Programming Books

Books-Under-Review-->Computers-->Programming-->73
Related Subjects: Threads Application Builders Games Agents Graphics Compilers Software Testing Operating Systems Memory Management Component Frameworks Metaprogramming Internet Databases Libraries Drivers Disassemblers System Specific Contests Languages Methodologies
More Pages: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 128 129 130 131 132 133 134 135 136 137 138 139 140 141 142 143 144 145 146 147 148 149 150 151 152 153 154 155 156 157 158 159 160 161 162 163 164 165 166 167 168 169 170 171 172 173 174 175 176 177 178 179 180 181 182 183 184 185 186 187 188 189 190 191 192 193 194 195 196 197 198 199 200 201 202 203 204 205 206 207 208 209 210 211 212 213 214 215 216 217 218 219 220 221 222 223 224 225 226 227 228 229 230 231 232 233 234 235 236 237 238 239 240 241 242 243 244 245 246 247 248 249 250

Programming Books sorted by Average customer review: high to low .

The CRC Card Book (The Addison-Wesley Object Technology Series)

Published in Paperback by Addison-Wesley Professional (1997-06-14)

Authors: David Bellin and Susan Suchman Simone

List price: $34.95

New price: $14.99
Used price: $3.41

Average review score:

Ideal for getting you started on "how to" identify Classes.

Helpful Votes: 11 out of 11 total.
Review Date: 2000-12-03

You want to know a great way on "how to" identify classes from any type of user requiremnets? Buy this book now!

A lot of OOA books like to tell how to design from start to finish. However, some (most) of us are thrown in some obligatory process without consent. CRC will bridge the gap on getting your Classes defined.

Also, CRC works well for "Use Cases". I use CRC after a good Use Case session for Class Diagrams. Some prefer to do CRC before Use Cases. That's the beauty, CRC can be injected anywhere you deem fit.

And, finally, this book will get you "thinking in objects" fast!

Great book for helping do high level OO design.

Helpful Votes: 16 out of 16 total.
Review Date: 1998-12-02

I have been trying to teach OOD to new graduates for a couple of years. Now I teach through this book first. It has more good information about how to get groups to come up with good designs than any other book I have found. Be warned, it's not about UML or Java. The book is about how to get people to work out a design together.

Informal down to earth technique for everybody

Helpful Votes: 2 out of 2 total.
Review Date: 2002-03-15

This book and the stream of thought it stems from is one of the most influental in OO software engineering. It focuses on sharing responsibility in a system. It takes into account the obvious parallels between software teams and their software systems.
The technique itself can be very enjoyable and if you can convince very formal people to use it, it will change their lives, much more then any formal OO methodology will do. CRC Cards make you live software systems! This should be the first experience of everybody who wants to learn OO. You can even use it to explain your work to your kids:-)

High-effective but fragile

Helpful Votes: 5 out of 6 total.
Review Date: 2002-10-12

This book encourages better OO design and analysis, shows how to involve the entire team of developers to the design of the whole system. The authors also describe how to gain benefit from involving the user and other parties to the OO design process.

I was in OO development for five years and I was thinking about a solution which will improve the efficiency of OO design and help to avoid splitting the program between developers who create their own set of classes they are responsible for. Such splitting leads to integration problems and overall design imbalance. Fred Brooks has described this consequences in his famous book "The Mythical Man-Month", where the modules are being written first and integrated later, and the coordination of interfaces between modules written by each developer requires essential effort and time. The CRC Card Book shows how to have "the interfaces" coordinated in the very beginning.

However, the methodology described in this book is "fragile". As soon as it isn't followed by all of the developers, it became useless. But if it is followed, the results are amazing. The book, however, is not very easy to read and lack something which can attract the developers who are "neutral" to improving their way of creating OO programs. But, for the people who already have strong OO background and are seeking the way how to improve their efficiency significant, the book is a must-have.

Creating Cool Web Pages With Html

Published in Paperback by Hungry Minds Inc (1996-01)

Author: Dave Taylor

List price: $24.99

New price: $2.90
Used price: $0.46

Average review score:

A good book to learn the basics of HTML

Helpful Votes: 0 out of 1 total.
Review Date: 1997-10-08

I am computer savvy, but not a programmer. I had never written any HTML when I read this book, but after I finished it, I was able to put together a Web site. I think I learned more from this book than from a lot of the $50 Web books I've purchased since.

