4 comments about Programming Windows Embedded CE 6.0 Developer Reference, 4th Edition.

1. In my opinion, it is a very usefull book.
   It contains good descriptions of many aspects of CE 6.0, with code example and nessessary details for good insight into underlying principles.



2. This is a very good book if you know C++. The indicated SDK that is required to compile, is not available so none of the examples work asis. I would have given the book 5 stars otherwise.



3. Douglas Boling knows much more than is written in this book. You can say that from reading his MSDN articles and from other people mentioning him in the blogs. Unfortunately, this book tries to cover too much topics without any advanced details.
   
   But I've read through this book in spite of the fact that I initially read this book in 2nd edition and skimmed through 3rd edition in the past. I cannot really like the book because I was expecting that it would split in two parts: user-mode/UI development and kernel mode/system programming.
   
   Still I recommend it to any developer (even working with .Net Compact Framework) to become familiar with Windows CE programming. In fact, there is no other option, this is the only such book and it's quite good.



4. This book is a good book for programmers working on Windows CE based devices. The reason I did not give it 5 stars is because I think the section on drivers is a little thin.

2 comments about Introducing 3ds Max 9: 3D for Beginners.

1. Its written in easy to follow directions, instructions and example pictures. I really enjoyed the student work section in the middle of the book.
   
   This book has greatly expanded my 3D modeling 'tool belt' and boosted my confidence for tackling difficult projects.



2. At first I thought to myself that this book was going to be your typical "BAD" computer book where you have to get up, look for people who know how to use 3Ds Max or you would either look for some written or video tutorials online to get you up and started running this software. So I honestly didn't bother buying the book at first until one day by coincidence my colleague happens to have the exact same book that I was looking at Amazon 5 days ago. He told me that the book is an easy read especially with the lingo that the author uses in this book. I didn't want to believe it however; as soon as I borrowed the book just 1 day I have literally completed 4 chapters of this AMAZING book! There was no question about it and I had to get hold of a copy of my own.
   
   One of the best things that the user will be introduced in this book is that the author will get the user feet wet into the realm of CG in Chapter 2 where the user will create a simple animation and from there the author then explain how the CG world works today and how a user should be well equipped.
   
   Honestly this is by far one of the best introductions to CG especially how to use a complex software as 3Ds Max 9. All I can say is that this book is only for the Novice and not for the semi or advanced users. However it still acts as a good reference book for the semi / advanced users.
   
   Oh and One last thing I should mention. This may not seem important to you but to me it is. I only believe that a good computer book has to have color throughout the whole book because it makes the book fun to read with colors. But now I am going to have to change my belief on that because this book is completely in black and white and STILL the book surprises me to how EASY it is to read and to follow along through the CD exercise that accompanies this book.

5 comments about SolidWorks For Dummies (For Dummies (Computer/Tech)).

1. I love the dummies series, so I was greatly dissapointed by this book. I needed a solidworks tutorial because I found the help files and "basic" tutorials that come with solidworks to be too advanced. When this book is not tooting its own horn on how great solidworks is, then it is way too technical for the beginner. I am a designer, not an engineer. I am hired for the look of a product, not for how it is molded. This book assumes too much. I had to look up chamfer and fillet on Wikipedia, as this books skips the basics and launches into a thou-shalt-sketch-like-this. (again, I am NOT AN ENGINEER) I understand that engineers out there would find this book too basic because it takes half the book outlining anal-retentive ways of structuring workload before launching into actually making anything. [...].



2. This book is written by the Solidworks Customer Satisfaction Manager.
   
   He rehashes the same stuff as in the Solidworks Essentials manual that comes with the software.
   
   I found it virtually useless.
   I was seeking a different viewpoint in the hopes of gaining a better grasp of the many vague issues in the manual.



3. I am still busy with the book but have already started enjoying it. As for Amazone the book arrived one day after their estemated day of delivery Very good



4. This is a good task-based, issues-based overview of SolidWorks. Suitable for today's attention-deficit, info-overloaded, multi-tasked-maxed-out student or working stooge who wants to get a solid beginner's feel for this complex, cool 3D engineering tool--jus' the facts and not a heck of a lot of incomprehensible theorizing. (Of course a committed engineer will need to go somewhere else for the math & other CAD ideas). I'd venture a bold statement and say that this is THE starting point for people considering a career change to this field, and what I liked especially is that the book is pretty clear about being a starting point only. Near the end are the "Ten Tips" for new SW engineers; they make a lot of practical sense. I recommmend pairing this with another task-based product, a video tutorial by VTN, which is also good for the busy beginner who just needs to figure out how to become quickly productive with this tool. Learn SolidWorks by Video - Volume 1 and Learn SolidWorks by Video - Volume 2.



