2 comments about Essential MATLAB for Engineers and Scientists, Third Edition.

1. This book was recommended by a professor as a good supplemental text. So far, I have been glad I bought it. The main text is very good, but very technical. This book helps to fill in some of the holes that come up.
   
   It is quite bright and colorful inside, and not what I expected. It is easy to read and demonstrates how to get started using MATLAB.



2. I was very pleased with this product. It came well wrapped and in good shape,

5 comments about JavaScript by Example (By Example).

1. I think chapter 8 misuses the term "inheritance", which will muddy the waters for someone trying to understand inheritance. It says "Each object has a prototype whose properties it inherits". Would it be better to say "You can tack new methods or properties on to an existing class (eg: String) using the prototype property"?



2. A few discrepancies between the examples, explanations, and especially the CD, eg: where I think she changed a file or variable name in one place and forgot to change it in the other, so you spend some time trying to reconstruct what she meant to say.
   Otherwise well paced, good for learning.



3. Wether or not this book is right for you, really depends on what you need from a Javascript text book. Armed with some basic knowledge of HTML, this was the perfect text to put me up to speed on the topic. There are many examples (as the title implies), giving you an exhaustive treatment of all topics. This treatment doesn't leave anything out, and though it would be nice to have the answers to the exercises, anything which stumps you can be solved by going over the examples again.
   
   There are many explanations for every example given, but it's quite easy to skip around to what you need if you know some of the material already.
   
   Excellent self-study tool.



4. Terrific book, a little (editing) problems in the book, but if you have a little experience in Javascript they can be overlooked. Actually the few errors keep you on your toes!



5. I was reading JavaScript by Example in parallel with Beginning JavaScript, 2nd Edition for a class. I found that Quigley was trying too hard to jam too much information into a small space. As someone new to JavaScript, I found her explanations difficult and her writing unclear. In comparison, Beginning JavaScript is bigger, but kinder and more comprehensible to the new reader. If weight is an issue, buy Quigley. Otherwise, you are better off with Beginning JavaScript.

4 comments about Beginning MapServer: Open Source GIS Development (Expert's Voice in Open Source).

1. The book is written in a very clear way and goes to the point explaining mapserver thru examples, it should be a reference book for those, that are starting with mapserver, but it lacks a proper cover of raster layers and WCS. Interresting is that the prefered database used, is not PosGIS but MySQL (normally MySQL is pushed aside by PostGIS in spatial databases projects) this was a pleasent surprise, since I normally use MySQL. Conclusion: get the book



2. Beginning MapServer should not be your only source of information on using MapServer. The book has a lot of usefull examples in it, but I am missing something. My main interest is on how to use MapServer through PHP /MapScript. In particlar I would like to know more on the bindings from PHP/MapScript to the object model in MapServer.
   
   Do not expect the book to cover it all. It tries, but doesen't quite make it.
   
   Still - buy it! You need it for your library, I am sure you do ;-)



3. I purchased this book to help with developing a simple map-enabled web page running on a Windows computer. The book proved very difficult to use in that context. If you are planning on working on a windows computer, you should be aware of some potential shortcomings.
   
   In the spirit of full disclosure, I have considerable GIS experience, but little experience with web development.
   
   The book assumes that you are operating not only on a UNIX-based platform, but also that you will operate in a particular "development environment". The author does provide full instructions for building that development environment on a Unix machine, so if you are starting from scratch, everything will work as described.
   
   However....
   
   You can not readily build the same "development environment" on a Windows computer. I installed a version of MS4W ("Mapserver 4 Windows" on my computer. MS4W is a labor saving package that rapidly sets up a web server and installs most of the other open source software one would like to have available for using Mapsource effectively. Unfortunately, the installation differs from the "development environment" assumed by the book.
   
   As a result, there are MANY small but significant differences that crop up in developing the example applications given in the book. Many of these are simply differences in the way files are named or in the structure of the directory tree, but they are annoying and difficult to track down. it took me several DAYS of work and repeated searches for help on on-line MAPSERVER forums to figure things out and get the first several example applications running. I still have not managed to get about half of the examples up and running.
   