A book that is easily read and understood. Excellent!

Helpful Votes: 0 out of 1 total.
Review Date: 1997-02-23

I found this book extremely helpful in re-working my websites. The book is easily read and understood - even for those who aren't "computer geeks". It builds up from the basic to the advanced in HTML writing in easily digestable chapters. I give it a hearty thumbs-up! Gabriele Endress

Considered Harmful

Helpful Votes: 1 out of 1 total.
Review Date: 2008-05-02

As a professional web developer, I am always looking for ways to brush up on my skills and stay competitive. So of course, when I saw this book, I was eager to see if it could provide me with any new techniques for the creation of web pages, particularly "cool" ones, using the popular new Hypertext Markup Language.

Sadly, I found it very disappointing. The author advocates many methods of web page creation that are inaccessible, woefully out of date, or just plain wrong. When I suggested implementing some of the coding techniques in the book, I was literally laughed at by my colleagues.

The book does not cover even the most rudimentary basics of semantic markup, and even suggests using the FONT and TABLE tags to apply styles without even the briefest mention of CSS.

I will certainly not be recommending this book to my fellow web developers any time soon.

(In all seriousness, I read this book when it was new, and it got me started tinkering with web pages. Now I work for Yahoo. The 5 star rating is honorary.)

A friendly, common-sense approach to web page design.

Helpful Votes: 2 out of 3 total.
Review Date: 1996-12-17

There are a lot of "The Web's so cool and if you just buy our book you can make a million dollars" kinds of books out there. I've gotten tired of them very quickly. For one, the Web is just new, it's not the salvation of mankind. For another, they always have some underlying motive (beyond making money), and usually its ramming their own web pages down your throat. Taylor doesn't do this. In fact, he makes you feel very welcome as he explains, in a pleasant narrative style, this big blob of networks called the Web. He's not condescending about it, he's not pushy about it, but he is excited about it, and it appears genuine. The book itself details the standard beginner stuff, with some advanced carrots that leave you drooling for more (I know how to do tables but how do I set up a counter?). Many of these books will disappear rapidly over time because of the advent of HTML editors like Netscape Gold, but this book will stick around - there's plenty in there for the advanced user too. One complaint: Dave, stop using Microsoft Internet Explorer!

Cubase SX Power!

Published in Paperback by Course Technology PTR (2002-11-18)

Author: Robert Guerin

List price: $29.95

New price: $3.87
Used price: $6.30

Average review score:

Must have for Cubase SX users

Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2007-04-11

A good user friendly guide to help you understand the shortcuts and operation of Cubase. I found Robert Guerin's explanations of midi and it's use in cubase most help full.Also the use of the project pool and how best to organize and remove files on the hard drive.In the back of the book you will find the most relevent shortcuts for use on the keyboard for Audio recording and Midi operation.
There is alot more to the book as others have aready mentioned.
The bottom line is if your having trouble understanding how to operate this recording software,BUY THIS BOOK!
This book is definitely worth buying.

Better Than the Cubase Handbook !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Helpful Votes: 2 out of 2 total.
Review Date: 2006-02-07

This book is twice what the handbook is, especially if you only have the pdf version. Since the pdf version is the only version you get when you buy Cubase and if you want the hardcopy version you have to buy it, save yourself some time and money. Buy this book instead of the Cubase manual. This book is easily laid out and enjoyable to read. The illustrations are right on the mark and compliment the text excellently. My knowledge of Cubase doubled after reading this book, and it helped take my recording to the next level. As I pick out recordings and listen to them, it is easy to tell which one were recorded before reading this book and which one were recorded after. I recommend this book for anyone serious about recording using the Steinberg Cubase software.

When Less is More

Helpful Votes: 25 out of 26 total.
Review Date: 2003-09-20

Cubase SX and SL are exceptional packages that actually come with good manuals. Unfortunately, the reference manual is 700 pages long and only provided on disk (to be fair, it is also available for purchase separately). Some people adapt well to electronic books, but I don't - I like to riffle through the pages looking for useful tidbits and inspiration. For folks like me, Robert Guerin has written the perfect book.

