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Reviews (150)

Fast and painless way to learn Design Patterns
This is the first book of the Head First series that I've read, and I have to say that I love it! I think their teaching approach is very very efficient. Each concept is presented to you in many different ways and at the end your brain finds its way to metabolize it. Sometimes it's a picture that catch your attention, sometimes it's just a joke but at the end the concept sticks in your head and is gonna be there forever (at least I hope so :-))) ). Moreover this book is so easy to read. I recommend it to anybody that wants to learn Design Patterns (in Java) in a painless and fast way.

A fun way to learn Patterns
Patterns are boring. This book makes them fun. How they did it, I'll never know.

Number one!!!
So far i bought about 30 computer books from amazon. This is the BEST!!!!!! First book that explains something real good but doesn't assume that you (the reader) actualy understood it so they re-explain it and attack the problem from a deferent point of view. I bought steven mezger's design patterns with c# book and read it cover to cover. It doesn't even come close to this piece of art although this is wrriten for java programers. I read "decorator" pattern in mezger's book more than 5 times and didn't actualy understand it. First time i read it in this book and i feel like a design patterns master! I'm thinking a lot about their teaching style. Its briliant!If you realy want to understand design patterns even if you are a c# or c++ programmer, By this book!
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Subjects:  1. Computer Books: Languages    2. Computer software    3. Computers    4. Computers - General Information    5. Design    6. Development    7. General    8. Internet - Web Site Design    9. Java (Computer program language)    10. Computer Programming    11. Computers / General    12. Computers / General Information    13. Computers / Programming / Software Development    14. Head First, Design Patterns, Object oriented programming, OOP, Java, Kathy Sierra, Bert Bates, Eric Freeman, Elisabeth Freeman, programming, software engineering,   

Reviews (27)

Disappointing
I took the exam today....and....passed.Phew!This is one VERY tough exam to study for.I spent about 200 hours preparing for this exam.The exam is very broad and very deep.I bought this book and used the Transcender.
Acceptable Study Resource
I read this book twice. And I used the MS Press Training Kit Exam Prep application. I studied all 304 questions. I passed the test. So the study guide works. And this was the hardest exam I've taken (I've taken six).
I passed and that is the most important thing
Well I just took the exam today and passed (I didn't do exceptionally well but I have the certificate!). My only source was this book. By me passing I guess you can say it did the job for the task at hand. About 11 out of 16 of the chapters in the book are very easy to understand and very helpful and straightforward (minus the typos). However, some of the others, particularly those dealing with diagnostic and management configuration could use some work. My biggest issue with the book is not with how it is written, but the content. There were about 5 questions which I had no clue about and do not remember their content being directly mentioned (if at all) in the book. I am not pointing fingers at anyone, but there is a problem there with either the book's content or the access the authors had of what would be covered on the exam. All in all, I give it a 3 out 5 since I did pass. Although, I did study this book everyday, heavily, for three straight weeks. As for the practice questions, I thought they were ok as well. They helped me learn some things not covered in the book (oddly enough)and were useful to point out important points on specific topics. This isn't the greatest book in the world, but if you know it really well and do al of the examples and labs, you will probably pass. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Certification Guides - General    2. Computer Books: Languages    3. Computer Engineering    4. Computers    5. Computers - General Information    6. Digital Computer Design    7. General    8. Microcomputer Application Software    9. Programming - General    10. Computer Programming    11. Computers / General    12. Computing and Information Technology    13. Networking packages   

Reviews (71)

