5 comments about Maya Techniques: Hyper-Real Creature Creation (Maya Techniques).

1. I'm not new to maya, but I had some questions about easier UV mapping tool, and this book tells me the hint, contains other useful information that I need to know as a good modeler and animator!



2. This an amazing reference for advanced digital sculptors, but it just covers far too much inside information and techniques from the edge to really go into step by step detail. The sticky lips techniques are priceless and came at the right time for me. Again, if you don't have atleast 2 years experience using Maya hold on to this book until you do OR get one of the fundamentals books or delve into the numerous instructional DVDs that are available. Once you are very familiar with the Maya interface conventions and have atleast intermediate knowledge Poly modeling characters and character rigging this book will pay major dividends.



3. This is among my favorites of Maya reference books. Admittedly, I was not at an appropriate level of knowledge when I first bought it; however, once my understanding was sufficient, I was incredibly pleased with it. I this book is NOT for absolute beginners. It does not hold your hand and tell you how to do every little thing; if this is what your looking for, I would recommend a more basic intro level book. In terms of techniques, it fills in many of the gaps left by other Alias publications, and is certainly a far cry above Autodesk's lackluster publications.
   
   This book is written presupposing some knowledge of the program and surrounding concepts. When I first began teaching myself Maya, a friend had shown me this book-at the time, I was utterly lost trying to follow it. However, within a month or two my knowledge was sufficient for this book to begin making sense to me.
   
   If you have never used maya and are trying to learn, hold off for a while before buying this. If you are an intermediate level user (confident + comfortable with basic concepts, and a general understanding of most major areas) interested in learning more about professional modeling and rigging techniques, this is for you. A great aspect of this book is the fact that the DVD provides scene files in different stages of tutorial completion, which allows the user to check their work against a "solution," or examine concepts and workflow in greater detail.
   
   This book is extremely helpful for anyone seeking insight into the professional CG world and the workflows and processes thereof.



4. I found this book a good overviewer for people who want to practically work in the area of hyper real characters. Its truely is a good reference and practical guide. Although it isnt for beginners, it gives overview of hyper-real character workflow in maya.



5. I think this is an awesome book! I work in Maya and this just made me better after using this book to get more real effects for my animations, and character designs. Loved It!

2 comments about The Practical Guide to Defect Prevention (Best Practices).

1. This is the first review I have performed and here it goes... I work in software development and have for the last 11 years. As a Quality Assurance Professional, I think "The Practical Guide to Defect Prevention" should be on everyone's book shelf. Everyone in the industry or those contemplating a start-up in the industry should read this book to get an understanding of what quality means and how to achieve it. This is a fun book filled with real world experiences and enough technical knowledge to implement the many quality systems and is most beneficial read from end to end, but is also designed to be a reference. "The Practical Guide to Defect Prevention" does a great job of giving a strong foundation for those wanting to develop quality in their processes.
   Who can really benefit from this book?
   * The executive wanting to know what it takes to have a successful software business
   * The manager wanting to know how to improve the product
   * The product designer who wants to provide enhancements to existing features and determine what features to add
   * The developer wanting to gauge the effectiveness of the implementation
   * The tester that wants to catch all of the errors
   Sure, we could talk about all the content and implementation issues, including; Root Cause Analysis, Failure Mode and Effects Analysis (FMEA), Fault Tree Analysis (FTA) or Failure Modeling, but my favorite aspect of this book is the real world examples and pitfalls described.
   Many great related quotes are included to illustrate some aspect of the material to be presented. My favorite was in chapter 12, "Adapting Processes" where there was a quote from Mark Twain "A man who carries a cat by the tail learns something he can learn in no other way". This quote illustrates the reason you need to read this book and keep it on your bookshelf.
   Arne
   The Practical Guide to Defect Prevention (Best Practices)



2. "The Practical Guide to Defect Prevention" was written for software developers and testers, but many techniques presented can be applied to improve quality in other products as well. I'm in the midst of a career change into software development after 2 decades of working with office automation hardware, and have referred to this book during a current project, as well as passed along suggestions straight from this book to former colleagues in a much different career field. When I saw the title of this book, I was afraid I'd be reading advice that wasn't much more than common sense, or a rehash of material learned in programming or intro software testing. Wrong! Realizing how naïve I was, I picked up 2 other texts in the field of defect prevention and root cause analysis. I found this book to be more readable. The clear taxonomy, the complete explanations of various methods (with multiple examples and references) and the humor (!) held my interest enough to where I learned and understood the techniques presented, as well as broadened my understanding of what quality software development really entails.
   
