5 comments about Groovy in Action.

1. This book is fantastic. Very well done, easy read. It was the first tech book that I read cover-to-cover -without getting bored- in a long time. The author does a good job of explaining how Groovy works under the covers and does a great job of detailing how to make effective use of it.
   
   The language itself is also impressive and I hope Groovy gets the attention it deserves. I hope all Java developers read this to see what they're missing in Java-land. :-)
   
   Hindsight is 20/20, I'm sure the authors are sorry they included the last chapter on Grails as they did. But I don't fault them, as I'm sure the publisher was not uninvolved in that decision... ;-)
   
   I'm giving it 5 stars anyway. Good work!



2. While getting a little long in the tooth (GINA was released pre-Groovy 1.0, Groovy is now above 1.5), the material presented in the book is still very relevant and helpful. The biggest issue is that some of the newer (and cooler!) features, such as ExpandoMetaClass, of the language are not covered.
   
   That being said, this is still a great introduction to the a language that will likely become an important player in Java shops as developers migrate existing designs to take advantage of the power the dynamic programming provides. The authors do a great job of explaining the concepts and syntax of the language, making it easy to quickly begin writing code of your own.
   
   While books such as Groovy Recipes: Greasing the Wheels of Java are now available that cover the newest features in Groovy, a perusal of GINA can help to flatten the learning curve.



3. This book is totally awesome. The book makes it very easy to jump around and come back to previous chapters. The book's online forum is great too. The author(s) respond very quickly. It is well worth the money. Order it now and you will be programming in Groovy very quickly.



4. For those of you who haven't heard of Groovy, Groovy is a scripting language that is built on top of Java. Since it is written on top of Java, a Java developer can pick up pick Groovy in a snap.
   
   I first heard about Groovy In Action (also known as GINA) during a Groovy presentation almost a year ago, the presenter was referring to Groovy In Action as one of the best references out at the time, After reading GINA, I was not disappointed. The roadmap given at the beginning of the book is a great guide to see how the book is organized out. As an added bonus, the book includes some great reference information at the end of the book. It contains Groovy Language information, a GDK API quick reference, and several great cheat sheets for items such as closures, lists, etc.
   
   The book is full of great examples that you can use (some of the examples illustrate some of the finer points of the language).
   
   In fact someone recently asked about where to find a complete specification of the Groovy Language. Guillaume Laforge, Groovy Program Manager and co-author of Groovy In Action, responded that the most current information can be found in Groovy In Action (source user@groovy.codehaus.org mailing list 3/16/2008).
   
   Groovy in Action is one of the Groovy books that is a must have for anyone looking to get into Groovy Development.



5. I feel like Groovy is like a programming language "Eintopf", it aggregates some best characteristics of a variety of programming languages. No matter which programming style you prefer - procedural, functional, object-oriented, meta-programming, static typed, dynamic typed... - Groovy has much to offer. The most beautiful thing is, you can easily combine different programming styles in one language and write most concise and self-explanatory code to solve your problem. With Groovy, you suddenly have so much mind-freedom, you have the choice of expressing your algorithms as close to the nature of the problems as possible.
   
   There are languages having very concise syntax but the code is not easy for human to read. There are languages and APIs require more strikings on keyboard than thinking. Groovy is different. You have all kinds of syntax sugar while the code still tells a literal story in your problem domain.
   
   The only fields I think Groovy might not be suitable are the machine-level infrastructures and image/audio/video processing. C and assembly languages are not replaceable by Groovy. In most other application fields, using Groovy can dramatically boost programmers' productivity and reduce programming errors.
   
   I started off by simply renaming all .java files in my test packages to .groovy files. Worked. Then tried out it's closures and curry calls. For me there are a lot more to explore. Haskel fans will like Groovy. Smalltalk fans will like Groovy. Python fans will like Groovy. Lisp fans maybe too. Java folks? I for one, have already been conquered. If you program at all, by all means do yourself a favour and have a look at Groovy.
   
   Groovy in Action is an excellent book on Groovy and programming. Get this book and get the insight, you'll be glad you do.

5 comments about HTML 4 For Dummies, 5th Edition.

1. I found this item to be informative, easy to follow and well worth the price that I paid for it. The book arrived when I expected it.
   I would recommend this book, as a starting point, to anyone who is interested in learning HTML.



