4 comments about Java Software Solutions, AP Version.

1. This book should be called Java Software Solutions for a Complete Idiot. This is, for example, how they introduce some of the OOP concepts (p. 58):

   "A data type defines a set of values and operations -- what we can do with those values"... [a type does not define a set of values!] ... "An object is defined by a class, which is like the data type of the object." ... "Once a class has been defined, objects can be created from that class." ... "Classes can be created from other classes using inheritance. That is, the definition of one class can be based on another class that already exists. Inheritance is a form of software reuse. We are taking advantage of the ways some classes are alike. One class can be used to create several new classes. These classes can then be used to create even more classes."

   And so on, the whole book. "This book is written by a robot. This book should be read by you. Commas are not used in this book..."

   Here is how they introduce algorithms (p. 123):

   "One basic design issue is defining the algorithms to be used in the program. An algorithm is a step-by-step process for solving a problem. A recipe is like an algorithm. Travel directions are like an algorithm. Every program uses one or more algorithms. Every software developer should spend time thinking about the algorithms before writing any code."

   Every software developer should spend time thinking before buying this book!

   Actually, the introduction claims this is an AP textbook:

   "This book is designed for both A and AB exam by identifying what material is required for each exam."

   That is exactly right, "identifying." But not teaching! I took the AB exam last year; here the whole AB stuff is crammed into two last chapters, 70 pages, including silly review questions. Not even close.

   Speaking of review questions... Question 1.3: "What happens to information when it is stored digitally?" Answer: "the information is broken into pieces, and those pieces are represented as numbers."




2. This is a hastily done book, since AP Comp Sci just switched to Java, which in itself was a bad decision ( I should take that up with CEEB)

   For example, before talking about variable scopes, it starts using the idiom - for ( int start=1; start <= MAXLINES; start++ ) { .... }- which in my opinion is bad for a beginner high school student.One can really get into trouble if one doesn't know what one is doing, especailly for high school students. One student that I know, spent all night working on the Stars program given in the exercise, unsuccessfully.

   On the other hand, Java Methods by Maria Litvin & Gary Litvin, clearly state this problem in their chapter 6 - "...But declarations inside nested blocks can lead to elusive bugs. We recommend that at first you avoid declaring local variables inside nested blocks unless you know exactly what you are doing."

   Don't get me wrong, I do like their other Java S/W Solutions by JLewis, et al - which is for a much more mature audience.




3. I am basically a math teacher with a lot of bright computer science students. Of all of the books currently available in Java for AP Computer Science, this was the hands down winner with the kids, especially amongst the one semester students who were taking the A test.



4. I was asked to teach an AP CS course and thought this looked like the safest bet - the kids hated it! It is clearly a hacked down version of the authors other Java books. Explanations are not clear and the book simply could not have been written in a less engaging manner. I will not use this book again and will avoid titles from this publisher.

3 comments about Professional LAMP : Linux, Apache, MySQL and PHP Web Development.

1. If you don't know (in which case you wouldn't be reading this in all likelihood), LAMP is an acronym for Linux, Apache, MySQL, and PHP5. It's the open source "software stack" used to do web development. If you have a basic grounding in all those software elements, you might be interested in the Wrox book Professional LAMP - Linux, Apache, MySQL, and PHP5 Web Development by Jason Gerner, Elizabeth Naramore, Morgan L. Owens, Matt Warden.
   
   Contents: What's New in PHP5?; PHP5 OOP; More Obscure PHP; Advanced MySQL; PHP Configuration; Apache Tricks; Site Security; PEAR and PECL; Code Efficiency; PHP Extensions; AJAX; Caching Engines; Content Management Systems; Language Translation; Alternative Tools; Index
   
   As you can see from the content listing, this is a bit of a grab-bag of topics that may or may not interest you. There does seem to be some contradictory information as to who the target audience might be. Looking at the back of the book, the book is described as being for "intermediate to advanced LAMP professionals". This is backed by their visual flowchart of titles, which shows this as a high-end book for those who already know what they're doing. But in the introduction, there is a description of the book as one "for web developers with some experience who want to take their websites to the next level." This is followed by a list of basic skills that they assume, none of which are the software elements that make up LAMP. While I consider myself the target of the second description, I can tell you that this isn't a book that I could use to learn and understand LAMP. You definitely need to have a firm grasp of PHP in order to gain value from this material, as they go into new and advanced features very quickly.
   
