5 comments about Practical Subversion, Second Edition (Expert's Voice in Open Source).

1. The second edition of Practical Subversion has been updated, but not substantially changed. The new edition has somewhat higher production quality and editing. The reference material on the various svn subcommands has been updated to be more current. This is very important because the first edition was badly out-of-date in this area.
   
   The book has many good features, such as the "Best Practices" chapter, the comparison of Subversion against other version control systems. and the API documentation. These sections have been cleaned up and, in a few cases, extended to provide a real benefit to the reader.
   
   Unfortunately, I don't think the book went far enough with the practical "guide" content. More information about how to use version control and the special features of Subversion in particular would have been a better use of space than repeating the reference material that can be had freely on-line.
   
   Like the first edition, this book tries to be both a solid reference and a practical guide. Unfortunately, the authors do not separate these two missions in the book. This leads to a kind of split personality, where the practical advice is interrupted by reference material and vice versa. I found this to be a bit distracting, and think it prevents this from being a great book.
   
   That being said, this is a good book that covers Subversion quite well. I have recommended it to people already on the strength of the "Best Practices" chapter alone. If you are using Subversion, the practical usage information in this book should help you make better use of the tool.If you are considering using Subversion, the comparison of Subversion against other tools is a very important resource.
   
   Although I think the structure of the book could be improved, I still don't mind recommending the book.



2. The version control system known as Subversion is quickly taking over the title of open source leader from the old standby, CVS. If you already have some background knowledge in version control systems and you want to start using Subversion, the book Practical Subversion (Second Edition) by Daniel Berlin and Garrett Rooney would be a good way to transition yourself over...
   
   Contents:
   Introducing Subversion; A Crash Course in Subversion; Repository Administration; Migrating from Other Version Control Systems; Advanced Apache Integration; Best Practices; Integrating Subversion with Other Tools; Using the Subversion APIs; Subversion Command Glossary; Subversion Compared to Other Version Control Systems; Index
   
   Unlike some books that cover version control systems (either generally or one in particular), this one doesn't try and take you from ground zero to expert. While there is some background material, the overall tone is one that assumes you are functionally literate on the subject and are particularly interested in Subversion. While that might limit the potential audience a bit, it makes it much more focused and valuable for those who want to bypass entry level material. The chapters cover both administrative and user-based functions, but tend to be a bit more heavy on the setup and administration end. For something that could be a rather dry subject, the authors do a good job in keeping things moving forward and interesting. I also found the chapter on version control system comparison to be valuable. All systems are *not* the same, and there are some underlying structural differences that will have a significant impact on what does and doesn't convert over, should you choose to switch systems.
   
   All in all, a good book on Subversion, and one that will get you started in the right direction.



3. _Practical Subversion_ seems to have a theme that distinguishes it
   from "the" Subversion book at [...]
   integration. Looking over the table of contents, i see that 5 out of
   the 8 chapters focus on integration of one kind or another.
   
   After the requisite chapter on installation, the book moves quickly
   through "A Crash Course in Subversion" and "Repository Administration"
   and then on to the good stuff. These first three chapters are
   thorough and adequate, but are basically the same as such chapters in
   other books about Subversion. It's almost a shame such chapters have
   to be included, as they're only useful during a short period at the
   start of the book's life on your shelf.
   
   _Practical Subversion_ really starts to shine in the chapter on
   migration from other systems; it even documents the dump file format!
   It goes on to document Apache integration; repository browsers;
   integration with the shell, Emacs, and Ant; and closes with an
   excellent introduction to the Subversion APIs.
   
   Overall, this is a great book for using Subversion in practice. It
   lives up to its title.
   
   --Eric Gillespie



4. The "practical" in the title must refer to sysadmins, developers, tool integrators, and the like. If you are just someone that wants to become very proficient *using* svn, you, as I have, will find this book most *impractical*. The "crash course" chapter only begins to meet a user's needs, but it stops way short. The book then goes on to treat in detail a host of topics that as a user I could not care less about. Usually, I wind up having google for what I need -- I am currently looking for a better user's svn book.



5. I like this book. It does a good job describing the how to use subversion and many of the industry standard ways subversion is implemented. There are lots of easy to follow examples and good hints of which direction to take when there is an implementation "fork in the road" (i.e. BDB vs FSFS).
   
