5 comments about Applied Software Architecture (Addison-Wesley Object Technology Series).

1. I am Software Architect at Siemens Medical Systems, Angiography Division in Chicago.I am involved with the architecture for a Angio Acquisition/Post processing system. I have read the book "Applied Software Architecture". It is excellent! I find it very helpful and use it as a reference for my architecture work.



2. OK. So you are a seasoned software engineer, 4th and 5th generation languages hold no secrets for you, design patterns are your credo, and you even have tackled this good old OMT technique. However, you still feel uneasy when it comes to translating use cases to risk management, and especially to take into account those interns who will develop part of the software.

   This book answers your questions by proposing both a technique and a language (UML extended), that will help you list the different factors affecting your project, infer the right design decisions, and document them throughout the project. For those with an analytical mind, the architecture process itself is decomposed and re-engineered. No consultant talk here : everything is explained, both in words and figures, using real world examples.
   Some will regret that the application field used for the demonstration is too narrow, since only real time applications are used, and there is no reference to database architecture or e-business ! But for those of the embedded world, such a book was awaited, and browsing (too) quickly through various application fields would have contented no one, anyhow.
   It is still a long reading, if you want to study all examples in depth - fortunately, you can start your own design after the first case study.

   Lastly, using UML throughout the project eases the communication with the development engineers, and it really helps when your team tackles detailed design.




3. Computer scientists at Siemens have developed an intriguing and very useful approach for describing the architecture of software systems. This book, written at a high level of quality, details a wide variety of factors that project managers and architects must consider during the course of planning, designing, and implementing small-, medium-, and large-scale projects. Backed by data from real-world examples, the authors present their ideas in a very understandable form and give software engineers many good ideas for improving the quality of their products.



4. This book spends a great deal of time discussing what it suggests one does to architect a system. However, there is very little on how to actually do it. The steps to do things are detailed, but what doing the steps means is not well articulated. Further, some parts of the process are very poorly explained, but still used as a foundation of many other parts of the process.

   The best practices are simply case studies that really impart no wisdom to the reader (or, at least, to this reader).

   I tried to "get something" out of this book several times, and read it fully twice. However, I'm convinced that there really isn't much there.




5. This book is clear, solid, and workmanlike. It could work well as a textbook, or one of several texts for a term course.
   
   It gives a systematic introduction to several high-level notations, describing the conceptual, executable, structural (or module), and code views. Most of the notation is well-formed UML, and the authors take care to add semantic notes to every part of the graphical notation. They supplement the standard notations with a few text-based extensions. These capture requirements, archtiectural decisions, risks and risk mitigation, and other operating features of a living software project.
   
   One real asset is the related set of brief case studies at the end of the book, three separate products with a common conceptual base. This book is aging, it dates back to 1999 - five years, as I write this. That's old in the "architecture" literature, and the authors fail to apply the "product line" notion. I take this book for its good, though, and lack of one buzzword is a small enough fault.
   
   The book uses a process-and-pipe model pervasively for architectural description. It's a good tool, but other tools are good for other purposes, and their omission is a problem here.
   
   Still, the book is competent on the whole. Its sustained product-line example ties the whole together, and it focusses on practice intead of mainfestos and brand-name methodologies. There's a lot of good here, and you can pick out out easily.
   
   //wiredweird

2 comments about Design for Six Sigma in Technology and Product Development (Prentice Hall Six Sigma for Innovation and Growth Series).

1. Disclosure: I'm a competitor of Skip's in the Design for Six Sigma field.
   
   Skip obviously knows his stuff - he's written one of the most detailed descriptions of DFSS around. His differentiation of a methodology for technology development and product development is an important concept. The book provides a detailed step-by-step description of how to design a product for Six Sigma performance.
   
   However, the book is really a tough read. I've been working in the DFSS field for the last 7 years and I found it a tough go. The methodology descriptions, while detailed, suffer from a lack of examples or a case study.
   
   My other critique is that Skip describes the DFSS "nirvana" - if your development process is a bit informal, you'll start asking yourself "How in the world will I ever get to DFSS?" Some thoughts around how to transition from a typical development process to a DFSS-based approach would have been helpful.
   
   Finally, one of my clients handed this book out to virtually all their engineers at the beginning of their DFSS iniative. When, a year or two later, I'd ask the engineers if they had the book, the answer was invariably "Yes." When I'd asked if they'd read the book, however, the answer was just as invariably "No."
   
   If you already know about DFSS, its a great reference. If not, go buy one of the introductory books first.



2. I don't disagree that Creveling's book is a challenging read, but I do think it's a worthwhile and reasonably comprehensive text on the topics. Many of the methods presented require a certain level of sophistication to execute correctly. If you don't understand the material, maybe you shouldn't be trying to use some of the tools.

2 comments about Object-Oriented Programming with Visual Basic .NET.

