5 comments about PHP and MySQL for Dummies, Second Edition.

1. This very readable text does what it sets out to do - gives the reader a full appreciation of the power and initial usage of mySQL and PHP.



2. I picked up this book from my school library, but it was not easy to borrow this book from there because it was checked out everytime I was trying to look through the library catalog, despite there were about 2 ~ 4 books showed up as "checked out". And I have to say that, when I finally found this book from the shelf and checked it out, the included CD was checked out by someone else.
   
   Let me start with the format of this book. I am pretty sure that quite a lot of people here mentioned this fact in their reviews, but I have to say that this book has one of most interesting types of format I have read from the computer learning books. The author, who appears to have a plenty of experiences and background in the Web design and the programming, is able to express the material clearly without any kind of bragging or lossing herself in the middle of explanation. Her main application theme is "a pet store," which she was demonstrating extensively at the Chapters 11 and 12 as an actual application that is usable.
   
   Before jumping into the "pet store application," it is necessary to mention her other teaching approaches in the previous chapters. At the first few chapters, she definitely put the emphasis on planning out and organizing the structure of your database and website before jumping into typing. In fact, she continues this trend further in the later chapters by suggesting to go back to the Chapter 3, a chapter which is entirely dedicated to the creating the database structure with a pen and a paper, and coming back again on Chapter 10, which I felt as a sort of short review for what a reader read so far. And I belive this format is one of best, if not the best, because this somehow closely resembles a school textbook that requires you to master and to think about the subject to proceed. She also does not skip the possible commands or queries by putting in a neat table that shows the script with their description next to it.
   
   But most helpful and joyful part of this book is the application. Because the application here is rather long while needs the understanding, I strongly believe it is not a wise idea to jump into the application without understanding solidly on PHP or MySQL from the previous chapters. However, I have read the book almost throughly, and I right now have created an internet order system of my own with the shopping cart in addition to the catalog. Well, the "shopping cart" was not mentioned in the book, but this book was constructed in such a way that you can actually build your own applications or modify others. And because she used the "pet" as her main subject of the application, it will definitely not turn down the most of readers who just hate to be simply geeks and get bored reading such subject in the book. And because the book actually shows the screenshots of the application and the results after running the application, you cannot help trusting that the application is actually going to work and be an awesome one at that.
   
   There are some problems with the book, however. One serious problem is that there are quite many typos in the book that can give you some headache. However, if you follow the book well or have some common experiences in debugging in the programming, this will actually become a mental exercise for you to understand better. At least that is what I think... The second problem is that the book does not extend beyond the advanced topic. Hence, if you are an advanced PHP or MySQL programmer and bought this book, it is very possible that you are going to be disappointed. Nevertheless, this book was meant for beginning programmer and it does the job so well at least for that purpose. And I think some experienced programmers will find this as an interesting book to scan over.
   
   Coming back to my story... I did not have the CD when I checked out this book, but I think you can find the list of some applications in the website of the author. And while I had experienced some headache in trying out to figure out what was wrong with my application while there were typos, if you got a CD or if you visit her website, which I did not yet, I think you are going to be far better ahead with this book. Yes, I have to admit that I had some experiences with the programming, but I think this will definitely be easy to read for the completely new comers as well. This, in fact, is a much better book that other Dummy book that was published with 5 topics in one(I am not saying which one). And I have finished with this book during the Summer, which was enough time to be more experienced with so called PHP and MySql and to develop my own shopping page application. Hope this helped you.



3. Perfect for the newbie who has no probgramming experience but an understanding of the concept of programming and also of the structure of SQL databases.



4. I would recommend for beginners not to use this book. Even for me (a somewhat intermediate programmer), I had difficulty understanding what was being done and what it did. The example syntax is messy making it hard for readers to understand. There are better approaches for teaching PHP & Mysql.



5. If you skim the verbiage, scout the chapter titles, read the section headings and review the code, you will very quickly understand php and the interaction with mysql.
   
   This book will not teach you html. Go read that book.
   
   This book will not teach you sql. Go read that book.
   
