5 comments about Solaris 10: The Complete Reference (Complete Reference Series).

1. This book is NOT a true reference book for Solaris 10. Rather, it introduces Solaris 7-9 to a novice Unix user with only a few references to Solaris 10 features. And even on those few Solaris 10 items, there are not enough examples or configuration ideas. Based on the paucity of relevant information, one could not even use this book to determine if an upgrade to Solaris 10 is warranted.
   
   The purchase of this book was a complete waste of money.



2. The biggest disappointment for me was no discussion of SMF. If these reviews were here before I bought the book quite a number of months ago, I would not have gotten it. It is indeed a rehash of Solaris 9 ideas. It would have been very helpful if there was some discussion on how to control your own inet connections by modifying an XML template -- but alas there is no mention of this in the book. The one person who rated this a five has obviously not used Solaris 10 very much other than some very basic issues. Any system administrator book probably would have worked for that person.



3. I bought this book because it was the most appropriate book on Solaris 10 that I could find at the bookstore. I am a long time Solaris system administrator, but I wanted a book that specifically talked about the new features of Solaris 10.
   
   I didn't know about SMF when I bought the book, but it's a pretty important feature that replaced previous methods of system management in Solaris. I just can't believe that this book does not even mention it. I see other people have complained about the same thing.
   
   I also noticed that the book did not give a good overview of the installation. I had to go online to look up anything I didn't know about in regards to the install since the book just didn't discuss it.
   
   I gave this book a two star rating because it's an okay general Solaris reference book, but I wouldn't recommend it to anyone.



4. This book not only doesn't really cover Solaris 10 but previous ones, but also is so full of mistakes, that I am really glad I had the opportunity to check it without buying.



5. Most of the services for Solaris 10 are under control of the service management facility (smf - try 'man smf') and the svcs and svcadm command. You can't start, stop, disable, or enable most services without it.
   
   This book doesn't even mention them. It still refers to /etc/init.d/ scripts (some are still there but most, such as the various nfs and automount services are not).
   
   This isn't a linux or general unix book - the book has 'SOLARIS' on the cover and should reflect Solaris.

5 comments about Mastering Perl/Tk.

1. This book tries to be all things to all people. "Learning Perl/Tk" needs to be reworked to be more of a tutorial in the same spirit as "Learning Perl." "Mastering Perl/Tk" needs to be split into two works--one like "Programming Perl" and another like "Perl in a Nutshell." It's hard to master Perl/Tk when you have to try to swallow it all in one gulp. It can be done, but you may suffer with a case of indigestion for a while.



2. This book is heavily redundant to Learning Perl/Tk. I would say about 1/3 of the book is new content, of which the majority is poorly organized.

   Textual content is written in a teaching context.

   In the examples there are a lot of things being done implicitly, and comments are lacking. This defeats much of the teaching functionality of the textual content that references to the examples.

   The custom widget section, is some of the most disorganized technical writing I've seen. Things that should be footnotes are left as content. In my copy of chapter 14, if you were to couple the X'd out superfluous language with the pencil notes in the margin used to decipher the remaining text (after referencing _Programming Perl_, the POD and usenet) you would nearly equal the content of the author.

   They appear to have been stretching for length like a freshman year term paper, Noted by the 75 pages of options tables in the rear that are redundant to the core widget option tables in the front, or otherwise straight out of the POD.

   This book leaves a lot of room for a competing title. There is however none at this time to my knowledge. Therefore buy it anyway, if you plan on working heavily in Perl/Tk.

   To use the word "Mastering" in the title is begging criticism. If you are looking for a definative work, this isn't it. But it is available, and will get you through the first half of your head scratching while developing with Perk/Tk.