1. As the name indicates, the contents of this book are truly object-oriented.
   It has all the lessons that learners would need in order to comprehend the various options and applications that Visual Basic .NET offers. This book provided exemplary guides, which would encourage learners to endure some self-tests. It anticipates problems and helps provide solutions that programmers can count on. Almost everything about it is positive.
   However, its information are not as detailed as some experts would like them to be. Again, anybody who has poor knowledge of Visual Basic 6.0 will not find this book easy. Its writer assumed that its readers are already familiar with VB 6.0.



2. I purchased this book in order to help me migrate from Visual Foxpro to Visual Basic 2005. Overall, I am very pleased with it. The examples are clear-cut and touch on real-world scenarios. The chapters on object oriented and interface programming are almost worth the price of the book. The remaining chapters are more geared towards objects specific to the .NET framework, not object-oriented programming per se. I would recommend this book to people who already have a fairly good knowledge of VB/VBA or another OO language such as Java.

No comments about FPGAs: Instant Access.

1 comments about Software Product Line Engineering: Foundations, Principles and Techniques.

1. This book is an excellent classroom book, but not practical for PLE in the field. It does an excellent job of laying out a framework for a PLE process and it does an excellent job of teaching variability. The main problem with the book is that it uses the Orthogonal Variability Model to trace the variability in the project's artifacts, and there are no tools to support an Orthogonal Variability Model. It is a perfect way to teach variability, and the Orthogonal Variability Model works well in a text book context, but would not be practical on a real project.
   
   The book makes reference to SEGOS-VM Tool, which is being developed to support the authors Orthogonal Variability Model, but it is no where to be found on the web.
   
   So I would suggest this book only if you are interested in becoming "book smart" about PLE, it does do an excellent job of teaching the topic, but it's process holds little value for real projects.

1 comments about Software Development for Embedded Multi-core Systems: A Practical Guide Using Embedded Intel® Architecture.

1. Max has done a very good job writing a readible yet comprehensive and current view of this important topic. I was struck at Max's ability to rattle off multiple applications of multi-core and even virtualization in this field. While not a surprise to many in the field, it showed both a strong knowledge of the field and a very current coverage of these important topics. Readers of this book will be well informed in this field, and even experts in the field would pick up a few tips because the book is so complete.

5 comments about Enterprise Knowledge Management: The Data Quality Approach (The Morgan Kaufmann Series in Data Management Systems).

1. While I am not a technical person, this booked helped me enormously to understand the management issues that surround data quality. In today's world, I am shocked that more companies are not using this approach to save massive sums of money. This book has given me the tools to do so within my company. I highly recommend it!



2. As a data warehouse practitioner for over 12 years, I was recently challenged at my current employer to help assemble a global data quality team and process. Having done much of the work before on a piecemeal basis, we made steady progress.

   When I received my copy of "Enterprise Knowledge Management," I found two important things:
   1. We were definitely on the right track, and
   2. There were some things we had missed.

   David Loshin has put together an excellent field guide to all aspects of data quality. It is very easy to understand, and contains practical, effective suggestions. Most importantly, it is a true "soup to nuts" guide to data quality. There is very little that you might need to improve your company's "knowledge quotient" that you will not find here.

   I have heartily recommended this book to a number of people when asked about data warehousing and data quality. You'll not find a better handbook anywhere.




3. Most of the literature on Data Quality focuses on the challenges of creating and maintaining a data warehouse. Thankfully, for those of us trying to improve the integrity of the information in our OLTP databases, this book presents a methodology which is not specific to any one data environment.

   This book is packed with lists of cases to consider for each step of the methodology. Each case is nicely documented. Actually, much of the book is taken filled with the documentation for each case, which may cause a person to lose sight of the methodology that is being presented.

   I am person who prefers to learn concepts. I am not as interested in memorizing details. Hence, I would read this book, skipping most of the documentation in the lists, instead focusing on understanding the methodology. Thereafter, I would use this book as a reference when needing information on a particular step of the methodology.




4. At the time the book was published I worked as a data quality manager at the New Zealand Ministry of Health focusing on the implementation of the Data Quality Strategy for National Health Databases. It was a great help for us. We've implemented many of David Loshin's principles. Most importantly it helped us to understand that the majority of our DQ problems were not due to the poor data management processes, but because of the inadequate system's design or poor data model, which was either conceptually or contextually incorrect, incomplete or inaccurate.



5. David has written an excellent data quality book. He focuses on a real works around data quality. He presents a practical approaches how to solve a different types of quality defects and also pointed out main quality principles. But reader must think how to apply mentioned principles and approaches in reader's organization.
   
   Simply, good reading with application on a real cases.

2 comments about Perl/Tk Pocket Reference.