   The book also does a great job showing you the difference between other version control systems... mostly CVS.
   
   My only gripe with this and other Apress books is that they usually include a section on IDE integration.. This is a good idea but they usually only cover Eclipse and not Netbeans... this book is even more annoying in that it includes Visual Studio(!!!) and not Netbeans... Granted, Subversion integrates pretty easy with Netbeans but geez.. Include the 1/2 a page so all major IDEs are covered.
   
   Done with my rant. Beyond that, I really like this book. I feel this will get you going with Subversion. In a few days of reading, I had enough information to properly setup my own server.

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.

4 comments about P is for Peach: A Georgia Alphabet (Alphabet Series).

1. This is the best book I read about Georgia. It gives me lots of information.



2. This book is a great piece of work. I use it in my classroom as a way to introduce students to places/things of interest in the great state of Georgia. It inspires students to ask questions and to want more information. It also makes a great gift. I gave a copy to my nephew who lives in Indiana so that he will know his second home.



3. This book is amazing! I got to meet the illustrator and he signed a copy for me! I am using this with a 3rd grade class. It's a great way to introduce the state and all it has to offer. The pictures are beautiful, and it's very interesting for children and adults alike! I would highly recommend it!



4. A great way to learn about the history of a state. My wife loves children's books and she feel in love with this one.

5 comments about Practical Analysis and Design for Client/Server and GUI Systems (Yourdon Press Computing Series).

1. An excellent book and well worth the price! Basic concepts that are often overlooked in real world projects are impressively presented.



2. This book is exactly what the title says. It's the best book I've ever read about analysis and design techniques for building systems quickly and effectively. The techniques Dave teaches in this book include how to scope the project, define context, event, information, database design and architecture models, prototype, and design interfaces and internal components. What is just as important, Dave tells us how these techniques relate to and impact one another, and how they each fit into the emerging picture of the complete system. Dave also puts today's methods into historical perspective to provide some "Ah ha's" as to how we got to where we are today in systems design.

   Dave writes in a terse, easy-to-read, plain English style. All jargon, theories and concepts are explained in a simple, straightforward words, emphasizing their practical use. I've been studying this stuff for years, and Dave has written the clearest explanation of event modeling I've ever read. Humorous examples and analogies are used to lighten up abstract concepts. The "Chicken Crossing the Road" example used to explain associative entities is unforgettable. Lots of delightful cartoons, diagrams, screens and models drawn by the author also underscore important points and keep the pace moving from cover to cover.

   As an instructor, I would highly recommend using this as a text in systems analysis and design courses. Each chapter concludes with a quiz and there is case study that brings all the tools and techniques together in a system design for a veterinary practice.

   If you're reviewing system design techniques or learning them for the first time, Dave's concise descriptions and humor will keep you engaged and moving along at a rapid pace.




3. I have read this book three times, and each I learn something new. It is nice to have a book that is independent of any development platform, and in PLAIN ENGLISH to boot. This book is more valuable than the course I had taken in college.

   This book is for people who want to be productive. It is not for people who like sitting in all day meetings trying to come up with the CUTEST idea.

   To get a straight forward answer on associative entities/relationships was like a breath of fresh air. I was told once that you should never have to use association tables. You should maintain the integrity of the database via code - yeah right.

   I have recommended this book to every developer I know. This book should purge your mind of every piece of useless information that anyone has ever told you on how to approach building and designing applications.




4. Easy to read and understand. Good and practical methodology. Cover most essential parts of Software Analysis and Design.

   I agree with every words that printed on the back cover i.e. the analysis and design techniques that really work.




5. Very practical, helpfull and easy to follow book. What is more important it gives you possibility to easily make your own templates for analysis and design.

5 comments about The Art and Science of C: A Library Based Introduction to Computer Science.

1. I borrowed this book from library and believed I had made a right decision.

   Quoted from the book, Mr. Roberts have been teaching computer science for over 20 years, I'm not sure how long he has taught C language but I suppose this book is written in a way that he believes is most beneficial to the readers, based on his teaching experience.

