No comments about Using Oracle.

5 comments about OCP: Oracle8i DBA Virtual Test Center.

1. I bought Sybex study guides and the virtual test center...and I have no problem passing all five tests. I found these practice questions very helpful, they are a little more difficult than the actual tests (The questions come with the study guide are too easy). There are a few errors inside, but if you don't want to invest in other more expensive material like self test software, this one is a good choice.



2. The software contains 1000 test questions 500 per certification exam. I was thinking this would be great I can create the random tests with 20 or so questions each time. When you create a random test it gives you most of the same questions each time. Also, some of the syntax on the questions is questionable. I am severely disappointed with this product.



3. This product helped me passed the exams. It has 200 questions for each exam. I did the questions in the timed mode in the week before the real thing. The questions are a little bit harder than in the exams, which makes you feel comfortable during the real thing. And it helpes you to understand the concepts well and to realize what you are weak at. It also has some scenario questions, which is what Oracle is adding to its exams.
   One thing about it is that the questions are not numbered. When you are doing the questios, especially in a timed mode, you may feel lost about how far you are from the end.
   Overall, it is phenomenal. I recommend it to all who want to go to the exam confidently.



4. I used the cd only for the first exam so far, but I have to say that I'm not very pleased with it. Not many questions about PL/SQL and lots about group functions. Further on it would have been nice to get some question numbers, so you can see where you are concerning the timing.
   Overall, not a success.



5. I have found numerous incorrect statements, explanations and answers for the practice tests. This product was released in May 2001 and as of yet Sybex has no errata or corrections available for download on their website.

   Since this is a test prep CD it's imperative the information it provides be 100% correct! Errors can be expected when something of this nature is first released but their failure to provide corrections is inexcusable!

No comments about Exploiting Information Technology for Development: A Case Study of India (World Bank Discussion Paper).

5 comments about Rise & Resurrection of the American Programmer (Yourdon Press Computing Series).

1. I have read this book three years ago when I was a programming consultant. It is amazing to see the parallel between Yourdon's thoughts in the book and the current Software Engineering Institute CMM methodology. It is as if the whole new methodology was based on this book!

   This book definitely reads better than SEI's documentation. You can finish the book in a couple of days and retain the mahority of the ideas presented.

   If you are a programming supervisor, IT manager, or an enthusiastic software engineer, this book is fun, captivating, and very motivational.




2. I had to buy this for my CASE tool class. First of all, Yourdon's reliance on "models" to illustate his concepts is ridiculous. The Maturity model, the SEI model...its all useless.

   If people in the IT industry tried to follow these models, they would end up "dead and destroyed."

   This book is boring, as well. It is his attempt at redeeming himself after his first book.

   I could go on and on...




3. Although I haven't yet finished this book I can't help but feel that he was closer to the mark with his first book. In the last three years many foreign countries have been ramping up the amount of software development they do for American (and European) clients. Local software developers cannot compete on cost, so they must compete either on innovation or quality. They're not making it on quality and innovations can only take you so far.



4. While Yourdon's "Death March" wasn't another "Mythical Man-Month" by any measure, "Rise" is yet in another (much lower) class. Does Yourdon want to become a true industry pundit? Ed, your style is too clear for that; and you're writing in harback format, which doesn't blissfully disappear like all these magazines.

   There are many valuable insights: the section on best practices, for example. The good thing is that Yourdon doesn't just talk about them: he lists a few. "User Manual as Specification" is so simple, so obviously good... why have we done anything else ever? "Good-enough software" is valuable as well, not because you're not doing that already, but because the key is making it a fully conscious and accepted process.

   And then there are some chapters that I'd rather not talk about; the one about Java, for example. The author obviously got carried away. In hindsight, this is easy to say, but still: it lacked realism, even if Microsoft hadn't tried foiling Sun's plans since day 1.

   Overall: read Yourdon's other books, they're worthier of your money. And if you haven't the classics like "MMM" (Brooks), go there first.




