1 comments about Pro Windows Small Business Server 2003 (Pro).

1. I have always felt this book should be called "SBS foundations". This book forms a solid foundation for anyone wanting to be successful installing SBS server. The book covers SBS 2003 whithout assuming prior knowledge of SBS 2000 and is a very easy read. You will come to the end of this book knowing real world examples and situations. You will have the foundations you need to continue on in your career.
   
   This book is a must for any persons SBS library and worth reading over and over again. It is a fantastic reference tool and provides you with resources beyond the book.
   
   Well done Tony, this is a treasured member of my Professional book range at work.

5 comments about Sams Teach Yourself Perl in 21 Days (2nd Edition) (Sams Teach Yourself).

1. This book is not helpful for the newbies. Not only do some of the scripts not work, but the way Perl is explained in this book, it just doesn't make enough sense. I learned more from online tutorials that were perhaps 3 pages long than I learned in 15 pages of one chapter of this book. I usually pick things up quite easily, so it must be the book that is confusing.

   At least two of the script examples given in Chapters 1-8 had typos in them, and not enough explanation for someone that doesn't know much to figure out what. I am unfortunately going to have to give up on this book to learn Perl and turn to the internet... too bad I spent $35 for the book. I don't recommend this book to anyone except perhaps someone that already knows Perl.




2. If you want to start programming Perl in the shortest time possible, and have some programming background, you will benefit from reading Sam's Teach Yourself Perl in 24 Hours, which packs a lot of practical materials and emphasizes get-your-hands-dirty-immediately as well as uses a lot of code snippets to teach.
   
   This "in 21 days" book, on the other hand, is better if you have more time to learn Perl. Each lesson takes 1-2 hours, if you already have some programming background, and longer if you don't. This book treats Perl more systematically and in more details than the "24 hours" book. It explains a lot of concepts, including hashes and modules, more clearly than the "24 hours" book. I recommend you do 2 or 3 lessons each day, because Perl is such a compact yet complicated language, that it's best to force yourself to learn it quickly, rather than slowly, because slow learning will make you forget things. Be sure to study the examples in the book until you understand every line of code.



3. Teach Yourself Perl in 21 Days by Laura Lemay is sufficient for the beginner wanting to learn Perl, be it on Windows or a UNIX-based operating system. If Perl is your first programming language, then this book is a fairly good book to choose as a starting point. It teaches the basics of programming in Perl and moves quickly from that point onward.
   
   However, while this approach introduced me to the language I found my ability to pace through the book as I normally would with other programming languages hindered by the author's organization. Unexplained code is used in almost all of the examples before you get to its respective chapter. While this approach may work for some and give cause for thinking, it gave me an unnecessary headache.
   
   Don't get me wrong, it did teach me a good bit about Perl, it inspired me to install Debian Linux on my programming workstation, and left me to pursue Perl. Despite this, I turned to Learning Perl. I found Lemay's writing to be too verbose and the organization of the book a bit of a twister.
   
   Overall, it can be summed up by the following pros/cons:
   
   ~ Pros
   - Good introduction to Perl
   - Independent of Operating System (Great for Windows users ready to Learn Perl and perhaps Migrate to Linux for programming purposes)
   - Solid examples and references
   - Covers more advanced topics later on
   
   ~ Cons
   - Verbose
   - Awkward structure. Things such as loops are constantly used in beginning examples without much of an explanation. If you don't' have any experience with programming, it will give you a headache. The sections on these devices come much later, and have a strange introduction as well.
   - Frustrating at times when it shouldn't be (IE, having you use functions that you haven't learned, or haven't been mentioned, in an example for a particular chapter)
   
   Additionally, I'd recommend picking up Learning Perl or using it instead. I picked up Teach Yourself Perl in 21 Days, learned what I could, and then fell in love with Learning Perl's concise, straight to the point chapters and examples (albeit with a fair amount of humor). If you're a Linux/UNIX user, you'll probably find Learning Perl a better catch, but for me, Teach Yourself Perl in 21 Days was the stepping stone to Linux and Learning Perl. Overall, I'm satisfied with my purchase.



4. I bought this book after trying to learn Perl through another book (Perl for Bioinformatics). This book is definitely a better introduction to Perl than any other book I've seen. It is clear and concise enough and although it might be hard to finish it in 21 days, you can start coding your own scripts much before the end of the book. I am still on chapter 11 and I can program most of what I need with it (i.e parsers and simple bioinformatics applications). I recognize that there are a few typos on the book but if even Knuth's Art of Computer Programming have them why shouldn't Lemay's Teach Yourself Perl in 21 Days do the same?
   
