5 comments about MySQL Stored Procedure Programming.

1. It walks you through writing, maintaining, and debugging stored procedures. It can be used as a reference and tutorial.
   I found Part IV Optimizing Stored Programs particularly useful.



2. This book has an excellent coverage of the MySQL 5.0 stored routines (stored procedures, stored functions and triggers).
   But it also provides with invaluable hints and guidelines for general MySQL practices.
   
   The book starts with PART I: covering the syntax and rules for stored routines. This part is straightforward and a very fast read. The authors tend to repeat themselves on occasion, though only when relevant.
   
   PART II looks more closely at the particular rules for stored funtions and triggers. It also offers a transaction managing chapter, which describes transactions in MySQL in general, and in stored programming in particular. This chapter is very informative.
   
   PART III discusses the use of stored routings from external programs: PHP, Java, Perl, Python, .NET. The authors establish their view of correct usage and provide with general recommendations.
   
   In general, these three parts cover the stored routines material.
   However, here comes a nice surprise: enter Part IV, which is a real gem.
   This last part of the book discusses in depth MySQL query optimizations, indexing methods, performance issues, most unrelated with stored programming.
   Why? The authors explain (and I agree with them), that most stored routines code will usually have SQL queries DML statements in them. It is their opinion, then, that to write good, efficient, stored procedures, one must be aware of how MySQL optimizes and handles complex queries.
   I am not new to MySQL, yet have learned quite a few new things from this last part.
   The book ends with a "best practices" chapter, which mostly provides summary for all issues discussed in the book, including some general recommendations for best practices in programming (which could have been left out, in my opinion).
   
   All in all, this book is certainly a very good reference for anyone wishing to write stored functions/procedures/triggers in MySQL. The authors certainly have a strong expertise on the subject, and have a lot to tell.



3. Being fairly new to MySQL (but not to programming) I needed to develop an application using PHP/OOP with MySQL and stored procedures. This book is pretty concise and got me going quickly. At the time, I searched the Amazon book offerings and also books on the shelf at Barnes & Noble. This book is the only one providing clear and concise material on the subject.
   
   I do wish the coverage would have been more detailed using PHP data objects (PDO) in combination with stored procedures that use various combinations of INPUT, OUTPUT and INPUT-OUTPUT parameters in addition to exception processing, etc. That would have been great but then, this isn't a PHP book. Too bad most PHP books seem to focus more on the basics of the language and don't delve into the weighty matters of real-world commercial application development.



4. The good: I found to book to be generally useful. The approach the book takes is good. Lots of examples are provided along with a good amount of explanation.
   
   
   The not-so-good: There seem to be quality or editorial issues with some of the examples. When I run them through the query browser in MySQL version 5 I have problems with some of them. For example Example 2-7 calls another procedure new_salary, which doesn't seem to exist by that name in the book or on the website. This makes it much more time consuming for a newbie to actually run and digest the examples than it should.



5. I have been working with MySQL for several years as a database back-end for Java, Ruby and C# programming projects. After upgrading to version 5, I have been meaning to look into MySQL's support for stored procedures.
   
   The MySQL Stored Procedure Programming book was my first read on the subject and I found it quite useful. It covers not only stored procedures, but also functions and triggers, collectively called 'stored programs' in the book. While there are many books on MySQL, this book is dedicated to the stored programs domain and provides a lengthy treatment of the subject.
   
   During the introduction, the authors provide a veritable laundry list of MySQL resources including many books and websites. The basic tools for creating stored programs in MySQL are visited and help set the groundwork for a 'read, type in the example and run it' feedback loop. Throughout the book, the examples are clear and easy to follow.
   
   The introduction is followed by a brief tutorial, highlighting stored procedures, functions and triggers. What follows is two sections of chapters, over 200 pages in length, diving into the details of the stored procedure language fundamentals, blocks, conditional statements, iterative programming, error handling, the creation and maintenance of stored programs, transaction management, MySQL built-in functions, stored functions and triggers.
   
