5 comments about Python Essential Reference (3rd Edition) (Developer's Library).

1. This book is a highly detailed reference to the Python language. The introductory chapters build on one another and give the reader a decent introduction to the language. The later chapters need not be read sequentially as they are a reference on more advanced features.
   
   The book has superb coverage of distutils, C extensions, network I/O, and introspection. The index is well organized so you can find text on obscure, subtle concepts easily. Need to know how to raise an IOError in C? Not a problem, it's in there. Need to know how to quickly generate a tuple from C? Not a problem, it's in there. Need to know how to split apart or join paths and filenames in a platform-independent way? It's in there too. How about creating a memory mapped file? Or parsing a date? Or resolving the IP address of a hostname? Parsing a python string? Running a python expression as a string? Grabbing the caller's call stack? All of these nifty and possibly dangerous features are all covered in this wonderful book.
   
   Normally, I'm a fan of O'Reilly books but O'Reilly's Programming Python (OPP) is disappointingly basic, and you'll quickly outgrow it. I found OPP very unhelpful as a reference for writing large, scientific simulations in Python. In such situations, the data sets are often large, and thus, one must be careful not to gratuitously waste memory with range() when looping over several arrays in the same loop. For example, there is no mention of the xrange construct, which creates a generator object used for incrementally generating numbers over a range. However, it is extremely rare I find an omission in Beazley's Python, and the omission always involves an extremely obscure and uncommon feature.



2. Very concise and precise information. I would recommend for anyone who wants advance book on python for reference and learning.



3. This little book isn't missing a thing! It's extremely well organized; I find it faster to get answers from this book than from the Internet. Can't say that too often!



4. I say Outstanding Reference, because that's what this book is. While there are examples, they are short and concise - this is not a "how to" book (though the introduction provides an excellent overview). Rather, this is a text to keep alongside a book like Learning Python. It's dimensions are smaller than your typical computer book, so it fits nicely on my desk. Also, the index is the best you'll find (Dave actually generated it from a Python script). It's faster than looking stuff up online.



5. I love the book. Use it with Python in a Nutshell. Use the Nutshell as a more comprehensive reference and this book to get exactly what I need when I have a general idea of what is needed. I see Python Essentials as more of a 'nutshell book' than the actual nutshell book. It is clear and concise and I find the print size to be very acceptable. The book is a maverick when it comes to being able to compare different approaches/elements. It will not do it for you, but since it is so precisely laid out, it is easy to think in terms of: "If I used this then I could do this; If I used that then I could do that, but not this, etc." If you have a basic background in python or other language, you will likely be able to frame up your ideas/knowledge into specifics and start coding to learn more or if you are already an accomplished programmer you can check and refine code in progress or established code projects.

5 comments about ActionScript 3.0 for Adobe Flash CS3 Professional Hands-On Training.

1. I had a really tough time with this book. The explanations are inadequate and often very confusing. I found Learning ActionScript 3.0 by Rich Shupe much easier to understand. This book might be a nice reference for people who have some AS3 under their belt, I haven't tried using it for that purpose, but if you need a way into AS3, this book will frustrate you. Perkins may be good at programming, but a teacher he is not. He's completely out of touch with what it's like to be a creative person trying to learn programming and he has no idea how to bridge that gap. He's a computer geek, not a communicator. Shupe is better.



2. I am a regular user of Flash, however ActionScript (other than the really basic stuff) has always been a mystery to me. This book helped me to understand it in a way I never thought possible. I highly recommend it.



3. The author takes you step-by-step through useful examples that make the learning flow very easily from basic to intermediate. The style is crisp, with just the right amount of humor. Perfect to get your grounding if you are just getting into ActionScript 3.0



4. If you are an animator looking to enter the world of actionscript, or you just don't have much development experience, then this book may be appropriate, but for anyone else the useful content could be compressed to the size of a pamphlet.
   
   As for the accompanying CD, I found the content on this to be totally useless, there are much better video tutorials available on-line for free.



5. What this book does, it does very well. It illustrates the new syntax and methods of AS3, and shows you exactly how to use them. It is illustrated and organized so efficiently that it can function as a "cookbook" reference.
   
   It's a deceptively compact book, very handsomely bound and thoroughly illustrated with color screenshot examples. It is much better printed than earlier lynda-dot-com H-O-T Flash books (cleaner typography, opaque paper for color printing), though inside there's a superficial family resemblance. You get a series of step-by-step, read-and-type exercises, as well as a few supporting video tutorials. It even uses the old "snowboarder" example that the H-O-T books have used for the last three versions of Flash.
   