2. Caveat emptor to the absolute beginner. This book is not written for the beginning web page creator. It is not written in a tutorial style. It is good as a reference source as you study a true tutorial type book. It discusses tags and their attributes one at a time without showing you how they fit into your web page code. The beginning chapters throw lots of advanced features at you and tell you they will be discussed in chapter 19 etc.
   I was completely overwhelmed after 20 min of reading. So what's a beginner to do? I recommend Create Your First Web Page in a Weekend. By the time you get half way through that book then you can use this dummies book as a reference.
   william



3. As a novice or someone thinking about working with HTML, I think this book was over my head. If one had some background in HTML they could probably make full/better use of its content. Pork Chops and Applesauce: A Collection of Recipes and Reflections



4. This is not a book for jumping into WEB development. It claims to be but it really is not.
   
   It's a good intro book for HTML for the absolute beginner. But, I must mention you have to be a reader versus an examples person. There is a great deal of discussion and only so much code examples. However, it did answer a couple questions.
   
   I found this book good for getting to know what is out there. The book offers useful links to sites for getting more information. This saved time and it offers a "warm fuzzy" since it is suggested versus wandering around the Net.
   
   The book also suggests some tools to use which again saved a little time.
   
   I don't know if I would call this a good reference book. For example, it lightly touches CSS, XHTML and CGI and the design suggestions? Well you probably could get a design book to handle that better as I think they are rather basic in this book.
   
   If you can get it from the library or get it used, it might be worth a look.
   
   If you understand basic HTML, you might avoid it.



5. I'm never disappointed with Dummies books and this one is no exception. Great read, easy to learn.

5 comments about Beginning C ++ Through Game Programming, Second Edition.

1. First of all you have to keep in mind that the purpose of this book is not to teach game programming, but C++ programming. With that in mind, don't expect to learn graphics, AI or anything like that (except for some extremelly basic concepts).
   
   However, in teaching C++ it succeeds. But it doesn't go much deep into anything and it is somewhat disjointed. If you can't be motivated by anything but game programming and can't stand to learn any other way, then pick this book - if you really want to learn pick another and this book to give you some (very basic) basics on game programming.



2. Seriously this book is the best I have read yet when I first started it I was a newbie programmer but the way micheal dawson explains the c++ fundamentals keeps things fun and exciting this is one of the only c++ books you can find that isnt dry or boring think of it like being in a game industry school he has you apply your new skills in projects by the end of the project you learn what you need to learn and quick you wont want to miss this book I guarantee it!



3. This book was nothing more than another poor purchase decision on my behalf. Written towards the audiance of those who ought not be reading it in the first place this book takes on an annoying simplistic tone. Reading it is like sitting through the basic trig review before taking multi var calculus, the most complex example is a cheap command line version of blackjack.
   
   If you have any computer knowledge at all and you purchase this book I can guarantee you that it will be one of the ones that just sit on the shelf and make you look smart, never to be opened.



4. (In reference to 1st Edition) As my title suggests this book is a pretty good introduction to C++ using basic games as the subject of the examples and exercises. Its main focus is on teaching the fundamental aspects of C++ for beginners and how to use the Standard Template Library (STL). Creating games is not really the focus as much as the the chosen subject of the examples and lessons. That said, what this book does, and does fairly well in my experience, is give a good overview and introduction to C++ and how it can be used to create the basic flow structure of a game program. Console text output is the focus, not windows programming. Those with more programming experience and looking for material on 2D or 3D graphics, or event scripting and control using C++, would be better served by another text as it does not address these subjects at all.
   
   I have used this book successfully to help teach teens fundamental C++ and the basics of game programming (within the limits described). It is an easy step from here to go to basic text adventures and RPGs, and a then onto adding graphics, etc. as a more advanced topic (using other texts). This is really a natural progression for someone who wants to learn programming and games, but perhaps not for someone who wants to design games from an art or interaction perspective. More advanced topics such as AI, graphics, and scripting can really only be learned after one understands basic programming (in C++ or another language) and the basic of how game programs are structured.
   
   I have found many students do not necessarily understand what it means to "program games" or how programming relates to game design and implementation. Beginning C++ Game Programming is a good text but if you are already a programmer and/or not interested in the basic code structure of games then perhaps you should find another book.
   
   Bottom Line: Good choice for a real beginner, who is really interested in learning programming because of games, but not a good choice if you are an experienced programmer or want to make your own 2D or 3D video game "right now".



5. A friend bought me a copy of this book through amazon.
   Both of us (my friend and I) started to learn C++ together through the internet before having this book.
   
   The book is amazingly good, very good structure for teaching the programming language, C++.
   Everything is done in a very interactive way, giving you concepts on how game developers do it, how stuff run in more advanced program.
   And what use every function has.
   
