Reviews (4)

Great book; unethical publisher
This book is excellent. The author writes about programming in a clear and concise way that makes Java make sense. While Java may not be the simplest language to start with, it is widely used throughout the industry and provides a solid stepping stone to other languages. Savitch provides many examples of code and explains how it works, step by step. Too many programming books assume the reader will fill in missing pieces. Finally, an author who fills them in for us!
Best Written Java Book
The author, Savitch, writes some of the best-written, easy-to-read computer language books.The fourth edition is a concisely-written, enjoyable book with excellent examples and coverage of Java 5.0, which is the newest, latest revision as of January '06.
1st edition review
I have just completed (i need only two more chapters) the first of edition of this book.While not as exhaustive as the the edition for sale here I can tell you the author is good at what he does.I haven't decided if I am going to purchase this edition but let me say that the author's prose style reminds me of the best computer programming books I read while I was an undergraduate at the University of Florida in the early 90's.This book is suitable for teaching a first or second year class of computer science students at a university.Unlike those silly "Teach yourself Java programming in 24 hours" this is the kind of programming book that really teaches you something. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Computer Bks - Languages / Programming    2. Computer Books: Languages    3. Computers    4. Computers - Languages / Programming    5. Java (Computer program languag    6. Java (Computer program language)    7. Programming - General    8. Programming Languages - Java    9. Computer Programming    10. Computers / Programming Languages / Java    11. Java & variants   

Editorial Review

In this smooth, carefully paced course, a leading Perl trainerteaches you to program in the language that threatens to make C, sed, awk, and the Unix shell obsolete for many tasks.This book is the "official" guide for both formal (classroom) and informal learning.It is fullyaccessible to the novice programmer. ... Read more

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Reviews (275)

This should be your first book on Perl
I first tried to learn Perl by using the other O'Reilly book, "Programming Perl". I was completely lost. Then I found this book and my second attempt was much more successful. This book is great for self-teaching, and the book chapters should be read in order as each chapter builds on previous ones. Each chapter has plenty of good programming exercises with answers in the back of the book. I review this book in the context of the table of contents.
A terrific Perl intro
This is my favorite Perl book, as this is where I started, and where I go back for refreshers.I have the Third Edition, and can only imagine that the Fourth Edition is just that much better.As for it being a Unix only book, I would dispute that, as I learned quite enough about Perl to create scripts for the Win32 port of Perl running on Win 2000.
Second Edition ... you need to upgrade.
I had originally bought the Second Edition years ago and am finding that the two books now have very, very little in common -- it's like reading 2 different books.I'm not sure about the Third Edition, but if you have the First or Second, it would be a good time to upgrade. I really like how this edition is written ... very good read! ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Computer Books: Languages    2. Computers    3. Computers - Languages / Programming    4. Natural Language Processing    5. Perl (Computer program language)    6. Programming - General    7. Programming Languages - CGI, Javascript, Perl, VBScript    8. Programming Languages - Perl    9. Computers / Languages / Programming    10. Computers / Programming Languages / CGI, JavaScript, Perl, VBScript    11. Computers / Programming Languages / Perl    12. Internet languages    13. perl, 5.8, subroutines, file operations, text processing, strings, sorting, process management, modules, Tom Phoenix, Randal Schwartz, brian d foy   

Reviews (17)

Disappointed customer
You screwed me up. I ordered a book not a CD version of it.

Okay for absolute beginner
Not bad, but definitely for absolute beginners, and some materials not truly oop oriented.Very little coverage of database applications or web applications; out of step with current development.

4/29/05 all disks in my copy
all disks in my copy
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Subjects:  1. Computer Books: Languages    2. Computers    3. Computers - Languages / Programming    4. Microcomputer Application Software    5. Programming - General    6. Programming Languages - Visual BASIC    7. Basic, Visual Basic & QBasic    8. Computers / General   

Editorial Review

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Reviews (35)

great reference book
This is the definitive OpenGL guide and reference book.It is hands-down the best reference book covering all basic OpenGL operations.I'm very satisfied with my purchase, and I use it every day.