3. This book has so far given me all the information I've
   needed to write usable GUIs. However, I share the concern
   expressed by other reviewers that the the titles 'Learning
   Perl/Tk' and 'Mastering Perl/Tk' can be misleading. While
   it's reasonable to assume that the 'Learning' volume is
   introductory/tutorial while the 'Mastering' volume is for
   advanced techniques, this is not the case. The 'History of
   this Book' section of the preface describes it as an
   expansion of 'Learning Perl/Tk', not a sequel or supplement.
   There is no need to buy both books.



4. I'm a big fan of the O'Reilly Perl books. Most of them are very well written, and can really increase your knowledge about a topic. But this book is an exception. Simply put, it's horrible. Don't buy this book. It's poorly written, has a bad style, and provides nothing that you couldn't easily get from online documentation.



5. This book provides a lot of information about Perl/Tk, but in a somewhat scattered fashion, making true mastery of the subject an intensive process. It is an excellent learning tool, but the reader should be aware that there is much to learn beyond what is presented here.

1 comments about An Introduction to Python.

1. I have read several texts on python, all of them basically teaching me Java with python syntax. This is the first book I've read that taught me python with python syntax.
   
   Pros: You will finally understand how to write python code. The book leaves no part of the language uncovered.
   
   Cons: This is really a language reference, if you don't know how to program well in another language I don't know if it would be spectacularly useful. It does not cover any API's extensively.
   
   I love it, and for the price you can't go wrong.

5 comments about Beginning XML with DOM and Ajax: From Novice to Professional (Beginning: From Novice to Professional).

1. Being a developer who uses XML extensively but for very specific applications I was interested in reading this book to help expand my understanding of XML-specific issues as they relate to Ajax and the browser environment.
   
   I feel that Sas has accomplished her mission in giving a very thorough overview of the topic of XML. This book was very well written, clear and concise. Of particular interest to me were the examples of developing with XSLT, using the CSS functionality and developing in tandem with server side scripting. I thought the examples were relevant and the sections that were shorter led me to other resources where I might continue my explorations in depth. I prefer that the author accomplish the stated task and leave deeper explorations for other books - I felt that what was covered was perfect for the length of the book and gave me the information I was looking for based on the title. Interestingly, it's one of those books that I really did read from cover to cover. A rare event for me with computer books.
   
   This is an excellent book for those who are looking to expand their use of XML in development projects for the browser.



2. This book tries to do too much and falls down on many accounts. The two chapters on XSLT left me wondering what in the world was going on. Jacobs provides examples of how to use XSLT, but fails to explain how the code really works.
   
   The examples are very contrived. For instance, Jacobs shows how to use PHP to retrieve a result set from a MySQL database. Then, we see convoluted steps to convert the data into XML. Then we have to write XSLT to manipulate the XML. It would be much more efficient and practical to use PHP's object-oriented MySQL capabilities to spit the results into XHTML, or use PHP's own DOM capabilities to manipulate the XML.
   
   This book simply fails because it tries to cover too much information in its short length, and also due to the many weak, impractical examples throughout. To sum it up, it's all examples and no substance.



3. This book is excellent as an introduction to XML as used in web development. Whether you've been using XML for data storage but would like to take it to the next level, or haven't ever used XML, this book is a must-read. It doesn't tell you everything you need to know, but it gets you started and tells you how you can find out the rest on the Web. Its countless examples are all well explained.
   
   I use Professional Ajax by Zakas, McPeak, and Fawcett along with it. If one book may leave a question the other has the answers.



4. The book barely touches XML, and when it does, it keeps comparing it to XHTML. In fact, a lot of examples are about XHTML (and I thought this book was about XML). There aren't any real-world examples in how to use XML, just theoretical talk on ideas of use. I can understand that XHTML is the marriage of HTML and XML, but does the book have to use more examples of XHTML than explaining what XML is? Obviously I was still lost about the use of XML. The book also covers formatting XML with CSS, for presenting XML in certain formatting light. Um, isn't that what XHTML is for? Presentation? I know XML is for holding data, even configuration files, but this book doesn't even introduce you to such ideas, nor does it explore those type of concepts. Just more focus on presenting XML as a displayable document in the web browser (XHTML anyone?) I found myself skimming pages until I reached the end, and felt ripped-off. I was also lost on the whole idea of using namespaces for XML, which the book did a good job of not explaining the use of it in real-world scenarios. Do yourself a favor and stay away from this book.



