Client/Server Computing for Dummies

Doug Lowe has updated his top-selling Client/Server Computing For Dummies to transform the latest technobabble and hype about client/server computing and the Internet into practical knowledge you can use to introduce client/server computing into your organization or enhance your existing system. Author and computing expert Doug Lowe takes you through everything from relational databases and Structured Query Language (SQL) to data warehousing, transaction monitors, and intranets. Whether you're about to launch your own client/server project or you just need to know enough so that you can plan intelligently and hire contractors prudently, Client/Server Computing For Dummies, 2nd Edition, is the ideal way to get a handle on an otherwise-slippery subject.

The real value of this book is as an educational tool for businesspeople who suspect client/server computing may solve some of their business problems but don't know enough about the technology to say for sure. Lowe educates these people by showing--with plenty of conceptual diagrams and examples--what networks are and how database applications operate over them. The operator of a small to midsize business could get a feel for networked databases from these pages and gain enough knowledge of the topic to talk competently with a software designer. Much of Client/Server Computing for Dummies is a Structured Query Language (SQL) tutorial that's pretty good. The author explains queries, joins, and reports and provides plenty of example SQL statements.

In the book's later chapters, Lowe gets into the specifics of client/server programming but doesn't succeed to the same degree that he does in the more general chapters; he uses a somewhat scattered approach to application development, touching on many technologies while covering few of them adequately. --David Wall