5 comments about Microsoft Visual Basic 6.0: Deluxe Learning.

1. I was fortunate enough to have my company pay for this book for me. After finding it here for a very low price and then the rebate for owning MS Office kicked the final price down considerably.

   I am about halfway through the tutorial segment and so far, I am pleased. Although it gets a bit dry at times, once you suffer through it, it does give you very useful information.

   It starts off by explaining the environment of Windows and then moves into the program, itself. It introduces all the tools and windows inside of the program. It walks you through the entire process of building three programs. If you show a large desktop (I used 1024x768) and reduce both windows to be shown simultaneously, you can watch the tutorial for what to do, pause it, and then go over to VB6.0 and do it! What can be more simple than that? You get to learn by doing. That's one thing that scored this program big points with me! Later on, more advanced topics (advanced for a beginner, anyway) are introduced.

   Also, since you have all of the tools you need to start programming right away, it is very useful, indeed. There are some features in the Professional and Enterprise editions that are not available in this edition, but I believe there is an upgrade rebate to move from this version to those.

   Finally, this set includes the Visual Basic 6.0 Programmer's Guide, which is essentially the Bible of the Visual Basic language. It discusses a majority of topics useful in programming in VB.

   All of these components add up for a great investment that is well worth any price mentioned! I started from scratch and purchased this and three other books to get my feet on the ground and this one definitely helped to get me there!

   Thank you for your time in reading this review.

   --Daniel




2. Although finding and reading a good Visual Basic book is an excellent start to ones Visual Basic career, I cannot over emphasize how important it is to get ones hands on a copy of the Visual Basic compiler. With both the book and the compiler you can quickly become comfortable with the Visual Basic Development Environment by typing in some of the source code in the book and test running it for yourself. Eventually, when you feel comfortable with your knowledge of Visual Basic you can begin writing and running your own programs. Visual Basic Deluxe Learning Edition will allow you to do just that.

   A highly recommended set of materials!




3. I found this book extremely helpful. I am a professor at Houghton College and purchased this book to write software for the genetics course that I teach. I had no prior experience in Visual Basic, although I have just taken a course in C++. The Step by Step guide is very helpful to orient users toward the visual basic environment, and has chapters on the syntax of the language itself, which is something I really needed. There are numerous helpful programs that come on the CDs, and I found the book extremely readable. In short, I highly recommend this book for its clarity and thoroughness.



4. This package has EVERYTHING that you will need to learn V.B. 6.0 and compile executable programs on your own. The step-by-step manual goes at a good pace for someone with little programming experience. The programmer's guide book and MSDN Help Library have the information necessary for those going beyond the 'Basic'.



5. Surprise! I'm reviewing Amazon. Your reviews for Microsoft Visual Basic 6 Learning Edition discuss the compiler that comes with the books, so people would naturally assume the compiler is included with the used books you're selling. It is NOT INCLUDED. Site visitors must click on details to learn that. Look, I know you don't have nearly enough billions yet to satisfy you, but play fair. Tell visitors on the review page that the compiler, the most important element in the reviews, is NOT part of the package.

No comments about Programming Languages And Methodologies.

5 comments about Concurrency: State Models & Java Programs.

1. I have used Magee and Kramer's book (or rather their manuscript) twice in the UG programme of the Dept. of Computer Science at University Collge London. I used it to teach a 30 hours course on Concurrency to final year BSc students in Computer Science.

   The book is very appealing for several reasons:

   Firstly, it is the only available book that provides an engineering discipline to concurrency. It covers both a sound introduction to the theory of concurrency and practical guidelines how to design concurrent programs using the UML and Java.

   Secondly, the book is nicely written indeed. The concepts are well motivated, the intriguingly difficult theory of concurrency is well explained and the book is full of examples that show both theory and practice of Concurrency.

   Thirdly, the book is not only a book; it's a nicely boundled package. It comes with Java demonstration applets that I used to visualize concurrency concepts, such as Monitors, Mutual Exclusion and Fairness in the class room. Moreover, the book includes a CD with a tool that students (and professors) can use for modelling and model checking purposes. The tool implements labelled transition systems analysis and supports visualization of label transition system execution. Finally the web site that accompanies the book is full of exercises and exam questions and model answers are available too.

   Using this material was a truly positive experience.




