1 comments about Operating System Concepts with Java.

1. Currently I am a CS student in my senior year. I am taking my final for the class tomorrow and the book has done an excellent job of taking some complex topics and translating them into legible english. That being said, I will just explain some of the flaws.
   
   The first problem is the pictures or figures in book which are trying to give a visualization of the topics being explained. There a surprising amount of figures in the book that are completely horrid. I mean that they just either further add confusion or are just completely useless. Very shocking because the author/authors are very talented with words, yet seem to very bad when it comes to creating visualizations. There are a few with flat out errors as well.
   
   The second problem is that the questions in the back of each chapter are a catastrophe. The questions are typically just very vague or just aren't very good questions. For instance, there is a question that is similar this
   
   "Does virtual memory need to be supported by the operating system of a handheld system?"
   
   The answer in the teachers guide is apparently "yes". But clearly, this answer is truly "no". Handheld device operating systems don't NEED to support virtual memory. There are plenty of handheld devices that don't, and certainly you don't ever NEED to support alot of things. The question really means to ask "Is it beneficial for a handheld device to support virtual memory?" The obvious answer that is "of course". I got this question wrong on my homework, but myself and a few others talked with the teacher and he quickly agreed that we were right. There are just far too many questions like this that are poorly written.
   
   Regardless of these two problems, the book is really well done.

5 comments about Unix Programming Environment (Prentice-Hall Software Series).

1. This is one of the best programming books I have. If you master everything in this book along with the "C Programming Language" and "Advanced UNIX Programming", you will truly be a UNIX programmer.



2. This book is the best book on programming on Unix. It is very practical, and it gives you a good understanding of the philosophy of the Unix system and how to use it.
   
   Unix is a programmers environment. Once you understand the foundation it is a very productive environment. It will show you the tools, the philosophy behind the tools, and how to be productive in the Unix environment. People who hate Unix haven't read this book or aren't programmers...



3. In spite of its advanced age, this book is still relevant and explains many topics better than much newer books on the various flavors of UNIX. Although there are better books on the specific flavors of UNIX available today, no other book does as good a job of explaining the philosophy of generic UNIX and its intrinsic relationship to the C programming language. The book starts out talking about invoking common commands from the command line, the UNIX file system, and then moves on to "filtering"- which in this context means feeding the output of one command into the input of another command until you obtain the output you desire. Next shell programming is introduced along with sed and awk, which are the oldest of the UNIX scripting languages. Finally, we exhaust what can be done with sed, awk, and scripts consisting of UNIX commands already in existence. So, the authors show us how to "roll our own" UNIX commands by writing C programs and invoking their executable versions just like a UNIX command would be invoked. This part of the book is not meant to be a tutorial on the C programming language, so the reader should already know C or have another source for learning it. As an addendum to the section on C programming and UNIX, the authors illustrate how to use the UNIX system calls to build a richer set of commands. These system calls are interfaces to the UNIX OS kernel and provide a means for the programmer/user to access I/O, create and access files and directories, process errors, manage and create processes, and handle signals - which are the UNIX version of interrupts and exceptions. The book closes with a discussion of yacc and lex and illustrates how they can be used to build a calculator for use in the UNIX environment.
   This is a very "hands on" kind of book, so you should have access to a UNIX based system that has a C compiler handy so that you can type in the commands and do the exercises as you read along in the book. If you are a beginner to the world of UNIX, regardless of the flavor that you are ultimately interested in using, this is a great book to get your feet wet and to understand the power of this operating system.



4. With the growth of MacOS X and programmers looking how to take better advantage of the UNIX/Darwin/Mach underpinnings of the system, there is a great need for something to educate programmers on the basics of how to best take advantage of this environment. This book, affectionately known as K&P by some of us "old timers," continues to relevant, even after more than 20 years since its first publication.
   
   Sure, there are more "up to date" books, but K&P's treatment of the basics are the best. The book is full of discussions on best practices and uses for common commands that are still in use today. They show how to build the constructs to make shell scripts fly, even on today's faster hardware.
   
   The treatment of C programming under UNIX is classic. If you did not learn C by reading "The C Programming Language" by Kernighan and Dennis Ritchie (K&R), then the chapter on building a calculator with lex and yacc will be a difficult read. But other than that, this book is a must-have for anyone learning to program under UNIX!



