Showing posts with label Programming. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Programming. Show all posts
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
Best of Ruby Quiz
Product Description
Solve these twenty-five popular programming puzzles, and sharpen your programming skills as you craft solutions.
You'll find interesting and challenging programming puzzles including:
* 800 Numbers
* Crosswords
* Cryptograms
* Knight's Tour
* Paper, Rock, Scissors
* Tic-Tac-Toe
* Texas Hold-Em
* ...and more.
Learning to program can be quite a challenge. Classes and books can get you so far, but at some point you have to sit down and start playing with some code. Only by reading and writing real code, with real problems, can you learn.
The Ruby Quiz was built to fill exactly this need for Ruby programmers. Challenges, solutions, and discussions combine to make Ruby Quiz a powerful way to learn Ruby tricks. See how algorithms translate to Ruby code, get exposure to Ruby's libraries, and learn how other programmers use Ruby to solve problems quickly and efficiently.
Product Details
* Amazon Sales Rank: #671268 in Books
* Published on: 2006-03-13
* Format: Illustrated
* Original language: English
* Number of items: 1
* Binding: Paperback
* 312 pages
Editorial Reviews
About the Author
James Edward Gray II is a contract programmer based in Edmond, Oklahoma. He has done extensive work with web sites, Perl scripting and Java applets, for everyone from programming shops to food companies, but his true passion lies with Ruby. He's been an active part of the online Ruby community writing documentation, presenting the language to computer groups, and, of course, running the Ruby Quiz.
Customer Reviews
Essential reading for practical Rubying4
This book is a collection of 25 challenges from the ruby quiz website, with a substantial discussion of various solutions. Lots of word and number games abound. Some examples will give you an idea of what to expect: generating crosswords layouts, ranking poker hands, building (and solving) mazes, generating and cracking ciphers. You could check out a lot of this from the website, but the dead-tree format is more readable, and the discussion is much expanded.
Up to date books on Ruby (rather than Rails) are scarce, so we should cherish this publication. Good as the Pickaxe is, it lacks examples of fully-working programs. There are plenty here, packed full of Ruby idioms - I learnt an immense amount from the quizzes. You will want to either be taking copious notes while reading this, or be sat in front of the computer, so you can fire up irb and play with the language features you don't understand. Of course, as a collection of idioms, one could imagine the material being organised more efficiently, but it would also be a lot drier.
So much for the Ruby, what about the Quiz? I must say that I was less enamoured of the book as a collection of puzzles. I didn't find the problems themselves that exciting, although that's probably just me. You probably already know if you're likely to find this sort of thing fun. What was more disappointing was that the discussion of the solutions is tilted towards presenting a solution in chunks of code, and then explaining what each bit of syntax was doing. There is much less emphasis on analysing the problems, or weighing up the solutions. This is not to say that the book is bereft of such analysis, but it is sporadic and specific to the exact form of the problem. I understood all the solutions, but did not feel that I had gained any insight into the generalities of how to classify problems and identify solutions. This is not really what the book is about, but the blurb does highlight algorithm selection and problem analysis as one of its selling points, so one might be justified in being a little disappointed.
Nonetheless, I still give this book 4 stars, for the wealth of Ruby action contained within. Maybe future releases will supplant it, but for now, book-starved newcomers to Ruby, having finished the Pickaxe, should consider this book as a must-read source of idioms and example programs, with a fun practical bent as a bonus. Well worth your money.
For the programmer in need of a project5
I can't count the number of times I've been learning a language only to find that I don't have a project to work on. Best of Ruby Quiz is a wonderful solution to this problem. Filled with interesting problems and well documented solutions there is certain to be a quiz that fits your fancy and you _will_ learn something very cool.
Ruby Quiz is online, but the best of book has distilled the free-for-all online atmosphere into a polished collection with the answer (or answers) that the author were most useful and complete.
Great way to learn about the hacker culture too as the answers often include tidbits about why an answer was done the way it was (ie: I had never heard of programmer golf before reading this book)
Summary of the website3
James Gray is a seasoned Ruby veteran who has been adding value to the community for a long time. One of his major contributions is the Ruby Quiz - a competition modeled after the Perl Quiz - each week a new challenge is posted and people are encouraged to contribute solutions. In the end of the week, James analyzes the most interesting solutions and presents a summary on the website (and the mailing list).
This book is a digest of the 25 most interesting quizzes and their solutions carefully collected by James and released in one volume (using some very pretty typesetting, I must add). It's basically a printed version of the website, with only very little content added - like additional exercises after each quiz.
And this is where the problem of this book lays, in my opinion. To experienced programmers it won't be particularly interesting, since looking at the quiz website itself and participating in the lively discussion on the maling list is much more interesting.
This book could be excellent for newbies, but unfortunately it's not meant for those unfamiliar with the language. So even here, the website is just far more useful. The only real advantage of this book is its dead-tree format, which may be nice for people who have difficulty reading from the computer screen, or for people temporarily without internet access.
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Pragmatic Programmers Pragmatic Ajax
Product Description
It's not just another book on Ajax. It's Pragmatic Ajax: a concise, complete look at a new way of envisioning and implementing browser-based applications.
Ajax turns static web pages into interactive applications. Now you can deploy rich-client applications to clients without sacrificing the easy deployment of web applications. But to many folks, Ajax seems difficult. That's why we produced this book. As a Pragmatic guide, it strips away the mystery and shows you the easy way to make Ajax work for you.
We cover the the basics of DHTML, JavaScript, and the infamous XmlHttpRequest call. You'll see how to add Ajax to existing programs, and design new applications to exploit the power of Web 2.0. Learn the three layers of Ajax framework, and when (and how) to use each. See how to create rich clients, use visual effects, add client-side validation, and handle forms. Write applications that degrade gracefully if clients don't support JavaScript. And see how to integrate your Ajaxified clients into Java, .NET, and Ruby on Rails server frameworks.
With Pragmatic Ajax, you'll:
* Understand the breadth of the Ajax/Web 2.0 landscape, and go-indepth on how Ajax works
* Learn how JavaScript works with your server-side framework
* See how to easily apply Ajax techniques to an existing application--and when not to
* Know what's coming by looking at new features and frameworks currently in active development.
Writing dynamic applications isn't that hard. Folks are awed by Google Maps, but it isn't rocket science (apart from the satellite pictures). As a special bonus, see how to implement your own Google Maps-like application using DHTML.
Product Details
* Amazon Sales Rank: #186791 in Books
* Published on: 2006-04-10
* Format: Illustrated
* Original language: English
* Number of items: 1
* Binding: Paperback
* 304 pages
Editorial Reviews
About the Author
Justin Gehtland is a partner and co-founder of Relevance, a training and consulting com-pany located in the Research Triangle, North Carolina. He has been an application de-veloper since 1990, and a web application developer since 1995. His technology back-ground includes all the usual suspects. He is currently focused on lightweight develop-ment using Ruby, .NET and Java.
Ben Galbraith is a frequent technical speaker, occasional consultant, and author of several technology books. He is a co-founder of Ajaxian.com, was recently Chief Technical Of-ficer for Amirsys, and is presently a consultant specializing in enterprise architecture and Swing/Ajax development. Ben presides over the Utah Java User's Group, is active in the Java Community Process, and tinkers on various open-source projects from time to time. He has delivered over one hundred technical presentations in 2005 at venues including JavaOne, TheServerSide.com Java Symposium, and the No Fluff Just Stuff Java Sympo-siums.
Dion Almaer is the other founder of Ajaxian.com, the leading source of the Ajax community. Dion has been writing rich web applications from the beginning, and is a columnist on Enterprise Java topics at openxource.com, onjava.com, TheServerSide.com, and of course his blog at almaer.com/blog. He enjoys writing, and speaking at events such as JavaOne, JavaPolis, TheServerSide Symposium, and the No Fluff Just Stuff symposium tour. He also participates on the Java Community Process expert groups, and the open source community as a whole.
Customer Reviews
Very good book4
Pragmatic Ajax: A Web 2.0 Primer (Pragmatic)
This is a very good book, if you want to jump into Web 2 development. Authors waste no time in getting you up and running with practical examples. Examples are chosen wisely, explanation is excellent. Just keep in mind that the book is what it says, it is a primer, besides Web 2 is a big topic, yet authors do a remarkable job.
A broad overview of AJAX3
Personally, I don't really use this book too much. It is a very general primer to web 2.0 with AJAX. It covers the Dojo toolkit and Prototype / Scriptaculous JavaScript libraries, but doesn't show you the true power of JS and really leaves you wanting more.
However, if you are lost or new to the web development world, this book will give you a good foundation. I would recommend picking up the O'Reilly definitive Javascript book and Prototype / Scriptaculous "bungee" book by Pragrmatic Programmers immediately after.
Great and Comprehensive5
I really liked this book as an introduction into Ajax and found it better than 4 other books I looked at. It has the basics as well as detailed examples using the top 4 frameworks. Usually a book chooses one and may contain a page or two about one or more other technologies. This is a great primer for anyone and it may even aid you in deciding which group of Ajax technologies to implement.
Mike
Core Python Programming
Product Description
Praise for Core Python Programming
"The long-awaited second edition of Wesley Chun's Core Python Programming proves to be well worth the wait—its deep and broad coverage and useful exercises will help readers learn and practice good Python."
—Alex Martelli, author of Python in a Nutshell and editor of Python Cookbook
"There has been lot of good buzz around Wesley Chun's Core Python Programming. It turns out that all the buzz is well earned. I think this is the best book currently available for learning Python. I would recommend Chun's book over Learning Python (O'Reilly), Programming Python (O'Reilly), or The Quick Python Book (Manning)."
—David Mertz, Ph.D., IBM DeveloperWorks®
"I have been doing a lot of research [on] Python for the past year and have seen a number of positive reviews of your book. The sentiment expressed confirms the opinion that Core Python Programming is now considered the standard introductory text."
—Richard Ozaki, Lockheed Martin
"Finally, a book good enough to be both a textbook and a reference on the Python language now exists."
—Michael Baxter, Linux Journal
"Very well written. It is the clearest, friendliest book I have come across yet for explaining Python, and putting it in a wider context. It does not presume a large amount of other experience. It does go into some important Python topics carefully and in depth. Unlike too many beginner books, it never condescends or tortures the reader with childish hide-and-seek prose games. [It] sticks to gaining a solid grasp of Python syntax and structure."