Classic piece of work kept up to date!
The book evolved from its first edition and its definitely a mammoth task trying to keep in this edition what is relevant and what isn't but i think the authors did it :)
Very detailed, but well indexed reference
Everything you wanted to know (and probably didn't care to know) about linux.
Outstanding second edition of a computing classic
This badly needed update to the classic first edition preserves what is best about the old edition, which is the format and attention to detail, and adds the changes that have occurred to the UNIX operating system since the first edition was published back in 1992. Specifically, there are implementation samples for FreeBSD, Linus, and MAC OS X included. This edition is as the first one was, an excellent reference for anyone doing system level programming in C or C++ on the UNIX platform. It is was never intended to teach the reader the fundamentals of the UNIX environment nor to teach C/C++ programming. The author assumes a strongknowledge of both. The book begins much as the first edition did, by explaining the UNIX kernel in generic terms. It then goes on to explain the various implementations of UNIX and their specific differences. You will find chapters three through ten largely unchanged from the first edition, as the basic mechanisms of file I/O, directory structure, interprocess control, and signaling have not evolved since that time. Chapters eleven and twelve are two new added chapters on threads, asthreading has become very important in UNIX system programming. Also, gone is the chapter on interfacing to a postscript printer. It is replaced by a more modern chapter on communicating with a network printer. The HTTP protocol is discussed in this context. The book contains a rich set of examples and downloadable code that is very useful. In addition, the book contains the implementations of two large-scale projects: a database library and communication with a network printer. Each project includes complete code with schematics. This book also contains numerous exercises, and the solutions to some of those exercises are included in the back of the book. Since Amazon, and some reviewers, show the table of contents for the first edition but not the second, I include that here for the purpose of completeness:
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Subjects:  1. Computer Books: Operating Systems    2. Computers    3. Computers - Operating Systems    4. Operating Systems - UNIX    5. Operating systems (Computers)    6. Programming - General    7. UNIX (Computer file)    8. Unix (Operating System)    9. Computer Programming    10. Computers / Operating Systems / UNIX    11. Unix, Unix Linux & Unix TCL/TK   

Reviews (11)

Credible, but I'll have to see for myself.
The Scrum principle is simple. It starts with some common observations: that projects generally succeed when someone sidesteps the formal process and gets the job done anyway, and that big teams spend more time tripping over each other than typing code. Scrum starts with the radical idea of announcing that we're going to do what we were going to anyway, then mixing in big handfuls of eXtreme Programming.
Real agile development
It's very hard to part with the practices accepted for generations. Many companies talk about a new, better way of a project planning, developments' ehgagement and other agile techniques. When trying to apply these techniques, these companies immediately hit the wall of a management looking for traditional ways they've been using for life and with a success (at least, in their estimate). This book makes a Scrum approach very clear and very compelling. You can read chapters from this book to your manager (by the way, I'm a manager myself) and move him/her, step-by-step, to the better understanding how a new approach works.
Common sense, immediate application.
This book, coupled with Schwaber and Beedle's other Scrum book, are a complimentary package. This book in particular? Common sense.Immediate application.
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Subjects:  1. Computer Books: General    2. Computer software    3. Computers    4. Computers - Languages / Programming    5. Development    6. Industrial Project Management    7. Operating Systems - General    8. Programming - General    9. Programming - Software Development    10. Project Management    11. Scrum (Computer software devel    12. Scrum (Computer software development)    13. Software Development    14. Computers / Programming / Software Development    15. Project management software   

Reviews (30)

An OK Java Book -- Not as Good as Their Other Books
This book follows the Deitels' standard format and content used in the other two of their books I've read ("C++ How to Program (4th Edition)," and "C How to Program (Fourth Edition)").As before, the teaching method, programming style, most of the examples used, and most of the problems presented are largely the same but have been rewritten to a Java perspective.If you've read and liked any of the Deitels' other books, this book will be fine for you and you'll know pretty much what to expect from it.
I hate this book
I am a programming newb with a geek streak a lifetime wide. I took a Java class this summer hoping to begin groking the one final frontier of computing that has always eluded me. We used this as the text. As somebody who teaches postsecondary courses in an entirely separate field, I feel this book is not a good first choice for an instructor in comp sci, especially for courses for nonmajors or beginners. The prose is exceedingly dry and longwinded *without real purpose*, and tests even my attention span... which is ordinarily sufficient for a continuous performance of the Ring Cycle. What really hacked me off is the way that the book handles terminology and syntax-- from the very beginning, the code examples often use parallel terms within the code in a way that makes it utterly unclear to the newbie whether they're staring down the barrel of a method name, a parameter/argument, what-have-you, which makes it very difficult to trace the logic of the code and get a good handle on the syntax. I have had far better luck grasping the concepts of Java and programming generally with Beginning Java for Dummies, believe it or not. I am a mature and educated adult actually INTERESTED in this topic and this book was absolutely dreadful to me-- instructors, please do not think you're going to choose this text for the present generation of undergrads and have it be anything but an utter waste of a hundred bucks for them.

