IT programming books related reviews
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 have been working with SQL (the language)for years and SQL Server for about two years. This book is filled with SQL code. I picked up several tricks in just the first 8 chapters. I enjoy the style and the absence of screenshots of Query Analyzer. Mr. Henderson is good at explaining why the code is written and when you would want to write this type of SQL statements. I recommend this book for anyone with some experience in SQL and some frustration with SQL Server.
Product: Book Paperback
Title: SQL Server 7 Essential Reference
Publisher: Sams
Authors: Sharon Dooley
Rating: 5/5
Title: SQL Server 7 Essential Reference
Publisher: Sams
Authors: Sharon Dooley
Rating: 5/5
Ms. Dooley is among just a handful of people who can write about SQL Server at such an experience level. She shares her deep expertise and wisdom gained through hands-on use of SQL Server and real-world implementations. I also enjoyed generous warnings and tips which appeared throughout the book. They make the book fun to read and vividly illustrate technical points. As I read the book I kept thinking, "This is so useful and practical!" Ms. Dooley does an excellent job in presenting the information in a way that is best to learn and remember. Obviously, the author's experience as a prominent SQL Server trainer helped her to organize the book in such a great fashion. I recommend this book to a wide range of SQL Server administrators and developers. The book covers SQL Server 7.0, has some mentions of SQL Server 2000, and also refers to older versions that may benefit users who have experience with prior releases. Developers, especially advanced ones, will also benefit from the best coverage of DMO I've seen in any resource.
Product: Book Paperback
Title: PHP3: Programming Browser-Based Applications with PHP
Publisher: McGraw-Hill Companies
Authors: Dave Medinets
Rating: 2/5
Title: PHP3: Programming Browser-Based Applications with PHP
Publisher: McGraw-Hill Companies
Authors: Dave Medinets
Rating: 2/5
While this book is great for beginners to make a kick-start, almost everything covered in this book is available on the Internet, either on newsgroups/mailing lists, or php-related websites. Nothing original, no tips & tricks, just plain reference/tutorial.If you are just starting writing in PHP, this book is a very good reference.If you are programming on PHP more than a year, you don't need this book anymore, as you know Altavista and php mailing list.
Product: Book Textbook Binding
Title: SQL Server 7 Administration (The Fast Track Series)
Publisher: New Riders Publishing
Authors: Andy Ruth, Anil Desai
Rating: 5/5
Title: SQL Server 7 Administration (The Fast Track Series)
Publisher: New Riders Publishing
Authors: Andy Ruth, Anil Desai
Rating: 5/5
I agree that there are a few obvious errors and that it wasn't proofread as well as it should have been; considering that this is New Riders IS surprising. However, as a highly experienced 6.5 admin, I'm still glad I bought this one because it gets right to the point on all you need to know about version 7's exam. Despite the minor errors, I still stand behind New Riders all the way. There is no such thing as a completely error-free study guide, which is why we should all be thankful for things like publishers errata Web sites, newgroups, and (of course) Amazon.com
Product: Book Paperback
Title: PHP Professional Projects
Publisher: Muska & Lipman/Premier-Trade
Authors: Ashish Wilfred, Meeta Gupta, Kartik Bhatnagar
Rating: 4/5
Title: PHP Professional Projects
Publisher: Muska & Lipman/Premier-Trade
Authors: Ashish Wilfred, Meeta Gupta, Kartik Bhatnagar
Rating: 4/5
I found that this book was an excellent 2nd PHP book. I understand the frustration of those who found it uninstructional. I also bought PHP fast&easy web development which is a step-by-step tutorial in PHP. But now that I've done the tutorial I'm REALLY glad I picked up both. If you're just starting in PHP this is not the best book for you to start with. But if you're going to continue with PHP you ought to have a copy.
Product: Book Paperback
Title: Beginning Visual Basic SQL Server 7.0
Publisher: Wrox Press
Authors: Thearon Willis
Rating: 1/5
Title: Beginning Visual Basic SQL Server 7.0
Publisher: Wrox Press
Authors: Thearon Willis
Rating: 1/5
I own 2 books written by Thearon Willis, this book and "Beginning SQL Server 2000 for Visual Basic Developers". Both books are excellent. Combining this book and Rob Vieira's "Professional SQL Server 7.0 Programming", I got a very knowledgeable skill set that combines Visual Basic 6.0/5.0, SQL Server 7.0 and RDO/DAO. If you have to maintain applications written in Visual Basic 6.0 and earlier or if the database is SQL Server 7.0, you will want to read this book. Please note: if you want to use latest ADO, you may have make some minor modifications to the examples in this books.
