IT programming books related reviews
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 took the Microsoft Course and purchased the book and the new book by Lance Mortensen. I nearly passed. The problem is that the material required for the test is in many cases not covered in the books. The new Transender exam is available in beta form.
Product: Book Paperback
Title: Oracle SQL and PL/SQL Handbook: A Guide for Data Administrators, Developers, and Business Analysts
Publisher: Addison-Wesley Professional
Authors: John Adolph Palinski
Rating: 2/5
Title: Oracle SQL and PL/SQL Handbook: A Guide for Data Administrators, Developers, and Business Analysts
Publisher: Addison-Wesley Professional
Authors: John Adolph Palinski
Rating: 2/5
I originally started an on-line training course to learn Oracle SQL however, the course was so confusing and dull that I thought the only way to learn was a 'do it yourself'. At the bookstore there were a couple of books that covered the topic but a quick browse through the books dictated this was the book for me! The others just seemed to be too 'techie' and boring.This book guides you through the A - Z of relational Databases. From the creation of tables, populating them and then retrieving, amending and deleting information - this is a one stop shop.There are examples to show the user exactly how to write things and also what is retrieved with each query. Everything is explained in an easily interpreted manner.There is also a database that comes with the book and you can practice what you have learned there and then. The quiz at the end of every chapter to review what you have just learned - is also very helpful.This should be the beginners handbook/bible to SQL - I have recommended it to everyone that I work with!
Product: Book Paperback
Title: PHP: Your Visual Blueprint for Creating Open Source, Server-Side Content
Publisher: Visual
Authors: Paul Whitehead, Joel Desamero
Rating: 4/5
Title: PHP: Your Visual Blueprint for Creating Open Source, Server-Side Content
Publisher: Visual
Authors: Paul Whitehead, Joel Desamero
Rating: 4/5
This book is a must have reference to PHP programming. It's a bit difficult to read, but it's great to have around. If you are an absoulte beginer looking to learn PHP, this isn't your book right away...wait a couple of months and then buy it.
Product: Book Paperback
Title: MCSE SQL Server 2000 Database Design Exam Cram (Exam: 70-229)
Publisher: Coriolis Group Books
Authors: Sean Chase, Richard McMahon
Rating: 5/5
Title: MCSE SQL Server 2000 Database Design Exam Cram (Exam: 70-229)
Publisher: Coriolis Group Books
Authors: Sean Chase, Richard McMahon
Rating: 5/5
After reading this book I passed the exam without any difficulty. The book is concise, not like the Resource Kit or any other SQL Server manuals (encyclopedias).
Product: Book Paperback
Title: PHP and MySQL for Dynamic Web Sites: Visual QuickPro Guide
Publisher: Peachpit Press
Authors: Larry Ullman
Rating: 5/5
Title: PHP and MySQL for Dynamic Web Sites: Visual QuickPro Guide
Publisher: Peachpit Press
Authors: Larry Ullman
Rating: 5/5
I gain great experience in learning PHP/MySQL using the book. I love it very much. Now, I have adequate knowledge and skills to develop a web application.
Product: Book Paperback
Title: MCSE Database Design on SQL Server 7 Exam Cram (Exam: 70-029)
Publisher: Coriolis Group Books
Authors: Jeffrey Garbus, David Pacuzzi, Alvin Chang, David Pascuzzi
Rating: 3/5
Title: MCSE Database Design on SQL Server 7 Exam Cram (Exam: 70-029)
Publisher: Coriolis Group Books
Authors: Jeffrey Garbus, David Pacuzzi, Alvin Chang, David Pascuzzi
Rating: 3/5
Does not cover all topics and has an abrupt style. Answers to questions are not convincing. Even some silly mistakes (e.g. in SUBSTRING(expression, start, length), book says third parameter is the ending character rather than the length !). Do not rely too much on this book.
Product: Book Paperback
Title: PHP and MySQL Web Development
Publisher: Sams
Authors: Luke Welling, Laura Thomson
Rating: 4/5
Title: PHP and MySQL Web Development
Publisher: Sams
Authors: Luke Welling, Laura Thomson
Rating: 4/5
good book, I liked it as I like most Sams books. Lots of examples makes it easier to learn.