   This book gives you a sequential and an object method of programming against a database within HTML.
   
   Each example builds to the following example, until you have the final piece of programming demonstrating the concept.
   
   The index works.
   
   The only addition the author could make is strip the book down into a php and mysql 10 minutes per chapter type of book.

3 comments about Developer's Guide to Web Application Security.

1. With the increasing number of incidents of crime that is occurring on the world wide web it behooves every programmer to become fluent in all aspects of information security. This book provides a great overview of the various methods a hacker uses to penetrate various forms of web architectures. The author's goals it seems was to cover a broad subject by touching on all important aspects of securing a website.
   
   Throughout the book a hacker mindset is presented and how to design your website to overcome the tools and tricks of the hacker. For instance in many of the chapters the manner of attack that a hacker would use to exploit a piece of technology is covered. Overall I believe this book to be a good introduction to the field of securing websites. Since security in of itself is such a broad subject and the Internet is also a broad subject it is unfair to expect one book to cover all aspects of a complex and dynamic environment



2. When I came across this book on the O'Reilly website I was immediately interested, as web applications are becoming more and more prevalent. And other than thinking it covered methods of securing web applications I had no preconceived assumptions. My main aspiration for this book was to give me better awareness of security in the area of web applications and to provide me with some tools. After having read this book I can say that it has done both.
   
   Each of the chapters in this book seem to follow a pattern of first defining the topic, second giving real world examples, and finally providing the reader with solutions. The book begins by providing a history of the hacking methodology and defining the various types of hacking. It was interesting to learn about some of the various hacks and hackers. For example, I had no idea Steve Jobs (Apple Computers) used to be a hacker.
   
   In chapter two the author discusses what he calls a "Code Grinder", and how to not become or produce a code grinder. A code grinder is someone who works in a highly regulated environment where creativity is discouraged. I found it interesting that a code grinder environment typically produces more unsecure code then an environment that is open and promotes creativity.
   
   Chapter three discusses the risks associated with mobile code. Chapter four covers vulnerable CGI scripts and introduces the reader to some tools such as Nikto and Web Hack Control Center to scan your website to find vulnerabilities. The author goes on to discuss the issues faced by the various CGI scripting languages, and then provides an outline of rules to writing secure CGI scripts.
   
   Chapter five covers hacking techniques and tools. This section gets you into the mind of a hacker, what are their goals, how are those goals achieved and what tools do they use. In chapter six the topic is "Code Auditing and Reverse Engineering." This chapter I found exceptionally interesting and helpful. The author takes you through various types of vulnerabilities and with each weakness explains how it affects each of the more popular programming/scripting languages. And to take it a step further the author also provides the reader with the functions/methods for each programming/scripting language that are vulnerable to attack and then explains either how to use those functions securely or gives an alternative function/method that is more secure.
   
   Chapters seven through ten cover securing code in specific languages; Java, XML, ActiveX, and ColdFusion. Chapter eleven discusses developing security enabled applications using such technologies as PGP, SSL, and PKI. Finally in chapter twelve the author wraps up the book by taking the reader through creating and working with a security plan.
   
   CONCLUSION
   --
   I found this book to be interesting and a good read. I plan to make use of some of the tools it introduced in hardening applications I work with and develop. And as I mentioned before, the chapter on code auditing will be extremely useful to me in cleaning up existing apps and developing new ones. I liked this book and I would recommend it to anyone who is writing code.



3. More recent books on web application security are welcomed. The publication date of 2006 suggests it might fall into that category.
   
   The focus on the programmer is also welcomed. Many security books deal with threats, but the actual practice of programming to ameliorate those threats may not be readily apparent. One would like support for a programmer "security mindset" and specific strategies to implement that.
   
   The book is addressed to programmers and written in a fashion that is engaging. And, as a more general work to highlight the importance of security at the development stage, it's OK.
   
