Editorial Review

Read more

Reviews (16)

Amazing book
This book uses an easy way to explain system patterns. I think every software developer has to read this book; it's a nice reference to help software architects doing a well-done job. Another great reference that you may have in your list of references is the classical book "Design Pattern", also at Amazon.com.

#2 best book about patterns ? yes.
A lot of the reviewers have said that this is the #2 best book about patterns : just trust them. I have bought it with the hope to learn more about patterns, finally it has given me a larger point of view about the subject and has improved a lot my creativity during software designing processes.
The second best pattern book
Second best isn't bad when the #1 book changed forever the way software architecture is talked about.GoF is not only well-written, but it covers all the basic, most-used patterns.Everybody thereafter is going to have to either re-hash GoF, criticize it, or come up with new patterns which are not as fundamental.
Read more

Subjects:  1. Computer Architecture    2. Computer Books: General    3. Computer Graphics    4. Computer software    5. Computers - Languages / Programming    6. Development    7. Programming - Software Development    8. Programming Languages - General    9. Computer architecture & logic design    10. Computers / Programming / Software Development    11. Software engineering   

Reviews (7)

Bridging the Digital Disciplines
Artists create by combining and extracting elements, often employing diverse techniques, to express ideas.Sue Bloom's new book brings her background as a teacher and digital artist and painter to the reader by showing how different artistic methods can be combined to create a work richer than any single medium alone could provide.She does this, not just by describing her own work, but by inviting 21 other major digital artists to share their eyes and techniques.Of course, she provides some excellent chapters on the "basics" of digital creation in Photoshop and Painter, but her book's unique strength, I think, lies in going beyond all of the usual "How to" books.It is a book which bridges these different digital disciplines.It covers collage and panorama creation, along with artistic tools in Photoshop and Painter while at the same time has a large section on "Artistic Considerations" (which includes "Experimentation" ideas).Bloom's first sentence begins with the question:"Where does that kernel of inspiration come from?"She brings us many tools to use.Along the way, she offers inspiring and thoughtful quotations from artists throughout history.I took great comfort from her quote from Emerson that "Every artist was first an amateur."An inspiring and truly unique book.BRAVO.

A great book for learning new techniques and skills
This is a great book for the curious and creative artist who wants to use Photoshop and Painter as their tools for expression. The author provides plenty of information, step-by-step instructions and illustrations to help the reader go through the process and create his/her images. The book is not an introduction to basic Photoshop or Painter.The book is for the artist who wants to improve his techniques and learn new skills using these programs. You can practice, and apply the new skills and I'm sure that you will notice immediately the improvement on your technical skills.
A rich palette to dip into!
Susan Bloom has utilized her talents as a gifted teacher, photographer and artist to produce a book that should be kept within easy reach of those aspiring to take their photography to the fine arts level. The book presents a rich palette of ideas to enhance images and to develop the digital artist. Through clear instruction and illustration she shows the extensive range of possibilities available for digital art production.The artist case studies and "instructional" sections provide inspiration, clarify procedures and highlight software capabilities.
Read more

Subjects:  1. Computer Books: General    2. Computer Graphics - Image Processing    3. Computer Graphics - Painter    4. Computer Graphics - Photoshop    5. Computers    6. Interactive & Multimedia    7. Photography    8. Techniques - Digital    9. Electronic & video art    10. Image processing: graphics (static images)    11. Photography / Techniques    12. Photoshop   

Reviews (6)

Empowering, Clear, and Consise
I have to say that this book is simply amazing.I have searched the longest to clearly understand not just about PKI, but actually how to implement it, and was always referred to tombs of mathematical theory and such.This book demystifies PKI infrastructure in clear and concise explanations (but not overkill though), and has a lot of material on how to practically implement a variety of PKI architectures that can fit small businesses to huge enterprise corporations.
Bset book I've seen on PKI and certificate management
Brian Komar tackles, what I've seen countless other authors refer to as a difficult to understand subject matter.It appearantly took a whole team at Microsoft to explain it to him, but it looks like he got it right.Of the many books I've read that address certificates and PKI this is the only one I've seen that presents a complete picture, where I didn't walk away wondering... but how does this part of it work, or why did they do that this way.
The best PKI implementation guide
This is by far the best reference out there for understanding PKI in general and implementing Microsoft Windows Server 2003 CA infrastructure. Komar's depth of knowledge and breadth of experience clearly shows. Found the description of CAPolicy.INF files and sample files and scripts in this book extremely useful - that alone saved me a lot of time. And it doesn't end there...
Read more

