Best Database Storage & Design
Whether you're an application developer, database administrator, web application designer, mobile app developer, or Microsoft Office users, a good working knowledge of SQL is an important part of interacting with databases. And Sams Teach Yourself SQL in 10 Minutes offers the straightforward, practical answers you need to help you do your job. Expert trainer and popular author Ben Forta teaches you just the parts of SQL you need to know–starting with simple data retrieval and quickly going on to more complex topics including the use of joins, subqueries, stored procedures, cursors, triggers, and table constraints. You'll learn methodically, systematically, and simply–in 22 short, quick lessons that will each take only 10 minutes or less to complete. With the Fourth Edition of this worldwide bestseller, the book has been thoroughly updated, expanded, and improved. Lessons now cover the latest versions of IBM DB2, Microsoft Access, Microsoft SQL Server, MySQL, Oracle, PostgreSQL, SQLite, MariaDB, and Apache Open Office Base. And new full-color SQL code listings help the beginner clearly see the elements and structure of the language. Construct complex SQL statements using multiple clauses and operators. He is the author of the best-selling Sams Teach Yourself SQL in 10 Minutes , spinoff titles on MySQL and SQL Server T-SQL, ColdFusion Web Application Construction Kit and Advanced ColdFusion Application Development (both published by Adobe Press), Sams Teach Yourself Regular Expressions in 10 Minutes , as well as books on Flash, Java, Windows, and other subjects.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"great quick ref for daily sql users or someone who is just starting to learn."
"), people looking for a book about databases (this book only goes into the basic SQL stuff, though it does mention a couple good practices for database structure), anyone who wants an in-depth book about SQL (it really does just cover the basics). In short, this book is for newbies who need to learn SQL quickly: just the basics, an intro into more advanced topics, it's very user friendly, easy to follow, and you can get through it in an afternoon if need be."
"This is a brilliantly colored guide that takes you step-by-step through the basic of learning SQL."
"Mr. Forta navigates effortlessly through the deeper constructs of SQL, illuminating such oddities as the the Cartesian Product with the same ease that he describes time-saving techniques like JOINS and SUBQUERIES."
"However, in practice, this is the first book I turn to when I need a quick reference for basic/intermediate SQL use."
"The Kindle versions also helpful because I don't have to carry the book with me everywhere."
"I don't really write review on product but today I decided to do that because this book is on point."
"Not good."
This major new edition features many topics not covered in the original, including graphical models, random forests, ensemble methods, least angle regression & path algorithms for the lasso, non-negative matrix factorisation, and spectral clustering. Almost all of the chapters are revised.… The Material is nicely reorganized and repackaged, with the general layout being the same as that of the first edition.… If you bought the first edition, I suggest that you buy the second editon for maximum effect, and if you haven’t, then I still strongly recommend you have this book at your desk. … the book may also be of interest to a theoretically inclined reader looking for an entry point to the area and wanting to get an initial understanding of which mathematical issues are relevant in relation to practice. … this is a welcome update to an already fine book, which will surely reinforce its status as a reference.” (Gilles Blanchard, Mathematical Reviews, Issue 2012 d). You can flip the book open to any page, read a sentence or two and be hooked for the next hour or so.” (Peter Rabinovitch, The Mathematical Association of America, May, 2012).
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"In addition to having excellent and correct mathematical derivations of important algorithms The Elements of Statistical Learning is fairly unique in that it actually uses the math to accomplish big things. This hard use of isomorphism allows amazing results such as Figure 3.15 (which shows how Least Angle Regression differs from Lasso regression, not just in algorithm description or history: but by picking different models from the same data) and section 3.5.2 (which can separate Partial Least Squares' design CLAIM of fixing the x-dominance found in principle components analysis from how effective it actually is as fixing such problems). Unlike some lesser machine learning books the math is not there for appearances or mere intimidating typesetting: it is there to allow the authors to organize many methods into a smaller number of consistent themes."
"A good book in this area."