Still the definitive guide to OpenGL
For those graphic programmers who think that Java3D requires that you program at too high a level and want more elementary control over their graphics operations, OpenGL is probably a good choice for a graphics programming API. So, assuming you already have a good grasp of computer graphics programming concepts and can already program in the C language, this guide is probably your best bet. If you don't already know these things, you will be completely lost trying to read this book. The book starts out in chapter one showing the reader exactly what OpenGL can and cannot do. Supporting code and instructive figures are supplied. The next few chapters deal with performing basic graphics tasks by using the OpenGL API. Topics included are viewing, display lists, color, lighting, blending, antialiasing, and fog. Again, if you are not already familiar with how to write pseudocode for these type of graphics tasks, you need to find a good basic computer graphics text and learn the techniques first. The next part of the book moves on to slightly more advanced topics such as texture mapping, tessellators, quadrics, and NURBs all from the standpoint of "How do I do this in OpenGL?". The chapter entitled "Now That You Know" is especially valuable to the experienced graphics programmer. Unlike previous chapters, this chapter presents a collection of examples of higher-level graphics capabilities and some incomplete OpenGL code for those examples. The reader is expected to flesh out the code to get a running graphics program, and the book does point this fact out. Chapter 15, "OpenGL 20 and the OpenGL Shading Language", is the only truly new material in this 5th edition of the OpenGL programming guide. Thus, if you are not interested in using the OpenGL shader, you can probably forge ahead with the 4th edition of the guide if you already have a copy.
An OpenGL Companion
The fourth edition of "OpenGL Reference Manual" edited by Dave Shreiner provides an official command reference for the OpenGL graphics library version 1.4.Published by Addison Wesley (ISBN 0-321-17383-X) the text is approximately 760 pages and has a suggested retail price of $59.99.Read more

Subjects:  1. Computer Architecture    2. Computer Architecture - General    3. Computer Books: General    4. Computer Graphics    5. Computer Graphics - General    6. Computers    7. Computers - Other Applications    8. OpenGL    9. Computers / Computer Animation    10. Image processing    11. Programming languages   

Reviews (7)

Excellent textbook for learning Java...
If you prefer your computer technology learning in textbook style, then this is an excellent choice in books...Introduction to Java Programming - Comprehensive Version (Sixth Edition) by Y. Daniel Liang.It's an entire college-level course in Java in one very big (and well-written) volume...
Great intro through intermediate text
I've tried learning C++ many times and kept getting lost between the introductory and intermediate level texts.It was suggested that I consider trying Java, so I reluctantly found this text by Liang and am making my way through.Not only am I not getting bogged down in the C-compiler, but Liang's explinations and examples are so much clearer than anything I ran into in the C++ texts I had used.
Excellent Way to Learn
The author does a great job of presenting a complicated subject in an easy to grasp step by step method. Dr. Liang obviously understand how to both teach and educate at the same time. I found this book through a formal class, but we only covered a subset of the chapters. I took the book and finished on my own. The book is that well structured and written. As a pleasant side note, it also contains zero errors that I could find, contrary to may software books.
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Subjects:  1. Computer Books: Languages    2. Computers    3. Computers - Languages / Programming    4. Java (Computer program language)    5. Programming Languages - Java    6. Computers / Programming Languages / Java    7. Java & variants   

Reviews (4)

A very good introductory book
This book is exactly what it says, a Beginner's book.Buy it if you are a real beginner but prefer something else even in case you are at the intermediate level.Now if you are a beginner with SQL Server this is a very good book.It is precise, with good examples and very explanatory.If I would have to point out potential future improvements, that would be using the AdventureWorks database for examples instead of the traditional Northwind.Also one more thing would be to explain more the new features of the SQL Server such as: Notification services, XQuery and Service Broker.

Outstanding Technical Book
I have never written a review about anything.I found this book so enlightening and so well written that I thought I owed it to the author to let others know how much I enjoyed the book.SQL Server 2005 has so many facets that it is hard to begin learning it own your own.This book has come to the rescue.It leads us through a lot of topics in a very logical progression.The examples are very well chosen and very easy to try out.(I actually typed in every single one of them myself--because that is how I learn.)What is incredible is how well the author keeps track of what he has already told us when he advances to a new topic.I am looking forward to the release of his new book "Professional SQL Server 2005 Programming."

