5 comments about Mastering Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Express Edition (Mastering).

1. Before I had got this book I had been reading tutorials on the internet. I wanted a single source of information so I started looking for a book. I'm just starting to get into SQL Server and I'm going to convert an Access DB into SQL Server 2005 Express.
   
   My experience with Access was learn as you go because I needed to get the app finished asap. By the time I was done I wanted to redo the whole app again using the knowledge I'd gained through the whole process. Now I do not have time constraints and like I said I'm going to redo the Access DB in SQL Server 2005 Express, but I didn't want to make the mistake of jumping in right away and learning as I go. So I decided to read up as much as I could before starting.
   
   After reading this book I feel I have a solid understanding of most the aspects of SQL Server 2005 Express. What I wanted most was to learn about backups and security which this book does a good job of covering. I think the strongest attribute of the book is it reads easy and fast, but has good information. The chapters are kept short so it is easy to finish each in one sitting.
   
   I gave it four stars because to me it is a comprehensive book, but after reading it I don't believe I have "mastered" SQL Server 2005 Express. I don't think anyone could with one book. I think it gives the reader a good base knowledge on most aspects but to master them you'd have to research further.



2. I give this book five stars not because the entire book is great, but because chances are there will be a few parts that 'serve' you well - which is most likely why you buy this book. One or two of these gems (such as adding Encryption to a connection string to automatically encrypt all data moving from sql server onto the network) will be worth the price of the book many times.
   
   The intro on things like normalizing is weak and chances are you will not learn anything here (if you do not know the basics about normalizing a database schema, then chances are some tutorials on the internet will help you better).
   
   Sections on backups, locks, internal workings of sql server, smo objects for custom management apps, logs, etc are all well written and helpful.
   
   A few performance metrics for various typical approaches would have been appreciated, the type of things you have to dig through white papers for.



3. I have bought this book for my teaching purposes targeting a "new starter" group. Introductory chapters are good. It has abundant representative pictures. But as the topics progres the book becomes having a little problematic. If you think to buy this book as a self study guide, it is maybe better to look for another one.
   On the other hand, SQL Server Express Edition does not have so much book-style resources. This may force the reader to buy this book (as in my case!)
   But as a last opinion, this book is not a "must have book"



4. .
   
   Microsoft has developed a FREE, yes that is FREE, SQL application that is actually rather good.
   
   This book will get you up and running on SQL; database concepts and design; trouble shooting your databases as well as introducing you to Visual Basic Express...another FREE app from Microsoft
   
   It isn't as robust as SQL Server, but is far better than Access.



5. Microsoft realeased a free version of SQL Server to compete with mySQL and it's actually quite excellent, especially given its price tag. This book makes the book claim to have you 'mastering' SQL Server, but of course no single book could do that. Instead, it provides a very comprehensive tour-de-force of all the features, bells and whistles, and relies on you - dear, Internet-connected reader - to research areas of particular interest to you.
   
   The biggest flaw is that there's not enough information to get you up and running in the first place. Literally, the installation instructions for SQL Server Express are esoteric, and there's a couple of missing pieces of information, without which you're going nowhere. But a little digging around on the Net will have you running fairly quickly.
   
   Overall, a great little book for the price.

3 comments about The PHP Anthology: 101 Essential Tips, Tricks & Hacks (Anthology).

1. I ordered this from the publisher and it literally fell apart as I started reading it. I'm going to have to 3-hole punch it and find a thick binder for the over 500 pages! I thought it might be the publisher (Sitepoint), but I just read that a Peachpit book (the new Scott Kelby book) is having the same problems. I wonder if they use the same binder? I can't actually review the book, as it's unreadable in the present condition. I have read other Sitepoint books though, and find them quite good, particularly the Yank book. This is the first one to fall apart.



2. While I wouldn't read this book cover-to-cover, it makes a very handy and current reference title for any intermediate PHP programmer.
   
   100 Solutions, neatly divided into 13 chapters, make it very quick to find what I was looking for. The downloadable code from the publishers website also helped a great deal and saved me some time.
   
   I found the security checklist at the back of the book particularly useful and helped me pinpoint and solve some potential vulnerbilities. Chapter 13 on best practices was also a clear standout in my mind, as it covers PHP coding best practices and helped me improve how I work.



3. I really wasn't sure what to expect with the book, my shelves are already packed with a stack of good PHP books that I've read through once, got a few good gems of info from, put on the shelf, and never touch again.
   
   It was the title that got me first interested in this book, sort of like the greatest hits of PHP which, in theory, is a book that I expected to get a little more use from.
   
   I'm happy to say that this book delivered on it's promise and them some.
   
   The difference between this book and say some of the other more tutorial style PHP books I own is that it doesn't follow the one size fits all approach. It actually explains solutions to problems that your able to adapt you your own world. I downloaded the code from the books website which made my life even easier.
   