   Given what I said above, I must warn begginer programmers (like me) that Perl is not the best language for you to learn as your first one. It is a dirty scripting language which does the job and is most suitable for parsing files and formatting data but it has a lot of things which make it quite confusing initially (its context dependency for instance). If you want to learn something that will give a solid programming base you should start with something else (i.e. Java, Pascal, Ruby etc) which will probably be a little bit harder but will payoff later.



5. I find myself using this book as a refernce almost every day. It is well written and easy to follow. I highly recommend it.

5 comments about Python Scripting for Computational Science (Texts in Computational Science and Engineering).

1. When I first got ahold of this book I had just finished learning all the gory details of good numerical codes. But when developing tests for simple cases I found that development went way too slow, so someone suggested I learn Python. This book provides a great demonstration of how python can supplement your existing codes. Either by organizing the tests, formatting output, or just adding pretty interfaces.
   
   This book contains a lot of the necessary extras that a scientist or engineer must do to get his work going or finished, which is too pedantic to be taught in most courses. It shows the power of Python over some other scripting languages for this purpose. It is definitely one of the best references on my book shelf.



2. Langtangen's emphasis here is on a reader who comes from a strong background in engineering or science, and is familiar with common computational ideas and has done some programming, but not necessarily in Python. The typical book on Python is aimed at a general programming reader, and the examples in such a book usually are quite elementary, from a computational viewpoint.
   
   The merit of Langtangen's book is that he gets into a lot of computational ideas. This is not a trivial book. Aspects like parsing data in files, connecting to local and remote hosts, and interacting with programs written in other languages are covered. For the latter, the important cases of Fortran and C programs are explained. The choices of these languages is deliberate. In science and engineering, they are the dominant languages for raw computation. And you are likely to have legacy code written in these, that you cannot abandon while using Python.



3. I have both the 2nd and 3rd edition of the book. The book does have 'unexciting academic LaTeX format' which another reviewer pointed out, as is also true that one should 'NOT expect a cookbook of high performance algorithm implementations'. Rather, I would say that this is the type of book that algorithm-intense cookbooks could be made from.
   
   The book has a lot to offer someone prepared to slosh through and dig in deep to the guts of the book. In this sense I found the book to lack a sense of conceptual significance, in that much of the mundane material of everyday programming receives the same level of detail that the more complex subjects do. So, it is often that I find myself skimming the trivial to find the core. Unfortunately, some of the core code elements and examples are compiled from a litany of trivialities and then it is necessary to go back and pick up the bits and pieces to make sense of where you are focusing on.
   
   More often than not, the maze of obfuscation does lead to an interesting 'ah ha' and that makes the book worthwhile to me. I think the update from 2nd to 3rd editions is warranted, but should also have included a proper parsing of the chaff and a little creativity in layout would go a long way to making this book true reading material and a ready-by-your-side reference.
   
   As it stands, I need to get in the right frame of mind to approach the book on even a casual encounter. But when I do, I am pleased with what I can take away from it and readily apply. The Tools and Examples section, which has high applicability to testing code, is very worthwhile but, again, is a little shaded as in viewing the forest from the trees.



4. If you want to learn Python, you should get it. Author do not build some "big" application (like "internet store software" or "bookstore software") from beginning to end, but rather give you a lot of practical examples of using python.
   
   It is not like in others book that examples include only learned functions/methods, but use topics from the rest of book (you have example on page 25 and note that explanation of this and that function you found on page 543). By that you have interesting examples to use in real-world problems, not only examples to explain freshly learned topic.
   In other books interesting examples of use python you found on page 3234, because only when author introduce all useful functions. In this book nice examples is even on first pages.
   
   
   You learn how to use numerical packages (numpy) in python, using some useful tricks on lists and arrays, introduce to using graphical interface in Tk.



5. Python Scripting for Computational Science is both an introduction to the Python language and an excellent reference for the intermediate developer. The approach taken by the author is to present the language in the form of tasks to be solved accompanied by example code. As expected for a book on scientific computing the modules covered in the examples emphasize numerical packages but this in no way detracts from the applicability to general Python enthusiast.
   
