5 comments about Expert C Programming.

1. What an amazing book. Who better to write about the subtle nuances of C programming than a man that wrote a compiler? This book is not an introduction (if you couldn't tell by the name), nor is it a place for quick tips. The explanations are not long-winded, but they are complete. Peter hits on all the high points that are often not adequately explained in most books on C, that you really need to know to program correctly. After reading this book, I think the whole pointer/array thing is put to rest...at least for me. The job interview questions at the end were very helpful to me...I'm not going to take a job as a programmer any time soon, but they still tested my knowledge of the language and of programming in general. I gained a lot out of the last chapter, which is an intro to C++...I've been floundering trying to understand OOP and how to program in it, and Peter gave a VERY nice, clear introduction to the basic concepts.
   
   I enjoyed Peter's humor (sometimes laugh out loud, which makes anyone raise their eyebrow when they see the book title) and writing style. It was a very delightful text to read.
   
   This book is an absolute must have for anyone that programs in C (as a second book on the subject). It should be required reading for anyone that teaches a course on C programming.



2. Every programmer should read this richly detailed tutorial for/polemic against the C programming language. While it will certainly help programmers improve the quality of their C code, it also shows definitively why developing reliable C software will always be far more difficult than it needs to be. This is one of the finest software engineering books I have ever read.



3. This book helps you on the way of becoming an expert on the C programming language, it is not much help for the purpose of becoming an expert on programming in C.
   
   What's the difference? Well, on the dimension from language lawyer to poet, this book falls more on the lawyerish side. In the same way that grammatically correct sentences in a natural language are rarely great poetry, so correct C programs are not necessarily great programs. Correctness is necessary, yes, but hardly sufficient.
   
   Van der Linden has little to say (or if he has, he doesn't tell) about topics such as good style at a small scale and doesn't at all touch how to structure programs at the large scale. Things like how to avoid name clashes, structure header files, handle errors, avoid resource leaks.
   
   The C programming language is still very much alive, and as far as I can tell, the place on the shelf for a book on C Patterns & Idioms is still vacant, waiting to be filled.



4. One of the best books I have seen on C programming. Interesting stories and author's ability to explain dusty corners of C language are really appreciated. I wish someone could have recommended this book to me during school days. Anyway, it is never late to read this book.



5. I had this book in PDF format before and liked it so much that I bought the book. An excellent book for advanced c/c++ programmers, a very good insight in linker, assembler. The book is all you need to learn many ambiguities of c.
   Also, the book arrived in condition as described. Great service.

5 comments about Microsoft SQL Server(TM) 2005: Database Essentials Step by Step (Step By Step (Microsoft)).

1. A very good material for beginers. I would have like to found this material when I first took a DB class...



2. I have yet to find a book by Microsoft Press that is well-written, and this one is the worst of them all. It was certainly a waste of my money. There are many other books on SQL 2005 that are far better.



3. There is nothing in this book that you can not find in another more organized book.



4. overview of all aspects but not as clear as could be, lot's of pre-knowledge about visual basic is assumed and not that clearly organized. There are a lot better books out there.



5. I'm about 1/2 way through this book and probably going to stop reading it. It's really just a general overview of SQL Server 2005, and is really unhelpful if you actually want to learn to use the software.

4 comments about Unleashing Web 2.0: From Concepts to Creativity.

1. This book is an excellent book on Web 2.0 technologies and how they can be used to provide value to users in a Web 2.0 world. The book is a light on technical (programming), but rich on concepts and the business side of Web 2.0. What makes this book useful is the fact that it reintroduces common concepts such as blogs in a way that an executive can understand and take advantage of. The first chapter discusses a brief history of the web. The second chapter goes into explaining what web technologies such as CSS and XML are and what a web service can do for a business. There are a few other very useful chapters in this book, but by no means you should stop your Web 2.0 quest with this book. This book's a great way to start your Web 2.0 journey and it even puts forth the notion of semantic web. But, once you figure out what area you want to concentrate on, I recommend getting a more comprehensive book on that specific topic.



