5 comments about E-on Software's Vue 6 Revealed.

1. The book introduce you to the software by practical projects. All projects are easy to follow. After completing those projects, you will have a solid basis for Vue 6.



2. I was so excited to finally get this book in the post so I could begin some tutorials in Vue 6 Infinite. Unfortunately the book arrived and was printed in black and white, was on poor quality paper, and was not bound terribly well. In fact pages wanted to fall out before I had even read a page. This does not fair well for something I was hoping would be a useful regular resource. I have begun reading the content and feel it may have some useful material, just a shame the overall package does not match it. I would have returned this book, but sadly it would have cost me the price of my initial purchase to return it.



3. Book is excellent for anybody starting with Vue 6, hopefully the author will be following on more advanced tehniques and in color would help.
   I have been in Animation for over 18 years and use Vue for quick backgrounds for 3D Max. Excellent program



4. This book really sucks. It cuts too many corners in content and the graphics are too small and hard to see. The binding falls apart within 2 minutes of flipping through the pages. Save your money and just use the tutorials on Eons' website.



5. Very simple tutorials which do a great job of walking you step by step through most of the features of VUE. The manual that comes with Vue is rather scattered and all-around unhelpful. Better to ditch that and just start with this book. If you have some experience with 3d tools then you can zip through this book in a day or two. So, overall, a great book that most people would find very helpful.

5 comments about Practical Common Lisp.

1. This book is the best "learn a programming language" book I've read. It is a very readable book, with excellent pacing and a good mix of theory and practice. I have found this book to be very good for teaching myself Common Lisp, and highly recommend it to anyone who wishes to do the same.



2. I tried more than one book to start learning CL, this one puts together the language principles with really well chosen code examples. The result is that I read it in a shot, with an increasing interest and never being intimidated.
   
   After it I approached again the P. Graham's books and I finally found them really enjoyable.
   
   The only critique I think is worth to be reported is about the software working environment. I tried lispbox on windows, but it is outdated, it is ok to try the companion source code downloaded from internet, but nothing more.
   To start doing anything more serious I finally moved to linux, sbcl, emacs-cvs, and slime-cvs, it has been a pain. A few paragraphs on this topic would have been really helpful.
   
   Anyway, it is a great reading! My gate to the Lisp world as a code writer instead of as a book reader.



3. If you've been using lisp for years already, the value of this book is probably more on the minimal side of things (although I suspect even a seasoned lisper might find it useful from time to time). However, if you're trying to get a grip on the ins and outs of coding in lisp, this book is a great place to begin. I find the book well-written and well-organized. Perhaps the biggest plus is that the book isn't overly 'dumbed down' and goes into sufficient depth to enable one to move beyond simple exercises at the REPL.
   
   It is also nice to have a hard copy and the online version both available.



4. I found this to be an excellent book. Very helpful and practical. I found it complemented nicely the more theoretical "ANSI Common Lisp" book by Paul Graham.



5. I've studied a number of (computer) languages over the years, but one that I've never spent the time to really learn was Lisp. So, sitting down with this book one long weekend, I decided to give it a shot. What I found -- besides the fact that Lisp is a fascinating language that incorporates so many ideas that are only beginning to be incorporated in more "modern" languages -- is that Peter Seibel has written one of the best language tutorials that I have ever used. His style is conversational and clear, with the information broken up into easily digestible chunks. You may start this book thinking Lisp is just a hard-to-read language with too many parenthesis, but you will finish it with a new view of how computer languages should really work.

5 comments about Introduction to the Design and Analysis of Algorithms (2nd Edition).

1. This book presents the field of algorithm analysis from a different perspective. This book attempts to provide you with enough foundation to not only pick common sorting, searching, etc., algorithms for a problem, but shows you how to design new algorithms if need be. The book is an introduction, so keep that in mind. But the foundation it paves should last you a lifetime.



