5 comments about C++ Without Fear: A Beginner's Guide That Makes You Feel Smart.

1. I was putting off learning C++ because I though it would be too difficult to understand. I have been learning Python for the last few years so I understood the basic procedural and object oriented programming concepts, then I got this book.
   
   This book clarifies things on a level that elementary school kids can understand. At least the first half, it gets a little heavy towards the end, but takes the time to list complete code examples then steps through descibing each line as clearly as is possible when dealing with something as complex as this.
   
   This book never expects you to know anything about programming before you start. A lot of books will try to explain things using terms they expect you to already know, but every term mentioned in this book is completely explained in this book.
   
   The only cheap shot I can take at this book is that I don't like the Compiler/Development Environment that comes on the CD, I much prefer www.bloodshed.net free Dev-C++, which is easy to install and works perfectly with all the examples in this book.
   
   This is the best first programming book for anyone interested in C++ I've ever seen. Although C++ is a little more difficult to understand than Python, most of the concepts in the languages are the same.
   
   Topics like GUI (mouse based graphic environment) programming are not covered, but after this book you will be ready to tackle that next. Especially if you plan on using a cross platform graphic library like wxWidgets.
   
   If you read this book and fiund it too difficult, I suggest stepping down to Python, maybe get "Absolute Beginner's guide to Python" by Michael Dawson.
   
   That book uses simple games as examples to learning programming, then you can get a wxPython book to learn graphic programming which uses the same library as wxWidgets in C++, so it is a good stepping stone if you want to come back to C++.



2. This is one of the best books to actually understand C++. I recomend it both to beginners and to more experienced programmers - lots of gotchas made clear. It doesn't go very deep, however, and after learning this book you should look for more advanced books to expand your knowledge.



3. This book gave some fairly detailed explanations of how stuff worked, and even got Visual C++ working for me (there are special procedures to follow).
   
   However, he seems to assume you have more knowledge on programming than you really do. I bought this book when I was 14, and though I could copy stuff out of the book, I had no idea what the hell I was copying.
   
   This book is ok if you know another language like BASIC or Perl, or anything else for that matter, but for a beginner who wants to learn, I'd recommend the Sam's series.
   
   Another thing I saw that annoyed me is that it said how inferior C is to C++, and that you shouldn't bother learning c. I respectfully disagree, c is a powerful, and fairly simple language, that I feel is a great introductory language.
   
   All in all, 3/5



4. At first I was skeptical with the purple character on the front of the book that this would be a book that would make me feel childish, it didn't, it made me feel like a beginner and that this book would change that.
   
   I was impressed, they really covered everything in a way that is easy to understand. Despite some typos, I was able to work around those because I had already known that those were typos, probably because I learned so well in the book to know that they were wrong.
   
   I liked how they used a simple fraction program to explain objects and classes. It's as small as you can get, but you really understand how classes work without something confusing and at a level where most people do their classes. You basically build your knowledge after that.
   
   Despite the minor errors in the book, I enjoyed reading this.



5. This is a great book for those of you who know little or no c++. Builds a great understanding of basics. I'm about half way through and can't put the book down. Only thing I have to say negative about it, is in one exercise there was an error in the source. Other then that, I would highly recommend this book.

5 comments about Programming Windows®, Fifth Edition (Microsoft Programming Series).

1. I have to say I was dissapointed in this book; not because of *how* the material was presented, but because of the *type* of material presented. It says "the definitive guide to the Win32 API" printed right on the cover, but the selection of topics seems limited only to those which deal with output and presentation (text, fonts, graphics, bitmaps, sounds, etc). Personally, i was looking almost exclusivly for the more "under-the-hood" API functions, which almost no mention is made of.
   For example, there is no mention of memory management, manipulating files on the hard disk, serial and parallel ports usage, processes, debugging/kernel, and console-mode functions, just to name a few. Multi-threading, DLL files, and TCP/IP are included at the end, seemlingly only as an afterthought. To give you an idea, the chapter about the "Palette Manager" is over 170 pages long; the chapter on DLL's is only 30.
   Also slightly annoying was the large amount of printed code in the book (my personal pet peeve). Many times, you'll find complete programs that span ten or more pages, with little explanation to accompany them. This seems completly unnecessary, especially considering the stout size of the book to begin with (1500 pages!), and the fact that all the code is included on the CD anyway.
   So if you're looking for a in-depth book about the more 'visual' aspects of Windows, then this could be your book. But if you're looking for more low-level stuff going on behind the scenes, not even one page of this will be worth the shipping you'll pay.



