Editorial Review

In this smooth, carefully paced course, a leading Perl trainerteaches you to program in the language that threatens to make C, sed, awk, and the Unix shell obsolete for many tasks.This book is the "official" guide for both formal (classroom) and informal learning.It is fullyaccessible to the novice programmer. ... Read more

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Reviews (275)

This should be your first book on Perl
I first tried to learn Perl by using the other O'Reilly book, "Programming Perl". I was completely lost. Then I found this book and my second attempt was much more successful. This book is great for self-teaching, and the book chapters should be read in order as each chapter builds on previous ones. Each chapter has plenty of good programming exercises with answers in the back of the book. I review this book in the context of the table of contents.
A terrific Perl intro
This is my favorite Perl book, as this is where I started, and where I go back for refreshers.I have the Third Edition, and can only imagine that the Fourth Edition is just that much better.As for it being a Unix only book, I would dispute that, as I learned quite enough about Perl to create scripts for the Win32 port of Perl running on Win 2000.
Second Edition ... you need to upgrade.
I had originally bought the Second Edition years ago and am finding that the two books now have very, very little in common -- it's like reading 2 different books.I'm not sure about the Third Edition, but if you have the First or Second, it would be a good time to upgrade. I really like how this edition is written ... very good read! ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Computer Books: Languages    2. Computers    3. Computers - Languages / Programming    4. Natural Language Processing    5. Perl (Computer program language)    6. Programming - General    7. Programming Languages - CGI, Javascript, Perl, VBScript    8. Programming Languages - Perl    9. Computers / Languages / Programming    10. Computers / Programming Languages / CGI, JavaScript, Perl, VBScript    11. Computers / Programming Languages / Perl    12. Internet languages    13. perl, 5.8, subroutines, file operations, text processing, strings, sorting, process management, modules, Tom Phoenix, Randal Schwartz, brian d foy   

Editorial Review

Your class library works, but could it be better?Read more

Reviews (123)

Take the special offer above!
You know which special offer, the one that let's you buy this book with another for a reduced price.
refactoring
a good and clear book for improving your code in small steps. a lot of (not language specific) good examples.

Want to know how to be a better software developer?
Then read this book - it contains great tips and hints for how to be a better developer by making your code (or someone else's code) more easily maintainable. For example
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Subjects:  1. Computer Books: General    2. Computers    3. Computers - Languages / Programming    4. Object-Oriented Programming    5. Object-oriented programming (C    6. Object-oriented programming (Computer science)    7. Programming - General    8. Programming - Object Oriented Programming    9. Software refactoring    10. Computers / Programming / Object Oriented    11. Software engineering   

Reviews (2)

This is the 70-526 Training Kit
The 70-526 Training Kit is now available, but there are still reviews on this site for another book (the 70-536 Training Kit). Please be aware that this is a new title and has not yet been reviewed.

Amazon, please fix your problems!
This book is great! Unfortunately, the 'spotlight review' that is featured above, DOES NOT BELONG TO THIS BOOK! It belongs to the training kit for 70-536. For some reason, Amazon can't seem to get rid of this erroneous review. Please, please, please, fix this problem! ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Certification Guides - General    2. Computer Books: Languages    3. Computers    4. Computers - General Information    5. Database Management - General    6. General    7. Programming - Software Development    8. Relational Databases    9. Software Design    10. Computers / General    11. Computing and Information Technology    12. Microsoft Windows   

Editorial Review

If you're doing database application development in the Oracle environment, you're going to have to know PL/SQL, the company's extended query and update language. If you want your programs to exploit the special capabilities of Oracle software, you'll need to know the language well. That's where the third edition of Read more

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Reviews (76)

Very good
This is an easy to read book. Feuerstein presents a goodoverview and in-depth analysis of the PL/SQL language with practical examples. He includes several examples and recommendations that make this a solid book for PL/SQL programmers. Some print errors are commons in books of this type, they are obviously a problem for a newbie, but there is no perfect book at this world. For this reason I give only 4 stars.
A major programmer's reference
Steven Feuerstein and Bill Pribyl's ORACLE PL/SQL is a major reference for any already programming: it provides references to syntax, codes, and forms for developers and database administrators, adds new content to extend coverage for the latest Oracle Database 10g Release 2, and adds new chapters covering security encryption, email, and globalization. This isn't just an A-Z coverage: it provides questions, application issue analysis, details on whether usage is appropriate or worth the effort, and how to avoid common coding problems such as hardcoding literals.

