1 comments about SAP R/3 for the Informix DBA.

1. It is not a bad book for the person with no Informix background It is a good book for knowing the basis facts about the informix dbase. However, it does not explain completely full integration concepts between SAP and informix to sap administrator.

   From ThakerPranav

   From Pranav

1 comments about The Official Guide to Informix/Red Brick Data Warehousing (With CD-ROM).

1. This book was a good orientation to Redbrick. I do not consider it a reference book, and can only recommend it to people just wanting to get acquainted with Redbrick.

No comments about The Informix Database Administrator's Survival Guide.

5 comments about Informix Unleashed.

1. The book is organised into many topic-specific chapters, written by quite a number of different authors. The quality of the content and prose is therefore rather variable, and some subjects are covered to different depths by different authors, giving a rather disjointed feel. However most people, even Informix professionals, will find some things of value in this book.

   The book comes with a CD-ROM containing a example scripts/SQL etc: these vary from the trivial to the very useful.

   Some sections, noticeably that on Tech Support, are next to useless to non-US readers, containing as they do information only applicable to that country. It leaves the impression the editors were either too ignorant or, more likely, too lazy to consider the fact that this is supposed to be an international publication.




2. For someone who is new to Informix but has experience with other RDBMS's, this book is just what is needed.

   It overviews the Informix product line and gives detailed instructions for various tasks such as using ontape to perform a backup, understanding the onconfig parameters and much more.

   This book lives up to the UNLEASHED! family name.

   Thanks!




3. This book is a great resource. It's not one to read cover to cover, but rather one to turn to when you have a question. It's helped me at work in critical situations.



4. If you have had experience with other relational databases. i.e. SQL Server, Sybase. You may be farmiliar with Unleashed books. This one is nothing like them. The enire books gives a general overview of Informix and 90% of the book covers the Informix-4GL There is little to no examples for SQL and was not worth the $40.00 I spent on it.



5. I'm primarily a developer, but I also do a little bit of DBA stuff. This book has lots of info for developers, and apparently lots for DBAs too -- it's the book our primary DBA recommended to me. If you need to know something about Informix, chances are it's explained in this book.

No comments about Building Applications Using a 4Gl: With Examples from Informix-4Gl.

1 comments about Advanced Informix-4Gl Programming.

1. This book was pretty well written. I am an experienced Informix developer. It provided some useful information that I have used in my development.

1 comments about Dynamic Web Programming Using Java, JavaScript, and Informix.

1. I found this book to be extremely helpful in setting up a website recently. It is well written, and easy to understand. To be fair, I am an employee of Informix. However, I have used this book extensively and have found it wonderfully helpful. If you plan on using the Informix web datablade, you'll want this book on your desk.

3 comments about The Informix DBA Survival Guide (2nd Edition).

1. I'm a relative newbie to both relational databases and Informix. By various twists of fate, I ended up being a dba in addition to other chores, and this book has indeed been a survival guide. It's thorough, useful, well-written and well-indexed (that last bit is absolutely essential in a computer book). Some of my other Informix books live on the shelf, this one is always on my desk somewhere.



2. 100



3. If you want to be out in one of those 3 a.m. emergencies this book is helpful. The text is very objective and goes directly to the DBA needs.

2 comments about Programming Informix SQL/4GL: A Step-By-Step Approach (Bk/CD) (2nd Edition).

1. This book is an excellent resource for a novice user of Informix. I give this one 2 thumbs up. Even my expert coworker peeks into it once in a great while.

   My work place has the Informix books offered by the vendor which can be highly wordy and, for me, unreadable. Also, the book by Paul Mahler, "An Informix 4GL Tutorial" is pure crap. Or maybe the title should have been, "Mahler's Only Way To Do Informix--An Unapproachable approach".

   I have used both the first and 2nd editions written by Cathy Kipp. The first edition used a smaller font, was easy to read and was more compact and, after using it as a beginner Informix programmer, I grew attached to it. When I started using the 2nd edition, it took me a while to get used to the larger font or the more spread out documentation. In other words, a command could be covered in a single page on the first edition making it easy to read, but it took 2 pages to cover the same command in the 2nd edition. However, the 2nd edition had more substance over all.

   Warning to the buyer! The books page numbers in the index and the actual pages those references are located can be a couple pages off. AFter the index was written, a few more lines were added throughout the book. This screws with your ability to find an indexed item in the book. For example, the index says: Isolation Levels p.446 but the actual page is p.448,9. Although, the plus side is the index is very thorough and make finding needed commands easily (within a page or 2).

   Drawback #2, as with most large paperbacks that are used on a daily basis, the book will start falling apart--pages unglueing out of the binder after a few months to a year.

   But again, it has definitely been an excellent resource. I almost would give this one 4 stars except, compared to the couple other resources I have seen, this one beats all the rest. Even if it has its couple of flaws.

   If you have any questions, I will be more than happy to respond.




2. This is an excellent reference for anyone who is involved with Informix 4GL development. The book provides all the basics of SQL and 4GL. I often use it from time to time for my development projects.

5 comments about The Real Story of Informix Software and Phil White: Lessons in Business and Leadership for the Executive Team.

