No comments about Oracle for Professionals - Covers Oracle 9i, 10g & 11g.

5 comments about Pro .NET Oracle Programming.

1. From the title you would expect this to drill into some deep Oracle technical issues. It doesn't do that. It's a fairly screenshot intensive walkthrough of basic Oracle use in .NET. It starts with connectivity, information retrieval and manipulation. Then exception handling, stored procedures and large object operations. There is some coverage of performance issues.
   
   There is a lot of good content here. It's well written and organized. The screenshots aren't overwhelming and the sample code is good. A good book on Oracle use in .NET, even if it is a little mis-titled.



2. I would like to have given this book a 5 stars
   but the title is greatly over-exagerated for Pros
   
   This is the first time I have accessed oracle for the first
   time thru visual studio and the book has helped me overcome
   that fear. The examples are clear and concise in its into
   to oracle so even an idiot could pick it up.
   
   I would like to see a book which extends more on real life examples. A drawback i would like to add about this book.
   This book is TOO exepensive for a introductory book
   
   I am thrilled that all the examples do work which was a MAJOR plus.



3. I put a system into production last fall with .NET and Oracle. Wish I had this book nine months ago! Mark has good advice for someone new to Oracle, but familiar with .NET. I've gone back and tweaked the system based on Mark's recommendations. I'm happy.



4. I got this book when in started working with oracle db using .net 2.0 beta1. It's really good book for understanding .net and oracle using odp.net and MS driver.



5. Best one, nicely explains the basics and advanced topics of oracle - .NET programming.
   
   A Must read for beginners in Oracle/.NET.
   
   - Kumar Shetgar

4 comments about Oracle Application Server 10g Essentials.

1. The book does credit to it's title. The information in the book
   is indeed at a very essential level.... To such an extent as to have too little practical value for an Oracle profesional. If you are interested in a light theoretical introduction into iAS and it's capabilities then this might be a book for you. On the other hand, if you want to learn how to install,configure and manage iAS then this book is not the one you should read. It struck me to find out that the book does not contain any url's on how to manage the iAS, no examples of how to configure anything. A chapter on Forms server that does not explain how to configure a forms server or how to deploy forms or even how to simply test if it works. The same counts for the chapter on Reports server. A chapter on OC4J that does not explain how to deploy java in Oracle's container.
   
   The authors too often refer to the manual. If I wanted to read the manual then why buy this book? The manual is for free.
   
   I think it is better to read Don's iAS book and supplement it with the manuals on technet.
   
   I am a keen reader of o'reilly books, but am sorry to say that I have found this one's practical content lacking.



2. What the heck is an "application server"? At the simplest level, it is a web server that can make dynamic web pages. Typically, the data in these pages come from a back end SQL server. As the authors show us here, the Oracle server can easily do this, where, unsurprisingly, the database is Oracle's.
   
   But there is more. A common design is for the server to incorporate as much of the business logic as possible, via EJBs. There are extensive descriptions here on how to use the Oracle server for this. This server competes with those from JBoss and IBM's Websphere. Sadly, there is no mention at all of these alternatives, let alone a comparative analysis.
   
   Another recent hot topic is Web Services. These are separate from making dynamic web pages. Rather, it is meant to permit different programs on different computers talk to each other, and for designers to plug these together in some easy fashion. The book gives a short discussion on how Oracle's server can be used for this means. Skimpy. Not that Oracle is necessarily worse off than others who are offering Web Services. The entire field is nascent, and groping for a few big hits. Maybe, just maybe, you might be able to use Oracle's server in building one of these?



3. This book covers general aspects of Oracle Application Server 10g. It is like reading an Oracle documentation, it does not give any interesting tips and tricks that I would like to see when I pay for a book, rather than seeing the same content when I read an online Oracle documentation. The only good aspect of this book might be the fact that they give you an organized but general overview of Oracle Application Server 10g, it is helpful and practical but does not go deep enough to cover some aspects that you will not see on an online Oracle documentation.



4. Detailed reference to the Oracle Application Server 10g that provides background information about Oracle Application Server 10g, descriptions of its purpose and function, and numerous examples of its use.
   Thank you

2 comments about Oracle Enterprise Manager 101.

1. This is another great book from Oracle for the beginner to intermediate DBA. The authors do an excellent job of walking you through installation of the Oracle Management Server and then introduce you to everything that Enterprise Manager can do.

   I would recommend this book to any DBA wanting to utilize OMS and OEM to efficiently manage their environments.




