5 comments about C# in Depth: What you need to master C# 2 and 3.

1. I enjoyed reading this book, however c# 2.0 should have been excluded. Changes coming with 3.x is quite revolutionary and should have been covered little bit more than current size, even 2.0 can be taken out. Except this, I think it is right book to delve into details or review your knowledge base as an expert.



2. This guy just likes to blah blah blah and embeds points he likes to make in his blah blah blah. Not a good read. Not very much in depth either.
   Not a good book. At least not to the point.



3. When thinking about what an "in depth" discussion of C# might include, one might have voted for "challenging" topics like asynchronous programming or remoting in C#. But "in depth" in this book means going back in time to discuss in detail how the expressiveness of C# has improved with each new version by making the compiler take on more and more of the "heavy lifting". This approach to teaching about select new features in C# is quite interesting and illuminating, I must say.



4. This book has a very specific agenda: the features of the C# language introduced in versions 2 and 3 with minimal discussion of the .NET framework. As such, it concentrates on generics, delegates, nullable types, lambda expressions, extension methods and LINQ.
   
   It has minimal discussion of syntax and features already available in version 1 and as such, this is not a book for learning C#: those who don't already know C# version 1 are better off with the numerous other books aimed at this reader.
   
   But for those familiar with version 1 interested in the new features, it's excellent; the narrow focus allows as much depth as we're likely to want without going to the standard itself.
   
   The author has a conversation style with numerous asides and anecdotes which I sometimes found distracting but it's not excessive as for example in the Head First series.
   
   He often compares C# syntax and capability to Java and C++ which I found immensely useful.
   
   All sections are explained clearly with economical but sufficient use of examples. Overall, it's well above average for a computer text.



5. 
   Ah! This is the C# book I was looking for. Very well done. At the risk of sounding nasty I will say this: I have read both books, and "C# in Depth" is far better than ""Effective C#" by Wagner.

5 comments about Java In A Nutshell, 5th Edition.

1. The book is by far the most comprehensive, plain english manual for java that exists. Great book, but anyone who see's it laughs at the title. I think it must be an intentional joke. With 1225 pages and weighing in at a hefty 1.5kg (3.3lb) it's by no means a nutshell. It's more like a bombshell. If it were ever to be divided into 3 books, I would buy it again, just so that using it wouldn't be so cumbersome.



2. This is a great book for those Java programmers who want a rapid reference. The only drawback of this book is its weigth: the large part of the book is made of a Java reference (very similar to the official JavaDoc) that in my opinion is not so helpful, as if I need the documentation for a specific class I can browse the official documentation online.
   Anyway, the first part of the book is well written and gives many examples that can help both new and experienced programmers to understand the main features of Java 5.



3. I very much like this as a reference, but at this point I feel like most of the back 2/3 of the book is unnecessary bulk. The front portion, however, is excellent.



4. I used to like this Nutshell book, but it seems to have grown a little too big for its bridges. Maybe it's not O'Reily's fault. Maybe it has more to do with Java growing so much. But earlier versions were quick and to the point. This is now overly verbose.
   
   This is no longer a sleek Nutshell. Its a back-breaking bomb shelter with 10ft thick walls.



5. I am a programmer, and in a programming language book, I expect to find syntactical diagrams of the language. Anyone can read those, we should not have to glean the diagram from the wordy explanation. It's fine to have all the verbiage, but head each section with the syntax diagram.
   Also, this book goes into lengthy explanations of what object oriented programming is NOT, as on page 104. This is a very bad practice in teaching. Only teach what is correct, not what some novice might ignorantly think. I have gotten better fundamentals in Java free on the w3c site.

5 comments about Enterprise JavaBeans 3.0 (5th Edition).

1. I have been building J2EE based applications for about five years now and this book has given me exactly what I needed to move to the new version of the specification. I'm using it as a study guide for the Sun Certified Business Component Developer certification exam.
   
   Fun to read with great working examples included with the Jboss Workbook at the end.



2. I found this book very helpful getting me up to date with the latest version of EJB. I had used EJB 2.1 before, but this book is good even for complete beginners. The first couple hundred pages are about the new Java Persistence Architecture. The last couple hundred pages are on using EJB 3.0 in JBoss AS. The middle of the book covers the rest of EJB 3.0. I still reference this book from time to time when working with JPA and complex relationships. I highly recommend this book.



