4 comments about Testing Applications on the Web: Test Planning for Mobile and Internet-Based Systems, Second Edition.

1. This is more than a minor update of the first edition of this highly regarded book - it's a major rewrite with added material on mobile web testing.

   As in the earlier book, this one clearly shows the differences between traditional testing and web testing, which will provide QA professionals who are moving from older environments into web-based systems an orientation and direction. For new QA professionals the chapters on software testing basics, networking and web application components provide a solid foundation. The chapter on mobile web application platforms is unique to this book, and adds true value. Other core material includes test planning, and a sample application and test plan to add realistic scenarios to the material.

   Web-specific test advice encompasses UI, functional, server-side, database, help, installation, compatibility, security and performance testing. These cover all facets of the test process and associated procedures in a web-centric environment. Additional chapters include using test scripts, testing mobile web applications, and web testing tools.

   While the core content is on the mark and accurate, the appendices are as invaluable. These include a test plan template, weekly status report template, error analysis checklist (with error examples), UI test-case design guidelines (common keyboard navigation/shortcut matrix and mouse action matrix web), test-case design guideline: input boundary and validation matrix, display compatibility test matrix, and browser/OS configuration matrix.

   If you test web systems this is the most complete book you can read, and it is destined to attain the same 'classic' status as the first edition.




2. Great book - everything you need to know about web testing



3. I am a software developer that had to create an automated performance web testing system. This book (along with two others) provided my with a good overview on best practices for creating my "Internet Macros" for performance web testing.



4. I borrowed this book's first version and liked it very much. Since I can't find the first version anywhere, I have to buy this new version. I wanted to buy at Amazon in order to save my time driving to bookstore, plus it is cheaper here. I was worried if this book has the sections I need which were in first version. This --Search inside this book-- is superb!! At first, I did not realize it has the whole "contents" list. Then I realized if I click on "next", it will show you the complete "contents". I saw the chapter that I need and ready to buy it. Very happy with this feature--Search inside this book. There is no doubt this book is superb for QA engineer.

4 comments about Op Amp Applications Handbook (Analog Devices Series).

1. I've used 3 editions of the author's Op Amp Cookbook over the last 15 years, and found it to be an invaluable source of practical designs, accompanied by solid descriptions of the underlying principles. Based on that experience, I expected this book to be good. I am by no means disappointed.
   
   It isn't a cookbook, although it does include many useful concrete design examples. It is more of an applications problem-solving guide. I've often found that some of the most useful op amp design information is buried in specific device datasheets and application notes, and have often found myself wishing someone would extract all of those nuggets, organize them, fill in the gaps, and publish them. As I read through this book, I found many such nuggets (primarily derived from Analog Devices' datasheets and app notes), which I had previously regarded as hidden treasure, uncovered only by tedious slogging through numerous datasheets. This is not, however, a re-packaging of previously published app notes. The chapters are comprehensive, well-written, and well-integrated.
   
   Those interested in audio applications may remember that the original edition of the author's Op Amp Cookbook contained an extremely useful chapter on audio circuits. In the second edition, this material was extracted and published in a separate book, which (unfortunately) went out of print and has become hard to find. You will be happy to note that the new Applications Handbook has excellent coverage of audio op amp applications and design principles.



2. This is a great textbook for electrical engineers and hobbyists with fundamental knowledge of op-amp operation. The text is easy to read and explains concepts that are understandable for both the inexperienced and experienced engineer and also gives an excellent historical treatment of op-amp evolution. The mathematics involved is concise and to the point. This text gives engineers tools to understand the op-amp beyond the ideal models presented in basic circuit theory and electronics courses given in undergraduate programs. To apply op-amps properly, you need to go beyond the simplistic assuptions - this book will help you given you have an understanding of basic electronics design and analysis. I highly recommend having this book on your shelf for a reference.