2. I borrowed this book from someone who knows a great deal about web directions, and I found it to be very very good. Although the authors do not reflect the tsunamis being created by Doug Englebart (Open hypertextdocument system or OHS) and Pierre Levy (Information Economy Meta Language or IEML), this is a very elegantly organized and presented book.
   
   It forced me to question my here-to-fore blind expectations with respect to the Semantic Web where in practice the theory of seamless integration has not been realized. I was especially taken with the author's conclusion that we must continue to develop applications for smallish communities of practice where the human brain continues to be the primary searcher, sorter, and valuation or linkage agent.
   
   Jim Bamford's book on the National Security Agency (NSA), Body of Secrets: Anatomy of the Ultra-Secret National Security Agency, concludes that one day NSA may--after spending hundreds of billions more of our hard-earned wages, create the ultimate computer--one weighing very little, running on virtually no energy, and able to do petaflop calculations per second: THE HUMAN BRAIN.
   
   I am among a handful of co-founders of the Earth Intelligence Network, and I will conclude this very favorable review with my opinion: the World Brain is emergent, and it is the end-users, as the co-authorrs of this book conclude, that will continue to be the primary content creators, content sharers, and content valuators.
   
   As soon as China and India figure out they can create infinite wealth by handing out free cells phones and offering their respective 1.5 billion poor free information and education "one cell call at a time," it will be game over for both American and European digital ambitions.
   
   Machine learning has been over-hyped since the 1980's, and while I respect the computational mathematics being pioneered by Google, and various deep web or meta web endeavors, the reality is that search today stinks, yielding less than 2% of relevant information. I don't expect that to be resolved anytime soon. What I *do* expect is for humans empowered by relatively simple tools, to figure out how to do a national referendum from neighbood to nation=state, in 24 hours, and how to mobilize a public cabinet that posts a sensible slate of policies backed up by a balanced budget.
   
   See also:
   Mobilizing Generation 2.0: A Practical Guide to Using Web2.0 Technologies to Recruit, Organize and Engage Youth
   Society's Breakthrough!: Releasing Essential Wisdom and Virtue in All the People
   How to Change the World: Social Entrepreneurs and the Power of New Ideas
   Global Brain: The Evolution of Mass Mind from the Big Bang to the 21st Century
   The Tao of Democracy: Using Co-Intelligence to Create a World That Works for All
   The Wealth of Networks: How Social Production Transforms Markets and Freedom
   Global Assemblages: Technology, Politics, and Ethics as Anthropological Problems
   Collective Intelligence: Mankind's Emerging World in Cyberspace (Helix Books)
   Collective Intelligence: Creating a Prosperous World at Peace



3. When I first heard the term "Web 2.0," I dismissed it as hype left over from the dotcom days. What I've learned since is that Web 2.0 is a phenomenon that has forever changed the way we use the Internet. And while the 'Net is constantly changing, Web 2.0 is definitely NOT hype and it's time we all learn to use Web 2.0 to the best of our abilities. What I like about this book is that the authors describe various Web 2.0 technologies like XML web applications, Rich Internet Applications (like Google online documents), Application Programming Interfaces (API's), Web procedure calls (WPC), Ajax client and server-side applications, metadata and the Semantic web.
   
   There's also items like blogs, wikis, and social networks. These are all explained in great detail in this book. There are also apps called "mash-ups." Before reading this book, I thought "mashups" were combinations of songs created by club DJs. Internet mashups aren't all that different combining different web programs to create something new and useful. RIA's have become quite popular. Think of Google online documents or spreadsheets.
   
   The book starts off with a brief history of the "browser wars" between Netscape and Microsoft, then discusses developments in web technology (HTML, XML, CSS, etc), along with the emergence of client and server side applications enabled by using JavaScript and PHP, and then goes in more detail about RIA's, mashups and the phenomenon called "tagging." Tagging consists of tags that contain information about a site, photo or link that can be used by others for a wide range of uses.
   