Subjects:  1. Computer Books: Operating Systems    2. Computer Data Security    3. Computer security    4. Computers    5. Computers - Computer Security    6. Microcomputer Operating Environments    7. Microsoft Windows server    8. Operating Systems - Windows    9. Operating systems (Computers)    10. Security - General    11. Computers / General   

Features

• Illustrated

Reviews (22)

useful
not complete, but how could it be. i use this all the time to look up syntax.

Great book for anybody working on Unix Env
This is the best pocket reference book that you can get. Its been really helpful to me in a lot of occasions when you just know that there is a command to do it but just cannot remember what the command is. Would definitely say a must to anybody starting or already working with Unix/Linux.

Linux Companion
If you are new to Linux like me and would like to learn Linux in a week then this book is a must have along with "Linux for Dummies" by LeBlance.
Read more

Subjects:  1. Computer Books: General    2. Computer operating systems    3. Computers    4. Computers - Operating Systems    5. Linux    6. Linux (Computer software)    7. Operating Systems - Linux    8. Operating systems (Computers)    9. Computers / Operating Systems    10. Computers / Operating Systems / Linux    11. Unix, Unix Linux & Unix TCL/TK   

Reviews (8)

Excellent Book for UML
This book is a great approach to learn UML and object oriented Requirements gathering. A class-room training for 30 bucks. Fantastic for beginners too..

How to use UML as a BA
Many other good books are available for learning the UML. There aregood books for learning to write Use Cases. This book's real strength is that it offers a practical method for Business Analysis that uses the UML and Use Cases. This is very important because books explaining UML typically offer lots of details and a focuss on how developers might use the UML in blueprinting a system; this book, instead, explains when, why, and how the BA can use the UML and Use Cases to model and analyze the business context and business requirements, as well as ensure that business value is delivered.

Excellent start book for UML
Excellent coverage of Rational tools, modeling and process. The book gives a great example of the software development process and great tips on how to get the specific areas covered in your project. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Business    2. Business Software - General    3. Case studies    4. Computer Books: General    5. Computer network resources    6. Computers    7. Computers - General Information    8. Computers - Languages / Programming    9. Hardware - Personal Computers - General    10. Object-oriented methods (Computer science)    11. Programming - Object Oriented Programming    12. UML (Computer science)    13. Computers / Personal Computers & Microcomputers / General    14. Computing and Information Technology    15. Personal computers   

Reviews (22)

Another hit from the Core series! Awsome job!
This is an excellent book for all Security Practitioners. FromIdentity Managment to Mutli-factor athentication this book provides examples and clear description of many important concepts. The bookcovers enterprise patterns for access contol, federatation and identity management. Like the J2ee patterns, I see this book being an important/practical addition for the security community.
A classic security book for java guys
I picked this book to read about using smartcard and biometrics in j2ee application. I am really amazed to see, this is the only book in the market to illustrate how to put together all three factors of authentication in a j2ee application. More compelling, the authors did a terrific job to cover every possible security option that adds value to j2ee application. The patterns and best practices for application security architecture and design strategies for the presentation tier, business tier, and Webservices tier of j2ee platform are very promising and helpful.
Recommended for All Security Architects
I have found all the Sun "Core" Java books to be at cut above, but this one differs in that while obviously Java-centric, much of the patterns dicussed are relevant to all development platforms. I'd recommend this book to developers and architects of web services and web applications regardless of their preferred development environment. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Architecture    2. Business Enterprise    3. Computer Books: Languages    4. Computer security    5. Computers    6. Computers - Languages / Programming    7. Java (Computer program language)    8. New Business Enterprises    9. Programming Languages - General    10. Programming Languages - Java    11. Security - General    12. Computers / Programming Languages / Java    13. Data security & data encryption    14. Network security   

Reviews (10)