—http://python.org bookstore Web site
"[If ] I could only own one Python book, it would be Core Python Programming by Wesley Chun. This book manages to cover more topics in more depth than Learning Python but includes it all in one book that also more than adequately covers the core language. [If] you are in the market for just one book about Python, I recommend this book. You will enjoy reading it, including its wry programmer's wit. More importantly, you will learn Python. Even more importantly, you will find it invaluable in helping you in your day-to-day Python programming life. Well done, Mr. Chun!"
—Ron Stephens, Python Learning Foundation
"I think the best language for beginners is Python, without a doubt. My favorite book is Core Python Programming."
—s003apr, MP3Car.com Forums
"Personally, I really like Python. It's simple to learn, completely intuitive, amazingly flexible, and pretty darned fast. Python has only just started to claim mindshare in the Windows world, but look for it to start gaining lots of support as people discover it. To learn Python, I'd start with Core Python Programming by Wesley Chun."
—Bill Boswell, MCSE, Microsoft Certified Professional Magazine Online
"If you learn well from books, I suggest Core Python Programming. It is by far the best I've found. I'm a Python newbie as well and in three months time I've been able to implement Python in projects at work (automating MSOffice, SQL DB stuff, etc.)."
—ptonman, Dev Shed Forums
"Python is simply a beautiful language. It's easy to learn, it's cross-platform, and it works. It has achieved many of the technical goals that Java strives for. A one-sentence description of Python would be: 'All other languages appear to have evolved over time--but Python was designed.' And it was designed well. Unfortunately, there aren't a large number of books for Python. The best one I've run across so far is Core Python Programming."
—Chris Timmons, C. R. Timmons Consulting
"If you like the Prentice Hall Core series, another good full-blown treatment to consider would be Core Python Programming. It addresses in elaborate concrete detail many practical topics that get little, if any, coverage in other books."
—Mitchell L Model, MLM Consulting
"Core Python Programming is an amazingly easy read! The liberal use of examples helps clarify some of the more subtle points of the language. And the comparisons to languages with which I'm already familiar (C/C++/Java) get you programming in record speed."
—Michael Santos, Ph.D., Green Hills Software
The Complete Developer's Guide to Python—Fully Updated for Python 2.5
* New to Python? The definitive guide to Python development for experienced programmers
* Covers core language features thoroughly, including those found in the latest Python releases
* Learn advanced topics such as regular expressions, networking, multithreading, GUI, and Web/CGI
* Includes brand-new chapters on database, Internet, Jython, and COM Client programming
* Presents hundreds of code samples and practical exercises to strengthen your Python skills
Python is an agile, robust, expressive, fully object-oriented, extensible, and scalable programming language. It combines the power of compiled languages with the simplicity and rapid development of scripting languages. In Core Python Programming, Second Edition, leading Python developer and trainer Wesley Chun helps you learn Python quickly and comprehensively so that you can immediately succeed with any Python project.
Using practical code examples, Chun introduces all the fundamentals of Python programming: syntax, objects and memory management, data types, operators, files and I/O, functions, generators, error handling and exceptions, loops, iterators, functional programming, object-oriented programming and more. After you learn the core fundamentals of Python, he shows you what you can do with your new skills, delving into advanced topics, such as regular expressions, networking programming with sockets, multithreading, GUI development, Web/CGI programming and extending Python in C.
This edition reflects major enhancements in the Python 2.x series, including 2.5 as well as capabilities set for future versions. It contains new chapters on database and Internet client programming, plus coverage of many new topics, including new-style classes, Java and Jython, Microsoft Office (Win32 COM Client) programming, and much more.
* Learn professional Python style, best practices, and good programming habits
* Gain a deep understanding of Python's objects and memory model as well as its OOP features, including those found in Python's new-style classes
* Build more effective Web, CGI, Internet, and network and other client/server applications
* Learn how to develop your own GUI applications using Tkinter and other toolkits available for Python
* Improve the performance of your Python applications by writing extensions in C and other languages, or enhance I/O-bound applications by using multithreading
* Learn about Python's database API and how to use a variety of database systems with Python, including MySQL, Postgres, and SQLite
Core Python Programming delivers
* Systematic, expert coverage of Python's core features
* Powerful insights for developing complex applications
* Easy-to-use tables and charts detailing Python modules, operators, functions, and methods
* Dozens of professional-quality code examples, from quick snippets to full-fledged applications
Product Details
* Amazon Sales Rank: #52544 in Books
* Published on: 2006-09-28
* Original language: English
* Number of items: 1
* Binding: Paperback
* 1120 pages
Editorial Reviews
From the Back Cover
* New to Python? This is the developer's guide to Python development!
* Learn the core features of Python as well as advanced topics such as regular expressions, multithreaded programming, Web/Internet and network development, GUI development with Tk(inter) and more
* Also includes features found in the new Python 1.6 and 2.0 releases
* CD-ROM: Complete Python distributions (source code, documentation, and various binaries) plus all example scripts in the book
Python is an Internet and systems programming language that is soaring in popularity in today's fast-paced software development environment, and no wonder: it's simple (yet robust), object-oriented (yet can be used as a procedural language), extensible, scalable and features an easy to learn syntax that is clear and concise. Python combines the power of a compiled object language like Java and C++ with the ease of use and rapid development time of a scripting language. In fact, it's syntax is so easy to understand that you are more likely to pick it up faster than any of the other popular scripting languages in use today!
In Core Python Programming, Internet software engineer and technical trainer Wesley Chun provides intermediate and experienced developers all they need to know to learn Python-fast. Like all Core Series books, Core Python Programming delivers hundreds of industrial-strength code snippets and examples, all targeted at professional developers who want to leverage their existing skills! In particular, Core Python Programming presents numerous interactive examples that can be entered into the Python interpreter right in front of you! Finally, we present a chapter that shows you step-by-step how to extend Python using C or C++.
* Python syntax and style
* Development and Run-time Environments
* Objects and Python memory management
* Standard data types, methods, and operators
* Loops and conditionals
* Files and Input/Output
* Exceptions and error handling
* Functions, scope, arguments, and functional programming
* Importing modules and module attributes
* Object-oriented Programming with classes, methods, and instances
* Callable Objects
* Extending Python
Coverage of the Python standard module library and client-server application development includes comprehensive introductions to the following topics in Python programming:
* Regular expressions
* TCP/IP and UDP/IP Network programming using sockets
* Operating system interface
* GUI development with Tk using Tkinter
* Multithreaded programming
* Interactive Web/CGI/Internet applications
* Executing code in a restricted environment
* Inheritance, type emulation, operator overloading, and delegation in an OOP environment
Finally, we provide an introduction to the new features introduced in Python 1.6. These include Unicode string support, the new function invocation syntax which lets the caller provide a tuple of positional arguments and/or a dictionary of keyword arguments, and the new string methods. We also provide a glimpse into features that will only be found in the newer 2.0 release.
Every Core Series book:
* DEMONSTRATES how to write commercial-quality code
* FEATURES dozens of programs and examples!
* FOCUSES on the features and functions most important to real developers
* PROVIDES objective, unbiased coverage of cutting-edge technologies-no
* hype!
Core Python Programming delivers:
* Coverage of the core parts of the Python language
* Real-world insights for developing Web/Internet, network, multithreaded and GUI applications
* Tables and charts detailing Python modules, built-in functions, operators, and attributes
* Code snippets to try live with Python's interactive interpreter, hammering the concepts home
* Extensive code examples-including several complete sample applications
Friday, January 9, 2009
Shader X2: Shader Programming Tips & Tricks with DirectX 9
Product Description
More than 50 authors have contributed their expertise to ShaderX2: Shader Programming Tips & Tricks with DirectX 9. Divided into six sections, this book focuses on a wide array of shader programming topics, including:
* Terrain geomorphing
* Cloth animation using vertex texturing
* Rendering polygonal objects as thick volumes
* Hemisphere lighting
* Rendering volumes using ray tracing
* Water simulations
* Precomputed radiance transfer
* Simulating iridescence and translucency
* Fog effects
* Simulating real-time depth of field
* Implementing soft shadows
* Using effects buffers
On the CD: The companion CD contains examples and source code discussed in the articles.
About the Author
Wolfgang Engel is also the editor of ShaderX2: Introductions & Tutorials with DirectX 9 and the editor and a coauthor of Direct3D ShaderX: Vertex and Pixel Shader Tips and Tricks. He spoke at GDC 2003 and at Vision Days 2003 in Copenhagen, Denmark.
Thursday, October 23, 2008
Beginning Game Development with Python and Pygame: From Novice to Professional
Product Description
Like music and movies, video games are rapidly becoming an integral part of our lives. Over the years, you’ve yearned for every new gaming console, mastered each blockbuster within weeks after its release, and have even won a local gaming competition or two. But lately you’ve been spending a lot of time thinking about a game idea of your own, or are exploring the possibility of making a career of this vibrant and growing industry. But where should you begin?
Beginning Game Development with Python and Pygame is written with the budding game developer in mind, introducing games development through the Python programming language and the popular Pygame games development library. Authored by industry veteran and Python expert Will McGugan, who most recently worked on the MotorStorm game for Play Station 3, you’ll be privy to insights that will not only help you to exploit PyGame to its maximum potential, but also make you a more creative and knowledgeable games developer all round.
* Learn how to create advanced games by taking advantage of the popular open source Python programming language and Pygame games development library.
* Learn about coding gaming preferences, sound, visual effects, and joystick/keyboard interaction.
* Discover the concepts that are crucial to success in todays gaming industry, such as support for multiple platforms, and granting users the ability to extend and customize your games.
What you’ll learn
* Take advantage of Python and the Pygame library to build compelling cross-platform games.
* Learn to best use these technologies to turn your dream game into reality.
* Create professional games by accounting for sound, special effects, and user interaction through the joystick and keyboard.
* Build both two- and three-dimensional games, and learn more about the factors that contribute to choosing one approach over the other.
* Provide users with the means for extending your games through level creation and custom modifications as a means to build a vibrant community around your product.
