2 comments about Flash + After Effects.

1. This book is excellent and I highly recommend it for all animators! There are many tips, examples, and workflows that show exactly how to bridge Flash and After Effects. There is a nice balance of web and video examples and how to properly prep and animate assets for each. I found the chapters on character animation and visual effects most helpful. The examples clearly show how to get the most out of parenting, puppet tools and fractals. I found the examples fun and inspiring. Unlike many books out there, the artwork and examples are well thought out and look great! The book is also well written. All examples were very easy to follow. I commend the author for this wonderful book!



2. Chris Jackson is an excellent teacher. His classes in After Effects at the Rochester Institute of Technology featured notes that were far easier to understand than standard books on After Effects and Flash, and I always hoped he'd write a book incorporating some of the lessons taught in his classes.
   He has, and it's a winner. Most computer animation books are heavy going, but this one is easy and fun to read. There is no waste, no padding, no jargon, just solid information. It is easier to animate 'parented' puppets in After Effects and export in Flash than to work in Flash alone--the enjoyable exercises on the enclosed DVD will have you up and animating your own characters in no time at all.
   I can recommend this book to anyone who is interested in hand drawn computer animation.

3 comments about Beginning CSS: Cascading Style Sheets for Web Design (Wrox Beginning Guides).

1. I've read several books about CSS over the last three or four years, but this book has to be the most complete I've seen. Not only does Mr. York obviously know this material quite extensively, he does it in a way that makes total sense. And this book is not just for beginning web developers either, there's quite a bit of information that more experienced developers can learn about. I also liked the various code examples in color. It helps to make the specific code stand out much more when it's in a different color than the code around it. This of course helps the reader to understand and remember it more effectively.
   
   The author also takes time to talk about the differences in browsers and how each one presents the code. There are few things more aggravating to a web developer than having to deal with the various quirks of each browser. What looks great in IE may not look so hot in Firefox or Safari. And vice versa. The author cites various examples of this throughout the book, as well as "workarounds" for each "issue."
   
   Another thing that makes this book so enjoyable is how the author goes through step by step instructions on how to achieve a particular style. This is one way to show how styles affect presentation.
   
   It's amazing how powerful CSS has become over the last few years. There's a lot you can do with styles and Mr York has shown all web developers ways we can take advantage of this power.



2. This book is what it's intend to be: an excellent book for CSS beginners. Good sequence of chapters, good examples, and the wellcome surprise of color sintax and screen pictures.
   Congratulations to Wrox, and I expect that other books could be printed with same quality presentation.



3. this is a good book for the beginner who likes a lot of repetition and hand holding. there is A LOT of overviews, introductions, transitions, summations, and examples to reinforce the concepts being taught. as you might guess, there is A LOT of overlap when the writer and/or editor chooses this type of writing style.
   
   i did learn a lot from reading it, and i did retain the information. however, i might bravely suggest that i could have done this anyway, even if the book contained prodigiously less reiteration.
   
   i would have unreservedly given the book at least 4 stars if it had been more condensed. but that's how bad the repetition was in this book. it got pretty exhausting at times, for the reader.
   
   for a future edition, i would recommend to the writer and/or editor to cut out all of the needless verbosity.

5 comments about Programming Flex 2: The comprehensive guide to creating rich media applications with Adobe Flex (Programming).

1. I read through some of the 2-star reviews of this book, and do agree with some of their points, but obviously not their conclusion. I was more dissatisfied with "Professional Flex 2" than this book.
   
   For myself, I can't stand books that give "step-by-step" instruction on doing things. The read is dry, and doesn't stimulate me. I suspect that many of those who ranked this book so low were hoping for that kind of read. I agree with them, this book is not of that ilk.
   
   I supplemented my reading of this with "google searches", and printed out the huge volume of documentation from Adobe on flex. I found this book to be quite helpful in crystalizing concepts, getting ideas of how different UI items interplay, etc.
   
   I would not reccommend this book for someone thinking that upon completing the read, they will be able to effectively use flex. There is just too much to flex to be condensed into a single book of this size.
   
   Still, this book is more than a mere shopping list of features. I have found the code examples to be instructive as well. But I do agree that for a reader looking to be taken by the hand and lead through developing apps, this is definitely NOT the book for them.
   
   This book is more for someone looking for the "broad-strokes" of flex, and who can extrapolate snippet examples into a cohesive whole. One would probably get a better appreciation of this book, if they first read some of Adobes fine documentation first.
   
   For myself, as the title says, thus far this is my favorite flex book.



