5 comments about Pattern-Oriented Software Architecture Volume 1: A System of Patterns.

1. This is an unusual book in the pattern genre. It presents a number of patterns, categorized by archtiectural level. That's just the first part of the book, though. The third of the book is about the process of using, relating, collecting, and distributing patterns.

   Only chapter 2 really addresses patterns for the strategic, architectural level of a software system. It does a very adequate job, using a variety of notations, examples, and analysis steps. This book is from 1996, so time has changed our view of some patterns. "Reflection," for example, has become pervasive in applications based on plugins and software components. It is also a fundamental API in the major langauges (Java and C#) released since this book was published - perhaps reflection should be downgraded to an "idiom". That's just nitpicking, though, since reflection is even more important now than when the book was written.

   For contrast, the authors present additional design patterns (including some from Gamma's book) for use at tactical design levels. They also discuss idioms patterns that typically involve just a few lines of code within on function. The contrast between the three different levels of implementation and design gives a useful discussion. The authors also present a weak chapter on "systems" or "langauges" of patterns The discussion is OK as far as it goes. The weakness is in what it omits. After reading this brief chapter, the programmer has very little practical information about choosing patterns from some library for some task. The poor programmer has no information at all about how to link patterns together, and that's a real stumbling block for beginning pattern users.

   The final section of the book is really sociology. It's about the pattern community, what that community is for, and how to be a working member. I find the discussion un-helpful, but I expect opinions to differ.

   Even today, this is a good second book (after Gamma's 'Design Patterns') on patterns and pattern usage. It lack the depth and precision of Gamma's book, and tends to add words without adding meaning. On the positive side, it's broader than Gamma's, and addresses a wider range of implementation levels.




2. First of all, you need to understand the patterns in the gang of four book before you attempt to read this one. They talk about them all over the place without explaining them. That's a warning, it didn't affect my review.
   
   The major thing I don't like about this book is the abstractness with which they talk. They give you a high level description of a pattern and leave you with that fogginess.
   
   I think the examples were poorly chosen. I would have prefered to have examples that are only as complicated as they needed to be. Unfortunately the book uses examples like, "We're going to make a voice recognition application" or "We're going to make an OS that can run applications that were built on Unix or WinNT or Linux". I think the intent was to have some real-world-I've-been-working-for-six-years examples... it would have been smarter to put the real world examples in a separate chapter and keep the design pattern explanations simple.
   
   Also, I hate the diagrams. They should have just copied the diagrams in the GoF book! Instead they chose these diagrams that give less info and IMO are downright ambiguous in some situations. Another thing the GoF book does is have 2 separate diagrams, one that's a (simple) real world example and another that's a diagram of the actual pattern. This book only has the diagram of the actual pattern.
   
   I disagree with those that say this book is better than the GoF book. I think what they like is the material covered. Material aside, the GoF book presents the information in a much clearer way. That's why I prefer the GoF book over this one.



3. Second best isn't bad when the #1 book changed forever the way software architecture is talked about. GoF is not only well-written, but it covers all the basic, most-used patterns. Everybody thereafter is going to have to either re-hash GoF, criticize it, or come up with new patterns which are not as fundamental.
   
   This book is full of new patterns, and fortunately they are good ones: Command, Broker, Layers and worth the price of the book in itself Presentation-Abstraction-Controller.
   
   PAC can be seen as a generalization and extension of Model/View/Controller. The Abstraction is the domain-specific part of the architecture, effectively the Model. The Presentation exposes the Model in some interesting way, either as a user-interface in which case it is a View, or as an API, in which case the Presentation becomes a new Abstraction used by the next level up. The Controller is left with the job of coordinating the Presentation and the Model. The key to the pattern is that PAC agents can be built up into layers with the Presentation API of each lower agent creating a higher abstraction for the next level. Thus PAC becomes MVC for all or your architecture, not just the UI.
   
   The book goes into this at length and adds useful discussion of MVC. Highly recommended.



4. A lot of the reviewers have said that this is the #2 best book about patterns : just trust them. I have bought it with the hope to learn more about patterns, finally it has given me a larger point of view about the subject and has improved a lot my creativity during software designing processes.
   
   If your new to patterns just read the GoF, then buy this one. I think you will then have a nice knowledge about the subject.



