5 comments about Flash 8 Cookbook (Cookbooks (O'Reilly)).

1. Hardly any information that would constitute as worthwhile if you have a decent grasp of Flash. There is entirely too much elementary information here. One recipe is a small excerpt on how to create an invisible button by only putting content in the hit state of the button. Also, although the cover reads "Using the Flash IDE to build Flash animations and applications", it includes entirely too much information on Swift3D in a Chapter discussing 3D in Flash. The chapter should probably have been renamed "Creating 3D in For Flash using Swift 3D" instead of the misleading name "Simulating 3D in Flash".



2. As an intermediate Actionscripter, I find this book incredibly useful on a daily basis. It's well-organized and well-written, with several juicy tips and tricks.



3. This is a book for beginners, not even intemmediate level readers. If you are familiar with any other design software like Illustrator, Photoshop, CorelDraw, etc. you will find that much of this book is useless since you already know it! This is a perfect exapmple, quoting the book:
   
   "1.1 Drawing Straight lines
   
   Problem: you want to create a straight line segment or a shape made out of multiple straight line segments.
   
   Solution
   Use the line tool[...], the pen tool[...] or the pencil tool."
   
   This is by no means a "cookbook" and I'm very disappointed with O'Reilly being the publisher, since most of the time their books are great.
   
   The book probably focuses on REAL ACTIONSCRIPTING up to 15% its entire content!
   
   Only consider it if you never worked with a design application in your whole life and don't have the time or patience to read more than 2-page long chapters.



4. Flash 8 Cookbook
   Joey Lott ISBN: 0-596102402
   
   Cooking with Flash 8??
   
   Reading the Flash 8 Cookbook is a painful experience considering you pay $44.95 for it. If you need answers to real-world problems don't look here. This book is a semi-helpful reference guide for those designers who are just beginning to branch out into Action Script. They try to make everything in the book very easy for you to the point that some of the chapters talk down to the reader.
   
   The meatiest information is concentrated from page 200-340 of an almost 500 page book. Some of the information in this section is about fading movie clips in and out, the key word "this", working with Java Script in Flash, and adding event listeners.
   
   This book features one of the best explanations I have seen on how to create a listener object and add an event listener on page 346. They break all the code down there with samples.
   
   A bonus to reading this book is that you can download a number of great low file size components written by Joey Lott . Some of the unique components are the form controller, slide show, and window controller.
   
   This book even introduces you to 3d Max and how to use it in conjunction with Flash. There is info on video and mobile but, surprisingly no chapter on Office Yoga for the Flash Action Scripter. They lumped together a number of topics that could have individually comprised a number of 500 -1000 page books.
   
   I think too many cooks spoiled the Action Script in this case. I consider this to be an easy fast read. Great to take to the gym or the beach. If you had to buy just one book on Flash 8, this wouldn't be the one you would choose.



5. 
   I am not keen on any book that has Cookbook in the title. This book however is more of a Hanes manual for your old Volvo 240. You will have lots of shop spills (coffee not oil) and dog eared pages on this when you finally move on to a future version of flash. Even then this will become a great tool.
   
   The book has four main solution sections: creating content, building interactive interafaces, using projects (I never get around to actually doing that!) and adding multimedia and data.
   
   O'Reilly put a lot into this book, with a load of solutions, with the if, how, why and here you go.
   
   Best if your up to speed and know your way around Flash well. For me, its a matter of understanding and implementing solutions as I encounter them. "Damn, how do I best deal with that problem? - Dunno? Read the book".
   
   Short and too the point, you will need this if your a professional - either from the design side or the programming side of Flash. Not much use to students, though educators should read it through and get up to speed to increase the amount of knowledgeable students coming out of courses (enough of the bouncing balls already).

5 comments about Geometric Tools for Computer Graphics (The Morgan Kaufmann Series in Computer Graphics).

