No comments about Data Services with Silverlight 2.

5 comments about Programming Microsoft Visual Basic .NET Version 2003 (Pro Developer).

1. This was the first .NET book I purchased, and in many ways if I hadn't bought any others it would have been sufficient. It has thorough coverage of the .NET environment, with lucid code examples in VB.NET. I found the chapters on ADO.NET and the framework internals to be most useful to my job as an ASP.NET developer, but the coverage is deep enough that a person with very little programming experience could read this book and come away as a well-rounded .NET programmer. Even if you're writing in C#, as I am, the book is worth the money. I would also recommend Dino Esposito's Programming Microsoft ASP.NET for more depth if you're a web developer.



2. I bought this book few years. It is an excelent source of information and writers style is very clear. I just came back to see if Balena has book for C# 2005. Looks like I found something. I am going get that one. However, present book is quite good, check if there is a newer release you may want to get that one.



3. Fast service, great quality... What more can you ask for. I recommend this seller.



4. There is a lot of information in this book, covering a broad range of subjects. It is well laid out and easy to reference. The CD comes with the current version of the book as well as the author's previous book on VB6. Not really a beginner's book as there are more intermediate and advanced topics. I had not used .NET and hadn't touched VB6 in a couple of years. I needed a resource to help jump from rusty VB6 skills to .NET - this book did it perfectly. It is also filled with advanced topics that I am not currently using but now know where to go when the need arrives.



5. I am an experienced developer but fairly new to VB.NET. This book is not for beginners but it is great for someone like myself who knows what they want to do and just wants some good examples and tips. It's a great reference book and a good alterative to Google. The English is clear and to the point. The book is a sturdy hardback and the pages are well laid out. It's easy to read afters hous of staring at a screen. To sum up, I'm glad that I brought it. It has saved me time and money and you can't ask for much more than that :-)

5 comments about Dojo: Using the Dojo JavaScript Library to Build Ajax Applications (Developer's Library).

1. This book provides a good introduction to Dojo. It answers these questions:
   1. What is Dojo?
   2. What can Dojo do for me?
   3. How can I start using Dojo right now?
   
   You've probably created at least a few (if not many) web forms to gather input from your users and thought "Shouldn't there be an easier way to (insert your complaint here)?" The author goes through a list of these common gripes and shows how you can tackle each one with Dojo. In the beginning, he highlights a few key areas - such as form widgets, validating fields, and form submission. Once you begin to grasp the power and usefulness of Dojo, he goes through a deeper look into all the widgets (form, layout, and specialized) and the base Dojo libraries (string utilities, AJAX utilities, event handling, etc.)
   
   This book is not a complete reference to all things Dojo, but it does a great job of focusing on the common and most used features to get you started. This approach allows you to wade into the Dojo pool at your own pace rather than diving into the deep end and getting quickly overwhelmed by the total package that Dojo offers.



2. "Dojo: Using the Dojo JavaScript Library to Build Ajax Application" is a book for developers. You should know JavaScript and HTML well before starting. There are three main sections of the book which were so different to the point where I thought I was reading three separate books.
   
   The first part rips apart an HTML form then shows how to use Dojo to improve it. I liked the attention to accessibility along with error handling and validation. Dojo was introduced in pieces through example. Except for a couple overly long examples, such as a full page of the HTML source for the 50 states, this section was good. Things build up slowly and clearly so long as you are willing to suspect disbelief about how Dojo works.
   
   The second part introduces Dojo widgets with a picture, API description and examples. Except for the picture, it seemed very similar to the API. This part of the book didn't add much value for me as I can look at the API and examples online.
   
   The third part gets good again. It goes into the details of how Dojo works and some more advanced concepts. It also goes into history and the problems Dojo solves. It was nice having this later in the book so the beginning could be more substantial. I did like how the author went from high level to low level - both with the three parts and even within part three itself. Some pieces stayed a bit to high level such as the AOP and object discussion chapters.
   
   Overall, I was mixed between the three books. The first and third were good and the second I wouldn't pay for.