2. The interesting thing about reading through Flex 2 at this late date of publication is to see how the technology is developing as time goes on. With Flex 3 just released today it is easy to forget about learning Flex 2.
   
   Kazoun and Lott have done a wonderful job of detailing some of the history of Flex and showing how it interacts with the underlying Flex. It has been interesting to see in their code examples the progression of how Flex is tied into Flash and just builds upon what is already there.
   
   There will be a few things that you learn about in the Flex 2 book that are no longer in use but the vast majority of the material is still completely valid and is given in a manner that takes you from the beginning and the underlying elements to more detailed descriptions of using what Flex 2 has to offer.



3. This is a good book for beginners. You will learn how to create a layout, working with UI components, transitions/effects, data, components, appearance...
   If you already know the basics/intermediate and wanna go really deep in Flex, this book might not be a good idea. Overall the book is good and easy to understand with examples.
   Will be better if they could put more pictures (print-screens) though.
   Other than that I like it, was helpful book.



4. This is a solid, well written into to Flex 2. I would highly recommend this as a starting to learning Flex 2 or 3. In about a week's reading time you will have a well grounded knowledge of what Flex is capable of. After reading this (along with the documentation provided by Adobe) I'd highly recommend: ActionScript 3.0 Cookbook; Essential ActionScript 3.0; and Flex Solutions: Essential Techniques for Flex 2 and 3 Developers.



5. Programming Flex 2: The comprehensive guide to creating rich media applications with Adobe Flex is a great book for more advanced Flex developers. This book covers many important topics like working with UI components, advanced component concepts, working with media and data, client and remote data communication just to name the few. The authors, Chafic Kazoun and Joey Lott, are very experienced long-time Flash developers. They are well known in the Flash community, and are among the elite of the Flash development world. Chafic and Joey has been using Flex for a long time and it can be noticed by reader during reading this book which is full of practical leads.
   
   This book is intended for anyone looking to learn more about Flex 2. The authors recognize that the audience for this book represents a very diverse group of people with many different backgrounds. In my opinion this book is a great resource but not for the beginners. Lots of original ActionScript and MXML code examples help reader to look deeper inside Flex 2 internals.
   
   I definitely recommend this book!

5 comments about Programming C# 3.0 (Programming).

1. The book in not suitable to any level of devolopers. I think the book is just teaching syntax to Java programmers only. I will recycling my copy of the book. I do not feel good even selling it.



2. I know C++ at deep and I bought this book to learn the C# language, I've never used Java before.
   
   I would give it 5 stars because it does what the title claims: teach the C# programming language, and it does very well, but I'm refusing to give the 5th star because in the top of the cover it claims it is a guide to building windows and web applications, for sure it is not, and the black strip on the book's cover claims it covers LINQ and XAML, and sincerly a couple of chapters and some examples is not covering, it's introducing. Authors should be more involved in this kind of stuff, and editors should stop telling lies.
   
   The book teaches the C# language assuming you already know how to program, the margin notes are mostly for Java and Visual Basic programmers. Every concept is provided with an easy to follow source code example, and most are introduced quickly and to the point, although I wish the first 3 chapters were shorter. Almost all the code in the book is for the console, as the book doesn't try to teach the user interface. The last part of the book introduces some new technology of the .Net 3.5 as WPF, LINQ and XAML at a superficial level, I apreciated that because I didn't know nothing about this, I found the WindowsForms and .ASP chapters also superficial, but well, may be some readers don't know about it. The chapters on Threads and Streams are well explained and I'm happily surprised the author decided to include this advanced concepts. I think the container classes (Dictionaries and Arrays) deserves more pages and more performance advices.
   
   The book has few typographical errors, as a capital letter where it should be lower-case, fortunately they were not in the source code.



3. I wrote the first edition of Programming C# back when C# version 1 was first released. At the time we were among the first to introduce the idea of breaking a language book into three sections: (1) C# syntax and programming skills (2) applying C# to creating Windows and Web applications and (3) advanced topics (threading, etc.)
   
   Various editions have won numerou awards (VSJ Book of the Year, Amazon Editor's choice...) and at times the book has been the best seeling .NET book overall. I believe this is because I set out to tell the story of C# and how it fits in with creating real .NET applications; rather than creating yet another reference book. That is a commitment we've never lost sight of.
   
   C# 3.0 represents a significant maturation of the framework and the language and was released to coincide with a great expansion in the capabilities of .NET (e.g., the introduction of WPF, WCF, WF, Silverlight and much more).
   