* Package your games in a manner that allows even novice computer users to install, use, and update your games with ease.
Who is this book for?
This book has been written for any budding games developer. While knowledge of the Python language helps, it isn’t required. To help new programmers along, two early chapters are devoted to an overview of Python.
About the Apress Beginning Series
The Beginning series from Apress is the right choice to get the information you need to land that crucial entry-level job. These books will teach you a standard and important technology from the ground up because they are explicitly designed to take you from “novice to professional.” You’ll start your journey by seeing what you need to know, but without needless theory and filler. You’ll build your skill set by learning how to put together real-world projects step by step. So whether your goal is your next career challenge or a new learning opportunity, the Beginning series from Apress will take you there. It is your trusted guide through unfamiliar territory!
Product Details
* Amazon Sales Rank: #76482 in Books
* Published on: 2007-10-17
* Original language: English
* Number of items: 1
* Binding: Paperback
* 316 pages
Editorial Reviews
About the Author
Will McGugan is a software developer currently living and working in North West England. He has worked in video games and computer graphics since the early days of 3D and has created several shareware games in his spare time. Currently Will works for Evolution Studios, one of the world’s leading games development studios. He also has extensive experience in application development, having worked in the field of user interface creation and video conferencing. His current interests include application and web development in Python. Outside of work Will enjoys juggling and cycling, although not at the same time. For more information on Will’s current work and various musings, visit his blog at www.willmcgugan.com.
Customer Reviews
solid introduction to pygame5
Ch3-6 provide a nice introduction to the basics of writing simple programs in pygame. The example code in these chapters was clear and effective at demonstrating the particular topic. Overall this book was helpful to me in developing a pygame centric design flow for the programs that I am writing.
I would recommend this book to help in jump starting your understanding of this useful python module.
Bryce Himebaugh
Content good, book falling apart2
I bought this book for my son a few weeks ago. He likes the book and finds it helpful. But the book is falling apart at the binding. Very disappointing.
The Pygame Library4
I have to say up front that I fit the "Novice" part of the title for this book, but if the book is really intended for such an audience then my review may be helpful for those in the same situation... What I am a Novice at is Python and Device driven programming. Although this is really a very good AND much needed book for the much under documented Pygame library, it missed an excellent opportunity to provide a novice level tutorial in "device driven" programming as supported by Pygame. Although it is possible to muddle through to an understanding (much as I did) by thinking through the implications of the example code, it leaves a lot to be desired to provide a working basis for a real "Novice". As an example, the need to know the function of the lines of code "while True:" combined with "pygame,display,update()" and what they mean about the code that lie between them is really crucial to getting any code using the library to work at all. Although this is addressed to some extent, I found quite a bit of experimentation (on my part) necessary to discover what code needed to be included in this loop and what did not... I hope Mr. McGugan , with his excellent writing skills and obvious enthusiasim for this kind of work, will soon provide us with a second edition that will provide us with more insight into how Pygame actually works, so we won't be programming by rote...
Physics for Game Programmers
Product Description
First, you can get the source code directly from Apress' website. Second...the implementations are in simple terms. Third...(Grant Palmer's) book is full of trivia about physics that are just plain fun to read.
— InkBlog: The Random Musings of David Weller
As far as the style of the book goes, I think that's actually where it really shines. The author has a way of explaining things that's thorough without being verbose.
— Craig Andera, Pluralsight
Physics for Game Programmers shows you how to infuse compelling and realistic action into game programmingeven if you dont have a college-level physics background! Author Grant Palmer covers basic physics and mathematical models and then shows how to implement them, to simulate motion and behavior of cars, planes, projectiles, rockets, and boats.
This book is neither code heavy nor language specific, and all chapters include unique, challenging exercises for you to solve. This unique book also includes historical footnotes and interesting trivia. Youll enjoy the conversational tone, and rest assured: all physics jargon will be properly explained.
Product Details
* Amazon Sales Rank: #194179 in Books
* Published on: 2005-04-20
* Original language: English
* Number of items: 1
* Binding: Paperback
* 472 pages
Editorial Reviews
About the Author
Grant Palmer is the author of the acclaimed Java Programmer's Reference and is a recognized expert in both the C# and Java languages. Grant has worked as a scientific programmer in the Space Technology Division at the NASA Ames Research Center for the past 20 years. This has involved working with Java since 1996, developing programs for scientific applications as well as converting older FORTRAN and C applications to the Java and C# platforms.
Customer Reviews
Very nice book5
This is a very nice book, with a simple language, easy to understand, if you aren't a physic or math professional.
The formules are clean and light to put in your game source without down your hardware performance.
Excellent Beginner's Book5
This book gently introduces the reader to physics useful for game programming. It doesn't try to be a PhD thesis (thank you, Grant!), which makes it easily approachable by someone with a solid grasp on Algebra (Trigonometry knowledge helps, but lacking it won't hurt much).
Although the base material can be found in any good physics textbooks, the value here is in weeding out the unwanted fluff present in most textbooks, and presenting the material in plain language along with the equations. You would likely have to spend many times this book's cover price, and spend many time the hours weeding out the nonsense. Grant strikes an excellent balance between mathematical correctness and easy reading.
Do yourself a favor, and save a spot on your bookshelf for this title. It's easily worth twice its asking price, and I'm ecstatic at this book's great bang for the buck.
Practical physics for game programmers4
This title is also suitable for people with weak knowledge about math and gives easy to understand examples from everyday life. The physics models themselves didn't go very deep under the topic but rather handled more common approaches to the problems which is often the case on game related physics.
Chapter covering collisions were a bit too superficial to my taste but it's understandable since subject in all of it's complexity would form a book on it's own. Also all the examples were written in common Java rather than in pseudo code but works well for the purpose.
In overall this book is good starting point for game related physics but lacks profound optimization for large scale physic environment.
The Compiler Design Handbook: Optimizations and Machine Code Generation, 2nd Edition
Product Description
Today’s embedded devices and sensor networks are becoming more and more sophisticated, requiring more efficient and highly flexible compilers. Engineers are discovering that many of the compilers in use today are ill-suited to meet the demands of more advanced computer architectures.
Updated to include the latest techniques, The Compiler Design Handbook, Second Edition offers a unique opportunity for designers and researchers to update their knowledge, refine their skills, and prepare for emerging innovations. The completely revised handbook includes 14 new chapters addressing topics such as worst case execution time estimation, garbage collection, and energy aware compilation. The editors take special care to consider the growing proliferation of embedded devices, as well as the need for efficient techniques to debug faulty code. New contributors provide additional insight to chapters on register allocation, software pipelining, instruction scheduling, and type systems. Written bytop researchers and designers from around the world, The Compiler Design Handbook, Second Edition gives designers the opportunity to incorporate and develop innovative techniques for optimization and code generation.
Product Details
* Amazon Sales Rank: #567714 in Books
* Published on: 2007-12-07
* Original language: English
* Number of items: 1
* Binding: Hardcover
* 784 pages
Pro VB 2008 and the .NET 3.5 Platform, Third Edition
Product Description
Whether you’re moving to .NET for the first time, or you’re already writing applications on .NET 2.0 or .NET 3.0, Pro VB 2008 and the .NET 3.5 Platform will provide you with a solid grounding in this new technology and serve as a comprehensive reference throughout your coding career:
* Explore five new chapters of content—including the grammar of the common intermediate language (CIL), .NET generics, and object serialization services.
* Discover all the new .NET 3.5 features—nullable types, delegate covariance, ASP.NET 2.0 master pages, the new Windows Forms “Strip” controls, and much more.
* Get a professional foothold—targeted to appeal to experienced software professionals and/or graduate students of computer science (so don’t expect three chapters on iteration or decision constructs!).
* Gain a rock–solid foundation in programming using Visual Basic.
* Get comfortable with all the core aspects of the .NET platform—including assemblies, remoting, Windows Forms, Web Forms, ADO.NET, XML web services, and much more.
Once you’ve digested the information contained in the 25 chapters of this 1000+ page book, you’ll be ready to apply this knowledge to your specific programming assignments and well equipped to explore the .NET universe on your own.
What you’ll learn
* Everything you need to put .NET 3.5 and Visual Basic 2008 to use in your professional workbefore anyone else!
* Insights and techniques from the author’s experience since .NET 1.0
* Complete coverage of .NET 3.5—WPF, WCF and WF
Who is this book for?
Anyone with some software development experience interested in the new .NET 3.5 Platform and the Visual Basic language. Whether you’re moving to .NET for the first time or you’re already writing applications on .NET 2.0 or .NET 3.0, this book will provide you with a solid grounding in this new technology and serve as a comprehensive reference throughout your coding career.
Product Details
* Amazon Sales Rank: #28481 in Books
* Published on: 2008-03-24
* Original language: English
* Number of items: 1
* Binding: Paperback
* 1377 pages
Editorial Reviews
About the Author
Andrew Troelsen is a partner, trainer, and consultant at Intertech-Inc., and is a leading authority on both .NET and COM. His book Pro C# 2005 and the .NET 2.0 Platform won the prestigious 2003 Referenceware Excellence Award and is now in its third edition. Also of note are his earlier five-star treatment of traditional COM in the bestselling Developer's Workshop to COM and ATL mirrored in his book, COM and .NET Interoperability, and his top-notch investigation of VB .NET in Visual Basic .NET and the .NET Platform: An Advanced Guide. Troelsen has a degree in mathematical linguistics and South Asian studies from the University of Minnesota and is a frequent speaker at numerous .NET-related conferences. He currently lives in Minneapolis, Minnesota, with his wife, Amanda, and spends his free time investigating .NET and waiting for the Wild to win the Stanley Cup.
Customer Reviews
The reference book all VB.net programmers should have.5
I, for one, miss the days of large reference manuals as opposed to help files and Google searches. For me this book is a throwback in terms of its completeness and scope. If you program in VB.net I feel this is a must-have reference. I've given it to 2 of my developer friends already and plan to give it again. Do yourself and your career a favor. God bless.