THE ULTIMATE PL/SQL PROGRAMMING BOOK!!
Are you an application developer or database administrator? Well, you're in luck! Authors Steven Feuerstein and Bill Pribyl, have done an outstanding job of writing a 4th edition of a book that provides comprehensive useful coverage of the PL/SQL language.
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Subjects:  1. Computer Books: Languages    2. Computers    3. Computers - Data Base Management    4. Database Management - General    5. Database Management - Oracle    6. General    7. PL/SQL (Computer program language)    8. Programming Languages - SQL    9. Relational databases    10. Computer Programming    11. Computers / Data Base Management    12. Computers / Database Management / General    13. Computers / Programming Languages / SQL    14. Computers/Programming Languages - SQL    15. Oracle    16. Oracle, database, programmer, developer, software engineering   

Reviews (63)

A really good PHP introduction book
First off, this book is completely useless to you if you have do not have adequate OOP programming background. It jumps around different topics and does not really explain why things are arranged a certain way. This book pretty much assumes you have knowledge of either C, C#, Java techniques - which makes PHP extremely easy to understand. If HTML is all you have under your belt, this is probably a terrible book to buy.
37 Chapters, 3 Books in one, and a must have desktop reference.
This is as it states for the Novice to the Professional and that is completely true.
The only PHP and MYSQL book you'll need!
This book is geared for three types of readers I believe (a rarity among books). First are people who have no experience in programming or web development whatsoever, the second are people who have worked in other languages whether be on the desktop or the web, the third type are people who already have some basic PHP and/or MYSQL experience and want to further their knowledge into intermediate topics. How can a book accommodate so many types of readers? Well, being slightly over 800 pages helps and also this book is very well written and organized and focuses on all the important topics.
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Subjects:  1. Buyer's Guides    2. Computer Books: Languages    3. Computers    4. Computers - Languages / Programming    5. Database Management - General    6. Internet - General    7. MySQL (Electronic resource)    8. Programming - General    9. Programming Languages - CGI, Javascript, Perl, VBScript    10. Internet    11. Internet languages   

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Reviews (55)

Very clear and easy to follow guide
I have struggled with Object Relational issues for years and have tried a few different techniques until I stumbled across Hibernate a few months ago. Since then I have started a new medium sized enterprise application and decided to use Hibernate. Needless to say, I was impressed with increased productivity from removing my attention from the relational model and placing my focus on the Object Model.
Good book
We enjoyed it, had some great hibernate tips, all the guys in the company took it for their vacations to read...

Great concepts, Worthless index, Questionable technology
The authors do a fine job explaining the concepts behind object relational mapping in general and Hibernate in particular.Too bad the book is absolutely crippled by its index.For instance, there is no entry for "discriminator" (or anything close to that), so to go back to that section where I positively recall reading about this term, I have to browse the whole book.Ridiculous.Furthermore, the following statement by the authors themselves throws this entire technology into question: "Retrieving persistent objects from the database is one of the most interesting (and complex) parts of working with Hibernate."If this is so complex, than the Java community has been sold a bill of goods, and its no wonder the exodus to Ruby is gaining momentum. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Computer Books: Languages    2. Computers    3. Computers - Languages / Programming    4. Java (Computer program language)    5. Microcomputer Application Software    6. Middleware    7. Object-Oriented Programming    8. Object-oriented programming (Computer science)    9. Programming Languages - Java    10. Computers / General    11. Computers / Languages / Programming    12. Computers / Programming Languages / Java    13. Programming languages   

Reviews (7)

Good Choice for the CSS beginner and up
This book is a well written introduction into the world of css and pinpoints key concepts of css.It's by far one of the most readable texts that I have picked up out of all the technical books I've read in my few years of being alive.The book lacks a little in having some references to an example on a previous page while the reference to it is one to pages after the example.This discrepency is understood though since it is hard to keep everything together and not spill out onto other pages when planning the layout of a book. Overall this is a good book on css, and I would recommend it to anyone wishing to start into css.