3. This is a great reference book. Starting with Op Amp Basics (chapter 1) and continuing on with Instrumentation amps, Op Amps used in data converters and signal conditioning, the book is full of valuable information. The book even covers PCB layout techniques and parasitic effects that become important in high speed systems and precision systems. There is also a history of the Op Amp which is interesting to read.
   Anyone interested in analog circuit design in general, and op amps in particular will enjoy this book. It is a good reference for any engineer's bookshelf.



4. Walter has written another down-to-earth design book. This book contains much theory, but not at the expense of practical design information. A good read here profits the analog designer; so says an analog designer of 40 years experience.

5 comments about Learning Ruby (Learning).

1. The chapters are tightly organized and neatly structured. The author writes clearly and directly. You'll learn a lot.
   
   There are many short paragraphs and examples that lead to moments of "Oh, so that's how it works!" This is now my favorite book for sharpening my understanding of Ruby while expending the least effort.
   
   The chapters cover all the basics of Ruby - strings, hashes, arrays etc. But you also go nicely beyond the basics. Chapter 9, on Classes, is the clearest explanation I've seen covering Ruby and object-oriented programming. The author also easily explains advanced topics (like Reflection) - and other real delights that are in use by Ruby programmers and hackers around the net.
   
   There is an unexpected surprise at the end of the book, with a comprehensive but short introduction to Rails. It's not just a thoughtless bolt-on, but a natural extension to the rest of the book. As if this wasn't enough of a bonus, Appendix A presents a thorough "Ruby Reference". You'll also find an informative Glossary full of useful / practical terminology.
   
   This may not be perfect as a first book on Ruby or programming, but no book deserves to stand alone on a bookshelf. "Learning Ruby" is certainly a great one to own if your intent is to explore and harness the power of this technology.
   
   What other book on computer technology shows you how it works, introduces you to the culture and forces driving its development forward, and provides plenty of code for you to freely tinker with? This one does - and it's packaged in a binding that is thinner than a laptop.
   
   It's a great book - don't miss it.



2. As a book entitled "Learning Ruby", this is a draw for new programmers looking to pick up ruby and the book's smallish size (compared to other ruby works on the market) adds to that attraction for me. The problem is that while the author wants to target both experienced programmers and novice programmers alike, it is the novice programmers who are short-sticked but I do caveat that with "...depending on what your novice needs are."
   
   I think this book falls in wonderful place just past absolute beginner and right before intermediate programmer. Learning Ruby is short on code examples with lengthy explanations but NOT short on code OR explanations.
   
   It is really sort of like a "hacks" type of programming book with a swiss-army knife type of utility. What this means is that the experienced programmer will immediately see the value in this book and find productivity with ruby fairly quickly if not instantly because of the concise code examples and explanations.
   
   The novice programmer and 'Ruby Newbie' will need a little bit of ground work. At least I did. The good news though is that this really is a fantastic book for someone looking to "learn" Ruby in a short amount of time but basics only. What you will need is some basic understanding of programming concepts to read more into the short explanations of ruby programming concepts in this book. I know, to suggest some basic understand to read a book that is supposed to teach basics isn't right. That is the books weakness yet the book is truly accessible to all but the newest of new programmers.
   
   I actually started out with Beginning Ruby by Apress, a five star book at the time of this writing. The Apress book does much more hand holding for the beginner and does an excellent and good job of it before quickly ramping up the challenge of coding.
   
   Chapters 2 and 3 of the Apress book alone are worth the price of entry...no beginner should be without that book. With that said, Learning Ruby is a good read that has the right mix of information to make a great reference for quickly looking up Ruby programming concepts as you get started with Ruby. You will quickly get familiar with Ruby using this book.
   
   It's not too thin and it's not too thick. It is just right but NOT right as a stand-alone work for Learning Ruby and slightly less desirable as a first work on Ruby for newbies.
   
   Some of the examples or hacks were kind of cool to know having read the Apress book. I'm never one to tackle a new subject from a single author. I attack it from 2 or more authors at the same time with overlap of texts for a broader approach on the topic.
   