   That said, the book offers a nice introduction to many of the central concepts used in Mapserver. It has a good reference section that allows you to look up Mapserver commands, etc.
   
   Ultimately, I was able to develop the simple web-based applications I was after. This book contributed to that, but only after considerable frustration. Several Mapserver tutorials are available on-line. Some are specifically geared to Windows-based systems. They certainly offer a less tortuous, if sometimes less complete, path to getting Mapserver working on a Windows-based system.



4. Best guide I've seen on mapserver. Does a fine job of getting a new user going. Could use more trouble shooting.

4 comments about Picture Yourself Creating Digital Scrapbooks.

1. I am a fairly advanced digital scrapper and I found a lot of new and helpful instructions in this book. At the same time I found the instruction clear enough for a beginner - I sure wish this book was around back when I started. The kits provided would all cost more retail than the book costs and the kits are very top quality - from some of the best designers out there. This is a must have for anyone contemplating or already addicted to digi scrapping.



2. This is a wonderful book for those wanting to learn how to do digital scrapbooking, but it is not just for beginners! There are techniques and discussions that can advance your skills even if you have been digital scrapbooking awhile. One of the best things in the book that I love is the use of multiple programs (i.e., PhotoShop, PaintShopPro, PhotoShop Elements, and more!) While so many tutorials or books concentrate on one program (mostly PhotoShop), this book shows examples created in different programs. And while the book is worth the cost by itself, the DVD is a fantastic bonus! The kits included are by well-known digital scrapbook designers; the fonts are unique and fun; and the filters (shareware, trial use, or free) allow you to take your layouts to new levels!



3. I've been sitting on the sidelines for several months, trying to start digital scrapbooking but spent most of my time looking at other people's layouts and chasing down "freebies" that I haven't even used! This book helped me get on the road. I bought Paint Shop Pro (PSP), on the advice of PCWorld's digital photo editor a few years ago (he since has switched to Photoshop as it is more popular with his readers) but I like PSP for the very reasons he suggested and don't want to switch just because Adobe is better at marketing their product. I've been searching for a scrapbooking book that focused on PSP. While this book gives equal measure to PSP and Photoshop, it fit the bill for me. This book does not give step-by-step instructions, only general guidelines. I found the format to be helpful although I don't think a reader is able to replicate the complex layouts illustrated in the book just from reading it. The DVD is a great feature, making this book a very useful tool for the digital scrapper!



4. A very comprehensive introduction to the world of digital scrapbooking. The authors cover subjects much wider than just how to put a page together, including general information on scrapbooking itself and equipment like scanners, printers and tablets. Both Photoshop Elements 6 and Paint Shop Pro techniques are discussed. There is instruction for many techniques, but this is a more generalised text than a straight "how to do it" book. The book comes with a CD containing digital scrapbook supplies from leading designers and a section containing sample pages using those items (very useful for a beginner to see the different ways people can use the same supplies). I found the book easy to read but there were some areas that could have done with more detail. For example, it discusses how to use Gaussian Blur to simulate depth of field but uses a selection to choose the area to blur instead of a new layer which I feel is less flexible and more prone to risk. Sharpening is discussed and High Pass Sharpening mentioned - but we are never told what it is. It is also a shame that the authors demonstrated the Magic extractor tool instead of the excellent and easy to use Quick Selection Tool in Photoshop Elements to demonstrate extracting a background. However, these are pretty minor quibbles in the scheme of things. I think this book would be useful to anyone starting out with digital scrapbooking (especially if they are new to the tools). It will provide you with all the information you need to start making your own pages.

5 comments about Effective Software Project Management.

1. Many project managers read the PMBOK and received Project Management training. Then they came to manage software development projects. They began to use their new PM tools and, still, many of them failed miserably! The book "Software Project Secrets" by George Stepanek explained why.
   
   This book aims to fill a gap in the software development arena. It?s really the first book which have the goal to set out strategies for the integration of project management and systems development approaches (and the solution to the problem explained in the firt paragraph).
   
