5 comments about Implementing Database Security and Auditing: Includes Examples for Oracle, SQL Server, DB2 UDB, Sybase.

1. The book is helpful and practical. It has the right mix of "what to do" with "how to do" and "why to do" - and it covers all the databases my company owns.



2. Really good book. Easy to read and good content. I recommend it to anyone doing db work.



3. This is a very good book. It is very readable and very informative. It has a lot of useful stuff. I recommend it highly.



4. The book is very practical and timely; it contains the complex of useful rules either dispersed in many different sources or not published at all. For example my colleague who is a DB Oracle administrator in Sony Computer Entertainment distinguished the following recommendations:
   · Hardening Oracle environment
   · Avoiding the use of mod_plsql
   · Not making a database a web server and not store HTML pages in the database
   
   From my perspective the rules concerning Web services and cross-site scripting are the most valuable. Working on these applications I see how vulnerable is a database server due to some security holes; therefore avoiding the holes is important.



5. I'm rarely moved to write a review on a technical book, perhaps because I read so many of them. However, this text is truly outstanding, due to it's breadth of coverage, i.e., Oracle, SQL Server, DB2, UBD and Sybase AND well written descriptions of problems and solutions.
   
   If you are seeking to secure your databases AND/OR audit them, this book contains both suggestions for scripting, triggers etc as well as where to look for vulnerabilities.
   
   Bravo to the author, and THANKS, I'm using regularly, the best compliment of all.

3 comments about Hands-On Oracle Database 10g Express Edition for Windows (Osborne Oracle Press).

1. This book is very good!



2. The book was well written and very methodically built the topic. I would have liked to have an introductory overview section/chapter that illustrated how the topics come together, and an example of an end result.



3. I started with the book and the CD due to the thought of getting a ground rules idea of what Oracle is about. I did notice several areas where SQL code was used but other than that it is a powerful tool. The "Express" edition really gives you an idea of how powerful this database is. Once you complete the Express edition, go to Oracles website and download the Personal Edition for free and get the whole kit and kaboodle!

No comments about Oracle 10g Developer: PL/SQL Programming.

5 comments about Oracle PL/SQL Interactive Workbook (2nd Edition) (Interactive Workbook Series).

1. With over twenty years in large scale IT development using Java/C++/C/Assembly languages on Unix/Windows 2000/NT platforms, but a neophyte with PL/SQL, I needed a PL/SQL package that would assume no background knowledge in PL/SQL, get me up to speed fast, and at the same time be comprehensive. In other words, I wanted everything. This package no only satisfied this need, but opened up new avenues of thought concerning approaches to database programming. The book is simply matchless (it should get 6 stars--an extra star for the terrific exercises that incorporate hidden pearls of IT wisdom), and yes I have perused others on the market. Ms. Silvestrova demonstrates that she is a consummate professional. The flow of the book, depth of the hands-on exercises, and scope of material is an inimitable combination. This so far may sound over-glowing, but a workman is worthy of her hire. I would recommend this package to any introductory or middle level PL/SQL student. If you desire to be a competent PL/SQL professional, look no further. If you desire to have a guide that provides you with a solid answer to specific types of PL/SQL problems, look no further. However, if you seek a slick product that spoon feeds you programming palaver (under the guise of teaching), fly you fool: you have many under-performing options available.



2. If you like a structured lesson, then you will find this confusing. Usually you expect a lesson then examples and labs. In this book the lessons are mixed in the labs. Lessons often use something that isn't covered until a later chapter, but they don't mention this. This book looks to be rushed too early to publishing. If you are OK with a scattered instruction method, then this is the book for you. Unfortunately there aren't many alternatives to this book.



3. This book is awful. Elena, the author, mostly read from the textbook. Anyone can read from the textbook. Why buy this book if the author is just going to read from the text? My suggestions is to go to Oracle and buy their CBT. It is worth it.



