IT programming books related reviews
Product: Book Paperback
Title: Microsoft SQL Server 2000 Bible with CD-ROM
Publisher: Wiley
Authors: Paul Nielsen
Rating: 5/5
Title: Microsoft SQL Server 2000 Bible with CD-ROM
Publisher: Wiley
Authors: Paul Nielsen
Rating: 5/5
The SQL Server 2000 Bible is an outstanding reference and learning tool. If you are new to any area of SQL Server or RDBMS theory, you will find that this book offers a clear and thorough treatment of the topics you need to know. Nielsen mixes a conversational style with deep real-world experience to ensure you not only know how to do it and why it works, but how to choose the best way to go about it. I found that this book went to the right depth in the right assortment of topical areas. I've been working with SQL Server since 6.5 and I found myself working through Nielsen's book brushing up on those areas I had not been entirely clear on, project to project. Really the right mix of depth and breadth for the majority of readers.
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've been using VB for years, ASP since 1.0, and SQL 7.0 since the beta. I bought this book hoping to learn some new stuff. By the first 4 chapters I've found find a lot of useless and offputting MS polemics, and a hodgepodge of information covering versions of Jet up to Access 9.0 (Office 2000?) and SQL 7.0. Makes fun of web applications because of thin-client metaphor - isn't there eenough room for all types of systems in our increasingly complex world today? This book needs to get a lot more focused. I can't believe the amount of time dedicated to even mentioning 16-bit platforms. If you need info on developing for legacy systems - use the legacy books already on your bookshelf! I recommend WROX's ADO 2.0 Programmer's reference for one - and it's smaller and cheaper. I'm not sure I'll even finish reading this one, and it definitely won't find its way into my most used books.
Product: Book Paperback
Title: MCDBA, MCSE, MCSD, MCAD Training Guide (70-229): SQL Server 2000 Database Design and Implementation
Publisher: Que
Authors: Thomas Moore, Ed Tittel
Rating: 3/5
Title: MCDBA, MCSE, MCSD, MCAD Training Guide (70-229): SQL Server 2000 Database Design and Implementation
Publisher: Que
Authors: Thomas Moore, Ed Tittel
Rating: 3/5
Not bad! Has a good study outline and organisation with all required objectives of the test. Pretty good detailed examples in chapters, Review exercies a little weak, but review questions are good. Using this book, the Books On Line from the product and all the 70-299 example tests i could find on line, I past 70-229 test comfortably....
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
"PHP and MySQL Web Development" is admittedly a great resource. It covers pretty much all of the bases that I can think of and many that I never would. I love the 'real world' applications that the author uses to teach. With this book by my side I have been able to build some pretty complex PHP/MySQL database-driven dynamic websites. The catch is this - there is no good way to cross reference back to information that is previously presented. As with any programming language, what you learn at the beginning will stay with you for throughout your use of it. Near the end of the book, I found the author referring to many concepts which had been covered in the beginning with no reference to them in between.Because I paced the complexity of my own pages with the advancement of the book, I had forgotten much of this information. I found myself wasting a lot of time flipping through chapters or scouring the ambiguous and incomplete index. If the author had only included page or section references when using a topic, it would have been much easier and more efficient.Furthermore, there are a few examples where the author states that a topic was covered earlier in the book, but in actuality were not.However, as a whole, this is a great resource, but make sure you ahve a back-up or function reference with you when trying to plow through the information.
Product: Book Paperback
Title: Dreamweaver MX: Advanced PHP Web Development
Publisher: Glasshaus
Authors: Glasshaus Author Team
Rating: 3/5
Title: Dreamweaver MX: Advanced PHP Web Development
Publisher: Glasshaus
Authors: Glasshaus Author Team
Rating: 3/5
I have found this book very helpful in going beyond the basics. I would not recommend it for beginners for several reasons but mostly because there are a ton of errors that would frustrate a newbie. I checked their site for error listings and there is only one. If they would keep the list updated then I would highly recommend this book.If you are an avid Dreamweaver user with some experience with PHP handcoding, not just the queries Dreamweaver lets you write, this book is great. Otherwise, keep looking.
