Software Books

For those of us coming from an MS world, it helps with any new software to have assistance to overcome the learning curve. OOoSwitch jumpstarts the "trial and error" learning curve methodology by showing the differences and similarities between MS Office and OpenOffice.org.

The PDF feature in OOo would be reason enough to endure the learning curve, but OOoSwitch makes the transition fairly painless. By pointing out tasks I've already mastered in MS Office, I'm becoming reasonbly proficent in OOo.

Good book for experienced MS Office users and noncomputer types.

Yes it does answer questions for those that are switching from MS Office. More to the point, in doing so fulfills the need for a very good "how to" for OOo.
Even though it's becoming a bit dated, there is much still relevant to todays Open Office program. We can sit around waiting for the software author's (Solveig Haugland) publisher (Prentice Hall) to see the necessity for the long anticipated OpenOffice.org 2.x Resource Kit. In the mean time this book as well as some of the other published books on the subject actually can help and do so well. The price is ridiculous even though Amazon has the best price. You might try one of the second-hand sellers with good reputations on Amazon Marketplace. READ DESCRIPTIONS, READ FEEDBACK. My free advice / open source contribution. Even with shipping you'll save.
John Row
in1ear

I've been a unapologetic Microsoft Word fanatic since 1991. But OpenOffice 2.x got good fast, and with its adoption of the universal and ISO-certified OASIS OpenDocument Format (ODF), suddenly it has the upper hand against Word 2007 -- in format, usability (yes, I said it), and power, having the ability to create documents twice the size of Word 2007. But "OOoSwitch: 501 Things You Want to Know..." demonstrates how OpenOffice can match Word, Excel, and PowerPoint and make switching a breeze. The price is steep, but surprisingly, it's worth every penny to this former Word fanboy.

Few of us have time to read a guide book cover-to-cover, so it's nice to find one that's well-organized. This one is! OpenOffice.org is a new product/project that's still ironing out problems and making improvements. If you can't find what you need within this book, it also gives the website for the reader/user to ask questions and even invites their input.

If you know how to do a task in Word, then you can quickly look up how to do it in Write. The language is simple and easy to use. My Mother liked it so much, that she took my copy.

If you've come from the Oracle mainstream like me, you're probably not even aware of the breadth of open source apps and tools that can be used with the database. You may have had an inkling from the porting of Oracle to Linux, and Oracle's adoption of Apache and modules such as mod_perl, but that's only the surface.

When I first spied "Oracle and Open Source" by Andy Duncan and Sean Hull, I was so intrigued that I had to buy it. I couldn't believe that there was enough out there to write a book on. How wrong I was.

The two authors have done an excellent job of collecting information on:

* Programming environments, tools, languages (Python, Perl, Tcl, Tk)
* Database maintenance tools - including Orac, Oddis (Tk);
* Web-based monitoring tools for Oracle (such as Karma, Oracletool) and the network too (Big Brother)
* Plus Open Source Java apps (even the Java isn't open source itself), Gnome/GTK+ and more.

The book's aim is to introduce you to the rich range of technologies rather than being the definitive reference. It provides enough to get the tools installed and to set you on your way. And once you're up and running, the authors list the web pages and books that will take you to the next level. I never knew so much was available, but with the groundswell of support from the Open Source community as evidenced on the Internet and in this excellent book, I'm learning fast.

I find the content exciting and very educational. I am a developer in the corporate enviroenment and mainly use mainstreem software. But this book opens a new world of knowledge and experties. The URL's are up to date and you can learn and explore what ever you like in the book extensively. It is useful stuff and can bring new skills to your CV.

Found this book very useful and a real eye opener for those who like myself believed that all your Oracle goodies coming from Oracle Corp. A set of Open Source tools and applications described in this book is amazing. In particular, DB Prism/Cocoon is something that I jumped in right away. Whether you are DBA, developer or just a plain user of Oracle databases, you will find something that will benefit you/your business. Money well spent.

