5 comments about Creating Motion Graphics with After Effects,Vol. 1: The Essentials (3rd Edition, Version 6.5).

1. I had to cancel my order of this book three weeks into waiting, because for some unknown reason after the estimated 3-5 week shipping time, there was yet another delay. So I had to buy this book at twice the cost at my corrupt/evil University store.
   
   The book itself is pretty good. I have only examined it a few times. However, some of the explanations can be confusing, it seems you have to read the entire thing to be sure to understand it, you cant pick and choose which things you want to learn from it.



2. If you are new to After Effects and Motion Graphics, or want to learn from Chris and Trish about the new features in Adobe's CS3 release, I recommend the Brand New:
   
   After Effects Apprentice (DV Expert Series) (DV Expert Series) (Paperback)
   by Chris & Trish Meyer
   
   which is the only one of their books to cover After Effects 7, I'm pretty sure. Their next books will cover the new CS3 release.
   
   Normally they write the new version's manual (yes, you can consider their books to be the missing user manual for Adobe After Effects) when the 'X.5' version comes out. There was no 7,5 version of after effects, so except for After Effects Apprentice, there is no manual for AAE 7.
   
   Plus the book covers the new release of After Effects, the CS3 release.
   
   AND this is a GREAT introduction to motion graphics in general, and to working with files in After Effects:
   
   [...]
   and when you finish that, you will certainly want:
   
   Creating Motion Graphics with After Effects, Vol. 1: Advanced Techniques (4th edition, not yet published) by Trish and Chris Meyer
   
   and
   
   Creating Motion Graphics with After Effects, Vol. 2: The Essentials (4th edition, not yet published) by Trish and Chris Meyer
   
   which should both be available very soon. I don't actually recommend getting the 6.5 version unless you are not going to upgrade to AAE 7 or AAE CS3. With the ton of new features (like Photoshop can handle video now!) in Adobe CS3, I DO recommend getting the CS3 version of every Adobe product that you use, and if you use more than just a few, you should get the whole suite, it will be cheaper.



3. This book was very helpful in teaching me how to use and understand After Effects. I'd recommend this book to any beginner wanting to learn AE. It is easy to follow and comes with a great CD (very beneficial).



4. Though this book series was written for After effects 6.5, I used it as a supplement to CS3. I am very glad that I did, the authors answered the question - Why do you use an effect or tool? The other "teach" books demonstrated what After Effects can do, but not how other than enter the number required in the exercise. A must read for anyone new to After Effects. I hope I can find such in depth books on the other Adobe Suite software. Kudos to the authors - thanks, thanks, thanks.



5. This book is quite helpful. It covers the basics in manipulating images in After Effects and serves as a great teacher of the software.
   
   I highly recommend it.

4 comments about Information Technology Project Management: Providing measurable Organizational Value.

1. If you are learning MS Project, you need to get the newest version 2002. MS has been updating it almost weekly, difficult to keep up. The theoretical foundation of this book is sound. Chap. 8 Managing Project Risk is very useful. It can be used as a graduate level course, 30 - 36 hours. The book does not include examples of real world problem solving and it is short, only 317 pages.



2. This is a good book for learning IT project management. The chapters are well written and explained. The book is easy to read and easy to follow. I used this book in Spring 2004 as class textbook while taking my graduate courses and I also had the privilege to have the author as the person who taught the class. It is a pretty good book that I kept and use it as reference. The part of the book that I like the most is the explanation of resistances to change in the workplace and how to manage them.
   Overall I give 5 stars.



3. This book breaks down project management very well. It is an easy read and cites great case studies.



4. The numerous vague flow charts, weak graphics, and conflicting statements did little to promote the learning process. Cites many dated studies and implies causation with little statistical relevance. Similarly, the author's exam questions led to more frustration as many appear to be developed to trick the reader.

5 comments about Learning MySQL (Learning).