   But, there's just not much depth here for it's intended topic. And, the content appears to reflect lectures presented in the 90s. There's some significant reference to C, which is not typically used in contemporary web programming. The focus tends towards the *nix world, but again a fair amount of emphasis, as I recall, on cgi, where again, PHP is more commonly used today. References in the Microsoft world are exclusively to ASP -- a technology which was superseded in 2002 by ASP.NET.
   
   There's some appropriate programming advice here. But, it's soft rather than hard, and diffuse and general rather than focused and specific.
   
   I would rate it 3 stars for that content if it were more appropriately titled.

5 comments about Oracle SQL High-Performance Tuning (2nd Edition) (Prentice Hall PTR Oracle Series).

1. I had a nagging and peculiar performance problem with a specific query involving a quirk in the Oracle optimizer which I had been trying to solve on and off for months. With the help of this book, I resolved the problem. It has a level of detail in query optimization way beyond other "highly recommended" books. The explanations are clear, *complete* (completeness was lacking in the other books), and easy and enjoyable to read. I finally have the understanding of these Oracle internals that I have been seeking!



2. Oracle performance tuning has become more critical for dba's and developers to master as database are approaching 10 plus terabytes. Some of the newest concepts have really improved performance and speed in which data can be found and retrieved. Some of this concepts include function based indexes, bitmap index, partitioning, parallel queries, and optimization hints. The basic starting permise is to make sure your system has enough memory and hardware processing speed. Two branches of thought have emerged when focusing on performance improvement: improved system tuning and improved Optimizer decisions. The Oracle DBA must become familar with how to tune operating system performance and database performance. Some of the valuable indicators are data cache hit ratios, Disk I/O activity, library cache, buffer hit ratios, and shared pool memory. Various views, scripts, tools, and data tables give the DBA insight into how the database is performing. It is safe to assume the database will grow and performance will vary from time to time. By monitoring and adjusting parameters the Oracle database can achieve relative performance to growth. If performance drops add more hardware or change object schema designs to reflect the data loads. Oracle has offered two amazing database architectures: dedicated server and Multiple Transaction Server. Each architecture has its advantages. From a developer's view performance of the schema objects are important, such as, tables, views, indexes, and PL/SQL. The Optimizer evaluates system statistics to decide how to retrieve data, whether it be by full table scans, index range scans, or join table sorts. Each type of index should be evaluated: single indexes, multiple field indexes, partitioned indexes, bitmap indexes, and function indexes. In some cases, it will make sense to use bitmap indexes for data that is relatively static. In other cases it will make sense to use function based indexes where data search on alpha data is complex. Yet in another case it will make sense to use a partitioned index where the data tables have been spread over multiple partition sectors and datafiles. Sometimes usage of indexes is not need and full tables scans are better. The developer uses the optimizer execution plan to see how the data will be retrieved. At first the execution plan may seem confusing, but understanding Oracle database architecture will make the plan readable. I've personally found that keeping the database statistic current and using oracle hints (ordered,index,and parallel) provided the best return on my performance improvements. Table joins is another critical area of performance tuning to grasp. There are a number of join types: nested loops, sort merge, cluster, hash, and index. The optimizer decides which type of join to use based on statistics and available indexes and constraints. The helpful advice, I can give you for purchasing this book is that there are PL/SQL optimization techniques to consider. One I found helpful was to use Packaged procedure calls from triggers rather than putting the PL/SQL code to execute in the trigger. I recommend adding this book to your library.



3. I have read this book cover to cover and more. I have been using this book since 1998 and I still have to say it is good book.It is one of the Oracle Classics. It is a little outdated. If you look at the cover it clearly states it covers to oracle 8i. If you still have 8i databases this is a good book. if you are using 9i and cost based optimization it is still useful but it will not pick up on some of the newer fetures of the CBO. If you use Rule based optimization(RBO) than it is a good book. I had actually used this book as a teaching guide when I use to teach SQL Tuning for an application software company who uses oracle database. I look forward to when the revised version does ship.



4. Of all the SQL tuning books available on the market, this one provides the most depth. It provides solid, easy to follow examples. The flaw in this book is that it just provides 'techniques' for improving performance. It's basically a book that is useful for trial and error SQL tuning.