   It's organized into stack of little mini tutorials covering most of the challenges you'll face if you're programming with PHP. I didn't read this from cover-to-cover but more jumped straight to some of the specific sections that I was keen to learn about. The layout and design of this book enables you to jump around from section to section easily.
   
   I'm now finding myself going back to this book time and time again as new problems crop up, just today I had to solve a caching issue and violia a nice little example of exactly what I needed was there in chapter 11. It saved me a stack of time so I thought I'd use it to write this review.
   
   It's also worth noting that chapter 1 contains a nicely written introduction to object-oriented PHP and is worth a read if your just starting with PHP and everyone should read chapter 13. Even though I've been programming in PHP for a while now this chapter opened my eyes to why I experience some of the frustrations I do... I'd probably be happy with paying the cover price just for that chapter alone.
   
   It's my first sitepoint book and I've got to say I'm extremely happy. They seem to do things a little different than you're old schoolers and I've got to say the approach is refreshing. I'd have no problem with recommending this to PHP developers at any level.

5 comments about Statistics: An Introduction using R.

1. The title of this book is a misnomer. It is not an introduction to statistics at all, although it does do a very clear review of courses in descriptive statistics, regression, ANOVA, ANCOVA and GLM. If you don't know statistics, and want to learn, this is not the book for you.
   
   This is, however, a truly excellent book that gets you up to speed very quickly on a wide variety of statistical applications using R as the tool for solution. If you have a reasonable background in statistics and want to use R as a substitute for SAS, SPSS, BMD or other package, this book will teach you how within a week. (Make sure you download the examples from the referenced website.



2. This book is the best I have found for an introduction to the R statistical programming environment. It is also a very good textbook for introductory statistics. The supplemental material at his web site is excellent as well.



3. This book purports to be an introduction to statistics using R. R has exploded in popularity and today is probably the most powerful system available for doing statistics, having surpassed the older Splus and SAS. Thus you do well to learn R early on as you begin statistics; it well suits the novice and the expert. To make things even better, R is both open source and free with an excellent, supportive online community of many people. The online mailing lists are a treasure trove of valuable resources. There are now several introductory books to R, including one by Verzani, one by Dalgaard, and one by Crawley.
   
   Crawley's book is a _very_ rapid tour through a lot of statistics. There is no real way that a beginner could properly digest the material. Moreover, he often assumes far too much and then assumes far too little. For example in one early chapter he covers the basics of General Linear Models (GLMs), an intermediate to advanced concept. At the beginning of the next chapter, he is explaining basics about the slope of a line! There are a lot of similar examples that left me scratching my head.
   
   There are good pearls in the book that are quite nice, however this book should really be for those with some exposure to statistics.
   
   A better introductory book is "Using R for Introductory Statistics" by John Verzani. That book was more clear and better organized.



4. This book does a good job of what its designed to do. I would have to agree with another reviewer that finds the topics covered in this book a little too much for a intro statistics book. My intro class certainly didn't cover variable transformation and other more complex topics. I would have to say that I don't feel 100% comfortable navigating through R now, but I have exponentially increased my understanding. I wasn't too impressed with the last few chapters. It seemed as if the coverage of material decreased as the complexity of the statistical tests became more complex. The secion on survival analysis, for example, spans only a few pages. That being said, you do get the R code right in front of you to expose you to how the code needs to be set up. This book also comes with matching chapter lessons that can be downloaded from the authors website. Unfortunately, many of the exercises are nothing more than repeats of the same material in the book. This hurts. I like learning through structured examples...And I prefer more rather than less. So if you are really motivated to learn R by working through some elementary inferential statistics (standard deviation, t-tests, and anovas) then this book can produce results. If your looking for more advanced content (information on examples installing and using packages affiliated with R) than this book doesn't won't meet all of your goals. I would recomend it to someone with little or no knowledge of R and the patience to work through the basics on your own.



5. If you have already had some experience with statistical methods and are looking for a refresher or a way to quickly pickup the basics of R, this is the place to go. It has a wonderfully conversational tone that is missing from far too many scientifically oriented books, and he brings quite a few insights into the practice of statistics that are more difficult to pickup from the heavily theoretical books.
   
   I would agree with a previous reviewer that there is a bit more space than necessary dedicated to relatively simple concepts, but such minor transgressions are easily overlooked given the overall effectiveness of the book.
   
   I would recommend this book as a refresher/introduction to R, or as a companion book to a college course on statistical methods. The author doesn't cover theory at all (on purpose), so keep in mind this is purely a practical book.
   
   I would have given the book 5 stars if it weren't for a few typos that might confuse beginners or people who have a tendency to read when you're a bit to tired to do so (for example, on the bottom of p59 he says lower bound when he meant upper, nothing you wouldn't catch with a careful re-reading).

