Computer Book Reviews
Google: The Missing Manual by Sarah Milstein and Rael Dornfest
O'Reilly, May, 2004Paperback, 299 pages
ISBN: 0596006136
Ordering information:
Amazon.com
Learning how to search effectively is important
these days because, with the advent of search engines, like
the popular Google website, people
can quickly access financial information, business news,
health resources and much more.
Google: The Missing Manual helps beginners
learn the basics of using Google, and it also reveals
some of the special, unique features Google
offers. Surfers can learn skills like searching within
specific domains, changing the number of search results
and tracking UPS and FedEx packages. Some of
Google's newer tools like Froogle, a shopping search engine, and
Google News,
a searchable collection of news stories from thousands
of news sources, are also discussed. A chapter is also
provided which covers Google's Toolbar and Deskbar
tools for surfers who want to move Google's search
to their browser or desktop. This is an excellent guide
for novice web surfers eager to use Google's powerful search technology.
The numerous screen shots, examples and tips will quickly turn any beginner into
Web Database Applications with PHP and MySQL by Hugh E. Williams and David Lane
O'Reilly, May, 2004Paperback, 796 pages
ISBN: 0596005431
Ordering information:
Amazon.com
Allowing visitors to search information from an online database is a powerful
option for businesses whether they are offering information or an online store
catalog. The advantage to developers is instead of creating thousands of individual webpages they can dynamically display large amounts of data in the form of
customized results to the web user. The combination of PHP and MySQL is a cheap,
effective method for providing an online database. Web Database Applications with
PHP and MySQL helps developers learn to build web databases using these tools. Authors
Hugh E. Williams and David Lane provide practical instruction about coding in PHP, and
information about how to create scripts that send and retrieve information to and from MySQL
servers, where the data is stored. Some of the many topics
covered include authentication and security, session management, querying databases,
error handling and creating PDF reports. Some useful JavaScript validation code is
also provided. The authors incorporate an excellent case study involving the
development of a wine store using PHP and MySQL into the text, offering developers
the opportunity to see the techniques used in practice.
The wine store case study contains scripts for a shopping cart, managing memberships and
displaying wine product information. If you are a web developer with a web
database to build, grab this information-packed book with the platypus on the cover
and get your project off to a great start.
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Return to the August 2004 issue of The IWJ.
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