5. If are Unix or Linux geek, this book is for you...as a refernce book, specially for novice....ed

No comments about Operating System Concepts.

5 comments about Computers and Intractability: A Guide to the Theory of NP-Completeness (Series of Books in the Mathematical Sciences).

1. This is among the most eloquently written books that I have ever read in my life. Highly recommended.



2. The book arrived in time, in good condition, and adequate packing.



3. This is a rare example of a textbook where the authors actually go to the trouble of considering the fact that the intended reader is a non-expert. Published in 1979 and still the best.



4. The book is excellent in explaining NP-completeness problem. Take it as a reference if you would like to do research in this field.



5. I have to say that this is a true classic. It gives a very nice treatment of what is NP-completeness in a fashion that really defends the topic well. It gives nice illustrations to show different situations and how to deal with it. But after the first couple of chapters it does get a little out there with the proofs it does. It is still approachable, but it assumes that the reader is already familiar with the basics of combinatorial complexity, especially in reductions. I would only recommend this book to readers who has gone through such books as Introduction to Algorithms by Cormen et al. or Combinatorial Complexity by Papadimitriou and Steiglitz. Those two books are more for beginners and this book should be one to help anyone interested in NP-complete problems to get more practice and depth understanding. Overall a great book for anyone interested in the topic. The grand challenge is to reduce everything to at least something within the 150 problems listed on your own.

5 comments about Modern Operating Systems (3rd Edition) (GOAL Series).

1. I have been able to, using just this book, read and learn about operating systems in a very thorough and painless way. The writing is straightforward and really demystifies OSs. I am a college CS student taking an OS course and this has been an invaluable asset.



2. I'm taking a college course and this book really bites. Reading it just leaves me in a daze. He goes on and on about how this method won't work and that method won't work which completely covers up what we need to learn. I'm getting 98.18% in the class on term 8 of 10, but it's not due to this book. Unfortuneatley I'm stuck with the book because it's what the school uses. Find another one.



3. I found the book complicated but I am not a programmer. The book covers alot of concepts which I found hard to grasp. Overall the book is not bad but if you are looking for something that will teach you programming I would not recommend this book.



4. It's a very useful, informative book but I found it more esoteric than it needed to be - I speak from my experience as a computer science student who then went on to write software for a living. Unfortunately, I feel the problems described below plague most popular OS books today, including "Operating System Concepts by Silberschatz, Galvin, Gagne".
   
   I'd like to break up the review rating into two parts:
   
   Content and relevance to subject: 4/5
   The book covers almost all aspects of what an operating system needs to to do and so is highly informational, from threads to memory management to I/O - the three most essential (and yet elusive) concepts in today's operating systems. The author does a good job of explaining, at each stage, the various design choices that an OS designer must make e.g. virtual memory - use free lists or bitmaps to do book-keeping of used and free physical memory. Most concepts are explained clearly and as such I found this book to be a good reference on OS design principles.
   
   Applicability to real world issues: 2/5
   Unfortunately a good reference is not always the best way to understand how things work in practice. The book discusses design choices at each step, but I feel what most computer science students need to learn first is how today's operating systems work - how does the threading scheduler in UNIX work? how does UNIX manage memory, so I as a software engineer can best make use of it? It's great to know all these design pricniples an OS has, but my experience was that when you're at your first job wondering why you're running out of physical memory or why your multi-threaded program keeps crashing, it helps immensely to know well exactly how your OS works, than the myriad choices that it can make. And let's face it - there aren't many OS's in the wold today - the UNIX family and Windows, which is modeled largely on UNIX (albeit not welll and with a few differences). I should point out that the book has a chapter each on UNIX and Winwos at the end, but by the time you reach the end of a 900-page book you're usually out of patience.
   
   I have studied from the book by Silberschatz et al. as well, and I have the same complaint with each book - as a student I felt there was a huge disconnect between what the books talk about and knowing the guts of your UNIX or Windows system. Put it simply, I found the books were too "bookish". Unfortunately, I am not aware of any other mainstream OS book that does any better. I would love to see a book that discusses this critical subject in a different (and more enlightening) way - that discusses in detail how, say threads work in UNIX, and then elaborates on how else it could be done. So that at the end of it, you atleast know to make best use of the OS you work with (even if you don't fully understand how to design the next one).



