2 comments about C# Language Pocket Reference.

1. For anyone that is looking to learn or make the transition to C#, this is a nice little overview to quickly get your feet wet. Being a pocket reference, this isn't meant to be a book where you can quickly become a C# expert, rather it's a nice, light introduction to what this new language by Microsoft provides and why .NET development is so easy (hint: C# makes quick use of all the thousands of modules already built by other programmers in the past)!!
   
   These little pocket reference books should accomplish a couple of things: giving you a quick overview of the language, providing tables & figures stating the new conventions used, and namespaces/libraries that can be called up to speedily use pre-existing code. For this price, I think that you would find the 'C# Langugage Pocket Reference' to be a fine way to start your C# career or even quickly brush up on topics you might not have remembered.
   
   **** RECOMMENDED



2. Having coded in C++ for years with only a small amount of experience in C#, this book was a great asset. It gives a good overview of the basics of C# and doesn't gloss over important details like space requirements and (optional) memory management.
   
   The book is also a great reference for the .NET Framework. Obviously it does not give an in depth explanation of every concept, being only 118 pages long. Instead it references a number of .NET libraries that you should look into depending on what you're trying to do. I love this concept! Now whenever I want to try something new, I first check in the Pocket Reference to see what I should look into, then either go to MSDN or crack open a larger, less navigable manual.
   
   Recommended for all those relatively new to C# and in need of a good starting point in the .NET Framework.

5 comments about The C# Programming Language (3rd Edition) (Microsoft .NET Development Series).

1. Just want to echo what has been said by others here. It's rare to have a programming book without getting code to play with. What's the purpose?
   I enjoy reading it, but don't know how long it will keep me going by reading it "dry".
   
   Also I wonder if there is a place to send feedback, errors, typos and etc. though not sure that anyone cares.



2. The book covers the C# language in a rather abstract formal way, with great detail. I was very dissappointed because it lacks examples and it does not provide any reference to the .NET framework. Into my opinion C# is a useless language to wrtie applications without a proper framework.



3. Chapter 1 of this book is a short and nice introduction to C# for programming language experts. However, the following chapters are not easy to understand even for experts. You can download a newer version of "C# Language Specification" (a standard from ECMA but whose content is mostly the same as this book) free. Do you still want to buy this book?



4. It is a superior book... only for those that know C#, because the book is very technical. First chapters cover C# as BNF notation, and next continue explaining more in depth the first ones.
   
   But really it is the definitive book to consult and learn C#, it is like Stroustrup’s for C++. It covers minimal stuff about .NET and centers only in C# and explains ALL, but in a syncretic manner.



5. This book is an excellent technical reference for C# 1.0 written by the language lead architect himself. It also presents some new C# 2.0 features. Be careful! This is definitely not the language tutorial for beginners.

3 comments about The C++ Standard Library Extensions: A Tutorial and Reference.

1. There are many, perhaps too many, books on C++. But Becker breaks new ground. He presents what is coming down the road towards the current C++ programmer. The existing C++ standard library is good but limited. The widespread use of C++ led to recognition of useful classes that should be in this library but are not. After some years of dilly dallying, Technical Report 1 was produced. Work started in 2001. Six years!
   
   This book explains the classes in TR1. While it is not guaranteed that all of TR1 will make it into the next official standard library, most certainly will. The only real question is when that revision will be released. Given the way C++ changes so slowly, don't hold your breath.
   
   In the interim, you can make good professional use of your time by studying TR1 via this book. It's not a simple rendition of the classes. Becker devotes considerable space to explaining the usages of the new classes. Giving you the gist of what they are about. Just as importantly, each chapter has a set of exercises involving its classes. Tackling these is probably the best way to gain experience.
   
   Of the new classes, what interests you most will vary with the reader. Personally, I was most impressed with the Numerics. Huge improvements in dealing with floats and overflows (NaNs). And for physicists or engineers, there are specialised functions that will save some coding. Laguerre polynomials, Legendre functions, gamma functions, Bessel functions and Hermite polynomials, amongst others. A far richer set than what you currently get in the standard library.



2. This will become a "must have" book for C++ programmers. It is both easy to understand and authoritative at the same time. It will be useful for a long, long time, first as a learning tool and then as a reference.
   
   Implementations of TR1 are now available from Boost (free) and Dinkumware (reasonably priced), so these library components are something that a C++ programmer can start using right away. Most or all of them will also be part of the next standard, so they are sure to become ever more widely used.
   