5. I bought this book march 2000, Read it, thought it was OK , left it on my shelf. 5 Years later I was going to discard it from my collection. opened it up and was surprised at the wealth of information in it and how closely it matches my own experience and philospohy. It is a mine of good information. Not a book to read front to back but to explore, it reads better than most web and magazine articles. If you can get one on the used market its worth 50cents of anyones money. i would say its time for a revised edition.

4 comments about A Guide to SQL Featuring Oracle.

1. A fantastic book for learning SQL. I did not have Oracle and was learning on Microsoft Access instead, but I found the book very helpful nonetheless. The author does a good job of explaining SQL and databases. This book is also a very handy reference when programming. I still find myself using it as a guide when writing SQL statements in my programs. Overall a good book. I recommend it for SQL beginners and highly recommend it for users of Oracle.



2. I've had some programming experience, but can't say I'm an excellent programmer. This book really clued me in how just how versatile SQL can be. It slowly builds your knowledge and feeds it just enough to keep you interested for more. I've since purchased other books by Loney published by Oracle Press and have found them to be dry reads in comparison. After reading this book, I feel confident enough to take on PL/SQL. My limited programming skill is not a hindrance to learning SQL. Now.

   An excellent beginner's book.




3. I would definitely recommend this book to any beginer who has no idea what SQL is really all about. It starts off by introducing a fairly simple database and then builds on various queries and aspects of the database. I found it helpful making a copy of the database layout page which I then placed next to my monitor for constant referals. In just a few days I was confidently tackling our Oracle database at work and now no longer have that 'unknown' fear when facing any SQL related problems. Though for complex SQL scripts I would recommend a more advanced book.



4. Sorry Authors but I can never seem to find what I am after here. e.g. Looking for info on "aggregate" terms - no reference to it. e.g. Looking for information on oracle date handling - not enough info to be useful.

   I need something more heavy duty really. Might be okay for someone starting out - but I doubt it.

3 comments about Oracle8 Database Administration on Windows Nt.

1. This book gives you a good explanation of how Oracle is implemented on Windows NT. It does a good job covering installation, backup and recovery, and basic tuning. However, I purchased this book specifically for more information on Job Scheduling through Oracle Enterprise Manager. This topic is not covered in this book.



2. I guess the author is a populor teacher in his class. This book has covered most of the requireed knowledge for an Oracle DBA. It contains many figures which will save readers a lot of time in understanding and exercising. The text is simple but to the point. The attached CDROM is not of much interest to me.



3. I found this book too lightweight on conveying real hands-on skills for using Oracle 8 for Windows NT. The focus seems more on a combination of theory and hands-on, achieving neither. Since I am using the OEM for most DB admin the combination of command line and GUI contributed to the confusion.

2 comments about Oracle Unleashed.

1. While providing a good overview, this book does not provide the information needed for a developer to be productive in Oracle. This is not the book that a serious developer needs sitting by his left elbow as he is coding. I was disappointed in the lack of detailed information in this book. From other 'Unleashed' books, I have come to expect detailed explanations of language elements, and sample code showing how to accomplish real tasks. Language elements are not sufficiently explained; and, while some knowledge can be gleaned from the sample code, the examples were just way too simple to be useful. This book tries to accomplish too much. The first half tries to be a DBA guide, and the second half, a developers guide - as a result, both are given short shrift. Were this book called 'Oracle 7 Overview', it would have served its purpose.



2. This book tries to cover everything. Thus each topic is covered only breifly. The orginization and wording is passible at best. This book is not really for beginners but for the times when we forget the simple tasks.

   On the plus side, it is one of the few reference books with precompilers in it.

5 comments about Oracle SQL & PL/SQL Annotated Archives.

1. So many of the books out there are just beginner material, this is the first one I've found that shows how to do coding well. The format walks you through the material so you can pick up tricks and techniques as you go along. Plus the examples actually work.



2. This book has saved me several hours of work. The text is well thought out and well laid out so the precise script you are looking for can be easily found. Also, the annotations are clear and meaningful to the point where extending the functionality of the scripts (which is rare considering the depth and bredth of the script catalog) is simple enough that my Junior DBAs had no trouble doing so. If this isn't in a DBAs book shelf, it should be!