   As I say, the resemblance is only superficial. The tutorials are much more concentrated than is usual. The chapters and subsections are short--a key concept may be covered and demonstrated in just two or three pages--but this concentration of material can make it very slow-going, requiring two or three re-reads. The few videos provided seem to be there merely for tradition's sake and add little to the tutorials.
   
   I recommend this book but do not recommend attempting to learn AS3 from this book alone. Its virtue is its limitation: the author covers all the basics, seldom digressing from his lessons, so you may feel cramped and distracted if you try to cover more than one chapter at time. What you're missing is commentary and elbow room, a sense of overall context and practical application. For this you should get the Shupe/Rosser book (Learning ActionScript 3.0) and two or three others.
   
   You might also get Todd Perkins's follow-on to this book, '...Beyond the Basics,' also from lynda. Though more advanced, it recaps this book's material very well, and being a series of short video tutorials is easier to follow. Put both Todd Perkins efforts together, and you get one fine five-star tutorial on how to code ActionScript 3.0.

3 comments about Lattice: Multivariate Data Visualization with R (Use R).

1. Deepayan Sarkar won a prize for programming Lattice. He deserves another for writing this book. The usual style of help files in R (including Lattice) is terse; this is a deliberate choice by the developers. Presumably, a lot of people like this terseness - but I am not one of them, and there are many others I know of who share my confusion at some of the help files.
   
   Now, there's a whole book on Lattice, and it's written in an accessible style that will let me use Lattice much more creatively and with many fewer errors.
   
   I think even experts on Lattice may find new things here; but for newcomers to Lattice, it's an indispensable guide.



2. I learned far more from a few hours of reading this book than I did from countless hours tinkering with Lattice graphs. I would recommend it without hesitation to any novice or intermediate user of R.
   
   Furthermore, while both are helpful, this book is probably a better first purchase than R Graphics (Computer Science and Data Analysis).



3. I share the views of the previous reviewers: this book is great. I have been using R for several years now, and found the help pages for Lattice much too terse to really grasp the potential of the system. This books is loaded with examples, ranging from easy to quite involved, and the explanations given are clear and to the point.
   
   A book like this deserved a production effort from Springer, and about three times as many color plates as it has, but even as it is seems to me quite good.
   
   Aside from the description of the Lattice package, that Deepayan Sarkar obviously knows as only its designer can, there is a wealth of comments on graphics design and pointers to the classics of the subject --Tufte, Cleveland, etc.
   
   A book not to miss by any seriously interested in statistical graphics, or indeed by anyone willing to add a powerful tool to his/her graphics toolbox. May I only add that those willing to make a further investment of time to obtain the most of this book, might consider Murrell's "R Graphics" (Chapman & Hall), also a masterpiece of expository writing, discussing (in its chapter 4) Lattice graphics within the context of grid ---grid being the underlying graphics model on which Lattice is built.

No comments about Programming the Microsoftî ADO.NET Entity Framework (PRO-Developer) (PRO-Developer) (PRO-Developer).

5 comments about Agile Retrospectives: Making Good Teams Great.

1. I refer to the activities in the book all the time. It really gives a fresh look at the retrospective and keeps the team engaged. It's very easy to come out with some actions to carry forward which the team is committed to doing.



2. This year, I found myself leading an agile development team. While I've been in the software industry for several decades, I'm new to agile. I was lucky enough to attend the Agile 2007 conference, where I participated in a session with Esther Derby and Diana Larsen. That's where I first learned about retrospectives - from the co-authors of this book.
   
   First, the idea of retrospectives, as opposed to post-mortems (are our projects really dead?), as an ongoing process is challenging and exciting. Rather than waiting until the end, reviewing not just progress but the state of the team makes great sense.
   
   Then, the way that they put it all together - stating the value of the process, giving an outline for how to conduct a retrospective - makes it something you can indeed do right from the book.
   
   But as much as anything, the exercises/activities that make up a large part of this book are a tremendous value. Rather than trying to figure out "what should we do/say in a retrospective?", we are guided through combinations of activities to help us achieve the most effective results.
   
   And it's not just about agile. While the concept has developed through the growth of agile development practices, this is a tool that can benefit any organization of any type doing anything.
   
   It's a quick read with benefits that far outweigh the time it takes to read it. Ready to change the life of your organization? Introduce retrospectives.



