Practical C++ Programming (Nutshell Handbook)
by Steve Oualline
Average Customer Review:
Paperback (01 June, 1995)
list price: $34.95
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Reviews (46)

Perfect for newbies (like me)!
I'm new to c++ and decided to try to learn it through this book.
It works magnificent in teaching me how C++ works, how to code in it and how to convert C code.
It is writen in a very conversational way and it always have some code besides the explenation (I for one enjoy reading the code also when I'm reading the explenation of a new feature!).
This book is realy good for teaching people the basics!
I hope you will enjoy this book as much as I do (I ain't finished with it as I'm writing this review).

Best programming book I've read!
A great guide for beggining to intermediate level C++ programmers.Does an amazing job of laying out guidelines for creating well written, readable code.Includes questions and answers to common coding mistakes in each chapter as well as programming exercises that force you to use what you just learned "hands-on".Is the only programming book that hasn't bored me to hell ( much like a good novel I couldn't put it down ).Being very readable, the book makes you WANT to finish each chapter soyou can go to work on the next set of exercises and see if you can crank out the next program without errors.Blah, blah, anyhow...If you are just getting started with C++, GET this book ( just know that you'll need another to teach you OOP as stated in some other reviews ).

Practical C Programming with C++ syntax
If you are looking for a book on how to program in C++, this is not the book for you. If you are looking for a book on how to do object oriented programming, this is not the book for you. If you are looking for a so-so C++ reference that teaches you how to write C code using C++, then this is the book for you.

Practical C programming is one of the best C books out there, that's why I bought this one. The problem is, that this is the same book with the syntax stuff changed for C++. The author does very little to talk about OO design or what C++ can do for you. The examples are still based on procedural style and the author doesn't cover the more advanced OO features very well.

If you're looking to start C/C++ programming then here's the books you really need:

For C concepts and style: Practical C Programming (Oualline)
For C++ concepts and style: Thinking in C++ (Eckel)
For C reference: Programming in ANSI C (Kochan)
For C++ reference: The C++ Programming Language (Stroustrup)

Get these, read them in that order, and you're on your way to mastering C++. No matter what anyone tells you, great C++ programs are written by good C programmers. If you want to ignore the low-level stuff, then you want to be programming in Java. ... Read more

Isbn: 1565921399
Sales Rank: 243286
Subjects:  1. C (Programming Language)    2. C++ (Computer program language    3. C++ (Computer program language)    4. Computer Bks - Languages / Programming    5. Computer Books: Languages    6. Computers    7. Programming Languages - C++    8. Programming Languages - General    9. C & Visual C   

3D Studio Max 2 Fundamentals
by Michael Todd Peterson, Larry Minton
Average Customer Review:
Paperback (01 December, 1997)
list price: $44.99 -- our price: $44.99
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Editorial Review

This excellent book covers the basics of 3D Studio Max 2, making it a handy guide for newcomers to the 3-D-modeling and animation program, and even for those who are new to 3-D graphics. The book first introduces the fundamentals of 3-D graphics and workspaces, explaining coordinates, axes, lines, polylines, polygons, lights, cameras, animation, and rendering. There's also a thorough tour of the package's interface that brings viewports, commands, and selections to light. In the next part of the book, you learn the fundamentals of modeling, including spline-based, mesh (polygonal), parametric, patch, and NURBS modeling, and get advice on choosing a method. Next you do some actual modeling, working with splines; 3-D primitives; compound objects; object parameters; align, array, and mirror functions; and Modifiers and the Modifier Stack.

In the third part of the book, you learn the fundamentals of scene composition. In part 4, you learn about animation, starting with a discussion on animation concepts. The guide then assists you in creating basic animations. The book is an outstanding combination of discussion and projects. It includes plenty of screen shots, a glossary of 3-D computer graphics terms, and a CD-ROM that contains files to work on along with the book's projects. --Kathleen Caster ... Read more

Reviews (34)

Very good book to start with, you want more, more, more
I really enjoyed reading this book. It makes you aware of the unlimited possibilities of Max, but nothing more. You keep wanting to know exactly how things can be done. It is a very good starter though. A little moreattention could have been given to the material and mapping section. Ireally recommend this book to anyone who wants to get started seriouslywith 3D design.

A Thoughtful Book, but not enough calculators
I found that this book did not focus in on it's subject (ie. calculators). I think that they should have talked more about the different kinds of solar panels on calculators rather than on the buttons. Maybe it's justbecause I am an infintesmally small micron compared to the vast, endlessreaches of space. I am nothing. You are nothing. While we sit here anduselessly while away our pitiful, lonely lives deluding our selves thatanything we do makes even the smallest amount of difference to anything.So, next time you go for a 3 am swim with the pink elephants (wink, wink)remember to bring your spoon.

