Databases Books

I have the 2000 version of this book, which I thought was outstanding. Not only does it have excellent content, but it's written as if you were sitting at a table talking to Mr. Davidson directly.

This updated version should be a staple on any database developer or administrator's bookshelf. There is a solid discussion of design, securing the database (new encryption capabilities of 2005) and much more. But these aren't the reasons why you should own this book. It is as much a "how-to" book as it is a "what-to" book. You get real advice, not just screenshots and step-by-step examples. I wish more books were written this way, as technical knowledge without a procedural "framework" is a recipe for disaster.

Do yourself a favor and make the investment. Personally I know that any custom database design course I teach from this point on will include this book as reference for my students.

What can I say? This book gives me exactly what I needed. I'm a self-taught DB guy and this book filled in a lot of holes in knowledge.

This book is very well written and does a good job explaining new functionality and design of SQL 2005 as well as contrasting with SQL 2000 implementation. Definitely a book to add to your library.

I'll keep it short and simple, it's worth the price. It will allow you to make the jump from Application Developer to DBA.

I highly recommend this book to anyone working with SQL Server 2005. The material presented is made more understandable (not to mention entertaining!) by the examples used by the author throughout the book. The new features for SQL Server 2005 that the author covers are very relevant to my job, especially Chapter 7, Securing Access to the Data. The continuity of the material presented is excellent. Each chapter serves as a reference guide to complex topics that the author successfully explains through a combination of expertise, experience and a sense of humor.

This book is is easy to read and does an excellent job of introducing the new features and tools in T-SQL 2005. The book covers all the new features of SQL 2005 very well and I was especially impressed with the section on encryption.

Pro T SQL Programmers Guide is an excellent resource to jump start your SQL Server 2005 development efforts. Michael Coles presents clear, concise examples that will guide the reader from T-SQL fundamentals to the use of the new xml data type,http endpoints, sqlclr programming, encryption and more. A clear read with great practical examples.



I would highly recommend this book as a reference and guide book for t-sql developers, dba's and development professionals

This book is well written with clear examples and excellent coverage of T-SQL. Great to read cover to cover but also very useful as a reference source. I highly recommend it.

I really enjoyed this book. It presents the essential new features of SQL 2005 in a well written easy to read manner. If you are a SQL Developer and want to get up to speed quickly on SQL Server 2005 this is the book for you.

The chapter on encryption is excellent and worth the price of the book by itself.

Short Summary:
Pro T-SQL 2005 Programmer's Guide book examines SQL Server 2005 T-SQL from a developer's perspective. It covers a wide range of developer-specific topics in SQL Server 2005. This book covers many newly introduced topics in depth. This book is written as a practical and useful guide to help database developers who mainly deals with T-SQL. This book is really hit the spot with appropriate .NET code at few places where needed. This book assumes a basic knowledge of SQL but it is really easy for new beginners developers to understand and advanced developers to enjoy further reading.

Detailed Summary:
One thing I really liked about this book is that it can be either read cover to cover, or it can be used as a reference guide for one particular topic. Index of this book is extremely well organized and aids to find the right topic very quickly. Books is structure is many chapters and each chapter justifies the chapters with good details and proper amount of examples.

Each chapter has excellent advice and knowledge and filled with sample code (available online). The book is targeted specifically at SQL Server 2005 and the innovative ways to code T-SQL, new functions and commands. If is very easy to get started with this book and it immerses in comprehensive reading in no time. This book addresses many details and comparisons with T-SQL in very organized way. The examples are in very accurate and useful as well sufficient to targeted topics. This book addresses many of the real world issues with examples, discussions and solutions.

