Software Books

I've had this book for almost two years now, and I consider it (along with Liberty's classic "Programming C#" [I have both first and second editions]) one of the most useful books for helping me move from "beginner level" C# to "journeyman" mastery of what has become my favorite language and daily working tool of choice.

Liberty's books join with my books by Sells, Petzold, Gunnerson, Archer on that small shelf ... within arms reach ... which I consider essential tools to have as I work in Visual Studio.

What I find unique about "A Developer's Notebook" is :

1. Content : the sheer amount of immediately useful information and code samples. This is a book, imho, for people who've already reached initial mastery of .NET, and are ready for intermediate-advanced topics. There's more technical content, more information, "per square page" in this book than in many books on .NET and C# that are 800+ page "whoppers" :) And I do have the sense that every bit of code in this book has been "refined" to the efficient minimum without losing its "educational punch."

2. Book Design : imho the design and structure of the book are a "tour de force" of technical book design : it's in the form ... almost ... of a laboratory workbook; the "asides," or comments, in italic script font in the margin of the pages add a very useful commentary that evokes and provokes thought.

3. Immediacy : I get the feeling that Jesse is right there talking to me as he takes me through the intricacies of IEnumerable, Generic Interfaces, Delegate Covariance. Very good terse introductions to technologies like ClickOnce.

4. Technical Format : the book has a format of presenting a concept concisely, outlining the structure of the classes or methods involved, describing a practical usage scenario, and then, in a section titled "How Can I Do That ?," presenting a key code example that demonstrates the technique in use. I find this similar to what I perceive as the "experimental" method in Petzold's books, and, for me, this is a compelling way to learn.

4. Writing Style : As in JL's other books, I personally experience him as one of the clearest writers of technical expository prose I have ever read. In sections typically titled "What About," or "How Can I Learn More," for each major topic, he succinctly addresses questions that imho any intelligent developer might be asking about the limits or side-effects ... or the "gotchas" ... of the techniques presented.

I like to compare learning a programming language with learning a musical instrument. It seems to me that initial mastery of C#, like learning to play the guitar, involves a required period of just learning the general way you use the tools (the Visual Studio environment, the .NET compiler, assemblies, WinForms, Classes, Interfaces, UserControls) : until you have that initial "vocabulary," imho, you can't really "play a tune." But once you do have the initial comfort level and mastery of the tools, you are ready to start with studying simple "Etudes" which are designed to be musically satisfying in themeselves and, at the same time, help you progress in mastery. Using that analogy, I consider "A Developer's Notebook" a book of "Etudes," an excellent one !

In summary : this is one of the best technical books I've ever read. I do hope that at some point JL will do another book in this format, and structure, probing, in the same "experimental method" other topics in .NET 3.0 and 3.5 like LINQ, sophisticated uses of AppDomains and Contexts, the ability in WPF to get WinForms controls across domains, etc.

best, Bill Woodruff
dotScience

I purchased this book to get prepped for 2.0 development. As usual , Jesse delivered with additional benifits. He is a great, clear speaking, author. I needed the facts and he delivered.

Well worth owning for those of you transitioning from 1.1 to 2.0.

This is a very good "delta" book for moving to 2.0. It doesn't spend a lot of time with "object oriented programming began in 19..."-type gibberish. Instead it moves directly to some of the new features and talks to you like you know what your talking about.

Easy read.

However, the introduction says something to the effect of "this series skips the 'hello world' applications and is instead the often frantic scribblings of real developers performing real tasks" or something like that. In reality, none of the examples was terribly realistic. It was the same type of examples and 'hello world' demonstrations you would find in any other book. And the "scribblings" in the margins were often just pullouts from the text--just like any other book.

Overall - good book. But the marketing hype for the series is just that--hype.

I just borrowed this book from the library as I'm trying to cut down and only buy true reference books. I didn't have a whole lot of expectations, but this book was exactly what the doctor ordered. I knew C# for VS.NET 1.1 and am gradually migrating to 2.0 and all of it's extra features. I just wanted a book that covered the new stuff... and could come as close to just injecting the information into my brain without all of the extra fluff. This book does exactly that. If you're new to .NET don't get this book... but if you're looking for an incremental upgrade book (as I was) that is concise, full of examples, and covers the whole spectrum of VS.NET 2.0 then this is IT! That said, the title is just a bit misleading... the first chapter is about the new C# keywords and constructs, but this book covers changes with Forms, ASP.NET (Themes, Master Pages, ...) and so forth. This books has been hard to put down and I'm seriously considering buying this one to add to my reference collection. I've learned a lot from it in just the past 24 hours.