4. I bought this in hoping to find a PL/SQL book that could give me a real life lab exercise. I gave up on this book. The examples would sometime refer to advanced topics not discussed. There were errors. The exercises did not appear to be kitchen tested before the book was published. I am still looking for a good PL/SQL book that has good interactive lab exercises, if you find one please let the rest of us know.



5. This book is very easy to follow, and you can learn SQL very quickly. Just remember, you do need access to an Oracle database to do the exercises.

2 comments about Dream Machine: Exploring the Computer Age.

1. The Dream Machine provides a plethora of information to the reader. It gives specific detials of the evolution of the computer. Including: many people, companies (IBM, Remington Rand), the languages of programming, the personal computer and more...



2. This is the book that that spawned the PBS series "The Machine that Changed the World" airing in America around 1992. It was a five part series that closely matched this book, on which it was based. With this book you will gain an appreciation for the history of the modern computer and get an excellent historical perspective. The 5 part TV series with episodes taken from chapters of this book were titled:
   
   1) Great Brains
   2) Inventing the Future
   3) The Paperback Computer
   3) The Thinking Machine
   4) The World At Your Fingertips
   
   The book was written before the the invention of the internet and the world wide web, but you can see it coming. Industry giants such as the Alan Kay, Doug Lenat, Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, Alan Touring, Robert Noyce, Charles Babbage, George Boole, Jon Von Neumann and many others are all mentioned and their contributions are put into a modern (for the day) perspective.
   
   I would recommend this book to any student of computer science or computers as a hobby. Though the book is well over 15 years old, it has a timeless quality that takes you back to the beginning of the computer age and leads you gently into the modern era.

5 comments about Fumbling the Future: How Xerox Invented, Then Ignored, the First Personal Computer.

1. If innovation is in any way your concern read this. It memorializes fluently almost all the things a management can do to kill creativity.



2. This book tells the fascinating story of the invention of the first distributed personal computer systems at Xerox PARC (Palo Alto Research Center), and how a copier company that had grown to over $1 billion in revenue in less than 10 years based on a single new technology (photocopying) was unable to capitalize on a new technology again, despite the best intentions of its leaders.

   The really innovative work at PARC was done under the direction of Bob Taylor. When Taylor was forced out, he started DEC's Systems Research Center (SRC) (later acquired by Compaq, and then HP), and he brought much of the top talent along with him.

   I read this book on Bob Taylor's recommendation when I first joined DEC SRC as a researcher. But I decided to read it again recently before attending a talk by George Pake, the founding director of PARC. Pake's history of PARC agreed with the book, but he drew very different conclusions about the overall benefit of PARC's inventions to Xerox. In particular, Pake gave far more credit to PARC for contributing to Xerox, but all the examples he gave related to how computer technology has come to be used in photocopiers, which entirely misses the point. As the book's subtitle suggests, most of PARC's astounding computer innovations were largely squandered by Xerox (and "borrowed" by Steve Jobs to create the Apple Macintosh).

   The first time I read the book, I was fresh out of school and didn't have much experience in the business world, so the parts of the book dealing with business issues were mostly a mystery to me. This time, it made much more sense, and I actually found the business aspects of the story more intriguing than the technical ones. Even so, the story of the first bit-mapped display, laser printer, ethernet, personal computer, and WYSIWYG editing software -- innovations we take largely for granted today -- is quite interesting!