1. This book has the potential to be useful to computer programmers (experienced practitioners as they call them), unfortunately I don't think it might be as useful as it could be. If the reader is mathematically inclined then the book is not bad but for a programmer who wants quick solutions I am not sure it is the right book. The authors also use a notation that might be unfamiliar to most programmers making it more difficult to read. The code samples are poor (of which there are only a few) and the algorithms they describe are not practical and it would take a lot more work to implement actual working code. I wish there were a geometry book that could combine theory and practical tips and hints plus real code. I know how difficult it is to write a book and the authors are to be commended on the intention and scope of material they cover. The theory sections are quite good and would allow someone to gain a deeper understanding of the underlining approaches. However I think it would do the community a great service if the authors could publish a second edition and perhaps take a cue from the Numerical Recipes series by Press et al. as an example of a book that combines practice and theory, although their recent C++ editions is not quite as good.



2. This is the first book I found that does an incredible job of covering vector geometry from a coordinate free approach. The first 1/4 of the book covers the basics with an excellent mathematical approach. The rest of the book show excellent examples of just about any type of intersection and collision of geometry; OBB, sphere, cones, polygons etc.... The is great for doing things like Frustum culling and the like. The only weird thing was it is missing Eberly's discussion on sphere/cone intersection; but no matter you can get it at the website.
   
   I highly recommend this book for those that want to understand the core of 3D graphics from a coordinate free approach. I am very happy I purchased the book. It has inspired me to purchase a clifford algebra book to better understand coord-free algebra.
   
   If you are simply looking for code and are not interested in the mathematical reasoning then you problably should look elsewhere. This book is for those who want to get a better understanding of core 3D graphics from a very friendly approach.
   
   I also noticed that those who rated this book with few stars where simply looking for something quick. Face it 3D graphics and math go hand in hand. Otherwise you are just kidding yourself.



3. First, the good:
   -Once you learn everything in this book, you'll should be ~well~ prepared to start implementing a powerful 3D engine.
   -The three-chapter introduction to linear algebra is, quite frankly, one of the most intuitive I've ever read. Mind you, I wouldn't suggest that anyone studying linear algebra go out of their way to buy this book (since those three chapters are a small fraction of the book). However, anyone getting their first taste of linear algebra from this book should consider themselves fortunate to have such a lucid, concrete introduction to the subject. (Granted, you'll need some 'mathematical maturity' to understand it, but it should be easier to grasp than your average linear algebra text.)
   
   And then, the bad:
   -Errors galore. Fortunately, you can get a list of corrections from the book's web site, though if you print it out you may be a bit put off by the fact that it's some 25 pages. (To be fair, however, it has all corrections listed chronologically in order they were identified, then listed again by page number, so there's really only about 12 pages of corrections.) If you happen to have the second edition of this book, then you'll only have about 5 pages of corrections.
   -Some of those corrections pretty much just scrap an explanation from the book and start over....which is fine, aside from having to read things like "Cross(Dot(u,v) * w))" which isn't particularly intuitive, and the fact that some of these new explanations seem to need corrections of their own (like those that appear to confuse w-parallel with w-perp, and so on).
   -It seems a bit arrogant of the authors to make the occasional appeal to things that the "astute reader" may have noticed. Such appeals seem like a subtle insult to the "less than astute reader," which, in any public forum, will only serve to alienate.
   
   
   All in all, if you're willing to put up with errors and have your "astuteness" challenged, you can learn tremendous things from this book.



4. This book is used to implement geometric algorithms. The authors present both coordinate-free (which they favour) and coordinate-based approaches to geometry, and there is plenty of intuitive motivation.
   
   While much of the book is reference material, (look at the table of contents) it is written at the right level of detail, and chapters 2-4 provide an excellent introduction. It does not assume much more than patience from the reader, and provides an extensive list of recommended books. Some reviewers have complained of the book's difficulty. I would suggest the difficulty is not with the presentation but the content.
   
   Breadth has made error inevitable, but there is a currently updated (as of 2007-12-16) errata listing at the book's website.



5. I have owned this text for some time and I find it very informative as it covers a great deal of subjects. A review of the table of contents will give an indication of the material covered. The book is not only valuable to graphics programmers but engineers in other disciplines looking for a good approach for solving various geometric problems.
   
