3 comments about Pro Microsoft Speech Server 2007: Developing Speech Enabled Applications with .NET (Pro).

1. I've had this book for about two weeks now and it is one of the best books I've read in a while.
   
   one of the biggest problems with previous versions of speech server was that there was very little available on it. Dunn's book fixes that with the new release of Office Communications Server/Speech server.
   
   Having worked through all the examples, everything works as advertised. The examples are relevant and real-world without being too complex to follow. It's an easy read and the writing style is relaxed, professional yet makes you want to keep reading.
   
   Overall the book is small and can be worked through quickly. But even though it's small, it gives you everything you need to feel more than comfortable with the product and so far, I certainlyl haven't come across anything important that wasn't covered in the book.
   
   Considering how easy to read it is, this book is excellent for any developer, whether or not they want to actually start writing speech apps or not. It works great for getting you acquainted and works equally well if you are trying to build complex speech applications.
   
   Very well done.



2. As opposed to so many technical books these days that are filled with fluff this book gets straight to the point and tells you how to use Speech Server 2007. Even though it is small in comparison to the over inflated books that tend to dominate the market, it does not waste any time with useless graphics or tables.
   
   I have been working with Speech Server since the original 2004 version was in beta, but I learned a lot about Speech Server by reading this book; especially the last chapter which covered creating speech applications for Vista and the chapter on using Exchange 2007 auto attendants and creating a Unified Messaging speech application.
   
   I really liked the way it covered material relating to migrating applications from Speech Server 2004 to the new 2007 version such as you cannot run the 2004 and 2007 versions on the same machine. There were lots of helpful tips and good code examples.
   
   The author walks you step by step through things such as creating a grammar and prompts. He provides a lot real world advice such as, you will spend more time building the gammar than you will writing the speech application and that not all applications require the effort involved with creating a natural language grammar.
   
   Even though this book is the only one written on this product, it is still well written and an essential resource for anyone working with Speech Server 2007. Timely too since OCS 2007 is coming out any minute.



3. This book was good to figure out what speech server is and how to develop simple applications. I would have liked to see a bit more of a deep dive in the Worfklow Foundation interaction. There are some gotchas with respect to how you manage state accross different users that should have been covered more in depth.

5 comments about The Essential Guide to Flex 2 with ActionScript 3.0.

1. This is the only "unfinished" computer training book I have ever purchased, and it will hopefully be the last. It stops abruptly at chapter 15, titled "Unfinished Symphony", where the author informs the reader that "I am finishing this book by not finishing it." Believe it or not, this is a completely accurate statement.
   
   The major exercise that he had walked the reader through for most of the book, building a a book store application, is left unfinished. Many important topics, that we are told would be covered in later chapters are never presented. The author himself acknowledges that his editors told him to include more information, but his reply to his editors, and to the reader, is, "If I were to attempt to discuss all relevant topics, the book would never get out the gate."
   
   We are told that the material that he left out of the book will available on his website (charlesebrown dot net). It's not there yet. Just like his book, his website fails to deliver.
   
   If the unfinished nature of the book were the only problem, it would have been bad enough. But there are also many errata. Indeed, searching for and fixing the errors in the author's code may be among the most educational aspects of this book. Finally, the author's explanations are weak and often confusing. He seems to be aware of this problem, and you will often encounter phrases such as "If you are a bit confused as to why you did this yet, don't worry... it is about to get very clear." It never does.



2. Let me quote Mr. Brown from the introduction in this book.
   
   "After years of doing technical training, where I have only a few days to cover large topics, I have learned to substitute shorter explanations that clarify a concept in place or larger more technical (and often confusing) explanations." - Charles E. Brown
   
   The author gets straight point with more code and less explanations. I've read many technical books and this book is by far the clearest and quickest reading. The steps you take are numbered, which makes taking notes easier and is followed up with a less than equal amount of talking. He covers a lot of ground with less chatter. This book is perfect for laying on your lap or taking anywhere. There are also no errors in code and only 2 typos presented on the Friends of Ed's website. I wish all books where written like Mr. Brown's style.