Not for everyone
While I found this book informative and detailed, I think that may be the main problem with it.It is written in a confused manner that gives the reader too much information on each page.I was constantly feeling bombarded.The information is presented in several different ways on each page and it can get disorienting while reading.That said, the book is very thorough and well researched.I am not sure that it is anywhere worth the price, however.For a third of the money you might consider Java: A Beginner's Guide by Schildt, or one of the O'Reilly books. ... 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. Object-Oriented Programming    8. Programming Languages - Java    9. Computers / Programming Languages / Java    10. Java & variants   

Reviews (18)

Could be 10 pages long
It does get the point of scrum across.
Lightweight process, built-in feedback
People aren't very good at seeing into the future. If we do foresee what is going to happen, we often get the "when" of it wrong. And even if we get the what and the when right, we rarely predict the "what else" - all those unpredictable events that inevitably upset any plan. So why are so many software methodologies built so solidly around precise, complex, long-term plans? The only reason such methodologies appear to work at all is that everyone, their fondest proponents included, spend a lot of time running around behind the scenes, bolstering them each time the predictably unpredictable kicks another prop out from under.
A practical book on the scrum process
If you're the kind of person who demands technical books that weigh 15 pounds, with beautify layout and tons of white space, this book isn't for you.
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Subjects:  1. Computer Books: General    2. Computer Science    3. Computer software    4. Computers    5. Computers - Languages / Programming    6. Development    7. Programming - Software Development    8. Scrum (Computer software devel    9. Scrum (Computer software development)    10. Software Development    11. Computers / Programming / Software Development    12. Software engineering   

Editorial Review

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Reviews (219)

Required reading for your blue belt
Everyone who wants to write OO code needs to read this book.No, let me re-phrase, *must master* this book.
An approach to this software classic
"Design Patterns" (GoF = Gang of Four) is a signicant and, in many ways, a difficult work for the modern reader (me) to digest.The material in this book is highly self-referential: to understand a particular design pattern, it is important to be familiar withmany similar, if not all, design patterns.
A classic for OOP - truly a Gem - not much else to say
Like many of the typical Computer Science classical texts, you've got to read it, if only to say you read it :-)
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Subjects:  1. Computer Books And Software    2. Computer software    3. Computers    4. Computers - Languages / Programming    5. Object-Oriented Programming    6. Object-oriented programming (C    7. Object-oriented programming (Computer science)    8. Programming - Object Oriented Programming    9. Reusability    10. Software patterns    11. Computers / Computer Vision    12. Object-oriented programming (OOP)    13. Software engineering   

Reviews (19)

Very solid book
As someone new to OLAP, I found this book to be VERY helpful really getting a solid handle on OLAP.My company needed to understand and move forward on building a OLAP solution.This book helped my get a handle on what we needed to do, and a high level of how to go about it.
More than just a great read
In my mind this book is defintely the most definitive guide to dimensional modeling.Although there are some chapters (the last two that deals with process and other issues, the biggest part of the book is solely about dimensional modeling. Yes the first chapter deals with what it is (in general), why we would like to use dimensional modeling and some myths and caveats.However, from chapter 2 through 12, the book is hand-on.
The standard
If you only have time to read one book about dwh, read this one. It gives beguinners a complete overview about the most important aspects (technologies and techniques) involved, for the advanced one this book a good reverece (especially in terms of data modelling).
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Subjects:  1. Computer Books: General    2. Computers    3. Computers - Data Base Management    4. Data warehousing    5. Database Engineering    6. Database Management - General    7. Database design    8. Information Management    9. Networking - General    10. Computer modelling & simulation    11. Computers / Programming / Systems Analysis & Design    12. Databases & data structures   

Reviews (7)

Didática Perfeita
Esse livro contém todos os ingredientes necessários para você poder dar uma boa avançada em C#, explica muitas coisas a respeito do uso de técnicas envolvendo Windows Form e User Control e até classes.