   So to the Ruby Newbies and novice programmers like myself, if you need an additional ruby book that is much quicker to work through as a reference but also with enough explanation and code to provide a decent context for learning then this is great resource only if you've done just a bit of ruby coding before or at least understand some programming concepts or hold a basic, minimal understanding of the ruby.
   
   This book is, though, an excellent added resource to your library of learning. The author makes a nice progression from quick hits and examples of Ruby overall to more focused topics and bit deeper dive towards the end. I would suggest however that you start with Beginning Ruby by Apress, Ruby By Example and The Ruby Way, Second Edition (in that order). It isn't a bad idea to tackle more than one book at a time, at your own pace, cross-referencing and comparing as you go.
   
   This is a great way to accelerate your learning and understanding.
   
   ~TL



3. This isn't the book that "does one thing but does it extremely good". If the author wants to cut corner (due to the depth of Ruby as a language), he should cut some features not the explanation.
   
   When you have code like this:
   
   [An example of rolling 2 dices]
   r_1 = rand(6); r_2 = rand(6)
   r1 = r1>0?r_1:1; r2 = r2>0?r_2:6
   
   And a comment like this:
   "...a little fancy footwork to make sure it does not return 0..."
   
   These are signs that you just got duped.
   
   Often I have to guess why he wrote certain piece of code the way he likes it. Explanation does not exist.
   
   There are errors in the books. I've filed them on O'reilly website but found out that the author does not verify them. Others had voiced the same concern as well on O'reilly website.
   
   I would suggest others to buy "Beginning Ruby" from APress if you're looking for an alternative books on Ruby aside from the "PickAxe" (Programming in Ruby 2nd Ed by Pragmatic Bookshelf) book. "Beginning Ruby" is 3 dollars more expensive but covers Ruby more and have better rating.
   
   One last note:
   AVOID ALL O'REILLY BOOKS ON WEB 2.0 (OR HOT TOPICS).
   
   Learning JavaScript is not much different than Learning Ruby book. Read the review if you don't believe me.
   
   Learning JavaScript (bad)
   Learning Ruby (bad)
   Ruby on Rails: Up and Running (bad)
   Learning C# (ain't no better than C# for Dummies or Teach Yourself series)
   
   O'reilly is selling thin books with "thick book" price. Shame on you Tim.



4. I don't understand why some people complain about this book's simplicity. That's exactly what the book was done for and that's exactly what to author states in the first lines. This book is to get you up and running quickly and NOT to turn you into a Ruby master. I read the Dave Thomas book and it is complicated. It is also boring most of the time. This one is for busy developer who wants to get the basic first and teach himself the advanced stuff later. This book is thin and objective, pretty much like Ruby. If you want to start coding quickly buy this code. If you want to "entertain" yourself over some months with a bunch of theory buy Dave Thomas' book.



5. This is a great introduction to Ruby. It covers the basics without swamping the fledgling programmer in too much complexity. That's not what newcomers need. They aren't worried about the nooks and crannies of the array class; they're wondering what the heck an array is, and what makes it different from a hash. In that respect, this book strikes a nice balance.
   
   Having read (and bought) most of the O'Reilly books on Ruby, Perl, and Python, I can honestly say that this book ranks high at the top of them--not because it is the definitive work on Ruby (it isn't and isn't supposed to be), but because it covers the core essentials in a way that you can read in an afternoon. For that reason, it is an excellent choice for a first timer in Ruby and/or programming to see why Ruby is a great language worth learning, without having to get a computer science degree first, and without having to hire a Sherpa to help them lug their book around while they read it (I'll refrain from pointing fingers at other books here).
   
   I think that's one thing many of the reviewers missed about this book. "Learning Ruby" is designed for the newcomer who wants to get jump started in Ruby, not for the experienced programming who is just looking for a nutshell summary.
   
   I would also like to add that at one point, I had a question about what was included with the one-click installation system and emailed the author, who very quickly investigated the problem and emailed me back with an answer. You have to admit: that's pretty impressive.
   
