What Programming Books Would You Recommend

[Warren Henry]

What books would you recommend to a person who thought he might want to use mysql, php, and vb.net.

I (the person) have programming experience and database design experience going back to the mainframe days. Ten years ago, I built a parser program and a large relational database using COBOL. This time, I would prefer to use more modern tools.

Thanks in advance for your suggestions.

[Dave Schwartz]

I don't have that answer but I will tell you that you will be astounded at the price of a tool set. Just the other day I was looking at some language software that was almost $3k.

[Warren Henry]

Dang,

That is what I was trying to get away from. To upgrade my COBOL platform for the current environment would probably cost about that much. One of the reasons I decided to learn something new instead of forcing the tools I know how to use.

Everything looks like a nail if the only tool you have is a hammer.

[osophy_junkie]

Python and GNU tools are free....

The on-line docs at php.net and mysql.com are enough to get you started

[Boats]

If you want to learn java everthing is free.

there are lots of tutorials. for example

http://java.sun.com/docs/books/tutorial/java/TOC.html


to get the development system start with
http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~pattis/15-1XX/common/handouts/javaeclipseinstallation.html

It suposedly works on windows, macs and unix systems. Also you can develop for the google android phone, which is the reason I started using java.

Go to amazon and you can find many books on java.

[richrosa]

Linux - Free
Apache - Free
MySql - Free
PHP - Free

LAMP, all free.


I don't have that answer but I will tell you that you will be astounded at the price of a tool set. Just the other day I was looking at some language software that was almost $3k.

[DJofSD]

What books would you recommend to a person who thought he might want to use mysql, php, and vb.net.

I (the person) have programming experience and database design experience going back to the mainframe days. Ten years ago, I built a parser program and a large relational database using COBOL. This time, I would prefer to use more modern tools.

Thanks in advance for your suggestions.
These are only results of searches I have done. I don't program using those tools, so, these are not recommendations. Hopefully, these will get you a little farther down the road.

MySQL recommendations. (http://forge.mysql.com/wiki/Recommended_Books)

VB for .NET books. (http://visualbasic.about.com/od/vbnetbeginnerbooks/l/blgtvbbegina.htm)

PHP (of which I have an interest but not enough time). (http://www.computer-books.us/php.php)

I generally like WROX and O'Reily books.

I picked up "Understanding .NET" by Chappell but it is for 2.0, so, it is somwhat out of date. I bought it more for the high level concepts and discussion as opposed to any specific implementation or platform.

Good luck (from one MF guy to a former dinosaur :) ).

[rrbauer]

I have VB 2008 by Rod Stephens and VB 2008 by Michael Halvorson. Either one will put you to sleep. Stephens has a web site and newsletter and is pretty responsive if you need something explained. I got the student version LOL of Visual Studio (includes VB) for about $200. It used to be you had to provide ID'a, etc. to get student versions of software products. Now, you pays your money, and voila you're a student!

[robert99]

Even Microsoft have free versions of VBA, C#, and C++ programming software complete with tutorials and video lessons.

[Dave Schwartz]

Rich,

That's true. I completely forgot about the free stuff. I always think "commercial" software and the free stuff isn't usually so hot for Windoze.


Dave

[keith70]

You really can't go wrong with any book on the subjects. Amazon.com is my source for all those books at great prices. I have really not bought a bad book so to speak. lynda.com has great tutorials on PHP/mysql

Like mentioned above, Microsoft has free versions of their Visual Studio. Granted it dont have all the pro features but it will get you started. They have a ton of video lessons.

PHP, easy to learn/use and interfaces great with mysql and there are a ton of books and information on web.

mysql is free and again has a lot of information on the web.

Microsoft SQL has the express version also that is free.

SQL is pretty much SQL whether you use mysql, oracle, or mssql. Just a litte different variations is all.

First determine what platform you want to develop for and what features you want, that will then tell you what software you need.