   A previous reviewer complained about the notation being "non-standard". The book was written for someone with a mathematical background to include a sound background in vector algebra, geometry and matrix operations. The notation used is in explaining the mathematics behind the solution to a problem is standard >mathematical< notation. If you don't have a background in these areas of mathematics, then you may have a problem understanding it. But fortunately, there are many inexpensive books on those subjects available for purchase that can get you quickly up to speed.
   
   The code is written in the C language. Typically, code is provided only for a specific algorithm (problem being solved). Complete applications that give examples of using the algorithm implementation aren't provided as this is beyond the scope of the book. The scope of the book is to teach you how to solve specific mathematical problems of interest. Not to teach you the many different ways that mathematical solution may be employed in all genres of programming.
   
   The reason that I failed to give this book a 5-star rating is due to the many errors in the text. There was an impressive (to put it kindly) list of errata published on line for the initial printing. The 2nd printing of the text (and how do you know on Amazon if it is a 2nd printing?) is supposed to have most of the errors corrected. However, since the 2nd printing, errors continue to be reported. A complete list of the errata for this book is available at the web site [...].
   
   Having experience in writing many complex technical works, I can say that it takes great dilligence and peer review to capture errors in an intense tecnicaly work such as this book. While this book seems to have excessive errors in it, this type of problem is common with most publishers. There simply isn't enough effort/expense put into having a sufficient number of qualified technical people to review the work and look for errors overlooked by the authors. And believe me, quality peer reviews are necessary for complex technical works such as this one with mathematics on virtually every page. So I do agree with a previous reviewer that you should be cautious at taking the solution/implementation of a mathematical problem from this book at "face value" without questioning if it is correct for all possible test cases. Test and verify the solution.
   
   Given the above comments, I would still recommend this text as it covers so many different topics and problems encountered in 2D and 3D geometry. This book is valuable to many engineers other that programmers working in graphics or game development.
   
   But I would like to see a re-print that has been 100% thoroughly peer reviewed by **mathematicians**, the algorithm implementations analyzed for correctness and an error-free copy printed.

3 comments about Introduction to Textures, Animation Audio and Sculpting in Second Life.

1. His other books are quite good and worth buying the hard copy. This one is really short and not very substantive -- kind of like a long magazing article. You can learn most if not all the material covered in this by viewing free Torley tutorials on the net. Not worth the $20.



2. I was very disappointed by this book. I was hoping to get some insight into creating sculpties and thought I might get some inside info on textures and animations. I was wrong. This book is little more than a *very* brief overview of the simple fact that you *can do* the things in its title. While it provides some tutorial info, there is little, if anything, that could not be found out, for free, from a brief online Google.
   
   This is a book strictly for the newest of newbies, and lazy ones at that.



3. I was very disappointed in this book. It's little more than the original helps files from the SL forum and 3rd party applications for these excellent SL features, all stitched together into a book form. In fact the help files now contain even better material and more examples than this book does. Even the screen shots are not original. The author puts no thought and no new examples into the possibilities of the features he presents. And that is very sad, because his chosen topic could of been so much more richly filled out with new ideas and scripted how-to examples even I can dream up after being in SL for only a couple of months. It offered nothing new even to a beginner except to say it can be done. And the title already says that. A very good example of how NOT to write a book. Very surprised that this respected publisher would allow this book to even be published with their name on it in this condition.

5 comments about Foundation ASP.NET for Flash (Foundation).

1. I've been a Flash developer for awhile now, have used it with PHP/ASP and other server technologies - but have avoided the learning curve of .Net. FOE books are great at giving you the basics so that you can get up and running quickly, and the tutorials in the book are usually spot-on for applying those basics. Read the book and did the exercises in one week, and now am writing basic Web Services, .dll files, and using remoting with Flash on a basic level - just as I thought I would after finishing the book. There are some typos and ommissions, which seems par for the course these days for technical books (does anybody proof read or edit these things?) - but if you have a genuine knowledge of Flash, you can overcome them pretty easily. Recommended.



