5 comments about Programming Flex 2: The comprehensive guide to creating rich media applications with Adobe Flex (Programming).

1. This is a solid, well written into to Flex 2. I would highly recommend this as a starting to learning Flex 2 or 3. In about a week's reading time you will have a well grounded knowledge of what Flex is capable of. After reading this (along with the documentation provided by Adobe) I'd highly recommend: ActionScript 3.0 Cookbook; Essential ActionScript 3.0; and Flex Solutions: Essential Techniques for Flex 2 and 3 Developers.



2. Programming Flex 2: The comprehensive guide to creating rich media applications with Adobe Flex is a great book for more advanced Flex developers. This book covers many important topics like working with UI components, advanced component concepts, working with media and data, client and remote data communication just to name the few. The authors, Chafic Kazoun and Joey Lott, are very experienced long-time Flash developers. They are well known in the Flash community, and are among the elite of the Flash development world. Chafic and Joey has been using Flex for a long time and it can be noticed by reader during reading this book which is full of practical leads.
   
   This book is intended for anyone looking to learn more about Flex 2. The authors recognize that the audience for this book represents a very diverse group of people with many different backgrounds. In my opinion this book is a great resource but not for the beginners. Lots of original ActionScript and MXML code examples help reader to look deeper inside Flex 2 internals.
   
   I definitely recommend this book!



3. Reading the reviews for this book made me nervous about picking it up in the first place, but I'm glad I did. I'm primarily a J2EE developer wanting to get his feet wet in the world of Flex2 RIAs, and the authors seem to have written this just for someone like me. And in that respect, the topics are at the right level of depth - the authors clearly indicate that this is not meant to be used as an API reference.
   
   Flex 2 can be a bit much to bite off, even for experienced programmers, since it sits over a very mature and complex development platform (Flash Player) that has its own established authoring tool. Happily, the authors tend to chart their course firmly through the Flex Framework, avoiding diversions into Flash Player arcana (which some other books either assume you already know, or visit too briefly to be of much help.)
   
   The breadth of topics covered is also awesome - whether its Web services, states/transitions, event dispatching/handling, and the use of the free Flex SDK.
   
   That last one is of particular interest to me since I'm not a fan of the Deux Ex Machina aspects of IDEs, especially when I'm learning a new language/framework. Hence, being able to see how everything fits together using just the Flex SDK and mxmlc is a lot of fun.
   
   I also don't particularly like long, artificial examples that proceed from chapter to chapter, which means that you can't really jump into a topic that interests you without first having read all the previous history of the application being developed. Fortunately here, each chapter can be read by itself, and in any order. In fact, I skipped over many of the UI and media chapters just to get to the web services treatment which is closer to the end.
   
   To summarize - if your background/needs match mine, then this book will be well worth a visit. You may not leave knowing everything, but you'll have the 3000 foot overview which will position you better to ask the right questions, and to determine which topic has the most interest for you. (Of course, you might choose to wait for the Flex 3.0 edition of this book.)



4. It is a well organized book.
   However, some example codes are incorrect.
   I find this problem in many of O'Reilly books and am not sure if they test all the source codes before they publish their books.
   It is really annoying.



5. This is generally a well written overview book. Its chief problem is that it never gets beyond the basics, and that the "Flex Developer Guide" that Adobe provides for free on their web site is far superior.

4 comments about Expert .NET 2.0 IL Assembler.

1. This is an excellent treatment of the MSIL topic at just the right level if you're in need of nitty gritty details for debugging, disassembling, or generating IL code. Coverage of the PE format for managed executables is the best I've seen. The text is well-written, the examples are clear and concise, and the diagrams are very helpful. The book can be used as both a tutorial and a reference: the appendices include an ILAsm grammar reference, a metadata tables reference, and an IL instruction set reference. The book is also available electronically to owners of the physical book.



2. I needed a good "go-to" reference which would aid me in quickly gaining knowledge so I could understand disassembled PE files related to a "small" project I had already invested 40 man-hours. There are references you can find on the web, however, this book will save you time looking for them. It consolidates all information you need to quickly get up to speed if you have not been doing assembler code projects for a while. The author's writing style reflects his extensive knowledge and "comfortableness" in discussing it. He includes invaluable references to tools one can use related to the subject he is discussing. The Appendixes contain excellent information that is quickly accessible simply flipping through the pages. I am not a compiler writer by trade, but I had a good laugh related to the author's comments in Chapter 19's Summary (on page 408). You'll just have to purchase the book to find out! I look forward to investing more time in reading this book in detail. If you have to spend money on a tool, this book is money well spent.