5. I am a beginning web designer as i was assigned by the church i work at to pick up books and learn how to make a website. I bought this book after deciding to follow through a roadmap series, provided by apress publishers, that i found on the back of Beginning CSS Web Development, which by the way is a great book for those wanting to learn CSS and enjoy doing so. Simon Collison is very entertaining and knows how to properly instruct and teach you in the arts of CSS web development.
   
   Maybe i should have read Sas Jacobs Beginning XML with DOM and Ajax before reading Simon Collison because after reading Simon's book first i was very disappointed in Sas Jacobs way of teaching XML. This book is full of theory which isn't necesarily a bad thing, but it also shoots code out there and half the time there is no explanation as to where it came from. XML isn't applied very well to web development in this book so if you are looking for ways to tie XML into web design don't expect much out of this book.
   
   I guess what i'm trying to say is that this book isn't going to get you going asap into utilizing XML in your dreamweaver program or Flash CS3. I would like to compare this book as a very borring Junior level college lecture class. the kind of class that forces you to go out and learn stuff on your own.
   
   The book impliments different coding techniques and languages to impliment with XML such as CSS and XSLT and Javascript. There is a whole chapter on CSS which isn't bad but i had also already read a book on CSS so i was ready to go, but the XSLT chapters were quite dreadful. I had no clue what was going on or how to properly form an XSLT stylesheet. Its something that i'll have to look at on my own from other sources. The book showed examples of things you could do with XSLT rather than show you how to write XSLT.
   
   I really wish the book wouldn't waste so much time on code that isn't going to work on cross browsers. Jacobs repeatedly will show you an example that will work on IE 6 but wont work on Mozilla or Opera or Safari. Or it will work on Mozilla and not the others. Either way it just seems like she could give you the examples that work on all of them and then say if you do it this way it won't work on these browsers because... there never really is much of an explanation.
   
   The plus in the book is that Sas Jacobs does know what she is talking about. She gets too indepth for having the book labeled as "Beginning XML". So maybe they could have picked a better title for the book and it would be alright. The book is more intended for those wanting to expound on XML beings it is a Metalanguage and has a vast amount of capabilities. Its a book for those who are very intuitive when it comes to coding. People that are good problem solvers and already have a web portfolio started. Its a book for people that are not me, and thats someone that is looking how to build a dynamic website from scratch with no prior experience in web design and web development.
   
   So if you are a beginner looking to pick up on XML watch out for this book. Maybe try somewhere else. The book will give you a good lecture on XML and will help you understand XHTML better as well as a few other languages, but you won't be utilizing XML very well any time soon.
   
   Other books i own and have read and would recomend to beginnig web designers:
   
   "The essential Guide to Dreamweaver CS3 with CSS, Ajax, and PHP" -good book.
   "Beginning CSS Web Development from Novice to Professional" -great choice buy it.
   "Foundation Actionscript Animation" -great book.
   "Learning ActionScript 3.0" -good book.

2 comments about Fortran 95/2003 for Scientists & Engineers.

1. This book is a good reference for programmers to have on hand and also a good book to read cover to cover to get a full understanding of fortran and its latest capabilities.



2. Well, I liked this book very much and therefore I want to write a short opinion/review on it (although I am short on time here and have never written an opinion on amazon before!). To put it concisely, this is a 'must have' book for any Fortran programmer. If you are shopping for a good Fortran book, this is what you are looking for! It takes you from the very first step and drops you off at a fairly high level around chapter 9. (And from where, I guess, instead of a book, you would like to consult your compiler's documentation!)
   