2. My attitude toward this book has NOTHING to do with ASP.net 2.0, nor even Flash. It has to do with this book. While the opening C# Primer is good (a very clean, simplistic quick run down on the basics with strings and arrays), as well I can tell the examples are solid enough you lost me right when we're told to down load Eclipse's little web server control. "Free for development, but ten bucks for unlimited usage...bla bla" Didn't we just spend our money buying your book so we could LEARN not buy more stuff? Ok, it's only ten bucks, but it's the principle of the matter.
   
   Secondly, I think it's rather silly to have to use the code with some fancy web server control in the first place. That's rather cheap, if you ask me. For those who aren't too familiar with ASP.net yet: ASP.net isn't a language, it's the rendering mechanics for web applications in the .net framework. It's a bunch of fancy server controls (which are basically HTML like elements on steroids) that can either be hard coded, like HTML (but that sort of defeats the purpose), or programmatic activated through a .net programming language. This language is then a separate entity (which can be VB.net, or in the case of this book, C#...A very fine, fine language) from the ASP.net server controls, but it works together.
   
   In a nut shell, you don't actually need much of ASP.net's presentation layer (AKA, the page where you put the server controls). If any one is familiar with classic ASP, Response.Write("hello") (which is the equivalent of echo "hello"; in PHP) is all that you'd really need in a .net environment using Flash interfaces.
   
   On a more sophisticated level, you could learn some ADO.net, learn how to mess around with some SQL/XML out putting, and go that route to your Flash movie as well.
   
   So, the final verdict: I'll do the example, just for practice. But I can easily just make a User Control for my flash movies, put to practice what I said there, and VIOLA...no need to pay you ten bucks.
   
   However, for those that are in a bind, and need to Implement a Flash interface into a .net project (for what ever reason), here's a work around:
   
   I'd recommend getting Foundation PHP 5 for Flash by David Powers. Most web hosting solutions that are on Windows will have both .net and PHP installed. Learn how to work with Flash Movies via PHP, then you can embed your Flash movie in your ASP.net files (via a User Control...), and have your PHP files sitting with your ASP.net files in the same app (Trust me, nothing will go wrong nor explode)...This may sound gratuitous, but it really isn't.
   
   However, I'm going to translate David's code into C#, come up with my own projects and then embark on developing my own book on the subject.



3. I would like to make this short and sweet. Mr. Moore is at the forefront of the .net community. Without this book, I would have spent the next couple of years trying to learn all of what this book gives me, all for the price of taking my girlfriend to a movie! My offerings to my customers has expanded exponentially, and that, is what this is all about!
   
   5 Stars!!!!



4. A great primer on C# and installation of a local development environment using the free tools that Microsoft offered. All instructions and descriptions are step-by-step. Also includes important information on third-party Visual Studio components that allow you to send data between flash and .NET for pages that not completely inside the Flash interface. This book solidly provides multiple methods to interface with your flash applications using ASP.NET 2.0 with Flash remoting, Web services, and FlashVars... Highly Recommended.. Everything here as advertised!



5. I thought this book will discuss all issues and will have a rich
   ASP.NET solution for flash but it goes less than what I need
   sure its cool as it names on but it doesn't cover what am looking
   for from this title.

No comments about Spatial Analysis in Epidemiology.

5 comments about Scanners for Dummies.

1. As a long term fan of the Dummies books, I can't begin to express my disappointment in this offering. Scanners for Dummies is so exceptionally elementary as to offer absolutely nothing beyond how to "push a button" or "move a slider." Nothing is presented that couldn't be discovered by simply turning on the scanner and playing with it for a half hour or so.

   The worst part, however, is that much of the information about scanners and Paint Shop Pro is misleading and in several cases, just plain wrong. This is the absolute worst Dummies book I have ever read and, while it is not my first one by Mark Chambers, it may well be my last.




2. This book is as good as the amazon editor claims, I got my new HP scanner up and running in an hour so you know the installation and setup chapters were good! The coverage of web graphics is very good and provides lots of tips and instruction. You won't find as much on PhotoShop but the step by step Paintshop pro material is worth its weight in gold. Well written and funny. I am going to add this author to my Dummies watch list!