I was hired for a developer job using VS.NET 2005 and I need something to get me up to speed on all the new things in C#. This book did the trick and was a delight to read. It is not a lengthy book, but, is full of straightforward advice.

This is a great way to understand data flow at the machine level.

I especially like the part on memory and IO.

Author has explained low-level concepts lucidly. It is easy on eyes. Basic concepts become very clear. It is one of those 'can't keep down without reading few chapters at a stretch' kind of technical book. Very few books have this edge. Just don't feel like stopping reading it.

Beginners must read this book before attempting to read more in-depth low-level technical books. This book is a must for people who are exposed to high-level languages but have not studied Computer Science.

Randall Hyde is doing really good job. Every software developer should read it.

This is a great book but I have to disagree with the overall viewpoint. I've been doing embedded programming for a while and if that's all I'd ever done I would totally agree that understanding low level concepts helps write better code. However, I also write a lot of code in C#. People who normally use high level languages such as C#, VB.Net, or JAVA are probably not going to benefit much from this book. These languages are so far abstracted from the hardware level that the concepts are hard to apply anywhere. On the other hand, if you still use malloc on a daily basis, you need to read the book :) Anyway, the book is easy to read and I never caught any errors. If you want to learn about computers at a low level, then this is a great book to start with!

If you're like most IT people out in the workforce today, you've got pressures from all sides - deadlines, keeping current with changes in platforms, hardware, software tools, etc. Gah! It never ends!

So, you pick up these "Write Great Code" books, thinking that you'll be a better programmer.

And it's interesting in a way that you remember when you were just getting into the IT field as a student and later as an employee and maybe now as a consultant or contractor.

But, then you realize that this is like thinking about how your car's components are working while you're driving madly to work on some beltway. Only your skills as a driver can keep you from getting hit by a big semi, not the working knowledge of your V8 engine. Guys who work on their cars on the weekend, know more about them than you do, but hey, it gets you to work and back.

And so, you sigh and put the book down and concentrate on your SQL, or your VB or whatever else keeps you employed.

Why?

Because your users and your manager don't care about what goes on at the machine level. They want the deliverables NOW. The efficiency of your code is of no importance to them, though it is to you.

However, with enough discipline and some thought to what you're doing, you CAN make this book work for you, and get an edge over someone else's sloppy code and maybe even save yourself some programming time.

Because this book is for the guys who are the computer counterparts of the greasy-looking guys on the street who could tell you what's wrong with your car, even if you can't.

Yes, you can still learn of lot from this book, as noted in the other reviews. But it is now showing its age. This book was written for Sketchup 4.0 when only a time-limited trial was available for free. Sketchup is now at version 6.0 and free from Google (except for the pro version). The advice in this book on how to squeeze a tutorial session into a time-limited trial is just distracting. More importantly, you will not be introduced to the new features in 6.0, such as styles and better organization of model structure. It would be very useful to have Dennis Fukai's advice on how best to use Sketchup 6.0.

When the book/CD came I had problems getting the CD to work Didn't know if it was me or the CD or my PC. I contacted Mr.Fukai and he e-mailed me back immediatly. He stayed with me through a dozen Emails trying to help me.
The CD was bad BTW and he had his wife send me out a new one that worked just fine.
I was a bit exhausted from it all by the time the CD came but stuff happens to the best of us.
The CD is incredably helpful along with the book of illustrations. I haven't gotten through even half of it due to my work load but I'm sure when I continue with it I won't have much trouble in spite of being PC challenged.
Mr.Fukai I think has this book geared for people like myself as well as hard core PC users.
He seems to be doing his best to take you through it one step at a time slowly and deliberate.
I highly recommend this book/CD

I am sure if you are a Google fan you now know that they offer SketchUp for free. Dr. Fukai's book assumed you had a limited amount of time (480 minutes) using the SketchUp 4.0 trial version included with his book. I can say that his book is truly one fantastic way to learn a lot about the details of modeling with SketchUp. Dr. Fukai's interactive "shorties" allows you to go over as often as needed to learn the details of this 3D software. I was having some difficulty part way through the tutorials and emailed Dr. Fukai and received detailed instructions on how to proceed. He is an excellent teacher and his book is highly recommended.

The book is awsome! The instructions are so detailed and outlined. I plan on building my own family home, this is the Book!

As for the author, a master of his craft!