   The next section of the book is of particular value to software developers that use MySQL in their applications. Over 150 pages showing you how to use MySQL stored programs from PHP, Java, Perl, Python and .NET. The Java section even shows the basics of using stored procedures with Hibernate and Spring.
   
   After that, you'll be greeted with a 110 page medley of options to help you optimize your MySQL stored programs. The subject of tuning your SQL is addressed over the course of three chapters, from basic through advanced tuning topics. Additional optimization techniques such as reducing network traffic with stored programs, optimizing loops, recursion, cursors, trigger overhead and more are found in the final chapter of this section.
   
   The book closes out with a chapter on best practices in MySQL stored program development. MySQL Stored Procedure Programming has earned a space on the MySQL shelf of my technical library. It's a fine book that will help you take your MySQL programming experience to another level.

5 comments about Web Standards Creativity: Innovations in Web Design with XHTML, CSS, and DOM Scripting.

1. This is one of the best web design problem solving books I've read to date. This is a great buy and keep book! I loved it and I'm sure you will too.



2. This book arrived the day after I returned home to NJ after the "An Event Apart" conference in Boston.
   Compared to the large volume of texts that have come out before it, this was a little bit of a disappointment.
   If you're new to using CSS, then maybe it will be more helpful to you, but if you already own/read CSS Mastery: Advanced Web Standards Solutions, Bulletproof Web Design: Improving flexibility and protecting against worst-case scenarios with XHTML and CSS, DOM Scripting: Web Design with JavaScript and the Document Object Model, and the like... I wouldn't bother with this one.



3. Let's start with a warning - this is not a book for beginners. To appreciate it (apart from the "coffee table" usage someone else mentioned), you have to know a lot about CSS, HTML and have decent knowledge of JavaScript and DOM. But once you're there and have a few web design projects behind you, you'll really appreciate all the nuggets in this book. The ideas presented in it, as well as the explanations (in a juicy voice that was obviously not bowdlerized by editorial policies that so many other publishers have) are simply priceless. I also highly appreciated the approach of not going into meaningless details; the text is full of URLs containing background information, additional articles, design guidelines, CSS tricks etc.
   
   To all the authors & the publisher: Congratulations !!! This is one of the Web design books I've seen ... why can't I give you 6 start?



4. Out of three CSS/XHTML books that I bought, this one was the most disappointing of all. Disappointing because it's designed not so much for practical use, it's really for placing on the coffee table to show off your web guru status.
   
   I simply wasn't inspired by the ad hoc generic ideas, presented as edgy "grunge" a la mode. If you're a web designer needing creativity ideas of this type (page 30 is a kicker), you really need to hit art school again. What's explained, you'll pick up in high school Drawing 101; hanging out at coding forums; or just googling for help.
   
   Worse upon worse, reading the book will give you a headache. I simply couldn't read it through without vertigo. The book design staff believed in high contrast color schemes, that if you're color blind, you wouldn't have to worry about reading code, you simply won't see it (or wished to ban Opt-Art)! Lime green backgrounds with pale orange type (pages 71 and 75, for example), just doesn't cut it.
   
   If you need a CSS/XHTML coffee table book, this will suffice. But if you need real inspiration and design ideas, save your money and eyesight, and find some other book (or search online for examples -- heck, the snippet code isn't much more than what's in the book, even).
   
   What a waste of money.



5. Although there are some interesting ideas in this book you should be warned about the very, very, very poor printing quality. After reading through the first 40 pages the book began to fall apart. The pages started to fly out one by one like a hair from your head when starting to develop boldness. After 50 pages it was just a pile of junk so I couldn't finish it.

5 comments about Programming 16-Bit PIC Microcontrollers in C: Learning to Fly the PIC 24 (Embedded Technology) (Embedded Technology).

1. I have thouroughly enjoyed reading and using this great publication. It is absolutely the best introduction to PIC24 in particular and C30 as well. This book makes a great companion for the Explorer 16 development board from Microchip.
   I look forward to a follow up edition with a few more projects and peripheral code segments.
   