5. This book uses an easy way to explain system patterns. I think every software developer has to read this book; it's a nice reference to help software architects doing a well-done job. Another great reference that you may have in your list of references is the classical book "Design Pattern", also at Amazon.com.

1 comments about Teaching and Learning with Microsoft Office 2007 and Expression Web (2nd Edition).

1. This book is absolutely abysmal. I program in 3 languages. I'm required to take a technology class in my Master's program. This book is an affront to my intellect. The man who wrote this book has no experience ith either computers or children. He's a psychologist.
   
   Here's how you know the book is typically self-indulgent educational tripe - there's a self-assessment rubric on page 3 on whether or not you should buy the textbook.
   
   Then there are the idiotic assignments. One of them is putting frilly star borders, wordart and a picture of a whale on a business letter to be sent to parents (36). That's a great way to be taken seriously.
   
   The assessments are absurd, and the book doesn't tell you anything you can't already learn for free by clicking "help". Avoid if you can.

5 comments about The Art and Science of CSS.

1. I've bought and already finished to read this book.
   
   I'm a interface developer with a good background into CSS and XHTML; i think that this book was not written to somebody interested into the fundamentals and step-by-step of the CSS.
   
   It's a collection of code-based insights (for each chapter, 2 or 3 progressive explanations) from the authors; it's amazing if you (like me, when i bought it) are searching for some inspirational examples, relying on standards to achieve impressive visual results.
   
   This book also encloses some aspects of CSS 3, and how it will unequivocally improve the standards-based design, with things like multiple backgrounds, table pseudo-classes, and others, even before the integral adoption of this standard into the mainstream browsers. It put the reader one step ahead, acknowledger of the future possibilities of CSS.
   
   I highly recommend this book. But if you are searching for something less visionary and more instructive, you'll need to search other options.



2. The Art & Science of CSS is a good book if you looking for creative ideas or inspiration for CSS but while the book says all you need to is some familiarity with HTML, you do need to know some basic knowledge of CSS. This book would be a good addition to you web design library but only after you learn the basics of CSS from another book.



3. There are many excellent tips and workarounds offered in this book. I have been working with CSS for a few years now but as it is a moving technology, one can never be "ahead." The authors do a good job of bringing newer tips and tricks forward along with offering some useful workarounds for cross-browser issues.



4. I think there are many books that cover this ground a lot better and cheaper as well. Friends of Ed actually has a couple that I would recommend before this. And most certainly Bulletproof Web Design by Cederholm.
   
   This book is really light on details and light on content. It's not at all worth its price, and it's only covering the very basics in a small number of areas. This is definitely not one of the first books you should be looking at about CSS.



5. I really like this book. It is EXACTLY what I seek in a design/development book. I want examples, code and explanation. Nothing more.
   
   I've been doing this stuff for 7 years, so much of this wasn't particularly new to me, but the value is in seeing what experts think (and why) and then taking what you want from it. No cruft; just good solutions.
   
   My only gripe is that it could be considerably longer. The book covers 7 topics really well. I'd like at least 10 more, please. I'm sure this is the most common complaint. Additionally, I could do without the fancy book layout design, but I guess it doesn't hurt.
   
   Definite value here. It's next to my desk all the time and I use almost all of their techniques in my projects. It's disappointing that more publishers don't create this kind of book.

5 comments about XML Weekend Crash Course (with CD-ROM).

1. XML is changing at a lightning fast pace, and this 2000 book is already out of date.



2. I knew nothing about XML and needed to come up to speed quickly. This book served that purpose well. It starts with basic theoretical explanations and goes into some technical detail. It did not teach me "everything" I needed to know, but it did a good job of getting me started. I would recommend it for a novice with little to advanced technical background who needs to learn XML.



3. A great introduction to XML.
   The example programs and tutorials cover a breadth of topics. The sections are related and continue to build on useful tools and suggested practices.
   I would recommend the book to anyone new to XML that wants to rip through some examples and would like to know about dtd and xlst.