2. I recently finished using this book for a course. I found it to be very well written and the presentation was excellent. Most books on algorithms are hard to read and overly mathematical. This book emphasizes more the textual explanation of algorithms for practical applications and not as much on theoretical proofs etc. The exercises at the end of the chapters strongly reinforce the contents and insightful hints to every exercise are given at the end of the book. I thoroughly enjoyed using this book and found it challenging. Other books I used for reference such as the MIT classic Introduction to Algorithms was also useful but much more difficult to understand initially.



3. For those of you who've always wanted to throw the Cormen text out the window rejoice you finally can! This book is an excellent introduction to algorithms. Though not as thorough as the Cormen text it's orders of magnitude more readable!



4. Even though this book is only a few years old, it seems like a well-worn classic. That is not to say that it is outdated and irrelevant; it is exactly the opposite! While my knowledge of algorithms textbooks isn't encyclopedic, I can say that this book was way ahead of the curve in it's layout. Before it, most books presented a bunch of algorithms with some loose affiliations such as being search algorithms or dealing with graphs. This book groups algorithms into major themes and makes it much easier to learn the fundamentals of algorithm design. There have been a new set of algorithms textbooks coming out as late (Kleinberg and Tardos, Dasgupta et al, etc) that have the same approach as this book because it works so well. Don't miss out!



5. This was my textbook for my algorithms class at UW-Madison.
   I like it better than Cormen's book, (introduction to algorithms) I think it's more readable and easy to follow.
   
   A couple of caveats:
   1.) This book is more of a survey. It does a deep-dive of some algorithms, but a lot of them only get a high-level description. If you are interested, you will have to look elsewhere for details, etc.
   
   2.) The exercises are very well-written, and very interesting, some of them have been interview questions that I have encountered. The thing is, there is no answer key, and the hints section is not very useful at times.
   
   Still, this book opened my eyes to the beauty of algorithms and math, and the elegance of solutions that are possible for "hard" problems.
   After you read this book, you will have an idea of what is possible and it will give you enough ammunition, enthusiasm, and background for digging deeper.
   A great collection to pair with is Sedgewick's collection on algorithms, Bundle of Algorithms in Java, Third Edition (Parts 1-5): Fundamentals, Data Structures, Sorting, Searching, and Graph Algorithms, Third Edition which may fill in some of the detail that this book may lack.

5 comments about Workflow Modeling: Tools for Process Improvement and Application Development.

1. Everything started with the creation of a two days workshop: Workflow Process Modeling. The authors have continually improved the workshop with participants' feedback and ideas based on their own hands-on consulting work with many organizations. The book is very well structured and it is based on real world experience. The structure is simple with no unnecessary parts that usually fill other books with redundant content. The content is not a mere recount of personal experiences: there are plenty of references to other publications. Plus, you will find good humor in the book that makes it even more readable.
   
   Although the authors declared their work aimed at application development work as a final outcome, the book is focused very much on the business side with emphasis on process workflow. Nowadays the specialization pushes further and further apart the role of a business analyst from the system analyst, while in the past some would refer to these roles as one. This book might not be very useful for a system analyst because it is not very technically oriented. You will not find yourself drown under zillions of diagrams created with a specific software package, but you will get instead a method of how to approach business analysis from a broad, yet practical, perspective. The book does not bother even to talk too much about UML. I found that refreshing and extremely useful. I have been searching for a book that is more like a thought provoking companion rather than a software tool manual and this book fits that description.
   
   Workflow Modeling is a comprehensive book. It does not focus on a particular stage of business analysis. It provides an inventory of areas the professional business process consultant would have to consider and the rationale for each one of them. Some readers might not agree with the little amount of space dedicated to class modeling which is almost inexistent. On the plus side, the authors talk about approach in dealing with project stakeholders, pitfalls, team building and difficulties and what questions to ask in various situations. The authors appreciate the importance of the final delivery, how to map the road between the as-is process to to-be process and understand the structure of the organization. I found many things that were said here very realistic and valuable; I could relate them to my own experience. The book does not say much about class modeling, but it talks a lot about swimlane diagrams and use cases analysis.
   
