5 comments about Setting Up LAMP: Getting Linux, Apache, MySQL, and PHP Working Together.

1. One of the things I liked about this book was the amount of detail it had on its subjects, and yet it is not a 1000 page novel. If you just want to have a system running a web server and you don't really care about how it works and what is going on, then this is definitely not the book for you. However, if you really want to learn how these components work together and exactly what is going on, then I do recommend this book. After taking a Linux course, I picked this up and still learned quite a bit from the introduction to Linux chapter. Everything is very clearly written and easy to understand. The only thing I didn't like was that many of the pages are devoted to listing configuration files, but you can easily just skip over these if they don't apply to you.



2. This book is listed as a beginner to intermediate book, but I would rate it as intermediate at the very least. The author has a fetish for unnecessarily elaborate terminology that overcomplicates straightforward operational activities (to exemplify my point). Otherwise, it is a good overview of the four technologies and how they work together to provide a seamless web presence.



3. I am very unsatisfied with this book. It only gives instructions on how to setup a lamp using one distro only. And it was geared only to well experienced users. The book was incomprehensible to me.



4. This book was probably great a couple of years ago. It has great step-by-step instructions, and it walks you through things in a very detailed manner.
   
   However, since the versions of all software (and the OS) used in the book have been updated at least a few times since 2004, I ran into several issues. Maybe 10% of all the links are accurate (which you need to install the .rpm files in the way the book tells you to), and when you do find the updated versions of everything, some of the commands the book gives you produce errors. Since the instructions probably worked correctly in 2004, there is no information on what those errors mean or how to fix them.
   
   In short, I'm setting this book aside to find something more recent, and reloading the system I was using to test this with. If you do not have prior experience and a good understanding of how all of these programs work and how to troubleshoot their errors, I would recommend finding a more up-to-date book.



5. At the moment, don't buy this book. The reason: what is otherwise an excellent book cannot be followed, because the essential steps it takes you through require resources that are not available - ie. the web resources no longer exist. Time is money, and after spending another long day yesterday, running into one dead end after another, one failed work around after another, this book has cost me lots, and I've not achieved anywhere near Setting Up Lamp. The authors/publisher could correct this easily enough, by providing the info on their website. If these issues are corrected, the book is likely to rate differently. Until that time, invest elsewhere.

5 comments about MCAD/MCSD Self-Paced Training Kit: Developing Web Applications with Microsoft® Visual Basic® .NET and Microsoft Visual C#® .NET, Second Edition (Pro-Certification).

1. I just passed the exam with a pretty nice score 1.5 hours ago, and relied solely on this book for preparing for the exam for 10 days. I have solid background in Web development and use of C#. That said, here is my very personal comment:
   
   - The quality of this book is beyond my doubt. The book might have two errors that I think I saw when I read it the 2nd time, though I wasn't 100% sure. Other than that, I didn't find any errors/typos/mistakes in it. Many subtle issues are explained in the book in a way very easy to understand.
   
   - looking back, I believe that if one wants to pass the exam with ease by using this book, one'd be much better off by doing and studying all the questions that come with the CD. I'm a bit regretful that I didn't finish up most of the electronic practice questions.
   
   - I don't know any other book on the same subject. But looking back, I feel the book (including all the materials included with it) was perfect to help me pass the exam. I have no doubt that without the help of this book (or similar), I wouldn't have been able to pass the exam.
   
   
   Overall: the paper book alone may or may not be enough for anyone to rely on for passing the cert exam, but if you have taken advantage of all the materials that come with the book and if you have *FULLY* understood what is covered in the book, you'll be almost quaranteed to pass the exam on your very first try. I may be wrong on this because different people have different backgrounds, but that's what I believe while looking back.



2. I've not finished reading this book yet, nor have I completed all exercises. Already having a fair bit of experience with .NET and ASP.NET I can see that this book covers only the basics, though it seems to cover them quite well. I have, however, found a few code errors in the examples, which I feel detracts a fair bit from the overall quality of the book.



3. The book is well structured to cover the exam topics. It does, however, omit certain details in some topics which would be unclear from just the book alone if I didn't already know them or didn't find some better explanations elsewhere online. You'll need some additional resource, including .NET class library online reference and online tutorials to fully understand certain topics.



4. I bought this new book which I got it for $4 less than any other place including internet and book stores. I received the book on time and as I expected. Started reading and enjoying it...



5. I have no experience with Visual Basic but I have taken a few classes in C. Overall the book is a good read, finished it in a week and the exercises are very productive. I would have like for there to be a 2nd part just on labs alone.

