IT programming books related reviews
Product: Book Paperback
Title: Microsoft(r) SQL Server(tm) 2000 Analysis Services Step by Step
Publisher: Microsoft Press
Authors: OLAP Train, Reed Jacobson
Rating: 5/5
Title: Microsoft(r) SQL Server(tm) 2000 Analysis Services Step by Step
Publisher: Microsoft Press
Authors: OLAP Train, Reed Jacobson
Rating: 5/5
You would probably pay thousands of dollars for the level of training that Jacobson's book on Analysis Services provides.Even though this is an introductory book, it is aimed squarely at IT and database professionals.
In this well thought out and perfectly executed training guide, Jacobson does three things: a) he reviews in concise fashion the various OLAP and administrative operations provided by Analysis Services, b) more importantly, he explains to you why you would be interested in them, and c) most important, he shows you in exquisite detail how to perform the operations.
I was very impressed by the fact that the hands-on instructions are very clear and that the all the samples worked perfectly.After you finish Jacobson's book, you come away knowing the basics of OLAP and you will be comfortable performing basic tasks in the Analysis Services product. You will have a very thorough grounding in Analysis Services so that you can probe deeper into the more advanced topics of Analysis Services.The coverage in this book is broad and so doesn't go into great depth in some areas, such as MDX. However, Jacobson does go into some depth in the administrative areas of Cube optimization and Cube security.
Product: Book Paperback
Title: Google Hacking for Penetration Testers
Publisher: Syngress
Authors: Johnny Long
Rating: 5/5
Title: Google Hacking for Penetration Testers
Publisher: Syngress
Authors: Johnny Long
Rating: 5/5
About the only thing I don't like about this book is the title, Google Hacking For Penetration Testers. It sounds like it's going to be boring but it is far from it. This book is fantastic. I couldn't put it down. This book opens up a whole world of information vulnerability from a tool we use in searching for information, the Google search engine.
The book is like a college education spanning the freshman year all the way to graduate school. A novice can easily understand the author's, Johnny Long's, explanations on how to surf Google. Yes,you can go to Google itself and get this information, but he compiles it for you in the first several chapters in a neat, clean, well laid out format. Anyone reading this section will have a solid grounding in the basics of using Google to surf the web.
As I read the book I kept saying "Good Point" and I thought that many web types like myself "know" what the author is saying but seeing it in print makes you focus and think about issues of security. It exposes so many vulnerabilities and gives options to deal with them. For under $45 this book could save you from major problems as an individual or as an enterprise.
The book does get complicated. It expects you to be a web adminstrator, web master, or very familiar with web development and servers. Johnny Long has a straightforward writing style which he combines with concrete examples that open your eyes to the points he is making. For example, Johnny shows how configuration files and document types can be crawled for user names and passwords. It's chilling to read about the devious methods Google hackers use.
Johnny Long is talking about one of the most serious, really important things in this day and age. SECURITY. Secure web sites are important to each of us as individuals. It's important to your company. Vital information is shown to be at risk in Google Hacking. This book should be on the President of the United States desk.
Have you ever seen a tv show where a former thief shows you how to protect your house? This book is just like that. Some of the tips are very simple, ones that many administrators know and those who are smart implement. Others are more complex. The table of contents reads like a dry college curriculum. But if you follow what is written, trying out the suggestions as it relates to your site, not only will you be rewarded, but the book just comes to life and you find yourself saying 'I can't believe how useful this is'.
In summing up, Johnny Long has issued a wake-up call to all who use the web. I showed this book to a colleague of mine and we both felt that the strength of the book lies in its constant repetition that the Google search engine, while effective in helping web surfers find information, also helps those web surfers with not such good intentions. Any reader would do well to follow the author's advice throughout the book in each and every chapter.
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 her codes line by line, again and again without explanation!! Plus, too many typo.
Product: Book Paperback
Title: Microsoft SQL Server 7.0 Database Implementation Training Kit (Training Kit)
Publisher: Microsoft Press Rating: 3/5
Title: Microsoft SQL Server 7.0 Database Implementation Training Kit (Training Kit)
Publisher: Microsoft Press Rating: 3/5
The SQL exams are designed for experienced users. For those, like myself, without experience, be prepared to spend a little more time than the other exams getting ready for this one. Based on all of the information I gathered, including the exam itself, I agree with the general sentiments,"It is a hard exam, not due to the difficult level of questions, but from the lack of information available." I used Sybex, Microsoft Press, Exam Cram, and Readiness Review, along with the transcender software. While I passed, on the first try, it highlighted the deficiencies of the study guides. Recommendation: The Books OnLine on the Trial SQL CD-ROM and / or the "Inside SQL" by Microsoft Press (title may be a little off...) came through as strong candidates to help you get your MCDBA. As a DB novice the Microsoft Readiness Review was helpful in understanding the logic behind choosing say clustered vs. non clustered indexes; and using entity relationships with normalization to improve performance. RE: SQL Admin, however, I found the Microsoft Press dual titles on SQL Admin and SQL Design to be very useful; after the Admin exam unfortunately... Hopefully, this may be of some benefit for you. Best of luck!
