Computer Science Books

The problem of this book is it doesn't give detailed information on how to implement X-Query on your computer. When you have Windows Vista, eXist doesn't work. Neither does WAMP. And unless you have heavy duty experience with SQL Server, this book is useless. The author of this book needs to include many more simple examples so that people like me can use the language. I might figure out how to use this someday, but it will be a long time before I do. That is so disappointing.

XQuery has its logical side, but it's pretty easy to forget all the syntax rules and nuances associated with it. Without this book, I'd easily be cursing XQuery and everything associated with it.

It was a great read to get started, but it's become an indispensable reference for day-to-day work and play. With the 30 or so sticky-notes poking out the top, I find myself constantly in this book looking for not just answers, but ways to better use XQuery efficiently in a maintenance-friendly manner.

This is a nice, comprehensive book written by someone highly qualified to talk about XQuery. The author, Priscilla Walmsley, was a member of the W3C XML Schema Working Group.

Now that XML is being added to database management systems, DBAs and database developers will need to know how to query that data. And they'll more than likely be using XQuery to do it. As such, this book would be a good way for database professionals to gain expertise on XQuery.

Walmsley's book offers a concise, yet in-depth tutorial on the XQuery language specification. After digesting these 25 chapters you'll have the knowledge required to program using XQuery to read your XML data. Whether you're coming from a relational and SQL background or you're an XML and XSLT coder, this well-written text will help you understand and write queries using XQuery.

I needed to come up to speed with an XML database server (Mark Logic) and I found this book very useful for learning how to use XQuery. It was concise and provided many good examples. The presentation of chapters was somewhat episodic--you had to read the later chapters to find out how some of the topics turned out. This was probably due to the newness and complexity of the topic. I wouldn't be surprised if there was a chapter reorg for the 2nd edition.

In my case, the book covers only XQuery and does not cover the XQuery extensions and specifics of the XML database system I was using. Walmsley's book makes a great companion to the vendor documentation.

XML programmers and database users will find Priscilla Walmsley's XQUERY a specific, valuable reference which is based on the Xquery 1.0 standards and which offers a basic tutorial on specifications and programming with the query language base. Query writers should have some knowledge of XML basics to use this, and can quickly progress into the 'advanced' category using an overview and tour of Xquery which includes guidelines for working with different types of data and an A-Z reference to the program's functions.

Un brillante esordio per un nuovo genere : "hybrid cd-books" cd-rom con interfaccia web - bellissime foto - grande grafica - ottimo storytelling - da non perdere

24 Hours In Cyberspace is truly the first book out of the publishing launch pad to capture the essence of 22nd Century human evolution in the emerging global electronic communication network, known as "Cyberspace". Kudos to the intrepid photojournalists, armed with their digital cameras, that found real subjects, then sent their scanned images back around the world to "Mission Control" to be collated into an instant book. The time capsule concept is definitely not new--but the cyber-method of manufacturing is what makes it an incredible milestone package. Brian Cartwright President & C.E.O. MediaOutfitters, Inc. (Multimedia Content Brokers) Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

"An extraordinary artistic, technical and logistical juggling act aimed at capturing the human face of cyberspace on film.".....

This is the first book I did purchase thru Amazon. And, I must confess, this book is the perfect selection to anyone interested in "feeling" what the web means today all over the world. It's indeed extraordinary, too, that all the wonderful pictures that are included in it were taken IN THE VERY SAME DAY in a period of just 24 hours. Moreover, that day the pics were being published almost in real time in the special web site for the project. The book quality is coffe-table-like. And the CD companion is just a perfect match. I do deeply recommend it.

If you already have a good www browser like Netscape 3 or Internet Explorer, don't follow the instructions for installing the CDROM. It does a lousy job of searching for existing versions of Netscape. It overrode my newer version and installed version 2. Just point your existing browser at the cdrom and start reading it. Other than this, it's great! Ted Shapin

while there's a veritable sea of books discussing VHDL and other hardware design technologies, there's precious little in the realm of practical, roll up your sleeves and get the job done FPGA design info.

mr. kilts takes a very pragmatic hands-on approach to FPGA design and implementation with logs of examples, practical board level design advice and a book layout that focuses on what you need to get the job done.

the coverage of simulation techniques and considerations alone, is worth the price.

