IT programming books related reviews
Product: Book Paperback
Title: The Sql Guide to Oracle
Publisher: Addison-Wesley Professional
Authors: R. Van Der Lans
Rating: 5/5
Title: The Sql Guide to Oracle
Publisher: Addison-Wesley Professional
Authors: R. Van Der Lans
Rating: 5/5
This book has proven to be extremely useful for learning as well as reference. The focus is on SQL, rather than Oracle. It is logically organized, clearly written and full of examples. The index could be more complete, but the overall layout of the book still makes it very easy to use.
Product: Book Paperback
Title: SQL Server Security Distilled, Second Edition
Publisher: Apress
Authors: Morris Lewis
Rating: 4/5
Title: SQL Server Security Distilled, Second Edition
Publisher: Apress
Authors: Morris Lewis
Rating: 4/5
This is a good book on security and covers most of the SQL security issues. It even goes in depth in describing the SQL security at the network layer. But if you already know that you should use Windows authentication, not use SA or other SQL accounts, stay away from port 1433, and regularly update SQL security patches, then you probably won't benefit substantially by reading this book. Nevertheless, it provides a comprehensive review of the SQL security.
Product: Book Paperback
Title: Unlocking OLAP With SQL Server 7 and Excel 2000
Publisher: Hungry Minds
Authors: Wayne S. Freeze, Wayne Freeze
Rating: 3/5
Title: Unlocking OLAP With SQL Server 7 and Excel 2000
Publisher: Hungry Minds
Authors: Wayne S. Freeze, Wayne Freeze
Rating: 3/5
When I first got this book, I was thrilled with it. After all, opening up OLAP with Excel 2000 is a pretty neat trick. Now, I have seen how bad this idea can be for Internet applications, and the honeymoon is over.
Don't get me wrong, this is not a bad book. Just because I do not find the book useful for the types of applications I work with does not make it bad. The three stars signifies that it is average, which is exactly what this book is.
In this plus column, this book gives you a nice introduction to OLAP. While not technical deep, the chapters on setting up your cubes will take you a long way into the world of OLAP. If you are interested in using Excel as your reporting front-end, you will find plenty of screenshots to help you through every step in the process.
On the downside, the book seems to rely a lot on screenshots and some of the written material is a bit thin. Understanding the purpose of the book, the thin parts are not so glaring.
Of course, the material is a bit old now, considering that both Excel and SQL Server have moved on to the next version. However, if you plan on using OLAP in SQL Server 7, consider putting this book on your wish list, as it has a lot of good content. I say this esp. if you have not worked with OLAP before.
Product: Book Paperback
Title: How to Do Everything with Google
Publisher: McGraw-Hill Osborne Media
Authors: Fritz Schneider, Nancy Blachman, Eric Fredricksen, Fritz Schneider, Nancy Blachman, Eric Fredricksen
Rating: 5/5
Title: How to Do Everything with Google
Publisher: McGraw-Hill Osborne Media
Authors: Fritz Schneider, Nancy Blachman, Eric Fredricksen, Fritz Schneider, Nancy Blachman, Eric Fredricksen
Rating: 5/5
I was familiar with some of the boolean logic for more advance searching but this book goes much much further. Google is a great service but they don't document their capabilities very well - this book takes care of the gap! It opened a new universe of opportunities and time savers. It's worth the investment - it'll pay back quickly in hours of time saved in searching.
Product: Book Paperback
Title: MCSE Microsoft SQL Server 2000 Database Design and Implementation: Readiness Review Exam 70-229 (Pro-Certification)
Publisher: Microsoft Press
Authors: Sharon Bjeletich, Eddy Hahn
Rating: 4/5
Title: MCSE Microsoft SQL Server 2000 Database Design and Implementation: Readiness Review Exam 70-229 (Pro-Certification)
Publisher: Microsoft Press
Authors: Sharon Bjeletich, Eddy Hahn
Rating: 4/5
For those folks already familiar with SQL Server, this book will fill-in any obvious knowledge gaps when preparing for the exam. It's like the related MSCE Training Kits in that it covers all the required topics, but with less detailed discussions and lab practices. It also costs less and demands less study time to complete. If you don't know SQL Server and T-SQL quite well this book will not help you pass the 70-229 exam. For example, while the included practice test will get you in the right mind set it does not drill you nearly enough on how to write sound stored procedures, triggers, and cursors.
