I recently
came across an interesting new book on DB2 for Linux, Unix, and Windows titled IBMDB2 9.7 Advanced Application Developer Cookbook. The book shakes up the typical
technology book with a cookbook metaphor and succeeds in delivering the best of
both of those approaches.
The authors, Sanjay Kumar and Mohankumar Saraswatipura, have
obviously used the technology and clearly explain to the reader step-by-step
tactics for tackling most of the important components of the DB2 application development life
cycle. The book is divided into 9 chapters, each delivering a series of practical
recipes for using, creating and managing various aspects of DB2 application programming.
The recipes are well-written and easy to understand with lots of supporting
code to guide you as you work through the recipe. The cover of the book
references “over 70 practical recipes” but it sure seems like there are more
than that.
The first chapter of the book covers recipes that focus on the
application development enhancements made to DB2 9.7. This is an important chapter
because sometimes new features get introduced so rapidly that developers do not
get the chance to learn them before the next version comes out. Indeed, with
DB2 10 being released in early April 2012, it is even more important to learn
what DB2 9.7 added to the mix.
Other chapters I found quite useful were Chapter 5, which covers
recipes for coding Java applications against DB2 databases; and Chapter 8 and
9, which covers recipes for monitoring and tuning your DB2 applications.
Of course, the trouble with recipes is that you rely on them when
you want to make something specific. A book that contained a recipe for
everything you ever wanted to do with DB2 is not practical though. You can,
however, use many of the recipes as starting points for beginning the “dish”
you wish to “cook” and then add to the recipe the additional “flourishes” you
need to make the dish your own.
Whether you are a novice or a long-time DB2 coder this book will
be helpful as you design, plan, develop, and optimize your DB2 9.7 applications
and databases.