5 comments about Professional Joomla! (Programmer to Programmer).

1. A lot of "filler" material and poorly written on top of it, many typos as well that are distracting and get in the way of the material. Only useful with a lot of background in Joomla. Didn't help me at all. I found Joomla!:A User's Guide far better written with clearer examples of the underlying concepts. I understand this is a "professional" book - but it was really quite lightweight and it felt very padded. Doesn't Wrox use technical editors anymore? The language sounds very much like a non-native speaker - which is fine - but editing is always called for - for everyone.



2. I read this book yesterday in about 1/2 hour while sitting at the cafe in B0rd3rs. It could be a useful intro to Joomla for a novice or non-technical business user. It scratches the surface of about every topic related to Joomla and building or running a web site, but it has very little detailed information. The chapter on Joomla's weaknesses was interesting, but other than that, most of the information is available on the Joomla, PHP, Apache and MySql sites.



3. Well, I have to say that this is a good book. I has very good examples and gives you more than you could ever find surfing the web, for hours, trying to find relevant info by yourself.
   
   Most of all, it covers security issues that you don't hear about very often. It takes you from the basics of installation, to advanced levels in terms of management and best practices, among other things. I can't expect to have the author reinvent the wheel.
   
   This book is not called "The unknown practices" nor " The Secrets of Joomla". You wont find Joomla "top secret information here", but the author delivers what he promises and you can see the table of contents before you buy.
   
   I bought it, I have been using Joomla for a year, I am a PHP coder and found it very useful. My sites are much better now because of this book.



4. this book is ver clear and well done, it explains all the covered topics with simple but effective examples. The topics are all about Joomla 1.5 so don't buy it if you're interested in Joomla 1.0



5. Although I have been involved in many forms of application development (including 20 years of various Oracle products) over the years I haven't used PHP or MySQL before begining to develop a Joomla website. To me this book has been exactly what I've been looking for! I'm not looking to make a career of Joomla development but I want to add functionality to the JSN Epic Pro template I've been using and this is answering my questions nicely.
   
   I haven't experienced a problem with the way things are described. To me it has seemed very clear and has guided me through one topic after another very well. I went through several resources on the Internet and I'm still glad I picked this up. I am experimenting with MySQL database modifications and creation of new Joomla extensions. So far it's been very smooth. I had picked up "Mastering Joomla 1.5" by James Kennard and found it inaccessable because it assumed more PHP background than I have. I can imagine that would be a good guide for someone who has used these technologies but I'm very content starting with this.
   
   For someone in my category I would definitely recommend purchasing it.

No comments about The Art of Debugging with GDB, DDD.

5 comments about Ajax Design Patterns.

1. It help me clarify the mystery behind AJAX and provided easy to follow examples.



2. This book is not perfect. There are a handful of editing mistakes and the author seems to go out of his way to ignore anything that Microsoft might have created (except ajax of course - wink).
   
   On the positive side, this book is extremely well written. The author has a natural writing style that is conversational but still structured enough to fully cover material. The layout and organization of the book adds to the readability.



3. Got this book in late 2006, and just about a month ago, I finished. I was involved in creating web forms using Rich Internet Applications (RIA) early last year, and I was hoping this book would give me some guidance.
   
   Simply put, I did not see what I was hoping to get but there were so many duplicate use-cases, stories which resemble one after another (as some other reviewers did, I did not count how many), but overall the examples were too specific (as an example check this out from CodeExample: Yahoo!Mindset (on page 335)
   ...
   OnClick = "setup('1505998205%3Ac26b16%3A105900fde%3Aff4', 'ajax");
   ...
   
   I really don't think this statement belongs in a book. In the same story, there is even a mention of Hurricane Katrina. I mean, come on... let's cut the chase. Too many sets of the same "Real-World Examples" used in many different pattern makes the context blurry. It certainly lost me. Yes, it took about 10 months for me to read this book, but I had other projects and priorities.
   
   Overall, the first chapters are well put, explaining what Ajax is etc. But it needs further tuning downstream. I give it 3 out of 5.



4. Let me get something straight here: Michael Mahemoff really knows how to teach, this book is one of the most appropriated books for those who want to learn about AJAX and in this review I'll tell you why I think so.
   First of all, the book starts explaining all the basics of AJAX with its definitons, how it works, related technologies and more. But the best point is: the author always explains using real-life examples, which makes everything easier to understand. The following chapters cover the AJAX Design Patterns properly. You can think about these design patterns as specific solutions, for example "how to made an auto-complete box with ajax", which will give you a great variety of "what can I do with ajax" things. The book also covers some architectural patterns too.
   I think the main goal of this book is not only the great diversity of solutions that you can apply in your projects, but how the author explains them. He always starts the explanation of a design pattern with a brief history of how this pattern can help you giving real examples on where these patterns have being applied. Don't forget that one of the main goals of Design Patterns is to create a "vocabulary" to make an easier reference about a specific subject, and this book completely achieves this goal by giving names for each one of those solutions represented as a Design Pattern.
   That's why I believe this book is a "must have" for any AJAX professional or student.