3. The book is a good book on getting you stated in Dojo and the examples are good. The book though seems a bit rushed to market there is errors in the code everywhere I seen typos to just completly wrong code in the book. I would have rated this higher but the errors are a problem if you try and follow the code in the book. My suggestion is you need to download the code from the authors website. Follow that code instead. I have read the other dojo books and they have a simular problem. Dojo is very powerful and there just isn't very many people to review the books for mistakes. If you looking for documentaion on Dojo and you do a lot of server side programming then it is worth buying this book as it was meant for you..



4. This is a very good introduction to Dojo. If you have not used any other Ajax toolkit, and you want to learn Dojo, then this is the book for you. At the moment, this is the easiest to understand tutorial of Dojo. Unfortunately, it does not tackle DojoX very much, which contains some modules that are very useful, like the Grid. It also doesn't show examples of handling XML (handleAs: "xml"). Anyway, the perfect companion to this book, like other Dojo books, is the Book of Dojo, found in Dojo's website.



5. This is a nice intro. It is in three parts and runs a little contrary to the normal flow in a book like this. The first section is a hands on tutorial, the middle section is reference and the last section contains definitions, more of an introduction and information on using capabilities that are not tied to widgets.
   
   There's a sentence in chapter 15 that mentions using widgets later. This makes me think that editors moved around the order of the book - because in most computer books the stuff in the third section would be first.
   
   I personally liked this change. It got me in and running immediately on using some code. I didn't need to work through a bunch of explanation first. The widget documentation is o.k. I guess, though not really necessary. I would have enjoyed more in depth examples and explanations.
   
   I think this book would best serve someone new to javascript and libraries of this type. It gives enough to help a beginner get going and be immediately successful, so that they don't give up. A more experienced developer might be frustrated with the repetition between the sections and the high-level overview on most material.
   
   But for anyone who wants to learn a new technology and doesn't want to get bogged down in a massive volume that covers every single bit of minutiae - this is a good start.

5 comments about Linux Made Easy: The Official Guide to Xandros 3 for Everyday Users.

1. I'm buying Xandros and this is a good start in learning the system basics. The author explains the system simple enough for a Mac user to understand. I enjoyed it very much.



2. I have installed Xandros version 4 and at the present time Xandros doesn't recognize my Canon printer nor my external DVD-rw drive. I haven't tried my scanner, yet.
   
   I'm looking for a book that will help me get up and running and I don't think this is the book for me.
   
   If I can't get my peripherals running I'm going to have to change OS.



3. I agree with the other reviewers' positive comments about this book, and would like to point out that the material carries over well to Xandros 4 (with some minor exceptions). I did not order the book because of the Open Circulation Edition (OCE) CD-ROM but because I had purchased -- and installed -- Xandros version 4 (Home Edition - Premium). I first checked out a copy of "Linux Made Easy" from the local public library, and was pleasantly surprised that almost all of the instructions apply in Xandros 4 as well. So I ordered a personal copy from Amazon.
   
   Although my boxed set of Xandros 4 includes an approx. 400-page, bound User Guide (admittedly a nice bonus), its writing style is terse and a bit dry. Grant's book is livelier and includes tips and tricks not found in the official User Guide. I especially like that he has hands-on, step-by-step mini-projects in almost every chapter. He holds your hand some without being condescending.
   
   As an example of a minor difference, the first project in Chapter 10 involves scanning a photo using the scanning application known as Kooka. My version of Xandros did not have Kooka pre-installed, so I had to sidetrack and download the program from Xandros Networks (XN) -- a painless operation. Once I had Kooka installed, the remainder of the project worked exactly as he describes ...
   
   I still have much to learn about Xandros but as I explore this operating system and get my feet wet with Linux, I am grateful to have "Linux Made Easy" as a resource. I think it has already saved me enough time to pay for itself.



4. This is a fantastic book for me, as a beginner in Xandros Linux. It has become a great reference for me. I am still learning alot, yet this book helped me gain the knowledge needed to get a head start.



5. Even though I decided to use Vista instead, this Linux made easy came with a Open Source version of Linux on CD. I think that is Very Considerate it gives one a chance to try it, in fact at some point I might just do a dual boot with Xandros 4 Professional to open up numerous avenues of communications.
   Real Good Deal in a Digital Processing Computer Book.