   You can use Workflow Modeling to design your own work template that suits your style and formation. You can come back , re-read some parts or the whole book (I have done that) and still get something out of it. I recommend the book as a good investment that will not go out of fashion very soon.



2. I was recommended this book from BPMN Essentials course I recently took and just finished the book. It has a great deal of examples and suggestions for how to perform process modelling, which I like.



3. I enjoyed this book because of:
   1) clear, coherent logic
   2) it's very practical from cover to cover - everything you need to know before modeling processes you can find here and use it in your work on the very next day
   3) the language - it's plain and definitely supports better adoption of the tools described. I also like the authors' delicate humor :)
   
   As a whole - two thumbs up, 5 stars.



4. Good overall analysis and methodology for approaching process re-design projects. Very practical and well written. Includes strategies for avoiding common pitfalls.



5. This book is great! It is well written, easy to read, and put together in a logical manner. Everyone that has an interest in improving business processes should take the time to read the book.
   
   For those that are new to the world of process it will be a real eye opener (and a bit of a page turner). For those that are self taught it will save you 20 years of trial and error. For those that are industry experts it serves as a great (and necessary) reminder that if you miss the big picture - your project is off track.
   
   I attended a BPM conference in late 2006 and was amazed at how theoretical and up in the clouds many of the so called experts were. Alec is different, his approach is field tested, practical, and it works.

5 comments about Creating Web Sites Bible (Bible (Wiley)).

1. I am just beginning to read this book. I just opened it and began reading the first tutorial. It wants me to import a file into my flash 5 project from the CD-ROM that comes with the book. I look into the contents of the CD...nothing! The file "forest.gif" isn't even on the CD! Just by the looks of it, it doesn't look like this book will be very good. I mean, I just now started it! To me, this is embarrasing to the authors. Be careful what you buy folks...



2. I just got this book and I must say I think it looks very promising. I felt I had to write a review, seeing how I disagree with the only other review written here.

   I am a beginner and I think the book has a easy-to-understand approach. Also, the cd with the book contains a lot of trial versions, among other things flash5, which I can't wait to test out. (and yes, I checked: all the things that are supposed to be on the cd are there... :) )

   So all in all.. this looks very good so far.




3. I have been teaching HTML and web design classes for over 4 years and I am always looking for new ideas and techniques and this book certainly has that. There is an abundance of information contained within the 700 plus pages.

   The book has you working with HTML, CSS, Java Scripting, DHTML and XHTML. You get to try out and design frames pages, tables, forms, multimedia pages and cascading style sheets. Overall everything you need to become a very good designer is in this book including an excellent layout of the HTML 4.01 tags.

   The cd included has a number of utilities, most of which can be found just about anywhere on the web. Also included is trial version of Flash 5, DreamWeaver 4 and HomeSite 4.5 all of which have newer version out, so the next edition should have this included.

   Aside from those minor things, the files you are supposed to be able to use for some of the exercises weren't on my cd and I was unable to find them anywhere on the website so I think this needs to be fixed. Other than those fixes the book is very accurate and detailed with plenty of information for everyone




4. (...) The 1st edition apparently had some significant issues based on reviews at Amazon, the 2nd edition seems to be much improved.
   