5 comments about Optimizing Oracle Performance.

1. I purchased this book and did not open it for about 4 months. After reading the first 25 pages or so I became motivated to read more and finish it. It took me about 2 weeks to read through the entire book. The author does a really good job of detailing how to use Oracle tracing to troubleshoot performance related issues. With no shortage of Oracle performance tuning books this is definitely one of the better ones. This book must be one of the best performance related books because you can read it cover to cover. The book is packed with detail so you will reread several pages a few times, kind of like being in college and spending a couple of hours reviewing a couple of pages out of Calculus book.
   
   If you are at all serious about becoming better at Oracle tuning this is a great book to read.



2. I like the wait approach very much. DIS buk prezNts a scientific approach 2 prob diagnosis & performance optimization. DIS aLowz optimization F4tz 2 b consistent & repeatable. DIS buk tAkz Oracle prob diagnosis & tuning out of d realm of bn a BWO art.



3. This book is so interesting that on a couple occasions I've fallen asleep reading it, because I want to "find out what happens next" -- not because it is boring. Even the chapter on queueing theory that has a lot of math in it is understandable and interesting, even though I have a mild aversion to math.
   
   It has highlighted a lot of very useful techniques to ensure you focus on the true problems, and not the various ratios we've taken as absolute truth for so many years. I can't wait to try these concepts out!



4. There are certain "camps" in the worldwide Oracle community. For example, there is the "Oak Table Network" of "Oracle scientists" who seek thorough understandings of issues backed up by details, tests and proofs. Contrasting is the "Silver Bullet" family of field-tested generals who prefer rules of thumb and quick fixes even it means some false understandings and occasionally being wrong. Cary Millsap (of the Oak Table Network) stands as someone respected by both sides.
   
   Cary Millsap worked at Oracle for 10 years on system performance before co-founding Hotsos in 1999 [...]. He is one of the most trusted sources on matters of Oracle system performance, and "Optimizing Oracle Performance" is considered his finest work (4.5 out of 5 stars on Amazon). The best way to learn more about him is to see for yourself. Here are some of his most popular articles:
   
   "Diagnosing Performance Problems" from Oracle Magazine. A brief summary of what is covered in this book[...]
   
   "Introduction", the first chapter from "Optimizing Oracle Performance."Chapter 1: [...]
   
   "Case Study", the 12th chapter from "Optimizing Oracle Performance."Chapter 12 (Case Study): [...]
   
   "Performance Management: Myths and Facts." One of his most popular articles.[...]
   
   "Why a 99%+ Database Buffer Cache Hit Ratio is Not Ok." Another of his more popular articles.[...]
   
   While everyone will have their own favourite parts of the book, I think most readers would agree that getting a good taste of the author's performance tuning philosophy is one of the highlights. "Method R", not to be confused with "System R" (ie. SQL), is not about looking at STATSPACK, cache hit ratios, or V$ tables and guessing. The author wanted to devise a system to identify and resolve the top performance concerns of an organisation with reliable, predictable results. The first few chapters put this method in writing in perhaps the best way since the introduction of "YAPP" (Anjo Kolk).
   
   "The performance enhancement possible with a given improvement is limited by the fraction of the execution time that the improved feature is used." - Amdahl's Law
   
   After several years of research, the author discovered that Extended SQL Trace Data was at the centre of "Method R". Some of the articles should give you a good taste of what Extended SQL Trace data is, if you didn't know already. By the time you finish reading this book you will know exactly how to collect and interpret all the little "ela=17101 p1=10 p2=2213 p3=1 ..." within into something meaningful. For some, that justifies the price tag right there.
   
   So in essence I would have re-named this book "Method R: Optimizing Oracle Performance Using Extended SQL Trace Data," because that is basically what this book is about. There are some reasonably "stand-alone" chapters on other topics, for instance on the Oracle Fixed View tables (Chapter 8) and on Queueing Theory (Chapter 9), but that is not the primary focus of the book.
   
   Those that are expecting a more broad treatment of the subject of performance tuning may be justifiably disappointed that it basically covers only this narrow aspect. However, it is covered very well, and it isn't really covered anywhere else. The author makes no apologies for this, claiming that extended SQL trace data is the only resource you will ever need for diagnosing and solving performance problems.
   
   "You cannot extrapolate detail from an aggregate." - Cary Millsap's preference of SQL extended trace data over fixed views (system-wide average performance characteristics)
   
   Indeed, some people might contend that the author spends a little too much time stating his beliefs, defending them, and patting himself on the back. But I think it adds a certain flavour to the book, and I respect an author who backs up his statements.
   