Cubase SX Power is written very much from the practitioner's point of view. It offers a tour of the software, accompanied with little exercises, that covers the things most likely to be of importance to someone trying to create and record a piece of music. As such, it is a bit more focused that the manuals are. It tries to give you the basics you need, and doesn't dwell at length on some of the more intricate details that are more confusing than helpful at first..

What it does very well is get you over the initial learning curve that Steinberg's software presents to the novice. The writing style is clear, without any frills. This isn't a 'for dummies' kind of book though - Guerin assumes that the reader already knows some of the basics of recording and is intelligent enough to have a computer in the first place. The book has stood the test of time for me and is often the first place I look when I have a question - which is the best recommendation I can give any reference book.

This book should come with Cubase SX

Helpful Votes: 49 out of 49 total.
Review Date: 2002-12-28

Anyone who has Cubase Sx knows that the rather large manual comes in PDF format on the CD. This is both annoying and a little cheap on the part of steinberg. To the rescue come Robert Guerin's Cubase Power. Much more than a manual this is a great tool for anyone who uses Cubase SX. If you new to the program or a long time user, this book is a must. The thing that sets this book apart from many similar books is the writing style of the author. Using a clear and easy to follow style, he never gets bogged down in the details but never loses site of what he is trying to teach you. Teaching by example he leads us thought real world ideas and issues.

I kept thinking about another book "Making Music With Emagic Logic Audio by Stephen Bennett" while reading this. How deferent the two books are. How one author has a clear idea of what he is trying to do and how another is lost in useless details and unclear language. How one may be a an "expert" but have little idea how to share the knowledge in easy language.

This book should come with Cubase SX instead of the PDF manual. It would make using Cubase SX an even more elegant and rewarding experience.

Data Structures and Algorithms Using Visual Basic.NET

Published in Paperback by Cambridge University Press (2005-03-07)

Author: Michael McMillan

List price: $47.00

New price: $37.39
Used price: $26.98

Average review score:

DataStructure/Algorithms/VB.Net

Helpful Votes: 1 out of 2 total.
Review Date: 2007-10-01

For some of us learning programming has been less of a structured approach and more of a journey, picking up what we could as we went along. This book is a significant aid in that it takes us back to the basics of how to write problem solving code and at the same time giving us an extended toolbox to apply to how we perform it. It has been a real help to me by reinforcing things to me that I thought I understood, and teaching me new ways to do things that I had no idea on how to approach.
Al Edlund

Programmer

Helpful Votes: 1 out of 1 total.
Review Date: 2006-12-13

Michael McMillan's "Data Structures and Algorithms Using Visual Basic.Net" is an excellent resource for the serious programmer using Visual Basic.Net. With the advent of the .Net technology there have been some major changes to Visual Basic, one of them being the collection classes. Most vb reference books provide a weak introduction to the collections and how to use them; this is the focus of the book and really allows the reader to gain enough confidence to start using them effectively in their own programs.

I look forward to more books from this author.

introductory algorithm course

Helpful Votes: 13 out of 16 total.
Review Date: 2005-09-10

McMillan does for Visual Basic in .NET what other languages like Java, C and C++ have long had. Fundamental data structures like hash tables or hash sets, arrays, linked lists. He shows how to use these in the VB context. They greatly simplify your programming tasks. These constructs are so widely used in any practical programming language.

Without them, you find yourself having to tediously reinvent basic functionality. Adding little value. And with the risk that your implementations might be buggy.

McMillan shows how to use the structures in several algorithms. Having said that, this book will not be of any surprise to someone already familiar with algorithms. It does not go into these to the depth of Knuth's 'Art of Computer Programming', or Sedgewick's texts.

Excellent

Helpful Votes: 3 out of 4 total.
Review Date: 2007-09-20

I have selected this book to be the textbook of an introductory course in data structures and algorithms for my second year programming students. There were three major reasons behind this choice:

1- The book doesn't go into the mathematics found in other books. Of course, mathematics are essential for those who want to create algorithms, but it's not the case for the majority of programmers, at least in the business computing field, who just want to implement them. On the contrary, I think that teaching the mathematics underlying the construction of algorithms makes the learning process unnecessarily hard.