   There's also a chapter in the book devoted to the social implications of Web 2.0; items like business models and the social impact of online social networks like MySpace.
   
   The authors did a great job in describing their topic. I appreciated their detailed look at Web 2.0. It makes an excellent "starter" book on the subject.



4. the book mentioned semantic web. And the steps in promoting semantic web. The concept of web 2.0 is clear.

2 comments about Beginning C# 3.0: An Introduction to Object Oriented Programming (Wrox Beginning Guides).

1. I've read several of Dr. Purdum's books in the past and have always found them informative and enjoyable to read. Beginning C# 3.0, An introduction to Object Oriented Programming (Wrox) is one of his best book yet. As he asks in the introduction, there are dozens of C# texts out there, so why should you pick this one? His answer is that, while most of the other texts were written by extremely capable programmers, few of the authors have never stood in front of several hundred students looking for examples that teach the material yet are easy to understand and remember. Several of the key strengths of this book are the examples and the way Dr. Purdum anticipates the reader's questions.
   
   For example, in covering the OOP concept of encapsulation in Chapter 2, he discusses why programmers hide the data properties of an object inside the object. He states: "You hide them for the same reason that kings used to hide their daughters in the castle tower...to keep other people from messing around with them." Later on, when discussing the difference between public and private access specifiers, he points out that using the public access specifier is like locking the princess in the castle tower and then passing out her room key to all the knights of the realm. I don't know about you, but this is easier for me to remember this than some dry explanation that one often reads on encapsulation.
   
   Another strength is the way he anticipates rough spots for the student. One of the most difficult concepts for beginning programmers is the difference between value types and reference types. Dr. Purdum uses a simple explanation of what a symbol table is to discuss l-values and r-values. He then introduces a concept he developed called Bucket Analogy which uses the symbol table concepts to explain the difference between the two classes of data. Even experienced programmers will appreciate this example and how it truly makes the differences clear. He uses a job interview to explain what objects are as well as cookie cutters to explain instantiation. The book does reflect his 25 years of teaching experience.
   
   The material covered is what you'd expect for an introductory text. He also covers relatively new topics like Generics and LINQ. The database chapter even has a fairly complete DBMS. However, the entire theme is to teach OOP and good coding techniques. For example, he'll write a code example that works but then calls it an example of RDC (Really Dumb Code). He then rewrites the code and explains why it is a better solution, especially when writing for a commercial environment. His objective is to teach you good OOP techniques using C# as the vehicle to learn those techniques. His experience owning a software company for 17 years shows through while doing this.
   
   If you want to get a solid introduction to OOP and C#, choosing this book is one of the best choices you can make.



2. Dr. Purdum brings it home like nobody else does. He is an educator and he knows how to get you to understand the concepts of programming. He uses real world examples to connect your mind to information he is teaching. Now I can honestly say, I get it. Thank you Dr. Purdum.

5 comments about C# 2008 For Dummies (For Dummies (Computer/Tech)).

1. I've read the 2005 version and this 2008 version and all I can say is these guys know their stuff. I've read many books on C# and this is the best book I've read. By programmers for programmers. Outstanding examples and explanations.
   
   If you authors are reading this, please write more books. I'd like to request a dedicated book on OOP concepts and class design using C#.
   
   Keep up the Great work!!!



2. I bought this book hoping to learn from scratch - as one would assume you can normally do from a "For Dummies" book. I own 12 "For Dummies" books on various subjects, but this has by far been the most scattered in flow and difficult to process.
   While the book exhausts you with lengthy dissertations on all of the possible variable types before you even get to write anything useful, it then completely leaves out the really useful information and techniques like how to write a program that can save text output into a separate file. There is no CD included, leaving you to have to go to the author's website and download all of the support files you'll need to cover your topics of interest. While I did find a "bonus" chapter on the author's website that covered creating programs that read from and write to text files, the code he published with it had errors and would not compile.
   Finally, I say there is no "mid ground" because it seems he can only take you along at either 5mph or 200mph - there isn't much in-between. There is a lot of "we'll cover that later" (my quotes) but it doesn't get covered in time to help you understand what he's discussing just a few pages later.
   BIG disappointment. I'm now looking for another tutorial source on C#.