A nice desk-side companion, but so is a cat
Of course, if you want to learn a program, you have to use it.This book is a nice compendium to draw from for somewhat savy beginners, but it can be, like all books of its ilk, stale and utterly uninteresting to read.Ifind I use it the most when I stumble across a problem I have while using3d Studio, and I need a quick explanation of a function or such, butotherwise I didn't find it too helpful when I was first struggling with theprogram itself.I guess I just lost interest when I sat down at mycomputer to to read/use it, but perhaps it's because I'm a hateful man. ... Read more

Isbn: 1562058398
Subjects:  1. 3D studio    2. Computer Bks - Desktop Publishing    3. Computer Books And Software    4. Computer Graphics - 3D Studio    5. Computer Graphics - General    6. Computer animation    7. Computer graphics    8. Computers    9. Microcomputer Graphics   

C++ Neural Networks and Fuzzy Logic
by Valluru Rao, Hayagriva Rao, Valluru B. Rao
Average Customer Review:
Paperback (01 October, 1995)
list price: $39.95
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Reviews (26)

Not recommended
Being a professional C++ programmer with a background in Applied Math I didn't like this book at all. It's written in a very annoying way: sometimes it sounds like its author is trying to sell the whole concept of NN and Fuzzy Logic to the reader instead of explaining how, when, and WHY fuzzy logic and neural networks work, how to train them properly, and what their limitations are. One characteristic example: author presents a list of companies using fuzzy logic in real systems but never gives any useful details about these systems.

The book is not for a "mathematician" since it often lacks precision, coherence, mathematical rigor, clarity, ...More often than not, you will find wordy explanations instead of simple formulas

It will displease a "programmer" too. The book's title is "C++ Neural Networks and Fuzzy Logic" so one may expect to find some well-thought and proven design ideas on how to implement NN and FL in C++ as well as a decent C++ library. Instead you will find just an amateurish C++ code (like anybody had any doubts that NN can actually be implemented in C++).

Numerous times author uses this "trick": he introduces new concept, delivers a couple of vague statements about the concept, and promises a better explanation later (in the following chapters, next series, etc).

How do you like this for definition: "STABILITY refers to such convergence that facilitates an end to the iterative process". You can find a lot of such "pearls" in this book.

Don't waste your time... There are better books

FYI: the book includes just a floppy disk instead of CD.

Big promises but no delivery
At first this book promises to offer a great deal for the reader, and the copious amounts of code therein support this impression.But once one actually begins working with the text, the book's shortcomings become all too apparent.

The authors do a lot of 'hand waving' at important concepts, almost as though the book was written as a companion piece to a course lecture.(Sometimes it really does read as though it's just a transcribed volume of professor's notes.)Numerous times I found myself stopping and thinking "wait, don't get off that topic yet!You've barely addressed its basics," and wondering if I had somehow missed something on the previous page or two.

The code supplied is abominably written, a Frankenstein hodgepodge of C and C++ intertwined.This code can be made to run with some work, but it could hardly be used as a sound basis for further development or experimentation.

You can derive good conceptual information out of this book, but it takes a lot of work.You really have to bludgeon your way through it, and that is no recipe for a successful educational text.

Good book
This book is excellent introduction to theory and practical application of neural networks and fuzzy logic.
I know that for sure because I was totaly illiterate in that topic before I red it.
This book requires some prerequisite knowledge from reader.
Reader must have at least average undergraduate knowledge of discrete matematics,probability theory and matrix algebra.

I saw from previous reviews that some "good" C++ programmers expects to learn all that mathematics from one 500 pages book.
I think that would be impossible even for a perfect neural network. ... Read more

Isbn: 1558515526
Sales Rank: 172536
Subjects:  1. Artificial Intelligence    2. Artificial Intelligence - Fuzzy Logic    3. C (Programming Language)    4. C++ (Computer program language)    5. Computer Bks - Languages / Programming    6. Computer Books And Software    7. Computers    8. Fuzzy systems    9. Neural Computing    10. Neural networks (Computer science)    11. Programming Languages - C++    12. C & Visual C    13. Neural networks   

Princeton Reviw: Cracking the SAT & PSAT, 2000 Edition (Cracking the Sat and Psat 2000)
by ADAM ROBINSON, JOHN KATZMAN
Average Customer Review:
Paperback (29 June, 1999)
list price: $18.00
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Reviews (35)

I am an esay rater
Ok it DOES TEAH YOU STUF.
It just goes too basic on math.
Common area of a rectagle.

But its better than KAPLAN which dosen't teach you anything.
Kaplan only teaches you 5 steps, and how to do the test, not any material.

Its better than Barrons up to a point.

Barron isn't as well oragnanised. It's all crammed up.