4. Good book for someone new to html, xslt, xml and the like. You get a good background of the evolution of the webspace languages as you are learning, and lots of little self-tests and pretty good examples. I had trouble with the CD-Rom, the Turbo XML included either no longer supported the beta copy or I missed something in the installation, in any case I never bothered with it any more. I was mostly just using it to gain an overall understanding of XML before I started studying XSLT. For that it was sufficient. I didn't really do many of the examples, but they seemed well developed and had a logical flow.
   The part I had a little problem with, but only a little, was when it came to writing code that would access outside data, especially tables and databases, and a bit with how the sorting worked. Probably had I done some hands on work it would've clarified it, but I was a bit lazy for that. In any case, overall it takes a simple language and doesn't make it needlessly complicated, and the style is light and breezy without being flippant. You probably could knock it out in a weekend.



5. I have bought a lot of Programming Books, at least one other of this "Brand" and have NEVER before written a negative review. I am so disgusted with this book that I decided to at least get the word out.
   
   Realizing this book was published in 2001, I know they could not foresee everything about this programming language, but you do not set up more than half your book based on one piece of software. Of course there are other ways to go further with XML without the Instant Saxon software they tout and insist you must use. It is included on the disk, but doesn't work and is not supported(the web site they send you to is vague and the downloads you may use there are confusing and not helpful). Now I will be looking elsewhere for that information when I bought this book for that reason, and all of the fragments of code they have had me updating, waste. The SUPPORT Web Site is non-existent, and the disk harder to access than a 1999 magazine demo disk.
   
   It starts out pretty good, but then they begin doing more complicated code that apparently needs to use Instant Saxon, for reasons which I now do not know. Of course, I might have known if only they had stayed with the 'program'. .
   
   If this book were really about XML, none of these things would be so tackily and weakly done.

5 comments about Simply JavaScript.

1. The Sitepoint guys have great articles on their site and emails but I found this book very difficult to read. It didnt seem that the examples made sense, or flowed together to make sense.
   
   As Im pretty new to JS, adding that to my php work, I really had a difficult time understanding all the syntax - and that is made more difficult by now having clear, easy to follow examples.
   
   I cant and wont say that I wouldnt recommend this book because its not a bad book, I just feel that if you are as new to JS as I am, this might not be the best book to start with.



2. When i bought the book i had read from overviews of the book that all i needed to know was html/xhtml but so far, after 2 chapters, i havent been able to understand anything. i feel like im reading jiberish. im not sure and it maybe just my understanding but i have NO idea what its saying. try the book and maybe u may understand what its saying and whats going on. but if you do i would REALLY appreciate it if you can email me letting me know whats up with the book and if its really JUST my understanding. i was looking really forward to the book but unfortunatly it isnt as exciting as i was hopin it to be. :(



3. Quite frankly, I couldn't make sense out of it. The examples don't seem to work, or they require knowing something that wasn't mentioned in the book. For a book entitled "Simply" I kind of expected that I would be able to write basic javascript by the time I had finished it. Sadly, this was not the case.



4. These boys write in Chapter 2 that JavaScript has associative arrays but it is unfortunately a mistake. They show this snippet of code
   
   var postcodes = [];
   postcodes["Armadale"] = 3143;
   postcodes["North Melbourne"] = 3051;
   postcodes["Camperdown"] = 2050;
   postcodes["Annandale"] = 2038;
   
   and state that this is an array with 4 members. But unfortunately this array is empty, only has 4 properties. So, if you write
   
   alert (postcodes.length);
   
   you don't get 4, you get 0!



5. This book simply sucks! IT doesn't explain why it happens, it just gives you something and then you should figure out next.
   
   I don't recommend this book to anyone serious in learning Javascript. Better buy Javascript: The definitive guide, I have read it already, and reading this book is like wasting time.

2 comments about Kicking Butt with MIDP and MSA: Creating Great Mobile Applications (Java Series).

