Peachpit Press
Authors: Larry Ullman
Rating: 4/5
Title: PHP and MySQL for Dynamic Web Sites: Visual QuickPro Guide
Publisher: Peachpit Press
Authors: Larry Ullman
Rating: 4/5
I didn't know much about web development beyond html, and this book turned out to be exactly what I needed to get my start in dynamic website development. I like the format of the book, which does a good job of visually showing step-by-step, one concept at a time. There are a few errors (which are corrected if you check the website), and this is my only criticism of the book. It is very thorough.
Product: Book Paperback
Title: Php Fast & Easy Web Development (Fast & Easy Web Development)
Publisher: Premier Press
Authors: Julie C. Meloni
Rating: 4/5
Title: Php Fast & Easy Web Development (Fast & Easy Web Development)
Publisher: Premier Press
Authors: Julie C. Meloni
Rating: 4/5
Great book for people just getting started with PHP, even if you're not an HTML expert. She doesn't assume that you already know everything and walks you through the examples step-by-step. On the other hand, if you're already familiar with PHP and have been reading through the online manual, or have programming experience with other languages, you might want to start out with something a little more advanced. Definitely a clear, instructive book that's easy to follow. I'm sure I'll be buying other books by Julie Meloni in the future.
Product: Book Paperback
Title: Core PHP Programming: Using PHP to Build Dynamic Web Sites (2nd Edition)
Publisher: Pearson Education
Authors: Leon Atkinson
Rating: 1/5
Title: Core PHP Programming: Using PHP to Build Dynamic Web Sites (2nd Edition)
Publisher: Pearson Education
Authors: Leon Atkinson
Rating: 1/5
this book has only one thing good on it : it made me sleep more hours cause everytime i start reading i fall asleep. and one other thing: great cover!
Product: Book Paperback
Title: Professional SQL Server 2000 Programming
Publisher: Wrox
Authors: Robert Vieira
Rating: 1/5
Title: Professional SQL Server 2000 Programming
Publisher: Wrox
Authors: Robert Vieira
Rating: 1/5
Comments and reviews aren't normally my thing, because they normally are a waste of time. Why? Anybody that wants to try a product will regardless of what we reviewers all write. It's a kind of trial and error. All we reviewers do, is give our subjective comments on a product we liked or did not like.Hmmmmm, before I wrote this review I read the other 27 reviews and then had a thought or two about the book again.Each previous review is, in their own kind of way, correct. Some people need T-SQL information other people need basic Stored Procedures information. I'd probably put this book in the range Beginners to Intermediate (great book for learing) and Intermediate to Higher-Intermediate (reference). This book is not intended for the Expert out there looking for a good reference book. It has too many basics to achieve that.I loved reading the book, because you have to grin (or even laugh) every now and then. This is because the author knows what he is talking about and if you are into DBA yourself, then you will have come across the odd similarity when trying to convince some Software Engineer to not do this, that or the other.If you don't like the book, then you're sure to find some guy in your department who will profit from reading a page or two.I'm an average (Intermediate) SQL DBA myself and do not regret buying the book. In two years time I might find the book awful, but then again, who knows what he or she will be doing in two years time?
Product: Book Paperback
Title: Advanced Transact-SQL for SQL Server 2000
Publisher: Apress
Authors: Itzik Ben-Gan, Tom Moreau
Rating: 1/5
Title: Advanced Transact-SQL for SQL Server 2000
Publisher: Apress
Authors: Itzik Ben-Gan, Tom Moreau
Rating: 1/5
This book definitely has some language problems, and I don't mean English. Yes, it's obvious that neither of the authors are particularly fluent in English, but the biggest language deficiency is in Transact-SQL. These guys should not be writing books about Transact-SQL, they should be reading them. Lots of them. The code here is neither advanced nor specific to SQL Server 2000. It's beginner level code that's rife with errors in style, errors in formatting, errors in logic, and just plain errors. A real disappointment.
Product: Book Paperback
Title: Microsoft SQL Server 2000 Resource Kit (With CD-ROM)
Publisher: Microsoft Press
Authors: Microsoft Corporation, Microsoft Corporation
Rating: 4/5
Title: Microsoft SQL Server 2000 Resource Kit (With CD-ROM)
Publisher: Microsoft Press
Authors: Microsoft Corporation, Microsoft Corporation
Rating: 4/5
I used this book to prepare myself for the MCP Exam and I passed.
This book countains exellent examples and It is good for people who learns by modyfing examples.I recommend this book specially for DBA who worked with the SQL 7 and want to focuss on new features of SQL 2K.
Product: Book Paperback
Title: Google: The Missing Manual
Publisher: O'Reilly Rating: 5/5
Title: Google: The Missing Manual
Publisher: O'Reilly Rating: 5/5
A 299-page manual for Google? You've got to be kidding! C'mon, how hard is it to type a word or phrase, hit a button, and get almost instantaneous and nearly always satisfactory results? But I'm a big fan of the Missing Manual series, and have several on my shelf. So I decided to check out "Google - The Missing Manual", and was won over once again after reading only the first few pages. Like every other one I've looked at, this Missing Manual is very well-written. It's logically organized, informative and at the same time entertaining to read
Sure, a simple Google search is easy. But as this manual says (p. 18), performing a simple search is using only 1% of Google's power (and that's as much as 99% of us ever use). If you'd rather be one of the 1% of the people that know how to use 99% of its power, this manual is for you.