   C is a cryptic and complex language, so the author teaches in a stepwise manner, he hides the complexity by introducing his private libraries and data abstractions. So the readers implement the functionality of C, which is independent from the complexity of C; once the readers have enough grasp at C, they may move on to explore the complexity of C.

   The author have done these with good intention because data types in ANSI C are limited in size, for example, the data type int is different from our perception of integer in daily life. The address operator & may be confusing as well.

   How did I use the book? I rewrited all the examples presented in book without his private libaries. I did the exercises in the book without his private libraries as well. Instead of copying all his codes and getting them work, I tried to make errors: for example, in the simple hello world program, omitted the preprocessor operator #, then read the error messages. I also tried to improve the efficiency of my algorithm.

   This maybe a good introductory book for people who have experience in programming in languages other than C since the syntax of C may confuse them, but owning it is not recommended.




2. I thought this was a wonderful beginners book. It gave me the basics and then allowed me to go on and try new things by myself. By the end I really felt like I could write my own programs in C.
   
   I only gave it four stars because I think five would have to be a textbook that really brought the information to life, while this one was rather dry.



3. I have read and worked through both of Eric Roberts books on C.
   Of all the programming books I have read, and there are many, his two are the best.
   
   My only regret is that he has not written books on C++.



4. This book is annoying with the way the author asks the user to write programs using his custom library functions, as opposed to the standard C commands. Because of this, I did not learn about scanf until probably the 7th or 8th week of the C programming course I was in. I feel like that alone warrants a 1-star rating. If you buy this book, you will be learning to program in "Roberts," not C.



5. I was frightened when I opened the book... The characters in the book look like a copied-material of a very very old 8-pin dot-printer output...

5 comments about Learning with Kernels: Support Vector Machines, Regularization, Optimization, and Beyond (Adaptive Computation and Machine Learning).

1. It is the best book on kernel methods. It covers a wide range of subjects.

   The best thing is that after finishing one or two basic chapters, you can read the rest of the book in any order; most chapters are almost independent to each other. At the beginning of a chapter, the authors list the prerequistites, so a reader knows whether he will be able to understand the chapter.

   For now the book still reflects the state of art. But it is a fast changing field. I hope the authors will update the book in the future.




2. Great book, but a word of caution, it is not for the novice.
   Book assumes a lot of background in functional analysis and
   probability. True, it has extensive appendixes but they are
   short-handing the relevant materials only. However, having said
   that, this is a book worth struggling with even if you have not
   yet got the intuitions in the above mentioned disciplines.
   
   It is worthwhile (at least as I can tell) to read the book
   skipping the tool chapters (2-6) going back to them when one has
   a point where those are needed. I found that to be much easier
   as it provides a concrete use of the methods putting them
   in context.



3. This book is at the right level if you are already strong in Machine Learning theory. (e.g. Tom Mitchell's "Machine Learning").
   
   Note that it is already getting somewhat dated. It for example includes little information on kernels for discreate structured input, such as trees and graphs.



4. The authors are young researchers who did their Ph.D. research in this rapidly developing branch of pattern recognition. Because they are young and are at the state of the art in the filed the book has sevral advantages and disadvantages and what I see as a disadvantage someone else might view as an advantage. Anyway here is my view.
   Advantage 1: Pattern recognition is a field of many disciplines. It has been studied by statisticians, mathematician, probabilists and engineering and people that call themselves computer scientists specializing in artificial intelligence. The field is old and has a long history but each discipline has developed their own jargon and many times the wheel has been reinvented. The advantage of this book is that these young scientists don't see that awful history. They have learned and mastered their subject in a basically engineering jargon but they include many concepts from statistics and statistical learning theory that are not common to engineering texts. This includes such topics as robust regression, ridge regression and spline estimation. Much of the classical statistical literature is cited. The book contains over 600 references including much of the authors own work.
   Disadvantage 1: Because they are young they miss some of the important historical literature and key texts. I found it a little disappointing that the bootstrap which is a statistical tool that has played a major role in discriminant analysis (particularly in the estimation of classification error rates) was completely overlooked. Also although many important texts on pattern recognition, machine learning and discriminant analysis are cited the fine text by McLachlan is overlooked as is the recent relevant text by Hastie, Tibshirani and Friedman.
   
