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SOFTWARE DESIGN BOOKS
Posted in Software Design (Sunday, October 12, 2008)
Written by Tony Stubblebine. By O'Reilly Media, Inc..
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5 comments about Regular Expression Pocket Reference: Regular Expressions for Perl, Ruby, PHP, Python, C, Java and .NET (Pocket Reference (O'Reilly)).
- From the back cover of the Regular Expression Pocket Reference: "Ideal as a quick reference..." and "... makes an ideal on-the-job companion." All this is true if you are well-versed in regular expressions and use multiple programming languages (and confuse the syntax).
I like the use of the same examples across programming languages (where applicable).
The recipes in the cookbook section are great, although I would have liked to see additional recipes (like stripping HTML tags, matching credit card numbers etc...). Of course the examples are endless and over time one builds his/her own recipe collection. At least this is a good place to start.
- Pocket references are not meant to teach you anything from the beginning, but to be everyday references in known and new environments. In other words, if you don't know regular expressions, then go to "Mastering Regular Expressions". If you're still here, then you'll get a cheat sheet on steroids for languages ranging from bug-prone JavaScript to the King and Queen of robustness, Perl and Python. Although everything claims to be PCRE these days, particular examples in every language available is a plus for anyone. A must for any type of user input validation.
- You know those times when you know what you want to do, but are not sure of the correct form, this is the book to grab. It has been my book to grab as a reference rather than trying to find the right language book. This is not the book to learn the language from, however. You will find your copy will be well worn if you do lots of coding.
- Most developers know how to write regular expressions, almost none of them can read them. And if you are saying that you can. Well congratulations to you. You are one of the 0.1% of developers that can or you are one of those who think they can.
The books physical appearance is so compact that it has become a permanent item on my working desk. And is often used.
- I'm scared of regular expressions. They vex me constantly at work whether trying to figure out someone else's Apache RewriteRules or Perl or just trying myself to do mildly clever things in vi and sed. They are a headache.
A coworker let me browse his copy of this wonderful little book and I was hooked. I actually tried to buy one that day on the way home, but they were out of stock and so I permitted Amazon to ship me one.
In addition to brief explanations of the different types of regexes in the wild (based on the comprehensive Mastering title, also from ORA), there are detailed quick references to all of the different implementations including several common languages (Perl, PHP, C#, and several others) and software packages (including sed, Apache, vi and many others). All of their various quicks and "features" are explained briefly and there are some examples.
No one hacking around in Unix or doing much programming should be without this book, unless they are already a regex wizard, and I think even they'd find it handy.
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Posted in Software Design (Sunday, October 12, 2008)
Written by Ian Sommerville. By Addison Wesley.
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5 comments about Software Engineering: (Update) (8th Edition) (International Computer Science Series).
- I bought this book as a required textbook for my grad course. I've learned a lot from my past misconception and misunderstanding between software science and software engineering just after reading a few chapters from the book.
The book covers wide aspects of engineering a software, both technical aspects and non-technical aspects (social, laws, ethics) although not in deep-breath details.
I highly recommend this book for any students who want to know about software engineering, pracicing software engineers who want to enhance their engineering ana managerial capability in developing a good software or for self-study for anybody who want to jump into software business.
- This is a good high-level book for a first software engineering course. It mentions things like critical systems, object oriented programming, and real -time systems, but at a very high level; so it should not be used for a specialized course. It provides many helpful examples and diagrams. My only complaint is that the chapters are very long, and a lot of things are repeated several times. I think this book could easily be 75% shorter without loosing any important information.
- This book is a good book to learn from, it can be a little boring at times but in general it is a good study tool that keeps subject matters seperate where they should be
- it feels like this book goes out its way to stretch easily understandable concepts into a huge 900 page book.
- I used this book as the text in my software engineering class in the spring semester of 2008. When I was evaluating it for potential adoption, I did not read through it in detail, I looked over the chapter titles and subtitles, read the first few chapters and examined the exercises at the end of the first few chapters. As the semester progressed, I found myself wishing I had read further into the text.
