IT programming books related reviews
Product: Book Paperback
Title: PHP by Example
Publisher: Que
Authors: Toby Butzon
Rating: 5/5
Title: PHP by Example
Publisher: Que
Authors: Toby Butzon
Rating: 5/5
Let's get right to the point. This is the Rosetta Stone of PHP books. This book and PHP go together like the Lone Ranger and Tonto (especially episode #114 titled "Tonto vs Microsoft "). All of the ancient PHP secrets will be answered within the pages of this book. If you have any inclination to start up your own website, or just want to do your part as a good American, I suggest you high tail it to the checkout page and buy yourself a copy of this book.
Product: Book Paperback
Title: Hitchhiker's Guide to SQL Server 2000 Reporting Services (Microsoft Windows Server System)
Publisher: Addison-Wesley Professional
Authors: Peter Blackburn, William R. Vaughn
Rating: 5/5
Title: Hitchhiker's Guide to SQL Server 2000 Reporting Services (Microsoft Windows Server System)
Publisher: Addison-Wesley Professional
Authors: Peter Blackburn, William R. Vaughn
Rating: 5/5
This book is the BEST IT book I have ever bought.
The technical content is in just the right quantity, yet it covers everything, and it is written in a manner in which even the non-techie can understand.
The DVD walk-thru's are just magnificent. I was able to setup from scratch in minimal time - thanks to the Guide Me's in the DVD. Yes, I even set up the SSL's as recommended !
I was always wanting the multiple/cascading parameters - now I know what to do !
Well done Peter and Bill.
Product: Book Paperback
Title: Php Fast & Easy Web Development (Fast & Easy Web Development)
Publisher: Premier Press
Authors: Julie C. Meloni
Rating: 1/5
Title: Php Fast & Easy Web Development (Fast & Easy Web Development)
Publisher: Premier Press
Authors: Julie C. Meloni
Rating: 1/5
She just let you follow codes line by line, again and again without explanation for what she wants her readers to follow. Plus, too many typo.The good of this book is the step by step installation instruction for MySQL, PHP, and Apache but not good enough for commercial or professional use; just enough for work on her codes in the book.
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
I cannot give this book five stars although it contains lots of valuable information some of which it is hardly possible to find elsewhere. Unfortunately, sometimes this information is scattered over a few chapters, and it is not sufficient to go to one single section in order to study one particular topic; sections/headings are not very well organised. I realise that HG is not a reference manual, but even if you read it from cover to cover (what I have done), you need to make a lot of efforts to put numerous pieces of the picture together. Another thing that I dislike about HG is that you have to know (and remember) basic stuff like syntax or to have a reference manual on your desk when you are reading HG. Just this creates an impression that the book does not suit beginners. In fact, it does! Just make sure to check out what is written in the reference manuals before reading a chapter or a section in HG. If you are a beginner, you can skip Ch. 4-8. If your are interested in DAO and RDO (with VB and SQL Server), all you need is MS manuals and HG; if you want to learn ADO (with VB and SQL Server), all you need is D.Sussman's ADO 2.0/2.1 Programmer's Reference from Wrox and HG (BTW, guys who admire the Wrox' book, you can find something new for you in HG!). The coverage of the Visual Database Tools in HG is excellent.So, the book is not perfect, but it is extremely useful, and I don't think that there is anything better about VB programming for SQL Server on the market.
Product: Book Paperback
Title: PHP and MySQL Web Development
Publisher: Sams
Authors: Luke Welling, Laura Thomson
Rating: 5/5
Title: PHP and MySQL Web Development
Publisher: Sams
Authors: Luke Welling, Laura Thomson
Rating: 5/5
I thought this book was comprehensive and well paced. It starts basic and continues at a steady ramp through advanced site programming methods. I had very little coding background and set up many of my web tools using the database and php fundamentals included in this manual.
I still find it a great reference resource and continually return to its information for refreshers on concepts. I have occasionally searched online for solutions and then think to check my copy of the manual only to find exactly what I needed.