Oracle for quite some time now has embraced Open Source technology and as a result there are a number of Open Source tools that can be used with Oracle databases. This book takes a look at all of them. Starting off with a brief "history" of how Oracle and Open Source software have combined to build a number of Oracle applications, how Tcl, Perl, and Python have played a part and how to install them, building web-based Oracle apps, how Java, GNOME, and GTK+ also are involved with Oracle software, even a brief mention of how Linux & Oracle work together.

There is a wealth of good open source programs around for use with Oracle and this book gives a detailed explanation of how to install and use all of them to your advantage.

Hardly, and after taking a look at this book you will agree.

This book is perfect for anyone that wants to investigate the use of Open Source tools with their Oracle databases.

Finding out what is available, what is useful, what is available, where to get it and how to install it can take a great deal of time.

There is a lot of useful Open Source software available for use with your Oracle database, and though I am a proponent of Open Source software, I will readily admit that it is not all good.

I've given up in exasperation with more than one Open Source tool that would not compile, promised more than it delivered, or simply did not work.

There is though a large collection of Open Source tools that do work, and work well.

What Andy Duncan and Sean Hull have done is compiled an encyclopedia of Open Source tools that do work, and work with the Oracle database.

This book is much more than just a list of Open Source software. Sean and Andy tell you where to find each application, how to install and configure it, and how to use it.

Need to know the different connection methods for Oracle and JDBC? You'll find it here.

How about using Oracle, Apache and JServ? It's in this book.

I thought myself fairly well versed in what Open Source tools were available for Oracle, that is prior to seeing this book.

Some excellent Oracle specific tools are here that I was not aware of previously. In fairness to me though, I know of at least one not in the book. :)

Oracle & Open Source is a well thought out and well executed guide that belongs on the desk of every Oracle DBA, Architect and developer that wants to get a jump start on using Open Source software with Oracle.

Clear, focused, full of tips and techniques this book guides you generating forms and reports (even complex ones). It has adequate examples and enough discussion to assist you in choosing which technique fits best.

Relevant for versions 2 and 6. Specifically covers generation. So you may wish to check Oracle Designer Handbook if need help using the tool in other aspects rather than generation.

I'm 3/4 through the book and still impress with the quality of the contents. The authors did an outstanding job in explaining the many intricacies of Designer as well as down-to-earth examples. I wish there was a book like this 2 years ago when I started doing Des2k works. This is a definite Bible for anyone doing Des2k work. Kudos to the Authors.

I've been using Designer for four years and still found good information on poorly documented properties, such as the meaning of the layout styles for reports item groups. GOOD tips, EASY TO READ. The best Designer book for generation BY FAR, and I've read all the others.

Aithough i haven't read through the full content so far it seems informative especially generation of forms.Key concepts have been well explained.As a Oracle consultant and having worked in many Oracle based companies like BellAtlantic,USXchange etc and having used designer 2000 for database generation for the past 8 months , i would recommend this book to all oracle designers /developer/Consulatnts and other IT professionals

Regards

This is one of the best organized and most clearly written technical books that I have ever read. The authors clearly put a lot of effort into making a quality book. This is refreshing to find with so many IT books that are obviously written in a rush to "scoop" other authors.

Be sure that you know what you are buying. This book spends the first few chapters laying the groundwork and describing the application generation process in general. Then they get into the details of generating Oracle applications using designer with the goal being 100% generation. If CASE methods for application generation using Oracle Designer is not what you are looking for then keep looking, that is exactly and and only what you will find in this book.

Phantagmagoria, what can I possibly say about phantasmagoria....perfect, that's what this game is. Phants. has all the feel of a good B-grade horror movie, a haunted house, demonic posession, evil magician, sex, violence, gore....the list goes on and on. Visually, the game is stunning, (especially for 1995!) it is very long and involving, not too challenging, but not too easy either. This game single-handedly began a series of other horror games: (very similar graphically) Harvester, Gabriel Knight2, Phantasmagoria 2, ect., ect. Phantasmagoria is a great game EVERY PLAYER OF PC GAMES MUST PLAY PHANTASMAGORIA!