Outstanding Reference for Database Developers Moving to SQL 2005 From 2000
We have been heavy users (both as developers and administrators) of SQL Server 2000 since it came out in 2000.We were anxious to upgrade to SQL Server 2005 and did so in early 2006.For the first couple of months we largely utilized SQL 2005 in the same way that we had done with SQL 2000 (with the exception of using the new Management Studio) and did not really exploit the new features of SQL 2005.This book definitely opened our eyes to many of the new features of the SQL 2005 database and we are using many of those features in our current development efforts.
Not what I was looking for
If you're looking for a "what's new in SQL Server 2005" this book covers that.If you're looking for a reference book on the product, that goes into how to configure or upgrade from an earlier version--Keep Looking.
Excellent SQL 2005 Coverage
This book does an awesome job of hitting everything that is new in SQL 2005.There is a lot to cover so it doesn't go into deep depth, but it does give you a good overview and points you in the right direction to find more information out on a particular topic by making sure you have a great introduction. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Client/server computing    2. Computer Books: Database    3. Computers    4. Computers - Languages / Programming    5. Database Management - General    6. Database Management - SQL Server    7. Database management    8. Information Storage & Retrieval    9. Programming Languages - General    10. Programming Languages - SQL   

Reviews (18)

Too wordy
Having to go thru some of the data mining such as CART, I find the book rather wordy.Sometimes, it takes a couple of readings to understand, too many termiologies.I think a lot of stuff might be better illustrated with mathematical formulae rather than words or both.For e.g., I was trying to understand what is surrogate variable, getting a big picture from the English is okay, but to actually compute it, I find information not as clear.This book is written in a way ... seem to be theoretical, and yet not rigorous enough.
Very complete
This book is a very interesting book to learn the main statistical approach of data mining. It's clear and full of examples. If you go a Stanford data mining website you will find all the courses and exercises linked to the book.
El libro de la mineria de datos
Desde el punto de vista tecnico este libro es sumamente completo ya resume muy bien muchos de los metodos estadistico que se aplican en la mineria de datos. Pero a mi parecer este libro es debil en cuanto a la descripcion de ciertos algortimos que describe, y en algunos casos solo se menciona el procedimiento como una formula (la matriz S de los trazadores cubicos) ya que presupone que el lector ya tiene un buen conocimiento sobre trazadores cubicos.
Read more

Subjects:  1. Artificial Intelligence - General    2. Computers - General Information    3. Database Management - Database Mining    4. Mathematics    5. Neural Computing    6. Probability & Statistics - General    7. Regression Analysis    8. Science/Mathematics    9. Supervised learning (Machine l    10. Supervised learning (Machine learning)    11. Data Mining    12. Inference    13. Mathematics / Statistics    14. Neural Nets    15. Prediction    16. Probability & statistics    17. Statistical Learning   

Reviews (6)

Very Good Book
I used this book for a course in Computer Architecture. Except for one chapter, I read the entire book and I practiced almost all the exercises. As a novice reader, I liked the book very much. The book is very well organized,chapters are laid out in logical sequence and the writing style is very clear. Many illustrations are presented in the book that make it easy to understand concepts. Many examples are presented in special cases that help the student understand complicated stuff. Overall I am very much pleased with this book. The only reason I give it four stars instead of five is because the answers to the exercises listed at the back of the book had errors in them (I confirmed this fact after checking with my instructor) and these are not fixed even in the last edition. Highly recommended to those who are new to this topic.

Tries to cover all of computer science in one book.
I can't say I have read this book cover to cover, but I did examine each chapter and its contents for at least a couple of hours. I am a computer science instructor at a start up university.
Excellent Survey of Computer Architectures
I recently used this book for a course and agree with the reviews that it is easy to read and very concise.It provides a wide scope of computer architectures and covers these well.However, I did find it frustrating at times that it provided too cursory a coverage of the computer organization pertaining to memory.This was especially prevalent in its discussion of caching and virtual addressing.It did not provide enough technical discussion or indepth examples although the illustrations were excellent. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Computer Architecture    2. Computer Architecture - General    3. Computer Books: Languages    4. Computer Books: Operating Systems    5. Computer Science    6. Computer Science (General)    7. Computer organization    8. Computers    9. Computers - General Information    10. Programming - Systems Analysis & Design    11. Reference - General    12. Computer architecture & logic design    13. Non-Classifiable   

