Microsoft Books

This book was very helpful in my introduction to Access, as well as in my review of other Microsoft programs. The tutorials are easy to follow, unlike those in other books I had tried. I recommend this book to anyone trying to learn or brush up on Microsoft programs.

This book is a great reference for the entire MS Office 2000 applications. I needed to learn Access in a hurry and found the section to be precise and informative and to be just what I needed. The tutorial was very good and after completing the exercise, one comes away with a confidence of knowing that they do, indeed, "know" how to set up and run a database.

The book covers Word, Excel, Access, Publisher, FrontPage, PowerPoint, and Outlook. I also needed some clarification in Excel and Word and also found those sections to be just as helpful and informative.

This is a great "quick" book and it does not cover everything. If someone is seeking more detailed information, then they really need to consult another book, which would provide more detailed information. But for the true basics, this book is great!

I am very happy that I invested my money in this book because my students have been using Microsoft Office 2000 and have learned so much because it helps you through the whole learning process step...by...step. It is ideal for classroom instructor led training and for at home self-pace study. Plus the new low price is great.

For those who need to learn Microsoft Office 2000 now, this is the best book to get. The lessons are very easy to follow, with step-by-step instructions in plain English and charts to illustrate examples. You won't be dissapointed at all with this study book!

An excellent explanation of what bandwidth is all about and what it means. Gives information not found in textbooks or industry documents. Answers such questions as why digital isn't always better than analog. Very well organized and treats subjects such as audio bandwidth and video bandwidth in different chapters. Filled with interesting tidbits, the book makes for some excellent reading. Some will see the book as leisure reading, others as something more serious. I saw it as both!

Wow, this is the best book I've ever read on a technological subject. If you are a non-technical person and want to know how your phone, cell phone, fax, modem,TV, radio, internet work in layman's terms; this is your book!. Better yet the book does all that in under 200 pages. Oh yeah, it also tells explains bandwidth and how we're never going to have enough despite what you may have heard about the coming "broadband revolution".

Although I've been involved in professional video production for the last 25 years in the non-technical area, I finally understand how a TV signal is transmitted and received after reading this book. I take back all the bad things I ever said about Microsoft, because they're the ones who published this outstanding book. I'm sadden that the author has past away. He had a unique ability to take very complicated stuff and explain it to liberal arts majors like myself and it's too bad he won't be around to write more. His clear thinking and economy of words is in very short supply in the technical book area...kind of like bandwidth.

If you've ever been puzzled by bandwidth or wanted to know more about it, this book is for you. For most of us, bandwidth is how much information we can get in front of us how quickly. But how does it happen? How can the same piece of copper wire that carries a low-grade voice signal to us at a mere four thousand bits per second also carry a high-quality mixture of images and text, even motion video, at over a million bits per second? What's the difference between the original bandwidth of radio broadcast frequency bands and bandwidth as we usually read about it in the popular media? Lu starts from the beginning, not neglecting the Stone Age, and carries us through the telegraph (including a widely-used system we had never heard of called the optical telegraph) into today's computer and telecommunication networks. In two chapters, "Thinking about Bandwidth" and "Looking at Bandwidth," he provides fascinating comparisons of bandwidths, proving, among other things, that it would be 640,000 times faster to fly 6 million CD-ROMs to Europe on a Boeing 747 than to upload them over the European E-1 lines under the Atlantic. But the book is practical, too, containing compact tables that define and compare various bandwidth measurements, starting with the hertz (cycles per second) for analog bandwidth and bps (bits per second) for digital bandwidth. Two chapters explain broadcast bandwidth, audio and video, the latter including brief explanations of TV standards, cable TV, color TV, and satellite TV. Datacasting is explained, too - how non-video data can be carried along with the video signal. In another long chapter, Lu explains Point-to-Point (rather than broadcast) Bandwidth, both wired and wireless transmission media and methods. A final chapter, devoted to bandwidth on the Internet, compares in human terms the ways to access the Internet (ISDN, DSL, cable modems, and wireless and satellite). Lu, the former science and technology editor for the Children's Television Workshop in the U.S., hopes that future bandwidth growth will be filled by better science content for children. He wonders whether bandwidth will be shared fairly among the world's peoples, rich and poor. He notes that bandwidth bottlenecks will persist and that the amount of bandwidth required for widespread video-on-demand and full-motion videoconferencing is not likely to arrive in this generation.