   I like the fact the book is hard-cover, since it is likely to get a lot of use. Maybe I'm old fashioned, but I still think a book like this is the easiest way to study something new, and really learn about it.
   
   I already posted one review, but Amazon seems to have lost it. I'm surprised there haven't been more reviews posted - the book deserves more.



3. The subtitle of this book is "A Tutorial and Reference". As a tutorial, I found this book to be lacking. The explanations are fast and terse, quite unlike the more user-friendly tutorial style of Nicolai Josuttis in "C++ Standard Library".
   
   Second, as a reference, this book is also lacking on two counts. The index is incomplete! In the first month of use, I discovered several major omissions in the index. Also, the formatting of the function listings makes it difficult to find a particular function by browsing through the section. Maybe I'm just blind but sometimes it takes me minutes to locate the information I'm looking for in the section where it is.
   
   The author obviously knows his material, and I have complete confidence that the information is accurate. I have not encountered any errors in the text, and it seems to be complete. But this book does not live up to its subtitle, and it does not live up to the quality of its predecessor text, mentioned above. I would not particularly recommend it.
   
   No doubt this review will be voted down by people trying to sell the book, but I have to be honest.

No comments about Apple Training Series: AppleScript 1-2-3.

2 comments about Exploring MS Office Access Comprehensive 2003 - Revised Edition (Grauer Exploring Office 2003 Series).

1. Great reference for everyone that wants to get started to Access. The book is full of examples and exercises.
   
   A+



2. Awesome price and seller sent in a fast delivery time. The book was in great condition!!!!!!!!!

5 comments about Beginning Visual Basic 2005.

1. Visual Basic has now been around for some fifteen years. Through several versions it has progressed to be a fairly complex, fairly powerful language having been extended into the .NET family of languages, database connectivity, web functionality with both HTML and XML.
   
   At 800 pages, this is a large book. It starts quite simply doing a little program where you type in your name and it comes back with a 'Hello' statement. From there it goes step by step to fairly complex programming using Microsoft's ADO.NET interface to talk with SQL Server.
   
   Microsoft has established this programming evironment where everything about the language, the editor you use to program it, the utility routines you call on, the database you access has to be Microsoft product. This book fits into the 100% Microsoft environment. If your database is MySQL, this may not be the way you want to go. On the other hand, Microsoft rules the desktop environment so it may not be a bad idea.



2. I am a seasoned programmer learning the .NET platform. At first this book seemed okay...the layout was pretty good and I found their presentation methods easy to learn from. Then I started running into some serious coding problems. Their ASP code examples are outdated and riddled with errors. No error errata on the website either to fix anything I saw. I spent more time trying to fix their stuff than I did acutally learning. It would be a good book if it wasn't for all the errors. They desperately need some technical editors... I wouldn't recommend this book at all.



3. I looked this book over pretty well at Borders before buying it from Amazon, but was unpleasantly surprised once I began to read it straight through. Critical information is omitted from some topics. Continuity seems illogical. And the website, though expertly administrated, has a small subscriber base. The book is not very well organized and is carelessly written. For twice the price, the Deitel offering is ten times the tome.



4. This book is excellent for beginners; it explains all steps in details.
   It is definitively a must have!



5. I loved the sample and explanations on XML serialization as well as the topic on collections. What I didn't like was the their discussion of objects esp. the example - a CAR. It could have been much helpful if they had stick with the customer and bill classes. Overall, I can recommend this to programmers with experience on other languages, and it would help if you know already the basics of objects, as the discussion on classes will only be on Chapter 10. If you are a novice or VB beginner, I would advise you to buy a second book to support your learning together with this book. A good second book will be an Apress book.If you want a thorough OOP tutorial, buy Daniel Clark's Beginning OOP using Visual Basic 2005.

2 comments about Assembly Modeling with SolidWorks 2008.

1. An excellent text with lots of illustrations for any SolidWorks user who wants to learn about top-down and bottom-up assembly modeling. It is very easy to read, follow and best of all to comprehend.
   
   The book is clear and succinct and deals with 95% of the key topics in assembly modeling namely; templates, custom properties, document and system option, SolidWorks Explorer, toolbox, blocks, layout sketches, two levels of configurations, (design tables, configure configuration and configure dimensions), assembly drawings (great section), SmartMates, mate errors, MateXpert and I can go on... In other words, it has a lot of great SolidWorks stuff on assemblies. Initial and final SW models in the book are included on the CD. This is a big plus.



2. I've purchased books from these authors and like their style of writing with well illustrated step by step instructions. This book is no different. The book does an excellent job in providing general and in-depth information on Assembly modeling. It covers a lot of subject topics and tools. To have initial and final model solutions with the CD is a big plus. An impressive book on Assembly modeling.