2- On the data structures field, the book takes advantage of structures already implemented in the major development platforms. As the author says it: "students of data structures and algorithms can now see how to use a data structure before learning how to implement it" (Preface, p. vii). From an educational standpoint, this is a far better approach than starting to discuss a concept abstractly.

3- The examples are in VB .NET, which I consider a good starting programming language. For those who rather prefer another language, the author has recently published the same book for C#: "Data Structures and Algorithms Using C#".

In a word, I consider this book an excellent practical approach to learn common data structures and algorithms without going into the complexity of mathematics.

Database Design and Programming for DB2/400

Published in Paperback by 29th Street Press (1996-09)

Author: Paul Conte

List price: $75.00

New price: $115.52
Used price: $10.00

Average review score:

If you program the AS/400, you need this book!

Helpful Votes: 1 out of 1 total.
Review Date: 1997-12-18

Having programmed the AS/400 since its inception, I thought I knew everything about the DB2/400 database. But Conte's insightful volume reveals new possibilities and capabilities.

Filled with a perfect mix of theory and hands-on examples, this book allows a reader of any level of experience to benefit from the author's many years of expertise. Conte is a stickler for professionalism and attention to detail, and "Database Design And Programming For DB2/400" not only typifies his love of excellence, but encourages the reader to raise his or her own personal expectations.

If you're a manager, buy every programmer a copy and make it mandatory reading. If you're a programmer who wants to be the best, you must have this book; my copy rests at arm's length on my desk. If you're an educator, this would make an ideal textbook.

Outstanding work!! Both my thumbs are up.

Helpful Votes: 2 out of 2 total.
Review Date: 1997-09-06

This is the best work on the subject available today. Paul obviously put his heart, soul and considerable talent into this book. It's hard to believe that a book so filled with useful information is available at the rather low price of $75. ----small errata---- There's an error on page 410, 2nd paragraph. The sentence which starts out "Although the SQL precompiler requires Declare Cursor statements to be coded in the procedureal part of a program..." is not true for Cobol. Cobol allows you to put Declare Cursor in the Working-Storage Section as well.

Encore! Encore!

Helpful Votes: 3 out of 3 total.
Review Date: 1998-11-14

It has become my daily Bible in my job as an AS/400 DBA. Even after reading the whole book last winter, I still seem to read a passage from it everytime I need inspiration on doing something new or different (or that I can't remember how it is done) with DB2/400.

I am looking to modernize our AS/400 database development with the latest modeling tools and functions without disrupting the traditional DDS-centric RPG development efforts of my programmer customers. I serve customers in dozens of countries with varying levels of SQL/400 knowledge, but being an ex-mainframe DBA, I appreciate the effort IBM has placed into DB2/400 (or "DB2 for AS/400") into giving it mainframe-DB2-like capabilities. I am hoping Paul Conte will come up with a new edition of this book for OS/400 V4.3 because I would love to see these issues addressed in the same manner that DB2/400 V3.6 is presented in this book. Maybe even a chapter devoted to interoperability issues between DDS and SQL/400 and why/how to make the migration would be splendid.

A must-have !

Helpful Votes: 5 out of 5 total.
Review Date: 1999-02-07

I wish I had this book as soon as it was published. After programming on the S/38 and the AS/400 (in RPG) for over 14 years now (with some interruptions), I consider this one the best AS/400-related computing book I have purchased - ever! And compared to other computer books, well, if only that kind of quality would be available on other topics as well more frequently, either DBMS's or programming languages. The book saved one of my clients hours of work: with no previous SQL knowledge but having this book they were able to do some work with SQL that otherwise would have required them to write a program. Another client (and myself for my own system) took advantage of the chapters on Referential Integrity. If you're serious about accessing your data on your DB2/400 database, you owe it to yourself to buy this book !