As I moved through the chapters, I found myself mentally noting over and over again that topics are repeated. When the class was over, I asked the students their opinion of the book and they were unanimous, with no prompting from me, in saying that there is a great deal of repetition after the first chapters.
I have no complaint about the quality of exposition or the coverage of software engineering in this book. My reason for not continuing to use it in future classes is solely due to my belief that the size could have been reduced from the current 840 pages to around 600 pages with no real loss of content of flow.
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Posted in Software Design (Sunday, October 12, 2008)
Written by Joel Murach and Andrea Steelman. By Mike Murach & Associates.
The regular list price is $52.50.
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5 comments about Murach's Java SE 6: Training & Reference.
- As a UNIX/C/C++/python programmer, this book has allowed me entrance into the Java world. I went to the Java Conference and was overwhelmed by all the choices, but this book allows learning of the different methods and how to put Java together. I am still in about the fifth chapter so I am not sure if it suitable for an advanced Java programmer, but it is easy for a beginning Java programmer to follow. I heartily recommend this book. It also is accurate and the programs actually work (which is not always the case with a programming book....)
- This is a great book for both training and reference. I was a VB6 programmer and needed to get into Java and object oriented programming for work. I read this book about 3/4 of the way through from page one and did all of the exercises after each chapter. The book is split so that the left side facing page is narrative description and the right side facing page is bullet points. This is great in that it allows you to read on the topics you don't know and just use the bullet points for the stuff you do know. This is also nice for going back to something for reference while working on a program. I plan to finish reading the remainder of the book within the next couple weeks.
- I found the book to be excellent and much easier to understand than many other java text sold today. The book teaches the basics very well and is a solid foundation for anyone who wants to learn basic java programing skills in days instead of weeks or months. The expansions are clear and the examples are well thought out.
LG
- I am very satisfied with whole amazon-purchasing experience, as always ! Book was shipped in solid protecting box and received on time. I would like to say thank you to amazon staff for doing high quality work.
- What a weird book. I don't program Java, have never been but I've got quite a few years of C++ and C# under my belt. We needed to use some Java-only open source libraries for a project at work, so I figured having a Java reference book would be handy: after all, it can't be 100% identical to C# as they say, right?
Well, this book couldn't fulfill even this modest role: it covers very little, but wastes nearly 6 pounds of dead trees to do it. It takes two pages to explain how to assign a number to a variable. The author uses Windows (!) as a platform of choice and the word "DOS" pops up many times, over and over. It even contains section that teaches you how to use DOS commands like "dir", "copy" and "cd". I am not kidding or exaggerating.
I would understand if it was marketed to teenagers who want to start programming in something, but a book of such shocking size and wall penetrating power can't be possibly aimed at that audience: if someone needs 2 pages explaining the "magic of assigning a value to a variable", one's probably too young to lift this book off the floor.
I covered first 225 pages without seeing any useful information there: every topic is explained in such a shallow manner, that it could be compared to a common-sense knowledge of Java of someone (like me) who never wrote a line of code, but heard other people talk about the language. The book, like many others, uses a sample project that a reader takes on in the beginning and keeps improving upon as he learns new material, but guess what - this book uses a number multiplying program for that purpose: that's right - read two numbers from a console, multiply, print out, repeat.
I am speechless. This is the first time in my life I had to return a book. Yes, Java isn't supposed to be a brain grinder and I expected a super-easy read, but this book is beyond "easy", it redefines an "easy read" by insulting your intelligence, it's that dumb. Heck, one of the exercises calls for documenting a code written for the previous exercise!
It says $52 on the cover, Amazon sells it for $32 and it's available used for about $14 - isn't that telling you something?
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Posted in Software Design (Sunday, October 12, 2008)
Written by Aaron Hillegass. By Addison Wesley.