3. The guy who wrote this book took a more personal approach to teaching Flex, which makes it a really easy read. It's real easy to follow along and do all the excer



4. I am new to Flex and AS but experience Java Developer. I found this book easy to understand Flex & AS but also gave little confidence to move forward with Flex project. Only negative part is example not complete with source code (not provided for certain chapters) overall easy to understand not bad



5. I'm very glad i bought this book.
   I didn't have a clue about what flex is and know, half way this book i have a solid understanding of the flex framework.
   I can't wait for the other half!
   I recommend it to all begginers with Flex so they can learn the fundamentals the easy way.

5 comments about Testing Object-Oriented Systems: Models, Patterns, and Tools (The Addison-Wesley Object Technology Series).

1. This book is an excellent source for the novice and the experienced SQA Engineer. It covers most aspects of SW testing at a very practical level. Explanations and illustrations are well focused and the code samples can save you many hours of design and implementation time. The theory provies a solid foundation, important to do serious QA.



2. I have nearly twenty years experience in IT, 12 in OO. this by far and away the most clear, useful and thought provoking work I have ever read on testing.

   Anyone in the OO world who is serious about testing and has not read this book is a fraud.

   The sad thing about this book is that those who need to read it probably will not.




3. I bought this book after reading the previous reviews. I am a QA engineer working in OO systems, and I must say that I did not find this book to all that great. It is a good book, but I found it to be a bit theoretical. I would have welcomed more practical tips say on how to do performance testing on multitier systems, how do you adapt these concepts on hybrid systems etc.



4. I have several books on software testing, but none of them provides the comprehensive, in-depth coverage of testing that this book provides. No software developer or test engineer working with OO techniques should be about it!



5. I am a graduate student and I'm using this book for a class. The book is very theoretical with too few examples. At first it seems that the book was written for a novice with very little computer science background since the author has the need to explain the core vocabulary in computer science. That is not the case as the later chapters get into more advanced topics, but lack the proper explanation. The book presents many test patterns but fails to include examples which would guide one in developing a test suites with the presented patterns. Some of the examples that are provided include mistakes which would misguide a novice learner. The reading is frustrating at times due to lack of appropriate explanations. As the subject of this review states, it seems the author wanted to write a really lengthy book not giving enough attention to the quality of the material presented.

No comments about Automated Data Analysis Using Excel.

No comments about Professional ADO.NET 3.5 with LINQ and the Entity Framework.

5 comments about Wicked Cool Java: Code Bits, Open-Source Libraries, and Project Ideas.

1. While this book is not a typical tutorial or reference, it does give the reader a brief glimpse into a wide variety of Java topics. Some of them are code tips like how to use "for" to iterate over a collection or how to use "enum" from Java 5. Other topics introduce the reader to open source libraries for use in managing Xml documents, using RSS feeds, creating graphics, working with sound, and more. The focus is on learning something new and having fun with it.
   
   The topics are grouped into chapters around a similar theme. The first chapter focuses on the language tips and the core API. The succeeding chapters cover string processing, xml (and html), RSS, math applications, graphics, multimedia, and project ideas. The organization of the book is quite good. It has an good table of contents, glossary and an index. Within each topic, any additional library that is required is listed along with the minimum version of Java to be used. The topics themselves are well-written and easy to follow.
   
   The website for the book conveniently provides links to the open source projects that are needed for the topics. However the download page for the example code does not have running examples for all of the topics. Furthermore, I did not see a file for downloading an archive of the examples.
   
   Each topic is only a few pages long, just enough to become acquainted, but not enough for industrial-strength use. For me, I found this format worked well for most topics, and somewhat less effectively for some. But on the whole, this book is definitely a keeper.



2. OK, I admit it .. I've become jaded like most Java programmers. Ruby, Python, Groovy .. wow, all those "agile" languages making Java so, I don't know, .. so 90's right?
   
