Computers Books


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Computers Books sorted by Average customer review: high to low .

Computers
Modern Project Management : Successfully Integrating Project Management Knowledge Areas and Processes
Published in Hardcover by AMACOM (2001-03-15)
Author: Norman R. Howes
List price: $59.95
New price: $49.93
Used price: $5.74

Average review score:

A Solid Effort!
Helpful Votes: 2 out of 3 total.
Review Date: 2003-03-12
Author Norman R. Howes tackles project management in all its intricate bureaucratic glory, and brings the process up-to-date in what is essentially a book of instructions. Helpful in designing and tracking projects, this clear, crisp manual comes with Modern Project software, the program used to carry out the project management steps delineated in the book. The book, like any owner's manual, is very list-oriented. Howes does not teach you how to manage a project, either practically or theoretically, as much as he outlines the managerial process. His step-by-step guide focuses on detailed information telling readers how to take advantage of the software as they manage projects. While we from getAbstract recommend this guide specifically to project managers - who should keep it on hand, particularly if they use the related software package or want to learn more about it - the book is also designed to be used in corporate training programs and college classes.

Modern Project Management
Helpful Votes: 2 out of 2 total.
Review Date: 2002-08-07
Great book. Clear, well thought-out, and useful. I am using the method and tools to manage a series special event projects with 19 staff and 6 other vendors. Everyone has read the book so we all have a common understanding, and everyone is using the tool to generate reports - very cool.

Good practical stuff
Helpful Votes: 6 out of 6 total.
Review Date: 2002-01-22
Doesn't cover every aspect of PM but every aspect it covers is done very well. An easy read that can change how you do things. The enclosed software reinforces your knowledge.

Measuring Earned Value Correctly
Helpful Votes: 6 out of 6 total.
Review Date: 2002-01-09
I concur with other reviewers that this book is
extremely valuable, insightful, and comprehensive. It
provides clarification of several Project Management
concepts that are typically glossed over and sometimes
completely ignored in other texts. Perhaps the most
important contribution the author makes is in his
explanation of the subtleties of Earned Value - the
primary measurement for a project's performance. Many
Project Managers that I have worked with do not
understand how to measure Earned Value and end up with
incorrect measurements, or simply fail to use this
critical indicator altogether. I recommend this book to
all project managers who want clarification on this and
other topics that will help them improve their own
performance as managers.

A really modern treatment of project management
Helpful Votes: 6 out of 6 total.
Review Date: 2001-12-08
This book focuses on modern project management concepts and techniques, but covers the standard stuff like what you will find in the PMI PMBOK. The project management system that comes on the CD with the book contains tools you won't find even in expensive PM systems. There are at least a couple dozen tools on the CD and an example project you can use to try the tools out on.

Computers
The MP3 and Internet Audio Handbook : Your Guide to the Digital Music Revolution
Published in Digital by TeamCom, LLC (2000-03-07)
Authors: Bruce Fries and Marty Fries
List price: $9.95
New price: $9.95

Average review score:

Good BASIC info relating to MP3's, and Other Audio Formats--Good FIRST MP3 Book!
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2007-04-26
First let me say that this book is very well written and easy to understand. It gives the reader wonderful info on MP3's and other music file formats as well as the comparsion from the standard CD format vs. MP3 format. Before reading this book, I had well above average knowledge of the various types of music files, playlist, jukeboxes, and MP3 and WMA and other music file formats. However, it did fill in some gaps that I had overlooked and I learned even more after reading the book. This is a very good reference book for the beginner. However, since it was written several years ago, it only touches on WMA's. Not that this book was written with more info on MP3 formats. Today we have in many Internet online stores the WMA/DRM (protected music). These types of music files need a newer MP3/WMA/DRM player that will handle the WMA/DRM music file format downloads, which many online music stores have. This is a great book, however, a bit historic. The MP3 players as described in this book (available at that time) came with only 64 meg flash drives and 64 meg flash cards. Now the norm is at least a 1 GIG flash player, and many MP3 players today have huge hard drives. However, this book still has good overall BASIC information. I highly recommend this book to a beginner just learning about MP3 music.