5. I bought this book hoping to learn some little known shortcuts, secrets, etc., but all I got from the book was a different writing of the help file.
   This might be a great book for someone just starting out.

5 comments about Microsoft SQL Server(TM) 2005: Database Essentials Step by Step (Step By Step (Microsoft)).

1. This book is oriented towards people with absolutely no prior SQL experience. The first 3 chapters are nothing more than how to install and configure Sql 2005 server. There is a decent background on database design. Overall, its just an ok book. You can learn what this book contains just by spending a little time on the web.



2. A very good material for beginers. I would have like to found this material when I first took a DB class...



3. I have yet to find a book by Microsoft Press that is well-written, and this one is the worst of them all. It was certainly a waste of my money. There are many other books on SQL 2005 that are far better.



4. There is nothing in this book that you can not find in another more organized book.



5. overview of all aspects but not as clear as could be, lot's of pre-knowledge about visual basic is assumed and not that clearly organized. There are a lot better books out there.

5 comments about Professional Search Engine Optimization with PHP: A Developer's Guide to SEO.

1. This book was a great refresher and provided insight into some complex SEO concepts. Job well done.



2. I am an experienced programmer but new to the world of SEO. This book gave me a very solid understanding of the range of factors that influence a page's ranking in search engines. Its organized and systematic presentation got me oriented quickly, which was invaluable for my new job at an SEO company.
   
   The book also presented very clear examples of how to code useful SEO scripts. These served to point me in the right direction for my own SEO-oriented coding.
   
   Many in the SEO space are all hype and no substance, but this book was very substantial, objective, and scientific. I would highly recommend this book for programmers looking to understand SEO. Even non-programmers will find it accessible as well.



3. I've read through this book from first to last page in a hope of finding any valuable information and must say, that most of what the book suggests is of no value to any professional in field. It's begins with some general giberrish about SEO, which is of no real value and can be collected over the web within hour. Then follow some worn out URI rewriting recipes, which I would be ashamed of offering as an solution to any of my clients and call them "SEO". Then ending chapters again are some general giberish, not a dime better that what can be found on web for free.
   
   If the title read "Beginning SEO with PHP", that would be somehow acceptable and the content would be OK, but there is nothing "Professional" in this book.
   
   Firstly, going with PHP4 for your examples in 2007 is a little bit um... "anachronous".
   
   Secondly, eg. the "Custom markup language" the authors introduce in chapter 6 is something, I'd expect from schoolkids but not from somebody who does not hesitate to call his product professional. It's not only terribly half baked and a promissing maintenance nightmare, but it also takes up so much space in the book, that authors could be able to introduce some basic techniques of XML parsing in PHP and explain it's advantages over the ugliness they have provided the reades with. That section among other things gives me clear picture of the "professionality" of the book.
   
   Chapter 7 + 8 - again using PHP4 object model - c'mon, we are in 2007...
   
   Let's say that CH3..CH5 are "OK", the rest is something, that in my opinion does only fills space in the book and readers would be better off searching the approprite information on the internet, where the book points you anyway in the end.
   
   After reading "Professional SEO in PHP", I've for good understood what Joel Spolsky ment when he claimed that you can never learn a technology from a book in red cover with mughshots, however professional it claim to be, because there's no overall intelligence behind it, chapters repeat things and left things out, and in rush to get the book to the market, editing appears to be non-existent.



4. When I first started making web sites, I thought that a good title, a few META tags, and some relevant content would achieve a high ranking on a search engine. That era is long gone and has been replaced with buzzwords like PageRank and other arcane algorithms.
   
   This book has been extremely helpful at demystifying what a modern webmaster needs to do to obtain the best possible rankings. For me especially, the focus that this be used by an already-competent PHP developer was a strong selling point. It was also laden with many real-world examples that could be immediately used.
   
