5 comments about Computational Geometry: Algorithms and Applications.

1. Pro:
   (1) Each chapter begins with a practical example. For example, the chapter computing intersections of lines starts with a discussion of a map-making application that goes into enough detail to see how the algorithms they present would be useful. This is a considerable step up from the common practice in algorithms literature of motivation by way of vaguely mentioning some related field (i.e. "These string matching algorithms are useful in computational biology"). This book does a much better job of motivating the material it presents, but if you're primarily interested in the abstract problem, these sections can be skipped.

   (2) Each chapter is relatively self-contained. Feel free to skip ahead to subjects that interest you.

   (3) Surprisingly readable. Unlike most technical material, one can read an entire chapter in a single sitting without missing much. Generally, each chapter will develop a single algorithm for a single kind of problem.

   (4) It's very up to date. This second edition is less than two years old, it includes some new results in the field.

   Con:
   (1) Algorithms are only given in pseudocode. The emphasis is on describing algorithms and data structures clearly and completely. If you're looking for a "cookbook" with code to copy and paste into an application, perhaps O'Rourke's "Computational Geometry in C" would be a better choice.

   (2) There are many important advanced results that are not discussed in the main text. An obvious example is the first chapter, which describes a well-known convex hull algorithm that takes O(n log n) time but algorithms that are faster for most inputs are mentioned only in the "Notes and Comments" at the end of the chapter. Someone interested in lots of gory details would be well-served to combine this book with Boissonnat and Yvinec's more detailed and mathematical "Algorithmic Geometry".




2. This is one of the really few computational geometry books available. It fills a niche and does it decently. However it could be better:
   
   1. The chapter layout is not very good. There are many "revisiting this" and "we saw in chapter so-and-so".
   
   2. The mathematical proofs are often written in a single paragraph full of "English" interspersed with mathematical notation, instead of the tried and true way of numbered equations and one-per explanations. This makes for disconcerting reading.
   
   3. The book in general could have done with more math and code, and less "English", not to mention more and better diagrams -- they tend to be sparsely detailed (ie. a picture is worth only a hundred words). The arrangement of diagrams also needs to be better: some are in the margins, some are in the middle, again not easy and intuitive to follow.
   
   Hopefully a future edition will address this issues.



3. The authors amass an impressive array of algorithms related to finding geometrical properties. Where these algorithms are performed on a computer. The book itself does not advocate any particular programming language. The algorithms are given in pseudocode, and you are expected to manually convert these to code in your choice of language. Given the calibre of the discussion in the text, which suggests that the readers are quite experienced, then this manual step should be easy to most.
   
   There are numerous contexts in which the text might prove useful. Ranging from graphics to GIS to robotics. Thus, there is an entire chapter on the planning of robotic motion. The robot can in general translate and rotate.
   
   Each chapter comes with an exercise set. Which helps make the book suitable as a graduate or even undergraduate text.



4. This book is extremely well written, easy to understand, and actually is the standard text for Computational Geometry classes, as far as I know. The only thing I didn't like about it was that there seemed to be a few errors in some of the pseudocode. But, it's to be expected when publishing a textbook, and I think it'll probably be cleared up in future editions.
   
   Overall, great book. I'd recommend it to anyone taking graphics or a computational geometry class.



5. The authors did a great job of introducing the reader to all the important aspects of the field of computational geometry while keeping it simple and understandable.

2 comments about G is for Golden: A California Alphabet.

1. Being recent transplants to California, my husband and I have been checking out all the nooks and crannies that make California unique. With the printing of this book, we are reminded there is so much more to see and to learn. From Alcatraz to Yosemite, there are adventures abounding. The illustrations for this book are beautiful, and invite you to be a part of goldmining or the California labs of Silicon Valley. Teachers would do well to introduce this book to their students, in and out of California. Parents would allow their children's horizons to be expanded, if only by introducing this book to them. This will be a favorite of mine for years to come.



2. All of the letters of the alphabet to describe the great state of California. The illustrations were beautiful. Also included is some very interesting history about the state. Wonderful, wonderful! Worth adding to your personal and/or school library.

5 comments about Cryptography for Dummies.

1. This book was excellent for getting you over that hill of understanding. If you don't have much back ground in cryptography or don't need to know the nitty-gritty details of how it all works then this is the book for you. The book is well indexed and fairly up to date. The only problem I found with this book is that sometimes it went back over some things already covered but, this is a minor issue. I used it extensively for doing an intro research paper on cryptography.