   Having stated the caveats, I will say the book is laid out well and would be beneficial to the right audience. There is a lot of code to use and play with, and the information is well documented. The focus is on PHP5 material, so I think that you'd find the book most valuable if you were a PHP developer looking for tricks and tips using the latest version of the software. The Linux part of LAMP is not covered much at all. It's assumed that you're using Linux to run the "AMP" part of the stack, but that's about as far as it goes. If you're looking for Linux info, you won't get much out of this book.
   
   Recommendation? If you're firmly grounded in LAMP and you're looking for information that goes beyond the basics, you might be interested. If you're just looking to get started, you'll want to look elsewhere...



2. I just finished reading Professional LAMP. These four components make for quite a powerful open source solution. It is being used at the enterprise level, with companies such as Yahoo and Google taking advantage of the flexibility if can offer. This book is ideal for anyone wanting to delve further into this development environment. As far as I know, it is the first book to cover LAMP at the professional level. The full listing of chapter topics covered are as follows:
   
   1. What's New in PHP5
   2. PHP5 Object Oriented Programming
   3. More Obscure PHP
   4. Advanced MySQL
   5. PHP Configuration
   6. Apache Tricks
   7. Site Security
   8. PEAR and PECL
   9. Code Efficiency
   10. PHP Extensions
   11. AJAX
   12. Caching Engines
   13. Content Management Systems
   
   As you can maybe tell, the above topics are a bit light on the "L" aspect of LAMP. Linux is covered briefly, addressed as the platform on which the AMP aspect runs. To be honest, I did not expect that this book would be a comprehensive look at Linux, because there is already a plethora of books out there. This book addresses in detail many aspects of Apache, MySQL and PHP.
   
   - What's New in PHP5
   
   This chapter covers the changes between PHP versions 4 and 5. This includes object-oriented programming, new functions, configuration changes, mysqli, XML support, Tidy library extension, and SQLite. Suffice it to say, there is quite a bit of information to absorb from this comprehensive first chapter.
   
   - PHP5 OOP
   
   This chapter opened with a good discussion on procedural versus object oriented programming. It then moved on to cover class definitions, methods and instances. One of the things I thought was cool is abstract, which allows you to create a class that can be extended by others. Using OOP methods also allows you to build an extensible API so that developers can create their own plugins. One such example would be peppers that people make for Mint.
   
   - More Obscure PHP
   
   This chapter was great, and helped to clear up some confusion for me. It covered some of the history behind Perl and C that led to PHP coming into its own. Like many languages, PHP has been around long enough that there is some "legacy" code still packaged in it. These relics remain only for backwards compatibility with older applications. Much like target="_blank" and iframe are deprecated as of XHTML 1.0 Strict, there are some things in PHP that are no longer supposed to be used, though they are still supported.
   
   Anyway, the point is that PHP has breadth and depth that many programmers never even touch. They describe it like the English language, that though we understand quite a bit of terminology, most of us only use a small portion of it in our own daily vocabulary. Examples of things covered in this chapter are: callbacks, array_map(), array_walk(), array_filter(), preg_replace_callback(), call_user_func_array(), create_function(), glob() and creating streams.
   
   They even discuss the code necessary to create an aerial orthophoto database query, such as would be seen in Google Maps' satellite view. They cover various compression methods for PNG files that make up the series of photos. I have to admit, it is pretty heady stuff, so you'll just have to check it out for yourself.
   
   - Advanced MySQL
   
   In this chapter, a simulated list of cars at an auto dealership is presented. They show you how to maintain data based on manufacturer, model, paint color, etc. There are many code examples for creating new entries, modifying existing data, and joining / merging tables. Also covered is how to use a MySQL database with the InnoDB storage engine, as opposed to the default MyISAM. Some of the benefits to this include transactions, row-level locking, and foreign key constraints. The one major drawback is lack of full-text searching. They also show you how to switch back and forth between MyISAM and InnoDB on the fly, should you ever need to use both in any particular situation.
   