Database Development and Management (Foundations of Database Design)

Published in Hardcover by AUERBACH (2006-01-13)

Author: Lee Chao

List price: $99.95

New price: $67.00
Used price: $102.32

Average review score:

An Excellent Foundation Re:(Building & Managing databases): The whole Ball of Wax

Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2006-03-13

The 3 customer reviews i saw for this book are quite accurate in this readers opinion. this book provides an excellent foundation for database design

however, i think giving just the in-topic highlights would have helped an interested reader like myself,in making a more informed decision; and as such, i thought i might include these here in a review :

Re:
(A.) Database Implementation & Design elements;
-----------------------------------------------

You will learn all about : how to ;
-Represent business processes with ERD's in a conceptual design & data model/design blueprint,
-Create, control & modify a database,
-Structure a table & normalize it,
-Transform a data model/design blueprint into a relational db,
-Lay-out a solid phyical design, and
how to implement your design/blueprint solution by:
-deciding on the db sytem architecture to use,
-creating,tables,constraints, views,
-controlling db object priveldges,
-transporting data via bulk copy, a study on the import/export wizard,
-querying databases using SQL , subqueries, joins
-SQL procedures ie: Triggers,User defined functions, creating & using stored procedures, flow-control structures ie: IF's , WHILE loops, CASE statements ,et cetera ;
-creating & managing indexes and index views
-Data access via ADO, ODBC,OLE DB

Re:
(B.) The Database Application Development aspect;
-------------------------------------------------

You will learn all about :
-creating database applications with Visual Studio.Net,
-Developing a Web based Applications interface to a database system ,viz:
-creating forms based on views/queries
-creating reports, embedding subforms and subreports,
-creating reports based on stored procedures
-creating network databases ie: client/server architecture,
-using XML, XML datafiles, XML schema, creating XML Web services with Visual Studio.Net

Re:
(C.) Database Administration elements ;
----------------------------------------

You will learn all about :
-Installation of SQL Server
-Server security, Managing Database User accounts,
-Security Authentication, Roles, Permissions,
-Backup and recovery
-Database Replication
-Database Optimization & tools used in performance tuning ie: transactions & locking
-Building a database maintenance plan.

Re:
(D.) Data Analysis Services elements;
-------------------------------------

You will learn all about :
-Building & Designing an OLAP (On-Line Analytical Processing) solution
-Building a Data warhouse ie: dimensional modelling, fact table, ETL(extract,transform,load),
-DTS-(data transformation services)
An example OLAP Case study : demonstrating visually a star-schema, snowflake-schema etc

Re:
(E.) -Data mining ;
-------------------

You will learn all about :
-developing data-mining models ,
-data-mining algorithms
-creating decison trees
-deploying data-mining results with DTS
An example data-mining Case study

et cetera, et cetera

i hope this helps

Must have Book for developing and managing database

Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2006-03-04

Excellent book, Easy to understand and covers most topics of database which includes database design with detail explanation about data modeling, table structure, normalization and transformation of data model to relational database, use of SQL in managing database objects and querying databases, views, indexes, cursors for database applications and much more.
Other topics includes data accessing techniques, use of database in network environment, database administration, data analysis using Online Analytical Processing (OLAP), data warehousing, and other analysis tools, and also discusses about data mining.
Since it provides detailed easy to follow instructions using step-by-step case based approach, it helps to understand database concepts clearly. I recommend you to buy this book.

A must-have book on your bookshelf

Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2006-03-02

If you consider database administrator or developer as your career, this book is for you. The book covers most topics in the database field from database design, programming, administration, to data mining. All topics are well organized to keep you in track, step-by-step to build a strong foundation for your database career.

With more than five years of working as a DBA and developer, this book is still helpful to me every day. Your every penny counts in this book.
Thank you Dr. Chao for such great work.

Laying that 1st powerful Foundation

Helpful Votes: 5 out of 5 total.
Review Date: 2006-03-09

They say, how high you get to build or you will go with anything depends on the foundation you are able to establish.

and that we all sit on the shoulders of giants

well, if you want to develop and manage database systems professionally (ie: conceive database design blueprints, develop, implement/produce or bring the blueprint into the physical, and deliver with articulate proficiency any relational database system -(for database applications at the enterprise level ie:client/server-based applications and web-based applications)

then, you are going to need a thorough mastery of the core underpinnings eventually, before you can commandingly build brilliantly the way you like ie:

You need to permit yourself a
1.) Thorough mastery of relational theory in order to have the flexibility & adaptability to consistently produce solid database design blueprints; this implies knowing how to make the right design decisions/design selections & the ability to see the whole picture ie:(how everything will fit together beforehand)+ the ability to then work-inwards & outwards in the detail levels, in order to forge the database you want.

