PHP and MySQL for Dummies, Second Edition

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Apache Server for Dummies

Format: Paperback
Author: Ken A. L. Coar
ReleaseDate: January, 1998
Publisher: For Dummies
Rating:

Irritated and disappointed

In short, this book currently has me irritated and disappointed. This is the first Apache book i have read, based on the strength of reviews and reccomendations on Amazon.

In terms of structure, the sections and subsections are not clearly introduced or delimited and even the section headings are often 100% meaningless. Also it is sometimes unclear whether you are being given a sequence of instructions to use or just a list of commands for reference.

Generally the English used in this book contains some apallingly bad, complex and ambigous syntax which is quite unneccesary. The problem with ambiguous syntax is that you often have to already know what the writer is talking about in order to be able to figure the correct interpretation for what he writes.

Also, the "for dummies" style of writing is applied as annoyingly as ever. That is to say that the stuff you read is interrupted without warning (mid-sentence) by a string of gibberish that is supposed to be friendly and humorous. It is not humorous, it is very annoying and yet another unnceccesary source of confusion.

I really hope there are better books out there by now.

Satisfactory
. Assumes, and rightly so, that the reader is a newbie .. but doesn't cover enough information. Also, far too much assumption about the user being a Windows user when most Apache distributions are run on *nix boxes.

Apache Server for Dummies
. This book is a good book for exactly that, beginners, and even if you downloaded the apache software and read some of the on-line docs, you might be missing out on some things that you never even knew about, this is because it's hard to find a source on the internet that explains everything about a subject you want to read about in one concentracted place, instead it's spread all-over..

So even if you have some experiance, I would recommend this book and then get a better one later, more advanced.

Raymond.