2. I have also used this book in manuscript form for two years at the University of Pretoria, South Africa, and am now using it in Victoria, Canada. In both cases, the book forms the introductory part to a larger course on object-oriented distributed systems.

   Without this book the students would be lost in the mire of COM, RMI, CORBA etc and learn no principles to carry them through after graduation. Magee and Kramer package up the classical Hoare CSP in such a way that it is palatable, easy to use, and really illustrates difficult points to students on-line. Students say the course is fun. It is fitting that this book should appear just as Tony Hoare retires from Oxford. Magee and Kramer show how concurrency should be done in the new millenium.

   Just one word of warning: there are five notations to master in the book: FSP modelling, LTS diagrams, UML diagrams, structure diagrams and Java. I found that being forewarned on this aspect helped me explain the need for all of them to students.




3. It was only after reading that book that I was able to really understand the conecepts of interleaved actions, race conditions, semaphores and monitors (as well as other concurrency-related issues). As a newcomer to IT generally, reading this book enabled me to understand better the Operating Systems course at Imperial College. I think the reading of this book should precede any approach to a course on operating systems. As a final note, Jeff Kramer is one of the most popular lecturers at the department of computing of Imperial College. Many other studens I spoke too were convinced that his teaching was by far the most efficient. I strongly recommend the book! I still use it at work as an ever useful reference.



4. This book does not belong with other Java books. This is a real computer science textbook that should be sitting next to Rivest's Algorithms book. The use of Java is incidental and makes the book very accessible without detracting from the issues at hand. It has to be one of the most well conceived computer science books ever written.

   The material covered is maddeningly difficult to master informally because concurrency errors often manifest themselves as rare, random, and disastrous events that cannot be reproduced. Most of the book is laying down a solid formal foundation in which to reason about concurrency; the only hope for getting it right when things are difficult. It also comes with analysis tools (in Java of course!) to help people who learn by exploration, experimentation, and visualisation.




5. As indicated by other reviewers, this is a book that talks about things involved with programs/threads talking to each other. Unfortunately, for some mysterious reason the authors decided to include Java in the text & title. THis was obviously an afterthought, and a very disappointing one.
   
   I can only think that the authors decided to put "Java" in the title to boost sales. It worked-I bought the book.
   
   Where to start? Well, start with the basics: threads. This book was last released in April 2006, yet only talks topically about the Thread class, and none of the really exciting thread classes in J2SE5. If you're looking for really useful information on thread pools and executors, forget it. The authors didn't realize they existed.
   
   But it gets better. The entire concept of bounded and unbounded queues is missed. Blocking and unblocking queues never get a word. In fact, there are NO entries in the index under the letter "Q". Synchronous and Asynchronous queues? Nope. Cached threading pools? Sorry. Performance considerations for atomic, lock, and concurrent methods of class, method, and attribute concurrency? Nada. Absolutely no classes under java.util.concurrent are mentioned beyond the most basic, legacy Thread class. They don't even talk about command line switches important to concurrent programming (-X*), or the Runtime classes designed to help avoid OutOfMemory Heap problems!
   
   I got more from a single chapter of Bruce Eckel's TIJ4 than from this entire book-and TIJ4 isn't focused exclusively on Java concurrency!
   
   I don't know where to put this book. It is like an old reference book for a college course taught by a crusty old professor that still thinks the Information Highway might amount to something one day. We've all had that professor. There is nothing in this book about 1.5, except for the even more puzzling addition of generics in some of the code examples!
   
   I would be stunned to find out that the authors have ever written anything in Java in their lives. They seem like academics that are used to teaching children who don't know enough yet to call them out on this "work". They found a few examples from some old CSC books laying around and passed this all off as a recent, current work. Nice try. The fact that they use generics in examples-and nothing else from April 2006-makes me bet that they just copied/pasted examples.
   
   As a theory book about how queues work, a 4 out of 5. As a book passing itself off as having anything to do with Java, a 1 out of 5. I only give it a 1 because Amazon doesn't have a number in the rating scale that equates to "0", or "n/a".
   
   Then again, Jeff Magee & Jeff Kramer might be on to something here. Hmm.. I think I'll write a book called "Designing User Interfaces to Java", and devote the whole book to how a mouse and keyboard work.
   
   Pitiful.

5 comments about Beginning Programming (Wrox Beginning Guides).

