IT programming books related reviews
Product: Book Paperback
Title: PHP and MySQL for Dynamic Web Sites: Visual QuickPro Guide
Publisher: Peachpit Press
Authors: Larry Ullman
Rating: 5/5
Title: PHP and MySQL for Dynamic Web Sites: Visual QuickPro Guide
Publisher: Peachpit Press
Authors: Larry Ullman
Rating: 5/5
I am a seasoned computer programmer that was looking for a good introduction to PHP and MySQL development. Essentially I needed to create a database driven website where I could also accept credit card payments and do shopping cart stuff. This would be my first foray into Internet Programming (or is it scripting).
Firstly you'll want some prior programming experience to get the most out of this book. Therefore if you need ultra detailed explanations, then this book isn't really for you. If you have programming experience, then the book moves along at a good pace without getting burdened on lengthy explanations.
Chapter 1 starts off with a good introduction to PHP and variable types. Chapter 2 and you're creating forms and handling the submitted data. MySQL is covered from Chapter 4, and before you know it you're covering topics like Sessions and Cookies, Regular Expressions and debugging techniques. What I really like about the book is that Larry shows a couple of different ways to accomplish a particular task. E.G. In the earlier chapters, Larry uses hard-coded values for the <FORM> action property. Later on we learn about using server variables. Other stuff like submitting a form to a different page or to the same page and processing there so that you can put a little comment next to a field to indicate that it needs to be filled in etc. This is one small example, but basically all the topics follow this general principle.
Larry is also kind enough to mention Database and Internet security and some simple techniques to ensure your 'sensitive' files are not in the public domain. Also the tips section in the chapters are really good and has often prompted me to do further reading.
Larry's last 3 chapters cover useful real world examples such as shopping cart, user registration and content management. Each of these chapters range from 40 to 50 pages whereas other books might devote upto 5 times as much. Larry manages to cover these topics very well in a short space and he doesn't leave you short changed.
The book is very well written, flows well and covers most of your PHP topics. Infact I believe the information presented here would cover the programming requirements of nearly 90% of existing websites today (not including flash stuff). Apart from one of the best programming books I've purchased, Larry actually takes the time to answer questions in his forum about his books and any problems you might have.
NOTE: This is a great addition to your library, and even though the book is a couple of years old, it is still worth the purchase.
Product: Book Paperback
Title: Microsoft SQL Server 2000 High Availability
Publisher: Microsoft Press
Authors: Allan Hirt, Cathan Cook, Kimberley Tripp, Microsoft Corp, Microsoft Corporation, Frank McBath
Rating: 5/5
Title: Microsoft SQL Server 2000 High Availability
Publisher: Microsoft Press
Authors: Allan Hirt, Cathan Cook, Kimberley Tripp, Microsoft Corp, Microsoft Corporation, Frank McBath
Rating: 5/5
This book is great. It's loaded with recommendations that I have not seen in other SQL books and I've read at least a dozen of them. Even the backup modules cover more information than anything I've seen. Every DBA should read this and stop complaining about this or that not being covered. If you looking for replication than find a replication book. It's impossible to cover everything about availability in one shot and this one comes close.
Great stuff!!!
Product: Book Paperback
Title: Web Database Applications with PHP & MySQL, 2nd Edition
Publisher: O'Reilly
Authors: Hugh E. Williams
Rating: 5/5
Title: Web Database Applications with PHP & MySQL, 2nd Edition
Publisher: O'Reilly
Authors: Hugh E. Williams
Rating: 5/5
When I got this book, I already had experience programming in Perl, but PHP was entirely new to me. I also had database/SQL knowledge, but had never touched MySQL. I knew the powerful combination of PHP and MySQL was the key to solving a big programming problem, but I didn't know where to start. This book made learning a breeze. Just a couple days after I picked it up, my test PHP/MySQL application was working. The rest is history.I think this book would be great for intermediate programmers who want to implement PHP and MySQL, but don't know how. I was amazed at how quickly this book got me off the ground. (Hint: people with no clue about databases may want to supplement this with a MySQL- or database-specific reference, though this guide does provide some basics.)
Product: Book Paperback
Title: SQL Server 2000 Stored Procedure Programming
Publisher: Osborne/McGraw-Hill
Authors: Dejan Sunderic, Tom Woodhead
Rating: 5/5
Title: SQL Server 2000 Stored Procedure Programming
Publisher: Osborne/McGraw-Hill
Authors: Dejan Sunderic, Tom Woodhead
Rating: 5/5
May be it is not the book for a person seeing database for the first time. But this is one book close to my heart. Authors do not talk about basic database queries or SQL Server architecture. But, if you're a serious TSQL programmer or serious Web developer and looking for the finer points - this book is an absolute must !
Product: Book Paperback
Title: PHP MySQL Website Programming: Problem - Design - Solution
Publisher: Apress
Authors: Chris Lea, Mike Buzzard, Dilip Thomas, Jessey White-Cinis
Rating: 5/5
Title: PHP MySQL Website Programming: Problem - Design - Solution
Publisher: Apress
Authors: Chris Lea, Mike Buzzard, Dilip Thomas, Jessey White-Cinis
Rating: 5/5
This is the most rock solid computer science programming text that i have read in the last decade.Period.No one should miss out on this buy.