I found the book to be quite helpful. I liked the presentation of practical examples. I would recommend this book any serious FPGA designer.

Finally! A book that actually talks about advanced design techniques instead of giving a historical overview of FPGA design.

I have to admit that I didn't read this book cover to cover. Rather, I use it for reference as needed. It's starting to get that same tabbed look that my other reference books have.

I felt the author was well versed in real-world FPGA design. This book doesn't discuss any of the basics, but does an excellent job in explaining topics such as architecting for speed, synthesis, and place and route optimization, etc. This is the most useful FPGA book that I've read.

This is a great reference book for any level FPGA designer. This book skips past the basics unlike most books on FPGA design and jumps right into advanced topics that practical FPGA designers need to be aware of.

Plenty of discussion on the trade offs that must be faced in FPGA design based on you desired optimization target (speed, size, & power) and discussion of methods to achieve that goal. Lots of practical example code is used to illustrate each topic.

Discussion of simulation techniques and coverage which is becoming a key factor in verifying HDL based designs.

This book contains several topics that I have been waiting to see discussed well in a textbook including floorplanning and the pitfall of using asynchronous resets.

Besides HDL design techniques, the author discusses the PCB level design methodologies that must be used when designing an FPGA into a system. This disscussion is a great complement to this already fine book.

This is a fanastic topics book in approximation algorithms. The problems and proofs are challenging and concise, but written in a very accessible manner. It is a great reference book, and also a convenient place to grab a lecture from if you need something to fill our a course. I have found it extremely useful, and even fun to read. I highly reccomend it for any person interested in theoretical computer science.

Vazirani's book seems well suited for a computer science researcher who has had a rigorous background in pure maths. The level of difficulty can be quite advanced. Also, it is not the sort of book that gives algorithm examples in an actual programming language. Not that this should be a handicap to a skilled reader. The algorithms are usually described in high level pseudocode. You have to manually instantiate these in the language of your preference.

The 30 chapters span a wide variety of computational topics. Some are simpler than others to understand. Like the chapter on finding the shortest vector from the integer lattice made from a set of linearly independent vectors. That requires only a year or so of introductory linear algebra.

There are exercises for each chapter. Some exercises are formidable. Essentially like little research problems in their own right. Another plus for the book.

Very good, it is easy to read the book if you have a good level
of knowledge and the experience to think some details in the
proofs of the theorems.
I think it is a very good book for a graduate student.

I have been looking for books related to solving NP-complete and NP-hard problems approximately. There is another book by Hochbaum and I have that too. Unfortunately, that book is more of a research oriented book as it is written by several researchers. It's like reading several research papers within two hard covers. This means that one needs to have a sort of intermediate level of experience with approximation algorithms.

For a beginner, one would expect a book that starts from ground-up and that has been written as a textbook rather than as a set of research papers. The book by Dr. Vazirani, is the only book that is written by one author with a step-by-step evolution of concepts and ideas related to approximation algorithms.

This is a quite nice book by an author who is well-known in the field. The book is not thematic, instead it presents certain problems in each chapter along with the main approximation algorithms and correctness proofs. Yet, each new concept is well introduced with the problems. For instance, the author presents LP-based techniques on the same problem (set cover) in the second part of the book. This makes it quite easy to compare and understand different techniques. The last part of the book is a little bit advanced compared to the first two parts which uses combinatorial or LP-based analysis of the algorithms. The presentation of the PCP theorem- arguably the deepest theorem of computer science- and its consequences are also in the last part.

A warning though: The book is quite terse at times, which enforces a dense reading. This may not be suitable for an undergradute study. My only complaint is that the PCP theorem might well be introduced with a little more intution.

Overall, I rate this book as excellent. If you are interested in algorithms, you should definitely buy it. Also, buy the "Complexity and Approximation" by Ausiello, Crescenzi and others. They provide a more comprehensive and thematic treatment. It also has an excellent bibliography and list of NP-hard problems. These two will make a great couple. The book edited by Hochbaum (Approximation Algorithms for NP-hard problems) on the other hand presents detailed information on the algorithms.