I got 1570 before having this book.
I got 1600 after reading this book with Barrons.
Kaplan SUKS

A mediocre test preparation book
Many people go for the most popular book on the market, for example the Princeton Review or Kaplan. However, this book solely explains how to take the SAT, using tips and tricks provided by the author. Although knowing about "Joe Bloggs" and traps to avoid, this is not a satisfactory replacement for other SAT books on the market. The "Hit Parade", which is a list of SAT words that frequently come up on the SAT is alright. The Verbal section explanations and tricks are satisfactory. They just suggest that you memorize vocabulary and in conjunction, use their strategies. Math (which is my difficulty) is not explained thoroughly in this book. Yes, knowing the strategies is very very helpful, but honestly, there is no way you can get a high score without knowing how to solve the problem. The Math section of this book is shallow and does not provide adequate practice to prepare you for the SAT.

For the Verbal Section of the SAT, I recommend you get:
1) Barron's Guide to the SAT (21st Edition)

For the Math Section of the SAT, I recommend you get:
1) Gruber's Complete SAT to SAT Preparation

Good luck.

Most people don't understand the SAT........
First of all, I must stress the point that many people say is bad about this book. People say that it doesn't teach the material on the SAT. It just helps you out by giving tips and such. While this is true, that is the point of the SAT. You cannot try to learn the SAT material in a book. The people who try to do this usually do not do well. You just need help on taking the test. If you don't know the material, then you wouldn't be scoring well on the SAT. I made a 1300 before this book, and then my score jumped to 1540. I knew most of the material but I fell for a lot of traps. So if you are making decent scores and know the material, this book will help you a lot. ... Read more

Isbn: 0375754032
Sales Rank: 822736
Subjects:  1. College Entrance    2. Educational Tests And Measurements (Higher Education)    3. Preliminary Scholastic Aptitude Test    4. SAT & PSAT    5. Scholastic Aptitude Test    6. Study Aids    7. Study Guides    8. Test Prep    9. Study Aids / College Entrance   

Practical Neural Network Recipes in C++
by Masters
Average Customer Review:
Paperback (31 March, 1993)
list price: $69.95 -- our price: $69.95
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Reviews (13)

This book is a big lie
On a scale of 1 to 5, I wanted to rate this book as zero.On page 423, this book says "Complete code can be found on the accompanying disk." This is a big lie. The author only gives partial listing in the accompanying disk, which completely makes you beserk. You can never understanding this book, when the codes are given incomplete. He is like giving a final exam to his students, where he is requiring his students to complete his codes. It may be OK if he hides some of his codes, but he should not lie. It is this advertisement that he is providing the complete code that induced me to buy his book.

Since he is holding some of the codes, the source codes provided in the disk will never build.

Complete C++ Source Code for Many Common Neural Network Algo
This book is exactly what is described by its title. It presents a cookbook of neural network recipes for the C++ programmer. I have used this book often, as I have developed a number of C++ and Java based Neural Network applications. The books is readable(at least as far as AI books go), it does not read like a mathematics text book, as many other AI books do.

The chapters are logically broken into the major neural network tasks: classification (identifying something), autoassociation (identifying a pattern by returning the same pattern), Time-Series Prediction (this is commonly applied to predicting the stock market, etc), Function Approximation.

As the author introduces these topics, various network architectures are discussed, such as feed-forward, multi-layer, backpropagation, and probalistic networks. Network optimization methods such as eluding local minima are tackled through the use of genetic algorism and simulated annealing.

Supurb practical text
I'll keep it brief. I've bought this book already a long time ago. And now and then still delve into it. Like many have said bfore me,it's exactly what the title says it is. A practical intro with plenty of readable source.If people think the theory side is a bit light,they're ofcourse right, but that is exactly what the author intended to do.This book delivers on what it promises,no more no less.You can actually get to work after reading it ;)
I would for instance recommend "Bishop, Neural networks for pattern recognition" to get a more solid foundation,(which admittedly is not a bad idea). All in all worth every penny/dollar/euro. ... Read more

Isbn: 0124790402
Sales Rank: 152756
Subjects:  1. Artificial Intelligence - General    2. C (Programming Language)    3. C++ (Computer program language    4. C++ (Computer program language)    5. Computer Bks - Languages / Programming    6. Computer Books: General    7. Computer Science    8. Computers    9. Neural Computing    10. Neural networks (Computer scie    11. Neural networks (Computer science)    12. Programming Languages - C++    13. Computers / Computer Science   

Understanding SQL
by Martin Gruber
Average Customer Review:
Paperback (01 January, 1990)
list price: $26.95
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Reviews (12)

Beginners look no further!
I'm a newbie to SQL, and borrowed a copy of this book from a coworker a few weeks ago.I was hooked from chapter 1.I'm already creating and dropping tables and manipulating data, and understanding everything!This book is wonderful, and I urge anyone who wants a good solid understanding of SQL to get a copy and just sit down and start reading.The examples are easy to follow but not patronizingly so, and there are short quizzes at the end of each chapter to reinforce the main concepts.This is going to be an invaluable resource for me as I continue down this path.Five stars aren't enough!