3. This book told me all I needed, I'm using my scanner just about every day now that I know what to do. (Plus I have it set right to take the best scans) Great coverage of filters and plugins too.



4. Although I don't have a Microtek scanner like the author has, I was still able to follow along and learned everything I needed to know. This book also has almost as good a selection of novice material on Paint Shop Pro as PaintShop Pro for Dummies! Well worth the money.



5. 'Scanners For Dummies' was shockingly empty of helpful content. I was looking for useful advice and helpful tips for archiving photos, practical tips for best scanner settings and insights about how to deal with less than perfect images. This book had little information of relevance and nothing of depth.
   
   I must own a dozen 'Dummies' books, and this is by far the least instructive and practical.
   
   That said, who would benefit from reading the book?
   - An absolute beginner who needs encouragement to start exploring scanner settings.
   - A scavenger who wants a full chapter on how to connect a SCSI scanner that he/she obtained for free on Craigslist.
   - Someone who wants instruction on Paint Shop Pro and not Adobe photo applications.
   - Users who have no interest in retouching or restoring older photos.
   
   The author, it seemed to me, had little interest or experience in scanning, retouching and restoring older images. To be more specific, the Histogram setting is not even mentioned and the info on adjusting Highlights, Shadows and Gamma settings is so superficial as to be of little or no help. However, the author does excel when discussing hardware issues.
   
   I have since read and recommend as vastly superior 'How To Do Everything With Your Scanner.' Even 'Digital Photography For Dummies' has more detailed and practical help for scanning and restoring damaged photos.
   
   If you buy this book for under $1, you are doing OK. But, if you want detailed and practical advice for scanning and improving photos, look elsewhere.

5 comments about Beginning DirectX 9 (Game Development Series).

1. Miserable and frustrating. I wasted an entire weekend trying to learn from this book. I seriously think they outsourced the actual coding in the CD, because there are so many ridiculous inconsistencies.
   
   For one thing, the in-book code samples and example(from CD) code samples are completely different. The example code is written in a bizarre style that overuses uses spaces and parentheses in a way not used by the book and generally atypical to American code. There's also a number of devastating errors with both the book AND CD which made this a frustrating learning experience:
   
   - Book code for a basic Windows program has error that causes program to not close properly. (have to ctrl-alt-delete) CD code for this actually works, but it's uncommented and very ugly.
   - CD code for the entire third chapter does not execute. It compiles, but it doesn't run.
   - CD code has this dxManager structure that is simply not explained.
   - Book doesn't tell you that you need to add .lib files until far too late. Sometimes it doesn't tell you what .lib files you need to add at all.
   - No VC++ 6.0 project/workspace files are provided. This is sheer laziness...it'd take them 10 minutes to add these.
   
   I spent my whole weekend trying to use their base code, then trying to use the DirectX SDK's base code, then experimenting until I finally figured out a way to get their ransom-note HELLO WORLD program to work. I wasted an entire weekend on this. I had to hollow out chapter 4 example 1 code and plug in the chapter 3 example 3 code in to work with it. I've never had this much difficulty coding in my life.
   
   Waste of time, waste of money. Find something else.



2. What can I say people have said it in these other reviews this book gives you a bigger headach then ever. I first bought the C# version, which this book turn out to be liek that the code it self is full of holes and it's a big mess. This book is not for beginners as the title stated it will just bring you down into a bigger hole.



3. This is a book that teaches you directX 9b NOT 9c or 10. If you use the new 2005 Visual Studio the code may not compile, but with a few fixes it is still possible. The code on the CD is understandable if you read the chapter, but you need at least a good understanding of C++. So I recommend you look for a newer edition and get a book on beginning C++ as well.