Cary Lu, a well-known science writer and editor, died shortly before the book was completed and final sections were written by his friends, New York Times computer columnist Stephen Manes and Adam Engst, author of the Internet Starter Kit series. Without in any way stinting on the details, this book aims for the general reader who needs help with technical explanations. It's also written by someone who has thought carefully about the significance of bandwidth. At whatis.com, where we continually fine-tune our definition of bandwidth, The Race for Bandwidth is a book that we have been unconsciously waiting for. Now that it's here, we plan to keep it very handy.

A great read -- very informative, not too technical (or, more properly, technical, but without jargon), and wide-ranging. Stephen Manes and Adam Engst deserve our thanks for shepherding it to completion after Cary Lu's death in 1997.

I find it unfortunate that the book is published as part of Microsoft Press's "Strategic Technology" series, whose other titles seem to be much more geek-specific: "Understanding ActiveX and OLE", "Understanding Electronic Commerce", "Understanding Intranets". Perhaps they are also aimed at a general audience, but since Lu's book covers so much about non-computing activities such as telegraphy, broadcasting, telephones, and even shipping and air flight -- stuff that should be interesting to people who aren't that computer-focused -- it seems that it's been relegated to a publishing ghetto from which it deserves to escape.

The cover doesn't help much, describing it as the "guide to key technologies behind fast Internet connectivity, wireless communications, video conferencing, and interactive television." It's more than that. It's a guide to so much that we use already today, not just these technologies of most people's future. The most interesting sections for me so far have discussed FM radio and shutter telegraphs, for instance.

This book should not live in the Computing section of bookstores, but in the general science section. It will surely outlive every other title in the

"Strategic Technology" series, because it deals with more universal topics in a less time-limited way. It would be sad to see it in the ubiquitous computer title remainder bins in a year or two, when it should really continue to be printed like other wonderful general science books such as James Gleick's "Chaos" or Stephen Jay Gould's essay collections.

It's also a shame that Lu wasn't around to promote the book. I think it could have reached a wider audience if he were able to do the promotional and talk-show circuit to entice people with its broad scope and easy fascination.

Don't think of this as just another "neato new technology" book. The book is good enough and concise enough that I read it voraciously in a little over a day. It's a miracle of brevity that rivals Strunk and White's "The Elements of Style" guide to writing good English, and E. Annie Proulx's novels.

I'm amazed at how much is packed into a relatively slim volume, and how much of that information likely won't require revision for a long time. In particular, the early chapters discussing what bandwidth is and how it plays into the history of communications are, with a few exceptions such as pricing examples, pretty timeless.

Other sections seem (understandably, given the author's death before completion) a bit rushed and muddled, and could use clearing up. Some of the discussions of digital cell phone technology, and particularly granularity, seem dropped in from somewhere else, without proper context or explanation -- as if surrounding parts were missing.

The glossary is sometimes helpful, sometimes tautological -- having separate listings for each acronym, when the full definition is often a line or two away, also seems redundant.

Despite its flaws, I encourage you to buy it sight unseen. Not only will it outlast most more expensive technology titles you could purchase, it will give you a broad understanding which those books can't touch.

Even if you work for the phone company and live and breathe bandwidth every day, you'll certainly learn something -- such as why the world's best AM radio is made in New Zealand, that 18th century French optical telegraphs had bandwidths of a fraction of a bit per second, or that someone with graduate degrees in Physics and Biology once worked on "Sesame Street".