   "Proving that V$ data are superior to extended SQL trace data because of the 'missing time' issue is analagous to proving that its safer to be in a room with a hungry bear if you'll just close your eyes." - Cary Millsap
   
   The book can be a tough read in the sense that the author goes very deep into the material, and generally each subject is treated thoroughly. Chapter 9 on Queueing Theory can be a particularly overwhelming chapter. But the material is served in bite-size pieces, and broken up with tips, tricks, stories, diagrams and code (sometimes 3+ pages worth at a time, embedded directly in the middle of a chapter). There are even worthwhile exercises at the end of each chapter.
   
   In the end, I enjoyed this book and I'm glad I got it. I don't consider it a "must have" for your Oracle collection, but I definitely feel it is quite worthwhile. I recommend it especially to those who read his articles and were very comfortable with his writing style and philosophy, and also to those that need a book on extended SQL trace data (because this is basically the only one). But even those in the "Silver Bullet" camp will be glad to add another tool to their belt.
   
   Thumbs up.



5. This book covers Oracle 8 and 9. But its technical explanations are very much valid for Oracle 10g.
   
   Although the author's beautiful explanation of 10046 traces and waits are worth its weight in gold, much of the information could have been condensed into fewer pages. Regrettably, most of the book are fillers. The author tries to explain much of his thoughts in mathematical formuls (nothing difficult) but it didn't add to the comprehension of the topic.
   
   One thing which made this book stand out was the problems and exercises at the end of each chapter. They were helpful, and unique among Oracle books, in enabling the reader to understand the topic more thoroughly.
   
   Overall, I recommend this book. But I have read better, and more comprehensive, books on the Oracle performance.

5 comments about Adobe FrameMaker 7.0 Classroom in a Book.

1. I contacted Peachpit Press and received a new CD for this book in two days. I am working through the lessons. I have always liked this format for learning Adobe products.



2. I don't know why all these reviewers hate the book. Granted the instructions to install the fonts were wrong and sometimes the fonts the lessons require aren't there, but I can live with that. The instructions are right and the lessons work. Yes I wish it was in color, but I can live with B&W too. I've done eleven lessons and have enjoyed the book very much. I love the power of FrameMaker and think the book is good. I think Adobe/Peachpit press has gotten its act together since these reviews were written. The book is worth getting now.



3. This book is essentially an excellent learning book for FrameMaker. It covers most of unstructered FrameMaker's features. Adobe should be ashamed for publishing their Classroom in a book series with perfect binding. No learning product should be perfect bound because the book does not stay open to the page you need unless you destroy the binding.
   Spiral bind your learning products Adobe!
   
   Another minor criticism is that the lessons are a little too much aimed at graphics-oriented layouts. Most folks learning FrameMaker need technical writing centric lessons. It would be better if more importance was put on building great formatting for paragraph and character tags, and header and footers for technical layouts.
   
   Despite my criticisms, it is an excellent book to learn FrameMaker basics.



4. I just took the FrameMaker I course, and this book was used as the reference. First, let me say that this program is extremely well made, and that its uses seem to be very unlimited from my short time with it.
   
   The instructor told us right from the begining that we would not use the book too much, and then I found out why.
   
   *1st, the screen shots within the book were for Mac only (they should have a Mac and a Windows version) because our class was on PC, the screen shots were not exactly alike, and lead to a little confusion within the class.
   
   *2nd, the lessons were good ideas, but some of the things that the book instructs you to do, and they are already done for you in the lesson. I think that the Beta testers for this, did the projects in the book, but not everything was saved or reverted back to it's original state.
   
   *3rd, some of the training is lacking and brief, were there could have been greater detail. Fortunately for me, my instructor was well versed in the uses and properties, and had us FLOWing along easily. (Sorry, FrameMaker joke).
   
   I beleive that this product is in the state that it is in because it was rushed to meet with the publishing and training demands, and that quality control fell through the strainer on this one. Understand that I believe FrameMaker is a 5 star product, but this training aid is not.



5. I thought this book was a great introduction to FrameMaker. I am a novice in the area of publishing. I was asked by my employer, to create a handbook for our department. This book walked me through all the basic steps to create the book.
   
   Someone mentioned in an earlier review that some of the fonts on the lesson CD did not translate into fonts within the software, but FrameMaker will translate those fonts into similar fonts. This did not seem to have a negative impact on the lessons.
   
   Even though the book was written for FrameMaker 7.0, I used it with the software for FrameMaker 8.0. There were a few minor navigation differences, but even this novice could figure out what to do.
   
   Having just finished the book and lessons, I will be applying my knowledge to begin creating my department's handbook and will definitely utilize the book as a reference guide during the process.

5 comments about Essential Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF) (Microsoft .NET Development Series).