   In addition, the process of granting / revoking user priviledges is covered, which is a crucial aspect to understand if you want to have different tiers of access to different sections of your data. For instance, you might want the administrator to be able to affect everything, whereas your staff worker you would only want to be able to enter new entries into a product inventory.
   
   - PHP Configuration
   
   Next, they cover some of the basics of tweaking PHP for optimal performance. This all revolves around the php.ini file. They give several recommendations for settings to change, such as: register_globals = off, display_errors = off, log_errors = on, magic_quotes = off, asp_tags = off, and short_open_tag = off. They gave a compelling reason why to leave off short_open_tag, because instead being "< ?php", it is shortened to "< ?". This would cause a parsing error, because XML is written "< ?xml" but would be treated as PHP because it begins with "< ?" as well. If you plan on doing any AJAX, this would create major problems. Keen insights such as this are sprinkled throughout this chapter.
   
   - Apache Tricks
   
   This chapter offered a slew of helpful pointers on Apache Server, including sixteen pages on mod_rewrite alone, the Apache module that allows for more readable clean URL's, instead of messy addresses. Consider the following two examples, both of which lead to the same page (this very book review):
   
   * godbit.com/article/professional-lamp-review
   * godbit.com/index.php?id=110
   
   As you can see, while the first might be a bit more lengthy, it contains more memorable information, such as the fact this is an article, and it is a book review of Professional LAMP. This goes a long way in making things more human friendly, and helps search engines index your site more accurately.
   
   Another topic covered is that of mod_deflate, a compression method used in conserving bandwidth. This will cause Apache to send along text such as HTML and CSS with white-space and line-breaks compressed in gzip format, which most browsers are able to interpret and then convert back into a plain text, uncompressed equivalent. The book gives the example of sending a Zip file in an email, rather than several separate attachments. There are also security tips, such as authenticating MySQL users or using SSL when uploading files.
   
   - Site Security
   
   This leads me into the next chapter, which is all about security. Inevitably, with the ungoverned way the Internet operates, you will have malicious people trying to mess with your website. Basically, if you want something secure, don't hook it up to the `net. That being said, there are significant precautions you can take in order to minimize the likelihood that your site will be compromised either intentionally or accidentally.
   
   They explain how to control authentication with both Apache and then adding another layer of PHP checks, such as form validation or register_globals protection. Plus, there is a section on protecting yourself from SQL injection attacks. This nastiness works by using an input, such as comment form or discussion forum, to do things like drop tables or granting user priviledges. Suffice it to say, that can cripple a database driven site, such as this one.
   
   - PEAR and PECL
   
   It has been said that good programmers borrow, but great programmers steal. While I do not advocate ripping people off, the premise of this quote is that if it's been done before, you'd be wasting your time to re-invent the wheel. PEAR - PHP Extension and Repository, and PECL - PHP Extension Community Library are two big components of what make PHP so great. You could think of it as standing on the shoulders of giants, continuing to build where they left off. Basically, each of these is a big pool of submitted extensions that improve PHP's functionality. You could think of it like installing a plugin for the language.
   
   There are far too many extensions to do justice in this review, but one of the ones mentioned in the book was the Date class. With this package installed, you can reference and modify the date with methods like these: addSeconds, getDayName, getMonth, getNextDay, getQuarterOfYear, isLeapYear, etc. As you can tell, each of those is more human readable than: echo date("Y");.
   
   - Code Efficiency
   
   This was a great chapter on balancing code efficiency with real time efficiency. In other words, you don't want to kill yourself over a few milliseconds of loading time, if it is going to take several hours of real development work, especially if that time could be spent better elsewhere. They gave an example of a server computer running software slowly. The first reaction might be to buy new software, resulting in days of lost productivity due to necessary data backup, operating system and program upgrades. In their example though, all that was needed was more system RAM, requiring only a few minutes of down-time.
   
   They take this same principle and apply it to coding methods, benchmarking a few ways of writing mathematical computations, namely a<<3 versus a*8 to multiply a variable integer by 8. If that looks like Greek to you, don't worry because it's explained in this chapter. Essentially, it's an argument of binary notation versus long-hand yet human readable code. They even go so far as to benchmark single quoted (') vs. double quoted (") strings. After an extensive series of tests, and rendering two very complex 3D graphs, it appears that single quoted is in fact faster, though many things can affect the outcome.
   
