5 comments about MySQL Bible with CDROM.

1. Very good book. I'll recomend it to anyone learning MySQL.

   Some examples did not work in my server but after contacting the author we/he resolved the problem. Problem was related to new release of PHP. The CD-ROM does not include the examples so be ready to do some typing.

   The pictures in the book are hard to see.

   Book content *****
   Book layout ***
   CD-ROM **
   Author's support *****




2. I purchased this book with great anticipation of expanding my knowledge of mySQL and making great us of the section on perl. Overall, I'm very dissapointed. The book itself goes into great detail about certain things that need not such a vast description, yet only privide single examples for some important things.
   The CD-ROM is useless. I was expacting it to have code from the book, whereas it's a collection of mySQL apps and programs that you can get free elswhere.
   Having explored the perl chapter of the book in greatest detail, it provides inadequite examples with a lot of inneficient coding.
   I give the book credit, however, for covering as much ground as it does, mySQL with perl, PHP and ODBC. Overall, however, not worth the money.



3. Don't waste your money on this. The book and reviews claim to include binaries and source of MySQL database but the CD-ROM contains neither. Bogus.



4. I have to disagree with many of the reviews of this book.
   
   The MySQL Bible would benefit from more than a simple layout change. Since the advent of the win installer for ver. 4.1.6 gamma of MySQL, the first 5 chapters of this book become useless. There are few explicit example of code (especially regarding how to interact with mysqladmin) extracted from the impossible "dark grey on black" screen captures that are used.
   
   As for the comment that some reviewers have made, that some of the codes provided (when they can be read) are inaccurate or ineffective, I would add only that I have yet to find a snippet of code in the book that actually works.
   
   Maybe there is something usefull in this book, but I haven't found it yet... I only hope that this book has a major revision for 5.0, and that someone in the editorial dept. at Wiley actually looks at pages before they are published.



5. Unfortunately, time and development have passed this book by. It is for MySQL 4.0, which has been FAR surpassed by the newer 5.0 version.
   
   As mentioned by some other reviewers, one of the main problems with the book is the illustrations. They are so dark as to be illegible. Not sure what the people that got the press proofs were thinking when they let that out the door.
   
   The author does a reasonable job on certain areas (hey, can't be all bad if he has a dedication to Eddie Van Halen).
   
   Might want to try the third edition of MySQL by Paul DuBois as a good reference book that is much more up-to-date.

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)

5 comments about Beginning SQL Server 2005 for Developers: From Novice to Professional (Expert's Voice).

1. With the first chapter, you will learn details and techniques how to install and configure SQL Server 2005 for different editions. The second chapter inroduces the new client tools to interact with SQL Server 2005.
   To understand the concept and techniques of databases, the author walk you through a real world example to apply these concepts. This is a perfect way to relate what you lean to a practical complete project.
   The book ends with the advanced features that were added to SQL Server 2005 compared to SQL 2000. There is also a detailed chapters about security configuration for the installation and post installation phases.
   I will recommend this book for beginners and professional users as well.



2. WOW! I picked this book up with hopes of learning SQL and databases in general. I read Microsoft MCDBA book and also half of Microsoft 2000 SQL Server Unleashed Second Edition. I still wasn't clear about certain things. This book simply is amazing. I couldn't put it down and first day, I stayed up until 3am reading it. I am on page 200 right now and so far, I understand every topic written so far. The author does excellent job in explaining everything in VERY simple form. He tells you things that you need to know. The book starts off with introduction, then it moves on to Installation of SQL 2005 server. While you read the book, you are building database for financial company/bank from scratch, so this is really nice because you gain experience in doing it if you don't have a chance to work with it at your job. While you are creating database/tables/etc. the author shows up two ways of doing it. One with SQL Management Studio and then he shows you how to do it with T-SQL. The cool thing about the approach is that author goes over T-SQL code line by line explaining VERY clearly what it does. This is very nice for someone like me who doesn't have any programming experience and becomes confused the second I see code. I would strongly recommend this book to new people who just want to learn SQL and how things work. It's great. I am very happy with it. I read many technical books, with my favorite author being Mark Minasi. This book is written in same simple, easy to understand language.
   