Product:
Title:
Publisher: Rating: 4/5
Title:
Publisher: Rating: 4/5
I am a student of Oracle and found the book to be very useful and handy for quick references. It is well written and can be a useful desktop reference. However, the organization of the book could be better. The keywords section should be with the main content.
Product: Book Paperback
Title: Microsoft SQL Server 2000 Unleashed (2nd Edition)
Publisher: Sams
Authors: Ray Rankins, Paul Jensen, Paul Bertucci
Rating: 5/5
Title: Microsoft SQL Server 2000 Unleashed (2nd Edition)
Publisher: Sams
Authors: Ray Rankins, Paul Jensen, Paul Bertucci
Rating: 5/5
Authors have unnecessarily made the book too big. Hence very, very boring to read. I would recommend Microsoft BooksOnline, which has the topics laid out very well and makes it interesting to read.
Product: Book Paperback
Title: Pro SQL Server Reporting Services
Publisher: Apress
Authors: Rodney Landrum, Walter J. Voytek II
Rating: 5/5
Title: Pro SQL Server Reporting Services
Publisher: Apress
Authors: Rodney Landrum, Walter J. Voytek II
Rating: 5/5
Way back in the days when Microsoft Access was the latest thing in databases (and the earth was flat, and it was three miles to school, uphill both directions) it included quite a nice report generating package.
Then we all moved to higher performance data bases, and we lost that functionality unless we bought a separate package like Crystal Reports.
Now Microsoft has given us that functionality back and in an expanded manner that incorporates a lot of web presentation capability.
This book is on the capabilities of the reporting system now built into SQL Server. If you're familiar with other graphically based reporting systems, or if you've worked in a .NET environment, you should be able to read this book in an afternoon and begin doing reports.
After your first few reports you'll find that you want to go back to check on fancier capabilities, but you'll have the basics down.
The nice thing about this book is that it was written while the authors were in the process of converting some 200 reports to actually use the software. That way you find out how it really works as opposed to the way the manuals say. Good job.
Product: Book Paperback
Title: PHP Pocket Reference, 2nd Edition
Publisher: O'Reilly
Authors: Rasmus Lerdorf
Rating: 1/5
Title: PHP Pocket Reference, 2nd Edition
Publisher: O'Reilly
Authors: Rasmus Lerdorf
Rating: 1/5
If you want to learn PHP, there are other books on Amazon that actually teach it. If you want a good reference, php.net is the best place to go because it's up to date and each function reference includes user/developer comments. PHP changes so often that this book was probably outdated as soon as it was published. On top of that, it's really just a list, with no index. Although I'm a big fan of these O'Reilly pocket books, this one was a waste of my money.
Product: Book Paperback
Title: SQL Pocket Guide
Publisher: O'Reilly
Authors: Jonathan Gennick
Rating: 3/5
Title: SQL Pocket Guide
Publisher: O'Reilly
Authors: Jonathan Gennick
Rating: 3/5
Its a pocket guide on just the data manipulation components of the SQL language for the 4 major versions (Oracle, MySQL, MS SQL and DB2) - you can't judge this as a complete reference or learning guide. As SQL data manipulation has only a finite set of keywords and a fairly strict syntax, its hard to go wrong. Like most pocket guides, only people that already know the topic should purchase. As this title only covers data manipulation and not definition language control language (for example, page 112 does list the CREATE TABLE keywords, but as a secondary example and not a true reference), if you are looking for a complete reference guide to all things SQL, this is not your title.
The biggest problem I had with this book is it's organization and layout. Unlike other keyword guides that organize keyword references alphabetically, any time you need to refresh your memory on a specific keyword you have to find it first in the back index as this guide organizes by topic (Inserting Tables, Deleting Data, Predicates, etc.). The topic-oriented structure would be better served in a learning text, or as a secondary table of content for a larger reference guide. Once you do find your keyword's page, the actual layout of the text can make it difficult to quickly identify the topic, keyword, and target vendor. If you're going to run everything together in very similar font sizes and weights without a page break, a few horizontal lines and inverse text won't kill you.
Definitely a useful reference book if you're on the go and need to carry a reminder with you, but as a day to day desktop reference, there are other guides which provide more complete reference as well as better formatting.