No comments about GO! with Office 2007 Getting Started (Go! Series).

5 comments about Essential Software Architecture.

1. This book attempts to bridge the gap between the needs of professional software architects and the current body of knowledge in software architecture. It aims to convey the essence of architecture thinking, practices and supporting technologies and provides concise discussions about the issues, techniques and methods in architectural practices. It also describes and analyzes the general purpose component and middleware technologies that support many of the fundamental architectural patterns used in applications.
   As an introductory textbook it is very useful for (to be) ICT professionals and students.



2. My Master's project deals with Software Architecture best practices and I turned to this book to help formulate my thoughts. The chapter on Middleware architectures is a valuable read and serves as a unifying framework for thinking about middleware in the architectural sense. The case study used in the book is helpful as well. Overall, you will find this book an excellent introduction to Software Architecture (with a nice dive into middleware and other topics not readily found in other SA books) and a nice read to go along with the other Software Architecture classics from the SEI.



3. Get this book if you're interested in seeing UML 2 applied to software architecture specification. In any case, it gives a good overview of architecting with emerging technologies as well as state-of-the-industry middleware.



4. I initially wrote a far more acerbic review that got some feedback from the author, after ruminating on it for a while I figured I should edit it to express the direction my opinion veered after our discussion. I can't change the number of stars in the editing interface, but I'm not sure I should -- this book is not for me :)
   
   One point of confusion emerged in our conversation -- the book appears to have been originally titled "Essential Software Engineering", and the author refers to it as such. Though I feel that in it's present form it would be quite inadequate as an engineering book, as an architecture book it is actually pretty damn good.
   
   Much of the book is spent explaining different terminology well enough for the reader to be able to hold their own in conversation, but if everyone read the book (and did not do further research) there wouldn't be much discussion to be had. It's definitely an introductory text, not a primary source.
   
   One thing that grated on me is that the book is mostly in nested outline form! The concepts are *well described*, but not too well contrasted. The format does not do a very good job of relating the concepts to one another -- they are presented serially as if in PowerPoint. You'd get a better understanding in a lot of ways by browsing the related Wikipedia articles, simply because hypertext is better suited for explaining multidimensional things (though hypertext obviously does not work on paper). A lot of the subheadings throughout the book are short & shallow -- but the alternative of longer & shallower would be clearly worse :)
   
   The case study is discussed far too abstractly: he enumerates the functional and non-functional requirements, and gives an overview of the chosen architecture at too high of a level -- but does fairly little to justify the choices made. He does not really discuss the various downsides to the chosen architecture, nor does he discuss why other architectures were not chosen. Absolutely no discussion is made of feedback from the 'architect' to the 'client' about weighing the potential usefulness of the dictated features -- especially those which hinder the use of architectures better suited to the problem domain.
   
   A major disappointment that stood out for me was that he didn't really address the *culture* of Big Design Up Front -- where all your mistakes are designed, diagrammed in UML, and ossified well before you start coding. I find that architecture should be something that is put off right up until the point when a qualitative decision about how things should work is no longer avoidable. My favorite definition of Software Architecture is from the original c2 wiki:
   
   > "the set of decisions that we have to live with for the life
   > of the project or system because it will be too expensive to
   > change our implementation later if we change our minds"
   
   Most of the technologies are related to the use of middleware to interface a companies' homegrown software and customized versions of commercial software together with commercial backend software. Because of this the primary readership I see for this book is in department-level managers in charge of dealing with the nightmare of deploying 'Enterprise Software' for a large business. I can see this book actually being quite helpful to them, particularly if they do not have a background in Computer Science.
   
   If you're a code monkey and not a decision maker, this book doesn't really contain anything that could help you deal with your task directly -- it might even demoralize you by helping you realize how poorly/over-architected the system you toil on is. If you have any agency it might help you manipulate the managers below and above you into seeing things your way!
   
   If you're an academic, it's probably only really useful for 'gawking at the natives' over in industry. Much of the chafing that I experienced with this book is related to the fact that my course spent 3 credit-hours a week on it for ten weeks -- it did not hold up well at all under our drawn-out usage of it. We were not at all the right audience for it.
   
   Reading through it again now it holds up a lot better, with a lot more mindfulness evident in the text than on the first drudgery-filled pass as a group. Thinking about it now I realize how exceptionally mindful it is for a book in it's field! I would not recommend it's use in an academic Computer Science course, but it would probably work pretty well as a text in courses on Business, Information Systems, or Software Engineering; especially in a coursework-based masters program.
   