   As a previous reviewer pointed out, this book is useful to everyone from the tester who wants to catch errors, through the executive wanting a successful business. And, I suppose this sounds like I'm laying it on with a trowel, but I have to say it: Although I'm a voracious reader, I keep only a few dozen books on my shelves at home; this is one of them, and I suspect that I'll continue referring to it for quite some time. Thanks to the authors Ross, Marc, Bob, Dan, David, Lori, and Josh for taking the time and putting forth such a great effort!

5 comments about Programming in Haskell.

1. This book was written for first-year students, meaning that the author took care to make it consise, gentle, easy to understand, and has provided good introductory examples. After getting your head around Haskell, you can then pick up a more full and complex book on the subject.
   
   As a professional developer, lacking prior experience in functional languages, I really enjoyed this introduction. As I was reading it concurrently with books on ML, Scheme, and Erlang, this text always made me feel comfortable with a new topic which the others then explored in more detail.



2. This book provides a good introduction into the theory behind the Haskell language. However, it seems that several of the examples are not valid (at least with the version of Hugs 98 I was using). I experienced a lot of frustration when I entered in a program only to see that it wouldn't compile. In summary, the book seems to get the high level concepts across, but is confusing on the details.



3. I found this small book a good introduction to functional programming in Haskell, and covers basic concepts such as functions, lists, recursion, lazy evaluation. However, it covers monads only cursory and lacked practical examples. For example, it only showed small snippets of Haskell code without some nice applications or coverage of tools about running, testing, debugging programs. I found a beta version of another book on the web at http://book.realworldhaskell.org/beta/ much easier because it actually shows examples in GHC. I am still looking for a bit more advanced reference for Haskell and hope Simon Peyton-Jones writes some book on it.



4. I purchased this book roughly a year ago now, when I approached it then I did find some difficulty but as the months went on, attempting the exercises and writing some of my own small programs, the value of the book has increased and I think I have understood its intentions better.
   
   I recommend this book both as a starting point and as desk reference for the standard prelude for those times when thinking is required, one can lazily flip through the pages while thinking about possible approaches to solving problems.
   
   For those that have had some trouble with this book, it's just a matter of persistence, practice and patience.
   
   The writing style is clear and to the point, thank you Graham Hutton for this excellent starting point and your other contributions to the functional programming arena.



5. I just started to dig into this book, and am very disappointed for a few reasons.
   
   A book that purports to teach a programming language should stick to best practices, yet the first example I read ("game of life") employed a busy-wait loop to slow down the example program. This is a very bad practice, and would earn a computer science student a stern lecture were they caught doing it. It really shakes my faith in the competence of this book's author.
   
   Also, why on earth, rather than using the actual ASCII characters required by the Haskell compilers, does the book use the mathematical symbols they represent in example code? Did the author feel the need to demonstrate his expert understanding of his word processing software? How many hours will be wasted by novice users looking for the "lambda" key on their keyboards?
   
   I strongly recommend waiting for the book "Real World Haskell" - you can already read much of it online while you wait for the printed version.

5 comments about XML for the World Wide Web (Visual QuickStart Guide).

1. Admittedly, I'm only up to the second chapter in this book, but it's clear that Castro needed a better editor. She relies on a frustrating "Type this, then we'll come back to it later" approach (example: naming your DTD, then finding out four pages later HOW to apply that information). Disappointing as her XHTML + CSS and Flash MX books were much tighter in execution.