   Get this book, setup virtual machine with server 2003 on your computer, download 120 days evaluation version of SQL 2005 from Microsoft website and you are on your way to go. I assure you, you will learn something and you will have fun doing it!
   
   Great job Mr. Dewson. I will search around and purchaser more books written by you!



3. 'Beginning SQL Server 2005 for Developers: From Novice to Professional' by Robin Dewson is a nice guide for someone new to working with SQL Server. While the content within is alright, I feel there are better books out there on the market for introducing this concept to developers. The title of this book says 'SQL Server 2005' but I don't find a lot of specific examples within, the chapter breakup is odd at times (chapter 8 is HUGE compared to all the others -- 14 in total), and I just don't care for the layout or writing that much.
   
   It's not a bad book, but it's not great either. Pick this up if you like Apress books, else look elsewhere.
   
   ***



4. This book was assigned reading for a SQL Server 2005 certification course that I am taking. It is well-written with a clear and concise database example that is followed through the entire text. The code that was given was not only good for teaching but I was also able to implement it in project work. It also has a pretty good beginner tutorial on Reporting Services and this book also goes into the basics of T-SQL.
   
   A deficiency that I found was there was discussion on triggers and sprocs but nothing at all regarding functions. Also, I think there should have been more time spent on indexes. I had to use a different reference to gain a proper understanding of the differences between clustered and non-clustered indexes. I also think that there should have been a few pages devoted to XML since it was mentioned in the book in quite a few places without proper introduction.
   
   All in all, this book is worth the buy if you are a beginner using SQL Server 2005 functionality.



5. Beginning SQL Server 2005 for Developers: From Novice to Professional
   
   This book did an excellent job of walking through all the basics required to get a beginner up and running with SQL Server 2005. I worked through the entire book and completed most of the sample exercises. The layout of the book made it easy to decipher between textual content and the steps the reader can try out.
   
   Before reading this book I had some hit and miss knowledge of SQL Server. Having read this book, I feel that some of the gaps in my knowledge of the subject have been filled in and now I'm ready to move on to more advanced SQL Server 2005 topics.
   
   I would definitely recommend this book for the individual who is new to SQL Server or SQL Server 2005!

5 comments about First Course in Database Systems, A.

1. my class is using this book as the primary book. I have found that the explainations are often very wordy when they can be put very simply. So far the book has been using essentially one running example, i think this is one of the weaknesses in the book. also i have found that the excercises do not necessarily reflect the examples in the text. could be better.



2. How can I put it nicely? I guess I can't so I'll be blunt. This book is great if you enjoy reading four paragraphs for information that can be readily conveyed in less than a sentence. I'm guessing if the authors wanted to omit all the worthless babble, this would be no thicker than a brochure and they couldn't get away with charging the insane list price it currently retails for.

   In addition to poor stylistic taste, this book often fails to instruct the student on fundamentals of database principles by skipping vital steps in closure algorithms or normalization rules. If this is a "first book," then the authors should assume nothing about their reader's knowledge of database principles and not skip steps when explaining an algorithm for the first time.




3. There is a reason the used price for this book hews so closely to the list price: the book is a high-quality piece that is extraordinarily well written and easy to follow as well as deeply imbued with a great deal of information.

   I currently have three titles in my list of "all-time great Computer Science books" -- from the selectivity it should be clear how difficult it is to earn a spot on said list -- and this is the third book on it (in order of date read, not quality). The other two are Patterson & Hennessy's Computer Organization and Design and W. Richard Stevens's TCP/IP Illustrated, Vol. 1.

   I was not particularly interested in databases -- the subdiscipline -- prior to taking the course for which I purchased this book. I must say though that the combination of straight-forward descriptions and easy to quickly grasp examples makes this topic ever more accessible.

   The canonical examples provided -- consistent throughout and extended as new topics are broached -- as well as the relaxed yet careful language utilized throughout make this book a solid and worthwhile investment. More of an investment than the book itself (any book), though, is the time spent reading it. I was careful to read the book extraordinarily thoroughly -- even short snippets underneath examples and what have you -- and every time in doing so I was rewarded for this extra investment of time with enhanced knowledge and understanding. There is very little that is superfluous in this book yet at the same time every description is adroit; no description leaves you wondering about some aspect or another: the book is exceedingly thorough.




