5 comments about Microsoft SQL Server(TM) 2000 High Availability.

1. I just got this one and I found that while it has some good points its not really all I had hoped. A much better book is Inside SQL 2000. It covers much more about SQL which you need to know for keeping a system up and running 24-by-7.



2. I liked some things about this book:

   cluster chapter
   hardware coverage
   Windows Server 2003 tidbits

   I didn't like other things:

   replication coverage - way to short to be useful. Doesn't tell much about high availability in relation to replicaton.

   bad advice - several things they recommend even I know better than to do. I got to the point where I started ingoring the recommendations and just hunted for facts to help me form my own conclusions.

   performance stuff -- its to weak and not discussed as much as it should be. I think you need to really go into performance issues when you talk about high availability because poor performance makes a system less available.

   I guess the final word is that this is a decent book that you might want to get if SQL SERVER high availability is something you need to know about. Just don't expect a great book.




3. I had to say something here. Everyone got so used to everything being easy in windows, they don't want to hear about also having to know what their doing. Do you think running big available db's is a step-by-step process that Bill left out of the books online? One book can't teach you a college degree worth of information.

   This book was right on track and the cluster and log ship info just isn't anywhere else. I agree replication was light, but who runs repl for availability anyway? The book put some humor into a grim subject, so it comes across not so serious, but at least it wasn't boring or a reprint of books online. The last chapter had monitoring info you can't get anywhere else, and it was worth the price of the book. Take a look at the cd, there's some kick-A stuff on it, like what looks like another chapter on performance issues effecting uptime.

   What some of you guys write here and in thse newsgroups just proves that Bill's worse problems are not in his software. If you're serious about software, you keep up with it. If Microsoft saw some use in trying to get the word out by printing a late book on sql and getting some big name writers to do it, then I'm reading it. Are you going to ignore it because of some guy off the internet? Remember we're talking availability here, so its not the million dollar question.

   I'm giving the book four stars. It skimmed over some things it should of covered (like performance, operations, qa testing, handling heterogenous systems, and some other stuff) and it should be a series of books, not just one huge one. It wouldn't hurt if they could referenced non-microsoft books for some subjects that aren't software. Plus it should have more on running high availability systems without clustering or fancy hardware. Only some databases that have to be up all the time run on Enterprise Edition. But everyone will blame Bill if their system is down. Don't they know that by now?




4. I got this one to help me with setting up a HA replication arch. To be nice about it the repl info in the book is anemic. Next to nothing about it. I'm not sure how I will use the book and Im pretty disappointed iwth it.



5. This book is great. It's loaded with recommendations that I have not seen in other SQL books and I've read at least a dozen of them. Even the backup modules cover more information than anything I've seen. Every DBA should read this and stop complaining about this or that not being covered. If you looking for replication than find a replication book. It's impossible to cover everything about availability in one shot and this one comes close.
   Great stuff!!!

4 comments about Introduction to SQL: Mastering the Relational Database Language (4th Edition).

1. I ordered this book through amazon.com when there where no reviews-- took a chance and did it ever pay off. So now i'm writing a review for the next guy who is looking for a good book to get HANDS-ON sql experience with. You should have some understanding of relational databases and a basic understanding of sql to get the maximum from this book, but that's not necessary, first time sql self-teachers stand to benefit greatly from it also. I definitely recommend it to anyone wanting to gain further understanding of SQL and relational databases.



2. The disk supplied with the book (contains the database to work the exercises) will not easily install on Windows NT. I have contacted the author (via e-mail) and the database manufacturer for more installation instructions but have not yet received any help. Without the information on the supplied disk the learning process is less than complete.