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5 comments about Cocoa Programming for Mac OS X, Second edition.
- I just got the book a few days ago so i have not done much reading in it yet but i have to comment on one major flaw with my copy. The entire book was printed upside down. So when you open the book up with the cover right side up the first page is actually the last page upside down. I have never received a book like this before. My girlfriend laughed when she saw me reading my book upside down. It looks like i am pretending to read it or something. I am sure I will get many strange looks when reading this at the local coffee shop or any where in public. O well, its not worth sending back I guess. Otherwise the book appears to be a good book but time will tell as i get to read it more. It feels so strange to flip it over to the back upside down before opening. I wonder if any one else will get any of these freak copies.
- This book gives good directions to learn the Cocoa programming. However, it seems that this is another round of edition based on the previous one. The book constantly refers to the NIB file of the project being worked on, which was the old form of the current XIB file. It is a subtle thing but confusing enough to those who have never done Cocoa programming before. This sounds negative, but overall, the book gives good guidance to experienced programmers, (not necessarily in Objective-C.) I am now on Chapter 7, and getting accustomed to the quality level of the book. The book has Challenge questions in many of the chapters, and I advise everyone to work on them. The book is no way in text-book quality, but there are not many competing books in the market. I have given 4 starts indicating that the book is not bad but it leaves plenty rooms for improvements.
- Excellent book and reference for developing on the Mac. Note that this is NOT for someone looking to learn Objective-C, but rather someone looking to learn the ins/outs of the Cocoa Frameworks and development process with XCode 3.
My only wish is that they include some iPhone specific sections in the next edition.
- Through this book you get a good introduction to Objective-C as you delve into Cocoa. At first, I was worried that I would need a supplemental Objective-C book to understand the concepts, but this was not the case. The examples and explanations are sufficient and can stand by themselves without need of other materials or knowledge.
Sometimes as I'd read through the chapters, I'd have questions about certain concepts that seemed to be glossed over. Yet, as the author will state, keep reading. Normally the concepts will be explained in full, within a few pages.
- If you plan to write for Mac OS X, and have some programming experience, this book is a MUST HAVE. This is by far the best introductory book I have ever read on any language.
If you DO NOT have programming experience, I would still recommend this book. There are some spots where the logic might be hard to grasp, but Aaron Hillegass walks you through it.
In either case, but more so for beginners, I would also recommend Programming in Objective-C (Developer's Library). The less experience you have, the more strongly I would suggest reading this book first. It will walk you through the basics of straight Objective-C and then start you off using frameworks in OS X. If you are a Windows user and do not have a Mac, Programming in Objective-C (Developer's Library) will show you how to write and compile Objective-C in Windows.
(Look for the new version of this book which uses Objective-C 2.0)
I come from Windows development, having programmed in VB 6, VB.NET, C (and variants), and java. Aaron Hillegass takes you right into the heart of the Mac OS X development environment and gives you a guided tour. Showing you the basics of both Cocoa and the X Code development environment. Pick the book up and you won't regret it. This is a walkthrough tutorial style book. It is not a reference book. Apples online documentation is the best reference for Cocoa.
There are a lot of resources out there for Cocoa programmers. If you are looking for more help with Cocoa, check out the free podcasts that are available on iTunes. "CocoaCast" is a 'screen cast' that actually follows this book and may help you if you have trouble. Other podcasts that i find easy to listen to come from the Mac Developer Network such as "Late Night Cocoa" and "The Mac Developer Roundtable". They also have a great community that you can join by visiting www.mac-developer-network.com. They have video classes on some great topics which are very helpful.
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Posted in Software Design (Sunday, October 12, 2008)
Written by Ken Schwaber. By Microsoft Press.
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5 comments about The Enterprise and Scrum.