   When tuning SQL you should think in terms of sets and essentially 'What can I do to make the optimizer do the least work?' This book does not teach you to do that. I've yet to see one book that does. It also only discusses response time. Response time is an ends and is not a means in SQL tuning. By reducing the amount of work Oracle has to do, you improve response time.

   There is one serious inaccuracy in this book. I emailed the author about this and he did not respond. The author states that you can improve response time of updates, by wrapping them inside of a PL/SQL cursor. This is not only inaccurate, it's not even close. Not only does it take twice as long in Oracle 8i(slightly less in 9i), but it also increases logical I/Os significantly. How something this inaccurate could be missed in a major publication astounds me. To be fair, the 8i version of Steven Fuersteins PL/SQL book has the same inaccuracy(I have not read the 9i version).

   The rest of the book seems accurate. I recommend it, but beware that inaccuracy. I have not tested everything the author has stated, but I have not found any other inaccuracies.




5. What a perfect book describing nearly all the method to optimize performance(e.g. index, cluster, explain plan trace, tuning table access and joins, using hints etc) for developers. It provides a clear and detail explanation and somtimes illustration on each optimization methods. The book was written in plain English and hence can be easily understood.

5 comments about Managing and Using MySQL (2nd Edition).

1. this is a typical book comes out of George Reese:

   1. poorly written
   2. shamelessly copy and paste existing materials from reference manual
   3. full of error

   the author is only trying to get a quick buck or two.avoid it at all cost.




2. This book is clearly and succinctly written, and provides an excellent introduction to MySQL. It starts with a few pages on the history and philosophy behind MySQL, which is useful if you want to understand the advantages and disadvantages of MySQL relative to other options such as PostgreSQL or Oracle. It then follows with chapters on installation, with specific instructions for Solaris, Linux, and Windows; on MySQL's dialect of SQL (Structured Query Language); and on basic administration tasks such as configuration, startup and shutdown, logging, backup, and recovery. That's really all you need to get a basic database up and running, and it's all in the first 80 pages of the book.

   Part II of the book covers more advanced administrative tasks, with chapters on performance tuning, security, and database design. This section of the book is weaker than the first section; while there's some useful introductory material on each of these topics, depth is lacking. For example, the discussion of putting a database into second normal form is misleading because it uses a table with only one field as the unique identifier, making it impossible to clearly illustrate the removal to a smaller table of fields that are dependent on only part of a (typically multifield) unique identifier. Also, some of the more advanced MySQL features which might be appropriate for this section are omitted.

   Part III of the book, entitled "MySQL Programming", has sections accessing MySQL from Perl, Python, PHP, C, Java. These sections are mostly limited to information specific to MySQL that might not be found in general purpose documentation of these languages. For example, the PHP section documents the relevant function calls, since PHP uses different functions to access MySQL than it does to access, say, ODBC databases, while the Java section focuses on JDBC (Java Database Connectivity) driver configuration since the JDBC API is database independent.

   Finally, there is a reference section and a good, complete index.

   If what you want to do is get a small database up and running in a minimum of time with a minimum of hassle, this is the book for you. If you want more than an introductory level of detail and depth, though, you might look at other books; Leon Atkinson's "Core MySQL", for example, has more complete coverage, though the writing style is not as clear and direct.




3. I generally love the O'Reilly books because they tend to be very thorough and have lots of practical code examples, but this book was a big disappointment to me. I was easily frustrated by this book. As a beginner to MySQL and database programming, I was completely lost whenever I tried to apply something to my own projects. The explanations given here are very brief and the authors often send you elsewhere for more in-depth discussion. I wound up doing most of my research online and just using the SQL reference chapter to look-up query syntax. I give it two stars because it did help me get started, but I'd say this is a poor reference for anyone looking for in-depth coverage.



4. This book covers MySQL at a good level of both depth and breadth. It weaves in a great combination of the history and philosophy behind design choices the MySQL development community made, and provides many examples of how to use MySQL in different languages.



