4 comments about Digital Signal Processing (4th Edition).

1. I have read many DSP books, this turns out to be the best one. The other good DSP book to mention is the "Understanding Digital Signal Processing" (Lyons) which is written in favor of beginners. The Proakis book not only explains the basic idea as clear as the Lyons's book but it covers deeper materials.



2. I just got it the other day, and saw much more changes than was originally reported.
   
   Most of the deletions are in the earlier chapters dealing with basic concepts of DSP (something usually dealt with in a senior undergraduate class on DSP), while the additions are mostly in the later chapters dealing with more advanced concepts - stuff usually dealt with in an advanced/graduate level course.
   
   Topics on LTI systems and their state space representation have been dropped en masse, while Adaptive filtering has been added as a new chapter.
   
   Some of the deletions are (Section #s are from the IIIrd ed.:
   
   2.6.4 - Computation of Autocorrelation Sequences
   
   3.6.7 - Schür-Cohn Stability Test
   
   4.2.12 - Physical and Mathematical Duality
   
   4.4 - Freuqnecy domain characteristics of LTI systems
   
   4.5 - LTI systems as frequency selective filters
   
   4.6 - Inverse systems and deconvolution
   
   7.4 - State space analysis and structures
   
   8.3.4 - Matched-z transformation
   
   8.5 - Design of Digital Filters based on Least-Squares method
   
   10.5 - The Direct Form FIR filter part of this section
   
   10.5.3 - Time variant filter structures
   
   Some additions:
   
   Chapter 4 - Frequency domain and time domain signal properties
   
   Chapter 7 - The Discrete Cosine Transform
   
   4 new subsections on Polyphase filter structures and sampling rate conversion added
   
   Section on Digital Filter Banks and Quadrature Mirror Filters (previously part of 'Applications of Multirate Signal Processing') considerably expanded (in new subsection)
   
   Section on M-channel QMF banks added
   
   Section on Random Signals, Correlation Functions and Power Spectra (formaerly in Appendix A) added
   
   A whole new chapter on Adaptive Filters added
   
   Section on Minimum Variance Spectral Estimation expanded
   
   Some other changes include:
   
   Section on 'Response of Pole-Zero systems with non-zero initial conditions' has been combined with other topics. Topics on 'Sampling and Reconstruction of Signals' have been completely revamped and reworked; Outlying topics dealing with this material have all been brought together in one place.
   
   Topic covering 'Oversampling A/D and D/A converters' has been moved to the Sampling chapter.
   
   In a few words, the new version has moved away from its DSP basics background to give space more advanced topics - in this respect, it has begun resembling, to an extent, the initial parts of Manolakis' other book (with Ingle and Kogon).
   
   Although still relevant to undergraduate students or relative newcomers to DSP, many of the topics are now best handled at the graduate level, which already has a slew of good tomes on the vast subject (including one by Manolakis himself).
   
   Moreover, if you need to study LTI and time variant systems, this edition is no longer of any use - stick to ed. III or look for Signals and Systems by either Haykin and Van Veen or Ziemer, Tranter and Fannin.



3. This book is comprehensive. It covers not only the basics for the beginning student but the second-half covers advanced subjects whereas other books do not, or at least not with the same clean organization and thoroughness. Some authors tend to be sparse in their explanations and helping you understand derivations. Others put in too many lengthy details and you get lost. Here, Proakis has a way of getting to the point and reiterating it. He also provides you with the critical concepts mathematically as well as in worded descriptions. Best overall DSP text/reference I have found in one volume...



4. I bought it as an undergrad. Easy to read and much more easy to implement its algorithms. It's hard to compare it to Schafer's book Discrete-Time Signal Processing (2nd Edition) (Prentice-Hall Signal Processing Series), they are both very good. The competition has worked and both author teams have done amazing job in renewing the content. If you need a reference book just buy it, it's worth its price

5 comments about Systems Analysis and Design with UML Version 2.0: An Object-Oriented Approach.

1. Item recived as presented



2. The UML writing style of this book is very easy to follow, and a great way to gradually introduce the whole concept of object-oriented analysis and design methodologies to the readers, especially the beginners. The authors did a great job illustrating the entire system development life cycle with a coherent and realistic example using the latest UML notations, practical methodologies, and various analytical artifacts. The only criticism I have is that sometimes the description of a particular topic spans over multiple pages without sub-leveling or sub-topics or highlights, making it very difficult for user to go back and perhaps mine certain important concepts embedded in the discussion. Perhaps more generalization relationship and diagrams can be helpful. Overall, it is a very good source of reference for object-oriented design in layman's term. I will strongly recommend it to my colleagues.