Phantasmagoria is a great game,I definely say get this one,it might be alittle older,but since its release four years ago,I havent found a better game yet!

I borrowed this game a year ago when it was extremely popular, and ever since when I've wanted to buy it, I can never find it. This game frightens me and it explores the topic of evil very deeply. Although this is extremely gory, you cannot deny the fabulous graphics, great story and great gameplay. One of Sierra's best games. Don't play it in the dark and make sure to explore everything. Everytime that you play it, you discover more frightening things inside the scary house. This game would make a spectacular motion picture and it should probably become one. If so, it would be one of the scariest films in movie history. I love it. If you see it, buy it. You'll worship its significance.

Phantasmagoria will keep you on the edge of your seat the entire way through. Sierra Studios has spoiled me with their interesting games and exceptional graphics. I've been playing Sierra games for about 20 years. I have some of their first games. I like Phantasmagoria because it's so life-like, you'll feel as if you're in the game. Buy it, you'll be glad you did.

This is the best game i've ever played. The characters, the story, the manson, the music..... it's just perfect. I wish the music would come on an audio CD, 'cause it is so beautyful, and yet so... frightening, my bestfriend gets the creeps just by the music. The actors are great, I don't understand why some people say they're not and well.... It is just a perfect game. BUY IT TODAY!

This book was extremely useful in helping me clean up many old family photos, some more than one hundred years old. The instructions were clear and I was able to do a good job (with practice) of restoration without fear of doing further damage to the originals. Thank you Laurie Ann Ulrich!

This is my third book by Laurie Ulrich on Photoshop and Elements, and it's great. I got the Elements Bible, and had her Complete Reference on Photoshop, and they're both great. This author is GREAT at explaining things, and gives really realistic examples that make sense. I wrote to her with a restoration question after I got the Bible, and she not only answered the question, but she retouched the photo I sent her and told me how she did it. That made me want this book so Icould do what she did without help, and it's been a great investment. GET THIS BOOK!

I am reasonably new to the world of digital photography and restoration of old photos, and have been searching for "the" book that will guide me as to the best way to approach certain situations in restoring my old photos. I found exactly what I was looking for in this book. This book is not about Photoshop Elements generally, but specifically addresses the restoration and retouching of photographs. It is the perfect resource that I have been searching for.

I have been retouching photos for awhile now and recently bought this book just to check it out. I found myself not being able to put it down. From beginning to end Laurie has done an oustanding job presenting each step in simple easy to understand steps. I dont think anybody will be dissappointed buying this book.

I usually search the web and ask friends for help when I have to learn software, but the cover of this book made me want to check it out, and I'm glad I did. This is a great book!!! Laurie Ulrich really knows about retouching and restoring photos and you can tell she really cares about her readers and has a feel for the kind of stuff people want to do with their family photos, old pictures, and so on. The book is fun to read and is written in a very easy friendly and readable style. She doesn't talk down to you and she doesn't make a lot of jokes (like in a Dummies or Idiots book) to make her point. The author respects her readers and what they want to accomplish and I recommend this book to anyone who wants to really learn Photoshop Elements and start making use of all those photos you have lying around or the really damaged ones you thought would never be useable again. GET THIS BOOK!

The author seems to have "bought" into Public Key Infrastructure completely. Many chapters have a simliar formula:

1. Explain background on the compliance issue or standard

2. Then explain why PKI is so great and solves a majority of the problems with the particular issue being discussed.

This leaves a bit to be desired in some cases as the compliance-heavy discussions really move past PKI and into extremely detailed market compliance issues. This book will be useful for individuals looking for information having to do with Financial, e-Government, and Health Care compliance issues but not necessarily with PKI implementations for Enterprise organizations.