   The early chapters in the book really go into depth about the common problems in SEO and some simple things to do alongside many of the tools already available to the developer such as Google analytics and mod_rewrite. The latter part of the book delves into the more esoteric techniques that many only apply to a smaller portion of sites, but it is useful nonetheless.
   
   Even for someone with basic familiarity with SEO will find the explanations useful. The chapters on duplicate content and SEO-friendly JavaScript are great examples of helping people unfamiliar with SEO to avoid the most common pitfalls of site design.
   
   Overall, this is an excellent book for anyone who wants the Swiss army knife of SEO techniques.



5. This book was perfect. I came from no knowlage of seo to fully understanding it. I bought this and Search Engine Optimization an hour a day together, and as good as the other book was, this one blew it away. I had read this one first, and it seemed like everything was just an echo reading the other book, but this one has even more because it shows you the programming aspect.

5 comments about UML 2 Certification Guide: Fundamental & Intermediate Exams (The MK/OMG Press).

1. I passed the Fundamental exam with a score of 66/80 using this book exclusively. It is very concise and to the point. It has 34 practice questions in the back that help you prepare for the Fundamental exam. The questions are similar to the real exam questions. There are no practice questions for the Intermediate exam. I am now using this book to prepare for the Intermediate exam.



2. Good book to have for UML Certification...I wish every UML evangalist must have for reference.



3. This is a good book for preparing to the OMG UML exam. Each one of the most important elements of the UML metamodel are treated with a simplified view.
   
   The sample exam of the end is so useful. I recommend the book.



4. Before buying this book, I had no doubt that it would be instrumental in passing my certification exams. I did pass the the Fundamental exam in the first try itself and I don't believe I would've been able to do so if I had not laid hands on this material. Neither do I think there's a book out there that covers UML with the level of detail as this one does. After all, this guide is published by the same Group that sets the UML standards and administers the certification program! I'll be referring back to it again for my Intermediate-level exam. Thanks OMG!



5. Really complete book, clear and concise. It's a very good tool to pass both of the exams, as well it's a great resource for those who want to initiate and work with UML.

5 comments about Practical C++ Programming, Second Edition.

1. Overall, the book offers a balanced and well-presented introduction to C++. However, there are too many typos and mistakes for a programming text. O'Reilly needs to kick their editing team into gear. In addition, many topics could and should be explained more in-depth. As is, many topics are only lightly touched on and more of the nuts and bolts of the language (i.e. characteristics that really lead to a quality understanding) are omitted.



2. This is the first time I am actually writing a review for a book, coz I find this book the best I have ever read for C++ programming. It serves great for sophomore level C++ programming class at my univ. and otherwise as a great book to have on your reference shelf too. It starts with an intro to setting up your programming enivroment in .NET and Borland enviroment. After that it delves into programming styles and techniques in general and then goes C++ fulltime. The chapters about pointers,advanced pointers and the debugging/optimisation are some of the best readings I have ever done on the respective topics. Throughout the book the material stays relevant to the title of the book and thus is a great reading for anyone who is making transition from java to c++ or from a beginner C++ programmer to advanced level. The book is great reading for strengthening C++ concepts. If you look through the contents of the book you might notice the only thing that the book lacks is a chapter on data structures. However dont let that fool you. You will be in a better position to perform pointer manipulation on your linked lists and trees after reading advanced pointers chapter in this book, than any other book that just has the code for the entire implementation printed. Besides the book is about letting you loose to do it yourself (rather than hand feeding you) which I believe is what programming books are about.The book has something about almost everything in C++ and lot more like using the gnu debugger .Highly recommended for anyone who wants to have a strong conceptual knowledge of C++.



3. This is not the one. The book is just swarming with typos and programming errors. But don't take my for it, just check out O'Reilly's errata page. The most astonishing thing is that they accidentally omitted an entire chapter. Even after I painstakingly marked every correction in the errata list, I was finding more errors constantly. The other major fault is that it is just too full of ideology, which has its place of course, but he's gone way overboard with it in a book that should be primarily about the language. If you happen to find a copy in the trash, you might give it a skim, but otherwise, I'd avoid it.