   Wrong! Bring me your sad Java hackers, .. give them this book .. and wham! .. they'll be back on line, humming like happy campers.
   
   Read this book.



3. Are you a Java developer who is looking for interesting and useful APIs or for project ideas? If you are, you're in luck! Author Brian Eubanks, has done an outstanding job of writing a book that will help you enhance your code.
   
   Eubanks, begins by discussing some of the core API features--some that are older, but less well known and some that are new to Java 5. Then, he discusses String processing techniques. The author continues by showing you how to process XML and HTML documents and other types of structured text. Next, he explores the Semantic Web, a next-generation web where the links are between concepts rather than documents containing text. Then, the author explores scientific and mathematical applications in Java. He continues with a discussion on how APIs make it easier to develop graphical applications or to add new features. Next, he deals with sound and music APIs; as well as, advanced thread synchronization. Finally, he looks at miscellaneous open-source projects and discusses ideas for creating your own projects and integrating code.
   
   Not intended as a basic tutorial by the author, this excellent book will help developers and system architects capitalize on their preexisting knowledge and take advantage of everything the programming language has to offer. Filled with example code, this book will definitely be a welcome find for anyone who enjoys experimenting with Java code--and, who wants to make their code wicked cool.



4. Lot of cool info is provided in the book. I still haven't spend as much time as I would like to with the book as I was busy with other stuff.
   But so far so good.
   Look at this book as a pointers to cool stuff you can do with Java rather than a resource on how to do each of those cool stuff. Pick up the one of your interest and start off on it.
   I was already working with many of the techniques mentioned but some like the sound API was pretty cool to try out.



5. This book is great! Eubanks ranks with my other favorites: Marinacci, Bloch, and Zukowski.
   
   Part of the book covers nuts-and-bolts skills like new Java 5 API's, Cyclic Barrier, regular expressions, and Robot. My favorite part of the nuts-and-bolts skills was his examples of sophisticated regular expressions.
   
   The rest of the book explains broader topics like the Semantic Web, charting, genetic algorithms, and programming directed graphs. My favorite part of the broader topics was his example of propagating signals through a directed graph.
   
   We all need to keep up with the nuts-and-bolts of Java. On the other hand, we need a Big Picture of what's going on in our world. This book gives both. (And even his puns are neat!)

No comments about iPhone in Action: Introduction to Web and SDK Development.

4 comments about Expert .NET 2.0 IL Assembler.

1. This is an excellent treatment of the MSIL topic at just the right level if you're in need of nitty gritty details for debugging, disassembling, or generating IL code. Coverage of the PE format for managed executables is the best I've seen. The text is well-written, the examples are clear and concise, and the diagrams are very helpful. The book can be used as both a tutorial and a reference: the appendices include an ILAsm grammar reference, a metadata tables reference, and an IL instruction set reference. The book is also available electronically to owners of the physical book.



2. I needed a good "go-to" reference which would aid me in quickly gaining knowledge so I could understand disassembled PE files related to a "small" project I had already invested 40 man-hours. There are references you can find on the web, however, this book will save you time looking for them. It consolidates all information you need to quickly get up to speed if you have not been doing assembler code projects for a while. The author's writing style reflects his extensive knowledge and "comfortableness" in discussing it. He includes invaluable references to tools one can use related to the subject he is discussing. The Appendixes contain excellent information that is quickly accessible simply flipping through the pages. I am not a compiler writer by trade, but I had a good laugh related to the author's comments in Chapter 19's Summary (on page 408). You'll just have to purchase the book to find out! I look forward to investing more time in reading this book in detail. If you have to spend money on a tool, this book is money well spent.



3. Wonderful experience writing an IL code generator. Project went quickly, easily, with high quality result. Thanks to Microsoft's .Net and IL ecosystem, and three books; Expert .Net IL Assembler (Serge Lidin), Common Language Infrastructure Annotated Standard (James S. Miller), ECMA-335 CLI Standard (downloadable from ECMA).