3. I recommend this book. The book cover almost topics in EJB 3.0 and you can depend it for preparing the SCBCD 5. The author explain and describe the topics in easy way.
   
   The problem of this book have more error in code I escalation it for author. cause the book have his name not auditor name.
   
   I will give this book three stars for losing the quality.



4. To be brief, this is a great book, but you will almost certainly want the newest edition of it.



5. This is a great introduction to EJBs in general, and now EJB3. (the JSR 220 standard) Just like EJBs are now easier to develop with version 3, so is it easy to read and study this book. I hold O'Reilly in a high regard, (doesn't mean I'm a fan boy though, they do have their share of bad apples) and their high standards show in the quality of writing in this book. You will be happy with your purchase.

5 comments about CMMI(R): Guidelines for Process Integration and Product Improvement (2nd Edition) (The SEI Series in Software Engineering).

1. Much like the King James Bible and the Anarchist's Cookbook this book is dangerous in the wrong hands. When used properly the Model is a highly effective tool for measuring organizational maturity and for developing an organizational maturity roadmap. In the wrong hands it can actually hurt an organization. Typically this harm is manifested either by process wonks who zealously accept the Model at face value rather than interpreting it for their organization or by senior management and sales reps who don't understand the model and see maturity levels only as a means for business winning. I think this is a great Model, just remember, if you are going to use it, make sure your organizational needs drive your interpretation of model and not the other way around. And for all that is good and Holy, please read the entire book (specifically the section on Process Components)!



2. i bought this product and it was exactly as mentioned in the product description before buying this product. the shipping was fast too and care was taken to ship the product carefully.
   
   all in all a good and a trustworthy deal.



3. I disagree with some of the other reviewers. Not only am I leading a project to set-up a CMMI Quality Program, but I am teaching a "newbee" to the quality world. The spec that SEI publishes is great and the notes included in this book are very informative to the new folks. I have the V1.1 and V1.2 texts and use them both on a regular basis when training and when working. Yeah to Mary Beth, Mike and Sandy!!!



4. Having read many reviews of the book, I was concerned as to whether it would meet my needs. It was just what I needed. Our organization is doing a gap analysis for an assessment in the near future. Although the book re-iterates the SEI web page texts, it also has very useful tips in the margins and throughout the book. I was able to quickly go through our gap analysis using the book as my guide (hey! maybe that's why "Guidelines" is in the title).



5. Had to buy this book for CS course at the university. Zero usefulness. All the info is available online.
   By the way, if you are not in the business of CMM or apraisals, curb your curiosity - it is nowhere near Computer Science or software engineering, it's about basic management. Tedious and annoying stuff.

2 comments about Pro VB 2008 and the .NET 3.5 Platform (Windows.Net).

1. I cannot over-rate this book. I've been developing systems for 40 years, and I've never seen a better book of this type. The author, Andrew Troelsen, really knows his stuff, and knows how to teach it. I only wish I'd had his VB 2005/.NET 2.0 book two years ago when I started trying to learn .NET! There's a lot of advanced material in this book, but it's good for any experienced programmer who wants to really learn .NET and VB 2008. It explains not only the what, but the why and how. If you need a book on this material, this is absolutely the one to get, period.



2. I, for one, miss the days of large reference manuals as opposed to help files and Google searches. For me this book is a throwback in terms of its completeness and scope. If you program in VB.net I feel this is a must-have reference. I've given it to 2 of my developer friends already and plan to give it again. Do yourself and your career a favor. God bless.

4 comments about CSS Pocket Reference: Visual Presentation for the Web (Pocket Reference).

1. Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) is the W3C standard for the visual presentation of web pages, although it can be used in other situations too. The book begins with a short introduction to the basic concepts of CSS. What follows is an alphabetical reference to all CSS2.1 selectors, and finally an alphabetical reference to all CSS2.1 properties. This is a good handy reference once you understand CSS, but I wouldn't advise it as a sole source for novices. Instead, try "CSS: The Definitive Guide" in its latest edition for a very good all-round tutorial and reference. This book is for those occasions when you don't have time to go digging through the much larger "Definitive Guide" for short answers to questions. The table of contents is not currently shown for this book in the product description, so I show that next:
   