3. Caveat: I'm one of the two authors of C# 2008 For Dummies (I did all of the 2005 and 2008 update work).
   
   I invite reviews of C# 2008 For Dummies, regardless of your level of experience or background. For myself, I find reader reviews very helpful in deciding whether to buy a book.
   
   C# 2008 For Dummies is aimed at beginning programmers, but it probably sells more copies to more experienced programmers, many of them looking to pick up a new language or break into .NET programming.
   
   Beginners will find very simple, easy-to-follow examples, with chapters building up to more sophisticated techniques. Additionally, my Web site for the book includes many supplementary articles on topics I lacked room to cover in the pages. The site also includes all of the example code for the book (well over 100 small programs that focus on one thing at a time), 7 extra bonus chapters, and other resources.
   
   More experienced hands will find pretty complete coverage of the C# language. Note that the emphasis is on the language, not on its many, many applications, such as Web programming, database programming, and so on. I discuss language features (some of which are very cool) in a context that is uncluttered with advanced features. (You can find more advanced features and techniques and applications such as Web coding in books from Wiley (the For Dummies folks) and other publishers as well as Web sites that offer many examples, articles, and lots of code. Try C# Station, C# Help, Code Project, CodeGuru.net, and more--Google for C#.)
   
   New in the 2008 edition are old features not previously included, such as delegates, events, and collections. Also brand new features: Language Integrated Query (LINQ), lambda expressions, the var keyword, extension methods, array and collection initializers, anonymous classes, query syntax. Many topics have been extended or elaborated--the book is about 25% longer than the 2005 edition.
   
   So please consider buying C# 2008 For Dummies if you're in one of its demographic categories. I don't think you'll regret it. And don't forget to check out the Web site at csharp102.info--it may help you decide whether to buy the book. And you can always contact me by email at sphars1@yahoo.com if you have questions, find errors, and so on.
   
   I hope you enjoy reading C# 2008 For Dummies as much as I enjoyed writing it.
   
   Best,
   Chuck Sphar



4. The book provides a gentle introduction to C#, in line with the other texts of this series. The pace of reading is mild, giving plenty of time to assimilate each new aspect of C#.
   
   Along the way, you learn the essentials of object oriented programming. Using a language that is fully OO, unlike C++, and like java.
   
   Perhaps there could have been [more] problems provided, to give the reader a challenge, and to really help her learn this stuff.



5. Great book, one of the few I have read all the way through. Some of the concepts where not new to me. The ones that where are well explained. This would be a great companion book for anyone wanting to learn C# with almost no programming experience. For people with programming experience in other languages this book is all you need to get started.

5 comments about Beginning CSS Web Development: From Novice to Professional.

1. This book is incomplete! Subjects to quickly covered and many errors between printed copy and downloaded lessons.
   
   Chapter 16 was hurried and confusing and again incomplete.
   
   After saying this I did learn the gist of CSS so not a total loss!
   
   Author knew his stuff - he just seemed to hurry through this book and did not do the job I felt he knew how to do.



2. If you are just starting out and are looking for direction in web design, buy this book. Even if you already have your feet wet in Web design this book may help you out. Simon Collison did a great job writting on the topic of CSS stylesheets and web design. Its not a lecture book, its a hands on instruction manual that progressively gets you used to working with CSS. It shows you the do's and the donts and Simon is very motivated to keep your attention.
   
   I went through this book a chapter at a time. I kept record of each chapter and worked through all the examples. I learned how to properly format my XHTML and CSS. Did i mention i don't have any real experience in web design. As a beginner it is very difficult to find a book that will give you examples and teach you how to do things. You usually either get a book thats nothing but a lecture on the topic with a miss leading title that says for beginners, or you get a 800 page manual thats more or less like a dictionary, last you may get a quick project that leaves you with no knowledge of the subject but you sure can make a great steriotipical format of a web page.
   