2. 37 errors are listed on the author's site. I think I found some new ones as well. The material moves from the specific to general, so that the reader must skip around quite a bit. The aforementioned errors make learning XML very tedious and frustrating. An edit should have done - it is apparent none was. I have used Castro's books in the past and have never experienced the problems I have with this one. I recommend against purchasing this book and I hope Peachpit will not repeat the problems encountered within.



3. This book though perhaps has many errors, it is still one of the best concept books out there. This will really get you started with XML smoothly. Some of the XML standards are rather complex, and I find this to be the most palatable material for understanding stuff like XSD and XSLT.
   
   The book covers the basics of XML, how to define your XML schema through DTD, and then several chapters on XSD ("XML Schema and Namespaces") that include simple and complex types. The book follows up with XSML, usage of XPath and text expressions. Later there's coverage of cascading style sheets, XLink and XPointer.
   
   I think there should be a newer version that will make corrections and update the material. I would love a chapter on RELAX-NG, as this is becoming popular to define schema for XML in some circles.
   
   Overall, this is great book to get you started, and I would highly recommend this book as a quick spring board in the world of XML.



4. The book came fast and was in good condition. The price was really cheap too.



5. Well I bought this book when there was already a new edition on amazom which was not yet released but you could buy it and get it when it comes. I did not know that this one was old edition and that the new one with hundred pages more was on the way. It should be written somewhere on your internet pages near the old edition which would be replaced with tho new one...

5 comments about Sams Teach Yourself Web Publishing with HTML and CSS in One Hour a Day (5th Edition) (Sams Teach Yourself).

1. This Laura Lemay person is associated with a lot of well received books. This one, different in substance from her others, while there is not much in great depth, there is quite a bit of good stuff here. What is here, is well presented, good examples, and more for the beginning and intermediate reader. Good intro to CSS, some Javascript and ajax. This is a good buy (here at Amazon, I paid ~$22) . Get'em while they're hot.



2. This is one of the better written Web books I have read. Everything is well organized, with lots of relevant topics and useful examples. Even if you have prior experience with web design, it's not a bad idea to delve into these pages as a refresher and for guidelines on current HTML and XHTML standards.
   
   The authors go the next step by introducing some of the more dynamic components of web design including client side Javascript and PHP for server-side scripts (along with a quick overview of ASP and JSP). These sections are quite brief for the most part (which should not come as a surprise in a book titled 'HTML and CSS'), but will help steer budding designers towards their next challenge.
   
   I would certain recommend this book to anyone who is new to web design. It does much more than just teach you about HTML and CSS. The book progresses quickly, but not too quickly, and you will find yourself putting together your own interesting looking web pages in no time.



3. and then the bottom falls out. This book is fantastic as far as a beginner or review course for html and basic CSS. However . . . the chapter on CSS layouts and positioning (lesson 9) leaves ALOT to be desired. I became completely lost when I reached this chapter. I don't know which one of the authors handled this lesson but I'm hoping they'll fix it for future editions. They assume that the audience knows more than they should about class and IDs without ever providing adequate examples. The examples that are provided seem to skip steps. Still a good book but if you're new to CSS layouts and positioning like me, you're better off googling a CSS tutorial for beginners.



4. I purchased this book for a college course I am taking titled "Web Design and Development". The instructor chose the the textbook but it is well written and has numerous examples of good web site and page design. Gets into some of the more advanced features of creating web pages using XHTML and CSS. I would recommend this book for a beginning web programmer or administrator.



5. I'm about 1/3 of the way through the book right now, and I am pleased with it so far. I'm pretty familiar with computers and the Internet already, but the authors include enough information for beginniers to get a good grasp on the terminology early on.
   
   The book breaks down the material into 21 lessons, implying that each one should take one hour per day. A word of warning: you'll probably need more than an hour unless you're a really quick study. The early lessons are pretty basic and go by quickly, but by lessons 5 & 6 the terminology starts coming fast. The authors offer several suggestions for HTML editors to use while reading the book, and I highly recommend downloading one (I use the free HTML-Kit, and it works quite well).
   