2 comments about Microsoft Visual Basic .NET: Introduction to Programming, Second Edition (South-Western Computer Education).

1. this book really helped me to understand visual basics programming. if it wasn't for this book, i might have failed my class!



2. This book is something I would definitely recommend for anyone interested in breaking into programming by starting with Visual Basic. Perhaps the fact that Michael Sprague (the author) has been teaching for many years contributes to the easy-to-understand, no-nonsense flow of this book; I found other books on the same subject a little too daunting after this one. His Step-by-Step approach is very helpful, although it can be a bit tedious at times.

   This is not a "cookbook" or reference book - it does not show you how to learn to program in VB overnight (it has over 75 hours of lessons, but a few "projects" that come at the end of each chapter will probably take you longer to go through the book, especially if you are just starting to program). But each lesson builds on the previous one so you are always practicing what you are learning in this book. If you are a slow folk like me, you feel tremendously rewarded when you figure out a simple task or complete a project, and it really gets you thinking about how powerful VB is and all the things you can do with it once you are proficient at it.

3 comments about Word 2003 Document Automation with VBA, XML, XSLT, and Smart Documents (Wordware Applications Library).

1. Quite often you see book titles that unfortunately do not match the subject content. This one certainly does! The back cover states that it sets out to explain how to:
   
   - Automate documents with a minimum of programming by using Word's native functionality
   - Use VBA to create document automation solutions
   - Record macros, create automated templates, format and manipulate files using Word and build documents dynamically
   - Create, edit and format XML documets
   - Develop smart documents solutions to guide users through a variety of repetitive tasks
   - Transform XML using WordprocessingML, XSLT, XPath, smart documents and web services technologies
   
   Ok, to be fair I didn't find anything on web services explicitly but it still gets us over 99% of the way through delivering on its expectations.
   
   This book has hit a niche area for word users wanting to create smarter documents with no other book providing coverage of this subject matter as intimately or in a way as easy to follow as this book. It is perfect for people who routinely have to write legal contracts, functional specifications and general technical documentation as it allows you to fully leverage off Word's capabilities in letting you work smarter.
   
   I did not own any other books by Wordware and this seemed to be a bit out there in their list of publications so I was initially a bit hesitant about buying this book. As it turns out I shouldn't have been! Scott Driza presents the subject matter well and in a very succint way - this book has just over 400 pages in which it manages to cover quite a lot of ground!
   
   I bought this book primarily to concentrate on the XML, XSLT and Smart Documents features, but have found that I even picked up a trick or two in relation to VBA-based templates. For those who like using shortcut keys, Appendix A will be a God send as it has the most exhaustive list of Word commands and shortcut keys I have ever seen!
   
   The book devotes approximately half of its pages to VBA and assumes no prior knowledge of VBA, XML, XSLT or Smart Documents. It doesn't cover all subject areas exhaustively but it gets you started and tells you where to get additional materials.
   
   I would have liked to have seen a bit more detail on XML schemas although the the book does show you how to get Word to automatically generate an inferred schema based on XML mark-up. That is pretty much the only reason why I didn't give it a 5-star rating.
   
   If you are an IT professional, engineer, lawyer, technical writer or any other type of knowledge worker; do yourself a favour - stop creating your documents the hard way and buy this book. It will more than pay for itself the first time you start applying the concepts, techniques and technologies it refers to.



2. This is one of the least useful books I have read in my 10+ years in the IT business. Written from an academic standpoint, there were few useful examples offered and no subject was discussed in enough detail to be useful. Examples were vauge at best.
   
   While this book got me excited about the topic of document automation, I am unable to create a custom Smart Document solution from scratch after reading this book from cover to cover.
   
   Buyer beware: This is a "What Is" book, not a "How To" book.



3. I've read the majority of the content of this book and I have found it to be very useful. The author's coverage of the basic of WordProcessML is excellent. The first seven chapters contain good examples of how to automate Word.

5 comments about VisualBasic .NET for Dummies.

1. Highly recommended for us old school programmers stuck in time still developing for the COMMAND shell. Easy reading that quickly made it apparent to me that the transition to Windows application development wasn't going to be nearly as traumatic as I first thought. In my humble opinion this book is a valuable starting point to an inevitable journey for us dinosaurs.



2. If you have never programmed in VB than this is a great introduction to the VB and .NET. If you are a programmer, this is probably not the book you want. It is VERY VERY basic. There is no real life code examples.
   Good for it's humor but not technical enough for a seasoned programmer.