Zac's, presentation & content, is a model of good writing. The bonus tools in Chapter 11, for modifying the Auto Format Template were unexpected, but truly appreciated, as was all the other bonus content. One look at the ACWZUSR12.ACCDU (AutoFormatFile) was enough to understand why the tool was constructed.
The Template project, "Contacts Modified Template"; is the working model, it also provides the insight of how the templates hidden files systems interact, without the usual macro security issues. Part 3 provides you with the necessary XML Schemas needed for building a Template production model.
Zac also provides links to additional learing resourcs.
Green eggs and Ham to Zac & the Access Team,
Thanks Bill>"M"

Zac Woodall's book provides an excellent introduction to creating and sharing Microsoft Access database templates. It's a wonderful reference for anyone who needs to occasionally or regularly design or develop Access templates.

Zac's book focuses on how to build Access Templates using the new Access 2007 program. He covers this topic from the ground up so if you want to know anything and everything about creating templates, this is definitely the book you want.

Zac brings a unique perspective into this technical manual by helping you understand the thought processes that the development team went through when designing the template architecture for Access 2007. His writing is not only insightful, but Zac also has a gift for energizing the written word. Like any well written published work, Zac keeps you interested in the topic at hand and makes you not want to put the book down.

Great work Zac!

I immensely enjoyed reading this book. It is a great introduction on how to use/work with the new Microsoft Access 2007 template feature. The author's writing style and humor ensure that you keep focused and interested in the sometimes dry technical material.

Would recommend it to any developer who wants to fully take advantage of the Access 2007 release.

Nick Barclay and Adrian Downes did it again! After writing their first and great guide to learning and deploying Business Scorecard Manager, these two brilliant consultants wrote the great guides to PerformancePoint Server (one for Planning and one for Monitoring and Analytics).

These books are easy to read and make the technology very approachable. Additionally, the authors collaborated very closely with the development team so you know that the content you get is true to its original intent!

Couple this with the authors first hand's experience with the product and long time expertise in this space and you get two books, which are MUST reads for anyone who wants to get started with PerformancePoint Server and with Microsoft Business Intelligence.

I have been involved in architecting and designing Microsoft based business intelligence solutions for the past 8 years. I was very excited when PerformancePoint was launched because it filled a very real need in the Microsoft BI platform. It is always a challenge to find training material when a new product is launched so Adrian and Nick's books have been released at just the right time.
I enjoyed both books(The Rational Guide To Planning with Microsoft Office PerformancePoint Server 2007 (Rational Guides),The Rational Guide To Monitoring and Analyzing with Microsoft Office PerformancePoint Server 2007 (Rational Guides)) for the following reasons:
They are clear and simple to understand
They highlight the most important techinical and functional considerations without being too high level
They are practical and not theoretical even though the first few chapters set the scene
You don't need to be a subject matter expert to understand them
They are short so you can read them very quickly

They are great books that will allow you to get up to speed very quickly on PerformancePoint Monitoring and Analytics as well as Planning.

Excellent. Every bit as good as the co-authors' companion book, "The Rational Guide to... M&A w/ PPS. This learning guide's effectiveness is especially noteworthy in light of the completely new Performance Management (PM) sophistication that the PPS Planning Module unleashes on Microsoft Business Intelligence (BI) developers of all experience levels and, of course, the essential clarity with which this guide introduces it. Although future books will, we hope, delve deeper into specific topics (especially Integration and Business Rules), this one sets a high standard with succinct, authoritative explanations and thoughtful skill-building exercises in every major functional area. As a side-note, this book showcases to experienced performance management technologists just how much sophistication and value Microsoft has introduced into the performance management product marketplace.