   Now, there are areas of the book that should probably be expanded on for the next edition. Primarily, I'm thinking of a chapter devoted to regular expressions a la "Learning Perl", a chapter devoted to IO (this would be brief but handy) including a section on string interpolation and how to use and combine string methods (a very cool aspect of Ruby), and finally an expansion on the chapter involving classes to address a few of the things that some of the other reviewers have already identified as important but missing.
   
   However, those are not fatal by any means, and for the first edition in a relatively new language, this book is well worth the time and money.

5 comments about Data Structures and Problem Solving Using Java (2nd Edition).

1. I absolutely love this book. Some of the best code examples I have seen in a Computer Science book. It flows very nicely and has very good explanations of why one way is bettter than another.



2. I bought this book with great expectations after reading the positive reviews. But the book only provides the interfaces for most of the collections (Data Structures?) and provides very similar implementations to that of the SUN's source with some of implementations left to the reader to complete. Instead of buying this book, you are better off downloading the Source from the SUN JDK 1.5 (JAVA 5) and reading the javadocs.



3. book is not so good. explanations are overcomplicated, even for simple issues. If you are beginner get "Teach yourself Java in 21 days" instead.



4. This book is a college textbook for my data structures java class. I was not new to programing at the start of my course, however I was new to OOP. This book does a horrible job of explaining the concept of OOP which, in my opinion, is difficult to grasp at first. The information in this book is very dense. Complex concepts are only given an explanation that is a page or two long (ex: Binary search trees). The examples aren't horrible, but they lack ample documentation. Now that I fully understand the concepts (thanks to the internet) this book makes an alright reference. Overall, if you already know Java or C++ or a similar OO language, this book is probably exactly what you need to learn how to store your data in Java, but if you don't know what OOP is, look elsewhere.



5. I was required to purchase this text for my course. Having never programmed in java before and not having a strong programming background, I found this book almost impossible to follow. This book is definitely not for beginners and assumes previous knowledge of java. I did not find the explanations or examples in the book clearly written. After continued complaints from the class, the professor abandoned the book altogether after just 3 weeks. If your a beginner, stay away from this book.

5 comments about Beginning Google Maps Applications with Rails and Ajax: From Novice to Professional.

1. I was worried when I ordered this book that it would just be a reference book of the Google Maps API, but thankfully I was wrong. This book is an excellent reference to anyone wanting to build a Google Maps enabled Rails Application.
   
   The first four chapters take you through building an application, similar to the author's hotspotr application where a user can save Wifi hotspot information. For many people this may be all they are looking for, a way to create maps, save information and geocode addresses.
   
   Chapters 5-8 deal with larger datasets and the example they use is from the FCC Antenna Structure Registration, which has 120k records already geocoded for you. It then takes you through different presentation methods. If you want to see the output, go to book dot earthcode dot com chapter seven, server custom tiles. It's a very impressive result, similar to the pictures of earth at night.
   
   The rest of the book gives other advanced uses and apis, I have not read all the way through that but it looks interesting. The other thing I like about the tone of the book is the conversational style. For example in Chapter 5 where they are using the FCC dataset they talk about the advantages of using a mysql import instead of going through the ActiveRecord layer, resulting in importing the data in less than a minute compared to 1.5 hours with ActiveRecord. This is the type of information that usually only comes from time spent trying different methods, so it's nice for us to be able to leverage their hard work.
   
   In general I have been impressed with the Apress books ( no pun intended) them and Pragmatic Programmers have really started giving O'Reilly a run for their money.



2. I would highly recommend this book for anyone who is interested in using Google Maps with Ruby on Rails. My expectations were exceeded and I believe it lives up to its sub-title "From Novice to Professional".
   