4. Stay. Away. From. This. Book.
   
   This book covers a great deal very quickly, and does so in an easy-to-understand way. Unfortunately, it is riddled with novice programming mistakes, has a poor and unmaintainable programming style, and displays many of the things that are widely considered to be "worst practise" in C++ programming. The coverage of the STL is poor and its proper use is not encouraged as it should be. I'm glad I never had the misfortune of ever having bought it. There are many, many other books that cover C++, and nearly all of them cover it better.
   
   If you're looking for a good book to learn C++, buy anything but this one. It is by far the worst O'Reilly book ever released, and I'm amazed that such poor code quality was ever approved by the editorial staff.



5. It's very difficult to write a good and clear computerbook, that's proven over and over again when I order books about the various subjects. Enter O'reilly and enter this book. It's follows a clear, logical path. Since programming is all about doing it and experiencing it on your own the many exercises (without them being worked out at the back) help tremendously. The author knows his subject and can translate this very well into easy to read, and lively chapters that are not boring in the least. For everyone that wants to learn C++. Also a note that the buildup of the book is such, that the very beginner can start with this, but also experiences C-programmers of C++ programmers can find this excellent (directions are given at which chapter to start for them). Excellent and truly deserves 5 stars.

5 comments about Foundations of GTK+ Development (Expert's Voice in Open Source).

1. A textview widget in python had me stumped, but no longer. Anyone wishing to tackle GTK+ programming should buy this well organized and excellent book. It is well worth it.



2. I got this book a few weeks ago and found it to be well written and to the point.



3. FINALLY... a great book on GTK+.
   Easy to follow and understand, great example, great explanations...
   
   Usually I dislike the writing styles in Apress publications, but this is a definite winner. For the first time I can say I actually understand and can effectively use GTK+.



4. I picked up this book to help me develop an application knowing absolutely nothing about GTK+ programming and it was beyond helpful. Excellently written, not to mention many code examples showing how to use the GTK+ library properly and efficiently. This book gives you the tools and the understanding for building your own applications and not just re-creating the examples given to you.
   I highly recommend this book to anyone programing in C and want to learn how to use the GTK+ library along with the GLib and Pango libraries. This is one book I'm not going to let go of.



5. I wanted to like this book, but unfortunately I cannot in good conscience give it 5 stars as the other reviewers have.
   
   I will say the book is well organized and is definitely useful as a starting point for studying GTK+ and the author clearly has a great deal of knowledge about the subject. But what should have been the main strength of the book that differentiates it from the mostly inadequate online tutorials is the author conveying to the reader straightforward explanations of important concepts and insider tips and tricks that can only come from extensive experience. He tries to do this, but I found many of his explanations ambiguous and confusing. Important terminology was left undefined or poorly defined which contributed to the confusion.
   
   The author dutifully plods through a presentation of most of the main widgets, providing essentially the same trivial example code each time with minor variations- basically just showing how to put the widget onscreen. But there was a frustrating lack of material devoted to how to use signals and events to perform any useful tasks. The vast majority of the functionality of any GUI application lies in its event handlers and callback functions. After reading this book, you will be able to prototype the GUI for your application, but you may be at a loss to make it actually do something.
   
   By Ch.3 and 4, the same example code has been replicated so many times that there is an increasing frequency of copy-paste errors that gradually becomes very annoying. Also, there are many typos in the text. The lack of editorial oversight and technical review on the part of the publisher combined with the author's lack of attention to detail and failures in exposition has created a book that I can only marginally recommend- mostly because all of the other books that have been published on GTK+ are either out of date or out of print, so this book seems to be the winner by default.

5 comments about C++: The Complete Reference, 4th Edition.

1. Nice book if you want to learn c++. I bought also thinking in c++ by bruce eckel but it is difficult reading and understanding. If you really want to learn c++ search no further, buy this book.



2. Most of my work is done at a low level using C with occassional C++ work usually with certain parts of C++ heavily restructed due to performance and maintenance problems. So recently when I needed to brush up on all of C++ for some application level work where I knew I would be code reviewing and or writing using some of the more beastly aspects of the language I went through my 8 or 10 C++ books to pick one to spend some time with and remind myself of the particulars of things I don't normally use. I chose this book and was happily surprised. It is organized properly, clearly written, and accomplished what I needed it to do in a minimum of time.