   Aside from the theoretical arguments, they also help address various server configurations in order to find bottle-necks. An example of this would be too little RAM on your server, or too fast of a server in comparison with too slow of a connection. A good way to think of it is the adage "The box, or the band?" If it's the box, then you can make hardware tweaks, but if it's the bandwidth causing the problem, then you can either up that allotted amount, or tweak various compression schemes and server / client caching methods, to make things go faster. In addition, they of course show you how to write leaner, meaner PHP code, to save on both processor cycles and download time.
   
   - PHP Extensions
   
   This chapter touches on the many extensions that are available. Two of the ones I found to be interesting were PDFLib and GD Library. PDFLib does what the name implies, and creates PDF files on the fly via server-side methods, pulling info from a database. They give an example of how to create a r?sum? maker that outputs PDF versions for download. GD Library handles images on the server-side, allowing you to do things like rotate, resize, and even add watermark overlays or text descriptions with varying opacity directly into the image. This can be seen on sites like iStockPhoto, which have a branded stamp across preview images, encouraging you to buy the unaltered version.
   
   - AJAX
   
   Oh man, I am sick of talking about AJAX - Asynchronous JavaScript And XML. This book does a very good job of explaining the concepts behind it, but I feel like we hear about it so much nowadays that it is almost pointless to regurgitate it again. If you like, read the reviews I've done on books about AJAX here:
   
   * http://godbit.com/article/ajax-and-php-review
   * http://godbit.com/article/foundations-of-ajax-review
   * http://godbit.com/article/professional-ajax-review
   
   - Caching Engines
   
   This is a good chapter for people who might be concerned about getting Slashdotted or being on the front page of Digg. Basically, it covers several methods of caching pages on a server, so that when a visitor comes, your MySQL database is not constantly being hit in order to serve up content that has not changed. This can be done in a variety of ways.
   
   One such method involves using Alternative PHP Cache, which stores code from the PHP runtime engine in shared memory, so that it not recompiled each time unnecessarily. Other caching engines that function comparably are eAccelerator and the Zend Optimizer. They also cover JPCache, which is unique in that it does not require being installed as a DSO or built into PHP statically, because it runs off standard include and required statements. There is also one called memcache which requires its own daemon to be running on Linux, and caches database results in RAM to keep SQL from running, freeing up the hard drive. It should also be noted that according to this book, JPCache and memcache can "play well together" on the right server, further increasing response time.
   
   Content Management
   
   In this chapter, they cover installing and configuring a few different CMS's. Most of these I had not yet heard of, for example Exponent CMS. This is an enterprise level system, which I found is table-based and not very standards compliant. Therefore, I am not recommending it to anyone. Another CMS mentioned in this chapter is XOOPS, which suffers from the same sort of poor front-end markup. Basically, this chapter was about antiquated systems with bloated code. Also listed were Mambo and PHP-Nuke, both of which should be avoided. To their credit, the authors did cite Drupal and WordPress, which are more accessible and standards compliant than the aforementioned clunkers.
   
   Summary
   
   With the exception of the last chapter, I found that the whole of this book is one that I will refer back to often as I continue to grow in my usage of the LAMP development environment. I would highly recommend it to anyone who has dabbled in the Linux / Apache or PHP / MySQL combo, but really wants to gain a more complete understanding of how they interact. It will definitely help anyone who wants to write cleaner PHP or provide a more responsive hosting server.



3. This book only gives rudimentary coverage of MySQL or Apache.
   
   Twenty one pages in the chapter for 'Advanced MySQL' -- really! 13 pages of this is a review of SQL, how to do queries, updates, deletes, etc.
   
   Apache got 35 pages and was a little better. It did have info on rewriting URLs but a lot of time was spent on rewrite patterns and rules. Many of the other items and configuration settings could be gleamed from the Apache configuration file.
   
   I really was disappointed as I expected more of a discussion of PHP in the context of MySQL and Apache. I wish the authors had spent as much time on the other subjects as they did on PHP.
   