2. This is by far the best book on the windows API, even today is really worth it.



3. I bought this book because MS keeps trying to hide information about how to make basic Windows apps in favor of pushing flavor of the day technologies like MFC and .Net. I remembered that this is the huge tome that all the Windows programmers from the 90s used to lug around so I bought one. I didn't want a book that would allow me to write "hello world" and then leave me stranded. I wanted to be able to port games (or applications) from other platforms in a way that will work across the entire Windows family. I also wanted to be able to make Windows code that could compile with GCC.
   
   If you want to make a simple Windows app, or port a basic app from Linux or Mac to Windows, this book is a key component to doing it quickly, with a minimum of fuss. If you want to make a Windows app using Dev C++ or another open source development kit for Windows, this book is a must have!



4. This book is very well written and the author does a great job explaining every topic that he covers thoroughly. His answers are full of relevant content and he leaves no room for ambiguity. Do take note that this book is dated, but you will not likely find its equal anywhere in its own class of books. If you want to learn about, or become really familiar with the Windows 32 API, this will give you a good reference provided that you refer to msdn for the updated changes to the API which have taken effect since the publication of this book. I won't detail all the helpful topics which are covered as they are already mentioned in other reviews. I had no real problem compiling and running most of the example programs that were contained on the CD included with this book. I used Microsoft Express Visual C++ 2005 and 2008 versions IDE. These IDE's have an option that will convert the syntax for you when applicable. I was not able to compile any of the program examples for chapter 22, Sound and Music. If you are learning to write programs using the Microsoft foundation class library then this book is probably not much help to you. There are other great books available to consider for learning MFC's.



5. This book is worth the price just for the sample software alone. But even more importantant, it is a provides information on programming Microsoft windows that is not available elsewhere. It only covers the Windows 3.1 API, and is somewhat dated. It does not describe the current .NET development, for example. But even if you are a .NET programmer, there are things done here you cannot do there. Microsoft has hidden a lot of their programming features, and this book tells how to unlock them. This is a MUST BUY for any serious Microsoft programmer.

1 comments about Java Programming: Program Design Including Data Structures.

1. A very hefty book (1600 pages!) that teaches Java from scratch. The reader does not have to know anything about programming. The math requirements are also modest. Basically, if you are at the level of finishing high school or in the first year of university, your maths preparation should suffice.
   
   The teaching of Java is well done. Though I am uncertain what really distinguishes this book from several others on Java.
   
   There are also instructions about various common data structures used throughout computing. Lists [including linked lists], sets, hash tables, and the like. Important ideas that transcend Java. The students may not appreciate it, but Java is nice in that it comes with these structures implemented. Whereas other languages like C or C++ require you to install optional libraries, or to code these by hand.

5 comments about Statistics: An Introduction using R.

1. The title of this book is a misnomer. It is not an introduction to statistics at all, although it does do a very clear review of courses in descriptive statistics, regression, ANOVA, ANCOVA and GLM. If you don't know statistics, and want to learn, this is not the book for you.
   
   This is, however, a truly excellent book that gets you up to speed very quickly on a wide variety of statistical applications using R as the tool for solution. If you have a reasonable background in statistics and want to use R as a substitute for SAS, SPSS, BMD or other package, this book will teach you how within a week. (Make sure you download the examples from the referenced website.



2. This book is the best I have found for an introduction to the R statistical programming environment. It is also a very good textbook for introductory statistics. The supplemental material at his web site is excellent as well.