This is quite easy to follow for beginners but you def. need a good stats background to do so!

No one expects statistics to be easy reading, especially when it concerns complicated models such as structural equation modeling (SEM). Nevertheless, this book manages to do just that.

Schumacker and Lomax have successfully put together a guide that explains to beginners (like myself) in simple terms how the whole thing works. As with most books that treat complex models, some basic knowledge of statistics is preferable before you begin to read it. But if your statistics is rusty and you have only vague impressions of probability sketches in your memory, fear not! Schumacker and Lomax are kind to us poor souls, and begin by introducing some basics in chapter 1 to prod your memory: terminology, variable scales, how to treat missing data, outliers and normality. And in chapter 2, they discuss correlation and covariance.

Before talking about structural equation models, Schumacker and Lomax dedicate chapter 3 to a number of statistical methods on which SEM is built. This chapter gives a basic overview of regression, path analysis and factor analysis. The review of these methods helps you to understand SEM better later on. They also provide an excellent understanding of the methods, in case you have not used them before or it's been a while ...

The rest of the guide covers SEM: how to develop and measure a model (chapters 4 and 5), how the model parameters are estimated and how you can check for reliability and validity (chapter 6), and checking for goodness of fit of your model (chapter 7).

In chapter 8, you are shown some examples of computer outputs by two software packages that can conduct SEM, EQS5 and LISREL8-SIMPLIS.

Chapter 9 goes into more detail on models and diagrams (regression, analysis of covariance, path, measurement and structural models). For those that feel by this point that they've gained enough experience, advanced topics such as cross validation, simulation, bootstrap and jacknife methods as well as multiple same and interaction models are covered in chapter 10. And for the super-keen, the technical bits are covered in chapter 11 (health warning: you better be up to speed on matrix algebra).

The great thing about this book is that you most likely will be able to run models and interpret results by chapter 7, and you don't need to go into the nitty-gritty if you don't want to. On the other hand, the details are there if you need them. In essence, the authors start at the beginning, building up slowly until you are able to handle a basic model, before going into more complex issues.

One drawback, I have found, is that this book was published in 1996. That's nearly a decade ago, and (fortunately) computer power and statistical modeling has come a long way since then. The authors, for example, are convinced that WordPerfect is the software of choice for word processing and that at some point in the future it would be possible to copy and paste diagrams into a word processing program. We've come a long way since then. Today, many SEM packages exist that are much more user friendly than some of the older stodgy packages that require you to enter data in a very specific way and interpret results by going through reams of data output. As such, the authors (or publishers) probably ought to update it with a second edition.

Nevertheless, the strength of the book lies in its guidance and explanatory power. And even if you use a different package, you can skim through the data outputs they use, and focus on your model, how to construct it, and of what pitfalls to beware.

I highly recommend this for anyone starting on SEM - your modeling days will be much happier with this guide.

This book lays out the basics of SEM in an understandable way. Doesn't address EVERY issue, but then again it's very accessible and application-oriented, with language not too highly techinical (in relation to other SEM texts).

This is a very good book about SEM for the beginners and advanced. The book gives a clear and concise principles and examples about SEM. This book definitely enables the readers clearly understand the subject.

Schumacker and Lomax make for a good first course in SEM. Although they are somewhat less technical than Bollen (1989), they are a little more up-to-date, and very good reading for a beginning student of SEM. I found the sections on confirmatory factor analysis and identification very useful.

This book is essentially an overview of the development and evolution of the Internet, ending with the browser war between Netscape and Microsoft. It was initially published in the UK in 1999, then in the US in 2000. There is some discussion of the intellectual backstories such as Norbert Wiener's cybernetics and JCR Licklider's ideas on interactive computing, but the book is mainly about the birth and growth of the Net. This book lacks detail - and is in that sense superficial - but it works well as the general overview the author meant it to be.

What does the Internet mean for the future? An answer partially depends upon an analysis of the past, and John Naughton's Brief History of the Future is the first book to cover the entire history of the Internet's development, from those who first thought of it in the 1940s to the scientists and engineers who brought it to life. Anecdotes blend with history to provide an intriguing blend of personal and scientific observation.