   My background is in financial engineering, and I was looking for some specialized number-crunching language to write my code in (real-time models). A friend suggested Fortran, and after consulting some serious people in physics/engineering, I decided to settle on it. My problem was that there were only a handful of Fortran books here, and only that many reviews on them. So I picked this one along with METCALF/REID/COHEN's 'fortran 95/2003 explained'. And I must say that a lack of quantity was compensated for by an abundance of quality.
   
   Chapman has also incorporated a lot of example code in this book, and that makes it worthwhile to cheat a bit before tackling a new chapter! He also stresses a lot on good programming practice, and his background makes us take his suggestions seriously. Those who work on mission-critical industrial strength code in financial industry know what I am talking about. So, if you are a newbie to Fortran, and want to learn it correctly the first time, you should consider this book. If you have a higher budget, consider METCALF et al. as an additional aid.
   
   my 2 cents!

5 comments about Programming with Visual Basic 6.0, Enhanced Edition.

1. I can only confirm the opinion of all the other reviewing persons. I purchased this book living in Germany and if anybody would translate it to the german language, I'm sure he could earn himself a lot of money. No german book equals this one.



2. If you dont't have any idea about Visual Basic, this's very good book. You can learn easily.



3. This is a course text book and does not come with the solution files to the exams found at the end of each lesson. After speaking with a rep from Thompson Learning - the book's publisher - I was advised that the solution files were part of the instructor package, and was not available to individuals. In other words, if you are not a certified instructor, or part of an instructor led course that features this book, you will not be able to measure your progress from the exams in the book.
   
   I found speaking to the reps of Thompson Learning to be a particularly frustrating experience as I was treated rudely by both reps I spoke to. They offered absolutely no help whatsoever.
   
   The book, in itself, is very well written and easy to follow. However, if you are not part of an instructor led course that features this book with access to the solution files, you may want to invest your money elsewhere.
   
   As for this buyer, Thompson Learning is a definite two thumbs down.



4. I had bought this book for a class but this book is an excellent one for self study also. It basically starts assuming you know nothing about programming or even computer. After a few chapters you end up writing very good programs for Windows. If you want to learn Visual Basic 6 to program for Windows, this is your book.



5. Yes the book is fairly easy to follow, but the tutorials ask you to perform tasks that are not possible with the supplied software.
   
   Don't waste your time trying to learn from this book unless it is required for a class!
   
   Besides VB6.0 has reached the end of the support life cycle, and it doesnt run on xp 64bit.

4 comments about Java: A Beginner's Guide, 4th Ed..

1. Some computer books are nothing but dry text, and others are so full of intense graphics that your eyes burn. This book strikes an ideal balance between those extremes. The teaching style is engaging, and there's also plenty of reference material, making this a great book to start with and keep handy as you advance.



2. This book may be good if you can sit down and work your way through it from beginning to end, but I prefer the Sun Java tutorial online. I got through the first 5 chapters in this book and was still shaky with the concepts. Somehow it missed conveying the big picture to me. When I then went to the Sun tutorial it was a big "Aha!, so that's what they were talking about." Also, the Index is sparse.



3. I read this book to get a good start with Java. It's an excellent book to pick up if you have little/no java background or if it's been a while. I used this to build my foundation then went through a certification book and passed the scjp 5.



4. This is an amazing book. I retired from engineering research 16 years ago and have not done any programming since. Things have changed a lot! (all for the better). This book has an excellent teaching style, thorough and clear. It was my second book on Java, the first being Barry Burd's "Beginning Programming with Java for Dummies". That book is a good foundational start but it has not quite kept up with the rapid pace in the development of Java. Schildt's book is up to date (JDK 6 and Java SE 6) and makes a great reference work on the subject. I recommend it highly.

5 comments about Mastering Algorithms with C (Mastering).

