4 comments about Beginning GTK+ and GNOME.

1. This book is very easy to read thanks mainly to the author but also to a nice font and layout. The examples are very helpful and cover a broad range of areas within GTK and GNOME programming. Bottom line would be the quality of writing and the diverse coverage. I have 5 GTK/GNOME books, and I like this one the best.



2. I like Peter Wright's style of writing for this book. Other big books like this can be boring to read, which can really slow down the learning process in my experience. Wright speaks to the reader in a language that is suitable for beginners. Some C knowledge is expected, but is marginal really. I liked the introduction to glade, as well as the two big examples in the final two chapters. One thing that would have been kind of nice is more material on automake and autoconf. Otherwise I enjoyed this book a lot because he keeps things very simple.



3. This book is well written and on a whole well executed. The two sample projects that he walks you through I thought were excellent additions to the book. The author also gives you a brief background of the GNOME project and how it is different from KDE which uses QT.

   One thing I did not like about this book was the fact he does not give any mention to GTK-- which is the C++ kit or any of the many other languages that can take advantage of GTK beyond acknowledging it's existance. It would have been really nice for this book to have had a chapter on other languages and GTK.

   Also the chapter on the rapid application development (AKA RAD) tool GLADE was rather skimpy.

   However if you are a C programmer looking for a good GTK book, look no further.




4. From the beginning you get a strong sense of being directly in touch with the subject. The authors ideas and his writing style are easy to understand and make for interesting reading if you want to know more about GNOME programming methods. The welcome at the front of the book says it all and it gives a clear explanation of any introductory topics that may be helpful before progressing into the later chapters. Even the Free Software Foundation and Richard Stallman are mentioned in order to help you to understand some basic ideas. The rest of the book goes into some detail about libraries, widgets and other parts of the sophisticated programming language that GNOME really is. Chapter two starts out with thirty pages of introduction to Glib. All of the introductory subjects that you won't see anywhere else are here and can be easily understood. Next is introducing GTK+. This is enormously useful and gives some simple ideas about code and how to use it properly. The next part of the book goes into the subject of controlling the user interface layout. It was at about this point that I was beginning to think something like "I wonder why you can't get visual basic books that are as good as this ?" Also, "It would have cost me thousands of dollars to have done this with MS Windows programming tools". I thought that the last two chapters which are about gIDE and Glade were the best part of the book. There's also the advantage of being able to subscribe to a GNOME internet list to ask the sort of questions that you wouldn't have been able to ask before you read the book. If you haven't done much with GTK+ then do go ahead and buy this book. Your world will change!

1 comments about Advanced Visual Effects with Direct3D.

1. I'm not a huge fan of Walsh's coding techniques, and I would certainly never duplicate them in my own code. His books, however, are very easy to understand and read. Advanced Visual Effects with Direct3D was no exception. I think this book was written when Direct3D 8.0 was the standard, but it is still a good introduction none-the-less. You'll need to be familiar with the graphics pipeline before reading this, and a lot of experience with using D3D without shaders will be helpfull.
   
   What I don't like is that Walsh relies heavily upon the D3DX library, especially for things like mesh loading. While certainly this makes it easier for a beginner to follow his code, this book isn't exactly for beginners. I don't think .x mesh files are widely used in the professional industry, so he might have been better of describing vertex use and loading in generic terms rather than specifically using D3DX sample code. Experienced D3D users will be able to look past this, but it might be a crutch for novices.

5 comments about Computer Graphics for Java Programmers.

1. I very much enjoyed this book because the author did not make any assumptions about the reader's knowledge. He explained many details that every other graphic's book skips over and moved from chapter to chapter in a logical order so that you could absorb complex topics. This is one of those great and rare books that having read, and studied makes other texts and graphics topics digestable.



2. That book was really worth every Penny. I hope Leen Ammeraal (author) continues the tradition in writing such comprehensive textbooks that are generous with information as well as code. If you're taking an introductory course in Computer Graphics and you've already taken an introductory course in JAVA , then that is all you need to optimize your use of this book. Once again, worth every penny.



3. Although providing nice code examples and clearly explaining the mathemantics of standard computer graphics algorithms, its ~270 (paperback) pages do not cover the scope or detail of the ~1100 (hardcover) pages in "Computer Graphics" by Foley, van Damm, et al., which costs roughly the same amount. John Wiley & Sons needs to be brought to task on the pricing issue, as the high price really shadows the real value (and business opportinity) of the book. My conspiracy theory is that the publisher is aiming to market it as a text book where students can't counter being ripped off by a publisher endorced by a professor or university.



4. I don't know if the other reviewers read the same book as I did, I think I was tricked by the bookstore and given the wrong book as a cruel joke.
   