   Chapter 1. CSS Pocket Reference
   Section 1.1. Conventions Used in This Book
   Section 1.2. Safari Books Online
   Section 1.3. Adding Styles to HTML and XHTML
   Section 1.4. Rule Structure
   Section 1.5. Style Precedence
   Section 1.6. Element Classification
   Section 1.7. Element Display Roles
   Section 1.8. Basic Visual Layout
   Section 1.9. Floating Rules
   Section 1.10. Positioning Rules
   Section 1.11. Table Layout
   Section 1.12. Values
   Section 1.13. Selectors
   Section 1.14. Pseudo-Classes and Pseudo-Elements
   Section 1.15. Property Reference
   Section 1.16. Tables
   Section 1.17. Paged Media
   Section 1.18. Dropped from CSS2.1
   Section 1.19. Visual Styles
   Section 1.20. Paged Media
   Section 1.21. Aural Styles
   Index



2. For a small book, CSS Pocket Reference packs a lot of information.
   
   The author, Eric A. Meyer, thoughtfully provides a basic CSS primer in the first 33 pages of the reference.
   
   A must have, go anywhere, reference for every web page author/designer.



3. Exactly what I was looking for - all the codes needed for CSS at my fingertips, in a compact, easy to carry size. Great reference!



4. It must be very hard to pack the perfect reference about CSS in a small book that you can fit in your pocket. But this Pocket Reference about CSS by Web legend Eric A. Meyer himself is very close to being perfect.
   
   The information on it is impeccable and serves as a great resource for those who what they are looking for (think of it as a dictionary). However, if you are clueless about CSS and want to learn from scratch, look elsewhere (his title CSS Web Site Design Hands on Training (Hands-On Training) is a very good starting point) as there are no concessions made her for newbies nor any illustrations to help you visualize the impact that changing things in a CSS expression can have.

5 comments about Web Database Applications with PHP & MySQL, 2nd Edition.

1. I'm new to PHP and MySQL, but a programmer for over 3 decades. I'm customizing some PHP code, using code examples for ideas. When I (a) see something I want to understand better or (b) want to find the PHP analog for basic functions, I naturally turn to the index to try to find the information I need. However, I found the index very disappointing because of what it doesn't have. For example, simple and basic keywords are not in the index: "comment", "logical operator", "and", "or", etc. I'm going to have order a different book as a PHP reference.



2. If your having trouble deciding on a book for your php & mysql development buy this book. It covers all major aspects of php and mysql web development and then some. You will find something useful on every page of this book, and theres a good amount of book here.



3. The book got me off the ground with my first client application, a rudimentary database maintenance system. Most valuable were the techniques and thorough understanding required to build a satisfactory security component.
   
   However, it falls way short as a reference tool and could have included a more comprehensive list of mysql functions.



4. I really like this book--direct, no-nonsense, and intelligently written with a minimum of jokes.
   
   One thing that seems strange, that I'm hoping someone can clarify:
   
   In the section of chapter 8 dealing with transactions and concurrency, there is no mention of setting transaction isolation levels (SET TRANSACTION ISOLATION LEVEL command in MySQL). Instead, concurrency is achieved solely by setting table locks.
   
   I can sort of understand this in that the authors are using MyISAM tables. But why no mention of transaction isolation levels using INNODB tables, given that this is the more standard way of dealing with concurrency issues?



5. As usual in text books, there is a lot of useless information that is not necessary, but since writers are paid by the word, this is to be expected.
   
   I wish there was a section on MySQL commands.

2 comments about XNA 2.0 Game Programming Recipes: A Problem-Solution Approach (Books for Professionals by Professionals).

1. I have followed Riemer's site pretty much as soon as he started publishing articles on XNA and loved all his on line tutorials as they gave a good base for those of us starting out and also enough for us to be getting on with once we got past those first early stages.
   
   I am pleased to say that the book is no different in this achievement, each Recipe has enough detail and information for you to pickup the techniques.
   
   I am also astounded as to how much is in here, from the basic data storage in XNA, on to cameras, game components, dealing with models and then onto the usage of vertices's, HLSL, the list goes on!
   
   Great site, great book.



2. In this moment this is the best book in XNA. Thank you Mr. Riemer for your webside and this book.

5 comments about Prototype and script.aculo.us: You Never Knew JavaScript Could Do This! (Pragmatic Programmers).

1. Reading this little piece of work is a great way to very quickly learn the nuts and bolts of Prototype and Scriptaculous. This book is long on code and short on deep explanation and banter (for better or worse; hence "pragmatic programmer").
   