5 comments about XSLT 2.0 Programmer's Reference (Programmer to Programmer).

1. I would not think this book is a "start learning xslt book". It is not meant to be start of with. It is a definately a great reference book for xslt 1.0 and updates for xslt 2.0. This is a kind of book in which you work your way from the index at the back of the book to the desired topic.



2. From the book's introduction: "In previous editions, XSLT and XPath were covered in a single volume. This time, they have been divided into two separate books: this one covers XSLT 2.0, while the companion book 'XPath 2.0 Programmer's Reference" describes XPath." ... "This book is intended to be used alongside the companion volume ... Since XSLT 2.0 has such a strong dependence on XPath 2.0, you really need both books."
   
   It turns out, most of the questions I needed answered aren't even covered in this book. That was frustrating for me.
   
   I later purchased the companion XPath 2.0 book. In their favor, I will say that I have never had a question about XSLT or XPath that wasn't answered by these books.
   
   However, both books are perhaps the worst-formatted reference books I have ever seen. Much of the book consists of an alphabetical reference of XML elements or XPath functions. Unfortunately, the page headers and footers only contain page numbers and chapter titles. They do not contain the name of the element or function that is described on that page. So you can't just riff through the pages watching for your function to appear in the footer.
   
   There is a heading for each element or function name, but the font used for the sub-headings are as large as (if not larger than) the major headings. There are no page breaks between functions or elements. So you can't even visually scan the pages looking for your functions.
   
   Finally, the table of contents consists largely of function or element names on the left, with page numbers on the right, separated by about five inches. But there are no dot leaders between them. So, even when you resort to using the table of contents to find the section you need, you have to use a ruler to find the page number.



3. In addition to his obvious authority on the subject of XSLT Michael Kay is one of the best writers out there. This book gives a thorough explication of the history and concepts behind XSLT that is valuable for newcomers and informative for more experienced hands. It is written for those with experience with programming languages but new to XSLT or new to XSLT 2.0. It presents thorough documentation for elements and functions, with examples of their use.



4. This is exactly what I want from a technical book on a tricky, subtle topic: it is *serious* and does not kid around. If you're new to programming, XML, declarative languages, or regular expressions: this is not the book for you. If you're familar with all those things and want to put a new tool in your toolbelt, this is the book. It explains the semantics and the processing model thoroughly, instead of just describing the syntax. It also serves as a reference for XSLT 1.0, because the author carefully indicates what features are available in which version.
   I recommend getting the companion XPath book XPath 2.0 Programmer's Reference (Programmer to Programmer) at the same time; the XSLT book doesn't cover XPath, but you really need solid XPath skills to accomplish anything with XSLT.
   Just one problem: the diagrams are really ugly. They weren't designed for print; they're jaggy and blurry. I've seen the same diagrams in other materials though; I think it's part of the XSLT spec.



5. I purchased this book primarily as a reference when I need a little more detail on a tag or function. The author has done what seems to be an entirely thorough job documenting each tag and function in a consistent and useful manner. Once I find it, the content is all I need. I have yet to read through the other chapters; I have a feeling they will provide useful insights.
   
   Unfortunately, it is all but impossible to thumb through the book to find a specific tag. Because the tags and function names are all lowercase, they appear almost identical to the next-level headings which are mixed case. A rule under the paragraph or something would have helped a lot (I have been marking each with a highlighter). I'm not sure why they didn't maintain the boldface from the TOC (see below); that would have helped.
   
   The headers and footers display nothing more than the chapter name/number and page number-- contrast this with a typical O'Reilly design (JavaScript 5th Edition) where the page headers in the Core JS Reference chapter show the first and last entries on the spread just like a (good) dictionary.
   
   So, you can expect to have to refer to the Table of Contents often. Unfortunately, there is typically 4"+ (10-12cm) of blank space between an entry and its page number in the table of contents. This would be another usability disaster except that they at least boldface the tag and function names along with their page numbers. (Hint to designer: dot leaders have been around for a while now...)
   
   I will avoid purchasing reference works from Wrox/Wiley in the future.