2. It's the only book I could find on the subject and it was a disappointment. If I learned enough to make it worth the $, it was just barely.

   A large part of what is said is rehashing what is intuitive and there is very little insight beyond that.

   The 101 title leads you to believe that it is for beginners and I guess that is true for the most part, but a beginner will struggle with the installation instructions the book gives.

5 comments about Silicon Gold Rush: The Next Generation of High-Tech Stars Rewrites the Rules of Business.

1. There are enough self-proclaimed "management bestsellers," and this one is too effusive and devoid of original content, from the boxed pundit words of wisdom, to the "terrific" blurbs from the people glowingly spotlighted within. Southwick's myopia is perhaps best captured by her claim that "the Regis Touch" transformed Apple. Maybe it was too long ago to remember, but back then, having an actual product made a difference. The idea that things are now moving so fast that intellectual property doesn't matter any more is ludicrous.

   The work seems primarily descriptive, rather than prescriptive, making it ironically backward-looking, and already dated.




2. Definitely worth a look. Well laid out easy to read with summaries from some of today's leading thinkers.

   OK Karen Southwick seems to be using her friends (just look at the back of High Noon to find the same names she cites as experts in this book).

   She cites the success of companies such as Cisco, 3Com and PeopleSoft, HP,Intel and Yahoo! There is a lot to learn from these masters (even if it is nothing more than no-one has the whole answer) and Southwick takes us on a journey from start-up, through to marketing (mind she she calls it)and to prospecting. The graphs at the end of her book even show you profiles of the qualities CEOs need to have at various stages of their careers.

   I like this book because it has great quotes, e.g. Differentiating your product from others is more important than having the better product, it covers a vast range of topics, it intergrates well with other material (e.g. the work of Geoffrey Moore) and it offers a number of warnings.

   Well worth having a good look at




3. In light of the recent declines in tech stocks, you must give author Karen Southwick credit - for the most part she's profiled companies that are still around, although they've taken some hits. Southwick synthesizes her observations of Silicon Valley over the last decade or so. She takes a broad and sustained look at the practices of such companies as Ascend, Audodesk, Ciena, Cisco, Crossworlds, Net Noir, Open Market, Peoplesoft, Yahoo and others. Using an anecdotal, feature-story style, Southwick dissects these firms, covering CEOs' personal histories, corporate funding and corporate culture - down to dress code and wilderness team-building exercises. Some stories aren't new (insiders know Yahoo's culture is wacky) and there are some small inaccuracies (i.e. you could challenge Crossworlds CEO Katrina Garnett's argument that turnover is still a massive problem). Nonetheless, whether you're an insider or just an observer seeking an overview of Silicon Valley and its players, we at getAbstract.com recommend this accessible, reader-friendly compilation.



4. This is a somewhat entertaining read if you can get over the basic fact that the information is outdated. Almost all of the statistics are from 1998 and some of the companies cited as future stars never realized their potential. It was relevant in 1999 but quickly lost all significance in the dot-com meltdown of 2000 that is still continuing as I write this in 2001. Dot-coms now require a path to profitability and companies just don't engage in the same behaviors any more.

   This books still has value for anyone wanting to know some historical background from the times of "irrational exhuberance" but the changes in business priorities that have taken place since this book was written have doomed it to irrelevance.




5. Being a person working in SF bay area, I quickly learned that this book was among the inferiors of the book on the Valley.
   The descriptions are too general -- the interviews were too shallow and no specific issues are presented in a clear-lighted manner.

   Good selections for books on the Valley I think is "Accidental Empires" by Cringely.

5 comments about Oracle8i DBA: SQL and PL/SQL Exam Cram (Exam: 1Z0-001).

1. Preparing for any exam is prone to cause a certain amount of anxiety, but with this book one should feel completely at ease going into the test. The book does a marvelous job covering the basics of SQL statements. Some of the hints and tips stray close to being obvious, but do not detract from the book overall. Some of the practice questions are almost too easy, but it's a good warmup to the real thing. This is a very complete, and ultimately useful book.



2. This is not a good book for someone new to Oracle and PL/SQL. Many of the examples are too complex. If you have work with PL/SQL this book is probably all you will need. If not, invest in a more traditional text.



3. I can't believe anybody would give more than one star to this awful book. Its not an exam cram it a syntax guide for experienced DBAs'. Its a book written by a man who has only a passing knowledge of the English language and who has no idea how to put across information in an intelligeble way. Don't be fooled by the excellent nature of the other 'exam cram' books. This one is an abberation and should remain out of print forever.