3. First, I should mention that I got this book in Dec. 2000 and had no trouble installing the disk on Windows98. Hopefully the problem pointed about by another reviewer has been resolved. Incidentally, I find the SOLID server very easy to set up and use, with a simple but friendly user interface. OK, now for the book. It is very clear and includes numerous detailed examples, along with step-by-step discussion as to why the syntax works the way it does. This is particularly helpful when grouping, subqueries, joins, etc., or combinations thereof are involved. Sometimes he'll solve a problem in more than one way, which is good to see. Occasionally, too, like a good teacher he will have a snare for the unwary and go on to say, "Wait, this isn't working the way intended," and use the pitfall as a way of bringing home a point. Another thing I like is the adaptation of Backus-Naur Form that he uses in specifying languages -- if you've never seen BNF before (which included me before reading this book), that may sound a little daunting. Actually, it makes correct usage really clear. One more thing to mention about this book is its excellent range of topics without bogging down on them. In addition to covering the core keywords "select", "from", "where", and so forth, he talks about imbedded SQL (which I rely on heavily when I use VB or work on web pages), stored procedures, and what ODBC is, to mention only a few extra topics. Finally, the translator should be commended for readable, fluent English.



4. Found the text to be very very thorough, and the translation from Dutch to be excellent. My only complaint is that some of the code does not run on all servers, and wish the editors had tagged some of the code with tips on which servers the code was for. The book "SQL Cookbook" has that, and wish this book had that too. For example, in one of the last chapters, the discussion on Collections, there is code that introduces the SETOF concept, but does not mention on which SQL implementation it is applicable.

3 comments about SQL Weekend Crash Course (With CD-ROM).

1. This book is a streamlined, concise presentation of the ANSI-standard SQL:1999 that all implementations seek to match. It presents the SQL data types and commands and provides examples of their use. The book concentrates on the SQL functions that most people are likely to need, without getting highly technical about obscure, little-used features. It makes a handy reference for the experienced SQL programmer as well as an easy to follow introduction for people new to SQL.



2. A very good book for getting up to speed quickly - the examples are clearly laid out and meaningful

   - just a shame that none of the examples and sample data that the book and CD says are on the CD are actually on the CD




3. I was fairly unimpressed with this book. I found it fairly easy to read the first night's lessons, but when it came time to try any of the examples on an actual machine, there were plenty of typos in examples. The examples should be the one part of a book where you NEVER find a typo. It's been about 9 months since I threw this in the corner, so I can't point to examples off hand, but I know once I spotted obvious errors I didn't bother to move further through the book. There's also no errata on the author's website, once you find it. I realize this book is no longer published, but there's no excuse for even wasting money on it. Try SQL Queries for Mere Mortals, it's far more useful to learn from, and works as an excellent reference to basic SQL commands.

4 comments about Oracle9i PL/SQL: A Developer's Guide.

1. I like the organization of this book as well as its focus on Oracle 9i's new PL/SQL functionality. If you have prior experience with PL/SQL and need to get up to speed with the latest features quickly, this is the right book for you. I like the coverage on Native Dynamic SQL, Bulk Binds, and Object Relational features. The sample code is very helpful to demo the new language syntax. To me this book has been serving as a handy reference as I code for Oracle 9i for the first time.



2. I've just finished the first 100 pages of the book, so my views are definitely incomplete. Nevertheless, I would like to share some of my feelings toward this book:

   1. Many code fragments are repeated unnecessarily, making the book a bit too thick (around 670 pages)

   2. In avergage, I think, every page contains a "Tip" or "Caution" box, which I think should tell you some important insights from the author. However, most of the tips are as simple as "Never fetch from a cursor before opening it" or "Don't fetch from an already closed cursor". Maybe I'm too picky, but it's really annoying (and time-consuming) to read so many plain-simple tips.

   3. The formatting of code is terrible. Although code formatting is a personl style issue, I think the author/formatter should at least make sure the parenthesis are easily identified, and each "successive" indentations are of the same length (say, each level of identation = 3 spaces). But this book fails to do so.

   On the other hand, as far as I've read, the content is mostly correct, and the code fragments run as expected.