   I develop Rails applications and became interested in Google Maps in conjunction with a Real Estate application I was working on. In particular, I was interested using Google Maps for visual analysis of large data sets. Knowing next to nothing about the Google Maps API, I was truly at the Novice level. The book started off at the basics and quickly built on example and technique to the point where there was a working example of a problem similar in scope to mine. Along the way, the trade offs and techniques were well presented and explained in detail. Not only did I gain the knowledge and confidence to tackle my particular problem, but I was also inspired by all the other potential applications of this exciting new technology.
   
   This book was well organized and written. I was obvious that the authors had worked through the examples and I especially appreciated many of the best practices and hints they gave. Chapter 7 "Optimizing and Scaling for Large Data Sets" was particularly interesting for me and my application. It included code and examples for several server-side and client-side techniques and as well as a clear explanation of their uses and trade offs.
   
   If you are a Rails coder and you want to master Google Maps, this is a must have book



3. A good guide if you are new to google maps. If you are an experienced google maps developer trying to integrate RJS or other cool rails techniques, this book is not very useful. I'm coding rails and google maps applications daily and I haven't picked this book up more than twice since receiving it.



4. I was a little disappointed. Although there are a few interesting tips, I did not think the book was very well edited. There are several typos. For example, one obvious mistake in chapter two, which for a novice, would make the code unusable. array.size should be array.length. Furthermore in chapter three, the authors abandon the completed code listings altogether leaving the novice totally stranded. In addition, the online code is also incomplete and quite broken. I would not recommend this book unless you are already an expert and can filter through the errors and omissions.



5. This item is an excellent start point to developers who want to learn how to use Google Maps API within Rails. Helped a lot to increase productivity with the basic skills.

5 comments about Dreamweaver MX 2004: The Missing Manual.

1. I have read this book cover to cover. You can read it in front of your computer and perform the tutorials or you can simple read an look at the illustrations. Both provide you with a very accurate experience. The online web site allows you to download all of the necessary files to perform your labs if you desire. It is simple, elegant, and well thought out book. You can't walk away from this book and not say that you did not truely learn to use Dreamweaver MX 2004. I struggled to learn this program, after reading the book, I have built several complex websites, complete with dynamic database integration. This book is that good!



2. So many software books are so confusing and difficult to understand, I really appreciateone that is clear and truly helpful, which this one is.



3. Better than Dreamweaver MX 2004 "Training From the Source". This is a step by step book for beginners thru experts. I found it easy to follow and understand. It is also a good reference book for the experienced, which I am not. Why Macromedia could not furnish a book like this with there software I will never understand. The same goes for the new Dreamweaver 8. They want you to buy there product but not show you how to use it. This is a good buy.



4. Fantastic, really simple tutorials and suggested websites for further info. Deals with the basics to get an extemely powerful website online.
   
   There are many more aspects to web design but anyone from the total beginner to intermediate should find this book helpful.



5. An amazing and thorough book! Each chapter teaches you the information in two ways: one in the standard paragraphs and illustrations, then the second at the end of each lesson with a detailed tutorial to follow in the Dreamweaver program itself. So you can choose to learn the lesson the way it best suits you. There were a couple of lessons where I skipped right to the tutorial, a couple where I didn't feel that I needed to go through the tutorial, and some where I went through both.
   
   Don't be intimidated by the size of the book (800+ pages), it is not dry or boring. It is simply packed with great information that takes you step by step from novice to just about expert. And maybe I shouldn't say this, but it would be a bargain at three times the price.
   
   If you need to learn Dreamweaver MX 2004, there is no other book. This is the one you need. :)

5 comments about Cost-Based Oracle Fundamentals (Expert's Voice in Oracle).

1. This book gets a prized spot on my technical shelf. It is a challenging read, and has taken the most time of any book I have to get through, but it is quite good. The optimizer is such a core part of what makes Oracle worth the investment, that any DBA who does not understand it is doing a disservice to the company investing such capital into the product.
   
   Lewis' use of proof through example is second to none, and leaves me feeling confident about the knowledge I've gained. His insights are not only theoretical, but quite applicable. I learned much about manipulating and using the DBMS_STATS package, about data model design and why data knowledge is so critical to the DBA.
   