1. To be fair and honest, I have not read this entire book and that is because I've read far better ones. If you are interested in this topic (and if you're a programmer or computer scientist, you should be), look to Robert Sedgewick's excellent "Algorithms in C" in two volumes, or "Mastering Algoritms" by Cormen, Leiserson, Rivest, and Stein. While the algorithms in Cormen, etc.'s book are not in C, they are in a pseudo language that easy to convert to C. I'm really, really glad I looked this book over before flushing my (limited) money away.



2. The book contents is good, the algorithms presented are more or less well explained and the implementeations themselves are not bad (but could be better).
   
   Unfortunately this book has 2 mayor problems:
   
   Sometimes you need an implementation of an algorithm for which you already know the inner-workings, just need quick code instead of reinvening the wheel yourself... the book will not allways give you that, it will sometimes build an algorithm based on previous ones! Darn!, I am supposed to go straight to the point I want and get the code without having to read a couple of previous sections.
   
   Second and worst of all is the coding style this guy has. I don't know what the other reviwer that said that the code is great programs in but certainly not in C. The author of the book simply has the worst style ever... look at the comments, a one line comment surrounded by a box!!! give-me-a-break!... where did he learn this? He should read a book about style, perhaps read Code Complete by Steve McConnel or something before attempting to write code. Anyway this is just one of the many style flaws this book has.
   
   If I could I would return it, after all, you can get mostly any implementation from the internet (I had to do that or would have wasted lots of time and... time is money).
   
   If well written, the book would have been 1/2 its size and then it would have been good.
   
   Why 3 stars? Well, in spite of the poor programming style and bad presentation of some algorithms, if you have time and patience, you get someting out of the book. Just don't use the coding style he uses... if you try that at work you would be fired or at least laughed at.



3. compare to most algorithm/data structure books out there, this book is not as complete as those, but it's much easier to read, and diagrams in this book is well drawn and much eaiser to follow. Why would I only give it 3 stars? One thing really ruined this book - obviously the publisher/editor/author try to increase the total page number by putting ridiculously big comment block in sample code(single line comments takes about 5 lines, all surrounded by '*' and spaces) This made the sample code difficult to read, imagine a 5 line function has to be printed in 2 or 3 pages.



4. The book is probably OK, but there are better, much better ones on the subject. I highly recommend looking at "The Algorithm Design Manual", just search Amazon and you'll find it.



5. Things I didn't know when I ordered this book was how structured the book was. It's easy to comprehend and doesn't contain too much unnecessary information. Furthermore, what I also managed to miss was the disc which was included, and this contains more in-depth code, which allows one to check a whole program instead of only a part.
   It is definitely a good decision to start with buying this book if you're studying Algorithms with C, since this will truly help and support you on your way.

5 comments about Programming Microsoft Windows with C# (Microsoft).

1. This book was a huge disappointment. It seems that Mr. Petzold thinks that GUI is all that Windows programmer should know about. Well, surely this is all you will learn from this book - almost 1300 pages on how to draw shapes and display various kinds of buttons.
   
   On the other hand, people who really code GUIs for living might find this book very interesting as it contains a LOT of information on this topic.
   
   I give it 3 stars for being comprehensive on one topic (GUI?). Took two away for the misleading title.



2. Avoids using the .NET environment, wich is a bit silly.
   But that way you learn and understand more about C#, you have to do it all by yourself(if you wish). Everything you ever wanted to know about text and grafics with forms and C# is in there.



3. I was a Microsoft Visual C++ programmer for more then 5 years. I am currently writting a program that involves heavy graphics in C# and needed a book to learn from quickly and provide extensive details on graphics (drawing to the form; not simply placing buttons and code on it). I went to Borders and looked at it, then ordered it. It is a very good investment if you are doing heavy drawing to the form. As for the people who do not like C# or this book, all I can say is, you do not understand C# as well as you think you do, it is a great program; as for the book, you need to be able to take the pieces of code and then put all of the pieces together (a concept called learning) and stop expecting others to provide every detail of a problem.