PART I - INTRODUCTION: The authors begin by introducing the roles that planning and budgeting processes have been intended to play in the business environment, describing how traditional business processes and technologies have inherently limited their real-world effectiveness in terms of the tasks effecting employee workflow, data accuracy, security, and ease of use, and then explaining how each of those tasks is optimized as planning and budgeting roles integrate into a business intelligence information framework. Armed with this high level perspective, readers are mostly prepared to learn how to actually accomplish this, albeit in ways unexpected by most traditional MS BI developers. Specifically, we will now be building automatically recurring write-back mechanisms so that planning, forecasting and budgetting workflows will write-back data to data marts and, by extension, cubes. We will also be incorporating more types of data sources, not as an unfortunate alternative to good ETL, but on a planned, best-case basis as performance management work-flows require. Lastly, we will be highly leveraging Analysis Services' unary operators and account dimensions.

Before jumping into the "how to do it" section, I caution readers, and especially experienced MS Analysis Services 2005 OLAP developers, that, in light of the new PM requirements just described, PPS Planning will have you building both relational and OLAP objects in ways that are ...let's just say "unique". You might not have done it exactly this way for a traditional UDM MOLAP cube. Although your careful exploration of these unique SQL Server objects is encouraged, I suggest that you delay at least some of it until after you well-understand what PPS Planning is accomplishing. Fortunately, PPS Planning automates the vast majority of those nuances, such that readers, whether developers or power-user analysts, can quickly get productive.

PART II - INSTALLATION AND CONFIGURATION: In addition installation, this section introduces readers to the Planning Administration Console (PAC), wherein PPS Planning applications, model sites, role-based security and data sources are initially configured, and introduces Planning Business Modeler (PBM), wherein most of the subsequent work is completed. Notably, applications created in PPS Planning are instantiated as SQL Server 2005 relational databases, and Planning Model Sites become Analysis Services 2005 OLAP databases with completely-built cubes. As a side-bar, readers are advised, beginning at this point in the text, to take care to document usernames, roles and passwords as entered in this section and to pay extra close attention throughout the book to always login to Planning Business Modeler or the Excel Add-In with the username specified in each specific exercise.

PART III - SOLUTION DESIGN AND IMPLEMENTATION: Here, we dive deeper. Explanations, followed by respective exercises, covering the creation of dimensions, member sets, business models, model subsites, model security are aptly covered. Although Chapter 9, "Integrating Business Data" -- which will be the least accessible for non-SQL-heads -- provides a balanced coverage of the complex topic so that readers can progress by (carefully) following the cookbook, SQL/ETL pro's will want to decide when (not if) to dive deeper into learn this (by starting with product help files) and learn exactly how it relates to traditional ETL, which it does not replace. Analysts -- prepare for initial bewilderment. Chapter 10, "Defining Business Rules", takes the complimentary approach, without losing stride with excessive business-side detail (and thus losing the interest of ETL-oriented readers), it move readers through the simple use of business model properties, rules and rule sets. Specifically, the configuration of these business rules are close to a culmination of everything learned so far in that, in text examples, they orchestrate the relationship of data "actuals" to "budgets" and "forecasts" within models and thereby govern how budget forecasts and "what-if" analyses are smoothly integrated into a performance dashboard and/or written back into the data mart and OLAP cube without jeopardizing the sacrosanct "actuals" data. Without a doubt, it feels like a very slick way to avoid ever having to say to your DBA, "Well, we've completed our what-if analyses and thanks for the added permissions, but ehhr... we can't seem to find the actual data anymore. But you backed it up, right?" Relax, `cause it won't happen here. Of note, this chapter very briefly introduces "PerformancePoint Expression Language" (PEL), which is an MDX (multi-dimensional expression) short-hand just for PPS Planning. Although additional PEL detail would have been interesting, it would also have slowed the overall pace of learning. Again, see product help files.

The book's last written topic, in Chapter 11, is "Using the PerformancePoint Add-in for Excel". It introduces readers to PPS Planning Forms (and by extension, read-only Reports ) that performance-management users will ultimately use to assign, contribute, review, edit and approve workflow tasks associated with budgeting, forecasting and "what-if" analyses. As before, the book provides an effective, self-contained introduction which showcases some of Excel 2007's new-found sophistication, but which readers will subsequently want to build upon. As elsewhere, it's essential reading and mercifully succinct (unlike this review, I'll admit).