2.) Thorough mastery of putting out a conceptual design to meet, answer/respond to your users business needs.

3.)concrete knowledge of the steps to take to verify the accuracy of your design proposal(logically), checking it for correctness & adequecy, regardless of the design methodology u adopt before you give the green light to implementation.

4.)knowledge of database implementation & how to manipulate the data to retrieve whatever u and the boss require or want out of it.

5.)knowledge of how to fit/hook-up your implementated database as part of a complete system solution and make it belong; eg: as a client/server-based applications & web-based application in the context of an enterprise ie: as an accessible enterprise application residing on a network-share.

6.) knowledge of how to keep historic data , classify these away, organise and set them apart for future purposes ; ie: for future reporting or querying . in short, expertise in building yourself an OLAP side to your design blueprint , a data warehouse et cetera, in order to set up/satisfy a clients data-mining & future decison-analyses ambitions/prospects for the database system.

These are the things you will need. This is the professional know-how which can help you become a highly-paid, consulted professional or a senior developer/designer.

This is the secret most newbee's stuck on the outside looking in on the inside, not knowing how to navigate the tide or where to begin from to get to the heart of the profession, seek.

This is clarity.

Thus, If you have any gaps in your database development know-how, which requires filling -(you'll know this in yourself), then i would recommend 2 primordial books for it:

(1.)"Database Development and Management (foundations of Database Design)" isbn 0849333180
&
(2.)"Database Design and Development a visual approach" isbn 0130351229

Now with regards each book :
Note: (due to review real estate constraints, i shall limit this review to Book 1, the current book in question.
you'll find my Book 2 review on Book 2's customer review page under :"Database Design and Development a visual approach" ISBN: 0130351229)

Book 1:"Database Development and Management (foundations of Database Design)" isbn 0849333180

is your cement/concrete foundation book.

the book does show favor for implementation in SQL SERVER & MS Visual Studio.Net, but the central database design foundation/tenets is sound for ORACLE,DB2,SQL SERVER,MS Access.

Basically, this one book answers questions like: what is a database, the component parts & pieces that make one up , how do the pieces all fit together, what does each one do, what do they each bring to the picture of a database blueprint solution

From the book you will learn all about :
(A.)Database Implementation & Design elements
(B.)The Database Application Development aspect ie: creating database applications with Visual Studio.Net, Developing a Web Application
(C.)Database Administration elements
(D.)Data Analysis Services (OLAP, data-ware housing)
(E.)Data mining

the long & short of it is that,
If database design, development and management appears to be one big convoluted puzzle, well, this book puts it all together for you and tells you how & where everthing fits.

this is the power of this book. and as such, it is brilliant!

This is a book you'll want to keep, its of great value and accessible to the very green beginner, intermediate or pro person.

these 2 books will bring you something most Developers and DBA spend half their careers trying to figure out ;which is, d complete skill-set of how to handle a database project from point A to Z all by yourself. For most people, theory only ever meets hands-on practise in the proverbial 2-3years work experience context , from on the job experience.

However,the db design foundation which this book delivers to one features the core staple a fledging database developer or DBA would go through a
-MCSD -(Micorsoft Certified Solutions Developer) or -MCDBA -(Microsoft Certified Database Administrator) I.T certification/ accreditation in order to obtain.

this applies in a lot of ways too to ORACLE

This staple constitutes the core skill-set,profile/credentials, employers in the real world generally seek to hire onto db management projects despite the hard won bachelors degree in computing.

cheers :-)

Database Solutions: A step-by-step guide to building databases (Database Solutions)

Published in Paperback by Addison-Wesley Professional (1999-12-23)

Authors: Thomas Connolly and Carolyn Begg

List price: $62.25

New price: $9.99
Used price: $2.89

Average review score:

Great teaching resource

Helpful Votes: 19 out of 20 total.
Review Date: 2000-11-04

This book strikes just the right balance between theoretic rigour and practical examples/advice. The book defines an explicit, multi-step methodology, covering everything from requirements analysis, to logical modeling, to physical implementation, then shows how the methodology can be used in two involved, yet accessible, practice cases. The authors also sensibly show how this is implemented in common DBMSs (Access and Oracle).