Editorial Review

The Component Object Model (COM) is deep and extremely difficult, making it impossible to grasp the ideas behind this specification quickly or easily. Don Box, the author of Read more

Reviews (84)

boring, just read chapter 1 and look for another one.
It takes me 3 years to finish this book, only first chapter is very good;
Excellent book on COM!
This is a must have book for anyone doing COM programming.The great Don Box is a brilliant developer and an excellent writer.This book covers all aspects of COM and gives the reader the critical information that is clouded by the Microsoft tools.

Is COM really this complicated?
After reading this book, only two possibilities exist.Either Don Box has made COM more difficult than it needs to be, or it really is this difficult.
Read more

Subjects:  1. C (Programming Language)    2. C++ (Computer program language    3. C++ (Computer program language)    4. Computer Books: Languages    5. Computers    6. Computers - Languages / Programming    7. Object-Oriented Programming    8. Object-oriented programming (C    9. Object-oriented programming (Computer science)    10. Operating Systems - General    11. Programming - Object Oriented Programming    12. Programming Languages - General    13. Computer architecture & logic design    14. Computers / Programming / Object Oriented    15. High level programming languages    16. Microsoft Windows   

Reviews (8)

Great Technical Book
This is a great book. It is very informative and very useful.

Excellent coverage, well written
I found this book to be both comprehensive and well written. It was recommended to me by a very experienced AIX user. I am much less experienced, but I also found the book very helpful- it has a good mix of information, and is presented in a logical, well formatted way.

Techno shock
I used AIX in the mid 90's. I got pretty good at installations, SNA services, peripherals and applications. Since them I switched to HP/UX and moves from version 9 to 10 to 11; so I am familiar with today's systems.
Read more

Subjects:  1. AIX (Computer file)    2. Computer Books: Integrated Systems    3. Computers    4. Computers - Operating Systems    5. Linux    6. Networking - General    7. Operating Systems - Linux    8. Operating systems (Computers)    9. Programming - General    10. Computers / Operating Systems / General    11. IBM mainframe operating systems    12. Unix, Unix Linux & Unix TCL/TK   

Editorial Review

In defending your systems against intruders and other meddlers, a little knowledge can be used to make the bad guys--particularly the more casual among them--seek out softer targets. Read more

Reviews (33)

Counter Hack this Book
Counter Hack
highly recommended
I highly recommend Counter Hack Reloaded to anyone who wants to better understand the technical details of computer hacking / security / defense.
When the best defense is a good offense
The second edition of Ed Skoudis and Tom Liston's COUNTER HACK RELOADEDreturns a primary system administrator's resource to new levels, continuing the attack on destructive hacks with a counter-hack guide which remains useful because over half the material in this edition has been revamped and updated to reflect the latest hacker techniques. Typical hacker methods and tools are surveyed, new 'anatomy of an attack' analyses are detailed, and even a new section on wireless hacking appears. COUNTER HACK RELOADED: A STEP-BY-STEP GUIDE TO COMPUTER ATTACKS AND EFFECTIVE DEFENSES is one of the best on the market - and a most for any network administrator facing tday's many security challenges. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Computer - Internet    2. Computer Books: Internet General    3. Computer Data Security    4. Computer networks    5. Computers    6. Data protection    7. Internet - Security    8. Networking - General    9. Security - General    10. Security measures    11. Computers / Internet / Security    12. Databases & data structures    13. Network security   

Reviews (7)

George DeWolfe's Digital Photography Fine Print Workshop
Excellent book. I have many books on digital photography and this book ranks very high. Excellent work flow recommendations and clearly written. This book will also be used as a reference text in a photography course I will be taking. I have almost completed reading the entire book and making notes.

Yes, photography can be an art
Too much emphasis is being made on the technology of digital photography, and even on the mechanics of taking pictures.Just as important is the artistic factor, which is often not even addressed in books that teach Photoshop.This book is an exception.You'll learn how to adjust the feeling and artistic approach of an image to create photographic art out of a simple digital photograph.If you want to learn more about the aesthetics of creating a digital image, this book is for you.