Informative and Concise
Helpful Votes: 15 out of 16 total.
Review Date: 2001-12-18
MP3's have become one of the hottest new things on the 'Net, to the delight of music lovers everywhere and most likely to the chagrin of the music industry. This book covers a wide variety of topics regarding MP3's, starting off with a brief description of how mp3's came to be, where to find and download mp3's, Internet radio stations, etc. The chapter on digital music and copyright law also contains useful information on just what it and is not legal with regards to having and/or downloading mp3's.

It also tells you what software and hardware is the best for playing mp3's and "ripping" your own mp3's. The descriptions of the software and hardware you can use are quite good. Next are three chapters describing in detail digital audio, along with MPEG audio. Then comes the section any mp3 "ripper" will be most interested in, ie converting music into mp3 form, by first converting it into a .wav format, then into mp3 and finally recording your own CD's.

The book's final chapters are a 'tutorial" on various mp3 software ripper programs like Audio Catalyst and Cool Edit. There's also some info about using WinAmp, which is one of the more popular mp3 players (and the one I use). There's also further information about related web sites, other books, even a glossary.

The future still looks bright for mp3. Not only is it a way for music lovers to download their favorite songs, it also is a way for new artists to "break through" by offering their music on various web sites in the form of mp3s.

This book offers quite a bit of good information about the MP3 phenemenon.

Top Notch Book on Internet Audio
Helpful Votes: 2 out of 2 total.
Review Date: 2004-08-06
This is an outstanding book on Internet and personal computer audio with emphasis on the MP3 audio-encoding format. It covers the whole range of online audio from the Internet or CDs as well as streaming audio.

Starting with an overview of digital music and the Internet, the book explains why there's so much excitement over MP3 and online audio, discusses how to find music on the web, and reviews Internet Radio. The authors include the best discussion of digital music and copyright law I've seen anywhere.

The chapters on how to prepare your computer for digital audio discuss everything from what software is needed to what to watch for in selecting the best computer hardware, from CD drives, speakers, sound cards, and the cables that connect these things together or with your home entertainment system.

The portion of the book on understanding digital audio contains one of the best overall discussions of how sound and digital audio technology works anywhere. Especially valuable is the discussion of the tradeoffs involved in different selections of parameters in digital audio, such as bit-rates and sampling rates.

The book wraps-up with several excellent tutorials for basic computer tasks used for digital audio. In addition, there are tutorials for common tasks using several popular computer audio software programs.

Bruce Fries is a technology consultant & writer and an Associate member of the Audio Engineering Society. He also is the founder of TeamCom, a new media publishing company. Marty Fries is an audio engineer, technology consultant, and blues pianist. His audio engineering work includes designing and building studio sound equipment systems.

This is the best-written and edited book I've read on Internet audio and streaming audio to date. It's easy to read and explains complicated terms and concepts in terms anyone who can use a computer can understand.

Throughout the book are excellent links to additional resources, as well as an extensive index of websites on the topic of Internet audio. While the focus is on MP3 and audio files (vice streaming audio), much of the information applies to Internet radio as well.

I strongly recommend this book for anyone interested in working with MP3 audio files, whether beginner or experienced "ripper." I also highly recommend it for anyone who is interested in how to improve the recording, playing, or streaming of audio files from their computer. Finally, I recommend this book for anyone concerned about what is and what isn't legal in working with digital audio files.

Review by Mike Powers, Internet Radio Guide, October 1999

Digital Audio Essentials
Helpful Votes: 4 out of 5 total.
Review Date: 2005-05-16
I'm the author of the MP3 and Internet Audio Handbook and I've just finished a new book, Digital Audio Essentials, that has approximately twice as much information plus detailed chapters on editing audio, digitizing vintage records, and setting up an Internet radio station. It covers both Macs and PCs and has instructions for using iTunes, Musicmatch Jukebox, Media Jukebox, Sound Forge, and Peak.

Covers THE FOREST and THE TREES equally well!
Helpful Votes: 9 out of 10 total.
Review Date: 2001-05-08
... This book by Bruce and Marty Fries covers THE FOREST and THE TREES - concerning all things about MP3 music technology - equally well! In other words, you will no longer be lost in THE FOREST about all things MP3 because of THE TREES! The authors cover the OVERVIEW (The Forest) of all things MP3 just as well as they cover all the minor DETAILS (The Trees). ... The authors make EXCELLENT teachers: they KNOW their subject well, and they know how to PRESENT it to you so that you NEVER get lost or feel left behind! The book is VERY well ORGANIZED. It is layed-out logically and flows from one chapter to the next in a natural and easy-to-follow way. Reading this book is NOT HARD, and because it is so easy to understand, you will learn faster!