The Other Customer Reviews Were Spot On
As a full-time student, I was after a book to compliment course notes thatI recieve and get a better understanding of more advanced SQL. The othercustomer reviews swayed my decision to choose this book and it waseverything and more than I expected. Keep those reviews coming.

An Excellent Place to Start
This book offers the basics to the first part of advanced.It is great in that all of the explinations are followed by many examples on a working database (downloadable).It is quite an amazing and very much worth whilebook for both reference and beginning SQL ... Read more

Isbn: 0895886448
Sales Rank: 410042
Subjects:  1. Computer Bks - Languages / Programming    2. Computer Books: Operating Systems    3. Programming Languages - General    4. Programming Languages - SQL    5. SQL (Computer program language    6. SQL (Computer program language)    7. Sql (Programming Language)   

Programming Perl (2nd Edition)
by Larry Wall, Tom Christiansen, Randal L. Schwartz
Average Customer Review:
Paperback (01 August, 1996)
list price: $44.95
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Editorial Review

The second edition of the Camel Book is more than 600 pages long and full of excellent instruction and sound advice. Topics include all the good stuff from the first edition plus Perl 5 features such as nested data structures (ever made a hash of arrays of hashes?), modules, and objects. From "Howdy World" to making your own modules, this book has it all. ... Read more

Reviews (224)

Required Reference!
This book is required reference for any real Perl programmer.From the man himself, inventor of perl. Highly recommend. For beginner, you buy this book and one beginner book too. I am long time perl programmer.

Impress everyone with regular expressions
I have to admit that before using this book I used "Learning Perl." However everything that I learned in the first book was in the first chapter of this book. I'm very impressed with the layout of this book. Every time I turned a new page I found something else I had to try. One paragraph in chapter six prime outlines the whole reason for really wanting to use pearl.

"Perl doesn't just glue together other computer languages. It also glues together command line interpreters, operating systems, processes, machines, devices, networks, databases, institutions, cultures, web pages, GUIs, peers, servers, and clients, not to mention people like system administrators, users, and of course, hackers, both not be in nice. In fact pearl is rather competitive about cooperative."
This book is well designed to get you off the Ground and hit the deck running. You won't be left standing there like a sitting duck. I doubt that I can give it enough stars.

great book for perl beginners
I was beginning to learn perl and found this book very useful. Later I learnt that it has a lot to offer to the more advanced user of perl as well. Great book to start with. ... Read more

Isbn: 1565921496
Subjects:  1. Computer Bks - Languages / Programming    2. Computer Books: Languages    3. Computers    4. Operating Systems - UNIX    5. Perl (Computer program language)    6. Programming Languages - CGI, Javascript, Perl, VBScript    7. Programming Languages - General    8. Unix (Operating System)    9. Computers / Programming Languages / CGI, JavaScript, Perl, VBScript    10. High level programming languages   

Programming the Perl DBI
by Alligator Descartes, Tim Bunce
Average Customer Review:
Paperback (01 February, 2000)
list price: $34.95 -- our price: $23.77
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Editorial Review

The birth of new modules for the Perl scripting language is a regular occurrence, and the publication of an O'Reilly book about one of these modules is a sign of coming of age. Perl's DBI module, which facilitates the database-independent operation of Perl, achieves its rite of passage this month with the arrival of Alligator Descartes and Tim Bunce's excellent Programming Perl's DBI. Perl's DBI interface is maintained by Bunce and includes submodule interfaces to Oracle, MySQL, Sybase, Microsoft ODBC, and many other smaller databases. O'Reilly Perl book aficionados take note: this is the cheetah book, named for the animal that graces its cover.

Far from being a formalized how-to or man page, Programming Perl's DBI is a mini textbook in database programming,ideal for CPAN-savvy Perl programmers with little or no experience in database programming. Descartes and Bunce develop primitive notions of databases by using flat files, and they introduce relational databases with careful didactic motivation. The example database used throughout the book contains ancient sacred monolithic sites in the UK and elsewhere, of which Stonehenge is the most famous. Readers will learn about these primitive places while storing, updating, deleting, sorting, and locking their descriptors using flat files, nonrelational and relational databases, and a tutorial on SQL. The last chapters describe the peculiarities of interacting with ODBC and introduce DBI's Perl-less diagnostic shell and database proxying.

The authors use many modules--including DBI itself--that are not part of the vanilla Perl distribution, and Descartes and Bunce introduce them without explaining where to find or build them. Perl newbies with no CPAN experience may find themselves derailed early. The Storage module seems not to be available on CPAN at all (at the time of this writing). Fortunately, DBI and friends build, test, and install seamlessly under Linux/Red Hat 6.1.