   What really makes this book more than just another Python introduction is that the author bridges the gap between complied and interpreted code. He demonstrates how the speed of execution of compiled code can be tied to the rapid pace at which scripts can be developed. Examples are provided for interfacing C, C++ and FORTRAN code with Python. Calls to precompiled applications are also covered and the examples were easily adapted to my favorite computational tools. One of the risks with doing numerical work in a scripting language is the possibility of straying into computationally intensive tasks to which interpreted code is not well suited . Latter chapters discuss how to identify these portions of your code and how to migrating these tasks to a compiled language.

5 comments about Next Generation Java Testing: TestNG and Advanced Concepts.

1. This was not the book I expected, but it makes a lot of sense that it turned out this way. Cedric is like the Martin Luther of the testing world. I ranted about a lot of the same things in JUnit, especially for instance, the whole crazy TestDecorator business, but Cedric just blew the house down. TestNG, after JUnit, was like getting out of jail.
   
   So it makes sense that this book is a kind of exhaustive compendium of testing approaches, and as such, it succeeds, in most ways. There are a few things that don't show up, for instance, there is discussion of container testing, but Shale is not mentioned (unit testing JSF is made much better by it, and JSF is part of JEE5 so it deserves attention). The section on testing XML was good, considering dom4j, XMLUnit, etc., but it ends too quickly. For instance, what about using XPath statements? or some schema tools?
   
   Given that Cedric's partner in crime, of Bileblog fame, was aboard for this outing, rants were bound to ensue, and they are mostly useful and add value, if they are rather tame. The one about logging left me just totally perplexed. Logging is not good? It's made out to be even possibly harmful? Say what? On the other hand, the rants about JUnit are on target. Their rant about using test coverage as a badge of honor is right on the money.
   
   They even go into Spring's test mechanisms, and do a good job with it. Then they skate through Guice to discuss some of the advantages of preventing the spread into XML. Now, the lead argument here is that not only does the metadata produce bloat, but it puts logic out of the grasp of refactoring tools (an argument Cedric has used v. dynamic languages).
   
   In an age where computer books are usually long articles, this book goes through a dizzying range of subjects, and does so without resorting to the bland repetition of documentation that is already out there. I could only have wished for a greater emphasis on innovation. The reason is that this book I am afraid will scare people who really need to be brought into the fold. It's pathetic, really, but most teams are still either not testing or doing crazy things like writing a few tests after delivering the code. For people who have dug around trying to get a lot of the right things into their test diet, this is the best guide available right now.



2. "Next Generation Java Testing" has a subtitle: "TestNG and Advanced Concepts." This isn't surprising given the creator of TestNG is an author, but is important to realize. It starts with 6.5 pages on why TestNG is better than JUnit 3.8. Then only two paragraphs on JUnit 4. This has been a pet peeve of mine for some time. It's like comparing the current version of C# to Java 1.3 and then saying Java is worse because it doesn't have generics.
   
   I liked the code snippets in the TestNG sections as they focused on relevant pieces. The examples were to the point. Especially the performance and J2EE sections. I liked the concepts described in chapter 2 (over 100 pages.)
   
   The authors describe open source libraries that integrate with TestNG. I liked this coverage although JMock could have used a code example for comparison (easyMock had one.) Ant targets were provided for the code coverage examples.
   
   Chapter seven is titled "digressions." Some quotes from the text on this: "pet peeves, rants, annoyances and musings", "much ... very tangentially relevant", "some ... outright irrelavant." I agree with some and disagree with some. I think this chapter would have been better as a series of blog posts than a chapter in a book.
   
   If you are using/planning to use TestNG and can ignore the rants, this is a good book.



3. College-level libraries strong in Java programming guides need NEXT GENERATION JAVA TESTING: unlike many Java programmer's guides, it provides a pragmatic discussion for Java developers interested in building stronger code for applications, and packs in chapters discussing testing methods, tradeoffs associated with testing, applications of testing theory and rules, analysis of partial failures and remote invocation, and more. In-depth and extensive code examples throughout also differentiate NEXT GENERATION JAVA TESTING from competitors, making it a top recommendation.
   
   Diane C. Donovan
   California Bookwatch



4. At last a book that deals with testing applications (in java) that seems to be written by author's who have worked with real life, non trivial projects(TDD with adding two money objects together, anyone?).
   This book describes using TestNG along with some advanced TestNG concepts and goes on to show how to use the framework to test out JEE projects. There are also chapters showing the developer how to integrate TestNG with other frameworks (like spring, DBUnit, jwebunit etc) which is useful as this is perhaps the only place where JUnit is better than TestNG. Inspite of the fact that TestNG documentation is pretty good, this book is worthwile buying (even if you use JUnit as your testing tool of choice).
   There is useful coding and refactoring advice along the way(also a commentary on TDD), and a miscellaneous chapter of sorts which seems to have been written by Hani and edited by Cedric to remove all profanities!.
   I do hope the author's expand the testing enterprise application bits to cover more testing scenarios and examples in later additions.