FOUR BONUS CHAPTERS: Although not reviewed here, they are each substantial, virtually essential, and are respectively entitled "Implementing Process Management", "Consolidating Data with Associations", "Operational and Management Reporting", and "Closing the Performance Management Loop". Conveniently, and along with all required databases and code samples, they are available online at no charge.

PREPARATION: As with the authors' "Rational ...PPS M&A" book, the best way to deploy the entire platform to readers' PC's, for learning or light-development is to download the following from Microsoft: (A) Virtual PC 2007; and (B) BI-VPC V 5.1+, which includes tons of software, including PPS 2007, MOSS 2007, SQL Server 2005 Dev Edition. Lastly, I recommend 4 GB of RAM on the machine, and strongly discourage readers' from trying to use the BI-VPC with under 2GB RAM.

For all of the above reasons, this book is highly recommended!

I have a bad tendency of purchasing technical books and never reading them until I have a problem where I need a technical reference. However, I found myself reading this book cover to cover. I have been using PerformancePoint Server (PPS) 2007 Planning since prior to the software release, going back to May 2007. I have also attended a four day long PPS Boot Camp. Even then, I learned a great deal from this book. I found it easy to read and it covers all the technical topics necessary to implement a PPS solution. Before buying a different book, I would recommend checking to see if it covers all the major aspects of Planning, including topics like Business Rules, PEL (PerformancePoint Expression Language), and Data Integration. Data integration is often forgotten or purposely left out due to its complexity, but authors Adrian Downes and Nick Barclay include an entire chapter dedicated to this subject (43 pages). In addition, once you register the book with the publisher online, there's a great deal of bonus materials available for download. These materials include many SQL examples for data integration. You can cut down your development time by modifying the SQL they provided. Also included in the bonus materials are four additional chapters to the book.

This book is great if you're new to PerformancePoint Server Planning or if you've been using it for awhile. I'm using it to study for the PPS exam to gain certification. My employer has tasked me with coming up with a PPS curriculum for other consultants to learn PPS. I'm incorporating this book and "The Rational Guide to Monitoring and Analyzing with Microsoft Office PerformancePoint Server 2007" into self study for my peers wanting to learn the software. Both books incorporate a step by step approach that aid in learning.

In summary, this book is jammed pack full of good tips for both new and experienced PPS developers and has a good price point. I highly recommend it.

This is an excellent introductory book for Sql Server Notification Services especially when time is a constraint in learning the technology. The author does an excellent job in explaining the technology and uses a sample notification service application for doing so. The book also comes with 2 bonus chapters and source code for the sample application that can be downloaded from the publisher's web site after registering the book!

We are a major player in the real estate industry. Our web site has millions of visits per day and has positioned itself as the focal point of listing finding. One recent requirement was to allow web users to subscribe to our data and be notified upon a listing change or new listing in an area. We immediately started looked at sql server 2000 notification services. The starting point for research was "The Rational Guide to SQL Server Notification Services". This is a great resource and its content has allowed our developers to rapidly build a custom solution for our needs. Great buy. Great technical content.

Suppose you're in charge of inventory at a store. Wouldn't it be nice of your computer system could notify you immediately that you're selling a lot of something that normally sells very slowly?

This is exactly the situation that Micro SQL Server 2000 Notification Services is designed to handle. It is a platform that includes a notification engine to tell selected individuals about selected changes in the information in the database. Computer systems normally work in a pull oriented architecture i.e. you go to the web and ask for the sales figures for each inventory item to see if there is an anomoly. Notification services changes this model to a push orientation. You subscribe (we don't want to be doing SPAM) and based on the criteria you select you are automatically notified of changes in the underlying data structure.