1. My intention is not to criticise this book but to provide a bit of balance to the other "superlative" filled reviews. I had already read Adam Nathan's book before this and had high expectations of this one after reading the other reviews. After finishing the book I can't really understand why the reviews were so glowing. There are definitely some design insights and Chapter 7 (Actions) covered the important Command pattern in good detail, but I'm struggling to think of any advantages over the WPF Unleashed book.
   
   I would definitely recommend WPF unleashed over this and the bottom line is I'll be looking to sell my copy of Essential WPF as I don't see the value of having both.



2. Overall, I was not impressed with this book. I kept getting the sense that I was about to learn something interesting when - poof! - the book moved on to another topic.
   
   So, if you're looking for an introduction to the concepts of WPF, this might be for you but do not expect any in depth coverage of any topic. I was hoping for (consider the author's background) a lot more detail.
   
   To put this review in perspective: I have been working with WPF for quite some time and have already been through other books on WPF (including Petzold's and Adam Nathan's - the later being my personal favorite to date).



3. The author clearly presents the reasoning behind the design, making a huge platform much more approachable.



4. Chris has always impressed me with his talent to explain even the hardest bits of WPF in an approachable fashion - I guess many Channel 9 and other dev-related sites visitors would agree with me. Therefore, I started reading Essential WPF with high expectations...
   
   There is nothing wrong with the book itself, but the marketing is completely and utterly false. Chris himself emphasizes that he would like to talk about the "why-s" of the platform and this is the very reason why I bought his book - only to find out that nothing like that happens. Quite honestly, any technical author could write this book after reading Windows 3.0 SDK documentation thoroughly - there is very little added value or insight. There are moments when Chris writes "this may be confusing..." and in this very moment, you would expect "... but it was necessary because of this and that" but that almost never happens. You are left with doubts about the quality of WPF which is probably the worst thing an author can do.
   
   Don't be confused as I was: this book is not about "why-s", it is not about reasoning, it is not about in-depth discussion of some decisions made. It is an extensive walkthrough through the WPF features, it is a description of the framework but nothing more. Of course you will find some insights in this book but they are definitely not in proportion to Chris's role in the WPF team and his otherwise great skills.
   
   I, personally, started reading this book as a big fan of WPF and was left with doubts if all the complexity is really necessary (and some things are pretty complex compared to Flex which is my current development environment). Actually, I think that I enjoyed reading the WPF introductory articles in the Windows SDK 3.0 documentation more and honestly, I thought that this could never happen when comparing docs and a book.
   
   Anyway, if you really need great WPF book, don't waste money on this one - go buy Adam Nathan's WPF Unleashed. I'm on page 130 now and my enthusiasm for WPF is back. That book provides exactly what I wanted - deep discussion, great insight, practical tips, well thought-out structure and trust that the sub-optimal things in the current version are known issues likely to be fixed in WPF vNext.



5. If you're an experienced programmer and looking for a primer on WPF, Anderson has written a succinct overview that will definitely get you going in the right direction without wasting your time. It will give you not only the basics but provide an insight into what is going on and how you can go further in exploring WPF. Although it lacks in-depth examples (and source code) this book provides a readable reference covering all aspects of WPF- what it is, what it can do, and what makes WPF different.

5 comments about The Definitive Guide to SWT and JFACE.

1. If your main question is how to place widgets on your screens, then this book is excellent. But if, however, you would like those widgets to actually trigger events, then this book is a damned disappointment. They have a general chapter on events but for widget after widget, their examples show you how to place the widget on the page but not how to get its events. You can write code to trigger events but try to do something useful with those events and you will be greatly disappointed.
   Also, if you were hoping for some guidance or examples on how to use the 'asyncExec()' or 'syncExec()' methods, you will be disappointed. There is nothing. So, if you need anything beyond the basics, don't waste your money.



2. This is overall an excellent introduction to SWT and JFace. After working with the technology for over 2 years I can say that it would have been a great help to have this book back then. The book's layout was well thought out. My only wish is that they put out a follow up book covering some of the more advanced topics like Events, Embedding Swing components, Packaging and Distributing SWT/JFace applications (including using JWS), using Native code. Plus, even though is Java covering some of the things that can be done with ActiveX controls would be a plus.



3. Much of the beginning chapters in SWT are simply API listings - WORTHLESS! I've got those online...don't need them in a book, especially since they are not as complete as the JavaDocs. Otherwise, not bad. I'm looking for better...