3. Wonderful experience writing an IL code generator. Project went quickly, easily, with high quality result. Thanks to Microsoft's .Net and IL ecosystem, and three books; Expert .Net IL Assembler (Serge Lidin), Common Language Infrastructure Annotated Standard (James S. Miller), ECMA-335 CLI Standard (downloadable from ECMA).



4. This book is best ever! You can learn IL, but you can undarstand MSIL, how aplications are build.

4 comments about Macromedia Dreamweaver 8 Visual Encyclopedia.

1. This book is heavy in more ways than one. For one thing, it's a big thick, glossy tome that weighs a lot. However, the good news is that it's worth its wait in gold! Never have a seen such an accessible, comprehensive aid for getting things done with Dreamweaver. It's task and tool based, with every step illustrated in color. Makes it incredibly easy to do use just about every aspect of the product. You just look up the task or tool and voilla! Fortunately, it's accessibility doesn't limit its utility, so this book is also for experienced DW users. I'm amazed at the sophistication of the techniques, even though they're presented in a way that make them head-smacking easy. This just could be the best overall book on Dreamweaver yet.



2. I teach in the same district as and have worked with one of the authors (Kim Cavanaugh) and found this book on the shelf and decided to pick it up for that reason. I like the layout of it because if you need help on CSS, you simply go to that section because it's in ABC order. As another rater stated, you do need some background in Dreamweaver but I was able to pick up some of the techniques from it. If you want a training book you'll need to look elsewhere but it doesn't tout itself as that kind of book. It's richly illustrated and the steps are nicely described. It will be a great addition to anybody's library.



3. Book goes into great depth to show most of the features in Dreamweaver 8. The book puts its topics in alphabetical order so that it is easy to find what you need.



4. The best feature about this book is that it shows you screen shots and gives step by step instructions. I have for years been trying to teach myself about Dreamweaver, now this book helps me to better understand what Dreamweaver can do to make your Website really stand out.

5 comments about C++ Network Programming, Volume I: Mastering Complexity with ACE and Patterns (C++ In-Depth Series).

1. This is an excellent reading for any network programmer. More than ACE itself the concepts covered are of a great value. I am a beginner to intermediate network programmer, but an experienced programmer otherwise, and found this to be an extremely valuable resource in terms tackling large application frameworks from the ground up. The concepts are precise upto the point but extremely easy to read and digest. Of course, the book is assuming that you know quite a bit of every thing else that is not covered here. There are quite a bit of things that are totally missing or not correct based on the OS and the advances in Posix threading. Nevertheless this is an excellent source for any network programmer.



2. The 2nd volume is a complement to the first.The 1st one talks for portable source code and wrapper classes. The second one concentrates on deisgn patterns & all issues in C++ network programming architecture .
   Again i say dont reinvent the wheel , give ACE a look.



3. The blurb for this book calls it authoritative. And it is authoritative in the sense that it is written by the people behind ACE. But it is not authoritative in the sense that it isn't a complete reference.
   
   As somebody who has written native code for handling Sockets, process management, threading etc on various platforms, then over time integrated OO and patterns to make it easier to use (including across platforms), and slowly worked my way towards what I consider a definitive way of doing things, I find reading this book interesting in that it's like a tick list to which I can go "yeap, I found that too" with just the odd "ooh, actually I would do that differently in this specific situation, but for the general case yes that's how I do it too". So, for me this book is interesting now, but if I was new to ACE (I'm not) or new to the underlying platform APIs I am not so sure how interesting I would find it. It gives more of a taster of what ACE can do than providing a complete tutorial. It gives more of a justification of why ACE does things the way it does rather than provide a complete reference. So, interesting for me now, but I'm really not sure who the book is aimed at. It could be used as one step of a tutorial, giving familiarity of what ACE can do, if not enough detail to really do serious stuff. It could be used to persuade people that it's usually better to use ACE than invest time and money re-inventing the wheel... Otherwise, I just don't know...
   
   Is ACE worth using? Most of the time, yes. If you need a book about ACE then this is probably the place to start, but online is the place to find the detailed information that you will need when using it.



4. My husband needed this to further his knowledge at work. Was worth the price and easy to understand for him, anyway



5. This book provided a decent introduction to ACE. However, language is little terse and presentation is not as good as ACE Programmer's book. I most liked the boxed explanations in the book, this style should have been all over the book.

5 comments about Expert One-on-One Visual Basic 2005 Database Programming (Expert One-On-One).

