IT programming books related reviews
Product: Book Paperback
Title: PHP Essentials
Publisher: Muska & Lipman/Premier-Trade
Authors: Julie C. Meloni
Rating: 5/5
Title: PHP Essentials
Publisher: Muska & Lipman/Premier-Trade
Authors: Julie C. Meloni
Rating: 5/5
This book is just what you need if you want to know PHP and you just don't know where to begin, the begin would be here, with this book you can introduce yourself to the PHP Enviroment and so on to the gratest world of Programming, this book covers from basics to advanced programming, but what this book also has is that the content is not based on nothing, wich means that the book is 100% based on life projects just as Encryption of data used in E-Commerce, useful USER TRACKIN' and many other things.
Product: Book Paperback
Title: Programming PHP
Publisher: O'Reilly
Authors: Rasmus Lerdorf, Kevin Tatroe
Rating: 4/5
Title: Programming PHP
Publisher: O'Reilly
Authors: Rasmus Lerdorf, Kevin Tatroe
Rating: 4/5
This text is another well-produced O'Reilly reference. It provides a methodical description of the PHP server scripting language. If you don't know what PHP is, this is a good starting point. If you have never programmed before, why are you using PHP? (you should learn programming somewhere else than exposing your work on the WWW - in my opinion!). Very detailed descriptions of the language elements are provided; language structure, data types, variables, operators, anything you would expect from a programming language text. Good detailed sections on string handling (isn't that chiefly why you use server scripts?) and arrays are included. Examples showing how to strip 'bad characters' or HTML from strings are helpful, detailed regular expression usage and variable argument functions are very practical. For advanced programmers, the text provides details on objects (called classes) that allow you to incorporate OOP into your server scripts. Sections are provided that gives details of graphics programming using the GD extension and PDF text document creation that I found to be useless. The appendix includes a good section on all PHP functions which is a handy reference.... The description of database support is really limited. They hardly mention MySQL or mSQL and focus more on PEAR DB, which is an object-oriented database system. I found this as a major weakness. Otherwise, this is another admirable O'Reilly offering.
Product: Book Paperback
Title: SQL Server 2000 Black Book: A Resource for Real World Database Solutions and Techniques
Publisher: Paraglyph
Authors: Paul Whitehead, Patrick Dalton
Rating: 3/5
Title: SQL Server 2000 Black Book: A Resource for Real World Database Solutions and Techniques
Publisher: Paraglyph
Authors: Paul Whitehead, Patrick Dalton
Rating: 3/5
A "Comprehensive Problem Solver" it is not. The SQL Server 2000 Black Book is full of good information on theories and principles, and at the end of each chapter is a good amount of examples and solutions for particular situations. The examples do help you ,sort of, understand how to build your own SQL commands, but if you want to know WHAT those commands you typed in really means, you may want to buy another book.This book is supposed to be for Immediate to Advanced users and as toted a "problem solver". It's not. It seems like a good beginners book.I have two examples to discuss:
1) If/Else logic. Granted as a programmer I know how this stuff works, but they use the flow control statements throughtout the book, but never explain IF/Else statements. Considering how important If/Else statements are in programming, this is a major weakpoint.2) Stored Procedures. Chapter 14 of the book is supposed to cover Stored Proceduures. Well, it talks about it, and there are examples at the end of the book. But that chapter has more discussions than hardcore examples that it really depressed me about the book. It seemed to me that some of this chapter was probably taken from the manuals. If you wanted to understand Stored Procedures, this book won't help.Overall, it has some good points if you are beginning, bad points if you want a good programming/breakdown type of book.
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 a wonderful book! I have been looking for one like this for a long time. I started with Ben-Gan and Moreau's book and quickly discovered that I knew more about T-SQL than they do! I wanted and advanced book, a *really* advanced book. Well, I finally found it. The code in this book is invaluable. I don't care who you are, it will teach you a thing or two about T-SQL. Medians, statistical functions, Automation, triggers and stored procedures, sets, arrays, cursors, fulltext search - these are just some of the many excellent chapters. Get this book if you want to become a T-SQL guru yourself.
Product: Book Paperback
Title: Admin911: SQL Server 2000
Publisher: McGraw-Hill Companies
Authors: Brian Knight
Rating: 5/5
Title: Admin911: SQL Server 2000
Publisher: McGraw-Hill Companies
Authors: Brian Knight
Rating: 5/5
I have several books on SQL Server 2000. This is the best one, because the author gives a personal viewpoint to the material. It is filled with suggestions and explanations. The author writes in a conversational style. The sections on security and restoration are the best I have read because the author knows the subjects and gives you an understandable reason why he made his choices.Highly recommended. This book sits on my desk next to my other favorite references on SQL Server.
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
Web Database Applications by H.E. Williams and D. Lane is a truly wonderful book if you are looking to learn how to get an online database application up and running fast. The book eases you into PHP with a decent length chapter on the basic syntax of the language, followed by an introduction of MySQL.
After that, each chapter will teach you new techniques which are instantly applicable to a real-world online database system. Among others this book will teach you how to: write scripts that interact with MySQL, deal with security issues, handle sessions, handle shopping carts and lots lots more.