5. This book was excellent for my need: I had used SQL before but didn't know much of anything about relational databases let alone MySQL. I am in the process of building a web application that reports survey data. It will tell you everything you need to know to get started with a small to mid-size database.
   
   Best of all, this book is well written, clear, the examples are GREAT and if you cut out the portions that are not relevant to you (for me this was security and the sections on PHP and Perl to name a few) you can literally learn all you need to know to get started in less than two weeks of studying for a few hours per day. Amazing value.
   
   The portions of the book on MySQL itself are not obviously dated, but the Python DB API interface has changed (to version 2.0) since this book was written.

5 comments about Sams Teach Yourself PL/SQL in 21 Days (2nd Edition) (Sams Teach Yourself).

1. I generally agree with the other reviewers on this book - despite some errors, it is a solid set of PL/SQL lessons. Great results can be produced by using the book as designed (download a copy of Personal Oracle, and spend three hours a day hacking the &@:=#! out of it). However, these favorable reviews can be misleading, as they lack a "Who is this book for?" section. Unlike many "Teach Yourself" titles, this is not good reading for the absolute novice. To get the most from this book, you should have:

   1. Functional and theoretical knowledge of at least one high-level programming language.

   2. A good understanding of database theory and terminology.

   3. Some experience with SQL (and ideally with Oracle, but if you can make Access do tricks, you'll be fine).

   4. Three weeks off. ;-)




2. I am a professional Accountant/ Auditor (CPA from USA) and heading finance division in a corporate, with a turnover over $ 2 billion. As our organization is undergoing ERP and I have been made as Implementation Committee member from the client side, I have been looking into Oracle. I don't have any knowledge of any programming language except that I am an extensive good user. In order to interact effectively and out of curiosity, I decided to learn Oracle 8i (SQL and PL/ SQL) and Developer 2K. I attended a fortnight training session given to our EDP guys. As the training was meant for those guys who are already in the field, it was not effective upon me and I could not grasp much. Further I was hesitant to ask my doubts, since otherwise it would slower the pace of the training. I purchased various books from Oracle Press but I found the reading was cumbersome, since it had not been built on a good foundation for lay guys like me. In a hard way, I learnt SQL from the training, books and well-learnt friends and was thorough with that, while I was finding PL/SQL as difficult to learn. I came across this book when perusing thru a bookshop. I liked the way it has been organized. It is 21 days course material with 3 to 5 hours each day and built nicely from day 1. In the week I, one learns basics of PL/SQL and building blocks, in week II, he/ she will learn some of the more advanced features and will also learn how to use PL/SQL in conjunction with a data base. In the final week, Oracle's built in packages have been taught. The book is meant for absolute beginners like me (who have some adequate knowledge of SQL). I have been transformed into a person who has a fairly good knowledge of PL/SQL, after fully going thru the book I am able to understand what sort of codes are written by my Oracle friends and consultants. My colleagues and bosses are admiring my PL/SQL knowledge. Often now I have been placed in the Interview committee to select staff for EDP department along with EDP guys and I have been always asking questions from the Q & A, Quiz, exercises material from this book. Probably one of the coming days, I may even head our EDP department, who knows? Over all, this book is excellent for beginners for learning PL/SQL.



3. After reading the first 3 chapters of this book, I was thinking to myself "Wow! This book is great". However, moving on to chapter 4, it felt like a bus fell on me. I read the next few chapters in stunned amazement, wondering what happened, and then I discovered it -- the first three chapters had been written by a different author than the current chapters that I was struggling through.

   Where the first chapters, written by Jonathan Gennick, had pertinent, precise examples and a good development of the subject matter, the subsequent chapters (4-9), written by Tom Luers, contained error after error with poor development of the subject matter. The naming of variables was confused and the case of variables and keywords changed from example to example (and even within the same example!).

   When I started reading this book, I typed all the examples into Personal Oracle to experiment along with the text. In addition, I placed small "sticky" notes on each page where I encountered an error in the text. I found only a few in the first few chapters. However, after hitting chapter 4, I found myself putting notes on at least every other page, and sometimes multiple notes on a single page! After struggling through several chapters of Luers' writing, I could no longer bring myself to type in the examples -- actually, some of the examples were based on tables that had not even been covered yet in the text, making it impossible to try them. Also, because of the huge number of errors, I stopped adding "sticky" notes, lest I run out of my supply.