1. I bought this book even though I am a C# coder. Roger has such great concepts on how to do design and coding that I almost shouted for joy after searching and reading other books (e.g S. Malik which is of little or no value). This book goes beyond my production code needs and is invaluable in doing it right the first time. Thanks Roger for the section on concurrency exceptions which we all have in the real world. Most folks sweep this under the rug because it takes a real pro to fully and accurately address it.



2. This book does a better job of explaining what happens behind the vs2005 data object wizzards then many of the other books that just show you how to use them.



3. Having this book a month ago would have saved me at least $1000. Which is about how much I had to pay someone to write code that this book clearly points out was already written and available by Microsoft.
   
   That's the bottom line. This book is a time and money saver for anyone writing VB 2005 code that uses a database.



4. Excelente libro, le agregaria algun truquito mas, pero esta todo, sirve como para arrancar y profundizar en los temas. Muy buena guia.



5. I snatched this book up as soon as I saw it. I have three other of Roger Jennings' database books and they are great.
   
   This one was a little disappointing. It has good information in it and it is informative. But, percentage-wise at least, it seems to contain a lot more filler, like unneeded code. The style of writing seems so different from his other books that I wonder how much of the actual writing Mr. Jennings did himself.
   
   It's definitely not a bad book. Overall it was worth the money. Maybe the second edition will add more substance. I would actually rate it at 3 1/2 stars, but that's not an available option.

3 comments about XSLT 1.0 Pocket Reference (Pocket Reference (O'Reilly)).

1. This is a handy little pocket book that covers the essentials of XSLT. It's far better than the stuff you will find on the W3C site, and it won't break your back like Michael Kay's excellent, but hefty, work. I have to ding it a little for lack of a complete reference on XPath. There is certainly information about the functions, but I would have like to have seen more depth on it. And the XPath appendix wasn't helpful. A language definition is definitely not what I was looking for there. Some common examples of XPath usage would be great.



2. XSLT is one of those technologies that takes awhile to get the hang of. Once you've learned the basics, you'll end up needing to refer back to reference material often. One way to make that process a bit quicker would be to have a copy of Even Lenz's XSLT 1.0 Pocket Reference on hand...
   
   Contents: Data Model; The XPath Language; How XSLT Works; Elements; Functions; Extending XSLT; XPath 1.0 Grammar; XSLT Pattern Grammar; Index
   
   Looking at the back cover, the impression is such that you could use this book to get "up to speed quickly" on XSLT. Perhaps you could, but if this was your first and only exposure to XSLT and it works out that way, you're a far better IT professional than I am. The information is concise and correct, to be sure. But it's not going to walk you through the subject in a tutorial fashion. Conversely, if you understand the basics and need a quick visual reference on how to use a feature, say like , this book shines. You don't have to wade through a dozen pages of conversation to find out the format and syntax. Two pages total in this book, and you have all the details. And that's what an O'Reilly's Pocket Reference title is for...
   
   If you're working with XSLT already and need that "cheat sheet" material, I'd recommend this book. You'll get a lot of value from it. If you're looking to learn XSLT, you'll probably want to start with something more tutorial in nature first. Once you've got that down, head over here for ongoing reference...



3. This book represents an amazing feat of distilling all you really need
   to know about XSL into 170 pocket-sized pages. What's more amazing
   is that an experienced developer with little prior XML/XSL experience
   can actually learn enough from this little gem to write competent XSL.
   
   A reference manual AND quality tutorial in 1/20th the space (and dead
   trees) of most tech books these days. I've recommended this to several
   of my colleagues who had to get up to speed on XSL for a new project,
   and the reaction from them is the same as mine.... This was EXACTLY
   what I needed.

5 comments about Pragmatic Ajax: A Web 2.0 Primer (Pragmatic).

1. Well written and excellent, great info in the first 50 pages. Much better than the Ajax on Java for the nutshell which seems to worm around. This book tells it like it is. Just my opinion. I think anyone who is being inundated with Ajax boasting should read this and see what its all about.



2. This book is everything one can want form such a book. Before I read this book, I knew nothing about AJAX, although I read few articles on the internet, I couldn't find such nice explanations and examples. Now I use AJAX wherever I can, and I can't immagine my life without it. Buy this book and you won't be sorry.



3. I really liked this book as an introduction into Ajax and found it better than 4 other books I looked at. It has the basics as well as detailed examples using the top 4 frameworks. Usually a book chooses one and may contain a page or two about one or more other technologies. This is a great primer for anyone and it may even aid you in deciding which group of Ajax technologies to implement.
   