1. The first twelve chapters of "Learning MySQL" appear to be a textbook written in the mid-1990s for teaching MySQL to college students. Chapter 13 appears to have been added in 1999, about using MySQL with PHP to build websites. The first twelve chapters require using a terminal or command line (shell) interface to MySQL. My hosting service no longer supports command line interfaces, you're required to use PHPmyAdmin, which is faster and easier. Without access to a command line interface I couldn't do the exercises in the first twelve chapters; without understanding the first twelve chapters you can't figure out chapter 13. Chapter 13 teaches the PHP mysql extensions, which were superseded in 2004 by the mysqli ("i" for "improved") extensions. So the book is two generations out of date. Chapter 14 is about using Perl with PHP -- has anyone built a website with Perl in the last five years? There are other annoyances, such as you're taught to read data out of your database before you're taught to insert data into your database. After flipping back and forth between sections trying to find missing information I gave up. It's hard to believe that O'Reilly published this dinosaur in 2006. I recommend instead "Beginning PHP and MySQL 5: From Novice to Professional," by W. Jason Gilmore.



2. This book is great. The text doesn't assume you have any advanced knowledge of anything. This is actually my second MySQL book. The first book didn't explain how to install and setup MySQL and then it didn't explain how to use the keyline MySQL monitor. So I was stuck after the first chapter.
   
   "Learning MySQL" was a real life saver. You're given actual examples to follow along with and they actually explain what's going on.
   Thank you sooooo much... I'm already using my new found MySQL knowledge at my job and now the book serves as a great resource for my new projects.



3. That's a good book, not for advanced SQL programmers though.
   Easy to understand with great examples. I would recommend this book if you are starting to learn MySQL or are a intermediate programmer and needs a good database like MySQL. This book can be a reference for your studies. If I had this book before I could spent less time learning MySQL. But I probably would not recommend for heavy advanced SQL users, since the book have an overall idea of the SQL commands and some linux/php/database coding. Digg in!



4. Learning MySQL (Learning)
   
   Get this book! This O'Reilly book "Learning MySQL" first appeared in the book stores at the beginning of the year 2007. The book is written by two PhD authors who seem to have thoroughly tried its contents on their students, at RMIT University in Melbourne, Australia. You can buy this book and then create a splendid software career for yourself, programming Relational Databases. And live happily ever after.
   
   If you are a total SQL beginner, please also buy a more simple-minded introductory SQL text as well; make you favorite pick among the 20-odd SQL texts available in your local bookstore, or read Amazon's reviews associated with all the other SQL books.
   
   Now back to "Learning MySQL". I'm enjoying this book wherever I go, inserting my USB flash drive on any Windows machine I can lay my hands on. I have installed my free copy of MySQL on this low-cost device ($20 for a 4 GigB flash drive), together with Java, Apache Tomcat, FireFox, and other opensource goodies. My point is that this MySQL book covers Windows as well as it deals with Linux and Mac OS X, almost always in the same breath.
   
   I typically try out the book's examples at the mysql> command prompt, but my own final application right now happens to consist of Java servlets, talking to MySQL databases, and running in Tomcat under the Java Virtual Machine (JVM), all on the puny USB flash drive without disturbing the particular Windows machine I'm visiting.
   
   By following the book's examples I have built up a mental toolbox containing all the standard SQL techniques and all the helpful but proprietary MySQL extensions to SQL. Extensions which you might, or might not, want to assimilate, depending on your purity point of view.
   
   As you go through the book's examples on your own mysql> command line, you realize that each example probably in an explanation triggered by questions from the authors' bright MySQL students. It is like sitting in their classroom lapping up the authours' knowledge. And, these authors know their stuff, something that cannot always be said of other SQL books.
   
   One feature, among others in the book, is the authors' short but wonderful Chapter 4, where the reader is led by the hand through The Entity Relationship Model, and through the authors' database examples illustrating the super-important topic of How to map Entities and Relationships to Database Tables. There, the authors also point out existing tools to draw ER diagrams, such as the good free tool "Dia", or MySQL's own free "MySQL Workbench program" which is a very powerful visual database design tool, although still in the beta testing phase.
   