   I do have a few complaints. The authors seem to spend a lot of time covering "deprecated" HTML tags, which are considered outdated in favor of CSS. They say that it these tags are good ot know if you find them in older websites, but for someone like me who is new to HTML, including the old tags with the new is a bit confusing, and I frequently have to check the appendix to make sure that the tag I'm using is not obsolete. CSS has not been covered extensively yet (it looks like lesson 9 will do that), but it looks pretty different from HTML. If a new edition of this book is made, the authors need to ditch the outdated HTML and include the CSS right from the beginning.
   
   My other complaint is that, for a book on HTML, the examples aren't that well edited. I just finished lesson 7 and was having a difficult time adding color to my pages until I realized that the author(s) had accidentally used a comma instead of a semicolon. That tiny mistake made a huge difference, and it's not the only tiny mistake they made.

3 comments about Building a Data Warehouse: With Examples in SQL Server (Expert's Voice).

1. 
   This is a great book for folks who are hands-on and are not just looking for theoretical knowledge. Obviously this book was written by a doer who had many years of actual field experience. The book is full of extremely useful examples that can be followed step by step. It's also written in a way such that even data warehouse beginners wouldn't have difficulties following. The book covers all the basic premises of data warehousing as we know it today. There are some great topics talking about SOA, MDM and data warehouse integration.
   
   I would definitely recommend the book to anyone looking to gain knowledge on data warehousing and SQL server data warehousing in particular.



2. This book is a must read for anyone embarking on a Data Warehouse project or who wants to learn more about a particular aspect of Data Warehousing. The book guides the reader through the principles underpinning Data Warehousing, with easy to understand definitions. It gives detailed insight into the design, build & testing phases essential to any successful Data Warehousing project. It even covers reporting; including using the Data Warehouse for Business Intelligence and Customer Relationship Management. Throughout the book the author describes potential problems and gives techniques on how to overcome them.
   There are tons of practical examples from an author who has a wealth of technical experience in this field.
   
   This book is highly recommended.



3. I have read all the major DW books for sql server. All of them fall short in practicality. This book is deceivingly thin (500 some pages), but it covers all the practical side of building a data warehouse using SQL server 2005. The author's experience shows through his handling of many of the practical issues encountered in implementing data warehouse. This book has excellent coverage on ETL process, oftentimes list several alternatives that suited people from different background.

5 comments about Foundation ActionScript for Flash 8 (Foundation).

1. I am a current animation student in California and Flash is one of the tools we are using. While I have developed some proficiency animating in Flash, the scripting tends to turn my brain to mush after a while.
   
   I picked up Foundation Flash 8 to learn some of the basics and have been using Foundation Actionscript for Flash 8 to gradually explore scripting. I am not a programmer but got through the first few chapters easy enough. The second half of the book is somewhat tougher but but filled with interesting chapters -especially the game chapter (chapter 10).
   
   I haven't quite cleared the hurdle of the later chapters, find them more challenging, but I keep the book on my desk to pick at stuff. It is well written and comprehensive. From my perspective as a non-programming 'art head' I'd say it covers beginner to advanced level topics by the end of the book; that's pretty cool because many books seem to be simple rehashings of the product manuals designed to part you from $40-$50 while giving you no new info.



2. I was completely foreign to ActionScript before picking up this book. I had previously read one book on understanding the basic flash interface (i.e. using the drawing/tweening tools), but this was my first crack at ActionScript. Getting through this book was very easy. Each chapter is setup in a way that explains a specific topic, runs you through a few examples using what you just learned, and then continues on with an ongoing website project that you develop throughout the book.
   
   Strengths: Writing is clear and concise, and doesn't feel like a programmer wrote the book. The context is a nice mix of theory and hands on practice to keep you interested while your learning some of the more complex topics. The teaching method looks to provide you with skills that you can apply and expand upon quickly, as opposed to just learning some commands and then throwing you out into the wild. The book projects are very well constructed and explained.
   
   Weaknesses: Some of the later chapters advance quickly. I blew through the first 350 pages, but after that had to significantly slow down to fully understand each topic. I also noticed that one or two of the online downloads are missing files for the book project. These are not neccesary if you are writing everything from scratch (correctly), but it did sometimes get in the way of comparing my solutions to the books.
   