   Dr. Wysocky gives 5 SDPM strategies:
   
   - Linear
   - Incremental
   - Iterative
   - Adaptive (taken from Dr. Wisocki book called "Effective Project Management, 3rd Edition" which I read also)
   - Extreme
   
   Each strategy have 7 chapters which mostly follows the PMBOK processes. For example: Iterative SDPM Strategy (a summary of the other chapters), The Iterative SDPM Scoping Phase, The Iterative SDPM Planning Phase, The Iterative SDPM Launching Phase, The Iterative SDPM Monitoring and Controlling Phase, The Iterative SDPM Closing Phase, The Iterative SDPM Strategy Summary.
   
   For someone like me, who already read a lot of agile software development and agile project management books, little is really new stuff. But I will benefit a lot from this book, mainly because will be a good reference to teach my students and team members about good software project management.
   
   There are some things which I believe could result in an even more complete book (maybe in the next edition) and which resulted in my 4 stars review. I will give some pointers to someone who want to have a deep treatment of the subjects below:
   
   - The choice of strategies is based mainly in how is our knowledge of the goal and the solution to the project. Dr. Wysocki splits the solution in requirements, functions and features. The problem is there is very little explanation about these different levels of solution. Only on pages 85-87 and 315 we have a small example. But it is not very detailed, even on the dowload area of the book. I believe more and better examples will help a lot, specially to project managers entering the field of software development and to students, to find out how to choose the best strategy for the circumstances given. I believe the book lost a lot of its power because of the little guidance on how to choose the strategy and examples to help identify the situations.
   
   - Sometimes I had the impression of repetition in some chapters. But when I reached the end of the book I saw the impossibility to do otherwise. Some information about each process inevitably repeats.
   
   - The other thing I believe could be helpful is to talk about the importance and how to: estimate software projects, refactoring, unit testing, version control, change management and issue tracking, testing process, etc. To complement this book I recomend "Applied Software Project Management" by Andrew Stellman, Jennifer Greene and also "Ship it! A Practical Guide to Successful Software Projects" by Jared Richardson, William Gwaltney.
   
   In summary, a very good book which finally open the stage to the necessity of merging PM and systems development processes. An important book to project managers who really want to do a difference (in favour of the light side of the Force :-) ! ) for the software team they will lead!



2. Software is hard to manage. As I write this, the new Vista operating system from Microsoft has just been delayed again. If Microsoft can't manage a software project to get it on schedule, who could.
   
   This book makes the statement that the disciplines of software development and project management are converging. That the techniques that have been developed and refined in the project management area over recent years have reached a point where the uncertainty inherent in software projects can be accommodated.
   
   The book is written as a comprehensive reference for professional software development project managers, and for those who aspire to that profession. The main thrust of the book is the development of a body of knowledge he calls SDPM (Software Development Project Management). The book is by no means a manual on the Agile software system, but it does discuss Agile and its function in SDPM.
   
   This is a pioneering book that brings some sense into the software development arena.



3. In a few words, this book belongs in the library of anyone who claims to be a project manager! Dr. Wysocki's perspective represents the "avant-garde" of software development research and thinking. The content is: highly relevant - wonderfully practical - immediately applicable. I am a Project Manager consultant and instructor and this material has already made a difference in how I approach projects and how I communicate about project management... "A must-read!" Franck J. Gerard of Mount Laurel, New Jersey



4. I have taken many courses in project management who's techniques are more geared towards defined or construction style projects and so are most books out there in the market, this book is a refreshing departure from the norm as it integrates SDLC (s) both traditional and modern with project management processes. The author gives good insight in choosing the appropriate SDLC for a given situation and then elaborates for the chosen SDLC how to set expectations, milestones and deliverables for: requirements, WBS, cost, stakeholders etc. The book does a good job at conveying the essence of the SDLC(s) and Project Management techniques however, depending on your background, I recommend that you read two books, one on SDLC (Craig Larman's Agile & Iterative development ISBN 0131111558) and the other on Project Management (Kathy Schwalbe's Information Technology Project Management ISBN: 0619215267) prior to reading this book.
   
