IT programming books related reviews
Product: Book Paperback
Title: Real World Web Services
Publisher: O'Reilly
Authors: Will Iverson
Rating: 5/5
Title: Real World Web Services
Publisher: O'Reilly
Authors: Will Iverson
Rating: 5/5
Then the world got more complex. We started connecting the web to databases so that much bigger sites could be developed with huge amounts of data. ==Then we wanted to do eCommerce, and we needed a way to do credit card validation. So our servers talked not only to our database but connected to some other system to get data about the credit card's validity and to deposit the money received.
There have become a huge number of web services available. To list just a few, there's Amazon, eBay, Google, FedEx, Pay Pal, InterFAX. From a web site you can link to these sites and get information from them that you can then integrate into your own site.
With this huge number of web services that have become available, there have become a new set of problems. Which services, which interfaces work in the real world? ==In this book, Will Iverson presents his experiences with several real world, actually operating web services. He provides detailed examples of contacting several big web sites including the programming necessary to interface to them.
This book is written for the Java journeyman. To quote from Chapter 3, "You should be familiar with basic object-oriented development, know how to add libraries to your class path, understand TCP/IP and basic networking, and be familiar with basic JSP-based web application development.
I'm not. I use Cold Fusion to do my web programming. I found the descriptions in the book entirely adequate to get me started in programming what I needed. I'm glad he did the programming because that proved that the services worked. What's important in this book is not the programming, it's the real world experience of what's really working right now out there in the real world.
Product: Book
Title: PHP and MySQL For Dummies, 2nd Edition
Publisher:
Authors: Janet Valade
Rating: 5/5
Title: PHP and MySQL For Dummies, 2nd Edition
Publisher:
Authors: Janet Valade
Rating: 5/5
I really loved this book. As a web programmer new to the field, I have read many books on subjects ranging from ASP to XML, and Janet's book was one of the easiest, most-well layed out I have attached my eyeballs to! Great for beginners!
Product: Book Paperback
Title: From Access to SQL Server
Publisher: Apress
Authors: Russell Sinclair
Rating: 5/5
Title: From Access to SQL Server
Publisher: Apress
Authors: Russell Sinclair
Rating: 5/5
I manage a group of "non-programmers" who do Access programming for a living. A couple months ago we were handed a SQL server in anticipation of moving our incredibly complex Access databases on to SQL. No instructions, no guidance, nothing. I started looking for any references but could not find any thing. When I saw the title of this book, From Access to SQL Server, I thought I might be on to something. After receiving the book I knew I made the right decision. This book is laid out in an easy to read and understand format. Assumptions are made that the reader has a clue and actually does know how to open a file. This is not a dummy-idiot book; I didn't feel that I was wasting my time searching through things that were completely redundant. Helpful items are the screen shots and conversion suggestions or warnings. I really feel that with this reference tool we will be able to accomplish the task given us.
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
One deniable fact of the book is the presentation. The presentation is simple and easy to understood. Language used is simple , attractive and not complicated as others. Explanations are clear and direct to the point , embedded with examples which makes the book worth. Its a rare ability in programmers/ developers to put into simple words, but the author has possed such skills. Another added advantage is the organization of the book itself. Organized in such way , thats to introduce PHP and Web based developments efficiently to newbie or intermediate users whom is seeking to improve the coding style. Explains are so beneficial with so many functions explained by using example and thats great for beginners. But if you are a experienced and advance level user, this book might not satisfy your need, but rather a quick reference with example for advance users. Chapter on Software Engineering is another strentgh, presented in simpler way on how someone could achieve/acquire the designing skills as the desinging skills is equally important with coding. An intelligent coding could be handicapped with a poor design. Basically , new users and intermediate users will benefit alot from this 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
An equally appropriate title for this book would be Thinking in Transact-SQL. It reminds me much of Bruck Eckle's Thinking in... programming books. It is about solving the tough problems you often encounter in T-SQL development.The sample code statistics for the book are mind boggling: over 600 code sample files in about that many pages. This is a very code-centric book. The way it typically works is the author presents a common problem people run into in T-SQL, then shows multiple solutions to it, comparing and contrasting each one. Expert teaching doesn't get any better than this.There are over 100 undocumented procedures revealed. That alone is worth the cost of the book. Many of these are quite handy and I'm glad to finally know about them.Joe Celko says in the forward that this is the best T-SQL book, bar none. He is absolutely right. If you work with SQL Server, you owe it to yourself to learn the secrets this book teaches inside-out.
