IT programming books related reviews
Product: Book Paperback
Title: Beginning SQL Server 2000 for Visual Basic Developers
Publisher: Peer Information Inc.
Authors: Thearon Willis
Rating: 5/5
Title: Beginning SQL Server 2000 for Visual Basic Developers
Publisher: Peer Information Inc.
Authors: Thearon Willis
Rating: 5/5
I had never touched SQL Server, nor was my programming up to par. However, Thearon Willis' style is easy to follow and fills in the learning curve nicely. After reading this book, I had a strong foundation needed to tackle most of the database requirments of my company.
Product: Book Hardcover
Title: Logging in Java with the JDK 1.4 Logging API and Apache log4j
Publisher: Apress
Authors: Samudra Gupta
Rating: 4/5
Title: Logging in Java with the JDK 1.4 Logging API and Apache log4j
Publisher: Apress
Authors: Samudra Gupta
Rating: 4/5
This book covers the two most popular logging APIS, the one built in to JDK 1.4 and the Apache log4j. The book starts with a brief introduction to logging and why we should care about it. The rest of the book is divided into two parts, each discussing one of the two APIs. The final chapter covers best practices and a brief comparison of the two APIs. The sections on the logging APIs are divided into two parts, the first discussing the features of the API and the next discussing how to create your own custom components to extend the API. The book is very well written. The author does a nice job of combining the discussion with code examples to make the topics clear. He uses UML diagrams appropriately to help the reader understand how a log request flows through the many classes. He clearly explains each of the classes in the logging frameworks and how to properly use them. The discussion of log4j ends with a chapter on the log tag library written for use with JSPs. Overall this is a very good book. If you are doing no more than very basic logging then this book is probably a lot more information than you need. But if you want to incorporate logging into your development projects in more than just a very basic way or if you are interested in comparing in detail the two APIs, you will find this book useful.
Product: Book CD-ROM
Title: Oracle PL/SQL: The Complete Video Course
Publisher: Prentice Hall PTR
Authors: Elena Silvestrova, Benjamin Rosenzweig, Ben Rosenzweig
Rating: 3/5
Title: Oracle PL/SQL: The Complete Video Course
Publisher: Prentice Hall PTR
Authors: Elena Silvestrova, Benjamin Rosenzweig, Ben Rosenzweig
Rating: 3/5
I bought the video expecting a better speaker. The woman who is the lecturer has a very heavy Russian accent, pauses often in mid sentence, blinks a lot and lacks dynamic presentation skills. The content seems ok, but a better presenter would improve the video greatly. Also, I can't understand why the cameraman doesn't center the camera.
Product: Book Paperback
Title: Oracle High-Performance SQL Tuning
Publisher: McGraw-Hill Osborne Media
Authors: Donald K. Burleson
Rating: 5/5
Title: Oracle High-Performance SQL Tuning
Publisher: McGraw-Hill Osborne Media
Authors: Donald K. Burleson
Rating: 5/5
It is an excellent book for those interested in the internals of sql. The knowledge of the author about the matter is excellent, and his style to write, clear, simple and funny.
Product: Book Paperback
Title: Php Fast & Easy Web Development (Fast & Easy Web Development)
Publisher: Premier Press
Authors: Julie C. Meloni
Rating: 5/5
Title: Php Fast & Easy Web Development (Fast & Easy Web Development)
Publisher: Premier Press
Authors: Julie C. Meloni
Rating: 5/5
This is one of the few books in this genre that's a true tutorial -- that is, it walks you through each process step by step, and it explains the rationale behind what you're doing. In addition, the book introduces good programming principles that can be applied to other languages. Even the most novice web programmer can follow along, but it's also a good guide for experienced developers who might just be getting up to speed with PHP.
Product: Book Paperback
Title: Professional SQL Server 7.0 Programming
Publisher: Wrox Press
Authors: Rob Vieira
Rating: 5/5
Title: Professional SQL Server 7.0 Programming
Publisher: Wrox Press
Authors: Rob Vieira
Rating: 5/5
This book is THE book when you want to learn SQL Serever 7 Databases. I passed the SQL Server 7.0 Database Design and Implementation exam 70-029 by studying this book! Its VERY clearly written. Anyone who has a concept of what SQL Server does and is, can master it by using this book. And guess what?, it has enough gun powder regarding SQL Server 7.0 to help you actually pass the 70-028 Admin exam as well! Last but not least, it is THE perfect companion for the DBA. I think many managers around the globe will be able to sleep at night if DBA's start using this wonderful book. I had a few problems with some topics...guess what..i e-mailed Mr. Robert Viera asking him to explain those topics. He replied within half a day!....its amazing! A man of such wisdom actually HAS time for his readers....and not only that he sent me a detailed e-mail of several paragraphs! Which i personally think is very impressive.Anyway....what i had to say, said it....now its up to you the reader of this review to either remain in the dark or excel in the glittery world of SQL Server 7.0.I REALLY Recommend this BOOK!