5. Very nicely written keeping real world requirements in mind. Could have had some more examples.

5 comments about Programming the Perl DBI.

1. It's hard to imagine an entire book about this. It's not bad, for what it is though. If you have any database knowledge and read the appropriate sections already in Programming Perl or the Perl Cookbook, I don't imagine you'll get too much use from this.



2. This book has been a valuable reference of mine for several years for web database programming projects. I bought the book soon after it was released and continue to use it - sometimes on a daily basis depending upon the project I am currently developing. I realized from the beginning that much of the material in this book came from the online documentation and have still found the book to be useful enough to stay on my A-list of reference materials. Applications like CGIScripter need to utilize up to half a dozen different databases so I have found the reference section on each database be the section I often turn to first. I have not found this info available anywhere in the online documentation. When you program and debug on multiple computers with multiple windows open simultaneously, having a reference book is often more manageable than opening another window on the computer. And for those times when I am struggling with an especially troublesome programming issue, I have found it very helpful to sit in my easy chair with a reference book like the Perl DBI book in order to research the problem. The only reason I am not giving the book 5 stars is that it hasn't been updated in a few years so it doesn't include info on some of the new DBI supported databases like SQLite.



3. The database-oriented view of programming has become increasingly popular, and it is of great importance for all serious programmers to understand how to use their favorite language to manipulate the database systems. With the variety of database systems out there, it can be a real challenge to learn what there is to know. For the Perl programmer, however, there is this book on the matter, and it will probably be all you'll need to get started working with database programming in no time. Other reviewers have stated that this is a regurgitation of the docs. This is partially true. But the docs are very bland, and this book presents the information in a much more informative, and easy to read manner. With it, you can begin programming the DBI within a week (a day if you already know SQL and skip the chapter on the Berkley DB system). Recommended for anyone interested in learning how to use Databases with Perl. If you already know the DBI, the book wont be of much help, maybe as a reference, but I'd only pick it up if you don't know it, or are still inexperienced at it.



4. This is a (the definitive) book on Perl DBI. I swapped book-for-book with a former co-worker for this. I keep it in the office for the newbies.
   
   If you're already a pro at PERL, you should be able to get by with just the CPAN documentation. However, if your employer is footing the bill, get it. :-)
   
   However if you're new to PERL and need to use DBI, get it.
   
   Very nice tips and tricks you can pick up, even a few for the pros.



5. If you are serious about using Perl to interface with any database, then this is the only book will will ever need. Amazon was the only place I could find a copy, since the book is currently out-of-print.

5 comments about Visual Studio Tools for Office: Using C# with Excel, Word, Outlook, and InfoPath (Microsoft .NET Development Series).

1. This is a solid walkthrough of building C# automation code for Office, and for writing code that integrates into Office. Excel is covered in depth. As are Word, Outlook and the fascinating new Infopath product that is an XML technologies client.
   
   The writing is good. I could have used a few more non-screenshot graphics to illustrate the control flow between applications. But these are nit-picks. This is a solid book on automating and integrating with office using C# and .NET framework.



2. This book ties together two longstanding traits of Microsoft, that long predate C# or .NET. The first is its Office suite, which is one of its main moneyspinners. The second is its tradition, going back to the early 80s, if not earlier, for writing nice development tools for programmers.
   
   Undoubtedly, when Microsoft devised C#/.NET a few years ago, the abilities given in this book would have been a major goal. The book promises a synergy between C# and Office. The attraction is of course the huge user base for Office. To this ends, the book describes many ways to open up Office to programmatic control and customisation.
   
   The code examples don't even seem all that hard, conceptually. No doubt, they were well chosen for this reason. The size of the book reflects its natural division. There are sections that correspond to the components of Office- Excel, Word, Outlook.
   
   You can also see from the examples that there are groups of classes, in an object hierarchy that is very logically named so that you can easily get at the underlying data. For example, a worksheet under Excel is accessed as [naturally] Excel.Worksheet.
   
   Open source proponents might decry this further lockin of a developer into Microsoft's arms. But if you are willing to put up with that, it has to be said that Microsoft does provide a lot of support.