Great SQL Server Book -- Balanced, Practical, Comprehensive
I purchased this book for 2 reasons. First, I'm in IT and my organization uses quite a few professionally created small/medium SQL Server databases. While I'm familiar with the essentials of SQL Server administration, I wanted to know more about the data side to help me think through problems that arise as well has to help me leverage the data by using it as a source for other applications and custom build databases. I also just started creating small ASP sites and want to use SQL Server 2005 as the back end.
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Subjects:  1. Computer Books: Languages    2. Computers    3. Computers - Data Base Management    4. Computers - Languages / Programming    5. Database Management - SQL Server    6. Programming - Software Development    7. Computer Programming    8. Computers / Programming / Software Development   

Reviews (12)

Is Amazon Pulling a Fast One?
Surprise! I'm reviewing Amazon. Your reviews for Microsoft Visual Basic 6 Learning Edition discuss the compiler that comes with the books, so people would naturally assume the compiler is included with the used books you're selling. It is NOT INCLUDED. Site visitors must click on details to learn that. Look, I know you don't have nearly enough billions yet to satisfy you, but play fair. Tell visitors on the review page that the compiler, the most important element in the reviews, is NOT part of the package.
Excellent Resource
This package has EVERYTHING that you will need to learn V.B. 6.0 and compile executable programs on your own.The step-by-step manual goes at a good pace for someone with little programming experience.The programmer's guide book and MSDN Help Library have the information necessary for those going beyond the 'Basic'.

An Excellent Resource for Those New to VB.
I found this book extremely helpful.I am a professor at Houghton College and purchased this book to write software for the genetics course that I teach.I had no prior experience in Visual Basic, although I have just taken a course in C++.The Step by Step guide is very helpful to orient users toward the visual basic environment, and has chapters on the syntax of the language itself, which is something I really needed.There are numerous helpful programs that come on the CDs, and I found the book extremely readable.In short, I highly recommend this book for its clarity and thoroughness. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. BASIC (Computer program language)    2. Basic (Programming Language)    3. Computer Books And Software    4. Computers    5. Computers - Languages / Programming    6. Microsoft Visual Basic for Windows    7. Programming - General    8. Programming Languages - General    9. Programming Languages - Visual BASIC    10. Basic, Visual Basic & QBasic   

Reviews (24)

Book has all you need to Quick start ABAP objects learning
The Book is good to learn abap quickly. Its practical approach is the key. The software that comes in CDs is self sufficient to execute the examples...no developer keys are necessary from SAP. Installation is smooth. I dont have previous versions of MS SQL server.
An excellent guide.
For those who beggin programming with ABAP within a OO perspective, I think is the perfect guide. Of course itsn't a reference book but it's a excellent point of start ABAP having in mind an OO point of view.

BUYER BEWARE
In order to use the programs in this book you will need to obtain a developer key from SAP. In order to get a developer key you *must* have a SAP customer number ... if you do not already have a customer number buying this book will not get you one and so there is no way to work through the exercises illustrated.
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Subjects:  1. ABAP/4 (Computer program langu    2. ABAP/4 (Computer program language)    3. Client-Server Computing - General    4. Client/server computing    5. Computer Books: General    6. Computer Programming Languages    7. Computers    8. Computers - Languages / Programming    9. Distributed Computer Systems    10. Information Technology    11. Management Information Systems    12. Programming - Object Oriented Programming    13. Programming Languages - General    14. SAP R/3    15. Computers / Business Software / General    16. Object-oriented programming (OOP)   

Reviews (1)