   One last, but not least, comment. It appears that the book is extremely well suited to those Perl or PHP lovers, who want to get their MySQL teeth sharpened. But this reviewer is not into Perl nor PHP, yet, so don't take my word for it.



5. this book is a very completed and updated quick look to database world and optimal reference book for sql/mySQL primer.
   Stefano Gallozzi

5 comments about The RenderMan Shading Language Guide.

1. I'm quite pleased with the depth of this book. So many of the CGI titles I've bought that claim to be intermediate or advanced aren't. While the RenderMan Shading Language Guide assumes that you have no starting knowledge of RSL, it immediately dives into technical details without overwhelming the novice. For someone wishing to learn RSL (or even just shader theory), this book is wonderfully paced, containing a great depth of information, very well explained.
   
   At the same time, this isn't a book for dabblers. To get much out of the RenderMan Shading Language Guide, you need to be willing to put some effort and practice into it. This is a textbook and needs to be treated as a subject of study, rather than a casual enhancement for playing with CGI. If RenderMan intrigues you, but you don't want to get too deep into the technical (and programing/scripting) aspects, you'd be better off getting Pixar's RenderMan for Maya and a Digital Tutors or similar training DVD. You'll learn more of the simple, day-to-day things and get started making renderings faster.
   
   As another poster mentioned, the text mentions an included disk which isn't. The website doesn't have downloads either. That omission would knock the book down to 4.5 stars, but since I can't rate with half-stars, 5 stars more accurately reflects the value of the book than 4.



2. I have read many technical manuals relating to the 3D Animation and Visual Effects industries, and I can honestly say that this is easily one of the best available.
   
   Given the limited library of Renderman books, I'd call this an absolute must have for any Lighting/Rendering/Shader TD, or any artist or technical director involved in the look development and shot finaling pipelines.
   
   Even if you haven't yet worked within a Renderman pipeline, this is the perfect publication to introduce you to, and bring you up to speed in, the Renderman Shading Language (RSL).
   
   I've found that the majority of technical manuals suffer from a number of common flaws:
   
   1. The information is presented chaotically, and with minimal use of examples or descriptions, resulting in a publication that would readable only by those that already know everything it has to teach.
   
   2. The information is presented so laboriously that what should take a paragraph instead takes up three chapters.
   
   The Renderman Shading Language Guide is perfectly paced for beginners and intermediate users alike, and indeed when I showed the book to a couple of highly experienced Renderman TDs, they were surprised by the sheer volume of information and ordered copies for themselves.
   
   Everything is presented in short blocks with an easily readable description, examples, shortcuts and conclusions. There is no unecessarily complicated geek speek, and neither is the reader treated like a 4 year old.
   
   Even though I barely remember my high school math, and in the most flattering estimation I'd be considered a competent beginner when it comes to the math involved in RSL, I found the examples relatively easy to follow for the most part. And in those parts where the math went well over my head, I found the simple descriptions and concise, well explained instructions to be all I needed to quickly understand the topic.
   
   From cover to cover this book is crammed full of useful information. There is no wastage of space in these pages. It seems that every conceivable question is answered - every possible topic covered from introduction to an advanced level of understanding and a practical and immmediately useful conclusion.
   
   And at the price? This book is a steal.
   
   One very minor complaint I would make is in regards to the occasional typographical error. An equation or two is printed with "?" in place of "*" or another symbol, and there are a few spelling and grammatical errors. But as I said, it is a minor complaint.
   
   Also, I would have liked to have seen more complete shader examples demonstrated in a step-by-step process, as while this book is overflowing with informative mini-tutorials, it all seems a little incongruous. It would have been good to see a few more examples where the information was brought together in real-world ways to create some amazing completed shaders. Perhaps in a sequel? ;)
   
   All in all, HIGHLY RECOMMENDED, from an industry Lead Lighting TD.
   
