5 comments about Python How to Program, 1/e.

1. I am a practicing mechanical engineer who's programming experience is based mainly in Fortran90. I wanted to learn Python as quickly as possible, but in a well structured manner. I tried learing Python from the book 'Learning Python', but became discouraged after a few days when the discussion became disjointed. 'Python How to Program' is an excellent book and reference for Python. It is extremely thorough covering many topics including object-oriented programming (three chapters) and web programming. This book will form the foundation of my Pyhton library. Each Python subject is introduced in a simple manner and then proceeds to a more advanced level. Many examples are presented with thorough discussions in each chapter. Detailed summaries are presented after each chapter. This is an excellent book for self-study. I have recommeded it to many of my engineering colleagues.



2. An excellent intro to Object oriented programming in general and Python in particular. A real hefty volume. Wish I could afford it.



3. I purchased Deitel & Deitel's C++ How to Program book long ago, and found it to be comprehensive and extrordinarily helpful.
   
   When I picked up Python How to Program, I expected the same incredible experience. Instead, I was sorely disappointed by their complete lack of Pythonic thinking. It seems as if they took one of their other How to Program books and ran a code converter across it to migrate it to Python. As a previous reviewer pointed out, some of the examples are horrificly implemented, a clear case of programming in Python with the "C/C++ mentality."
   
   The examples seemed fun, but no amount of fun can compensate for the fact that this book teaches you nothing about how to truely be a Python programmer. Anyone can read the lexical syntax descriptions on the python.org website and code the examples in this book. It gives me the feeling that Harvey Deitel did not learn Python for any reason other than to write an expensive book about it, and has no idea how to actually use the language.



4. Bibles, in the profane sense of the word, are huge books filled with clutter and not meaningful structure, which attempt to cover way more than they should. This is a clear example. It might be worth a quick look to a particular chapter, just to get a quick grasp of a particular area like XML, pygame, tkinter, etc. But definitely, this is not the book a beginner should use to learn the language, because as many said before, it seems to be a blind translation from their also crippled Java book. This reader, who cherished their C/C++ book couldn't be more dissappointed.



5. This book on Python is very complete and at the time it was published was better than any other book on Python. It is still an excellent book and has more information than any other Python book on the market. I have used the book as my major reference work for several years. For non-GUI programming you will find most of your questions answered in this book. The general tips on structure and theory of programming are particularly useful for people who do not have a formal education and degree in computer science.
   
   I hope the authors will come out with a new edition that heavily covers newer GUI options including wxPython.
   
   If you are new to Python this book is your best option although there have been some changes in Python since this book was published. If you are familiar with Python it can still be a valuable resource for you. If you have a formal education in computer science and also know the peculiarities of Python then perhaps several more specialized books on particular facets of the language and its uses would be more appropriate for you.
   
   GUI programming is not covered sufficiently in this book to eliminate your need for another book focused specifically on the GUI of your choice. I anxiously await the publication of the book on the wxPython GUI which has been delayed several times and is now due by March of 2006.

5 comments about Applying Domain-Driven Design and Patterns: With Examples in C# and .NET.

1. The book provides a massive detailed walk through the construction of the domain-driven framework creation. It is in Jimmy Nilsson's conversational tone and that makes the book very interesting.
   
   I do wish there were a few diagrams to tie each chapter together, but that is for the reader to do.



2. I like the author's modesty (very ofter his sentences start with "I think"), his rational thinking and his quoting the relevant big guys. He uses a very nice and simple language throughout the book which makes it an easy read. But sometimes, he is dragging on a subject for too long, for that I have to give it 4.5 stars.



3. I have come back to this book after first digging into it when it first came out. At that time, I got bogged down and never really made it very far into the book. Here's why: A reader needs a basic conceptual familiarity with DDD before tackling this book. I'd suggest Domain-Driven Design: Tackling Complexity in the Heart of Software and Patterns of Enterprise Application Architecture (Addison-Wesley Signature Series). You might be able to get a running start by reading the free e-book "Domain Driven Design Quickly" (http://www.infoq.com/minibooks/domain-driven-design-quickly), but the Fowler book is particularly helpful, since it catalogs and explains a number of the patterns used in Nilsson's book.
   