   Linux -- wasn't even in the table of contents or the index and I didn't see anything that was even close.
   
   The discussion of PHP covered subjects like installing packages, code effeciency and PHP extensions and was adequate.
   
   Maybe the book should be called "PHP Packages Available".

5 comments about Programming Internet Mail.

1. I liked this book but like the other reviewers have said it's not exactly heavy on programming. Still I thought it was a good companion to John Rothon's book Programmer's Guide to Internet Mail.



2. Six months ago there were no books on how to program email using standard protocols. Now there are three! Kevin Johnson, John Rhoton and David Wood have all brought out excellent books on the subject. My only gripes with this book are that it has no sample code available and too many errors. If your budget is tight just get Rhoton's book and a copy of the RFCs, but if you are serious about this stuff you are going to need all three books as well as all the mail RFCs.



3. This book is an excellent introduction to e-mail programming and protocols. It is as easy to read as any novel, explains everything neatly and concisely, and provides excellent examples.

   This covers what a mail server does and how it works, but really concentrates on mail client-server interaction. It goes into SMTP, ESMTP, MIME, POP3, IMAP, and vCard format. The examples are clear and concise, and it includes actual code in Perl and Java. This provides the reader with excellent, platform independent ways to do what they need to do.

   The writing style is excellent. One of the most fluid technical books I've ever read. In fact, all I needed was one Sunday to read the book from front to back.

   The code provided is superb. It's easy to use, easy to understand, and aides in the learning process. For me, the code is invaluable. It has personally saved me countless hours of work.

   Finally, this book doesn't delve in tremendous detail. It tells the reader how to program for e-mail, but doesn't go into the RFC's as much as many people would like it to. I think, however, that this is a real strength. Many technical books bog the reader down with irrelevant information. This books avoids this, but still gives the user information on how to retrieve any additional information if needed.

   Though there are not many e-mail programming books out there, this is by far the best one. I cannot recommend this book highly enough.




4. Bought this book to learn more about how email works so I could fight all the spam I am receiving. I did learn a lot about headers and how email works in general, but it didn't answer all my questions. Still, if you're looking for a general overview on email, this is a good book for the money.



5. I wished it had gone into more depth, but it is a good book for beginning UNIX email administrators.

4 comments about Visual Basic(R) 2005 for Programmers (2nd Edition) (Deitel Developer Series).

1. It still somewhat amazes me that Visual Basic has stood the test of time like it has. It keeps getting updates and facelifts, and continues to "play well" in today's environment. If you need a comprehensive guide to the language and the programming environment, I think you would be well-served by the book Visual Basic 2005 for Programmers (2nd Edition) by Paul J. Deitel and Harvey M. Deitel. Not much seems to be missing, and there are a few features that would cause me to highly recommend it to the Visual Basic crowd...
   
   Contents: Introduction to .NET, Visual Basic and Object Technology; Introduction to the Visual Basic Express 2005 IDE; Introduction to Visual Basic Programming; Introduction to Classes and Objects; Control Statements Part 1; Control Statements Part 2; Methods - A Deeper Look; Arrays; Classes and Objects - A Deeper Look; Object-Oriented Programming - Inheritance; Object-Oriented Programming - Polymorphism; Exception Handling; Graphical User Interface Concepts Part 1; Graphical User Interface Concepts Part 2; Multithreading; Strings, Characters and Regular Expressions; Graphics and Multimedia; Files and Streams; Extensible Markup Language (XML); Database, SQL and ADO.NET; ASP.NET 2.0, Web Forms and Web Controls; Web Services; Networking - Streams-Based Sockets and Datagrams; Data Structures; Generics; Collections; Operator Precedence Chart; Number Systems; Using the Visual Studio 2005 Debugger; ASCII Character Set; Unicode; Introduction to XML Part 1; Introduction to XML Part 2; XHTML Special Characters; XHTML Colors; ATM Case Study Code; UML 2 - Additional Diagram Types; Primitive Types; Index
   
   As I said, there's not a lot that's missing here... :)
   
   The authors forego the hand-holding tutorial approach and target the professional programmer who already knows the basics of how programming works. As such, the book dives into documenting the different features of the language and provide a large amount of example code that demonstrates the features being discussed. It's also written in such a way that it can serve as an ongoing reference manual when you're up and running with the language. It's impossible to know everything about every last feature, so you can go back and check into areas where you're still a little fuzzy...
   