2. I've stumbled across cryptography for about the past year, so recently I decided to go ahead and learn some basics (as I think the subject and InfoSec is really interesting). Most cryptography books out there are for the advanced and are mathematically rigorous. While I gladly welcome math, I needed an overview to bring me up to speed, prepping me for more intermediate (and eventually advanced) texts later.
   
   I've never read a Dummies book dealing with computer technology before, because although they're written for absolute novices, the low-level writing style irritates me, usually takes too long to get to the "interesting stuff", and the "yippity-skippity!" attitude will eventually make me go seek a more advanced text. Basically, Dummies books "hold your hand", and if this is what you need, they're great! But if not, they can be rather slow for you (as for me).
   
   However, Cryptography for Dummies is pretty good, aside from a few misses. By this being a Dummies book, the impression of this text being for complete neophytes is false - if you don't have any experience with basic computer science topics (e.g. binary, binary-to-decimal conversions, bits/bytes/words, etc.), the first couple chapters may be a little hard to understand, as the author assumes you at least know that stuff.
   
   Aside from that, the author does a good job explaining the basic topics one needs to understand cryptography and its inner-workings. However, the author's writing style leaves much to be desired at times. At points, I found myself scratching my head, re-reading passages several times, trying to figure out what the author meant. At times when he should explain the nuances of something, he doesn't, leaving you to go, "HUH?" (A good example of this are the early parts where he talks about keys but doesn't explain what a key is or how they interact with other parts of a cryptographic system.)
   
   There are other sections where the author leaves entire descriptions of things out, where you'll have to figure it out for yourself. Perhaps this is purposeful, so he won't get too far into the topic, as this book is basically an overview. Something else I noticed too is the vast amount of errors the book has! I'm not sure if Dummies has an 'Errata' section on its site.
   
   While this book is by no means a complete text (probably not even a 1/3-complete text), overall, it's good for those who want an overview of the subject, and plan on venturing further, as I do.



3. This book lacks credibility. It gives a weak high level outline for crypto and has some very embarrassing inaccuracies when detail is attempted to be covered. It's also shockingly dated in places and very poorly written with disorganized statements. Save your money and visit some websites that would give you better general and specialized information and not cost you a bean. This book is not value for money.



4. This book will open the eyes of anyone who wants to learn about the subject. And the Author does a great job of making it a fun read too. The reason i bought this book, it to understand whats up with digital certificates. My eyes were opened when i found out that many certificates are not cross compatible with all apps... its hundreds of facts like this, that will help you to finally figure it out everything you need to know to make it happen for you. Especially with PGP (its free and it rocks)



5. A good introduction to how cryptography works. Very simple, yet accurate. It covers basically all the fundamentals of how cryptography works, how it's used, and how it *should* be used. Math is kept extremely minimal.

No comments about Pro LINQ Object Relational Mapping in C# 2008 (Pro).

4 comments about New Perspectives on HTML, XHTML, and Dynamic HTML, Comprehensive, Third Edition.

1. When I through the first few chapters, I liked the book already. First it emphasize that the book only covers coding on Notepad or other text editors. I think that is the best way to learn the language. It doesn't need any HTML editors to do the job. It describes the history of internet and its technologies in some of the chapters. It covers the javascript concepts clearly and shows how things are done, step by step. At the end of each chapter, there are some assignments to enhance understanding. There are hints on how these assignments should be done, step by step also. Sometimes even with the hints, they are not easy to perform, especially for DHTML/Javascript, in many cases, I have to go back to the chapter and re-examine the reasons for writing certain functions, when to call the functions and so forth. This book is suitable for beginners with no HTML knowledge and don't want to code with HTML editors. Thankfully, there are some appendices to the tags used for XHTML, and examined the browser compatibilities also. I print out these appendices to allow me to summarise the book and to carry along. As with most books, this book also contain some errors especially with the answers provided, but it is of little problem if you went through the book thoroughly, you can spot them quite easily. There is another book, "New perspectives on Javascript" by the same author which covers mostly Javascript is not so good value, as a lot of Javascript stuff in that book is already covered here. For more seasoned HTML coders, this book is not so suitable, but if you want to learn new ways of coding to comply with new XHTML standards, you should give this book a look.



2. This book is confusing and the explanations just go on and on. You can follow this book for pages and not be sure how you ended up with what you did. There are other, easier to read books on XHTML and HTML avaialable.