   9.5/10



3. I caught wind that this book was coming out well before it actually came out and could hardly contain my excitement. I had it ordered before it was even off the press.
   
   Let's face it, trying to learn Renderman online is like trying to ride a bike with a flat tire. You can go, but not very fast or very far. I own several other renderman books but found them to be a bit out of date and lacking in areas. Since leaving school and entering into the industry I had actually been considering writing a Renderman book myself. I am glad to say that now I don't have to!
   
   I have been enjoying my copy of the book since december of last year. I admit that I was thrown off by all the refrences to the accompanying cd, as well as a few typos throughout. I was overjoyed however to find the website today! This is the book that I have needed for a long time. It is well worth what you pay for it.



4. The RenderMan Shading Language Guide is an excellent resource. It contains numerous examples of shader code, to help get you started with writing your own shaders. I was happy to see the robust section on illumination models, with some sl code provided for most of them. I found the section that had common functions (like gamma() and remap()) very helpful, and appreciated the disscussion on more sophisticated components of the shading language (like subsurface scattering and global illumination). In addition, for the user who is new to the process of writing and compiling shaders, a number of pages are devoted to explaining how to achieve these goals. All in all, I would highly recommend this book to any user who wants to learn how to write his/her own RenderMan shaders.



5. I have all RenderMan books on the market.
   This one is impressed me!
   The authors explain step by step and that make readers understand RenderMan more.
   
   Same as other reviews, lacking of CD is the shame.
   However, overall still be very good to me.
   And if you consider the price is very worth for money.
   That's why I think this book should be given 5 stars.
   Hopefully, There will be more good RenderMan books available soon.
   
   Tee

5 comments about Sams Teach Yourself Beginning Programming in 24 Hours (2nd Edition) (Sams Teach Yourself).

1. I would recommend this book for beginers, It explains the basics of programming, and also starts you off in java , c or c++ , although you do need the compilers for c and c++.

   and also ultimatediscountbooksource@yahoo.com shipped it quickly and I had the book within a week.




2. Reads like an extended course description. Very few examples. Code examples are often incomplete so they cant be run. No real 'projects' to test any skills.

   Comes with Liberty Basic (shareware) (you can download this seperately and learn more from its own help/tutorials). For the most part, you dont even need a computer to read this book. The code examples are only excerpts so you have to study them from the text in the book anyway.

   What gets me more than anything is I found about 5 errors in code and text that are important! Things like mislabeled variables that would confuse anyone trying to learn. Although I guess finding the mistakes is a lesson in itself.

   OK, that was the bad part, but I didnt give it a score of 1 because it is easy to read (fast). It does mention a wide range of topics, and it comes with a useable version of Basic (but only limited shareware, also there is a later version online). For a real beginner, this is one way to start off slow. It is disappointing because it could have been much better with only a little more effort. A few larger examples, and a few more actual coding projects instead of just saying 'if you want to create a text box in your program, type the following line....',

   and then moving on to the next lesson.

   This review relates to the 2nd edition.




3. As many other people in this world want to do, I want to program video games in the future. The only problem was that I had no idea how to start or where to turn to for advice. I had tried to learn over the summer of this year on how to create video games, but the books that I had borrowed from my local library said that I needed to have an understanding of C/C++. And when I borrowed a C/C++ book, I didn't really read it. So I decided to give programming up... for a while at least.
   
   About a month ago, that itch to create video games came back to me when I was grounded. So I went back to my library and looked for a programming book that fit my needs. During my search, I stumbled upon "Sams Teach Yourself Beginning Porgramming in 24 Hours". And so I decided to read the introduction if I met the books requirements. When I learned that I did, I borrowed the book and began to read the book.
   