4. Having being treated to a text called Windows Forms Programming for C# by Chris Sells in late 2004, and considering that's pretty much the closest book in spirit in terms of covering a high-level Windowing API and is relatively well-known, I'll go right ahead and use that as a metric:
   
   I am surprised to find no coverage of SWT and Java 1.5's threading abilities. I wanted to see a coverage of how to handle long-running worker threads that must call delegates that run on the UI-thread (like a web services caller threaad telling the gui-thread to update the progress update bar to show 75% completed). I wanted to see coverage on how to send events information back and forth between GUI thread and the worker threads. It's one of my favorite chapter in Sells' book because without it it is very difficult to write a responsive app. This is criticial in this day and age with the decent amount of web services and distributed computing being used in Intranets and Internets. If Harris and Warner are willing to write an extra chapter on this very topic, I would be greatly in their debt. We are all waiting for this chapter! I guess some of you will say, wait for Doug Lea's next book, but I trust Harris/Warner to get to the point faster and better--and stay on topic (I am not sure if Doug Lea would bother with SWT). I am hoping there's an answer to this, because I need to use this asap.
   
   There are some other surprises I find distasteful: data access and binding of data recordsets to grids are no where to be found.
   
   These are the main reasons why this book gets a four star. Because people like me are spoiled.
   
   Anyway, back to the book review:
   
   Real-world cross-platform development is a tough subject. If you ask most people, they'll relunctantly say the best way to go about it is to write platform neutral c++ model/controller code and write the view code in Qt or Gtk/MFC or WinForms/Carbon or Cocoa. Nasty.
   
   It goes without saying most small development shops simply can't budget serious competence in one, let alone three major GUI frameworks. This is not counting all the trouble you have to go through to evaluate count-less so-so [for one reason or another] libraries (wxWidget, MainWin, Swing, OpenStep API, Flash, Mozilla) just to arrive at the point where you can clearly say aha, I really want MFC/Carbon/Qt after all.
   [And let's not even get into strictly system programming libraries, for which there are several dozens on the sourceforge galaxy alone.]. So for light work, where you aren't trying to please 500 million users right away (Internet Explorer, Outlook Express) or even 200,000--you really want something like Java 1.5+SWT:
   
   > One productive language.
   
   > One well-supported effort to map a common gui api to all major windowing systems while preserving native looks.
   
   > A quick build that produces three executables. One for RedHat Linux. One for Mac OS X. One for Windows NT 5+.
   
   Which is why I am really happy Sun and IBM is trying so hard to make this option happen. I build small softwares for a relatively small audience. With IBM's contribution of SWT, all we need now is a good text that cover it thoroughly--from the perspective of developers--not the library writers. The Definitive Guide to SWT and JFace gives you just that.
   
   At times, I can see how some of the other reviewers might say, "It's just table listings rehashing documentations", and if you compare this book to Chris Sells' book you may wonder the same thing--but I think it's still an excellent try and the authors add something to the docs. I'll point out a few examples:
   
   * In the "Selecting Files for Open and Save" they went out of their way to write the correct version of how to handle over-writing an existing file. Hey, just imagine if the authors said nothing... ;-)
   
   * Throughout the book they document what the behavior will be if you did something undocumented: they'll mention when you shouldn't subclass SWT; they post questions to the eclipse group to clarify some of the bad decisions that had to be made and they tell us what we should do about it.
   
   * They explore some patterns they expect real world programmers will likely try (like Decorations, which is like a half-implementation of MDI), and warn you ahead of time what you can expect to find or even whether you should use it.
   
   The best part about them adding a bit of details is that you'll likely dig through the MSDN with Sell's book (which is not a bad thing), but you'll probably have everything at your finger-tips with Harris/Warner--so is it a bit wordy? Is it too referency? Maybe--see for yourself. :-)
   
   This is a great book, and I wouldn't hesitate recommending it. It's a key to a world of cheaper better cross-platform development--walk--no run to your bookstore and get it!



5. if you are looking for something to walk you through widget by widget..holding your hand this is your book . Excellent reference and very clear structure.
   Good to have by your desk when you need to look up something and dont like reading javadocs from the source ...

5 comments about Oracle JDeveloper 10g Handbook.

1. The authors told us in the introduction part of this book that it is for "both Oracle developers who want to make the transition to the J2EE environment and also Java developers who want to leverage the productivity tools and frameworks available in JDeveloper". The authors have done an good job to satisfy this scope, though I feel time by time that this is book is actually written for Oracle developers who have already exposed to Java/J2EE technology and also J2EE developers who possess basic knowledge about Oracle database technology. Otherwise, I do not recommend you to start your journey from this book. It could be too difficult. Further more, if you want to learn how to use JDeveloper 10g as your Java development tool, this book is not designed for you.
   
   This book gives a good overview of the introductory information about JDeveloper 10g and many related J2EE technologies developed by Oracle. Such overview coverage is further enhanced by about 25 well-designed step-by-step hands-on practices, which are very helpful.
   
   It is true that you may find a lot of learning material from Oracle Technology Network. However, I feel this book offers the unique value by covering this quite extensive and diversified subject in an organized way. By reading this book, you will certainly improve your productivity since JDeveloper 10g is a great tool and since otherwise you may feel overwhelmed by the vast amount of information you may find online.
   