4. I can understand some of the bad reviews because a few of the variable names are inconsistent from text to source code; but that is really the only thing wrong with the book. The code is very clear and follows the chapters well. The explanations of code are adequate for a 300pg book and you really don't need to go more in-depth if you are a beginner. I feel that most of the bad reviews are by people who let small inaccuracies cloud their mind, who cannot problem-solve very well, or who feel like they should be able to read the book once through and understand everything. There are no actual errors that I could find in the code since it compiled fine, they are simply typos. The reason I can say this is actually a good beginner book is because I read through the book thoroughly. Every time I start one of the sections I read the section while I type the whole program from the beginning and then I repeat the section several times keeping good coding practices in mind.
   
   MISCONCEPTIONS UNRAVELED...
   
   The source code is not written using the best practices, it is written with readability in mind. So feel free to throw all the DirectX stuff into its own singleton class.
   
   The whole message loop fiasco that a couple of others wrote about is explained in the book (maybe try reading instead of skimming). It was very clear to me what the author did.
   
   The code solutions are for VS7 which was standard at the time of publishing. So you need to use VS7 or later, I have VS8.
   
   The book is only 300 pages so you will have to use the CD source code.
   
   You have to compile the source code to use it, no executables are provided. And I can assure you the code _WILL_ compile.
   
   CONCLUSION...
   
   This is a good book to learn DirectX9.0c if you are a beginner. Skip it if you are more advanced. I haven't found any better books to learn DirectX since I really don't like the Wordware collections.



5. In some ways this book appears to have been written as a classroom textbook but you can learn a lot about DirectX 9 from it even without a classroom teacher to guide you.
   
   The best thing about the book might be the chapter exercises. Ultimately, the author builds up to a final project for the reader, a user controlled spaceship in flight near a planet. Solutions are provided for all reader exercises including the final project.
   
   All code and examples are in C++. A variety of example programs are provided on the disk and some of the code could be used as the foundation for a 3D game engine. FYI, you can also download updated source code for this book from the publishers website course.cengage.com. I had only a few small problems compiling and running them in Visual Studio Express 2008. One caveat: the author seems fairly comfortable and adept with C++ classing and assumes you are, too, so be prepared to do a little additional study if you're not up to speed on C++.
   
   This book does not really discuss game programming in any significant way and pretty much sticks to teaching a number of the most important DirectX concepts and functions, like vertex buffers, point sprites, transformations, textures, DirectInput, and DirectSound. One unfortunate omission is the subject of 3D character animation.
   
   If you can finish the book and work out the exercises you should have a much better grasp on the subject of DirectX 9 3D graphics programming (assuming your are a novice) and can probably take it to the next level using the SDK documentation and tutorials. That's my plan, anyway, after learning some OpenGL.
   
   Novices and non-professionals (like me) who don't have a lot of time on their hands to learn C++ low level graphics programming but who want to try their hand at 3D Games might be better off creating modules with the kits that come with some games or looking into some of the inexpensive game SDK's - in some cases free - that are on the market.

5 comments about Game Engine Toolset Development.

1. I bought this book thinking it would help me write a new tool for, say, building 3d models, or some other general tool. When it arrived I got excited just by the shear size of it, it's huge!
   
   However, I started flipping through it browsing each and every chapter (didn't read them all in detail of course, but quite a few) and it doesn't teach you how to make a NEW tool for your game, it teaches you how to make an EXISTING tool better. While that knowledge is extremely valuable (and the reason I gave it 4 stars instead of 3), it's not what the description of the book stated: "Readers are not required to have any experience developing game engine tools." If you have no experience developing a tool, you're going to have a little trouble getting started. If you know enough math and have good enough coding skills to get a game engine going, you'll be able to write a tool for your game, but you don't need this book to do it.
   
   Now, with that said, this book IS quite good and worth your money so long as you don't expect to read this book and then write a tool, you're going to need more info. Get the book anyway and use it as a guide, it's usefull in that aspect.
   
   This book is so good at making a tool better, most of it's "gems" can and should be applied to ANY application, game tool or not. Also, it covers some good highlevel (or lowlevel, depending on how you view it) .Net functionality such as interfacing with COM and code documentation, as well as few other excellent techniques. These "gems" are quite valuable on their own.
   