   The book mainly covers a language called Liberty BASIC (which is probably is as easy a programming language as it gets). Right out of the gate, the book lets you program your first BASIC program, a rocket launch countdown. I was suprised how easy it was to program in Liberty Basic. To me, it felt like dumbed down English. When you are finished with the Liberty BASIC training (11 hours worth), you should have a good understanding of Liberty BASIC.
   
   The book also gives you a detailed introduction to Java, but the first two chapters are only text and no examples. Those two chapters do help with the basics of Java and C/C++ (C is Java's "mother" language). When you do get to the programming part of the Java in the book (four chapters of Java in the book), you use Forte for Java (it already gives you the main code for your project). Unfortunately, I found Forte a bit intimidating at first, but when I played around with Forte a bit and got an understanding, I went through the chapters with ease.
   
   The book also gives you a taste of other languages out there (Visual Basic, C/C++, HTML, Pascal, Javascript, and .NET) I say taste because it goes over the fundamentals of each of the languages entered there. You will find C/C++ easier to understand because of your work in Java.
   
   There were some problems with the book that I found. First, there were some coding errors that I found. I found the most errors in Chapter 10, "Having Fun with Liberty BASIC". Most of the code I found put down on BASIC and ran could not run. How can you have fun with the program if you cannot run the code? More like "Getting Frustrated with Liberty BASIC". Also in Chapter 11, there is a sample code that seems to be bugged but isn't. When you get to the code that seems bugged (I forget which sample it was in the chapter) just expand the width of the window to get the result you want.
   
   There were also many dry spells in the sample code for you to write down and practice. The ones that have little or no examples in them are Chapters 2-4, 12 & 13, and 16-24.
   
   In my opinion, I would reccommend this book to anyone who is considering to explore the world of programming (either regular programming or video game programming) or anyone who wants to program but doesn't know where to begin. This book will not mold you into a good programmer, but it will lay down the necessary building blocks to becoming a regular or video game programmer.
   
   I reccomend this book for video game programmers because it will give you a basic understanding of C/C++, the typical language of game programming (this information will be useful for other books that you have your sights on and if you get another C/C++ book, you will understand some of the subjects being talked about (arrays, literals, operators, basic C/C++ procedures, etc.)
   
   Now I just need some help on what to do next...



4. That's exactly what is written on the cover. It's a good book for the people who know noting about programming and want to enter in this exiting field. The book is well written and gives you good idea about computer programming and teach you to program in Liberty Basic Which not the best choice from my point of view but it's free.



5. Well, after dedicating a solid month, I can say I finally have figured it out. This is a great book with only some typos. The beginning is far too basic even for a pre-teen, but if you dont know this info, you shouldnt continue in the book.
   
   I'm happy to say I can write simple programs now, and even made one for next April Fools!

No comments about Java: Introduction to Problem Solving and Programming (5th Edition).

5 comments about C# Cookbook, 2nd Edition (Cookbooks (O'Reilly)).

1. If you are just coming into C# or have been doing it for a while - it doesn't matter - BUY THIS BOOK!!! Oreilly as we all know, makes very good tech/programming books and this one is one of the best I've had so far. This will be a book that will spend much less time on my shelf and much more time next to me on my desk.



2. I came across a project that had to do with XML, and I came to love this book. It has a lot of suggestions that helped me jump start my project.
   
   I wouldn't recommend this book to learn C#- (pick up John Sharp C# step by step for that.)



3. I'm an intermediate coder, familiar with programming and I have about 1.5 years programming C#. I've already used this book(C# Cookbook 2nd edition) to write C# code navigating in and around directories and files. The examples in the book regarding "Directory Info" and "File Info" were so clear and concise, I was able to complete my programming task with almost no lost time to the learning process. What I like most was that there was not one example, but many examples for the most used functionalities. This book has already paid for itself when I consider the time it saved me the first time I needed it!