"While no book I have seen covers every data mining methodology available, this one has the strongest coverage I have seen in additive models, non-linear regression, and CART/MART (regression/classification trees)."
"Good book, help me build a systematic knowledge on statistics and machine learning. Of course, you may need some basic knowledge before reading it if you are novice."
"This book is basically the bible for statistical learning."
"This book is an excellent survey of the huge area of statistics / computer science called statistical learning."
"I'm a machine learning person, and this book provides pretty thorough state-of-art and up-to-date (relatively well) summary of statistical methods being used in lots of pattern classification fields."
"I have a PhD in Math and more particularly stochastic processes and everytime I open this book I can't quite understand what the content is."
Written by renowned data science experts Foster Provost and Tom Fawcett, Data Science for Business introduces the fundamental principles of data science, and walks you through the "data-analytic thinking" necessary for extracting useful knowledge and business value from the data you collect. "This book goes beyond data analytics 101. Serial Entrepreneur; Partner at Coriolis Ventures. "This timely book says out loud what has finally become apparent: in the modern world, Data is Business, and you can no longer think business without thinking data. Read this book and you will understand the Science behind thinking data."
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"- It is *not* your standard "management" title on the cool tech du jour available at airport stands and meant to be read in one sitting (buzzwords, hype and overly enthusiastic statements making up for the dearth of actual content)."
"Example : A leading Trucking company used Data mining skill to predict which part of the truck is going to break next instead of replacing it at specific intervals, a Leading insurer predicted those who will complete their antibiotic course based on their home ownership history. If this type of stories and scope interests you, read the book "Big Data: A Revolution That Will Transform How We Live, Work, and Think". It is a text book and authors have taken lot of care so general audience can also benefit from it, and also not to dilute it's textbook value. When you are finished with the book, you should have a fairly good understanding of data science, For example, what type of analysis that needs to be done to identify. A. ( When the target is clear, if the person will default on his loan). E. What is the significance of entropy in Data Science ? G. Don't get defensive, be comfortable when your colleague sprinkles words like like Classification ,regression, Similarity Matching, Clustering, Modelling, Entropy etc. You can get real life examples to work on in coursesolve dot org ( ex: Analyze the sleep cycle). 4. I signed up for Amazon elastic map reduce which has a higher level abstraction (for developers it is the difference between using sqlplus vs TOAD). Try to be the "umbilical cord that looks for a stomach to plug ", look for a mentor, look for opportunity in your firm or elsewhere to grow your Data scientist skills."
"The institution strategy and goals need to be reflected in the procedures used to analyse the data base of the institution and the determination as to what data is relevant."
"The coverage is broad with both supervised and unsupervised methods in data mining. If you intend to follow the math that is included, perhaps the paper edition would be best."
Best Software Design & Engineering
And as such, I know what it's like to be asked to whip up brilliant algorithms on the spot and then write flawless code on a whiteboard. Learn how to uncover the hints and hidden details in a question, discover how to break down a problem into manageable chunks, develop techniques to unstick yourself when stuck, learn (or re-learn) core computer science concepts, and practice on 189 interview questions and solutions. Extensive coverage of essential topics, such as big O time, data structures, and core algorithms. At Google, she interviewed hundreds of software engineers and evaluated thousands of hiring packets on the hiring committee.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"The DP solutions in this book are not actually tabular DP formulations--I recommend looking at the problems here http://people.cs.clemson.edu/~bcdean/dp_practice/ (Brian Dean's Dynamic Programming Practice Problems)."
"The main reason I bought the book is that it closely reflects the status quo of the technical interviews in large tech companies. For many of the problems, unless you know the solutions beforehand, there is no way you can code up a decent one within an hour. The book mentions an example, a good candidate whom the author knows very well but just cannot pass the coding interviews. I am guessing the assumption is that the coding problems we do nowadays on the interviews somehow achieve minimal number of false positives. One solution reduces the problem to checking for substrings. The author claims the time complexity is O(m+n), which I believe for Java is actually O(mn). Overall this is good book for preparing for coding interviews."