It is one of the heaviest books I've ever bought, but I still took it on flights with me! =)
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
If you are considering "Transact-SQL Programming" by Kline, Gould & Zanevsky, get this book instead, unless you work exclusively with old Sybase systems or Microsoft releases before 6.0. Henderson's book has great code examples and clear explainations. I've worked with SQL for over 10 years and still learned useful new techniques. If he writes a new edition for SQL 2000, I will buy it too.
Product: Book Paperback
Title: Learning SQL: A Step-by-Step Guide Using Access
Publisher: Addison Wesley
Authors: Sikha Bagui, Richard Earp
Rating: 2/5
Title: Learning SQL: A Step-by-Step Guide Using Access
Publisher: Addison Wesley
Authors: Sikha Bagui, Richard Earp
Rating: 2/5
The pace is very slow for the really basic stuff while more sophisticated techniques, such as correlated sub-queries, are not explained well enough.
There are numerous errors in the book which suggest the authors don't really know Microsoft Access. Clearly, some of the worked problems were only tried on paper and not through Access itself. Significant errors appear in the discussion of data types (pp. 58 - 81), joins (p. 105), calculations with dates (p. 145), null constraints (p. 282) and referential integrity (p. 288). The downloadable example database does not comply with modern database design protocols.
For a much better book, try "SQL Queries for Mere Mortals" by Hernandez & Viescas.
Product: Book Hardcover
Title: MCDBA SQL Server 7 Administration Study Guide (Book/CD-ROM Set)
Publisher: Mcgraw-Hill Osborne Media
Authors: Syngress
Rating: 1/5
Title: MCDBA SQL Server 7 Administration Study Guide (Book/CD-ROM Set)
Publisher: Mcgraw-Hill Osborne Media
Authors: Syngress
Rating: 1/5
I came across this book for the exam. I found a lot of errors even on basic oncepts. It seems to me that the writer has no solid knowledge(at least some parts), however understand and explain in his own way, but in a wrong way.Here is the several example.1. explain DB objects with DB elements2. total number of DB that one server can hold 256 (The correct should be 32,767)3. still use the device term I stop reading after the first chapter and return the book to the retail book store.
Product: Book Paperback
Title: Advanced Transact-SQL for SQL Server 2000
Publisher: Apress
Authors: Itzik Ben-Gan, Tom Moreau
Rating: 3/5
Title: Advanced Transact-SQL for SQL Server 2000
Publisher: Apress
Authors: Itzik Ben-Gan, Tom Moreau
Rating: 3/5
After reading some of the negative reviews on here, I almost didn't buy this book. I'm a Transact SQL beginner, though, so whether a book with "Advanced" in the title isn't actually advanced doesn't matter to me. I think there's room for beginner books in the market, too. I am a seasoned coder that just started a new job and needed to get up to speed on Transact SQL quickly, so I bought Henderson's Guru's Guide book and this one. I have already reviewed Henderson's book, so now I'll share my experiences with this one.Having read through this book a couple of times now, I can say that I agree with some of the points some of the other readers have made. It's true that there are a lot of coding errors in the sample code. And it's true that the book doesn't always read very well. However, I still found the book to be useful. No, it's not up to par with Henderson's book, but that doesn't make it completely worthless. I'm not sorry I bought it. I don't think you can have too many books on SQL Server, and this one has certainly proved useful to me personally. If you are trying to get your legs under you as far as Transact SQL goes, this is a good place to start.
Product: Book Paperback
Title: SQL for Dummies
Publisher: For Dummies
Authors: Allen G. Taylor
Rating: 4/5
Title: SQL for Dummies
Publisher: For Dummies
Authors: Allen G. Taylor
Rating: 4/5
I am an accounting student and I read/studied this book prior to taking a formal, semester long class in SQL/Oracle Intro class. And it helped me a great deal. I agree with the individual above that stated that the book helps demistify SQL. You will walk away feeling less dumb but don't expect this book to land you a job querying databases for a living. This is an excellent first step in the right direction. There are portions of this book that only serve to expose you to certain siuations in which SQL may be practical. (For example...embedding SQL withing code) Don't even read that chapter until the end. Good Luck.
