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Out of date now
Python has come a long way. This book does not instruct you on any of the newest features or capabilities.
Great
I am new to Python and really, really like this book. I have read it cover to cover twice. It is obviously biased in favour of Python, but goes out of its way to explain the "gotchas" and things that are not intuitive. All in all, a WAY above average computer book!

Definitely not a reference book
This book isn't horrible, but it meanders all over the place. It often confuses the issue by using several concepts in one example. There are too many instances where a technique is shown but then explained several chapters later. Sometimes this is necessary in language books, but this book abuses the idea.
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Subjects:  1. Computer Books: Internet General    2. Computers    3. Computers - Languages / Programming    4. Programming Languages - General    5. Programming Languages - Python    6. Python (Computer language)    7. Python (Computer program langu    8. Python (Computer program language)    9. Computers / Languages / Programming    10. Computers / Programming Languages / CGI, JavaScript, Perl, VBScript    11. Computers / Programming Languages / Python    12. Internet languages    13. Python, scripting language, object-oriented programming, Mac OS X Panther, Unix, Linux, Windows NT, OS/2, classes, functions, modules, operators   

Reviews (1)

A must-have reference for anyone working with Dynamics AX
I found this book helpful when trying to figure out how to do a variety of development tasks such as debugging, reverse engineering, compiling, etc.The section on the development tools was helpful because it provided a guide on what's available for developers.It's easy to understand and provides some good background information on a lot of the tools and techniques.Very useful for either developers or consultants. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Business & Economics    2. Business/Economics    3. Computers - Languages / Programming    4. Data Processing - General    5. Distribution    6. Electronic Data Processing    7. Materials Management    8. Programming - General    9. Computers / General   

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1 of 2 essential Ruby books
The other essential being Programming Ruby, which I have gone through cover to cover.That gave me a great grasp of the language, but did not give me the tools to create excellent Ruby programs.I read most of the sections of this book- I am not doing Rails and Web development, so I skipped or skimmed those topics.I implemented some ideas from the recipes and just learned from example on others.I now write much better code, and have a new air of confidence when solving problems with ruby.If you plan on programming more than a few scripts with Ruby, buy this book!
This Book is a Gem!
Sometimes, the difference between getting a project off the ground and watching it linger on the launchpad is finding an example of how to do something in code.
A definite keeper
Some O'Reilly books are horrible, and some are great--this happens to be one of the better ones. It's full of concise examples of how to use Ruby's standard libraries and most popular extensions that more than make up for their frequently terrible and always unnavigable RubyDoc generated documentation. An excellent next step for those who've read through "Programming Ruby" and are wondering how to put the language's better features to good use without becoming completely dependent on any of the currently popular application frameworks I'd guess about 90% of people are learning Ruby for. It even covers RubyCocoa basics. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Computer Books: Languages    2. Computers    3. Computers - Languages / Programming    4. Object-oriented programming (Computer science)    5. Programming Languages - CGI, Javascript, Perl, VBScript    6. Programming Languages - General    7. Programming Languages - Java    8. Ruby (Computer program language)    9. Computers / Languages / Programming    10. Computers / Programming Languages / CGI, JavaScript, Perl, VBScript    11. Computers / Programming Languages / General    12. Object-oriented programming (Computer science    13. Programming languages    14. ruby, rails, web development, database, programming, xml, dynamic languages   

Reviews (12)

Ditto what the other reviewer's said!
This book was just what I needed to get started in MS Visual Basic 2005.It is well-written.The book included disk of sample programs that has been extremely helpful.The exercises in the book actually worked and taught me what I needed.
straightforward and easy to understand
For the beginning programmer, this is a perfect book. But since I'm familiar with windows and programming, some of the instructions were redundant. I guess that's why it's called step by step.
A Great Resource
I have no previous programming experience.After only five days with this book, I have already built programs beyond the scope of the book.This text lays a strong foundation using simple language and to-the-point examples.The only reason that I do not give it five stars is because it does not include review exercises for you to do on your own and check against prepared solutions. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. BASIC (Computer program language)    2. Computer Books: Languages    3. Computers    4. Computers - General Information    5. Computers - Languages / Programming    6. General    7. Microsoft Visual BASIC    8. Microsoft Visual BASIC (Computer software)    9. Programming - Visual Basic - VBA (Visual Basic for Applicati    10. Programming Languages - Visual BASIC    11. Computers / General   