Mr. Fukai and Mrs. Babara Fukai, You have both left a wonderful lasting memory in my mind!

Thanks You

Michael in San Antonio Texas

I study architecture in Havana, Cuba. I'd like to learn more about this matter specially 3d Architectural Working Drawings but, I can not have possibilities to buy any of yor books. Can you help me out? thanks, Roany.

I really wish I had discovered this earlier! I received it yesterday and have already fell in love with the wide array of add-ins that are included on the cd. The book is a great tool to quickly identify the effect that I want. This is a must-have for anyone who has Photoshop Elements!

The book isn't worth much, but the plugins are great. The one click stuff is a great time saver for me, and it really does make things look more snappy without too much hassle. Well worth it for the CD full of plugins!

I love this book. I've already used alot of the layer styles already. Lots of examples. Tons of ideas.

I have had Photoshop Elements 2 for over a year, but until I got this book and CD ROM I had no idea just how creative I could be with the program. There were a lot of effects that I tried to apply to my art but did not quite get the results I desired. This book has helped me unleash my "creative genius". As graphic design student, I have found it to be the best investment I have made besides my computer components. You will find the book helpful, as well, to view the layer styles before applying them to your art. I had found at first that I spent a great deal of time applying and deleting styles and effects before finding the right one, and then I read the book (duh!). I found full-color samples of all the different presets contained on the disk scattered throughout the chapters. It is a small book, but it is very content-rich.

I had used Photoshop 7 in the graphic design lab at school , but I could not afford to buy it. This book and PSE 2 together cost less than $100, and I have no problem duplicating lessons and completing projects at home that are supposed to be done using PS 7.

When Adobe introduced Photoshop Elements it had a low-end program for newcomers to digital photography. It based the cut-down Elements program on its expensive and complex main Photoshop program. However, when you buy Elements you are actually installing quite a lot of the main program (even though no menu commands exist to use new features), and people have been finding ways to exploit the advanced features of Photoshop that Adobe thought would be too complex for Elements users.

Several web sites and two books supply software to advance the capabilities of Elements. One book lets you use some of the professional-level features of the main program, and the other provides some wild effects. That book is the One-Click Wow book I'm reviewing here (the other one is Richard Lynch's The Hidden Powers of Photoshop Elements).

Years ago I wrote a book on Photoshop version 3, and even without enhancements Photoshop Elements 3 is close to being equal to it. The effects in One-Click Wow can be done in several steps in the Main Photoshop program, and in fact that's how they're produced. Unfortunately the effects are of the "take it or leave it" variety - there's no way of altering them - but luckily Jack Davis has produced effects that will appeal to most people.

Because this is a "cheat" and not an officialy approved set of program extensions, you have to manually copy the extensions from the CD to your hard drive. If Elements is running you need to reboot, and then you'll find them listed in the menus for Layer Effects and other places.

One set of extensions work on photographs, and as well as those allowing you to change the appearance of the whole photograph there are other effects that let you add frames or edges. There's a whole series of effects that allows you to change a photograph so that it looks like a painting.

The major set of effects works on graphics and type. They'll change your designs and words to look like chrome or many kinds of natural materials, as well as plenty that look like neon signs. In fact there are several hundred effects, as well as extra brushes and patterns.

It's easiest to see this product not so much as a book, but more like a software add-on with an instruction manual that gives examples of almost every effect - in full color. There's even a multi-page tutorial in using the effects which should explain all you need to know about how to use them.

Davis has been producing the Photoshop Wow books of effects since the beginning of the main program, so the effects here will make a major difference to your pictures. What I've also noticed is the way Davis crops his pictures which is a tutorial in itself - he crops very tightly and you can see the improvement.

So if you can see a copy of this book before you buy it, take a look because what you see is what you're going to get. For most people it's a no-brainer buy, especially since even if you had the main Photoshop program you'd have to do numerous activities on your pictures to equal what you get here.

For the price, it's an amazing bargain for the extra powers you get. I have both this and The Hidden Power of Photoshop Elements, and the two of them make Elements a much more powerful and worthwhile program.

This fall I learned that Priscilla Maine was a distant cousin. In the course of getting to know her, I learned she was an author. Being curious about her work, I requested "Angels Unaware" as a Christmas gift. I sat down with my autographed copy and couldn't put it down! Priscilla's characters became so real to me that I began feeling what they felt. I found myself frustrated with the people for not accepting Rebecca, angry at the attitude about unmarried nurses (I am a nurse myself), and ready to strangle the haughty Reverend. Angels Unaware is a vacation for the soul. Share it with someone you love. As for me, I can't wait to read "Journey of the Eagle".