Product: Book Paperback
Title: Oracle SQL*Plus: The Definitive Guide
Publisher: O'Reilly
Authors: Jonathan Gennick
Rating: 5/5
Title: Oracle SQL*Plus: The Definitive Guide
Publisher: O'Reilly
Authors: Jonathan Gennick
Rating: 5/5
SQL-Plus is a fundamental tool but it is hard to find a useful guide on the topic in the market. And I am glad finally there is one.Oracle Sql Plus: The Definitive Guide is really interesting to read. The author writes in a friendly style and depicts each topic with lots of examples ( so many and so usful that you can add to your own libraries ). Personally, I am much appealed by the author's discussion on reporting, writing scripts and setting environment. If you are not familiar with any of these, you will be greatly awarded when finishing the book. I can bet it!
Product: Book Paperback
Title: Professional PHP Programming
Publisher:
Authors: Jesus Castagnetto, Sascha Schumann, Harish Rawat, Chris Scollo, Deepak T. Veliath
Rating: 2/5
Title: Professional PHP Programming
Publisher:
Authors: Jesus Castagnetto, Sascha Schumann, Harish Rawat, Chris Scollo, Deepak T. Veliath
Rating: 2/5
First of all, the book is very poorly written. The grammar, sentence structure are barely tolerable and makes the reading frustating to say the least. Second, this book is written by 5 different authors. AND IT SHOWS. In terms of content organization I would give the book a zero star. Third, most of the material covered is also found in the php online manual. Why would you want to look up a function in a book that has a terrible index when you can do a search/find on the online pdf manual?Fourth, the examples covered in the book have very little explanation to it. Fifth, too expensive.
Product: Book Paperback
Title: SQL Server 2000: A Beginner's Guide (Book/CD-ROM)
Publisher: McGraw-Hill Osborne Media
Authors: Dusan Petkovic
Rating: 4/5
Title: SQL Server 2000: A Beginner's Guide (Book/CD-ROM)
Publisher: McGraw-Hill Osborne Media
Authors: Dusan Petkovic
Rating: 4/5
So, the boss called me up one day and said, "Your team has to learn SQL Server 2000." I said, "How long do we have?" She answered, "How fast can you do it?" After tooling around the store, I chose this book and we bought three copies. In one week, we were all functional in SQL Server (with background in SQL and relational databases already there). That's a good deal.So, I recommended it to others in our company who need to learn more about relational databases, or more about SQL or more about SQL Server 2000. The experience has been universally good. It may not be deep (my only downgrade) but it is specific.I think the author managed to give just enough explanation about relational databases without going too deep. As a data purist, I might argue that more is better on this subject. However, I am responsible for training one group that does the same SQL over and over again, and that makes me aware that not everyone has to reach genius level on data.Good job!
Product: Book Hardcover
Title: OCP Introduction to Oracle9i: SQL Exam Guide
Publisher: McGraw-Hill Osborne Media
Authors: Jason Couchman
Rating: 3/5
Title: OCP Introduction to Oracle9i: SQL Exam Guide
Publisher: McGraw-Hill Osborne Media
Authors: Jason Couchman
Rating: 3/5
I just wrote the test and received 87% which was a bit of a dissapointment since I have been using (as a developer) Oracle for several years. I found that the test was harder than expected and that this book by itself does not contain all the required information. This is most likely to keep the book to a reasonable length, but you should review all the available PL/SQL functions from another source. My test had no questions regarding the entire first chapter 'Overview of Oracle Databases'. My biggest complaint about the book is the number of errors, both in the text and on the cd sample questions. To compound the problem the errata on the website is extremely incomplete! I would have rated it 4 stars except for the errors. Unfortunately, there are not a lot of resources to choose from and based on the others that I have looked at this book seems to be the best.
Product: Book Paperback
Title: Microsoft SQL Server(TM) 2000 Administrator's Pocket Consultant (It-Administrator's Pocket Consultant)
Publisher: Microsoft Press
Authors: William R. Stanek
Rating: 5/5
Title: Microsoft SQL Server(TM) 2000 Administrator's Pocket Consultant (It-Administrator's Pocket Consultant)
Publisher: Microsoft Press
Authors: William R. Stanek
Rating: 5/5
This is the top book for SQL 2000 administration. Mr. Stanek has put together a great book for day-to-day administration of SQL Server 2000. I can't recommend this book strongly enough. It goes beyond the basics and goes a long way answering those questions that you ask yourself everyday and instead of hunting on the Internet every time you need a solution, you should carry this book with you. It shows you the types of tips and real world info that you only get from years of experience. This is like having an expert by your side. The best part about this book is the style in which it is written. Its not too technical and very easy to read. I read this book cover to cover and I have also been using it to help me prep for the exams. This book belongs on every DBA's bookshelf.