5. The title 'Ajax Design Patterns' is a little misleading because this is more like an AJAX cookbook or solutions book. Packed with ~650 pages of material spread over 19 chapters and 4 indexes, this is a good resource for anyone looking to work with and/or learn about what AJAX is and what it has to offer.
   
   My only issue with this book is that the overall look and feel is like many of the other O'Reilly offerings that have a more 'nerdy' feel to it. The cover and layout looks like it is just going to be a pocket with published papers all put together into one package, but because of it's cookbook nature it's not the same niche of book. I would have chosen a different design and layout to make this book better represent the content contained within.
   
   Having said all that, I think the book is a smashing success. Case studies such as slider bar creation, drag and drop, text editors are interspersed with the history of AJAX and why this buzzword is one that really DOESN'T get old (it's so powerful).
   
   For all AJAX developers I easily recommend this book. It's full of yummy tidbits of information that you will no doubt fine useful and engaging.
   
   **** RECOMMENDED

5 comments about Beginning AppleScript (Programmer to Programmer).

1. Finally a book about AppleScript that's not just for professionals. This book is for all Mac users that want to have some fun and learn how to write AppleScript programs. Kochan uses tons of examples and shows how to do some fun things, like write a guessing game, or write a program that says "Good morning" (or whatever is appropriate for the time of day). His iLife chapter shows how to write iTunes programs, and how to do things like make a photo album or DVD from a folder full of photos. This book rocks!
   
   - A Mac Hobbyist



2. Frankly the pickings for Applescript books is pretty slim. To have a new book on the subject is a welcome surprise. I would have preferred that the book had more exposition in relation to the amount of code, but that's a small gripe with what is otherwise a well written book. The basics are covered from the syntax of the language and the tools, to file management and logging. Then the author discusses scripting the common iLife applications. This is where I appreciated the up-to-date information as the other book on Applescript from O'Reilly is badly in need of an update.
   
   I would have preferred some additional information on Applescript Studio, as this is an exciting new development for Applescript. But that is also a minor grip.
   
   A must buy for those interested in a starting point for scripting their OS X box.



3. It's interesting to see just how powerful AppleScript has become. Initially scripting languages were not well suited for general purpose programming because they lacked too many features and/or were too inefficient. Both of these constraints have gone away. Computers are so powerful, the inefficiency doesn't matter. And the languages have gotten enough features that in many cases AppleScript works just fine as a solution to a general programming problem.
   
   It's about time for this book. Up until now the information about AppleScript has been thin. Now this tutorial has been published to explain the use of the language. I like Mr. Kochan's writing style. He starts off having you write a program. If you type it the way he says, the program has a bug in it. (Kind of like my programs.) That way, about the first thing you see is how AppleScript reports an error. With that out of the way, you can move on to learning the language.
   
   It's quite a comprehensive book, talking about things like classes of variables, there's quite a bit on string manipulation. Of course all the usual things like logic, loops, files and so on. He saves the description of AppleScript Studio until the end of the book, that way you learn more about the language itself and are ready when Studio comes in to help make the task so much easier.