   Mike



4. Personally, I don't really use this book too much. It is a very general primer to web 2.0 with AJAX. It covers the Dojo toolkit and Prototype / Scriptaculous JavaScript libraries, but doesn't show you the true power of JS and really leaves you wanting more.
   
   However, if you are lost or new to the web development world, this book will give you a good foundation. I would recommend picking up the O'Reilly definitive Javascript book and Prototype / Scriptaculous "bungee" book by Pragrmatic Programmers immediately after.



5. Pragmatic Ajax: A Web 2.0 Primer (Pragmatic)
   
   This is a very good book, if you want to jump into Web 2 development. Authors waste no time in getting you up and running with practical examples. Examples are chosen wisely, explanation is excellent. Just keep in mind that the book is what it says, it is a primer, besides Web 2 is a big topic, yet authors do a remarkable job.

5 comments about How to Wow with Flash (How to Wow).

1. Now see, this is an example of using the WOW label to sell almost anything! If it says WOW, I'm looking for some new, slick, seldom seen techniques or examples. I mean, that's what WOW used to mean in the graphic book section. Alas, the term has been diluted to just a slick marketing sound bite. Nothing, and I mean NOTHING in this book can't be found in the Flash help menu, or doing a quick Google search. When I read through this thing, all I could say was, "WOW, ain't nuthin' in here"!



2. After going through this book I felt I needed to have a better understanding than I already had of flash. Also the tricks they show are great and can be masted using the CD accompanying the book, however there are no real instructions on how to integrate that into your own work. I felt there was a missing link of getting some of these effects to work on my own projects and found myself very frustrated in the end. Some are easier than others and I was able to implement them but there should have been more explanation on how to integrate these new effects instead of them being so isolated to step by step instructions.



3. I am not an eloquent writer, but my comment is simple.
   I found the quick and easy methods used in this book really consolidated and condensed what I have learned from other flash books. It is a book to keep by your side when you want to remember how to do something quickly. I recommend it to people who have learned a bit about flash and want to apply their knowledge.



4. I am a designer but beginning flash, I took a class and then I bought this book. I have been going through the lessons with the CD. I like the book, it's to the point and easy to follow step by step.



5. Being a professional Web and multimedia guy I buy a lot of books on Web design and A/V. Among others, I have in my collection pretty much all books on Flash,. I've had this book since last year and just finished reading the rest of the chapters I had not gotten to complete. No matter what your level in Flash is, this is a great book because there's something for everybody in it. My goal from every book I buy is to implement at least one thing that I learn from that book because a lot of times just that one thing is worth more than the price of the book. This book has definitely paid for itself and more.
   
   Just a word of caution if you're buying this book now when even Flash CS3 has been out for a year and there's word about an upgrade. I'd wait for this book's new edition, which I'd buy myself, because the examples and code will be more relevant to the latest version of Flash.

4 comments about Building Spring 2 Enterprise Applications.

1. This book does a fantastic job introducing the reader to the main benefits of using Spring2.
   
   For all the key features, such as Dependency Injection, AOP, simplified Data Access, cross cutting concerns such as Transactioning, and templates for easy integration of other popular open source frameworks, the authors first cover the problem space itself, then the easy to understand Spring solutions, than any gotchas or caveats related to coding your specific Spring based solutions.
   
   Excellent book at just the right level of detail.
   Simplifies key points without forcing user to slog through the lengthy reference guide, or some of the longer Spring books available.
   
   After reading the book, the authors correctly recommend checking out the open source code which implements Spring framework to get further confidence and knowledge of how the magic works. I have also been pleased with responsiveness of springframework.org's support forum since reading the book.



2. OK. Before I start the review I should point out that I am sun Certified Java, Web, Web Services, and Business Objects Certified (EJB). My expectations was to look at the Spring Framework for "Enterprise Applications" hinse the title "Building Spring 2 Enterprise Applications." So my expectation is to see more information of Webshere Intergration, Weblogic Integration, Glassfish Integration, JPA, EJB 3.0 integration, JTA Transactions, etc.
   
   This book does a good job introducing the reader to the main benefits of using Spring2.
   
   All the base features are explained such as Dependency Injection, AOP, simplified Data Access, cross cutting concerns such as Transactioning, and templates for easy integration of other popular open source frameworks.
   
   I don't want to criticize the framework, some are enterprise class, some are not. The Dependency Injection, and AOP are the strengths of the framework. Transactions get a slide in due to the Proxy AOP impacts, but the JDBC, Web MVC are not. JPA is now an enterpise standard, and JSF/AJAX are a standard toolset. Spring MVC is Page based and great view technology, but the world has moved toward Component Web Technologies like Java Server Faces/AJAX. I wished the book headed in this direction more.
   