Reads like a sci-fi novel while providing a solid understanding of how and why the Internet works. At times the detail is almost overdone but this only adds to the credibility of the author. I started with a Timex Sinclair computer and have lived through the period covered in this book without really understanding just what made the internet work. Now I know!

Next time you take a transcontinental flight to a technical conference, skip the airline movie and just read this wonderful book cover to cover. I wish history class in high school had been this much fun. Naughton has written the definitive history of the Internet so far. For example, when the Pentagon asked AT&T to build an early prototype of the Internet for them, AT&T pooh-poohed packet switching as a worthless idea concocted by some young whippersnapper (Paul Baran of the Rand Corp.) who knew nothing about proper telephone engineering. The book is full of anecdotes and funny stories. Great reading for old fogies and young fogies alike.

I've worked in the software industry for twenty years, and now I finally have an entertaining, enjoyable book to give to friends and family who don't really understand what I do all day. If you've ever struggled to explain how the internet works, or why anybody would use it. This is the book. I gave a copy to my 77 year old flight instructor, he loved it.

Business Process Change provides a very clear and comprehensive discussion of the methodologies surrounding successful business process management. This has become my new guide for developing a BPM Group within our organization. I very much look forward to more writings by Paul Harmon.

This is about the best Business Process book I have read so far. I worked in a IT transformation for a big Telecommunications company which entailed adopting a new approach to Business Process and Operational Process Development and I found this book very useful. This book with the book Business Process Management - Practical Guide to Successful Implementation provided me with most of the knowledge needed.

I have been leading business process management projects and working in the BPM space since the late 1990's. I found this book to be as complete and well written as any reference could hope to be.

From my perspective, this book does for BPM what Harold Kerzner's books do for project management - set the standard for others to follow.

I think this is the best book that I have seen that allows an organization to consider business process at the enterprise and department level. I have been engaged in business process management in the government for years, trying to define the processes, trying to communicate them, trying to improve them. This is by far the best treatment and guide I have seen. This is what I have been looking for and couldn't find.

In 2004, I worked in a business unit at my company that had experienced a period of declining performance. Our senior management felt that one of the causes was work processes that had become cumbersome and inefficient over the years. I was asked to sponsor a process improvement initiative to try to simplify and streamline how we did work. I didn't know where to start, so I went on a crash course to learn everything I could about improving business processes. I read some great books by Geary Rummler, Roger Burlton, Michael Hammer, and many others. I learned about things like process modeling, process redesign, process improvement, process automation, BPM tools, swimlanes, value chains, CMMI, process owners, Six Sigma, Lean, process architectures--and the role of IT in enabling all of this.

This intense study provided me with a valuable foundation of knowledge, but I still didn't know how pull all of the pieces together. Organizations are extremely complex systems. To improve performance, which approaches work best under which situations? Which tools to use? What skills are needed to improve and redesign processes? What's appropriate, and what's not?

In early 2005, I discovered Business Process Change, First Edition, by Paul Harmon. This book provided me with the big picture perspective of the BPM world that I sorely needed. It helped me to ask the right questions and to structure our process improvement plans more effectively. The issues we have been addressing require long term solutions, and this work continues today. But, we are building an infrastructure that will integrate people and technology into our process change initiatives to ensure the sustainability of our efforts and results.

The First Edition not only helped me organize a more effective process improvement strategy in our business unit, but I also consider the knowledge and perspective gained to be a significant factor in my being selected to lead our relatively new Center for Process Excellence (CPE), a central BPM group located in our corporate offices. The mission of our CPE is to promote a process-based culture throughout our company. We currently lead process improvement and redesign projects to solve specific business problems, and we have begun to develop process modeling skills in our lines of business. We are now focusing on establishing an enterprise business process architecture for our organization and securing executive support for large-scale business transformation.