   Very Well Done Lucio



2. I already had a problem to solve in my mind when I statred to read this book. The book worked out for me in two ways: First, the topics of the book cover my problems very well, and secondly the code in the book worked well as I tested them project by project as a learning process. Also, I agree with the points other reviewers made before my review. So, no need to repeat them. I am not an EE and new to microcontroller. To understand a topic of the book I still need to cross-check some sections in the data sheet of a PIC24 and its corresponding C header file. This slows down my reading, but turns out to give me a better understanding. I completely recommend this book.
   
   David W. at Ferndale, MI, USA



3. I've bought several books on microcontrollers, and most of them have been poorly written. This book is exceptional: the writing is clear, it has been professionally edited, and the audience focus is clearly stated. It contains a lot of valuable background that only someone who works at Microchip would know.
   
   I have to take off a star because the book does not mention the numerous hardware problems these microcontrollers have. All microprocessors have some issues, but the errata for PIC24F parts is unusually lengthy. Jasio neatly sidesteps the hardware minefields, for example by using an SPI communication protocol rather than the more elegant I2C. Don't get me wrong: I'm a big fan of these parts, and I think everyone who designs with microprocessors should look at them seriously. Still, I can't believe that someone could write a book like this and not mention the errata.



4. I WAS REFERRED TO AMAZON.COM TO PURCHASE THE BOOK. TRUSTING MY FRIEND WHO REFERRED ME THAT THEY ARE A REPUTABLE COMPANY, I TRANSFERRED THE CASH FOR THE PURCHASE. AMAZON CONFIRMED HAVING RECVEIVED THE CASH AND PROMISED TO SHIP THRE BOOK IMMEDIATELY. THAT WAS MORE THAN A MONTH AGO.
   
   I HAVE NOT RECEIVED THE BOOK YET AND HAVE CHECKED WITH ALL THE SHIPPING COMPANIES IN SOUTH AFRICA (BEARING IN MIND THAT AMAZON.COM IS UNABLE TO PROVIDE A TRACKING NUMBER). THE BOOK HAS POSITIVELY NOT ENTERED INTO THE COUNTRY THROUGH ANY OF THE ENTRY POINTS.
   
   NUMEROUS E-MAILS SENT TO VARIUS E-MAIL ADDRESSES AT AMAZON.COM FAILED TO PRODUCE ANY RESPONSE FROM THEM. I DESPERATELY NEED THE BOOK, AND IT SEEMS AS I WILL HAVE TO FIND ANOTHER SUPPLIER WHO CAN DELIVER BEFORE THE BOOK IS SO OUTDATED THAT I WOULD NOT WANT TO READ IT ANYMORE.



5. This book pretends to be a programming book on the PIC24 16-bit microcontroller family from Microchip. And if it were only that, it would easily earn a 5 rating. But the author has gone way beyond his calling. He turned this into a real insider's view of what gcc is doing under the covers with this MCU. This is better than good because there are so few good books on embedded C programming, and none of them do a good job of showing both sides. As a C programmer you normally don't care what the computer is doing under the covers. But as an embedded C programmer this is critical information! So I'd like to give this book a 10: 5 for PIC24 coverage and 5 for under-the-cover info on what gcc is doing. Even if you don't use the PIC 24, you need this book!

5 comments about The Algorithm Design Manual.

1. Nice to have this book handy if you need to design efficient algorithms for your programs. This is more of a reference than to teach you what algorithms are out there, so you better know them before using this book. That said, this book is quite unique since it differs from a typical algorithm book on the market. Skiena has done a great job in presenting the material. I find this book really handy, definately recommanded.



2. There are many reasons I like this book more than other Algorithms books I own (e.g. Sedgewick). One is that Skiena's book comes with an HTML version, so it's easy to keep it with you at all times (e.g. on your laptop, at work, and at home). Another is the "war stories". I found that I wanted to read the war stories first, rather than the technical content. Another is that the book points you at existing implementations, which really is what you'll eventually need to look at if you're going to use or write any code.
   