4. This book is best ever! You can learn IL, but you can undarstand MSIL, how aplications are build.

5 comments about Applying Use Cases: A Practical Guide (2nd Edition) (The Addison-Wesley Object Technology Series).

1. Over the last year I have come to love Use Cases ... I write them before embarking on any software development project, large or small. The first taste I got of Use Cases was in the "UML Distilled" book (Fowler, Scott).

   My favorite aspect of "Applying Use Cases" is how it follows a hypothetical project from Inception to Transition phases. The authors provide the reader with a clear idea of how Use Cases fit into the software development process as a whole, rather than just providing some templates for producing Use Case documents without instructions on their use.

   The best, and worst, thing about books in the Object Technology Series (of which "Applying Use Cases" and "UML Distilled" both belong to) is their brevity. The concepts are conveyed very clearly and concisely, but it feels like I should be getting more substance ... .

   Overall, this is a wonderful book and belongs on the shelf of any Software Engineer or Project Manager. It goes well with "Extreme Programming Explained" and "A Practical Guide to Extreme Programming", two of my favorites in this genre.




2. An excellent book. Gustav Karner did a really good job, finding the solution of estimating resources for object oriented projects.



3. I have been a technology developer/manager for 20 years. In most organizations, there is little understanding of the value of structured requirements (there may be an acceptance philosophically, but in practice it done in pockets at best). This book not only helps communicate that value, it provides an excellent explanation of the Use Case Points estimation method. Managers who get their business partners to adhere to these practices and get their project managers to estimate in this fashion will begin to achieve far more predictable results.



4. Schneider and Winters present a clear, thorough introduction to "use cases," a well-established part of software requirements management. In logical structure, though not always in time order, use cases take the first step towards detailed technical requirements and design. They answer the question, just what is this thing supposed to do? The answer has narrative form, describing the sequence of events that pass between the system's internals and the outside world. It's well worth noting that a use case is written in informal, non-technical language, the kind that an end user can really understand and comment on. Anyone who's ever worked on something for a year only to hear "That's not what I wanted" will understand just how crucial early feedback can be.
   
   The book starts with summaries of the development process and of how use cases fit into that process. Next, the basics of a use case are introduced: who the outside people and systems are that interact with the new system must, and what needs and expectations are for each of those outsiders. Irrespective of internal implementation, they define the system as it's seem from the ouside. Next, the authors offer "script-writing" suggestions: first address the common cases, then go into the details of unusual cases and failures. The authors also show how OO design concepts can be used to treat special cases as elaborations of the basic system behaviors. Next, they relate narrative use cases to diagrammatic UML notations. They also offer a brief (too brief) discussion of traceability - that critical but insubstantial thread that binds together the strands of knowledge in the requirements, design, implementation, test cases, and usage documentation.
   
   After showing the goals of the use cases, discussion returns to the descriptive techniques that help to meet those goals. That includes confirmation that the use cases are correct and complete, or complete enough for a given phase of the software life cycle. The rest of the book deals more with managing that life cycle, emphasizing the place of use cases at each step.
   
   Although helpful, this book suffers one weakness that seems inherent in software process books: the vast gap between the static generality of the printed page and the dynamic complexity of any one application. I'm sure that a novice will get some value from this text. I'm equally sure that use cases' full value can only be learned by seeing an experienced practitioner adapting them to a specific project's constraints, history, goals, and team culture. Still, this gives the interested developer or project manager plenty to get started with. I recommend it.
   
   //wiredweird



5. This was the first book that really helped me to write use cases as part of my job and I really liked it until I found Writing Effective Use Cases by Alistair Cockburn. I took a class from Alistair and found certain concepts in his book and class that Applying Use Cases doesn't have to be extremely useful (you'll have to look at the book since this is a review of Applying Use Cases). Although this was a very good book for its time, I no longer even open it.

No comments about Building and Maintaining a Data Warehouse.