   As I mentioned earlier, there are a few features here that really make me like this book. For one, it introduces UML diagrams and real object-oriented concepts. All too often the Visual Basic programmers I've met are self-taught individuals who can sling code but don't understand the larger industry concepts. Using UML here helps to bring them up to speed with the rest of the world. There are also a number of "call-out" tips in the book that are grouped around good programming practices, common programming errors, error prevention, look-and-feel observations, performance, portability, and software engineering. These gems, by being separated out of the text, are highly noticeable and extremely valuable to help you write better code. The authors also focus on the Visual Studio Express packages for the IDE. These Express versions are free, so you don't have to buy this book and then fork over $500 for more software. You pretty much have a complete, self-contained learning package right here.
   
   I have my hands full with a number of other technology learning goals right now, and Visual Basic isn't on that list. But if it was, this would be the book I'd want in front of me...



2. As a seasoned Access developer, I was really excited at the launch of .NET in 2001 as I wanted to make the jump to developing VB/SQL applications. But alas, every time I made an attempt to develop a VB.NET application using Visual Studio 2002/2003, I would end up with a ton of errors that I couldn't fix, and I would always go back to Access because it was so much easier. The books around at the time were also difficult to understand.
   
   Then I went to a developer conference in 2005 and saw the latest versions of VB.NET, Visual Studio 2005 and SQL Server 2005, and I thought Finally!! - Microsoft have made developing VB/SQL applications as simple as Access Database applications. So I wanted to find a book that covered all the cool features of VB.NET 2.0, as well as a discussion of OOP and UML. And just recently I discovered this awesome book by the Deitels.
   
   This book is the perfect introduction to VB.NET 2.0 - for someone who has programmed, but not necessarily VB6. It doesn't discuss differences between VB6/VB.NET 1.1 and VB.NET 2.0, as most other books seem to waste space doing. Rather than have separate chapters for OOP/UML, it combines discussion of OOP/UML within the context of VB.NET concepts such as classes and inheritance, which by the way are exquisitely explained in a simple, readable format with relevant examples.
   
   While the ATM case study, that is gradually built up throughout the book, is excellent, I just wish they had taken it one step further and discussed the design of the "Bank Database", and the relationship between the database design and the classes. Since nearly every business application built these days involves a database backend, this would have been worthwhile discussion.



3. I am an engineer that has been learning c# and VB to build some applications to help our department automate our processes and turned to the Deitel books for instruction. The Deitel series books are excellent. If you had to get only one reference book, I would suggest getting one of theirs. The "How To" books are textbooks and the "for programmers" books basically leave out the self tests and chapter questions. I have both the C# How to and the VB.net Programmers books along with a couple more brand X books. If you are looking for an excellent reference, get the Deitel "for programmers" book. It's a lot cheaper and will still have the information you are looking for.



4. This is an excellent book on VB. If you are already a programmer or want to learn programming, this is the right book. It will give you an overview on programming concepts and deep details on programming with VB.

4 comments about SQL for eServer i5 and iSeries.

1. This is a great book on the topic of SQL within the realm of IBM midrange platforms. It covers not only the obvious topics (interactive SQL, basic SELECTs etc.) but goes in depth on the topics of QM Manager, SQL within iSeries Navigator and interfacing SQL with MS Office. It is big on the practical aspects of SQL and is easy to read and understand.



2. This book has two aspects. Basically it's on the SQL programming language (Yes, Martha, it's a language).
   
   On the one hand it is aimed at the IBM i5/iSeries developers the tools they need to effectively use SQL in their applications.
   
   On the other hand it is equally aimed at the experienced SQL programmer that is now moving to the i5/iSeries who needs to know the particular twists and kinks in the implementation as well as the tools available on the system to support development.
   