   Overall, I found that when confronted to real world problems, the "Algorithm Design Manual" was a better resource than other Algorithm books. This is why I'm recommending it to software engineers out there. It seems to be written for people working with algorithms to solve problems, rather than as a support for an academic course.
   
   On the negative side: I find the resource catalog to be exhaustive but somewhat shallow. As I'm getting older and slower, some things are not as obvious as they used to be. For example, I was quite unable to derive how to use Voronoi diagrams to perform nearest neighbour search, although it is supposed to be "a simple matter".



3. I found this book extremely practical, especially for professionals that don't have everyday the occasion to be confronted with real algorithmic problems (I assume that most of the industry-related software programmers / designers / analysts are in this category), thus beeing in need to have a reference at hand "just in case" :-).
   
   Together with "Programming challenges" also from Skiena & co. constitutes a powerful known algorithms references, and supplied with some natural problem-solving talent, could be a succesfull preparation for something like ACM contests or topcoders.com



4. For those computer science students and programmers who are put off by the style of "Introduction to Algorithms" by Cormen et al., this book is a good alternative. Rather than just being a catalog of algorithms with code and little explanation, this book covers a much needed middle ground and contains a good deal about the analysis and design of algorithms in general along with discussions of common algorithms themselves in an accessible style. In fact, the author makes a point of mentioning in his preface that you will not find a single theorem in this book, and that the purpose of his book is to get working programmers up to speed quickly on both the generalities and specifics of algorithm design.
   The first part of the book is on techniques, and covers the basics of modeling algorithms along with "Big Oh" notation, data structures and sorting, dynamic programming, graph algorithms, combinational search, and the concept of intractibility. What makes this section of the book particularly interesting are the author's "war stories" that talk about real world applications of the ideas discussed in each chapter.
   Part two of the book, "Resources", is an extensive catalog of algorithmic problems organized by type. For each problem mentioned, the book includes a problem description and discussion, possible implementations, and other algorithmic problems that are related to this one. In the implementation section for each algorithm, the author demonstrates the kinds of questions that the reader should ask when designing his or her own implementation. The C, C++, Fortran, and Pascal code for all algorithm implementations mentioned is on the accompanying CD rather than in the book itself, which helps make the book more compact.
   This book is a very good introduction to the methods of algorithm analysis and design, and an encyclopedic reference on many different types of algorithms. Highly recommended.



5. This book is splitted in two parts.
   The first part mostly contains general advices about algorithms, performances, and such.
   The second part is more like a huge catalogue of "classical" problems and algorithms related to those, with advices about how to work them. It does not contain algorithms or pseudo-code (or very little), but is more about how to address the problem (and also contains pointers to an implementation).

1 comments about VBA and Macros for Microsoft Office Excel 2007 (Business Solutions).

1. This book was very helpful for some projects that I needed to accomplish with Excel & VBA. Some of the chapters were extremely enlightening in seeing the big picture of using VBA with Excel and other MS Office applications. Other chapters are excellent resources that I will refer to many times in the future. I would recommend this book for both the beginner (in using VBA) as well as the experienced VBA user.

5 comments about Microsoft® SQL Server(TM) 2005 Analysis Services Step by Step (Step by Step (Microsoft)).

1. I was extremely disappointed. The book appeared to be a good one but it was just a waste of money. I was not able to attach the database file to do the practices. I do not recommend anyone buying this book.



2. I am not sure why some people had problem following the examples or used the CD. I haven't had any issue except write-back excel example in chap 10 and some mismatched data in chap 9 (account dimension). The book is very helpful in building your understanding by working the examples step by step. It explains most concepts in SSAS clear and interesting to learn. Right after I finished the book, I was able to utilize the knowledge in a small scale SSAS project. Even now I have purchased and studied several other SSA books, this is still the book I enjoy the most.



3. I ran into a problem early in the book in Chapter 3 going through the Schema Generation Wizard. I went through the steps and it said cannot find the matching TimeAttributeType. Now I'm stuck!



