No comments about Learn Database Programming Using SQL of MS Access 2 Easy Transition to other SQL Platforms.

1 comments about Programmer's Guide to SQL.

1. A good basic book on SQL development. My favorite thing about the book was the nice way the authors laid out the syntax differences between SQL Server, Oracle, DB2 and MySQL.

5 comments about The Firebird Book: A Reference for Database Developers.

1. When I was buying this book, I was afraid if it will be only a printed version of PDF docs. But the book is much more, then simple documentation. Helen Borrie is a professional, and an experienced developer, so she often writes about programmer's bad habits or the reasons why databases are so poorly designed.
   Some parts of this book may however seem as a typical printed PDF, but lots of notes, comments or warnings make it a really interesting reading. The good thing is, that this book offers also an opportunity to gain some basis of database designing, and database theory.
   Why you should buy it? Because it is much better and (unless you own a good laser printer) much cheaper than using downloaded PDF's. You cannot also get Borrie's comments that make this book really rich.
   A must-have for all database developers, not only Firebird developers.



2. This book is very well crafted. It is organized and thorough. With this book, the Interbase 6.0 manuals (available free on-line in PDF) and the Firebird software, you can create and maintain high performance, industrial software for use in production in environments of any size. I can not reccommend this book highly enough. If you need a database for your next project, you owe it to yourself to try out Firebird SQL. Use Ms. Borrie's book as a guide.



3. I'm still waiting for the book to get to my house. I bought it on February 17th. It's passed more than a month and the book hasn't arrived yet. It makes me mad.
   
   I've wasted one month waiting. I don't trust Amazon anymore.



4. Initially I was afraid that the book would simply be a printed version of the various Firebird PDFs available out there, fortunately I was wrong.
   
   The book is well written enough such that it doesn't assume that the reader knows firebird at all. Coming from a SQL Server and Oracle background this was a good help for me. Plus, I didn't feel that aggressiveness most authors would normally expose when comparing their beloved database with those of the rest of the world.
   
   One thing though, everything written on this book is readily available on the net for free. So please don't assume that this book has any magical tips and tricks.
   
   But event so, I personally prefer to have something handy specially when you are in the zone and you can't be bothered to search the net.
   
   Overall for hobbyists and professionals who are looking for that solid/realiable alternative DB look no further, with this book you'll be able to see that Firebird clearly is the top choice.



5. This book has become increasingly useful as I gain more knowledge and experience with Firebird. Helen Borrie has a fine writing style and the explanations are thorough enough to satisfy the thirst for information. The name ``*The* Firebird Book'' says a lot. Unlike other database documentation, where several books are required to be fully comprehensive, this one book alone is really *just about* all that's needed.
   
   The one drawback is the lack of documentation for the C API. In that case, one must rely upon a PDF file from Borland->Inprise->Borland that dates back from 2001 for Interbase 6.0. Fortunately the API is relatively stable to Firebird 2.0.3.
   
   My wishlist for Borrie would be to release a revised version of the book with the C API documentation or perhaps another book devoted to that subject. I'd buy it in an instant.
   
   I'll also hasten to add that an author that keeps an updated errata wins favor in my eyes. See the ``Moving Dunes'' link on her homepage. Helen Borrie deserves praise for her active role in the Yahoo ``firebird-support'' forum.

3 comments about Oracle9i: SQL, with an Introduction to PL/SQL.

1. I had almost given up hope that I would never learn SQL until I bought this book. It is the first non-study guide I have come across on Oracle SQL. It actually has exercises for you to do so you can see if you really understand what you are doing. Although the Bijou Thomas Study Guide is good, you really need a textbook. And this is it. I really understood joins for first time! Surprised more people don't know about this book. It is superb!



2. What are you thinking of SQL? Is it a difficult language? I thought the answer is "NO" until i bought this book. Or you may think whether it is a language? I also told you that it is really a language and is fourth generation language, which is English-like language and you use such languages just by telling it what you want to do, not necessary to specify any actions. That's OK!!!
   
   I think the author spent so much time to construct this book and revised it many many times. I saw there weren't many errata in this book and the construction is great. It is very easy to read and to learn just following the chapters one after another.
   
   It is also great for keeping it as a reference for your studies or on your jobs. It is comprehensive showing all the things in SQL statements and each function that any elements are included. It is clear to show all necessary or optional symbols for the use in retrieving data from database.
   
   I think if you have ever learnt SQL and you think to start learning SQL, you should buy this book for your first step starting to learn SQL.



3. I liked this book. Coming from SQL Server 2000 to the Oracle environment, I had a lot of questions. This book covered the subject material completely without over-coaching or being too simple.
   
   It was an excellent read and a book that I refer to often. Well written.

1 comments about Introduction to Relational Databases.

1. This is an excellent book. The explanations are clear, to the point, and illustrated by great examples. The only book I've ever seen that explains relational database design clearly AND shows how to implement it in Oracle. Outstanding! Best purchase I've made in a long time.