4. This was the text used for my first course in databases several years ago. It is written in plain english and I find that to be one of its primary strengths as it is geared towards people with no experience at all with databases.



5. The book is excellent for beginners in the field of Databases. SQL is covered very good. The examples, (based on beer, bars, sells, drinkers, likes and ...) are also very good (although I do not like beer or alcohol in particular), explained in detail and the students understand them very well.
   I am using it for the English speaking group of computer science at our University, and so far (we have covered almost half of the book), everything is going rather well. Thank you Mr.Ullman.

5 comments about SQL Server 2000 Developer's Guide.

1. First of all, let me say that this book is not meant for End-Users, Administrators or Analysts. It is strictly for Developers and Programmers and does not cover the SQL Server 2000's interface, nor its various tools.

   This book does contains an in-depth look at SQL Server programming, including Stored Procedures, Cursors, Triggers and ADO. It covers plenty of programming topics and issues, but does not dive into much detail about certain topics that deserve more attention. Also it lacks examples (specifically data output examples) and screen-shots.

   Other than that, it is a good book to have, but I would not recommend it to novice programmers. I do however, recommend SQL Server 2000 Programming by Example, which covers a narrower range of topics, but in a lot more detail.




2. You guys again did a great job on this book! I owned your previous version for SQL Server 7 and thought it was great and wrote a great review. Subsequently when the next version came out, I received an email from either Paul Conte or Michael Conte asking me if I wanted a complementary copy of the new book. Of course I said yes (sorry Amazon, I didn't buy the 2000 version from you) and it arived ASAP. Unfortunately, I didn't have the opportunity to use SQL Server 2K until about a week ago and have found the book invaluable since then. It is not a book for beginners, however, it is written in a straight forward manor and is enjoyable to read (how many technical books can you say are enjoyable to read?) and gives me the info I need to develop apps. utilizing SQL Server. Thanks again for a great, well written technical book!!!



3. This book is too broad in the subject area that it addresses and ends up lacking in topics where details are important. The amount of disparate bits and pieces gives the book a messy and shallow feeling. How this book attracted 5 stars from other reviewers baffles me. Don't be fooled by the thickness of the book. Most "jack of all trade" books are thick and useless. Try "SQL Server 2000 Programming by Example" by Guerrero and Rojas for a more focused text.



4. The book is super new and the delivery was too fast



5. The book title is some what misleading since there is a lot of coverage on front end developement. When I purchased this book I was expecting a strictly SQL Server Developer book, not a visual basic programmers reference, it also through me off when I discovered 4 chapters dedicated just to SQL Server Administration. If you want a jack of all trades book then this book might help, but it is certainly not just strictly for SQL Server development only which is what I was looking for.

4 comments about SQLite (Developer's Library).

1. My impression was that PHP and MySQL were de facto two sides of the same coin. Many websites using PHP deploy MySQL on the backend. Indeed, there have been several books written about implementing this combination. But Newman offers a simple alternative. A stripped down SQL database that he claims will suffice for many websites. Indeed, he points out that SQLite has proved persuasive enough that PHP5 ships with it.
   
   Going over its syntax, the book shows much of SQLite to be generic SQL. Given that whatever database you choose, you should probably stick to standard SQL as much as possible, then SQLite suffers from no particular deficiency here.
   
   What is distinctive is that its data resides in just one file. Greatly eases administration. Plus, other databases are often implemented as client-server, so as to service queries coming in from the Net. It is indeed a disadvantage that SQLite cannot do this. But in return, by eliminating a network layer, it can be twice as fast as MySQL. Wow.
   
   Cautiously, I'd say it may be attractive to some websites.



2. I was not aware that Adobe did not have an ebook reader for Linux. And since you can not print it, or copy/paste selections from this book (I use VMWare to run Windows apps), this book loses its usefulness altogether.
   
   SQLite is a fine and simple database, with many advantages for developers of single-user software. But you (and SQLite) would be best served by buying the paperback edition.