1. This book is likely to frustrate true beginners. In attempting to work through the excercises, the C++ complier the authors recommend refused to compile the sample code. Two frustrating hours later pursuing solutions on the Borland web site, I managed to create two configuration files, edit my environmental variables, and finally get the code to compile. Such geek gymnastics are certainly beyond most "beginners," and are likely to cause them to give up the whole idea of learning to code.
   
   Shame on Borland for providing a compiler that was apparently never beta tested on XP(!), and shame on Wrox for failing to provide adequate instructions. There are a few answers of varying quality and coherance on their forum, but you shouldn't have to resort to the forum to run the very first compiled program in the book.
   
   If you aren't familiar with how a compiler works BEFORE reading this book, you are likely to run aground sometime around Chapter 7. Save your money.



2. I am about half-way through the book and I am frustrated with its incomplete references, errors, and ambiguities.
   
   One of the problems I have encountered was getting the recommended C+ compiler to work. That problem is discussed both here and on the WROX website. The book fails to give a simple explanation of how to configure the computer to make it run. Thankfully, I had enough independent knowledge to prepare the required configuration files and to restate the path, but that may not be so trivial for a complete tyro.
   
   There are ambiguities that arise from unqualified uses of "it" and "this." For example, on pages 141-42, there is a suggestion that a very basic block of code be prepared in an editor and saved. The discussion then shifts to compiling the code, but the example provided confusingly shifts to a different file (test.cpp) and then shifts back to the file that started the discussion (template.cpp). The references are imprecise.
   
   There are careless comments such as the one appearing on page 153: "To make the others run, you put all of them in the code." That statement would be clearer if the word "code" was replaced by "in the code for the main function."
   
   There are troubling typographical errors such as the block highlighting on page 164 which should be limited to the first four "cout" and "cin" lines and should exclude the last "cout" line.
   
   Other matters that bug are mismatches between code and the output illustrations. Precise copying of the code on pages 176-177 does not produce the output in the accompanying illustration. The same comment can be made for the material on page 180.
   
   My impression is that this book was not carefully proofed, and precision is essential in any book that purports to be a fundamental, introductory text.



3. I think this would make a good text for a beginning programming class. The authors touch on various programming languages, though I would prefer to see sample code in all languages (or at least have it available online) so an instructor could choose which to use.



4. 'Beginning Programming' is an entry level introduction to programming, about as dumbed down as it can possibly get - and that is what is so great about it.
   
   There are not many books targeting readers with absolutely no previous knowledge of programming, wanting to learn the very basics before moving on to an introduction course or book using one specific programming language. 'Beginning Programming' fills the gap nicely.
   
   The book starts off with outlining the history of programming, explains what benefits programming skills will give you, discusses some common myths in a real honest way, and thoroughly details learning paths. Exercises are plentiful, the tools and language code samples shown (Java, C++, VB, JavaScript) are highly relevant.
   
   In the following section authors Katie and Adrian Kingsley-Hughes move on to meticulously teaching the fundamentals of computers and machine language, coding, number systems, interfaces and tools required for a programmer. The paragraphs on the importance of picking a good chair and keyboard (!) illustrate just how deeply their book delves into detail.
   
   Describing problem solving, compiling and debugging, file and registry interaction is done, before wrapping the book up with a great section on programming from problem identification to the distributed product. The brief appendixes provide a glossary and information on further resources, and how to obtain every needed kind of tool.
   
   What I most appreciated while reading 'Beginning Programming', was that the authors took time to introduce the fundamentals before moving on to actual coding (which was very simple). Coding is not introduced until half way into the book. It is sad colleges and universities do not allow students to acquire a thorough grasp of the basics, but dive straight into learning the first programming language. Students would benefit from starting off with a book like this.
   
   On the down side, 'Beginning Programming' does not mention the important subject of object oriented programming at all, and the description of graphic user interfaces is just too short, not even showing code samples. I missed a demonstration of tools like NetBeans or MS Visual Studio Express Edition (both are free). Also, the publishers have not bothered to proof read the book properly. Language is sub standard, and the errata is a wee bit long.



5. So you're interested in programming? Then this book is a good start to get an idea what programming is all about. I finished the book in 3 days!

3 comments about Programming Jabber: Extending XML Messaging (O'Reilly XML).

1. As a disclaimer, I have been involved with Jabber for 3 years, am the author of one of the more popular Jabber clients for linux, and am a friend of DJ's.