Nice Look At Custom Controls
Pro .NET 2.0 Windows Forms and Custom Controls in C# by Matthew MacDonald provides a nice introduction (well more than that with a book that is ~1000 pages long) to controls in the .NET 2.0 world.
Excellent Windows Forms and Custom Controls Coverage
This book covers everything you need to know about Windows Forms and Custom Controls. It is very thorough and well written.
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Subjects:  1. C# (Computer program language)    2. Computer Books: Languages    3. Computer software    4. Computers    5. Computers - Languages / Programming    6. Development    7. Microsoft .NET Framework    8. Programming - General    9. Programming Languages - C#    10. Computers / Programming / General   

Reviews (33)

Bridge the gap
Statistics books are either too hard or way too basic for non-statisticians.
Lots of theory, not enough application
I've read the other reviews and I generally agree: This is a well written stats book, especially if you are trying to learn the underlying theories rather than just randomly banging around on a keyboard. However, don't expect this book to be a particularly good choice if you need to do anything much more difficult than a one-way ANOVA.Even though this book is 770+ pages long, Field doesn't address realistic scenarios. For example, even though he devotes about 210 pages to all sorts of ANOVA, there is no mention of repeated measures ANCOVA, which is not that unusual. In some places, he seems to suggest that something is really difficult (e.g., contrasts in repeated measures ANOVA) and then offers only weak examples of what to do about it with no mention of how to report what you've done. In fact, he offers very few examples of how to report results, and in some cases, his running examples are nonsignificant so his reporting examples stop short.All together, this is a good stats theory book with an intro to SPSS, but it's not the kind of book that is going to get you through many real-world analyses. I would recommend this book to undergraduates and graduate students who feel they need some more background, but folks in the field are better off looking elsewhere.

This was exactly what I was looking for!
The author provides clear explanation of various statistic techniques; what each of them means, when to be applied, and how to use them in a very understandable way. This was what I was exactly looking for. Good examples with step by step guide with actual dialog boxes from the SPSS window are also very helpful. I really like it a lot. It was a good priced book considering what it provides. Best stat book I've bought ever! Thank you!! ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Computer Books: Languages    2. Computers    3. Programming Languages - General    4. Research    5. Sociology    6. Statistics    7. Mathematical & statistical software    8. Probability & statistics    9. Social Science / Research   

Editorial Review

PHP is far more than a cult language or open-source icon. It's a remarkably capable language that's well integrated with lots of technologies--notably mSQL and MySQL database servers--and quite easy to learn. Read more

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Solid Look At PHP Programming
'Programming PHP' by Kevin Tatroe is a solid look at this popular open source solution for generating dynamic web pages.Competing against the money solutions ASP and JSP, PHP will give you the same kind of functionality, but at a much lower price!Packed with over 500 pages of PHP goodness, this book will make you a better PHP programmer and teach you how to go all the way from defining the most basic of variables to performing database tasks and all sorts of other important tasks and tricks of the trade.I highly recommend this well-written and well ordered book, perfect for anyone that wants to learn and excel at PHP programming!!
Not the best, but decent
It's not the best computer language book I have ever read, by a long shot, but it did give me most of what I needed. I found a number of errors, including places where the example code differs from the text description. This is mostly the editor's fault. Also, there were a number of important details that were left out. This brings me to my main concern: it is not clear who this book was written for. A novice would be overwhelmed, I think, while a more experienced programmer like me may be frustrated with some critical omissions. On the whole, though, it did get the job done.

Programming PHP, 2nd Edition (PHP 5)
I'm assuming via the dates of the other reviews, that most of them are referring to Version 1.
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Subjects:  1. Computer Books: Languages    2. Computer Books: Web Programming    3. Computers    4. Computers - Languages / Programming    5. Design    6. Information Technology    7. Internet - General    8. Internet - Web Site Design    9. PHP (Computer program language)    10. Programming Languages - General    11. Web sites    12. Computer Programming    13. Computers / Languages / Programming    14. Computers / Programming Languages / General    15. Internet languages    16. Programming PHP, Rasmus Lerdorf, Kevin Tatroe, Php, web, database, mysql, dynamic, html, cgi, apache, database-backed, database-driven    17. Publishing on the Internet   

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Reviews (29)

Best book on programming ever!
I am a successful self taught programmer. I have learned C/C++, Java, Perl, and now Ruby all from books and reading other people's code. I have to say this is the best book on programming for a particular language that I have ever read. And I have read quite a few.
Great for learning
For learning Ruby, this is a great book.It'll help you learn the basics (although a little coding will help you more than reading will), and then, it'll introduce you to some of the more advanced topics.A great introduction.