This book is nicely laid out!
I have been publishing 2-d and flash games for a bit, and now need to hit DirectX for 3d again (stopped at v8) and need to catch up.There were several things I needed for the new game project starting and it was easy to find all of them right off the bat.I checked first in the index.e.g. I need landscape/terrain generation, .x file loading, and concepts described in pure mathematics (not pseudo code) before showing the actual code. Don't be afraid of matrix math/calculus and get this book.It is a total re-write from the ground up of a previous book.I like this guy. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Computer Books: General    2. Computer Graphics    3. Computer Graphics - Game Programming    4. Computer Programming    5. Computer games    6. Computers    7. DirectX    8. Games / Gamebooks / Crosswords    9. General    10. Programming    11. Video & Electronic - General    12. Computers / General   

Reviews (11)

outstanding beginners programming book
Most beginning programming books do an ok job of explaining syntax features, but then they lose you when it comes time to put together complicated programs. This book holds it together to the end. Its to bad that "An Introduction to Computer Science" is in the title as that might scare away people who think this is beyond the basics.

Good for beginners
This book provides the knowledge of programming in an easy to learn format. Good for beginning programmers, however it is very basic and does not cover any advanced topics in any way. The book is really good for a first-time programmer, however I would not recommend it as a Python resource for anybody with previous programming experience. One major drawback of the book is that it does not provide answers or any other form of solution to the chapter-end questions.

Wonderful:The best CS1 textbook I've ever seen
I just wrapped up teaching a semester CS1 course using Zelle's book.I hope I never have to use another book besides this, because this text is simply fantastic.
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Subjects:  1. Computer Books: Languages    2. Computers - Languages / Programming    3. Programming Languages - General    4. Programming Languages - Python    5. Python (Computer program langu    6. Python (Computer program language)    7. Programming languages   

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Reviews (23)

Great Beginners Book
With only a few months of OO programming about 6 years ago, I needed a book to take me from the beginning again. This book delivered. I found I have needed to read some chapters several times to 'get it', particularly chapters 7 & 8. I like the way he writes an example and then steps you through it, breaking down the code into sections. It was easy to read and easy to refer back to. I still have a couple of chapters to review and I'll be looking for more of his books.

VERY VERY HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!!
Are you a programmer or novice programmer with little or no object-oriented programming experience? If you are, then this book is for you! Authors Jesse Liberty and Brian MacDonald, have done an outstanding job of writing a second edition of a primer on the C# 2005 language specifically, and object-oriented software development in general.
Not a beginner book! for novices!!
I am sorry but this book is not a novice or begiiner book on C#.
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Subjects:  1. C# (Computer program language)    2. Computer Books: Languages    3. Computers    4. Computers - Languages / Programming    5. Internet programming    6. Microsoft .NET Framework    7. Programming - General    8. Programming Languages - C#    9. C#, generics, .NET, web development, Windows development, Visual Studio 2005, Express Edition    10. Computers / Languages / Programming    11. Computers / Programming Languages / C#    12. Microsoft Windows   

Reviews (11)

An Excellent Buy...
An excellent book -- here's why:
Excellent Resource
What I like about this book compared to others, is that it gives clear concise descriptions. The chapters (or modules) are well thought out and the examples complement what the subject matter is addressing. I've bought other books on JavaScript, and I must say that (as a beginner) this is a treasure. It is exactly what I was looking for and by just reading the first few chapters has given me a great insight into this coding language. To me there is no better book on the market. You won't go wrong to get this book if you want to get a solid foundation in JavaScript. I highly recommend this book.

Great beginner's book
I have no programming experience and am teaching myself JavaScript. I tried a couple of other books, which left me feeling frustrated-even if they were supposed to be for beginners. Desperate, I tried this one and am happy to say that I'm writing small scripts and becoming familiar with all the different options.
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Subjects:  1. Computer Books: Web Programming    2. Computers    3. Computers - Languages / Programming    4. JavaScript (Computer language)    5. JavaScript (Computer program l    6. JavaScript (Computer program language)    7. Programming Languages - CGI, Javascript, Perl, VBScript    8. Computers / Programming Languages / CGI, JavaScript, Perl, VBScript    9. Java & variants   

Reviews (39)

The first book to buy if you want to learn C
The book has a great structure, there is 21 chapters/days total about C and an extra 7 chapters about other languages basic beyond C; Java, C#, and C++. There are however many defects to this book, there are many typos that I was able to spot, and there are no answers to some of the questions. I really enjoyed doing the Bug Busters section at the end of the chapters and would like to see more in the next editions of the book.