Thankfully, I now have the Second Edition to consult as we continue on our process journey and take our work to even higher, more ambitious levels. I bought my copy two weeks ago, and while I haven't read it cover-to-cover yet, I have read enough to know that this is not the First Edition with just some cosmetic changes. It is a complete overhaul. It reflects the newest and best thinking in business process change and management today. Like the First Edition, it is a surprisingly clear, practical and useful guide. That's the bottom line for me--what works and how can I use it.

If there was ever a must read book for business process change professionals, this is it.

Outstanding book.

The book was far more than expected. Delivery was prompt. Good Service.

Thank you.

I just received this book after ordering it here on Amazon (super fast shipping, by the way) and I was immediately impressed with just how comprehensive the entire manual is, how easy the instructions within are implemented, and the way in which everything is explained so even an idiot such as myself can follow along without stumbling. This is the book which SHOULD HAVE come with the Camtasia Studio v4 software when I purchased it just a few months ago.

Of course, TechSmith has just released v5, but I've not seen enough reason to upgrade this time around (I previously owned v3). I highly recommend that you purchase this book.

I would also recommend purchasing Bill Myers' DVD video training on Camtasia which you can find here on Amazon or at his website www(dot)bmyers(dot)com.

Daryl Wilson
Founder, Aladdin Studios

A valuable book for those interested in getting the most out of Camtasia 4. The author culls from his extensive Camtasia experience as he walks the reader through various exercises, expertly weaving in tips and tricks along the way. While the book could do with a heavy copyedit (experienced writers will cringe at the author's frequent use of unnecessary words), the book's substance is well worth the cover price.

I have literally shelves full of computer books.
This is one of very few I've actually read cover-to-cover.

But the book is structured so that for the most part you can read any one chapter without missing out on information that depends on a previous chapter.

I've even wound up taking some of his hardware advice. Otherwise, I never would have thought to purchase a preamp with as dorky a name as "Audio Buddy"...LOL...

If you're using Camtasia Studio to produce instructional or sales videos - or considering using it - this is the book you need.

I fall into the newbie category and had to come up to speed very quickly, using Camtasia Studio 4 to record and produce several video podcasts of PowerPoint presentations for my company. I bought several books and read "how-to's" on the internet, but this book turned out to be my savior. If you buy only one book, this one should be the one.

If you work, like me, on data warehousing, data mining, analytical CRM or similar projects, this book will save you a lot of time, and provide you with a lot of inspiration.
Statistical concepts are clearly explained, and examples with very smart SQL queries and Excel sheets are shown.
For instance, no other book will explain you so clearly Survival Analysis, and how to practically implement it (I mean, with working code!).
As a previous reviewer wrote, why should you believe me? I'm one of the authors of another Wiley book, "MDX Solutions", and I earn my living by consulting with DaisyLabs, a Business Intelligence company.
Keep Gordon's book on SQL, and my book on MDX, on your desk, and no data analysis project will scare you anymore!

"Data Analysis Using SQL and Excel" is an valuable resource for business intelligence and data mining practitioners in all industries. Having said that, I would like to offer some solid practical advice to potential readers that might not be fluent in statistics or data mining.

First, the reader should have a solid understanding of SQL. If the extent of your SQL interaction comes through a program on the level of Access, then you can still benefit from this book, but you will have to apply yourself more than others. Keep in mind, that proprietary releases of SQL might cause problems in directly translating the author's examples.

Second, if your statistics knowledge is a little rusty, have a secondary resource on-hand. Sometimes the definitions or explanations of the statistical concepts may not be as intuitive for some readers as they are for others.

With those caveats in mind, the reader need only to keep his or her patience and work through the concepts of the first 4-5 chapters. These chapters tend toward simple exposition of the concepts. For those with little patience, it may seem as if it is just a laundry list of concepts with little effort to tie those concepts into practical uses. Thinking like this is a great way to miss the enormous benefits of the book!

For me, the "Ah Ha!" moment came in Chapter 6 and 7. The concepts I had worked on in the previous chapters suddenly came together with customer tenure onward, when the techniques use will call to mind everything learned in the previous chapters.

In short, spend plenty of time in the first few chapters - the extra effort to master those concepts will only enhance the benefits of later chapters.