3. The book shows a lot of scripts that show the dictionary tables in a nice report. If you know your way around in the dictionary (mainly V$% and DBA_% tables) and are not interested in a nice layout, most of the scripts are not that hard to make yourself.



4. This was one of the first Oracle DBA books I read and it was excellent. I have written numerous DBA admin and repair scripts that run in NT 'AT' jobs at night and this book gave me a great start. The book is well written and the scripts were instantly useful. This book along with a few others is one of the best around and I use it nearly every day. This book blows away the 'Oracle Scripts' book by O'Reilly (although their SQLPlus book is very good.)



5. This was very useful for a DBA who wants to quickly snag some code to help manage the databases. Well worth the cash.

5 comments about Oracle8i Certified Professional DBA Practice Exams.

1. The problem with this book is that the author seemed to take the exact questions from his Oracle 8 practice tests and copy them into this book. I even saw numerous questions that said "In Oracle8..." shouldn't it say 8i?

   There is a reason Oracle 8i has its own set of tests, there are new features and added/deleted objectives. Case in point, in the first Network Administration practice exam there are about 6 or 7 questions on Oracle Intelligent Agent. Unfortunately Oracle Intelligent Agent is not covered on the actual 8i exam. Also I found two or three questions in the practice exam that were dead wrong. All this in just 20 minutes of reviewing the book in the store.

   I don't recommend this book to anyone that is serious about getting their OCP. Stick with the Sybex books and the STS exams(if you really need the extra practice). I did all my studying with just the Sybex books. Good Luck.




2. The problem with this book is that the author seemed to take the exact questions from his Oracle 8 practice tests and copy them into this book. I even saw numerous questions that said "In Oracle8..." shouldn't it say 8i?

   There is a reason Oracle 8i has its own set of tests, there are new features and added/deleted objectives. Case in point, in the first Network Administration practice exam there are about 6 or 7 questions on Oracle Intelligent Agent. Unfortunately Oracle Intelligent Agent is not covered on the actual 8i exam. Also I found two or three questions in the practice exam that were dead wrong. All this in just 20 minutes of reviewing the book in the store.

   I don't recommend this book to anyone that is serious about getting their OCP. Stick with the Sybex books and the STS exams(if you really need the extra practice). I did all my studying with just the Sybex books. Good Luck.




3. Usually the Couchman books are pretty good and cover the necessary material. Not in this case, though. The actual exams cover a lot of topics that are not even mentioned in passing in this book. You'll be wasting your OCP exam money if you think this book can guide you. You'll have to find your practice material elsewhere.



4. I'm taking my 5th OCP exam tomorrow. I bought this book 4 exams ago as a self-tester. As others have stated, there are too many problems in this book. Answers that are clearly wrong. Material that was most likely in Oracle 8, but not in 8i. I thought I was well prepared, took one of these tests and saw a ton of questions that weren't in any other study material. When I went to take the tests, and what do you know - that material wasn't on the tests either! Each exam I thought I'd give this book a second chance. Each exam that exercise was a waste of time.
   There is better study material out there - don't waste your money.



5. Buy it only if you really don't mind there are some outdated questions. You still have some taste of real exam in this book.

   Whilst most of the contents in this book are still valid in Oracle 8i exams, the book is primarily designed for the Oracle 8 exams indeed.

   One critical example is tuning the buffer cache with the V$RECENT_BUCKET and V$CURRENT_BUCKET. They are used in Oracle 8 but become obsolute in Oracle 8i. And as other Amazon reviewers point out, intelligent agent should be covered in Oracle 8 exam and not this book.

   The exams keep these "expired" questions in the guide that certainly make most candidates quite confused.

   To be fair, the difficulty level of this book is similar to that set in the actual exam.

   The structure of the mock exams in the book tries to capture most of the exam topics and therefore does not reflect the actual ingredients in the real exam. And undoubtedly, the actual exam questions will not appear in this book. However, if you want to have some taste of real exam, this might still serve the purpose.

4 comments about Road Warriors: 2Dreams and Nightmares Along the Information Highway.