3. This is a really useful book. Most practical. Being into scrum (sort of) for 3 months, we've tried to change our retrospective meeting agenda applying methods from this book. We did this just once as yet, and applied only a single combination of methods from virtually countless variants possible. The result is great: retrospective meetings became more meaningful and fun.
   
   Every scrum master (and anyone leading retrospective meeetings) should read this book.



4. I have read at least 10 books of the Pragmatic Series and this is the first one I couldn't finish because it was so terrible (I actually threw it out). This book is exactly what is wrong with corporate culture. Placating overly sensitive employees who need emotional coddling instead of trying to improve the process of software development. I prefer to work with adults, that have the maturity to get their emotional needs fulfilled outside of work, so time at work can be spent being productive. This book should have been titled "Cloy Retrospectives" or "Agile Dianetics". If you are looking for a worthwhile, and even entertaining, book on software management see Managing Humans by Michael Lopp.



5. This is one of those "common sense" books. It's full of really obvious practical advice. The difference I found however is in the multitude of simple and practical exercises it contains.
   
   The book is a really quick and easy read. It's now constantly on my desk as a reference. I plan to use a few of the exercises in our next retrospective in a week.
   
   Whilst this is an agile/scrum focused book, many of the exercises could be easily adapted to other "review" type situations in business and teaching.

2 comments about Beginning Microsoft Visual C# 2008 (Wrox Beginning Guides).

1. It is a good book for beginner. But Don't expect much from it, It may not go into greater details and will leave you at mercy of MSDN.



2. This is a super book for those of us who have never programmed, or who started programming using another language like Visual Basic. It has helpful articles, and lots of hints if one gets stuck. It's easy to read, and lacks the boreing quality of many text books.

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 Artist's Guide to GIMP Effects: Creative Techniques for Photographers, Artists, and Designers.

1. The GIMP is an image editor whose power and easy use rivals the industry standard Photoshop - and is a popular free software item. While The Artist's Guide to GIMP Effects could've been explored in our Computer Shelf area, it's reviewed here to alert every artist working with computer images. It shows how to use the GIMP's powerful features to apply to ads, photos, and business pursuits, and comes from an author who has used GIMP since its first public release. From specialty photographic techniques available within the GIMP model to advanced web design features for special effects, no photo artist using the computer should be without THE ARTIST'S GUIDE TO GIMP EFFECTS - and any collection strong in Photoshop-type books needs it.
   
   Diane C. Donovan
   California Bookwatch



2. Should have purchased this book months ago. Not for the absolute beginner, but a must have for the advanced beg or int user who wants to learn more about using gimp.



3. GIMP, or the GNU Image Manipulation Program to give it its proper name, is a graphics-editing program broadly similar to Adobe Photoshop in terms of functionality. The GIMP is an open source program that can be freely downloaded and installed on most computers, including maps. But on the downside it doesn't come with a manual, so figuring out how to use GIMP can be tricky.
   
   But 'The Artist's Guide to GIMP Effects' isn't simply a book explaining what all the different tools and features do. Michael Hammel pitches this book quite a bit higher than that, focusing instead on how to use GIMP to perform a variety of useful and common tasks. From trick photography to building graphics for web sites, Hammel leads the reader expertly through nicely illustrated tutorials. The end result is more than simply a better understanding of the program, but a richer appreciation of what the program can be used to do.
   
   There are six chapters, the first of which introduces many of the basic concepts. Although there is some attention given to where the relevant tools are found and how to use them, the focus here is on what they do and why you need them. Fundamental to success with any graphics program is understanding how different tools work when applied together, and Hammel finishes off this chapter with a set of multi-function tutorials that underline this point.
   
   The second chapter concentrates on manipulating photographs. These include softening images, adding motion effects, and creating reflections. In each case the process is taken step-by-step, with clear text and relevant screenshots. At this point it's also worth mentioning something about the layout of the book. No Starch has really done a good job here. The book is wider than it is tall, and each page holds two columns of text. The flexible binding lets the book stay open at any page. As a result, it's an easy book to use alongside the computer.
   
   The next chapter is about creating artwork for web sites. These include things like tiles for web page backgrounds, buttons, tabs, and menu bars. The first tutorial in this batch is all about creating glossy, gel-like buttons of the type Macintosh users will be familiar with. One of the later tutorials looks at the ubiquitous rollover buttons, though from the perspective of creating the actual artwork required rather than the necessary JavaScript or CSS coding. That said, if you use a WYSIWYG web page layout program like Freeway, you probably won't need to manually any of that sort of code to your page anyway; all you need are the graphics.
   