3. I lived through these years on the 10th Floor at Xerox Corporation Systems Headquarters, El Segundo, California - as a Systems Administrator for New Product Development and Training. The book is accurate, but misses one very, very important point: The "Leadership" at Xerox Corporation at this time did not, repeat not, have the "best intentions". On the contrary, they were "Box People" (copier people) who did not have a clue about how to take advantage of this technology. In 1984 we did an internal survey of middle and upper management regarding use of the applications for the Star/Distributed Net (specifically email and Viewpoint software applications for those of you "in the know"). It found that while 76-percent of first and second level management used these applications on a daily or multiple-weekly basis, less than 10-percent of upper and executive management did so (the figure was under 5-percent on returns from Rochester and Stamford). Is this evidence of knowledge or having the "best intentions"? Those of us who did have the knowledge of the potential benefits were in middle management and could see those benefits to our own organisations at that time. We reported on these benefits, talked about them, begged people to come and see for themselves...for years...nothing happened. Many of us grew so frustrated we left (I was one, in 1989), although we still loved (and love) our exciting times at "Brand X". Some stayed, and watched Xerox "retreat" back to a primarily copier/printer company (and in doing so it crushed many a spirit). Most of us have wonderful, amazing, funny and frustrating stories to tell about those times (how about two trips in a single day to PARC from El Segundo just prior to the release of the 6085PCS?...or when the training Manager for New Produce Development left...only to turn up at Apple the following month...with all his notes and records?...Or producing training films for new releases with comedy sketches on the tail end for raising salespersons morale...). This book is too high level stuff for that...but it does reflect the failure of the top at Xerox...although it doesn't quite come out and say that...The top did not have a hint about these advances because they were from another world (Rochester, Copiers, not PARC/El Segundo and GUI/Ethernet). Read the book, but remember, no matter how hard those in middle management yell...if the top does "not have ears to hear" - it will not hear! ETW, Los Angeles, CA, now a retired TRW Employee



4. As most people in the computer industry know Xerox pioneered many of the key breakthroughs in the computer industry, but then they were not able to capitalize on the technology they developed. Many, many other companies have made billions of dollars; however, Xerox just couldn't figure out how to reap the benefits.

   The authors of "Fumbling the Future" go into this history in great detail. They first set the stage by describing Xerox's early history, how Xerox invented a copier, and for a number of years they were so successful that they were able to basically print money. Many of the major players in the industry are mentioned, their goals and interests. Xerox was very aggressive, and in some ways they were also a bit lucky, with the copier. Then Xerox decided they needed to also get into the computer industry.

   Next the authors talk about how the Palo Alto Research Center (PARC) was created, how George Pake selected various key people to help staff the research center, and the charter PARC was given. The book goes over who was hired, what they did, and how the groups at PARC worked together, and sometimes didn't work together.

   Here is where you can start to see the train wreck. The first President of Xerox, Joe Wilson, seems to have been a very gifted leader. In terms of "Good to Great" by Jim Collins, Joe Wilson was a level five leader. Unfortunately Joe Wilson dies, and the next president of Xerox, Peter McColough, was at best a level four leader. Peter decided to spend almost a billion dollars for a niche science computer company which Peter then tried to force out into the general computer market, going up against IBM. Peter also took Xerox into Medicine and Education. And Peter got involved in Politics and Charities. Peter McColough was not focused on Xerox, and let several problems simmer.

   We get some insights into what drove the researchers at PARC to develop the first personal computer, the Alto, and many of the reasons why it was revolutionary. The authors chart the destruction of the potential of the Alto, largely because of various managers at Xerox not catching the vision, or those who caught the vision not being able to work well with upper management.

   One thing which would have improved the book was to have some pictures. It would have been nice to have some pictures of the early copiers, the Alto, and some of the major players.

   It was a well written book, with a lot of good history, and some important lessons. Even though you know how it will all turn out, this was a hard book to put down.




5. This book tells the story of the greatest failure of a corporation in our time to create marketable products from truly great research. It starts by telling the story of how PARC was conceived and how it operated.
   
   In 1973, a number of researchers at Xerox PARC demonstrated the "Alto". The Alto was the first "personal computer" designed not only on a human scale for a single individual but supported by a number of improvements that rendered it "instantly responsive to the user's demands", each of them revolutionary in the computer field. They included: a graphics-oriented monitor with "icons" and overlapping "pages" on the screen that was coordinated by the "mouse" input device; a word-processing program "for nonexpert users"; a local area network, the "Ethernet"; and an object-oriented programming language that combined data with certain commands, which hugely simplified computer operations.
   