   Overall I have been extremely satisfied with this book, and will most likely buy another Foundation guide.



3. I am new to actionscript, have watched a few Total Training dvd's, but they don't really go into indepth actionscript. Unless you buy all the dvd's which are expensive.
   This book was great. And has given my mind more of an understanding, especially of the process, of programming.
   I'm more a graphic designer, who is getting into web design, so if I can go from first page through to the end in 3 weeks and juggle a screaming 2yr old at the same time.....well then anyone can.( I am a stay at home dad!....by the way)
   Good to keep for reference. Buy it.



4. This is a great book for the designer interested in getting deeper into Flash through ActionScript 2.0. Primarily centered around web-based projects, with the occasional game project, Sham et al. lead the reader through basic programming fundamentals from a designer perspective. The reader is assumed to be mildly frightened by looking at code, but still interested in learing it. I can sympathize that many designers could be in this boat.
   
   The language of the book is very non-technical and it's presented in a light-hearted manner to ease you into some difficult concepts. The authors do a great job of tricking you into getting excited about programming. So if you're a web designer who has always been impressed by what programmers can do, but were a little uncomfortable trying to just jump in on your own, this is THE book for you.
   
   I have two warnings and one critique.
   
   The first warning is that this is a Flash 8 book - hence ActionScript 2.0. The second warning is that almost all the projects in the book are web-based instead of game-based. Now it's Flash, so it kind of comes with the territory, and there is a full chapter devoted to making a game. However, the perfect book for me would be this exact same book, but centered almost completely around game-based projects. If you're strictly looking for that, this book isn't for you. I don't care as much, and there's still a lot to learn, so I don't regret purchasing the book.
   
   My critique is regarding the book-long project where you make a website that uses ActionScript (the Futuremedia site). It's a case study where you can apply some of what you've learned to a "real" project. My problem with it is that you don't seem to learn a whole lot about ActionScripting by going through it. The authors (or whichever individual wrote the project) seem to be really proud of this project - proud in the sense that they like themselves for it - and you can tell by going throug it. Plus, its more content-oriented. There's much more to learn from everything else, so I'm just skipping the project and skimming over it whenever it's time to work on it a little (which isn't a whole lot anyway).
   
   Overall, it's a great book so far (I'm about 1/3 done) and I'd recommend it to anyone who's new to programming and wants to learn it through ActionScript 2.0. Sham has an awesome ability to explain programming to a designer.



5. I am not too far into this book, but so far it is everything i had hoped for. I have been using Flash for 6 years but never ventured into ActionScript.
   This book explains things well for the no-ActionScript-knowledge user.
   
   Great book and at $9 (80% off) when i got it, i would have to have been raving mad not to buy it.
   
   Good One Amazon :))

5 comments about SOA Using Java(TM) Web Services.

1. I'm not sure what I like best about this work. Is it the author's ability to clearly explain the details of SOAP and the improved Sun implementation of Web services without becoming tedious ? Is it the fact the his code examples work ? Is it his provided Maven build scripts or his attentive support on the book's Web site ?
   
   I guess it's all of those things. The author provides a lot of detail about what's happening under the covers and illustrates what he is saying with real XML and code and build scripts. The material is dense but written in a readable style.
   
   Hansen points out that developing Web services is not easy, and that's the truth, so you should not buy this book if you are hoping to pick up a new skill in a week. If your goal is to master the subject, however, I have never seen a better single starting point than this book and its collection of supporting resources.
   
   I'd like to take the opportunity to recognize the author for contributing what is in my view an exemplary piece of work in the software development field. If only more books were created this way ! Thanks.



2. I couldn't wait to dive into this book, as it covered precisely the topics that are sorely lacking in other books on the subject. For instance, the book covers topics related specifically to JEE 5. It's also got a chapter on REST, which other current SOA books bizarrely ignore.
   
   But there's the rub: the writing logic is incredibly "upside down". The author chokes you with details first, then, much later, gives the context into which the details should fit. Sometimes he even neglects to give any context at all, and you're left with a load of low-level details for which you have no use.
   