   Like all the other chapters, the web design chapter finishes with a collection of useful tips. Some of these should be required reading for any web designer, and it's great to see the author lay them out fair and square.
   
   The fourth chapter is very unusual but actually makes a lot of sense. It's a chapter devoted to creating advertising. While no substitute for a degree in marketing, there's some great stuff here for anyone who needs to produce things like packaging and posters. Small businesses attracted to GIMP by its low cost will likely find this chapter worth the price of the book alone. On the other hand, some of the tutorials in this section are only incidentally useful for advertising purposes though, and could be just as relevant to anyone creating computer artwork. Again, there's a wrap-up section with a slew of useful tips and tricks.
   
   Chapter five brings text into the mix. This chapter kicks off with some tutorials covering things like neon, metallic, and gel-like text, among other typographic effects.
   
   The last chapter is specifically for software developers, and illustrates the ways in which GIMP can be used to design and prototype application interfaces. While a clever and potentially useful chapter, what was obviously missing from this section of the book was something on designing icons for programs. The book then rounds off with a detailed index.
   
   For $45 this isn't a cheap book, especially when you consider that GIMP itself is free and comes with its own online guides and tutorials. The question is whether having things laid out clearly and logically in a nicely illustrated book justifies the cost. In the opinion of this reviewer at least, the answer is yes. For the GIMP user looking to go beyond simply cropping and resizing digital images, this book is highly recommended.



4. If you don't know what GIMP is, it's an alternative to Photoshop that allows you to do the same things (essentially) but is free.
   
   I was impressed and surprised (in a good way) on the depth of tutorials in this book. I was really looking for something that would give me a good overview of using GIMP from the top, and was surprised at how many things you can do creatively that I hadn't even thought of. My only criticism is the paper used is flat and it would be nice to have something a little glossier for the images. The images are in color, which is nice though. I've used photoshop and now GIMP from probably a pretty basic level (I'm not a graphic artist) for album coverwork for compilation CD's for myself and friends, posters, and just playing around with abstract art to frame and hang on my own wall. I've been impressed with GIMP as an alternative to Photoshop and I think this book is a great companion to help me get the most out of it. If you've tried GIMP, which is free to download, and want to get more out of it, I would recommend this book.



5. In my opinion, there can never be too many books like this one by Michael J. Hammel. This project-based book has great examples of how the graphic designer can use the GIMP software to get the job done. Each tutorial in this book is an individual project, allowing the reader to pick which tutorials best meets his or her needs. But read them all. Each technique is not presented in a vacuum. Hammel discusses these techniques in a way that prepares the readers to reproduce the results in their own projects.
   
   Besides being a project-based book, I also liked that Hammel did not waste the reader's time, and his own, discussing every detail about each panel, menu command and keyboard shortcut. Instead, he commits those pages to more information that you can really use. Don't get me wrong, he does give a short overview of the GIMP workspace in order to orient the novice to the software. But he does a good job of giving the readers only the information that they will need for the rest to the book.
   
   So what does Hammel cover in this book? He writes each project-based tutorial from the point-of-view of the graphic designer. He begins with a short description of the design criteria for the project and ends each tutorial with suggestions for other projects where the reader might apply these techniques. He divides the book into six chapters and each chapter covers a different area of graphic design. Once he covers the basics, he moves on to techniques for the photographer, web designer, advertising designer and UI designer. Throughout each chapter, he discusses how type applies to the project and he also devotes a chapter to type effects.
   
   For the photographer, he begins with some simple techniques for adding steam to a photo and creating a vignette. Then he covers more advanced techniques such as simulating depth of field. Have you ever wondered how graphic artists get type to look so good on top of any background? Hammel shows you how this is done, along with some other nice text effects. Also, he has one of the best techniques for converting a photo into a sketch that I have seen so far. His technique goes beyond the usual examples that you find in books and on the web.
   
   Moving from photography to web design, Hammel states that "color is king" on the web today. Only just a few years ago, books were preaching just the opposite. But now with the better monitors, Hammel can share some of his techniques for creating mood, simulating 3D and reflections, and "popping" an image. He also has some great techniques for creating folds from texture and gradients and for creating the popular Toon style.
   
   With the advent of widgets and other ways to create your own desktop applications, graphic designers are being asked to design user interfaces (GUI) for these applications. Hammel devotes the last section of his book to take you through the design process for creating a UI for a video player. He starts with the face plate and designs each part of the UI individually. However, these same techniques could be used to create environments for digital games and other design applications.
   