3. This book purports to be an introduction to statistics using R. R has exploded in popularity and today is probably the most powerful system available for doing statistics, having surpassed the older Splus and SAS. Thus you do well to learn R early on as you begin statistics; it well suits the novice and the expert. To make things even better, R is both open source and free with an excellent, supportive online community of many people. The online mailing lists are a treasure trove of valuable resources. There are now several introductory books to R, including one by Verzani, one by Dalgaard, and one by Crawley.
   
   Crawley's book is a _very_ rapid tour through a lot of statistics. There is no real way that a beginner could properly digest the material. Moreover, he often assumes far too much and then assumes far too little. For example in one early chapter he covers the basics of General Linear Models (GLMs), an intermediate to advanced concept. At the beginning of the next chapter, he is explaining basics about the slope of a line! There are a lot of similar examples that left me scratching my head.
   
   There are good pearls in the book that are quite nice, however this book should really be for those with some exposure to statistics.
   
   A better introductory book is "Using R for Introductory Statistics" by John Verzani. That book was more clear and better organized.



4. This book does a good job of what its designed to do. I would have to agree with another reviewer that finds the topics covered in this book a little too much for a intro statistics book. My intro class certainly didn't cover variable transformation and other more complex topics. I would have to say that I don't feel 100% comfortable navigating through R now, but I have exponentially increased my understanding. I wasn't too impressed with the last few chapters. It seemed as if the coverage of material decreased as the complexity of the statistical tests became more complex. The secion on survival analysis, for example, spans only a few pages. That being said, you do get the R code right in front of you to expose you to how the code needs to be set up. This book also comes with matching chapter lessons that can be downloaded from the authors website. Unfortunately, many of the exercises are nothing more than repeats of the same material in the book. This hurts. I like learning through structured examples...And I prefer more rather than less. So if you are really motivated to learn R by working through some elementary inferential statistics (standard deviation, t-tests, and anovas) then this book can produce results. If your looking for more advanced content (information on examples installing and using packages affiliated with R) than this book doesn't won't meet all of your goals. I would recomend it to someone with little or no knowledge of R and the patience to work through the basics on your own.



5. If you have already had some experience with statistical methods and are looking for a refresher or a way to quickly pickup the basics of R, this is the place to go. It has a wonderfully conversational tone that is missing from far too many scientifically oriented books, and he brings quite a few insights into the practice of statistics that are more difficult to pickup from the heavily theoretical books.
   
   I would agree with a previous reviewer that there is a bit more space than necessary dedicated to relatively simple concepts, but such minor transgressions are easily overlooked given the overall effectiveness of the book.
   
   I would recommend this book as a refresher/introduction to R, or as a companion book to a college course on statistical methods. The author doesn't cover theory at all (on purpose), so keep in mind this is purely a practical book.
   
   I would have given the book 5 stars if it weren't for a few typos that might confuse beginners or people who have a tendency to read when you're a bit to tired to do so (for example, on the bottom of p59 he says lower bound when he meant upper, nothing you wouldn't catch with a careful re-reading).

5 comments about The Enterprise and Scrum.

1. I've been involved with the introduction of Agile methods and other process improvements in several large enterprises, and I have learned
   -that there are no cookbooks
   -that there is no process or set of practices that will work for everyone
   -that as hard as it is to influence people to take on new practices, it is even harder to get the rest of the organization to accept the implications of these changes
   
   This book does not prescribe a solution to all problems. The author I expect knows well that there is no such prescriptive solution (in his own words, "We want rules to follow, but life and product development are too complex for a single set of rules to suffice in all circumstances."). The book also does not delve into the depths of systems dynamics and org change- areas that are important in the change effort, but are explored by countless other sources. I believe that this is a strength, as it allows the book to be a focused, easy read without distraction.
   
   This book does provide an implementation framework, plain and simple - a basic, repeatable, evolutionary framework for the introduction of Scrum to an enterprise, including feedback loops that will ensure that the right people know of challenges, and techniques to repeatably adjust the plan so that the effort is continuously improving. Following this, progress is very likely, and if the effort ends, it will be either due to success or to the conscious choice of those involved to stop further improvement.
   