   Advantage 2: This book highlights the work of Vapnik and Chervonenkis and provides nice concise descriptions that one can easily refer to when needed. The mathematics is deep and includes reproducing kernel Hilbert space and many important properties from functional analysis and statistical theory.
   
   Disadvantage 2: The authors are more experienced at writing professional papers than at writing text books. Consequently the book does not flow well and the authors freely admit in their preface that it is best not to read the book in sequential order but rather to take the suggestions in the preface that differ based on the readers background and interest.
   
   Having said all this, for someone like me, who is very knowledgeable about statistical pattern recognition this is a great text for getting me up to speed on an exciting new area that I know very little about. I became curious about it when I started reading Vapnik recently.
   
   I am hoping that a careful reading of this book will give me an intuition about why this approach that incorporates kernel methods can be a powerful tool in pattern recognition and classification.
   
   This book should be a useful reference for anyone interested in this research area. It could be used in an engineering or statistics course in pattern recognition at either the undergraduate or graduate levels depending on what material is covered.
   
   In a recent communication with Bernhard Scholkopf I learned that his book was sent for publication before the Hastie et al. book went to press. So that is the only reason it wasn't referenced. I think that point is worth my mentioning in an editing of this review. Also on reflection I do not think the disadvantages are so great as to remove a star. So it is 5 stars for them.
   
   I can only hope that they will reference the work of McLachlan and Hastie et al. in their future books and research on this subject.



5. Excellent theory on SVMs and VC dimensionality. However, I found the chapters on optimization a bit terse. Otherwise, an essential reference for those interested in using SVMs in classification and regression.

5 comments about SAP R/3 Handbook, Third Edition.

1. This book provides no real usable knowledge about SAP. There is absolutely no information on some areas, such as CATT's. And the areas that have some meat have only bologna.



2. This edition appears to be about 1/3 the size of previous editions; and refers to a fairly old version of SAP... even though this was released in Dec 2005.
   There is a great many things missing here. SPAM... I guess you do not need that any more.
   Perhaps the publishers wanted a book for managers.
   
   Anyway, if you are considering this, get the 2nd edition... or buy one of the many that are used, as I expect there will be many BASIS admins selling this back the day after they purchase it.
   Sorry... I was hoping for an updated version of Edition 2.



3. One of my long standing complaints about computer software books is that they so often eliminate the first forty pages or so that explain just what this software is and what is supposed to do. This book (at 606 pages it's a lot more than forty pages) is essentially the front end description that explains what SAP ERP is and what it si supposed to do.
   
   The subtitle of the book is 'Essential Skills for SAP Technical Consultants.' It appears to be aimed at the individual who is trying to decide what SAP can do for them. It's much less concerned with the detail of how to do it.
   
   I found this to be of great help, as SAP is a huge software system. It has perhaps a thousand components (does anyone really know) from various vendors that can be tied together to handle most ERP problems. If you're going to use SAP, just which of all these components are you going to pull together to solve your particular set of problems.
   
   After you know what you're trying to do, then there are other books and manuals that will give you the details about how to do it. So if at this point you are wondering just what is the difference between SAP R/3, and mySAP.com, and SAP Web Application Server, and SAP NetWeaver, this is the place to start. All in all, it's good to see such a book. I hope this is a trend getting started and that we can see other books coming on other big software packages that's more aimed at what can be done.



4. It's difficult to keep up with all the changes,impact, and new tools that Netweaver technology is requiring for configuring and maintaining the environments. I think that this book has merit in that it stick with some of the aspects and tasks that have not changed as much, and gives an update to some of the older information. For the $$ it is a good book.



5. It is a good guide to begin a good SAP performance.

2 comments about Pro Netbeans IDE 6 Rich Client Platform Edition (Expert's Voice in Java).

1. I've bought this book hoping that it'll help me use the "platform", i.e. a set of reusable components that Netbeans itself is built with, to write my own app.
   
   Instead the book is basically a shrunk paper based version of the Netbean's own help.
   
   Absolutely worthless. Definitely returning it.



2. Eagerly anticpated book that was utterly disappointing. I had decided to make Net Beans my IDE of choice, but because of the lack of good documentation (including this book) I am going back to [...]

5 comments about Foundations of F# (Expert's Voice in .Net).