The Rational Guide books are somewhat of a new concept in publishing where a small book, compared with most computer books, can hold down the price and the size while devoting itself to one subject. In addition, the publisher has made additional information available on his web site to allow the reader to expand his knowledge beyond just this book. I like this concept. All computer books don't need to be 1,000 pages, much of which is just copied from the previous edition.

The audience for this book is considered by the publisher to be a Beginner/Intermediate Developer. Beginner - yes, Notification Services are so new that almost all of us are beginners. But this is not the book for someone just starting out on SQL Server

Excellent concept for a book, well executed.

This book is an excellent introduction to Notification Services -- much, much better than what's available in Books Online or on the web. It's well-written, well-organized, and terse. A great text for someone just getting their feet wet.

However, it has a fatal flaw that knocks it down from 5 to 4 stars: This book has no index. I'm incredibly disappointed by this. It means that this book, once read, will never be picked up again -- if I can't find information quickly enough, I won't bother. An index is key to a good tech book, but apparently Rational Press missed that memo.

Great book, but buyer beware if you need something you can use as a reference later on down the road...

In my work as a technical editor, I've had reason to review many of the other 800+-page books available on Excel 97. This one stands out, far and away, as the top reference available. It covers more than any of the other titles, and does so more thoroughly. For example, this is the only book I've found that covers creating custom numeric formats.

This book covers all the features of EXCEL 97 very clearly with good examples.

Unfortunately the support page for the WEB material has gone ...END

This book covers all the features of EXCEL'97 in detail. It begins at the beginning (What is a toolbar?)and goes on to Visual Basic. The main drawback of a book of this type is that it concentrates on describing features one after the other. Like reading a dictionary, knowing a lot of words doesn't mean you are developing fluency.

An exception to this remark is the last chapter in the book "Sample Visual Basic Application". I'm a novice in this area, so experts might not agree with me. But I found this example really got my imagination. It describes a project that picks up data from an outside monitoring station on a regularly updated basis, puts it into EXCEL, generates a regularly updated chart, and makes a report using WORD. The entire sequence is automatic. This example puts EXCEL to work with other applications in a complex project showing me what is possible. Variations on this theme could be used for many other projects.

Sometimes the Microsoft book is good and sometimes it isn't- this time it's the best. The book is a catalog of everything, with clear instructions. There's no need to read it cover to cover, though that will give you lots of ideas for what can be done. Just look in the index when you need something and flip back to the clear instructions and helpful illustrations. The book's pretty hefty, so the included book-on-CD is the best way to tote it around as a reference. Keep the CD at work for surreptitious reference and be the office Excel expert!

Read this book if you are new to Microsoft SQL Server. This book is well written and gets right to the main points of T-SQL. I especially liked the later chapters on Views, Stored Procedures, XML, and programming with T-SQL. This is one of my top 10 computer books and I always keep this book close at hand for reference. Use another book if you are looking for the hard core nitty gritty details of SQL Server. I hope Ben Forta writes a "Sams Teach Yourself" book on for other SQL server features like SQL Server Integration Services or SQL Server Reporting Services.

This is a great book for any newbie to T-SQL. There are lots of examples and each of those is accompanied by an explanation, without assuming that you already knew something (a pet peeve of mine for many how-to books). The chapters are broken up well and each leads into the next seamlessly. It is not the ultimate reference guide, but if you are looking to learn and understand how T-SQL works, then this is the book for you.

Sams Teach Yourself Microsoft SQL Server T-SQL in 10 Minutes (Sams Teach Yourself)
by Ben Forta

Short Review:
If T-SQL (Transact-Structured Query Language) is foreign tongue to you, after reading this book, you will speak T-SQL. This book is SQL Server version of best-selling book Sams Teach Yourself SQL in 10 Minutes. This book teaches what a SQL developer must know methodically, systematically, and exactly. Anybody who are new to SQL Server and wants to learn most of T-SQL which can be implemented in short time in their application - BUY this book immediately.

