Database Backed Web Sites: The Thinking Person's Guide to Web Publishing [Paperback]

Philip Greenspun (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 1997

Shows readers how to make a site from the ground up, using an RDBMS design. The author takes a humourous approach in teaching readers how to do this in a book on how to do sites his way, and an intermediate/high-end tutorial on relational database backed Web site design.

Product Details

• Paperback: 384 pages
• Publisher: Ziff-Davis Press; 1st edition (January 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1562765302
• ISBN-13: 978-1562765309
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 7.3 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.7 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (42 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,116,094 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Possibly the Best Book on Web Development, January 7, 2006

By 

Trevis Rothwell (United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Database Backed Web Sites: The Thinking Person's Guide to Web Publishing (Paperback)

Some of the specific technology described in this book is a little outdated now, but the core techniques live on.

Greenspun's writing is a delight to read, and the information he shares here will provide you with the foundational knowledge on which to build a wide variety of web applications.

Buy this book (or read the online version at philip.greenspun.com), follow the examples, and start building yourself (and others) great, content-filled, easy-to-use web sites.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Find this book and BUY it!, December 22, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Database Backed Web Sites: The Thinking Person's Guide to Web Publishing (Paperback)

Philip Greenspun is a rare find: a techie who knows how to communicate. He doesn't even limit himself to one media! While other books may take a schlolarly approach to building websites, Greenspun's story is told by someone who's rolled up his sleeves. As the reader, you get to view web-database design through Greenspun's eye for detail. All tech books should be this good.

7 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The practical guide to Web site design, April 10, 1998

By 

Steven H. Leibson (San Jose, CA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Database Backed Web Sites: The Thinking Person's Guide to Web Publishing (Paperback)

This book focuses on the goals of Web site design rather than the nuts and bolts. Although the book contains specific code fragments, it is not a coding book. Rather it is a chronicle of Greenspun's experiences in setting up more than 50 Web sites over the years. This chronicle contains many hard-won lessons that will help prevent the reader from making similar mistakes.

Greenspun has an easy-to-read writing style and a wry sense of humor. (The book has no CD ROM attached to the inside back cover but a picture of a CD ROM with the international "No" symbol overprinted. All code an more is available from Greenspun's Web sites, as you would expect from a book about Web sites.) He also emphasizes esthetic choices and subscribes to a minimalist visual style, in the book and for Web sites, that enhance reading and make downloads as fast as possible.