... I can't say that I knew NOTHING about MP3 music and technology BEFORE I read this book, but after having read it I feel like I REALLY understand everything I need to know to make the right choices about how to record, play, and listen to music in the MP3 format. Most importantly, the authors do not only tell you ABOUT MP3 technology, they tell you HOW to use it, DO things with it, and WHERE to go on the world wide web to get more INFO on whatever you might be interested in concerning all things MP3. The book is packed to the gills on almost every page - cover-to-cover - with web site URL addresses where the reader can further their search for information about MP3 technology!

... The book is VERY thorough and detailed, with an easy-to-follow lay-out, easy-to-read text and design, and very helpful photographs and illustrations that make it almost impossible to NOT "get it"! After reading this book, if you don't know just about EVERYTHING concerning MP3, you just were not paying attention - because the authors have left NO STONE UNTURNED! ... The only regret I had was that they wrote the book (as they themselves confessed up-front!) for the IBM-compatible, PC crowd - and I am driving an APPLE iMac computer!!! ... I recently wrote to the authors about this, and they said that they are working right now on a revised edition that will have more information in the HOW TO SECTIONS for people using APPLE computers. This will be a welcome relief!

... Even so, there is a lot of helpful mention of places and products that concern the MAC CROWD (of which I'm one! : ), and they DO agree that the SOUNDJAM MP software by Cassidy & Greene "is one of the best for the Mac." (page 69). So, even if you're a Mac-man like me, you really can't go wrong reading this book because it covers all the bases. It's MORE than just an introduction. It's a great REFERENCE book to keep by your computer at all times - whether you're a consumer interested in LISTENING to MP3s or a musician who is interested in CREATING MP3s in order to upload onto musical web sites, over the Internet, on the world wide web so that ANYONE in the world can listen to and/or purchase one's music! ... My hat is off to the authors for a job well done! ALSO: this book is FUN to read! ..

Computers
Murach's OS/390 and z/OS JCL
Published in Paperback by Mike Murach & Associates (2002-03)
Authors: Raul Menendez and Doug Lowe
List price: $62.50
New price: $56.15
Used price: $37.80

Average review score:

The best book on JCL and probably the only one you'll need
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2008-04-13
This book is excellently written; clear, concise, and easy to understand. With examples on the opposite page of the text, it is very easy to follow and comprehend. It can easily read front to back or as a reference, it not only clearly explains what, but how and why. I've worked with JCL and mainframes for over 20 years and would strongly recommend this book for beginners or experienced professionals. I keep a well-thumbed, heavily highlighed, tabbed copy in my cube at all times. Keep in mind, this book is updated as dp systems are updated, so don't get the earlier editions (ie, the Second Edition in the gray and black cover) which are obsolete. You only need one book on JCL - this one is it.

Good Book on Mainframes
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2007-07-26
Good reference book, I have it by my desk and use it often.

I wish it had some info on FTP, may be next release.

Endorsing other people reviews
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2007-04-10
I must agree with the others reviews. This book is an invaluable resource that will save your time reading those boring, 1000-page, IBM Redbooks. It gives a nice introduction on IBM Mainframes, operating system concepts, as well mastering JCL skills. After reading this book you will feel more confident to go deeply into the IBM documentation and learn the extra skills needed to your area (databases, networking, programming, etc.).

Excellent z/OS JCL reference resource
Helpful Votes: 1 out of 1 total.
Review Date: 2006-06-29
This book is a tremendous reference resource for anyone who works in the IBM mainframe environment, especially for those who don't work with JCL on a daily basis or for those seldom-used tasks for which you may not have any "canned" JCL readily available. I strongly recommend this book as an invaluable JCL reference document.

Now I Understand Mainframes
Helpful Votes: 2 out of 2 total.
Review Date: 2005-09-18
My job requires me to write scripts on Windows and Unix platforms. I have no problem writing Windows batch files or Unix shell scripts to copy or move files, change permissions, create and delete directories, write results to log files, etc.