   Don't assume this book is outdated because it uses NHibernate instead of LINQ or the ADO Entity Framework. If you are a true DDD developer, neither product is quite 'there' yet, and NHibernate remains the best ORM framework available. And if the Entity Framework does become a viable ORM product in Version 2, the skills taught in this book should transfer easily.
   
   In short, this book presents a really good nuts-and-bolts approach to explaining how to do DDD, but it assumes you already have a pretty good understanding of what DDD is all about.



4. I really cannot figure out how this text has received so many good reviews. The writing style feels like a stream of consciousness from an old colleague after he's been through a really heavy working day, and as for the contents.. well it's a boring mix and rehash of concepts that I hope are familiar even to any decently experienced .NET developer. Like: since you are using a Object Oriented language after all, do model the business you are trying to help with your software with classes, use design patterns when appropriate, test your model and possibly write your test as a means to develop your domain model more clearly, use an Object Relational Mapper like NHibernate to save yourself most of the trouble in solving the Object-Oriented/Relational mismatch etc etc.. All these ideas have been knows to Java developers for ages. True, .NET is behind in test/patterns/model driven design.. but guess what, why is that so? Because if this is the most introductory , detailed, applied, hands on text dedicated to these subjects, well you .NET guys are in big trouble ... And surely no book can introduce them all like this one aims to do, especially if its teaching style is teaching NHibernate saying: "You will find lots of examples of .config files to copy and paste from the NHibernate site so I won't go into detail here, but I 'll just take it for granted that you have a suitable .config file in place". Well, Jimmy, I can find all the documentation I need on that site, but then why on earth did I spend 50 bucks on your tome? As a door stopper? Next time you write a book instead of filling it with unfocused, "high level", vague rambling give some solid, concrete, practical tech help and tutorial. What pisses me off is that the author of this book is a competent developer and a smart guy, but still can come up with such a fluffy, boring, vague, bs-oriented text, and as a final touch cannot resist the temptation to throw in his N(ilsson)Workspace nth level of indirection when we already have a repository, an ORM ... And I always thought that squeezing one own name into a piece of software was the sure signature of a beginner...



5. I really enjoyed reading this book. Jimmy has a very conversational writing style. He will show some code, talk about the pros and cons, make a change, talk about that change and repeat until he has something he is satisfied with. This was very helpful to me as it demonstrated that he has gone through the same growing process that we all need to take as software developers. He is not lecturing from a tower; he is a common programmer who has be able to develop some excellent techniques through research and experience working with others who also seek to be the best they can. His examples are clear and meaningful. He shows how you can actually use TDD to grow a domain model, which is something that has certainly been lacking from other resources I have used in the past. I read the book because I feel like my dev team needs a better focus and I am now more convinced that DDD and TDD will help us focus on creating maintainable code for our enterprise.

5 comments about Mastering the Requirements Process (2nd Edition).

1. The cost of undetected errors in software requirements can be extremely high. To start with, it could happen to build the wrong product.
   So, any care must be taken to have strong foundations in place; this is still the case if you plan to go Agile.
   If you like Steve McConnell's 'Rapid Development' and 'Code Complete', this book is a perfect complement covering the early phases of the software process.
   In a sentence, this book is a must for anyone dealing with software engineering, from the developer to the manager.



2. I found this book very practical, it's an excellent source of examples and cases. Even I would recommend it as a text book for university students.



3. this book has not only the flaws identified below by F.C.Passavant - in addition it has inconsistencies in terminology, lots of ambiguity. it was difficult to map described precesses to those regarded in the field (i.e. IATF Release 3.1)
   
   I found "Requirements Engineering" by Elizabeth Hull, Kenneth Jackson, and Jeremy Dick a much better choice.