   It's clear the future of data base interaction lies in SQL. It's also clear that without a book on the specific dialect of SQL spoken by the particular version you are running you can't write effective code. The structure of each data base engine is just a bit different. I don't believe that any of them meet the full standard.
   
   This is a novice to Intermediate level book. It starts with the simple SELECT statement and goes through JOINS, UNIONS, Sub-Selects, enough that the user can probably do what he wants. The book spends a good bit of time on converting from the older DDS/RPG based software.
   
   This book is an excellent start. It's hand's on enough to make sense, detailed enough to get you through the first through months of work before you're ready to tie into the details of advanced SQL -- Let alone the always coming next version.



3. Any programmer can copy and modify code to make a workable program. The real programmer creates code to meet the needs of the project. In order to stand out in todays world, it is absolutely essential that every available tool be brought to bear in order to hone the skills of the programmer. This book is written to help every level of programmer to use SQL in order to take full advantage of todays Systems and todays and tomorrows data needs. Kevin writes in an easy to read and understand style so even the novice programmer can find it useful. He also provides plenty of technical information to expand the edge of the programmer who already knows everything and doesn't usually use references. This book is a must have for the programmer working in this environment.



4. We are new to SQL and have found this book to be invaluable. Especially when added to some other books we have. Kevin has gone out of his way to answer questions and help. This is a must have book for any iSeries Shop that is using SQL and Embedded SQL.

1 comments about Phrogram Programming for the Absolute Beginner (No Experience Required (Course Technology)).

1. The book is a good starter for anyone wanting to learn programming for the first time. I bought this for my kids and the oldest (13) has started it. He's learning on his own with no problem. A well documented book with lots of examples.

5 comments about The Quick Python Book.

1. I checked out this book plus a few other books on java, C++ and perl from a local library to review and possibly buy. They were mostly o'reilly books that bored me after two weeks. I realized that o'reilly books are a bit over-worshiped. I had already decided to learn perl instead of python simply because it is used more commonly. I finally picked the quick python book just to see what all this python thingy is all about. I was not able to lay the book down for two days. I was reading after waking up, at lunch breaks, before bed and even when I could not sleep in the middle of the night. The language was as simple and intuitive to start as matlab or mathematica. The book had just the right depth, breadth and speed for my taste. Not too wordy, not too academic and all related examples to the matter at hand and no allegories. I just received my own book in mail. The book taught me things about computers and programming that I had not realized after a few years of C and C++ under my belt. I never felt too comfortable about programming and never thought I'd love coding one day but this may just have kindled that little light.



2. This book is great for learning Python! Lots of concise information, clear definitions and step by step code examples...Highly Recommended.



3. Excuse my enthusiasm, but this is one of the best software books I've ever read and I've been programming professionally for 16 years. I wanted to learn Python as a replacement for Perl so I bought all the O'Reilly books, which were OK but too chatty and disorganized for my taste. I picked up Quick Python and found myself reading it like a bestseller and I still reread it. I was amazed at its consistent clarity, depth and friendliness with lots of tight examples in a visually pleasing format. The authors don't just cover the material, they also let you in on the subtleties and gotchas that go unmentioned in a reference like Beazley's Python Essential Reference (which I also own but for me Quick Python works better most of the time).

   Furthermore in order to explain Python well, the authors provide astute explanations of general programming topics such as exception handling, regular expressions, and the pros and cons of the current crop of popular programming languages. They also bring in experts, even Guido Van Rossum (the creator of Python), to write chapters on more advanced topics like JPython and Zope.

   My only caveat is that this is not the best place for beginners to start--Lutz & Ascher's Learning Python would be better--but it is a good book for beginners to own and dip into as they develop.

   Other reviewers have mentioned that Quick Python's coverage of Tkinter (the main Python GUI package) is thin and that's true, though somewhat understandable since Tkinter is quite a beast and whole books have been written that don't cover Tkinter or Tk all that well. I would dearly love to see Harms & McDonald bring their accessible, thorough-going approach to Tkinter and its extension, Python Megawidgets.




4. A book to get you up to speed in programming Python, plenty of examples and beautifully done, well crafted, easy to read, fast to get the information without many rereadings, great design and the most important, it does a superb job.

   Probably the best introductory book to a subject i have.




