IT programming books related reviews
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
This book is hte best introduction to PL/SQL I have seen yet. I have tried using a number of other PL/SQL books, and have come away with a bad taste in my mouth. While I'm not a "newbie" to databases and SQL in general, I'm not proficient by any means, and the style with which this book is written I really enjoy. My favorite part is the "try it yourself" parts where you aren't given an answer. It challenged me to do it on my own and not just follow along for the sake of following along.
Another part I enjoy is that the author does not assume I knew anything. He takes nothing for granted, and I appreciate that. While there are areas that I know and I go quicker, the tone of the book is such that the author doesn't talk down if I don't know something (some books do) nor does he talk over my head. It's perfect for the person new to Oracle's PL/SQL.
Product: Book Paperback
Title: Visual Basic Developer's Guide to E-Commerce with ASP and SQL Server
Publisher: Sybex Inc
Authors: Noel Jerke
Rating: 4/5
Title: Visual Basic Developer's Guide to E-Commerce with ASP and SQL Server
Publisher: Sybex Inc
Authors: Noel Jerke
Rating: 4/5
I have to start by saying that I agree with most of the revies I have seen on this book here: It's a good reference to Microsoft products. However, I feel that there is something else that must be addressed: the gross amount of errors in the code itself. There are variables that are dimentioned only to not be used in some of the actual pages (chrFax). This book is meant for an Intermediate user, so for those readers that expect to open the book and be on your way to making shopping carts be careful, the author assumes a lot out of you. May seem like minor quibbles, but I'm only up to Chapter 9 and the errors are almost too much to deal with.
Product: Book Paperback
Title: MySQL/PHP Database Applications
Publisher: Wiley
Authors: Jay Greenspan, Brad Bulger
Rating: 2/5
Title: MySQL/PHP Database Applications
Publisher: Wiley
Authors: Jay Greenspan, Brad Bulger
Rating: 2/5
I first learned PHP from Luke Welling and Laura Thomson's excellent "PHP and MySQL Web Development," and bought 'MySQL/PHP Database Applications' to provide an alternative perspective on solving problems. Unfortunately, this book doesn't offer enough content to warrant its high price.
A full 58 pages is devoted to a PHP function reference which is a bit of a joke because PHP has one of the better online function references available. Code examples are printed with very large font again taking up more space than is necessary.
Most important, though, some of these examples are a little bit suspect.
They present a Catalog application written using Object Oriented Programming (OOP). This would have been valuable except that the classes they create are so specific that they couldn't be re-used -- basically negating the value of OOP to begin with.
They do provide a couple of examples of good and bad relational database schema, but that isn't really worth the cost of this book.
Product: Book Paperback
Title: Professional Oracle 8i Application Programming with Java, PL/SQL and XML
Publisher: Wrox Press
Authors: Michael Awai, Matthew Bortniker, John Carnell, Kelly Cox, Daniel O'Connor, Mario Zucca, Sean Dillon, Thomas Kyte, Ann Horton, Frank Hubeny, Glenn E. Mitchell II, Kevin Mukhar, Gary Nicol, Guy Ruth Hammond
Rating: 1/5
Title: Professional Oracle 8i Application Programming with Java, PL/SQL and XML
Publisher: Wrox Press
Authors: Michael Awai, Matthew Bortniker, John Carnell, Kelly Cox, Daniel O'Connor, Mario Zucca, Sean Dillon, Thomas Kyte, Ann Horton, Frank Hubeny, Glenn E. Mitchell II, Kevin Mukhar, Gary Nicol, Guy Ruth Hammond
Rating: 1/5
The best thing that can be said about this book is it's a confused ramble though Oracle. The book tries to cover Java, PL/SQL and XML, and fails to cover any depth in any of these subjects.
Product: Book Paperback
Title: Advanced Transact-SQL for SQL Server 2000
Publisher: Apress
Authors: Itzik Ben-Gan, Tom Moreau
Rating: 1/5
Title: Advanced Transact-SQL for SQL Server 2000
Publisher: Apress
Authors: Itzik Ben-Gan, Tom Moreau
Rating: 1/5
The best thing I can say about this book is that some of the code works. For the most part, it doesn't work. Worse yet, the book recommends techniques that Microsoft has deprecated (old style joins, for example) for some time now. There are lots of typos and coding bugs - enough that I wonder if the book was really edited. Definitely not my cup of tea. It's another one of those weighty door stops.
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
As I started reading this book I was very excited. The style, examples, and detail are all great. It also covers many things that seem to be lacking in the on-line resources. But as I got further into it I found a frightening number of things missing. Time and date functions aren't even mentioned! Oracle functions - not mentioned. Zend gets one paragraph! Many of the omitions wouldn't be used by the average user, but at 900 pages I figured it would cover more. In other words you'll still need the on-line docs. That said, I would still recommend the 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
What a goldmine! I started learning the first day I opened this book and haven't stopped yet. This is one dense book. I appreciate the author's avoidance of filler material. The book requires and rewards careful reading (and sometimes re-reading). It is definitely not for the complete beginner - read SQL Server's Books Online from start to finish if you're a newbie before starting this book. This book is for the developer who already works with T-SQL and wants to master it. If this site allowed a ten star review, I'd give give it one - it certainly deserves it.
Product: Book Textbook Binding
Title: SQL Server System Administration (The Landmark Series)
Publisher: Sams
Authors: Chris Miller, Sean Baird, John Lynn, Michael Hotek, Denis Darveau
Rating: 1/5
Title: SQL Server System Administration (The Landmark Series)
Publisher: Sams
Authors: Chris Miller, Sean Baird, John Lynn, Michael Hotek, Denis Darveau
Rating: 1/5
After some guy on a Web site recommended this book, I went and bought it. Frankly, I'm disappointed. Were there pages missing or did old Mike forget about SQL Agent? With SQL Server 2000 on the street, much of what you see here is old hat. Current books cover SQL 2000. This one doesn't. For a guy that apparently spends more time on the newsgroups than he does actually using the product, the self-important style is inappropriate. Go and earn your stripes, Mike.
Product: Book Hardcover
Title: Inside Microsoft SQL Server 7.0
Publisher: Microsoft Press
Authors: Ron Soukup, Kalen Delaney
Rating: 2/5
Title: Inside Microsoft SQL Server 7.0
Publisher: Microsoft Press
Authors: Ron Soukup, Kalen Delaney
Rating: 2/5
This is a great book for giving a novice SQL 7 user a detailed understanding of how SQL 7 really works. While not billed as an exam prep guide, this text was absolutely key to getting me past 70-29. I highly recommend it for anyone who needs to learn SQL or wants to attain their MCDBA.
Product: Book Paperback
Title: Oracle PL/SQL Programming, Third Edition
Publisher: O'Reilly
Authors: Steven Feuerstein
Rating: 5/5
Title: Oracle PL/SQL Programming, Third Edition
Publisher: O'Reilly
Authors: Steven Feuerstein
Rating: 5/5
This is a great book for those willing to master the development languange pl/sql. Although I also recommend the PDF's from oracle corporation. But undoubtedly, Steven's book is well written and takes into account of also the intermediate and beginners...