   I've seen many process improvement efforts flounder in large companies- often due to the process that was followed to run them. An approach such as that recommended in this book will at least ensure that the process to effect the improvement is not in the way itself, and is in fact an enabler.



2. An add-on to the existing two SCRUM books by Schwaber. This book discusses how to evolve an enterprise collectively rather than just parts of it at a time. You'll likely have no context for this book unless having first read the others. Note: this book is, like the others, descriptive in nature and definitively not prescriptive. So if you're looking for someone to tell you exactly `how' to do something, this isn't it.



3. I recently run a large project (~100 people) under a structure very similar to the organization described by Ken in this book:
   -one product: a large web site
   -8 scrum teams: 6 service teams, 1 IT team, 1 CM team
   -scrum of scrum: team composed of senior engineers from each scrum focused on global code integration, standard / API definitions, run by uber scrum master and uber product owner
   -meta scrum: team composed of local scrum masters (problem raisers) and executives (problem solvers) focused on organizational issues, run by uber scrum master
   
   The results?
   -a product delivered within a deadline of 18 weeks (the last product of similar size and complexity was delivered in 18 months and was mostly unsuccessful)
   -a very happy product owner (financial outcome better than expected, all key features delivered)
   -best quality software ever written in the company (best as from a technical debt perspective, and great architecture paradigm)
   -fantastic morale in the team
   
   This book is written for people that understand scrum and are ready to think it to the next level. It clearly outlines a simple and powerful framework to roll out scrum across the enterprise and achieve great coordination in scalable manner in large projects. This is not an "enterprise scrum". It is the same scrum applied to the enterprise.
   Some might miss details on tactical implementation which the book doesn't try to address. Why? I think because it is scrum and details have been written about over and over. So how do you attack your big impediments? Run Ken's framework and let it to the self-organization of the teams! It is scrum after all.



4. This book contains useful information on how to apply Scrum in large organizations. It provides real world examples of how Scrum was implemented, the problems that were uncovered and the lessons learned.
   
   If you are looking for an intro book on Scrum, this is not it.
   
   If you are familiar with Scrum, you will devour the information in this book.
   
   If you are a seasoned project manager, many of the scenarios will resonate with you.
   
   It is a short book (under 150 pages) but it is chock full of valuable information that you can apply to your practice. I recommend that you read it at least twice to derive full benefit.



5. I built up a lot of expectation before reading this book because I learned a lot from the author's earlier book "Agile Project Management With Scrum" and not to mention that the author was the cofounder of scrum. But after I read it I was rather disappointed. I feel like the book is more like an informal set of lecture notes written for a presentation in stead of a well written and well thought book.
   
   Before I further comment about that let me first take a guess about why people want to read a technical book. I think most people want to read a technical book because they hope the book can teach them something new. And if the reading process makes readers entertained that will make the book even more valuable. And that was what I got from "Agile Project Management With Scrum". But technical reading mostly does not get that luxury so long as the book is informative (and enlightened) we will say the time and energy spent for it is well worth.
   
   So back to this book, I think before reading it every one will know that running scrum in a traditional waterfall process company is hard. What we want to know is how hard that it is. What kind of (typical) situation we may run into; what kind of specific issue we need to address and what was the author's way or suggestion to tackle them. But the author just kept saying that it is hard but you got to stick with scrum then finally you will make it. The author kept repeating that without even giving a valuable suggestion for it (putting the obstacles into transition backlog can't really be counted as a valuable suggestion). And the examples he gave were also superficial, i.e. repeating that you will make it finally without giving any valuable suggestion about how.
   
   The second part of the book is about the practice using in the enterprise. But except for suggesting the use of scrum of scrum, which again readers will anticipate before reading the book and checking your burn down chart to know your productivity I still do not see any thing new or enlightened, although the example the author gave here were a little bit more impressive than the examples gave in the first part.
   