Product: Book Paperback
Title: Web Database Applications with PHP & MySQL, 2nd Edition
Publisher: O'Reilly
Authors: Hugh E. Williams
Rating: 4/5
Title: Web Database Applications with PHP & MySQL, 2nd Edition
Publisher: O'Reilly
Authors: Hugh E. Williams
Rating: 4/5
For my money one of the better examples of PHP with MySQL is the source to ubbthreads by Infopop. This source code seems to be very easy to read and well written. After reading the above book which I've only flicked through briefly, you'd be well advised to study a body of work like ubbthreads. Most programmers coming fom a JSP background will easily be able to pick up the differences.
Product: Book Paperback
Title: Using Microsoft SQL Server 7.0 (Using)
Publisher: Que
Authors: Rob Kraft, Matthew Shepker, Eric Wilson, Simon Gallagher, Tibor Karaszi
Rating: 3/5
Title: Using Microsoft SQL Server 7.0 (Using)
Publisher: Que
Authors: Rob Kraft, Matthew Shepker, Eric Wilson, Simon Gallagher, Tibor Karaszi
Rating: 3/5
This book is long on generalities and short on specifics and advanced topics. The most noticeable was the complete lack of information on interfaces with other database types, replication, external views, etc. If you need an introduction to SQL Server 7.0 the book is excellent. As titled, it leaves much to be desired.
Product: Book Paperback
Title: Web Application Development with PHP 4.0 (with CD-ROM)
Publisher: Sams
Authors: Tobias Ratschiller, Till Gerken
Rating: 5/5
Title: Web Application Development with PHP 4.0 (with CD-ROM)
Publisher: Sams
Authors: Tobias Ratschiller, Till Gerken
Rating: 5/5
This book is for people who are expeirenced with PHP and who wish to refine/extend their applications development skills (hence the title). As such, it is suited to web designers who have migrated to programming but who have no real formal programming background. I highly recomend this book because it provides the right guidence to turn you into a real "professional" web "programmer". So this book is a MUST if you have no formal programming training. I think that you need to be better than intermediate at PHP itself to understand ALL of it but it would still be useful for people who have already (but only) had a beginner's introduction. Many of the discoveries in this book are quite profound (particularly with regards to how PHP implements structures such as arrays and objects) but it can be tough to read/comprehend if you're not really interested in the finer points. The author _does_ demonstrate how the finer points affect real-world implementations.The nature of the [advanced] topics means discussing wider topics like XML are important and I think the author has approached this very well.I found the session management part of this book by itself worth the purchace price. The only part of the book I didn't bother to read was the last chapter on writing your own PHP modules since I'm not a C programmer, however this may change.
Product: Book Paperback
Title: Foundation PHP for Flash
Publisher: Friends of Ed
Authors: Steve Webster
Rating: 4/5
Title: Foundation PHP for Flash
Publisher: Friends of Ed
Authors: Steve Webster
Rating: 4/5
The premise of "PHP for Flash" is very, very exciting -- creating dynamic front-ends for the server side applications PHP and MySQL that makes simple HTML look awfully dull. To empower Flash with these open source technologies is unlike anything you've tried before -- it's a jolt of energy that gives new life to how you look at Flash, and gives fresh new ideas for your work.That said, "PHP for Flash" does an excellent job of gearing it's perspective toward Flash developers with little to no experience in PHP. You're expected to know a little ActionScript, and if you do, PHP is very easy to pick up. They're very, very close in style and function.Each chapter contains a project that integrates a simple Flash movie with PHP, whether it's a mailing list, an email form, a forum, a message board, a login/password app, etc.But let's be clear about this book's purpose >> This is NOT a book to pick up if you're looking for new creative ideas in Flash. It IS a great book if you already have ideas, and want to empower them with everything PHP has to offer.It may sound odd, but "PHP for Flash" is not a recommended book if you want to learn PHP, or even Flash and/or ActionScript. Other books, like "PHP and MySQL Web Development" and Colin Moock's "ActionScript: The Definitive Guide" are much better suited for a more well-rounded study of the aforementioned. "PHP for Flash" is quite valuable however, for it fills the void between the two -- the glue that marries PHP and ActionScript together. You may know ActionScript, or even PHP, but unless you know how to create a manager between the two that both Flash and PHP can understand, you're lost.This book gives great information about how Flash passes variables to PHP, and vice-versa, that you can't find in any other book. That alone makes "PHP for Flash" essential to making PHP and Flash work together.And one more thing >> I mentioned MySQL earlier. The first chapter in the book shows a pretty powerful example of Flash married with PHP/MySQL. But MySQL isn't picked up again until the last two chapters of the book. Everything inbetween is PHP and Flash only.That's great for novices, for you can get your feet wet with PHP first, and then see later how the addition of MySQL can really take you projects higher.If you want to make your Flash sites more intuitive, intelligent, and responsive to user input, by all means pick this up.