Product: Book Paperback
Title: PHP Cookbook
Publisher: O'Reilly
Authors: David Sklar, Adam Trachtenberg
Rating: 5/5
Title: PHP Cookbook
Publisher: O'Reilly
Authors: David Sklar, Adam Trachtenberg
Rating: 5/5
An excellent cookbook, following the old O'Reilly's tradition in the field. The recipes are clean, concise and elegant; the authors try to solve real world, common problems. Unlike other outdated books, the code is designed with PHP 4.2 or above in mind. A valuable asset for any developer, it assumes a decent understanding of PHP
Product: Book Paperback
Title: Advanced PHP Programming
Publisher: Sams
Authors: George Schlossnagle
Rating: 5/5
Title: Advanced PHP Programming
Publisher: Sams
Authors: George Schlossnagle
Rating: 5/5
Wow, I love this book! Not just because the content is great, but also because the other has his head held high. PHP is fine environment for doing web development and we should be proud, especially with version 5, which this book covers in depth.The book starts with PHP coding patterns, then covers design patterns in the second chapter. This is wonderful because the PHP community needs to understand these principles and embrace them. With PHP 5 we now have support in the tool to build high quality well-architected web sites, and this book points the way right from the get-go.Chapter four covers Smarty. It's a good, though brief introduction. It's still better than that standard documentation. If you don't know about Smarty you should really check it out. It's a great way to separate the user interface from the business logic.Chapter six covers unit testing and test driven design. The coverage is concise and doesn't pander to the reader. The examples are bit abstract. But the section is valuable as an introduction to the topic and to it's implementation with PHP.The book then continues on into truly advanced topics such as extending PHP using the SAPI, web services, caching, performance and profiling and a number of other topics.
Product: Book Paperback
Title: Php 4 Bible (Bible (Wiley))
Publisher: Hungry Minds
Authors: Tim Converse, Joyce Park
Rating: 3/5
Title: Php 4 Bible (Bible (Wiley))
Publisher: Hungry Minds
Authors: Tim Converse, Joyce Park
Rating: 3/5
I am an admirer of the "Bible" series of books, especially the Javascript Bible by Danny Goodman. This book is not of the same caliber. It covers lots of materal, but not in the depth seen in other Bible series books. It also lacks the excellent organization that I see in other Bible series books. That this comes without a CD of example code or a searchable PDF of the text is another dissapointment.
Product: Book Paperback
Title: A Guide to SQL Standard (4th Edition)
Publisher: Addison-Wesley Professional
Authors: C. J. Date, Hugh Darwen
Rating: 3/5
Title: A Guide to SQL Standard (4th Edition)
Publisher: Addison-Wesley Professional
Authors: C. J. Date, Hugh Darwen
Rating: 3/5
For beginners, this book can be a complete nightmare. It reminded me of the dreary, theory laden texts of my college days more than anything. If you want to know not just how but why SQL works like it does, then this is the book for you, and you will be very happy with it. If you're looking for a reference book to support your existing SQL knowledge, then this book can serve that purpose also. However, if you're looking for something to learn SQL from at the beginner's level, this book is not for you. It is not specific to any database, lacks examples or tutorials, and speaks at the level of someone who has SQL experience.
Product: Book Paperback
Title: Php Fast & Easy Web Development (Fast & Easy Web Development)
Publisher: Premier Press
Authors: Julie C. Meloni
Rating: 4/5
Title: Php Fast & Easy Web Development (Fast & Easy Web Development)
Publisher: Premier Press
Authors: Julie C. Meloni
Rating: 4/5
PHP Fast & Easy it is! What Julie C. Meloni does is lead you by the hand as you type in the code (which you often don't understand until several pages later) and learn PHP character by bloody character. I came to this book with a firm background in HTML but only brief forays into programming and scripting. This book let me see the logic of it all and had me writing useful scripts before I was halfway through. It falls down in a couple things: 1. Installation turned out to be more difficult than Meloni predicted. I had a wayward .dll file and no way to find out why PHP wasn't working. Meloni tried to help through email (how many authors would do that?!?!). Eventually, I stumbled on the problem and all was better. 2. Searching a database is only just barely touched upon. Why else would you have a database than to be able to search it? This could easily be an entire book, of course, but this one could have gone into that a little further. In summary, it's a really great way to start PHP and gives a solid foundation to continue. Best of all, it leaves you excited about this tool, wanting to know all the ways to use it best.