   The third part of the book was the worst. The third part is about the introduction of scrum, the kind of materials you can find all over the internet. I even found that the author copies pasted some of paragraphs in his previous book "Agile Project Management With Scrum".
   
   I do not mean to be harsh and the author is really some person I look up to. So maybe he was talking about something totally beyond my level and I hope anyone can point that out for me.

1 comments about Foundations of Agile Python Development (Expert's Voice in Open Source).

1. I was not disappointed when I started reading this book.
   The first chapter which covers the theory of "Agile Development", is just great.
   Now, I am no agile programming expert. The only thing I currently do is write a lot unit tests. But I think I will take some advice for the future (like pair-p.) from this book.
   The pace of the book is great (relief after the lutz books), and the authors personal experience in the field is both reassuring, encouraging and interesting.
   Coming from a background of C#.NET I am glad that python is getting some help in IDE department and will certainly give some tools a try.
   I love the book but YMMV.
   
   Errata (apress does not provide one):
   P.99: There is a mention of configure.py in the file list of svn with ? status. This file was never mentioned before.
   Where did it come from and what does it represent???
   
   p.109: " 'factory': f " should really be with "f1" at the bottom.
   
   p.112: When issuing "create-slave" command the slave name used is "rsreader-linux"
   whereas it was configured to be "slave-lnx01".

5 comments about HTML Dog: The Best-Practice Guide to XHTML and CSS.

1. I spent some time really digging into other books in this category (library) with the intention of getting up to speed with modern web coding and best practices. I found this text to be the most useful, both as a learning resource and future reference guide and so, HTML Dog is now on my shelf. Note: The book is meant as a companion to an extensive online archive, and works well in this regard, as the more gimmicky (read: "fad") techniques are best excluded from the printed text.



2. He has nice writing and presentation style.
   The book presents a nice introduction to those looking for a quick information. The quick is actually questionable, since you will have to go to his website and click each link to see output of simple HTML tag illustrations.
   
   It lacks depth on many topics, and having to go to his home page to see the outputs of simple tag illustrations is boring. Books should have the information where I needed it, quickly see the output to know what is going on. If I need an e-book, I will buy one.
   Most of the illustrations only give a real web-site, and not the codes he is trying to illustrate.
   Whether he is got a nice web-site is not really relevant.



3. This book is not a comprehensive encyclopedia of every CSS nuance, but it presents all the main areas in a very clear, but not dumbed-down manner. Basically it answered my three questions:
   1. I wanted to re-write an older web site using CSS and modern HTML web stds, so where do I start?
   2. What is my best approach?
   3. Why would I want to do it that way?
   So along the way it clarified for me how I should use divs for page structure, improve my navigation lists, specify font size in the best manner, and most of all how to use css in a structured way with minimal rewriting of styles etc for subtle changes in page requirements.
   The book is probably most useful if you want to follow his emphasis and use XHTML Strict with CSS.
   Very nicely written, very cleanly laid out. The associated website is useful, but the book stands alone as a very useful reference or starter for someone wanting to design their pages in an effective standards-based way.



4. HTML Dog is an amazing book for those who works with web sites development. Easy to read, easy to use, cheap to buy!



5. A well thought out book, easy to read and understand without knowing HTML or CSS. This is one of those book you cannot trash but only keep in your packet.

5 comments about Advanced Mac OS X Programming (2nd Edition of Core Mac OS X & Unix Programming).

1. Although this book is well written in concept, the editing of the final product is awful. There are a great deal of grammatical errors which seemed to me a basic word-processor would have caught.
   
   The book should be titled, more correctly, "Unix Programming for OS X." Unix system programmers will find almost nothing new in this book (gcc, gdb, file-systems, signals, libraries, etc. - although, the Objective-C examples can be helpful in understanding how to implement things in new ways, and also the chapter on Subversion was a nice introduction for me.)
   
   If you are just learning how to program on a Unix platform, I'd recommend this book unequivocally. I paid full price for mine ($70), without taking a hard enough look at the contents and found myself with an expensive, redundant book on my shelf.