   My nervousness about hints and about upgrades was reinforced with concrete examples that have improved my test plans, upgrade methodologies and overall made me a more competent DBA. I've directly used this knowledge to support my clients in better ways than I would have before it, and that is well worth the price of admission and the time to get through such an in-depth work.
   
   Thanks Jonathan!



2. Each quarter my team of DBA's has one book that we read and discuss in team meetings. This quarter, Cost-Based Oracle Fundamentals is it. This book is a wholly remarkable book for the moderate to advanced DBA. It is a deep dive into the Oracle optimizer, providing some wonderful insights into not only how it works, but why. It is not a book for the faint of hart, or those waiting breathlessly for retirement. It is a book for those who want to understand the CBO in more depth.
   
   Within the book, Jonathan provides insights into how the CBO *should* work. He follows up often by demonstrating the maturing (or devolving as the case may be) of the CBO from version to version. Beyond his own experimentation and results, he leads the reader into the process that he has followed to come to understand the internals of the CBO, providing a road map allowing the reader to continue to explore the optimizer in future releases.
   
   However, I must take Jonathan to task, for he is a nasty tease. This book was released about two years ago. In it, he leads us on with promises of forthcoming volumes 2 and 3, dangling the carrot out there for us to follow. Sadly, these volumes are yet to be seen. Jonathan! Quit running to and fro filling our heads with knowledge at various conferences and write those books man!
   
   A caution for the new DBA or the cursory SQL developer, you may find this book overwhelming at first glance. For the new or even intermediate DBA, it might be hard to derive practical application of what Jonathan is teaching at first glance. Take your time with the material and the insight that you will gain will be invaluable.
   
   Overall, if you want a book with meat, then this is the book for you. It will expand your mind and the way you look at the Oracle CBO.



3. It doesn't mean you won't love the book. I found it to be far too narrow and, even as an Oracle OCP, boringly written. That may say more about me than it does about Jonathin Lewis, who I know is brilliant and has written brilliant stuff before. I just didn't get as much out of it as I thought I would.



4. Jonathan Lewis has perfomed an invaluable service to the Oracle community. He doesn't just offer opinions of how the CBO makes decisions from his vast experience. He also offers the scripts he used to verify behavior of the Oracle CBO. This equips the user to replicate Jonathan's work with newer versions of oracle and adapt the scripts to your circumstances.
   
   Dennis Williams



5. This book contains a wealth of information about how to evaluate and test the Oracle Cost Based Optimizer. Jonathan presents the material in a very easy to follow style. All the examples and scripts that he provides work as written. I would highly recommend this book.

5 comments about Visual Basic 2005 Cookbook: Solutions for VB 2005 Programmers (Cookbooks (O'Reilly)).

1. Very helpful for a casual programmer like myself. Just remember to download the "recipies" to avoid retyping.



2. If you're new to programming in Visual Basic .NET, but have programmed in some other langauge before, there is always this barrier that one faces when they know, to a certain degree, the task they want to accomplish, but often fall short trying to figure out the syntax or method to implement it here. That is what this book does. It's an essential cookbook, in the language of choice, that bridges that barrier.
   
   It's also a great side-companion for beginners, mainly because the intro books do a fair job of getting people started, but they also need to figure out specific tasks or methods of doing things that tutorial books won't cover. It does not overstate the obvious, and it serves up pretty clear impressions and explanations on what it delivers.



3. 'Visual Basic 2005 Cookbook: Solutions for VB 2005 Programmers' by Tim Patrick is a perfect reference and solution manual for any and all Visual Basic 2005 developers. Written in typical great O'Reilly cookbook fashion, this book is chock full of nuts with 700+ pages of goodness.
   