4. I'm a tough grader, and four stars from me is doing very well! The bottom line is that this book is well organised, written clearly, and discusses a moderately difficult subject pleasantly and with competency.
   The book fitted my background. I started programming in 1959, became proficient in FORTRAN by the mid 60's, added BASIC and LOGO when I bought my first computer a decade later, used HyperCard while it was being supported, dabbled in PASCAL, and learned too little C before retiring in 1996. When I bought this book, my last programming was ten years behind me, and modern computer languages weren't in my repertory at all.
   I like a textbook approach -- clear exposition with plenty of examples, followed by problems to solve -- and Kochan provided just that. Often the examples preceded the exposition, and that worked fine, too. I prided myself on solving all the chapter-ending problems without looking at any of the solutions, and the book equipped me to do that, although a few problems in the later chapters took me a long time. Very occasionally I encountered typographical errors, but, almost always, what I had learned from the book allowed me to proceed. The point is not that there were typos here and there -- what technical manual is without them -- but that the book itself kept them from becoming an obstacle.
   From the end of Chapter 4 I was able to begin using what I had learned, actually putting AppleScript to work. That provided motivation to go on and finish the book, which took three months, incidentally.
   The book has an attractive layout and is blessed with an excellent table of contents, a comprehensive index, and a short list of other resources, all features of a well-written text, and all too often omitted.
   Still, four stars, not five. Why? Had I bought the book when it was published in 2005, rather than in January of 2007, I might well have given five stars, but writing about current programming techniques, especially when referring to other programs -- essential in teaching AppleScript -- is aiming at a moving target, and as the author indicated would happen, the target had moved on. An example in Chapter 11 using iDVD that a 2005 reviewer praised doesn't work on the newer version of iDVD on my computer, and the gap was too big for me to bridge. Kochan warned that two web-service examples in Chapter 13 might not remain available, and one of them is gone now. Despite these glitches, both Chapter 11 and Chapter 13 are well worth reading and studying, but each has lost a useful example.
   The book was unable to teach me the crontab feature in Chapter 13. I have not figured out whether a misprint, something outdated, or my own incompetence is responsible.
   The publisher, Wiley, provides an errata list for the textbook on line and provides a place there to post questions; however, the site is also dated and did not help me. Most of the errata listed there came from me.
   A principal purpose of AppleScript is to enable users to make more efficient use of other programs, such as Adobe PhotoShop and Apple iTunes, to name just two. This cannot be done in an elementary textbook, and Kochan illustrates what might be attempted without pretending to teach you to do it. On page 556 he cites "AppleScript, the Definitive Guide," by Matt Neuburg, saying: "This book explains many of the intricacies of the AppleScript language and is the recommended follow-up to the book you hold in your hands." I plan to find out. Neuburg's book, incidentally, wasn't suited to introduce me to AppleScript when I attempted to read it first.
   The bits of outdated material listed above should not discourage you from buying and profiting from "Beginning AppleScript." I do not know a better place to start.



5. AppleScript evolved from an 80's language called Hypertalk. AppleScript has always been the realm of only a few hardcore enthusiasts until Mac OS X came along, which made many computing solutions highly scriptable and boosted the popularity of Applescript. Of all the books I've seen on the language this is the best, especially if you're new to the language.
   
   This book can be a bit of fun too, as it is not simply about business solutions. Instead the author shows you how to use AppleScript to make an iTunes player and create a DVD slideshow. The book teaches the language by a series of short examples, each o which demonstrates a particular programming concept - how to write a loop, how to get a list of files, etc. Each chapter ends with a series of exercises to reinforce what you've just learned with solutions in the back of the book. The following is a chapter-by-chapter run down of the book:
   
   1. Writing Your First AppleScript Program - Covers the basics via a simple program that displays a dialog.
   2. Variables, Classes, and Expressions - The nuts and bolts of writing simple AppleScript expressions.
   3. Making Decisions - Deals with control flow and getting input from the user.
   4. Program Looping - A guessing game program demonstrates the use of the "repeat" statement and its various forms.
   5. Working with Strings - The basics of constructing, deconstructing, and inquiring about strings.
   6. Working with Lists and Records - How to use the two fundamental data structures of AppleScript. Also discusses more complex structures built from these two fundamental data types.
   7. Working with Files - Talks about opening, closing, and modifying files in the AppleScript language.
   8. Handlers - Handlers are what you'd call functions or methods in other languages. You'll learn how to write them, how to pass and return variables, and proper form for handlers.
   9. Error Handling - How to handle errors via event handling. Known as exception handling in other languages.
   10. Working with Applications - Talks about the "tell" statement, which is how AppleScript communicates with application programs. This is a very important chapter, since the primary use of AppleScript is to communicate with other applications.
   11. Scripting iLife Applications - A fun chapter. You write programs that interface with iPhoto, iTunes, and iDVD, three of the applications in the iLife suite.
   12. Script Objects - You learn how to craft data types that are compatible with object-oriented programming concepts.
   13. Loose Ends - Miscellaneous topics covered include web services, the Script Menu, GUI scripting, and recording scripts.
   14. Introducing ApplesScript Studio - Learn to use AppleScript Studio to develop a fancy user interface with AppleScript as the underlying code.
   Appendix A - Exercise Answers
   Appendix B - Language Reference
   Appendix C - Resources
   
   Highly recommended for the beginning AppleScript programmer, but that doesn't mean you'll come away with from this book with just beginner's skills.

5 comments about Postfix: The Definitive Guide.

1. After over a month of trying to get my first email server up and running using the try a setting, see what happens method, I finally gave up and bought this book. Now I'm in business.
   
   Everywhere I read, people claimed the easiest to configure MTA was postfix, so that is why I began to use it. True, the documention on the website is helpful and so are the included examples, but if you don't have the concepts down, that is useless.
   