At 350 pages, Programming the Perl DBI is 60 percent text--filled with highly annotated Perl code--and 40 percent appendices covering a detailed specification of DBI and 3-to-5-page descriptions of each of the 14 supported databases. Brevity is a large component of this book's wit. Clarity is the rest of it. --Peter Leopold ... Read more

Reviews (48)

pretty good book, but so is the CPAN documentation
This is a (the definitive) book on Perl DBI.I swapped book-for-book with a former co-worker for this.I keep it in the office for the newbies.

If you're already a pro at PERL, you should be able to get by with just the CPAN documentation.However, if your employer is footing the bill, get it. :-)

However if you're new to PERL and need to use DBI, get it.

Very nice tips and tricks you can pick up, even a few for the pros.

An alright book for the DBI beginner
The database-oriented view of programming has become increasingly popular, and it is of great importance for all serious programmers to understand how to use their favorite language to manipulate the database systems.With the variety of database systems out there, it can be a real challenge to learn what there is to know.For the Perl programmer, however, there is this book on the matter, and it will probably be all you'll need to get started working with database programming in no time.Other reviewers have stated that this is a regurgitation of the docs.This is partially true.But the docs are very bland, and this book presents the information in a much more informative, and easy to read manner.With it, you can begin programming the DBI within a week (a day if you already know SQL and skip the chapter on the Berkley DB system).Recommended for anyone interested in learning how to use Databases with Perl.If you already know the DBI, the book wont be of much help, maybe as a reference, but I'd only pick it up if you don't know it, or are still inexperienced at it.

still a valuable reference for multiple databases
This book has been a valuable reference of mine for several years for web database programming projects. I bought the book soon after it was released and continue to use it - sometimes on a daily basis depending upon the project I am currently developing. I realized from the beginning that much of the material in this book came from the online documentation and have still found the book to be useful enough to stay on my A-list of reference materials. Applications like CGIScripter need to utilize up to half a dozen different databases so I have found the reference section on each database be the section I often turn to first. I have not found this info available anywhere in the online documentation. When you program and debug on multiple computers with multiple windows open simultaneously, having a reference book is often more manageable than opening another window on the computer. And for those times when I am struggling with an especially troublesome programming issue, I have found it very helpful to sit in my easy chair with a reference book like the Perl DBI book in order to research the problem. The only reason I am not giving the book 5 stars is that it hasn't been updated in a few years so it doesn't include info on some of the new DBI supported databases like SQLite. ... Read more

Isbn: 1565926994
Subjects:  1. Computer Bks - Languages / Programming    2. Computer Books: Languages    3. Computers    4. Database Management - General    5. Database management    6. Object-Oriented Programming    7. Perl (Computer language)    8. Perl (Computer program languag    9. Perl (Computer program language)    10. Programming - General    11. Programming - Object Oriented Programming    12. Programming Languages - CGI, Javascript, Perl, VBScript    13. Relational Databases    14. COM060000    15. Computers / Programming Languages / CGI, JavaScript, Perl, VBScript    16. Databases & data structures    17. Internet languages    18. Programming languages   

Mastering Algorithms with C (Mastering)
by Kyle Loudon
Average Customer Review:
Paperback (01 August, 1999)
list price: $39.95 -- our price: $26.37
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Editorial Review

Written with the intermediate to advanced C programmer in mind, Mastering Algorithms with C delivers a no-nonsense guide to the most common algorithms needed by real-world developers.

The highlight of the book has to be its concise and readable C functions for all the algorithms presented here, including basics like linked lists, stacks to trees, graphs, and sorting/searching algorithms. The C functions that implement these algorithms are clearly printed and remarkably easy to read. You can use this sample code directly or adapt it into your C/C++ code.

Although mathematical concepts like Big-O notation are discussed, the authors don't get bogged down in the computer science theory surrounding algorithms. Instead, they present the most tried-and-true algorithms available today in an efficient format. Besides introducing each algorithm, they describe how each is used in computing today, along with a short demo application. Some of these samples are quite low-level, such as a virtual memory manager implemented with linked lists. Most examples are more of general interest, such as a graphing example that counts network hops.

Each section ends with questions and answers about how the algorithms work, along with references to other algorithms (both in the book and from other sources). The authors concentrate on the most useful algorithms available today and don't try to cover every available variation. Busy readers will appreciate the intelligent selection--and efficient presentation--used here.

There are a number of books on C algorithms, but Master Algorithms with C is one of the most concise and immediately useful. It's a perfect choice for the working C/C++ programmer who's in a hurry to find just the right algorithm for writing real-world code. --Richard Dragan

Topics covered: Algorithm efficiency, pointer basics, arrays, recursion, Big-O Notation, linked lists, stacks, queues, sets, hash tables, trees and B-trees, searching, heaps and priority queues, graphs, sorting and searching algorithms, numerical methods, data compression, Huffman coding, LZ77, data encryption, DES, RSA, graph algorithms, minimum spanning trees, geometric algorithms, and convex hulls. ... Read more

Reviews (12)

good, concise algorithm book ruined by comment
compare to most algorithm/data structure books out there, this book is not as complete as those, but it's much easier to read, and diagrams in this book is well drawn and much eaiser to follow. Why would I only give it 3 stars? One thing really ruined this book - obviously the publisher/editor/author try to increase the total page number by putting ridiculously big comment block in sample code(single line comments takes about 5 lines, all surrounded by '*' and spaces) This made the sample code difficult to read, imagine a 5 line function has to be printed in 2 or 3 pages.