Recently, I was asked to write a mainframe script. I was told to write this script in Rexx. When I looked into Rexx, it was just another scripting language. It was not hard to understand how it worked. However, unlike Windows batch files or Unix shell scripts, there was more to writing a Rexx program than just knowing the Rexx language - I needed JCL to run it!! I had seen JCL before. I knew each job started with a JOB card and that it executed PROCs and PGMs. I also knew that I did not know nearly enough about JCL to write JCL to do what I wanted it to do. That's when I went to Amazon and found this book.

Not only did this book confirm what little I did know and correct some misundertandings I had, it went far more deeply into JCL to describe how to use many features that I did not know existed. One of the best features of this book is that it provides some background information on how mainframes work and the naming conventions used. This information is useful when JCL coding is introduced because the reader has a better idea of what the JCL is used for and what it happening with the various statements. JCL coding is not even introduced until Chapter 4!!

After the background information, this book then goes through the various aspects of JCL coding. The basics of what I needed to know to run my Rexx program were addressed as were many concepts that I can now put in my "bag of tricks" for future projects. I am sure most of our mainframe programmers do not know most of this material.

This book is not limited to JCL. It also describes how to compile Cobol programs, how to copy, move, sort, delete and print datasets using common mainframe utilities. It even has a chapter on Unix System Services. Prior to reading these chapters, I had no idea how to copy a dataset to a new dataset on the mainframe using a batch program. For me, this was a trivial issue on a Windows or Unix platform. I now know how to do it on the mainframe. This book clearly explains the process. It also provides coding examples for all concepts described throughout the book.

If you are new to computing, I don't think you want to start with the mainframe as the first platform you learn. However, if you have some computing background from working with Windows and Unix, then I highly recommend this book to get a solid foundation on how to run batch programs on the mainframe.

In the past, I had to ask a coworker to help me when I needed to work with JCL. I purchased this book so that I could code some JCL for myself to run my Rexx program. Now, not only does my Rexx program execute flawlessly, I also have a thorough understanding of how to write mainframe batch programs for future projects. Who knows, maybe my coworkers will start coming to me with their complex JCL coding problems!!

Computers
Network Programming with Perl
Published in Paperback by Addison-Wesley Professional (2001-01-06)
Author: Lincoln D. Stein
List price: $54.99
New price: $37.82
Used price: $25.98

Average review score:

One of my favorite Perl books.
Helpful Votes: 1 out of 2 total.
Review Date: 2003-06-15
This is one of my favorite Perl books. It really serves what it says it will. It covers a great amount of Perl coding, but like the title says, goes into a lot of networking code, functions and so on. For Perl network programming, you really should have and use this book.

The nirvana
Helpful Votes: 1 out of 2 total.
Review Date: 2002-08-16
Just to say this is a big introduction (from starts to experts) to the network stuff through the magnific language that is perl.
Do you want to be a hacker? do you know enought of perl? Do you feel the only you need to be a hacker is some specific book that prepares to it? this is the one, BUY IT, at the end you will think this is one of the best books you have already read, i promise you.

(if you already know the net, it explains how to do the stuff in perl in an exciting way!)

Excellent
Helpful Votes: 2 out of 6 total.
Review Date: 2003-08-11
This book is excellent. This is one of very few books that the author really takes time, has a good plan to write a book and have good understanding of the subject.

I read many computer books that are just repetitive so it can make the books thick enough to look like a 'good book' (May be this is what US raaders like). I try my best to avoid those books. Those books do not say much in hundreds of pages.

But this book is not that kind of book. Every pages are worth to read. It is quite easy to follow. (I do know a bit of TCP/IP from reading other books before I read this book.) E.g. Stevens TCP/IP books. Unfortunately he died and he won't be able to update those great books.

Some authors are not professional, they just copy here and there. Then they put everything together. Those are terrible books to read. Those terrible books explain some simple concept again and again and take up hundreds of pages that can be done in half of volume. It is not just wasting the readers time (time is money) but also wasting the resource (trees)! Even most college textbooks are that way. Sometimes it is even worst since they know you won't haave much choices!

I seldom to give 5 stars. This book does deserve 5 stars.

You will enjoy this one if you like networking.

Perl Guru Has Another Home Run
Helpful Votes: 4 out of 4 total.
Review Date: 2002-01-12
Everything you wanted to know about Perl and socket applications. Lincoln is very good about explaining all concepts and providing lots of examples.