Having taken the workshop...
...I can recommend this book to anyone wishing to simplify CS2 and achieve great results. Yes, the book does have a few problems as outlined by another reviewer and I will leave it at that. There are many, many tools available to the photographer in PS - too many in my opinion. George will guide the reader through adjustments in RAW, the usual histogram changes, etc. and then will detail the history brush. If you have never used this tool then the book is worth the money. In many cases when trying to dodge and burn you can damage the original image if not careful. Using the history brush changes all that with more precise corrections and more control over the results. If you are not shooting RAW, you will be and you'll know why after reading this book. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Computer Books: General    2. Computer Graphics - Design    3. Computer Graphics - Game Programming    4. Computers    5. Computers - Other Applications    6. Techniques - Digital    7. Computers / Computer Graphics / Design    8. Photographic equipment & techniques    9. Special kinds of photography   

Reviews (14)

Adobe Camera Raw For Digital Photographers
I recently ordered and recieved this volume and also "Outdoor Photographer Landscape and Nature Photography with Photoshop CS2", both by Rob Sheppard.Let me start by saying I don't like to read that much; I usually get sleepy reading.I am interested in learning more about these two subjects.These two books caught me eye while browsing one night so I ordered them on a spur of the moment decision.Well I can highly recommend both of these volumes, because all I have done so far is page through them from front to back reading highlights and a few paragraphs here and there.Now I can't wait until I can sit down each evening and read some new material in these books.They are written for everyone to easily understand what the Author is explaining; and they really hold my attention and interest.Great books that should be in every Photographers library if they really want to understand more and get better at photography.Rob Sheppard; thank you for taking the interest and the time to write these books.I will certainly be looking for more of your work. C. A. Parrish

Camera Raw - certainly good for a beginner
I'm relatively new to PS. In the last 8 months I've worked through most of Photoshop CS2 for Digital Photographers and Photoshop CS2 One on One and thoroughly processed about 50 (not a lot) photos out of the thousand or so I've shot.
Another Winner from Rob Sheppard
Rob Sheppard has done it again!Mr. Sheppards ability to make sense out of all the confusion is worth the price of admission alone.He offers sage advice with out all the hype.His non judgemental style offers you choices and explains why. He does not exploit popular myths, rather he unfolds the layers cloaked over what many have ascribed as trueisms.The book is definitely a how to and not a "do this."
Read more

Subjects:  1. Computer Books: General    2. Computer Graphics - Design    3. Computer Graphics - Game Programming    4. Computers    5. Computers - Other Applications    6. Digital techniques    7. Image processing    8. Photography    9. Raw file formats (Digital photography)    10. Techniques - Digital    11. Computers / Computer Graphics / Design    12. Image processing: graphics (static images)    13. Photographic equipment & techniques   

Reviews (5)

Diane Kennedy's the Bomb!
I heard her speak at a recent eBay convention & she's a great speaker with great ideas.The book is a must-read for anyone contemplating selling on eBay.She is a professional with good, sound advice.

Great Book, lots of good tips!
Very useful for online sellers and anyone getting some kind of income from casual ebay sales or any other comparable site. Lots of money saving tax tips.

5+++++ stars!!!!
Even if you don't have an Ebay business, this book is so informative for those of us who just don't understand the behind-the-business scene. My husband and I have had a business for years and FINALLY, I now understand what the heck an "S" corporation is and why we have one, as opposed to the "c" corp that we used to have. I HIGHLY recommend this book to ANYONE starting a small business, whether its Ebay or not. Thanks to the authors for putting it in plain English. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Computer - Internet    2. Computer Books: General    3. Computers    4. Consumer Finance    5. E-Commerce - General    6. Electronic Commerce    7. Income tax    8. Law and legislation    9. Personal Finance - Taxation    10. Popular works    11. Tax planning    12. Taxation    13. United States    14. Business & Management    15. Computers / Electronic Commerce   

Reviews (11)

Get a sense of humor.
It's sad to see that so many computer users seem to have no sense of humor. I, for one, appreciate a book that approaches such a dry subject with a smirk and lightens the weighty technical jargon with an occasional witty aside.
Great in Layman's terms
Highly recommended.I just bought a new iMAC and had zero experience with Tiger or Apple software.I like the way the author keeps your interest with sometimes dull materiel.Hard to put it down.