"I've been writing software for a long time, and I'm competent at my job. Because the presence of books like these create a vicious cycle: prep book gets written; interviewees study/memorize answers; interviewers make questions "harder" to compensate; new book gets written! The grinder continues to turn, and whereas ten years ago you could get a good job with some string or linked-list manipulation questions, now you've got people who consider whiteboard coding of topcoder elite questions to be the baseline measurement of programmer competency. You'll even run into lazy interviewers who take questions directly from this book, which is the ultimate in stupidity: if "good" candidates have prepared from the book, and you ask questions directly from the book, what are you really accomplishing, other than a test of memorization skills? I've seen it myself."
Best Object-Oriented Software Design
These texts cover the design of object-oriented software and examine how to investigate requirements, create solutions and then translate designs into code, showing developers how to make practical use of the most significant recent developments. Design Patterns is a modern classic in the literature of object-oriented development, offering timeless and elegant solutions to common problems in software design.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"Depending on on how you think of programming, this book could be incredibly insightful, or horribly abstract and impractical."
"I find it very interesting and it goes into details for design patterns and re-use of code."
"I have been using this book as a reference on Design Pattern."
"This book will forever stand as a foundation of software development."
"OK, so this title has become almost a bible for the software industry - it seems to get cited by every other author I read, so I thought it was about time I actually bought a copy."
"Even though I program in ABAP, it helps me to translate the pattern into that code."
"Great book for who want to understand each pattern deeply."
"Excelent book."
Best Computer Programming Languages
And as such, I know what it's like to be asked to whip up brilliant algorithms on the spot and then write flawless code on a whiteboard. Learn how to uncover the hints and hidden details in a question, discover how to break down a problem into manageable chunks, develop techniques to unstick yourself when stuck, learn (or re-learn) core computer science concepts, and practice on 189 interview questions and solutions. Extensive coverage of essential topics, such as big O time, data structures, and core algorithms. At Google, she interviewed hundreds of software engineers and evaluated thousands of hiring packets on the hiring committee.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"The DP solutions in this book are not actually tabular DP formulations--I recommend looking at the problems here http://people.cs.clemson.edu/~bcdean/dp_practice/ (Brian Dean's Dynamic Programming Practice Problems)."
"The main reason I bought the book is that it closely reflects the status quo of the technical interviews in large tech companies. For many of the problems, unless you know the solutions beforehand, there is no way you can code up a decent one within an hour. The book mentions an example, a good candidate whom the author knows very well but just cannot pass the coding interviews. I am guessing the assumption is that the coding problems we do nowadays on the interviews somehow achieve minimal number of false positives. One solution reduces the problem to checking for substrings. The author claims the time complexity is O(m+n), which I believe for Java is actually O(mn). Overall this is good book for preparing for coding interviews."
"I've been writing software for a long time, and I'm competent at my job. Because the presence of books like these create a vicious cycle: prep book gets written; interviewees study/memorize answers; interviewers make questions "harder" to compensate; new book gets written! The grinder continues to turn, and whereas ten years ago you could get a good job with some string or linked-list manipulation questions, now you've got people who consider whiteboard coding of topcoder elite questions to be the baseline measurement of programmer competency. You'll even run into lazy interviewers who take questions directly from this book, which is the ultimate in stupidity: if "good" candidates have prepared from the book, and you ask questions directly from the book, what are you really accomplishing, other than a test of memorization skills? I've seen it myself."
Best Computer Operating Systems
Practice exams download for both exam 901 and 902 with hundreds of accurate practice exam questions More than an hour of online video training featuring Mike Meyers Online performance-based simulations that prepare you for the performance-based exam questions A link to Mike's favorite PC tools A PDF copy of the book. He is author of Mike Meyers’ A+ Guide to Managing and Troubleshooting PCs and Mike Meyers’ Network+ Guide to Managing and Troubleshooting Networks .