3. This book really makes PL/SQL concepts very clear. I was actully refreshing my PL/SQL concepts after 3 years and this book was very helpful to me. The way each and every topic is presented in here left no doubt about that topic in my mind. This book is worth reading even for them who are new to PL/SQL. All the topics starting from Cursors, Packages, Stored Procedures, Functions, Triggers, Exceptions....etc are presented in the most conceptual and clear format.



4. Bulusu Lakshman gets a standing ovation for a brillantly written book. If your PL/SQL skills lag behind Oracle 9i, then this book will bring you up to date with clearly written text and excellent examples.
   
   It should really be billed as more of an advanced text on PL/SQL, as the beginner is likely to have a difficult time if Bulusu's work is his first exposure to PL/SQL.
   
   However, for the veteran PL/SQL developer who does not know reference cursors, cursor expressions, bulk binding, dynamic SQL, etc., this is the book to lead you to clear understanding.
   
   Kudos to Bulusu Lakshman.

1 comments about CramSession's Administering Microsoft SQL Server 7.0 : Certification Study Guide.

1. this book is wonder for all programmers who learn visual basic. it is used for back hand tools for visual basic and oracle. it is known as RDBMS.

   this book is wonder for all programmers who learn visual basic. it is used for back hand tools for visual basic and oracle. it is known as RDBMS.

   this book is wonder for all programmers who learn visual basic. it is used for back hand tools for visual basic and oracle. it is known as RDBMS.

5 comments about Professional UML with Visual Studio .NET.

1. It is a total mystery to me why this book was written in the first place. From UML standpoint it covers only very basic scenarios. From software perspective it does not cover topics like "..how the hell do I specify .Net attributes and do not lose them in reverse engineering..." or "...why C# documentation is totally incompatible with what Visio produces...". The only thing this book teaches is how to do basic operations, which you probably can figure out on your own after 2 days of pocking around. DO NOT waist you money (I would use 0 star option if it was available)



2. I do not think that the title of this book is appropriate. The book is about UML but i question the professional bit in the title. The writing is okay but you can tell that different authors worked on the book. Had the book been a little more coherent I would have opted for 4 stars.



3. There are better books to train developers in individual skills - UML, Visio, dot net. But this book does a nice job tying them altogether - it won't teach you how to model, etc. but does a very good job in applying and integrating all the skills. There are some annoying typos, but no showstoppers.



4. ...maybe not the fault of the book, but Visual Studio support for UML isn't that great. In practical use, it is very frustrating and limited. Break out of Visual Studio and get Sparx Enterprise Architect for UML work.



5. There has been a real need for a text that explains how to use Visio for documenting software requirements. Likewise, there has been a real need for a text that shows how to tie the different UML diagrams together as part of a coherent and comprehensive process. This text promises to do both, and to some extent it succeeds, but it is far too fractured to live up to its initial promise.
   
   I would still recommend the text for anyone seeking an introduction to UML in Visio. The examples are very simple, however, and the discussion of UML is incomplete, so I would recommend using a UML text as an accompaniment to this one as you work through it.

5 comments about Oracle Built in Packages.

1. Oracle should just have O'Reilly publish all of their documentation. Though I haven't had a need to use 85% of Oracle's packages, the ones that I have read are thoroughly documented. Even the author (Steve Feuerstein) mentioned that there are even MORE builtin packages that he didn't put into his book. Word is that he may add more of them.

   Excellent book.

   Gio




2. Very little about Oracle build-in packages. Much more about O'reilly's own build-in packages, it is more like a kind of ads.

   I want to use packages, doesn't mean I want O'reilly packages. If you want to sell O'reilly packages, name the book accordingly.

   I wanted to know more about the numerous oracle standard build-in packages, this book didn't help me.




3. This book is absolutely necessary to get oriented in Oracle documentation. It covers PL/SQL packages that are of major interest both for application developers and those of us who want to automate DBA functions. Wonderful writing and excellent code samples are very helpful!

   Some examples of DBA-related packages are DBMS_SQL which takes care of dynamic SQL (chapter 2) and DBMS_JOB for cron-type PL/SQL scripts.

