IT programming books related reviews
Product: Book Paperback
Title: Learn Google
Publisher: Wordware Publishing, Inc.
Authors: Michael Busby
Rating: 5/5
Title: Learn Google
Publisher: Wordware Publishing, Inc.
Authors: Michael Busby
Rating: 5/5
I found Learn Google to be very helpful in search techniques.
The use of examples makes this a terrific tool for the beginner as well as those who feel that they are beyond intoductory help books. Using the techniques described eliminates the frustration that results in many of us "giving up" on a search. The author makes it an enjoyable learning experience with search games.
Product: Book Paperback
Title: SQL Server 2000: The Complete Reference
Publisher: Osborne/McGraw-Hill
Authors: Jeffrey Shapiro
Rating: 3/5
Title: SQL Server 2000: The Complete Reference
Publisher: Osborne/McGraw-Hill
Authors: Jeffrey Shapiro
Rating: 3/5
This book is comprehensive and informative. The writing is mostly clear and accessible. You have to be pretty determined to make it through this book. The author covers a lot of ground and I did not find it to be particularly engaging. I coaxed myself through by reading chapters from the section on system administration in parallel with the earlier chapters on SQL language, syntax, and queries that were pretty dry. I didn't want to skip anything.I rated this book 3 stars. I have read a lot of SQL Server books since 1998 and my expectations have risen. This isn't a bad book but it is among the dullest treatments I have encountered.Is this a good book for beginners? Yes. Many readers want a one-volume source and this one meets that need. If you want to learn SQL Server this book offers the basic education you need. A few sections will make no sense to a beginner. They made little sense to me and I'm not a beginner anymore. But if you keep at it by the end you will have a good general understanding and ability with SQL Server 2000.
Product: Book Paperback
Title: Core PHP Programming: Using PHP to Build Dynamic Web Sites (2nd Edition)
Publisher: Pearson Education
Authors: Leon Atkinson
Rating: 2/5
Title: Core PHP Programming: Using PHP to Build Dynamic Web Sites (2nd Edition)
Publisher: Pearson Education
Authors: Leon Atkinson
Rating: 2/5
I was going to give it three stars but after reading the reviews I realized I was being far too generous yet I can't quite follow the herd and give one star. But, this book deserves one star. The bulk of the book appears to be cut and pasted from the manual. So save the money. One example of the books short comings is the section on regular expresions, which is pathetic. Whereas, the manuals is rather extensive. The examples are anemic and not very "real world". Advice -- ping O'Reilly until they publish a book on PHP, study the manual and visit the web based tutorials.
Product: Book Paperback
Title: Microsoft SQL Server 7 DBA Survival Guide
Publisher: Sams
Authors: Orryn Sledge
Rating: 3/5
Title: Microsoft SQL Server 7 DBA Survival Guide
Publisher: Sams
Authors: Orryn Sledge
Rating: 3/5
Unfortunately I cannot share excitement of those who gave this book 4,5 or 5 stars. This book is good but still contains some mixture of old and new information. For example on page 259 authors claim that "incomplete transactions that occur after database process is started are NOT backed up", this is not true. In SQL 7.0 manual stated "Extents containing data are written to the backup set without regard to synchronizing pages being modified by users during the backup". They don't even mention new "Fuzzy backup" technology (see "Fuzzy Backup and Restore Operations" in BOL). On page 260 Authors claim that "performing full database backup does not clear inactive part of transaction log" this is also not true. Page 272 "The database log must reside on separate device from database": first there is no such thing as "device" in SQL 7.0, second there is no way to put database and log on the same file. Looks like they didn't cleaned up 6.5 manuscript properly.So, if you find something that does not supported by your practical experience, very likely you and not the authors are right.
Product: Book Paperback
Title: PHP Essentials
Publisher: Muska & Lipman/Premier-Trade
Authors: Julie C. Meloni
Rating: 4/5
Title: PHP Essentials
Publisher: Muska & Lipman/Premier-Trade
Authors: Julie C. Meloni
Rating: 4/5
If you are experience in ANY programmig this is not for you... However if you are brand new to programming and to PHP this will walk you through the basics.Pluses:
Easy reading, easy to follow, simple theory, and multiple examples of the same thing with different changes.Minuses: Simple Theory, BAD logic in code.. there is no OOP and to many examples of the same thing.again i have to stress... this will walk you through the very basics of php/mysql.. if you already know ASP or another language get a more advanced book.