   Thats where this great book comes in. This book isn't just a paper copy of the online docs, unlike most other computer books. It explains what stuff is, does, and what it means. I can read the config file just fine, I just don't know what the settings do. For example, the online docs showed how to setup masquerading and examples, but never told me what that meant. From a newbie standpoint, the masquerade meant the same thing as an alias. Well, those words mean the same thing. I need the vocabulary from the book to help me understand. Conanical is a common work in computer land? Maybe in Silicon Valley but not in NJ.
   
   A glowing chapter is DNS and e-mail which more than pays for the entire book. Not only to I understand DNS better, I can setup a backup mail system. Another great thing is the author shows you an entire setup zone file in one chunk, instead of line by line explanations and never showing you the whole thing put together. DNS and Bind book anyone? For shame.
   
   Also, The Hosting Multiple Domains is a fantastic chapter.
   
   Anyways, if you are lost and feeling like and idiot like I was, get this book. Thanks Mr. Dent for a fantastic book that is clear and easy to understand.



2. If you're looking for a comprehensive guide on setting up a Postfix mail server, then this isn't the book for you. For those that are already familiar with setting up MTAs, the information provided in "The Definitive Guide" is probably enough, but this book only covers a subset of the Postfix configuration parameters and does not provide the step-by-step instructions that many people may be expecting.



3. PostFix is a replacement mail server, MTA, for Unix based systems that
   formerly used Sendmail or other variants. PostFix was written to be a
   drop in replacement for Sendmail but with it's own variations on control
   files.
   
   This book outlines most of the common issues in dealing with setting up
   PostFix. The author takes the reader through the design concerns outlined
   by the author of the program, Wietse Venema, who wrote the forward of the
   book.
   
   Sendmail has been a staple of the mail delivery world but it has a well
   deserved reputation for being hard to setup, administer and understand.
   The O'Reilly book on Sendmail is at least 3 times as large as this book.
   There is alot to learn about its' macro language and using M4 to build
   control files. Sendmail is a very hard program for a beginner to
   understand and configure properly.
   
   The author spends the first few chapters discussing how a mail server is
   supposed to work; how the DNS system interacts with the mail system. There
   are well laid out block diagrams to show the flow of email through a
   system. Any SysAdmin who has spent time administering a mail system can
   probably skip the first few chapters. Those who are new to running a mail
   server should find the begining chapters enlightening.
   
   PostFix mostly uses easy to read control files that don't require processing.
   The program can be set up to use the Unix standard mbox delivery format or
   the newer maildir format. The book explains the pros and cons of the 2
   storage formats both from the MTA perspective and the pop or imap
   interface.
   
   Most of the more common configuration tweaks used in securing a Sendmail
   system also apply to a PostFix installation. They are just easier to set
   up in PostFix with the examples provided.
   
   The book has a section devoted to setting up secure mail relay using the
   Cyrus SASL libraries. It details setting up the password database via the
   Unix standard or shadow format, SASL, LDAP PAM or MYSQL formats. The
   author discusses ways to further secure the connection by using TLS
   connections to ensure passwords are not compromised.
   
   PostFix has some built in anti-spam tools. The book has a chapter devoted
   to to pros and cons of the various approaches. Examples of "reasonable"
   and "paranoid" approaches for setting up PostFix are provided. A simpler
   apporoach than jumping directly into Spam Assassin or other
   spam pre-processors
   
   Mailing lists are another feature that PostFix can manage. The book has
   examples of various simple ways of setting up mailing lists short of
   installing a separate program like MajorDomo. This is a handy feature.
   
   There are Appendixes intended to walk a user through the compiling process
   which will help users not familiar with using Make. There is a listing of
   the PostFix parameter commands and what they all mean.
   
   PostFix the Definitive Guide is a well written, easy to read step by step
   instruction book for using the PostFix mail server. Using this book as a
   reference, an experienced SysAdmin should make the transition from
   Sendmail to PostFix without much trouble. For someone new to the world of
   MTA's, the book should answer most of the questions associated with
   getting a PostFix mail server up and running.
   
   This is another O'Reilly book that should be on a SysAdmin's bookshelf.



4. I wasn't looking for esoteric information on how to administer Sendmail. I was looking for a book on Postfix and that's what the author provided. I got the book based a lot on the quality of O'Reilly books and the editor's reputation. Andy Oram is a top notch editor. I recommend this book to any Linux or UNIX person wanting to substitute Postfix for sendmail. Postfix is a drop in replacement for systems configured for sendmail but Postfix is not a monlithic program with lots of vulnerabilities. The author expalins that perfectly.