   My decision was to tackle all of this across three books:
   
   1. A TOTAL revision of Programming C#, with a complete rewrite of both the existing parts and a concise but thorough explanation of the new language features such as LINQ. I also decided to maintain my commitment to placing the teaching of C# within the context of writing Web and Windows applications, so the appropriate chapters were added.
   
   Finally, we subjected the entire book (revised chapters and new) to the most rigorous technical review I've ever wittnessed. The review proces itself took months. Nothing was allowed to slip by. We were determined to get it right.
   
   2. I also participated in writing the forthcoming Programming .NET 3.5, a unified perspective on the new and emerging .NET technologies. Our goal is to provide a greater context for applying C# across many different kinds of applications.Programming .NET 3.5
   
   3. Finally, I'm pleased to say that I'm giving away a series of tutorials on Silverlight on the Microsoft Silverlight site ([...]) which you can read about on my blog ([...]) and I have started writing a new book, Programming Silverlight 2, that I hope to release this fall.
   
   THIS book, Programming C# 3.0, 5th edition, represents by far, the most extensive and compreensive revision I've ever undertaken; I would guesstimate that we put as much or more time into revising this book as we do into writing many first edition titles. Moreover it also represents 8 years of thinking about C# and how to use it effectively, how to implement best practices, and how to eliminate areas of confusion.
   
   I freely admit that to date, it is the book I am most proud of because it represents the kind of book I most like to learn from.
   
   Thank you.
   
   -Jesse Liberty



4. I respect Jesse for all that he's done to educate the masses in a wide variety of programming-related topics. But I'm not impressed with this book primarily because it is chock full of mistakes. A technical book that contains so many mistakes makes learning the language so much more difficult. I have found code snippets that don't even compile.



5. I think this book is a little conversational and a little too friendly for my needs. The examples are poor : Liberty Associates and let's do a web service which tracks MY book sales? I get tired of this, then noticed the second, third, and fifth editions are basically the same.
   
   I like the books like Nutshell and Cookbooks, that introduce the concepts piece by piece, with very good real-world examples.
   
   Save your money!

5 comments about Learning XML, Second Edition.

1. Most O'reilly books are praised for describing computer programming concepts in a very readable way for an educated audience. Although, Erik Ray's book is engaging enough, he has left out so much detail in the language definitions and real examples that, after reading this book, it is not possible for even an experienced programmer to actually use the material. For example, the book explains the definition of schemas (without enough detail) but how do I use a schema in a project? The intended audience for this book appears to be people who already use xml that want a refresher at an elementary level. Very disappointing.



2. I am amplifying a prior review (Daniel McKinnon's) in order to balance a misperception as to the intent and execution of the book.
   
   This is not XSLT or XPath or "DOM processing in Firefox" or "node traversals with Java", it's an introduction to XML. If you need a solid foundation upon which to base further study, I wholly recommend the book. Unlike other reviewers, I am not in search of the One Canonical Tome on a subject, because I know it doesn't exist in any genre. My needs for learning XML were basic and required a grasp of fundamentals, which you will achieve with this work.
   
   It also has numerous points of interest that a reader can use to further a study of specific issues, such as processing XML using a scripting language, or weighing a schema for implementation, and so forth. As a result, the reader is well-armed to continue learning on the specifics that are of personal interest.
   
   Ir requires a third edition to correct errors and update content, but that doesn't diminish the value of the book for anyone who wants to comprehend what XML is and is not, and what the major issues and challenges are.
   
   -Fred



3. full of nonsense in whole book.
   For example, xml schemas chapter is from page 108 to 164 about 60 pages, but realy useful w3c xml schema only take less 8 pages, others, useless, forget them.
   Hi my dear author,
   you have a lot of work to do, from simple to complex, how can you just give a long example and finish. Do you know "learning" means ***FOCUSING ON CORE***



4. 1. YOU WILL NOT TOUCH A KEYBOARD USING THIS BOOK, IT DOESN'T NOT WALK THROUGH EXAMPLES- for those books, try "XML step by step" by Young (Microsoft), and for more advanced, "XML in Action - Web Technology" by Pardi.
   
   2. THIS BOOK IS GREAT: because it teaches in a fundamentally different way. Most of what we see of XML is tags, attributes, the structure of the data in the elements, etc. But this book focus on the DOM. This crucial focus helps understand XML with its uses, XPointer, and transformation.
   
   3. If you want to do a lot with XML, beyond RSS feeds, buy this book along with a walkthrough, like the books listed above.