If that wasn't worthwhile enough, the book contains two superb appendixes: one shows alternative modelling notations, the other provides diagrams and tables for 15 common data models. These in particular are an excellent idea -- I'm surprised more database design books don't provide them.

At any rate, this is the one database design book that I tend to recommend to my students. For students who are finding the formal computer science database design textbook too abstract, this book is a good counterweight; for students who need a single overview of database design, this book too is a great choice.

Everything to begin

Helpful Votes: 2 out of 2 total.
Review Date: 2006-01-06

I first became interested in databases while trying to make something helpful for a university library reserve department where I worked. Experimentation and consultation with the people at utteraccess.com led me to a good conception of what I would need to accomplish. Unfortnately, it was more than I could do in my spare time before graduation.

This book covers everything I learned and ties in with what I learned from my Abstract Data Structures course. Anyone who finds themselves working on a database without any prior experience should read this book; it's an exellent introduction to the concepts and methods of database design.

One thing I wondered at was the authors' failure to even mention the argument against using real data as primary keys. On utteraccess they make a good case for why primary keys should be only identification numbers for the database and not object attributes. Even if Connolly and Begg have a different view, I think they should have discussed the controversy and the reasons for their preference.

In all other respects I found this a thorough, helpful book that will not overwhelm the beginner with technicalities, but will establish a solid foundation for database work.

Really explains it well

Helpful Votes: 3 out of 3 total.
Review Date: 2003-10-25

I liked this book from the start because it explains how to start up a database from scratch to finalization and with great detail. 426 pages of good information for the amateur or pro. Comes with a CD full of examples and sql scripts to use and two full length, coded example databases.

Excellent Book!!

Helpful Votes: 8 out of 8 total.
Review Date: 2002-04-19

The authors have probably done a favour to the database designer community with this book. Wonder why nobody thought about a book of this kind before. There are numerous books on generic DBMS but very few on Database Design. The book is equally useful for managers and developers. The examples are superb and have been thoughtfully presented and analysed.

Also the fact that the authors decided to use UML as the data modeling notation instead of traditional notations makes this book more "in tune with times" and "practically applicable" in a software development environment.

The Day the Phones Stopped Ringing

Published in Hardcover by Dutton Adult (1991-07-01)

Author: Leonard Lee

List price: $19.95

New price: $4.95
Used price: $0.13
Collectible price: $29.95

Average review score:

The fascinating real life problems caused by computer foulup

Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 1998-07-28

This book is filled with true stories of the deadly and costly consequences of computer systems gone haywire. It is not technical and does not contain alot of techo-babble. Instead it deals with subjects such as surgical procedures gone wrong, airplane crashes, military mistakes, cases of mistaken identity and more...all caused by the misuse of computers or the misguded ideas of humans who use them. The author is a TV news reporter who presents this like an investigative reporter. However, he offers solutions and expert opinions on how to prevent each of these diasters from happening again. The question is: Is anybody listening ?

Good book for the lay public and casual technical readers

Helpful Votes: 1 out of 1 total.
Review Date: 2000-03-17

I like reading real-life experiences used to illustrate a technical point rather than a dry dissertation. Like 1 of the other reviewers - I feel that this title should be reprinted but it should be updated and revised in light of changes in the software/hardware/systems world since the time it was published. AND it needs to have both an index and pointers to sources (i.e. footnotes, bibliography, etc.) The lack of the latter 2 items diminished the usefulness of the book for me as I could not follow up/get more in-depth information and I could not easily find a particular fact or passage I wanted to find in the book.

Out of print but still relevant

Helpful Votes: 1 out of 1 total.
Review Date: 1999-10-24

I wrote this for the other entry at Amazon.com with the same title, same author, different subtitle. This book should be reprinted. With the upcoming Y2K bug as well as other incidents of software creating problems for people's lives, this book is necessary reading. It contains actual real life information about the extent of the problem and how a society that relies on computers as much as ours does is vunerable.

Out of print but still relevant

Helpful Votes: 2 out of 3 total.
Review Date: 1999-10-23

This book should be reprinted. With the upcoming Y2K bug as well as other incidents of software creating problems for people's lives, this book is necessary reading. It contains actual real life information about the extent of the problem and how a society that relies on computers as much as ours does is vunerable.