1. This is an excellent book for a practical introduction to the F# language. The best part of the book for me was its discussion of how to connect F# with C#. The fact is, even though F# is a functional language, it has to live in a C# world. In fact, I think this book might be a little bit better than the Expert F# book at explaining how to get F# to work with OO types and events (They're both great books).
   
   I also really liked his discussions which encouraged OO-programmers to try new techniques that they might not have immediately considered (because an OO-programmer's knee-jerk reaction to everything is to create an object)...I almost wished he talked more about programming style.
   
   So, I guess my only real complaint about the book is that it isn't thick enough...but that's about it. I hope he writes more books about F# soon...maybe one on F# programming style. It's a must-have for anyone wanting to learn F# (or anyone wanting to get a sneak peek at where C# will be in 10 years).



2. I'm working through this, and even in the first chapter, I ran into quite a few errors. Some of the code does not compile as presented, and some examples use syntax that is not explained anywhere that I can find.
   
   Obviously, that makes learning F# from this book much more difficult than it should be, but when the author takes the time to explain something, it is explained fairly well. When the examples work, they help to illustrate the point. Most of the time, I've been able to get the code to compile when there are errors in the code because of the explanation that goes with it. Some of the time however, the combination of unexplained syntax and buggy code leaves me in a bit of a bind.
   
   This book could have been much better with a better proofreader.



3. Foundations of F# presents the F# language, a functional programming language that runs on the .NET platform. The language is from the ML family, mostly similar to OCaml, and is a functional language with a decidedly pragmatic orientation. It is a great tool for two kinds of people: 1) .NET programmers that want a more productive and expressive language, incorporating more recent advances in programming language technology; and 2) functional programmers that want a language that has many good libraries and can integrate effortlessly with a platform as widespread as .NET.
   
   The book is clearly targeted to the first group, but is useful to people from the second one as well. The first six chapters present the language, and the three main paradigms it embodies: functional, imperative and object-oriented programming. Chapter 6 is a useful look at program structuring, covering modules, namespaces, annotations and quoting. The next chapters are devoted to libraries available to the F# programmer, including Windows Forms, Windows Presentation Foundation, ASP.NET, network programming, web services, and data access. This pretty much covers most of what's necessary in real applications. The examples show very well how to use the libraries from the .NET platform, even if you have never had contact with them. I guess these chapters will be the most heavily used in my copy of the book.
   
   Then comes Chapter 11 on Language-Oriented Programming using F#: Metaprogramming and Domain-Specific Languages. Creating language processors is one of the main application areas for languages like F#, and this chapter is a good showcase for it. It covers lexer and parser generation, quotations and an interpreter for a little arithmetic language. The final chapter covers details about how to use the F# tools and is mostly for reference purposes.
   
   Overall, it's a good book for people new to functional programming and/or the .NET platform. It has many examples to present the main aspects not only of the language, but also of its enviroment (.NET). It doesn't go very deep into most of the topics; I would have liked more about quotations, reflection and metaprogramming, for instance. But then, it's not an advanced book, so it was to be expected. The advanced book on F#, Expert F# (Expert), is about to be published.



4. For a reader who already knows some F#, I think this book could be helpful. In the 100-page language tutorial, it seems to give a wide (though necessarily shallow) coverage of the syntax and programming paradigms of F#. Since there is a lot to the language, many readers will find something new to consider here. Then there are several chapters of applied F#: extremely brief explanations and samples of an ASP.NET app, a WinForm app, etc, written in F#. I'm suspicious that these chapters would be very useful to anyone: to those new to .NET, there is really not enough information here to get oriented; to working .NET programmers (which must be the widest audience for this book) there's just very little to learn here.
   
   Now, as someone completely new to F#, I found reading this book consistently frustrating. While the author obviously knows the subject, the presentation is not very accessible. The main problems I see are: (1) example code usually *follows* its explanation, which just confounds me why an author would do this; and (2) the prose is hard to read, containing tedious explanations of syntax, and an odd over-use of the second-person "you" when walking through an example that I found disorienting.
   
   Ultimately I spent a lot of time feeling frustrated trying to figure out what the author was saying, and wondering why it wasn't said more clearly. Judging from the sample chapters of Don Syme's book on his blog, I know that F# can be made accessible to the beginner. This book needed more editing to get there.