   Chapter list: Planning Your Web Pages; Promoting Your Site; Basic HTML Building Blocks; Organizing Your Site; Putting It on the Web; Getting Fancy with Text; Finding Images; Blending Images into Your Pages; Creating and Enhancing Images; Adding Color Throughout Your Site; Harnessing the Power of Tables; Organizing Your Site with Frames; Styling Web Pages with Cascading Style Sheets; Positioning Elements with DIVs; Getting Input with Forms; Making Dynamic Pages with JavaScript; Navigating Your Web Site; Adding Dynamic Page Elements with DHTML; Animating with Macromedia Flash; Adding Multimedia and Other Objects; Blogging; Setting Up Your Store; Selling on eBay; Getting Paid; Using Advertising; Covering All the Bases; Maintaining Your Site; Designing with XML; Making Your Site Mobile with WAP/WML; HTML 4.01 Specs; XHTML 1.0, Second Edition specs; XML 1.0, Third Edition Specs; WML 2.0 Specs; JavaScript Reference; Glossary; Index
   
   This is one of those books that I personally like, but I don't know if it's right for what I think is the intended audience. I've been doing application development for a long time, and some of that time has been spent doing web development. While I wouldn't grab this book to find an answer to an HTML or JavaScript question, I would use it to understand graphical composition, navigation, and more of the site structure thoughts. There's always new stuff to learn, and it helps to get new ideas from others in that area. And if you've seen my (lack of) graphical ability, you'd understand. Die-hard web designers will also squawk about the reliance on tables and frames for design. I'd tend to agree with them, but I'm also not as dogmatic about the whole issue.
   
   If you're a casual computer use who thinks they have a great idea for a web site, and if you think you could build that site on your own, you'd probably gravitate to a book like this. To be sure, everything you absolutely need to know is in here. But I think you could quickly find yourself overwhelmed with everything you need to learn to set the site up. And when you start talking about setting up an online store and shopping carts, you could end up making mistakes that could cost you dearly in security and fraud.
   
   So is it a good book? In my opinion, yes. It's well-written and there is a lot of valuable information in it. I just tend to think it serves developers with some prior background knowledge better than it would serve a complete newbie.



5. If you want to learn everything about websites then this book is great. It is very well-written and includes tons of images and codes making the learning process easier.

5 comments about JavaScript Pocket Reference (2nd Edition).

1. The copy I have contained printing errors. the first 66 pages was the beginning section to "vi editor pocket reference" then it picks up on page 73 with what seems to be the rest of the javascript pocket reference.
   
   I'm new to javascript and programming in general.. and took me couple of days of trying to understand it before someone pointed out to me that i was trying to make sence of the wrong content.
   
   This is the first time I have seen errors of this sort from a major publisher.
   
   thanks o'reilly, for wasting hours out of my life.



2. If you are new to JavaScript and looking for a helper title, this isn't it. If you're already familiar with JavaScript, and need specific information, you probably need more than an extremely condensed pocket reference is going to provide. There really isn't anything wrong with the pocket reference - it has correct information, formatted pretty well, and contains the most common parts of the core language as well as the common DHTML references one needs for general use. What it doesn't have, and shouldn't for a pocket reference, are complete explanations for the components, or any usage examples - two things needed by people who are turning to a reference book. JavaScript is really too complex to be summarized along with DHTML elements in 127 half-sized pages. If you're looking for a JavaScript reference, purchase the authors full-sized reference guide, "JavaScript: The Definitive Guide" (ISBN: 0596000480) instead.



3. I am not a big fan of these 'Pocket Reference' books by O'Reilly. Although I have 8 of them, I find them too brief to be very helpful as a reference. Usually they come up short on many parts of the language.
   
   Recently I needed a refresher in JavaScript, and turned to Flanagan. I read the first part of the book to the API Reference on page 52. This seemed like a concentrated and intense refresher. For that one purpose, I think I received good value for my time. I would never use it as a real reference because each subject is just barely mentioned, not covered in any kind of detail. There is no index, plus examples are too few and short to learn from it. So for my limited purpose, I liked it, but would never consider it as a learning tool or actual reference. If this meets your need, fine. Otherwise do not expect too much from this book.
   
   This is an un-paid real opinion. Not all ratings and opinions are honest or unbiased. Some are bought and paid for. Follow the 'See all my ...' and judge for yourself. Learn the industry secret when you see many such high score opinions from one person particularly right after the dates of publication. Educate yourself before you rely on someone who has been paid to deceive you.