3. I took a job without knowing any VB or Basic computer programming skills and this book helped me to understand and understand the programing language at a beginner level and propell me forward. Within four days I was creating my own VB program and had a good understanding as to how to get around the application and all it's power. I highly recommend this book!



4. This is the worst book I have ever read. It' s like reading a book on how to use a light switch over and over again even though you've already done it 1000 times. Does that make sense? Either way, I'm drunk and this book sucked and I still can't program. What a waste. Good lord.



5. I'm an IT engineer and was wanting to get stronger in scripting and code writing and heard this book was pretty good. Many other Microsoft or other company books are extremely dry reading where this was great. Whether you're a computer person or not, it's easy to follow, well structured, and has some amusing jokes. Learning VB.Net was much easier than I thought.

5 comments about Beginning Visual Basic 2005 Databases (Programmer to Programmer).

1. This book starts you out using MS Access and takes you into n-tier stuff and SQL Server. It written in a straight forward manner, and the author stops along the way to fully explain what it going on behind the scenes. There are many "try it out" sections and you build the time tracker application that in all it's parts shows you what you need to know to expand from there and become a much better VB database programmer.



2. I got this book to develop a VB data base using SQL express that now is part of VB 2005. The book is an absolute mess mixing SQL ORACLE and Access concepts all at the same time and chapters. Then there are a few chapters with more emphasis in Access, but then updates all these Access examples to SQL and Oracle using the code that has being explained in these previous chapters but is not shown again. So to do a simple connection and SQL Select to a database, you have to read half of the book including the access chapters and Oracle concepts that are really, really, really annoyingly mixed with the MS SQL stuff. There is not even a clear full example of how to create a database from start to end using just Access, MS SQL, or Oracle, just mixed small pieces here and there.
   To make it nicer, beyond my comprehension, 10% of the book wastes pages and pages to tell you how to build VB forms from scratch using sentences. Imagine pages and pages telling you...
   1 Move your mouse to the tool box and drag a Button Control to the form.
   2 Set the following properties:
   Set Name to btnSave
   Set FlatSttyle to Flat
   Set Location... and gives coordinates, and then the size...and the color (no kidding)... and follow pages and pages.
   
   Really if you are able to decrypt the mix of languages and code in this book, you should be able to write the forms using assembly language right in binary, so such creating forms for Idiots approach is out of place.
   
   There are several free examples in the net where you may achieve better and faster results, save your time and money! If you need a deeper learning, get a book focused in what you need avoid this multiple language mess.
   
   Certainly, I also agree the book writers and family should not be allowed to give five stars reviews.



3. I purchased this to create a total database program. Not only is the structure all over the place, many of the code samples are incorrect and don't work, or are so completely baffling as to why he chose that method that I gave up, and bought another book.



4. Chapters 1-5 involves writing little applications in vb and testing them out. This is extremely helpful and I learned a lot. However in chapter 6 the fun ends. Now you begin to insert code into a monolithic pre-constructed application. Sure, you'll understand the snippets of code you insert, but how it interacts with all the content in the forms is beyond me. The title would be best changed to "Beginning VB 2005 Databases for VB Developers". I'm fairly confident that if you know VB like the back of your hand then this book would be great. If you're like me where developing VB applications is an ancillary task, then steer clear as there must be a better solution out there.



5. Having just read "Beginning Visual Basic 2005" from the same publisher and author (which I feel was a decent book to get started using VB), I moved onto this title and was very disappointed with it. The book forces you to begin your database programming using MS ACCESS, which I had no interest in doing. So, just skip those chapters right? Wrong. It really does force you down this path due to later projects in the book relying on you completing the earlier chapters. I even tried cheating by just downloading the code from the Access chapters so I could just jump into the SQL server sections. While this allowed me to continue, the book continues to make references to things I should have learned in the first 4 chapters. While, I understand the reasoning for trying to cover many different Database platforms, having Access, SQL Server, and Oracle all in the same book just leads to confusion and frustration. The "Do this for SQL server, Or do this for Oracle" examples were just a pain.

3 comments about Accelerated VB 2008 (Accelerated).

1. Accelerated VB 2008 is a classic language reference book. It follows the pattern of language reference book. It begins with explanation of types and variable, namespaces, statement, control flow constructs, and iteration and looping constructs. Then it goes to class, class state, method, and interface. Then it goes down the path to operator overloading, exception handing, collection, delegates and events, and generics. It finishes with threading, best practices, and introduction to LINQ.
   