Product: Book Paperback
Title: Google Hacks
Publisher: O'Reilly
Authors: Tara Calishain, Rael Dornfest
Rating: 5/5
Title: Google Hacks
Publisher: O'Reilly
Authors: Tara Calishain, Rael Dornfest
Rating: 5/5
It has been quite a while since I have come across a book I'd label `essential.' The last for non-programming computer users was Robin Williams' `The Mac Is Not A Typewriter' which I bought for a number of new Macintosh users. `Google Hacks' by Tara Calishain and Rael Dornfest and published by O'Reilly will appeal to an even wider audience, I can imagine buying this for friends who haven't cottoned on to `net searching at all and friends who complain "Google returns too many sites." People who are afraid to code shouldn't be put off by the "Hacks" in the title: O'Reilly have obviously taken a wider meaning of "hack" than just a neat piece of code. This book is a marvelous compendium of tips and tricks for Google, ranging from simple ways of getting the search results you want, through using Google's newer services such as phone books and image search, all the way to advanced ways of using scrapers and the Google API.The book demonstrates 100 hacks, of which close to half are useful for everyone -- newbie, programmer and non-programmer alike. The first 35 hacks, in chapters one and two, will educate you about the intricacies of getting the best out of searching both Google's main web catalog and the newer `Special Services and Collections.' This is the part of the book that should be essential reading for Google users -- in the two days I've had this book these have proved invaluable. The rest are for those who are either looking for extremely advanced search tips, increasing their web site's Google page rank, or programming an application to use the Google data -- all topics well covered in this volume.What's Good In This BookTo start, it is well written, well laid out with a good contents section, good index, and some appropriate introductory material before getting down to the first hack. Each of the hacks are numbered and a single hack will often cross-reference other hacks that add information relevant to it. The hacks in each chapter nicely add on each other in both complexity and function.The hacks themselves seem to cover every area of Google that you might want. They range from the downright frivolous (there is a chapter "Google Pranks and Games") to serious ways of improving your search results and excellent examples of good ways to use the Google API.Most of the code fragments are in Perl, and among the hacks are ways of getting the job done without over extensive use of extra modules such as XML Parsers and SOAP::Lite (including a hack that uses regular expressions to parse the XML).What's Bad In This BookIt's hard to find anything bad to say, apart from some frustration that a couple of the hacks that interested me used ASP or VB rather than a more portable language.Oh, another minor quibble, the allied web site O'Reilly Hacks Series has been slow and has none of the code in the book or any of the URLs mentioned listed anywhere -- it seems more geared towards marketing the books than helping the readers.
Product: Book Paperback
Title: PHP 5 Objects, Patterns, and Practice
Publisher: Apress
Authors: Matt Zandstra
Rating: 4/5
Title: PHP 5 Objects, Patterns, and Practice
Publisher: Apress
Authors: Matt Zandstra
Rating: 4/5
I haven't read a book on PHP in ages. In fact, I haven't programmed in PHP since 2001. With this in mind, I can say that Matt Zandstra's "PHP 5 Objects, Patterns, and Practice" was a very approachable introduction to what the latest version of the PHP platform has to offer to an OO developer from the Java scene.
The book is split to three main sections: objects, patterns, practice. The first section runs through the new object-oriented features of PHP 5, the second sections introduces design patterns and includes a catalog of some of the more common patterns from the original Gang of Four patterns as well as from "Core J2EE Patterns". The third section is a set of tutorials on tools and assets that a modern day PHP developer really should know about and make use of: the PEAR installation tool, PhpDocumentor, and the Phing build tool. The author also squeezed in a bit about the PHPUnit2 library for unit testing PHP code which I especially appreciated.
The design patterns catalog is far from comprehensive, covering only a small subset of published design patterns in the Java/.NET camps, but serves its purpose alright. Every included pattern is illustrated with an example that the author has crafted for the PHP context - in other words, these are not just direct ports from their Java equivalents, for example.
While being an easy read, Zandstra's introduction to the object-oriented features is, I believe, perfectly adequate to get started with object-oriented PHP programming. Combined with the discussion about design patterns, the book feels like a valuable asset for getting up to speed after a break. A more up-to-date PHP developer might find the information a bit lacking but for someone new to PHP 5's object-oriented features, this is a good package to get started with.
Product: Book Paperback
Title: SQL for Dummies
Publisher: For Dummies
Authors: Allen G. Taylor
Rating: 3/5
Title: SQL for Dummies
Publisher: For Dummies
Authors: Allen G. Taylor
Rating: 3/5
I like to start off projects with simple concepts and a few examples to get off the ground. Well this book does just that. Unfortunately I would also like to have some example of input and output. I chose this book because it was not database specific, as I am converting files from an Informix database, through a filter, to a flat file, for later conversion to an Oracle database, with a different structure. Unfortunately this book (being universal) has no universal explanation as to how to get information from a flat file in or out of the database. First you have to find the term they use, not ASCII, not flat, not import, not export, not not not. The term is found in chapter 7 "foreign." The explanation on how to do this is to "...turn to one of the professional data translation services." Great, just what I wanted to know.