   So, in conclusion, if you know nothing about writing a tool, or you don't know C#, hold off on buying this book (make sure to put it in your wish list however). If you have a tool but find it's difficult to work with, or you want to broaden it's appeal, or just simply make it better, get this book, you won't regret it.



2. I just received my copy of Game Engine Toolset Development and I have been unable to put the book down. The author gives a good introduction to .NET 2.0 and relates it to toolset development for games. The chapters are easy to read and follow and he gives good advice on how to build good tools. He could have looked at other toolsets to make the book more complete, but I see this book as a way to introduce students to game programming who have a basic programming background (Java, C++, C, Alice 2.0, etc.).



3. Then, as a hobbyist, I'll just let you know that this book not only teaches, but flat you gives you some great modular code that you can work into many different types of tools.
   
   There's also some great design principles covered that have improved my workflow, even though i'm currently working solo.



4. This is an excellent book, which covers a lot of important aspects of game/engine tool development, but it is more like a recipe book, as each chapter subject is almost stands on its own - just like game programming gems series. My favorite is how to integrate native code into a managed application. The book is well written (one of the best I've read recently), and the only thing i missed is a few chapters on how-to integrate into an existing pipeline - like importer/exporter for a common 3d package at least. A better title for this book would be "(game)tool programming gems"



5. I admit that at first I was thinking this book would focus more on the game engine part of the toolset development in its title. I knew it wasn't REALLY about developing a game engine but even so, make sure you understand what you're getting.
   
   That said, I really liked this book. I'm halfway through it already (it's a very quick read given how discrete each chapter is and the clear and easy to read print and examples).
   
   I've read a number of game development books and you rarely get everything done right. This book gets close. The author describes the particular problem the chapter seeks to solve (e.g. encryption, batch processing, etc.) and goes through the steps of solving it.
   
   The book is similar to those programming gems types of books that aren't organized in some linear fashion but are discrete chapters on specific topics that can be picked and chosen as you see fit.
   
   The author does a very good job of putting the examples together and many of the chapters have been useful to me (I plan on implementing a number of the tools/frameworks he mentions).
   
   If you're working on a game engine, I really suggest trying this book out. This assumes you're not already an expert game programmer who already built a lot of these sorts of tools before.
   
   If you're looking for something that will help you build a full-fledged game engine, look for another book...then come back to this and get it to help you flesh out your toolset.

2 comments about GIS and Land Records: The Parcel Data Model.

1. I hold a bachelor's degree in Geomatics and a LSIT, and I used this book during school. The ArcGIS parcel data model is THE standard for creating and maintaining a GIS for cadastral records. If you work for the County please take note!



2. This is really great data model, unless you have inherited a mess; then, it is a good model for a new approach to rebuilding that mess. I definitely recommend it for anyone interested in how it all SHOULD be put together.

5 comments about iWork '05: The Missing Manual.

1. The mini manuals out of the box were ok, but this book is great. I was able to finish a project that was "stuck". The beauty of the book is that it explains terms and ideas without being a "beginners" book. A lot of detailed ideas to use and apply to your projects or just how to use the program more powerfully. iWork is a great little program (less than 80 dollars) that is made even better with this book.



2. The iWorks'05 Missing Manual is truly a missing manual for Apple Computer's word processor/page-layout software and presentation software Keynote 2. If you are in a hurry to use either Pages or Keynote 2 or a very visual learner, I would recommend looking into a different manual. In the 379 pages, this book has a lot of detail on the two programs which is truly a manual. You can easy skip to the sections you need and do not have to read the entire book to use it. The author has chapters in both Pages and Keynote 2 and are very basic. In the beginning of some of the chapter he lets the reader know you can skip the chapter if you are experienced user. At the end of the book the author gives you resources to help you go beyond the book for additional help and ideas for using Pages and Keynote 2.
   
   Pages
   
   The book covers the basics of word-processing in case your are new to computers and word processing. The book then covers the layout features to Pages. The author gives you advice on different fonts and layouts. He covers why you would use certain fonts in the headers and body of the text. In addition the book covers creating tables, charts and working with objects. Objects include text, pictures and graphic in your document and how to place them in the document.
   