   This book tends to be more on the soft side of project management, which is important, however to give good balance I feel that the next edition could add more hardcore techniques and metrics. All in all, a very useful book for team leads, analysts, and managers involved in Software Development.



5. I'm really sorry that I purchased this book. It's huge and absolutely without any sense. The author repeats very well known things and makes the process of reading very difficult because he changed almost all commonly used terms to his own interpretation. Anyway, I don't advise even to buy it.

5 comments about ABAP Objects: Introduction to Programming SAP Applications (SAP Press).

1. The book "ABAP Objects - ABAP Programming in SAP NetWeaver" (grey Cover, 950 pages, published by SAP PRESS, March 15, 2007, ISBN-10: 1592290795 ISBN-13: 978-1592290796) is the new edition of the book "ABAP Objects: Introduction to Programming SAP Applications" (black Cover, 576 pages, published by Addison-Wesley, June 14, 2002, ISBN-10: 0201750805, ISBN-13: 978-0201750805).
   
   The new book replaces the old book. The new book covers release 7.0 of the ABAP Application Server (former SAP Basis). The old book covers release 4.6. The software of the new book is a Trial Version of the ABAP Application Server 7.0 that is supported in the SAP Developers Network (SDN). The software of the old book is a Mini Basis 4.6 and is not supported any more.
   
   The contents of the old book is partly out of date. The software of the old book should not be installed any more. The programming examples of the old book are still valid and can also be carried out with the software of the new book. If you have the old book and want to install the software of the new book, you can download it from the SDN.



2. I got this book last week from SAP press.i read first 5 chapters and i can say this book clearly explains all the concepts. The writers explained the differences between procedural ABAP and object oriented ABAP where ever neceessary. Also the usage of obsolete statements are marked for the reader. this will be a good book for those who have previous ABAP experience and wanted to learn the Object oriented concepts from scratch. My only problem is i cant install the software that comes with the book. its like you cant install ABAP server on Vista.Be patient and read it its a 1000+ pages book.



3. By far the best ABAP book available. It covers the essentials of good coding using the object-oriented paradigm. If you want to be coding at a high level fast, read - no study - this book.



4. If you're planning on making use of the NetWeaver trial system, be aware that it will not install on Windows Vista. On Windows XP, the instructions on the SAP site do NOT work...the system is simply not usable...After two hours of attempting to figure out how to fix the installation, I just removed it...
   
   In my opinion, the examples in the book are nice, but without a working system to review HOW the examples work, the book is of limited value to an SAP programmer....



5. I think it's highly unfair to have a list of 'reviews' when if you look carefully they don't actually apply to this edition of Abap Objects. Most of the reviews on this site that are 'recommended' for this book were written for the previous edition of this book. Until more people purchase this edition and review it, please keep this in mind if you are using the reviews to help make a decision...

No comments about Ajax: The Complete Reference (Complete Reference Series).

5 comments about Designing the User Interface: Strategies for Effective Human-Computer Interaction (4th Edition).

1. This is more of a syllabus with references than an actual textbook. It's even a sensible syllabus; if you want an outline of the important topics in contemporary and historical computer user interfaces, Shneiderman's book will tell you what you need to know. But the utility of this book is unclear; it's not intended to teach the reader how to design interfaces, nor does it teach experimental design and evaluation.

   At 600+ pages, it's both terse and verbose. Verbose, because of the "let me tell you what I'm going to tell you, tell you, tell you what I've told you" format favored in this kind of overview. Terse because the "tell you" part is a kind of white-washed summary; as soon as a topic is brought up, several references are trotted out, summarized in one or two lines, and then dismissed. I wanted more depth, more case studies, and a higher-level vantage point.

   Despite a short tour of command lines, including natural language text commands, and a 10 page summary of speech recognition and synthesis-based interfaces, "Designing the User Interface" is almost exclusively about contemporary computer graphical user interface design. Better books on GUI design include Johnson's "GUI Bloopers" and Raskin's "The Humane Interface".