10.4 fordummies
I am disapppointed in this book.I have been a mac user for 15 years and am currently using system 9.2.I just purchased a new computer with system 10.4 and eagerly awaited opening the book.
Read more

Subjects:  1. Apple And Macintosh Programming    2. Computer - Apple/Macintosh    3. Computer Books: Operating Systems    4. Computers    5. Macintosh (Computer)    6. Operating Systems - Macintosh    7. Operating systems (Computers)    8. Programming    9. Computers / Operating Systems / Macintosh    10. Macintosh OS   

Reviews (7)

Great Book for Linux Kernel People
I recently started working on the Linux kernel and found myself What's there is good, but...
In many ways this is a great book.The subject is one that is known to induce headaches, and the author covers it with truly admirable clarity.It's worth buying the book for the chapter on cache consistency alone; like many others, I had to spend years piecing the same information together from varied sources, and it would be hard to overstate the value of having it all in one place. THE book if you are a kernel/threading developer.
I work on MP SVR4 kernels and this book is where I got most of my basics on MP from. I didn't understand the contents all at once - especially the initial intro to memory models in chapter 8, but after reading the SPARC specs (V8 & V9) and chapter 13, I can see how all this is relevant.Read more

Subjects:  1. Computers - Operating Systems    2. Operating Systems - UNIX    3. Computer architecture & logic design    4. Computers / Operating Systems / General    5. Unix, Unix Linux & Unix TCL/TK    6. Computer Architecture    7. Unix (Operating System)    8. UNIX (Computer file)   

Reviews (23)

Still enough to pass the CISSP
I sat for and passed the CISSP test in January 2006.I used the following resources to help in passing the CISSP:
Excellent CISSP Book and CDROM - Highly Recommended.
Dear All, I recently completed my CISSP review studies, passed the exam, and completed the CISSP endorsement process. This is a very worth while endeavor and, as someone with many years of Internet security and risk management experience, I highly recommend the CISSP certification process for everyone.Reviewing the 10common bodies of knowledge (CBK) has value for everyone in the IT business and I am very pleased to have taken the time to review the material and complete the exam.For my self-study review, I purchased four books via Amazon: (1) The CISSP Pre Guide - Gold Edition by Ronald L. Krutz and Russell Dean Vines, (2) All-In-One CISSP Exam Guide, Third Edition by Shon Harris, (3) Official(ISC)2 Guide to the CISSP Exam by Susan Hansche, John Berti and Chris Hare, and (4) CISSP Certified Information Security Professional Training Guide by Roberta Bragg. Each of these texts came with a CDROM for practicing test questions on a Windows PC and covered the 10 CISSP CBKs. I found the first three CISSP books in my list to be helpful. Of those three, the most helpful was The CISSP Prep Guide- Gold Edition by Krutz and Vines. This book is concise, well written, and easy to read.The CDROM is excellent and nearly error free.The text is well thought out and informative. I also recommend Shon Harris' book, with reservation. I found it hard to get to the required CISSP information, at times, due to the attempts at humor in the book.The CDROM of sample test questions were also very good, albeit not as rich in features as the book by Krutz and Vines. The Official(ISC)2 Guide to the CISSP Examby Susan Hansche, John Berti and Chris Hare was a disappointment. This book read just like a cut-and-paste from the Internet and other documents; and the companion CDROM was full of errors and omissions.After a while I stopped using this text book and focused on the first two.I am sorry to say that CISSP Certified Information Security Professional Training Guide by Roberta Bragg was a complete disappointment from every perspective.The CDROM example tests were riddled with errors and omissions. For those interested in my self-study technique, I took each book and studied one (sometimes two) of each of the CBK chapters each day.Then, I repeated the same process for each of the other books, except for the book by Bragg, which was dropped for reasons mentioned. I took all the sample tests repeatedly, before and after and then again.I must have practiced between 4000-5000 sample questions.It was challenging and enjoyable.In summary, I highly recommend Krutz and Vines and also recommend, with reservati