This book start with providing a brief history of T-SQL and the ANSI SQL standards. SQLCMD and SQL Server Management Studio are new tools to explore SQL Server 2005 and are covered in depth in beginning of the book. Chapters which covers Common Table Expressions (CTEs), new datatypes, operators, keywords, functions, and control of flows are really interesting and with necessary explanation. Readers of my blog are very well aware of my interests in Error handling and debugging. Interesting enough for me there is one whole chapter dedicated to that. The regular T-SQL concepts which I write a lot about Stored Procedure, Triggers and Dynamic SQL each have their own chapter. One thing many T-SQL book does not cover in depth is XML, XQuery and XPath which are properly discussed and their importance is explained properly. Last three chapter of the book which covers SQLCLR, .NET Client Programming and HTTP Endpoints requires the Microsoft .NET FrameWork 2.0, as it contains some code which are written in VB and C#.

One thing which I always liked in any database book is, use of sample database AdventureWorks. I strongly believe that all the example should be independent from previous examples and should use default database. If you have not installed default database AdventureWorks, you can get its latest location by searching in my blog SQLAuthority.com. All the script of examples are available to download online. No book is free from the errors and website for this book have errata list, which is surprisingly very small.

I will list few tips from book which interested me. This will give brief idea how good this book is.

"TABLESAMPLE always returns an approximate number of rows because of the way it samples data. The required percentage is the number of data pages SQL Server retreves in full to fulfill your TABLESAMPLE request. The number of rows returned by TABLESAMPLE will often be slightly less, or greater, than the specified amount."

"Anytime you use dynamic SQL, make sure that you take precautions against SQL injection, that is, malicious SQL Code being inserted into your SQL statements. In this instance we're using the QUOTENAME function to quote the column names being dynamically generated to help avoid SQL injection problems."

Following one example really caught my eyes while reading the book. It seems Author accurately described the situation and put his suggestion regarding syntax.
"The ANSI SQL:2003 standard includes a MERGE statement that performs the same function as the upsert type of SP. The prerelease versions of SQL Server 2005 included the MERGE statement. Though it was well-publicized during the prerelease period, the MERGE statement was unceremoniously dropped from the production version. We can only hope that Microsoft brings it back sometime in the near future."
Good news is Microsoft have included the Authors request in future version of SQL Server. SQL Server 2008 CTP 4 has included MERGE Keyword.

Rating: 4 and 1/2 stars

In Summary, A book for every developer who want to take full advantage of the power of T-SQL on SQL Server 2005.

Pinal Dave
Principal Database Administrator
(blog.sqlauthority.com)

Let me start by saying that I liked this book.

At the beginning, it appears like a copy of a specific book that has been a best-seller of this genre (unfortunately, I read that book; Competing on Analytics: The New Science of Winning). But little after going through the chapters - and passing my little disappointment - the reader finds that it is basically a summary of - maybe - all the major and must-read books of the genre in one place. Starting from strategic view and management (Business Intelligence Competency Centers: A Team Approach to Maximizing Competitive Advantage) to technical points (DWH lifecycle) to even famous articles and references to websites and online standards.

The authors clearly read (and most probably applied what in) each of these books and then said "why not put everything together in one place so everything will be understood". But while doing so, they actually pieced it together and produced a solid, actionable work, which is of their own.

To me, it was like a crash course in every area of BI with stressing on management and business value. Process Engineering & Opportunity Assessment are my favorite chapters in this book. And although all books nowadays provide you with a framework here or there, I find this one's rather interesting.

It is a nice read.

The world of business intelligence (BI) has been dominated by a technicians approach. There are architectures, data models, algorithms, and transformations. Now there is a book about the "soft side of business intelligence" from the perspective of the businessperson.

The Profit Impact of Business Intelligence by Nancy Williams and Steve Williams covers a wide variety of topics, all relevant and informative. There are several highlights to the book:

* A checklist of common mistakes to avoid when building the business intelligence infrastructure,

* What to look for in the building of the business intelligence infrastructure,

* Plenty of "mini" case studies, and so forth.

In addition, there is a brief section on the early dawn of information systems, beginning with simple cost accounting and going to the balanced scorecard. Another interesting feature is the discussion of the maturity model of business intelligence.

Another nice feature of the book is the sprinkling throughout of pithy words and contributions from notables such as Michael Porter, Peter Drucker, Gordon Moore and others.