3. This was my first purchase from amazon and I was totally impressed by the quality of the product and the service!



4. Herbert Schildt's "C++: The Complete Reference" is a gargantuan tome indeed. It fully covers the C++ syntax, and gives useful, working examples that demonstrate each of the language's features. If you're a professional (or hobbyist) working on a project and need to quickly look up how to use some part of C++ syntax, then this book is absolutely perfect. If you're a developer who has spent his/her life working in C and want to (or need to!) learn C++, then you'll find this book's content well organized and you'll be able to find what you need instantly.
   
   Also, this book seems as though it could function as a tutorial for the complete beginner. Now, I didn't learn C++ from this book initially, so I can't really speak from experience, but the book DOES cover the entire syntax and it does so in an unpretentious and very clear manner. The only thing that it's missing for newbies is exercises -- but if you're really serious, you'll make up your own little tasks, or try to extend/modify the examples.
   
   I program video games as a hobby and have used this as a reference countless times in various projects. I've obviously bought other reference books ("C++ in a Nutshell", and Stroustrup's tome), but I find that this book is my most used and most beloved reference.
   
   So, if you're looking for a clear, easy to understand reference on C++, I reccomend this tome. If you're a true C++ neophyte, then perhaps you should purchase this book along with Schildt's "C++: A beginner's Guide" or "C++ from the Ground Up" (also by Schildt).



5. My older references are in storage and I thought it would be neat to have a c++ ref on my kindle. It says reference and the reviews are good, so I bought it.
   
   I wanted to be reminded of how to use variable numbers of parameters for macro defines. Forget whether this is a good idea. It's a language feature and I want to know how it works.
   
   #define with parameters is handled in one paragraph which doesn't even include the possibility of multiple parameters, let alone any details. Given this, I was curious to see if there was any discussion of the continuation-line functionality in the preprocessor. Nope. Not there.
   
   I'm sure this is a wonderful c++ primer as the other reviews indicate. My spot check demonstrates that this is in no way a complete reference.
   
   Even if you don't like a coding style, completeness allows you to read the code of others.
   
   So I'm out $28 bucks and my question isn't answered. oh well.

5 comments about Macromedia Dreamweaver 8 Hands-On Training.

1. This book was okay, but it seemed to be basic things you could learn just by looking around a little bit. I was hoping for more indepth things to help me in my confusing class taught by someone who mumbles and can't speak English. Instead, I found myself still basically teaching myself. I recommend this book for any new beginner, someone who has trouble finding things on their own. It was helpful in some ways, but was not everything I was looking for.



2. The book material itself is fantastic and unbelievably easy to follow and understand. The craftmanship, if you will, of the book sucks. It literally started falling apart at the binding within 2 days of receiving it. I am not rough on the book by any means and do not transport it. It stays on my desk and I use it during my lunch hour. It has fallen apart and I have to keep a huge binder clip on it to keep all the pages intact.



3. Purchased for a college web design course, the first thing I noticed about this book is how poorly bound it is. As the previous reviewer also found, large sections of the book came loose within days, and I am very careful with books. The binding glue has completely failed, making the book difficult to use, and for a $53 (retail) textbook, that's a disgrace.
   
   The content is okay, but I found a number of errors, actual mistakes in the exercises, which you do after copying the files on the enclosed CD to your machine. Some procedures were not in sequence, some DW functions no longer exist or are not where the authors say they are, background colors come out wrong despite following the instructions, etc. Expect to find anywhere from 1-4 errors per chapter, depending on how carefully you follow the exercises. The book uses a hypothetical website about "TeaCloud Teas" in every chapter, and it gets a bit tedious after a while. It could also use some independent exercises that do not revolve around the tea vendor website.
   
   That said, you CAN learn a lot from this book, but you may have moments of frustration followed by anger at being slightly misled. There are better Dreamweaver learning tools out there. And probably some better glue...



4. Dreamweaver 8 is a good product and fun to play with and learn.
   Tons of tutorials online and in books.



5. I bought this book to teach myself Dreamweaver and it did a pretty good job. It comes with a CD that has projects to work on as well as video tutorials to supplement the book. The author is pretty thorough in his explanations. The beginning two chapters may seem boring at first but in the end you realize they are quite informative and the information is necessary as a background before any real work can be executed correctly. This book covers everything from opening Dreamweaver for the first time to publishing your web page. Another great book for getting started is Adobe Dreamweaver CS3 Revealed... I felt I should have read that one before this one because that one is a little more basic for when you are teaching yourself.