5. I've got all three books in the field, and this is a good book. Unfortunately, although Kyle's book was co-written by the author of the software, I believe that "The Book of Postfix: State-of-the-Art Message Transport" by Ralf Hildebrandt is a better choice.

1 comments about The Designer's Desktop Manual.

1. I'm fairly new to many of the topics discussed in the book, including color, photoshop tips, etc. It was quite helpful. It is also helpful for designers going between windows and os x- it gives basic differences and how to deal with that.

2 comments about Physical Database Design: the database professional's guide to exploiting indexes, views, storage, and more (The Morgan Kaufmann Series in Data Management ... Kaufmann Series in Data Management Systems).

1. This book fills a gap in the marketplace that has needed to be filled for some time now. Oh, there are a lot of good books on each individual DBMS and there are some very good books on logical database design and data modeling. But until now, there has not been a good book that provides a comprehensive treatment of the physical side of database design from a DBMS agnostic perspective.
   
   Actually, the last book that I can recall to tackle the subject well was Handbook of Relational Database Design by Fleming and von Halle (Addison-Wesley, ISBN 0-201-11434-8); but that book was published way back in 1989 and it is a bit long in the tooth.
   
   Physical Database Design is co-authored by three database design experts: Sam Lightstone, Toby Teorey, and Tom Nadeau. Lightstone is a Senior Technical Staff Member and Development Manager with IBM's DB2 product development team. Teorey is a professor emeritus in the Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Department and Director of Academic Programs in the College of Engineering at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. And Nadeau is the founder of Aladdin Software and works in the area of data and text mining. So it is no surprise that the book has a solid technical foundation.
   
   The book offers comprehensive coverage of how to design the physical structures and environment for the most popular database management systems. After reading Physical Database Design you will come away with a better understanding of how the choices you make during physical design affect the performance of your systems. The specific examples, guidelines, and best and worst practices included by the authors are instructive and enlightening, as well as being helpful across the spectrum of popular DBMSs. Examples and code illustrating the major concepts of physical database design are depicted for IBM DB2, Oracle, Microsoft SQL Server, and even sometimes for Informix. It might have been useful to also cover MySQL, but that is not a major criticism as the three most popular DBMSs are nicely addressed by the authors.
   
   So what types of issues are covered within the book? Well, of course, it offers guidance on how to create the objects needed to support a database; tables, indexes, etc. The book also deals with the nuances of setting up more complicated database structures such as partitioning and clustering. And performance issues are covered in some depth as well; in fact, two of the first four chapters are on indexing methods and issues.
   
   One of the more interesting sections of the book is the chapter on automated physical database design. Over the past few years the major DBMS vendors have been adding more autonomic features to their products and the authors address the autonomic physical design aspects quite nicely. These features include the IBM DB2 Design Advisor, the Microsoft SQL Server Database Tuning Advisor, and Oracle's SQL Access Advisor.
   
   If you are interested in how database systems interact with hardware the chapter titled "Down to the Metal: Server Resources and Topology" will be instructive. It discusses CPU architectures, client/server architectures, SMP and NUMA, server clusters, storage and RAID, resource balancing, and availability issues. This is an area where many DBAs lack in-depth knowledge, so this chapter should be welcome reading.
   
   Another very nice feature of the book is the "Tips and Insights for Database Professionals" that end each chapter. These highlighted sections cover the primary ideas that were presented in that chapter in the form of tips you can follow to improve your database design.
   
   As good as this book is though, it is not perfect. Unfortunately, the authors make the cardinal mistake of sometimes using the words "always" and "never." It is almost never a good idea to use "always" or "never" when talking about database design and performance. For example, the authors offer the following advice on page 28: "Indexing should always be used for access to a small number of rows for queries." Now this advice may sound reasonable, and it would be if you just remove the word "always." For example, if you only have a small total number of rows in a table then just scanning the table is likely to be more efficient than going through an index because that would add I/O.
   
   Putting small quibbles like that aside, Physical Database Design is a well-written and researched book that should prove useful to any DBA or developer looking to improve their skills in creating efficient and effective relational database implementation. Consider adding it to your library.



2. This is NOT a book for people looking to learn SQL, or some other dialect of a database. It is a data centric design book on the low level parts of those database engines you currently use.
   
   Did you ever wonder WHY heap files and B-Tree files are used in databases? This is the book to give you the why behind a lot of the lower level design decisions in databases today.
   
   I enjoyed the why discussion of almost all of the topics, but it left me feeling a little light on the implementation. There is not much in the way of practical discussion in the book. While a discussion about index types is very well thought out it never completes the thought from an implementation standpoint. I was actually left with a lot more questions to low level implementation than I started. When to use one of these algorithms is totally left as an excercise to the reader. And in many cases the actual algorithm itself is also left to you to research. I guess they are outside the scope of the book, but I would have enjoyed it so much more with some simple pseudocode or a sample project concept to put them to use.
   