3. I needed this book for a class, otherwise I wouldn't even have touched a web design book. (You could learn more from Google, for free.)
   
   However, I did like the level of depth this book went into. It goes beyond the call of duty by even going through javascript- great touch!
   
   The only thing I can brag about is that this book is popular- so the examples and case problems are all online. This makes it easy to get "help" if you didn't have time to do your work.
   
   Without the class, I would still never buy this book. It's too wordy at times, and beats you over the head with what you already know.
   
   I'd say buy it if you need it for a class, otherwise you can skip it.



4. If you have to buy this book for a class, then buy it. If not, stick with Google. I found more useful and relevant information by using Google and looking through the search results than this book provided.

5 comments about XML in a Nutshell, Third Edition.

1. I took this book as it was a recommended book for one my courses.. i thought it would be same as other text books, where you actually LEARN THRU THE BOOK..
   
   But this book is STRICTLY for a reference purpose.. I had to take another book to learn the basics of XML.. also, the net tutorials helped a lot..
   
   Though, as a reference book, I'll give full points to it.. once you have the basic knowledge about XML, you can really use this book to its optimum level, and it really helps you to refer ALL the types in XML..
   
   So if you are starting to learn XML, I would advise to take a simpler book, like "XML Applications" and go through the net too.. but once you are done with the basics, buy this book the very next day, and check out what all wonders you can do through XML!!!...



2. O'Reilly's XML IN A NUTSHELL is, like all entries in the Nutshell series, a desktop quick reference. It provides concise information about nearly all matters of XML, and is split into roughly four parts. The first introduces XML, the concept of tags, well-formedness, Unicode, DTD's and schemas, namespaces, and so forth. The second provides an overview for the many formats that are built upon XML, such as XHTML, XSL:FO, Docbook, etc., and technologies that plug-in into XML, namely XSLT, XPath, XLinks, XPointers, XInclude, and CSS. The fourth covers DOM and SAX, the APIs for dealing with XML. Finally, the book ends with a "Reference section" for various technologies covered earlier in the book, structured much like O'Reilly's pocket guides. I found the Reference section somewhat inconvenient, it causes flipping back and forth when each section could have been simply integrated with the previous discussion of the relevant technology earlier in the book. Furthermore, the book ends with a long series of Unicode character tables, which are of limited utility, as they cover only a portion of Unicode, which has already expanded in the time since, and these tables simply bloat the book a little.
   
   This third edition is especially admirable for its advocation of schemas, whereas many other XHTML publications would mention only DTDs.
   
   XML IN A NUTSHELL is emphatically not a tutorial for XML, in spite of the friendly introduction to the markup language that opens the book. For each of the technologies mentioned herein, you'll want a separate book. For XPath especially, O'Reilly's XPATH AND XPOINTER is worth getting. XML IN A NUTSHELL instead provides only a quick reference for matters the reader is already acquainted with. Now, much of this quick reference information can be freely had on the Web. I'd recommend the book only to those who are fortunate enough to have someone else cover their book expenses, or can get it from their library, or those who simply adore print documentation.



3. This book claims to be your only needed guide in XML and related topics. It covers almost all you can imagine. I liked it very much and glad, that I have a book, that I can use like XML reference.
   I have just nothing to say about this book except it contains ALL information one can need on XML.



4. This book is by far the best book I've read on XML. Typical of O'Reilly "In a Nutshell" books, the converage of XML is fast paced and complete. Your money will be well spent on this book. I even think most beginners will do well with this one!



5. XML: the grab-bag, so-what-you-will, make-it-up-as-you-go-along, there-are-rules-strict-rules-(sort-of) technology that bends you to its will as much as you can bend it to yours. And this book is a decent round-up of the most common, widely-deployed implementations -- with enough general knowledge to help you sort through the more specific ones (or help you in creating your own).
   
   A better title for it might have been: "XML: A Developer's Almanac". (Which, I suppose is a good-enough alternative title for any book in the O'Reilly "Nutshell" series.)

5 comments about Software Engineering: A Practitioner's Approach.

1. I'm not a student. I am software development manager and have over 20 years of real-world experience developing sophisticated banking and financial applications. I have one of the original first addition books, and I have to say that this book was critical to my learning software engineering principles. The criticism of this book are unfounded in my opinion. This book contains the critical elements to implement SE principles.
   
