Client/Server Computing for Dummies

Now, IDG Books Worldwide, Inc., presents an authoritative book on client/server computing -- a book that you don't need a computer science degree to understand. Client/Server Computing For Dummies is the practical, plain-English guide to this powerful technology. With best-selling author Doug Lowe showing you the way, you discover everything from how client/server systems are put together to what client/server systems have to do with relational databases and Structured Query Language (SQL). 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 is the ideal way to get a handle on an otherwise-tricky subject.

"Client/server" are buzzwords that are much bandied about but that remain a fuzzy concept in many computer users' minds. In Client/Server Computing for Dummies, Doug Lowe does a decent job of explaining some implementations and applications of client/server networking and how they can make information-centric systems more efficient.

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