5. This book taught me a lot about XML and how it is used in the digital publishing world. XML is not limited to web sites and is a great resource for businesses institutions and other publishing needs where a common format is needed for each and every document.
   
   I recommend this book for anyone wanting to learn more about XML and how it is used.

1 comments about Puzzles for Programmers and Pros.

1. The book contains a set of really good puzzles. Solving the puzzles will keep you entertained for days. However, the descriptions of many puzzles are too long. I am not sure if you would encouter most of the puzzles described in this book in job interviews. However the content and the complexity of the puzzles are definitely of high quality.

1 comments about Professional Visual Studio Extensibility.

1. I just ordered the book from Amazon after a careful search online and in bookstores. This was the only in-depth text that covers the topic of extending Visual Studio in all its manifestations be they macros, add-ins or other extension strategies. Team leads, configuration managers and toolsmiths in Windows development environments will not want to miss this.
   
   Anyway, then I saw a copy on a shelf at the local bookseller, so I read the first chapter and skimmed most of the chapters. I'm writing a review because I am very impressed with the tone, honesty and objectivity of the text as well as a refreshing economy of expression that is difficult to find in most books written about Microsoft technology. Most authors, especially, but not limited to Microsoft press, fall all over themselves trying to explain just how wonderful, easy and powerful everything is, adding to your frustration when you sit down and try and use the product. Not this book. It is realistic and open about the complexity that we experienced developers are accustomed to, and then it steers you around the pitfalls.
   
   Good job Keyvan! You go into careful detail about the history of Visual Studio as a com product, and how that makes extending it a little tricky. Thank you for this refreshing honesty and insight, so I know I'm not the only one. You also detail some of the hoops you had to jump through to get proper documentation. I can't wait for my copy to arrive later this week!
   
   If you want an independent, realistic text, this is the book for you.

5 comments about Perl by Example (4th Edition) (By Example).

1. If you are looking for a book that provides Perl script examples, then this is the book for you. Provides numerous examples of perl scripts in each section, plus then the author breaks down line by line what the script does. I use this book in conjunction with O'Reilly's Learning Perl.



2. Clealy written, and in terms I believe are easily understood by programmers.
   Also, wonderful price! (under $2.00)



3. Good straight forward examples... most show the input, the code and the output produced by the code. You need only understand the logic of programming... the book fills in the rest you need to know. I have six or seven books on Perl but always reach for this or The Little Black Book for syntax and examples. Invest in a good editor designed for Perl programming like OptiPerl [with syntax checking and debugger] and you will be well on your way!



4. I use the Perl language daily (and I love it). I own several of Ellie's books and have taken classes from her in Silicon Valley. The books are clear, the index is excellent, but the examples are too simple. Many examples use input typed in from the keyboard (instead of reading in input from a file). Business applications/corporate applications usually read in input from a file.



5. [A review of the 4th Edition, that came out in late 2007.]
   
   One way to learn is to learn by example. Quigley follows this precept in this massive book on Perl. Candidly, there are far slimmer books that describe the syntax of Perl. Typically, these have a few didactic examples. For some people, that suffices. But you might be a newbie to any type of programming. Or perhaps you want a grab bag of many example programs, to search thru in case you can find one to quickly adapt to your needs. In this case, Quigley's book might be well suited.
   
   The examples are easy to grasp. Accompanied by exhaustive supporting text. It doesn't get simpler than this. In some ways, this led to complaints in reviews of earlier editions. A few other reviewers saw the examples as perhaps too trivial. Well they are, to experienced programmers. Newcomers need more support.
   
   The book also goes into an important usage context. Where you combine Perl scripts with CGI to write dynamic web pages. But beware. The book doesn't really discuss on first principles whether you should use this Perl/CGI combination. CGI has been found to be rather cumbersome for dynamic pages. Programmers tend to favour other methods, like JSP [Java Server Pages] and ASP.

5 comments about Code: The Hidden Language of Computer Hardware and Software.

1. This book is required reading for all computer geeks or anyone who wants to know how computers really work.



2. This is one of the best books I have ever read!! This author is absolutely brilliant!! I would suggest any person going into electrical engineering or computer engineering, more for electrical engineers who want to understand digital systems this book is it. In every book there is always a couple pages explaining what is happening intuitively. This entire book is that. He explains exactly how computers got to be, and really electronics and digital systems. He exlpains flip flops, relays, and how to go from boolean algebra to digital logic better than anything I have ever read, even better than dare I say Mims and Malvino. This is so good it is scary. Please read!!!! He also explains the entire computer history, and you really get a good appreciation of how brilliant some people really are. This author also has two other books that are really best sellers. He ties in so many different ideas and explains things so simply. His starting off with the telegraph and moving from there is amazing. This author is extremely gifted in writing. One of the best books I have ever read.