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"My method of study i chose to read this textbook cover to cover, taking all practice tests at the end of each chapter, along with the included practice exams on the disc. In addition to this text i went further to find online practice exams and Professor Messer videos on Youtube as free self studying material. The book covered the objectives and even went beyond which is why this makes a great on-the-job reference."
"Most importantly, I was looking for a book that could not only keep me engaged yet also provide the necessary educational materials. Presently I'm over a hundred or so pages in (the book is Bible thick) and have purposely slowed myself down at times to ensure lesson absorption but honestly could read this book like it was a spellbinding work of fanciful fiction. It really helps to have an actual, honest interest in the subject matter and there are times where you'll want access to several different operating systems."
"Just started, but it has been an easy to follow book so far."
"It's alright, the language the guy uses isn't 100% professional but VERY relatable with the youth."
"Will always keep current copies of Mike Meyers books in my library."
"Gives a CD in order for you to have a digital copy of the book as well as other helpful quizzes....I do not have a CD drive on my laptop, had to go out of my way to find someone with a CD drive just to place it on a thumb drive."
"this is an IT field essential."
"Came it great condition, book is a bible but it very entertaining and it's enjoyable."
Best Computer Networking
From Mike Meyers, the #1 name in CompTIA training and exam preparation, a thorough revision of his bestselling exam guide―updated to cover the 2015 release of the CompTIA Network+ exam. Network architectures Cabling and topology Ethernet basics Network installation TCP/IP applications and network protocols Routing Network naming Advanced networking devices IPv6 Remote connectivity Wireless networking Virtualization and cloud computing Network operations Managing risk Network security Network monitoring and troubleshooting. Mike Meyers, CompTIA A+, CompTIA Network+, CompTIA Security+, is the industry's leading authority on CompTIA certifications and the bestselling author of eight editions of CompTIA A+ Certification All-in-One Exam Guide .
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"Very good overview."
"Very understandable, pulls together concepts in very logical fashion with good detail."
"Mike Meyer's in depth look at objectives on the test has been very helpful in my studying!"
"Will take the test next week."
"great gift for beginners."
"necessary for exam study."
Best Artificial Intelligence
An Introduction to Statistical Learning provides an accessible overview of the field of statistical learning, an essential toolset for making sense of the vast and complex data sets that have emerged in fields ranging from biology to finance to marketing to astrophysics in the past twenty years. “Written by four experts of the field, this book offers an excellent entry to statistical learning to a broad audience, including those without strong background in mathematics. … the book also demonstrates how to apply these methods using various R packages by providing detailed worked examples using interesting real data applications.” (Klaus Nordhausen, International Statistical Review, Vol. “The book is structured in ten chapters covering tools for modeling and mining of complex real life data sets. … The style is suitable for undergraduates and researchers … and the understanding of concepts is facilitated by the exercises, both practical and theoretical, which accompany every chapter.” (Irina Ioana Mohorianu, zbMATH, Vol. "The book excels in providing the theoretical and mathematical basis for machine learning, and now at long last, a practical view with the inclusion of R programming examples.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"This is a wonderful book written by luminaries in the field."
"The book provides the right amount of theory and practice, unlike the earlier (venerable and, by now, stable) text authored (partly) by the last two authors of this one (Elements of Statistical Learning), which was/is a little heavy on the theoretical side (at least for practitioners without a strong mathematical background). It is, however, an excellent introduction to Learning due to the ability of the authors to strike a perfect balance between theory and practice. ISL is an excellent choice for a two-semester advanced undergraduate (or early graduate) course, practitioners trained in classical statistics who want to enter the Learning space, and seasoned Machine Learners. ____________________________________________. UPDATE (12/17/2013): Two of the authors (Hastie & Tibshirani) are offering a 10-week free online course (StatLearning: Statistical Learning) based on this book found at Stanford University's Web site (Starting Jan. 21, 2014)."
"Hands down one of the best intro books to data science/machine learning out there."
"I came to this book after a few other more technical and comprehensive books on machine learning and still find this book a useful and interesting read."