1. Road Warriors: Dreams and Nightmares Along the Information Highway by Daniel Burstein and David Kline, Plume/Penguin Book, $13.95. 1996 ISBN 0-452-27105-3 by Marcus Goncalves - goncalves@process.com "Road Warriors: Dreams and Nightmares Along the Information Highway" by Daniel Burstein and David Kline is one of those books so embracing in its effort to describe a vivid, human-natured narrative of the road warrior personalities and strategies driving the digital technology revolution of our times that it almost challenges you to "pray" before you continue reading it. The book, has a bitter-sweet taste, funny but also sad, exciting but depressing, it gives us a leap of faith in the twenty-first century society but also portraits the leviathan of cultural clashes. It's almost magic, in the sense that it drags you onto an envision of the dominating forces shaping our future, the battle between net profit and net human identity, the gripping reality of where the information technology is taking us by condition... not opinion. Burstein and Kline's book elaborates on nothing new, but provides an entire new insight of facts, as the arguments presented are results of social-technocrats tragedies and casualties, elicited by incisive and informative headlines on Wired magazine, Hotwired and other Web-zines, not mentioning major news media. It debates on the "usability" of computer technology, which included video games and the human imagination as well as the PC versus the TV trend. It wonders over the dreams and nightmares of every road warrior, active or passive. It even discusses about Bill Gates and Microsoft's strategy, and the works of the government's proper role in light of the free market forces. Road Warriors is talking about a current reality, where most of the battles are still taking place, some not even started yet. The formed and severed alliances it describes are still in the process. The warriors of the information highway and the rest of us are optimistically heralding a new world order in the wake of the Information Age. For some, it may be another opportunity to grab the American dream, but it could also very well be a paradigm predicting a new, dangerous global conflict were disconcerting inefficient government policy, professional careers and family values will crash and burn, in Web time, through the effect of wires and chips. The rivalry of the Information Age warriors is replaced by the clash of civilizations. Just like Phoenix, the re-emerging information technologies on the Internet, the Web, Cybercash and I-phones, to name few, are reshaping new trends, new opportunities, new business, and consequently, a new cast of citizens, a new civilization: a Cyber one, that is. This does not mean that these events are always convincing. Here and there, as Burstein and Kline examine recent events, in light of the coming of the so called Digital Age, one suspects that they are interpreting the facts to suit the theory. Their book has plenty detailed examples of the advent of the Digital Age, including the social dimensions often excluded by technocrats. That's why so many love magazines like Wired, and so many hate it. For instance, will computers replace televisions in the living room, where the family will be gathered, as discussed in chapter eight, Smart TV, or a PC in Drag? The burgeoning increase of personal computers, usage of online networks and multimedia applications suggests that. Indeed Americans are spending more and more time in front of a computer. That much is true, but the theory has trouble with other features of the "infowar," like the deep transformation it will indicate in American social life, which realistically, as Burstein and Kline indicates, it will not happen in the foreseeable future. The idea hardly seems to matter to technocrats and road warriors, whatever their own faults (is it technology's fault?), which really were victims "of profound changes in the structure and internal life of Americans," as brilliantly discussed on the book, not merely a great ideal of Yankee ingenuity, entrepreneurial capitalism, and economic progress, as described by Burstein and Kline. For instance, the Silicon Graphics' former chairman, Jim Clark, statement that "computers and consumer electronics are going to be shared technologies," would have been very different if he had not found a new "Zion for his mass-market dream: the Internet." What exactly Jim Clark might have done differently so he wouldn't be so wrong on his assessment? Thus the Internet may be housing some 30 million users, the cable TV viewers amount to about 150 million in 63 million homes. Still, Burstein and Kline's grand concept of a PC in drag versus smart TV explains a good deal about the battle of giants like Tele-Communications, Inc., Microsoft, NTT (the giant Japanese telecommunication company) and their impact in the world these days, which would be difficult to explain without it. Stripped to its essence, paraphrasing Professor Donna L. Hoffman's words, of Vanderbilt University, the book's argument is this: The Information Age will tremendously affect society, in particular the American society. The book is dazzling in its scope of placing this global revolution in the historic context and grasp of the intricacies of contemporary global politics and consequent transformations following the Industrial Revolution. Readers not already familiar with issues driving the unprecedented promises of the Information Age might feel a bit overwhelmed with the conclusions the authors come to: America's society is growing more and more dysfunctional, in a process that is alienating families and individuals by canning the American people dreams onto digital fetishes serving the interests of few. As the authors write on Chapter 11, The Global Challenge, "the prosaic reality is that policy makers in every country, including United States, are continuing to make national decisions about the flow of global information based on their own interests." Past the after shock of a crude reality taking place at the myriad of the present Information Age, riding on the so called Information Super Highway, Road Warriors is a "must read" for everyone involved in this process, business and academic communities alike. It is also a call for society's conscience and active participation on this digital revolution. It is an alert of the danger and somewhat unavoidable fragmentation and decentralization of society in face of the clashes resulted of the "future shock" so well diagnosed by Alvin and Heidi Toffler back in the 70's. If we don't take Bustein & Kline very seriously, the clash of our civilization may start at our home.