4. The first chapter should be read and re-read by every engineer out there. The bood provides a near turn-key requirements elicitation / engineering process.



5. I recommend this book to anyone interested in discovering and documenting requirements whether the target is automation or not. It is comprehensive and very readable, but it is not dogmatic. The ideas it expresses can be used effectively with a wide range of methodologies.
   
   I've been doing requirements for more than 20 years and I learned things from this book. The notion of the "Blast Off" (hate that term, love the concept) as a key political event reinforced and expanded ideas I had before. The extensive checklist for the "Blast Off" is much more thorough than anything I've ever put together myself. The idea of "Trolling for Requirements" also expanded my horizons. The Volare snow card is an excellent starting point for collecting requirements that emphasizes the point that understanding the rational behind a requirement is as important as understanding the requirement itself.
   
   Over the years I've used this book as the basis for a series of brown bag lunches to help junior analysts better appreciate the nature of the requirements process. It has been generally well received. I've probably purchases over a dozen copies of this book to give to others, some of them with my own money. Along with Exploring Requirements: Quality Before Design this is one of the first two books every business or system analyst should read.

5 comments about Scaling Software Agility: Best Practices for Large Enterprises (Agile Software Development Series).

1. Having read a lot of material on Agile, and employed it in practice for quite a number of years, it is refreshing to see a book take a very pragmatic approach to deploying Agile techniques in large-scale organisations.
   Many other books on the subject fail to go beyond the team-context, whereas that is the precise aim of this book. The book can be used as a thorough guideline for deploying Agile methods into an established organisation, pointing out which methods are the foundation of Agile, and which can be used to build on top.
   The author has a profound insight in organisational structures and how to employ the Agile methods in conjunction with external processes, such as roadmapping, in a constructive rather than conflicting manner.
   On top of all of this, the author has actually practiced what he preaches and proven that his methods work by deploying this to BMC Software and other software manufacturers.



2. Although somewhat naive ( optimistic ) and simplistic in its understanding of corporations, it is a great starting point for managing agility within a large enterprise environment, even though it espouses an agile coup of the organization.
   I will definitely use it as my standard reference for managing teams and projects.



3. If you are looking into insights to scaling Agile projects you will be dissapointed.
   
   The auther largly discribes the outlines of different development methodologies in the book, Xp, Scrum, DSDM, RUP. It takes to page 87 before the actual content of the book (scaling) even begins.
   
   But when push comes to shove, the authors silently reverts to the basic monotholic arcitecture message "agile is good in small teams, but shall not be trusted in large environments". That is saying "I have no new insights into managing the impediments of large organisation".
   
   What I was expecting was some new insights into of breaking down communication and cultural barriers that are in the way of scaling Agile projects, lean software techologies in the large etc.
   
   At is best, the book provides a good compilation of development methologies, at it's worst, it mixes up the cards so bad that you will end up even more confused than before you started.
   
   If you are looking into scaling agile, "The Enterprices and scrum" and any of Jeff Sutherlands scrum-of-scrum papers are a better bet.



4. I found this book to be an excellent recap of agile concepts, and an encouraging introduction to how to put agile into practice in the enterprise. I particularly appreciate the recommendations for measurement at both the team and enterprise level.
   
   I will use the recommendations of the book to make my distributed teams and development processes more agile, but there are still a few things that seem to be missing in the large system arena. For example: dealing with production issues in the middle of a sprint, getting the infrastructure groups (DBAs, messaging experts, integration tool jockeys, etc.) into the mix. I'd love to see more case studies involving big distributed systems with complex integration challenges.



5. Before reading this book, I had become interested in agile since I had used agile practices in successful small teams in the 90's. In early 2007, I was working on a 150 person project. And every book I saw before this one just did some hand waving about what agile means for teams larger than 10.
   
   This book was a big help to me in understanding how to begin transforming a large development organization to agility.
   
   Part 1 "Overview of Software Agility" provides an overview of several agile methods.
   