A Must For Ruby and Rails Developers
This book is a must for both Ruby and Ruby on Rails developers. It is extremely well written and contains much more than a normal programming book. Most importantly it assumes that you're above average intellegence and doesn't pull punches when it comes to complex ideas.
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Subjects:  1. Computer Books: General    2. Computers    3. Computers - Languages / Programming    4. Programming - General    5. Programming Languages - General    6. Reference - General    7. Computer Programming    8. Computers / Languages / Programming    9. Computers / Programming / Object Oriented    10. Computers / Programming Languages / General    11. Object-oriented programming (Computer science    12. Programming languages, scripting, Ruby, reference, web programming, dynamic languages    13. Ruby (Computer program language)   

Reviews (57)

useful introduction to SAS
[A review of the 3rd Edition.]
Review of The Little SAS Book
The book gives good down to earth instructions on using SAS. It does not get bogged down with the technical aspects of SAS or even programming in general. A book on driving, for example, may tell you how an internal combustion engine works when all you want to know is how to start the thing. So it is with this book. It gets you started and it gets you moving quickly so that within an hour or so you can do some pretty fancy stuff. But it also explains a lot, such as what a SAS file really is. The only drawback I have is a lack of relevant examples. There are many good examples, don't get me wrong, but there are too many times when the explanation is not followed by an example and it always seems to be the case that that is what I needed to see. Also, many examples are shown in a vacuum. For instance, there are many good examples embedded with the code around it, but then there are the examples that show you how to write the instruction for something, but it is not shown in context, it is simply a line on a page. Perhaps there just isn't room for it all, but it would always be helpful to see where all of this falls relative to the procedure or step you are in.Never-the-less, I love this book, it's great. I have put away all of my other SAS volumes and keep only this book in my desk, it's really all I need.

Very easy to use
This book is a very simple and readable introduction to SAS.It is also a good reference for anyone who is learning SAS on the fly. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Computer Books: Languages    2. Computers    3. Computers - Languages / Programming    4. Data processing    5. Mathematical & Statistical Software    6. Mathematical statistics    7. Programming - General    8. Programming Languages - General    9. SAS (Computer file)    10. SAS (Computer software)    11. Statistics   

Editorial Review

It has taken four years, but with Read more

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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: Languages    2. Computers    3. Computers - Languages / Programming    4. Java (Computer program language)    5. Programming Languages - Java    6. Computers / Languages / Programming    7. Computers / Programming Languages / Java    8. Java & variants    9. java, head first, head first java,Java 5.0, J2SE, servlets, JavaServer Pages   

Reviews (5)

A comprehensive resource - but not for the novice
Truly Matt Pharr and NVIDIA are at the top of their game, and his "GPU Gems" series is certainly the only one of its kind for graphics professionals that are familiar with GPU's and shading languages already, and want to exploit them for the maximum speed and effect achievable using today's technology. It is not a "how-to" book on shading or GPUs or even advanced graphics. There are equations and code interspersed throughout the book, with bits of wisdom that are very instructive for the initiated. However, if you are a home-grown graphics programmer who knows C, or C++, or Java, and even some assembly language, plus you are familiar with image processing and computer graphics techniques, that will probably not be enough to get you through this book. I would say that this is a five star book for high-level professional graphics programmers who work with GPU specifics and shaders daily, and I would say it is a two or three star book for everyone else.
Excellent Second Book in the GPU Gems Series
This book is the second installment of the GPU Gems book series by NVIDIA. Just like the first book, GPU Gems 2 is a collection of articles by various authors from game development companies, academia, and tool developers on advanced techniques for programming graphics processing units (or GPUs for short). It is aimed at intermediate to advanced graphics developers that are familiar with the most common graphics APIs. The reader should also be proficient in C++. As with the first GPU Gems book, GPU Gems 2 is not for beginners. For professional graphics and game developers, however, it is an excellent collection of interesting techniques, tips, and tricks.
Pretty pictures
This book is targeted at people who have a good solid grasp of either OpenGL or D3D as well as a grounding in programming languages such as C/C++ or Java.While this much is obvious, the book is still painfully difficult to get anything useful out of.
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Subjects:  1. Computer Books: General    2. Computer Graphics - Game Programming    3. Computer Graphics - General    4. Computer graphics    5. Computers    6. Computers - Other Applications    7. Microcomputer Graphics    8. Programming - General    9. Real-time programming    10. Computer graphics software    11. Computers / Computer Graphics / General    12. Software engineering