   This book is based on Oracle JDeveloper 10g production release of version 9.0.5.1. The current Oracle JDeveloper 10g production release is of version 10.1.2. I found some of the step-by-step instructions may need slight modification due to the difference of the two versions, though I do not think it posses much difficult to any experienced readers.
   
   Chapter 5, Java Language Concepts for JDeveloper Work, gives a very brief overview of Java concepts. Well, if you need to read this chapter, you are not ready to read this book yet. The good news is that this chapter is only about 30 pages long, less than 5% of this thick book. The development of the rest of the story is in a quite logic and readable order.
   
   The authors explain to us that "this book is a `handbook' not in the sense of a complete guide to all areas of the tool, but, .., a guide for creating J2EE applications using JDeveloper". It is interesting why they still insist to call it a handbook. This book covers only many of the basic features of JDeveloper. If you are advanced, and if you need quickly find a good coverage on an important but advanced features, most likely this is not the book that will give you an answer. Many of the books by Oracle Press are already written in somewhat quite a technical manner. Calling it a handbook may actually scare away those who are new to 10g. You do not start studying a subject by reading a handbook, do you?



2. This book was exactly what I needed. I had been struggling for a couple of months to learn all of the pieces needed to build a business application using JDeveloper. I have some Java experience but not a strong J2EE background. There are plenty of resources around that cover XML, Java, JSP/Servlets and non-Oracle frameworks like Struts, Spring and JavaServer Faces (JSF). Don't expect to learn about those things here. But if you are trying to wrap your head around Oracle's Application Development Framework (ADF), this is the place for you. It's the best single source I've seen for that topic. There is a lot of information on the Oracle Technology Network (OTN), but it's scattered and isn't wrapped in a sequential story the way this book's presentation is. Most of ADF Business Component structure has been stable for a couple of years, so the fact that this book is a bit dated doesn't get in the way.
   
   What's missing because of the publication date is coverage of JDeveloper's extensive integration of JSF within ADF. Oracle has set their stake in the ground with JSF as the web client technology, and their ADF Business Components as the backend. It's an elegant combination. This book will give you excellent insight into the backend technologies. The wait is on for similar coverage of the frontend.



3. it is wath i was looking for. Complete, simple and perfectly explaned; in one word perfect.



4. This latest edition for Oracle10g JDeveloper builds on the success of the previous 9i version. As with the previous version, each chapter is well organized with thorough and accurate examples. Well thought-out attention has been given to explaining Oracle's Application Development Framework (ADF). The authors also go into great depth in explaining how to use the newly improved modeling capabilities of 10g JDeveloper (both their strengths and weaknesses).
   
   In short, this book as been well received by myself and colleagues I work with and would highly recommend it to anyone getting started in developing Oracle based applications with JDeveloper. I have found no better resource and tutorial for understanding ADF.
   
   Regards,
   -- jeff
   ---------------------------------------
   Jeffrey Hunter, OCP
   Senior Database Administrator
   http://www.idevelopment.info
   ---------------------------------------



5. Whereas this book may have information throughout, that is not what makes good instruction. Some may argue that if you know "XYZ", "ABC", and "concept A" and "concept B", that this book is good.
   
   But one should not have to fight to learn when the concepts are not difficult.
   
   Briefly -- using the examples as given will still bring up errors when trying to run the examples on some people's systems [I found others with the issues I had in the Oracle forums, and was able to fix them; "luckily" for me, the examples that didn't work for me were the same as a number of others, so I didn't have to look far].
   
   As an example of the flow in the book, in the beginning of chapter 8 [which is the beginning of Part II], it essentially summarizes where you are at; it mentions that you've gone through Chapters 1-4, and then it immediately states what is now coming in Part II [not mentioning chapters 5-7, as if the author didn't even know they were there], and then what happens in Part III. It's as if when one of the three writers wrote the beginning of Part II, they weren't aware that there would be three other chapters in Part I. [and this makes sense, because chapter 5 is very much out of place in where it is. Most people already know the Java part of it anyway].
   
   Also, BC4J is talked about much in the first few hundred pages of the book, but really the best explanation for it is on page 224, after you've seen BC4J referenced numerous times already. And I understand this sounds picky while reading one part described, when the biggest issue is that the flow is all over the place.
   
   One shouldn't have to figure out what the authors *meant* to be saying; the authors should say it. [and to reference this example further, the index lets you know you can find BC4J on pages 5, 6, and 109, but no mention of 224. If it did, you might see that the definition given on page 5 is different than the definition given on page 224, because the wording is different [one says BC4J is what came before ADF BC, another says it is just a different name for it].
   
   Some people do not mind having to figure out what the writers were trying to describe, and for you folks, this may be good.
   