1. This book has many topics very well writen, i really recomend it.
   And it have new technology for J2ME



2. I really hate Netbeans, but in spite of that fact, and the fact that this book makes heavy use of the technology, I dug into the book. I have a real interest in learning about the development of Java programs on cell phones past the writing of small local applications and games, and this book seemed to fit the bill. I'm the happy owner of many of the author's past books, and this one didn't disappoint me either. At first glance parts of the book look rather sparse. That is because, for one, Knudsen doesn't see the point in just regurgitating the standard. The second reason is that much of the source code is on the book's accompanying website. If you are interested in writing mobile applications with Java, I highly recommend this book. I discuss the book's contents chapter by chapter as follows:
   
   Section: I Getting Started
   Chapter 1. Overview - explains why MIDP is such a good fit for mobile devices and describes how MIDP and the rest of the band fit together to form a powerful platform for mobile applications.
   Chapter 2. Tools - Building MIDP applications is surprisingly easy. This chapter describes several development alternatives and explains some of the magic that these tools provide. Also justifies Netbeans, which I dislike, but it's a fair trade-off to play with such cool stuff.
   Chapter 3. Quick Start -Describes a few simple parts of MIDP so that you can get something running right away. You'll also have a basic scaffolding upon which to build your later knowledge.
   Chapter 4. Core APIs - Don't assume that you know all this stuff, even if you're experienced with Java technology on the desktop or in a server environment. The constraints of small devices dictate that these APIs are more compact and less rich than their desktop counterparts.
   
   Section: II The Lives of MIDlets
   Chapter 5. The MIDlet Habitat - learn the details of how MIDlets live and die and how devices prevent bad MIDlets from performing bad deeds.
   Chapter 6. Starting MIDlets Automatically - Incoming network connections can start a MIDlet. For example, a Short Message Service (SMS) message arriving on a certain port or an incoming socket connection could launch a MIDlet. MIDlets can request to be started at a specific time. MIDlets can respond to specific types of content. For example, an audio player MIDlet can be set to handle one or more audio file types. Other applications can ask the device to launch a MIDlet to handle a certain type of content.
   
   Section: III User Interface
   Chapter 7. Basic User Interface - This chapter and Chapter 8 discuss the screens that LCDUI, the user interface, supplies and their supporting baggage.
   Chapter 8. More User Interface
   
   Section: IV Graphics
   Chapter 9. Creating Custom Screens - If the plain old LCDUI screens are not sufficiently jazzy or flexible for your application, you can create your own screen using a canvas. It's more work, but it's more fun. You can control almost all of the drawing on the display and you get fine-grained event information as well.
   Chapter 10. Custom Items - A middle ground lies between the easy path of canned LCDUI screens and the raw bravado of using Canvas. Custom items are your own items that can be placed into standard forms. A custom item is very similar to a canvas, but it has some additional equipment to allow it to be part of a form.
   Chapter 11. Using the Game API - One popular category of Java ME applications is games. Even when faster data networks make other types of applications more popular, games will always be an important part of the Java ME ecosystem. MIDP has a Game API designed to help you create 2D action or board games. It has a souped-up canvas and supports building a screen using multiple layers. The entire API consists of five classes that are discussed in this chapter.
   Chapter 12. Scalable Vector Graphics - The shortcomings of images on small devices are addressed by JSR 226, the Scalable 2D Vector Graphics API for J2ME. Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) is a kind of XML for describing pictures. Because it is essentially a programming language, SVG can also describe animations and user interactions. JSR 226 is a standard API for displaying and manipulating SVG documents.
   Chapter 13. 3D Graphics - The Mobile 3D Graphics (M3G) API, gives MIDlets the ability to show 3D content. It is a scaled-down version of the desktop Java platform 3D API. The M3G API is a scene graph API, which means it knows how to render scenes that are described as a hierarchy of groups and objects. How to use the API is discussed here.
   
   Section: V Storage and Resources
   Chapter 14. Record Stores - MSA devices provide three ways to work with persistent storage. The first way is with record stores, which are tiny databases that contain records. The official name for this API is the Record Management System (RMS), which is covered in this chapter.
   Chapter 15. Reading and Writing Files - MIDP devices often have some kind of hierarchical file system. The PDA Optional Packages define a FileConnection API that provides access to a device's file system. It is a mandatory part of MSA and MSA subset. The FileConnection API is the subject of this chapter.
   Chapter 16. Contacts and Calendars - The Personal Information Management (PIM) API provides access to contact lists, calendars, and to-do lists on mobile devices. The API is the subject of this chapter.
   Chapter 17. Mobile Internationalization - A fancy phrase that means making your application run in different languages. Internationalization is handled by Mobile Internationalization API, the subject of this chapter.
   