2. Ok the book is now 'old' in that it was published in 1995, but you are not going to find anything better on the business of the 'information highway' (I know that term irritates people, but the point is that this book is about more than the just Internet, it is about the world the net is embedded within).

   The book is about the business war over communication and transmission, that will effect everybody who uses the Internet or other 'new media', the massive mergers and collaborations which effect us all. It discusses High Definition TV, the video on demand problem, the fight over the phone business, stock market frenzy over 'information stock', the problems when so much money can be made by so few people, what happens to the 'middle class' etc. It is a call for us to think about the future based upon a fairly detailed consideration of what is happening now

   some quotes:

   "design and use of new technology necessarily entails contests over political power"

   "companies.. are continuing to invest feverishly against the evidence of most market research and historical experience"

   "one of the Digital Revolution's central laws is that the more uncertain one is about exactly how to profit from digital technology, the more lyrical one becomes in describing it"

   "As the rate of new wealth creation fueled by digital technology rises, the number of people required to produce it is decreasing"

   There are few books on the so called 'information revolution', which anyone interested in the subject will get something out of. This is a book for business, investors, academic analysts, politicians, and nearly everyone else.




3. I had to chuckle when I saw that this book is available at .01 in the used books on Amazon.com -- it is such a terrific book--- worth it's weight (which is about 1 lb) in gold and more :)). Fabulous insight into what it's like to deal with Silicon Valley and the future-- all relevant today-- Covers the Internet, Games, Smart TV or "PC In Drag" and much more as we venture in into the Brave New World of today. Written in 1995 it is a prescient approach to today and tomorrow's business world involving technology, changing culture and telephony and more. Kline was a contributing writer at WIRED and Burstein is/was Senior Advisor to the famous Blackstone Group...still ahead of the cure. It says its the book about the Information Highway-- it's really about doing business in the information age --called NOW.



4. This book is a whirlwind of all things in our life that gets affected by Internet. I have read both "Being Digital" and "Silicon Snake Oil" and I agreed with both those views. I read this title and it blew me away.I am not sure why this book is out of print and why they are selling it for $0.01
   
   The key reason is this: This book was published in 1995 and I can cite companies that were formed in 1999 book by taking a line from the book. Entire magazine articles are written simply elaborating the content of a single paragraph in this book. Its not the labels or company names that are cited here which are important but the fact that the key ideas mentioned are ensconced in todays' labryinthine evolution of the Net.
   
   Another way of being impressed with this book can be the sheer prophetic nature of it. We can never evaluate anything against the future because of lack of materialization. Whereas, we can take this kind of a book and lay down its theses and look at reality to see how it panned. Try it for yourself and recollect how many other works of literature had a similar impact.For example Page 139 Bullet #3 contains the idea of youtube.com
   
   If you are anywhere connected to the Internet Industry then you gotta read this book. If you are in any other industry and wanted to chalk out the perimeter of the net then this is a mighty good investment of your time.