4. I realize it's a pocket reference, but this is a brief guide to syntax and then the DOM for the rest of the book. It doesn't cover any of the API stuff like the Date class. It'd be nice to have more information at the price of needing slightly larger pockets.



5. I've been learning JavaScript off and on, with some success, for three months. In doing so, I've skimmed about a half-dozen books and tried the following three, so far, "graded" below:
   
   Learning JavaScript (Powers B-)
   VQS JavaScript and Ajax (Negrino & Smith C+)
   O'Reilly JavaScript Pocket Reference (Flanagan B)
   
   It's hard to find good books on JavaScript and no one should expect a pocket reference to be an instructional book. Despite that, I found this reference guide to be surprisingly helpful at times as I searched for clear explanations of the underlying concepts in learning JavaScript.

5 comments about Software Testing (2nd Edition).

1. I would NOT recommend this book to anyone who really want to know about testing/ want to get into testing. There is not one iota of information about how to test. It's like a "cookbook" without a single recipe. It maybe good for managers to learn what testing is, but it's not practical at all.
   
   And Mr. Author, take these hints and improve your next book instead of getting defensive about every comment.



2. This book is excellent for beginners who are looking to learn more about software testing. It details the concepts of manual testing and what to look for and what not to do while testing software.
   
   It is also good for programmers who want to transition into testing or Q/A or just want to gain an insight into the world of testers!



3. This is an example of a book that I was forced into purchasing and using as a text book. I was shocked that this is considered required reading for a Master's level course. While it is a good overview of quality, especially as it applies to the web, I found it mostly trite and a little boring. I gave it a three because I think it has its place in the world. If you are a beginner and need a general overview it's a good place to start. It is not however a "textbook" that will find its way to my keeper shelf, I will be selling it back.



4. If you are already in software testing business this book is not for you. If you are looking for something to guide you for your safety critical V&V activities again this is not your book. But if you are new in testing and if you want to make a good start this book will help you. So only for newbies...



5. I thought the book was quite good. I read it before I attended my first introductory software testing course and it allowed me to get a lot more out of the course and ask questions that were more relevant. In fact, my instructor borrowed the book and thought it was quite good as well. If you have experience in this field, then this book is not for you. (Why anyone would buy it if they did have "expertise" in the field is beyond me.) I have read a couple of the reviews for this book and to be honest, these people probably whine about anything and everything, yet they are incapable of publishing their own book. I have noticed that is quite the "American thing". Criticizing without the ability to create and waxing poetic about anything and everything without the benefit of expertise. This is an odd "habit" and one that apparently is addictive and hypnotic to some. Can you imagine the amount of time some people spend on those inane blogs? Who has that bloody amount of time to be that self-indulgent? I digress...
   
   Overall, a very good text and I would recommend it highly based on its readability; I index books for a living so I CAN wax poetic about this type of thing, and its conversational style. I encourage the author to continue his work in this area.

5 comments about C++ Primer (4th Edition).

1. Since I'm the 58th person to a write a five-star review for this book, this comment seems fatuous; whatever.
   
   This book is simply fantastic. Although I had prior programming experience before learning from this book, I strongly believe that anyone can learn C++ even if you've never programed before. It gives clear explanations and uses excellent examples.
   
   The book begins with a simple introduction to programming, and the first seven chapters go over the basic constructs of programming, it isn't until the 8th chapter does it delve in C++ material. OOP is more complicated than most people take for granted, so if you can understand it well, you will be on your way to writing excellent code.
   
   If you can, learn C++ before Java--ideally learn C before C++, each predecessor has less concepts to understand but harder to write efficient code in.