Product: Book Paperback
Title: Google Hacks
Publisher: O'Reilly
Authors: Tara Calishain, Rael Dornfest
Rating: 4/5
Title: Google Hacks
Publisher: O'Reilly
Authors: Tara Calishain, Rael Dornfest
Rating: 4/5
This is an extremely well-written book that provides a comprehensive look at probably the most important site on the web today. It's sensibly structured for users of different levels - surfers find out about all the lesser-known useful features in the Google site, while web developers get a deep look at the Google Web APIs, which allow add-on services for Google to be developed. And the sweetest part of the book is the information about the many such services that are already out there.But with that comes the problem with publishing this kind of information in book only format - this list is bound to be out-of-date by the time it reaches the reader. For example, it doesn't mention Google Alert, which has been around since January and must be the most useful Google Web APIs application developed so far (it sends you updates when there are new results for your search).Overall though, if you are a serious web surfer, Google fan, or are thinking of incorporating some kind of Google features into your site, this is a must read. Let's hope a second edition appears soon!
Product: Book Paperback
Title: Visual Basic Developer's Guide to SQL Server
Publisher: Sybex Inc
Authors: Dianne Siebold
Rating: 4/5
Title: Visual Basic Developer's Guide to SQL Server
Publisher: Sybex Inc
Authors: Dianne Siebold
Rating: 4/5
If you're migrating from Access, have used DAO and have some familiarity with ADO and want a broad survey of SQL Server 2000 then this is the book for you. It explains all the main features object models, the difference between versions, specifications as well as giving you a running start on coding. Is it the best book out there for ADO? No, Get William Vaughn's ADO Examples and Best Practices, but this book will easily get you there if you're an experienced DAO programmer. For the money this is a great book and if you know nothing about SQL Server 2000 it works great alongside the Vaughn. Don't get it if you're already have a broad familiarity with SQL Server. Get Inside SQL Server.
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
What I like about this book is how concentrated it is. There's not a wasted word in it. Everything you need to know to master Transact-SQL can be found herein. Not only that, but there's *lots* of useful code in the book - code that you can take and put to use yourself. I took three stored procedures (sp_active_processes, sp_find_root_blocker, sp_pss) from the Administrative T-SQL chapter and put them work in my shop the first day I had the book. They work great! They're worth the price of the book alone! A lot of the code is this way - you learn from it, but it's also useable from a practical standpoint. If you read just one book on Microsoft's Transact-SQL, read this one.
Product: Book Paperback
Title: Hitchhiker's Guide to Visual Basic and SQL Server
Publisher: Microsoft Press
Authors: William R. Vaughn
Rating: 5/5
Title: Hitchhiker's Guide to Visual Basic and SQL Server
Publisher: Microsoft Press
Authors: William R. Vaughn
Rating: 5/5
The terrible thing about on-line reviews is that often times very happy readers don't write them. So I thought, it was about time I did.I've purchased that last three editions of Bill's book. Why? Because simply put, 'It is the best book on Microsoft data access technologies available for VB developers'. It focuses on one back-end, SQL Server, and the multitude of API's available.The irreverent tone which some people find 'offensive', IMHO, simply adds character to an industry which at times really needs it. The code samples which I retrieved from the CD, always make getting up to speed quick and easy. Having heard Bill speak at VBITS and spoken to him, he is always trying to provide VB developers with the best information.The seven detailed chapters on ADO are well worth your money even if you have the previous editions; not to mention the details on the T-SQL debugger in its own chapter. Also, even if this is your first purchase, the previous edition's chapters on VBSQL and ODBC are still included on the CD! For many of us, ODBC still has a place in our development lives.The code Bill gives you is designed to focus on data access. If you need help with VB skills or UI design look elsewhere. But if you want down and dirty code focused on how to get to SQL Server, buy this book.