I found this book very useful. With other material in the field the author did a great job.
If you planned to roll out a PKI just take a moment and take a deep breath before doing that and consider all the do's and don't's. Ask yourself the question if PKI is really the only solution for your problem. This book helps you get that perspective. Good style of writing, clear and consistent. Certainly worth buying. Don't assume this is a deep technical drill down on PKI and you're okay!

Rob Faber, CISSP, MCSE, Infrastructure Architect
The Netherlands

Overall I found this book to cover the key concepts of PKI and its practical use fairly well. The case studies help me relate to how things are actually being done. My issue with other books is that they are too theoretical. Also the book gives me a strong case for expanding my PKI deployment as I can cite other successes (worldwide).

Good stuff on PKI: technical and business angles. Compliance was the main reason I took at look at this book, since HIPAA affects us day to day. I did appreciate the introduction to the technology (with technical depth). One thing I did really like it was that (to large degree) the book was vendor neutral. Some of the books through the RSA label have some spin. Definitely worth adding this book to the security collection.

This book covers a good chunk of digital security strategies with a focus on digital certificates (PKI). The first part of the book covers the PKI basics including technical and business topics. The next part of the book goes over the compliance laws (in relevant vertical areas) and how PKI (and compatible technologies) help resolve them. The last part of the book goes over resources and specific products/companies.

What I really liked about this book is it focus on how solve real problems such as compliance issues. Plus the case studies and specific vendor references make this is a good book to use for actual implementations.

Finally, this is a recent book on PKI and I have not seen too much on this topic as of late. The international coverage in the book also does well to keep the material relevant and current.

I would say this book would be ideal for security consultants as well as decision makers doing anything related to digital certificates and/or ecommerce in general.

Excellent insight into the capacity planning process and how it relates to distributed computing. This book works best when coupled with the "Guerrilla Capacity Planning" and "Analyzing Computer System Performance with Perl::PDQ" books by Dr. Gunther. He explores queuing theory in-depth and explains how you relate this to real-world capacity planning.

His writing style is easy to understand - not only does he give you the theoretical background, he shows the practical application and the results. He also includes code examples for the "PDQ" analyzer which is a software program he wrote which leverages his "Universal Law of Scalability." For more information, check out his web site at www.perfdynamics.com.

I highly recommend this book if you are a capacity or performance analyst and are interested in real-world application rather than just another boring queuing theory textbook.

Very readable and highly useful book. One major hit. It is ironic that the author complains about the symbols in other books. For queueing he invents his own, instead of sticking with standard practices. This is very fustrating to readers that have other books on queueing and need to compare.

Although this book's full value will be realized if you understand the C programming language (he uses source code it illustrate points throughout the book and provides a C library for performance analysis on the accompanying disk), anyone with good math skills will gain much from this outstanding book.

The core approach is Performance By Design, which is aligned to product development. His approach, if used properly, will ensure that performance goals are established in the design phase, and are met as a system or software evolves through the development life cycle.

Highlights of the book are:
(1) Through introduction to the foundation of performance: queuing, parallelism and multiprocessor systems.
(2) Coverage of contemporary issues, such as client/server and web system performance,
(3) Unexpected forays into performance characteristics and considerations that I've encountered in no other book. For example, Part 3 of this book addresses subtle issues such as transient analysis, scaling behavior and similar topics. Here the author integrates theoretical physics into performance analysis - while this may seem odd, it only reinforces that much can be added to the performance analysis body of knowledge by drawing from sources outside of computer science. His qualifications for this material includes a Ph.D in theoretical physics, and his ability to clearly explain concepts that are foreign to the average computer scientist or performance practitioner is excellent.

I like the conversation style that the author employs, the way he starts with the basics and builds upon them and the thoroughness in which all aspects of performance are discussed. More importantly, although advanced math concepts are introduced the way they are presented can be understood by anyone with high school or college freshman knowledge of probability and calculus.