4. This is a good intro book that eliminates the need for some of the first books I bought on C#. When compared to other "cookbooks", however, this book is incredibly weak (see: XSLT Cookbook, SQL Cookbook). If you have used C# for more than 6 months, you will know how to iterate over an array, to use String.IsNullOrEmpty, get the index of a value within a string, and use a generic arraylist. These are just some of the junior "recipes" you'll see in this book. The "recipes" just exercise the fundamentals (i.e. how to boil water) rather than how the fundamentals work together to solve complex problems in elegant ways. The easier the concept, the more information. There isn't really any analysis or best-practice justification present. I'd like to see some performance analysis of generics or at least some depth on partial methods. Nothing to see here for mid-level developers. Not written or organized poorly, just simple. If it were titled "Intro to C# by example", I'd give it a higher score.



5. [Reviewed by XPSD member Steve Grubbs]
   
   Summary
   
   I wanted to check out a C# cookbook after developing in C# for almost a year. I figured I should get a basic understanding of the language and the .NET framework by using it for awhile before I buy such a book. That said, I wish I could go back in time and tell myself to get the C# Cookbook the day I started developing in C#.
   
   Overall Review
   
   I see two main criteria for reviewing a programming language cookbook.
   
   1. The quality of each "recipe"
   2. The recipes chosen for the book
   
   The C# Cookbook handles each recipe very well, which we should definitely demand of a cookbook. It has a very simple 4-section format, Problem-Solution-Discussion-See Also. The problem is briefly stated first. The solution is almost entirely code samples, with minimal commentary. The discussion is usually short and sweet, with a few exceptions. The "see also" points to reference topics in the MSDN help, which is of questionable usefulness, since you can search the topics yourself; but, is short enough to skim over easily.
   
   The recipes chosen for the C# Cookbook range from very useful to trivial. One of the trivial examples would be something like, converting degrees to radians. The only language specific feature here is Math.PI, which I don't think is worth the page it's printed on. What I found surprisingly useful were some code samples that I spent time coming up with on my own before reading this book, like a custom trace class that outputs in XML. Fortunately, most of the examples were in the useful category.
   
   A few glaring topic omissions are remoting, ADO, and advanced object serialization.
   
   Per-Chapter Review
   
   * Numbers - somewhat trivial
   * Strings and Characters - good introduction to the C# string
   * Classes and Structures - good stuff on interfaces, casting, converting, COM interop
   * Enumerations - simple, but short and useful
   * Exception Handling - an underrated topic that I'm happy to see covered
   * Diagnostics - a surprisingly useful set of tools to help with debugging
   * Delegates and Events - very good intro for the new C# programmer
   * Regular Expressions - very good intro for the new C# programmer
   * Collections - a little simple, could have more useful samples
   * Data Structures and Algorithms - simple, but good if more advanced types are required
   * Filesystem I/O - very good examples of file I/O in C#
   * Reflection - a necessary intro to reflection, but a bit simple
   * Networking - biggest complaint: Why is there no remoting?
   * Security - a good survey of various security issues in C#
   * Threading - a good intro to threads and basic synchronization in C#
   * Unsafe Code - I tore out and burned this section
   * XML - good intro to reading/writing XML in C#

5 comments about C++ Programming: Program Design Including Data Structures, Third Edition.

1. This book doesn't flow at all. It is hard to follow along. I am a beginner and this book almost has turned me off from programming all together. I recommended looking for another book.



2. This is my first review of any book after buying many books from Amazon over the years. Generally I find reviews helpful when considering purchases, but I always take them with a grain of salt and supplement it with my own research before making a buying decision. I'm writing this review because I had such a negative experience with this book.
   
   A little background on myself. I'm a self-taught programmer mostly working commercially in Visual Basic for the past 7 years. I've also done a lot of studying in C and C++, and recently decided to get a B.S. degree to further my career. My first course was programming fundamentals, and the textbook couldn't have been worse. I already knew much of the information covered in the first half of this tome, but I can honestly say it was poorly presented _to the beginning programming_ student. I'm not saying Malik doesn't know what he's talking about, I'm saying he tried to present C++ fundamentals to the absolute beginner and did a poor job of it. The first half of this book should have been cut, and the second half made its own book and be used in an intermediate course.
   