4. If your goal is to actually learn something about Analysis Services and OLAP cubes / datawarehousing, I wouldn't bother buying this book. Well, the first chapter brought some insight to the topics, but the rest of the book is really a step-by-step - point-and-click tutorial in the Business Intelligence Development Studio (BIDS), and the SQL Server Management Studio. The chapter about MDX left me more confused than before.
   
   If your goal is to get a simple datawarehouse and cube up and running, with the least amount of insight, it might do the trick. (But where's the fun in that...)



5. Execellent Step by Step book
   I dont know what all the other reveiws are whining about. M.Anwar states book is boorley written. sb poorly. sigh. Bottom line is the book gets to the point, covers the main topics, and for just 384 pages, (400 is a stretch) does not contain any fat. It usually does a great job in explaining the topics covered. I had a problem with ch6 - aggregrate function - ByAccount , but probably just my fat fingers getting the way. The CD does come with answers, so help is available. The Glossary may be sparse but is very functional. The index details the topics well. I made a few manual entries, but what is perfect. It is better written than most tech books I have. And W.Salkin states book has (no .ldf). not true. I had isses reading cd on my computer so I installed on another computer, copied files and continued on just fine. And Jon Anderson - the book does state on the title - "Step by Step" , does explain the steps very well, at least to me. you're right, MDX can be confusing, and it was a little hard to grasp. page 188 states that unless you're creating a custom report generator, you'll probably have little occasion to write MDX, BUT, knowing will enable you to understand clearly what the subquery is doing. And K.Johnson - had problems with ch 3 Schema Gen Wizard. I did not, Kind of surprised, but had problems elsewhere, but just looked at the answers folder. Wole Babalola had database attach problems. I did to but once I got past it, found the book to be very very good. would be nice to have a web site to download code from. This is an execellent book to get you started, and show you the 101 steps of ssas.

5 comments about The Art and Science of CSS.

1. I've bought and already finished to read this book.
   
   I'm a interface developer with a good background into CSS and XHTML; i think that this book was not written to somebody interested into the fundamentals and step-by-step of the CSS.
   
   It's a collection of code-based insights (for each chapter, 2 or 3 progressive explanations) from the authors; it's amazing if you (like me, when i bought it) are searching for some inspirational examples, relying on standards to achieve impressive visual results.
   
   This book also encloses some aspects of CSS 3, and how it will unequivocally improve the standards-based design, with things like multiple backgrounds, table pseudo-classes, and others, even before the integral adoption of this standard into the mainstream browsers. It put the reader one step ahead, acknowledger of the future possibilities of CSS.
   
   I highly recommend this book. But if you are searching for something less visionary and more instructive, you'll need to search other options.



2. The Art & Science of CSS is a good book if you looking for creative ideas or inspiration for CSS but while the book says all you need to is some familiarity with HTML, you do need to know some basic knowledge of CSS. This book would be a good addition to you web design library but only after you learn the basics of CSS from another book.



3. There are many excellent tips and workarounds offered in this book. I have been working with CSS for a few years now but as it is a moving technology, one can never be "ahead." The authors do a good job of bringing newer tips and tricks forward along with offering some useful workarounds for cross-browser issues.



4. I think there are many books that cover this ground a lot better and cheaper as well. Friends of Ed actually has a couple that I would recommend before this. And most certainly Bulletproof Web Design by Cederholm.
   
   This book is really light on details and light on content. It's not at all worth its price, and it's only covering the very basics in a small number of areas. This is definitely not one of the first books you should be looking at about CSS.



5. I really like this book. It is EXACTLY what I seek in a design/development book. I want examples, code and explanation. Nothing more.
   
   I've been doing this stuff for 7 years, so much of this wasn't particularly new to me, but the value is in seeing what experts think (and why) and then taking what you want from it. No cruft; just good solutions.
   
   My only gripe is that it could be considerably longer. The book covers 7 topics really well. I'd like at least 10 more, please. I'm sure this is the most common complaint. Additionally, I could do without the fancy book layout design, but I guess it doesn't hurt.
   