1. While desperately hanging on for Mr O'Reilly's 'Learn Perl/Tk', I needed another fix of Perl and up popped this microscopic manual. For such a fantastic language, possibly the basis of all future non-web GUI development, there is a surprising lack of material out there on Perl/Tk, but this book does sterling work to plug that perldoc gap. As an Oracle DBA on Solaris, I now have more GUI database access tools than you can shake a slider at, and most have arisen from my scavenging of ./demos/widget, 'Advanced Perl' and this tiny reference. Once you get the hang of the foreshortened syntax, it's good to be able to flick from widget to widget without trawling through heavy indexes. I do have two complaints though; one, this pocket reference could've contained far more on 'Tiler', 'Table' and a few of the other more esoteric widgets - you could double the size of this book, and still fit it in an ant's lunchbox; two, if Mr O'Reilly delays the release of 'Learn Perl/Tk' again, I'm going to have to learn super Visual Basic J++ on Windows 98 and to hell with the consequences :-). Seriously though, this pocket reference has saved me hours of tracking down camera-shy Perl/Tk FAQs, and if you don't lose it through a small hole in your trousers, it may do the same for you. Top work.



2. As quick references go, the organization is pretty good. Covers pretty much all you need to remember the syntax and keep you going through those long nights of programming frenzies.

5 comments about Object-Oriented Modeling and Design for Database Applications.

1. Great combination of hands-on and conceptual understanding of object oriented software development and database design/programming. If you are new to the object-oriented world and have experience with procedural programming and database applications, this is the book to get. It will take you directly to the object-oriented view and how to use OMT/UML to use a sound and pragmatic process to achieve those goals. It might actually be the only book you need !!



2. This book really enables to seamlessly synthesize 2 approaches - relational and object oriented while building systems with complex data structures and persistence requirements.



3. The book is composed of four parts: modeling concepts, analysis/design, implementation and large system issues.

   The first part describes the main concepts on object oriented modeling. The topics on object relationships (association, aggregation, generalization) are excellent.

   The second part, I consider that contains the best chapters. There are a lot of advices on how to develop database applications following object orientation and on how to choose a data management approach.

   The third part, about implemmentation, has good and bad chapters. I don't like the chapters on relational databases. They include valuable information on how to map classes to relational databases but some space is wasted with basic concepts on relational databases and the main example is developed using Microsoft Access.

   The last part is the smallest one and contains introductory topics on distributed databases, integration of applications and reverse engineering.

   The class diagrams are in OMT notation.




4. I have read this book cover to cover. Think about that. When was the last time you (or anyone you know) read a technical book cover to cover? It is that good. It *does* get a bit deep and theoretical in many places, but it covers the subject matter with more depth and more meaningful examples than any other book I have ever seen. A MUST READ, if you want to design serious object databases!!



5. I absolutely recommend this book to anyone who has the patience and endurance to get through it. It is definately NOT easy reading. The material is extremely condensed with little or no redundancy, but it is the most complete and acurate technical book I have ever read. The excercises are great as well; not dumbed down unrealistically easy or multiple choice questions that give you the false impression that you've mastered the subject like many books contain, but very difficult and realistic problems. The authors obviously took their' time writing in.

5 comments about A Complete Guide to PivotTables: A Visual Approach.

1. As an intermediate user, I found nothing new here. I must agree with the other reviews here that state that this book seems rushed. There was not alot of time spent on each aspect of pivot tables, and the examples provide no new information that you can't find on the web. May be good for beginners, but again, just do Google search on pivot tables an you'll find the same info.



2. I was familiar with Excel, knew nothing about pivot tables ( a really great tool for analyzing data from spreadsheets), but with a new job where people do use pivot tables I wanted a book to teach me and to keep as a desk reference. This book was very rough going in the beginning, frustrating, and unclear. It wasn't until I got past chapter 3 things started to clear up, in fact chapter 3 should have been chapter 1 as it explains the basics. Furthermore the author has a tendency to switch database examples in mid lesson so that it is very confusing while trying to follow along learning an aspect of pivot tables. The book should have been edited better, someone unfamiliar with pivot tables should have tried to learn from it before the book was sent to press. There are mistakes in the examples that can make one think one has screwed up somehow (listed as ascending but is descending, columns missing or with different data, the wrong name of a chart type so that reader is creating a different chart from the one shown). It did come with downloads to use as examples and by the time I was through it I had learned pivot tables. It could have been better done. I did not bother with the programming section so I cannot speak to that.



3. Save yourself time and money. If you know the fundamentals of pivot tables and like to learn by playing your time would be best spent experimenting in excel. The book spends much of its space telling you things you should be able to deduce by looking at the excel menus.



4. If you just have a basic understanding of Excel, like I do, this is an excellent guide. Very understandable for non-technical types. Gives you step-by-step instructions. If you are an expert programmer, this book is probably not for you. I thought the screen shots and demo data was particularly helpful in understanding the basics of how to use Pivot tables. Of course, like anything else, you have to apply your own practical experience to it.



5. If you are an excel or access user who does not make use just yet of pivot tables and charts, this book is for you. It explains at a very basic level how to use pivot tables. Why is a matter of what you do and your math and imagination abilities.
   
   I recommend it for people who do not use them, because many people are still unfamiliar with the power of these tools and they truly are powerful and time savers.
   
   Power users purchase this book expecting too much for their level, I believe, so stick to it if you don't even know what they are or do not use them at all for your data analysis.