IT programming books related reviews
Product: Book Paperback
Title: SQL/400 Developer's Guide
Publisher: 29th Street Press
Authors: Paul Conte, Mike Cravitz
Rating: 5/5
Title: SQL/400 Developer's Guide
Publisher: 29th Street Press
Authors: Paul Conte, Mike Cravitz
Rating: 5/5
As a developer and designer of AS/400 commercial software, I have always respected Paul Conte's contributions to my sphere of technical knowledge. This book furthers that respect. It expands on the chapter on SQL in Paul Conte's Database Design and Programming for DB2/400, a MUST-HAVE book for every AS/400 development team in its own right. Paul and Mike do an excellent job of introducing the unique features of the OS/400 operating system as they relate to SQL, and proceed in a logical fashion to explain both the data description and data manipulation aspects of SQL/400. I especially appreciated the various design tips- for example, how to create an SQL table with a member name that differs from the file name (a problem unique to AS/400 programming considerations). The section on dynamic SQL processing is particularly helpful. The examples can be put to good use immediately for writing useful SQL applications. The use of different languages to present these examples means the book will be helpful to RPG or Cobol programmers. Ignore the earlier reviewer who claimed this is a regurgitation of IBM's manuals. This is simply not true.For those who are just embarking on database programming, chapters 17-19, on general concepts regarding data modelling and relational database design, are worth the price of the book alone. They provide guidance for using a formal approach to database design, instead of the 'intuitive' approach many of us old-timers have grown up with. The only area I would like to have seen more detailed discussion is on the subject of remote connections (DRDA). The writing is clear, concise, technically accurate and complete, which is typical of all Paul's work, including his prolific magazine article output. I imagine Mike Cravitz's contribution is also significant, having read several of his articles also. These two guys are the 'real thing' - not like many of the technical imposters writing in the AS/400 realm. Get this book and read it. For further database programming insights, read their News/400 articles, too.
Product: Book Paperback
Title: Microsoft SQL Server 7.0 Database Implementation Training Kit (Training Kit)
Publisher: Microsoft Press Rating: 5/5
Title: Microsoft SQL Server 7.0 Database Implementation Training Kit (Training Kit)
Publisher: Microsoft Press Rating: 5/5
I would consider this an essential if you're attempting to pass 70-29. Having vaguely only heard of SQL Server prior to 3 weeks ago, I was able to fall short of passing on my first attempt by 1 question, using this training material alone.
Product: Book Paperback
Title: Core PHP Programming: Using PHP to Build Dynamic Web Sites (2nd Edition)
Publisher: Pearson Education
Authors: Leon Atkinson
Rating: 4/5
Title: Core PHP Programming: Using PHP to Build Dynamic Web Sites (2nd Edition)
Publisher: Pearson Education
Authors: Leon Atkinson
Rating: 4/5
Part 1 of the book is best. I was already proficient in C, Perl, Java. So I was able to quickly skim through the book and get into production right away. There are, however, some unfortunate errors in the book -- The mysql database section, lists:$mysql_select_db(... instead of mysql_select_dbYou can see that it was rushed. I'd prefer it rushed, however, than just being put out now.Great work Leon!
Product: Book Paperback
Title: SQL Tuning
Publisher: O'Reilly
Authors: Dan Tow
Rating: 5/5
Title: SQL Tuning
Publisher: O'Reilly
Authors: Dan Tow
Rating: 5/5
For many years the process of SQL Tuning has been considered an "art". SQL tuning books written to date have presented guidelines and "things to try" but "SQL Tuning" by Dan Tow is different. This is the first book I have seen that presents a clear methodology to attack the problem in a scientific/mathematical way and includes a diagramming technique to visualize the components of a query that affect performance. Dan's book has gone a long way in helping to transform SQL tuning from an art to a science.The first four chapters of the book cover some of the subjects that are found in other SQL tuning books, and focus on the important points without delving too deeply into database internals. The really "good stuff" is covered in chapters 5 through 10, which includes how to "draw" a query diagram, and the procedures to follow to derive an optimal join order. The problems/examples presented and resolved in these chapters help the reader get a start on understanding the methodology, which can then be applied to actual tuning problems as they are encountered.So far I have applied this technique to about 20 tuning problems I have encountered on the job using the Oracle RDBMS. I still consider myself a relative novice in using the methodology, but for each of the 20 problems I have been able to significantly reduce elapsed time and resource consumption (gets/reads). Also, these results were achieved in a matter or hours, rather than days. The query diagram has even facilitated finding "missing joins" in some of the queries without having a knowledge of the particular application.This book is a "must have" for DBA's and developers and I highly recommend it.