Lincoln is the author of the CGI.pm module. In addition, he wrote a book about CGI.pm that is the bible - a "must have" for anyone doing Perl CGI work.

Lincoln is a great guy. He wrote a Perl module for Napster. I could not get it running on my Win32 system (my linux box was at work). Within an hour of sending him an email, he sent me a new module for Win32 that worked great. Lincoln did not even know who I was.

Everything you need to know on Network Programming
Helpful Votes: 8 out of 8 total.
Review Date: 2002-01-30
This book has been in my wish list for pretty long time, and before I actually buy it decided to check it out of my school's library. Enjoyment started at the first chapters of the book that I read in the library's caffeteria. The book definitely covers all the aspects of the Network Progamming, not only with Perl, but in general as well.

In the first chapters of the book, Lincoln Stein makes good use of such OO modules as IO::File and IO::Socket to demostrate that difference between local file operations and remote network programming isn't that much different at all ( at least in Perl ).

Chapter 2 shows you several applications that are built on pipes. The best thing about the chapter was the signals part, where L. Stein shows examples, catching all sorts of signals that your progam receives and reacts accordingly. One example was reacting to pressing of CTRL+C sequence of keys to terminate the progam.

I would call Chapter 3 the heart of the book, since it goes over Berkeley Sockets, the base for Network progamming in most systems, no matter what progamming language you tend to prefer. It also explains thoroughly Sockets Addressings, Network naming conventions, protocols, services and a lot more. This chapter, together with the Chapter 4 alone are worth the whole price of the book, I believe. The chapter in the end goes over some common netwook analysis tools, such as "nslookup", "ping", so on and so forth.

Chapter 4 tells you all you need about TCP Protocol. Shows several examples as well. Goes over Adjusting Socket options, and their uses.

Chapter 5 is not anything newer supposing you've been following all the pervious chapters. Untill this chapter, L. Stein demonstrates the coding using much low level Socket API. here Lincoln starts using IO::Socket's Object Oriented Interface for its handy functionalities that enable writing Networking applications more relieving.

Chapters 6, 7, 8 and 9 takes you through writing several commong network clients such as SMTP/mailing clients, Telnet, FTP clients. Also provides their complete source codes in case you just feel likek copying them. Chapter 9 gets into the most fun part: LWP and HTML/XML Parsing. Spends good 50 pages on those. Very exciting indeed!

The rest of the book (another half) is dedicated for writing Server applications, which I haven't read. I am sure the rest is as exciting as it's been up to this point. But no matter what, I am greatefull to the book for such an exciting and informative coverage of the topics. It's worth every penny that you spend on it. Buy it!

Computers
Organize Your Photos with Adobe Photoshop Elements 3 (2nd Edition)
Published in Paperback by Adobe Press (2004-12-02)
Author: Michael Slater
List price: $24.99
New price: $6.99
Used price: $6.77

Average review score:

Organize photos pretty good.
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2007-04-03
I have had this book for a couple of years now and it has helped out a lot. Pretty well written and covers most questions. Binding is not good as pages will come out. For those starting out with Elements it is a good buy.

making life easier
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2007-03-19
this would have to be the most comprehensive organizer i have seen .i was most impressed by the quality and size of the book. with this book you need look no further,top marks. signed. errol

Giving a Class in PSE3. This book is a must
Helpful Votes: 19 out of 19 total.
Review Date: 2005-04-12
If you are one of the many people who are feeling overwhelmed by your files of digital photos this book is a must have! Michael Slater's new book, "Organize Your Photos with Adobe Photoshop Elements 3" will help you take control of your digital shoebox of photos. In my opinion, Photoshop Elements 3 is the easiest way to do so and this book makes using the program a no-brainer! The book even reveals a hidden trick on how to clean up the Photo Review feature in the Organizer section of the software.

Lots of Good Ideas---cielo3mar3
Helpful Votes: 2 out of 5 total.
Review Date: 2005-08-31
This is a good book with lots of info and great ideas on how to organize your photos.