   The book is a great reference to get you thinking about the lowest level of database implementation and make you really think about the way in which SQL Server, DB2, etc all work. But you are not left with a lot of substance on why one implementation would be better than the other for your specific application or problem domain.

5 comments about Software Requirement Patterns (Best Practices).

1. Stephen Withall's "Software Requirement Patterns" can help any analyst write better requirements. The patterns Steve presents can help analysts ask the right questions to properly understand and specify requirements of many types at an appropriate level of detail. This book communicates a wealth of wisdom and insight for writing stellar requirements. The patterns point out the value of using a consistent style when exploring and documenting requirements. Even if you don't apply the patterns rigorously, Steve provides hundreds of practical tips for specifying better requirements.
   
   This book does not address the entire requirements development and management life cycle. You aren't going to sit down and read through the whole book, either. Instead, it's a valuable reference when you have questions about how best to explore and specify certain types of requirements. It will help you discover essential information that you wouldn't otherwise think to ask about. I used the "Report Requirement Pattern" this morning (literally) to get some new ideas about effectively specifying requirements for reports.
   
   This is the most comprehensive resource I've seen on thinking carefully through the information associated with effective functional, data, and quality requirements of many different kinds. I highly recommend it.



2. The purpose of this book is to help you decide and define what a new software system needs to do and to suggest what extra features to add to make it a very good system. It saves you effort and enables you to be more precise, by providing detailed guidance on how to specify individual requirements.
   
   Requirement patterns are encapsulated expertise, conveniently prepackaged for reuse. The book contains 37 requirement patterns, each of which describes an approach to tackling a particular type of situation that comes up repeatedly in all kinds of systems, but focusing on commercial business software. Only a fraction of any system is specific to its business area; the bulk occurs over and over again no matter what your system is for. These patterns cover more than half of all requirements in some systems, and even more if you add the extra requirements the patterns suggest. Each pattern conveys not only the basic information that a requirement needs to convey, it also offers guidance on supplemental information that you need in your requirements in order to make them complete, comprehensible, and properly cross-referenced. This book contains over 400 example requirements, many of which are suitable for applying unchanged to any system and others that are a useful starting point for a requirement to suit the reader's needs. These examples are the heart of the book. Currently, the product description does not show the table of contents, so I do that next:
   
   Part I: Setting the Scene
   Chapter 1. Synopsis of "Crash Course in Specifying Requirements"
   Section 1.1. What Are Requirements?
   Section 1.2. Where Do Requirements Fit in the Grand Scheme?
   Section 1.3. A Few General Principles
   Section 1.4. A Traditional Requirements Process
   Section 1.5. Agile Requirements Processes
   
   Chapter 2. Synopsis of "The Contents of a Requirements Specification"
   Section 2.1. Introduction Section
   Section 2.2. Context Section
   Section 2.3. Functional Area Sections
   Section 2.4. Major Nonfunctional Capabilities Section
   
   Chapter 3. Requirement Pattern Concepts
   Section 3.1. Introduction to Requirement Patterns
   Section 3.2. The Anatomy of a Requirement Pattern
   Section 3.3. Domains
   Section 3.4. Requirement Pattern Groups
   Section 3.5. Relationships Between Requirement Patterns
   
   Chapter 4. Using and Producing Requirement Patterns
   Section 4.1. When and How to Use Requirement Patterns
   Section 4.2. Tailoring Requirement Patterns
   Section 4.3. Writing New Requirement Patterns
   
   Part II: Requirement Pattern Catalog
   Chapter 5. Fundamental Requirement Patterns
   Section 5.1. Inter-System Interface Requirement Pattern
   Section 5.2. Inter-System Interaction Requirement Pattern
   Section 5.3. Technology Requirement Pattern
   Section 5.4. Comply-with-Standard Requirement Pattern
   Section 5.5. Refer-to-Requirements Requirement Pattern
   Section 5.6. Documentation Requirement Pattern
   
   Chapter 6. Information Requirement Patterns
   Section 6.1. Data Type Requirement Pattern
   Section 6.2. Data Structure Requirement Pattern
   Section 6.3. ID Requirement Pattern
   Section 6.4. Calculation Formula Requirement Pattern
   Section 6.5. Data Longevity Requirement Pattern
   Section 6.6. Data Archiving Requirement Pattern
   
   Chapter 7. Data Entity Requirement Patterns
   Section 7.1. Living Entity Requirement Pattern
   Section 7.2. Transaction Requirement Pattern
   Section 7.3. Configuration Requirement Pattern
   Section 7.4. Chronicle Requirement Pattern
   Section 7.5. Information Storage Infrastructure
   