- I've been involved with the introduction of Agile methods and other process improvements in several large enterprises, and I have learned
-that there are no cookbooks
-that there is no process or set of practices that will work for everyone
-that as hard as it is to influence people to take on new practices, it is even harder to get the rest of the organization to accept the implications of these changes
This book does not prescribe a solution to all problems. The author I expect knows well that there is no such prescriptive solution (in his own words, "We want rules to follow, but life and product development are too complex for a single set of rules to suffice in all circumstances."). The book also does not delve into the depths of systems dynamics and org change- areas that are important in the change effort, but are explored by countless other sources. I believe that this is a strength, as it allows the book to be a focused, easy read without distraction.
This book does provide an implementation framework, plain and simple - a basic, repeatable, evolutionary framework for the introduction of Scrum to an enterprise, including feedback loops that will ensure that the right people know of challenges, and techniques to repeatably adjust the plan so that the effort is continuously improving. Following this, progress is very likely, and if the effort ends, it will be either due to success or to the conscious choice of those involved to stop further improvement.
I've seen many process improvement efforts flounder in large companies- often due to the process that was followed to run them. An approach such as that recommended in this book will at least ensure that the process to effect the improvement is not in the way itself, and is in fact an enabler.
- An add-on to the existing two SCRUM books by Schwaber. This book discusses how to evolve an enterprise collectively rather than just parts of it at a time. You'll likely have no context for this book unless having first read the others. Note: this book is, like the others, descriptive in nature and definitively not prescriptive. So if you're looking for someone to tell you exactly `how' to do something, this isn't it.
- I recently run a large project (~100 people) under a structure very similar to the organization described by Ken in this book:
-one product: a large web site
-8 scrum teams: 6 service teams, 1 IT team, 1 CM team
-scrum of scrum: team composed of senior engineers from each scrum focused on global code integration, standard / API definitions, run by uber scrum master and uber product owner
-meta scrum: team composed of local scrum masters (problem raisers) and executives (problem solvers) focused on organizational issues, run by uber scrum master
The results?
-a product delivered within a deadline of 18 weeks (the last product of similar size and complexity was delivered in 18 months and was mostly unsuccessful)
-a very happy product owner (financial outcome better than expected, all key features delivered)
-best quality software ever written in the company (best as from a technical debt perspective, and great architecture paradigm)
-fantastic morale in the team
This book is written for people that understand scrum and are ready to think it to the next level. It clearly outlines a simple and powerful framework to roll out scrum across the enterprise and achieve great coordination in scalable manner in large projects. This is not an "enterprise scrum". It is the same scrum applied to the enterprise.
Some might miss details on tactical implementation which the book doesn't try to address. Why? I think because it is scrum and details have been written about over and over. So how do you attack your big impediments? Run Ken's framework and let it to the self-organization of the teams! It is scrum after all.
- This book contains useful information on how to apply Scrum in large organizations. It provides real world examples of how Scrum was implemented, the problems that were uncovered and the lessons learned.
If you are looking for an intro book on Scrum, this is not it.
If you are familiar with Scrum, you will devour the information in this book.
If you are a seasoned project manager, many of the scenarios will resonate with you.
It is a short book (under 150 pages) but it is chock full of valuable information that you can apply to your practice. I recommend that you read it at least twice to derive full benefit.
- I built up a lot of expectation before reading this book because I learned a lot from the author's earlier book "Agile Project Management With Scrum" and not to mention that the author was the cofounder of scrum. But after I read it I was rather disappointed. I feel like the book is more like an informal set of lecture notes written for a presentation in stead of a well written and well thought book.
Before I further comment about that let me first take a guess about why people want to read a technical book. I think most people want to read a technical book because they hope the book can teach them something new. And if the reading process makes readers entertained that will make the book even more valuable. And that was what I got from "Agile Project Management With Scrum". But technical reading mostly does not get that luxury so long as the book is informative (and enlightened) we will say the time and energy spent for it is well worth.