Organize Your Photos with Adobe Photoshop Elements 3
Helpful Votes: 6 out of 6 total.
Review Date: 2005-08-22
This book concentrates on the Organizer side of PSE 3 and does an excellent in depth job of showing the various ways to organize and find all your photos. It has different degrees of organization depending on the photographers needs. You make a very enlightened choice!
There are also very good chapters included on editing both with the Editor and Quick Fix. Sharing photos, printing and making creations all have their own chapters.
The book is extremely well illustrated with plenty of colour screenshots and photos.
If you only buy one book on PSE 3 this should be it!

Computers
Pokemon Pokedex Collector's Edition (Prima's Official Pokemon Guide)
Published in Hardcover by Prima Games (2004-09-21)
Author: Eric Mylonas
List price: $24.99
New price: $84.91
Used price: $9.00
Collectible price: $163.89

Average review score:

Pokemon Pokedex is tops with my kids
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2007-01-10
My kids love game-boy, my kids love pokemon, if you have kids who love pokemon, they will love this book, it is hard-cover and had great info and illustrations about all the pokemon, KIDS WHO LOVE POKEMON WILL LOVE THIS BOOK!!!!!!!!!!

Pokemon pokedex Collector's Edition
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 3 total.
Review Date: 2006-01-16
My son is in absolute heaven with this book. He can read it over and over, each time discovering something new. Thanks!

The book on Pokemon
Helpful Votes: 1 out of 3 total.
Review Date: 2006-03-23
This is a terrific source of information for anyone interested in Pokemon.

Not bad.
Helpful Votes: 2 out of 3 total.
Review Date: 2006-03-25
This is pretty useful for checking out movelists for the various Pokémon. However, the information they give on stats is shaky, and sometimes actually incorrect when you do careful comparison between base stats for each creature. In general, the information is still in the ballpark, but the system they use can sometimes make it difficult to get an accurate comparison between two creatures without actually going in the game and leveling them up.

Also, the book really needs a list of the various Natures and their effects.

Overall, it's a nice purchase, though, and the hardcover is a great plus.

It's a WINNER!
Helpful Votes: 3 out of 5 total.
Review Date: 2006-02-04
I bought this book for my 8 year old nephew who loves Pokemon. He reads this book religiously and often carries it around with him wherever he goes. He has memorized an incredible amount of information that he has learned from this book. At the very minimum, it is highly entertaining. At its best, it is good exercise for his mind.

Computers
Producing Open Source Software: How to Run a Successful Free Software Project
Published in Paperback by O'Reilly Media, Inc. (2005-10-07)
Author: Karl Fogel
List price: $24.95
New price: $5.12
Used price: $5.12

Average review score:

Step-by-Step for a Open-Source Project Manager
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2008-01-14
If you are thinking of starting/managing a project in an "open-source" model, this is the book you MUST read.

The book is very well written and goes over lessons learned of others that created their own open-source projects. Believe me... every step so you don't have to guess anything!

How to start, how to document, where to deploy the project, what people to invite, whether or not coding standards are necessary, democracy versus dictatorship, all of these questions are answered inside.

A friend of mine has told me that much of the information in this book can be seen for free in video in Google. It's worth looking for.

I read the book in 5 hours and i think my time was very well invested. I now believe that this model is not only suitable for small projects but to larger projects. The complexity of the system will not the an issue if you apply the rules in the book. I still have to try it though... ;-)

In my case, five stars is an understatement
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2007-07-27
Just yesterday I was talking to a friend about this book and we discovered each other very glad with it. First of all, the author has a lot of experience with the theme in question. Furthermore, Karl Fogel is very compelling with words. He knows how to write down his experience in a way that is pleasant, certainly due to a lot of writes he had made through plenties of open source projects.

With this book you will be in touch with topics like the needed infra-structure to setup open source projects, the dinamics of the open source community, strategies for packaging and releasing software, common issues that arise in open source daily development and how to workaround then, a brief about licenses (with properly links for more information on this topic); just to highlight some aspects.

This book was the first hand someone land me into the open source world. It's helping me in three ways: to extract more from open source softwares that already exist, to start my own open source project, and to look at software development through a new, different, and till now better perspective.

Hope this review helps you!

Required reading for Open Source project leaders
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2007-06-19
If you have already read pretty much everything that there is to be read about why you'd want to start, manage, fund or participate in an Open Source project, but want to know everything about how best to do it, then Karl Fogel's Producing Open Source Software is the book for you.