Reviews (4)

extremely useful
This book covers many aspects of programming the ARM familiy, including a surprisingly thorough discussion on fixed-point DSP computation.
If your company will buy it for you, get it
In the ARM tradition of charging for everything, thefirmware guide by Sloss is easy to read, and comprehensive up to ARM10/StrongARM XScale/926/940.That said, the book looks like the notes from a firmware lecture delivered by an Arm Apps engineer.The book is strongest in coverage of MMU and cache, but weak on ARM11 (1136 only and as a final chapter) and essentially non-existent in Jazelle coverage.Nice features are the toy RTOS which appears early at reappears with more features (memory protection, and MMU, for example).That this book is so quickly out of date brings the point that MDR bulleted last year, that the ARM family needs birth control but that is a topic for another discussion.Sloss' book has 'non-commercial license' for all the sourcecode.huh?Regarding this book, Freescale for example publishes equivalent information (old ESS manuals) in the 860/8260 training manuals for free, on their website.If your company pays for your books, by all means have them get the sloss book for you it makes a great read on the john, but if you are a student or independent developer, you would be as well served by studying the ARM ARM and applicable ARM source code for U-Boot, Redboot and the L4 microkernel, or even Ed Sutter's book, with the added benefit that you would have a license to use the code in your project.

6 Stars
If you are developing something that contain an ARM core.... this is definitely the BOOK.
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Subjects:  1. Computer Architecture - General    2. Computer Books: General    3. Computer architecture    4. Computer software    5. Computers    6. Computers - General Information    7. Development    8. Programming - Software Development    9. RISC microprocessors    10. Computers / Computer Architecture    11. Software engineering    12. Systems analysis & design   

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 (10)

Brings many things together
I was impressed with this book's unique perspective of blending the business and technical needs into a single focus, and it continued to maintain the human considerations.It does an excellent job of describing how to support business decisions through architecture at a macro level in a style where "the rubber hits the road."
explains the job of a system architect
The authors give the reader detailed and useful suggestions about designing a software system. It should be made clear that this is not a programming book. Coding particulars are at a finer level outside the book's scope.
Finally brings it all together
This is a really great book.Rozanski and Woods bring together in one text the information that is most important to know about software architecture.It is not filled with opinion but is based on research and ideas that have been proven in practice and that are widely accepted in the field.The ideas are straighforward and presented clearly and concisely.As a practicing software architect, author and professor on the subject, this is my recommendation as the first book on software architecture you should purchase for your collection. ... Read more

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

Reviews (23)

Useful and practical, with many new insights for agile software development
In the last couple of years, I have heard many times about lean manufacturing (and in particular the Toyota way of manufacturing). I have also read a couple of articles by Mary Popendieck on the web, so I thought I would get this book and find out more.
Agile software development meets lean manufacturing
While the topic of agile software development has been popular at least since the late 90s, and many have written about how various methodologies (XP, Scrum, Crystal, etc) work and how much software developers love them as opposed to CMM and other process-heavy ways of doing things that only managers care to push, until this book came out few had been able to explain WHY these agile methodologies work and what principles are behind them.The main revelation comes at the beginning of the book: while the software engineering gurus (think SEI, DoD, etc) have been busy all these years trying to make software development more like mass production, the manufacturing world has actually moved on to lean production, and there is much we software managers have to learn from it.Drawing from her unique experience as software project manager for companies that follow lean manufacturing, Poppendieck distilled all she has learned from lean manufacturing into seven principles and twenty two practical tools for software development that while not a methodology per se at the very least serve as paradigm busters for managers who believe that believe there is a necessary trade-off between speed and quality, and at best it can provide the necessary building blocks for development organizations to develop custom methodologies that would allow them to work orders of mangitude faster.But more than that, by establishing a relation to lean production, principles which after the spectacular success of companies like Toyota are now unquestioned, Poppendieck provides a more solid foundation and gives greater credibility to agile methodologies that have until now remained controversial.This will hardly be the last word on this topic, and in fact Poppendieck is about to release a second book that goes into more detail on how to put lean development in practice, but nevertheless this work is sure to remain relevant for a long time to come.

A good, practical book
Our reading group at work recently read "Lean Software Development."There are several things I really like about this book:
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Subjects:  1. Computer Books: General    2. Computers    3. Computers - Languages / Programming    4. Entrepreneurship    5. Programming - Software Development    6. Software Development    7. Computers / Programming / Software Development    8. Software engineering    9. Systems management   

Reviews (7)

Practical and Simple
This information in this book is simply presented and very easy to apply.
Information packed
Most texts on software testing have a chapter or two which describe test design techniques. This is the first text that is devoted exclusively to this subject. There is little in the way of theory. The text is practical and provides the software test professional with clear explanations and examples of test techniques that have been proven to be effective.
A Critically Important Read for Software Test Engineers
Lee Copeland's book, "A Practitioner's Guide to Software Test Design" provides an easily read introduction into a critical but often ignored subject. As those familiar with the IEEE Standard for Software Test Documentation (IEEE-Std-829) know, Test Design is the first step in turning the "What" of the Test Plan into the "How" of test execution. The IEEE Test Documentation lifecycle is Test Plan - Test Design - Test Case Development - Test Procedure Development - (Test Execution) - Test Summary Report creation. Many test engineers proceed directly from Test Planning into Test Procedure creation, and do Test Design implicitly as opposed to explicitly. This can have a negative impact on an effective test program. This book clearly shows how to implement the test design process described in Drabick's book "Best Practices for the Formal Software Testing Process".
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Subjects:  1. Computer Books: General    2. Computer software    3. Computers    4. Computers - Languages / Programming    5. General    6. Programming - Software Development    7. Reference - General    8. Testing    9. Software engineering   