Priscilla Maine is a gifted writer who breathes life into her characters in this beautiful book. ANGELS UNAWARE provides escape from the here and now, whisking readers back to an earlier time. The hardships of the period are drawn in such detail that it makes one appreciate the convenience of running water and electricity. Having read this book, I eagerly anticipate Maine's next, which I have now purchased, JOURNEY OF THE EAGLE.

Angels Unaware is one of the best books I've read in a very long time. The characters are unforgetable, and the story is very interesting. Details from that time period add to the continuity of the story, and it is obvious that Priscilla Maine did a lot of research before writing this work. The theme of having faith in God is not lost; neither is it pounded in. Rather, it is woven into the fabric of this book. I look foreword to reading the next book by this author.

Angels Unaware, by Priscilla A. Maine, is a powerful, well-researched historical novel. The author's own spirituality shines through as she recounts the strength and determination required of a woman, alone, who takes her medical skills and strong religious beliefs to the hill country of southeastern Oklahoma. Rebecca Rice isn't satisfied to live out her life in the manner expected of a middle-aged widow in the 1890s. Much to her brother and sister's consternation, she ventures into the backwoods to serve people who have no access to adequate medical care or spiritual guidance. Rebecca relishes the challenges of her mission, eagerly casting away a way of life that leaves her "empty and unfulfilled." After several days of travel, she arrives at her new home--a dilapidated, vermin invested cabin. But making the cabin habitable is the easy part of Rebecca's new life. She encounters hill people resistant to her offer of service, people who harbor deep-seated prejudices and fears. For the first many months, Rebecca's only friends are a young woman who at first appears to be retarded; an old, gnome-like woman, accepted as a healer in the backwoods; and an orphaned wolf cub who becomes her constant companion and protector. She teams up with "Ole Woman" and accompanies the healer when she makes her rounds to families in the area. Although largely ignored by the hill people, Rebecca at last feels as though she is moving toward her goal of faith healing. Throughout this insightful book, Angels Unaware brings the reader to an understanding of the hardships endured in this isolated hill country where superstitions and ignorance often prevail making health improvements and spiritual development a slow, arduous process. I found myself aching with Rebecca's effort to help people so resistant to her faith healing and rejoicing with each hard-won acceptance. Angels Unaware weaves spirituality, medicine and the complex lives of hill people into an unforgettable story of grit and courage. I highly recommend this entertaining novel.

Mary E. Trimble Reviewer

"Angels Unaware," by Priscilla A. Maine takes its title from the Hebrews Biblical text 13:2 "Be not forgetful to entertain strangers: for thereby some have entertained angels unawares." The theme's in Maine's book serve this homily well, as her characters learn what it means to untangle old hates and prejudices in order to extend their gifts and create a community together.

"Angels Unaware" shows us lives of strength, courage, and grace laced with ingenuity and hardwork. Almost every character goes through convincing change throughout the course of the book--even the villain of the piece (you'll have to read to find out this surprise).

Priscilla Maine says, "My great-grandmothers came West with a wagon load of dreams. They birthed and buried their infants alone, plowed fields, outlived husbands, tragedies, and trumphs that inspire my writing." Those fore-mothers, reading over Maine's shoulder must surely be proud of how she continues their heritage.

--Janet Grace Riehl, author Sightlines: A Poet's Diary

I bumped into this book by way of "Head First PMP", also written by Stellman and Greene. Because I liked the PMP resource so much, I thought I should give this book a chance and I was not disappointed. Packed with useful information, case studies and examples, this book is a resource any technical project manager will want to have in their collection.
One bonus I did not count on was the companion website which includes downloadable templates, PPT slides and other electronic assets.

Highly recommended!

This is a nice book, everything about it is so neat and nice. I am glad I purchased this book from Amazon.

Applied Software Project Management
Reviewed by Steven D. Sewell, PMP
Project Management Institute, Tampa Bay Chapter

Having been peripherally involved as a software release project team member in the past, I knew enough to get my piece of the puzzle delivered. The information in this book allows me to broaden my perspective and actually comprehend the picture I see on the puzzle box cover. The book is written in a straight ahead manner. If you are one who like examples of what is being discussed, then this book is for you. The use of clear definitions makes each topic understandable and the analogies make them memorable. Tables and scripts are used throughout to exemplify each tool and technique. Most useful in practice are the sections that aid in the diagnosing of problems that can be encountered. This book definitely hits its goal of delivering a practical guide into the hands of a software project manager. The only improvement would be to have "handbook" or "guide" placed somewhere on the cover.