   These attributes represented nothing less than a paradigm shift for the computer industry, away from the punch cards, unwieldy printouts of results, obscure programming codes, and the awkward time-sharing arrangements that were the hallmarks of mainframe computers. At that moment, Xerox had a full five-year head start over its future rivals. (Amazingly, PCs have changed little. with the exception of incremental improvements, from this fundamental prototype.)
   
   Unfortunately, few at Xerox headquarters understood the importance of these developments. From its beginning, many executives at Xerox headquarters viewed PARC as a kind of uncontrollable island of insolence and arrogance. When Xerox managers visited PARC, they were struck by the rudeness and counter-cultural feel of the place. For their part, PARC researchers viewed headquarters with open disdain at the leadership's inability to understand not only what PARC was doing, but the jargon they were forging.
   
   The mutual distrust between headquarters and its Palo Alto lab neither encouraged Xerox executives to learn about how PARC's inventions might fit into the modern office nor allowed PARC's managers to sell their inventions to the company's manufacturing units. Even worse, PARC had no one in Xerox's top leadership to champion their product ideas or even to get things done - at the moment when PARC's technological innovations were ready for commercial development, the Xerox Corporation was entering a prolonged period of crisis, the "lost decade" of the 1970s.
   
   To the shock of many Xerox leaders, Japanese manufacturers came up with a number of basic innovations in design, greatly enhancing the reliability and performance of their copiers while reducing their cost. With this stunningly executed strategy, the Japanese manufacturers succeeded in turning Xerox's supposed comparative advantages (of a huge sales force and repair facilities and patented technolgies that were being squeezed of every last drop of their value) into unsustainable liabilities.
   
   It was in this context - a crisis of rapidly diminishing market share, with financiers and accountants ascendant within the Xerox bureaucracy - that PARC managers were attempting to sell their revolutionary inventions. Unfortuately, the top leadership at Xerox had turned its attention to investigating the methods of Japanese companies, in particular the techniques of total quality management, which would occupy the attention of David Kearns, the new Xerox CEO, into the 1980s.
   
   Beyond the numbers, PARC was pitting itself against the corporation's incentive system: because the Xerox manufacturing divisions had quarterly targets it had to meet, adding an entirely new line of products threatened to disrupt the flow of revenues, which meant they wouldn't get their bonuses.
   
   Moreover, as an embryonic business that could only promise growth somewhere in the future, the Alto III attracted little attention at headquarters - Xerox managers had long grown accustomed to massive returns rung up at the click of a button on a leased machine, in the hundreds of millions of dollars. In light of this expectation, the Alto III appeared too small to bother with.
   
   In December 1979, Steve Jobs had visited PARC and was working to incorporate the software capabilities he had observed into the first mass-market personal computers. In addition, Jobs, Bill Gates, and others had begun to hire researchers away from PARC: disgusted by the obtuseness of Xerox headquarters regarding their work, many of them were yearning to move to more entrepreneurial environments. They felt that they had accomplished virtually all that they could at PARC.
   
   Nonetheless, with approval from headquarters, a number of PARC's best engineers had begun to develop the Star workstation. Unveiled at a computer trade show in April 1981, the Star generated great excitement. Packed with many of PARC's best features, such an as-it-would-print document screen and electronic mail, the Star was unlike anything that had ever been sold in the industry. However, once on the market, the Star quickly revealed a number of drawbacks. First, with so many features that required processing power, it was extremely slow. Second, it was also too bulky for many offices. Third, it retailed at over US$16,000, pushing it out of reach of all but the richest of corporations. Fourth, the Star lacked a spread sheet, which many office executives wanted, and its "closed" software system would not run those offered by other companies.
   