Since I rarely read a manual cover-to-cover (and wouldn't remember everything I'd read if I did), two of the first things I check are the Table of Contents and the Index. At first blush, both appear to be complete and easy to use. But beware if you bought an early copy of this book. Due to a printer's error, the first print run went out with "an incomplete and unpleasantly weird index." If you got one of these, go to www.missingmanual.com to download a copy of the correct index.
The book is logically divided into four parts:
Part 1 deals with searches, from simple to complex. If you read this section only, you will learn much. Did you know that Google only recognizes the first ten words when you do a search? So don't bother typing any more than that (the manual has suggestions for how to maximize your use of words in a search). This manual is not just a promotion for Google-I was pleased to see suggestions for other resources to use when Google is NOT the best tool available.
Part 2 is called "The Unknown Google" and covers the Images, News, Directory, Groups, Answers, and Froogle sections of the web site. Images helps you to search a bank of over 880 million images. News collects articles from 4500 news sources. While we think of Google as an excellent way to search the Internet (which it is), Groups and Answers are actually services designed to help put people in touch with other people. Groups allows you to access 20,000 active newsgroups and search the archives of 100,000. Answers provides a way for you to ask questions (for a fee) if you haven't been able to find the answer elsewhere. Froogle is not a store but it searches for products available online and compares them by price. (A subset of Froogle is Catalogs which allows you to search through 6500 conventional catalogs.)
Part 3 "Search Tools" discusses in depth the Google Toolbar and other "Cool Google Tools". Did you know that you can perform Google searches and actually browse the web from your PDA or wireless phone? As the manual says "This feature is serious magic."
Part 4 is titled "Google for Webmasters". Since I'm not one, and don't have a business or website of my own, I did not spend much time reviewing this part. But it appears this section would be especially useful for someone who wants to get their site higher in Google's ranking, or who wants to have Google put advertisements on their website.
A short appendix lists a number of third-party sites that build on Google. Check out the one that lets you type in a list of ingredients, select a food genre, and then spits out a bunch of recipes. For those who are "Google-obsessed" there are links to a number of Google-themed blogs, including one for "those who believe....that Google is evil."
Product: Book Paperback
Title: Professional SQL Server Reporting Services
Publisher: Wrox
Authors: Paul Turley, Todd Bryant, James Counihan, George McKee, Dave DuVarney
Rating: 4/5
Title: Professional SQL Server Reporting Services
Publisher: Wrox
Authors: Paul Turley, Todd Bryant, James Counihan, George McKee, Dave DuVarney
Rating: 4/5
With any SQL Server database, once you've populated it and it has undergone real events (esp. transactions), then you'll need to summarise and display the results. Most likely, on a periodic basis. Plus, the report might be for a nontechnical audience. (Your boss?) So the book offers an efficient investment of your time. It shows straightforward ways to get at the data and how to present it.
While the authors try to minimise it, there is still a modicum of coding. They provide example snippets in C# and VB.NET. If you're already familiar with either language, then there will be nothing complicated in the code for you.
The book also demonstrates how Microsoft is migrating .NET into a seamless integration with its flagship database.
The book is suitable for an intermediate level programmer in C# or VB.NET. It also helps to have some experience in the visuals of laying out a report. For example, an HTML UI or PowerPoint background would not be amiss.
Product: Book Paperback
Title: Web Application Development with PHP 4.0 (with CD-ROM)
Publisher: Sams
Authors: Tobias Ratschiller, Till Gerken
Rating: 3/5
Title: Web Application Development with PHP 4.0 (with CD-ROM)
Publisher: Sams
Authors: Tobias Ratschiller, Till Gerken
Rating: 3/5
I was disappointed with this book. As others have pointed out, this should not be someone's first book on, or first exposure to, PHP. You cannot learn PHP from this book.That's OK, I've been using PHP for a couple years now. I was looking to take my PHP application development skills to the next level, beyond coding and into engineering. And the book gets sooooo close to being able to do that...and then just turns away from the challenge.Here are some specifics:* Many times the authors suggest you refer to other books to learn about other topics in software engineering to learn about topics they're breezing by, but they don't make useful suggestions for which books to actually go read.* Many times the authors start discussing a major, important topic, explain a few details, and then implicitly refer you to the source code that's included on the CD.* I wanted to learn about the optimal layout and organization of files and routines in a project. The authors make an initial stab at describing a good file system organization, but then fail to follow up and finish the job, leaving 80% unsaid. I suppose the example application on the CD will give me more info.* What ought to be the heart of the book, a walkthrough of a real-world "knowledge repository" application the authors wrote for a client, is a mere 12 pages. You're advised, once again, to look at the source on the CD to learn more.It's maddening. The authors are clearly PHP *experts*, and good software engineers to boot. And they know what they ought to be telling their reader, they just don't do it in any detail.This would probably be an outstanding book if it was 150-200 pages longer (it's under 400 pages), with 75% of that dedicated to walking through all the design decisions and code explanations for their sample app.