   Chapter 3 covers DBMS_PIPE and DBMS_ALERT packages necessary to implement servers running inside Oracle independently from host operating system.

   Chapter 6 describes DBMS_OUTPUT and UTL_FILE. DMS_OUTPUT is well-known for its put_line procedure which prints short (up to 256 bytes) strings to SQLPLUS console. However, from this book one can find out how to increase standard overall output size for this package - which may be crucial for testing. UTL_FILE takes care of ASCII file I/O for PL/SQL.

   Considering Large Objects management (chapter 8), we remember this is 1998 book, it does not cover latest Oracle object-related features like types or collections. Now ASCII documents (such as news articles) can be kept in VARARRAYs rather than in CLOBs.

   ORACLE BUILT-IN PACKAGES is more of a reference than a tutorial, it leaves for the reader to find out what functionality is actually needed and for what technical purpose.




4. I code and teach a lot of PL/QL, and this is the only book I have found which goes into any depth on these built-ins. It tells me most everything I want to know. However, you have to dig through tons of sample code from his PL/SQL products. In most cases, you won't find a clear example of the Oracle built-in packages (you know, the ones the book is supposed to be about?). Instead, there are huge, unneccesarily complex examples of how to use the author's bloated code (which is for sale, btw).

   There is no doubt he is the foremost author on PL/SQL, but it's not worth digging through the junk and arrogance. To quote the back cover:
   "I work with built-in packages every day, and nobody kicks sand in my face-- at least when it comes to PL/SQL!" Given the amount of his own code he buried them under, I doubt he ever even *sees* the Oracle built-ins anymore.
   We have used his other books as texts for professional training, and the students have the same complaints. They are better than the manuals which come with Oracle, but not by much. (If you want a good PL/SQL book, check out Oracle PL/SQL Programming by Scott Urman. Doesn't cover built-ins much, but its far better than the Feuerstein PL/SQL or Advanced PL/SQL books).
   Summary: Better than the manuals, if you like searching for needles in haystacks.




5. This serves as a good reference book. Saved lot of time many, many times. I bought this book 2+ yrs ago and still helps me out. But I think this book needs a major update. Oracle8i is a new beast altogether (I didn't work with 9i yet) and there are tons of new built-in packages that are very useful.

5 comments about .NET Enterprise Design with Visual Basic .NET and SQL Server 2000 (Kaleidoscope).

1. The book is very much a hand's-on architect's/programmer's book. Not much emphasis on an academic viewpoint, but more the practical lessons from someone that has learnt from 10 or more years of design/programming. It contains many little insights that come from experience.
   
   It is (thankfully) not another beginner's book. It is set at the enterprise level.

   Good detail on testing and debugging. Throughout there is reference to scalability, fault tolerance and performance. I liked the way he introduced the test bed and using the same debugging approach across different layers.

   He is quite bold in suggesting the how things will go in the future (best architecture/design approach), offering various options, but admits some may be wrong.

   I would like to have seen more test results, I know these will be available with the non-beta code, but to compare methods, it is useful to see comparative details in the book.

   It is a good overview of the possible current architectural solutions. He realises there are many solutions to a problem, like life, the answer is a matter of balance and compromise.

   Good size book. Easy to read, so it must have been well written!




2. This is a good book. It is definitely more of a design book than a programming book (as the title says). A good developer has books like this in his or her library though.

   Unfortunately, Jimmy's writing is very hard to follow at times. English may be his second language, and it shows. Next time get a better editor -- a very poor job of editing the book was done. Some sentences just run on forever and use a bunch of unneccesary words. This may sound picky, but this type of book is read through entirely and it should be better written and organized.

   I do really like how Jimmy expores different design possibilites. He gives the pros and cons of each option, including the one he proposes. He obviously understands the technologies very well and has much real-world experience. You can tell he is an experienced developer.

   So remember, this is an enterprise design book. If you follow his proposal you will have an application with many layers/tiers that also makes use of COM+ / component services. For smaller applications this type of design is usually overkill. But for very large applications a good design is critical.