3. This book is just majorly confusing and really for the major eggheads. I'm using it because I have to for class but I'd rather go to another approach for learning this stuff. I'm using Learn to Program with C# by Smiley and it discusses some of the topics, from the early stages in the reading, as to the phases of development and because of that it helped me to understand this better. However, this stuff is really hard to grasp without the egghead mentality.



4. After reading a couple of 'classic' system analysis texts I felt I needed to read about system analysis and UML. This title had some good reviews so I purchased a copy.
   
   This book did cover both system analysis and UML, but I felt that it did not cover either well. I had a hard time engaging with the content and linking it with my existing knowledge of UML and systems analysis.
   
   If you are interested in UML and systems analysis I would recommend reading "Modern Structured Analysis" (Yourdon Press Computing Series) by Edward Yourdon, and finding a good UML 2 text (I'm lookging for one now).
   
   For the price, I was expecting a much better book.



5. The book is serivicable...professor loved certain sections but hated others. There is no perfect textbook on this topic.

5 comments about Probability and Stochastic Processes: A Friendly Introduction for Electrical and Computer Engineers.

1. Let me begin by saying this book is written at a level for senior level B.S. and first year M.S. engineering (not math) students. It is the best book I've seen for introducing probability, random variables and related concepts to this student demographic (particularly to Elec. Eng. or Comp. Eng majors). It has all the introductory concepts and lays out the foundation for later subject matter in a seemless, easy to read and friendly manner. To qualify this statement, let me say that I had taken a similar engineering-related probability course in school a few years back that covered most of the same topics found in the Yates and Goodman book. I was confused about several issues even after I completed the course. It wasn't until I found this text and began reading it that all the questions and doubts I'd had went away. This text doesn't cover more advanced probability related concepts like entropy, mutual information and a host of others. What it does do is clearly provide you with the foundation in probability so that you can later read other more "involved" books like Stark and Woods or Papoulis and Pillai without the agony.



2. I gave this book 1 star because it is not the worst, but it is far from the best. This book is not a good book for an undergradute EE student desiring to really learn the subject.
   Although the author claims that this is a friendly introduction, it is far from that. The first disappointment about this book is the introduction. The author mentioned how difficult the subject is. This in itself is discouraging for any sincere student really wanting to learn the subject. Secondly the coverage of random variables is bad, especially the single random variables. He made two poor decisions, first by seperating discrete and continous random variables. This approach confuses many students, because most engineering students can understand the calculus more than the dicrete math. If he feels that seperation is necessary then continous random variables should have been presented first. Finally no answers to any of the problems. That is a silly policy, how in the can students get feedback on their progress in the subject. I sincerely hope that professor Yates is not arrogant and will at least consider my comments. Lastly the textbook written by Richard H. Williams is the best ever written on the subject. Many arrogant professors will probably look down on his textbook because he actually teaches and explains the subject better than most.



3. I have gone through many books, including the one by Papoulis, to understand the concepts behind Random processes. There was one of the 2 problems in each book: Either the explanation was very poor with very less examples Or the book was too mathematical. No book has addressed and corrected the 2 problems completely till now to my knowledge. But, this book has tried to provide very good reading for any person in electrical engineering as the name itself suggests. Highly recommended for students to have a quick grasp of the subject.



4. I have taken three classes on this subject, and I am confident in my recomendation of this text. For a first year M.S. class, I had the misfortune of having the instructor use Stark and Woods, which is overly complicated, dense, and in my opinion, the authors attempt to make the subject more difficult than it really is by including advanced topics, such as parameter estimation, in introductory chapters. This book, on the other hand, goes over all the basics in a very clean and presentable manner. I picked up this book during the class using Stark and Woods, and my performance increased drastically. This is an excellent reference and text for self study. A real life saver as well. Only complaint: it would be nice to have solutions to select problems. Most people will tell you that the only way to learn the subject is through practice, but as far as learning pricipals, this book is spot on.



5. So i bought this book for my engineering probability class. the book is very concise and not as boring as alot of other books I read. Sometimes though its like the material is too vague at times. Sometimes the material is presented rather awkwardly with things like variance coming after all the different types of families of random variables. A good older reference book that has more information should be accompanied with this in case there is some minor confusion. It is still a pretty decent book though you just need a reference every once in a while. The matlab sections at the end of each chapter are pretty neat especially if you are going into an area of engineering with porbability involved and using matlab to model.

5 comments about Microwave Engineering.