5 comments about PHP 5 Recipes: A Problem-Solution Approach.

1. I normally don't write reviews unless I had a bad experience. However, in this case, the PHP 5 Recipes book is an exception! I love this book! The examples are CORRECT!! The information I need is very well organized - I really love the way that the book was organized! I wish all of my tech books for other languages were arranged in this problem-solution manner. The information you need to build a robust and well organized and valid website is here in the book! I definitely highly recommend that you get THIS book if you are thinking about doing some php work. The php code they have is on the mark! The authors included more than I needed by including a section on XML/XSLT with PHP. Definitely get this book!



2. I highly recommend this book. It covers all aspects of PHP 5, including OOP, without getting bogged down. Though this book consists of contributions from four authors, it comes together as one smooth read. Its full of examples and hits its mark very effectively. It makes a great companion to the Zend PHP 5 Certification Guide. Well done!!



3. Generally, I'm not a big fan of cookbooks (for programming!) but this one is really good. A great reference to have as you are coding and think "oh... how do i do X again?" or just to read and review. Another use - give a copy to your friends who STILL are writing PHP 4 code!



4. I'm a bit of a novice PHP programmer still, and I found this book accessible and useful. The scripts are well commented, well explained, I have found them to be secure thus far (I have limited knowledge here but they seem to adhere to best practices), and I can find what I want quickly. When they have special needs like JavaScript or something, they explain why afterward. Each script also has a "How It Works" section afterward. Before each script, they have intro paragraphs saying what is needed in order for it to work, such as a pre-created directory or something.
   
   I can recommend this book to other PHP programmers at the novice/beginner level as well as the more advanced levels.



5. Instead of reading this book from front to back I read the sections as needed. PHP isn't the only language I dabble in so I haven't had many opportunities to go through the book but the sections I have read are very well written, informative and easy to read.
   
   I would say this book could be utilized by a novice or experienced PHP programmer. The author covers topics starting advanced enough not to bore the hell out of the experienced and thorough enough not to loose the novice.

2 comments about Professional CodeIgniter.

1. CodeIgniter is the fastest PHP framework out there, and it works. There are very few bugs in the code. The other thing that CodeIgniter has that other frameworks don't is a good forum and excellent documentation. It has an outstanding Users Guide you can download which lists every function with a code example.
   
   And now, there are two books out on CodeIgniter. I purchased both books, and reviewed "CodeIgniter for Rapid PHP Application Development." "Professional CodeIgniter" is a completely different book. I figure folks might want to know the difference before they buy.
   
   "Professional CodeIgniter" walks you through a complete web application from start to finish. The author is an experienced web developer. It is thorough and very detailed. The first chapter introduces you to how to use the MVC architecture with CodeIgniter. The second chapter introduces you to using the Agile development methodologies with a client who needs an ecommerce site. You are inside the head of a web developer as he talks with the client, and draws up what the site will look like on a piece of paper. Then the fun begins. In Chapter 3 you download CodeIgniter and he walks you through laying out the folders and intial configuration of CodeIgniter followed by the initial screen for the site. Other chapters follow:
   Chapter 4 - Creating the main web site
   Chapter 5 - Building a shopping cart
   Chapter 6 - Creating a Dashboard
   Chapter 7 - Improving the Dashboard
   Chapter 8 - Last Minute Upgrades
   Chapter 9 - Security and Performance
   Chapter 10 - Launch
   
   The index is very detailed which makes the book good for a reference. There is lots of code and the code is available on the publishers site.
   
   There are some pitfalls. If your going to get anything out of the book you got to follow along, and create the site for yourself, which makes the going slow. On top of that there are bugs in the code which makes the book frustrating, and slows you down further. You can look at it two ways, there are bugs in the code, so this book is a waste; or you're learning how to fix bugs in CodeIgniter. There are times when I was banging my head against the wall. On the other hand, there are things like how to write a search engine and shopping cart for the site that make the book worthwhile. Four stars, a very slow, but thorough read.
   A lot of content, but you've got to dig to get the gold.