OK for an intro book
Sams C++ in 21 Days is OK at best but lacks depth on covered subjects & does not cover some at all.Linked lists & binary trees were covered in three paragraphs and a small picture.Good for beginning to learn C++ but that where it stops.

If You Want to Learn C, Look No Further
Master programmers may be better off buying something like the C books by Dennis Ritchie or Guy Steele, but if you're a beginning programmer who wants to learn C as your first or second programming language, this would be a great book to learn from. ... Read more

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

Reviews (28)

From Beginning to... Well, Some Tough Stuff!
This book is very well written, and the facing page style of instruction is a great method.
In other words ...
Not bad for beginners. But it's a far cry from being "the best book you can find on the subject". I suggest Mike Murach gets a bit humbler with those statements. The content is good, and if the author hadn't managed it to fill pages artificially with reformulating what she had just said, this book would have come out with less than 300 pages. Now take out the ridiculous two-page format and you could write this one on 150 pages.

Good foundation in VB.NET
I have been working with vb.net casually for several years but had alot of areas I was still weak in. I purchased this book recently and it helped me to get a much better fundamental understanding of the subject. I wish I had read it first. I now have all the Murach VB.net books and they are all well written and organized and well worth their cost. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Computer Books: Languages    2. Computers    3. Computers - Languages / Programming    4. Programming Languages - Visual BASIC    5. Basic, Visual Basic & QBasic   

Reviews (3)

somewhat useful but not great
This book should be named "Beginners Broad Overview of Mac OSX Programming Topics".
Well thought out approach
About 90% of my programming knowledge comes from books. And this is the first book I have read that actually looks at troubleshooting your code. Most books have a little two page summary of troubleshooting, but this had examples of what to look for. Excellent for the novice and still handy for the somewhat experienced. The approach of teaching the tools and the code at the same time was extremely refreshing, as most books seem to want to teach either one or the other and expecting you to know something. The Objective-C section of the book is not complete, but it has enough to get you productive relatively quickly. The one downside, this book is probably not a keeper, meaning that you spend the money and in less than a year, you will not really need it as a reference any longer.

Great for Getting the Novice Started
If you're an Apple guy or gal, you probably know that Apple believes in supplying an awful lot of ancillary programs with their basic system. The fact that you're looking at this book at all is that you probably have some special job that needs programming and it's up to you to do it. If you have not programmed on an Apple before, or if OS X is new to you, then this is the book you need.
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Subjects:  1. Apple And Macintosh Programming    2. Computer Bks - Languages / Programming    3. Computer Books: Languages    4. Computers    5. Computers - Languages / Programming    6. Mac OS    7. Macintosh (Computer)    8. Operating Systems - Macintosh    9. Operating Systems - Windows    10. Operating systems (Computers)    11. Programming    12. Programming - General    13. Computer Programming    14. Computers / Programming / General    15. Macintosh OS   

Editorial Review

It has taken four years, but with Read more

Reviews (139)

Awesome Quick Read
This is a great book.How many technical books have you read in 1 week?That's what I did with this book.I love the Head First series. They don't make great reference books if you are an expert, but the expert on the title topic is not the audience.

quick review
After I borrowed and read this book I decided to purchase it for the following reasons:
Great book to get you started
After reading a great book titled "Thinking in Java (JAVA 1.4)" by Bruce Ekcel.That book is so far the best book I have read on JAVA so far.It has TONS of information and for the most part the author does a very good job in explaining the information.However my main complaint with the TIJ book was that it was very hard to read at times due to the author's writting style.
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Subjects:  1. Computer Books: Operating Systems    2. Computers    3. Computers - Languages / Programming    4. Java (Computer language)    5. Java (Computer program languag    6. Java (Computer program language)    7. Programming - General    8. Programming Languages - Java    9. Computers / Programming Languages / Java    10. Java & variants    11. Java, J2SE, servlets, JavaServer Pages