   The book clearly avoids the common door stopper and quick start book. Its not to lengthy and it does a great job implimenting theory behind the code. Simon shows you formats to properly use when developing CSS style sheets, so that your pages look clean and are easily accessible when it comes to trouble shooting or making changes.
   
   
   Simon Collison also keeps a light base of humor throughout to keep you interested but it isn't overdone to where it just gets in the way of your reading. The book is finished with a Case Study where Simon has you make a page using all the techniques you have learned previously throughout the book. My only con is that there are a few things at the end in the case study that Simon has you do that arn't previosly covered. You may not even notice. (But if you are making a page alligned in the center don't forget to have your containing div's left and right margin be set to auto.)
   But, you have to consider the length of the book and the fact that its intended for beginners, you can't include everything or you start to get to lengthy, which i wouldn't have necesarily minded. I'm sure they probably left some stuff out also because, ...they want you to buy the next book in line.
   
   So in conclusion I recomend this book. Even if you don't want to learn the art of CSS and are a dairy cow farmer that dosn't speek english, i still recomend this book!



3. I bought this book a year ago to get me started in writing CSS web pages. This was just the book I needed to get me started. It is reasonable simple to following along with and experiment with the examples. The outcome of my trek through this book is my personal home page (http://www.intergate.com/~waltwilliams/) which is now so much more presentable and professional looking. I have actually had people ask who I hired to create it. I would recommend this book to anyone who wishes to learn CSS.



4. What a great book. I just could not put this down and read the whole book in 1 day. As a asp.net coder, Css is the last thing I needed to learn to make great looking websites.
   Simon explans things clear and complete. I was always a but lost with id and class and what one I should be useing. The way it was expland left me with no questions. I fell CSS is something that you look up when you need to get a result. This book is well layed out to find things fast.
   The only thing I fault is that it would be great if the samples were in colour. A must have for beginners to pro.



5. I read this book from cover to cover. It is excellent, and I successfully used it to convert my cash4books website from table-based disorganization to use CSS and web standards.
   
   However, I think what was missing was a discussion on Quirks mode. Go to wikipedia and search for "Quirks mode" if you do not know what that is. In fact, if you use the code examples Collison provides, a few of them do not work right, due to Quirks mode issues. Specifically, once you get to the layout chapters, things don't work quite right in the latest versions of BOTH IE and Firefox.
   
   But, as I said, other than that bit of quirkiness, the book is great.

5 comments about Learn to Program (Pragmatic Programmers).

1. While looking for a book on entry level ruby programming I came across this. The reviews were good so I bought it. I was extremely disapointed however. First, the book is very small. There simply is not a lot of content here. I did like the type and text and layout.
   
   But the biggest problem and the one not mentioned anywhere is that this is not an entry level programming book. This is one step before that. It simply is "extremely" basic. What I mean by that is that is written for someone who probably has never even messed around with any programming language at all or has a lot of computer knowledge at all. It's like a junior high course to students who don't have a clue. This is great for some, but not mentioned anywhere and surely a disappointment and worthless to anyone who has even wrote a simple hello world program before.



2. I absolutely love this book! I have tried time and time again to get different books and take different classes to learn how to program. Everything from Unix courses to Java, C++, Scripting and many more that were just plain over my head! There are too many "beginner" books that just aren't Beginner enough! I stumbled upon this book in a book store--sat and read 4 pages and knew this would be the book to finally get me programming. I sit and read a chapter or two a day with my laptop and work my way through different exercises. The wonderful thing about Ruby is that it is so versatile. The book can explain the basics and with a little imagination you can come up with your own programs that are slightly different that the exercises given. (Basically each chapter gives building blocks to teach you, but there are more than one way to stack the building blocks and you can make different style buildings with those blocks.) For instance, one assignment was to make a program ask the name of the person typing at the keyboard, then it should repeat the name and say something like, "Oh, BLANK is such a nice name..."
   