Good book but irritating typos
I would have given this book atleast 4 stars if it weren't for the misleading typos! here's a few - Chapter 6 Pg 127 refers to Figure 6.2 (which doesn't exist!) instead of Figure 6.3; Chatper 10 Pg 228 the example "H1 {color: #ff000 }" is plain wrong (needs a extra zero at the end) and will not work.
Great resouce for new to css
ritten by the authors of CSS, at first I found it a bit heavy in dialogue and backgrounds. Not until you open the book to the index does one actually realize the wealth of information in the book. Do not expect this book to show examples of the next great page, but as a resource in trouble shooting it helped explain alot of questions I either was too lazy to look up in Dreamweaver Help or couldnt find the right type of answer elsewhere. My level is pretty much entry intermediate, but with this book, it took me a bit higher. I am getting rid of my introductory CSS books and using this one as my main go to guide.
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Subjects:  1. Cascading style sheets    2. Computer Books: Web Programming    3. Computer graphics    4. Computers    5. Computers - Languages / Programming    6. Design    7. Desktop Publishing    8. Desktop Publishing - General    9. Internet - Web Site Design    10. Programming Languages - HTML    11. Web sites    12. Computers / Programming Languages / HTML, SGML, VRML, XML    13. Internet   

Reviews (1)

a comprehensive widget set for C++
When C++ was first put together in the 80s, it was just before the advent of GUIs for many programs. But as Java arose in the 90s, and then C#, the need for easy UI coding in C++ became very clear. Hence Qt was developed. Now in its 4th version. And available for Microsoft Windows, linux, Macintosh and several unixes. The accompanying CD has version 4.1.1. Though by the time you get this book, you might want to scout the Web, either for patches to this version, or a more recent version.
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Subjects:  1. C++ (Computer program language)    2. Computer Books: Operating Systems    3. Computers    4. Computers - Languages / Programming    5. Computers - Operating Systems    6. Graphical user interfaces (Computer systems)    7. Operating Systems - Linux    8. Operating Systems - UNIX    9. Programming - General    10. Programming - Software Development    11. Programming Languages - C++    12. User Interfaces    13. C & Visual C    14. Computers / Operating Systems / Linux   

Reviews (2)

It is definitely not a book for PhD level
The book suggests it serves as a first course in finance for PhD students, and a second course in finance for master students. But as I see it, it is too shallow for PhD level reading, as it never explain some complicated derivation clear enough. You don't know how some statements or conclusions come from. There is just not enough explanation. I mean, the author could have said that "after some derivations" or "it can be shown that...", but they just give some results without mentioning whether it can be derived with some convoluted math but because it is out of the depth of the book, only the result is given, or it just comes easily from the assumptions or conditons. I have to figure their logic since usually I just like to thought about how to derive a result as I am supposed to read it as a first book in finance for a PhD student. Many times I have to give up figuring, as the steps the authors take from the conditions to the results are usually too big to guess. So I ended up with treat this book as an ElEMENTARY level book, giving up any derivation and analyzing, just taking the results as granted.
It's a masterpiece!
"Financial theory and corporate policy" is THE theory-of-finance book. It is so well-written, concise, and most importantly, it gives you the framework of conceptual knowledge and intuition to understand what the literature on financial theory is trying to do and how it all fits together. It is appropriate for a second course in finance or a first PhD level course. The building blocks needed to get the most out of this text is matrix algebra, elementary calculus (integrals and differentials), intermediate microeconomics, basic statistics (regression analysis), some optimization (min and max of functions), and basic financial skills such as discounting, the use of cash flows, pro forma income statements and balance sheets. The book has excellent appendices if you lack or need to brush up on these topics. Also, after each chapter state-of-the-art references are listed, very useful if you want to delve a little deeper. To summarize, I just love this book, and I think you will too. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Business & Economics    2. Business / Economics / Finance    3. Business/Economics    4. Corporate Finance    5. Corporations    6. Finance    7. Basic, Visual Basic & QBasic    8. Business & Economics / Corporate Finance   

Reviews (40)

Outstanding Resource!
I recently volunteered to assist as webmaster for a friend's mayoral campaign website.Having last used HTML and some Javascript years ago for a very basic personal homepage, I needed to get up to speed quickly. So I hit many, many websites and web tutorials on XHTML and CSS.They gave me an acceptable, but not entirely solid foundation on designing with those technologies.I needed more, and fortunately found this book.
Extremely pedagogic and well-written.
I really liked this book and consider it to be in a class for itself (no pun intended :-).
The best CSS book yet
I've read many CSS books last several years, but still this is the best CSS book out there. The content itself deserves 5 stars, but what separates it from others is Dan's teaching style. From start to end, every page is carefully organized and well planned with readers in mind, this book is not just collection of good CSS tips and tricks. There are so many great books on CSS these days, but this is the best. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Cascading style sheets    2. Computer - Internet    3. Computer Books: Web Programming    4. Computers    5. Design    6. Internet - Web Site Design    7. Web sites    8. XHTML (Document markup language)    9. Computers / General   