   Section: VI Networking
   Chapter 18. The Generic Connection Framework - All network access in MIDP devices works through the Generic Connection Framework (GCF). The fundamental idea of GCF is very simple. Your application supplies a connection string, and GCF hands back the corresponding input and output streams.
   Chapter 19. Text and Multimedia Messaging - This chapter covers the Wireless Messaging API (WMA) which extends this capability of transmitting and receiving text messages to MIDlets.
   Chapter 20. Bluetooth and OBEX - teaches you the fundamentals of Bluetooth communication but does not attempt to cover the Bluetooth and OBEX (Object Exchange) APIs in meticulous detail.
   Chapter 21. XML and Web Services - describes how to use the XML parsing API, how to call Web services using the JAX-RPC API, and how to work with RESTful Web services. Examples will show how to parse a Rich Site Summary (RSS) feed and how to write a RESTful client for the Flickr photo-sharing service.
   Chapter 22. Session Initiation Protocol - Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) is a standard way to set up a call, videoconference, or other session between two network endpoints. This chapter is a broad overview.
   
   Section: VII Multimedia
   Chapter 23. Playing and Recording Sound and Video - Discusses the Mobile Media API (MMAPI) for working with images, audio, and video. There are some good detailed examples here.
   Chapter 24. Advanced Multimedia - expands on the promise of MMAPI with 3D audio, image processing and encoding, camera and radio control. The basics are in the book, the online software has more detailed examples.
   
   Section: VIII Security and Transactions
   Chapter 25. Smart Cards and Cryptography - an introduction to the Security and Trust Services APIs (SATSA). SATSA actually contains four separate APIs. Two of these are for communicating with smart cards, while the other two relate to cryptography. Only the basics are covered.
   Chapter 26. Mobile Payments - discusses The Payment API, which provides MIDlets with a simple API for making payments.
   Chapter 27. Know Where You Are - discusses the Location API for using GPS to determine where you are or where you want to go.
   Chapter 28. Application Architecture - a good capstone chapter presents ideas to help you with your application design. This chapter gets you in the right frame of mind to design your own application effectively and imaginatively.

5 comments about Microsoft Small Business Server 2003 Unleashed.

1. I own quite a few books on Microsoft Small Business Server 2003 and this book by Eriq Neale and his co-authors is the ONE that has the most dog eared pages. I bought this book shortly after it came out and look at it Frequently.
   
   It has helped me with the current SBS 2003 Servers I manage and given me tips and ideas I had not thought about before. This book covers SBS Server 2003 from installation to completion and just about eveything in between. This includes stuff like how to integrate Macintosh workstations and using Group Policy in an SBS 2003 environment, and much more.
   
   If you are "New" to Small Business Server or have been using SBS 2003 for a little while, I would suggest you order this book and READ it! It will be worth your money, in my opinion.



2. I've only had the book for about a week. So far I'm very happy with the all the detailed explanations. This book is easy to read, both for beginners and veterans in the tech community. Neale gives many recommedations which have help me compare and refine my own costums. I recommend this book to anyone looking into installing and maintaining SBS 2003.



3. This is a collaborative work by current practitioners of Small Business Server (SBS), each of whom contributed their forté to the contents. Consequently, it is the most detailed, if not the most current book on SBS available today. The latest version of SBS is R2 and this book is based on Service Pack 1, but the differences are minor and so it is definitely as relevant today as it was at publication. It may be steep for some novices, but for those confident in their Windows fundamentals, this is a worthwhile investment. Absolute beginners should consider Windows Small Business Server 2003 R2 for a gentler introduction.



4. The further back in the book, the more vanilla it got. I can see why one person wrote that the author was obsessed with the Wizards. (paraphrased)
   
   I love the scenarios and best practices in the first part of the book.
   Later on you wonder why they put in some of the chapters. This book may be a good place to start if you know nothing. I enjoyed much of the book, but I need to buy another book that gets more into the specifics.



5. I would truly, truly like to review this book, in either a negative vein, or glowing positively - thrilled with it's boundless content. Unfortunately, I haven't actually received the book in question, so there's really not a lot to say. In my heart I keep hoping that it will be delivered one day, any day, sooner rather than later would be nice. And, after the headlong rush of reading and absorbing the copious content (it's a big book after all I've been told), I hold addional hope that I will still have sufficient drive to get that real review out the door and on to the pages of Amazon where it belongs. Maybe next month - see you then!