Reviews (13)

This Dummies is a mess!
Dummies books have been a staple of my computing/software resource library for a long time.This book was very disappointing.If you're looking for an organized presentation of the functions and capabilities of Adobe 7, leave this on the shelf.There are few visual examples in the book and very few tutorials that lead you through a topic in any organized way at all.To get something out of this book, I found myself jumping all over the place, following topic and function chapter references tossed in all too frequently, sifting through meaningless and annoying chatty writing, trying to piece together a tool's functionality on my own.And did I mention the writing style?Distracting, distracting, distracting.I felt like I was sitting in a computer class for octogenarians with ADD. Get to the point!!Leave it on the shelf.

Works Great
This book is easy to use and understand. I was comfortable using the program in a week.

Photoshop 7 for Dummies
Reads like stereo instructions. Too many technical graphics terms for a novice photo editor. I usually like the "for dummies" books but this one falls way short of the mark. I would recomend this book only to a seasoned graphic artist that was already familiar with the terminology. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Adobe Photoshop    2. Computer Graphics - General    3. Computer Graphics - Photoshop    4. Computer graphics    5. Computers - Desktop Publishing    6. Desktop Publishing - General    7. Microcomputer Graphics    8. Photo Techniques    9. Photographic Techniques Using Specific Equipment    10. Photography    11. Techniques - Equipment    12. Computers / Computer Graphics / Design    13. Photoshop   

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Reviews (22)

Definitive resource for web masters who consider themselves professionals
Each time I sit down to redevelop a website I revist this book.It can really help you understand the shortcomings of a site's present information architecture and explain those shortcomings to non-techy clients.

Interesting, but a bit on the fluffy side
I'm the kind of reader that enjoys straight to the point books. As interesting as this book was, I found it rambled and went too deep into how to sell IA to administration, or learn about IA in schools, or what steps should one take to become an information architect, etc. I found it presented ideas, often left the reader at the end of each section with "it depends" or "you'll see what works best for you". Which is fine, but isn't really helpful.
A Great Resource
This book is a great resource for IA. Struggling with what type of navigation to use and why? This book is an easy read that helps you get good IA done. It also explains the in's and out's of IA. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Architecture    2. Computer - Internet    3. Computer Books: Internet General    4. Computers    5. Data Processing - General    6. Design    7. Information storage and retrie    8. Information storage and retrieval systems    9. Information systems    10. Internet - Web Site Design    11. Programming - General    12. Web sites    13. Computer / Internet    14. Computer architecture & logic design    15. Computers / Internet / Web Site Design    16. Computers/Data Processing - General    17. Computers/Programming - General    18. World Wide Web (WWW)   

Reviews (13)

Excel VBA Programming
Great Book.
Easy in the jungle of VBA!!
I think that this book is very useful to anybody who really knows the BASIC of VBA in Excel.
A nice introduction
A good book to start with.It does a nice job of exposing the reader to the most vital features of VBA for Excel.Someone with no programming experience can read this and finish capable of writing a wide range of useful macros for their needs. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Business    2. Computer Books: Spreadsheets    3. Computer programs    4. Computers    5. Computers - Spreadsheets    6. Electronic spreadsheets    7. Microsoft Excel (Computer file    8. Microsoft Excel (Computer software)    9. Microsoft Visual Basic for app    10. Programming - Visual Basic - VBA (Visual Basic for Applicati    11. Spreadsheets - Excel    12. Spreadsheets - General    13. Basic, Visual Basic & QBasic    14. Computers / Spreadsheets / General    15. Excel   

Reviews (6)

This should have been the manual
This is certainly as dry as a computer manual, so Microsoft could have included this as at least a PDF with PowerPoint. So did not do that and now they want you to buy this separately. That itself is reason to not buy this book and look at other alternatives.
Microsoft Office PowerPoint 2003 Step by Step
Very easy to follow and teach from.It's also very easy for those that I'm training to follow from as well.
Office PP 2003
This Powerpoint book was very well written.The information was precise and easy to follow.I recommend it to anyone planning to get Microsoft certification. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Business Software - Powerpoint    2. Business presentations    3. Computer Books: General    4. Computer Graphics - General    5. Computer graphics    6. Computer programs    7. Computers    8. Computers - Integrated Software    9. Graphic methods    10. Microcomputer Graphics    11. Microcomputer Integrated Application Software    12. Microsoft PowerPoint (Computer    13. Microsoft PowerPoint (Computer file)    14. Presentation graphics software    15. Programming - Software Development    16. Computers / General    17. Home Computing   