   Sadly, I cannot recommend this book (even though I found the chapters written by Gennick to be very good). If you do buy this book, read chapters 1-3, 10-13, 16-17, and 20-21, and skip the rest.

   My final thoughts: I cannot believe that a publisher would sell a book with such an amazing number of errors, or that such a solid technical author would partner with such an incapable one.




4. At least half of the code examples I tried would not run. It is really frustrating to have a training guide where you cannot trust any of the examples to be coded correctly. I am amazed anyone would give this book a positive rating.



5. This book is not the best option for a newbie or for someone without access to Oracle. (***From page 12, you need an Oracle database and SQL*Plus to complete the exercises.)
   The book is written in a way that the material doesn't make sense without the hands-on. I see that the text includes a lot of exercises but I don't see screen shots.
   Last, my text actually seemed photocopied on the inside--the grayscale art seemed like it was fresh from the copy shop...not exactly what I expected.
   I wouldn't but this book again.

1 comments about Expert Oracle PL/SQL (Osborne Oracle Press Series).

1. Note the word Expert in the title of this book. This is not where you would turn to learn how to write a simple SELECT statement. This book presumes that you have a basic fundamental knowledge of how Oracle and SQL work together. The emphasis here is on the lessor used features, the newest additions to 10g Release 2, in short the information beyond what the basic programmer knowledge that helps to define the expert.
   
   In addition to the standard programming tips, this book goes beyond the basics to look at what the database itself is doing. With more knowledge here, you can better understand what the database itself is doing when it is working on your SQL statements.
   
   Although virtually all databases now use SQL as their basic programming language, each of the big database programs has additions or differences that make that particular version of SQL just a bit different from others. In this book, the authors concentrate on those special features as implemented by Oracle.

5 comments about Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Reporting Services (SQL Server Series).

1. I have read all the SRS2005 books, and by far, this is the worst. There is hardly any useful information in this. Not a book that you can use as a real-world reference. There is no meat in there. I would recommend either Wrox or Brian Larson's book instead.



2. I liked this book because authors did a very good job packing a lot of good information about various aspects of Reporting Services in the book. The book was effective to learn about Reporting Services and handy as a reference afterwards. For example when I needed to alternate colors in a table I immediately found the reference to the topic. This book also covered reporting from Analysis Services (OLAP/MDX and Data Mining/DMX), Larson's book lacked in this area. Section on integration of the Reporting Services in an application was easy to follow and use in my work. The book has a compact design which makes it easy to carry around, especially when you are traveling.



3. I usually don't write reviews. In fact, the very action of me writing this review should note how impressed I am with this book. It's a clear and consise text which addresses both the fundamentals and the hidden "expert knowledge" of reporting services.
   
   I am a contractor, and I don't think I could have finished my latest project without this book on my desk everyday - seriously.



4. I've written many reports using SQL Reporting Services 2000, but it's been a number of months. This book was a good review to get back to speed on it, and covered a number of topics new to SQL 2005 as well as topics I did not know. This is a good book, but the code samples referred to often are not on the SAMS website. Because of this, a person who is using SRSS for the first time may want to choose a different book. I liked "Pro SQL Server 2000 Reporting Services" when I first learned the topic, and now they have a 2005 version.



5. Generally this book is ok. The content of the book covers all the features of Reporting Services, which is good.
   
   There aren't a lot of examples, but there are still some useful ones.
   
   The only thing really frustrating is some of the custom code examples flat out DO NOT WORK!
   
   Overall decent, good information, but not very deep.

2 comments about The Rational Guide to SQL Server 2005 Service Broker (Rational Guides) (Rational Guides).

1. Service Broker is part of Microsoft's continuing effort to expand into the enterprise software arena. It works in conjunction with SQL Server 2005 and provides for the asynchronous operation of the database and input/output. That is, you can input data intended for storage in the database and have Service Broker take that data immediately, freeing up the input screen while it proceeds to do the actual insertion.
   