1. I took a graduate course in Microwaves at ASU taught by a former student of the author for which this was the text. Overall, the book is well written and is an excellent teaching and learning tool. The problems at the end of each chapter are superb. The text provides excellent coverage of practical microwave engineering at an intermediate level.
   
   While coverage of basic EM theory is adequate enough as a refresher for someone who has seen the material, for a good introductory text, I would recommend the late John Kraus' classic Electromagnetics, or Field and Wave Electromagnetics by David Cheng.
   
   As a reference for practicing engineers it leaves a little something to be desired, in that many of the real nuggets of insight are glossed over in the text and developed in the problems at the end of each chapter. Hence - the book is great as a tool for learning, but not always as a ready reference for someone who has not worked the problems at the end of each chapter.
   
   That said, the book is very practical and clear, and will be of value to students and practicing engineers alike.



2. This serves well as an introductory textbook; however, when one wants to go deeper (which will be necessary in most uses outside of the classroom), the references aren't always comprehensive enough. That being said, this is often where I start.



3. Awesome book. Covers all the fundamentals, clearly, without sacrificing the math but keeping the reader alive. If you want to learn about microwave design, work in this field, do research in it, buy this book, it is the standard microwave text for the current generation of engineers.



4. This is a terrific book on microwave engineering. I bought this book because a professor recommended it, and I'm glad he did. My only complaints are that the book doesn't seem to have as much in depth coverage of mixers and oscillators as I would like (the section on mixers seems especially weak - for a better treatment of mixers you might want to try "The Design of CMOS Radio-Frequency Integrated Circuits" by Thomas Lee).



5. A friend showed me a copy of this book and after reviewing several chapteres I order my own copy. With so many books available it is hard to find an author who's information and explanation is clear, correct and valuable when working with transmission lines and antennas. This book covers the theory then breaks it down from complicated math models into simplified models for practical use. There are plentiful examples to follow or make clear the ideas. It is an excellent book to further onces knowledge of printed circuit board design or for applications which require the detailed anaylsis.

5 comments about Schaum's Outline of Signals and Systems.

1. I don't even know how to start to express how much i love this book...i almost have tears in my eyes as im writing this LOL This book saved the rest of my studies in Electrical engineering. The book by OPPENHEIM is a WASTE of money AND time!!! It's a huge book that confuses students for nothing! But this one instead is more detailed and waaaaay smaller than OPPENHEIM's book. So that you actually learn waaaaay faster! It doesn't contain no stupid stories that we don't give a **** about LOL It goes straight to the point.
   For me it's been the best book EVEEEEEEER!!!!! PERIOD!!!



2. Not one of Schaums good books. Skips too many steps in solving problems. Other EE students and also complained about this one. Usually Schaums a safe bet, just not this time.



3. this book is terrific.
   It is short and concise relatively speaking.
   It is not too wordy and fairly mathmatically based. It should be used in conjunction with other textbooks of course as it is a workbook or outline only but the math is everywhere explained and there are many examples worked through from beginning to end.
   agree with previous reviewer "teddy", an absolute gem!



4. I am currently taking my first semester in systems and signal analysis. While the subject matter is a little intimidating in terms of math, this outline cuts through the generalities and provides great, worked out, stepped out examples for everything from the basic properties of LTI systems to convolution, laplace transforms, z-transforms, fourier analysis, and space state analysis. Between the class text and this outline, I am very well prepared for future classes in signals and systems. I would recommend this book to anyone who feels they may need a little help with signal analysis, especially since the price is right.



5. Book almost like new - in great condition!! Would purchase from same seller again... And it was delivered quite quickly.

5 comments about Making Things Talk: Practical Methods for Connecting Physical Objects.

1. Good written, and good for artist/hobbyist who wants to make great things with arduino e.g...
   So if you want to have all the most important possibilities clearly explained with example code and pixels, buy this book!



2. When I first heard about this book, I assumed it was about projects for speech synthesis. When I read the details on the publisher's site I was somewhat disappointed - talking meant communications in this case. However, I ordered it anyway and was quite delighted by the results. The book is well illustrated, well written, and contains 26 very interesting projects. If you are teaching networking to high schoolers or even to college students, these projects might make interesting case studies to drive home some of the points being studied.
   
   There is one thing I would caution you on though. Don't expect the lead-you-by-the-hand electronics-heavy methodology of most other project books. This book - although apparently targeted at electronics hobbyists - goes into painstaking detail on hardware needed and assembly. However, it oddly assumes the reader doesn't need much coaching on the Processing programming language or PHP. Of course, this book would be an unwieldy tome if tutoring on those subjects were included, but just be warned that you'll need some outside sources if you are not already familiar with either of these languages. The following is the list of contents of the book along with the names and locations of the 26 included projects.
   
