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14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent way to get started with Access..., April 5, 2005
This review is from: Access 2003 Personal Trainer (Personal Trainer (O'Reilly)) (Paperback)
Many typical power users tend to use Excel as a psuedo-database because Access is perceived to be much more difficult. O'Reilly's new book Access 2003 Personal Trainer by CustomGuide helps address that complexity.
Chapter List: The Fundamentals; Creating and Working with a Database; Finding, Filtering, and Formatting Data; Working with Tables and Fields; Creating Relational Databases; Working with Queries; Working with Forms; Working with Reports; Formatting Forms and Reports; Working with Macros; Advanced Topics; Index
The Personal Trainer series uses a comic book-style "superhero" motif as the overall theme. But even though the cover doesn't look all that serious, the content is very well done. Once you're into the chapters, the only hint at the theme is a cartoon face attached to a dialog bubble for the Quick Reference material. So if you're thinking the book isn't serious or doesn't have solid writing, give it a second glance. Each chapter is a series of lessons with objectives and a number of tasks. At the end, you get a lesson summary, a quiz to test your comprehension, and some homework to stretch your newly-obtained skills. And best of all, there's a CD in the book that has Access simulation software so you can do the training without necessarily having the full Access 2003 package installed wherever you're at. Definitely a big plus...
I personally thought the writer(s) did a great job of managing the balance between theory and practical knowledge. It's easy when you're an IT professional to get bogged down in all the relational database terms and concepts, whether something's in 2nd or 3rd normal form, and so forth. This book isn't going to make you ready to design the FBI's latest crime database (or maybe it will, since the professionals didn't do such a hot job either), but it will give you enough knowledge to catalog your wine cellar or track the books you've read. On top of that, you'll be able to build forms for data entry and generate reports to figure out what you've got or what you've done. Basically, this book can take you from information to knowledge.
This is a pretty good title, and one I'd definitely recommend for someone who wants to get some exposure to relational database systems...
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12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Good primer that comes up a little bit short, September 9, 2005
This review is from: Access 2003 Personal Trainer (Personal Trainer (O'Reilly)) (Paperback)
Like the other reviewers, I like this book. I find, however, that it comes up a little short in few areas.
On the good side, the lessons are concise and focused. They concentrate on just what they are trying to illustrate and they are organized in a logical, step-by-step sequence with full detail - click this, drag this, type this, etc. Each one ends with a summary of numbered steps for quick reference. You can learn a lot of basics from this book and it can literally put you into development mode very, very quickly. But...
On the down side, you will only be able to develop simple applications. To do anything beyond the basic, you need to have an understanding of relational database structure and you are not going to get it from this book. "File Normalization" is one of those buzz terms that can make your eyes roll back in your head. Unfortunately, you really need to understand this concept to create even slightly sophisticated databases, and this book does not even include that term in the index (and, therefore, it is nowhere in the book.) Neither does it address Visual Basic for Applications (VBA), the programming language for Access and all MS desktop applications. This is not as big a deal, because there is plenty of power built into the core Access functionality and you might create a number of applications without ever needing VBA. But I did want to mention that deficit.
Considering this book is really for beginners, one issue in particular merits mention. Only in the chapter on Queries is there any treatment of input from multiple tables. This issue is not addressed in the chapters on Forms or Reports. I consider this a major negative and the main reason for rating the book only 3 stars.
The author seems to have a preference for the Autoformat tool over the form and report wizards. That may be a personal preference or simply a necessity since he does not address the multi-table source issue which is a key consideration in using the wizards.
As I said, I like this book for what it is. It has few, if any, typos, and if your are a beginner it will likely be a valuable reference for the price. It is likely one of the very best "first books" to buy to learn this application. You will learn a whole lot, very quickly, but it will not turn you into an advanced Access developer.
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6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A Lightweight but Effective Primer for the Basics, February 7, 2006
This review is from: Access 2003 Personal Trainer (Personal Trainer (O'Reilly)) (Paperback)
This book grew on me. It is woefully inadequate when it comes to teaching the real use of databases. The ideas and concepts are presented in a very superficial manner. Still, as I plugged on through it, I came to have much more respect for it.
It does not teach the use of databases. Instead, it teaches the Access 2003 interface. In doing that, it does a very good job. I would even venture to say it does a better job at teaching the interface than many larger and more comprehensive books.
The book comes with a CD loaded with projects to accompany the tutorial. In general, the program behaved as described and there was really only one place where my screen would not show what the text said it would show. The illustrations are a bit on the small side but that seems to be normal. They are just big enough to be useful.
The lessons are broken up into individual themes and further broken into very short segments. These short segments may cover only a single command and can be completed in just a few minutes. I found this useful in that I seldom have a long stretch of time I can devote to a protracted lesson. Upon reflection, I think this short subject approach helped in retention as well.
It is a good program to teach the interface but much more is needed to learn how to properly use a database.
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