5. This is a great book for anyone interested in how operating systems
   really work and might be thinking about writing their own OS. I found it to be a thrilling read.
   
   John

5 comments about Essential COM (The DevelopMentor Series).

1. All vetran C++ programmers should learn this along side MFC, it assumes a minimal knowledge of COM so it is easy to pick up, and gets you familiar with the common elements of this widely used standard (CLSIDs, IIDs, COM Functions, etc) Shell programmers will want to read this first. See my other reviews for more good books in COM.



2. I have learned a lot with this book. I would not qualify the book an introduction book because unless you have some background knowledge and practice, you are going to find the last chapters hard to digest. What the book does is to covers the essential principles of COM with great details. This will make the first reading very interesting and it will make you come back from time to time to seek back specific detail.



3. I read Essential COM almost 10 years ago, and revisited it recently, out of curiosity. It's tough sledding, but if you *must* know this stuff, this is probably it.
   
   However, throughout the book the phrase "the source code that accompanies this book" occurs repeatedly. As far as I could ascertain after an hour or so of googling and searching, there *is* no such source. I assume it stopped working 5 years ago or something, and rather than continuing to provide it somewhere on the web with a disclaimer -- which I assume would be embarrassing to Mr. Box -- it has been silently "disappeared". I consider this mildly unethical, and certainly annoying, since many perhaps minor points are supposedly demonstrated by this non-existent source.



4. If you want to learn COM I dont think this book is a good start. It is a great book and I think every COM developer should read it, however; it is not a step-by-step into. It also doesn't have small projects which let's your get feet wet w/COM. I would recommend "Inside COM" by Dale Rogerson to start learning COM.



5. I read this book about ten years ago first time. When I have to deal with a COM problem, I still find it useful.

5 comments about Unix Network Programming, Volume 1: The Sockets Networking API (3rd Edition) (Addison-Wesley Professional Computing Series).

1. The book contains everything that I want to know about the Unix Sockets API. The book is well structured, and the explanations are generally good. I would give it 4½ stars if it was possible.
   
   I do have a few minor gripes though. The text can be a bit dull compared to other books. I bought "Programming with POSIX(R) Threads" by David R. Butenhof at the same time, and this book is much more entertaining while still factual and correct.
   
   I dislike that all the examples in the book uses a special header defined in the Appendix. That makes it impossible to use snippets of code from the examples to make your own applications.



2. This book is excellent. I had previously bought "Advanced Programming in the UNIX Environment" by the same author and I loved it so now that I have to do network programming in Linux I got a copy of UNP. The book is well organized and has a lot more information than I expected (Raw sockets, Packet capture, IPv6 etc). Everything is explained clearly and with a lot of examples. It's a shame that the author passed away because I would buy any other book he wrote. Buy this book, it's expensive but It's so professional that is a "must have" for anyone that's going to be programming network applications in UNIX systems.
   
   Thank you, Richard Stevens. Rest in Peace.



3. This book consists of "in the trenches" information Mr. Stevens learned over the years by reading source, testing thoroughly, documenting extensively, and assembling carefully all this data into one heck of a book on Unix programming. I feel certain in declaring that many who've developed code on Unix know instantly of Stevens' works. This update to his book appears just as thorough.
   
   I do agree with a previous reviewer who was unhappy with the code samples' dependency on a header file in the back of the book. It's a clumsy technique, but it's difficult to imagine another way to accomplish the goals of including the header.



4. If you are reading this review you probably are looking for a comprehensive text on socket programming. Look no further. This is the One. You can stop reading reviews trying to find the perfect one and go hit the Add To Shopping Cart button with confidence. Detailed, comprehensive and clear. A favorite.



5. The Best series of books to learn Network programming from. The BEST in the world. Nothing comes close.

5 comments about PCI Express System Architecture (PC System Architecture Series).

1. It's huge, and slow going, but the book is quite detailed and generally clear explaining the concepts.



2. I have 2 PCEe books and this one is the best one. I don't have any experience on PCI and PCI-X. This books really have a lot of basic stuff which is very good for PCIe beginners.