2. If you're a Mac OS X developer and want to get serious about it, this book is mandatory. It is always on my desk right by the computer, and really is that perfect reference. Nothing really compares to this book, the previous Aaron Hillegass book is rather basic but is more of an introduction. I have a BS degree in CS and even though a lot of this has been covered, the rest of it is done in graduate school. So if you're looking for that little bit extra, give it a shot.



3. This book fills in most gaps you might encounter while learning about the low-level BSD/Mach aspect of Mac OS X and Darwin. Mach and BSD iokit is described in detail, and there are tons of useful code examples all over the book. This book even explains ipc and pipes very well, and isn't the size of the bible, like other books. It gets to the point as soon as you get past the TOC.



4. If you are a Programmer not in College, this is a nice book. As I read it, I learned several new things but then when I took Operating Systems Programming, I realized that we went over everything in the book, more in depth, and then some. If you aren't a Computer Science Major and you want to really program on the Mac, buy this book. However, if you are going to College, save your money. Let your professor teach it to you.



5. Don't expect to learn to code from this book, but once you know how this book will help you solve any problems that you run across.
   I don't think that I'll ever read it cover-to-cover, but I know that it will always be in my library.

5 comments about AJAX and PHP: Building Responsive Web Applications.

1. The book would be ok as a reference or code examples with brief explanations. However, the code practices used, when compared to other current books left me very disappointed.
   
   The Good:
   - Good examples, all code is documented
   - Different projects - code provided online
   - The end results are good. (for Windows)
   
   The Bad:
   - Coding. They practice what I'd call "potluck programming". Basically you get 1 php page with inline calls to JavaScript, PHP, HTML and even some CSS properties. Maybe some programmers like this approach, but personally, I've been moving away from it, keeping your HTML alone, and inline JavaScript calls non-existent. The whole programming is basically obstrusive, taking over the file. Just bad programming practices. This is the biggest gripe I have with this book. Any current book should be teaching the more modern and less obstrusive ways of programming.
   - MAC support. A lot of the applications simply do not work, or work with lots of quirks under Safari and OS X. I know the market share is just around 5%, but it makes some of the applications worthless for those people.
   - There is not much in the way of teaching, I wanted to learn a bit more. The book has a lot of code, but the explanation section seems very lacking. (10 pages of code, followed by a "what just happened" section with less than 10 pages of code (there is less explanation than code, even though a lot of the code is repeated in that section.)
   
   Overall, I was expecting a lot more from this book. I use both PHP and starting to use Ajax, and was hoping this would help, but I would not recommend this book to anybody. There are better books that talk about both Ajax and PHP without having PHP in the title. Professional Ajax is one example and presents the code in different files (though it ocassional reverts back to inline JS).
   
   If you want a book of examples, but don't care much about your coding style, you could very well enjoy the book. If you are striving to become a better programmer, and use unobstrusive practices, stay away from this book, as you will be thoroughly disappointed. Also stay away if you use a OS X for most of your work.
   
   I would title the book: "Code for responsive web applications using AJAX and PHP".
   You will not learn how to build those applications, but they will be kind enough to provide you with their code.
   
   Edit (here is what I mean by potluck/inline javascript, obtrusive and JS dependent code)
   ------
   Copy and paste did not work - so I'll give you a general idea:
   On the main (X)HTML/PHP page, you have inline calls to JavaScript/Ajax functions like:
   Body onload="jsFunction" // inline JS
   onclick="anotherJSfunction()"
   onMouseOver="yetAnotherJSfunction"
   
   Basically the application do not work with JS disabled, they don't degrade gracefully, making them not very accessible. That is my main issue with the book.
   



2. AJAX and PHP: Building Responsive Web Applications
   
   This is a great book for beginners as well as intermediate users of AJAX.
   
   I have about 5 years of experience with PHP and 7 with Javascript and I had none with AJAX. I read a few tutorials online about AJAX and after reading some of this book, I love it.
   
   This book is a great start with AJAX, especially if you are a PHP programmer like myself.
   
   If you are looking to start building with PHP and AJAX, I recommend this book.



