IT programming books related reviews

Product: Book Paperback
Title: Sams Teach Yourself SQL in 10 Minutes, Third Edition
Publisher: Sams
Authors: Ben Forta
Rating: 5/5

Sams Teach Yourself Sql in 10 Minutes

With out a doubt, this is one of the best all around books I've seen to learn SQL. Mr. Forta supplies not only the script to create and populate the practice tables, but also notes on which statements might cause problems in particular DB's.I know there is another book for then next step, (Joe Clecko's SQL for Smarties?) but this one will get you moving.When looking for SQL books, make sure it has the create and populate scripts, or else you'll be let down before you even start.

Product: Book Paperback
Title: SQL Server 2000 Stored Procedure Programming
Publisher: Osborne/McGraw-Hill
Authors: Dejan Sunderic, Tom Woodhead
Rating: 1/5

Not worth a penny

Basically a reprint of the BOL. The worst part of the book is the XML coverage. It is nearly verbatim from the online docs. I think they added XML just to sell books. There's absolutely nothing here that isn't also in the BOL

Product: Book Paperback
Title: Advanced Transact-SQL for SQL Server 2000
Publisher: Apress
Authors: Itzik Ben-Gan, Tom Moreau
Rating: 1/5

Klunky language, shallow explanations, and buggy code

The book is heavily influenced by the Books Online. You almost come away from it feeling that the BOL should get a co-author credit. It's far from Advanced if Advanced is defined by that which goes beyond the BOL. I can't think of any part of the book that stands out as really beyond the BOL. There's the nigh useless deviation into complex math in T-SQL (why not try some graphics routines while you're at it <g>), but there's nothing that says, "Hey, look at me - I'll tell you something you could never learn from the BOL." The book was really disappointing.

Product: Book Paperback
Title: Core PHP Programming: Using PHP to Build Dynamic Web Sites (2nd Edition)
Publisher: Pearson Education
Authors: Leon Atkinson
Rating: 1/5

Under-whelming and a tree killer

The Core XXX series is printed by Prentice-Hall and the whole series suffers from bloat. This one has a 13 page (!) table of contents and just a few pages less than Bruce Eckel's masterful Thinking in Java 1100+ pages. A huge tome with no mention of the PHP command line. The only graphic is on the cover. Great though for the visually impaired with huge type. The writing style is not friendly, the presentation is not a tutorial in any sense. There may be lots of things in this book, but much more refernce book style than a learn-from book. When a scripting language takes on the characteristics of full-blown languages like C++ and Java, I think something is wrong. If you need to see some real-life coding examples that you can learn from, just Google 'php examples'. These are real meat-and-potatos code that will satisfy your real need which is to make PHP do things. While the programming talents of the authors is un-questionable, the writing talents displayed here are minimal. Overweight, overpriced and totally under-whelming.

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

Beginners Only

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: MCDBA SQL Server 7 Database Design, Study Guide (Exam 70-29)
Publisher: McGraw-Hill Companies Rating: 3/5

OK for review...

This book is average from this series (I have read around 12 others for MCSE, MCDBA and MCSD) and is good for exam preparation. To many of these book reviews complain about the "questions were not like the exam." If anyone thinks they can read one of these books and get certified they need to have their head examined (Okay, I know someone is saying "I did it."). As with any of these certifications, experience is necessary. This book has errors (as do most of the others I have read, and has anyone ever written a bug-free application!?!), try to find them and feel better about your qualifications for doing so. If you have experience in database design and have worked with SQL 7 then this book will allow you to focus on the topic and prepare for the exam. Don't expect to read it and become a SQL7 database design expert having never worked on SQL Server. So, if you don't know what normalization, an ER diagram, RI rules or SQL is then try starting someplace else and work your way towards experience first.

Product: Book Paperback
Title: Beginning PHP 5 and MySQL: From Novice to Professional
Publisher: Apress
Authors: W. J. Gilmore
Rating: 5/5

Excellent Resource for a PHP Novice

I am not a programmer, although I have dabbled in programming, primarily in Visual Basic. Having developed a number of websites using FrontPage, I needed a resource to help me see and understand the world outside of Microsoft. This book was a lucky find, and I recommend it wholeheartedly to PHP beginners. Hopefully, in a not-too-distant future, I will be able to write an advanced user's review of the same book :)

Product: Book Paperback
Title: Apache Server 2.0: The Complete Reference
Publisher: Osborne/McGraw-Hill
Authors: Ryan B. Bloom
Rating: 3/5

If your new to web servers this book isn't for you.

If you are familiar with Apache 1.3 and want to learn about all the great new features of 2.0 this book may be for you. Bloom does not hold your hand with step by step instructions. The Complete Reference is exactly what this is but all this information can be found in the free documentation that comes with Apache.

Product: Book Hardcover
Title: Inside Microsoft SQL Server 2000 (With CD-ROM)
Publisher: Microsoft Press
Authors: Kalen Delaney
Rating: 1/5

Far too descriptive, BOL type

Not really a good book, too descriptive.

Product: Book Hardcover
Title: Inside Microsoft SQL Server 2000 (With CD-ROM)
Publisher: Microsoft Press
Authors: Kalen Delaney
Rating: 4/5

One of the book to keep

A very useful reference combining with microsft web help during database programming

IT programming books related reviews

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