   He repeats himself ad nauseum. Some might argue this is an effective teaching tool, however he goes to great lengths to repeat himself on even the most easy to understand concepts. The end result is you feel like you're swimming upstream making no progress, and I don't say this because I already know the basics. He takes pages and pages to explain even the most simple concepts to the point where you get frustrated and start to speed read or skip portions just to slog through the chapter. There is a word for this style of writing, it is called prolix.
   
   The example programs were also poorly thought out. True, they make use of topics covered in the chapter (as any example ought to), but the "problems" (from a very high level view, all computer programs can be classified as solving one or more problems) they attempt to solve are the most mundane, boring examples imaginable. I can't see how any beginning CS student would want to keep programming after seeing the types of programs written in these examples. They could come away with the idea that all programs are like this. First of all, they are far removed from any real-world program. This is partly a consequence of GUI and platform dependent programming being an intermediate to advanced topic (at least in C++). Because of that, the examples should have been the bare minimum necessary to show how the chapter's topics are used. Instead, they go on and on at great length with a huge problem which incidently makes use of the chapter's topics instead of coming up with a program that actually does anything useful. And if a program is useful, it just might be interesting. If it's interesting, the student just might learn more! Keeping the student interested in the topic is by far a better approach to teaching than just repeating yourself and using boring examples. In all fairness, many programming books also take this (bad) approach, but Malik's book overdoes it.
   
   Unfortunately, my school required this textbook for the C++ classes so I did not have any choice but to buy this book. If, however, you have the freedom to choose your own C++ text, I encourage you to look elsewhere. Unfortunately I don't have any other texts that I've read and could recommend.



3. By about page 689 I had read the word "suppose" once too often. Mr. Malik's coherence fell apart when he got to the object-oriented stuff, and he started to use examples to *start* explanations. His meandering paragraphs begun with the word "suppose" are generally not helpful. Don't let chapter 12 (Inheritance and composition) discourage you, though. It's the worst of them and it gets better after that.
   
   If you like to highlight your textbooks you will be frustrated by this book. You will spend a lot of time pondering if you really want to highlight an entire 12-line paragraph when what is explained could be stated in a single sentence. So, here's a hint: Read each section between the purple headings through before highlighting anything. Sometimes you'll find your concise sentence further on. If you don't, make use of the white space to write one yourself. This will aid in memory, and save your highlighter.
   
   This should have been a shorter book, and the object-oriented stuff should have received some editing for clearer, more concise language.
   
   The example code is redundant and the explanations unnecessarily long. Each problem is exhaustively set up and explained, with code segments that are duplicated in the finalized code. You'll find yourself skipping the setup of the problem and going right to the finalized code to see if you understand it, and invariably you will, because it is not complex. The examples are uninteresting and demonstrate things that are simple.
   
   One really nice feature of this book? You don't have to get 300 pages into it before it will lie flat on your desk. It stays open nicely and has bright, white pages.
   
   A summary of the contents:
   
   One chapter on computers, programming languages, the process of writing a program, and a description of and background on C++.
   
   Almost six hundred pages on non-object-oriented C++ language stuff. It does not assume you already know programming. Tiringly verbose, but seems comprehensive and well-organized.
   
   About 350 pages on the object-oriented features of C++. It's not difficult material but it's not explained coherently. If this is the stuff you are most interested in you will be disappointed.
   
   About 300 pages on applying C++ to algorithms, such as searching and sorting, liked lists and binary trees. Classic first-year CS course material. Perhaps the best-presented part of the book.
   
   A chapter on the Standard Template Library.



4. As far as the quality of the book is concerned, pages keep falling out from the binding.
   
   I purchased this tome of boredom to complete some classwork in Data Structures and I have to say the book is completely awful. The worst part is the assignments. If they're not entirely boring or useless, they have the rare implementation that more information cannot be found on elsewhere, so you're essentially stuck with the author's poor explanations.
   