This book covers concisely all the modern aspects os software project management, without the complexity found in more formal PM sources like the PMBOK. Moreover, the job of translating the broad and general concepts covered in the PMBOK to practical day-to-day scenarios is the major benefit from buying it. It won't, however, cover an specific issue like estimation to the level that enables you to be an estimator (this subject, for instance, is only 17 pages long), but will provide you the guidelines and references to additional material to do so.

Do you work for a software organization who where there are chronic problems producing software on schedule and without defects? If you do, then this book is for you! Authors Andrew Stellman and Jennifer Greene, have done an outstanding job of writing a practical book that describes the specific tools, techniques and practices that a project manager needs to put in place in order to run a software project or fix an ailing one.

Stellman and Greene, begin by showing you the vision and scope document. Then, the authors cover the wideband delphi estimation process. They continue by covering project schedules. Next, the authors show you how to do an inspection. Then, the authors discuss use cases. Then, they show you how to do configuration management. The authors continue by showing you how to test plans. They also introduce you to practices, tools, and techniques to your organization's culture. Next, the authors show you why it is important to understand responsibility, authority and accountability. Then, they show you how to prevent the most common sources of failure in outsourced projects. Finally, the authors show you why it's important to understand when process improvement is useful and when it isn't.

A project manager can use this most excellent book to diagnose and fix the most serious problems that plague software projects. More importantly, this book contains essential project management tools, techniques and practices, which have been optimized to be as straightforward and easy to implement as possible.

This is a very comprehensive, and well-organized security assessment book for Software engineers. Yes, it has everything - all done well. If you are into security assessment and testing and live by it every day, you are still bound to learn a lot, to re-evaluate the things you know, and to genuinely improve your results. If you are a software engineer, it *will* help you build superior applications. If you are just an security enthusiast, you will genuinely enjoy the time spent with this book, and you will find this brick handy more often than previously imagined.

This book is absolutely amazing. The amount of detail they go into for so many subjects -- it's incredible. I particularly enjoyed the section on network protocols. I recommend this to any software engineer -- not just those in security specific positions.

Great job, and I hope to enjoy more material from these wonderful authors!

A must have. Being a security researcher for almost ten years now, and already a CISSP holder, there are times you believe you have seen most of the things, and you know the best of them. This book opens a new way of thinking, it's detailed and accurate and goes in depth on every subject.

A real must have.

Nicolas Krassas, CISSP

This book is The Bible for anyone in the security vulnerability research or security software engineering field. I haven't bought a book and studied it so much before ever. This is one book that will never be off my desk.

The authors of this book are some of the most respected in vulnerability research and theory, and have found many bugs that were years ahead of their time. As expected, they deliver on their prior reputation in this great and incredibly expansive book of knowledge and insight.

If you're tired of reading high-level theoretical books about "building security in" written by people who have no clue what a bug is or how to prevent them, this book is the ideal alternative.

For a hobbyist, it will guide you through practical methodologies about how bug hunting is done and teach you to think like a great vulnerability researcher.

For a developer, it will open your eyes to security oversights in most of the pieces of code you have ever written. Read hard, these bug classes affect the products you are shipping today.

For the security professional, this likely goes not only broader but deeper on lots of issues than you have ever looked, and far beyond any book I've seen. It can be used as page to page read, or a great reference. I personally use it all the time, and have definitely learnt from it. Great job guys!

P.S. Try and spot the 0day.

This is an excellent book on debugging. Whether you're debugging mechanical systems, electrical circuits, or software, the methodology presented is extremely practical and systematic. The author presents nine debugging rules that can be applied to any problem. The text is well-written, engaging, and humorous. The author also included a wealth of war stories that are worth the price alone. Highly recommended.

This Book Demonstrates How you could debug SOMETHING systematically, from most important principle to least important principle.(All 9 As the Book name said.) The Examples covers software, hardware, electrical, mechanical debugging. It is just amusement to read the example. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.