3. The good folks at Packt Publishing have really nailed it with this title. This is one of the best books I have read on the topic of PHP and AJAX. They really broke down what the point and objectives of using AJAX with PHP are and then explained how to do things in a way that makes plenty of sense.
   
   This book has no lack of code to copy, luckily most of the code can be found on the companion site hosted by Packt Publishing. I must say that as of my experience all the code was in working order, which was a pleasant change from some other coding books I have read recently.
   
   The XMLHttpRequest code in AJAX and PHP is quite impressive including try/catch formula for catching exceptions and failures in the code and handling them properly, again a very welcome change to some of the coding books or recent. I was particularly impressed with the structure of the code regarding the handling of responses as well as all the explanations of the code used in each example, never did the authors leave you wondering what any piece of code did, or why it do so.
   
   The book is a short 260 pages, and just full of useful information. A great follow up to this book would be anything DHTML as that is where most of the AJAX examples want to seem to lead a reader. Having a knowledge of DHTML is not important however a firm understanding of PHP and JavaScript would really benefit a reader choosing AJAX and PHP.



4. AJAX and PHP: Building Responsive Web Applications is the ideal book for those who currently have some PHP, XML, JavaScript and MySQL already under their belt. Little time is spent on the basics of these technologies other than a brief history of the Web and predictions for future Web applications making this book a great segue for those looking to take their basic skills to the next level. The code is well documented and commented so if you are the type of person who prefers to jump right in and work with code, then this book is for you.
   
   The biggest strength of this book is that is provides practical code examples that teaches the reader how to combine and use these technologies together. Some of the most handy examples are server-enabled form validation, an online chat tool and an RSS feed reader. Even if you only need to know one of these items, though there are plenty more, it's well worth it to pick up this book. No only will you be able to create these applications yourself, but you'll learn best practices and understand the why and how of each program as well. Additionally, the book's companion website is quite good and allows you to download all of the code. This can be especially helpful if you find yourself getting stuck somewhere and want to do a side-by-side comparison of the your code and the book code. There are even five free additional PDF chapters for download including an updated version of Chapter 5 - AJAX Chat - which uses JSON instead of XML.
   
   However, if you're the type of person that is looking for a very concise, step-by-step book, you may find yourself frustrated. Just as its strengths are in letting you jump right into the code, if you're not at the stage where you're comfortable with any of the included technologies, you'll quickly find yourself overwhelmed with a lack of direction and an abundance of code. Additionally, while the use of bold type clearly indicates emphasis on specific code lines, if anything could improve this book, just for readability's sake, it would color-indicated code.
   
   In conclusion, if you've already gotten your feet wet with PHP, XML, JavaScript and MySQL then AJAX and PHP: Building Responsive Web Applications will help you get to the next level with real-world code examples and projects. You'll not just "copy code" but gain an understanding as to the "why and how" of creating AJAX Web applications.



5. This book does offer good insights into php and ajax. It however tends to not teach as much as redirect. It points to a lot of free resources on the web to explain things it should have had as it's own chapter.
   
   I also spends way to many pages showing duplicate code. For example in the 2nd chapter it spends significant time creating a function called createXmlHttpRequestObject. This function is about 1/2 a printed page. then in every later chapter this same function is printed at least twice per chapter. This isn't the only example and in ends up that you have 10-15 pages of code for each section most of which is duplicate from previous sections. You could easily cut 50-100 pages from the book by removing the duplication.
   
   The book also doesn't spend any time on security. Specifically it doesn't show how to create a secure login or to validate that the javascript on the client is authorized to get the data that it is requesting. Everything is free and open with only basic validation that data is in the correct form.
   
   That being said it does provide a broad range of ways to use ajax. I would happily spend $10 on it again. Unfortunately i spent over double that :(

5 comments about The Cathedral & the Bazaar: Musings on Linux and Open Source by an Accidental Revolutionary.

1. The title says it all,
   however, the caveat is that if the "instigator" of the particular form of software does not have the "cache" or "credentials" in the open source community then the chances of a REALLY BIG item being developed is rather small. BUT, if the "item" can catch on, then it can be done better and faster than a "paid for development".