   Hammel has been working with GIMP from its beginnings in 1996. He has authored and co-authored many GIMP related books and articles.

5 comments about Inside Microsoft SQL Server(TM) 2005: The Storage Engine (Solid Quality Learning).

1. Most SQL Server DBA's I know who have been working on SQL Server 7 or 2000 for any length of time usually have a copy of Kalen Delaney's "Inside SQL Server" sitting on their desk. For SQL Server 2005, that book has been split into four different books and it looks like all them are going to be must-have's occupying large swaths of book-shelf space across the planet. Because, the fact of the matter is, if you want to know the internals of the new database engine, this is your source.
   
   Comparisons between this new book and the previous books in the series seem inevitable. From that type of comparison, I think that this book comes off very well. Removing the TSQL processing and other aspects of development from the book allows Delaney to drill down into every aspect of how the server works. She takes a very structured approach, showing how to install SQL Server before moving on to the Server Architecture and Configuration chapters. She covers database and database files, logging and recovery, tables, indexes, and locking, each in separate chapters, each in a great degree of detail. She takes the time between explaining how things work to suggest best practices for configuration and usage along the way. Scattered throughout are also Tip's & Notes that suggest alternatives to the topic under discussion or implications of the usage of a particular topic.
   
   This is not a book from which you can easily learn basic SQL Server skills. So much time is spent on so much detail, invaluable detail for the experienced user, that the novice might get stuck in the mire. I personally don't find that to be an actual detraction from the book. In fact, I'd recommend that if you're just learning SQL Server 2005, you pick this book up in addition to some other, more general, tome, because from here you can learn the why's and wherefore's of what you're trying to do.
   
   The Forward to the book says one of the most important things about this book and it bears repeating, "This is not a revision of the previous book. So much has changed and there are so many new features that Kalen had to write a brand new book." Reading through this book, that becomes clear on every single page. Nothing appears to have been regurgitated from the previous books, but each and every screen shot, description and code example is written for 2005.



2. Great book. Very informative and in depth, especially if you are looking for not only logical database structure but actual physical information. This book covers exactly what it's title states, the sql server 2005 storage engine.



3. I've been following this series since the days of Ron Soukup, and Delaney once again does not fail to deliver and impress in this latest edition.
   
   This book is part of a four part volume set (the 4th still awaiting publication at the time of this review), which previous to this release was contained in one volume. This shows how much more information is being published on SQL Server 2005, and gives Delaney the opportunity to focus on select topics and go into far more detail when covering them.
   
   This book contains a perfect balance of material appropriate for the topics being discussed: (configuring SQL Server, logical table and log structures, internal file structures and management, the many available locking mechanisms). For topics not relevant to content of this book, Delaney frequently refers to the other books within this series and in particular the book on query tuning and optimization she is still working on.
   
   Having now read a few volumes on SQL 2005, I can confidently state that Delaney does not waste pages regurgitating material that's either unrelated or unnecessary to the topic being discussed, but instead I found her insights and knowledge transfer unique to this book and worth the time learning.
   
   Overall, I would highly recommend this book to anyone seriously wanting to learn SQL Server 2005 at a higher than basic level. You will not be disappointed.
   
   NB. My only negative on this book is that it begins with 3 pages of acknowledgements listing technical colleagues, editors, friends etc that helped refine the book to what it is, but just within the first few pages there is an "xxx" placeholder in the text that hasn't been updated, a reference to a companion CD that was dropped from publication plus other technically incorrect statements. In fact, there are so many editorial errors throughout the book that there is a significant page on www.insidesqlserver.com dedicated to documenting the corrections. All books contain errors, but it was just painful to see so many after reading through the myriad of people that helped "perfect" this book. On a positive note, kudos to the author for acknowledging the problems and publishing the corrections.



4. This book is perhaps the best book out there for understanding SQL 2005 architecture. I know of no other book which offers such advanced understanding of how SQL 2005 stores, retrives, and manages data.
   
   Indeed, the author is a MS SQL MVP and has written with collaboration of those who have wrote the code for MS SQL 2005 at Microsoft.
   
   The author's explaination, however, could be a lot better. For example, here is an exerpt on the author's explaination of IAM (Index Allocation Map):
   
   "An IAM page contains a page header; an IAM page header, which contains eight page pointer slots; and a set of bits that map a range of extents on a file, which doesn't neccessarily have to be the same file that IAM page is in. The header has address of first extent in the range mapped by the IAM. The eight page pointer slots might contain pointers to pages belonging to the relevant object contained in mixed extents; only the first IAM for an object has values in these pointers."
   