Good book, but HORRIBLE CODING STYLE!!!
The book contents is good, the algorithms presented are more or less well explained and the implementeations themselves are not bad (but could be better).

Unfortunately this book has 2 mayor problems:

Sometimes you need an implementation of an algorithm for which you already know the inner-workings, just need quick code instead of reinvening the wheel yourself... the book will not allways give you that, it will sometimes build an algorithm based on previous ones! Darn!, I am supposed to go straight to the point I want and get the code without having to read a couple of previous sections.

Second and worst of all is the coding style this guy has. I don't know what the other reviwer that said that the code is great programs in but certainly not in C. The author of the book simply has the worst style ever... look at the comments, a one line comment surrounded by a box!!! give-me-a-break!... where did he learn this? He should read a book about style, perhaps read Code Complete by Steve McConnel or something before attempting to write code. Anyway this is just one of the many style flaws this book has.

If I could I would return it, after all, you can get mostly any implementation from the internet (I had to do that or would have wasted lots of time and... time is money).

If well written, the book would have been 1/2 its size and then it would have been good.

Why 3 stars? Well, in spite of the poor programming style and bad presentation of some algorithms, if you have time and patience, you get someting out of the book. Just don't use the coding style he uses... if you try that at work you would be fired or at least laughed at.

Not worth your time or money
To be fair and honest, I have not read this entire book and that is because I've read far better ones.If you are interested in this topic (and if you're a programmer or computer scientist, you should be), look to Robert Sedgewick's excellent "Algorithms in C" in two volumes, or "Mastering Algoritms" by Cormen, Leiserson, Rivest, and Stein.While the algorithms in Cormen, etc.'s book are not in C, they are in a pseudo language that easy to convert to C.I'm really, really glad I looked this book over before flushing my (limited) money away. ... Read more

Isbn: 1565924533
Subjects:  1. C (Computer program language)    2. C (Programming Language)    3. Computer Bks - Languages / Programming    4. Computer Books And Software    5. Computer algorithms    6. Computers    7. Data structures (Computer scie    8. Data structures (Computer science)    9. Programming Languages - C    10. C & Visual C    11. COM051300    12. Computers / Programming Languages / C   

Discrete Mathematics : An Introduction for Software Engineers
by Mike Piff
Average Customer Review:
Paperback (27 June, 1991)
list price: $27.99
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Reviews (1)

Not good
Piff tries to make this entertaining, but his examples are extremely weak,analogies poorly chosen, and he just misses the mark. ... Read more

Isbn: 0521386225
Sales Rank: 45302
Subjects:  1. Computer Bks - General Information    2. Computer Books: General    3. Computer science    4. Computers    5. Discrete Mathematics    6. General    7. Machine Theory    8. Mathematics    9. Computers / General    10. Mathematics for scientists & engineers    11. Outlet   

C Programming Language (2nd Edition)
by Brian W. Kernighan, Dennis Ritchie, Dennis M. Ritchie
Average Customer Review:
Paperback (22 March, 1988)
list price: $42.00 -- our price: $42.00
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Editorial Review

Just about every C programmer I respect learned C from this book. Unlike many of the 1,000 page doorstops stuffed with CD-ROMs that have become popular, this volume is concise and powerful (if somewhat dangerous) -- like C itself. And it was written by Kernighan himself. Need we say more? ... Read more

Reviews (211)

The So Called "ANSI C "
After I observed Appendix A in the reference section, I could only dissolve this information with a grain of salt. The authors only convey definitions and refinements to the language, which is not the standard. Some of the glaring errors in the book come as a shock. These are the two fellows that co-founded the language at Bell Laborites back in the late 60's. The main concern that surrounds me about ANSI C is that the institute only contributes to the development of an operating system, and any further implementation which falls outside the limited scope of system development is deemed void. For this reason, I still rely on Old Testament of "Microsoft C" which allows the user to enable or disable the ANSI C support. Other oberservations I discovered from the book, tell me that K&R had a hard time keeping up with all revisions the institute made back in 1983. I would only recommend this book to advanced users of C, because some the code examples are hard to follow, and many have syntax errors.

Simple, concise and Excellent
A MUST for beginners in programming. For those coming from C++ background and want to learn low level concepts in C, I recommend quick visit to Chapter 7-8 and Appendix. This is not a book for data structures or algorithms. So you will not find much on those topics though you will see simple concepts here and there. For people exposed to programming this is a simple one day reading material to revisit basic C.