   Good book.




3. Some good material in this book that are related to N-tier design, but not a .Net book at all. Less than %20 of the book had anything to do with .Net. It looks like the book was written 2 years ago and then .Net was added to the title to better market the book. I had to return mine.



4. If you are looking for a book that gives you a blueprint for building a scalable enterprise database application using the .NET framework and SQL Server 2000 then this book hands it to you on a plate.

   Don't buy this book if you are looking to learn Visual Basic .NET or SQL Server because this one is all about applying those basic skills taught in other books to produce a "real" application.

   Most books on this subject fit the 80:20 rule, they take you 80% of the way and then ask you to just finish things off yourself. Anyone who is familiar with the 80:20 rule knows that the remaining 20% needed for completion is as much effort again as the first 80%.

   This one introduces, designs and builds a real application to completion, consisting of n-Tier architecture with full transaction control, business rules and data access with concurrency control. It doesn't ignore real world requirements such as performance, debugging and testing.

   The author imparts tips and tricks learned over the years and gives you a working example of one of the most important design patterns in database access, "Batch Command" (sometimes referred to as "Unit of Work"). This pattern minimises multiple trips to the database by compiling separate SQL statements into a single script that is send and executed in a single call. All code examples are in VB.NET and are accompanied by UML diagrams where appropriate.

   In summary this book fits hand in hand with Microsoft's .NET data access strategy and basically hands you the design, implementation notes and source code of a working, scalable, enterprise class application on a plate.
   
   Well worth it!




5. This book should have been entitled "Design of Enterprise Systems with emphasis on Stored Procedures". It really has little to do with VisualBasic or .NET, and more to do with proper large application design in the OO/SQL era.

   The author is obviously obsessed with Stored Procedures and makes a very good case for using them. In his systems, every application deals only with stored procedures and never performs SQL statements directly. Well, that's one way of doing it, but it introduces a whole lot of problems that were never really discussed too clearly.

   The book is an excellent resource not just for the theory but for practical code snippets you can [take] and use in your next huge, huge enterprise application.

   I say "huge, huge", because the sheer amount of overhead you will create in developing any applications based on this architecture is astounding. For anyone who started programming in COBOL, welcome to the world of Microsoft object-oriented programming! You will be spending 90% of your time worrying about coding things that have absolutely nothing to do with the application! Do we really want our application subject matter experts to have to worry about Shared Properties Managers, Object Construction, Threads, Object Pooling? Well, we have no choice if we go with .NET under Microsoft.
   
   If you've stepped away from VisualBasic for a couple of years, welcome back to the new world of Microsoft's vision for a single language with many names. They call it VisualBasic now, but it's just C wearing a mask. Forget about rapid coding. Forget about type-independence. Forget about functions and subroutines. You're going to be spending most of your time memorizing the wall chart of COM objects and trying to learn yet another incarnation of VB that is as incompatible with the previous version as Java is with Fortran.

   Don't believe me? OK, use Visual Studio.NET to write a simple application that looks up a record in a table and says "Hello World".

   But I digress. The book's treatment of error handling, trace logging, concurrency locking, and other oft-neglected issues is very good and gives practical advice on how to do it. I will personally implement many of his suggestions. Many others I will pare down into a more manageable architecture for a company that does not have a multi-million dollar IPO worth of cash to burn through in the next 12 months.

   His critical analysis at the end of each chapter of the proposal presented in that chapter, on the basis of performance, scalability, portability, maintainability, reusability, testability, debuggability, interoperability, and other "ities" was very clever. I will use that, as well as "codability", "readability", "longevity", and "learning curve" to help evaluate what language I want to use in my next application. It might show an MS OO language to be the worst choice. Who knows?

   2 pet peeves:

   1. "Preventive" is the correct word. There is no such thing as "Preventative", because we do not preventate things. Wonder how that slipped past the spell checker that SURELY every writer nowadays has.