Wow! This is THE book for VB2008 and/or .NET 3.5!!!5
I cannot over-rate this book. I've been developing systems for 40 years, and I've never seen a better book of this type. The author, Andrew Troelsen, really knows his stuff, and knows how to teach it. I only wish I'd had his VB 2005/.NET 2.0 book two years ago when I started trying to learn .NET! There's a lot of advanced material in this book, but it's good for any experienced programmer who wants to really learn .NET and VB 2008. It explains not only the what, but the why and how. If you need a book on this material, this is absolutely the one to get, period.
Client-Side Reporting with Visual Studio in C#
Product Description
Client-Side Reporting with Visual Studio in C# shows how to design and create stunning professional reports with SQL Server 2005 and with Visual Studio versions 2005 and 2008.
* The only comprehensive guide to client-side Reporting Services
* Covers Visual Studio versions 2005 and 2008
* Practical, step-by-step instruction on designing, developing, and deploying real-world reports
* Quickly turns beginners into sophisticated report writers
* Gives expert tips on handling complex reporting scenarios
The power of SQL Server 2005 Reporting Services is now available for client-side reporting in Visual Studio 2005 and Visual Studio 2008, with or without SQL Server. This hands-on guide takes you step by step through the design, development, and deployment of a variety of professional reports for Windows, web, and mobile clients. It is the most complete single source of information on this exciting and important new technology.
What you'll learn
* Discover the huge potential and utility of client-side reporting.
* See how to use Report Builder and Report Viewer like a pro.
* Master reporting with Windows Forms, ASP.NET 2.0 Web Forms, and Mobile Clients.
* Learn how to automate reports with Windows Services.
* Explore server-side Reporting Services and consume them from local clients.
* Move from Crystal Reports to Reporting Services.
Who is this book for?
Any VS user with any kind of reporting need can now easily create professional, enterprise-level reports with Reporting Services. Report designers, report writers, business analysts, and decision-makers will all find that Client-Side Reporting with Visual Studio in C# empowers them to get the information they needwhen and how they want it. Since VS and SQL Server now share the same reporting interface, VS users will also become comfortable with server-side reporting, while SQL Server developers and DBAs will see how they can leverage their server-side expertise for client-side reporting.
Related Titles from Apress
* Pro SQL Server 2005 Reporting Services
* Pro VS 2005 Reporting using SQL Server and Crystal Reports
Product Details
* Amazon Sales Rank: #163905 in Books
* Published on: 2007-09-21
* Original language: English
* Number of items: 1
* Binding: Paperback
* 465 pages
Editorial Reviews
About the Author
Asif Sayed has over 15 years' experience in software development and business process architecture. A senior systems analyst with Direct Energy in Toronto, Canada, he also teaches .NET technologies at Centennial College in Scarborough, Ontario.
Customer Reviews
Good overview of reporting services3
I received this book today and have already completed four chapters. It is an easy read and generally thought out. The only complaint so far is the author's over use of the word "Please"! Please see Figure n.n Please give an application name... Enough!
Did the publisher review this book before it went to press? How annoying!
Day two:
In addition, the author writes in broken English: "You should also keep in mind that there is more then one way of getting a report done."
If I had a nickel for every grammatical error I could buy the book which is a shame since the book really is helpful.
This book is rated for intermediate - advanced user but over and over there are instructions for creating a project, creating a dataset, etc.
Very useful book5
I like this book very much. The author explains the client-side reporting with Visual studio in C# in detail, especially step by step. The topics cover windows form, web form, windows service and web service, which are useful for developers to write the report easily.
Although this book says it covers version VS 2005 and VS 2008, I really hope the author can update this book using VS 2008 version and add some new features such as LINQ to generate the client-side reports easily. I will recommend this book to everyone.
Friday, October 3, 2008
Programming .NET 3.5
Product Description
.NET 3.5 will help you create better Windows applications, build Web Services that are more powerful, implement new Workflow projects and dramatically enhance the user's experience. But it does so with what appears to be a collection of disparate technologies. In Programming .NET 3.5, bestselling author Jesse Liberty and industry expert Alex Horovitz uncover the common threads that unite the .NET 3.5 technologies, so you can benefit from the best practices and architectural patterns baked into this newest generation of Microsoft frameworks. While single-topic .NET 3.5 books delve into Windows Presentation Foundation and the other frameworks in greater detail, Programming .NET 3.5 offers a "Grand Tour" of the release that describes how the four principal technologies can be used together, with Ajax, to build modern n-tier and service-oriented applications. Developers have struggled to implement these patterns with previous versions of the .NET Framework, but this hands-on guide uses real-world examples and fully annotated source code to demonstrate how .NET 3.5 can make it easy. The concepts and technologies that this book covers include: XAML -- Microsoft's new XML-based markup language for UI, used with WPF Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF) -- a new presentation framework and graphics subsystem for Windows that puts Vista-like effect in your grasp Ajax Windows Communication Foundation (WCF) - a new standards-based framework that enables applications to communicate across a network using a variety of protocols Workflow Foundation (WF) -- framework for defining, executing, and managing workflows CardSpace -- framework for managing the identities of your users You'll learn how to useeach of the four frameworks alone and in concert to build a series of meaningful example applications. Examples are written in C#, and all of the source code will be available for download at both the O'Reilly and the authors' site, which offers access to a free support forum. Between them, authors Jesse Liberty and Alex Horovitz have nearly forty years of experience in delivering commercial applications for companies such as Citibank, Apple, AT&T, NeXt, PBS, Ziff Davis, and dozens of smaller organizations. Their combined experience is valuable for telling the story of .NET 3.5 and how it will shorten the development life cycle for applications developers, and enhance your productivity.
Product Details
* Amazon Sales Rank: #15627 in Books
* Published on: 2008-08-05
* Format: Illustrated
* Original language: English
* Number of items: 1
* Binding: Paperback
* 476 pages
Editorial Reviews
About the Author
Jesse Liberty is a Senior Program Manager at Microsoft in the Silverlight Development Division. His business card reads "Silverlight Geek," and he is responsible for fostering a Silverlight Developer community, primarily through Silverlight.net.
Jesse is the author of numerous books, including O'Reilly Media's Programming Silverlight 2 and the perennial best-seller Programming C# 3.0. Jesse has two decades experience as a developer, author and consultant and has been a Distinguished Software Engineer at AT&T; Software Architect for PBS/Learning Link; and Vice President at Citibank. He provides full support for his writing, and access to his blogs, at JesseLiberty.com
Alex Horovitz is Sr. Director of Enterprise Architecture & Standards at K12, Inc. where he develops enterprise applications leveraging the Model-View-Controller design pattern and re-usable Frameworks. During the 1990s he worked at both NeXT Computer and later at Apple.
Customer Reviews
The fastest way to come up to speed?5
Some programming books suffer from the Three Little Bears syndrome: they're too detailed or not detailed enough, too conceptual or not conceptual enough, too much of a tutorial or not enough of a tutorial, and so on. The authors of Programming .NET 3.5 solved this problem by establishing clear goals for their book and by combining the insights of a senior program manager at Microsoft (Jesse Liberty) with those of a chief technology officer at an application development firm (Alex Horovitz).
Programming .NET 3.5 takes an integrated approach to Windows Presentation Foundation for Windows applications, Silverlight for delivery of rich internet applications across platforms and browsers, Windows Communication Foundation for web services and service-oriented architectures, Windows Workflow Foundation, CardSpace for user-negotiated identities, and ASP.NET/AJAX for rich client applications. The book's goal is to show how these elements can leverage Model-View-Controller, n-tier, and other long-celebrated architectural patterns while augmenting object-oriented programming with new declarative programming capabilities.
The book is divided into three parts: Presentation Options, Design Patterns (characterized as "an interlude") and The Business Layer.
Presentation Options provides an excellent introduction to eXtensive Application Markup Language, the declarative syntax for desktop-based presentations. This part of the book shows how to build a rich desktop application and later a real-world web-based AJAX-enhanced application using tools that move fluidly between XAML and managed code. Additional topics include an introduction to the Microsoft AJAX library and to the rich interactivity of browser-deployed Silverlight applications.
The Interlude on Design Patterns examines how .NET 3.5 promotes the use of architectural patterns that have only been celebrated with lip service until now.
The Business Layer part of the book shows how to replace ADO.NET classes with Language Integrated Query (LINQ) and defines SOA and shows how to implement SOA with Windows Communication Foundation. Most important, this part of the book presents a complete example of a WCF application and a complete workflow application, and also shows how to apply CardSpace for establishing identity.
Liberty and Horovitz should be commended for setting and then meeting the clearly spelled out goals for their book. The book is well organized and well written, and it follows the time-honored principle of moving from the simple to the complex. Assuming you've installed .NET Framework 3.5 and Visual Studio 2008, then this book just might be the very fastest way to bring yourself up to speed on Microsoft's latest.
Excellent resource for .NET 3.5!5
I just finished reading Programming .NET 3.5 from O'Reilly. The book, published in August, is an overview of the latest .NET Framework revision. You'll get an introduction to the topics that have been introduced along the way that include technology from .NET 2.0, .NET 3.0, and the latest version; .NET 3.5. Also included are libraries such as ASP.NET MVC and Silverlight.
You can easily pick up this book and enjoy the introductions to technologies such as Windows Communication Foundation, Windows Workflow Foundation, Windows Presentation Foundation, ASP.NET MVC, and Silverlight. Each of these topics are presented in a way that will be familiar to .NET developers. New developers, without experience in .NET, will be able to take a lot away from this book. It certainly will do more for the developer who already has a .NET background, no matter how brief it is.
That said, if you only pick up the book for the introduction to each technology, you'll be missing the best that this book has to offer. Unlike most technology books these days, this book explains the topics within the context of best practices and real world scenarios. For example, prior versions of ASP.NET did not promote decoupled architectures. In fact, it made it difficult to achieve them. With the technology available in .NET 3.5, modeling and implementing proper architectures is encouraged and facilitated by the framework. This book will show you how that works in .NET 3.5 and introduce you to the technologies at the same time.
I highly recommend this book. It will be on my desk for easy reference for my .NET projects in the future.
Recommended for .Net developers and intermediate programmers4
The book is very useful if you are interested in working with XML. It starts step by step and get harder through the book. The book itself is designed for intermediate level or experts. I don't recommend this book for beginners in XML. Part two of the book talks about design patterns, and the third part tells the programmer how to work with databases and about the state machine. It is harder than the first and second parts and readers should be more proficient than beginner or intermediate level. The examples are really very helpful, and you can play with the code easily and understand from it lots of features.