5. This is, I think, the best quick introduction to Python that you can get. I have nothing to add to the other reviews, except to emphasize that it is very readable. Many introductory books are hard to get through, simply because they are so dry and boring. This book, on the other hand, is very readable, and actually makes the process of reading about the language enjoyable.

   If you are getting started with Python, I recommend this book, and also O'Reilly's "Python in a Nutshell". With those two books, you should have everything you need to get started.

2 comments about Pro Java Programming, Second Edition (Pro).

1. This book covers a grab bag of reasonably advanced Java topics. These include collections, XML, some database access, and Swing. Roughly half of the book is Swing. The first chapter, which covers library design, is solid.
   
   The exposition is solid, if a little dry. The illustrations are good. The book does rely a little heavily on code to do most of the expository work.
   
   I recommend having a look at this book in person before buying it. See if there is enough there on the topics that interest you to make it worth the purchase.



2. I really liked this book. The explanations are very clear and thorough. I agree with the previous review, that the book is a little SWING and code heavy. The SWING stuff is however just used as examples to explain a concept. The author is not trying to teach you SWING through this book. I guess that also the reason for longer code samples. Swing adds a few extra lines of code to each sample, but without that .. it might be difficult to follow through.
   
   Overall .. this is a good intermediate/advanced level book.

3 comments about Jin Sato's LEGO MINDSTORMS: The Master's Technique.

1. GET THIS BOOK!

   I've been waiting for this book for a few months now and I must say it was well worth the wait -- even if all you want to do is to build MIBO. Jin Sato really is the master, and it's alot easier to have him tell you how to build MIBO than it is to figure it yourself. It's quite a complicated model but an amazing challenge. The introductions to the various software are great too, and it's great to see things through Sato's eyes.




2. In Jin Sato's Lego Mindstorms: The Master's Technique, software researcher and Lego expert Jin Sato offers an incredible, "user friendly" guide to making wondrous creations with Lego Mindstorms. Written by the creator of the MIBO robotic dog, individual chapters include computer programming and source code to craft balanced and functional assembly designs; putting together working gears step-by-step; and explicit instructions on how to create one's own MIBO or other grand projects, and more! Jin Sato's superbly presented, deftly written, 364 pages instructional guide is an essential reference for all dedicated Lego hobbyists.



3. This is a very well written book. You can tell from the text that Mr. Sato is an expert at Mindstorms.

   Unfortunately, the book covers chapter after chapter of project parts and programming code that do not ship with the $200 LEGO Mindstorms: Robotics Invention System 2.0 718 piece kit. If you are really into Mindstorms and want to hand-code your programs outside the supplied GUI interface using downloaded languages, this is a great book. But, if you just purchase the Robotics Invention System 2.0 kit, then this book is not going to help much unless you download more software from non-lego web sites, and purchase even more lego hardware. I returned the book.

5 comments about Visual Basic 6 Database Programming for Dummies.

1. I've been programming for several years. Did most of my work in MS Access, and Quick Basic before that. Access had spoiled me as far as writing small client/server programs. I was looking for something to introduce me into the world of Database Programming in VB. This book, surprisingly, does a pretty good job.

   I was looking for something to get me started with ADO as well as some of the newer VB technologies, such as WebClasses - a subject I knew nothing about. The book did a fairly good job. It doesn't go in depth into any of the subjects, but gives you enough to wet your appetite, which is what I hoped out of it.

   If you're looking for something to introduce you to the world of database programming using VB, this may be the one you want. Let's face it - compared to other programming books, you can't beat the price.




2. I found this book very useful on my VB projects for school but It could be better. So, if you are new to Database programming this is a good starting point.



3. There was a lot of theory, but not all that much instruction that could be applied outside this book's carefully designed examples. With the increasing popularity, I spend quite a bit of time flipping through it, trying to give it a chance. As a computer instructor, I wouldn't suggest it.



4. Seriously if you want to start building a database in minutes, a good one, this is the book.Got it 2 days ago and am really covering a lot in the book.Very easy to understand and am building my own database right now.Whoever wrote this book I say thanks.



5. The book is great for starting out in DB handling in VB6! It is a bit lacking in an in-depth coverage of relational databases