   While it doesn't go into deep details of every possible library and function in C++, it teaches you enough to get on your own and go from there.
   
   After finishing this book, it was very easy to go on and move to DirectX, Allegro and SDL libraries.
   
   Very recommanded!

2 comments about Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 with SP1: Tony Redmond's Guide to Successful Implementation.

1. Have Tony's 2003 SP1 and 2007 SP1 books. They were recommended to me by a former co-worker of his. Tony cuts out all the BS and get right to it. Few IT books capture my attention and leave me awake but Tony's words make it all easy to understand. I really enjoy the SCR section that is new to this edition and the Exchange world, he got really in depth with the dynamics and it shows that he knows how to make it work properly.
   
   In the beginning he stated that to cover all the new technology to E2K7 he would need a thousand more pages, and I am hoping he delivers another edition. Thanks Tony for making the new "complex" Exchange very understandable and giving real world best practices.
   
   -Justin Vashisht



2. Intersante información relacionada a casos practicos, es una guia completa para implementaciones y migraciones exitosas de Exchange 2007. Excelente compra para los que lo están evaluando, excelente libro a pesar de no contener mucho sobre Mensajería Unificada.

5 comments about JavaScript & DHTML Cookbook (2nd edition).

1. I still have the first edition of this book but other than perhaps missing the chapters on ajax it's not outdated at all. This book has saved my life several times already. Almost every time I am looking to solve a tricky problem in javascript, I find that this book contains a well explained chapter with the exact solution that I was looking for. The authors often make a point of going through multiple iterations of a solution, to demonstrate what needs to be modified to support certain browsers, and at the same time ensure that the reader actually understands the code too.
   
   This is a great book for experienced javascript developers who want to save time by using tried and tested code to solve common problems, but at the same time understand that code too.



2. I wouldn't buy this book if you are going for aesthetics for you website. I wouldn't buy it if you are a heavy programmer either. Its a good "middle" book for just general roll overs, browser detections, and other javascript functions for form validation. Its a little small.



3. I really like this book. The format of each technique demonstrated is
   
   Problem- Solution- Discussion
   
   The nice thing is that you can get a quick explanation from the solution, and a more in depth response in the discussion. The author presents complete code which is easily built upon and customized.
   
   I knew a bit of Javascript when I started, but I think this would be an excellent book even for a complete beginner.



4. Like most web developers, I typically will reach for one of the many JS libraries when it comes time to add client-side enhancements to my web applications. This is usually the obvious choice for the sake of saving time on projects, and keeping costs down... but quite often, many libraries are simply overkill for a simple little js/dhtml enhancement.
   
   As such, that is what lead me to this book. I was hoping the cookbook format would give me some fresh ideas on doing some simple js/dhtml work and it most definitively delivered.
   
   Perhaps the most valuable parts of this book for me were the aspects of working on the DOM. Additionally, I always enjoy reading different techniques for dealing with client-side form validation.
   
   To me the coverage on loading dynamic data/ajax was good, but I still think that when entering into that realm of JS, it is usually time to deploy one of the libraries I mentioned earlier.
   
   All in all this has become a valuable resource that I often refer to during my daily work.



5. The book doesn't go in-depth in it's explainations. It is written more for the seasoned script writer and not the beginner. I found it very confusing and not enough detail to be of any use to me. I preferred "Javascript, Demystified".

5 comments about Perl Best Practices.

1. This is the best collection of good ideas to make your life easier as you maintain your code and others code. I'm in Software Configuration Management, and I have to help people pickup others code all the time. If everyone in my shop used these practices, my job would be much simpler. Get it.



2. This is a fantastic book that's valuable no matter what language you
   program in. I've been writing code for three decades and have
   programmed in almost two dozen languages and the priorities are always
   the same when writing / reviewing code: maintainability, efficiency and
   robustness. Every dictum in this book clearly advances one or more of
   these priorities. If you're like me, you'll wish you had this book when
   you started your software engineering career.
   
   For development teams, this book is an instant win. With any
   development team, there is always a discussion as to what coding
   standards to use. Perl BP can be used to short-circuit such debate, to
   the benefit of everyone involved.
   
   Of course, not everyone will be happy with the standards outlined in the
   book. Before I plunged in, I skimmed through the book and found things
   that I disagreed with: K&R braces; loop labeling; no unless statements;
   postfix if; etc. The arguments made in the book, however, are so
   compelling that I'm now gladly writing my code to conform with them.
   