3. Part of my 2006 professional goals involve learning more about Microsoft's collaboration software. To that end, I got a review copy of Eric Carter and Eric Lippert's book Visual Studio Tools for Office - Using C# with Excel, Word, Outlook, and InfoPath. Good stuff here...
   
   Contents:
   Part 1 - An Introduction to VSTO: An Introduction to Office Programming; Introduction to Office Solutions
   Part 2 - Office Programming in .NET: Programming in Excel; Working with Excel Events; Working with Excel Objects; Programming Word; Working with Word Events; Working with Word Objects; Programming Outlook; Working with Outlook Events; Working with Outlook Objects; Introduction to InfoPath
   Part 3 - Office Programming in VSTO: The VSTO Programming Model; Using Windows Forms in VSTO; Working with Action Pane; Working with Smart Tags in VSTO; VSTO Data Programming; Server Data Scenarios; .NET Code Security; Deployment
   Part 4 - Advanced Office Programming: Working with XML in Excel; Working with XML in Word; Developing COM Add-Ins for Word and Excel; Creating Outlook Add-Ins with VSTO
   Index
   
   The two Erics have put together a very nice volume that shows how the programmability of Office is structured, and then how that object model can be used within the Visual Studio environment using special tools provided for that purpose. While you have to have the latest and greatest Office and VS software to follow along, their writing style is pretty straight-forward, and the reader should be able to pick up on the core concepts to understand the possibilities inherent in the integration. Even if you're not necessarily ready to fire up VS to program Word or Excel, Part 1 and 2 do a great job in showing the object layout of those Office components and how they can be manipulated. If you've never gotten into the code that can be added to a Word or Excel document, those two parts of the book would be worth it alone.
   
   For me, I'm going to gain two benefits from this book. First, the object model information will help me better integrate Office into my Notes/Domino applications. I do some of that now, but the object model for Excel and Word have always been somewhat hazy to me. This book will help clarify those areas. Second, I think that knowing more about InfoPath will be part of my process as I seek to understand more about Microsoft collaboration application development. As a result, having this book should help me tie InfoPath into the Visual Studio environment and get a running start on my education.
   
   Definitely a useful addition to your library if this is an area of interest to you...



4. THERE IS NO CODE Download, you get to ALL THE DOCUMENTS YOUR SELF, I have read most of the word portion (that's why I bought the book) If I had written this book I would have created an integrated application. That's what office is all about right? I think this is a great egghead book, but for learning TERRIBLE.
   
   Pass on this, wait for the wrox book; even if it sucks, I am sure it would be better than this. AW would you like me to write a book? I can bang out something more practical in a weekend!
   
   M~



5. If you just want to switch from VB to C# and are looking for a good how to reference this is not the book for you especially as it pertains to Microsoft Word. There is a solid description and how to for the range object, but that's about it. Word's Bulleted/Numbered List object, arguably the most convoluted of them all, doesn't even get mentioned and tables are glossed over in barely 2 pages.

5 comments about SharePoint 2003 User's Guide (Expert's Voice).

1. Excellent read! The book held my hand through some of the rough areas of Sharepoint and helped me set up a comprehensive Project Management site for my team. The samples were very helpful and covered the right topics. You get a good appreciation for what Sharepoint has to offer and how you can customize it to your needs.
   
   I recommend this book to anyone just starting off with Sharepoint. No deep technical knowledge required.



2. I am an IT executive who has been a heavy SPS user for the last 1.5 years. During that time I have met with many companies that have an interest in Sharepoint, but who do not have a good vision on how to use it. I have seen a gap in understanding the core capabilities as well as how to put the pieces together into a solution. This book fills that gap. It covers all the core capabilities of Sharepoint in a clear, understandable way. In addition, it shows how to put the pieces together into solutions such as document collaboration, project collaboration, meeting mangement, and information centers. This book will appeal to a broad audience, from IT and business/IT execs to information technology implementers. This book is a good place to start if you are considering implementing Sharepoint or you just want to learn more about it. If you have already implemented Sharepoint, this book can fill in the gaps in your knowledge.



3. I have used this comprehensive users guide as my support for any and all issues regarding development of the sharepoint site. Online blogs didn't help. Microsoft phone support didn't help. This book helps. It has a description of every aspect of the sharepoint system and is just unbelievably helpful. This book has already paid for itself in terms of time and money saved. GREAT!



4. You will have more help on the help menu or much more help on the discovery kit that you can get downloaded from Microsoft.
   