   Chapter Overview
   
   01. VB Basics
   02. Development Environment
   03. Application Organization
   04. Forms, Controls, Other Objects
   05. Strings
   06. Numbers And Math
   07. Dates & Times
   08. Arrays & Collections
   09. Graphics
   10. Multimedia
   11. Printing
   12. Files & File Systems
   13. Databases
   14. Programming Techniques
   15. Exceptions
   16. Cryptography & Compression
   17. Web Development
   
   This is simply a fabulous book that any and all VB programmers of today need to pick up. Not only will you save time, you'll enjoy doing it while reading this wonderful guide!!
   
   ***** HIGHLY RECOMMENDED



4. There are various sections in this book that are pretty basic and unnecessary to even an amateur programmer but there are also lots of other sections that are just chock full of great stuff and even advanced programmers would benefit from them. It also suffers from the common tendency to say very simple things using a lot of words in order to take up a lot of space. I think I even found a tip or two which show up twice in different sections. That being said, there's still a whole lot of worthwhile material in this book.



5. As with most O'Reilly books, the reader is treated to a very good overview of the topic at hand. I'd recommend this book to anyone who has some experience with pre-.NET versions of VB and who needs to make the move to the .NET version. I found the chapters on strings and files especially helpful.
   
   I would like to have seen more information on the Crystal Report control that comes included with VB, as that seems to be the only reasonable way to create integrated reports. I'm finding Bischof's "Crystal Reports .NET Programming" book very helpful in this regard.

5 comments about lex & yacc.

1. This book is a little out-dated. That is fine, though - this book goes over all the essential proponents of Lex and Yacc and Bison and FLEX and all the other variations ... which you will certainly know a lot more about by the end of this book. This books enabled me to read FLEX input from a c-string, which has played a role in a few of my projects. It is great when you just need a quick reminder of the syntax is the tools. This book does not go over how the programs work, which is a good thing, because that would make the book more oriented towards Finite Autonoma and Context Sensive Languages - leave that sort of thing to autonoma theory and compiler design. This is an excellent reference, so buy it if you really need it.



2. Yacc (yet another compiler compiler) and its companion lex (lexical analyzer) are primarily intended to allow quick and easy development of small special-purpose languages. The common mistake is assuming that they are only useful for creating compilers for massively complex eccentric languages. This is not the case, though you could no doubt use them for such a purpose.
   
   Lex and Yacc are commonly used together. Yacc uses a formal grammar to parse an input stream, something which lex cannot do using simple regular expressions since lex is limited to simple finite state automata. However, yacc cannot read from a simple input stream - it requires a series of tokens. Lex is often used to provide yacc with these tokens. As a result, building an application in lex and yacc is often used as an exercise in classes on programming languages and the theory of computation to demonstrate key concepts.
   
   The book starts out building a simple character-driven calculator, and then moves on to build a menu generation language that produces C code that uses the standard "curses" library to draw menus on the screen. The final application is a SQL parser which includes a quick overview of both relational databases and SQL. Some readers will dislike the fact that Lex and Yacc are only capable of generating C code. Thus, the logical conclusion is that you must be able to write C code in order to use these tools. While it would be nice if the sections about the menu generation language and the SQL parser had some information about how to do typechecking and other such things, this book is not about writing a compiler/interpreter using Lex & Yacc. Rather it is just a beginner's guide.
   
   The sections about shift/reduce and reduce/reduce conflicts are especially helpful, as are the sections going over the differences and caveats relating to the major versions of lex and yacc such as AT&T's Lex & YACC, GNU's Flex & Bison, and Berkeley's Yacc. In summary, if you've never used lex or yacc before and think they might be useful tools for you, and you already know the C programming language, this is a handy book to have.



3. To me a great book flows into your mind, magically providing the information in the order you need it. Of course it depends on whose reading it, but this book, though well worth the 96 cents bargain bin price I paid for it, does not build the constructs in my head the way I'd like.
   
   Authors should always proofread their books with novices, not the experts. Experts fill in the gaps as they read and don't notice if the logic is missing a link. In chap 2, "Using Lex", there is the sentence: "Lex itself doesn't produce an executable program; instead it translates the lex specification into a file containing a C routine called yylex(). Your program calls yylex() to run the lexer."
   