   1. The Simplest Tools
   2. The Simplest Network
   Project 1 - Monski Pong
   Project 2 - Wireless Monski Pong
   Project 3 - Negotiating in Bluetooth
   3. A More Complex Network
   Project 4 - A Networked Cat
   4. Look Ma! No Computer
   Project 5 - Hello Internet
   Project 6 - Networked Air Quality Meter
   5. Communicating in (Near) Real Time
   Project 7 - A Networked Game
   6. Wireless Communication
   Project 8 - Infrared Transmitter-Receiver Pair
   Project 9 - Radio Transmitter-Receiver Pair
   Project 10 - Duplex Radio Transmission
   Project 11 - Bluetooth Receivers
   7. The Tools
   Project 12 - Reporting Toxic Chemicals in the Shop
   Project 13 - Relaying Solar Data Wirelessly
   8. How to Locate (Almost) Anything
   Project 14 - Infrared Distance Ranger Example
   Project 15 - Ultrasonic Distance Ranger Example
   Project 16 - Reading Received Signal Strength Using XBee Radios
   Project 17 - Reading Received Signal Strength Using Bluetooth Radios
   Project 18 - Reading the GPS Serial Protocol
   Project 19 - Determining Heading Using a Digital Compass
   Project 20 - Using an Accelerometer
   9. Identification
   Project 21 - Color Recognition Using a Webcam
   Project 22 - 2D Barcode Recognition Using a Webcam
   Project 23 - Reading RFID Tags in Processing
   Project 24 - RFID Meets Home Automation
   Project 25 - IP Geocoding
   Project 26 - Email from RFID
   A. And Another Thing
   B. Where to Get Stuff
   C. Program Listings



3. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and have read it cover-2-cover.
   Granted - some of the projects are a little hokey. Perhaps that is why I kept finding alternate uses for the circuitry.
   
   Negative? The author covered a lot of ground and was forced to limit his depth. That makes it an excellent "Intro" book - but makes me wish for more.



4. I understand an author can't be expected to cover every microcontroller in every language but, Arduino ?? What the BLEEP !! Who uses Arduino...never heard of it ? I bought Igoe's Physical Computing and found it of some value on account that he was using Pic Basic Pro to program Microchip Pics when everyone else uses Assembler or C. He did however, in that book, include some other micros such as a Basic Stamp 2 and I could at least slightly empathize with his efforts to keep as many people happy as possible. I thought this book, being a latter work, would be using Microchip Pics with HOPEFULLY assembler or C. What do I get, Arduino in some proprietary language ?? JEEZUS !! How may Arduinos are sold every year compared to PICs ? Maybe I can use this book as a gross guide to some of the other technology introduced in the book such as XBee RF modules. I wish the publisher was upfront in their description in warning people that it's using this exceedingly rare and proprietary micro and programming language. It could have been a 5 star if he used PIC with C or Assembler.



5. I take my hat off to Tom for his contribution the rest of the amatures like me. I wish you well

3 comments about Modern Control Systems (11th Edition) (Pie).

1. I am taking a 1 semester long control course from EE department.
   This is the book we use. It features numerous mistakes and skimpish explanations. It also skips a lot of derivations of concepts. Very weak text for the course. I am not sure of the alternatives but it is not hard to imagine something better.
   It is also virutally identical to the previous editions - i get by just fine with the 9th edition which i obtained for $15 used.



2. Taking control theory course at my school where the book is required. As a student introduced to the theory for the first time, this book has been no help at all. Explanations are very limited and I find myself re-reading the same page numerous times just to figure out how did the author came up with derivations. Text is often too dry without any real world connection (essential for engineering students - at least for me). If this text is required, prepare to spend a lot of time with your professor. This is NOT a good book for intro course.



3. This book is one of the worst I've had in Engineering school. The explanations are weak, only going over the simplest version of a concept. Just wait until your professor actually assigns problems from the book. The problems are difficult and complex, and there are zero answers in the back to verify your answers. So, you have no clue if you're doing it right. If your professor is not very helpful, you're in trouble.

No comments about Microelectronic Circuits Revised Edition (Oxford Series in Electrical and Computer Engineering).

5 comments about Digital Design (4th Edition).

1. This was the text book used in one of my computer science courses.
   Trying to learn from this book was very difficult because there are many errors in the diagrams. Considering that diagrams are a vital part of a book on computer circuitry I would have expected the diagrams to be accurate and replete with detailed explanations. This book is in its third edition yet it somehow manages to still have errors, this is inexcusable; were it the first edition I may have been more lenient. If you look closely you will find errors in many of the diagrams, sometimes two or more errors on the same page. Definitely not worth the $100+.