   Jabber finally has its Bible. DJ has written an excellent introduction into the world of Jabber, covering everything a programmer would need to become familiar with the protocol for this Open instant messaging system. He covers everything from the basics of what exactly Jabber is, how to deal with presence, messages, and basic extensions, all the way up to complicated and unfinished extensions such as XML-RPC. Anyone programming Jabber needs this as a reference, and anyone looking to get started in the Jabber world need not look further than this book.




2. When I first picked up this book, I expeted to understand the Jabber protocol in sufficient depth to implement my own IM client. Instead, the approach this book takes is that Jabber isn't just an XML-based protocol strictly for IM, rather it is a general purpose event notification protocol that has some very nice message routing and user management features built into it. While I was reading about the messages that Jabber has defined as part of the protocol, I could easily see other applications/devices generating Jabber messages to notify subscribers (either other systems, or people) of events.

   This book covers everything relevant to Jabber technology, from lowest level innerworkings and extensibility examples for developers to configuration and deployment for admins. Most of the book is spent looking directly at the Jabber XML protocol, instead of a specific API implementation. This way, the book covers the technology and doesn't get lost in how one particular API models the protocol.




3. I picked up this book after reading a good review on Slashdot.org, and I'm happy to say that I'm not disappointed.

   The book covers the installation of the server and the configuration (including a Jabber cluster), and then starts covering the XML protocol that is used to send information between servers and clients.

   Several useful real-world examples are given, including a CVS-notification system, keyword assistant, headline viewer, etc. There is even a project to hook Jabber up to a coffee pot using Lego Mindstorm, with the point being to show how flexible Jabber can be. Examples are in PERL, Python and Java.

   The book makes it quite clear that there is far more to Jabber than just instant-messaging.

2 comments about Learn to Tango with D.

1. It really wasn't a very good book. It is very thin without the more complete examples you would expect in a book on development in other languages. It would be nice to see a book written teaching D from the ground up. Love the language, but the book is not worth the price.



2. The first English-language book on D, Learn To Tango with D, is a no-crap quick ramp-up guide to the language and the popular Tango general-purpose library. Half of the 188 pages are an introduction to how D does things, while the other half walks through some Tango basics. It's written in a fast, loose idiom that doesn't try to teach you programming as much as it shows how to do your favorite C++ or Java tricks in D. This fills a need since the existing D documentation is rather technical and not well indexed, but it's not something the dedicated and curious engineer couldn't figure out for himself.
   
   After the basics, you're introduced to Tango. I should point out that D ships with a standard library called Phobos and that Tango is a (friendly) competitor to it. The two aren't mutually compatible at all, and you'll run into D code that uses each, so don't think you're getting the entire D story from this book. That said, Tango has neat ideas and a passionate community behind it, so you're not making any compromise on quality by using it. This section is a bit too high-level for my taste; it's an introduction, not a reference. While you can certainly get production-quality API docs from the Tango web site, don't expect the book to be one.
   
   Summing up, this book is for experienced C/C++/Java programmers who've heard about this D thing and want to see what it's all about. Those who prefer learning from source code or documentation won't really need this, and those who do need it will probably find no need to read it a second time. However, as the only book on D in the King's English, it's worth recommending solely on that basis.
   
   (Review text copied from my website.)

5 comments about KornShell Programming Tutorial (Hewlett-Packard Press Series).

1. Before start reading this book, I had little or no exprience. But after reading first few chapters, I just started with good confident.
   
   Thanks to Barry



2. I love the Korn shell. This book is a fine intro to Korn Shell programming. For users who want more than just an intro, you may want to consider "Korn Shell: Essential Programs for Your Survival at Work" by Larry L. Smith. Examples in Randal K. Michael's "Mastering UNIX Shell Scripting" are also helpful.



3. I found this to be an excellent hands-on tutorial in KornShell. Wish there were a book-2 and book-3 with advanced training.



4. This book is *the* way to begin working with the Korn shell. I needed to get up to speed with a shell scripting language in order to do Oracle DBA tasks. I bought this based on the strength of it's Amazon ratings and was completely delighted.
   
   The author has a great style, easy to understand and very clear. I found the procession of topics to be very logical; a nice gradual build up from the simple to the more complex. There is plenty of 'depth' in each chapter and good highlighting of potential problem areas and difficult concepts. These have additional coverage to help steer clear of the hassles and come to a clear understanding of the more challenging ideas.
   