The Profit Impact of Business Intelligence is an easy read that is full of good information. This book belongs on the desk of the business manager charged with building and operating the business intelligence infrastructure. This book represents a valuable contribution to the different perspectives that surround business intelligence.

Review Submitted by Bill Inmon

Very celar and concise. This was of great value in my efforts to articulate the value of Business Intelligence within our organization.

Steve and Nancy Williams have provided a clear and concise understanding of Business Intelligence (BI) and its ongoing business value. Their book reflects deep experience, first hand observations and a practitioners approach to achieving business results and large returns to BI technology investments.

The book follows a practical approach and is organized in building blocks to enable an increased maturing view of this key competitive advantage.

Part 1 "Identifying and Leveraging BI-Driven Profit Opportunities" consists of chapters 1-3, provides introductory terms, the business case for BI, and key barriers, risks designed for a broad audience.

Part 2 "Creating the BI Asset" consists of chapters 4-6, introduces their BI Pathway Method that aligns strategy, drivers, and objectives with detailed information requirements and IT architecture. It outlines a BI maturity model addressing culture change considerations, and bridges the gap between IT and business vocabulary, often two different worlds. Finally, a prototypical technical infrastructure provides context, definition and positioning to IT assets, tools, applications and information for the business decision maker.

Part 3 "Leveraging BI for Profit Improvement" consists of chapter 7-9, describes more deeply how companies have used BI in different ways to drive profits; discusses common mistakes or pitfalls to avoid, and looks at the future of BI.

As a functionally oriented executive and business adviser, I appreciated each chapter provides key points to remember, questions to ask about your BI needs, and quizzes to test learning and comprehension.

This book is a welcome addition to the executive's library who understands the value of leveraging information for competitive advantage and value creation.

Steve and Nancy Williams have made a significant contribution to the Data Warehousing / Business Intelligence literature with this comprehensive and well organized argument for looking at Business Intelligence as an investment in building sustainable organizational value in either a for-profit or non-profit environment. The book provides a clear understanding of the need for Business Intelligence along with the challenges that have plagued many efforts in the past. In it they put forth a number of ideas to address these challenges while outlining a "value management" oriented methodology for overcoming them. In the process they point out that many of the TDWI Best Practices are completely consistent with the value oriented approach.

The husband-wife team skillfully make the case that a successful Business Intelligence program needs to focus on building measurable and sustainable business value through coordinated change in workflow (business process), information flow (dashboards, scorecards, "reports", etc.), and decision structure. And that a Business Intelligence Program needs to be considered and managed as a "portfolio" consisting of multiple individual Business Intelligence projects, each characterized by both benefit and risk.

They argue that for a BI (Business Intelligence) project to add value it needs to enhance the organization's ability to deliver greater value to its customers. Each BI project delivers some benefit, and always at some risk. Both the benefit and the risk need to be measured and managed. The existence of multiple projects gives rise to the need to manage a "portfolio" of BI projects with varying degrees of risk and reward.

They point out that BI delivers information and that information is only beneficial if the information is useful to decision-makers. That is, it reduces the uncertainty surrounding a decision. Since the only thing information can do is alter a decision, one's need for information becomes a function of the decision and the business process to which it belongs. Thus new information often presents an opportunity to make a decision more efficiently bringing about a change in the way a decision is made (the decision structure). Furthermore, data used as input to one business process often originates in another. Hence, the need to consider possible changes in more than one business process in order to achieve the expected benefit from improved decision-making capability. Many of the challenges that have led to undesirable results in the past can be traced to the inability of the organization to deal effectively with this inter-related and often required simultaneous change in decision structure and work process. This inability is most likely attributable to focusing on specific technical objectives rather than the more encompassing value-building objectives of the investment. A value-focused approach helps anticipate this impact and resolve possible conflict.

This is one book that should be within easy reach of every BI professional, team-lead, business analyst, supervisor, manager, and CIO interested in building a value oriented organization.

This has to be the easiest and most simple way to learn HTML or to plane out enhance your site I love this book so much I'm going to buy The Project Cool Guide to Enhancing Your Web Site so I can enhance the already wonderful website I made by reading this book.