   Now, I have worked with databases for over a decade and have good understanding of Indexes and its structure, and I still did not understand what the author was talking about on some sentences.
   
   Pros:
   1)Explains data and index storage structures (Page, extents, B-Tree, Keys etc) and how they are managed in transactions (update, delete, insert) better than any book I know.
   2)Relatively short book (400 pages) which does not waste words or sentences to make it a thicker book (common practice to write a thicker book for a higher price).
   
   Cons:
   1)Tries to combine MS SQL 101 topics (What is Master, MSDB, TEMP, and MODEL db?) with expert subject matter (What is IAM, Cluster Keys, RID, etc).
   2)Writing is sometimes indecipherable.
   3)Mostly not for the beginners (despite its rudimentrary coverage of the basics).



5. Okay, reviewing this book is going to be quite difficult. I have mixed feelings however everything that I have to say about this book is positive. For one, this is not for the faint of heart of casual reading. This book is there for those who want to learn the gory details of how SQL 2005 works.
   
   I would describe the book like this:
   You have a car and it is nice and pretty on the outside, and you can do all sorts of cool things with the buttons on the console and you can play music and other nifty things, such as GPS. Well, on the inside of the car you have no clue how it all ties together and what is going on when you push that button.
   
   Well, imagine this book as a blueprint of how your car's innards work, down to the very last oil spot on the engine.
   
   This book is the best down right down to the memory block detailed book I have seen on SQL 2005. Now, the hard part about this book is that it can be difficult to read, and follow, at times. There are several sections you may have to read over and over again just to start to understand what it even means.
   
   If you are looking for a good hard core book on the SQL engine, this is it for you. I give this book a 5 star rating for content, author knowledge and sheer impressive information.

5 comments about Agile Project Management: Creating Innovative Products (The Agile Software Development Series).

1. This book is a thoroughly enjoyable read, from the emphasis on principles, the excellent job navigating the difficult territory of the line between prescribed process and anarchy, and the stages a team goes through as it embraces an agile style of development. I even thought that the hypothetical story added a nice element of repetition to each section that helped drive home the main points.
   
   The one thing I would've liked was for this book to get off the fence and decide to be software-related. Almost every example is software related (except for the basketball analogy that got beaten to death...), but it goes out of the way not to specify software practices because this is about arbitrary project management. The book's in the "Agile Software Development Series" and the author is primarily a software consultant. I'd prefer it stuck to software rather than trying to go for broader appeal because there were several practice areas where detail was elided on that basis and could've really helped make the practices more concrete.
   
   Also, it would've been nice to have a little grid mapping up common-day software development methodologies like Scrum, XP, FDD, and DSDM against the practices in the book. I tried to do it in my head, but once you get past 5x5, it's something that should've been provided.



2. As someone who has managed large custom software projects and programs for 20 years, I was concerned that applying Agile to project management would simply mean burndown charts and the like. What I found in Highsmith's book is a perceptive understanding of how people think, feel and actually work on projects. Approaches that take human behavior into account, in my experience, are far more successful than those that don't.
   
   The concepts covered here, if really absorbed and understood, can benefit any project. I found Chapter 7 to be the most valuable for my current product development team, and ordered copies of the book for all my managers.



3. I picked up Agile Project Management because I haven't done any agile projects in a while and wanted to update my knowledge to help with an upcoming project. I found the book a good combination of theory and practical activities that a project manager can use in an agile project. The book steps through each of the processes, explains the theory, then steps through tools that can be used for that process. I recommend this book for anyone new to agile project management, including experienced project managers looking to expand their toolkit.



4. This book is well-written and provides both a good explanation of agile software development and insights into how to manage such a project. My disappointment comes from fact that Highsmith emphasizes that one has to find the right people in order to succeed with this kind of project, and doesn't provide much info about how to identify the right people or how to train people with potential to work this way. Given the emphasis on the importance of the right team, more space in the book should be devoted to that aspect of management.



5. This book is not only good for project managers but also an excellent read for developers. In the real world it is not uncommon that developers would confront a manager who likes to micromanage and everything the developers do have to be conform to something really bureaucracy and with little or no business sense or tech sense. In this book, the value of APM is well articulated in concise sentences. These sentences can be powerful tool when it is necessary for R&D people to discuss/argue with a manager about things like project plan/report, etc. There is also practical method of APM. I find this book very articulate and concise. Highly recommended.