   The examples are well thought out, they present each topic of interest clearly and in a meaningful way, without clutter. I have coded almost every single one and found only a few errors. Within a chapter the examples are presented with increasing complexity, but are never the page after page monsters that leave you lost. It is amazing how well the author illustrates the content with short (20 - 30 line) samples.
   
   When I was puzzled with something I had read here, I turned to two of my friends who 'live' in shell scripting up to their necks. Both have learned useful techniques from this book through my questions.
   
   My copy is literally starting to come apart from constant use for reference. It is that good.



5. I am programming with korn shell for 12 yr. already. And I started with this book. It is an excellent book for beginner and even intermediate programmer. It took me about 2 days to go through all book. i still looking inside once in a while. Few times i was loosing this book, bought another one and after short time i dumped it and bought this one again.
   Examples and explanation in this book are so usefull, short and easy to understand, that you can't find better book. Your learning efficency really depends on it. Buy it, by all means you will be glad you did it.

5 comments about OpenOffice.org Writer: The Free Alternative to Microsoft Word.

1. I have used OpenOffice.org since before it was called OpenOffice.org and I was surprised at how much I learned when I read this book. Most of the sections stand alone, which means that you can read the sections that interest you at the moment.
   
   This book is very readable and accessible to beginners, and it contains content that some advanced users do not know. If you want to learn how to use styles, for example, this book is amazing. I also learned how to use fields to count my figures and other items. I consider this book a must have.



2. Writer is very easy to learn, especially if you have already been using some other word formatting package. A lot of care went into the design of Writer. So that you don't have to be a technical person in order to quickly learn it.
   
   Which largely obviates the need for this book. Most of the material should be obvious to readers. Plus, the book's CD is superfluous, so long as you have Internet access. If you need a version of Writer to install on your computer, try going to openoffice.org and getting the latest version.



3. Even though the book emphasizes a version of OOo before the current one, this book will get you proficient on the basics of Writer enough to get you off and running. The majority of the basic tasks you will do with a word processor are covered. I would recommend some previous experience with word processors and GUIs in general, but its not completely necessary. For someone switching over from Word to Open Office Writer, this book would more than meet your needs.



4. It used to be that if you bought a new PC it came with useful software such as word processing and spreadsheet programs. Lately, the pernicious practice has arisen of bundling "trial versions" of Microsoft Office that expire in a few days if you don't pay to buy them. I would certainly prefer the old way, where you may not get the most powerful word processor around, but at least you get one you can USE without it suddenly going dead if you don't pay for it. I wouldn't even want to TRY it, and risk the possibility that I'd get used to the software. So when I recently bought a new notebook PC and found this stupid trial version, I quickly uninstalled it and went to get hold of word processing and spreadsheet software so I had the functionality on my machine.
   
   To the rescue: [...], a software package that includes nearly all the functionality of Microsoft Office (certainly all the functionality that I needed!) and even a few things that Office doesn't do (like creating PDF files directly without a separate program like Adobe Acrobat!) I downloaded the software, and immediately had a package of Office-like software free.
   
   The only problem was that it is not well documented. Searching through a help file when you're trying to figure out how to do something is NOT fun to me. So I wanted a book, at least on the word processor, Writer. (The spreadsheet program, Calc, is pretty intuitive to me, but then I'm not trying to do things as fancy with it as I want to do in Writer!) And this book seemed the one to go with.
   
   It has proved useful to me; I'm not sorry I bought it. But it has at least two shortcomings: (1) It describes an old version of Writer, version 1.1 while 2.4 is the current version, and (2) it has a woefully inadequate index. The first is not the author's fault; I'm sure she wrote about the version that was current when she wrote the book, but it does mean that sometimes it describes some feature that does not operate as she describes it, and I'm left trying to figure out how to do what I want to. But the second certainly IS her fault; I simply cannot expect to find what I'm looking for in the index and I'm usually forced to go trying to guess what chapter is likely to have what I want, then flipping through the chapter to find out if she discusses the topic I want to look up.
   
   On the plus side, only two days after getting the book, I've succeeded in doing several things I never could figure out how to do before I had the book, so it has clearly proved useful to me.



5. After routine basics, Chapter 3 reads like it was written for some other piece of software. Menu item "Catalog" doesn't exist on my version. Left me totally in the dark about this key feature of Writer. I'm still at a loss how to use the advanced features of the program. Very disappointed
   Marty Cahill

5 comments about Sams Teach Yourself Visual C++ 6 in 21 Days (Sams Teach Yourself).