The author provides good practical coverage of queuing concepts and then goes on to show how to use queuing models.

I found it interesting that he gives an example of typical computer time periods scaled up to human proportions. If a computer clock speed in nanoseconds were analagous to seconds then a main memory access of 100 cpu cycles would be like some minutes and a disk access would be like some months.

His coverage of queuing concepts is very accessible with a minimum of math.

Scalability is frequently discussed concept that often is not very well quantified. He has the most original approach to quantifying scalability that I have seen.

A queuing modeling package called PDQ is also provided with the book. The source code in C is provided for the PDQ package.
There are some PDQ examples within the book. This is a real bargain because certainly the PDQ software is worth much more than the cost of the book.

If you have and interest in capacity planning and performance analysis (especially if you work in this area) this is a must have book.

If understanding and managing computer systems performance is in your job description and you can only buy two books, this is one of the two (the other is Raj Jain's, "The Art of Computer Systems Performance..."). Neil Gunther's book is not just another tome on queueing theory. Immediately useful methods and formulas are presented in the context of real problems. The two chapters on instability in systems and scaling of multiprocessor systems alone make the book worth its price. Readers need to know that there is some math in the book (there is just no escaping it) and that some of the cited vendor products are becoming dated. The Web site associated with the book contains many items of current interest, an errata sheet correcting minor errors in the book, and downloadable programs related to performance evaluation.

I have a litte doubt and try to solve my problems talking with the writer email showed in the book, but I never received a anwser...

When I got this book I jumped straight to Chapter 9 viz. "Case Study: Device Blogging". This chapter nicely explains how to write a blogging Midlet for a phone device which includes writing a Blog post, capturing/uploading images to a blog, and capturing/posting audio to a blog. The author explains the MMAPI concepts using the MVC paradigm along with complete source code for client and server side processing of application and interaction logic.

The rest of the book goes deep into the MMAPI architecture and concepts with the help of source code of working applications. The functional Multimedia player example in the 3rd chapter explains the role of various components of MMAPI architecture. A dedicated chapter on Media player lifecycle and events is very helpful in understanding the basic concepts of event handling. The book also covers some of the fundamental concepts behind controlling pitch, tempo, audio mixing with the help of examples.

Chapter 7 is dedicated to the MIDI specification which is very comprehensive and well explained within the context of JavaME framework. Writing a book like this requires a thorough knowledge of both JavaME and the various subtleties of tone, pitch, sequencing, octaves, frequency, audio conversion and their treatment on the device and at the network level. In my opinion the author has done a great job.

All in all this book is a great resource if you are planning to develop the next Mobile video sharing, photo sharing application or your next multi-media player for a Mobile phone.

This is an excellent book for those with an interest in creating Multimedia Applications for J2Me Mobile devices.

I would say that the book is split into three sections:

Section 1 (chapters 1 to 3): This section gives detailed information about the architecture of the MMAPI and how it fits within the J2Me platform. There is also has a good "getting started" guide to be found here.

Section 2 (chapters 4 to 8): Deal with how one uses the Player object in all its forms from playing simple tones, to playing back captured and streamed video.

This section was the most useful to me. It provides excellent
background information about each of the subject areas. An example of this is that it gives a full history of the MIDI standard, and an overview of the protocol itself, before it starts talking about how you write the code to play a midi file in J2Me.

Section 3: (the last chapter) is a case study, providing yet more code examples, and a companion blog site.

The only criticism that I have, is that the book, could have delved into the realms of streaming media a little deeper. The company that I work for, weComm is actively involved in the mobile TV space and I was pivotal in the creation of our application for streaming TV, and therefore I was hoping that this topic would be covered in more detail. That aside, I was very impressed, the subject matter was covered very thoroughly, and I felt guided through the MMAPI as I was reading it.

Pro Java ME MMAPI: Mobile Media API for Java Micro Edition has amazed me. The book is unique as it covers and desmyifies one of the most fragmented and confuse Optional Packages for JME.