Reviews (6)

learning SPSS and statistics
Pallant manages to explain fairly advanced statistical concepts like multiple regression, analysis of covariance, factor analysis and others, using SPSS. You don't have to be a stats major to be able to gainfully master SPSS. It does the computational heavy lifting. The point of this book is to learn the broad meaning of these concepts and how to interpret the results SPSS returns.
Excellent book!!!! But the 1 year SPSS license ......
This book is a "must have" introduction to SPSS. Brilliant & Highly Recommended.(The 1-year only SPSS Student version license is a bummer ... many students do statistical research that takes longer than 1 year to complete.) Perhaps the next edition will carry a 3-year SPSS license?

This is a very helpful SPSS book
I bought this book based on a recommendation from my advisor.It is a great way for SPSS users to find out how to go about conducting the analysis that they need to do.The help function in SPSS is not terribly helpful, and the manual that can be purchased for a lot of extra money is so large and combersome that it is also not much help.This book makes SPSS much easier to use.
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Subjects:  1. Assessment, Testing & Measurement    2. Computer Books: General    3. Computer programs    4. Computers    5. Educational Software    6. Psychology    7. Research & Methodology    8. SPSS for Windows    9. SPSS for Windows (Computer software)    10. Social sciences    11. Statistical methods    12. Education / Research    13. Mathematical & statistical software   

Reviews (17)

One of the Best
This is a great C++ book.My experience is with the first edition, and I'm sure they've improved even that.The book is so easy to read and follow.The pages, and the code, are in color, so that specific lines of a program are highlighted to indicate the principle that the author is making.
Absolutely a great book
Absolute C++ is definitely one of my favourites. It is very well written, colorful, and very helpful. It covers so many things in detail and explains everything very well. During my courses in computer programming this book was my rescue!

The only C++ book I like
This is the only C++ book I have liked. He covers the material so well and does not but you to sleep while he is doing it. It is well broken down and easy to learn. Finally a coding book that is fun. ... Read more

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

Reviews (23)

Great Book
It's a great book, easy to understand, a lot of examples, could be used by people initiating on JSF, or like a reference book. It is not necessary any knowledge of servlets or JSP. Just install tomcat, jsdk a jsf lib and start to write yours first webapp!!

Excellent thick book on web application development with JSF
Reading the Amazon reviews I suspected this to be a good book.But how excellent it actually was, caught me by surprise.
It's OK, but there are better books on JSF available
Despite the fact that I really like David Geary's other books, I was pretty disappointed with this one.
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Subjects:  1. Computer Books: General    2. Computers    3. Computers - Languages / Programming    4. Design    5. Internet - Web Site Design    6. JavaServer pages    7. Programming - General    8. Programming Languages - Java    9. Web site development    10. Web sites    11. Computers / Programming Languages / Java    12. Java & variants   

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Reviews (10)

A+ Seller
The book was clean and brand new as mentioned. Thanks.
Excellent, but not for beginners
Understanding the Linux Kernel is an excellent guide for those who have some experience using Linux, and would like to know what's going on under the hood. It's a comprehensive guide that not only describes how Linux boots and initializes itself, and how programs call functions inside the kernel, but actually goes down to the murky depths of interrupts, process switching, inter-process communication, and even memory management down to the level of the 80x86 processor instructions, registers and features (actually if you add it all up, memory management takes up most of the book -- a good thing!). Furthermore there are chapters about essentials such as file systems and device drivers.
VERY VERY HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!!
Are you curious about how Linux works and why it is so efficient? If you are, then this book is for you! Authors Daniel Plerre Bovet and Marco Cesati, have done an outstanding job of writing a practical book that will help you find your way through the many thousands of lines of code.
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Subjects:  1. Computer Books: General    2. Computers    3. Computers - Operating Systems    4. General    5. Information Technology    6. Linux    7. Linux (Computer software)    8. Operating Systems - Linux    9. Operating systems (Computers)    10. Computer Programming    11. Computers / Operating Systems    12. Computers / Operating Systems / Linux    13. Understanding the Linux Kernel, Linux, kernel, Unix, device drivers, memory management, synchronization, system calls, SMP, VFS, I/O devices, disk caches, swapping, ReiserFS Journaling Filesystem, system startup    14. Unix, Unix Linux & Unix TCL/TK   

Reviews (26)

Well organised and sensible level of detail.
I was new to Spring when I got this book, but it bootstrapped me into the basics very quickly - I found its explanations provided insight above and beyond the material available in the online documentation (important to know because that's already pretty good).