3. As far as I know, this is the first book on SQLite and for that Chris Newman deserves a compliment.
   Beyond that, this book is not very useful though:
   1) It explains some basic SQL syntax but I didn't buy this book to learn SQL.
   2) Very little information about the specifics and pitfalls of SQLite syntax, I rarely find what I'm looking for.
   3) Being a PHP developer I don't need the chapters on C++, Perl, TCL and Python (about 25% of the book).



4. This is an old book, and doesn't cover the newer SQLite 3.x information.

1 comments about PostgreSQL 8 for Windows (Database Professional's Library).

1. I was interested in learning a bit about PostgreSQL, and coming from a SQL Server background on Windows systems, this seemed like a good place to start (I will pick up some more Linux knowledge another day). The book provides a good overview of components and processes, and for someone with experience in other database platforms, the material makes a good bridge.
   
   It will probably not provide much new information to a PostgreSQL "expert", but that is not likely the intended audience. Basic admin topics are covered , as well as some development examples in MS Access, .NET, C++, and Java.
   
   A highlight for me was the discovery of some SQL methods in PostgreSQL that were only supported in the latest release of MS SQL Server, and a few that still are not.

5 comments about Oracle9i PL/SQL Programming.

1. I must say it is not what I expected. Basically, if you know nothing about PL/SQL, that is, the Oracle extension of the SQL, and you need to grasp its general concept in a very short time, this is the book for you.

   But the subtittle of the book is definitely misleading. When it comes to advanced topics, the book simply copies from the online documentation from Oracle, but only the brief summery. Say, function DECODE, one of the most powful feature in PL/SQL, is covered in half a page! Just the official definition. Nothing to read about. If you bought Oracle 9i The Complete Reference, you'd find a whole chapter devoted to that function.

   The author didn't do much work with this book. If you're a serious programmer, don't bother with this book.




2. This is a well written, fast reading book that provides the reader with the information needed but not with the fluff that we do not need. I used this book to pass the Oracle Certification Exan 1Z0-147 : Oracle9i: Program with PL/SQL. If you own this book and 'Oracle PL/SQL' by Steven Feuerstein and Bill Pribyl (published by O'reily), you probably have what you need (for understanding PL/SQL) ... enjoy



3. This is, indeed, a great book to pass this exam(1Z0-147). Actually, there is no prescribed book(as of now!!), for this exam. This book fairly covers most of the topics that are specified in the official exam syllabus. However, topics on Large objects are not covered in this book extensively. I suggest to search on google for LOBS(This is how i got some notes on LOBS). This book is good to study functions, procedures, packages, triggers, and some DBMS packages, but it doesn't cover LOBS, managing dependencies. Overall, I can give 4 stars to this book, as it helped me to pass the exam.



4. The book is good and is recommended for someone new to PL/SQL. For someone who is already familiar to PL/SQL, you can save money by going through the Oracle Online Manual to read about the new features of PL/SQL in Oracle 9i. Since I already had a previous version (Oracle 8) of this book, I consider buying this book as waste of money. But if you are just getting into the world of oracle and you want to learn PL/SQL, this book is for you. One nice thing about the book is it comes with a CD that has some trial version of some development environments. Nice to explore those.
   I give 4 stars.



5. Its a very good book. covers all the finincial modules very well. Gives the whole flow of data in them. but the newer edition is even better it covers extra modules as well. wil help u in getting a wider view. So i would recomend u to go for the newer edition if u need a wider idea of diff modules

5 comments about PHP MySQL Website Programming: Problem - Design - Solution.

1. This is the most rock solid computer science programming text that i have read in the last decade.Period.No one should miss out on this buy.



2. OK Guys,

   I recognized that every review is always so clean (no spelling mistakes, no grammar errors). Sometimes I think the Team itself writes some of them to impress readers. ;-)

   I can agree that this Book is not to bad, but if somebody says it's the best way to learn PHP then he's not completely right.
   There is no way that you can see thro the whole php-code without having read a "PHP-only" book before.
   I don't say that every little step has to be explained (the book would be 2000 and more pages big), but i couldn't find that this book is not made for beginners anywhere on the book-explanation page.

   Nice book, but please when you are a beginner, try a more explaining book first. Then go and buy this one.