   I always feel fortunate when I read a book that makes me want to change
   my behavior for the better. Perl BP is one of these books.



3. Not only the best Perl book I've ever read, it's also one of the best programming language books, period.
   
   If you've ever programmed C++ or Java, you'll know how revered the likes of Effective C++ and Effective Java are, a series of tips, suggestions, idioms, advice and commandments. This is the equivalent for Perl, except it's even more thorough and covers even more ground, from brace layout and statement formatting, to regexes, unit testing, documentation and command line parsing.
   
   There's also an exceptionally good chapter on object orientation, wherein author Damian Conway guides the reader through the use of his own Class::Std module. If you're using objects in Perl, and you're still rolling your own, you're really making life unnecessarily difficult for yourself. Class::Std provides object features reminiscent of CLOS, and makes Perl competitive with the likes of Python and Ruby when it comes to objects. Class::Std has changed the way I code Perl forever, and I know I'm not the only one. Seriously, this chapter is worth the price of admission on it own.
   
   It's hard to overstate just how much excellent stuff there is in here, there's even useful emacs and vi settings provided! And I've not even mentioned how well written it is. Damian Conway really does prove himself the master of witty examples.
   
   Perl Best Practices is just brilliant. Absolutely essential reading - don't code Perl without it.



4. One of the biggest asset in the Perl community is the people that form it. And Damien Conway is one of its outstanding members. Possibly the best speaker I've ever seen, he injects wisdom and wit in its books, which always take you a bit further in the path of Perl Enlightment. This one, of course, is no exception. Not only it teaches what you should do, but the many things you _shoulnd't_ do.
   When will we be seeing a novel by Damien Conway? Don't let Charles Stross be the only perl monger that writes novels!



5. This a great manual. Instead of being a reference like most books that you may only need parts of, every chapter has some interesting information and is applicable to daily coding. Since at this point you can learn a lot of Perl just on Google, textbook style manuals are on the way out. Best practices, though, is still very applicable. I wish I had read this book years ago looking back at my functional but awkward scripts.

5 comments about The Ruby Way, Second Edition: Solutions and Techniques in Ruby Programming (2nd Edition) (Addison-Wesley Professional Ruby Series).

1. It's a good book for learning the Ruby language, and at almost 800 pages it's one of those books that will usually be sitting nearby (next to the Pickaxe book).



2. This is a very thorough companion to just about everything in Ruby, starting with the core language features, and then moving onto some of the more important libraries. As such, it has a reasonable overlap with Ruby Cookbook. In most languages, you'd expect the O'Reilly's mighty Cookbook series to come off best, but The Ruby Way edges it in this case. It's that good.
   
   The Ruby Way not only covers more than Ruby Cookbook, it also manages to be a little more cohesive, dispensing best-practices and general wisdom amidst its well-chosen examples. If you already know another programming language, you could probably learn Ruby from this book (in particular, the first chapter contains a great set of reminders and idioms), and it might even be the only Ruby book you'd need.
   
   Apart from its comprehensive coverage of Ruby itself, there's also coverage of important Ruby projects like Rake, gems and Rinda. It even covers more than Rails in its chapter on web frameworks, although it must be admitted that you don't get too much sense of how these really work given the space allotted to them.
   
   One notable characteristic of TRW is that in places, it has a slightly fuddyish writing style, for example, it refers to the use of 'threequals' for the case equality operator as "hip and trendy" (with scare quotes included). I quite enjoyed this. Yes, there are some typos and mistakes in the book, but I didn't find it was a big problem, you can normally work out the correct syntax with the minimum amount of experimentation in irb.
   
   A mighty combination of cookbook and best practices (akin to Effective C++ and Effective Java, although Rubyists probably don't like the comparison to those languages), The Ruby Way is the Must Read of the Ruby literature.



3. This book is an excellent reference on the Ruby language. I have this book, the pickaxe, and the cookbook. But the book I always turn to first is the ruby way. The style is excellent- slightly informative with some gems of quotes, like "brother, can you paradigm? -Grafiti seen at IBM Austin, 1989"
   I wish all language references were written like this, although I am not sure if it is accessible as a first book on Ruby.



4. This book can serve as a cookbook and also can double up as a ruby tutorial. Whenever i read a recipe, i'm pulled into at least 2 or 3 of the neighboring recipes too. There's a lot to know about Ruby and this book simplifies the learning, teaching/illustrating one concept at a time.