   Part 2 "Seven Agile Team Practices that Scales" distills the learnings from Part 1 into a set of key themes that are inherent to any agile approach - or really - any good development approach.
   
   Part 3 "Creating the Agile Enterprise" then gives several examples of applying the scaling practices to the enterprise.

5 comments about Microsoft Visual Basic .NET Programmer's Cookbook (Pro-Developer).

1. The Programmer's Cookbook is a great collection of "how-to" articles. It is filled with practical and useable code samples that you can use in your programs. It will not solve all your coding problems, but it is a great place to start when you are trying to solve some specific problem.



2. If you're familiar with VB.Net, then this is a great book for you to learn how to add those tricky little details that can make or break
   the professionalism of your Applications.
   
   If you are a beginner, you may want to book mark this book and get it
   when you feel more comfortable, because you will need it.
   
   Although just about everything can be learned from the MSDN Library and help files that come with Visual Studio.
   Its hard to find what your looking for when you dont really know exactly what it is that you need.
   
   Thats where this book comes in. This book covers a vast array of
   possibilities, that it'll truely keep you drawn into the fascinating
   world of VB.Net coding, and without such a headache in research.
   
   This is a book worth having as a refernce.
   
   Note: some of the examples you may need to modify to bring from a console app to a regular windows app. Which is no big deal.
   Just omit "Console.Writelines" for "textboxname.text = "



3. Book has a lot of practical suggestions, especially for rudimentary string handling operations. It stands out over most other books of this genre on the topic of .net.
   
   Even after i switched to c#.net, this book was still handy.



4. The book was new as presented and came very quickly in the mail. Thank you



5. I found this VB.NET reference of tremendous help to me. The content covers a wide cross-section of topics and addresses the needs of varying skill levels. Easy to use. Had just the information I initially needed to parse and manipulate XML files. I am very pleased with this book. It is proving to be an excellent resource for now and the future.

5 comments about Systems Analysis and Design with UML Version 2.0: An Object-Oriented Approach.

1. Item recived as presented



2. The UML writing style of this book is very easy to follow, and a great way to gradually introduce the whole concept of object-oriented analysis and design methodologies to the readers, especially the beginners. The authors did a great job illustrating the entire system development life cycle with a coherent and realistic example using the latest UML notations, practical methodologies, and various analytical artifacts. The only criticism I have is that sometimes the description of a particular topic spans over multiple pages without sub-leveling or sub-topics or highlights, making it very difficult for user to go back and perhaps mine certain important concepts embedded in the discussion. Perhaps more generalization relationship and diagrams can be helpful. Overall, it is a very good source of reference for object-oriented design in layman's term. I will strongly recommend it to my colleagues.



3. This book is just majorly confusing and really for the major eggheads. I'm using it because I have to for class but I'd rather go to another approach for learning this stuff. I'm using Learn to Program with C# by Smiley and it discusses some of the topics, from the early stages in the reading, as to the phases of development and because of that it helped me to understand this better. However, this stuff is really hard to grasp without the egghead mentality.



4. After reading a couple of 'classic' system analysis texts I felt I needed to read about system analysis and UML. This title had some good reviews so I purchased a copy.
   
   This book did cover both system analysis and UML, but I felt that it did not cover either well. I had a hard time engaging with the content and linking it with my existing knowledge of UML and systems analysis.
   
   If you are interested in UML and systems analysis I would recommend reading "Modern Structured Analysis" (Yourdon Press Computing Series) by Edward Yourdon, and finding a good UML 2 text (I'm lookging for one now).
   
   For the price, I was expecting a much better book.



5. The book is serivicable...professor loved certain sections but hated others. There is no perfect textbook on this topic.

3 comments about Sams Teach Yourself Programming with Java in 24 Hours (4th Edition) (Sams Teach Yourself).