   While criticized as a typical engineering product with an over-abundance of esoteric features, the Star was far more a reflection of Xerox headquarters: recalling the runaway success of the 914 monopoly, they had assumed that the Star would set the de facto standard for an entirely new industry, which Xerox would again dominate - regardless of the price. Even worse, they had failed to appreciate that this time, the company faced some extremely nimble and hungry competitors.
   
   Xerox had also failed to train its copier salesmen regarding the vision behind, and unique features of, the Star: it was supposed to be the first step in Xerox's re-making of the office environment. Unfortunately, accustomed to selling copiers to lower-level managers, Xerox salesmen understood little of this and many had no idea who to approach within corporations with this revolutionary new product. From their experience with the blockbuster early copier 914, they - along with the leaders in their company - were accustomed to marketing hardware, whereas the Star's principal advantages came from its software. Talk about implementation failure!!
   
   In August 1981, IBM introduced the personal computer (PC). While far more primitive and less user-friendly than the Star - with no mouse, no Ethernet capability, no icons, no multi-tasking windows - it was priced at less than US$5,000. Quickly surpassing the Star in sales, the IBM PC set the standard for the emerging market of affordable personal computers. For all intents and purposes, Xerox would view the PC revolution, which it had virtually created, from the sidelines - it had squandered a lead of over 5 years!!!
   
   Following the failure of the Star workstation, morale at PARC plummeted. To make things worse, in 1981 Xerox appointed a new director at PARC, Bill Spencer, who failed to grasp the unique chemistry of the computer lab. Spencer immediately locked horns with Bob Taylor, who resigned and took most of his top staff with him to DEC. This marked ended Xerox's effort to fundamentally reinvent the modern office.
   
   Nonetheless, PARC could boast a few commercial successes. Most prominent of these was Gary Starkweather's laser printer, which he had moved to PARC to develop in 1971. After a few years of work perfecting the device and a long and difficult period of promoting it from within Xerox, Starkweather was able to convince the company to manufacture a version of his machine in 1977. Though Xerox had barely beaten IBM to the market with the product in spite of a three-year technological lead, its laser printer became one of the best selling Xerox products of all time, eventually becoming a US$2 billion business per year. Its acceptance within the company was made easier by the fact that it was largely a hardware product, with technology familiar to Xerox.
   
   This is meaty stuff, and the authors cover it well and the book is very very well written. It is best when telling the story of the disconnect between PARC and Xerox HQ in an effort to explain the failure, though the technical aspects of how PARC operated are summarized well (and never in excessive detail). This is at heart an organizational behavior book, not a how-to (or how to not) innovate book.
   
   Recommended.

No comments about Oracle Enterprise Manager 10g Grid Control Implementation Guide (Osborne Oracle Press).

5 comments about OCP Developer PL/SQL Program Units Exam Guide.

1. Amazing...great..those are the words for this book which i recently used for 1z0-147 exam which i passed with score 63/66.
   After lot of research i used this book for 1z0-147 and i happily confirm that i made great choice.
   
   Most of the topics required for exam are covered except LargeObjects(LOB).
   
   Thanks a lot Steve for wonderful job.!!!!!!!



2. The book is fine and covers almost 80% of the topics of OCP 9i as well. So far little upgradation is required to make it effective for 9i exam papers. The book is wonderfully organized even a novice user can start with the book and take a hold.



3. Although this book is a guide for the 1Z0-101 exam, I got it to prepare myself for the 1Z0-147 exam, which I just passed. It covered everything but LOBs and the use of CALL for triggers (topics not supposed to be in the 1Z0-101). So, it is a great book: easy format, very realistic practice exams. The only reason I give it 4 starts instead of 5 is because the CD that cames with it is horrible. The software has a lot of bugs, so it's a waste of time using it. To give you an example, some questions that are intended to have multiple answers, just don't let you chose more than one. Ridiculous!



