IT programming books related reviews
Product: Book Paperback
Title: Transact-SQL Programming
Publisher: O'Reilly
Authors: Lee Gould, Andrew Zanevsky, Kevin Kline
Rating: 5/5
Title: Transact-SQL Programming
Publisher: O'Reilly
Authors: Lee Gould, Andrew Zanevsky, Kevin Kline
Rating: 5/5
I thought this book should have covered SQL 7 -- it doesn't. Techniques from 4.2 and 6.5 don't do much for me. Many recent changes in TransactSQL have obsoleted many of the older techniques. I also thought the writing was boring. It reads like a text book, but isn't systematic. It bounces from topic-to-topic without explanation. Also, it gets into things barely related to TransactSQL. E.g., it talks about DBA stuff (but not in sufficient detail to really be useful) whenit should be talking about the language.
Product: Book Paperback
Title: Comprehensive Php Pear: Db
Publisher: Lulu Press
Authors: Blake Schwendiman
Rating: 4/5
Title: Comprehensive Php Pear: Db
Publisher: Lulu Press
Authors: Blake Schwendiman
Rating: 4/5
If you need to get going with PEAR::DB quickly this is a great way to do it. It's a short book, but gets right to the point. You are expected to know PHP and how to program. So there is no hand holding. The structure is: you are given a code snippet on how to do it and a brief explanation. It just gets right down to brass tacks explaining PEAR::DB. The explanation (which includes basic install instructions) extends for the first 29 pages. After that its just function explanations.
The caveat to all this is that it is a great concise book if you need to learn PEAR::DB quickly, ie it is going to be used on the project I am working on right now which is due yesterday. If however, you have plenty of time and just want to learn PEAR::DB the cost is probably too high and you are better off learning from tutorials and other info on the web.
Product: Book Paperback
Title: The Guru's Guide to Transact-SQL
Publisher: Addison-Wesley Professional
Authors: Ken Henderson
Rating: 2/5
Title: The Guru's Guide to Transact-SQL
Publisher: Addison-Wesley Professional
Authors: Ken Henderson
Rating: 2/5
I must have missed something the other 130 reviewers found so great about this book. There is a dirth of what I consider to be "good T-SQL guides". Unfortunately, this publication is another in a long line of misses. I didn't find the author's technical explanations of his own examples, brillant though they may be, very indepth or complete, even. There seemed to be an excessive amount of multi-page "code listings", which become difficult to follow after a while. Mr. Henderson seems to be styling his writing after his long-winded friend, Joe Celko. Perhaps the holy grail which I seek, in the name of "T-SQL for T-SQL dummies, but for otherwise database and programming Smarties", shall remain interminably elusive.I also bought Mr. H's Guru's guide to SQL Stored Procs, which on the face of it seems to be more promising. Let us pray.
Product: Book Paperback
Title: SQL: The Complete Reference, Second Edition
Publisher: McGraw-Hill Osborne Media
Authors: James R Groff, Paul N. Weinberg
Rating: 5/5
Title: SQL: The Complete Reference, Second Edition
Publisher: McGraw-Hill Osborne Media
Authors: James R Groff, Paul N. Weinberg
Rating: 5/5
Super book for beginning to advanced SQL. I was able to teach myself SQL from this book in conjunction with another, called The Practical SQL Handbook.
Product: Book Paperback
Title: Oracle PL/SQL Programming: Guide to Oracle8i Features
Publisher: O'Reilly
Authors: Steven Feuerstein
Rating: 5/5
Title: Oracle PL/SQL Programming: Guide to Oracle8i Features
Publisher: O'Reilly
Authors: Steven Feuerstein
Rating: 5/5
In the preface of this book Steven announced that he is developing the third edition of his well-known book "Oracle PL/SQL Programming" that will cover Oracle8i. I hope he'll postpone this release until Oracle9i hits the market so he can cover this major release too. In the meantime I think this book is perfect supplement to PL/SQL series from O'Reilly. Even if you don't follow Steven series on PL/SQL (which I doubt if you're Oracle developer on planet Earth ;-) you'll find this book more than adequate resource for quick reference on all major Oracle8i PL/SQL features. I particularly liked chapters on invoker rights, native dynamic SQL, fine-grained access control and new trigger features. If you're not familiar with these terms then you'll be glad that you read this book! The only (minor!) deficiency that I found in this book was what Steven is calling "breath of fresh air" approach to examples that will help us engage with the technical material. Perhaps I could better relate to the examples about USA health care, gun lobby or fairness of wage structures if I ever lived in the states. Steven, if you're reading this please go back to old boring emp/dept examples or pick somehow less distract full examples.