Chapter 1 (Tutorial Introduction) - Get started approach for beginners!

Chapter 2 (Types, Operators and Expressions) - Bitwise operators in 2.9 are good to visit.

Chapter 3 (Control Flow) - Very simple chapter.

Chapter 4 (Functions and Program Structure) - Good information here. C preprocessor details in 4.11 are good.

Chapter 5 (Pointers and Arrays) - Especially good for pointers and address arithmetic.

Chapter 6 (Structures) - Good exposure to basic C structures. Limitations of C compared to object oriented approach from C++ become obvious in this chapter.

Chapter 7 and 8 (I/O and UNIX Sytem Interface) - Those who do not have an OS background should read this chapter. You could see how concepts like system calls are abstracted and exposed through standard C functions. Simple and elegant starting point for any low level programming.

Appendix A and B - Good details on C standards. Also lot of standard C library functions are explained in good detail here. Very good comprehensive reference point.

C is K&R!
When I started studying C programming this little book (compared to other "bibles") was the only reference I had. Well, if you really want to know how to program in C this IS the BOOK.
No "super-duper ANSI-POSIX-ISO standard lists of functions" (you can simply find them with the man pages or on the net, and believe me, it's a snap), just pure C programming problems and techniques: types, casting, pointers, memory management, character management, binary operators, macros, etc... just the real basics of what makes a good programmer. Later, if you're interested, you'll have the opportunity to use advanced super-ISO functions that do everything. But then, you'll know what you're doing and why.
The key point is: with K&R you are given the knowledge of C programming, not the recipe for doing some C programming. ... Read more

Isbn: 0131103628
Subjects:  1. C (Computer program language)    2. Computer Bks - Languages / Programming    3. Computer Books: Languages    4. Programming (Computers)    5. Programming Languages - C    6. Computers / Programming Languages / C   

Practical C Programming, 3rd Edition
by Steve Oualline
Average Customer Review:
Paperback (03 August, 1997)
list price: $34.95 -- our price: $23.07
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Reviews (44)

Look for a cow on the cover Practical C not C++
Look for a cow on the cover of this book.I bought this book for a C in UNIX class.The C part is great.There is hardly a page that does not have an example or enlightening diagram.However, the only reference to applying this to UNIX is in the back where it "Practically" says that there are different versions of UNIX.It never really clamed to be a UNIX book on C.The section on unbufferd I/O has a little more on the UNIX handling of files.Over all, until something better comes along I am still using this book.

Perfect
I purchased this book about five years ago. Back then I had an unquenchable thirst for anything related to computer programming. This book is the best book I have *ever* seen on C for a beginner or intermediate programmer (I own over 30 programming books, covering various languages). By no means is it reference material, but that's not its goal. The thing that struck me the most about it was Mr. Oaulline's emphasis on good programming strategies. His explanations are simple, yet very effective. This is the only book I would ever recommend to anyone who wants to learn C or strengthen good habits for programming in general. All of this, and I was only barely in High School when I read it.

Now, five years later, I am in college-- and to my absolute surprise this very same text is assigned for an introductory C programming course. They could not have picked a better book, nor could you!

Fustrated by lack of solutions to exercises
Overall this book covers all the corners of C. What fustrated me most that none of the exercises in the book had solutions. You know how when you are learning something new it's nice to go peek, and see if you are on the right track. Well with this book I guess the author feels you should figure it out on your own. I've not got the time, I've got to learn it fast, trial and error are a waste of my time. 90% of the time you are taking your coding approach from something aready written anyway. ... Read more

Isbn: 1565923065
Sales Rank: 97009
Subjects:  1. C (Programming Language)    2. Computer Bks - Languages / Programming    3. Computer Books: Languages    4. Computers    5. Programming Languages - C    6. C & Visual C    7. Computers / Programming Languages / C   

Object-Oriented Neural Networks in C++
by Joey Rogers
Average Customer Review:
Paperback (15 October, 1996)
list price: $47.95 -- our price: $47.95
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Reviews (18)

Instructive to have some source code
I use the source code from this book for a two weeks practical course in
neural networks for biology students. There is much to criticize about C++
style, OO-design, and even about the implementation of some networks (In the
backpropagation algorithm corrections to the weights should be made only after
the backpropagated error has been computed for all units in the
network).

However, I think it is great to have some reasonably well documented code to
play with. Within a day or so the students manage to run the first networks
without being C++ experts. In my view, it is extremely instructive to have
some source code, even if it is not the best. A nasty fact, though, is that
the code does not compile from the scratch (I have a little perl script that
replaces some errors in the sources, such that the code complies nicely using
g++ under Linux: look for it on my webpages under the
topic "teaching"; I don't give the address here, because it might change).

Summarizing, I like the book for what it is, an example of OO implemented
neural networks.I would not use the code for a "real" project nor expect to
learn from the book why networks work the way they do.