   The Rational Guide series of books are comprehensive, inexpensive and rather small. This book really has less than 200 pages of real live text. It can be read quickly and gives an excellent overview of the software as well as enough depth to be able to use it in real applications. It does presume that the reader have some experience with SQL Server and with the TSQL programming language.
   
   The author of the book is the program manager for SQL Server Service Broker.



2. Good book so far, this is an area I wish to master in the next year. This is all meat & potatoes with no fluff really. Also nice to see an informative book not cost 50.00. For the money this is a great buy and will demonstrate many of the brokers areas and techniques. Seems if you are creative you can take the knowledge from this book and write some neat stuff. After this is completed I will read up in BOL on this area and then goto MSDN to see whats up there.

5 comments about Joe Celko's SQL Puzzles and Answers, Second Edition, Second Edition (The Morgan Kaufmann Series in Data Management Systems).

1. A marketing slogan at the back of the cover says "This little collection of puzzles is something to bash your head against while waiting your SQL epiphany". A little bit too promising.
   
   The problems in the book look very much like typical problems that I have to solve at work every day. Any mid-level SQL developer could probably write a book of the same kind and usefullness by just logging every problem they solved at work for a period of a year. For this reason, if you did a lot of SQL work, you won't find anything useful in this book.
   
   If I am presented a puzzle, I expect it to look impossible to solve at first, and once you get on track of finding a solution, solving it would turn out to be a lot of fun. The "puzzles" in this book are not like that.
   
   As other reviewers already noted, the answers are a bit disappointing, too. I sent the book back to Amazon within a day. I'd rather spend $5 on return shipping than $30 on a worthless book.



2. This book is for a typical sql programmer. Some puzzles took me hours of fun trying to solve them on my own. Trying to solve the puzzle that will run on all databases(Oracle,MS-SQLSERVER OR SYBASE, Informix).
   Once in a while, I found that there's a specific database function that can be replaced a bunch of line of code.
   If you are new to SQL this is not a book for you. But this book have good mental exercises for the typical SQL programmer.
   My only negative comment is that the solutions is right after (within or the next page)of the puzzle.
   Somehow you can glanced at solution sql itself.



3. I agree with "online shopper"; these puzzles do not present anything out of the ordinary for a day-to-day SQL programmer. If you are looking to learn some basic principles and patterns, this book will definitely satisfy you. If you are looking to be stymied and actual beat your head against the wall, you bought the wrong book. I ended up selling my book within a week.



4. Buen libro. Presenta retos difíciles de vencer. Ideas ingeniosas, útiles en el campo laboral. Requiere alto nivel técnico para su comprensión, pero al igual que los otros libros de Celko, es excelente.



5. Short Review:
   This book is for all of them who enjoy little puzzles or just something which gives them challenge. Some puzzles took hours to solve and some were straight forward. This book teaches you some basic principles and patterns as well satisfy your need for brain teasers.
   
   Detail Review:
   This book for all the SQL programmers regardless of database language you prefer. Book contains examples in different languages (SQL Server, Oracle, Sybase, Informix etc). If reader is absolute beginner this book is not what reader needs to start. This book is perfect for someone who has industry experience or has deep understanding of different SQL concepts.
   
   This book contains 75 different puzzles. Each puzzle starts with puzzle definition or question and follows by multiple answers. Answers vary by either techniques or programming languages, in many cases both. Puzzles contained in this book are like typical day to day work problems, many time any developer can find the solution if they spend some time on it. However, some problems are quite unique in their own way and reading them gives broader idea of database programming.
   
   One thing I will note about book is the quality of the puzzle, as other reviewer has noted some puzzles are just not puzzle but simple problems which can be solved easily by experienced developer. Not all developers are on same level and I am sure every reader has their own opinion and choice.
   