5 comments about Ajax Bible.

1. If you're alive and into computer books, you've got to know the name Holzner. The fellow has got a talent for putting together a book that is always (at least the ones I read) at the top of the heap in terms of readability and content. He does it again in this book. This book is an enhanced version of his Ajax For Dummies, a very good and lower level book. There's more in it.
   AJAX for the un-initiated (are they out there ?) is the name given to the technique of using a bunch of already true and tried components, Javascript, XML, dynamic HTML, and CSS and the XMLHttpRequest object to obtain some rather dramatic effects toward creating websites that perform in a crisp way.
   As in snap, crackle and pop. AJAX is not a language, it is not a new technology. It is a novel way of using the above mentioned already existing stuff in a very clever way. As such, you need to learn an awful lot of stuff and to learn how it all hangs together. And this is where the author excels. He has already written other books where this stuff is described. He brings it into this book from scratch and does a very good job of tying it all up into a nice neat package. The book is self-contained. It is a very good book for the beginner and the more advanced reader will find some interesting reading too.



2. Finding a book on Ajax isn't too hard any more. Finding one that covers beginning to advanced Ajax (and does it well) is another story. Steve Holzner has put his entry into the field with Ajax Bible. This is one of the better titles out there, and there's something to appeal to all levels of developers.
   
   Contents:
   Part 1 - Fundamental Ajax: Essential Ajax; Know Your JavaScript; Creating Ajax Applications; Serious Ajax Programming
   Part 2 - Ajax In Depth: Introducing Ajax Frameworks; More Advanced Ajax Frameworks; Using Server-Side Ajax Frameworks
   Part 3 - Ajax and the DOM, XML, CSS, and Dynamic HTML: The DOM and Event Handling; XML and Ajax; Cascading Style Sheets and Ajax; Dynamic HTML and Ajax
   Part 4 - Advanced Ajax: Introducing Ajax and PHP; PHP - Functions and HTML Controls; Handling User Input in PHP; Ajax and Security; Filters, MVC, and Ajax
   Index
   
   Holzner's written over 100 technology books, so I've come to expect a high level of writing from him. He definitely delivers here. Part 1 gives you all the information you need to start writing an Ajax-enabled application. The JavaScript chapter is designed to give you enough background if you've never worked with Ajax before, but not so lengthy as to dominate the entire book. The Serious Ajax Programming chapter will appeal to readers who have done some Ajax coding already, covering such subjects as multiple XMLHttpRequest objects and calling other domains. Part 2 gets into the whole topic of frameworks and how they can save you time and effort in your coding projects. No need to reinvent the wheel if someone else already has done that. Part 3 covers more of how you can take the returned data from the Ajax call and format your web page to display and use that data. And finally, Part 4 goes into some fairly advanced topics that won't mean much to the beginner, but might be exactly what the advanced developer needs.
   
   What I especially liked are Holzner's code examples. In many books, you get a code example all at once. The following writing then tries to explain whatever was just shown. That's usually OK, but sometimes longer code snippets can get confusing. Holzner "builds" the code alongside the writing. So you first get the start and end of the function along with the explanation. Then you get that code along with a new bold section that explains the next step. This pattern is repeated until the entire code snippet is built. While some might feel that it pads the book with redundant pages of code, I prefer it as you see the specific part of the code being discussed without getting confused about additional lines you don't yet understand.
   
   If there was a need for me to recommend a book on Ajax to someone without knowing their background, this would be a very safe bet. Beginners will get exactly what they need, and intermediate/advanced readers will find stuff that they don't know. Nice job...



3. This book is way bigger than it needs to be. The code examples take up enormous amounts of space. When stepping through an example, the entire example code is (usually) repeated with the new line under discussion added. Even the simplest example takes up pages of text. Every new example gets the cross-browser code for obtaining an XMLhttprequest object. Do we really need that repeated for each example?
   
   The examples are mostly very simple, usually replacing one line of text with another. Then there's the screenshots. How informative is it to see two entire Internet Explorer windows, complete with toolbars, and a tiny speck of text that changes to before the Ajax call to an after Ajax call? The coverage of client and server-side libraries is so minimal and the examples so simple that the author could have just listed what libraries are available.
   