1. Experienced in C and C++ I wanted to get started using Visual C++.
   
   My first steps were through the online help of VC++, using the IDE and ClassWizard it is quite easy to build standard applications.
   
   Then I wanted to understand a bit more about VC++ and bought this book. From the first to the last page, it says actually the same thing as the basic help: two pages to explain that you have to click this and that to get to a wizard or a menu, then... you get the very standard stuff.
   
   The sample code? the code and its explanations are useless: this is almost what you find through the online help ; it will work the very standard way, but if you need to customize a bit (and you will need to) then you start to become more and more angry about this book, as nothing deeper is available.
   
   I'm decided today to write this review as to encourage publishers to better select their books. This one is really a waste of time.



2. I am new to Visual C++ and this book was recommended to me by my instructor. It uses easy to understand directions when building applications. I would suggest this book to anyone who wants to learn this language.



3. At first I began reviewing this book as I studied it but scrapped that review as being far too lengthy - I had detailed some of the bugs that I had found in both the book's code and the book's website's downloadable code. Yes, there are some bugs and I did have a certain amount of trouble running some of the days code.
   
   Nevertheless, the book does seem to have some merit: It is, for the most part, clearly written and, for an introductory text, the example programs seem very ambitious, and thus interesting and almost useful in their own right, something that is rare in many introductory texts.
   
   The author seems to be a very good C++ programmer and the presentation is very clear and concise - it just seems that the book may have been written and finished in haste, hence the (fairly "minor") errors and bugs that appear. Additionally, the downloadable source code does not always match that of the book making the programming somewhat confusing at times.Additionally, there are some lines that are in the book but commented out in the source code - apparently they had to be for the code to compile correctly.
   
   A better introductory book on MFC is Herb Schildt's MFC Programming From the Ground Up, 2nd edition,also written for Visual C++ version 6. Schildt's book is bug free and as an introductory text it does not use the Visual C++ AppWizard and
   Document/View architecture until the final chapters, thus truly teaching MFC fundamentals without the confusion inherent in the AppWizard and Document/View code.



4. this book isn't really all that bad for those who'd like a decent intro to Visual C++ unlike what the book's haters would like to have you believe.



5. I read through this after being pleased with the Sams Teach Yourself C++ in 21 Days book. I learned how to use the Microsoft Visual C++ software, and I use it as a reference regularly. I would recommend this to someone who already has a working knowledge of C++ and who would like to learn how to use the Microsoft Visual Studio/C++ software. Ideas in the book can easily be applied to Microsoft Visual Basic or any of the Microsoft Visual compiler software releases.

2 comments about Professional Java JDK 6 Edition.

1. The book provide really helpful for you if you are trying to know more about Java after you have done it. It provides a lot of examples for doing one thing in different ways.



2. Professional Java attempts to do something I don't think any one book can do well, which is to say something useful on just about every topic. This book's sections include: important additions/changes to JDK 5; a whirlwind tour of project methodologies; design patterns; build tools; persistence tools; UIs; web applications; JNI; EJB 3; SOA; security; and packaging and deployment. The book wants to be a "one-stop shop," and that's fine. After reading through most of the sections and skimming some, however, I'm not sure what the profile of the target shopper might be.
   
   The topic coverage varies wildly from section to section, in the writing style (and quality) and in the effectiveness of sample code to illustrates a point. Too often the descriptions are both verbose and phrased in the passive voice. Some code samples seem like proof-of-concept sketches of a feature or library facility, rather than a compelling example of its use. Still other samples seem full of boilerplate code that speeds up the page-turning but isn't illuminating. And sometimes the text changes its diction strangely; the style changes from a general description to a "follow-along" activity without warning. Some sentences sound as if the author left them in as a reminder to complete a task.
   
   The result is a thick book that, for me, is sometimes tedious or exhausting to read. I think it would have been helpful to give author credit by chapter, if only to know the presentation might change significantly. Also, a concerted effort at paring things down, and keeping the diction clear and active, would help make it more readable and something worth referencing.
   
   As mentioned, the topic coverage is quite broad. This book might come in handy to someone who just needs many topics in one book. So long as you don't need your one reference also for getting started, this book could be a useful collection.