   Chapter 8. User Function Requirement Patterns
   Section 8.1. Inquiry Requirement Pattern
   Section 8.2. Report Requirement Pattern
   Section 8.3. Accessibility Requirement Pattern
   Section 8.4. User Interface Infrastructure
   Section 8.5. Reporting Infrastructure
   
   Chapter 9. Performance Requirement Patterns
   Section 9.1. Response Time Requirement Pattern
   Section 9.2. Throughput Requirement Pattern
   Section 9.3. Dynamic Capacity Requirement Pattern
   Section 9.4. Static Capacity Requirement Pattern
   Section 9.5. Availability Requirement Pattern
   
   Chapter 10. Flexibility Requirement Patterns
   Section 10.1. Scalability Requirement Pattern
   Section 10.2. Extendability Requirement Pattern
   Section 10.3. Unparochialness Requirement Pattern
   Section 10.4. Multiness Requirement Pattern
   Section 10.5. Multi-Lingual Requirement Pattern
   Section 10.6. Installability Requirement Pattern
   
   Chapter 11. Access Control Requirement Patterns
   Section 11.1. User Registration Requirement Pattern
   Section 11.2. User Authentication Requirement Pattern
   Section 11.3. User Authorization Requirement Patterns
   Section 11.4. Specific Authorization Requirement Pattern
   Section 11.5. Configurable Authorization Requirement Pattern
   Section 11.6. Approval Requirement Pattern
   
   Chapter 12. Commercial Requirement Patterns
   Section 12.1. Multi-Organization Unit Requirement Pattern
   Section 12.2. Fee/Tax Requirement Pattern
   
   This book is very good at taking a dull subject - software requirements and their specification - and making it interesting and accessible. Highly recommended.



3. Stephen Withall should be congratulated for slugging through about 300 pages of examples of requirements. Many of them are quite good. For that alone, I recommend the book for all those who want to know what a fairly well written requirement might look like. If you want to know what a very well written requirement looks like, then you should go attempt to read Tom Gilb's book Competitive Engineering. I say attempt because Gilb is not an easy read.
   Withall is honest from the beginning in that this is a book of examples using a pattern language. I don't have much enthusiasm for pattern languages, they seem to confuse me, but that is probably a personal problem. There is little to explain what requirements are or how to get them. This book focus is on writing them down. He does have a really brief (very, very brief) intro to requirements with more promised on the web. I didn't read the web stuff.
   What I did learn, and colored my whole perception of the book, is that the working definition of requirement is focused flat on functional requirements. Yes, there is a nod to not functional requirements but they get a short shift throughout the book. Frankly, functional requirements are not that interesting. Yes, they are needed but they are typically really easy to get. It is the not functional requirements that get teams into trouble. It isn't that the software doesn't do what you want, it just does it in a way that you hate.
   This is clear in the section on User Function requirements where (even if he told us earlier to specify the problem, not the solution) the examples are full of solution. "The system will refresh itself" and "Whenever a sound is played for the purpose of alerting the user, a visual cue shall also be invoked". Why I ask you? That is solution talk.
   Now to be a bit more fair, problem and solution is a relative area so, without a clear description of the context, I can't say what those two examples really are, but my money is on solution. A problem UI requirement for the above is more like, "The user will correctly recognize an alert within X seconds 95% of the time" or something like that.
   Bottom line, if you want to have a book of lots of examples, not to bad. In those examples are some good questions. But there is much more to do than to write them down.



4. This book provides a great "kick start" for specifying large system requirements. The patterns provide food for thought along with a very useful standard approach to specifying requirements. It should be in every system analyst's toolkit.



5. It's ok if you are starting to have the concepts and everything in a general level. If you are looking for some specifics guides or examples to apply in the reality... mmmhhh... I don't think this book is the best option to have that. And... it's expensive. My best advice... don't buy it.

2 comments about Web Development and Design Foundations with XHTML (4th Edition).

1. We use this book in a community college course for both online and face-to-face classes. The students really like the hands-on approach with examples, practice exercises and case studies. The 4th Edition of this popular textbook integrates XHTML and CSS topics so students learn from the beginning how to use both XHTML and CSS to configure text, color, and page layout. There is also excellent coverage of web design best practices, accessibility, usability, and Web standards.



2. We use this book in a community college course for both online and face-to-face classes. The students really like the hands-on approach with examples, practice exercises and case studies. The 4th Edition of this popular textbook integrates XHTML and CSS topics so students learn from the beginning how to use both XHTML and CSS to configure text, color, and page layout. There is also excellent coverage of web design best practices, accessibility, usability, and Web standards.