   The author also covers how to use iTunes, iMove in Pages and why you might not want to use Pages to add in iTunes and iMove in to your document. He recommends using Keynote 2 instead. The book also covers exporting Pages to other word processors such as Microsoft Word and publishing the document to a web. The author also gives you example of what will happen if you export to various programs from Pages.
   
   Keynote 2
   
   The book covers the basics of how to develop and give a presentation in case you have forgotten or have never given a presentation before.
   
   The author also spends some time on using Keynote 2 with laptops. He covers the reason why you might want to consider purchasing the PowerBook over an iBook. For instance, iBooks can only perform video mirroring which shows the same image on the screen as the external monitor and PowerBooks can be used in the dual-display mode which can show a different image than the PowerBook's screen. Keynote 2 can display to your audience the normal view of your slides on the external display and on your PowerBook you can show the current slide and the next slide, a speaker's notes, a clock, and time.
   
   The book also goes in to using iTunes, iPhoto, and iMove with Keynote 2. They all integrate nicely together. The author also covers exporting Keynote 2 files to other formats. He discusses exporting to Microsoft PowerPoint, into a PDF, and into QuickTime in case the machine you are using does not have Keynote 2. The book also discussed how to publish a Keynote 2 presentation on a website.
   
   I would recommend this book as a manual for Pages and Keynote 2. If you want use the program right way I would look for another manual if you are not willing to put some time in to the necessary reading.



3. Jim Elferdink's iWork 05: The Missing Manual covers Pages and Keynote 2 as it provides all the basics of how to create documents and produce presentations with iWork's latest, powerful features. Mac users receive a solid reference which will appeal to beginners and advanced users alike: particularly appealing when covering such new functions as Keynote, which has gone through a major update to make it a formidable competitor to PowerPoint. Business users, especially, will find iWork 05: The Missing Manual an essential reference to maintaining professional standards.



4. Would you like to create documents with classy and colorful Pages templates that make you appear like you have the art department on your payroll? If you would, you're in luck! Author Jim Elferdink, has done an outstanding job of writing a book that introduces iWork '05, a brand-new software suite that'll eventually replace the venerable but aged AppleWorks.
   
   Elferdink, begins by showing you how to create a basic document. Then, he covers everything you need to know about formatting your documents and introduces you to Pages' built-in spell checker. The author continues by describing how to use Find & Replace, an editing tool that can make short work of sifting through long documents. Next, he shows you how to lay out pages. Then, the author guides you through table and chart creation and formatting--starting with tables. The author continues by exploring the next step in the life of a Pages document: delivering it from your computer into the hands and in front of the eyeballs of your intended audience. Next, he shows you how to make your own templates so you can add them to Pages' built-in templates roster. Then, the author shows you how to plan, prepare for and deliver a better presentation. He also shows you how to build a basic presentation. The author continues by showing you how to add to your slides everything from text boxes and pictures, to tables, charts, and fancy transitions. Next, he shows you how to import presentations created with PowerPoint or AppleWorks, so that you can continue editing with Keynote. Finally, he shows you how to customize Keynote.
   
   You'll find in this most excellent book, step-by-step instructions for using every Pages and Keynote 2 feature, including those you may not even have quite understood. This book's also designed to give you a thorough grounding in planning and pulling off effective presentations enhanced by Keynote.



5. The learning curve for Pages can be steep if coming from Word or new to word processing all together. (Actually, it's probably less frustrating if your new altogether.) That's not Pages fault. I think Pages is actually quite intuitive. It is just different than Word, and in my opinion, far superior. This text does a great job explaining Pages' ins and outs, and also offers great tips that will help when using Pages in projects. The tips captions give the text a real hands on feal. It is written from the perspective of someone who really uses and enjoys Pages, not just a lifeless manual like the one that comes with iWork. (Though the one included in the box serves as a good reference.) I have't read the section on Keynote, as I do not have a need for it. Great Book, and still very useful even if you are an 06' user.