Product: Book Paperback
Title: Core PHP Programming, Third Edition
Publisher: Prentice Hall PTR
Authors: Leon Atkinson, Zeev Suraski
Rating: 5/5
Title: Core PHP Programming, Third Edition
Publisher: Prentice Hall PTR
Authors: Leon Atkinson, Zeev Suraski
Rating: 5/5
I read some of the negative reviews, and I must say they are completely off the mark .One of them waffled on about how this is not for inexperienced PHP propgrammers, freely admits he is not experienced, then continues to review the book anyway. Why write a negative review simply out of frustratoin at your inability to appreciate the level the book was written for?Dont blame the author for your lack of experience. Instead, go away and get some experience and come back to Core PHP, and maybe then you will start to appreciate its value. It's like an 11 year old trying wine for the first time, spits it out and says "yuck". The refined adult wine drinker knows how to appreciate it. 4.5 stars from me.
Product: Book Textbook Binding
Title: McSe Training Guide: SQL Server 6.5 Design and Implementation (Training Guides (New Riders))
Publisher: New Riders Pub
Authors: David Besch, Sean Baird
Rating: 4/5
Title: McSe Training Guide: SQL Server 6.5 Design and Implementation (Training Guides (New Riders))
Publisher: New Riders Pub
Authors: David Besch, Sean Baird
Rating: 4/5
The book provides a good overview of SQL Implementation, but is not enough. Read the book (skip it's questions and CD), then study the Transcender exams. Assuming you are not a novice, you should pass. I passed on the first attempt using these two resources.
Product: Book Paperback
Title: Dreamweaver MX: Advanced PHP Web Development
Publisher: Glasshaus
Authors: Glasshaus Author Team
Rating: 5/5
Title: Dreamweaver MX: Advanced PHP Web Development
Publisher: Glasshaus
Authors: Glasshaus Author Team
Rating: 5/5
This is supposed to be advance, but it looks more like confusion. This book is poorly written, full of assumptions. Unless you're willing to spend the time to ponder what's going on, don't even waste your money.Furthermore, the bank has pulled the plug on the publisher, so you won't even get any support.I'd say scrap this book, better to buy WROX's Professional PHP Program instead.
Product: Book Paperback
Title: Oracle PL/SQL Interactive Workbook (2nd Edition)
Publisher: Prentice Hall PTR
Authors: Benjamin Rosenzweig, Elena Silvestrova
Rating: 4/5
Title: Oracle PL/SQL Interactive Workbook (2nd Edition)
Publisher: Prentice Hall PTR
Authors: Benjamin Rosenzweig, Elena Silvestrova
Rating: 4/5
for my purposes, this book was ideal! I have a background in databases and have programed in VBA, C and normal SQL for some time. I have dabbled in PL/SQL a little bit and needed a refference book to get me going fully. If you lack basic SQL knowledge and basic procedural programming concepts then this book won't help you very much as it assumes the reader is looking for a hands-on refference book.one other reviewer mentioned the 'DUAL' table being introduced without explanation among other things. - 'dual' is an oracle psudo-table that you can select calculations from. e.g. "select 10 - 4 from dual" returns a column named '10 - 4' with a value of in the cell returned. anyway...I agree with other reviewers that this book has a few errors (for example table aliases in the questions are different to those in the answers) and perhaps it could have been layed out more efficiently, but as I have said, for my purposes (quick refference book) it was Ideal.
Product: Book Paperback
Title: Apache Cookbook
Publisher: O'Reilly
Authors: Ken Coar, Rich Bowen
Rating: 5/5
Title: Apache Cookbook
Publisher: O'Reilly
Authors: Ken Coar, Rich Bowen
Rating: 5/5
Yeah, Apache has thorough documentation at apache.org, and yeah, after 6 or 7 years I've learned a lot by reading through Apache's conf files. But this book does a few things extremely well to make configuration much easier, quicker, and better.There's good examples - you expect that with a name like "cookbook". But each example is backed-up with excellent explanations and references. The particular problems I've wanted to solve haven't matched the book's examples, but they've been close enough to adapt the solutions to what I've needed.I've also appreciated how much this book has helped me how to *think* in Apache. Its use of examples and explanations helps to paint a top-down view of Apache, and help me analyze problems methodically instead of hunt-and-peck through a flock of random configuration parameters.A nice combination of technical know-how, tuturial, and clear writing makes this a darned useful book for me.
