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DB2 Universal Database V6.1 for Unix, Windows and OS/2 Certification Guide (3rd Edition)
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Author: Jonathan Cook, Robert Harbus, Tetsuya Shirai
List Price: $59.99
Our Price: Click to see the latest and low price
ISBN: 0130867551
Publisher: Prentice Hall PTR (15 November, 1999)
Edition: Paperback
Sales Rank: 70,406
Average Customer Rating: 4.5 out of 5
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Customer ReviewsRating: 4 out of 5
Great Introductory Book
Considering that IBM's DB2 manuals are spread over more than 20 different books, a major obstacle for any beginner, a book like this was always needed.This book is very well written and very useful to give you a broad overview of DB2. This book mostly includes materials already found in the manuals but in a far more concise and 'to the point' manner. However on the minus sides of this book, adding the word certification to the title probably confuses the buyer. Most of the DB2 certifications need more knowledge then that provided by this book. From a certication point of view this book needs more in-depth coverage, examples and mock tests. And lastly remember, at $60.00 (well $59.99, but that doesn't fool me) it costs more than the hardcopy manuals of DB2 Administration v7.0 (3 vols), Application developement guide v7.0, Data movement utilites guide v7.0 combined!!
Rating: 4 out of 5
It's OK but sure does not earn more than 4 stars
I find the book OK but there are still quite a few points which deserve a little critics. It's true that it covers more or less all the topics but I can see relativly little concepts behind it. My impression is that many parts of the book are simply copied out from the "official" documentation. Well, OK, someone made the preselection for you and presents you the "important" things, leaving out the "less important". For me, it's too little for a book which should teach you DB2 UDB. The effect is that things are used in the text which are explained much later - without referencing. The book is not really in-depth; in my eyes, it's too complicated for an introduction and too little for everyday DBA work. I am missing conceptual explanations - I can read the online documentation myself. Eg. the Oracle8 DBA books (for courses) are much better, the things are explained there in clear steps and you feel that someone was thinking deeply how to construct these steps. Compared to those Oracle books, in this sense this book really legs behind. I felt a little lost while reading it. It was only at the end of the book that many things and relations became clear to me - a little late. My conclusion: This book contains much valuable information, no question, but the structure could be better. If you are new to DB2 UDB, don't hesitate and buy this book but organize yourself also a large portion of patience. Someone stated this book be "easy to read". I can't confirm this - assuming your aim is understanding how DB2 UDB really works.
Rating: 5 out of 5
Required Reading
This book should be your first stop if you're new to DB2, and it is a welcome addition an old pro's library. This is a worthy update from the V5 Certification Guide, both in terms of readability and additional content. DB2's product documentation has most everything you'll need day-to-day, but it is quite dense. This book helps clarify the main points and will act as a useful reference and supplement to the product documentation.
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