2. Este libro es exactamente lo que estaba buscando desde que decidi utilizar CodeIgniter como framework php, te lleva paso a paso a como crear una aplicacion con CI y principalmente esa parte privada de toda aplicacion web.
   Lo Recomiendo 100% para todo el que este iniciandose en el mundo del MVC con CodeIgniter.

5 comments about PDF Hacks: 100 Industrial-Strength Tips & Tools.

1. With PDF files everywhere from web sites to help files, sooner or later you will run into a situation where you need to do something to a PDF file. For me the first time I realized I needed to do something I could not was when I needed to take one and convert it to a Word format so I could quickly outline the high points to study for a certification exam. After several hours I finally got it into a text file thanks to a web site that did the conversion. But even then I lost the tables, illustrations, etc. How to do that is one of the hacks included in this book. I wish it were printed a few years ago because it would have made my life easier.
   
   After testing that hack I browsed through the book and kept finding myself asking "You can do that with a PDF file?" There are a lot of good tips in this book from making Acrobat startup faster, to converting PDF files, to automatic timed scrolling for easy reading, to creating a PDF using Word, WordPerfect, OpenOffice, Perl, HTML, PHP, and Java. With page after page of coding, this is a tremendously useful book for anyone who wants to create or edit PDF files or change the way Acrobat works with files. PDF Hacks: 100 Industrial-Strength Tips & Tools is very highly recommended and will be put on my shelf reserved for books I want to be able to access quickly.



2. This is a very comprehensive solutions catalog on all kinds of PDF related issues. Each trick is described with step-by-step instructions and contains pointers to relevant resources. The chapter listing categorizes the hacks - Consuming PDF, Managing a Collection, Authoring and Self-Publishing, Creating PDF and Other Editions, Manipulating PDF files, Dynamic PDF, Scripting and Programming Acrobat.
   
   I embrace the beauty of PDF as an end user and applications developer, but do not use Adobe Acrobat. Many of the tricks mentioned in the book is about this product. A problem is that the TOC does not tell whether or not a trick is Adobe Acrobat specific. Some of the hacks are like sections extracted from an advanced Adobe Acrobat user guide. As this is not obvious from the TOC, the content of the hack can be quite different from what I expected.
   
   Despite this problem, the book is still a very useful one-stop resource about PDF. I will recommend this book to all who need to use or work with PDF.



3. The title is completely misleading.
   I purchased this book and software from Broderbund, after reading the reviews posted here at Amazon, believing the book and software would help me covert PDF files that I could not Save or print in its orginal format into ones I could.
   I can say for sure,in my opinion, the other reviews of this book led me down the "fools primrose path."
   Perhaps I should have read the reviews more carefully.
   Of course the fault is entirely mine.



4. There are several categories of hack in this book; two of them are "saving money" (finding ways to work with PDF's outside of Acrobat) and PDF in web design--using CGI scripting to serve up individual pages that have search text for example. A third type of hack are some old-school tricks that help make your PDF's more widely compatible. Good stuff, not crucial unless you happen to need it.



5. This book is a god-send for those of us who have to struggle with the often frustrating world of PDF documents on our computers. I was completely confused until I dug into this manual, which is relatively easy for a novice to understand. It has been a great help to me in find answers to problems I had with using PDF on a daily basis. I would highly recommend it.

3 comments about CodeIgniter for Rapid PHP Application Development.

1. My favorite book on PHP/MySQL is still PHP and MySQL Web Development (3rd Edition) (Developer's Library). It's PHP 101 and MySQL 101 all wrapped up in a fantastic, comprehensive book with tons of code samples.
   
   CodeIgniter is a perfect compliment, perhaps a PHP 201 guide. It takes all of the rigorous PHP hard-coding and supplies a framework to develop code faster and with the best practices of a MVC system. Aside from being well-written with tons of real-world examples, one of the things I like best about this book is that it explains what it's not. CodeIgniter is a home-grown open-source framework. As such, it has some admitted limitations. The book is refreshing and honest.
   
   The book is a perfect way of learning advanced development techniques, not just using CodeIgniter though. I'd highly recommend the book. The book states "Improve your PHP coding productivity with the free compact open-source MVC CodeIgniter framework!". This is both honest and accurate!