2. As most reviewers have noted, this is a classic and must-have book in the field of HCI. This fourth edition--newly published in March 2004--has been thoroughly revised to include much material related to the WWW. It does appear that Shneiderman took care to go through each chapter and remove less relevant material in favor of including new topics that have come up since the last edition was written.



3. This book looks more like a collection of references than a real text book. The author inserts references to other works and papers in such a random and repetitive fashion that makes reading the book a real pain in the ass.
   
   And then there is the verbosity. Apparently, Mr Shneiderman likes to list items and give examples. And he likes it a lot. If you make the terrible mistake of reading this book you will navigate through never-ending paragraphs that make circles and circles around the same idea, giving pointless examples of an anyways pretty obvious concept.
   
   This book is really bad. It looks like the author just copy-pasted the contents of his course slides and inserted some pretty pictures in the middle. Don't waste your money and/or your time with this one.



4. No other book in the field of HCI (Human-Computer Interaction) is as broad, has so many useful guidelines and is a better bibliography as Shneiderman DTUI (Designing the User Interface).
   
   DTUI will *not* give you in-depth knowledge of every aspect of HCI, because that's an impossible task for a single book.
   Instead, DTUI focuses on giving you an overview and understanding of central HCI concepts coupled with useful everyday tips, rules and guidelines.
   
   The passionate HCI student will in DTUI also discover a comprehensive guide to the books and articles that have shaped HCI throughout the years. (Reading the HCI body of work, you will soon discover than DTUI is one of the most cited books in the field, an indication of how influential it is.)
   
   To teachers in search of a introductionary HCI book for their classes, I strongly recommend DTUI. "Interaction design" by Jennifer Preece, et al. is another fine book that's has less theory in favor of the practical.



5. Book is very well written, and covers all the topics necessary and with the necessary detail to grasp the concepts related to human interface design. Highly recommend this book to anyone!!

5 comments about Managing Gigabytes: Compressing and Indexing Documents and Images (The Morgan Kaufmann Series in Multimedia Information and Systems).

1. As others have said, MG is a good introductory text for Information Retrieval. However I think it spends a little too much time on compression techniques and lacks a good discussion of incremental or on-line indexing. The book tends to assume that the set of texts to be searched is static - if new documents can be added or old ones deleted it makes the whole problem much harder and many of MG's techniques are no longer relevant. That said, I strongly look forward to Managing Terabytes (if it ever appears).



2. This is the only book there is that will actually teach you how to build an information retrieval system (aka search engine). It discusses all the algorithms and tradeoffs, and comes with free downloadable source code to experiment with. Some of the material is standard, but covered in more implementation detail here than anywhere else. Some of the material is novel: you won't find better coverage of compression unless you hand-assemble twenty research papers, and reverse-engineer them to figure out how they're implemented. But with "Managing Gigabytes", it's all here. (Although, after a particularly envigorating discussion of how to string together a bunch of techniques to compress their corpus and save a couple 100MB, I did a check and found you could buy 512MB of RAM for less than the cost of the book. Knowledge is Power, but sometimes a little cash is more powerful.) The only negative is that this book is not called "Managing Terabytes", as the first edition promised/threatened it might be. RAM and disk are cheap, but not that cheap, and for now terabytes (and sometimes petabytes) are managed only by NASA, Google, and a few others. I can't wait to see the third edition!



3. Managing Gigabytes is the best book out there on information retrieval. If you're interested in implementing your own IR system, there's nothing available that comes close to this book. But the book is good not just because it's the only one out there: the writing is excellent, the algorithms are presented clearly and explained well, and the coverage is thorough. Additionally, the coverage of compression algorithms is the best I've found in any book. All algorithms and pseudo-code in the book are presented clearly enough such that any competent programmer should be able to implement them. If all else fails, however, the free downloadable source code for the mg system can fill in any gaps.

   All in all, this is the best computer science book I've purchased in years. I wish all CS books were written like this one: it doesn't skimp on the theory or on the implementation details.