Bad Code, Okay Book
The book was instructive about Object-Oriented Neural Networks.The code is really bad, but I assumed it was because he wrote it first using STL, then was told that some people may not be able to compile it because they wouldn't know how to set up STL or because of compatibilities ... but then some things just seem lazy, like making every function inline in the hopes that inline would be "better" somehow.

I thought the code could be forgiven if there were some UML diagrams or if there were references to patterns. The index was unusably tiny.I wished there was some place we could get code updates or other versions of the code.However, there aren't many cheap books in this area of expertise, so it is still worth looking through ... try re-writing everything in Perl or Java to get away from the bad code.

If you are new to NN & know some C++ you need this book
Well, this text isn't in any way a decent introduction
to the theory of Neural Networks. Beside explaining you that NN are built upon nodes and links and that nodes have values and links have weights, which you can probably figure out by yourself, it present NN rules and techiques without a word about why this is so. For example the formulas used to modify
the NN values during the training process are gives "as is", so
that you you must just copy them and use them without having a clue at what is going on. So why do I give it 4 stars? Because
it does have working source code, and not in some weird language
like Lisp but good old C++. C++ gurus might indeed have more than a grumble with the quality of the code, as it has some
glaring faults, both in style and concept (like attempting to inline virtual functions and poor distribution and organization of code among header and source files) but hey, it is very simple to understand, and it works! And that is already something especially for someone who is a beginner both in NN and C++. The NN described are ADALINE, Back Propagation NN, Self Organizing NN and Bidirectional Associative Memory, (in case this tells you something) but with a little work and study you can reuse part of the framework to create new architectures. I definitely prefer a book with working, explained code than a tome full of abstraction and algorithms whose implementation is left as an exercise to the (clueless) reader. At least with this book you can play with the code and see NN in action. To really understand what is going on though you will need a theory book. As a gentle introduction I recommend Fundamentals of Neural Networks, by Laurene V. Fausett ... Read more

Isbn: 0125931158
Sales Rank: 145882
Subjects:  1. C++ (Computer program language    2. C++ (Computer program language)    3. Computer Bks - Languages / Programming    4. Computer Books: General    5. Computer Science    6. Computers    7. Neural Computing    8. Neural Networks    9. Neural networks (Computer scie    10. Neural networks (Computer science)    11. Object-Oriented Programming    12. Object-oriented programming (C    13. Object-oriented programming (Computer science)    14. Programming - Object Oriented Programming    15. Programming Languages - C++    16. Computers / Computer Science   

Oracle8: The Complete Reference
by George Koch, Kevin Loney
Average Customer Review:
Hardcover (01 August, 1997)
list price: $59.99
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Editorial Review

Any Oracle developer who has used Oracle: The Complete Reference knows that it is an elegant, indispensable guide to the overwhelming world of Oracle database interaction. Its successor--Oracle8: The Complete Reference--is even more comprehensive. Succinct examples are used to document the many functions and SQL nuances available in the Oracle toolbox. The authors provide handholding introductions to more advanced topics such as PL/SQL and object-relational databases.

The revised alphabetical reference makes it even easier to recall the order of arguments passed to long-forgotten functions and many new ones. Beginners will appreciate the exhaustive documentation of the SQLPLUS client and a discussion of user permissions, while seasoned developers can get their hands dirty in the intricacies of using large objects under Oracle8. All of this information is made easier to retrieve thanks to the accompanying, easily searchable CD-ROM. --Tim Kohn ... Read more

Reviews (63)

Huge Reference, But of Very Little Value
This book is huge, at 1344 pages it is huge. But not at all useful. Information is too darn difficult to find, and more often that not it is simply not there. I could not find anything on Dynamic SQL, and very little on SQL Load - something a supposedly 'Complete Reference' of Oracle8 should cover. Also, the absolutely paucity of examples makes it difficult to figure out correct syntactical usage without at least some trial and error. Use one if available at your company or library or if you can borrow a copy - just don't waste money buying one - new or used.

Bible
This contains most of what you need to know to use Oracle8.It does not flow like a tutorial, but it isn't one (it is a reference).This is one of only a few Oracle books that I felt necessary to buy myself.

A good 1-book reference
You'll never find everything you want in one volume, but it's mighty handy to have a reference that covers most of the topics you need. This is not a tutorial. However, if you know some SQL and database concepts, this book will get you going on Oracle. There is a very good chapter on DECODE, and functions are covered well. I found the information on system catalogs useful, and I use the alphabetical reference all the time. ... Read more

Isbn: 007882396X
Subjects:  1. Computer Bks - Data Base Management    2. Computer Books: Database    3. Computer programs    4. Computers    5. Database Management - General    6. Database Management - Oracle    7. Database management    8. Oracle (Computer file)    9. Oracle (Computer program)    10. Relational Databases