I didn't finish the whole book but I enjoyed reading most of it. I recommend it .Net developers and intermediate programmers who have played with C# or visual basic.
.NET 3.5 will help you create better Windows applications, build Web Services that are more powerful, implement new Workflow projects and dramatically enhance the user's experience. But it does so with what appears to be a collection of disparate technologies. In Programming .NET 3.5, bestselling author Jesse Liberty and industry expert Alex Horovitz uncover the common threads that unite the .NET 3.5 technologies, so you can benefit from the best practices and architectural patterns baked into this newest generation of Microsoft frameworks. While single-topic .NET 3.5 books delve into Windows Presentation Foundation and the other frameworks in greater detail, Programming .NET 3.5 offers a "Grand Tour" of the release that describes how the four principal technologies can be used together, with Ajax, to build modern n-tier and service-oriented applications. Developers have struggled to implement these patterns with previous versions of the .NET Framework, but this hands-on guide uses real-world examples and fully annotated source code to demonstrate how .NET 3.5 can make it easy. The concepts and technologies that this book covers include: XAML -- Microsoft's new XML-based markup language for UI, used with WPF Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF) -- a new presentation framework and graphics subsystem for Windows that puts Vista-like effect in your grasp Ajax Windows Communication Foundation (WCF) - a new standards-based framework that enables applications to communicate across a network using a variety of protocols Workflow Foundation (WF) -- framework for defining, executing, and managing workflows CardSpace -- framework for managing the identities of your users You'll learn how to useeach of the four frameworks alone and in concert to build a series of meaningful example applications. Examples are written in C#, and all of the source code will be available for download at both the O'Reilly and the authors' site, which offers access to a free support forum. Between them, authors Jesse Liberty and Alex Horovitz have nearly forty years of experience in delivering commercial applications for companies such as Citibank, Apple, AT&T, NeXt, PBS, Ziff Davis, and dozens of smaller organizations. Their combined experience is valuable for telling the story of .NET 3.5 and how it will shorten the development life cycle for applications developers, and enhance your productivity.
Product Details
* Amazon Sales Rank: #15627 in Books
* Published on: 2008-08-05
* Format: Illustrated
* Original language: English
* Number of items: 1
* Binding: Paperback
* 476 pages
Editorial Reviews
About the Author
Jesse Liberty is a Senior Program Manager at Microsoft in the Silverlight Development Division. His business card reads "Silverlight Geek," and he is responsible for fostering a Silverlight Developer community, primarily through Silverlight.net.
Jesse is the author of numerous books, including O'Reilly Media's Programming Silverlight 2 and the perennial best-seller Programming C# 3.0. Jesse has two decades experience as a developer, author and consultant and has been a Distinguished Software Engineer at AT&T; Software Architect for PBS/Learning Link; and Vice President at Citibank. He provides full support for his writing, and access to his blogs, at JesseLiberty.com
Alex Horovitz is Sr. Director of Enterprise Architecture & Standards at K12, Inc. where he develops enterprise applications leveraging the Model-View-Controller design pattern and re-usable Frameworks. During the 1990s he worked at both NeXT Computer and later at Apple.
Customer Reviews
The fastest way to come up to speed?5
Some programming books suffer from the Three Little Bears syndrome: they're too detailed or not detailed enough, too conceptual or not conceptual enough, too much of a tutorial or not enough of a tutorial, and so on. The authors of Programming .NET 3.5 solved this problem by establishing clear goals for their book and by combining the insights of a senior program manager at Microsoft (Jesse Liberty) with those of a chief technology officer at an application development firm (Alex Horovitz).
Programming .NET 3.5 takes an integrated approach to Windows Presentation Foundation for Windows applications, Silverlight for delivery of rich internet applications across platforms and browsers, Windows Communication Foundation for web services and service-oriented architectures, Windows Workflow Foundation, CardSpace for user-negotiated identities, and ASP.NET/AJAX for rich client applications. The book's goal is to show how these elements can leverage Model-View-Controller, n-tier, and other long-celebrated architectural patterns while augmenting object-oriented programming with new declarative programming capabilities.
The book is divided into three parts: Presentation Options, Design Patterns (characterized as "an interlude") and The Business Layer.
Presentation Options provides an excellent introduction to eXtensive Application Markup Language, the declarative syntax for desktop-based presentations. This part of the book shows how to build a rich desktop application and later a real-world web-based AJAX-enhanced application using tools that move fluidly between XAML and managed code. Additional topics include an introduction to the Microsoft AJAX library and to the rich interactivity of browser-deployed Silverlight applications.
The Interlude on Design Patterns examines how .NET 3.5 promotes the use of architectural patterns that have only been celebrated with lip service until now.
The Business Layer part of the book shows how to replace ADO.NET classes with Language Integrated Query (LINQ) and defines SOA and shows how to implement SOA with Windows Communication Foundation. Most important, this part of the book presents a complete example of a WCF application and a complete workflow application, and also shows how to apply CardSpace for establishing identity.
Liberty and Horovitz should be commended for setting and then meeting the clearly spelled out goals for their book. The book is well organized and well written, and it follows the time-honored principle of moving from the simple to the complex. Assuming you've installed .NET Framework 3.5 and Visual Studio 2008, then this book just might be the very fastest way to bring yourself up to speed on Microsoft's latest.
Excellent resource for .NET 3.5!5
I just finished reading Programming .NET 3.5 from O'Reilly. The book, published in August, is an overview of the latest .NET Framework revision. You'll get an introduction to the topics that have been introduced along the way that include technology from .NET 2.0, .NET 3.0, and the latest version; .NET 3.5. Also included are libraries such as ASP.NET MVC and Silverlight.
You can easily pick up this book and enjoy the introductions to technologies such as Windows Communication Foundation, Windows Workflow Foundation, Windows Presentation Foundation, ASP.NET MVC, and Silverlight. Each of these topics are presented in a way that will be familiar to .NET developers. New developers, without experience in .NET, will be able to take a lot away from this book. It certainly will do more for the developer who already has a .NET background, no matter how brief it is.
That said, if you only pick up the book for the introduction to each technology, you'll be missing the best that this book has to offer. Unlike most technology books these days, this book explains the topics within the context of best practices and real world scenarios. For example, prior versions of ASP.NET did not promote decoupled architectures. In fact, it made it difficult to achieve them. With the technology available in .NET 3.5, modeling and implementing proper architectures is encouraged and facilitated by the framework. This book will show you how that works in .NET 3.5 and introduce you to the technologies at the same time.
I highly recommend this book. It will be on my desk for easy reference for my .NET projects in the future.
Recommended for .Net developers and intermediate programmers4
The book is very useful if you are interested in working with XML. It starts step by step and get harder through the book. The book itself is designed for intermediate level or experts. I don't recommend this book for beginners in XML. Part two of the book talks about design patterns, and the third part tells the programmer how to work with databases and about the state machine. It is harder than the first and second parts and readers should be more proficient than beginner or intermediate level. The examples are really very helpful, and you can play with the code easily and understand from it lots of features.
I didn't finish the whole book but I enjoyed reading most of it. I recommend it .Net developers and intermediate programmers who have played with C# or visual basic.
Algebraic Methodology and Software Technology
Product Description
This book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the 12th International Conference on Algebraic Methodology and Software Technology, AMAST 2008, held in Urbana, IL, USA, in July 2008.
The 28 revised full papers presented together with 3 invited talks were carefully reviewed and selected from 58 submissions. Among the topics covered are all current issues in formal methods related to algebraic and logical foundations, software technology, and to programming methodology including concurrent and reactive systems, evolutionary software/adaptive systems, logic and functional programming, object paradigms, constraint programming and concurrency, program verification and transformation, programming calculi, specification languages and tools, formal specification and development case studies, logic, category theory, relation algebra, computational algebra, algebraic foundations for languages and systems, coinduction, theorem proving and logical frameworks for reasoning, logics of programs, as well as algebra and coalgebra.
Product Details
* Published on: 2008-08-15
* Original language: English
* Number of items: 1
* Binding: Hardcover
* 432 pages
This book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the 12th International Conference on Algebraic Methodology and Software Technology, AMAST 2008, held in Urbana, IL, USA, in July 2008.
The 28 revised full papers presented together with 3 invited talks were carefully reviewed and selected from 58 submissions. Among the topics covered are all current issues in formal methods related to algebraic and logical foundations, software technology, and to programming methodology including concurrent and reactive systems, evolutionary software/adaptive systems, logic and functional programming, object paradigms, constraint programming and concurrency, program verification and transformation, programming calculi, specification languages and tools, formal specification and development case studies, logic, category theory, relation algebra, computational algebra, algebraic foundations for languages and systems, coinduction, theorem proving and logical frameworks for reasoning, logics of programs, as well as algebra and coalgebra.
Product Details
* Published on: 2008-08-15
* Original language: English
* Number of items: 1
* Binding: Hardcover
* 432 pages
Monday, May 26, 2008
Rails Cookbook (Cookbooks (O'Reilly)) by Rob Orsini
Product Description
Rails Cookbook is packed with the solutions you need to be a proficient developer with Rails, the leading framework for building the new generation of Web 2.0 applications. Recipes range from the basics, like installing Rails and setting up your development environment, to the latest techniques, such as developing RESTful web services.
With applications that are code light, feature-full and built to scale quickly, Rails has revolutionized web development. The Rails Cookbook addresses scores of real-world challenges; each one includes a tested solution, plus a discussion of how and why it works, so that you can adapt the techniques to similar situations. Topics include:
Modeling data with the ActiveRecord library
Setting up views with ActionView and RHTML templates
Building your application's logic into ActionController
Testing and debugging your Rails application
Building responsive web applications using JavaScript and Ajax
Ensuring that your application is security and performs well
Deploying your application with Mongrel and Apache
Using Capistrano to automate deployment
Using the many Rails plugins
Working with graphics
Whether you're new to Rails or an experienced developer, you'll discover ways to test, debug and secure your applications, incorporate Ajax, use caching to improve performance, and put your application into production. Want to get ahead of the Web 2.0 curve? This valuable cookbook will save you hundreds of hours when developing applications with Rails.