Reviews (12)

Great usability book
As my second most favorite usability book, this book points out the hundreds of ways a site can go wrong, and the many points to consider when designing sites. Let's be honest - it's pretty impossible to satisfy all their guidelines and STILL meet a deadline - but at least you can pick the ones that matter most to your company, and be aware of the once you missed. Another must read for web designers.
Must read for any serious web developer
rioritizing Web Usability by Jakob Nielsen and Hoa Loranger can best be described as a more 'strict' approach to web usability. If you have been in web development for any extended period of time it is likely that you have heard the name Jakob Nielsen. He offers great insight to web usability and has for many years. Some may view him as strict, some as normal, and still some as WAY off his rocker. No matter how you view him, he deserves much respect for his time spent in usability studies and the (somewhat timeless) statistics and information he brings to the table. I just finished reading this book, coupled with "Don't Make Me Think" by Steve Krugg, and appreciated what all of the authors could present through statistics, screenshots, and customer insight.
Good value for money
It was in v. good condition and the book was useful for us in building some web standards through our organization ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Computer - Internet    2. Computer Books: Web Publishing    3. Computer Programs Testing    4. Computers    5. Design    6. Internet - Web Site Design    7. Internet - World Wide Web    8. Programming - Systems Analysis & Design    9. User interfaces (Computer systems)    10. Web sites    11. Computers / Internet / World Wide Web    12. Computing and Information Technology   

Reviews (27)

Meaty Part is in a few chapters
I guess, that for a newbie, the entire book would be interesting, but for me, i found the meaty parts to be in part III , from chapter 6 onwards.
One of the best AdWords book available
This Adwords book by Andrew Goodman is probably one of the best Adwords books around and even got positive feedback from the Google Engineer Matt Cutts (at Matt Cutt's personal Blog).
Somewhat out of date but still pretty useful
Google is the most popular Internet search engine, so having your ad pop up on its search results can be a boon for your business. The challenge is to get your ad to appear on the first page of search results by using just the right keywords. Author Andrew E. Goodman shows readers the best ways to play the AdWords game. The primary warning is that Google AdWords rules change faster than a book can be published, and they have changed since this book was issued. However, the book still provides valuable concepts and ideas for online ad campaigns. Learn how to select the right keywords, write copy, test your ads, modify campaigns based on collected data, set a budget and reduce the chances of attracting the wrong prospects. We believe this book gives readers a better understanding of how to work with search engine ads. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Business / Economics / Finance    2. Computer Books: Web Programming    3. Computers    4. E-Commerce - Internet Marketing    5. Google    6. Google AdWords    7. Internet - Browsers    8. Internet - Web Site Design    9. Internet marketing    10. Marketing    11. Computers / General    12. Internet   

Reviews (11)

The BOOK for Telecommunications
This should be a mandatory book for anyone working in the telecommunications industry. Not only is it comprehensive, but the explanations are direct, easily understood and sometimes humorous. Anyone who uses "oxymoron" in an explanation gets my vote.

What if Daniel Webster had an irrepressible sense of humor?
I have been buying regularly updated editions of Newton's Telecom Dictionary for fifteen years now and will continue to do so as long as Harry keeps 'em coming.
The best Telecom resource
In 2001 I started a finance job with a fortune 500 company, in a position to become the telecom financial analyst manager.I had never worked in this environment and I was given a six month period to become knowledgeable in telecom.I brought to the job my years of accounting, and contract skills but had no idea where to turn for the telecom information.A telecom sustaining engineer suggested "Newton's Telecom Dictionary".
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Subjects:  1. Dictionaries - General    2. Information Technology    3. Microcomputer Networks    4. Networking - General    5. Science/Mathematics    6. Technology    7. Technology & Industrial Arts    8. Telecommunication (Engineering)    9. Telecommunications    10. Computer Communications & Networking    11. Computers / Networking / General    12. Postal & telecommunications industries    13. Reference works   

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Reviews (13)

Memory, thinking skills, creativity - great book
Mind Performance Hacks includes the usual fare of all memory books - various memory systems including the Major and Dominic Systems and variations of them.However, these authors go beyond the memory books by including many of the newer concepts in information processing such as mind mapping, dealing with cruft, ways of increasing creativity, capturing creative thoughts and using your creative self to resolve current issues.They also include some neat math tricks and techniques to quickly check the results of calculations for accuracy, estimate square roots, and other quick calculations.Unusual areas include better decision making and communications, bringing clarity to your life by working with emotional problems, and using meditation.And of course they include things to do to exercise your brain and keep it in tip top shape.Mind Performance Hacks: Tips and Tools for Overclocking Your Brain is highly recommended and was well beyond what I had expected from the title.

