IT programming books related reviews
Product: Book Paperback
Title: Lan Times Guide to SQL
Publisher: Mcgraw-Hill Osborne Media
Authors: James R. Groff, Paul N. Weinberg
Rating: 5/5
Title: Lan Times Guide to SQL
Publisher: Mcgraw-Hill Osborne Media
Authors: James R. Groff, Paul N. Weinberg
Rating: 5/5
For an updated verion of this great book by the same authors, look at SQL: The complete Reference - from Osborne. Most of the content is the same as the old book with about 300 pages of new material.
Product: Book Paperback
Title: Web Application Development with PHP 4.0 (with CD-ROM)
Publisher: Sams
Authors: Tobias Ratschiller, Till Gerken
Rating: 3/5
Title: Web Application Development with PHP 4.0 (with CD-ROM)
Publisher: Sams
Authors: Tobias Ratschiller, Till Gerken
Rating: 3/5
This book has great content, but the title is too broad for the subject matter.When I first saw the title of the book, I was excited because I thought it was going to cover PHP web development. Instead, the book explains certain subjects within development, not all "web" development per se either. Talking about proper coding techniques is nice, but not what one would expect based on the title.I was hoping for coverage on HTTP variables and how to extract data from them when using Form tags. Especially, SELECT tags with multiple selections allowed. Unfortunately, the authors chose to talk about how it works behind the scenes. This is nice to know, but as a developer, I thought the book would have covered more on "development"!There is some good information on security and on array processing. Its written so the reader can get a good understanding on how web processing is done, problems to avoid, and how to use PHP in a very professional manner. I wouldn't recommend this as a reference book, but as a good book to read for any intermediate or advanced PHP web developer. It could enhance your current skills and coding practices.As for me, I was hoping for a PHP web development book that provided aspects on using php to build various common web applications, like shopping carts, and how/when to extract HTTP globals, session variables, logins, menus, form tags, etc. This is what I was expecting when I saw the title. While I was dispointed that it didn't cover this material, the book did provide some useful information in certain areas.
Product: Book Paperback
Title: Microsoft SQL Server(TM) 2000 Programming Step by Step
Publisher: Microsoft Press
Authors: Rebecca Riordan
Rating: 5/5
Title: Microsoft SQL Server(TM) 2000 Programming Step by Step
Publisher: Microsoft Press
Authors: Rebecca Riordan
Rating: 5/5
Rebecca Riordan's Step by Step for SQL Server is one of the best beginning tutorials I have ever read.What Rebecca does for her readers is very subtle yet extremely slick and effective. The key is that she provides an elegant database, the Arromatherapy Database, that she uses to illustrate the myriad and possibly overwhelming features of Enterprise SQL. In 30 short chapters, she methodically and painstakingly takes us through each step building, running then, suprsingly, deleting each feature we create. She allows no build up of slick little inane programs that we will never ever use again....just more...well more methodical methodology.At the end of this book, we know where everything is and have a solid idea about how to use it. Better, still, if we pay close attention to her database, we begin to learn how to actually structure a database so that all the features workThis is the true magic of Ms. Riordans work. The interaction of her database and the intensive hands-on exercises provide a uniquie learning experience from a very sophisticated and knowledgeable professional. This is a deceptively simple yet powerful tutorial. Her Database alone is worth the price of admission.
Product: Book Paperback
Title: Oracle Performance Troubleshooting: With Dictionary Internals, SQL & Tuning Scripts (Oracle In-Focus series)
Publisher: Rampant Techpress
Authors: Robin Schumacher
Rating: 1/5
Title: Oracle Performance Troubleshooting: With Dictionary Internals, SQL & Tuning Scripts (Oracle In-Focus series)
Publisher: Rampant Techpress
Authors: Robin Schumacher
Rating: 1/5
The CD contains demo copies of Embarcadero products rather than scripts. Nice to pay for free samples. No scripts you can't find on the web. Covers topics like tablespace fragmentation which could be easily elminated using Oracle features built-in long ago. Wait for Cary Millsap's book.