Delphi Programming Problem Solver

Published in Paperback by Wiley Publishing (1996-04-19)

Author: Neil Rubenking

List price: $34.99

New price: $32.99
Used price: $14.48

Average review score:

A gem: full of useful and practical techniques

Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 1998-04-15

Neil Rubenking's (the author of the immensely popular Delphi Programming For Dummies) book is a treasure trove of helpful techniques that will benefit every Delphi programmer. For example, he has the best "force a single instance of a running program" code example I've seen. The only complaint I have is that the index isn't as good as it could be. Not for beginning Delphi programmers, but even those with moderate Delphi experience will benefit from the eclectic mix of topics covered in this book.

Each Delphi programmer here now has his own copy.

Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 1996-09-28

A full range of techniques and tricks about Delphi and Windows integration. Each technique is presented using a very well focused program, i.e. the minimal piece of clean and elegant Delphi code demonstrating the solution. Even better, the problems and solutions (about 200 of them) presented in this book are really useful! On the first day we got the book, we found ready made solutions to problems we had discovered but hadn't solved before (or hadn't found time to investigate before). This is one of the rare books we don't share: each Delphi programmer here now has his own copy.

it sounds that it include so many tricks.

Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 1996-09-15

It lack of the real world database application. The most cases I encounter is to manipulate the datas that a company makes.I need to analysis it for the manager to view. Maybe you can add it to the book in your next edition. best regards Alfred Yang from Taiwan

A must-have for every Delphi programmer

Helpful Votes: 1 out of 1 total.
Review Date: 1996-08-09

Not for the beginner, this book really delivers on the promise of its title. An hour after opening it, I was doing things I'd wanted to do for a long time.Rubenking starts by showing you how to take control of a form's basic appearance -- yes, you can remove the caption and keep the border! He goes onto help you make Delphi's various components behave the way you'd like, and includes information on accessing helpful Windows API functions. Some ofthe other topics are date math, DLLs, the application object, data-aware controls -- and lots more. Sophisticated topics are explained in comprehensiblelanguage. Both the 16- and 32-bit versions are covered. This book can help you reach the next level of Delphi programming in a short time

Delphi Programming Unleashed/Book and Disk

Published in Paperback by Sams (1995-06)

Author: Charles Calvert

List price: $45.00

New price: $29.30
Used price: $0.39

Average review score:

The easy way to master Delphi.

Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 1996-08-09

How many times did you read a book, follow the examples and run it in the computer, and at end of it you can't write a program by yourself?
Delphi Unleashed is different! Just in the initial chapters you'll be learning the best way: experimenting.

While some books are introductory, others are for the experts, to be used as reference material. There are books that try conciliate both things, but few succeed. This one does it.

Charles Calvert, with your soft writing style and some sense of humour, leads you to explore the language from the beginnings to the most advanced topics, in a soft and pleasant way. He emphasises the most important points, even repeating some fundamental concepts, and pointing the trickiest subjects. Everything is minutely explained. It is impossible to not understand.

The examples are well formulated and are all reproduced on the accompanying CD, which carries too a bunch of tools and libraries.

The coverage of the book is fantastic. From the structure of a Delphi program, to variables and looping. From the use of functions, to strings and pointers. The object programming and client server techniques are explored in depth, as well as OLE, SQL and multimedia subjects.

The didactic is impeccable. An excellent book !

The easy way to master Delphi.

Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 1996-08-09

While some books are introductory, others are for the experts, to be used as reference material. There are books that try conciliate both things, but few succeed. This one does it.

The examples are well formulated and are all reproduced on the accompanying CD, which carries too a bunch of tools and libraries.

The didactic is impeccable. An excellent book !

The easy way to master Delphi.

Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 1996-08-09

While some books are introductory, others are for the experts, to be used as reference material. There are books that try conciliate both things, but few succeed. This one does it.

The examples are well formulated and are all reproduced on the accompanying CD, which carries too a bunch of tools and libraries.

The didactic is impeccable. An excellent book !

A Book to Really Learn Delphi!

Helpful Votes: 1 out of 1 total.
Review Date: 1997-09-01

It's a very good book to read and go through the various examples, covering since the simplest of a Delphi Project to the most interesting and powerful about Creating Components. It's a Must Have Book! Congratulations Charles