The book was written before the introduction of PHP 4.2, so certain 4.2 (and up) specific issues are not covered. However, most of the examples in the book have been re-written for use with 4.2 and can be downloaded freely. On top of this the authors supply a level of support that is all but unheard of. Every question that I asked was answered within 1 day if not within the same day.
All in all this book is at the top of it's league, I can highly recommend it!
Product: Book Paperback
Title: Beginning PHP 5 and MySQL: From Novice to Professional
Publisher: Apress
Authors: W. J. Gilmore
Rating: 5/5
Title: Beginning PHP 5 and MySQL: From Novice to Professional
Publisher: Apress
Authors: W. J. Gilmore
Rating: 5/5
I knew nuts about PHP and MySQL. At the bookshop, I was contemplating between this book and another one from the Bible series. Skimming through both books, I felt confortable with this book rather than the other one, and I never regreted my decision to buy it. The author gives all his instructions clearly and concisely, making me grasp the language at ease. Everything started from the basics and builds up right up to the insights of the programming language. This gives the reader a good understanding of the what and whys going through a reader's mind. I would say that this is the best programming book that I've owned! FIVE STARS for the book!
Product: Book Paperback
Title: Oracle PL/SQL Programming, Third Edition
Publisher: O'Reilly
Authors: Steven Feuerstein
Rating: 5/5
Title: Oracle PL/SQL Programming, Third Edition
Publisher: O'Reilly
Authors: Steven Feuerstein
Rating: 5/5
I was a bit wary buying yet another Steve Feuerstein Bible, with my bookshelf already groaning under the weight of all the other ones including the 2nd Edition of this book. But he's never disappointed me yet, and this book was no exception. With all the latest 9i features blended right in, rather than being in their own section, it has made development easier when looking for the definitive reference to a complete code module. I particularly like Chapter 15 on NDS statements and dynamic PL/SQL and the entire Advanced PL/SQL section covering Java, External Procedures and PL/SQL Object Orientation. It is much better balanced than the 2nd Edition, more concise, and just better all round. A fine piece of work. I just get that Oracle 9i PL/SQL job just done quicker. Anybody want to buy an old 2nd Edition? No good to me anymore.
Product: Book Paperback
Title: MCDBA, MCSE, MCSD, MCAD Training Guide (70-229): SQL Server 2000 Database Design and Implementation
Publisher: Que
Authors: Thomas Moore, Ed Tittel
Rating: 4/5
Title: MCDBA, MCSE, MCSD, MCAD Training Guide (70-229): SQL Server 2000 Database Design and Implementation
Publisher: Que
Authors: Thomas Moore, Ed Tittel
Rating: 4/5
I found this book to be very comprehensive, although it put emphasis on the wrong aspects, aspects that are not relevant to the exam. This is a good book if you want to learn to use SQL Server, however you should definately supplement it with a MeasureUp practice exam if you intend to pass the 70-229 exam. (I just passed the exam using this book and a MeasureUp exam for preparation.)
Product: Book Paperback
Title: Beginning PHP 5 and MySQL: From Novice to Professional
Publisher: Apress
Authors: W. J. Gilmore
Rating: 5/5
Title: Beginning PHP 5 and MySQL: From Novice to Professional
Publisher: Apress
Authors: W. J. Gilmore
Rating: 5/5
I have thoroughly enjoyed reading Jason's book. His extensive knowledge of PHP shines throughout.
Chapter 2 is really nice for those who want a complete discussion on installation and configuration of PHP 5.
He then spends a lot of time covering the basics of the language that provides a good grounding for a beginner to PHP.
Next, he walks one through the new object-oriented functionality of PHP 5. He discusses the important concepts of OOP (object oriented programming) and shows what PHP 5 supports and how it does as well as what it does not support.
His chapter on regular expressions is great! I, as a Perl programmer, enjoyed its exposition. His method is to discuss the different functions and then provide a nice example.
The traditional chapter on PHP and web forms is easy to follow. After this he has chapters on authentication and file uploads, chock full of ideas. He discusses session handling functions and then has some very interesting real-world examples.
Templating using Smarty was done well. The chapter started explaining what templating was and then moved on to where to obtain it and its installation. He gave a sufficient number of examples of presentational logic using Smarty.
He spends about 180 pages discussing the MySQL database. First he discusses its installation and configuration. He has a nice discussion on the different table structures. It is nice to see a good discussion on MySQL's privileges. I found his chapter on PHP and MySQL useful with examples of selection and data manipulation. For those not very familiar with databases, the chapters on indexes and transactions are well worth exploring.
I was thrilled to see a chapter of web services. PHP 5's SOAP extension is nicely explained. He has a good example of a soap server, client and the corresponding WSDL file. He also delves into NuSOAP, which has to be downloaded. He explains how easy NuSOAP makes it to work with SOAP. For example, the WSDL document is generated automatically.
Gilmore's use of examples throughout the book is excellent. I highly recommend this book to anyone who want to both learn PHP and discover all the additions with version 5.