5 comments about Animation from Pencils to Pixels: Classical Techniques for the Digital Animator.

1. The Animator's Workbook will do you just fine.
   This book does go over the tried and true traditional principles and how they are implemented in the digital animation environment.
   Let's face it there are hundreds of Animation Software Suites to choose from. I doubt this book will cover them all only the most well know and popular Animation Software packages.
   
   You are better off Just buying a user's manual if you already own the software mentioned in this book and get a more thorough book on Animation. The few software suites this book mentions are Toonboom Studio,Adobe Flash(formerly known as Macromedia Flash). I don't remember all the details.
   
   However if you are an absolute newbie to digital animation this book is a nice start in the right direction.
   
   Don't get me wrong Tony White knows his stuff I just don't think this book will reveal much of anything new about animation if you are experienced with Animation Software and the logic behind it's interface.
   
   I recommend you borrow this book from a library before you decide to buy it.



2. Lacking an understanding of traditional 2D animation skills is a complaint many times heard when talking with CG Animation studio employers. They'll tell you that plenty would-be animators know how to click the right button in the software, but far fewer understand the foundational concepts and principles of WHAT they're doing and WHY. If you're looking for a well-written title on the subject of applying classic animation techniques and principles to the digital world, 'Pencils to Pixels' is an excellent resource. Covering story development, the rules of filmmaking, the principles of animation, and an overview of creating 2D animation from start to finish, the book should fill in many of the 'gaps' new 3D animators possess simply due to not coming from a 2D traditional animation background.



3. I have studied animation for the last several years. I am a Flash designer specializing in E-learning in the Seattle market. I am not just a casual reader of this topic.
   
   Why I like this book. When you go to school for animation you have a lot of stuff thrown at you and no matter how good your notes are you can not remember it all. You need to refresh your skills. This book was not only good at that but also much more. It is a fun read, an interesting read.
   
   This book covers the complete process from picking up the pencil to marketing/distribution. Tony knows his stuff, he should he has been a professional animator for many years and you have probably seen his works. If you have seen the Pink Panther Strikes Again ("does your dog bite?") you have, he did all the animation for the film.
   
   Traditional animation is an art form and it seems like it is finally getting some of the respect it deserves. 3D is the rage these days, Pixel does an excellent job and nobody does it better, unfortunately there are more bad 3D feature films than good. Even Disney is hiring back some traditional animators and creating some old school, that's cool.
   
   If you want to learn animation pick up this book and The Illusion of Life and you will learn so very much. But the learning process also requires doing. Like the saying goes, "A dream and a number 2 pencil will take you anywhere".
   
   Keith Johnson
   Manager of the Seattle Flash User Group
   Flash Animator/ E-Learning Specialist



4. I'm glad Mr Tony White wrote this book because in it he doesn't shy away from the fact that traditional 2D animation is an art superior to computer animation. He doesn't hit anyone over the head with that view. He doesn't have to; it makes itself known on nearly every page.
   
   As one who is utterly bored by the digital revolution I am glad there are still skilled men like Tony White out there showing us the fundamentals of an art that may (or may not) be on the verge of extinction. His first book, THE ANIMATOR'S WORKBOOK is a masterpiece, a work in a class by itself, and is one book that I wished I had had when I was still young. Had I had that book in my hands in my formative years I have little doubt that I would have made a career in animation. That fine book cannot be recommended too highly and every aspiring tradional animator should have it.
   
   This new book is excellent, too, in that it tries to keep the art of 2D alive while acknowledging the fundamentals of the current hot toy, 3D computer-based animation. For those in the 3D world who want to break away from the infantile and over-the-top productions currently in vogue and wish to bring back (if that is possible) some genuine art into this new animation realm this book will be a godsend. For many reasons this book is to be highly recommended. It shows again what a fine skill the author has, and it has inspired even me at this late stage in my life to begin to learn tradional animation. Buy it.
   
   If I have one gentle criticism to make regarding this excellent book, it would be that the authors and book editors need to know that the reading public is growing increasingly tired of reading "he or she" when simply "he" will do nicely. Have we not all now grown up enough to realize that women are not offended when the pronoun "he" is used only, and that it is totally unnecessary to include a "she" after every "he"? Gosh, I hope so.
   
   Lastly, the cd that was enclosed with the book included a delightful little production called "Endangered Species", Mr White's lament to an art being lost. On my copy the narration was recorded so low that I could not hear what was being spoken. Hopefully future editions will correct this problem.



5. Wonderful! A current and deep book! A book that shows the whole technique of the contemporary animation. Written by one of the great names of the animation. It is a wonderful reference for everybody that love animation. Pretty!