Product Details
Amazon Sales Rank: #48959 in Books
Published on: 2007-01-16
Format: Illustrated
Number of items: 1
Binding: Paperback
534 pages
Editorial Reviews
About the Author
Rob Orsini is an open source developer living in northern California. He currently works for O'Reilly Media in the production software group. Previously, Rob was the webmaster at Industrial Light & Magic, where he developed applications in support of the special effects industry. Rob has been programming the web since 1998, and upon discovering Rails, hopes to continue for many more years to come. Rob is also a jazz musician and a loving father.
Customer Reviews
Nice work
I used this book for a grad class project that had to do with building multimedia database system with Ruby on Rails framework. This is the first of the "cookbook" series I ever purchased, so I was a bit skeptical in the beginning. I am very pleased with this book. It has detailed solutions for several of the common problems. I had successfully built a nice multimedia database driven application in a single weekend with this book. Code examples are well presented and it's easy to incorporate it into your application. This is not a beginner's book. If you know nothing about Ruby or Rails, you should get a beginner's book first - I used "Build Your Own Ruby On Rails" by Patrick Lenz [note that this book is available for free download on the web - search for it on Google]. I am very highly pleased with this purchase and I will recommend it highly especially to those who want to get up and running quickly.
Practical book for working programmers.
The "Rails Cookbook" is a very useful book for the working programmer.
Programming is all about solving problems, and that is exactly what this book is about. Each "Recipe" contains the problem, the solution and a discussion about the solution. They are concise without being too vague to be useful.
The book contains almost 200 of these problems / solutions.
This probably wouldn't be a good introduction to the language or the framework, but if you already are familiar with both - this book is a very valuable tool to help you get your work done.
Love the recipie format
Now that I've encountered a few recipies books, I have to admit I'm in love with the format. I proves very practical and much easier to use.
Tuesday, May 20, 2008
The Psychology of Computer Programming: Silver Anniversary Edition by Gerald M. Weinberg
Product Details
* Amazon Sales Rank: #500764 in Books
* Published on: 1998-09
* Number of items: 1
* Binding: Paperback
* 292 pages
Customer Reviews
You write the program and the program writes you5
I don't think you can actually "review" a book like this one. It's like reviewing Dostoevsky.
Sufficient is to say that this book is still highly relevant after 35 years, which is beyond any possible comparison. In fact, it doesn't bug you the least that the author speaks about new languages COBOL and PL/1 or programs being fed into a computer through a stack of punch cards. Because it doesn't matter, it's irrelevant to the matter discussed.
Which leads us to what the book is about. The book is really about the relationship between a human programmer and the programs he writes. The psychological aspects of programming, if it doesn't sound too obvious. And that did not change over the years. It is as helpful to a programmer today as I guess it has been at the time it was written. For a programmer to read this book is to increase self-awareness and understanding of the profession.
Neither very psychological nor very technical (on purpose, to encourage more people to read it), the ideas in this book come mostly from observation and there are plenty. See, the primary purpose of this book was to stimulate related research. It has apparently been achieved - as of now, it is referenced from all over the place as the major source.
A must read.
Unbelievably Bad!1
I think Wienberg must be spamming these reviews with a multitude of user names. That is the only explanation that can explain the four star average rating for this steaming pile of refuse. This is a book from an era when there must have been very low standards for 'popular' technical books. Weinberg is no psychologist, his observations are amateurish and ill informed. This book reads more like a 'best practices' work for the mainframe era. The most telling thing I can relate is my experience; after finishing a chapter I would read the chapter summary and not recognize a single thing from the chapter I had just read. The most laughable part was the coverage of programming languages. Wienberg is so completely ignorant of programming language research, even for that era, it's stunning. AND the man had (has) the gall to write on the subject as if he knows something. The most distasteful part of the book are the Anniversary Edition comments. They basically consist of Weinberg telling us that, he may not have been completely correct, but wasn't he amazingly prescient for the times? Gag. I'll never read another book by this author.
One of the key books on the people side of software4
If you're a developer (referred here as a "programmer") and something's not going just right in your work or group, try reading this book to see if the situations are somehow familiar. The stories about non-technical factors that affect code quality and developer's quality of life are the originals from 25 years ago, with a few-page update at the end of each chapter. While there aren't punch cards and batch jobs anymore, the situations still occur. Try to find your parallels in modern-day software development, where the tools may be new but the people are very much the same. (Do your best to ignore the chauvinistic comments here and there left over from a male programmer of 1971, for which the author now apologizes.) Interesting thoughts at the end about how language and compiler design also affects ease of writing good code.
Friday, May 16, 2008
Java & XML, 2nd Edition: Solutions to Real-World Problems by Brett McLaughlin
Product Description
While the XML "buzz" still dominates talk among Internet developers, the critical need is for information that cuts through the hype and lets Java programmers put XML to work. Java & XML shows how to use the APIs, tools, and tricks of XML to build real-world applications, with the end result that both the data and the code are portable. This second edition of Java & XML adds chapters on Advanced SAX and Advanced DOM, new chapters on SOAP and data binding, and new examples throughout. A concise chapter on XML basics introduces concepts, and the rest of the book focuses on using XML from your Java applications. Java developers who need to work with XML, or think that they will in the future--as well as developers involved in the new peer-to-peer movement, messaging, or web services--will find the new Java & XML a constant companion. This book covers:
The basics of XML, including DTDs, namespaces, XML Schema, XPath, and XSL
The SAX API, including all handlers, the SAX 2 extensions, filters, and writers
The DOM API, including DOM Level 2, Level 3, and the Traversal, Range, CSS, Events, and HTML modules.
The JDOM API, including the core, a look at XPath support, and JDOM as a JSR
Using web publishing frameworks like Apache Cocoon
Developing applications with XML-RPC
Using SOAP and UDDI for web services
Data Binding, using both DTDs and XML Schema for constraints
Building business-to-business applications with XML
Building information channels with RSS and dynamic content with XSP
Includes a quick reference on SAX 2.0, DOM Level 2, and JDOM.
Product Details
Amazon Sales Rank: #508925 in Books
Published on: 2001-09
Format: Illustrated
Number of items: 1
Binding: Paperback
550 pages
Editorial Reviews
Book Info
New second edition focuses entirely on using XML from Java applications. New chapters on Advanced SAX, Advanced DOM, SOAP and data binding, and new examples throughout. Softcover.
About the Author
Brett McLaughlin has been working in computers since the Logo days. (Remember the little triangle?) He currently specializes in building application infrastructure using Java and Java-related technologies. He has spent the last several years implementing these infrastructures at Nextel Communications and Allegiance Telecom, Inc. Brett is one of the co-founders of the Java Apache project Turbine, which builds a reusable component architecture for web application development using Java servlets. He is also a contributor of the EJBoss project, an open source EJB application server, and Cocoon, an open source XML web-publishing engine. He is author of the soon-to-be-released O'Reilly book, Building Java Enterprise Applications.
Customer Reviews
A book worth owning
The author covers some background, but mainly sticks to the business end of dealing with XML using java. The book is set out so you can read the parts that are relevant to getting a particular piece of technology working quickly.
Before reading this book I had never written an XML parser, but within a couple of days I was able to rework a parser to make it work both faster and with a smaller memory footprint by following the guidelines in this book. The details are not covered in great depth, but enough to get a job done, and make this a portabe reference.
Another book worth owning from the O'Reilly press.
Good but could be more.
Second editions are always great. However, I find that I dont like all of the API reference in the book. I would rather look at APIs electronically and talk concepts in the book.
Good introduction, a little diffuse
Compared with .NET and XML this book tends to wander and rat hole a little. The book covers the basics. The SAX and DOM approaches. It also covers XSLT and serving XML. It also covers advanced topics like Castor, JDOM, and web services. But most of the subjects are covered at a cursory level and do not serve as a complete introduction.
There is a small reference at the end of the book which is not as easy to read as the APIs described in the Nutshell style.
I gave this book four stars because, while it does lack focus, it is a good introduction to the XML APIs for Java. In the third release they should concentrate a little harder editing in some focus and a better reference section at the end.
XML 1.1 Bible by Elliotte Rusty Harold
Product Description
Updated and better than ever, this more focused revision provides comprehensive coverage of XML to anyone with a basic understanding of HTML and Web servers
Featuring all-new examples, this book contains everything readers need to know to incorporate XML in their Web site plans, designs, and implementations
Continues expert Elliotte Rusty Harold's well-known track record for delivering the best XML guidance available
Includes coverage of the most recent XML 1.1 specification and the latest trends in XML Web publishing
Companion Web site includes additional examples and reference material found in previous editions that readers may find useful
Product Details
Amazon Sales Rank: #365473 in Books
Published on: 2004-03-05
Number of items: 1
Binding: Paperback
1054 pages
Editorial Reviews
Download Description
* Updated and better than ever, this more focused revision provides comprehensive coverage of XML to anyone with a basic understanding of HTML and Web servers * Featuring all-new examples, this book contains everything readers need to know to incorporate XML in their Web site plans, designs, and implementations * Continues expert Elliotte Rusty Harold's well-known track record for delivering the best XML guidance available * Includes coverage of the most recent XML 1.1 specification and the latest trends in XML Web publishing * Companion Web site includes additional examples and reference material found in previous editions that readers may find useful
Amazon.com
The emergence of XML is having an enormous impact on Web development, and scaling the learning curve of this new technology is a priority for many developers. The XML Bible offers a superb introduction to the subject and the groundwork to understand XML's future developments.
Author Elliotte Rusty Harold uses a patient, step-by-step discussion that clearly points out the potential of XML without boring his readership with tons of SGML spec-speak. Harold opens quickly with a "Hello World" example to get the reader coding early, and follows that with a simple but powerful example of XML's data management benefits--presenting baseball statistics. Once you've coded your first XML documents, you'll be hooked on the technology and motivated to learn about the more sophisticated topics.
Style sheet languages are covered comprehensively to illustrate the presentation possibilities and pitfalls. An unusually long list of real-life XML applications also shows how XML is already being used, and there is in-depth coverage of the Resource Description Framework, Channel Definition Format, and Vector Markup Language. The book wraps up with a section that helps you design your own XML application from scratch.