   With the building blocks of the chapter, not only was I able to create a program that did just that, I created a program that said,
   "Hi, my name is X."
   "What's your name?"
   [your typed name]
   "Wow! [your typed name] is very pretty."
   "What is your middle name?"
   [your typed middle name]
   "And your last name?"
   [your typed last name]
   "I must say, [your first][your middle][your last name] is absolutely stunning!"
   "It was nice chatting with you [your entire name]."
   
   
   
   That's one thing I love about this book. It give you the building blocks, and without too much work (because it's so well written,) you build!



3. I bought this book a couple of summers ago. My son and I (he was 11 years of age at the time) worked through most of the exercises in the book together. I took a C programming class years ago. My son is good at math and has solid logic skills. I did a web-search for books focused on teaching kids to program - and I talked to a programmer friend who said that Ruby would be a good first language - so I bought this book. I've looked at some of the recent negative reviews - and while I do think there's room for improvement (such as an answer key) here's the differentiating element: my son and I got stuck on an exercise, so Matt wrote Chris Pine (the author) an email asking for help - a personalized answer was forthcoming the next day! Bottom line: Ruby is an entirely appropriate first language to learn, and this book is extremely applicable to the beginner with no programming background. Will you have to buy a second book to continue your learning after you complete this book? Sure. But isn't that usually the case? I don't know too many books that are appropriate for both beginner and expert - this book helps one do exactly what the title states: Learn to Program. Enjoy!



4. I picked up Learn to Program for two reasons:
   
   * I was curious about a book that could teach you to program. Where do you start? Also, I originally learned how to program (in Basic) from a book with no computer.
   * I wanted to learn Ruby and that's the programming language that Learn to Program uses.
   
   I was impressed with the book. Chris Pine starts out with the very basics - how to set up your computer with Ruby and how to create and run a program and takes you through a few basic programs, algorithms like sort and finally simple interactive games and file manipulation.
   
   If you are looking to learn how to program or how to teach your kid to program, Learn to Program is a good starting point.



5. I have wanted to learn programming for a long time. I even had a few false starts with Java. This book was perfect. It started at ground zero. Very basic. I learned a bit about programming and really found the beauty in Ruby's language and structure.
   
   I am now going back and documenting all the exercises in the book to cement my knowledge of the concepts. I put up a website as well so if you are going through the book and want to see how someone solved a problem, it's there for the taking:
   http://codeexperiment.squarespace.com

5 comments about Code: The Hidden Language of Computer Hardware and Software.

1. I picked up back on Ch.4 after the bus station stop. Very well done, Charles. A labour of love, indeed, very well crafted. I still don't know if Thevenin's theorem is for pure calculation purposes of being. The two parallel puzzle bc. Exit



2. This book is precisely what the doctor ordered; truly, there is no other book that even comes close to this one, in terms of actually capturing the most elegant, explicit essence of what the computer actually is, and does.
   
   This is the standard that all other computer books must now live up to, and I'm sure that no small number of rival authors are a little green with envy. After all, nine years after its original publication in 1999, this book is #27,439 on Amazon... a score that easily outranks the majority of newer books!
   
   It's a classic. I only hope Petzold does updated and, even, illustrated versions of this book. It is the "Cosmos" and "A Brief History of Time" of the computer industry.



3. I can't say enough good things about this book. I've recommended it to friends of mine coming from all levels of understanding. Few times have I been as enthusiastic about a book as I have about this one.
   
   CODE is perfect except for the end. For 3/4 of the book, everything is meticulously and wonderfully detailed. However, in the last quarter, Petzold explicitly focuses on limiting his book to a certain number of pages and gives us a whirlwind tour through some really interesting topics. I'd like to see another 1 or 2 books explaining these to the same degree of detail as all of the early chapters.