Lastly, there are a few odd differences between the text and the files downloadable from the web site. Whenever I hit a snag based on the text, opening the accompanying Excel files and seeing the formulas, queries or table/graph structures resolved all issues for me.

This is a text that will always have a place on my shelves.

Wow - if you need a book that: 1. describes basic data analysis and statistical concepts in an easy to understand but thorough way. 2. uses real world business examples that you run into every day. 3. gives you the recipes of how to implement them in your business with real world computer tools like SQL and Excel. 4. and is written by a proven authority in the field (4 books and two decades of consulting). Then this is your book.

But why should you believe me? Just a little on my background. I wrote two books on databases and data analysis for McGraw-Hill: "Building Data Mining Applications for CRM" and "Data Warehousing, Data Mining and OLAP" and have led teams that have built data mining engines for super computers that later became Oracle's data mining engine, as well as implementing sophisticated data mining applictions (CART) in SQL and integrated between a relational and OALP database. Though I don't get to do a lot of 'data mining' in my current business I would definitely find this book very useful if I did.

Anyway, I thought this book was tremendously thorough in providing common sense explanations on everything from the Null Hypothesis to the Monty Hall Paradox (very cool). Buy this book if you want a single reference that will allow you to quickly solve real world business problems in a rational and doable way.

Utilizing data to drive results is critical to the success of any organization. Many know this to be true, but don't know how to go about it. "Data Analysis Using SQL and Excel" by Gordon Linoff successfully shows the way using a holistic approach of "data - analysis - presentation". Its success is based on a number attributes including....

1. Wide Audience: Different groups of people are addressed. Management and leadership will see what is possible with great examples (e.g. "Three Scenarios" on pg 333). "Doers" (e.g. analysts) get a clear view of the big picture along with the ever so important how-to aspects (which is often not included in other texts).

2. Popular Tools: As the title states, this book utilizes Microsoft Excel and SQL. Not only are these tools often readily available, but many people are familiar with at least one of these, if not both. This familiarity enables the reader to focus more on learning useful approaches than the tools themselves.

3. Methods: A host of useful methods are covered from Survival Analysis to the more traditional like RFM. All, especially those related to statistics, are explained well - simple but not so simple as to be inaccurate or incomplete.

In my opinion, "Data Analysis Using SQL and Excel" is invaluable to those who want to get the most out of their organization's data.

Unlike textbooks related to stats and data analysis, this practical, "easy to read" book actually bridges the gap between theory and practice. The reader will understand both the "how" and "why" behind common approaches to data analysis. Best of all, the book targets a general audience and avoids intimidating language and notations. The author tackles the most common statistical concepts with colorful vinets. In fact, the explanations behind such ideas as "degrees of freedom" and "chi-square" are the clearest that I have ever seen in any reference or textbook.

Bototm line: whether you are a seasoned expert or novice, this is an invaluable, practical guide that will provide quick answers for anyone needing to analyze data using Excel.

I have as of this writing passed through about half of the encyclopedia and found it to be of the highest value. It has helped me to gain insights into areas that I am foggy in and also expanded my knowledge of areas in which I hold some expertise.

Ron Davis MCSE, MCSD, MCDBA, MCP+I, MCP+SB, MCT, CIW, CI, CTT

Have been using this for the past 7 years before going to Stanford and still now.

An excellent overview of Computer Science.

This really is an excellent basic reference for non-specialists who need to elaborate on Computer Science topics. This encyclopedia is comprehensive in its breadth of coverage, and directs the reader at the next level of depth through cross-reference to articles and bibliographic references for those who need to in-depth in an specific topic.

It will be a valuable part of your library if you are not a CS specialist have an interest on Computer Science subjects.

If you are a practitioner, you may do better with "The Engineering and Computer Science Handbook".

I have the 1983 Second Edition and it is, as I assume the pricey Third is,a reference of biblical proportions, a sort of Brittanica of computer science. Lucid, authoritative articles. But while I lust after the new Edition, the three figure price makes me too shy to make a pass. Pity. If you can afford it, buy it.

Two words for you - David Hemmindinger - Can this man edit or what? Was Very excited about the release of this book, excellent reference material. I think Dinger needs to write a book of his own next! I know I'll read it.