Drawing from his extensive experience with the Subversion project, Fogel provides in this book a comprehensive overview of all aspects of Open Source software development, covering technical, social, political, economical, legal, and managerial aspects.

While the book is more aimed at medium-to-large scale projects, especially those involving some kind of corporate entity, there is much in it that is applicable to most projects, excluding maybe only those little, one-man efforts that rarely become successful. But if you are the originator of one of the latter and, should it suddenly attract a wide following, you'd better be prepared to face the unavoidable problems that popularity brings.This book will come in handy in this case.

Here are, in my opinion, the strong points of the book:

* Providing a concise, yet comprehensive, overview of all aspects of Open Source development. This is really the manual of open development.

* Demonstrating that there is much in open development that is similar to more traditional, corporate-style software development (you cannot always rely on good will and volunteers), but also much that is different, in motivation, rewards and objectives.

* Putting the accent on the human aspect of development: mutual respect between participants is often the deciding factor in determining whether a project will thrive or fail. Since even the best of intentions sometimes are not enough to foster a peaceful, productive and collaborative environment, Producing Open Source Software contains a lot of useful, practical advice that you can follow if you want to keep developers happy and motivated.

"Must Read" for Open Source Participants
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2007-04-29
It's easy to make the mistake of viewing this book as "too fluffy" or perhaps too soft to be of any use to the practical user or developer of open source software. Nothing could be further from the truth: in a classic open source way, the author has compressed man-centuries of OS community experience into a practical working guide for anyone who wants to do something serious in this area.

Gives you a feel for the why, not just the how
Helpful Votes: 1 out of 1 total.
Review Date: 2006-12-27
The book impressed me by the breadth and depth of the thinking that must have gone on before it was written. Mr. Fogel being an active open-source developer, I was at first suspicious that he might just be presenting his way of doing things as gospel. Quickly, though, he convinced me that he reflects his ways more profoundly than most other people I know, myself included. Maybe that, in itself, is a consequence of open-source development processes?

Computers
The qmail Handbook
Published in Paperback by Apress (2003-09-19)
Author: Dave Sill
List price: $39.95
New price: $11.95
Used price: $7.22

Average review score:

Outstanding instructional book on installing and using qmail
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2006-02-08
My first edition copy of this book is dog-eared and full of bookmarks. This is an excellent tutorial on installing and using qmail. It includes step-by-step instructions for each task involved in setting up and administering (as well as customizing) qmail. Great text. Highly recommended. You don't need to be a Linux expert to install qmail if you follow this guidebook.

Great starter book for anyone
Helpful Votes: 5 out of 6 total.
Review Date: 2004-07-05
Dave Sill did an excellent job of showing how to setup email server. If you know some Linux commands, you'll have no problem setup your first Linux email server. I personally prefer Dave's Qmail handbook to John Levine's Qmail (I got as well). Levine's Qmail is an great second book.

Best Linux book I ever bought!

Excellent
Helpful Votes: 5 out of 9 total.
Review Date: 2002-05-03
Everything you need to know about Qmail from installation and complete configuration. There is no other book.

Qmail made much easier with this book
Helpful Votes: 6 out of 9 total.
Review Date: 2002-10-11
After a month, and hours of installing and reinstalling FreeBSD and Qmail, I finally got the mail server working right! This was my first attempt at a mail server which I use for my family members and a few friends. There are a few errors in the book in some of the scripts which did cause me many problems. That was a pain. But, even at that, I don't think I would have been able to get Qmail running without this book. It is a great book for a person like me who is always doing something a bit over my head.

Excellent Guide
Helpful Votes: 6 out of 7 total.
Review Date: 2002-02-27
I just finished setting up a mail server at home and this book really made it simple. I'm not a novice, so I can't speak to it's ease of use, but the steps were simple, and a bit verbose and repetitive, but overall the book was invaluable.

I also needed DNS and BIND to get everything working just the way I wanted, so I'd buy them both.

Tim

Computers
Real World Print Production (Real World)
Published in Paperback by Peachpit Press (2006-08-04)
Author: Claudia McCue
List price: $49.99
New price: $24.95
Used price: $26.99

Average review score:

Excellent resource
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2008-02-22
I'm using this book as the text book for an Electronic Publishing course I'm teaching. Claudia's style is dry and humorous, which makes the complex material easier to digest. Lots of wonderful tips and insights. I highly recommend it for anyone trying to comprehend how design goes from computer to print.