4. A wonderful feature of this book spans out practicality for various topics including compresion algorithms and theory, document and imaging system and information retrieval. On my personal interest, the authors highlight a vast list of not only the theory but present it in a simple common sense logic.
   
   There are several examples that break down complex processes into simple and easy to understand logic and the pages provides a smooth flow of the structured topics. Well organised, presented and fully informative.
   
   Truly an ideal book. This serves as a superior text for students studying document and imaging systems, processing and information and multimedia retrieval subjects. Beautiful!!!
   
   Just on a personal note, it would be great to see some emphasis in the future editions in regards to web mining applications.



5. It has been 8 years since it was published and I could see it is still one of the best in IR field. Without much long magic equations, it is not hard for common user to pick it up. There are mainly 2 parts in the book, the first book is compression, most of them are just principle introduction since it does not make sense for the read to invent or implement an algorithm. The second part is indexing (plus some query) which I highly recommended because it is "practical".
   The authors are smart guys who could do sth, google mg for their website and mg4j for the ported java implementation.

5 comments about Foundation PHP for Dreamweaver 8.

1. This is a good book. It teaches many useful techniques and how lots of "how to" ideas. However, the faux site that is created isn't goal oriented which left me feeling like the book was just a collection of random things to do. It seemed disorganized at times when you would or wouldn't create another page from scratch vs. revamping one you had already made. It was not always clear why you would be better to take one approach vs. the other. Setting up the localhost environment was somewhat confusing, though not too bad.
   
   I will definitely use it frequently. Good information, good book, good deal.



2. This man makes a promise of a written format that can be followed. The writtng is NOT CLEAR and leaves much to the readers imagination of to what exactly the format should be. There is no CD so that you can see how the step by step process works. He names his files but does not show the real differences between how he is set up and how you can set up to fit your needs. I waisted my money. He claims in the book there is support which at best is terrible.
   
   The worst book I have ever bought on coding. If I were you try another writter.



3. This is a very good book for learning PHP, and surprisingly, most of the examples work right out of the book as he's written them, which seems rare for a programming book these days. The projects that he has you complete are highly relevant to what you'd actually be doing with PHP, and that makes it even better.
   
   The only trouble I had with this book was that he sure packed a lot of information into each chapter, and he didn't use the sidebars as much as I would have hoped. It's easy enough to follow along with the examples the first time, but if you want to go back again and figure out how he programmed a small detail, you'll never find it unless you reread the whole chapter again. All it would have taken was a few little bullets here and there in the margins to point out some of the off-topic stuff that was going on in the examples, and the book would be much more functional as a reference. As it stands, I probably will have to get a whole new book for that purpose.
   
   Also, the support on this book is phenomenal. I missed a small detail in Chapter 6 that caused my script to fail, and when I posted on the book's message board, I had a reply from the author in less than a day. That's a really cool added bonus.



4. I am a frontpage user that has set up static pages in a web site. I needed to move from static pages to dynamic pages using a database. I couldn't use PHP with FrontPage so I switched to Dreamweaver and needed a book that covered both dynamic pages and Dreamwaver. This book walked me through setting up the environment to have Dreamweaver work with Apache, PHP, MySQL and phpMyAdmin. I am completely non-technical so these areas were beyond my comfort zone but the book walked me through it very successfully. It then took me through CSS styles, setting up an online feedback form, setting up my first database and tying it into Dreamweaver. It also showed how to insert, delete and maintain records in order to keep the database up to date. This was an excellent book for a non-techie as it didn't take any knowledge for granted.



5. This book is written very clearly and is really easy to follow. I've learned a lot of other really useful stuff than just the PHP content, things that I now realise I should have been taught by the official Dreamweaver 8 book, but weren't. The PHP content for which I bought this book is fantastic - much better than another generic PHP/MySQL I have read, as this is tailored to the Dreamweaver 8 environment which takes a lot of the guessing out of the equation. This book is written by and for people who use Dreamweaver 8 in a practical situation. I'm still less than half way through my book and already feel like I've learned much more than I expected. Highly recommended. I'll be checking out Mr Powers' other books when I finish this one. Thanks David Powers, you're a genius!