No comments about Pragmatic Version Control Using Git.

3 comments about Java Pocket Guide (Pocket Guides).

1. This is a handy pocket reference/guide for the intermediate or advanced programmer. All materials are well-organized and illustrated with concise examples of code. It is "worth it's weight" and should be on every Java programmer's reference bookshelf.



2. This is a model for all reference books in my mind. Clearly written and to the point. There are sections covering all the main aspects of the language. It is well worth getting for any/all Java developers. Even though I know Java, I have been referring to it when I travel.
   
   An easy purchase.



3. I don't know about you, but when I'm confused about something, I'm really confused. I need an example to clear up my confusion or my memory. This book gives examples in the most superficial of terms. It is designed to be a quick guide to J2SE through the Java 6 Platform, and quick is what it is. It is not going to jump start you if you need a real jump start on an issue you have forgotten. The most useful information is at the very end of the guide where it talks about the Java Scripting API, tools, and UML. The first half of the book is oriented towards the Java programming language and the second half is about the platform components and some special topics.
   
   If you need useful examples in an accessible format I still suggest the Core Java books by Cornell. They may be somewhat unwieldy to lug around on trips, but they get the job done. Java Examples in a Nutshell is somewhat outdated, but it still can clear up some questions on parts of the language that haven't changed over the years. If you are new to Java I absolutely recommend against getting this pocket guide. You'll be lost. I include the table of contents since it is currently not listed in the product description.
   
   Chapter 1. Naming Conventions
   Section 1.1. Class Names
   Section 1.2. Interface Names
   Section 1.3. Method Names
   Section 1.4. Instance and Static Variable Names
   Section 1.5. Parameter and Local Variables Names
   Section 1.6. Generic Type Parameter Names
   Section 1.7. Constant Names
   Section 1.8. Enumeration Names
   Section 1.9. Package Names
   Section 1.10. Acronyms
   Chapter 2. Lexical Elements
   Section 2.1. Unicode and ASCII
   Section 2.2. Comments
   Section 2.3. Keywords
   Section 2.4. Identifiers
   Section 2.5. Separators
   Section 2.6. Operators
   Section 2.7. Literals
   Section 2.8. Escape Sequences
   Section 2.9. Unicode Currency Symbols
   Chapter 3. Fundamental Types
   Section 3.1. Primitive Types
   Section 3.2. Literals for Primitive Types
   Section 3.3. Floating-Point Entities
   Section 3.4. Numeric Promotion of Primitive Types
   Section 3.5. Wrapper Classes
   Section 3.6. Autoboxing and Unboxing
   Chapter 4. Reference Types
   Section 4.1. Comparing Reference Types to Primitive Types
   Section 4.2. Default Values
   Section 4.3. Conversion of Reference Types
   Section 4.4. Converting Between Primitives and Reference Types
   Section 4.5. Passing Reference Types into Methods
   Section 4.6. Comparing Reference Types
   Section 4.7. Copying Reference Types
   Section 4.8. Memory Allocation and Garbage Collection of Reference Types
   Chapter 5. Object-Oriented Programming
   Section 5.1. Classes and Objects
   Section 5.2. Variable Length Argument Lists
   Section 5.3. Abstract Classes and Abstract Methods
   Section 5.4. Static Data Members, Static Methods, and Static Constants
   Section 5.5. Interfaces
   Section 5.6. Enumerations
   Section 5.7. Annotations Types
   Chapter 6. Statements and Blocks
   Section 6.1. Expression Statements
   Section 6.2. Empty Statement
   Section 6.3. Blocks
   Section 6.4. Conditional Statements
   Section 6.5. Iteration Statements
   Section 6.6. Transfer of Control
   Section 6.7. Synchronized Statement
   Section 6.8. Assert Statement
   Section 6.9. Exception Handling Statements
   Chapter 7. Exception Handling
   Section 7.1. The Exception Hierarchy
   Section 7.2. Checked/Unchecked Exceptions and Errors
   Section 7.3. Common Checked/Unchecked Exceptions and Errors
   Section 7.4. Exception Handling Keywords
   Section 7.5. The Exception Handling Process
   Section 7.6. Defining Your Own Exception Class
   Section 7.7. Printing Information About Exceptions
   Chapter 8. Java Modifiers
   Section 8.1. Access Modifiers
   Section 8.2. Other (Non-Access) Modifiers
   Chapter 9. Java Platform, SE
   Section 9.1. Common Java SE API Libraries
   Chapter 10. Development Basics
   Section 10.1. Java Runtime Environment
   Section 10.2. Java Development Kit
   Section 10.3. Java Program Structure
   Section 10.4. Command-Line Tools
   Section 10.5. Classpath
   Chapter 11. Basic Input and Output
   Section 11.1. Standard Streams in, out, and err
   Section 11.2. Class Hierarchy for Basic Input and Output
   Section 11.3. File Reading and Writing
   Section 11.4. Socket Reading and Writing
   Section 11.5. Serialization
   Section 11.6. Zipping and Unzipping Files
   Section 11.7. File and Directory Handling
   Chapter 12. Java Collections Framework
   Section 12.1. The Collection Interface
   Section 12.2. Implementations
   Section 12.3. Collection Framework Methods
   Section 12.4. Collections Class Algorithms
   Section 12.5. Algorithm Efficiencies
   Section 12.6. Comparator Interface
   Chapter 13. Generics Framework
   Section 13.1. Generic Classes and Interfaces
   Section 13.2. Constructors with Generics
   Section 13.3. Substitution Principle
   Section 13.4. Type Parameters, Wildcards, and Bounds
   Section 13.5. The Get and Put Principle
   Section 13.6. Generic Specialization
   Section 13.7. Generic Methods in Raw Types
   Chapter 14. Concurrency
   Section 14.1. Creating Threads
   Section 14.2. Thread States
   Section 14.3. Thread Priorities
   Section 14.4. Common Methods
   Section 14.5. Synchronization
   Section 14.6. Concurrent Utilities
   Chapter 15. Memory Management
   Section 15.1. Garbage Collectors
   Section 15.2. Memory Management Tools
   Section 15.3. Command-Line Options
   Section 15.4. Resizing the JVM Heap
   Section 15.5. Interfacing with the GC
   Chapter 16. The Java Scripting API
   Section 16.1. Scripting Languages
   Section 16.2. Script Engine Implementations
   Section 16.3. Setting Up Scripting Languages and Engines
   Chapter 17. Third-Party Tools
   Section 17.1. Development Tools
   Section 17.2. Libraries
   Section 17.3. IDEs
   Section 17.4. Web Application Platforms
   Section 17.5. Scripting Languages
   Chapter 18. UML Basics
   Section 18.1. Class Diagrams
   Section 18.2. Object Diagrams
   Section 18.3. Graphical Icon Representation
   Section 18.4. Connectors
   Section 18.5. Multiplicity Indicators
   Section 18.6. Role Names
   Section 18.7. Class Relationships
   Section 18.8. Sequence Diagrams