"Comparable to Mitchell's "Machine Learning" only more up to date and includes hands-on labs (using R... well, better than nothing... had they used something like numpy/python, 5-stars!)."
"I am taking off one star as this book does not cover naive Bayes which is a very useful and popular algorithm."
"Great book."
"A beautifully written and composed survey of modern statistical learning techniques."
Best Computer Graphics
Good game design happens when you view your game from as many perspectives as possible. Game Nite ’s Editors’ Choice "… this book is considered by many to be the ‘bible’ of game design. … Much of the material has been updated … the introduction to probability … is a must read for aspiring game designers … engaging and thought provoking … a substantial book for someone looking to get serious about game design. … this book trains you to think as a designer …". ―James Portnow, Game Designer, CEO of Rainmaker Games, and Writer of Extra Credits. "This book was clearly designed, not just written, and is an entire course in how to be a game designer. "As indicated by its title, Jesse Schell’s The Art of Game Design: A Book of Lenses uses many different perspectives (the titular lenses), which each prompt their own important questions, ranging from ‘What problems does my game ask the players to solve?’ to ‘What does beauty mean within the context of my game?’ These distinct points are interwoven throughout a step-by-step analysis of the design process that begins with the designer and his or her basic idea, and builds successfully from there. "Easily the most comprehensive, practical book I’ve ever seen on game design." "Jesse Schell’s new book, The Art of Game Design , is a marvelous introduction to game design by a true master of the form. " The Art of Game Design describes precisely how to build a game the world will love and elegantly crank it through the realities of clients and publishers. "Packed with Jesse’s real-world experience and humorous insight, The Art of Game Design: A Book of Lenses is a tool chest crossed with a kaleidoscope. Like a chemistry set for making mental explosions, it’s an idea(l) book guiding the design process for both new and seasoned game designers. "On games industry desks, books tend to come and go, but they all seem to go on top of Jesse Schell’s The Art of Game Design , because that’s the one book that seems to stick around." "Ken Rolston, internationally celebrated game designer, recommends Jesse Schell’s The Art of Game Design both for smart people and for people who are learning how to be smart."
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"A great tool for checklist of elements and find some other issues, is not absolute, and depends more of the way of use, team and school of knowledge, frameworks one uses, but is it indeed effective, especially on Gamified Designs."
"Schell does a great job outlining the philosophy and process of game design."
"Best and most useful textbook to date."
"This is a great, straight-forward book on iterative game design created by someone active in the field."
"And he also covers methods that other entertainment industries use, giving anyone interested in designing games more options in creating better experiences."
"Fantastically good book on game design."
"This clear vocabulary is empowering, as it enables a designer to more easily think about the elements of their game, and in addition, to add to the foundation that Jesse has already put together."
Best Computer Algorithms
A new edition of the essential text and professional reference, with substantial new material on such topics as vEB trees, multithreaded algorithms, dynamic programming, and edge-based flow. The second edition featured new chapters on the role of algorithms, probabilistic analysis and randomized algorithms, and linear programming. (Gabriel Robins, Department of Computer Science, University of Virginia) Introduction to Algorithms , the 'bible' of the field, is a comprehensive textbook covering the full spectrum of modern algorithms: from the fastest algorithms and data structures to polynomial-time algorithms for seemingly intractable problems, from classical algorithms in graph theory to special algorithms for string matching, computational geometry, and number theory.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"It is a very nice book, but sometimes you can find a simpler description/explanation of some algorithms."
"Now 8 years later, I bought the third edition to renew these knowledge."
"However, it's still an introduction to algorithms, although it's already hard for most of averaged students."
"I love this book."
"This textbook isn't just a textbook for an algorithms class."
"Gives complete and deep explanation on topics covered."
"This type of material is easier to read on a wide screen."
"I actually bought it so that I could follow the MIT Computer Science course on OCW (open course ware), and though some chapters are a bit intimidating, I have learn much more than I expected."