4. Don't rely on this text if you want to pass the exam. The book is difficult to read, and the writer has a tendency to deviate towards performance and architecture issues which are not required for the exam and are likely to waste your time.
   On a more positive note, it presents some of the basic rules that will be tested on the exam in a concise way and has some very good practice questions.
   To pass the first exam, I used it to complement the Sybex OCP series, and this worked for me.



5. Its a good book review before giving the exam. Helps in brushing all the important concepts and syntax.

1 comments about R & D Collaboration on Trial: The Microelectronics and Computer Technology Corporation.

1. I have been toying with the need for a national skunkworks to create a complete open source software suite of analytic tools including open source multi-lingual and multi-media data ingestion and sense-making, and so I bought this book in part because the Microelectronics and Computer Corporation (MCC) was the "big deal" in the last quarter century of the 20th Century.
   
   Bottom line: don't bother. The bulk of the book, while very detailed and certainly a worthy effort of reporting and sense-making, does not really apply to today's circumstances, when three big things are different:
   
   1) Changes to the Earth and the marketplace are at light speed
   
   2) Technology is no longer a top-down massive investment challenge
   
   3) Social entrepreneurs, triple-bottom lines, and blended value propositions are the norm for those who seek to invent the future.
   
   I can see now--in hind-sight, that the MIT Media Lab was the better venture, and still sets a gold standard for others to consider.
   
   The final chapter of this book, entitled "Lessons Learned," I found only two gems in that chapter:
   
   1) Despite all the challenges of heterogeneous collaboration, benefits do emerge, and they are often unexpected and not part of the original concept of operations.
   
   2) The challenge for the US is not technology invention, but technology application.
   
   I was serving in the Office of Information Technology (OIT) of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) in the late 1990's, and I well remember the Japanese Fifth Generation Project that inspired fear among U.S. electronic companies (never mind all the great Japanese espionage against us at the same time). I well remember all the expectation of machine learning, artificial intelligence, and so on. And I know for a fact that today, fully 26 years after CIA's Office of Scientific and Weapons Research (OSWR) identified the eighteen functionalities needed for a desktop analytic toolkit called CATALYST (Computer Aided Tools for the Analysis of Science & Technology)--see the image above--the U.S. Intelligence Community, despite a $60 billion annual budget, still has total crap on its desktops; its vaunted Intelink system is a "crapshoot" in the words of its own managers; it cannot access the 96% of the information that is openly available in 183 languages it does not speak; and there is no one place (I am NOT making this up) where all of the information from across all of the disciplines can come together and be made sense of.
   
   I conclude, from this book and my life experience, that LINUX is the right model, and we need to do more in open source hardware, and refuse to buy into proprietary black boxes. I am interested in helping to find funding for anyone that can build an Application Oriented Network (AON) router-server that can provide AON functionality at the hand-held or laptop or desktop point of creation; that can be updated without having to throw away the plastic container; and that is completely open source. CISCO CEO refuses to do this. Anyone else?
   
   A few other books that come to mind in relation to this one....
   Media Lab, The - Inventing The Future At MIT
   The Second Self: Computers and the Human Spirit, Twentieth Anniversary Edition
   Hackers: Heroes of the Computer Revolution
   The Hacker Crackdown: Law And Disorder On The Electronic Frontier
   Out of Control: The New Biology of Machines, Social Systems, & the Economic World
   Silicon Snake Oil: Second Thoughts on the Information Highway
   Building a Knowledge-Driven Organization
   Competing On Internet Time: Lessons From Netscape And Its Battle With Microsoft
   The Age of Missing Information
   In the Absence of the Sacred: The Failure of Technology and the Survival of the Indian Nations
   
   I won't list books by Strassmann, Drucker, or Steele, but I will offer three final thoughts as I put this book away:
   
   1. Strassmann: most firms' investments in information technology return a NEGATIVE return on investment;
   
   2. Drucker: we've spent the last 50 years focusing on the T in IT, we need to spend the next 50 focused on the I--one reason I do not think Google will succeed, just as NSA has not succeeded in 50 years; and
   
   3. Steele citing Bamford: the ultimate computing machine, no larger than a small ball, powered by a tiny battery, capable of doing petaflops of calculations against unstructured data, remains "the human brain."

No comments about Oracle 11g Grid & Real Application Clusters: Oracle 11g Grid Computing with RAC.

No comments about Oracle Solid State Disk Tuning: High Performance Oracle Tuning with RAM Disk.

No comments about Gardner's Guide to Multimedia and Animation Studios, Second Edition (Gardner's Guide series).