2. I felt the book had some good points and then other times I was struggling to get myself to pick it back up. Overall worth the read but not in my top 5 list by any means.



3. The Cathedral and the Bazaar is a collection of essays originally meant for programmers and technical managers, written by Eric S. Raymond on software engineering methods, based on his observations of the Linux kernel development process and his experiences managing an open source project, fetchmail.
   
   I you like a deeper work on Linux development, I can recommend the book "Rebel Code" by Glyn Moody.
   
   fetchmail, is an open-source software utility to retrieve e-mail from a remote mail server. It was developed by Eric S. Raymond from the popclient program, written by Carl Harris. Its chief significance is perhaps that its author, Eric S. Raymond, used it as a model to discuss his theories of open source software development in this book. Some programmers, including Dan Bernstein, getmail creator Charles Cazabon and FreeBSD developer Terry Lambert, have criticized fetchmail's design], its number of security holes, and that it was prematurely put into "maintenance mode". In 2004, a new team of maintainers took over fetchmail development, and laid out development plans that in some cases broke with design decisions that Eric Raymond had made in earlier versions.
   
   The essays in the book describe open-source software, the process of systematically harnessing open develplment and decentralized peer review to lower costs and improve software quality. contrasts two different free software development models:
   
   - The Cathedral model, in which source code is available with each software release, but code developed between releases is restricted to an exclusive group of software developers. GNU Emacs and GCC are presented as examples.
   
   - The Bazaar model, in which the code is developed over the Internet in view of the public. Raymond credits Linus Torvalds, leader of the Linux kernel project, as the inventor of this process. Raymond also provides anecdotal accounts of his own implementation of this model for the fetchmail project.
   
   The essay's central thesis is Raymond's proposition that "given enough eyeballs, all bugs are shallow" (which he terms Linus' law): the more widely available the source code is for public testing, scrutiny, and experimentation, the more rapidly all forms of bugs will be discovered. In contrast, Raymond claims that an inordinate amount of time and energy must be spent hunting for bugs in the Cathedral model, since the working version of the code is available only to a few developers.
   
   When O'Reilly Media published the book in 1999, it achieved another distinction by being the first complete and commercially distributed book published under the Open Publication License.



4. I could not put this book down. In a nutshell: it's is about software and development models. Don't yawn just yet - this book definitely held onto my attention throughout. Eric Raymond has a great way of introducing the subject matter as he shares his first-hand experiences as a free software developer.
   If you ever tried or thought about writing software, especially free (as in speech) software, you've probably heard of this book. A must-read.



5. To the author's credit, the book overall is provocative, very interesting, and somewhat compelling. Raymond makes arguments throughout about the benefits of open source over closed for the software industry. What's impressive about these arguments is how many of them are made independent of any open source ideology; instead he draws from political theory, economics, and game theory to illustrate how open source is actually in many cases the rational choice for a self-interested entity, and consequently inevitable (in his opinion). Raymond also paints a colorful picture of hacker culture that conveys the group's fascinating dynamic, while enough of his own character and achievements are revealed to suggest why he's so qualified to be speaking: his title essay is widely credited as a primary inspiration for the transformation of Netscape Navigator into Mozilla Firefox; he helped charter the Mozilla Public License; in "Revenge of the Hackers", he admits (without much modesty) that "by late 1993, many people (including myself) had come to think of me as the hacker culture's tribal historian and resident ethnographer"; etc.
   
   But the book has weaknesses as well. Raymond frequently comes off as abrasively egotistical, and it's disconcerting how many typos you can find. Moreover, his system of endnotes is misnumbered in some places and completely confounding in others; I still don't understand it fully, though I've made corrections to some of the numbering mistakes and will be happy to pass them on. In addition, all of the examples he cites are dated by at least eight years, even in this revised text (though that's not to say they aren't still instructive). He keeps the most updated version of the text on his website at [...], where many of these criticisms may be addressed; I haven't checked.