Product: Book Paperback
Title: Oracle PL/SQL Interactive Workbook (2nd Edition)
Publisher: Prentice Hall PTR
Authors: Benjamin Rosenzweig, Elena Silvestrova
Rating: 5/5
Title: Oracle PL/SQL Interactive Workbook (2nd Edition)
Publisher: Prentice Hall PTR
Authors: Benjamin Rosenzweig, Elena Silvestrova
Rating: 5/5
We released the Second Edition of this book on Oct 25th 2002. The same reader reviews are appearing under the listing of both editions so please note that comments dated prior Oct 25th 2002 relate to the first edition. We have corrected the mistakes in the first edition for the second edition and added over 240 pages of new information. A few chapters were completely rewritten so as to cover the newer Oracle 9i features. The second edition is 688 pages vs. the first editon at 447 pages. If you are seeing this comment on the first edition you can find the second edition by searching for the ISBN number 0130473200
Product: Book Paperback
Title: Mastering Oracle PL/SQL: Practical Solutions
Publisher: Apress
Authors: Connor McDonald, Chaim Katz, Christopher Beck, Joel R. Kallman, David C. Knox
Rating: 4/5
Title: Mastering Oracle PL/SQL: Practical Solutions
Publisher: Apress
Authors: Connor McDonald, Chaim Katz, Christopher Beck, Joel R. Kallman, David C. Knox
Rating: 4/5
I've had this book for a couple of months now. I've been waiting to finish it before writing a review, but it doesn't look like I'll be finished with it any time soon mostly because I'm using it as a reference book instead of reading it from front to back.
Clearly the book wasn't written as a reference book. Just look up almost any topic in the index and you'll find a number of entries scattered all over the place. Pipe-lined functions, for example, are written about in 4 (four) separate chapters! But the index is good and the material isn't redundant. The reason for this strange structure, I think, is as follows:
The book is divided into two equal length sections. The first half deals in general with PL/SQL strategies and techniques: how to check your code for efficiency, why code should be in packages, how to use cursors, cursor variables, cursor expressions, anchored data types and collections. The second half of the book re-visits most of the same topics in an application centric way (often using PL/SQL supplied packages). It's natural that some of the same techniques and strategies will be re-used and there will be some overlap in the application-oriented chapters.
Sometimes though, the repetition is weird: both the trigger chapter and the security chapter describe a logon trigger that's designed to prevent an ODBC user from accessing the database. The security chapter discusses the data base object grants that are necessary for the trigger to work while the trigger chapter omits all this. The trigger chapter discusses the security risk with the trigger, how a user can often rename the desktop application and bypass the trigger's intent (and purpose) while the security chapter doesn't mention that problem at all.
The book's style (but not its (lack of) organization) is clearly influenced by Tom Kyte's writing, (one of the technical reviewers). Each proposition, especially in the first 1/2 of the book is backed up with a SQL proof/example/argument (based usually on the v$stat view). The style is taken to the max in the discussion of implicit vs. explicit cursors, (in chapter 3). There the discussion stretches over 10 pages and alternates between thesis anti-thesis proof and counter proof like a debate in a Tibetan monastery.
A nice thing is that there's often more than one solution to a problem. For example the code that monitors the Oracle alert file for error messages opens the alert file as an EXTERNAL TABLE, but then an alternate approach is described, which opens the alert file as a BFILE (an external LOB). This is coupled with an explanation about why you might want to go one way or the other, which is very illuminating (although in this specific case, I'm not sure why the author didn't simply open the alert file using utl_file supplied package.)
In my opinion, the chapter describing the PL/SQL Web Toolkit and related technologies is a treasure trove by itself and probably worth the price of the whole book. I don't believe this information is available in such an engaging lucid way anywhere else. It's the only chapter that I had read without stopping.
The book came out as Oracle10g was being released, which raises an important question - is this book already outdated or not? My feeling is that the book is just relevant for 10g PL/SQL developers as 9i developers. The reason I say this is that the PL/SQL language from the developer's point of view has not changed between 9i and 10g (See the paper on OTN 'What's New in PL/SQL in Oracle Database 10g?' which emphasizes that the main changes in PL/SQL 10g - compiler and execution environment - are transparent to the developer.) Maybe, for 10g, the book could have mentioned some of the new PL/SQL supplied packages, for example, dbms_scheduler in addition to dbms_job, or utl_mail instead of utl_smtp, htmldb in addition to the web toolkit, but obviously this has no impact on the book's main message.