Product: Book Paperback
Title: Microsoft SQL Server(TM) 7.0 Administrator's Pocket Consultant
Publisher: Microsoft Press
Authors: William R. Stanek
Rating: 5/5
Title: Microsoft SQL Server(TM) 7.0 Administrator's Pocket Consultant
Publisher: Microsoft Press
Authors: William R. Stanek
Rating: 5/5
This is a very helpful book. Concisely put together, I find it's my only reference I use to learn how to use our SQL server installation. The book gets me started in the right direction, then I'm able to figure things out on my own.
Product: Book Paperback
Title: Google Hacking for Penetration Testers
Publisher: Syngress
Authors: Johnny Long
Rating: 4/5
Title: Google Hacking for Penetration Testers
Publisher: Syngress
Authors: Johnny Long
Rating: 4/5
The book "Google Hacking for penetration testers" is no doubt a real eye opener and as far as I know the first book on the marcet thoroughly covering this important issue. I am confident that this will soon be refered to as a "Standard" literature for IT security.
It is also a nice additional feature that each chapter has its summary at the end.
The actual "contents" of the book is (currently) well worth the money, however there are a few things which I didnt like about the book:
- Book layout should be easier readable / accessable
- The physical pages look like photocopies or copy of a novell that I picked up in a sale.
- optional overview chart tables (take out) would have been a very helpful addition.
- The book reads like an interview or keynote speech, but should actually be more engineering like.
- Whats the point in printing pages of scripts ? Shouldnt that be downloadable or on a cd ? Or at least in the Appendix ?
Summary:
For now probably the "best search engine feature summary on the marcet". The layout of the book should be newly structured to be in an easier accessable format. I guess what I dislike most about the book is the casual writing style and the missing engineer style. The book is hardly usable as a reference but more as a one time read.
If the contents wouldnt be worth it, I would rate it with less. Unfortunately the layout absolutely disvalues the contents value. Usually casual writing style is used to fill the pages, with content thats not thoroughly researched.
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
The index in this book is appalling. The index is 95% function listings. How do I do search and replace on strings? If I don't know the name of the function that does it (the very reason I checked the book), then I'm out of luck.Also amusing is the egregious cut'n'paste error on the page explaining the CD-ROM, where they refer to the licensing for the Core Java Web Server CD-ROM. Ooops!
Product: Book Paperback
Title: Hitchhiker's Guide to Visual Basic and SQL Server
Publisher: Microsoft Press
Authors: William R. Vaughn
Rating: 4/5
Title: Hitchhiker's Guide to Visual Basic and SQL Server
Publisher: Microsoft Press
Authors: William R. Vaughn
Rating: 4/5
The information is very interesting for a starter. The language is very noisy and distracting which leads to a perception of significant time lossage when reading the book. It's a pitty, that MS Press hasn't published the "Inside ADO", which it has announced, as it could contain more or less the same information and at the same time keep up with the usual high lingual quality typically mastered by MS Press.
Product: Book Paperback
Title: Sams Teach Yourself PHP, MySQL and Apache in 24 Hours
Publisher: Sams
Authors: Julie C. Meloni
Rating: 2/5
Title: Sams Teach Yourself PHP, MySQL and Apache in 24 Hours
Publisher: Sams
Authors: Julie C. Meloni
Rating: 2/5
This book was exasperating to use. It described easy topics at length while leaving important details murky or omitted altogether. Many commmands and structures are described out of context, leaving you with little idea of *why* a person might use a particular form. It doesn't try to put the ideas together into a unified application until the end.
Much better is _PHP and MySQL Web Development_ by Welling and Thomson, which introduces concepts in the context of building an e-commerce site. Even though it is longer than the SAMS book, the writing is tighter, more concise, better organized, and generally much easier to understand.