2. yeah, may be it's primer, but it's definitely not the book to start learning about programming on the whole and about C++ in particular, because as I can see authors sometimes make assumptions they shouldn't have made (all of them are in the first part of the book). And for such a misleading title I should've given it 4 stars , but I can't.
   Pick up "C++ Primer Plus" by Stephen Prata as first programming book, as one of reviewers has already mentioned. I should say, that if I read this book instead of Prata's, I'd tear it to shreds and curse the authors (kidding).
   Plus I think the reader should take some time programming or looking at other people's code before reading this book, because only in this case 'notes' and 'key concepts' put in this book can be appreciated (the beginner just wouldn't consider them important and therefore wouldn't remember).



3. A great improvement over previous editions - presents a very good balance of introductory and advanced topics. It served my purpose extremely well as a refresher to C++ after several years. Certainly, Stroustrup offers better coverage of more complex topics - however, as a general purpose textbook, this is good. Indispensable to me, more so than the second edition that I was still using. If you are a beginner or an exprerienced C++ programmer looking for a refresher, this is a good book. If you rate yourself as an advanced C++ programmer, you can save it for that day when you start to forget things!



4. First, I own the 2nd, 3rd and 4th editions of this book. I originally learned C++ from the 2nd edition in the early 90's (it's out of date). Later I bought the 3rd edition when the C++ standards were updated. Now, after a few years away from C++, I find that I have to catch up with the latest and greatest C++ idioms, methods, convential wisdoms, whatever.
   
   I started reading the 3rd edition and after 300 pages it became very obvious the 3rd edition was very encyclopaedic in its coverage and with its examples. The 3rd edition is an excellent reference, but for learning you need a month or more to read through the 1100+ pages. I don't have that much time. I needed something more concise -- so I bought the 4th edition.
   
   The 4th edition is still 800 pages in length, but the information density per page is less. The examples are cut back, but they are still good, and tables are used to summarize different choices or variants to C++ syntax or libraries. These changes make the book vastly superior for learning C++ (relearning?). The examples demonstrate how to use the language and the tables convey the required information precisely. What a fantastic difference.
   
   The 4th edition does have a different organization, that is, the order the language is introduced has changed. The emphasis is on introducing templates and generic programming much earlier than before. The section on OO design and programming is excellent, but the emphasis on templates changes its relative importance.
   
   This may sound strange, but use the 4th edition to learn and use the 3rd edition as a reference.



5. In the last year i had two computer science exams about C++ programming.
   I had never seriously studied programming before, so i was surprised with almost infinite potentialities of this language.
   
   However, modern C++ is a lot different from the one most books try to teach: i've got a lot of C++ books like Deitels' and Schlidt's, but all they offer is a overview of a "pre-standard-like" C++: a lot of chapters and exercises on arrays, pointers, C-like-strings, just like this was the core of the modern C++ language.
   
   This book focuses instead on the things a C++ programmer should know today, his swiss-army-knife: the STL and the standard library. The book introduces vectors and strings first, then compares them with old-fashioned arrays/pointers and char*s.
   This is not a book about introducing "new stuff" into the C programming language, but about learning C++ like a whole new language, thus changing the way you approach programming (a lot of other books introduces STL only in the last 2 o 3 chapters!).
   
   The only thing i disliked about the book, funny to say, is that while not too long (the fourth edition is about 800 pages long), the book is so full of contents that a newcomer may probably find it overwhelming.
   Not only it introduces classes and STL in the first chapters, but it also goes in a much deeper level of detail than other books, so if you haven't any programming (and, maybe a little C++) experience, you'll probably be going "back and forth" searching for concepts and explaination you didn't care too much about (like the notions about constructors given in the first chapter, wich would seem rather abstract if you don't know how a data structure is realized).
   
   Anyway, this is one of the best programming books i've ever read: if you are a computer science student, a programmer who wants to learn C++ or a C++ programmer who wants to really understand "what's behind the scenes", you have to buy this!
   If you are a novice in programming, this book could make you started with programming in the best way and introduce you to the best programming practices, but it can also scare you in the beginning, so you'd probably want to start elsewhere (probably with Accelerated C++, or C++ Primer Plus).