3. I'm sure many people, faced with a computer (or another high tech gadget) wonders how it really works. Parts of its functioning are explained in the popular press, but you almost never get the whole picture: to many people (even highly educated people) the functioning of a computer must be something akin to magic. Petzold's book tries to remedy this by trying to explain how the computer works from the bottom up. The book is fascinating stuff, and is easy to follow at first. He easily explains concepts such as the binary code, logical gates, switches, the merging of boolean algebra to electrical engineering (this was first considered in a master theses by Claude Shannon, and its probably the great breakthrough that led to modern computing), the roles of transistors, microprocessors, etc. Inevitably, the complexity rises in the later chapters, and if you are not a physicist or an electrical engineer, you would be unable to understand everything. But it is nevertheless a good, recommended read.



4. How does a computer run on 1's and 0's? I asked one of my good friends who works in the IT field. His response was a suggestion that I read Microsoft Press' book, "Code". His recommendation couldn't have been more appropriate; this book fully answered my question.
   
   The author (Charles Petzold) takes a progressive approach and he conveys the subject matter coherently. Although, if you're an amateur computer enthusiast, like me, be prepared to spend some time wrapping your head around the material. I highly recommend taking notes while reading the text. Note taking helped me organize my thoughts, commit what I had read to memory and provided me with an excellent quick reference.



5. I picked up back on Ch.4 after the bus station stop. Very well done, Charles. A labour of love, indeed, very well crafted. I still don't know if Thevenin's theorem is for pure calculation purposes of being. The two parallel puzzle bc. Exit

5 comments about Foundations of Python Network Programming (Foundations).

1. This book is offers very broad and detailed information about python's network features. It is very good written with many source examples. The only thing with this book (like many other python books) is, that this book was published early 2003. So things lik "SOAP" or "Twisted" are only scratched. This book really shows the fundamental features of python networking.



2. Apress has two books on Python that I really like. This one and "Dive Into Python". The thing I like about this book is it delves into some deep concepts, like client/server code, but does so in such a way that even people new to Python should have no problem understanding it.
   
   I have been a programmer for about 15 years, and made heavy use of Python for the last 5 or 6 years. My brother is new to programming. Both of us found this book to be very useful and easy to understand. I recommend it to programmers of all levels.



3. This is a well presented, well paced introduction to network programming in Python. He presents programs both as interactive sessions (follow along in the comfort of home) and as scripts (programs) available to download from his web site at Apress.
   
   It serves as a good, general purpose, introduction to network programming as wall as a Python-specific network programming tutorial.
   
   I do, however, have some complaints. Although the author attempts to present information in a platform-neutral manner, it is obvious that he is much more familiar with *nixes than with Windows. There are several minor factual errors in the Windows information he presents. [I have submitted these as error reports on the Apress web site.]
   
   Fortunately none of these disrupt the actual presentation. Experienced Windows programmers will be able to correct the mistakes on-the fly. As a minor example, Windows programmers know they can type "script.py" to run a python program even though Windows doesn't honor the #! line at the beginning of the script.
   
   My other complaint has to do with the use of PyDNS to discuss DNS issues. As far as I can tell PyDNS is dead, or at least it is dying. dnspython would have been a much better choice. However given that the book is three years old, I can't really fault the author for picking the wrong package -- it's happened to all of us at some point in our careers.
   
   And a truly minor quibble: he starts with an example of downloading a file using the gopher protocol. Do you have any idea how hard it is to find a gopher server now days



4. It has everything you need to know about Networking Programming in Python. Easy to understand also. It can be made more detail and more advance for profesional use.



5. I'm giving this book 5 stars because I found it more useful than many books. There are some flaws, but overall I am happy that I own this book.
   
   This book uses a teach by example technique as discussed in other chapters. It is oriented towards application developers that find themselves in need of python networking rather than networking people that need python.
   
   The book is overall clearly written and the examples are generally interesting. The author shows an advanced understanding of most of the subject matter. Chapter strength is fairly variant. On the other hand, it's pretty likely that you do not have knowledge of all the topics in this book and will learn something interesting by reading it.
   
   Cons: The chapter on HTML tag matching felt really weak. They tried to treat HTML as a regular language by using state machines to match it, when it's clearly context-free, then he started to add a stack but he had already lost my interest as the examples got fairly unwieldy.