4. This book is a true creation of art. It is a must have for anyone who wants to understand how computers work at the lowest of the levels. It starts off with "What is electricity?" and builds up on the design of a truly working modern computer.
   
   Plus, you don't have to be an electrical engineer or have any knowledge on electronics, since the author assumes no previous knowledge on the field. No one but Charles Petzold could have ever written such an amazing master creation aimed at both the knowledgeable individual and the total newbie.
   
   Charles Petzold's writing style is delightful and attractive; it couldn't have been any better. Also as I read further into the bowels of the system, eventually I got these thrilling sensations like "No way anyone could have ever thought about this" or "No way this is possible". The way the text is put together allows for such moments of amazement.
   
   The book is loaded with diagrams. Every single step into the woods is clearly explained and illustrated.



5. This is the best book i've found on this subject. Reading CODE is like sitting in a well-taught class on the fundamentals of signals and computing.

5 comments about The Java Tutorial: A Short Course on the Basics, 4th Edition (Java Series).

1. This book is based on the tutorials available on the Java site, but I found this didn't worry me at all as I read the book.
   
   I have always been impressed with 'The Java Series' of books from Sun and this one ranks well. But while I was prepared to accept a more superficial transfer from the web version, what I got was much nicer. The book includes many important topics that are required to move from 'basic Java' to serious development, and while the collection topics alone is enough to recommend the book, the coverage is a mixture of the basics, advanced, and the "need to know" which impressed me.
   
   The coverage of the very basics is a lighter than in many beginners books so you wouldn't want this to be your only book, but I would certainly recommend it to people who have a grasp of the Java basics, anyone moving to Java from another language, or even if you haven't done much work with Java 5 and would like a decent reference for the additional material.
   
   All things considered, this book has better coverage and more uses to a larger audience than I expected and look forward to having it near me on the book shelf for my future needs.



2. This book is a terrific introduction to the Java programming language. It has been written to coincide with the release of Version 6 of JSE (Java Standard Edition). I had not seen the previous editions of this book, but I was quite impressed with the entirety of this edition. In particular, I really liked the organization. There is a brief chapter that introduces you to the basic recipe of writing Java programs on various platforms, and then the book gets down to business with object-oriented concepts first, before it tackles any other issue. Next it tackles the basics of the Java language specifically - variables, operators, expressions, control flow, classes and objects, and then interfaces and inheritance. This gives the novice an idea of how to do very basic programs in Java that include its object-oriented facets. Next, the more elegant concept of generics is introduced. The book makes it clear not only how to use them, but why you would - they add stability to your code by making bugs more detectable at compile time. Oddly enough, the next chapter is where the author chooses to introduce the creation and usage of packages. This is generally saved to the end of most books, since bundling classes and interfaces into packages is not something that the novice Java programmer needs up front, but it is a well-written and well-illustrated chapter on the subject. Next the author returns to more basic Java topics - numbers and strings, exceptions, and basic I/O. It is hard to do anything meaningful in Java without a grasp of these topics, and the book does an especially good job of explaining the confusing world of Java I/O.
   
   The chapter on the Java Collections Framework is made easier by the previous chapter on generics. The chapter on concurrency is well done, and catches you up to concurrent processing on the Java platform as it exists in Java 5.0 and later. Regular expressions will probably be old hat if you are from the world of Unix scripting, but this chapter does not make any assumptions and explains the concept from the beginning and then how that concept is implemented in Java. Next is an oddly practical chapter on the platform environment that includes issues like system utilities and the PATH and CLASSPATH environment variables that you almost never see published in a book. Usually, you see Swing explained along with exceptions, but since properties and exceptions have already been covered, this makes explaining the complex issue of GUI implementation with Swing a bit easier. The book concludes with chapters on JAR files, Java Web Start, and the ancient topic of Applets, which, after all, is the reason Java was such a hot language in the first place. Appendix B is a handy one on preparing for Java Programming Language Certification, which was not the purpose of this book, but it certainly is a useful tool in this process.
   