   A few thoughts after reading the book:
   1) VB 2008 is finally an object-orient language. Every object must inherit from System.Object. Java has the same feature 10 years ago.
   2) With a little bit help, VB 2008 (binary form) can run in Linus box.
   3) Extension method can add method to an existing CLR type. This enables us to expand the functionality of a type without needing to create a subclass.
   4) Mr. Fouche and Mr. Nash explain a way to deal with exception handling elegantly. The basic idea, I believe, is from traditional database programming concepts such as commit and rollback, at the expense of more space and more programming. The details can be found at chapter 8.
   5) In delegates and events, the authors point out that delegate can be an alternative to interfaces in implementing simple `Strategy' design pattern. For a complex `Strategy' with `Composite' or hierarchy interfaces, I imagine that delegate solution might become very ugly.
   6) LINQ. It is very useful for XML and in-memory object manipulation as long as the object implements IEnumerable (of T) interface. It might only work with Microsoft SQL database.
   7) Mr. Fouche and Mr. Nash also point out the VB 2008 is not exempt from bleeding edge of new technology issues such as compatibility, etc.
   
   In sum, it is a classic language reference book for the VB camp developers. I would give it four stars. I reserve one star for those books having real-world complicated projects being built step by step as we move across each chapter.



2. Potential buyers of the Kindle edition should carefully check a sample download to see if a problem I found has been corrected. A number of sections of sample code, or portions of sample code, were rendered in a tiny typeface that does not change when using the Kindle Text key. Amazon has said they will inform the publisher, who provided the electronoic version, but unless they fix it you may find the book quite difficult to use.



3. This edition is obviously designed to enhance the knowledge of experienced VB .NET developers by relating the features of the latest version of VB.NET. It concentrates on new features in the VB language itself, not on the enhanced version of the Visual Studio and .NET Framework products that it is inherently tied to. It does, however make sense to show how the language structures are enforced by the framework, and the book does this well. Code examples are complete yet concise.

5 comments about Excel 2003 VBA Programmer's Reference (Programmer to Programmer).

1. This huge (1176 page) book is intended for Excel users and programmers from beginning to advanced, this book presumes you have a reasonable working knowledge of excel and a full installation of the software. It does not presume that you have a working knowledge of VBA, after all, that's it's subject.
   
   In fact, chapter 1 is titled Primer in Excel VBA. Excel VBA is, of course, a specialized version of Microsoft's standard VBA, where those specific points that cater to spread sheet manipulation are differrent from the VBA's associated with other parts of the Microsoft Office package.
   
   This book gives a general introduction to VBA, but it is entirely within the context of Excel. This is indeed a Primer. It starts with how you open the Visual Basic Editor and goes on from there. Generally the book grows step by step. But not always. ==On page 83 it says: "OnTime - You can use the OnTime method to schedule a macro to run sometime in the future." OK, I understand this. But only 7 pages later it says: "VBA does support interface polymorphism. Interface polymorphism is orthogonal to class polymorphism." Huh? Does this help me schedule something to run in the future? Is this supposed to mean anything at all to me? Since I have no idea what it's talking about am I supposed to go look up all these new words somewhere? Is this really going to help me? Anyway, you skip a few chapters and you're back into getting some useful information about things like creating user forms.
   
   All in all I rate the book quite high. Everything you always wanted to know is there. And it is supposed to be a reference manual, not a tutorial. My only complaint is that I think it could have organized a bit better.



2. sorry to say that i'm very dissapointed to own this book. For those who are new to VBA, it is not a good start from here. I also find that the example and the function covered is not practical enough to use to develop your own program. I would recomend a book written by John Walkenbach which the examples and function cover more practical



3. I have not read this book, but it is obviously based on a book by the same authors, Excel 2002 VBA Programmer's Reference.

   That book has numerous errors: incorrect code that will not run, code that has incorrect variables, code that has nothing to do with the text above or below it, screen shots that have nothing to do with the text.

   It also has an eclectic index that on occasion leads you to what you want.

   The authors have been let down by the Wrox editors, but on occasion one can find gems of useful information in their book. I would be quite tempted to review the present version of the text, but my past experience with Wrox-edited books makes me hesitant to spend more money on such texts.

   I hope someone who has actually read the book can supply us with a better review than this one.
   --j.r.a.