5 comments about SQL: Visual QuickStart Guide (3rd Edition) (Visual QuickStart Guide).

1. I am an IT instructor and don't usually have good things to say about computer books. But I couldn't keep quiet about this book which works well in my SQL for SQL Server class and would work just as well in a SQL for MySQL class. Beginning students don't have many choices in SQL books that help them learn the ropes and then don't stop at the definition / syntax level. After several other tries, this one hit the sweet spot of practicality, theory, data, examples, curriculum breadth for a basic SQL course, depth for advanced students, and supplemental information.



2. A terribly written book but has many useful examples and only costs $20. The author has no command of the English language at all. The only reason why such poor writing got past the editors in the first place was probably because they had no idea what the hell the author was talking about and thought it was hopeless to fix. Beware.



3. In my opinion, a technical author's writing ability is just as important as his knowledge of the subject material. I've been disappointed in so many books where the author is undoubtedly an expert in his field, but couldn't effectively organize and translate his thoughts in a way that made sense to me. Based on the review by "Dave" below, I almost lumped this book into that unfortunate category. I'm so glad I happened to flip through a copy of it, because this is a fantastic book. In fact, it's one of the best technical books I've ever owned.
   
   Fehily's writing style is clear and concise. In a typical chapter, he gives an overview of the topic, then demonstrates it with many relevant and progressively complex example queries. This teaching style works so well for so many people--give us a basic idea of what's going on, then SHOW us how it works in the real world. All of the examples are based on a simple but effective sample database that can be downloaded from the publisher's website (you can download an Access database, or scripts that will create the appropriate tables in the RDBMS of your choice).
   
   True to the Visual QuickStart approach to teaching, the layout of this book is highly effective. Most pages have plenty of whitespace. There are no long, rambling paragraphs. Instead, there are lots of summary tables, bulleted lists, and, as mentioned earlier, example queries. And it's the example queries that set this book apart from other introductory SQL books. There are literally hundreds of examples that you'll actually refer to regularly when you start writing your own SQL statements. Even Dave acknowledges that! I also own Ben Forta's excellent "Teach Yourself SQL in 10 Minutes," but this book is much, much better.
   
   All of the usual introductory SQL topics are covered (SELECTs/INSERTs/UPDATEs, functions, joins, grouping, subqueries, etc.), but they are covered so thoroughly and effectively that calling this a beginner's book seems like an understatement. Admittedly, I'm only a casual SQL user, but this book is now the only one I go to when I need to brush up on a topic or find an example query to help get me going.



4. SQL Second edition,
   
   The book starts out fairly basic by covering what a DBMS is and what a forward slash versus a back slash means in terms of file path and how they relate to different operating systems. From there you get into the fundamentals of database building. From there you get into the command line utility (still an important function technology).
   
   The meat of the book really starts in chapter 2 where you will learn about relational databases and what a key is. Primary keys are essential in the relational database. You will also learn about tables and their importance.
   
   Chapter 3 you are back to the basics of SQL. You will learn more about syntax and how to decipher common syntax errors. Data types are also covered to some extent.
   
   Chapter 4 is all about tables, how to construct them, keep them clean, filtering them, sort them and how to retrieve the information you are looking for. You will learn the basics of conditional statements.
   
   Chapter 5 Lets have some fun with operators (no not the kind that you talk to on the phone but the kind you build using expressions to extract information also known as the function. Creating strings; who thought it could be so much fun. In this chapter we also get top create, change and clean up strings and their friends from next door the substrings.
   
   Chapter 6 It's party time with Aggregate functions and expressions. While were at it we can summarize some data using statistics and aggregate values. While were at it we can filter a little more.
   