So back to this book, I think before reading it every one will know that running scrum in a traditional waterfall process company is hard. What we want to know is how hard that it is. What kind of (typical) situation we may run into; what kind of specific issue we need to address and what was the author's way or suggestion to tackle them. But the author just kept saying that it is hard but you got to stick with scrum then finally you will make it. The author kept repeating that without even giving a valuable suggestion for it (putting the obstacles into transition backlog can't really be counted as a valuable suggestion). And the examples he gave were also superficial, i.e. repeating that you will make it finally without giving any valuable suggestion about how.
The second part of the book is about the practice using in the enterprise. But except for suggesting the use of scrum of scrum, which again readers will anticipate before reading the book and checking your burn down chart to know your productivity I still do not see any thing new or enlightened, although the example the author gave here were a little bit more impressive than the examples gave in the first part.
The third part of the book was the worst. The third part is about the introduction of scrum, the kind of materials you can find all over the internet. I even found that the author copies pasted some of paragraphs in his previous book "Agile Project Management With Scrum".
I do not mean to be harsh and the author is really some person I look up to. So maybe he was talking about something totally beyond my level and I hope anyone can point that out for me.
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Posted in Software Design (Sunday, October 12, 2008)
Written by Obie Fernandez. By Addison-Wesley Professional.
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5 comments about The Rails Way (Addison-Wesley Professional Ruby Series).
- I got this book for a Ruby on Rails class. The class was using Rails 2.0 and this is one of the few Rails books out there that covers Rails 2.0. That was its main highlight. It feels like more of a reference manual than something to learn from. It does seem comprehensive, but it's only good for learning Rails if you already know Rails. It jumps headfirst into complicated topics without explaining why or what for or giving any background. But if you basically already know Rails and just need to look some things up, this book will occasionally be useful.
- Good reference book for the beginning user. May confuse those that are learning on rails 2.x.
- This is *the* rails book to get. Even if you're an experienced Rails developer, you'll find loads of great information and advice. The real-world examples are really helpful. Includes an excellent tour through the framework itself. This is one of the few Rails books that covers testing well. Obie is obviously a Jedi.
- I picked this up purely on the basis of Zed Shaw's endorsement of Mr. Fernandez as one of the few non-stupid Rails proponents out there, and for the most part I'd agree with these sentiments. While it is completely unsuitable for anyone who is completely new to web development or the Ruby language, it is very suitable for anyone else who wants to skip all the evangelical sycophantry that plagues other Rails related titles and jump straight into the meat of the framework.
I still don't like a lot of things about Rails, and I don't like a lot of things about this book, but it is by far the least painful way to get acquainted with the project I've seen to date, allowing the reader to formulate their own educated opinion on these matters relatively quickly.
- This book does a poor job of connecting the dots. This book probably won't work for you if you are just starting out with Rails.
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Posted in Software Design (Sunday, October 12, 2008)
Written by Marc J. Wolenik and Damian Sinay. By Sams.
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No comments about Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 Unleashed.
Posted in Software Design (Sunday, October 12, 2008)
Written by Daniel Solis. By Apress.
The regular list price is $44.99.
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5 comments about Illustrated C# 2008 (Windows.Net).
- This is the C# book that I always keep next to me. If I am unsure about some type of class, delegates, interfaces, etc. I open up this book and get right up to speed. While concise, Dan leaves nothing out in terms of details required for effective C# programming.
The LINQ coverage is outstanding! It is so good that I hope Dan does an entire book on the subject. His mastery of informative graphics would be an ideal format for help to save us T-SQL hacks from having to stand on our heads to get at LINQ.
I highly recommend this book.
- Dan Solis's Illustrated C# 2008 is a pleasure to read and from which to learn, both with concise information and the easy to understand illustrations in it.
The illustrations make this book unique in that they make relatively foreign concepts easy to understand. They are consistent, build one on another, and make sense. He takes the concept of the stack and the heap, explaining how temporary data is stored, right from the beginning. With each new data type, or type member, an illustration shows how it is different from the others, and therefore why that user defined type was developed.