A great book to own!
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2008-02-08
I am a trainer in the graphic arts field and I recently read this book for a group of students I am working with that needed to have more of a printing understanding. It was such a great read and very informative that I had to buy it for my students. The information has proved very valuable to them. Anyone who wants to get their jobs on Press with the least amount of problems should read this book.

Excellent, Helpful, Witty
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2007-08-13
If you are new to the desktop publishing business, this book has lots of answers and even brings up questions I didn't know to ask. Ms. McCue is to be commended on her writing style, as well. Buy this book!

Must Read for Every Designer
Helpful Votes: 2 out of 3 total.
Review Date: 2007-03-20
This was a great book and a tremendous resource for a designer. Author has engaging and straightforward writing style - didn't take long to read and will save numerous headaches at the printer.

I highly recommend this for anyone who produces digital media for print!

An Excellent Buy
Helpful Votes: 4 out of 4 total.
Review Date: 2007-05-30
I have been a designer with an Ad Agency for 6 years. Where was this book when I was just getting started?

In today's design schools we are taught how do run the programs and how to make a good looking design but nobody teaches you how to build a proper file that won't drive your prepress guys in to screaming fits... until now. Learning how to do 1001 tricks in Photoshop/Illlustrator/Quark/InDesign/Freehand will do you no good unless the files you send to the printer will actually print. This is the book I wish I had read when I first started and I highly recommend it. This is money well spent. I use it to teach our newer employees on what to do and what not to do when sending files to the printer. It explains problems in an easy to understand manner.

The only flaw in this book... some things seemed to be repeated constantly.

Computers
A Requirements Pattern: Succeeding in the Internet Economy (Addison-Wesley Information Technology Series)
Published in Paperback by Addison-Wesley Professional (2001-11-29)
Author: Patricia L. Ferdinandi
List price: $39.99
New price: $6.57
Used price: $1.95

Average review score:

Excellent Book. Improved my Professional Career.
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 1 total.
Review Date: 2002-01-09
After reading this book over the holiday, I decided to give it a try on my new project. I applied the authors categories to business plans I needed to prepare. I have to admit that her approach made an improvement that even impressed my managers. Her questions in the appendix were also extremely useful in helping me think of more needs than I had originally thought were important. Her chapter on the parts of a requirement helped me supply the details that I would have omitted previously. Bottom line, the author makes you think allowing for better definition of product needs.

a rare enlightening book in a field bogged down by books that miss the mark
Helpful Votes: 1 out of 1 total.
Review Date: 2007-04-07
When trying to understand what information architectures are all about, this is the only book I have come across that answered all of my questions and placed the field in context with modern technologies. Unfortunately, most books on information architectures fall into two categories that miss the mark:

1. There are books written by IA experts before the internet, and the terms and viewpoint used require considerable on-the-fly translations to modern technologies.

2. There are books written by IT experts who couldn't spot an IA if it bit them on the leg. These books are fat with useless lists of IT technologies and acronyms.

Fredinandi's book is worth reading cover-to-cover, and more than once.

A Recommendation book for Successfull Project
Helpful Votes: 1 out of 3 total.
Review Date: 2002-01-25
This is the first book about Requirements Pattern. You can easily understanding your problems after define all project's requirements. This book also provides a completes framework to categorizes and organizes the different types of requirements, forming a requirements set. It makes our project done on time and within budget. Thanks to Pat for this excellent book.

An excellent source for requirement engineering information.
Helpful Votes: 1 out of 3 total.
Review Date: 2002-01-19
This book servers as an excellent source for gaining insight into the field of requirements engineering. Developers, Managers, Requirements Engineers and Testers could all benefit from reading this book. In addition to providing important information about requirements engineering in general, the book presents a requirement pattern framework targeted for e-business and web based applications.

An excellent source for requirement engineering information.
Helpful Votes: 1 out of 3 total.
Review Date: 2002-01-19
This book servers as an excellent source for gaining insight into the field of requirements engineering. Developers, Managers, Requirements Engineers and Testers could all benefit from reading this book. In addition to providing important information about requirements engineering in general, the book presents a requirement pattern framework targeted for e-business and web based applications.


Books-Under-Review-->Computers-->48
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