Product: Book Paperback
Title: Web Database Applications with PHP & MySQL, 2nd Edition
Publisher: O'Reilly
Authors: Hugh E. Williams
Rating: 4/5
Title: Web Database Applications with PHP & MySQL, 2nd Edition
Publisher: O'Reilly
Authors: Hugh E. Williams
Rating: 4/5
I have just started learning some PHP & MySQL development using "PHP & MySQL Web Development" published by Sams and "Web Database Applications with PHP & MySQL" from O'Reilly. Prospective readers might be wondering the difference between the two in deciding which one to buy, so I hope to shed some light on the issue.Sams: The Welling and Thomson book is more "hands-on" in that it takes the reader step-by-step in developing an e-commerce website. The chapters are organized in a goal-oriented manner: PHP, MySQL, the basics of e-commerce, security, and design of the site.O'Reilly: The Williams and Lane book is structured in a similar way by showing readers PHP and then MySQL. Examples to reinforce concepts are also provided. While the O'Reilly book also tries to take the reader in developing an e-commerce site, it is a bit more theoretical. Also, there are some differences in focus: the O'Reilly book has a section on using JavaScript while the Sams book has a final chapter on creating PDF files using PHP.If I had to choose just one book, I would go with the Sams book due to its more gentle learning curve. However, I believe that the O'Reilly book is no slouch, and I will probably come to appreciate it more once I gain more experience in PHP and MySQL development.One last word about my programming background: I knew a bit of Perl, Java, HTML, and JavaScript before tackling PHP and MySQL. I consider myself to be an "advanced beginner" (an oxymoron, of course). To get the most out of these two books, you should know HTML well enough to read it (you should at least recognize some tags) and it would definitely be helpful if you have some programming experience. You could very well make PHP your first programming language, but I would advise against it. Start with something like Perl (whose syntax is very similar to PHP's).I highly recommend both books to prospective PHP and MySQL developers who are willing to spend some time and effort.
Product: Book Paperback
Title: PHP for the World Wide Web : Visual QuickStart Guide (2nd Edition) (Visual Quickstart Guides)
Publisher: Peachpit Press
Authors: Larry Ullman
Rating: 5/5
Title: PHP for the World Wide Web : Visual QuickStart Guide (2nd Edition) (Visual Quickstart Guides)
Publisher: Peachpit Press
Authors: Larry Ullman
Rating: 5/5
I have picked up "PHP for the World Wide Web Visual Quickstart Guide by Larry Ullman" and love the book. From reading his easy to follow hands on examples in the book I taught myself PHP and mySQL in 3 days. His book was very informative and enabled me to redo my entire site in PHP. I have emailed the author on different questions and problems and have received very helpful and informative replies. I would definately recommend this book to anyone who wants to learn PHP.
Product: Book Paperback
Title: Oracle SQL & PL/SQL Annotated Archives
Publisher: Osborne/McGraw-Hill
Authors: Kevin Loney, Rachel Carmichael
Rating: 5/5
Title: Oracle SQL & PL/SQL Annotated Archives
Publisher: Osborne/McGraw-Hill
Authors: Kevin Loney, Rachel Carmichael
Rating: 5/5
This book has saved me several hours of work. The text is well thought out and well laid out so the precise script you are looking for can be easily found. Also, the annotations are clear and meaningful to the point where extending the functionality of the scripts (which is rare considering the depth and bredth of the script catalog) is simple enough that my Junior DBAs had no trouble doing so. If this isn't in a DBAs book shelf, it should be!
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
Fantastic bookI would rate myself as having intermediate programming skills, but I was new to PHP. This book was great, it's good for an intermediate level and it's a no nonsense kind of book. Everything you learn how to do in this book is a practical application that if you are a web designer/developer you will most likely need to know at some point in time. The intro is short and sweet, and the author never goes on to long about one topic. Once a topic is learned it is used throughout the book. I have had the book for about 2 weeks now and I am almost done reading it and getting ready to apply some knowledge to my next project. The two chapters on SQL were also great, its like getting two books in one.I can't recommend this book enough; it was so nice to get a book that actually teaches practical things at a fast pace. The layout shows a lot of repetitive code, but in some ways this is good since it only takes you a moment to glance at the code and recognize where the new code is, and how it applies to what you have already learned, as it is in red and the old code you have learned in early chapters is black. I like this because when books only show the new code you need to be in front of a computer to see how it all fits together, with this book you can just site on the couch and analyze the code as a whole.Really good book, now I want to pick up his advanced PHP book by Larry Ullman.
Product: Book Paperback
Title: The Rational Guide to: SQL Server Reporting Services (Rational Guides)
Publisher: Rational Press
Authors: Anthony T. Mann
Rating: 5/5
Title: The Rational Guide to: SQL Server Reporting Services (Rational Guides)
Publisher: Rational Press
Authors: Anthony T. Mann
Rating: 5/5
This book helped me to get reporting service up and running very rapidly. It is also very inexpensive. It covers the big "need to know" items. If you have experience with reporting tools you can pretty much just read this book and begin developing your reporting solution.
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
No index, and the functions are in a type face that makes it impossible to quickly scan the book. What it explains is not detailed enough to do you much good. Just say no to this book.