5. The author may know what he's talking about but the book fails to communicate. aPress should have (at a minimum) had an editor translate the text into (readable) English.

5 comments about Winning with Software: An Executive Strategy (The SEI Series in Software Engineering).

1. The first point of the book is one that still must be made to many, but in reality should have been obvious some time ago. Namely, that software is a critical component of the structure of the modern business. Humphrey makes the case clearly, concisely, and convincingly for the need for all executives to learn the basics of how software can be used to improve their business. That alone makes the book worth reading.
   His next step is to explain how to create a team of software developers that can build a quality product on time, on budget and where the team is still functional after the product is built. That part is hard and Humphrey outlines what he calls the Team Software Process (TSP), which is designed to build and manage quality software teams. With a small set of basic principles and a complete set of charts, the TSP is easily understandable and is presented at the non-technical level of most managers. The problem is of course that managers often follow paths based on their personal beliefs or insecurities and not those of impersonal realities. For this reason, Humphries book suffers from the unavoidable weakness of all such books in that readers have the option to ignore it.
   This book is packed with sound advice for managers of software development teams. It shows you how to create the process and provide the appropriate combination of cuddling and clubbing. However, whether it works or not is up to the practitioners, all too few of which will be willing or able to apply the advice.



2. Mr. Humphery has produced another winner. Every example is easy to relate to real world environments. The Summary and Conclusions at the end of every chapter are real jems. I have raved about the book to everyone at my company and I am trying to get sponsership from executive management for the processes defined in the book.



3. This book is targeted at executives, but it's also useful for developers who might be curious about what Humphrey's been talking about for the last few years in his PSP and TSP processes. Value comes in this book from understanding what many problems in software development are, why you have to address them, and at what level they need to be addressed. That said, it was difficult to really 'close the loop' and get the end-to-end on how one would go from having recognized the problems to organizing people to solving it, to actually rolling out solutions. Still, a good book nonetheless, and more than worth reading, especially if you don't feel like sitting through one of the PSP/TSP books.



4. This book by Watts S. Humphrey has an appealing title and actually an interesting set of chapters. However the book quickly falls in a sales pitch for Humphrey's Personal Software Process (PSP) and Team Software Process (TSP). If winning with software is indeed all about selling and applying PSP and TSP then the book is on track and will give champions a few tips and some data on how to sell these methodologies to their senior management.



5. MESSAGE / CONCEPT
   
   The message here is that if you wish to develop good software, particularly of any significant size, you need a robust process and a team of disciplined programmers/engineers. The operative words here are robust and disciplined. These two terms, particularly the discipline one, resonate particularly well with us, because one of the significant causes of a problem project is the lack of discipline to follow a defined process. The further message is that "quality counts" - even more so than schedule. This is particularly relevant to any business that uses software.
   
   When the project starts to "go off the track", the project team might go back to what they are comfortable with which often is the "lazy" approach. A bit like a football team - when things go pear shaped and they are on the back foot, bad habits sneak in .....tackles get missed, individuals don't get into position in defence, the ball gets dropped, the pass goes astray.....discipline goes out the window!
   
   His personal software process (PSP) and team software process (TSP) aren't incompatible with the extreme programming (XP) or agile software development movement, although the XP crowd may disagree. I don't think Humphrey would disagree even though he is coming from the Software Engineering Institute (SEI) angle and was a significant player in the SEI Capability Maturity Model (CMM) development which is often held up as the antithesis of XP.
   
   Having said all that and noting that the focus is on software development, the messages are equally applicable regardless of what is being developed. Overall, it is a good read with some excellent advice and practical examples. So don't be put off by the title and the fact it can be a bit dry in places, insert for software, your particular technology (missile, bridge, network, satellite, communications system, etc) and it will still make sense and provide you with some useful insights.
   
   WHAT WE LEARNT
   
   It more confirmed our present approach rather than taught us something new. BUT, it did enlighten us on a number of techniques we can use to show the value of taking a robust and disciplined approach to project management. So much so, we are getting another copy of the book and giving it to the manager of the project portfolio in one of our client organisations. This confirms for us that this is a book for executives.