1. Without a doubt, this is the most interesting Silicon Valley book I have ever read. Irregardless if you work at HP, Sun, IBM, Oracle, SAP, or any other hi-tech company, I strongly recommend reading this book. It provides relevant lessons for hi-tech management, product case studies for developers, sales strategies for marketeers, and a concise analysis of a Silicon Valley time period that shaped our industry as we know it today.



2. The Real Story of Informix Software and Phil White is a ticket to experiencing the roller coaster ride that was Silicon Valley of the last decade. The book succeeds on several levels - as an engaging chronicle of the DB wars of the 1990's, as an intriguing character study of Phil White, and -more subtly - as a pitch for Martin's other book, "Heavy Hitter Selling". Martin's pinpoint analysis and description of Informix' winning (and losing) sales strategies proves his sales acumen. I was also in sales at Informix during this era and frankly we were so busy "doing" it's remarkable how Martin was also able to observe and analyze so precisely while consistently blowing out his numbers and making it to the vaunted "Summit Club".
   
   Also, Martin really makes Phil "come to life". In the book he's colorful, whereas in my memory he is bloodless - all stark steel and blonde. (That's probably because he struck terror in me and I tried to avoid him at all costs!!) It's actually a flattering portrait of the man - Martin is able to vindicate Phil even as he criticizes his mistakes.
   
   The prose is crisp, clear and descriptive. Even though Martin is the narrator and a first-hand observer of the action recounted, he does not over tread the story. I like how he embedded contemporaneous quotes from magazine and newspaper articles. The technique allows the author to seamlessly traverse among many "voices" in the narrative. Also, the simple but cohesive structure of the year by year chronology works. Plus I liked the use of analogy. For example, comparing Informix to Oracle and Sybase via their similarity to a Chevy (reliable), a Mercedes (first class) and a Porsche (fast!, fun!) provides imagery as to how customers viewed the companies. And lastly, as a great software salesman, Martin gives full credit to the Systems Engineers - the technical sales personnel so critical to winning deals. Even though I lived through this era, I believe the book transcends the particulars and illustrates what it takes to succeed in business in today's tumultuous times.



3. This is an interesting, if sterile, dissection of the rise and fall of one-time Silicon Valley darling Informix and their charismatic CEO, Phil White. Author Steve Martin was an Informix employee in the critical years from 1991 through 1997, and therefore speaks with the authority and insider's knowledge not found in the perspective of an outside journalist, burdened by the baggage of an interviewee's selective recall. Martin couples with the history a series of business lessons, which, while not profound, provide a succinct primer of management basics that are broadly applicable. Not the least of these lessons is the danger in allowing personal rivalries to cloud sound business judgment. In the case of Informix, an irrational focus on beating Oracle and it's obnoxious CEO, Larry Ellison, could be traced to Informix's eventual demise. While Martin is admittedly a Phil White sympathizer, he is not an apologist, and does a good job of presenting the other side of the story that was so negatively twisted by a scandal-crazed press and a US Justice Department which, in the days of Enron and WorldCom, was chomping at the bit to get a major CEO in handcuffs doing the perp walk wearing stripes. Even the most cynical critic of Informix and White must concede that the offense that ultimately sunk the Informix ship was disproportional to the consequences delivered by Judge Breyer.
   
   
   This book will be most appreciated by those who have lived and worked in Silicon Valley during the days immediately preceding the Internet boom and subsequent bust, as well as those not intimidated by a fairly heavy dosage of product-related technical jargon. Having been a Silicon Valley CEO at the time with some familiarity with White and the team, I was hoping for more specifics in the disastrous Illustra acquisition - especially more of the personalities involved - but that in no way impacts a solid story that deserves to be chronicled. In summary, if you're looking for an orgy of Informix gossip and dirty laundry, this isn't it. But for a quick and insightful history of an important chapter in Silicon Valley, "The Real Story of Informix Software..." is worth the time.



4. Software businesses are hard to run. Customers all think they need slightly different code. Salespeople make promises that no one in the company knows about. Acquisitions seem to offer unlimited potential . . . but usually lead to disaster. Accounting rules don't always make a lot of sense. If you lose momentum, your key people leave for the competition. A competitor can cut your sales off at the knees with a timely new product that works. Your new products barely run when they are first introduced.
   
   So is it any wonder that few software companies prosper in the long run?
   
   This book seems to be primarily aimed at correcting the public record about how and why Informix Software tanked in 1997 and how the company's CEO ended up pleading guilty to a count of securities fraud and spending two months in jail.
   
   If I take the book's material at face value, it does look like Mr. White was more guilty of being naive than of securities fraud. The explanation of the rebooking of revenues to follow more conservative accounting seems to make it abundantly clear that there was no massive fraud at Informix, despite what the newspapers said to the contrary at the time.
   
   Any new software CEO would benefit from reading this book. Investors who are thinking about buying software stocks should also read this book and lie down until the urge to buy goes away.
   
   People who want a serious history of Informix or its industry will find the book to be superficial and incomplete.



5. The word "boring" comes to mind when trying to describe this book. It is obvious that much of it is filler material with very little "business" oriented material. It's not necessary to know any level of details about specific products like "4GL," etc. to explain the business view of what happened.
   
   This book is more a history of Informix than anything else. The "Lessons Learned" are very basic and could be covered in 1/4 the pages.
   
   There is nothing special at all in this book.
   
   My advice is to save your money and skip it.