No comments about Object-Oriented System Analysis and Design.

5 comments about Pro BizTalk 2006 (Pro).

1. Every so often a book comes along which transcends the technology that it is intended to explain. If you are a BizTalk novice, this seminal work is for you. With a self-deprecating style, the authors guide you through the wide and deep integration waters. They tell you just enough so that you can be proficient and yet feel comfortable that you have chosen the correct course. What you might not know is that the authors are building a framework for you to develop the best solutions going forward. For the expert, the authors have redefined what it means to orchestrate the integration space and to use a product to its maximum utility and purpose. I support both small and enterprise BizTalk customers every day. I can't recommend this book enough!



2. This book expands on the introduction to orchestrations and other key BizTalk components given in the Foundations book. Personally I think that this combined with the Foundations book sets you up nicely to start doing some serious BizTalk work.



3. The authors know what an architect needs to consider when designing and implementing a BizTalk 2006 solution. They wrote a readable, compact book packed with their wisdom. Not surprisingly, it does not cover every (most?) BizTalk feature.
   
   My only beef with the book is the code - all VB.NET. ;-)



4. I thank my lucky stars that I got a hand of this book, just before embarking on my first large scale BizTalk project. It is a veritable treasure chest of biztalk goodies! Exception handling, reliable messaging, operational best practices - this is just the tip of the iceberg.
   
   While a lot of the information is available on the net, nowhere is it more clearly explained and categorized than in this book. Look no further!



5. I found this book very helpful in getting started with my first Biztalk 2006 application.
   
   However, you will need to consult other materials for more advanced Biztalk development.

5 comments about Pro VB 2005 and the .NET 2.0 Platform, Second Edition (Pro).

1. This book covers what programmers need to know. The pillars of OOP are presented and clear examples are shown.
   
   I refer to this book often because it gets to the "meat" of things rather quickly and is not for beginners.
   