   So, let me tell you the reasons why this book was given 1 star:
   
   1) If you a native spaker of the English language, you won't understand this book. Chapter 5 starts out with, "We now turn to the exciting subject of 3D graphics." Who writes like that anymore? The English in this book is very difficult to understand. The author repeatedly states the same piece of information over and over again in different words. At times you begin to wonder if the author is just trying to fill the pages. It's very apparent that English is not the author's first, second, third, forth, or fifth language. After reading the first several pages, one might conclude that perhaps author had the proof reading and translation assistance of a poorly trained monkey.
   
   2) The author has a bad habit of putting words in quotes expecting the reader to know what they mean. Example is on page 112 with 'superpixels'. Any person who has ever taken a technical communications class knows that one should never assume the audience to know topic specific words. If you look up 'superpixel(s)' in the index, it lists 112. Great.
   
   The Pros:
   While this book greatly frustrates me, it isn't all bad. The concepts that the author presents are coherent. His execution could use work.
   
   Conspiracy Theory:
   This book is not worth the price they charge for it. This is one of those cases where the publishing company and the universities got together and decided to create a textbook. Anytime this happens, they also agree to rip-off the students as much as possible.
   
   One day someone will compile a list of books that aren't worth their weight in coconut shavings, because the publisher and universities were greedy, and this book will rank top 5 of that list.
   
   If you're a student and you're going to fail the class if you don't buy this book - try to get it used.
   
   If you're interested in learning about computer graphics, I cannot recommend this book to you. If you are thinking about buy this book, Jonathan Swift recommends you attempt to steal it first and get arrested. The time that you spend sitting in a cell will give you an opportunity to ponder about something meaningful. Or spend your energies being angry at something else other then this book.



5. pretty intense and math heavy, not for beginners. interesting graphics problems though. this book discusses important issues that most other books seem to skip.

4 comments about Drawing and Detailing with SolidWorks 2003.

1. This book is an improved version over the 2001/Plus Book. I enjoyed the 2001/Plus version, but it was lacking in Drawing information. The book now contains strong detailing and drawing information.

   The 2003 version exercises addresses min/max layout sketches that are developed into parts in a belt drive assembly. This is very helpful if you are importing geometry from layout sketches in Autocad. The book was updated with new 2003 fit/tolerance commands and default properties for BOMS and configurations. Thank you, "authors" for listening to your customers!!!




2. Somebody just wrote a very useful book to translate the ANSI Y14 standards for SolidWorks drawings. I always thought the ANSI setting in Document Properties was a little miss leading. Our VAR says this makes the software flexible and users develop their own templates!!! OK.

   So now it is my job to develop our new templates, a task given to the new guy. My company developed their current standards based on ANSI Y14-1984, so in 20 years we finally took another look.

   Finally a decision was made to update to SolidWorks and update our engineering documentation practices. We looked at purchasing ASME Y14.1 - Y14.5 1994 and then I read this book.

   The authors go thought the painful process of relating the document properties to the Y14 standard. This was a real time saver.

   We create 10 - 20 sheets per drawing. Who makes a drawing with just three views? The authors also provide the work arounds to create Y14 drawing views, not on the Drawing toolbar such as detailed section, half section, revolved section, removed views and secondary auxiliary.

   I actually emailed the publisher about a question on the Bill of Materials item order. The author email me back with an answer and a solution to two days. That was great.




3. This is the second book that I purchased from Planchard and Planchard. I have being looking for a book to translate the ANSI Y14 standards for SolidWorks drawings. I agree with one of the reviewers that "I always thought the ANSI setting in Document Properties was a little miss leading".

   This book saved me a great deal of time and pain. Thank you.




4. The graphics are really poor and the whole book reads like an ASME Y14 manual. The only text that is descriptive is mind numbing repetition of what the particular lesson is about. I bought the book so I could use SW more effectively and try to get away from going back and forth to ACAD all the time. It might help, but the pain really isn't necessary. A cut below what should be expected from a $50.00 book.

5 comments about Macromedia Flash MX 2004: The Complete Reference, Second Edition (Complete Reference).

1. "Macromedia Flash MX: The Complete Reference" was awarded the Referenceware Excellence Award 2003 for the best book in the Graphic Design and Multimedia category at the Waterside Publishing Conference held in Berkeley, CA on April 10, 2003. This award is based on actual readership, so it is an excellent indicator of the high quality of this title. You won't find a better choice of Flash MX titles.



2. I have quite a collection of Brian Underdahl's books and I have always found his writing style to be easy to understand, accurate, and entertaining. I'm not new to Flash, but this book did a good job of introducing me to the changes in this new version of Flash.