Me personally, I am MSDN Premium Subscriber and use VB.net Visual Studio Pro very extensively. I use mysql database, cause I like storing my data online so I can access it with PHP when ever I travel. I also have Adobe Master Collection for all my web development. It dont take long to have $4K in software alone.

My recommendation is spend a lot of time on developing the databas, then you can manipulate the data anyway you though possible.

I also like to use miniTab and Six Sigma to develop techniques/systems. One thing I have learned is do whatever you think may be possible. Playing the favorite to win, is one of my systems, based off of what I learned from Chuck Homes. I use neural network sometimes for certain things.

[CBedo]

MySQL or PostrgreSQL
or a search server like SOLR (starting to do some work in this area)

Ruby, Ruby on Rails--So easy to manipulate relational dbs and very intuitive to program. The Rails construct is great if you want a web based architecture.

If you have any other questions or want recommendations, PM me.

[Warren Henry]

Thanks for all the suggestions. I am now studying online documentation, and have purchased several books for the bedside table. Soon, I will make choices and start the actual work.

Note to self: Do not fall asleep with 900 page book propped up on chest!! :lol:

[Tom]

Forget the books...what programing do I need?
I have XP, Excel/.Access.

I want to write a program that will extract fields from files - comma files and html files.

I want to get harness data from the charts, and I want to get certain fields from BRIS files or other comma files. I know Infotran will do it, but I want something more like the old ChartGet program, multiple files at once.

Maybe I want to get into doing some calculations on those fields eventually, like calculate fractions from the race times, add in beaten lengths, that sort of thing.

What program would be (1) cheap and (2) easy to learn ?

[Jake]

The best combination is an Alpha Five database frontend with Mysql backend and Python for scripting and any additional dirty work. It's relatively cheap and powerful, not particularly difficult as programming goes, and can scales as you grow. Forget VB.net, it's a royal pain the ass. You can use PHP instead of Python but Python is the best choice here. This is such a good combination I almost hate to share this information....


Jake

[Track Collector]

Hey Warren. You the same guy who was the president of a company that sold different handicapping software many years ago? I purchased a program called the Statistical Probability Handicapper (S/P Handicapper) that I had fun with, and I recall that at that time it seemed to be among the better software programs being offered on the market.

[Warren Henry]

Hey Warren. You the same guy who was the president of a company that sold different handicapping software many years ago? I purchased a program called the Statistical Probability Handicapper (S/P Handicapper) that I had fun with, and I recall that at that time it seemed to be among the better software programs being offered on the market.

Not many remember that far back. In the horse software business, it is "what have you done for me lately". :lol:

I had a lot of wonderful customers. I think I got more from all of you than you ever got from me. I had a good run and it was fun.

warren

[Jeff P]

posted by Tom:
Forget the books...what programing do I need?
I have XP, Excel/.Access.

I want to write a program that will extract fields from files - comma files and html files.

I want to get harness data from the charts, and I want to get certain fields from BRIS files or other comma files. I know Infotran will do it, but I want something more like the old ChartGet program, multiple files at once.

Maybe I want to get into doing some calculations on those fields eventually, like calculate fractions from the race times, add in beaten lengths, that sort of thing.

What program would be (1) cheap and (2) easy to learn ?

Tom,

If you have either Access or Excel you already have the needed tools. Both have a built in VBA interpreter - giving you the ability to write VBA code to do tasks just like the ones described in your post.

If you Google phrases like VBA Access, VBA Access Tutorial, etc. you can find any number of urls containing tutorials explaining how to get started:
http://fisher.osu.edu/~muhanna_1/837/MSAccess/tutorials/vb_intr.pdf

Hope that helps,



-jp

.

[Tom]

Thanks, Jeff. :ThmbUp:

[TrifectaMike]

I would suggest PERL. There is a learning curve, but it's free and you can do all you want and much more.

Mike

[CBedo]

My choice is Ruby, but whether it's Ruby on Rails, Perl, Python, or PHP, learning a little of one of these scripting langauges can seriously reduce the hours spent learning SQL or other tools needed to query and manipulate any database you create.