   The second edition promises to dismiss most of my criticisms, especially in regards to the case study.



5. I found the subject matter of the book to be complex in a conceptual manner. Designing large systems is not simple because of the interaction between all of the subsystems that inter-relate to make the system work. I think the information is well worth the read because all good knowledge comes from cognitive work. I personally found that the best way to read this book was to relate that topics that were being discussed with a project that I was working on while using the example case as an added source of cognition.
   
   I feel that this is an incredibly useful resource for those who have to design systems from the "ground up". It has several best practices and examples of where things can go wrong.
   
   I feel this is well worth a read.

5 comments about Windows Vista: The Definitive Guide.

1. Windows Vista: The Definitive Guide is an excellent book. Every Windows Vista User should purchase this book to learn Windows Vista. The book covers everything most users want to know and should know about Windows Vista.
   
   This book is clear and to the point with comprehensive coverage of Windows Vista. It covers all versions of Vista and the many included programs and utilities as well as new security features. It covers Internet Explorer 7 and how to make your own audio CDs and DVD movies. There is an extensive discussion on installation and advanced issues. At a hefty 921 pages it makes a thoroughly detailed reference.
   
   Plus this book is written for easy reader understanding and for enjoyable reading. Great book if you really wish to learn Windows Vista. For administrators, I'd also recommend Stanek's Windows Vista Administrator's Pocket Consultant.



2. I have been using windows at home now for 14 years and with each operating system upgrade there's more to learn. I consider myself pretty savvy when it comes to Windows. So what if some people say "it's not definitive by any means," I find that it covers so much and even some things I won't need. I LOVE this book. It is not hard on your eyes, has plenty of diagrams and something I found especially interesting is how virus's, malware and all the nasties can enter your computer and the damage they can cause. I'm the type of woman who is not just satisfied with the "just do it this way" kind of help. I want more meat in the WHY I should do it this way. I use this book along with "Windows Vista: The Missing Manual" That books gives lot's of tips and stuff that has saved me much work and headache. These books work well together



3. Vista Definitive Guide is a 922-page Vista bible, much better than Vista Missing Manual in my opinion. I got this after having excellent success with the author's other computer books. Extremely complete and full of answers. Kudos to the author for writing such an excellent book!



4. I've never been very good with computers so when I got a new computer with Vista I went looking for books that could help. I bought this one because Stanek's book was recommended over all other Vista books in Library Journal's round up of Vista books. Library Journal's May 15, 2007 says it better than I can, here's what they said:
   
   "A thorough guide, best for intermediate to advanced users of earlier Windows versions. Clear discussions of changes in security features and of other Vista improvements such as gadgets and sidebars make this useful for upgraders; comprehensive coverage of every aspect of the OS renders it a one-stop shop for familiarizing readers with every feature, from hardware installation to Windows Movie Maker to Group Policy. Errata and book information can be found online. A good purchase for larger libraries."
   
   When choosing between this book and other Vista books, Library Journal also says:
   
   "Choose Stanek's Definitive Guide for its comprehensive coverage and clear prose if you can buy only one."
   
   I agree, this is an excellent book and so much better than others I found. Vista is a great system once you learn how to use it. If you are new to Vista, this is one book that should not leave your computer's side!



5. I really like William R. Stanek. Some of his books are frequent references for me. Sad to say, though, I think he blew it on this one.
   
   Exclusive of the index, there are 889 pages here and a lot of information. The problem is that a lot of the information is essentially useless for the user experienced with Windows XP who is simply transitioning to Vista.
   
   The organization of material is awful - and the index (or more precisely, the lack thereof) is a disaster.
   
   For example, Stanek describes the Personal Folder, the replacement for a number of Windows fixtures like My Documents, on page 26. Fine and dandy. But there is nothing in the book that I have found about connecting other folders with the Personal Folder. Let's say that you want to keep your documents on the D: drive instead of C:. As far as I can tell, Stanek doesn't tell you how. It's not in the index and I was unable to find it in the book.
   
   Way too much of the book seems oriented to the new user. Sections like "How Does the Operating System Obtain Driver Updates" and "Viewing Installed Hardware" or "Setting up your speakers" just don't offer much to the experienced user.
   
   Like I said, I own a number of other Stanek titles and swear by them. This one is more suitable for swearing at.
   
   A much better guide to Windows Vista is Windows Vista: The Missing Manual by Dvid Pogue.
   
   Jerry