   One of the other reviews said this has little coverage of Flash ActionScript, but then I noticed the review is from 2002 and seems to be referencing another book. This one has PLENTY of ActionScript coverage- Chapters 20 to 31 to be exact! And these aren't short chapters!

   I always try and write up reviews of books I find useful and this one demands a 5-star review. If you're looking for a book that covers Flash in-depth and will get you quickly up to speed (and not just making simple little animations) I can't recommend this book enough.

   I am a technology consultant in Houston, TX and I have about 30 books in my collection on Flash alone. Only about 10 are used frequently and this is one of them.




3. This book does not attempt to cover the full edition of Flash MX 2004. If you have the professional version of Flash DO NOT BUY THIS BOOK! The book is titled "The Complete Reference" for Macromedia Flash MX 2004 but "Complete" it is not. The book is only 700 pages. I should have purchased the "Bible" series for this application. Osborne books are pretty much hit or miss... and you don't know until you try to look something up.



4. The first thing I liked about this book were the notes and tips in each chapter. Someone could just read the notes and tips and get some pretty good applicable tips on Flash MX. The book begins with the beginner in mind. I found the chapters on sound and video extremely helpful. I too have not read the Actionscript part yet, but know it will help me understand object programming using Actionscript 2.0 better than I do currently! Thanks for a great book!



5. I got my hands on this book and at first I was so excited because this was one of the first Flash MX 2004 books on the shelves so I just bought it immediately. After reading the introduction, I learnt that this book decided to not cover Flash MX 2004 Professional. Oddly, it wasn't a "Complete" reference after all. Nonetheless, I wanted to get my money's worth so I started reading on.
   As much as the book seems to take a more text-based approach to explaining every tid bit of Flash, it fails miserably because it just seems like after reading 20 pages, you learnt something that could have been explained to you in merely 5 pages. I felt like I was wasting my time and eventually I just stopped reading the book, went out and looked for other books available.
   If you REALLY want to learn Flash mx 2004, I'd suggest getting a book that takes you through tutorials rather than simply tells you what each thing does and runs you buy a tutorial the author does..
   Oh and there is simply not enough screenshots or graphics to go along with the text, either they are uselessly detailed images or they simply dont exist.
   I really hope I never come across another Flash MX 2004 book like this again. I wasted 384 pages worth of reading to this book and finally just let it go, I couldn't go on because it became so boring, reading it was like a painful job.

No comments about A Ticket To Russia.

No comments about Design Dimensioning with Computer Graphics Applications (Mechanical Engineering (Marcell Dekker)).

5 comments about Sams Teach Yourself Macromedia Flash 5 in 24 Hours (Sams Teach Yourself).

1. i'm just about to start chapter 8, i'm taking a break...Although I plan on finishing this book in 8 days rather than the marketing tool of 24hrs, the book is amazing!
   Its easy to read, full of easy to follow and useful tasks in each chapter, and has a summary and quiz at the end of each chapter to make sure you're paying attention.

   One thing i like so far is that the author writes like he's talking. He will repeat important things over and over until you yourself have it memorized. LOL!

   Great book and defenitly a book that I will finish reading and following to the end.




2. The book teaches you the elements of using Flash but the exercises it instructs you to do are many times pointless...most especially the actionscript programming lessons. The "step by step" directions are confusing...at the end of the book, I was left wondering how I am going to build a usable flash site? Well, I know how to animate a bouncing ball...but what the hell is that going to do for my flash site? This is a confusing and worthless book.



3. After looking over the reviews of several Flash books I chose this one because of its high ratings. After using it I find it does indeed deserve the praise given. It's perfect for someone like me just starting out with Flash. I only give four stars because of a few errors, most minor, but one fairly important one which caused some serious grumbling and gnashing of teeth on my part--In Hour 16, radiobuttons, page 351, the author neglects to instruct the reader to put a stop action in the first frame. Still, it's a great book and well worth the money.



4. Please disregard the previous review I submitted as it contains an error. It should read that the author left out a gotoAndStop action on the rectangular button, not a Stop action on the 1st keyframe.



5. Wonderful for anyone interested in Flash. The pace is never slowed to explain the ins and outs of basic computer use, yet everyone should be able to grasp the concepts explored. It was worth the [money] I payed; get it now for [less]!

1 comments about Computer Facial Animation.

1. The collaborative effort of computer animation experts Frederic I. Parke and Keith Waters, Computer Facial Animation is a fascinating, in-depth, and thoroughly "user friendly" technical guide to the art and craft of three-dimensional computer animation, especially as applied to faces and expressions. An in-depth, exhaustive, and scholarly "how-to" text, Computer Facial Animation is an impressively comprehensive, 365-page textbook which is especially recommended for advanced students of graphics, mathematics, and programming.

No comments about Basic Mapwork Skills.