4. This book is very poorly written and badly organized. Essential introductory topics are sprinkled throughout the book seemingly randomly. Much of the writing is horribly ambiguous or just plain unreadable. I am a beginning programmer, though I am highly proficient with Excel. I was lucky to be familiar with some other programming languages because the explanations of object-oriented programming concepts in this book (as well as other topics covered) would have been completely incomprehensible without a moderate level of background experience. The examples in the book are neither practical, nor particularly well designed to illustrate the VBA concepts that the authors are trying to teach. Instead, the authors seem to be preoccupied with designing examples to convey stylistic programming conventions that they personally favor.



5. Just want to echo the negative reviews below. I've owned and read a lot of programming books in my life and this is one of the worst. Avoid it.

5 comments about OOP with Microsoft Visual Basic .NET and Microsoft Visual C#(TM) .NET Step by Step (Step By Step (Microsoft)).

1. The author has perfect understanding of the subject and able to present each topic in a masterly fashion. But there is a terrible flaw in the book. It is the examples chosen for the step-by-step implementation. Most of the chapters have their unique samples getting implemented, and there is no continuity between chapter to chapter examples. Secondly, the examples are not mainstream. For example, Chapter 7 handles Events and Delegates. She has chosen a train running on a track and the track catching fire as the example. To implement this the reader has to draw the tracks on the form and has to learn the Graphics class. Events and Delegates by themselves are very complicated. Why should one complicate the topic further by introducing another difficult topic such as Graphics. Because of this "Events and Delegates" discussion is lost and burried under the Graphics discussion. If the author used a Banking or College registration example, every one understands the business process and could concentrate just on the topic at hand, namely Events and Delegates. Unless you want to get distracted by such examples in each chapter, don't buy this book



2. This book is great for beginners. But this is certainly not for newbie and would be great plus for programmer who knew VB and fundamental of .Net and willing to learn vb.net oops concepts. Examples are chosen well and explain in detail and elaborate. Once you complete the tutorials, you will also get some proficiency in C# too.
   
   Overall a good book to kick start your OOP using VB.net and C#.



3. Well the book isn't bad at all, the code samples aren't explained enought, some OOP basics are there but I would recommend other readings. For sure this isn't a book for beginners, you must have some background in OOP programming to get it. Mainly the Interface chapters, very confusing.



4. Hmm, a bit thin for a book that lists code for two languages. And often, the author forgets her own advice to "put the reader ahead of being clever". Also, the naming convention she uses will confuse people at times. But then again, if you know what you're doing - and you should be at that level when you start this book - you will find the content outstanding and very useful. Overall, I'd say that this one's great to get into OOP.



5. I'm 53 years old and have been programming for 40 years. I picked up Robin's book about 2 years ago. Prior to that my most recent experience was with VBA and Access Basic. 15 years before that I had done some mainframe work in PL/I, SAS and older Basics. I had never done any OOP and my UI was limited to VBA.
   
   This book is an excellent tutorial. You can go through it, chapter by chapter. Don't use the CD -- type in the examples and then alter them little by little and you will learn how this stuff works. I think that if had started with a larger book I would have spent too much time wandering about, and would not have gained a solid foundation.
   
   I hope Robin decides to write a 2005 version.

5 comments about Expert One-on-One Visual Basic 2005 Database Programming (Expert One-On-One).

1. I bought this book even though I am a C# coder. Roger has such great concepts on how to do design and coding that I almost shouted for joy after searching and reading other books (e.g S. Malik which is of little or no value). This book goes beyond my production code needs and is invaluable in doing it right the first time. Thanks Roger for the section on concurrency exceptions which we all have in the real world. Most folks sweep this under the rug because it takes a real pro to fully and accurately address it.



2. This book does a better job of explaining what happens behind the vs2005 data object wizzards then many of the other books that just show you how to use them.



3. Having this book a month ago would have saved me at least $1000. Which is about how much I had to pay someone to write code that this book clearly points out was already written and available by Microsoft.
   
   That's the bottom line. This book is a time and money saver for anyone writing VB 2005 code that uses a database.



4. Excelente libro, le agregaria algun truquito mas, pero esta todo, sirve como para arrancar y profundizar en los temas. Muy buena guia.



5. I snatched this book up as soon as I saw it. I have three other of Roger Jennings' database books and they are great.
   
   This one was a little disappointing. It has good information in it and it is informative. But, percentage-wise at least, it seems to contain a lot more filler, like unneeded code. The style of writing seems so different from his other books that I wonder how much of the actual writing Mr. Jennings did himself.
   
   It's definitely not a bad book. Overall it was worth the money. Maybe the second edition will add more substance. I would actually rate it at 3 1/2 stars, but that's not an available option.