   Thank you




3. (This review is of the Wrox Press 2002 edition)
   This book gives you a thorough course in building a PHP-MySQL website, working up a complete system in stages. The book contains lots of useful code and techniques that can be used in your own websites. As a previous reviewer said, it is not for complete beginners in PHP/MySQL, but in combination with a good fast intro to these topics (I used SAMS "Teach Yourself PHP, MySQL and Apache in 24 Hours"), I reckon this book should be all you need to get your cool interactive database-driven site out onto the web. And when I contacted the authors to find the download code (which is available from Apress now that Wrox no longer publish it), they were extremely helpful. So go on - the software cost you nothing after all: why not splash out a few pennies on this excellent book?



4. I know all of the other reviews are glowing, but I was actully disappointed by this book. While it is very thorough, I found the structure of the book to be haphazard and unintuitive. There are a lot of occurances of "but first, lets go back a bit," a sure sign of poor writing. While trying to keep to the problem-design-solution framework, the authors often introduced ideas in the problem phase, but never clearly addressed them in the design and solution phase -- often vaguely tying it all together with a statement like "and we took care of this problem as well" without really referencing it.

   There is a great deal of information in this book, but I found it very difficult to extract coherently. And saying "but its not for beginners" is no excuse for poor writing.




5. There is absolutely no PHP or My-Sql teaching in this book. If your looking to see how a professional group of programmers use functions and how they outline their sites then this book is for you. BUT if you're looking for a book to learn any PHP My-Sql programming, don't buy this book. But if you do buy it, buy it used... It's not worth the new book price.

5 comments about Querying XML, : XQuery, XPath, and SQL/XML in context (The Morgan Kaufmann Series in Data Management Systems) (The Morgan Kaufmann Series in Data Management Systems).

1. I've been an XQuery developer for an academic press for a number of years, and I read this book cover to cover. It sets out to describe methods for querying and does so,
   in an almost scholarly fashion, for many common but different contexts. I found it provided cohesion to the diverse world of XML, from broad subjects to the details of spec grammars--a very welcome contribution to a technical library.



2. My only complaint with this book is that it emphasizes DTD over Schema a bit too much. For this and other reasons, I felt the treatment of XML seemed a little dated, and also a bit shallow.



3. The authors are XQuery standardization committee members with long tenures at Oracle, thus possessing an unique grounding in that 'other' query language, SQL. As a result, the book is balanced with respect to what SQL/XML and XQuery can respectively do. A number of examples are provided, to illustrate where XQuery is useful and where other query mechanisms might work.



4. If you need to learn XQuery or XPath fast, this is not the book, or you need to skip the first 8 chapters. XQuery and XPath are hardly even mentioned until Chapter 9. The first 8 chapters discuss everything except what is in the title. XML is a pretty boring topic, and excess verbage doesn't help.



5. I have had this book for almost a month now. This book is painful to get through. I can usually get through a technical book within a week and try some examples. I started reading this book front to back and did not skip any sections.
   
   I am not a NOOB when it comes to XML so I found this surprising. I am a certified XML developer (from before XQuery), an experienced programming engineer of 8 years, an MCAD.Net, and I have even written a paper on XQuery for a Master's Program and I simply have become unmotivated and am struggling to get through this book. As others have stated in reviews, this book takes a long time to get to the point. I like to get my money's worth when I buy a book though.
   
   I kept asking myself chapter after chapter "when do we start programming some examples?" The first 10 chapters are filled with everything but XQuery. The author covers the background of XML and why we would use XQuery in detail. I see the argument for why this book may be beneficial to some but if you wish to get up and running on XQuery this is not the book for you.
   
   I may update this as I finish off the book. I am getting more into actual XQuery syntax and grammar as of chapter 11. A flip through the TOC shows that the author covers some implementation info. My goal was to have a better understanding of how to actually implement XQuery and learn some of the more detailed points of it versus just FLWOR that the numerous online tutorials offer. I have purchased another book by O'Reilly instead.
   
   Update: I received the O'Reilly book right after writing this review. I flipped through the TOC and first few pages of XQuery by O'Reilly for a comparison. Wow! These two books could not be any different. I am on chapter 5 of the O'Reilly XQuery book just in a few hours of off and on reading at work. It appears thus far to be the better choice. Luckily, work is paying for these books so I was only cheated out of time buying "Querying XML".