   Definite value here. It's next to my desk all the time and I use almost all of their techniques in my projects. It's disappointing that more publishers don't create this kind of book.

5 comments about Accelerated C# 2008 (Accelerated).

1. It has been a good read so far but it is lot of pages and lot of information so not sure if it is really accelerated. I have enjoyed Essential c# more than this one in some aspects but this book nicely explains the new c# 3.0 features. Problem is it covers all the old c# stuff also which is not necessarily a problem for everyone and might be a good refresher for some. I would still highly recommend this.



2. The book is appropriately titled as it includes the fundamentals for novices and a fair amount of advanced material to satisfy the intermediate developer. Don't expect to see too many pages devoted to any one topic as this book covers everything from basic C# syntax to Lambda Expressions. For a language book, it was refreshing to see some mention of best practices for once. Just about all of the chapters are sprinkled with advice and tips relating to real-world scenarios.
   
   The book is very readable (which is extremely important to me) and the author did a great job presenting his thoughts in a coherent manner (which is very difficult to do). Again, if you are looking for a detailed reference on the new features in C# 3.0 such as Lambda Expressions or LINQ, you may want to find another book. This book covers those topics, but I believe the primary goal of this book was to give novice and intermediate developers a quick refresher on all of the language features from versions 1.0 - 3.0.



3. I bought this book last Wednesday and figured it would be a decent enough overview of the new language features. I don't want to downplay the job he does covering new langauge features becuase that coverage is superb, but the job he does covering C# fundamentals is so well done that it eclipses everything else.
   
   So it's a great book for beginners? Well, probably not. I think beginners would benefit by it but it's not a beginners book by any mean. What I do mean is that he does a really in depth job of covering just about every aspect of C# so that he can show the benefits of the new features as well. I've read over 100 books on .NET in the 7 years I've been working with it and frequently the Go to guy when it comes to exception handling for instance. So I really wasn't expecting to learn anything new here. But stylistically, the points he raises in showing how one could elegantly handle a Transaction rollback scenario is just really brilliant. And that same brilliance is exemplified throughout the book.
   
   To that end, the examples in this book are it's real strength. As someone who's written a few books myself, I know how tempting it can be to come up with really simple and overused examples b/c basics aren't much fun to write about. Trey however totally resisted that temptation and I for the life of me can't see a single area that looks like he just 'wanted to get it done'. Everything is seemingly well thought out and written in a way that can clearly make his point clear. He also harkens back to C++ and the fact he has a ton of C++ experience shows through everywhere. It has a feel to it reminiscent of my senior computer science textbooks but without the stuffiness and without coming off as academic. On the contrary, it's the whole aire of advance business scenarios that makes it so cool
   
   Now on to the new language features. I've read several books on LINQ and Lambda expressions. And while they are all great, his explanation of Lambda exprssions and the walk down Functional Programming memory lane is priceless. Had I read this book early on, the nuances of Lambda expressions would have been a lot easier to understand. His coverage of LINQ is in depth as well but he manages to really keep on track and show the business aspects of LINQ without every going down the path of sounding like a 'cool new feature cheerleader'.
   
   I'll admit I have a pretty strong like of Apress books and have a pretty high expectation with their stuff. When I read Faison's Event-Based Programming : Taking Events to the Limit - I found it to be one of the most compelling and well done books I had read in ages. Internally, I thought it would be a longgg time before I came across a book anywhere near that good. Well, all I can really say is that Trey Nash proved me quite wrong. He exceeded any expectation I had by tenfold and got a lot out of this book - not just in C# terms but across the board.



4. This is a pretty good book. This author is obviously a strong C++ programmer or was for many years, so his approach to the writing about
   C# is very C++ bias which I think is very refreshing and pretty neat, to compare the OLD way and the NEW way. Dont get me wrong I am not implying
   C++ is dead, I think is still by far the strongest most powerfull language ever, i am just saying C# is more practical, more FOR NOW, for the 21th Century..............
   I like many 1990s programmers started in C, C++ so C# is like back to the good old days. C was one of my favorite language for many years..I did some java but I feel C# has gone beyond it by far.