I strongly recommend this book for anyone wanting to learn the basics of a computer language, and especially C#, which is becomming the standard, as well as the language used my Microsoft in their program development.
What a delight!
- This is a reference that constructs ones understanding of C# one feature at a time in a one step at a time methodical manner. The liberal use of diagrams helped me visualise concepts more easily. I liked this approach when the author discussed delegates and events. Many books try to explain it but I was satisfied that I understood completely only after reading this book. e.g. I did not know that a delegate is actually a cillection of callbacks (not just one) before this. I also liked the friendly, usable and pallatable introduction to LINQ. Please note that this is a C# book and does not discuss dot net libraries. So you will have to buy another book for that.
It's good for someone new to C# (not necesarily new to programming) and also for more exerienced programmers who may keep coming back to it to really dissect language details - e.g how do I make best use of bit fields?
- I wish I had known about this book when I first started learning C#. In just a few words it makes concepts clear that others cannot make clear in twenty pages. The clarity of the book is not only due to the generous use of diagrams, helpful though that is, but also to well-thought-out English and a user-friendly layout. The book is a sheer pleasure to read, and even if you already understand C# you may find it a great book for relaxation. Among other things, the author studied English literature at the college level before going into computer science, and that may be part of the reason for his outstanding ability to communicate. Anyone thinking of writing or editing a book on a technical topic should read this one for inspiration.
- This book could have been better if it covered even the basic database connection and data manipulation using ado.net, as well as XML. I know these two topics can well be covered by a separate book on their own, but I found some books which do cover these things while they try to teach the basic of C# programming. For one, try Jeffery Suddeth's book, nevermind the poor production (table of contents, index) but focus on straight-forward explanations and working examples which are simple and easy to understand, and you'll see what I mean.
The two stars missing are for:
- no coverage of XML and ADO.net basics.
- too much illustration even for the very basic syntax which tends to confuse...
Overall, this is better than "Learning C#" by Jessie Liberty...
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Posted in Software Design (Sunday, October 12, 2008)
Written by OpenGL Architecture Review Board and Dave Shreiner and Mason Woo and Jackie Neider and Tom Davis. By Addison-Wesley Professional.
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4 comments about OpenGL(R) Programming Guide: The Official Guide to Learning OpenGL(R), Version 2.1 (6th Edition) (OpenGL).
- If you are interested in computer graphics, a very good language to learn is OpenGL. It is widely used and freely available for most operating systems. As this book demonstrates, it has impressive capabilities, with many graphics algorithms implemented.
The text starts off simply, with a quick introduction to basic operations, like setting a point size or line width. These exist in almost every graphics system, and in OpenGL, the syntax for calling these in your code is straightforward. Embedded throughout the book are code samples written in C, showing how to use numerous OpenGL routines. A quick way to get up to speed with accessing those routines.
The authors also thoughtfully included several colour plates. Illustrating results of rendering operations. Most plates are quite vivid and good pedagogy. As referenced in relevant sections of the text, the plates artfully demonstrate the efficacies of different rendering methods.
For the experienced graphics coder, later sections of the book show how you can make your own shaders (renderers). OpenGL turns out to be quite extensible, so you improve it on your own if you wish.
- Since the core OpenGL libraries haven't been updated in Windows since Open GL 1.1 the present book can be frustrating for Windows programmers in that it provides you with options that can only be pursued if you figure out OpenGL extensions.
- Well written in simple English, but I found a couple of typos / bugs in example 15-2. "glProgramGetInfoLog" should read "glGetProgramInfoLog". The compiler catches this error, so it isn't too bad.
The other error is more difficult because the program will compile and link: "glShaderSource(shader, 1, shaderSrc, NULL);" should read "glShaderSource(shader, 4, shaderSrc, NULL);". Took me a while to find this. Did the authors not test their own code? This seems inexcusable.