   The REST chapter is a case in point, instead of explaining REST or elaborating the position of REST vis-a-vis the broader spectrum of Web Services, which he said in the preface that he'd do, the chapter starts with an out-of-place primer on XML and XSLT and then moves to implementation examples of doing REST with and without Java Web Services. The end.
   
   Also, the book assumes you already know all you need to know about SOA and Web Services, and focuses far too closely on the the implementation using the new tools of Java Web Services. While that's the title of the book, the back cover makes you think that it covers issues broader than implementation details, by saying things like "practical techniques for managing the complexity of web services and SOA, including best-practice design examples".
   
   In general I found that the information is badly organized, the sub-topics in a chapter don't build up well to the chapter's objective, the diagrams are confusing, and, usually, you don't get what the author is trying to achieve from the flood of information he provides.



3. This book has lots of great information on implementing JAX-WS web services. It skips the basics about web services (which I think is a good thing). Unfortunately it also skips some details later - some questions I had were answered by downloading the examples and reading through those, but they weren't called out in the text. The book also focuses a lot on code-first (wrapping existing code in web services) rather than WSDL-first development; and the author tends to focus on a provided approach to web services of his own, which I could have done without.
   But overall the book provides some great information on JAX-WS, particularly the features that are more advanced and harder to find examples of using. Definitely not an introductory book, but I'd recommend to people who like to understand how things work more than just knowing how to use them.



4. Mark employs a very pragmatic style and approach to the chaos of this topic that I found refreshing. This stuff isn't easy; it is what it is. He makes a point of claiming that he hasn't drunk the Kool-Aid, but I think the value of this book is that he has drunk the Kool-Aid of Java-focused web services in their present form. That is not something to be apologetic about, it is a perspective that automatically filters the scope of the book into a manageable piece of prose. To try to articulate the real value of REST and resource-oriented approaches, or the .NET stack, or even spending more time justifying the vision would be to imperil more trees and confuse the message.
   
   He has also appropriately left UDDI out of the discussion. Again, a suitable approach. I call bollocks on his reasons for leaving it out though. It is left out because it deserves to be left out. If you fail to ignore it, you do so at your own peril. :)
   
   This book is for people who want to understand a particular technology stack and to understand it well. There are lots of code examples and pointers to further study. I applaud Mark for staying focused and distilling a dense set of topics in an approachable, useful manner.



5. This book is about how to create web-services using JAX-WS. Unfortunately, JAX-WS perpetuates the java-first RPC-style of web-service development. According to Thomas Erl, this violates several of the principles of service orientation and, as a result, these type of web-services do not belong in a SOA. The amazing thing is that the author acknowledges this but still devotes most of the book to doing it the wrong way.
   
   While you can develop WSDL-first document-style web services with JAX-WS, it is not its primary mode of operation. There are several other very good frameworks which which encourage best practices and are generally more appropriate for web-service development in Java. My personal favorite is Spring Web Services.

5 comments about CSS Web Site Design Hands on Training (Hands-On Training).

1. It's all fine and dandy that Eric Meyers knows his stuff. This book will teach you CSS in Fire Fox, no doubt about it. But if you are coding to develop websites for IE, you're going to want to toss this book out the window by the time you get to chapters 6 and 7.
   
   How could the publisher put out a book without testing this cross platform and without previewing it in IE6? That's asinine at best! At the very least put out a website as a follow-up to answer questions brought to your attention by your readers.
   
   Example 1: How do you make the negative margins work in IE6 as discussed in exercise 4 of chapter 7?
   
   Example 2: Why is the date aligned to the left in IE6 as discussed in exercise 4 of chapter 7?
   
   Example 3: Why is the text in the footer not aligned perfectly in IE6 as discussed in exercise 4 of chapter 7?
   
   Test your own product out again, Peach Pit Press. You've written a book without testing the product in Internet Explorer and that is just downright negligent at best.
   
   What a shame too as this instructional manual is otherwise worthy of 4 stars.