Detail Review:
This is the one book I was awaiting eagerly. I claim that I am very experience Database Administrator and Database Developer, however, I have learned something new from this book of acclaimed author Ben Forta.

This book is focused on T-SQL only. It begins with simple data retrieval and continues to develop complex topics. It addresses various topics that are enough to get some work done with SQL Server as well explains concept in depth. SQL Server 2005 is a very complex, feature rich product. This book does a wonderful job of explaining the various features with out going to too many details that majority of the users will not need anyway. This book covers all of the important aspects of SQL Server 2005 without clouding the information with tons of examples that are not for every user.

Author has divided the book into short comprehensible chapters along with to the point examples and explanations of the concepts. If you see "Table of Contents" of this book, you will find that this book covers many areas. I will talk about few of my personal favorite chapters of this book here to demonstrate, what this book does is best at.

Chapter 5: Sorting Retrieved Data
If you want to sort in descending order on multiple columns, be sure each column has its own DESC keyword.
When you are sorting textual data, is A the same as a? And does a come before B or after Z? In dictionary sort order, A is treated the same as a. If you need an alternate sort order, you can not accomplish it with a simple ORDER BY clause.
It is not required, and it is perfectly legal to sort data by a column that is not retrieved.

Chapter 10: Using Data Manipulation Functions
It is far safer to always use a full four digit year so that SQL Server does not have to make any assumptions for you.
When comparing dates, always use DATEDIFF(), and do not make assumptions about how dates are stored.

Chapter 15: Creating Advanced Joins
It is worth noting that table aliases are only used during query execution. Unlike column aliases, table aliases are never returned to the client.
Self joins are often used to replace statements using subqueries that retrieve data from the same table as the outer statement. Sometimes these joins execute far more quickly than do subqueries.

Chapter 22: Programming with T-SQL
This is my most favorite chapter. Experienced programmers will find this chapter most interesting.

To discover the secret of SQL, this is the book you need to read, extremely well written, easy to follow and most importantly to the point. This has got to be the smallest SQL book in existence with highest amount of quality content. A really MUST have book.

Rating: 5 stars

In Summary, A MUST read.

Pinal Dave
Principal Database Administrator
(http://www.SQLAuthority.com)

I am brand new to SQL Server and have been reading a handful of large SQL Server for beginners type books, but I kept getting hung up on all the T-SQL commands. No book seemed to explain it clearly, or they'd suddenly introduce a series of mind-numbing code without explanation - assuming you knew it. Fortunately for me, I stumbled on this gem of a book. It is well laid out, concise, and there is no filler. It starts with the absolute basics and works on up through to more complex T-SQL scripts (stored procedures, cursors, triggers etc.), but by the time you get there - you're more confident with this stuff. I'd highly recommend this book if you want to learn T-SQL.

I found lots of good explanations in this book of many of the NT features. Good reference book to have -- it even tells you how to add a harddrive, setup networking, RAS, optimizing, and security. Good book to have around

Just bought this book today and it looks concise and helpful in installing and maintaining NT 4.0 Workstation.

At first I thought this book would be too simple and basic, but by the third chapter I realized that this book has lots of meat in it, and numerous solutions to tricky problems. I also use it as a reference since it answers questions about NT, hard drives, device configuration, etc.

If you use NT much you probably want this on your shelf, well organized, easy to follow, and fairly complete instructions on numerous NT topics

I found this book to be one of the best references out there for securing our systems. Having been through SOX audits I am always looking for the best and most thorough resources. I found this book to be a very good resource because it's comprehensive and easy to follow, everything the IT security specialist needs!