   My only criticism is that this book's examples are 90% console applications. Nobody uses this in the real world. But I understand the focus is on the code, but I still like the Deitel approach better. Use Windows applications NOT console, take the time to get the screen shots. (Just my opinion).
   
   Don't get me wrong, I can easily translate over what he is trying to convey, but still I see great authors such as Francesco Balena showing most examples with the console window. I don't like this trend. But hey that's me.
   
   Very good book though..



2. This is best VB.NET I ever had. This book explains OO concept very clearly with easy to understand examples. I am still in middle of the book. So eager to finish till end. Waiting to read more books from this writer. Thanks for Excellant Work.



3. If you are looking for a Visual Basic book that covers a lot more than books like Wei-Meng Lee's Visual Basic 2005 Jumpstart than this book should be at the top of your list. As well as the basics this book is very good at explaining advanced concepts like Interfaces, IEnumerable Types, Generics, Asynchronous Delegates, and Multithreaded Applications. The author has an excellent writing style. He stays on track, does an excellent job at expaining complex concepts, and provides a lot of hints about how the topic he is writing about now is related to the big picture. Apress should also be commended for the graphical layout of the book. It is very easy to find information on a particular topic in this book as all of the book is divided into clearly labeled short sections.



4. This book covers just about everything: The .NET platform; VB language fundamentals; OOP; Assemblies and classes. In each chapter the author gives a simplified example and then progresses thru to a complete module. He explains each step in detail and give many of the most-likely errors.
   
   This is not novices. The author expects some level of programming experience with VB, C, C++ being the best. It is also best for a Visual Studio 2005 environment, though it is not required. If this is you and you are looking to move to VB.NET, this book is absolutely for you.



5. I have read several books on this topic, but this book was very structured wich made it easy to follow. It gave a very clear explaination on both base- and advanced OOP programming concepts. Many things I'v not read anywhere else and many times I yelled 'AHA!' and 'WOW!'. Yes, it was great fun to work trough all the 'Fun with...' examples.
   I really can recommend this book, however NOT if you are a beginner!
   I also learned that I'm a Generic Type, because I drink a lot Of T. :)

1 comments about Pharmaceutical Statistics Using SAS: A Practical Guide (SAS Press).

1. ISBN: 978-1-59047-886-8 Pharmaceutical Statistics Using SAS: A Practical Guide.
   I just received this book to review for the journal Technometrics. If you want to see a thorough professional review of all the chapters wait for the journal book reviews be me and others that will be forthcoming over the next couple of years. But if you just want to know now whether or not this book is for you read on.
   
   This is a collection of chapters on application of modern statistical methods in the various phases of drug discovery and clinical research with an emphasis on clinical research but also with plenty of good material to satisfy the interest of those doing pre-clinical and non-clinical research. It contains state-of-the-art methodology and the chapters are written by the leading biostatisticians both in industry and academia. It includes an introductory chapter by Chuang-Stein and D'Agostino. The remaining 13 chapters contain specific applications with illustraions and solutions in SAS. This is great for biostatisticians in this industry who usually have SAS as their primary statistics package. But as pointed out by one of the expert reviewers. If you find this book in a bookstore read the first two pages which give you some of the reasons the experts think this is a greta buy. The reviews listed there are by Peter Westfall, Frank Shen, Byron Jones, Jose Pinheiro and Barry Davis.
   
   The editors of the book are also leading experts and they have loaded the book with material on the various phases of drug development covering all the key topics. Many of the authors are also well-known for the contributions to biostatistics either in industry or academia or both.
   
   I am so enthusiastic about this book that I have already recommended it to many of my friends in the pharmaceutical industry. Although the chapters include state-of-the-art research along with the commonly used procedures, the chapters are well-written and treated in an introductory way. So the book may be accessible to clinical researchers as well as statisticians as a great reference source. In addition to detailed SAS code to implement the methods the chapters also include extensive bibliographies for those wishing to learn the nitty gritty and better understand the theory behind the techniques.

5 comments about Database Systems: The Complete Book (GOAL Series).

1. This book helps you understand how databases works. The second half of the book explains how data is stored (100 pages), how indexes are built (100 pages), query processing (150 pages), transaction management (100 pages), and durability and recovery (50 pages). This is one of the best book, if not the best, on database implementation.
   
   The first half of the book is about databases from the user's perspective (e.g. SQLs). Although I was mainly interested in the second half, I found the first half to be an excellent reference on SQL.