   2. "Errand" is running to the store to get something. "Errant" is something that has gone wrong. The entire sample application is built on a misuse of the word "Errand". But I forgive Jimmy because he is Swedish, and if I had to write a technical book in any of my 2nd languages, I would be hard pressed to get absolutely everything right.

   Good job, Jimmy.

1 comments about Progress Notes Print Utility Add-on Module.

1. I purchased this to use with my 5.0 Solo Practice. I had purchased other Therascribe software with no problems. In this case I opened the CD and attempted to install it. I received a message that it was too old and could not be installed. As a result, it can't be returned because it was opened, and it can't be used. So after waiting months for it to finally be sent to me, I have thrown away my money. Be cautious if you have current therascribe software. I have attempted but have been unable to have the information updated for use.

5 comments about MySQL Reference Manual.

1. Well, they wrote big parts of MySQL. That's a good recommendation, if you ask me



2. It's been a long wait, but finally a comprehensive MySQL Reference manual has arrived ! Definitive comprehensive and one might even say exhaustive - you'll want to keep this one handy.



3. A paper copy of the manual can be most useful, since I, like most people, find it hard to wade through an online manual.

   But there is one area in which the online form is more useful: searching. By opening the MySQL manual in a text editor, one can search it, making the poor organization of the manual less of a problem.

   The printed copy suffers from the same poor organization (indeed, it is the same as - or very, very close to - the online manual) but without the ameliorating factor of searchability. The index is not very good, but even if it was better, the scattering of information throughout the book would make for lengthy index entries.

   Take security for example. What is the recommended process for securing a fresh MySQL installation? Start at the Table of Contents: Aha! 4.3 "MySQL User Account Management" Sounds promising. P. 249. GRANT and REVOKE Syntax? Not what I had in mind. I just want to know about the right way to secure the system and create new users. Back to the Contents. 2.4 "Post-Installation Setup and Testing" P.113. Nope, nothing there.

   Last resort: The index. Security, against hackers, p.227. Nope. But that page is in section 4.2 "General Security Issues and the MySQL Access Privilege System." Now that sounds like it. Start reading section 4.2.1 on p. 224... "If you are able to connect successfully to the server without being asked for a password, you have problems! ... Review the MySQL installation instructions..." I thought I just did that. Now I know the secret is burried in the installation instructions. Back to Chapter 2. Still no dice.

   Give up and install phpMyAdmin.

   While I don't doubt that the answers to this and a myriad other questions are in there somewhere, the poor structure of the book makes it extremely hard to find anything.

   A complete rewrite would do the trick.




4. This book is the printed version of the online documentation available through the MySQL site. It is the definitive version of documentation for MySQL, but it is also left wanting. The authors, two of the principle programmers of MySQL, provide comprehensive coverage of all aspects of MySQL.
   That being said, one of the biggest problem with this book is not its subject coverage, but its organization. Most technical books begin with installation instructions, or a brief overview of the software's purpose and the need it addresses and then moves into technical subjects. This one spends the first 10% telling you why you should use MySQL, and only then does it start delving into technical matters.
   Skipping past that, the book's other big shortcoming is that it's biased towards a Unix mindset. Granted, the software was developed on Unix and the largest portion of deployments are on *nix. However, as a long-time Windows user with little *nix familiarity, a lot of the material is over my head. If they want Windows users to use MySQL correctly, they're going to have to make it much easier for Windows users/admins to understand.
   The one thing I found the book does really well is to teach you exactly how to use MySQL using SQL, and documenting well where MySQL diverges from ANSI SQL compliance. The portion of the book strictly dedicated to teaching the user how to use it is well-written and thorough, I wish the rest of the manual was written this well.



5. This is simply the printed version of the online documentation. This is very handy to have when you are not in front of your keyboard. I use the printed and online versions equally. The layout of the printed version is not the best by any means. Used in conjunction with the online documentation, you will find what you need though. This book should be on any PHP/MySQL programmer's shelf.