Brilliant book...
This is one of the best books I have ever read. So well written, so pragmatic and useful. If you want to grow and excel in life and career, this is the best investment you will make...

More than hacks - fascinating and helpful
Mind Performance Hacks is much more than a "hack" book.I didn't expect to read all of it since you normally only read
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Subjects:  1. General    2. Intellect    3. Mental efficiency    4. Personal Growth - General    5. Problems, exercises, etc    6. Psychology    7. Reading Skills    8. Self-Help    9. Thought and thinking    10. Business & Management    11. General Theory of Computing    12. Human information processing    13. Memory    14. Popular psychology    15. Self-Help / Personal Growth / General    16. mental mind memory cognitive thinking productivity math creativity critical decision information   

Reviews (7)

Microsoft Access 2003 Step-by-Step
Comprehensive and very easy to find whatever I'm looking for. I'm very pleased with my copies: one on my bookshelf and one in my laptop case

They mean it: Step by Step
It is quite astonishing what some expect from a book that says "Step by Step". It is for absolute beginners! But for those this is a great book. It takes away the mystery of Access. So far I have only been hearing what kind of a complex and difficult to handle program Access is.
This book tells you what to do but does not explain why...
As the title explains, it does take you step by step on doing a few simple tasks but it does not explain what the reasons for...primary keys for example, it just tells you to pick a primary key for this task but on another taks it will tell you not to pick a primary key.What good does knowing how to change a "primary key" when you dont know what it does or what the ramifications are.The same goes for a lot of things that the book tells you do do but doesnt explain why you are doing it. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Business Software - MSOffice    2. Computer Books And Software    3. Computers    4. Computers - Data Base Management    5. Database Management - General    6. Database management    7. Desktop Applications - MS Access    8. Microcomputer Database Management Software    9. Microcomputer Integrated Application Software    10. Microsoft Access    11. Programming - Software Development    12. Computers / General    13. Home Computing   

Reviews (36)

Good Reference, Worthy Sequel For More Advanced Topics
Describing more advanced topics of c++, such as - things you should know before overloading special operators, inner works of exception-handling (and what you should avoid while using them), how the virtual table is built when using RTTI & Inheritance, general efficiency issues (such as the works of temporaries and multiple inheritance) and few Design-Patterns related techniques.
A good supplementary reference
It provides even more explanation than the first book and they both have similar advantages: easy-readable, explained in detail, large and useful topics covered.

use the STL and string objects
Scott Meyers continues in the vein of his earlier successful "Effective C++". If you benefited from the insight presented in that book, you may well want to follow up with a study of this text. It assumes a general familiarity with C++, though not necessarily with all the obscure details. It continues in the style of the earlier book by collating useful advice garnered from the C++ community. Which is probably one of the largest groups of programmers in the world.
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Subjects:  1. C (Programming Language)    2. C++ (Computer program language    3. C++ (Computer program language)    4. Computer Books: Operating Systems    5. Computers - Languages / Programming    6. Programming Languages - C++    7. C & Visual C    8. Computers / Programming Languages / C++   

Reviews (24)

Great coverage of Verilog language
Very comprehensive text about the Verilog language, covering the various aspects of the language. The text is clear and well organized. The exercises at the end of the chapter helped me a lot in the learning process. The simulator included is very simnple and all examples in the book run flawlessly. A few things I did not like: the few mistakes in the text and code could have been easily caught by any careful reviewer, the lack of a more detailed example to show the usage of the various constructs in a real world Verilog design and hints about how to build synthesizable Verilog programs. I have enjoyed the author's style and recommend the book for any person who wants to learn Verilog, including other software engineers like myself who want to understand some HDL basics.

Good explanations but not for reference
I read the book; it is a good one for reader to catch the idea quickly. But to use it as a reference book might not be a good idea. The topic organization is divided into basic usage section and advanced technique section, and kind of hard to locate for a certain issue. However, it is still worthy of reading as a beginner. The most things I like this book is it use example(s) to explain the concept.

an easy language
The author offers more than just a detailing of the various parts of the Verilog language. He also covers extra features that enhance what you can do in Verilog for the purposes of modelling or analysis.