   Chapter 7 Lets do some JOINing. Here we learn about creating table aliases and then joining the tables. The importance of the operator WHERE instead of JOIN syntax. And then there's the CROSS JOIN lurking in the background just waiting to return all possible combinations of rows between two tables. This chapter covers many different JOIN syntax's'
   
   Chapter 8 The child to the query also known as the sub querie (inner query of an outer query, how sub queries work with other sub queries, comparing sub queries. ) This chapter is all about sub queries
   
   Chapter 9 Lets join a UNION of sorts. Not the dues paying kind but the kind the compares the results with queries. You can learn how to create a EXCEPT operator for finding differences in rows of the queries that you are combining.
   
   In chapter 10 we learn about INSERTing, DELETE(ing), UPDATE(ing) it's all about the rows in tables and using syntax to alter them.
   
   Chapter 11 Is about creating tables, working with Nulls, specifying values, specifying keys.
   
   
   Chapter 12 we learn about indexes, creating them and dropping them.
   
   Chapter 13 covers setting up the view. You will learning about updating a view and dropping a view.
   
   Chapter we learn about executions- executing transactions that is.
   
   I have been using this book for a couple months now. When I started using it my skill level was somewhere between beginner and intermediate. After having used this book I feel pretty secure in saying that I am now at the intermediate skill level. I achieved this through the use of this book. It's very well written, easy to follow. Each chapter has these cool little tips for getting things done.
   
   Everything the book walks you through it walks you through doing it in MySQL, postgre05, Microsoft SQL server and Oracle.



5. Most of the titles in the Visual Quickstart Guide series that I've acquired have been very useful and "SQL" by Chris Fehily is no exception. I use SQL relatively rarely and this book is an excellent reference and refresher when I need a fast immersion in SQL.
   
   The Visual Quickstart Guides teach by - you guessed it - visual examples and this is no exception. Fehily's writing style is spare and direct with few wasted words. There is a somewhat generalized introduction to the nature of SQL. The Introduction is actually a model of what such a chapter should be like. It is direct, to the point and covers the major things, in general, that you need to know about SQL.
   
   He then moves deeper into the basics of SQL before advancing on basic SQL operations, such as retrieving data from a table, operators and functions, summarizing and grouping data and so on. Reading this book alone will not make you an expert SQL programmer, but it will certainly help you do more than muddle through basic SQL operations, which generally are all you need.
   
   I've had this book on my shelf for a long time and, as I said, when the need for me to deal with SQL arises, it's the first reference I pick up.
   
   Jerry

1 comments about Using OpenMP: Portable Shared Memory Parallel Programming (Scientific and Engineering Computation).

1. I have most of the parallel computing books out there so I am sort of a collector of sorts. Most focus on either the basics of parallel programming, MPI, OpenMP, both, or some other less popular (yet) paradigm e.g. PFortran, TBB, etc. With every parallel-computing wanna be buying a multicore machine dual, quad, dual-quad, etc., the parallel computing software "industry" is in flux. No longer will MPI on a cluster be enough. It still remains to be seen whether the slower memory bus on quad core machines will allow for speedups without major code overhaul or a new paradigm. Anyway, this book is a welcome addition to my collection. For one, it is current e.g. 2008 and also it is focussed on OpenMP (but does treat dual MPI/OpenMP programming). It is well written (I am about 100 pages in since I just got my copy last week) and has one tantalizing chapter entitled "How to get good performance by using OpenMP" - which is really timely since my new 72 core machine (9 dual Intel quad cores) seems to give slower performance for a major commercial CFD code than the equivalent number of dual-core nodes). I hope it helps me. Based on the rapid growth of multicore machines and the lack of a simple programming solution, I recommend this book to all those wanting to try and get their codes running fast on multicore machines. The only downsides in this book so far is the lack of downloadable code (you have to type it in yourself) and it is hard to test the code fragments because they are just that - fragments. A nice feature of the book is the 50/50 emphasis on Fortran/C codes - which are the still the mainstay in large-scale scientific computing.