5. Overall, this is a decent book. But, simply because the author didn't properly define his audience, I have to mark it down a notch. From the 1st sentence of the "About This Book" section in the Introduction (on page xxvi), the author states:
   
   "I assume that you already have a working knowledge of some object-oriented programming language, such as C++, Java, or Visual Basic .NET."
   
   So, I assumed that since I'd already learned C, C++, and Java, but just dabble in programming, I could use this book instead of plowing through another 1200 page book that starts out with a chapter on sequential statements, a chapter on conditional statements, a chapter on iterative statements, etc.. But, that was a faulty assumption. Instead, this book is REALLY designed for programmers who've done some fairly advanced work in other object-oriented languages UNDER THE WINDOWS .NET FRAMEWORK. For instance, at the start of Chapter 1 (page 1, paragraph 1, line 1), it says:
   
   "Since this is a book for experienced object-oriented developers, I assume that you already have some familiarity with the .NET runtime."
   
   And, on page 231:
   
   "I'm assuming that you're already familiar with the nongeneric collection types and collection interfaces available in .NET 1.1--specifically, those defined in the System.Collections and System.Collections.Specialized namespaces."
   
   So, if you're not very familiar with .NET, you'll have problems with the book. Also, the author tends to slip out of even that "advanced .NET programmer" audience in another way: he sometimes writes to programmers who've used previous versions of C#. For instance, when he introduces Delegates in chapter 10, he never really ties them to the C/C++ model of function pointers or Java's inner classes. The closest he comes is saying they implement a callback function.
   
   The author also assumes knowledge of various design patterns from the "Gang of Four's" Design Patterns: Elements of Reusable Object-Oriented Software (Addison-Wesley Professional Computing Series) book (and a few other sources, too). Here are the patterns he references and the pages where he makes those references:
   
   - Abstract Factory: p 451
   - Bridge: p 262
   - Collection: p 36
   - Disposable: pp 3, 19, 106, 187, 189, 374, 376, 377
   - Expert: pp 172, 193
   - IOU: pp 320, 354, 355, 362
   - Monitor: p 337
   - Non-Virtual interface (NVI): pp 117, 143, 144, 236, 238, 365, 366
   - Observer: p 265
   - Singleton: pp 74, 143 285, 377, 381
   - Strategy: pp 122, 266, 276, 291
   - Template Method: p 366
   - Visitor: pp 424, 437
   
   There are also some smaller things that are a bit irritating. First of all, his code formatting is inconsistent. His use of braces ({}) changes constantly. Sometimes he'll start a block with the first "{" immediately following a keyword on the same line. At other times, he'll put it at the start of the next line. Sometimes, he uses both in the same hunk of code. Ditto for his positioning of instance variables (fields in C# terminology). Sometimes he'll have them at the top of the class. Other times, he'll have them at the bottom. Sometimes, both. And, least importantly, he uses too many forward references (especially referring to Chapter 13).
   
   Overall, if you happen to be an advanced programmer who programs in an object-oriented .NET environment for a living and you want to pick up the latest version of C#, this is a very good book. It certainly won't bore you with trivial stuff, and the way the author presents things will be very helpful. But, if you're just a dabbler with limited experience, the book will probably be confusing. As such, I can only rate it an OK 3 stars out of 5. In future printings, if the author merely revises the stated audience to reflect the actuality, and standardizes the formatting of the code, this book would easily be a 4 star book.

5 comments about Apache Cookbook: Solutions and Examples for Apache Administrators.

1. The kind of solutions this book gives are not aimed at someone like me, new and uncertain when it comes to linux. This is a dissapointment for me, as I have normally always been very pleased with O'Reilly books.



2. I read this book about a year ago and recently re-read it. Coar and Bowen provide an excellent pragmatic approach to taking care of common Apache administration tasks. The Apache "recipes" are well organized, and presented with sufficient depth to be understandable for intermedia users.
   