The Project Cool Guide to HTML is the greatest book I have ever seen about creating webpages. I have brought much more expensive books (upwards of $70.00), but they did not come close to giving me the understanding I gained from this title. It is written at an understandable level, and talks about some pretty cool things. It is also the cheapest HTML guide I have EVER seen. Well worth the money.

What an outstanding guide! I was writing HTML links and tables in less than one day. The interactive Web site makes this book invaluable!

This book is absolutely the best html book geared toward the beginner. The authors assume the reader has no knowledge of html and start teaching from the ground up. I was an early user of aol's personal publisher and felt limited by it. I bought project cool and knew enough about html to make very nice looking sites in less than a week. I hear PROJECT COOL GUIDE TO ENHANCING YOUR WEB SITE is on its way. I'll be the first to buy it!

I bought this book for my homeschooled daughter to use as a html textbook. It took a few days (chapters 1 & 2 are background/basics), but once she reached chapter 3 she was hooked and has been spending hours at it each day. I am amazed at what she has learned--all on her own. Most books promise more than they deliver, but this book, with the marvelous web site practice area, delivers more than expected. I would highly recommend it to any beginner.

This book was a welcome break from the manual that comes with version 7.0. Very easy to understand the basics and it also contains alot of other stuff. I needed to create some reports quickly and this book really helped.

The best on the market you will find. The book is very easy to follow and chapters are very nicely arranged. Good work.

My company purchased Crystal Reports as the main utility for pulling data from our large relational database. I had never seen Crystal before much less used it. I got my hands on this book today at 12:30 p.m. By 1:17, I was pulling data and manipulating reports like a pro. I would recommend this book to anybody who has to learn Crystal in a hurry.

The company i work for purchased Crystal Reports for a report conversion proyect and i had never used this software before and in couple of hours i was creating some basic to complicated reports. I recomend this book for anyne who need to get hands on fast.

This book was an excellent start for Crystal. I can actually read the huge technical Crystal Report books and understand what they are reffering to. It helped open the door to a whole new world.

This book is one of many I have read on SQL Server 6.5. It is clear& very well written. It highlights key points and goes into the right amount of detail. It is a must-read for anyone designing, deploying, or administering a SQL SERVER 6.5 database.

Had response problems with current database setup and SQL statements. The chapters on Indexing and Optimizing really work. Ex. A simple query on two tables took 2.5 minutes. After applying some of the suggestions, the query took a little over 2 seconds...

The techniques described in this book are effective and well thought out. Even if performance optimization is not your main goal, this book is well worth reading. The book delivers in-depth information on indexing, locking, the optimizer and many other topics in a very readable format. Ideal for those with some knowledge of SQL Server who want to dig deeper.

This book completely demystifies a number of SQL tuning concepts. This book provides a superb overview of the various performance topics, and then drills down deep enough into the concepts to give you the insights necessary to tackle thorny performance problems with multiple causes. This is still a very valuable book for SQL 7.0--the majority of the concepts are still with us.

After you have spent 8-80 hours trying random combo's on the Server Configuration panel trying to guess what you should do, buy this book and score a direct hit! Microsoft should bundle this book with SQL Server. If a little more detail were provided on the internal data structures of SQL Server one could write a bulk loader that bypassed SQL Server entirely (I know its been done by others) and load 10 X as fast. (hint-hint) This is the closest thing to a K&R for MS SQL Server I've ever seen. I really like the brevity of this book. Every word counts! Very, very good job Ken!

A green, cloth-bound hardback with a sewn binding. Over 175 b&w illustrations & 16 color plates. Preface and Introduction. 20 p Bibliography. Glossary and Index.

The book arrived very fast for an international shipping and it was in a very good condition.
Despite the publication date of this book, it's remains very actual an usefull for most turtles enthusiastic's and grade students.

A fantastic book for anyone with even a passing interest in learning about most of the world's living species (and I am only slightly moved to say so because the authors cite me for my observations regarding snake-necked turtles!).