4. This book is good for preparing 1Z0-147,which is 2nd paper of OCA.It covers almost 90% of the course.



5. I took the test last week but failed with a score of 26.Looks like you need to prepare thoroughly and in depth to clear this test. I took by word the other reviews which claimed after studying this book,the test would a cakewalk. It doest seem so and the questions were more tricky and difficult. If you are planning to take ,prepare in depth and be prepared to expect tougher questions than in this book.

5 comments about The Art and Science of Oracle Performance Tuning.

1. Great book,nice and easy to follow approach,fine life examples.

   Among other things the author very intelligently also reiterates

   the importance of a good self image and the importance of a

   good relationship to co-workers in a very casual,realistic and

   non intrusive manner




2. The technical Oracle performance tuning section doesn't start until Chapter 5. The first 94 pages of the book is spent on topics such as "Maintain a Healthy Skepticism","Blame should be Avoided","The Cost of a Poor Working Relationship", and "The Universal Law of Reciprocity". Although the author's advice on these matters is sound, the first 94 pages clearly does not provide what the users are looking for.
   
   The crown jewel of this book is its technical explaination of wait events. Its explaination of v$SQL, v$system_event, v$session_event, and V$Session_wait tables is well worth your money and your time. If you do not know of these tables, then do yourself and your Oracle users a great service and buy this book and master its contents. You will not regret it.
   
   The weakspot of this book is in the resolution of Oracle's slow performance. Although the book provides strong hints that most Oracle issues can be resolved with better indexing and index hints, the book does not emphasize it as much as it should. It also doesn't provide a whole lot of suggestions on how to optimize the SGA.



3. This book is a great place to start to learn about performance tuning for Oracle. The book covers the different type of performance tuning methods in a neutral and matter of fact manner. I like the candidness of the author and the fact that he does not push or suggest one method is better than any other. Use this book to start to understand the different methods then move on to more in depth books on a particular performance tuning method. Take a moment and look at the Table of Contents



4. Lawson gives the Oracle DBA many useful ideas on customising your Oracle database. He pretty much assumes you already possess a reasonable background in Oracle. There is no wasted space on elementary SQL or Oracle tasks.
   
   Perhaps the key chapters are 7, "Oracle Pathologist" and 8, "Analysing SQL Bottlenecks". Later chapters add important refinements. But if you are in search of quick gains, chapters 7 and 8 could be the most fruitful. The ideas in those might not have to involve a major overhaul of your architecture.



5. This is not a highly technical Oracle book but it does demonstrate how many of the Oracle features rely on intuition instead of science. It is not the kind of book that you will refer to later, but it is an excellent one time read

5 comments about Oracle 10g Database Administrator II: Backup/Recovery and Network Administration.

1. Claire Rajan has put together an exceptionally put together book. She has carefully simulated both in-class and 'on the job' sessions while craftfully meshing both theoretical and practical knowledge for all modules. I HIGHLY recommend all aspiring, junior and seasoned DBAs have a copy of this book.
   
   Great book written by an exceptional author!



2. Claire Rajan has very skillfully made an IT book interesting to read. It is an exceptional learning tool, chocked full of clearly written hands-on exercises. I plan to always keep it handy as a reference guide.



3. This book was very well written. I found the hands on examples to be especially helpful. The examples provided in the book were very detailed. Wonderful book!!



4. The Oracle 10G Admin 2 book was more concise on database recovery and gave a much clearer description on what is involved in recovery than the Oracle 10G Admin 1 book. I found the book much easier to read and understand. The subject matter is really presented well and a student can appreciate the time saved by a clear and well thought out description of Globalization and resource management chapters.
   
   
   The exercises in the book were very helpful in mastering the concepts on configuration and Automatic database management. I especially liked the chapter on Recovery Manager and the exercises were excellent. This book has helped me learn Oracle 10G and I would recommend it to other students trying to learn Oracle 10G.



5. This was a well written book from beginning to end, I could read it over again. The exercises in the book worked to completion. This is a self help reference book that helps you understand Backup/Recovery to the fullest. Cudos to Claire! She needs to write all the literature for Oracle Database.