Titling a book a bible is a bold move, but this engaging and informative guide is entitled to make this claim. --Stephen W. Plain
Topics covered: XML background, example XML applications, type definitions (DTDs), style languages, Xlinks, Xpointers, Namespaces, application planning, and XML 1.0 specification.
Download Description
* Updated and better than ever, this more focused revision provides comprehensive coverage of XML to anyone with a basic understanding of HTML and Web servers * Featuring all-new examples, this book contains everything readers need to know to incorporate XML in their Web site plans, designs, and implementations * Continues expert Elliotte Rusty Harold's well-known track record for delivering the best XML guidance available * Includes coverage of the most recent XML 1.1 specification and the latest trends in XML Web publishing * Companion Web site includes additional examples and reference material found in previous editions that readers may find useful
Customer Reviews
Verbose
I bought Harold's book to help me move from XHTML to XML and to handle data with PHP which does not fit well in a relational database / SQL. This book bogs down quickly in very long explanations & examples which could have been a fraction of the size. I think it has good coverage, but Harold uses too many words every time he approaches a subject. To paraphrase someone else, Harold could write 10,000 words on the color red.
The problem with Wiley's Bible series (I have several of them) is that the goal seems to be to make them as big and heavy as a boat anchor. This results in verbose books, which may be ok for use as a reference but way to hard to read cover to cover for initial learning. The time needed to read these books cover to cover exceeds the value of the book itself. If you buy books by the pound (or kilo), this is a good buy. But if you value your time more than you value impressive size, there are better alternatives.
On a positive note: I have not found a bunch of typo or editing errors and Harold seems to know the subject. I'm just frustrated by the slow pace, although I will continue trying to read it at least a little longer.
Warning: [Some opinions given here appear to be by paid reviewers. ie: Feb 3, 2005, and others. How many others are also raw attempts to sell books without honor? Can you trust anyone who writes hundreds or thousands of 5 star opinions?? Heck no! Hint: Check out the person writing the review before actually reading it. Look for how many opinions he/she writes and how many stars. Distrust all high opinions in the first few months after publication, all high opinions by people who have only written a couple of opinions, and all high opinions from people who only write high opinions. Thanks for the lack of honesty Elliotte &/or Wiley &/or big A. (my opinion, 2 cma).]
Doesn't cover DOM and SAX
I haven' read the book, only browsed its TOC. It doesn't cover the Document Object Model (DOM) and the Simple API for XML (SAX). It also discusses CSS in too much detail. These days, web development professionals will probably have a knowledge of both HTML and CSS before starting with XML.
Consider "Beginning XML" or "Professional XML" instead, both published by Wrow.
Pulp paper
I have purchased many books from Amazon, but this one is printed on the lowest-quality paper I've ever experienced. Though it's relatively new, the yellowed pages look like a 1960's pulp novel. There is literally a 2mm yellow border surrounding each page. Come on "Hungry Minds" publishers, you can do better than this.
Java and XML Data Binding by Brett McLaughlin
Product Description
More Java developers today want to work with XML, the technology that enables data to be transported intact over the Internet, but they don't have time to become XML experts. If this describes you, then you'll appreciate data binding, the new way of converting XML documents into Java objects, so those documents can be worked on and manipulated like any other Java object, then converted back to XML
This new title provides an in-depth technical look at XML Data Binding. The book offers complete documentation of all features in both the Sun Microsystems JAXB API and popular open source alternative implementations (Enhydra Zeus, Exolabs Castor and Quick). It also gets into significant detail about when data binding is appropriate to use, and provides numerous practical examples of using data binding in applications.
As Author Brett McLaughlin says "Too many books are written about technologies by people who barely understand them. I've already written two data binding implementations (Zeus, and a previous one for IBM DeveloperWorks.) I've actually used data binding for longer than the official specification has been in existence, and I've really been able to dig into what it takes to code an effective data biding implementation, as well as use one correctly. This book is part user guide, part under-the-hood manual, and part use-case. It's a powerful combination, and one I think people need."
Product Details
Amazon Sales Rank: #763478 in Books
Published on: 2002-05
Format: Illustrated
Number of items: 1
Binding: Paperback
214 pages
Editorial Reviews
Book Info
Provides an in-depth technical look at XML Data Binding. Offers complete documentation on all features in both the Sun Microsystems JAXB API and and popular open source alternative implementations. Provides numerous practical examples of using data binding in applications. Softcover.
About the Author
Brett McLaughlin has been working in computers since the Logo days. (Remember the little triangle?) He currently specializes in building application infrastructure using Java and Java-related technologies. He has spent the last several years implementing these infrastructures at Nextel Communications and Allegiance Telecom, Inc. Brett is one of the co-founders of the Java Apache project Turbine, which builds a reusable component architecture for web application development using Java servlets. He is also a contributor of the EJBoss project, an open source EJB application server, and Cocoon, an open source XML web-publishing engine. He is author of the soon-to-be-released O'Reilly book, Building Java Enterprise Applications.
Customer Reviews
Outdated, incorrect information. Stay away!
This book was written before the version 1.0 release of the JAXB data binding API's. As a result much of the information in this book is incorrect and not current. If you follow the instruction in this book you will NOT sucessfully perform XML binding to java objects. For example, the book uses DTD's as the XML description model used by JAXB. This is wrong DTD's were dropped in favor of XML schemas. The instructions for using the JAXB jar files are wrong. The required jars have changed since this book was printed. The instructions for using the generated java data binding classes is wrong, the usage has changed since this book was written. The author tried to get to far ahead of the technology curve on JAXB and as a result authored this book too early in the JAXB life cycle. The book is of minimal value.
Outdated, incorrect information. Stay away!
This book was written before the version 1.0 release of the JAXB data binding API's. As a result much of the information in this book is incorrect and not current. If you follow the instruction in this book you will NOT sucessfully perform XML binding to java objects. For example, the book uses DTD's as the XML description model used by JAXB. This is wrong DTD's were dropped in favor of XML schemas. The instructions for using the JAXB jar files are wrong. The required jars have changed since this book was printed. The instructions for using the generated java data binding classes is wrong, the usage has changed since this book was written. The author tried to get to far ahead of the technology curve on JAXB and as a result authored this book too early in the JAXB life cycle. The book is of minimal value.
Waste of money
This does not talk about JAXB at all. What it talks is about some non standardised APIs that existed before JAXB.
The brief mention of JAXB ( 4 pages ) is only philosphical. Even that is w.r.t. an obselete version with DTD support.
( Current JAXB only supports XML schema )
Thursday, May 15, 2008
Advances In Uml And Xml-based Software Evolution
Product Description
Advances in UML and XML-Based Software Evolution reports recent advances in applications of two popularly used languages, UML and XML, in the field of software evolution. This book covers topics such as: visualizing legacy systems with UML, augmenting UML
Product Details
Amazon Sales Rank: #2446773 in Books
Published on: 2005-07-07
Released on: 2005-07-07
Number of items: 1
Binding: Hardcover
362 pages
Editorial Reviews
About the Author
Hongji Yang is Professor, the Head of Division of System Design and the leader of the Software Evolution and Re-engineering Group (SERG), in School of Computing at De Montfort University, England. He received his BSc and MPhil degrees in Computer Science from Jilin University, China, and his PhD degree in Computer Science from Durham University, England. His research interests include software engineering and distributed computing. He served as a Programme Co-Chair at IEEE International Conference on Software Maintenance (ICSM '1999), a Programme Co-Chair at IEEE International Workshop on Future Trends in Distributed Computing Systems (FTDCS '2001) and the Program Chair at IEEE Computer Software and Application Conference (COMPSAC '2002).
Learning XML (2nd Edition) by Erik T. Ray
Product Description
This second edition of the bestselling "Learning XML" provides web developers with a concise but grounded understanding of XML (the Extensible Markup Language) and its potential-- not just a whirlwind tour of XML.
The author explains the important and relevant XML technologies and their capabilities clearly and succinctly with plenty of real-life projects and useful examples. He outlines the elements of markup--demystifying concepts such as attributes, entities, and namespaces--and provides enough depth and examples to get started. "Learning XML" is a reliable source for anyone who needs to know XML, but doesn't want to waste time wading through hundreds of web sites or 800 pages of bloated text.
For writers producing XML documents, this book clarifies files and the process of creating them with the appropriate structure and format. Designers will learn what parts of XML are most helpful to their team and will get started on creating Document Type Definitions. For programmers, the book makes syntax and structures clear. "Learning XML" also discusses the stylesheets needed for viewing documents in the next generation of browsers, databases, and other devices.
"Learning XML" illustrates the core XML concepts and language syntax, in addition to important related tools such as the CSS and XSL styling languages and the XLink and XPointer specifications for creating rich link structures. It includes information about three schema languages for validation: W3C Schema, Schematron, and RELAX-NG, which are gaining widespread support from people who need to validate documents but aren't satisfied with DTDs. Also new in this edition is a chapter on XSL-FO, a powerful formatting languagefor XML. If you need to wade through the acronym soup of XML and start to really use this powerful tool, "Learning XML," will give you the roadmap you need.
Product Details
Amazon Sales Rank: #6714873 in Books
Published on: 2003-09-01
Number of items: 1
Binding: Paperback
600 pages
Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
Although Learning XML covers XML rather broadly, it nevertheless presents the key elements of the technology with enough detail to familiarize the reader with this crucial markup language. This guide is brief enough to tackle in a weekend.
Author Erik T. Ray begins with an excellent summary of XML's history as an outgrowth of SGML and HTML. He outlines very clearly the elements of markup, demystifying concepts such as attributes, entities, and namespaces with numerous clear examples. To illustrate a real-world XML application, he gives the reader a look at a document written in DocBook--a publicly available XML document type for publishing technical writings--and explains the sections of the document step by step. A more simplified version of DocBook is used later in the book to illustrate transformation--a powerful benefit of XML.
The all-important Document Type Definition (DTD) is covered in depth, but the still-unofficial alternative, XML Schema, is only briefly addressed. The author makes liberal use of graphics, tables, and code to demonstrate concepts along the way, keeping the reader engaged and on track. Ray also goes deep into some discussion of programming XML utilities with Perl.