Product: Book Paperback
Title: Programming PHP
Publisher: O'Reilly
Authors: Rasmus Lerdorf, Kevin Tatroe
Rating: 4/5
Title: Programming PHP
Publisher: O'Reilly
Authors: Rasmus Lerdorf, Kevin Tatroe
Rating: 4/5
I liked this book. As an experienced programmer I like that it dove right in and gave me the basics of the language that I needed to get going. Since I am new to PHP I can't speak to what might be missing, as some of the other reviewers allude to, but it certainly seems to have all of the nuts and bolts necessary to get a quick grasp of the language and the "system".So, why did I give it only 4 stars? Well, there are so many errors in the sample code and between the descriptions and the sample code that it significantly slowed me down, by confusing me. These errors aren't always horrible, but just to give an example the book says, on page 84, that you call the get_meta_tags() function by passing it "the HTML for a web page in a string". Well, the sample shows passing it a URL and if you do pass it a string, it turns out, PHP crashes (at least my installation of PHP does). There are many other examples.My advice is to not buy this if you expect it to teach you how to program, but if you already have a couple of other languages under your belt, and how to build web pages, this book will get you into PHP quick.
Product: Book Paperback
Title: Professional PHP Programming
Publisher:
Authors: Jesus Castagnetto, Sascha Schumann, Harish Rawat, Chris Scollo, Deepak T. Veliath
Rating: 4/5
Title: Professional PHP Programming
Publisher:
Authors: Jesus Castagnetto, Sascha Schumann, Harish Rawat, Chris Scollo, Deepak T. Veliath
Rating: 4/5
Like the other reviewers I recommend that you know a mainstream programming language before taking on PHP, this is not a cold start language. This is a very helpful book that addresses a lot of issues that come up when programming in PHP and it provides examples where the manual leaves you hanging. The section on security is very helpfull as well. This book does lend itself to being more of a reference than an instruction manual but documentation on PHP is hard to come by so in my opinion anything right now is a help. I would hope this will change but untill then I recommend this as a companion. The experienced PHP progammer may scoff at it but it has pulled me out of several snags that I have run into.
Product: Book Hardcover
Title: The SQL Programmer's Reference: Windows 95/Nt & Unix
Publisher: Ventana Communications Group
Authors: Wayne S. Freeze
Rating: 5/5
Title: The SQL Programmer's Reference: Windows 95/Nt & Unix
Publisher: Ventana Communications Group
Authors: Wayne S. Freeze
Rating: 5/5
This book is not intended to be a detailed discussion of SQL concepts and usage. What it is, is an excellent *reference* book, containing encyclopedic listings, cross references, and some examples. It gives detailed information on syntax, usage, literals, arguments, and specific implementation notes across six implementations and the ANSI SQL-92 standard.If you are a programmer who is familiar with a specific SQL implementation, and must now work with another, this book is a wonderful reference for making the transition. Also, if you develop for multiple SQL implementations (as I do for DB2, SQL Server, Access and Informix), this book is an excellent resource for cross referencing the subtle--and not so subtle--differences between implementations.I consider this book to be an invaluable reference. One caveat: the publication date of '98 means that it misses some of the features of more recent versions of some of the platforms it covers...
Product: Book Paperback
Title: PHP Anthology
Publisher: SitePoint
Authors: Harry Fuecks
Rating: 5/5
Title: PHP Anthology
Publisher: SitePoint
Authors: Harry Fuecks
Rating: 5/5
Having bought a few beginner's books on PHP and written a basic CMS for my Website, I was ready to move to the step. What I didn't want is a reference book or a 800 page theory & fluff book that I would never finish reading -- much less use.Being a previous customer of this publisher, I got an offer to pre-order the book. Since it sounded like it fit the bill and I got a discount for buying both Volume I & II, I decided to go ahead with it. Having read through half of the first volume, and skimmed through the second volume, I can definitely say that this title has met my expectations. There's quite a few ideas that I can put to use right away, plus I found quite a few things that I now want to offer to my site visitors that this book will make possible. Because of the way the book is written, I don't have to read through it front to back. I can flip to specific sections, and in a few pages, learn to accomplish a specific task. This is one PHP book - or I should say books - that gets my thumbs up. It's definitely going to get put to good use over the next few weeks.
Product: Book Paperback
Title: The Rational Guide to: SQL Server Reporting Services (Rational Guides)
Publisher: Rational Press
Authors: Anthony T. Mann
Rating: 2/5
Title: The Rational Guide to: SQL Server Reporting Services (Rational Guides)
Publisher: Rational Press
Authors: Anthony T. Mann
Rating: 2/5
Its a very low cost, quick-to-market overview of the product, and so I applaud Mr. Mann and the folks at Rational Press for that. However, its nothing more than a rehash of the Microsoft marketing information and technical documentation freely available from www.microsoft.com/sql. If you don't have an internet connection, then by all means by the book. Otherwise, you won't be gaining much at all by picking up this guide.
Product: Book Paperback
Title: Oracle PL/SQL 101
Publisher: McGraw-Hill Osborne Media
Authors: Christopher Allen
Rating: 5/5
Title: Oracle PL/SQL 101
Publisher: McGraw-Hill Osborne Media
Authors: Christopher Allen
Rating: 5/5
Thorough coverage. Easy to understand. Good examples. Deserves a place on the shelf of anyone who uses SQL once a month or every day.