   My background: I'm not a ruby programmer. I program in ASP.NET and I recently accepted a job where I needed to quickly learn prototype. When I settled on this I didn't realize that, along with choosing an intro book, I was also choosing a Prototype/Scriptaculous coding cookbook.
   
   I couldn't tell you how many times the authors displayed a line of code and I analyzed the code for a moment then thought "A ha!" because they demonstrated a clean and concise way to do exactly what I needed to do. Segments of code that I had written that were 25 lines code be shortened to 3 or 4 due to their examples. In javascript the less code that needs to be downloaded to the client the better, so obviously any code reduction w/o affecting performance is a good thing.
   
   My only criticism is perhaps the authors might have added a touch more coding explanations for complex code. Sometimes I would read a line of code and be totally lost as to how it functioned (which is essential if you want to reproduce said code on your own), and there would be little in way of explanation in the book. I quickly overcame this by supplementing the reading with the online documentation, which explained any prototype methods which might not have been thoroughly explained by the authors. I should probably iterate that this happened relatively few times overall.



2. This book builds upon the existing Prototype documentation found at http://prototypejs.org/api by putting the API in context. Other than the fact it uses Ruby for the server side examples (I'm sure everyone who reads it will have a differing opinion there), I have to say it was one of the most helpful programming books I've read. The short usage examples that were neatly tucked into the text were very useful and I found myself reading it almost like a novel and able to soak everything in without needing to download or code them out.
   
   I began using Prototype during the middle of last year when it was in version 1.5. There are many welcomed updates in v1.6 and the author does a good job of filling the reader in on the important changes.
   
   I recommend this book to anyone who might have dabbled in Prototype and is looking to take it to the next level. I also think others like myself will benefit who have been using v1.5 and are looking for a good excuse to stay up to date with the framework.
   
   Oh and it covers Scriptaculous too which is great because the web documentation is seriously lacking compared to Prototype and jQuery



3. I received a review copy of this book, and was able to use some of the code examples to jazz up a site I was building. The examples are very well written, and the code works. If you are into programming in javascript, this book is worth a look.



4. 'Prototype and script.aculo.us: You Never Knew JavaScript Could Do This!' is a wonderful reference for learning how to use Prototype and writing better and more powerful Javascript code. Pragmatic has a history of publishing good books that are full of stuff and not fluff and this book follows in that tradition. After reading this book you will learn more about this efficient library that makes things easier for web developers, doing things like dragging and dropping, autocomplete code, and event handling that is better than ever before!
   
   Content is spread over 400 pages and 20 chapters. The writing is solid and right to the point.
   
   If you are a Javascript programmer that is looking for a better way to do things, pick up this book and enjoy.
   
   ***** RECOMMENDED



5. I approached this book with the expectation that it would teach me in the traditional gradual fashion. You start with some accessible portion and build on the rest. Well, he just starts out of the blocks at a full dash--full complexity--and you really don't know where to begin to understand what he's showing you. So, though I'm sure I could have taken some of his examples and used them, I feel like I did not really get an understanding of the WHY you do it this or that way. So, the ironic effect is that you will benefit the most from this book if you already know how to use these libraries. If you have never used them, then you will be on your own. So, this is NOT an introductory book.
   Frankly, I have a good ten years experience using JavaScript and walking the DOM. So, I know my way around client-side scripting. I just felt like the introductory chapters were missing. You're expected to jump right into the hard-core stuff with no buildup, no gradual accumulation of the basics of this library. He was trying to prove how cool the Prototype and Scriptaculous libraries were and so he skipped the actual bones of the book. He skipped to the end and omitted the buildup. Buy this book wtih that caveat, in my opinion.

5 comments about Microsoft® Mobile Development Handbook.

1. This book is for new and existing mobile application developers who already have some experience developing applications using the .NET Framework, either desktop or compact version. If you are new to .NET, first read "Microsoft Visual C# 2005 Step By Step" by John Sharp or "Microsoft Visual Basic 2005 Step By Step" by Michael Halvorson. Those books can teach you the programming basics, and you will then be prepared to use this book to learn mobile application development. This book can help you develop mobile applications using .NET Compact Framework 2.0 and will introduce you to some of the new features that are in .NET Compact Framework version 3.5, which will be released with the next release of Visual Studio, currently code-named "Orcas."
   