   This book doesn't give you a needed view and does not give you a real example of a deployed scenario. It does not explain the role of the Active directory and how to take advantage of it. It does not explain why you would need to create a Portal Area and why you would need to change the factory properties (like Division, Region) that come with the product.
   
   The explanation is very straightforward but it's useless for a project leader.



5. If you need another good reference then this book will help. It has several examples and suggestion that all levels of experience can use.

3 comments about Outlook 2007: Beyond the Manual (Btm (Beyond the Manual)).

1. Do you want to get more from the software installed on your desktop? If you do, then this book is definitely for you. Authors Tony Campbell and Jonathan Hassell, have done an outstanding job of writing a book for those that are currently Outlook users and want to learn more about this sophisticated product's extended set of capabilities.
   
   Campbell and Hassell, begin by looking at the new features available in Outlook 2007; as well as, taking a short walk through the basics of setting up and using email. Then, the authors cover some of the ancillary capabilities Outlook provides for enhancing this messaging capability. Next, they focus on organizing email features such as search folders to create query-based folders that are virtual representations of email in your inbox. The authors also explain how you can best use Outlook's inherent ability to act as your personal address book. They continue by delving into some of the extra features Outlook provides. Then, the authors look at how to manage tasks. Next, they cover how to manage Outlook storage, focusing on the underlying data files that are used to contain Outlook items associated with each of your accounts. They continue by diving into color categories, by introducing you to this much improved method for visually assessing email messages, tasks, and appointments that are related to each other. Then, the authors show you how to customize standard Outlook functionality using profiles, command-line switches, views, and the Outlook Today web interface to shape it into a bespoke tool that services your every whim. Next, they also cover all you need to know about securing Outlook. They continue by showing you the best way to configure Outlook when you have no real fixed abode or you are on the move. Finally, the authors go further by showing you how to customize Outlook when using forms and macros.
   
   By using this most excellent book, you will immediately see the benefits of what Outlook 2007 can bring to both your home life and your work life. Perhaps more importantly, these benefits, with just a little practice, will offer not only personal and organizational benefits, but will also increase productivity and lead to considerable savings in both money and time.



2. A wonderful resource for the beginner and seasoned IT user.
   
   This book is written for the person who wants to take complete advantage of all those "neat" features" you never knew existed within Outlook. In fact, the book gave me several great ideas to streamline my e-mail communications using Outlook in conjunction with other MS products.
   
   The book was obviously written by folks who have an intimate knowledge of Outlook and Windows and is not your typical regurgitation of MS documentation. Writing is very clear and precise. The authors are intuitive about the features they discuss. No wasted discussion on features you'll never want to use.
   
   I for one will be looking at the entire series of MS book.



3. 80% of this book can be found in any basic Outlook book. I am the IS Educator at my place of business and have two other manuals that teach Outlook basics, plus I have years of experience with Outlook. I purchased this book to learn beyond the basics, hoping for more detail on setting options, configuring Outlook and solving difficult conflicts that arise during daily use. I think the book is poorly written, lacks depth and is difficult to use as a reference book for problem solving. I have picked up a few tips, but this book is not worth the money for experienced Outlook users.

No comments about Practical UML Statecharts in C/C++, Second Edition: Event-Driven Programming for Embedded Systems.

3 comments about Microsoft Office Word 2003 Inside Out (Microsoft Office Word Inside Out).

1. I'm a fan of Microsoft Press's "Inside Out" series and own half a dozen books (or maybe more) from it. I bought this book to become an expert at Word 2003, but I found that while the book covers a lot of ground, it lacks depth on many topics. And it's writing style is quite confusing. For example, I tried to understand how to customize headers and footers by section, and after reading and re-reading the parts of the book that deal with this topic several times, I stil couldn't figure out. In the end, I just experimented on my own. Word is a complex piece of software. This book unfortunately does a poor job at making Word easier to learn, even for someone like myself who was already quite proficient with the software at the basic-intermediate level.



2. I just ordered this book to prepare me for the Microsoft certification exams. I've just flipped through it, but I don't think I'll be able to use it. It has very detailed sections on how to do things within Word, but I need more of a workbook. I expected the CD to contain exercises, but upon inspection it's just a PDF version of the book and some "extras." If you want a workbook version with exercises to do, I just purchased the PowerPoint version of the Step by Step series, and I think I'll have to order the Word version of that.



3. I found this book to be thorough & easy to understand. A great purchase that delivers all that I've come to expect from the "Inside Out" books! Love it and I use it often.