   But, if you don't like having to first interpret the book, then learn what you are trying to learn, this is just something to think about.

No comments about Google Apps Administrator Guide: A Private-Label Web Workspace (Google Apps).

5 comments about Java Threads.

1. Review Date: Dec 2004.
   
   Please Rate the overall value of the book from 1-5 where
   5=Well done! This book will be a valuable teaching and reference tool.
   
   Please rate the instructional value of the book from 1-5 where
   5=Excellent! An essential book on this topic.
   
   
   Please rate the reference value of this book from 1-5 where
   4=This book has earned a valued place on my reference shelf.
   
   
   This is a book for Java programmers of all proficiency levels; the book also provides information for
   
   advanced users of Java. the book uses J2se 5.0 version of the compiler - and explains the
   
   improvements in the threads implementation in this version of java.
   
   the book is a well written book with a gradual introduction to the various aspects of thread
   
   implementation and a detail study of the subject. the authors delves into various of aspects of
   
   thread implementation such as creation, management, data synchronization, notification, scheduling,
   
   pooling, performance, parallelizing loops, and other IO functions.
   
   there are sample codes through out the book and the codes make no assumption about the skill level of
   
   the reader. this is a good thing. there are enough diagrams to explain the threading concepts.
   
   overall, this is an excellent book for readers interested in concurrent programming. i will use it as
   
   a reference when i need and i have no hesistation in recommending this book to other java programmers.



2. Obviously your first read on Java should be "Concurrent Programming in Java(TM): Design Principles and Pattern" by Doug Lea. If this does not completely satisfy you this might be a possible second read on the subject. This book has a somewhat different perspective that it is closer to the classes and more distant to the principles. Here it delivers a good groundwork.



3. << Review of the 3rd Edition >>
   
   This book is written for developers who are targeting the second wave of java programs - Intermediate to advanced level programmers will be able to get best value out of this book. Developers who are already familiar with the basics of java may also be able to get some value, but if you are completely new to java, please look elsewhere.
   
   Without any futher ado, i will dive right into the deep end of the pool. This book is partitioned into 4 logical sections, though it is not explicit in the TOC.
   
   1. Important Threading Concepts:
   In this section, the author prepares us with the fundamentals of creating and managing a thread, basic synchronization concepts, synchronized keyword, lock mechanism, thread communication using wait-notify and condition-variables, minimal synchronization using volatile keyword and atomic variables, advanced synchronization classes like Barrier, Semaphore, CountdownLatch, etc. Chapters 1 through 6 underwrite this section and this is by-far the best part of the book.
   
   2. Thread Pools/Schedulers:
   This section first lectures around how thread scheduling materializes in java and how it is related to the underlying Operating System. Next, you are guided through a tour of Thread Pools and Task Schedulers that will enlighten us with quite a few new classes in java 5. Chapters 9 through 11 cover this section.
   
   3. Threading and other Java APIs:
   This section details how the threading API plays with other inbuilt java APIs like Collections, IO and Swing. Chapters 7,8 and 12 cover this section.
   
   4. Misc topics:
   Some miscellaneous thread topics like ThreadGroup, Security, Class Loading, Exception Handling and Performance are addressed in this section. Chapters 13, 14, and 15 cover this section.
   
   Though this book wasn't an easy read, i found it extremely encouraging to have ONE comprehensive manual to understand both the threading concepts and the new java 5 inclusions. I recommend this book to anyone who is in the middle of a complex multi-threaded system or wishes to create one.



4. Before I bought this book, I had to prototype threading examples in my own workspace, setting up race conditions and such, but it was a lot of work and left a lot unexplained.
   
   Scott Oaks, the author, did a good job of describing the synchronization process and the various Object methods relating to threading protocol. There were plenty of good examples, and clarification on several minor technical points including: how the wait/notify methods release monitors, the determinability of prioritization, and the practical uses of threadgroups. If you have nagging questions, you may find them answered here.
   
   O'Reilly books are small-sized, which makes for easy carrying and storage. Little if any of their content is redundant or inaccurate. Given how dry the material is, O'Reilly astounds me by consistently finding authors who can write well, have something to say, and whose works can be read in a sitting.
   
   Of course, it's important to mention that some things have changed since the first edition of this book. Methods like resume(), suspend(), and stop() have been deprecated due to their unpredictablity; the JVM will now enable programmers to address multiple processes; and there are a variety of classes which facilitate thread administration. A newer edition will bring you up to speed on those details, but this first edition is still a valid reference in all other respects.



5. This book provides answers to questions on threading that have confused me for a long time:
   1. Why use a thread pool and why not?
   2. How expensive are synchronization, thread creation and concurrent collections?
   
   It clears up a lot of myths and rumors I have heard.