2. When I first discovered CodeIgniter, I was overcome with glee after following the video tutorials. It all worked. There was no need to rely on any command-line interaction to "automagically" build my application for me. There was no dependence on PEAR or any other outside resources. There was just CodeIgniter. And it worked.
   
   As soon as I got a grasp on what it was doing and why, I dove into the excellent User Guide and began to feel all warm and fuzzy inside. This felt like home. The user guide is written in such a non-intimidating manner that it invites even the most timid of PHP developers. To this day, I still refer to the user guide when I forget specific syntax or function names and it's a guick in-and-out routine. Nothing at all complex about it.
   
   Not too long ago I came across a book by Packt Publishing called 'CodeIgniter for Rapid PHP Application Development'. At first, I thought to myself, "Why?". The combination of the user guide, the forum and CodeIgniter's well structured code is surely enough for anybody to learn, right? What could this book have that any potential developer could not obtain through these natural resources?
   
   Throughout the fifteen chapters in the book, the author walks you through building a functional application from start to finish (well, at least as finished as any web application truly is). At first I thought the choice of the application to build was rather odd, but as I continued reading the book, I realized it was a good example because of the wide array of helpers, libraries and other standard CodeIgniter components and logic the application uses. Specifically, the example application provides a way to monitor several different aspects of remote websites by performing tests and generating reports. The author does a great job of walking the reader through the process step by step while explaining why and how the various CodeIgniter components are being used.
   
   However, I did find the odd spelling error here and there and I don't necessarily agree with outputting HTML from a model, but overall this book is a great addition to the natural resources that the user guide and forum provide. This book will be of no help to the (albeit few) people that immediately jump into the forums asking "how do I..." without taking a little time to read through the user guide and searching pre-existent forum threads to find a solution for their problem, but for those who truly want to learn more about the framework and want to have a good book on hand, then this book certainly does the trick.



3. CodeIgniter is the fastest PHP framework out there, and it works. There are very few bugs in the code. The other thing that CodeIgniter has that other frameworks don't is a good forum and excellent documentation. It has an outstanding Users Guide you can download which lists every function with a code example.
   
   And now, there are two books out on CodeIgniter. I purchased both books, read this one from cover to cover, and am 1/3 of the way through the "Professional CodeIgniter" book, which is much slower going. I figure folks might want to know the difference before they buy.
   
   "CodeIgniter for Rapid PHP..." is a detailed overview of CodeIgniter. First, I have to disagree with the previous reviewer. This book does not walk you through a complete application. There is part of an application in Chap 13 & 14, but that's it. This is an overview book. It is more verbose than the User's Guide, and arranges the topics in a different, perhaps, more understandable format. This is a reading book. You're not meant to sit at your computer, and input the code with this book. Instead the code is presented in a "how to do this" type of format, and now, let's move on to the next topic. There is not a consistent application throughout the book that glues all the chapters together. This could be a reference for CodeIgniter, except I wish it had a better Index. For example, there is no Model topic under M in the Index which lists only "Menu" under "M." In contrast, "Professional CodeIgniter" lists 24 subtopics under "Model" in its Index.
   
   Having gone through the negatives, I still rate this book 4 stars, because it is very readable, and there is value to be gained from the read. It's an excellent detailed overview. There are pearls and tidbits that you pick up in the book that make it worthwhile. You get a good overall feel of CodeIgniter from the book. It's also nice to read a computer book without necessarily running to the computer every two pages. You don't need your computer to benefit from this book, unlike the "Professional CodeIgniter" book which you do need a computer, and is not as easily read which I'll review on its page.

1 comments about Office VBA Macros You Can Use Today: Over 100 Amazing Ways to Automate Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, and Access.

1. Although I've developed macros for years in MS Word, MS Excel, MS Access, and PowerPoint, this book still gave me new information and ways to accomplish tasks. The book is well worth the time to wander through. The only suggestion I have is that unless things have changed, PowerPoint has to dynamically create and assign macros to the buttons via the Auto_Open subroutine. An Add-In is created and loaded. This wonderfulness might have been briefly explained. But maybe the assumption is that folks know this already. I'm speaking from the perspective of a person who is new to PowerPoint macros.