- Though you can probably find most of the content in this book on the internet, the OpenGL Programmer's Guide is a great reference when programming using opengl. It has easily understandable explanations for every function, as well as many great examples. When I need to use a refernce to see if there are any functions that suit my needs, I can usually find them faster in this book than through google.
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Posted in Software Design (Sunday, October 12, 2008)
Written by Chris Sells and Ian Griffiths. By O'Reilly Media, Inc..
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5 comments about Programming WPF.
- This book is the most in depth resource into WPF i have seen. And not just that, it gets to the good stuff that you'll actually use in your code and not just filler or lists of properties that you can get from intelisense. The examples are extremely useful.
The other benefit of this book is that it doesn't just tell you how to do things, but why. This is incredibly helpful in finding the best solution to your specific problem.
Thanks guys! great book!
Ralph
- I bought the first edition of this book called Programming Windows Presentation Foundation (AKA Avalon) at the PDC in 2005 and read it completely on the plane home.
When I heard the second edition was released I didn't think much would have changed, but this is even better than the first edition. It's twice as big and covers all major (and not so major) topics in WPF (inc. an introduction to 3D and Silverlight).
I think this book will proof to be for WPF what Programming Windows, Fifth Edition is for WIN32 programming.
- Writing a programming book is not an easy thing to do -- I know, because I've done it myself. And I have to say that I'm really impressed with the job that Chris Sells and Ian Griffiths have done with "Programming WPF". This is one of the best programming books I've ever read (and I've read a lot of them).
For a programming book to be good, it's not enough for it to simply contain all of the information that you need to know. If that information doesn't stick to your brain, then the book hasn't done it's job. If you want the information to stick, then the book has to be interesting to read. It has to have a lot of clear examples that show you real-world applications without extraneous fluff. And to be really effective, all of that should be done with a little bit of style and wit.
And I'm really pleased to say that "Programming WPF" does all of those things. I recently needed a refresher on WPF, so I just spent a lot of time over the last few weeks going through the book very carefully. And I have to say that I'm really impressed. It's engaging, interesting and they chose really good examples. And it's witty! (You'd be amazed at how the occasional chuckle keeps a reader from getting that "eyes glazed over" feeling that far too many books induce.)
I know from experience -- believe me, I know! -- just how hard it is to pull that off. And they did it with style. So first of all, congratulations to Chris and Ian for doing a great job. And second, if you're a C# developer looking for a good, hands-on way to learn WPF, I highly recommend "Programming WPF".
- I'm almost ashamed to admit that after diving into WPF back when it was known as "Avalon", I haven't even touched WPF since. So I finally needed to suck it up, get started, and learn WPF.
As somebody new to WPF, I just have to give a huge "Thank You" to both Chris and Ian. This book is very entertaining and the quality of the writing between both Chris and Ian is just tremendous. The pace of the book is perfect and the teaching style is one that any developer can relate to.
As a Technical Evangelist working for Microsoft, I think that every "Evangelist" in the tech industry can learn from Chris and Ian on how to tell a compelling story that developers can relate to and "grok". We evangelists are all-too-willing to simply explain the technical details of an API while completely forgetting to answer the "why" (let alone telling a compelling story to suck people in). This is yet another area that this book excels at.
I can say with full confidence that this book is the first book I recommend to anybody wanting to dive into WPF. Enjoy!
Jason Olson, Technical Evangelist, Visual Studio & the .NET Framework
[...]
- I have both WPF books by Chris Anderson and Adam Nathan. I read initial chapters of both of them but never got so excited to continue reading and got astray into LINQ and other stuff. Then I bought this one from Chris Sells and all I can say is it is much better than both Anderson and Adam book and the book keeps you engaged making you eager to find out what next in very simple terms and wonderful example. I loved the way the data binding chapter was explained and am hoping to finish this soon.
Great Job Sells and Ian.
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