This is a great book probably a 5 stars, but the photos are in black and white and because of this I decided to give it 4 stars, there isn't anything on the internal anatomy of turtles as well. But it's a must have if you are seriously interested in turtles

A great book if you are seriously interested in turtles and a bit sick of the kiddie stuff. Natural history is what reptile care MUST be based on, you can believe me I'm a herpetologist, and that is what this book is all about. Good species keys, hard to find elsewhere, Ernst knows what he's talking about.

Received book in record time. It was in new condition as promised. Great Seller and would order from him again.

This is the third in a series of books the author has written. While some of the concepts in e-commmerce are outdated due to the dotcom crash, the architectures, data management and functional aspects are still useful for e-business and e-commerce. The author discusses many of the challenges in managing databases on the web and shows the need for this technology for web data management.

This is an excellent book on e-commerce and databases. However it is somewhat outdated as the book was presumably written during the dotcom boom. Nevertheless many of the ideas are still very useful. I would suggest that the author updates this book to reflect the recent developments.

The book covers a great deal and provdes a broad overview of web data management and e-commerce. It starts with a lot of background material on database systems, the web, data mining, etc. and then focuses on web data management technologies in Part II. Finally it describes how the technologies may be used for e-commerce. I like the writing style of the author, rather casual and takes a building block approach. He sort of tells a story about supporting technologies, web technologies and e-commerce. My one concern is that the book was written during the dotcom boom years. While the technologies are all still valid and useful, although they have advanced quite a lot today, the idea that the web and e-commerce will take over is long gone. At one time we may have thought that we will be doing all of our shopping even buying groceries on the web. But this has still not happened in large scale. Therefore, it may be time to take another look at the ideas and perhaps get another edition out reflecting what is real today. But then one never knows what the future will be. Maybe once the technologies mature and our approach to the web evolves, the dotcom ideas may take off again.

I found this book extremely useful. The author starts with some excellent background material on web data management and then goes into more details on architectures and models for web databases. Finally, she discusses their applications to e-commerce. At times I thought the book was too detailed (e.g., in data management) and at other times I felt that the book ought to have given more details (e.g. in e-commerce). Nevertheless the book emphasizes on web data management and all aspects of this topic. It was very easy to read and as a newcomer to the field I found it very thought provoking. I thought the author explained the security aspects extremely well, partly because she is an expert in database secruity. At times she dwelt more than it was necessary on security as the focus of the book was not on security. I would have liked to have seen more discussions on how specific organizations carry out e-commerce. Since the field is evolving so rapidly I would love to see a follow-on book giving details and examples on e-commerce and the applications of web data management to e-commerce. On the whole an excellent, easy to read book.

I needed a book to get myself jump started using Filemaker's API for PHP when I found Jonathan Starks book. Jonathan brings you through the process from configuration of Filemaker Server to the creation of small Product/Inventory database. The examples are very informative and Jonathan explains the code so its understandable to both the newbie and the more experienced developer. Sample files are available on Jonathans website. Jonathan uses the "Template" method for PHP coding and I found it to be a great way to do development. I highly recommend this book. It will get you off to a great start and give you the basics to get started creating some great sites.

A great introduction to working with Filemaker and PHP for publishing dynamic web pages. Written by brilliant developer extraordinaire Jonathan Stark, this book will break down the basics and give you everything you need to get started quickly.

His method of breaking down code into manageable chunks with inline comments really helps you wrap your head around what would otherwise look like daunting pages of PHP code.

Experienced developers may skip the first few sections about basic Filemaker and HTML and dig right into the heart of the PHP API for filemaker. Good stuff!

Over the holiday break I had some time to read (a better word might be "consume") Jonathan Stark's book "Web Publishing with PHP and FileMaker 9." In a little more than 250 pages, Jonathan manages to do the impossible: He explains how to put the FileMaker API for PHP to use.

The book is divided into four logical sections. The first section provides background information for those new to the world of Web publishing, including an introduction to HTML and PHP. After reading this section, you won't be an HTML expert, and you certainly won't be a PHP pro. But you will have a good understanding of the technologies involved in Web publishing and development, and how those technologies fit together.