2 comments about Oracle9i XML Handbook.

1. I bought this book in order to learn XML and how Oracle implemented it. This book assumes you know XML and Java very well, and glosses over many details. There is no reference for the myriad functions used in the examples so you really have to look elsewhere, like Metalink. I still don't know what book covers the details left out of this one! I will buy it when I find it.

   I must own 8 or 10 Oracle Press books . . .




2. This book cover very little PLSQL developement with XML and the limitations or work arounds for the related problems. It covers more on the java side ...

5 comments about Lan Times Guide to SQL (LAN Times Series).

1. I was introducted to this book as a student at DeVry Institute of Technology in Dallas, TX. I found the book to be a great introduction into the SQL language. The books presents a detailed (yet non-exhaustive) history of the language, along with a good solid introduction to the methodology of SQL. It also provides practical examples of relational DMBS scripting, history and methodology. I would recommend those with absolutely no database experience check out the Modern Database Management book (ISBN: 0-8053-6054-9) before purchasing this book.



2. With 5 other SQL titles on my shelf, plus docs from Sybase, Oracle & MS SQL Server, this is the book I (almost) always grab first.

   Well-organized and well-written, an excellent walk-through of "the basics" and as a syntax reference with good examples.

   Look elsewhere however for advanced administration and optimization techniques (Celko's SQL for Smarties is good in this regard). Consider this book as best for Beginner-to-Intermediate topics.




3. My only regret is that these authors don't write books for every IT subject I'm studying. I am a CNE and MCSE who is studying to become a DBA. Simply put, this is the BEST starting book for ANYONE who is interested in databases or SQL.



4. I must say, that this book is written by professionals. I have tons of books about SQL, and this book is among of the best.

   What is important: authors waste no time on less important stuff. Every chapter, every paragraph in this book is like a sniper shoot.

   All clear, all design philosophy is explained. Caveats are pinpointed, working examples provided.

   This book will greatly help novices, and also will be useful for advanced users.




5. I've had this book at my elbow for a long time, and it is a reliable and thorough reference that will be very useful to the programmer who is not a DBA. Coverage of all the standard SQL keywords and what they do is provided, together with practical examples of when you might want to use a particular statement. Highly recommended.

No comments about Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Analysis Services Unleashed.

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.

2 comments about Understanding Relational Database Query Languages (Alan R Apt Book).

1. I like this book. I was looking for a book that gave the "why" behind SQL. I graduated years ago with a Computer Science degree and didn't have the opportunity to take a database class. I found myself having to learn SQL on the job. This book uncovers the mystery of SQL's behavior. It has a lot of examples that are supported by the software described in the appendix. It also describes how to use the query languages of Microsoft Access.

   Don't let the term "theory" scare you. After the first couple of pages of required definitions, the tone of the book quickly changed to a very readable presentation. Overall, I like the writing style - it's precise and to the point - not too wordy. Definitely worth the money!




2. 
   This is a pretty good book. It's strength lies in it's limited scope: you learn relational database query languages, and get a short primer on Access (Microsoft) and WinRDBI (by author). It doesn't give you the various SQL dialects that exist (Oracle, MySQL, etc.), because that would make it a whole lot thicker book.
   
   If you are overwhelmed by the vast syntax of any particular SQL flavor, than this is the book for you. Here is tersely presented what a minimal language needs, and why it is convenient to have a bigger language (ie. larger syntax).
   
   The book teaches 4 relational "languages", each with it's own chapter: relational algebra, domain relational calculus (DRC), tuple relational calculus (TRC), and SQL. The preface states that relational algebra is considered crucial to understanding SQL. DRC is treated because it is often used for data mining techniques and artificial intelligence applications. TRC is treated because it's very similar to SQL. And SQL is the very reason that I picked up this book.
   
   Each of these four chapters first introduces the basics of the language at hand.And then the language is further explained with example queries. For these examples a data model for an "employee training enterprise" is used; this data model was introduced in chapter 1. Chapter 1 also introduces entity relationship diagrams that are used to explain the data model.
   Having the same data model and queries reappear in these different languages, makes that the reader picks up each language easily.
   
   From the chapter on relational algebra you learn what the minimum set of operators is, that you need to express most queries that you might think of. And that it is convenient to have more operators, for common combinations of the basic operators.
   In the following chapters on DRC, TRC, and SQL, this is the leading theme. In addition you learn of alternative queries to obtain a particular result, and how to choose between these alternatives.
   
   In chapter 6 three case studies are presented, in all 4 languages. Chapter 7 is on Access, and appendix A on WinRDBI. WinRDBI can handle queries in all 4 presented languages.
   
   The chapter on SQL is longer than the others. It explains such items as:
   Safety : making sure that your query produces a finite result.
   Query optimization : writing queries that execute quickly.
   Sorting, grouping.
   Defining tables.
   What is given (almost) no mention is why/how to add indices to attributes.