2. Very very poorly written book.
   I would say, this book is "pointer book". It always refer to examples many pages back where you have to flip back and forth and gets repetitive and you will get dizzy and don't get anything at the end. You won't get the information (key word) that you need just reading the topic. Again, it always back and forward.
   Explanation, calculation of eg. are not clear, and organize. Numbers are suddendly appeared and doesn't explain how to get it or where to get. Overall, the worst book and I'm very sorry for the students that using that book.



3. I bought this book because it was assigned as the primary textbook for a database course. But I have also consulted this book in courses on data structures and algorithms, computer organization, operating systems, programming languages, and even knowledge-based systems (the section on data mining).
   
   The book is not always easy to read, because the material is not easy. The authors write very clearly, and give many good examples to illustrate their points.
   
   I like the clean layout of the book. I appreciate that it does not have the gratuitous, gimmicky, irritating graphics and sidebars that some authors of computer science textbooks think they have to throw in to keep us amused.



4. This book has good information, and is fairly well organized. I like the examples in every section of the chapter.
   
   However, a lot of the Exercises are not very well presented. For example, one exercise section had about 5 exercises. Exercise 2 references 1. 3 references 1. 4 references 2. 4 references 1. 5 reference 4 AND 2. When I was doing exercise 5 it took me 15 minutes to figure out just what it was asking, and I'm still not sure that I got it right. I've never seen any other book chain reference like that before. In my opinion, referencing should make you look at no more than one other contiguous and non-further-referencing block of information.



5. I agree with other reviewer, many cross references in the book, it makes extremely hard to read the material.
   English is not native for me, I have very hard time understanding the text. I have no problems with other technical books in general.
   I need more answers to exercises, no way to test you knowledge.

5 comments about Core Web Application Development with PHP and MySQL (Core Series).

1. For a recent project that I needed to build I had to dive into PHP and MySQL. I have purchased quite a few books on the subject matter. A books real value to me is how much the book is used after you finish reading it. This is one of those books that has just enough to get you going on most PHP topics. With the help of this book and a couple of others I have been able to build a complex CMS system. This is the best of the bunch.



2. I don't write reviews unless I feel very strongly about the book. This is indeed the first time I wrote in amazon.com.
   I feel this is the one book you must have for web application development using PHP and mySQL, although frankly there are many good ones around too. I have seen many books and I strongly recommend this.
   It has a comprehensive coverage. Many reviews have mentioned it so I am not going to repeat. I find that I learned something not covered in other books - about building robust, secured, and efficient codes. I have not seen people write that kind of codes for PHP. Marc has been most generous in shraring these with the readers. The 3 last projects were superb. It is well suited for the techie.



3. I looked in several books regarding this subject and think this is the best book about PHP/Mysql. I just read the first chapter because I am presently too busy with adobe Actionscript. Hope have time soon to continue it.



4. I have had bad luck with the core series of books in the past, they are in desperate need of both a copywriter/spellchecker, and technical fact checker. However this was a very pleasant surprise - it suffered from neither of the above mentioned problems . the author covered topics most other books cover i.e., Unicode handling, Security, and his explanation of OOP in PHP is the best I have ever read.
   
   I would recommend this book to anyone planning to write PHP.



5. As an experience programmer from ASP.Net, I can say that this is a good book for getting into PHP. The book paces pretty well, making sure you get the necessary basics but not bore you with overstuffed material.
   
   The only thing that annoys me, is the amount of typos on the samples and sample codes. If you are a seasoned programmer like me, you will pick them up with no problem before testing them. But for the novice, it could give them extra time debugging.
   
   Still I recommend this book.

5 comments about Ajax Design Patterns.

1. It help me clarify the mystery behind AJAX and provided easy to follow examples.



2. This book is not perfect. There are a handful of editing mistakes and the author seems to go out of his way to ignore anything that Microsoft might have created (except ajax of course - wink).
   
   On the positive side, this book is extremely well written. The author has a natural writing style that is conversational but still structured enough to fully cover material. The layout and organization of the book adds to the readability.



3. Got this book in late 2006, and just about a month ago, I finished. I was involved in creating web forms using Rich Internet Applications (RIA) early last year, and I was hoping this book would give me some guidance.
   
   Simply put, I did not see what I was hoping to get but there were so many duplicate use-cases, stories which resemble one after another (as some other reviewers did, I did not count how many), but overall the examples were too specific (as an example check this out from CodeExample: Yahoo!Mindset (on page 335)
   ...
   OnClick = "setup('1505998205%3Ac26b16%3A105900fde%3Aff4', 'ajax");
   ...
   