1. This book is designed to learn basic programming with Java and it's been working excellent for me. However, in the "HOUR 2" section where you exposed to the first very basic programming, you'd get very confused if you are newbies who are totally rely on Windows XP. I assume that the most newbies have never had to deal with the XP's hidden feature - DOS, these days.
   
   If that's the case, the "HOUR 2" section won't be one-hour session but a couple or more hours right there. If you are somewhat familiar with DOS, then I'd recommend this book. The author explains how to do things in DOS commnad window but I don't think it's enough. Let's say, if you don't know such as CD , MD and all kinds of DOS commands and how to navigate through all kinds of folders and/or directories in DOS window....you won't like this book.
   
   BUUUUT, that's the nature of programming at the first place.
   No visible graphics but just lots of text, text, text and text.:)
   
   Thus, if you expect some kinds of XP's feature such as "Drag & Drop" this book is totally wrong for you. My advise is that please be familiar with some DOS functions, then look for programming books suitable for you:)
   
   The other thins is the book includes a CD-rom, which includes lots of software but by the time you buy it, they'll be somewhat out of the date. If you are using dial-up connections, it'll be a major headache to updated your software for sure.



2. I am just finishing this book, and it is one of the best programming books I have ever worked with. The author has a sense of humor that completely complements the work. I usually find humor in a programming book cheesy and distracting, but Cadenhead's humor is informative and fun at heart, and makes the work go more quickly and make more sense.
   
   The DOS issues mentioned in another review are not a problem with this book. Learning any powerful programming language these days does involve understanding a little bit of what's going on under the hood in your computer. That learning curve exists in almost any language, and each book needs to include it. There is extensive coverage in this book for the difficulties that may arise in this stage, and help for getting around those issues. Once you get your particular system set up properly, you will enjoy playing with the language. There is also extensive online support for these issues.
   
   I am also sticking with the Sams 24 Hour series for other languages, because they are very well done for a wide range of readers.



3. It's great! I was able to (in everyone else's opinion) master Java within 2 days!

No comments about Simple Program Design, A Step-by-Step Approach, Fifth Edition.

No comments about CMMI and Six Sigma: Partners in Process Improvement (SEI Series in Software Engineering).

5 comments about Macromedia Flash MX ActionScript for and Games.

1. The examples in the book are not updated and show an older method of writing action script. While it still works, it's not the best way to learn the current methods.



2. The five stars are only for the price and quality of transaction for the distributor. The book, however, deserves 3 max. If you want to know how to create these specific games, then look no further. If you want to learn the theory behind the games so you can easily go on to create your own, buy another book. This is a good tool if you are interested in Rosenzweig's style of programming, but only that. If you wish to expand your knowledge of ActionScript on a more modular and appliable level, I would suggest Flash MX 2004 Savvy or an ActionScript Bible (for the more advanced topics).



3. This book is not very well suited for beginner actionscript programmers.The author gives two or three brush off chapters on actionscript.Then bombardes you with math.random()* this that and the other.And starts using object type programming with little explanation of whats going on behind the code.He does comment the lines but the comments faintly explain what he is doing.I would have given this book 2 stars,but because you can take these games change them around graphics,little script or whatever and "make them your own" I am giving it 3 stars.I've owned this book for over a year and after reading other books it's making more sense what he's doing now.But for someone with little experience, be prepared to get lost very quickly.



4. If you have even a little background in Actionscript or programming in general, you will find this book worthwhile. The author gives a few beginner's tips, but for the most part this is for the intermediate user looking to take the next step into Flash gaming. There are a variety of games covered and each game is included on the companion CD. The CD is probably the biggest selling point when compared to other Actionscript books as it's a huge help to see what the author is talking about on screen.



5. Even though this book was written for Actionscript 1.0, it still has plenty of life left in it. A reasonably capable Flash designer should be able to convert the script to AS 2, and probably even convert it to AS 3. If you're already a guru you may not find it as useful, but intermediate level Flashers should find plenty of inspiration. The game theory is light - just the basics - but I was more interested in the script, which it is full of. Well worth the money.