Learning XML is a very readable introduction to XML for readers with existing knowledge of markup and Web technologies. It meets its goals very well--to deliver a broad perspective of XML and its potential. --Stephen W. Plain
Topics covered:
XML overview
XPointer
XLink
XHTML
Presentation with Cascading Style Sheets (CSS)
Document Type Definitions (DTDs)
XML Schemas
Transformation with XSLT
Internationalization
Simple API for XML (SAX)
Book Info
A guide to XML and its capabilities, including references to real-life projects. Teaches designers what parts of XML are most helpful, with coverage of basic concepts and core syntax, the use of stylesheets, document modeling with DTDs and XML schema, and internationalization using Unicode. Softcover.
About the Author
Erik T. Ray has worked for O'Reilly Media, Inc. as a software developer and XML specialist since 1995. He helped to establish a complete publishing solution using DocBook-XML and Perl to produce books in print, on CD-ROM, and for the new Safari web library of books. As the author of the O'Reilly best seller Learning XML and numerous articles to technical journals, Erik is known for his clear and entertaining writing style.
Customer Reviews
Great Book for Learning XML
This book taught me a lot about XML and how it is used in the digital publishing world. XML is not limited to web sites and is a great resource for businesses institutions and other publishing needs where a common format is needed for each and every document.
I recommend this book for anyone wanting to learn more about XML and how it is used.
Not a Standalone book, good otherwise
1. YOU WILL NOT TOUCH A KEYBOARD USING THIS BOOK, IT DOESN'T NOT WALK THROUGH EXAMPLES- for those books, try "XML step by step" by Young (Microsoft), and for more advanced, "XML in Action - Web Technology" by Pardi.
2. THIS BOOK IS GREAT: because it teaches in a fundamentally different way. Most of what we see of XML is tags, attributes, the structure of the data in the elements, etc. But this book focus on the DOM. This crucial focus helps understand XML with its uses, XPointer, and transformation.
3. If you want to do a lot with XML, beyond RSS feeds, buy this book along with a walkthrough, like the books listed above.
bad book, too much nonsense
full of nonsense in whole book.
For example, xml schemas chapter is from page 108 to 164 about 60 pages, but realy useful w3c xml schema only take less 8 pages, others, useless, forget them.
Hi my dear author,
you have a lot of work to do, from simple to complex, how can you just give a long example and finish. Do you know "learning" means ***FOCUSING ON CORE***
Professional InfoPath 2003 by Ian Williams
Product Description
What is this book about?
Microsoft InfoPath 2003 helps developers tackle forms-based information-gathering with the full range of XML technologies. This book quickly guides experienced Office and XML developers through InfoPath fundamentals, including XML form templates architecture, form definition file structure, available external data sources, and backend services. From there, you delve into validation and updating forms, both during development and as business needs change. Finally, you examine the InfoPath security model, learning to implement and deploy trusted forms.
The second part of this book is an intensive case study covering metadata processing, exporting XML data to Excel for analysis, and much more.
What does this book cover?
Here are just a few of the things you'll learn in this book:
The development options InfoPath makes available through XML technology
How to combine various form files into a customized template
The architecture of an InfoPath form template and the file types you can use in various applications
Ways to build a form interface using menus or objects on the task pane
Methods to support users at various levels of experience
Different means of validating forms and reporting errors
How to implement digital signatures and other form security measures with InfoPath
Who is this book for?
This book is for experienced corporate developers who have a strong knowledge of XML and related technologies as well as solid experience with Microsoft Office and related applications.
Product Details
Amazon Sales Rank: #322740 in Books
Published on: 2004-04-23
Number of items: 1
Binding: Paperback
408 pages
Editorial Reviews
Book Info
Helps developers tackle forms-based information-gathering with the full range of XML technologies. Softcover.
From the Back Cover
Microsoft InfoPath 2003 helps developers tackle forms-based information-gathering with the full range of XML technologies. This book quickly guides experienced Office and XML developers through InfoPath fundamentals, including XML form templates architecture, form definition file structure, available external data sources, and backend services. From there, you’ll delve into validation and updating forms, both during development and as business needs change. Finally, you’ll examine the InfoPath security model, learning to implement and deploy trusted forms.
The second part of this book is an intensive case study covering metadata processing, exporting XML data to Excel for analysis, and much more.
What you will learn from this book
The development options InfoPath makes available through XML technology
How to combine various form files into a customized template
The architecture of an InfoPath form template and the file types you can use in various applications
Ways to build a form interface using menus or objects on the task pane
Methods to support users at various levels of experience
Different means of validating forms and reporting errors
How to implement digital signatures and other form security measures with InfoPath
Who is this book for?
This book is for experienced corporate developers who have a strong knowledge of XML and related technologies as well as solid experience with Microsoft® Office and related applications.
Wrox Professional guides are planned and written by working programmers to meet the real-world needs of programmers, developers, and IT professionals. Focused and relevant, they address the issues technology professionals face every day. They provide examples, practical solutions, and expert education in new technologies, all designed to help programmers do a better job.
About the Author
Ian Williams is an information designer specializing in XML technologies and a software technical writer. He worked in the UK publishing industry before getting involved in information technology at OWL International, developers of one of the first commercial hypertext products. Ian was a product manager there, and later a consultant working with large corporate customers.
Since 1998 Ian has worked independently on technical writing and information design projects for customers like Nokia and Reuters. He lives with his wife in London, England, from which they regularly escape to a house on a beach overlooking the English Channel.
Pierre Greborio is chief software architect of PEWay, an Italian software company providing services and Internet technologies for financial companies.
Born in 1971 in Belgium, he graduated as a telecommunication engineer from the University of Pavia in Italy.
His activity is characterized by a strong passion for technology. He participated in several talks at developer conferences and university workshops and wrote several articles for developer magazines and user groups about Microsoft .NET technologies and Microsoft Office InfoPath 2003. In the beginning of 2003, Pierre was given the award of Microsoft Most Valuable Professional for .NET.
Customer Reviews
Ok, complicated topic, or is it ? Net/Net: Wait for next book.
Like so many technology books, this sits in a topic space where there is just not a lot of material to draw from. Much like its cousins, BizTalk, SiteServer, and CRM - there is not a wealth of information available in print media. Ok, so what makes this book a bummer?
A reasonable person would assume that when you buy a book for $40-60, that you are getting something insightful - something that you would have traded your sister for to have figured out without spinning your wheels endlessly or burning support incidents @ $225 a pop. Unfortunately, this book adopts the lowest possible threshold in terms of content. Here's the irony: I sat down to plug away at an InfoPath Solution and figured I'd follow the book just to see what happened. By Page 10 I was annoyed. By Page 20 I was checking the Index and Appendix to search for my specific interests (after all, I had something I wanted to get on with). An hour later, I was consulting some very cool material online, complete with blow-by-blow examples, code shots, and visuals. Book has been sitting in its last known good configuration since then. What's worse, a simple search on the InfoPath help topic yielded EXACTLY the same material as in the book. Well WTF. It turns out that Wrox's authors basically pillaged and regugitated the Help file - almost verbatim. That's what prompted me to write this. I didn't have to pay for the book, but if I did - I would be plenty pissed-off right now....and shortly after I calmed down, Barnes and Noble (err...or Amazon, yeah that's it!) would be getting my return. Naturally, at that point I would have burned 5 hours between shopping, buying, reading, commenting and returning the book - which is a gross waste of time. Save yours: listen up.
The first 4 chapters of this book talk about XML, Schemas, DTD's, XSLT, and reference materials. Honestly, there's so much useless information here, you might as well read the intro and go straight to Chapter 5. Why? For several resons: I don't need a reference book on XML, or any of its cousins. That's already published for free. Plus, InfoPath takes all of that pain away. Drag and drop, link controls to bindings, choose a data source, link it to your bindings and away you go. I don't need to read 100 pages of materials on the inner workings - we know it works, that's why we're using it. Only the most bleeding edge / neurotic / hardcore developers with weird requirements are ever going to have to mess around with that stuff. Rapid Applications Development anyone? - That's what InfoPath was designed for.
Chapters 5,6,7,8 are the meat. Chapters 15,16,17 have worthwhile examples of ADO.NET script.
What I would like to see:
Working examples of full-on solutions. Fabrikam, BizTalk, SQL, BI.
More code shots.
Show me how to design a Form within Visual Studio.Net 2003/2005, and work the code-behind to do neat stuff.
Show me how I can develop solutions using SharePoint, XML, and BizTalk.
Show me how to create a custom Web Service? (this is, ahem, rather important, and not very well done)
Solutions people. Rapid development. Small books that put you in the driver's seat ASAP.
This isn't it.
Note: One of the best publishers I have seen recently re: Technical Books has to be Rational Press. I have found their books to be highly insightful, right to the heart of the matter, and @ sub-100 (or thereabouts) pages, you get a lot of bang for $20 bucks.
(http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/search-handle-form/ref=s_sf_b_as/002-0585726-2670403)
Wrox: Are you listening? Bad Monkeys. Stop the proliferation of title after title. It's like like dating a Narcissitic woman: they're so in love with themselves that they LIVE to hear themselves talk: even if it's complete Tripe that comes out of their mouths.
Technologists (aspirinig or professionals) would do well to remember that Wrox is in the business of publishing and selling books: that doesn't always mean that they are worth your time or your money. I have watched Wrox's value as a print resource slowly degrade since I stated reading their titles in 2000. In my opinion, they are no longer a trusted (and valued) informational resource. Wrox has saturated the marketplace with title after sub-title - many of which never should have received their own cover, much less their whopping price tags. (Do you guys publish books at any other price point other than $50.00?) Not many, to be sure.
Potential buyers: think, read, and review before you buy any technology book. Wait for the next offering on InfoPath (if there is one before Office v.12). Your best bet will be online: MSDN, GotDotNet, BizTalk, and some other very neat sites that specialize in valuable content - for free! Google it. You won't be sorry.
ch
Not for Dummies
Professional InfoPath 2003 is definately not "InfoPath for Dummies". This in-depth look at the behind the scenes technology of InfoPath is an XML-lovers dream - excellent details regarding how InfoPath uses xml technology. If you are looking for a "how to use InfoPath" book, this isn't it. If you are a programmer who wants or needs to know every detail of how InfoPath uses xml, you've found the right book.
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