4. The last reviewers described all, so I decided not going too deep in my review. At this time I didnt had finished this one yet but for what I already saw its a classic C# for sure. The book price is also very good and if you are thinking in getting knowledge of C# on Windows you will not get this book content in other book so easy, this one you must have in your shelf. Very good book from the Master Petzold.



5. Mr Petzold covers a lot of ground here. The most fun thing is that you can use the very same concepts in VB.NET or J# with no loss in the material. Sometimes I found the book a little bit long winded in its explanations, but in the end you always know that Petzold will deliver. The book seems oriented toward beginners, but experts can benefit too.

5 comments about Systematic Software Testing (Artech House Computer Library).

1. Books on software testing are usually something you read because you have to, not because you want to. Authors Rick Craig and Stefan Jaskiel have set out to change that, and the result is the best current book on software testing. A combination of the timeless and the cutting-edge, Systematic Software Testing is all you need to get to work and to get the job done well.

   The authors begin with the basics of software testing, including the evolution of the discipline over the years. They continue on to discuss STEP methodology, and then launch into the fundamentals of testing. Among the covered topics: risk analysis, test plans, automated test design and implementation, IEEE/CMM/ISO guidelines and standards, and test execution. For those who are going to be managing their own test groups, there is additional material on who to pick for the job, what those jobs are, and how to organize your testing.

   For both the software engineer and the engineering manager, this text is an invaluable resource. The methodology is sound and up to date, and following the clearly enumerated steps in this book will surely result in a superior product. If this isn't enough to convince you, the text is also FUN to read. This isn't your typical bare-bones textbook, as exemplified by Rick Craig's amusing and memorable anecdotes and the occasionally apt quotation. The wording is clear, everyday English and key points are clearly visible. The book is very well organized by topic and subsections, making it great for refreshing your memory on particular details.

   Even if you are not directly involved in testing, this book is worth reading. Just understanding the software lifecycle process is a major help when it comes to improving software quality, and this excellent text will grant you that understanding.




2. What strikes me most about this book is its friendliness and readability. The book is written in an easy and flowing manner, using day-to-day language. It's assembled in template style, which makes it extremely easy to implement its ideas. While this may not sound like much, these attributes make this book quite an entertaining read that scores high on effectiveness. Supplemented by an effective website...it does still suffer from some lack of depth and detail, though.
   The fully detailed "Sample Master Test Plan" provided by the book serves as an example for its mixture of usefulness coupled with a relative lack of depth. While quite effective, and certainly a nice feature that's easy to learn from, it is not the most fully detailed test plan I have ever seen, nor is it a match for a big scale project's master test plan. However, it is the best example for a test plan that I have seen in any testing book.
   Further comparisons with other testing books I've used make it clear: Applying the Pareto principle on it, this book gives you the 20% that you need in order to perform 80% of all you will ever want when it comes to testing. It may not sound like much, but this is a mighty achievement.
   The bottom line: This book will probably serve anyone who is into software testing. However, if you are looking to kick-start your organization into proper testing methodologies, or if you are new to the software testing arena, it would be a sin not to give this book a try.



3. I rarely recommend a book just from skimming it, but "Systematic Software Testing" is an exception. I ordered it based on references from other good books and 5-star reviews on the Internet, to see if it would live up to its reputation. It does. "Systematic Software Testing" is a comprehensive but easy-to-read book on all aspects of software testing. And you don't have to read everything at once -- pick a topic and chapter that interests you and start there. You will be glad you did.



4. Although I am a Systems Engineer and therfore more interested in Acceptance and System level test I found this text to a very useful overview of software testing with much of relevance to systems test too. There is a also a very practical process to follow as well as much real world experience and practical advice in this test. Highly recommended.



5. The book gives a complete view of what software testing is about. But as an experienced software testing professional, I find this book boring. And the book is written with words connected together. I don't see the author's own voice. It is more suitable for a text book, rather than a 'book' book.