2. In first year engineering at Simon Fraser University, many of my classmates and I absolutely hated Mano's other text, "Logic and Computer Design Fundamentals (2nd ed. updated)". However since I have picked this text up I have found Mano to be much easier to read, but that could be because I have adjusted to the material and his writing style.
   
   Unfortunately there are no solutions to any of the exercises in this text, only selected answers. His other text has some solutions posted on the companion site (http://www.prenhall.com/mano/), you may be able to use them to learn from with this text as well.
   
   And there are little mistakes in the text that may make things difficult to understand at first, but I did find a decent errata on the web (http://www.ece.uvic.ca/~amirali/courses/CENG290/textmistakes.html).
   
   I don't know how good the text is for self-teaching, but it isn't bad for brushing up on the basics after being away from digital design for a couple years.



3. It's a good book for beginners in Digital Design
   
   It gives a clear guidelines to understand the Combinational and Sequential Logics.



4. This book is one of the worst books I have seen. It does not help at all but is one of the required books that you have to get because the homework problems are in it. Book will not help you much.



5. This book is an excellent companion to computer science/computer engineering classes. It tends to be fairly short and concise for almost every topic, which is why I would only recommend this book to those who really need it (required). Without guidance the concepts of digital design, especially as presented here, will no doubt escape people quickly. There is a couple errors in the book, which can be expected when they have to include data from external sources such as block diagrams for integrated circuits. If you need this book for a college CS/CE/EE intro course no doubt the book, you, and your professor will have alot of fun with some basic computer engineering and labs, BUT, as a self-study or reference, I do not recommend, at all. I have used this book for a computer science course at MN State, and while everything has gone very smoothly, it's only because collaboration with a professor has smoothed out the bumps and even filled in minor gaps or shown alternate methods.

5 comments about Computer Systems: A Programmer's Perspective.

1. What a splendid book! I wish I had gone to CMU and take this course. This book is written by CMU professors after teaching Computer Systems course for few years. This book covers broad spectrum of topics from Operating Systems, Compilers, Computer Architecture, Assembly Level Programming, Kernel internals, Linkers, etc from a programmer's perspective (as the title aptly says).
   
   I am searching for words to describe the usefulness of this book. In my experience, I have had hard time learning some of the topics where Operating systems, Processor and Compilers intersect. For example, Linkers and Loaders, program disassembly using reverse-engineering, virtual memory in Kernel etc. After all the hard work, I found the right book which grinds all the famous books in different areas and gives the right juice for the real programmers to taste and digest.
   
   Those famous books are:
   [1] Computer Organization and Design Second Edition : The Hardware/Software Interface by David A. Patterson, John L. Hennessy
   [2] UNIX Internals: The New Frontiers by Uresh Vahalia
   [3] Linux Kernel Development by Robert Love
   [4] Linkers and Loaders by John R. Levine
   [5] GNU Binutils (GAS, objdump, ar, nm etc) Documentation
   
   Excellent job. I really appreciate the work and content of this book.



2. I just completed a college course using this textbook... the course was tough, but the book was very good and useful. This is one textbook I won't be selling any time soon!
   
   The practice problems provided in the book were usually very good, and the programming problems distributed with it were fun and educational, including topics like Buffer Overflows, Memory Optimizations, and Debugging with GDB, among others.
   
   There are *some* problems with this book, but it doesn't suffer from the devastating flaws that plague most computer science textbooks. Some sections lack thorough explanations and examples, and the writting is a bit unclear at times. Some solutions to the practice problems are vague and don't really provide much insight on how to solve the problems. Luckily, these flaws only creep up in a few places.
   
   Compared to most technical textbooks, however, this one really shines. It's not quite perfect, so I think 4 stars is appropriate.



3. Even though the topics of this book are absolutely great and crucial for any CS student, I dislike the entire book !, its hard to follow the writer, i find it hard to keep with him !
   too many complicated information with either Tiny explaination or more complicated explaination ,
   its a very big book with many topics , i prefer reading seperate books with specific topics rather than this book,



4. An excellent reference, but it is an embarassment of riches, and as such it can't completely cover every area exhaustively. This would probably be extremely frustrating for a casual reader to absorb. I used this as a text book for a class with an extremely good instructor who backed up the material in the book very well. As such, the class and the book were a joy.



5. Purchased this for a computer science course since it was required. Great price at Amazon!