Product: Book Paperback
Title: Apache Jakarta-Tomcat
Publisher: Apress
Authors: James Goodwill
Rating: 3/5
Title: Apache Jakarta-Tomcat
Publisher: Apress
Authors: James Goodwill
Rating: 3/5
This is a very good book from a web developer and deployer view. It covers servlet and JSP basics and the specifics of deploying web apps on Tomcat. Important web.xml, custom tag library info, and security realm information is covered. The only real Tomcat server configuration discussion is in a chapter on the server.xml file and a chapter on integrating with the Apache server. I was disappointed in the lack of configuration info (especially SSL info, of which there was none) but I have several jsp and servlet books and this book does a better job of describing servlet and JSP deployment basics than any of them. If you are a sysadmin but not a web developer or app deployer, you will be disappointed by this book.
Product: Book Paperback
Title: Microsoft SQL Server 2000 Notification Services
Publisher: Sams
Authors: Shyam Pather
Rating: 5/5
Title: Microsoft SQL Server 2000 Notification Services
Publisher: Sams
Authors: Shyam Pather
Rating: 5/5
This is one of the resources which make SQL notification a viable option to be used by mare mortals. If you want to use SQL notification, you must have this book. Period.
Product: Book Paperback
Title: PHP and MySQL Web Development
Publisher: Sams
Authors: Luke Welling, Laura Thomson
Rating: 2/5
Title: PHP and MySQL Web Development
Publisher: Sams
Authors: Luke Welling, Laura Thomson
Rating: 2/5
I ordered this book in the hope to find a cleanly structured book aiding me in real-world web development. Having read all of Ben Forta's books as well as lots of other web development books, I was expecting a thorough treatment on what PHP and mySQL can do to aid me in my PHP applications. Here are reasons why this book does not deserve the five-star ratings it's been getting: - The real-world functions (such as Mail()) are incorrectly described, leaving the reader no other option than reading the manual; - The string chapter in the manual is more thorough and written more fluently; - The coding conventions used in the book set a bad example for the reader, even though they are preaching to be consistent; - There is no thorough function reference; - The book is thrown off-balance with too much "soft" content such as web usability and e-commerce, which should NOT be in the scope of this book; - The writing style is inconsistent and not always fluent.I'll keep the book but won't heartily recommend it. They should copy Ben Forta's framework for a more clear description of PHP.
Product: Book Paperback
Title: MySQL and PHP From Scratch
Publisher: Que
Authors: Wade Maxfield
Rating: 2/5
Title: MySQL and PHP From Scratch
Publisher: Que
Authors: Wade Maxfield
Rating: 2/5
If you want to learn PHP & MySQL, you will NOT find in this book. Much of it is reference. I bought it used for about a third of its price, but still feel a waste of money.
Product: Book Paperback
Title: Php Fast & Easy Web Development (Fast & Easy Web Development)
Publisher: Premier Press
Authors: Julie C. Meloni
Rating: 1/5
Title: Php Fast & Easy Web Development (Fast & Easy Web Development)
Publisher: Premier Press
Authors: Julie C. Meloni
Rating: 1/5
I started the book with just the greatest zeal.
I was soon disappointed. I am a beginner and found that most of the information wasn't correct.
Hey, that doesn't sound right! If this guy is a beginner how would he know if it wasn't correct or if he was just doing things incorrectly? Well this page is from the book and should explain it all:(...)
The page is the errata from the book.
I was pretty hard pressed to find a chapter that didn't have problems.
As a beginner this tends to make the task of learning very difficult.
IMHO