I've read more than a dozen books about JME but this is the first book that has really cleared some doubts I had regarding Mobile Media in JME.

I strongly recommend this book if you are developing Multimedia Applications using JME.

Vikram Goyal has done an outstanding job by clarifying and detailing every aspect of MMAPI, discussing the way it has been specified, emphasizing the differences that may occur from one implementation to another and also providing clear, detailed and error free examples that illustrate the aspects being discussed.

Also, the text is very well-written and I've found only 3 typos. Very impressive! Apress is also doing a wonderful job.

Chapter 1 introduces MMAPI and presents its features and requirements as defined by the JCP - Java Community Process, compares MMAPI and the MIDP 2.0 Media subset, where it fits regarding the JME Software stack and at last it lists the manufactures and market players supporting MMAPI.
Nice introduction!

Chapter 2 explains the MMAPI Architecture, the main high-level interfaces, delivers an introduction to the supported protocols and content types, presents the relevant feature sets and the security issues one must take into consideration. It also details the MIDP 2.0 Media subset so that one can understand what's left out on devices implementing it.

Chapter 3 introduces the reader to MMAPI hands-on programming by explaining two simple MIDlets. It also builds the foundation regarding the overall development process and environment.

Chapter 4 is unique, it details the Media Player lifecycle, its possible states and transitions. It explains each state very thoroughly as well as Player events and how to work with them, even the limitations and issues regarding custom events. I've never read a book covering MMAPI with such a detailed explanation.

Chapter 5 covers all the issues regarding the access of media over networks. It starts with a very clear explanation of Threads in JME as well as the security permissions for media acess over networks. Then it puts it all together in a very clear and easy to follow example.

Chapters 6 and 7 are the best ones in my opinion. Those two chapters do pay the book, definitely.Vikram has been brilliant and desmystified Synthetic Tones and the MIDI protocol. He has remembered me of my of childhood, when I've had musical theory classes as it explains everything music and shows you how that all fits into programming with MMAPI. Those chapters are so complete that they have a lot of tips on how to convert from RTTTL to MMAPI format, the MIDI specification and message format and how to work with MIDI in MMAPI, how to create JTS files and other niceties. Thanks Vikram :)

Chapter 8 explains how to work with Audio and Video, playback, capturing, storing, controlling, mixing, it's everything there. It also describes the details of Media Encodings and Sampled Audio as well as the GUI options for dealing with Video.

Chapter 9 has a very cool Device Blogging application that builds upon all the subjects presented so far and also gives a good example of MVC pattern in JME.

Well, the only criticism I have is regarding the section about Streaming Media and also the Appendix C about the JSR 234 - Advanced Multimedia Supplements. Considering that Vikram has proved he's really a subject matter expert He could have provided better sections about them.

In fact, He has already written an article about Streaming in JME and it's available on his web site (so I forgive him) but AMMS is still to be covered. What about on the second edition of his book? Let's wait and see!

A must have book, absolutely!

This is a well written book. It's not for beginners but then again you don't have be a J2ME (Java ME) guru to understand it. The writing style is technically clear and straight forward without a lot of personal fluff.

Since MMAPI is a subset of Java ME, the scope of the subject is fairly limited but the author covers it well. The only area I might like more explanation is with respect to DataSource and SourceStream. This is covered briefly at the beginning of the book, but it would be nice to know how to implement a custom protocol.

The biggest problem I have had with the MMAPI is it's inconsistent implementation and the author is quick to acknowledge this. One could probably write a whole chapter about the quirks of various mobile devices.

In conclusion, I doubt you will find another book specifically on MMAPI that has the depth that this one does. I highly recommend this book if you are looking to get your feet wet with the MMAPI.

BTW, I really appreciate the time the editors spent to proof read the text as there are very few errors, if any. It's always frustrating to me when I read a book with a lot of code and spelling errors. That's not the case here. Well done!

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.

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.

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 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)