   Maybe a real look at the impact of Spring AOP Proxy Objects AOP and Java Debugging, Monitoring and Profiling Tools, which I see in my development is a new experience.
   
   Perhaps being Enterprise Spring topics of Clustering, fail over, Large Transactions, Many Transactions would be nice.
   
   Also a little more contrast with AOP Aspect Programing with the JEE 5, Interceptors functionality which is very similar. We have choices when we develope and want to make smart choices. The book points to only a Spring based solution, when EJB 3.0 Session Bean Interceptors may be a better choice.
   
   The book seems to criticize JEE, and offering Spring as a container in itself, which of course is a possibility for small applications, but true enterprise applications have bigger architectural issues.
   
   The Spring documentation at the Springframework website seems a better source, but fewer examples.
   
   Overall, great for new developers looking to focus on Spring. But truly nothing except the AOP Aspect/J engine is truly unique, or enterprise class in my opinion.
   
   If you are unlucky enough to work in an enterprise with an J2EE 1.4 Server (JBoss 4.X, IBM's Webshere, Oracle App Server), this book looks real good, as does Spring and all their services. That was a horrible spec for business development, but the J2EE5 Servers have choices that are in line with Spring, and JEE 6 with WebBeans and pluggable container is not to far away.
   
   EJB @Resource Dependency Injection is suitable and Google's Guice is a good supplement, And J2EE Interceptors and life cycle events is AOP lite.



3. If you are a developer and needs to pick a good book to put you up to speed, this is not the greatest choice, this book might be good for class room, where you could read theory and write a test for exam.



4. This book was exactly what I was looking for - short (300+ pages), covers several areas in both a concise and easily understandable manner. What I was looking for was a more in-depth explanation of configuring the applicationContext.xml, which I felt the authors covered well. The bonus was an excellent introduction to Spring AOP. I didn't really buy the book for that purpose, but the AOP introduction gave me enough footing to feel like I can begin introducing its concepts into my projects.
   
   As an aside, I must say that I get really annoyed with reviewers who rate or critique a book based on what their expectations were that it "should" cover. Books should be reviewed based on what it DID cover. If the book didn't cover the topics you thought it should, then don't buy the book. I assume you're smart enough to read the table of contents or skim through it quickly to see if it's what you're truly looking for. If it doesn't, find a book that does.

5 comments about An Introduction to IBM Rational Application Developer: A Guided Tour (Ibm Illustrated Guide Series).

1. There is next to nothing useful in this book. Consider purchasing it only if you have a medium weight door that needs holding ajar, and no other use for $50.



2. On page one it states that it is "aimed at beginners who want to quickly and easily learn to use Rational Application Developer". Beginners beware. I can't remember reading a textbook-like book that has as many errors as this one does. I'm only up to page 65 and I've found 23 errors or inconsistencies. And, eight of the 65 pages I did not read. How many errors are there in the next 539 pages. I question whether this book was "proofed". I am amazed and disappointed that the IBM Press published a book with this level of quality. My experience with this book so far makes me wonder whether I should purchase any more books from IBM Press in the future. I'd sure like to get my money back on this one.



3. Overall I am impressed with the well structured chapters. Very well organised.
   Examples used in this book are very practical and easy to follow.
   
   If there is a new edition in the future, would be great if it can incorporate chapters on plugins like Hibernate, Business Process Manager (Workflow) and Business Rules inside RAD.



4. I am using this book for a class which is requiring us to go through all of the tutorials.
   
   Pros-
   You will gain decent experience with writing java servlets, database apps and XML.
   
   Cons-
   We are using the most recent version of RAD so some of the pictures in the book are not exactly the same, but they are close enough for you to figure it out the steps you need to take. The tutorials do well at teaching their topics (writing an xml file, java servlets, filters, etc.) but they do not explain a lot about RAD itself. Many times I could not get a tutorial to work because of something as trivial as a setting with the server that they forgot to mention in the tutorial. Be prepared to be frustrated with some of them.



5. Of the three or so books I bought to help figure out Websphere, this one is doing the best job. I don't love the book because it dives right into tutorials, and doesn't always give me enough of a big picture. But this big picture can be a difficult one to convey. When I needed to deploy an app and get the JNDI names right for getting to my data source, this book had a chapter that explains exactly that. It explains both the steps to get it done in the GUI, and a bit of how and why it works like it does.
   
   I looked at some other books from IBM press, like Enterprise Java Programming with IBM Websphere, and they were a bit too much, too soon for me. I might, however, recommend the Redbooks, if you can get them.