   A good example would be the simulation assignment in Chapter 18 with queues. I keep looking at it and the explanations are so insufficient or meandering that I don't know where to start, or what I should be doing -then I realized this is the first time in an assignment that I had to depend directly on the book. I tried understanding the RPN explanation for stacks in the same chapter, and I gave up in frustration and searched for a more sufficient explanation on the internet because it was so poorly written.
   
   Basically I've finished all of my assignments in spite of the book, not because of it.
   
   The code examples are quite simply erroneous and full of bugs. If it were not required material for my course, I would not purchase this book, and I recommend against it. Get something more interesting.



5. I don't care what anyone else says, I think this book is very helpful. I'm a computer science/mathematics major...though mathematics comes easily for me, I'm not finding the same with computer programming and this book has helped me tremendously to understand and apply these new concepts. Repetition? Some, but repetition is what helps us learn. But I don't think there is too much repetition, just enough...maybe more repetition should be used in some of the book's sections, especially higher level chapters, such as for structs and classes.
   Great writing too, easy to understand and to absorb. I'm sensing that this is an author who is more concerned with having his readers understand c++ than to be impressed with his writing...I've had enough college classes and read enough text books to know that some authors are more about showing off their writing ability, forget it if the student gets it or not. But not so with D.S. Malik.
   I highly recommend this book.

No comments about Shader X6: Advanced Rendering (Shaderx).

5 comments about Photoshop LAB Color: The Canyon Conundrum and Other Adventures in the Most Powerful Colorspace.

1. I've been an avid advanced amateur photographer for years and a Photoshop enthusiast almost since the inception of the program. I have not however read too many Photoshop books in the past since I concluded early on that I could get what I needed from experimentation and the occasional magazine article.
   
   This book, Photoshop LAB color is, however, a must read for anyone using Photoshop who wants to take their photo editing to another level. This is not an easy read, as the author acknowledges. On the other hand it is worth it. The techniques described in the book are revolutionary, and will change the way any reader uses Photoshop -- whether they are advanced users or rank beginners.
   
   I not only recommend this book -- I think it should be required reading for anyone using Photoshop.



2. A fellow flickr member pointed me toward this title, when I asked him how he got such beautifully, vivid colors. The author is, prior commentaries notwithstanding, a master of words, using them to make a fairly complex and potentially dry subject quite palatable. As I am not an expert in photography or color management, I will most likely not use most of what he lays out in the latter chapters, however, it is not hard to understand, merely hard to keep in working memory. This book certainly does far more toward getting stunning pictures than any 10 volumes of 'Photoshop for ' and is worth the 30+ bucks I paid for it.



3. Yes, the use of the LAB space is not so easy to learn, and it has many uses. Margulis shows these uses, but he is not the teacher who will make it easy to learn. Sometimes he dwells on the obvious (it is a great color space), sometimes he jumps over some practical issues.
   The fun part is that Mr. Margulis' classes in [...] are really great. So, he definitely knows what he is talking about, but maybe a book is not the ultimate best tool.



4. Um excelente livro para quem quer se aprofundar no modo LAB para fazer correções de cor. Como diz a chamada da capa: "This book will radically change how we do color correction". Recomendo.



5. I just don't know about the low reviews on this book and fully get the high reviews! This is one of those books that comes along once in a while with such valuable information that after reading it, it will leave you feeling crippled in the digital darkroom without using the techniques contained within. The final output of my photos have improved dramatically by using the LAB color workspace and my understanding of the LAB color workspace would be very elementory indeed if not for this book. Understanding and implementing the LAB color workspace is in my opinion a higher level of education, and as such will require putting more effort and thought into mastering it. With this book, Margulis gives you the ability to not only understand LAB, but implement it very effectively and masterfully. Good work Margulis and thanks for writing it!