   The complaints seem to be from students and they seem to think it is a poor text book. Well, that's probably a good sign, as good text books are usually worthless for real world examples, and books that give you worthwhile information aren't usually good text books.
   
   If you look through all the 5 star reviews, they are from Software Engineers working in the field. If you look at all the 1 star reviews, they are all from students who, frankly don't know what really is important and what isn't when it comes to developing quality software. (I know I didn't when i was a student). That alone gives speaks volumes about the book.
   
   Some said that Code Complete is a better book. Where do you think the authors of Code Complete got their material? This book is first published 15 years before Code Complete. Code Complete is a good book, but doesn't explain the "why" of things, whereas this book does. Studying this book will give you the "why" on certain principles so you can enact them to whatever situation you are in. It is not an "ABC" book on how to do "XYZ."
   
   The theories and examples on the programmer productivity were very valuable to me, and I have saved me countless hours and money on developers time because I learned how to maximize programmer productivity. This book is the framework on how to development high-quality software. I can speak from experience that the software I've been respopnsible for developing, using the priniciples I learned from this book, has been excellent. The software failure rates I have experienced are far lower than industry averages. I have some applications that have run for many years without any software failures. It can be done, but this doesn't garantee your success. This book shows you the blueprint. You still need experienced developers to be able to create high-quality code, but only by following the principles laid out in the book.
   
   Perhaps if all you students had to see all the poorly written software in use in the world, you would appreciate this book more. This book is well worth it the price. If you plan on having anything to do with software development, keep this book, and don't sell back to a book store. I ordered the latest version and read it, and Pressman has done a good job in keeping up with the latest in software engineering. With out a doubt, the book is worth the price. My copy has paid for itself many times over.



2. I had the 4th edition of the book back in college. When I started studying for the CSDP (Certified Software Development Professional) Exam, I ordered the 6th edition. The 6th edition is a huge improvement over the 4th.
   
   This book covers just about everything you need to know on the subject of software engineering. Great book, great reading. Applying the concepts on the job will help out tremendously in your career.



3. This is a good book. I have several editions of this book, including a very early one. In my view, in looking for a thorough perspective of software engineering, there are two major routes: McConnell/Weigers series or one of the comprehensive volumes by Pressman or Sommerville. McConnell's books (Code Complete, Rapid Software Development, and Software Estimation) and Weigers (Software Requirements) are each highly detailed. Hence, four-plus books. Pressman encapsulates (sic) the whole shebang into one big comprehensive volume. Not as detailed as those Microsoft Press authors, but that's not a drawback. If you've been practicing for a long time and you're the project manager, sometimes a substantive overview is what you need, not minute details. You're not living in the deep details anyway, your engineers are. Plus, the coverage of the more advanced development technologies, like formal methods, are very good and not included in the Microsoft Press books. Bottom line: if you're a technology director or project manager and want the big picture (in one place), get Pressman. If you're a systems analyst or software engineer and want the larger view, get McConnell and Weigers. (I have not read the Sommerville text, but from the table of contents there's a chapter on security which the other books only cover lightly.)



4. I used this book in my Grad class and I'm still confused. I don't know what to make of this book. On the one hand, I think the author tries to cover most of the important topics, but on the other, the book falls short in intellectual substance.
   
   Problems at the end of each chapter are very time consuming, and in some cases cannot be answered at all. This makes me wonder if the author can answer any of those tough questions that he wants you to ponder.
   
   If you're looking for a good SE textbook, don't buy this one. You will regret it!
   
   There is nothing much in this text that's closely related to what the author is asking you to consider. His book is based on fluff, and lacks the important stuff; just a bunch of snippets.
   
   You will get an "F".
   
   This is by far the worst textbook I have ever read, and isn't worth $128 dollars.
   
   Thanks for nothing Roger, but you deserve at least 1 star!



5. This book will bring you up to speed on all the buzz words for all the methodologies, but thats the extent of the book.
   
   This book covers very little of actually process, how to analyze and existing process, how to setup a new process or improve a process. It actually does a very poor job of explaining what sofrware engineering is all about and leaves you feeling that is about writing documents, not about creating reliable, verifiable software.

5 comments about Microsoft Windows XP Professional Administrator's Pocket Consultant, Second Edition (Pro-Administrator's Pocket Consultant).