   I waited with baited breath for what it means to "run the lexer". Does it return a token each time you call it? Does it analyze all the input then return? The text ignores this detail and merrily goes on into other details. The chapter is called "Using Lex", but the authors omit how you use it! Of course you can scrounge around in the examples and finally root it out, but a book should paint a crystal clear picture, get you oriented, then drop in the details to build your understanding.
   
   The book looks so promising, sort of like the beauty of the original "The C Programming Language" by Kernighan and Ritchie, but disappoints in it's fragmented exposition.
   
   I did take a compiler course with the "dragon book" years ago and write a parser, so I'm not totally in the dark, but I expected this book to lay the subject out in a much clearer way. But it is still a good book to have and read "offline".
   
   I hope the authors take a crack at another edition and explain it all better.



4. I like this book because it is a good compromise between lex & yacc man pages and the theory found in books such as the Dragon book. You will get valuable information about the how and why of the tools that will help you to produce a quality grammar without being overwhelmed by details.



5. This item is a definite must for coursework dealing with scanning and parsing. I thought that I would be fine if I just relied on web sources to assist me in Lex assignments, but as a deadline approached and I still had no results I turned to this book. The content is clear, concise, and absolutely fantastic. If you want to know how to work with Lex and Yacc, this is the book you need.

5 comments about Building a Monitoring Infrastructure with Nagios.

1. The author clearly likes the product on the products own merits. The books is not written by a hack who was filling a void. He writes clearly and methodically explaining in detail why, what, how and when of Nagios. The index is very good and has allowed me to effectively use it as a reference in learning Nagios. I like some humor in my technical books and David does not disappoint me when he explains how to "ssh into his power strip" to do a little environmental monitoring.
   
   Nagios - in my opinion - is a killer-app with such flexibility as to be the "ultimate" monitoring tool. Learning it is a wise investment of anyone's time, and Josephesen's book is invaluable to understanding and exploiting all of Nagios's features... and yes, I am over the age of 13.



2. I use Nagios heavily at my company and as a result, I've purchased all of the available texts on the subject. This one is simply the best work on Nagios available right now. It's clear and succinct where even the online docs from the Nagios project can be confusing. It covers things that the No Starch volume barely touches on (WMI Scripting and Nagios) and honestly, the diagrams and code samples are clear and useful in real-world application.
   
   Really, buy this one. If you need another one, I would be surprised.



3. This book takes the fairly complicated matter of configuring Nagios for monitoring your network infrastructure and makes it straight forward. Kudos and many things to Mr. Josephsen.



4. It's well written, but it didn't provide much more insights and coverage than reading the existing documentation you can download for free. There are also some glaring gaps in its coverage. There's nothing about passive checks! And I don't think it was written before v3.0 came out.
   
   If you like written docs for stuff you reference often, it will be worth the money. But don't go to it with any significant troubleshooting problem.



5. Main benefit of this book is that it will teach you many things in a short time. You might want to purchase it if you want a quick start on Nagios, and don't plan to use Nagios on larger systems. Also, although the author's (brief?) style has some benefits, it also has some drawbacks.
   
   Things like distributed monitoring, fail-over, passive checks,... are barely touched. If you are installing Nagios for the first time, you probably won't miss these subjects elaborated, because you will want to have it running soon as possible. However, I think the Apress book covers these advanced topics much better, and gives a more comprehensive overview of Nagios. The decision is up to you. I preferred the lengthier book with more things explained, although it was a bit harder to read.
   
   One more thing that I disliked was that for Passive checks author references Chapter 2. I couldn't find anything about passive checks there, so I checked the Index. No mention of them there either. I gave this book a relatively bad review due to this kind of unclear issues and for the lack of distributed monitoring and failover coverage, which I think is very important for a monitoring system in a serious installation.
   
   As said, some things are better in this book than in Apress one (like ie. Windows check explanation), but in general, Apress book left a better impression on me.