   I really don't think this statement belongs in a book. In the same story, there is even a mention of Hurricane Katrina. I mean, come on... let's cut the chase. Too many sets of the same "Real-World Examples" used in many different pattern makes the context blurry. It certainly lost me. Yes, it took about 10 months for me to read this book, but I had other projects and priorities.
   
   Overall, the first chapters are well put, explaining what Ajax is etc. But it needs further tuning downstream. I give it 3 out of 5.



4. Let me get something straight here: Michael Mahemoff really knows how to teach, this book is one of the most appropriated books for those who want to learn about AJAX and in this review I'll tell you why I think so.
   First of all, the book starts explaining all the basics of AJAX with its definitons, how it works, related technologies and more. But the best point is: the author always explains using real-life examples, which makes everything easier to understand. The following chapters cover the AJAX Design Patterns properly. You can think about these design patterns as specific solutions, for example "how to made an auto-complete box with ajax", which will give you a great variety of "what can I do with ajax" things. The book also covers some architectural patterns too.
   I think the main goal of this book is not only the great diversity of solutions that you can apply in your projects, but how the author explains them. He always starts the explanation of a design pattern with a brief history of how this pattern can help you giving real examples on where these patterns have being applied. Don't forget that one of the main goals of Design Patterns is to create a "vocabulary" to make an easier reference about a specific subject, and this book completely achieves this goal by giving names for each one of those solutions represented as a Design Pattern.
   That's why I believe this book is a "must have" for any AJAX professional or student.



5. The title 'Ajax Design Patterns' is a little misleading because this is more like an AJAX cookbook or solutions book. Packed with ~650 pages of material spread over 19 chapters and 4 indexes, this is a good resource for anyone looking to work with and/or learn about what AJAX is and what it has to offer.
   
   My only issue with this book is that the overall look and feel is like many of the other O'Reilly offerings that have a more 'nerdy' feel to it. The cover and layout looks like it is just going to be a pocket with published papers all put together into one package, but because of it's cookbook nature it's not the same niche of book. I would have chosen a different design and layout to make this book better represent the content contained within.
   
   Having said all that, I think the book is a smashing success. Case studies such as slider bar creation, drag and drop, text editors are interspersed with the history of AJAX and why this buzzword is one that really DOESN'T get old (it's so powerful).
   
   For all AJAX developers I easily recommend this book. It's full of yummy tidbits of information that you will no doubt fine useful and engaging.
   
   **** RECOMMENDED

5 comments about Advanced .NET Remoting, Second Edition.

1. I hate it when I pay good money for a poorly written book. So when I buy a book like this and it turns out so well, I am thrilled!
   
   I have been in ".NET land" since 2001 when .NET beta 2 came out. I have written ASP.NET and Winform applications. During that time I just have not had the need to use .NET remoting, until now. The first 2 or 3 chapters are a great introduction for experienced .NET developers. I like the fact that I did not have to wade through a lot of stuff for beginners. From there the topics get advanced, with plenty of good example code to highlight the topics. Even though I had never really touched .NET remoting (except SOAP Web Services), the explanations and examples work well for me. The author keeps the examples simple, and on-topic. In my opinion, this helps to highlight the topics at hand. The content is geared towards real programmers who will be using the technology.
   
   I also have really enjoyed the authors' candor concerning the weaknesses of .NET remoting. They have already highlighted a bad approach that I was considering.
   
   I am more than happy to give this book a 5 star review!



2. This book almost contain every detail of .NET Remoting.I am sure you can well understanding the .NET Remoting with the help of this book.It gives many good tips and useful cases ,also have some additional experiences of the author.However, I am sory that this book don't have any real and integrated distributed business solutions based on .NET Remoting(I think so ,at least ), although it contains many good cases. but I still strongly recommend you to buy this book, if you want to know .NET Remoting deeply.



3. This is actually a good book, however, it approaches the subject with an extremely hypothetical view. Lack of real world examples has made reading this book a real bore.
   
   The book on the other hand offers in-depth information regarding the "behind the scenes" work of .NET remoting.
   
   Final verdict: Good value for money, but do not expect any code to work.



4. I'm never one to buy books one technology, mainly because they change frequently and you can always find tutorials online. This book however, is well written, descriptive and a must for anyone working with .NET remoting. Excellent!



5. Excellent book. Exactly what I was looking for. With it you can gain a very well understanding of the subject. simple examples that you can easyly adapt to your specific needs.