1. Out of 5 Windows XP Prof. books this is the one I use the most. This book is packed with useful information, well written, excellent details. By the way, contrary to many other publications that claim to be up-to-date with the latest software version, this book was REALLY written about Windows XP Service Pack 2.



2. Windows XP Administrator's Pocket Consultant 2nd edition is a little over 500 pages (504 to be exact). It is well written, easy to understand, and the best I've found. My copy has so many dogears and highlights. This book is worth it and then some.



3. I really found this book to have great content with logical organization. My only complaint is that the quality of the binding on this book is poor.
   This is a shame because it is the type of book you will want to refer to often.



4. This book is essential for XP administrator or user. Simple and Easy to understand. Good to reference for daily job with XP computers.



5. Good book, worth the purchase. In detail review of the product. Gives good coding examples (they actually work - good job). No negatives to say about the book and I have to read one of these every time Microsoft releases a new version of Windows to make sure I am not missing anything for my clients.

5 comments about Creating the Art of the Game (New Riders Games).

1. This book was very helpful when it comes to alpha mapping, bump mapping, and light mapping. I found it very informative and very well written. It's a must have for your collection.



2. I've been reading a lot of books lately that talk about how to create various 3-d art. And also lots of books that talk about programming that assumes that you already have the "art assets", but there is obviously a big gap between those two things! This book fills that gap very well.
   
   This book talks about making art assets for games, period. So when he talks about making various pieces of art, he always puts it in the context of how it will be used in an actual game. Most of his points are illustrated with color photos of very popular games that the author has worked on (e.g. Metal of Honor).
   
   The book offers mostly theory, but the author isn't afraid to get his hands dirty either. Every once in a while to illustrate a point he offers very detailed, step by step instructions on how to do something (mainly using Maya, 3ds Max, or Photoshop). In this regard, users who use those tools will probably get a little bit more out of the book then those who use alternate tools, but most of the book is theory and general discussion.
   
   A lot of books I've been reading lately have been very "heavy" in terms of trying to cram so many facts into each page that I find myself counting down each page to the end of the chapter. Not this book. I find the pages turn a lot more easily and quickly in this book, and it is actually an enjoyable as well as informative read.



3. This book has really helped to guide my texturing skills in a more technical and marketable direction. Having some experience with UV layout, this book picks up with great Photoshop tips to transform boring textures into great ones. A great book for beginners and anyone wishing to look at an industry standard pipeline.



4. If you are completely new to creating game art then this book is for you. However if you have read a few of these then you prolly wont get much out of it. It is definaly more of a Game are theory book. There is some good information in here on optimising things for their best performance. The book cover all areas not just characters and props but, level design as well.
   
   Still, Very well written. I even though I have read may of these I still found many parts of it very interesting.



5. This guy knows what he's talking about! I've been in game art for a long time now, but on every page I learn something new. I'm not the reading type of guy, but I'm slurping this up. Great, great stuff! I highly recommend it!

5 comments about ASP.NET 2.0 Unleashed.

1. Trying to read most other book on asp.net 2.0 programming books are dull, boring, and mostly hard to follow. ASP.Net 2.0 Unleashed was considerable easier to follow steps and really hit on the concepts!



2. I bought this book just a few weeks back. And I've noticed that there are no database files in the CD. The author mentioned in the 8th chapter of the book " You can simply copy the database files(.mdf files) from the CD onto your local hardrive to use the sample databases". But I could see only the sourcecode files in the cd, no database files. That's really bad and I am very disappointed.



3. Generally speaking, it's a good book for new features of asp.net 2.0.
   Unfortunately, this big book still not include, two important parts of asp.net, ADO.NET and Web Service.



4. We bought 5 of these for our staff. I haven't gotten too far into it yet as we're really busy but we are being forced to move to .net soon so we need some materials. We researched several different books on this topic. This one is presented very clearly, lots of examples and explinations, reads well. Not super intense but seems like a great starter/mid level book.



5. I'm at a moderate level of web programming experience and new to .net 2.0. I have referenced the book twice in a week for topics that I was having trouble googling. On both occasions, I found the topic directly listed in the table of contents. When I read the topic, the presentation of the material was straightforward and the examples were terrific for filling in some subtleties not covered in the text.
   
   There were small pieces missing about hooking up windows security (examples helped me figure it out). It's also a VB-oriented book. The table of contents shows this book to be rich with different topics covered. In scanning the book, it looks like they will be similarly well covered.
   
   In short, I'm thrilled with this book.