Rating: 
Summary: A book about the DBI, not programming databases from Perl.
Review:
This is a good book, IF:
- You want the online documentation with some extra fluff on databases, extra examples and the DBI spec. in one handy place (pages 187 - 333 are pretty much available online, the rest of the book is the online material filled out).
- You are interested in learning about the DBI, the book is about the DBI rather than database programming. This is not a good book, IF:
- You want to learn how to program databases from the web (the widest application of Perl today is covered on one example/page and is an absolute joke).
- You want to learn how to program databases other than Oracle (the massive Windows market, and other markets are left to you, the reader, to extrapolate techniques from the book to practice).
This is a terrible book, IF:
- You are a Perl/programming beginner.
- You want to learn about databases.
- You want to troubleshoot your application (to not include much more driver specific material, when the DBI relies so heavily on the database's driver, means that essentially the book's use is very limited in the real world). The DBI is a great tool in the Perl armoury; this book does not do it justice. You will learn more from the online documentation, DBI mailing list and the very generous Perl community than you could ever get from here - save your money (The forthcoming 'Web Databases with Perl' from Manning looks far more promising, but it's not out until Oct 2000). Of course, if the book is supposed to be nothing more than a guide to the DBI in the very limited scope of being a recycle and slight expansion of existing material, then you can't fault it, and it is a nice read. A lot of the reviews for the book reflect this sentiment. However, if you are after more, you will end up questioning what O'Reilly were thinking. On these grounds three stars is generous.
Rating: 
Summary: Oh so *THAT*'s how it works!
Review: After reading the other reviews for this book, I bought it expecting a handy reference manual plus some extra tutorial stuff that I wouldn't need (I've been using DBI for years). How wrong I was. Yes, the reference stuff is great (thanks Tim!) - but the first half of the book was entertaining to read and contained a wealth of information that I thought I knew (but didn't). The chapter on database proxying was worth more than the purchase price in itself. Other fine books have included a chapter or two on DBI, but they are no substitute for this. Excellent stuff. Highly recommended.
Rating:
Summary: Great Job!
Review: Anyone who has worked with DBI has heard of these authors. However, this is not just a reprint of existing documentation. There is a lot of new material here. Every type of database from flat files to networked relational servers is covered. Strengths and weaknesses of each are considered. Anyone who works with data of any kind will find much food for thought here. Great job, Tim and Alligator.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent resource for newcomers and experts to DBI
Review: As a relative newcomer to the world of Perl and DBI (but not to databases and languages), I found this book to be right on the money. Not too often do you find a book that provides just the right amount of detail. It was nice to see core database concepts being discussed in enough detail to make novices feel comfortable, but not to the point of turning off seasoned database experts. The inclusion of advanced topics such as transactions and database proxying provide the meat that would satisfy any advanced user. And of course, no database programming book should be without a chapter on Microsoft's ODBC, and this book covers it in sufficient detail. And to top it off, a copy of the DBI specification, as well as an outline of what constitutes a DBI driver (DBD) provides enough incentive for those who want to dig a little deeper, or to add to the long list of supported databases. This book is a great addition to any Perl/RDBMS programmer's bookshelf, and will remain in my library for a long time.
Rating:
Summary: Valuable reference for Perl programmer
Review: Contrary to what some people have written about this book it does contain plenty of example code and it does contain working code. They do an excellent job of telling you what results from method calls and give example code using those methods. Having some knowledge about Perl does help when reading the book. They tell you what the DBI is, how it works, why it is useful, and then go on to show you how to make it a very useful tool. They clearly explain how to deal with retrieved data and give many examples of retrieving data and working with the retrieved data. They explain how to use the power of the DBI to make db connections easier and faster as your programs grow. Once you understand what statement handles are and how they are used, what database handles are and how they are used(which are both clearly explained in the book), you can use the Appendix A as a quick reference for the method calls you might forget. Appendix B is a bit dated but gives detail about many database drivers you can use with the DBI. If you want something that has a better flow than the man pages this book is what you want.
Rating:
Summary: A big disappointment
Review: Don't get me wrong: This is a fine book. It's well-written. It's organized beautifully. The problem is it's just too thin for the price. Roughly one third of the book is given to database theory entirely separate from the DBI. I think it's fair to assume that anyone who's looking into Perl & the DBI is going to be conversant with databases and persistence.
Rating:
Summary: I expected more.
Review: I am by no means a DBI master . . . but, I still expected more from this book. To be fair, I did get some "finer points" clarified for me, and saw some features of DBI I hadn't used before that I will try in the future. However, I didn't get enough out of it to have it be worth the price tag. Try this book only if you can't deal with the pod documentation that comes with the DBI module. (Or borrow it from a friend!)
Rating: 
Summary: all the basics in one place
Review: i am finding this book very useful. i am not a complete beginner, but i like having a single resource that answers most of my questions. I like seeing the big picture of how things fit together and this book does it well. The initial chapters on flat-file db's filled in some blanks for me. If you're an expert, the book will not help you as much as it has me, naturally. So I recommend the book for beginner to intermediate perl database programmers.
Rating:
Summary: A worthy reference and a good read
Review: I count this book among most used in my personal library. It is clearly written and a solid reference. If you use Perl and you work with databases, you need this book.
Rating:
Summary: Great hardcore, Bad basics
Review: I do agree that this book is a must for anyone developing with the perl DBI. This book has shown me that it is an incredibly flexible module and made me think twice about recommending PHP when dealing with db functions. It covers everything from setting up the module to ODBC and SQL manipulation. There are also many things that are not mentioned in the documentation in here. I was frustrated with the lack of examples when it came to database manipulation though. It was not the purpose of this book to cover these areas in depth but to only spend a paragraph on things like the SQL JOIN functions is kind of dissapointing...anybody hear a book idea there?
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