What is the book's main message? Demonstrate that the PL/SQL code you write is performant and scalable (chapter 1). The rest of the book is a hodgepodge of technical PL/SQL advice and techniques that should have been organized like a dictionary or an encyclopedia. But nothing is perfect and you can still learn a lot from this eccentric PL/SQL text (even if you can't read it from cover to cover).
Product: Book Paperback
Title: PHP and MySQL Web Development
Publisher: Sams
Authors: Luke Welling, Laura Thomson
Rating: 5/5
Title: PHP and MySQL Web Development
Publisher: Sams
Authors: Luke Welling, Laura Thomson
Rating: 5/5
I don't write alot of reviews, and hardly ever give 5 stars, but this one is worth it. This massive text (800+ pages) includes all of the basic elements that either a beginner or an advanced user may look to a text for assistance with (note: these subjects, PHP and web databases, are traditionally self-taught at this time, a good text is ESSENTIAL!). The CD includes open source licensed Apache, PHP and MySQL (Linux and WIN), and all code from the book. The book format is logical and good for self-pacing; early sections teach PHP language features (including arrays, regular expressions, objects/classes), then MySQL language and calling constructs (RDMS design theory, SELECT, UPDATE, INSERT, and advanced SQL). Later chapters discuss implementing user authentication and security, session mgmt and other advanced concepts. Final chapters (over 250 pages) provide ample example web database applications that probably cover about any project you would use these languages for (including shopping cart, content mgmt, web-based e-mail, mailing list mgr and a web-based forum). The final chapter describes using PDF to format text documents (my ISP does not provide this module therefore I skipped that section).I recently began a private web database project and made the decision to proceed open source (PHP, MySQL) versus going the Microsoft way (ASP, SQL Server). This meant I had to learn PHP and MySQL. I purchased 4 books and the Welling & Thomson text was most utilized of all. My only gripe is they don't provide summary reference sections on PHP and MySQL functions / commands. You will probably just download the official user manuals for these anyway.This book is well worth the price, IMHO.
Product: Book Paperback
Title: Php 4 Bible (Bible (Wiley))
Publisher: Hungry Minds
Authors: Tim Converse, Joyce Park
Rating: 2/5
Title: Php 4 Bible (Bible (Wiley))
Publisher: Hungry Minds
Authors: Tim Converse, Joyce Park
Rating: 2/5
The first thing I noticed working through this book is that most of the examples are pointlessly complicated, and not even useful in the real world. There is no real layout to how functions are shown... you're given an example or two, and that's about it. Rarely do they give a detailed list of parameters, and how to properly use it. No appendix of functions for easy reference, either. The most disturbing problem is the glaring errors in the book. The biggest error is the assumption that register_globals is on, even though in recent versions of PHP it defaults to off. The code does not mention where this will matter, creating some very frustrating searches through the real PHP documentation on how to properly use a variable. I've noticed many other errors in the use of functions in the book. There is no errata on the website, either. This book is two years old, and shows it's age. Get a better PHP book... there's plenty of them.
Product: Book Paperback
Title: Sybase SQL Server 11 Dba Survival Guide
Publisher: Sams Pub
Authors: David S. Solomon, Brian Tretter, Ray Rankins
Rating: 3/5
Title: Sybase SQL Server 11 Dba Survival Guide
Publisher: Sams Pub
Authors: David S. Solomon, Brian Tretter, Ray Rankins
Rating: 3/5
Among others, I purchased this book along with "SYBASE SQL SERVER 11 UNLEASHED". I was amazed to find that both books contain largely the exact same text. Not almost the same words but EXACTLY the same text. Either book is useful by it's self however, there is no point in purchasing them both. While I am a dedicated follower of the "UNLEASHED" series, I was very disappointed in the publisher this time.
Product: Book Paperback
Title: PHP Fast & Easy Web Development, 2nd Edition
Publisher: Muska & Lipman/Premier-Trade
Authors: Julie C. Meloni
Rating: 1/5
Title: PHP Fast & Easy Web Development, 2nd Edition
Publisher: Muska & Lipman/Premier-Trade
Authors: Julie C. Meloni
Rating: 1/5
The first one-third of the book is pretty good. But beginning Chapter 12, you will begin to find too many codes which simply do not work. I guess the authors did not bother to test the codes even once. If you have any doubt about what I wrote, please go to a local bookstore and check the codes on pages 181-191 (files: "show_createtable. html," :do_showfielddef.php," and "do_createtable.php." I cannot understand why this book got such a good feedback. I regret buying this book a lot.