2. I'm am very disappointed that the authors have not provided fixes to the CSS that is in this book. How can someone be teaching a book on CSS and that CSS not work in the most widely used browser, IE? I prefer Firefox myself but but I know any CSS layout I create will have to work in IE, no matter what my preferences. So how can I trust this book to teach me CSS that works for designing web layouts? I see that Eric Meyer has other products for CSS layout design but I would never consider buying one due to my experience with this book. I did enjoy the writing style and clarity of this book but I still have a lingering sense of distrust.
   
   Help us learn CSS that works with the realities of dealing with browser capabilities!!!



3. This is my beginner's opinion and experience with this book.
   
   Open an html file in a text editor and do this. Now refresh your web browser and see what happens? Wow!
   
   This book is full of just that. It just barely goes into explanation of exactly why you are doing what you are doing, and that really there is another external CSS style sheet that is working in the background of the embedded code you are made to write in the exercises. So in reality it's not so easy. I found it confusing how I kept having to look from the embedded styles in the exercises and the external CSS style sheet to really see how everything worked together. Tedious is the word I would use with this book. It only skims the surface of beginning CSS. It would have been better if we could have completely styled the practice website with explanation, exercises and examples, and then exported the style sheet. Also there is no repetition about what was covered. We are provided with one example and bingo that's it. The rest is left for you to remember. It's not even a good reference book. This book is all over the place.
   
   Also the book uses the same Javaco Tea website, as a practice site that is used in far too many Lynda Weinman books, in my opinion. These books are not cheap and it would be nice if a different example was used. Mix it up a bit. I would have liked to have seen how developers position those cool borders and graphics you see on some sites.
   
   I felt that this book was written in an after thought fashion and does not go into explaining or challenging a person to practice with examples on their own. It lacks substance. It's thin. It would have been nice to see a chapter by chapter review or a summary of the various things we had gone over. A memory device.
   
   What is provided is repetitive do and see exercises that are not fully conceived.
   
   I also read Learning Web Design: A Beginner's Guide to (X)HTML, StyleSheets, and Web Graphics by Jennifer Niederst Robbins and found it much more substantial and richer in detail.



4. This book was a good start for learning CSS. It works solely with code instead of using Dreamweaver CS3 interface box in the design view. I was expecting to learn more about the interface box but the entire book uses code in a text editing program. Overall a decent book but I will definitely need other to supplement it.



5. There are a lot of books about CSS. There are a lot of books pretending to be a tutorial about CSS. In my opinion, this book is one the few recent books about CSS that is worth for a beginner in the field.

4 comments about Visual Basic 2008 For Dummies (For Dummies (Computer/Tech)).

1. I am sure there is some worthwhile information between the covers of this book - I just couldn't find it. I would recommend to people that have the basics already, spend your money on a real VB book.



2. Try as hard as I can, I cannot find anything positive to say about this "book". Don't be fooled by the table of content, it might sound "juicy" but it's as illusory as a politicians promises ... There 's no substance in this text, and the whole teaching strategy is flawed. If you begin your programming journey here you will probably conclude programming is not an art, an intellectual challenge, or an intriguing game, but a boring routine to help visual studio write boring useless applications. You might have heard Edsger Dijkstra quote:
   "It is practically impossible to teach good programming to students that have had a prior exposure to BASIC: as potential programmers they are mentally mutilated beyond hope of regeneration." This might not be necessarily true for VB.NET, but it will if you start your study with this text.



3. This book is designed to get you going quickly in Microsoft Visual Basic 2008. It's not a reference, it's probably not for the complete beginner, and true dummies probably won't be up to this level. Rather it is an entertaining tour for those with some modest programming experience on how to get going quickly in VB 2008. If you are a self-starter, this is the book for you!
   
   The author packs the book full of useful "how to's." Rather than trying to answer every question you could possibly ask about VB 2008, the author focuses on the most essential tools you will need. Once you get the basic idea of how a given tool or approach works from the book, you have what you need to apply these tools and/or approaches to other problems you encounter in VB 2008.



4. If I received my order (14 May 2008) I would be able to post a review - but as of 4 June 2008 nothing! ETA 19 May 2008.