   Each chapter concludes with questions and programming exercises to test your knowledge. The book clearly explains each topic, has plenty of good illustrations, and lots of sample programs to illustrate the points being made. If you are a beginning Java programmer, I can't see a better way of picking up the Java language in its most modern form than this book. The following is the table of contents:
   
   Chapter 1. Getting Started
   Chapter 2. Object-Oriented Programming Concepts
   Chapter 3. Language Basics
   Chapter 4. Classes and Objects
   Chapter 5. Interfaces and Inheritance
   Chapter 6. Generics
   Chapter 7. Packages
   Chapter 8. Numbers and Strings
   Chapter 9. Exceptions
   Chapter 10. Basic I/O
   Chapter 11. Collections
   Chapter 12. Concurrency
   Chapter 13. Regular Expressions
   Chapter 14. The Platform Environment
   Chapter 15. Swing
   Chapter 16. Packaging Programs in JAR Files
   Chapter 17. Java Web Start
   Chapter 18. Applets



3. So far I'm on chapter 5 and everything is fine except for inheritance and interfaces I think that the explanations and the examples are confusing, but I do recommend this book.



4. This book is up-to-date and well paced. I recommend it to someone aware of the Java syntax that wants a quick re-cap before getting to the well explained chapters on Classes, Inheritance, Exceptions, I/O, JAR and Java Web Start. On the downside the chapter on collections is a tough read and the last chapter on applets feels like it doesn't belong to the book.



5. This is an excellent book for java beginners. Indepth explanation and easy to understand and learn.

5 comments about XQuery.

1. XML programmers and database users will find Priscilla Walmsley's XQUERY a specific, valuable reference which is based on the Xquery 1.0 standards and which offers a basic tutorial on specifications and programming with the query language base. Query writers should have some knowledge of XML basics to use this, and can quickly progress into the 'advanced' category using an overview and tour of Xquery which includes guidelines for working with different types of data and an A-Z reference to the program's functions.



2. This is a nice, comprehensive book written by someone highly qualified to talk about XQuery. The author, Priscilla Walmsley, was a member of the W3C XML Schema Working Group.
   
   Now that XML is being added to database management systems, DBAs and database developers will need to know how to query that data. And they'll more than likely be using XQuery to do it. As such, this book would be a good way for database professionals to gain expertise on XQuery.
   
   Walmsley's book offers a concise, yet in-depth tutorial on the XQuery language specification. After digesting these 25 chapters you'll have the knowledge required to program using XQuery to read your XML data. Whether you're coming from a relational and SQL background or you're an XML and XSLT coder, this well-written text will help you understand and write queries using XQuery.



3. I needed to come up to speed with an XML database server (Mark Logic) and I found this book very useful for learning how to use XQuery. It was concise and provided many good examples. The presentation of chapters was somewhat episodic--you had to read the later chapters to find out how some of the topics turned out. This was probably due to the newness and complexity of the topic. I wouldn't be surprised if there was a chapter reorg for the 2nd edition.
   
   In my case, the book covers only XQuery and does not cover the XQuery extensions and specifics of the XML database system I was using. Walmsley's book makes a great companion to the vendor documentation.



4. XQuery has its logical side, but it's pretty easy to forget all the syntax rules and nuances associated with it. Without this book, I'd easily be cursing XQuery and everything associated with it.
   
   It was a great read to get started, but it's become an indispensable reference for day-to-day work and play. With the 30 or so sticky-notes poking out the top, I find myself constantly in this book looking for not just answers, but ways to better use XQuery efficiently in a maintenance-friendly manner.



5. The problem of this book is it doesn't give detailed information on how to implement X-Query on your computer. When you have Windows Vista, eXist doesn't work. Neither does WAMP. And unless you have heavy duty experience with SQL Server, this book is useless. The author of this book needs to include many more simple examples so that people like me can use the language. I might figure out how to use this someday, but it will be a long time before I do. That is so disappointing.