   Along the way, the book highlights features that are new to .NET Compact Framework 2.0 so that the developer who has experience building applications using the version 1.0 product can identify new features that are helpful. However, the main purpose of this book is to give you the essential information you need to design and build applications that work on a constrained device such as a Pocket PC or Smartphone, or on embedded hardware. It instructs you as to how to build and debug applications, how to design GUIs that work on small devices, and how to deploy applications. It also delves into problems that are unique to mobile device applications, such as how to design and build applications that work well with unreliable, slow network connections, which is the usual state of affairs with phone-enabled mobile devices. This book is a handbook for the mobile developer that explains how to tackle the common problems that mobile application developers encounter. The book is divided into three parts:
   
   Part 1, Mobile Application Development Essentials, contains six chapters that everyone should read because they take you through topics that all mobile application developers must understand.
   
   Chapter 1, ".NET Compact Framework--a Platform on the Move," is an introduction to the .NET Compact Framework and explains the tools you need to build applications for smart devices.
   
   Chapter 2, "Building a Microsoft Windows Forms GUI," explains how to build effective Windows Forms applications on personal digital assistants (PDAs) and Smartphones.
   
   Chapter 3, "Using SQL Server 2005 Compact Edition and Other Data Stores," looks at data persistence on devices in SQL Server 2005 Compact Edition databases and how you can build a graphical user interface that binds to data.
   
   Chapter 4, "Catching Errors, Testing, and Debugging," shows you how to test and debug your applications on real devices and emulators, and how to trap and handle errors at run time.
   
   Chapter 5, "Understanding and Optimizing .NET Compact Framework Performance," is about creating applications that perform well, something that requires a little more care to achieve on a smart device with limited RAM and storage than it does in a desktop application.
   
   Chapter 6, "Completing the Application: Packaging and Deployment," looks at packaging and deployment and how Visual Studio 2005 makes it easy to build installation packages so that you can install your application on your target devices.
   
   Part 2, Solutions for Challenges in Mobile Application Development, contains 10 chapters that examine areas that present particular challenges to applications running on a smart device.
   
   Chapter 10, "Security Programming for Mobile Applications," is about security programming, an essential topic for any software developer, but of particular interest to mobile application developers who are responsible for keeping valuable data secure on a mobile device that can be lost or stolen, and must send data over public communications networks such as the Internet.
   
   Chapter 11, "Threading," looks at how to do multithreaded programming in the .NET Compact Framework.
   
   Chapter 12, "Graphics Programming" shows how to present UI that looks more polished and professional than one that is built using only the standard Microsoft Windows Forms controls from the Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 Toolbox.
   
   Chapter 13, "Direct3D Mobile", discusses how 3-D graphics can be implemented on a Windows Mobile 5.0-powered device using Direct3D. It starts simply with 2D graphics and then gradually moves into 3D graphics.
   
   Chapter 14, "Interoperating with the Platform," explains how to call native APIs that are available in the underlying Windows CE operating system to perform tasks that are not possible using the .NET Compact Framework APIs alone.
   
   Chapter 15, "Building Custom Controls", looks at developing custom Windows Forms controls that you can use in .NET Compact Framework applications.
   
   Chapter 16, "Internationalization", explains how to create applications that are easily localizable to different cultures and languages.
   
   Chapter 17, "Developing with Windows Mobile", looks at the Windows Mobile 5.0 managed APIs, a set of APIs that are unique to mobile devices and that expose system information and allow programmatic access to data stores such as Microsoft Office Outlook Mobile contacts, calendars, and tasks lists.
   
   Part 3, New Developments, consists of a single chapter that provides an early look at the next version of Visual Studio and the next version of the .NET Compact Framework, version 3.5. The latest version adds new features for querying data collections, messaging, testing, and many other innovations and enhancements.



2. It is like my bitacora or bible when i am offline. I guess it has a little of everything you need to know in very compact book (i thought a 600 book will be wider but the size is great)



3. Got 2 copies for my moble development team. The book is simply invaluable. Either you read cover to cover, or select any chapter of special interest the result is in depth information and guidance. Very often our two copies are not enough for everyone in the team.



4. Definitely a good book: I found it very complete and easy to read. Useful and interesting, straightaway.



5. I purchased this book, among others, to learn more about the compact framework. This has ended up being the one that is always on my desk and constantly referred to. There is information in here that is not on any google search, and the code used by the author to demonstrate complicated operations (such as creating opacity in CF forms), is easier and clearer than I have seen anywhere else. A very good book, and well worth purchasing.