   Most of the book has nothing to do with Ajax. There are chapters on DOM, javascript, CSS but I can't understand who their target audience is. For instance, if you don't know anything about DOM, you won't learn enough to be useful. If you do know some (even a little), you won't learn anything at all.
   
   The last five chapters are the advanced Ajax section. The first three are an introduction to PHP. Really. How to declare a variable. How to make a comment. No Ajax at all. Again, if you don't know PHP, you're better off getting a better book. If you think the last two chapters might build on this tutorial of PHP, you're mistaken. No more PHP. On to java server pages, javabeans, and an odd little ending with two page discussion of Model-View-Controller. Again, if you don't know JSP, you won't understand what's going on. If you do, you won't learn anything.
   
   The book is a nice introduction to Ajax, it just contains way to much filler and never does anything in any depth.



4. This book convers very well a lot of subjects on Ajax, and a lot it doesn't.
   
   There are two chapters focused on PHP. These are on the Parte IV, named Advanced Ajax. But in this two chapters, if you try to find Ajax, you won't get Anything!!!
   
   This book is not aimed for advanced or experts of Ajax, it's just for the beginner and maybe intermediate.
   
   If your're searching a book for some advanced Ajax techniques. GET ANOTHER BOOK!!



5. I just made it to chapter five and I am understanding the topic of AJAX pretty well. I have other AJAX books but they failed to explain a few imporant topics or they did it poorly.
   
   This book is pretty easy to follow. I recommend it!

5 comments about Computers and Intractability: A Guide to the Theory of NP-Completeness (Series of Books in the Mathematical Sciences).

1. This is among the most eloquently written books that I have ever read in my life. Highly recommended.



2. The book arrived in time, in good condition, and adequate packing.



3. This is a rare example of a textbook where the authors actually go to the trouble of considering the fact that the intended reader is a non-expert. Published in 1979 and still the best.



4. The book is excellent in explaining NP-completeness problem. Take it as a reference if you would like to do research in this field.



5. I have to say that this is a true classic. It gives a very nice treatment of what is NP-completeness in a fashion that really defends the topic well. It gives nice illustrations to show different situations and how to deal with it. But after the first couple of chapters it does get a little out there with the proofs it does. It is still approachable, but it assumes that the reader is already familiar with the basics of combinatorial complexity, especially in reductions. I would only recommend this book to readers who has gone through such books as Introduction to Algorithms by Cormen et al. or Combinatorial Complexity by Papadimitriou and Steiglitz. Those two books are more for beginners and this book should be one to help anyone interested in NP-complete problems to get more practice and depth understanding. Overall a great book for anyone interested in the topic. The grand challenge is to reduce everything to at least something within the 150 problems listed on your own.

5 comments about Service-Oriented Architecture: A Field Guide to Integrating XML and Web Services (The Prentice Hall Service-Oriented Computing Series from Thomas Erl).

1. The entire book can be summed up on 3 to 4 pages. Mostly the book regurgitates the same concepts over and over to fill up the pages, using a plethora of technical terminology to abstract it's own meaningless. For the most part the book is intended to give you an overview of verity of technologies encapsulated in SOA architecture, but from a very distant perspective.



2. I read this book as part of a technical book club at work. The concensus of the group is that there is very little useful information in it. It contains many diagrams and charts that provide little benefit other than to increase the page count. It contains mis-information concerning competing technologies such as CORBA and constantly treats SOA and Web Services as if they are interchangeable terms. Much of the information is superficial. The bright spot in the book was that the large number of nearly identical charts made reading the chapters go very quickly. Finally, the author often seems to be using the book as advertisment for his company. There are much better resources for gaining an understanding of SOA and Web Services. Don't waste you money on this one.



3. Thomas Erl covers SOA perfectly. The ebb and flow of the book is excellent. He does not cover proprietary technologies, and rightfully so. However, he explains the W3 standards of XML, SOAP, Web services and many key service models. He also is aware of corporate culture and thinking realistically as you take on a SOA implementation. This book has made me a better software developer. Keep things autonomous and keep things abstract.



4. This book is really useful specially for a person who want to learn the basic of web service and then go deep for XML and Web Service usage in Service Oriented domain.



5. It's a practical guide on defining service characteristics and design principles in multiple levels, from component implementation to application design to enterprise architecture. Very digestive material.