   The tips in the "miscellaneous topics" section and the troubleshooting guidelines are excellent, and will save Apache administrators significant amounts of time and frustration.
   
   The good:
   * Broad coverage of all tasks that Apache administrators will commonly encounter.
   * Excellent writing style - concise yet sufficiently descriptive.
   * Good organization of topics and very useful book index.
   * Very good coverage of virtual hosts (required in most web hosting environments).
   * Very appropriate "see also" references associated with each recipe.
   
   The bad:
   * Almost 25% of the book is taken up by installation, loading modules, and logging. These are good topics, but they take up too much of the book in my perspective.
   * No information on the use of mod_python. mod_snake (a dead sourceforge) project is referenced. Blech.
   * No information on co-hosting two versions of PHP (PHP4 and PHP5 on the same server).
   
   Overall, this is a great book. If it had slightly better coverage on mod_python and mod_PHP I would give it five stars for certain.



3. Beware that several of the cool sounding recipes you might see in the table of contents are tricks; once you actually turn to the correct page to see how the author has managed to implement something you might have formerly believed to be impossible, you will be greeted only by a placeholder paragraph stating that what you want to do IS in fact impossible. Why on Earth would you waste paper printing this?
   
   The other, less cool, recipes are pretty standard faire, and if you have any experience with Apache whatsoever they will probably not be very useful to you. Complete newcomers however will probably find it somewhat handy, though I'm not sure it's worth the price even for them.



4. Apache Cookbook is a great resource on various best-practice tips and tricks on how to setup and run Apache HTTP server day to day.
   
   The included HOW-TO recipes are:
   * Extremely practical and relevant
   * Easy to follow and implement
   * Well-explained so that not only do you know what you are doing, but also why you are doing it
   * Neatly categorized and indexed so that they are easy to find when needed
   
   While this book can be very useful to Apache novices, people who would benefit the most from it are the ones who've had some previous exposure to Apache administration and are familiar with the basic concepts behind Apache (configuration files, included programs, modules, directives, sections, and such).
   
   If you are an Apache administrator, this book ought to be on your bookshelf.



5. Some of the reviews for 'Apache Cookbook: Solutions and Examples for Apache Administrators' have stated that this book is a little too basic and simple for Apache administrators out in the world, but I would disagree. Apache is a solid technology that has proven it's mettle in the world for many many many years but there aren't a whole lot of books out on the market for it. It is of this reviewers opinion that even if some individuals feel this book is too simplistic that ANY book on the market that covers Apache would have to be pretty poor to get a negative mark. With over 200 tidbits of information that cover the gambit of Installation, Module creation, Logging, Security, Virtual Hosts, Aliases, SSL, Error Handling, Performance, etc. etc. etc. this is a solid text. Unlike other bloated books this one clocks in at under 300 pages and the tidbits are short and to the point. If you are an Apache admin there is definitely something that you can get from this cookbook so get out the bowl, eggs, flour and start cooking!!
   
   ***** RECOMMENDED

5 comments about C++ Templates: The Complete Guide.

1. The title says it all :)
   
   To keep it really short and sweet, learning about C++ templates is really painful till this book came along :)
   
   It's my opinion that advanced C++ developers use this book to guide them in understanding and navigating the world of C++ templates. It's simply easy to read and it has amazing clear presentations



2. I used the book when I was working on templates. Book is very clear and concise with proper layout of chapters. I was able to read relevant sections and get clear understanding. It is possible to get all information by reading C++ specs and other sources, but having this one book is a real time saver.
   
   If you work on templates and have some doubts ever then have this book next to you.



3. I like all those description and examples: the topic may be complex, but really an interesting thing when enjoying it slowly.



4. Nicolai Josuttis has written by far the best book on C++ templates. His is literally the only work out there that makes any sense of the utter mess that is C++ template programming. Absolutely essential for anyone using the STL or (especially) Boost libraries.



5. This is best book on C++ templates. C++ programmers who wants to learn modern template programming should start reading this book first, no more no less.