   The idea on which the book is written is very simple - "Think out of the box". The problems are real, the solutions are real and multiple answers from wide verity of participants - this makes this book worth the time. Every solution has its own flair and taste. If any problem is attempted with right technique and sound theory it is always easy to reach resolution.
   There is no source code available to download for this book so reader will have to write everything by their own. It is good in one way as ideally all readers should try to solve each puzzles by their own, however, source code will sure help many ways.
   
   Rating: 4 Stars
   
   Summary: I think this book should be there available for every database developer who has reached advanced level. If developer can solve most of the puzzles from this book he sure is advanced level developer, if not while trying to solve them he will reach advanced level.
   
   Pinal Dave
   Principal Database Administrator
   (blog.sqlauthority.com)

4 comments about Learning SQL: A Step-By-Step Guide Using Oracle.

1. Despite the pile Oracle Certified Professional training material I received in class and the OCP certification books on SQL, there were aspects that I didn't fully understand until I read this excellent book.

   Part I contains the absolute basics, all of which are as applicable to IT professionals and business users. The first three chapters are standard fare in most books of this sort - getting started and the basic commands (SELECT, CREATE, etc.). It's in Chapters 3-9 where the clarity of the author's writing pays off. These chapters cover Cartesian products, joins and aliases; set operations; grouping and sub queries. These are not easy to grasp by beginners, but the book clearly explains each, and also goes into details such as the differences between a join and sub queries, sub query correlation and similar topics.

   Part II of the book covers more advanced tasks that are more suited to DBAs., with some material that will interest advanced business users and IT business systems analysts. For the DBA only are chapters on creating tables and using Oracle's SQL*Loader, triggers and PL/SQL (although some advanced business users employ PL/SQL it's rare, and the focus in the chapter on the subject is more in line with DBA uses). For all readers the chapter titled "Multiple Commands, START Files, and Reports" contains highly useful information, especially on how to do crude branching with the DECODE statement. The four appendices are also valuable references, and cover using Oracle in the UNIX environment, data dictionaries, the student database and associated tables, and improvements that Oracle made to 8i and 9i.

   If you're pursuing your OCP certification and find that the class materials are too terse, or that the books are more focused on getting you through the exam instead of teaching you how to use SQL, get this book. For business users, IT business systems analysts and others who need to write and execute queries against an Oracle database and need a solid introduction to SQL this book will meet their needs.




2. This is a really good for a beginner to learn SQL using Oracle. The authors have very clearly explained the complicated terms and concepts, in a fashion we are used to learn in class rooms.

   It can also be used as a reference book or as a quick refresher course for someone who have not used SQL in a few years or so.

   I strongly recommend this book to everyone interested to learn SQL using Oracle.




3. I bought this book to refresh my knowledge of SQL, especially the new stuff that has been added in the past few years, such as GROUP BY ROLLUP. THIS BOOK DOES NOT COVER RECENT CHANGES TO SQL FOR ORACLE.



4. Yes, this book is outdated. But, given its stated mission, that's really not a problem. From page xv in the Preface, under the Audience and Coverage section:
   
   "Overall, although this book does not discuss advanced features such as performance tuning issues or advanced PL/SQL, it is ideal for a beginning Oracle user to get an overview of what SQL and Oracle entails. The book gives a very good "feel" for what Oracle is and the many ways Oracle can be used. It certainly can be considered a starting point for what Oracle has to offer."
   
   I was very impressed with how the authors wrote to this goal. The book starts from the premise that the reader has barely heard the word "database" and works up from there. It was really designed to be used in conjunction with an actual database theory course. So, the assumed level of knowledge seems to creep up a bit as the book progresses. But, even so, anyone even vaguely familiar with database theory should have no problem reading this book. It's very well done.
   
   But, you wonder, why do I only give it an OK rating of 3 stars out of 5? Because the authors do one unforgivable thing: they teach new material in the Exercises. Exercises are supposed to measure how well people have learned the material taught in the book. They're not for teaching new material. If it hadn't been for that, I'd have given the book a Very Good 4 stars out of 5 rating. Still, if you don't really need the theory behind a database and just need to get by with a bit of SQL under Oracle, I do recommend this book.