5. It is an excellent book for people new to Ruby, or having previous background in ObjectOriented languages. It provides detailed write ups with working examples.

5 comments about C++ for Dummies.

1. this book was a great book for learning c++ and a wonderfull refrence for experenced programers. also this book did not start off with the stupid "helo world" program. it was nice to start of with somthing a little more complex that would chaleng you a little more. the code in the book was writen perfectly. also unlike most programing books every single pice of code compiled. their was not a single pice of code that did'ent work. i would recomend thiss to anyone who whant's to learn C++



2. The explainations are just plain bad. When I stated reading this, I had a little experience with the Python programming language. I still had trouble reading this. Pay more and get a better text.



3. Well written, fairly priced book that helped me get through a college class. I recommend it for any beginners doing C++ programming.



4. --BUYER BEWARE! This book is a near replica of Mr. Davis' other book, "C++ Weekend Crash Course 2nd Ed." Don't do what I did and buy both of these hoping for a 1-2 punch into breaking into C++. When I say near replica, I mean word for word. Link Below.
   
   C++ Weekend Crash Course
   
   
   
   This book was something I was sure I could delve into when I saw it. It was one of those promisingly titled "...For Dummies" books. I bought this and dug right in. I have no programming experience. What I did have was a thirst for knowledge of C++ and an open mind. It got me through (roughly) half the book before I just couldn't take it anymore. Reading this book was like listening to an old codger tell you how he mowed his grass with fixed blades powered by his own two feet. Mr. Davis explained the concepts well enough for a basic understanding, but it was by no means built for a "Dummy." Some of the variables could have three or more characters before them. Following his naming convention, I was getting confused of what the variable did before I even got to the actual name of it! This review is short and to the point. Mr. Davis' book didn't make learning the language easy, fun, and even made me dreading looking forward to finding out more. I would not recommend it to anyone.



5. this book was fine, but simply not good enough. as a beginning programmer i found this book tremendously useful as it introduced me to the basic functions of c++ and how to do normal programming. however the object oriented programming section was nothing short of a disaster. in the beginning he clearly explained every necessary lined of coding and in the object-oriented section he basically cut the explanations way too much. this book is a begginers guide and everything should be clearly explained, he would used some algorithms like: (strimcp(maxnamesize-1) - that was for a system that the max character limit was 100, as you type in your name it subtracts after every character, i know what strimcp is but how am i supposed to understand why it's needed for that function. he uses maxnamesize in the beggining of the program to intitialize it and it's something in brackets like (maxnamesize, char* something i don't remember) and how am i supposed to know why it's there? he thinks everyone thinks like him

5 comments about Absolute Beginner's Guide to C (2nd Edition) (Other Sams).

1. As an IT professional I have read many programming books. Many of which in their attempt to teach you something about their topic end in more confusion than clarity. Not so with this text. This is one of the only texts I have encountered that actually reads as it was described, assuming no programming experience yet having the ability to teach you practical implementations of the language. I found this text to be a fun read, not overly technical (it is a beginning level text) and very much worth my time and effort. I would highly recomend this text to anyone just starting out with C, it will give you the core understanding of concepts you will need to advance your C programming abilities. Nice work Mr. Perry.



2. The author did a great job of explaining in this book. It was very easy to understand and enjoyable to read. I highly recommend this book for a true beginner. Also, the author includes a helpful and handy "Crib Notes," which is a tear out reference sheet of Functions and Statements covered in the book. No doubt, I rate this book 5 stars!



3. Hi, my name is Adrian Mowrey, and I'm a computer programming student. I always wanted to learn C, but I couldn't because I wasn't able to find a good reference for beginners until I found this book. Another thing that made it harder for me to understand other books is that English was not my first language, and many other books talk too technical for me to understand. This book is much easier for someone, like myself, whose first language is not English. After I read this book, I decided to move forward and order "The C Programming Language" by Brian W. Kernighan and Dennis M. Ritchie. I hope I will advance to a respectable level from where I can build my personal ideas with C, and I'm sure I won't have any problems since I have these two books.



4. This book is extremely simple and by far too verbose.
   
   Book is about 360 pages which could easily be fit in 90 page none-verbose version. Still good start if you are absoutely new to C.
   
   To be more specific, this book doesa good job to defining compplecated C terms like Stack/Hip and dynamic memory allocation.



5. Greg Perry has a way of teaching complex subjects to absolute beginners. This book is easy to follow even if you've never programmed before.

No comments about Beginning CakePHP: From Novice to Professional (Beginning from Novice to Professional).