3. this book was written before the pci express standard was ratified so much of the information is speculative. nevertheless, it is well written and complete.



4. The book is well organized. The illustrative examples are very helpful. The contents of the book follow the specification very well but much better organized.



5. Mindshare book was designed for easy understanding and learning. This book carry on the tradition. The first chapter compare PCIe against PCI and PCI/X, it provides an important perspective.

5 comments about Learning the UNIX Operating System, Fifth Edition.

1. I found this book nominally useful. I have found better references that give an easier way to learn UNIX and aren't such a drag to read. It is OK if you need a cross reference, but to understand and learn the system keep looking. I suggest UNIX Power Tools by Power, Peek, O'Reilly & Loukides.



2. As someone who has only worked with Windows, the thought of needing to learn UNIX was daunting at first. I knew the power of the command prompt from the days of DOS, and needed somewhere to get a strong foothold. This book is an excellent place for newbies of UNIX to begin. It takes what any and every user will need and explains just enough to get simple jobs done. It leaves each topic explaining that there is much more, but that is beyond the scope of this book. O'Reilly set out to make a beginner's guide, and that is what you should expect. Advanced users will be bored, but that isn't who this book is aimed at. Doubled with "UNIX in a Nutshell", I have been able to find just what I need to get off to a good start. Highly Recommended!!!!



3. I didn't know anything about Unix at all. After reading the reviews here, I decided on this book. It's for beginners like me. After finishing the book and practicing the exercises, I believe that I'm ready to go to the next level. And I didn't need any over-priced DVDs to go with it (and neither do you!)



4. This book is a great book to start-up on your Unix commands. The examples re-iterate their meaning and I think this book is a great start to the world of Unix.
   
   The X Win discussion though I thought could have been at the end of the book instead of the beginning.



5. Excellent program - I just decided that I would not be able to use Linux while in school

3 comments about Microsoft Windows Registry Guide, Second Edition (Pro One Offs).

1. I purchased this book to help me create a more secure limited user environment for Windows XP Home which would also work with legacy software. After purchase I found out that the author assumes the user is administering either Windows XP Professional or Windows 2003 Server software for large groups of users. The author details how to make mass registry changes using the Group Policy Editor which is not available in Windows XP Home. This book is probably the best resource available for its intended readers. While it was not intended for use with Windows XP Home, I've gained enough knowledge from the book to be able to successfully find on the internet the writings of other authors who have already worked out the registry hacks of XP Home needed to accomplish for its administrators one user at a time the same result as that obtained for those who administer large groups of users.



2. Windows Registry Guide is a comprehensive approach to the Windows registry. Great for the novice and expert alike.



3. The back cover of this book says the following; "Understand how the Registry works -- and customize Windows to run the way you want". Also; "Get the in-depth information you need to modify -- and seamlessly manage -- the Windows registry". I purchased this book in the hope of becoming thoroughly adept in UNDERSTANDING HOW TO EDIT my own registry key values. The systems registry should not be manually altered unless you understand the ramifications of what you are doing. One wrong hex value can cause a lot of computer problems, (although System Restore can take care of most of these issues if a restore point is first created). The book may be fine for I.T. professionals but for those who want to take an intimate look inside the registry in order to examine and learn to become proficient about its innermost workings, I do not recommend this book. Less than 30 pages, (pp 3-31), cover the "Learning the Basics" of the registry. I would have liked more information such as interpreting the registry Hex values using a common Hex Editing tool and how to make MY OWN intelligent alterations based on newfound knowledge gained from reading the book. There are several registry "Hacks" in the book but it's really just a matter of copying values from the book. You aren't really told what is actually taking place when hex values are changed, (EG. Are we changing a boolean value and/or how do we know which hex values are available to be changed, etc.)There is a lack of in depth explanations on topics that I think were very relevant. I paid $64.99 CDN for this book at the time of my purchase. I don't believe that I received fair value in return. I know the price has decreased somewhat since then and because of that, it may be a worthwhile investment for those who would like some useful information about Windows Registry. Again, just remember the book is targeted towards I.T. professionals. The three stars are mainly because of what I see to be a great lack of informative in-depth content, and very brief and somewhat vague explanations. I was left hanging and had to consult other media to find answers about some of the topics which I read in this book.