This is the book you need if you want to lock down TS and make sure you are not a conduit of disaster. Secure your network NOW!...HENCH

I picked up a copy of this book the day it came out and I'm so happy I did. Security is a must in IT today but in a Terminal Services / Citrix world it is even more important! Roddy's book taught me things not only did I not know but he reminded me about things I did know but have just not put in to place for numerous reasons. I highly recommend this book to anyone who deploys and/or maintains a Citrix / Terminal Server farm. It is simply awesome! 5 starts all the way!!! - Douglas A. Brown, Microsoft MVP - Terminal Services

I have in the past and continue today to complain about a lack of good and timely books on Terminal Services and Citrix. I have to confess this book has proved to be an exception! This book is concise, accurate and describes really advanced concepts in Terminal services and security in a language that is very accessible and then walks you through implementing those concepts in the real world. What a concept- A book I can actually use in my professional career! Other authors out there, please take note. I urge IT professionals and others interested in Terminal Services and Security to take a serious look at this book.

I was initially surprised by the structure of this book. It starts with an introduction on user interface principles, then in goes into the mechanics of user interface implementation in .NET, then it veers into databases. This is where I thought I was lost, but actually it turns out that it's the anchor for the sections that follow, which show how how databases are linked to the UI and how that is done effectively. In this way I think the book is different than any other technology centric book on .NET user interfaces, which only cover the API portion of the problem.

On the whole I am impressed by this book. I think it takes a fresh look at the entire topic. In addition it's well written and not overly illustrated. It's a unique book, so I recommend a look before you buy, but I certainly recommend the look.

The one quality that makes this book a clear winner is the quality of the content and clarity of author Rebecca Riordan's writing. She uses a friendly, humorous, often bitingly sarcastic voice that eases the normal tension accompanying such a complex topic as UI design for Windows applications with .NET technologies. You'll appreciate this tone as Riordan takes you through some very challenging scenarios in developing winning desktop apps.

The main focus is on presentation tier technologies and techniques used to create great programs that customers will really enjoy using. The book starts out with five phenomenally-written chapters on GDI+, typography, color, and image programming that every developer working with .NET should read, whether they're examining UI design for desktop applications, or otherwise. It also includes a helpful glossary of development terms mentioned throughout the text that you'll enjoy and refer to often.

Riordan also attempts to demystify the many complexities of .NET databinding within Windows Forms. as do most Addison-Wesley texts, the book's physical properties are to be appreciated, using sturdy binding and thick paper, making the book close and sit easily after a session open on your lap (and who hasn't wrecked at least book doing so?).

The only downside to this book (and a minor one at that) is the exclusive presentation of code in Visual Basic .NET, which would make the book largely one-dimensional to programmers working with that language (or liberal minded C# readers). But programming language semantics aside, this is a real gem, and one you'll want to pickup for your WinForms team projects.

A formidably detailed and comprehensive attack on the problem of user interfaces and data visualisation. Riordan tackles this in the context of Microsoft's .NET platform. Notice the two topics. There are books on pure UI design, for various operating systems. Nothing wrong with that. But they tend to concentrate on the strict visuals and how the user interacts with various widgets. Usually, any data to be displayed or modified is general and lacks much structure.

There are certainly elements of this approach here. Like where Riordan discusses the various properties of fonts and faces, or colours or different image types.

But she goes further. She shows how to make UIs customised for SQL data. To make your SQL Server easily accessible. A full workout. From using the widget families that come with .NET and hooking these all the way back to a SQL Server. In, for example, a four tier architecture. Unusual to see all this in one book. PLus, she makes VB seem very easy to design and program in.

Seeing Data: Designing User Interfaces for Database Systems Using .NET is an amazing book for anyone designing a user interface (UI) to allow users to display and edit data. It is very specifically focused on .NET WinForms development, however much of the information is useful for all developers.

Starting with coverage of the basics, like fonts, colors, etc., the book moves on to how to display and allow proper editing of various data types. This is very much a needed book, since the Microsoft User Interface standards book has not been updated since 1999. A lot has happened since 1999 in the Microsoft world, and the advice Rebecca offers comes from a lot of hard-won experience.

I do not do a great deal of Windows Forms development, but when I do, I will keep this book nearby.