The second section of the book provides a foundation for the examples that are used later on. The section includes a chapter on how to setup a FileMaker database (creating fields, working with the database, performing finds, and so on). I'm sure that the majority of readers will find this section to be unnecessary and might be tempted to skip it. However, the chapter does cover one key topic that you should take a few minutes to check out, and that is an explanation on how to setup a FileMaker account (and grant it the correct privileges) that PHP can use to connect to the database.

The second section also covers installation, deployment, and configuration of FileMaker Server, as well as the new PHP Site Assistant. Jonathan makes a recommendation -- and one that I heartily agree with -- that if you do not absolutely need your own server, then using a server provided by a Web hosting provider is an ideal solution. However, if you do have your own server, you'll find this information to be of great use.

The third section of "Web Publishing with PHP and FileMaker 9" includes what I consider to be the most valuable information in the book. This section covers the FileMaker API for PHP (often referred to as "FileMaker.php") itself, and does so using an example Web application that is developed and expanded throughout the section. The application is one that most readers will be able to associate with -- an online product catalog.

The section includes chapters on how to select, sort, and do finds against a FileMaker database using PHP. Another chapter explains how to alter FileMaker data over the Web, including the creation of new records and updates and deletions of existing records. There are also chapters on how to view, add, edit, and delete related data via PHP (which is accomplished using portals), as well as some very useful information on how to work with images (including images stored in container fields and those stored by reference using URLs).

The last chapter in the third section describes a very interesting concept: Developing a PHP application that automatically updates as the FileMaker layouts that it is built on are updated. For example, if a field is added or removed, the PHP application automatically adds and/or drops the field as well. If you are looking for an easy way to let your FileMaker users "self-manage" a PHP application, then this chapter will prove to be invaluable to you.

"Web Publishing with PHP and FileMaker 9" covers a lot of ground, and does so in a way that makes it a fast and enjoyable journey. Jonathan's writing style and "voice" make it easy to follow along with the material. His expert knowledge of PHP and FileMaker is apparent, and he does a great job of sharing that knowledge in the book.

If you are looking for a good book on PHP and FileMaker integration -- whether you are new to the topic or consider yourself to be a pro -- then I highly recommend picking up a copy of "Web Publishing with PHP and FileMaker 9."

Un muy buen libro. Muy diferente al estilo de los libros de "* for dummies", utilizando ejemplos concisos y bien explicados para darse a entender.
El libro es un excelente prefacio a PHP, y Filemaker desde cero, y llega hasta la configuración de servidores, que pareciera ser un proceso exclusivamente administrativo.

FileMaker and PHP are absolutley the way to go, and this is
THE BEST BOOK to get for Filemaker web publishing.
As a "non-programmer" who has struggled in the past trying to bring a database to the web,
I found the examples in this book easy to follow and understand.
It definately took me to the next level.

I bought this book in 1996, and referenced it again and again. I still find it so useful on web server technology, especially on web security. A worth-while reading.

This book is excellent, if you want to understand the general properties of a Web server. The book explains the basic jobs a Web server can do in simple way so that many people can understand it. The description of the tasks, which will be performed on a Web server, is not too detailed. Excellent is the explanation of the different types, advantages and disadvantages of process concepts which can be used for Web servers. The securtity issues and the chapter about searching on the Internet are also highlights. I recommend this book for everyone who wants an detailed overview on Web servers and related topics.

I thought this was an excellent book. For a newbie interested in learning the details of web infrastructure components, including SSL, this book is a solid choice. I read it a year ago and I still find it a useful reference.

Tired of those IT books that look like help files or manuals dumps? Tired of books based on programs rather than concepts? If your answer is yes, than this book is for you. It is simply the best book about Internet/Web technology ever written, of great importance for anyone thinking of working with the Web. A must read: concepts, explanations, examples, everything as clear as it should be.

A great book for understanding what's happening on the web--essentially a must-read for anyone publishing there to any significant extent.