Quite liked it. I now have a game plan for approaching bugs in a nonrandom manner (including intermittent bugs):


Understand the System
- Read all related documentation
- Draw a system diagram and understand how things are connected
- Know the capabilities of your debugging tools


Make It Fail
- Start from a clean initial state
- Consider automating lengthy steps
- Make it fail in situ; don't waste time simulating the environment
- For intermittent bugs: list possible factors and try varying them one at a time; output a logfile and look for patterns


Quit Thinking and Look
- Watch it fail
- Use Remote Desktop / VNC
- Add logging and monitors
- Don't start thinking until you've limited the number of possible causes


Divide and Conquer
- Binary search
- Use test data with an easily identifiable pattern
- Start at the failure point and work backwards
- If you discover other bugs that may be related, fix them before continuing your search


Change One Thing at a Time
- Don't panic
- Back out changes that have no effect
- Compare the logfile with that of a good system
- Check earlier versions


Keep an Audit Trail
- Keep a detailed written log


Check the Plug
- D'oh!
- Have the components been properly initialized?


Get a Fresh View
- Try explaining the problem to someone (or something)
- Ask an expert: co-workers, the vendor, documentation, bug database, the web
- Report symptoms (including possibly unrelated observations), but not your theories


If You Didn't Fix It, It Ain't Fixed
- Fix the root cause
- Make the problem happen again by undoing your fix

I worked with Dave Agans for over 10 years and I can tell you first hand the man knows what he's talking about. From developing hand-held controllers in the late eighties to single-board OS/2-based videoconferencing products to software collaboration tools, we have debugged problems of every ilk. Whether the problem was an FPGA bug, a faulty component in a board, a race condition in a device driver or a dangling pointer in a DLL, Dave always approached the problem with his same set of debugging rules, and they never let him down. Read this book. It's engaging and fun to read. But more importantly it will make you a better debugger, whether you're debugging hardware, software or your lawnmower.

This book is absolutely indispensable for anyone working in any job where things occasionally work in an unexpected manner. It's concise, funny, well-written, and full of immensely useful tips on how to go about debugging problems.

One of the great things about this book is that it's generalistic in nature, not specific. Agans's decades of troubleshooting experience has given him great insight on how to go about debugging in all sorts of environments, so he lays out nine rules for approaching any problem:

Understand the System
Make it Fail
Quit Thinking and Look
Divide and Conquer
Change One Thing at a Time
Keep an Audit Trail
Check the Plug
Get a Fresh View
If You Didn't Fix It, It Ain't Fixed

[...]

Debugging isn't an art performed only by folks with some odd genetic disposition, it's a critical craft which can and must be learned. I was fortunate to have some good troubleshooters as mentors during my days working radar inflight in the Air Force, but I've fallen out of many of the good practices those folks beat^H^H^H^Hinstilled in me. Agans's book is helping me pull out of the thrash and churn mode of debugging.

This book's only 175 or so pages long and is well-worth adding to your library. Actually, substitute "a critical addition" for "well worth adding". I'm also going to make sure this book gets added to the professional development reading list I'm working on creating.

Target Audience
Java developers who want to learn how to use the Eclipse IDE or how to develop enhancements for the Eclipse framework.

Contents
This book is a comprehensive coverage of the Eclipse framework, both from the perspective of using the tool and writing extensions to Eclipse.

The book is divided into 3 parts:

Part 1 - Running Eclipse - Getting Started; Using Eclipse; Using Java Development Tools; Debugging Java; Teaming Up With Eclipse; Eclipse Configuration Management

Part 2 - Extending Eclipse - Overview Of The Eclipse Architecture; Getting Started: Plug-in Development; Action Contributions: The Integration Fast Track; The Standard Widget Toolkit: A Lean, Mean Widget Machine; Dialogs And Wizards; Views; Editors; Perspectives; Workspace Resource Programming; Managing Resources With Natures And Builders; Resource Tagging Using Markers; Contributions Revisited; Advanced Plug-in Development; Creating New Extension Points: How Others Can Extend Your Plug-ins; Serviceability; Developing Features; Providing Help; OLE and ActiveX Interoperability; Swing Interoperability; Extending The Java Development Tools; Building A Custom Text Editor With JFace Text

Part 3 - Exercises - Using Eclipse; Using The Java Development Tools; Debugging Java; Using CVS With Eclipse; Modifying Your Configuration With Update Manager; Using The Plug-in Development Environment; Feature Development And Deployment

Review
As an IBM software developer using Domino and Notes, I'm hearing more and more about WebSphere Studio Application Developer. That's the IBM WebSphere Integrated Development Environment (IDE) that is built upon the Eclipse framework. But just what is Eclipse, and why is it so important to you as a developer? This book will help you answer those questions.

The book serves two purposes. Part 1 of the book will allow you, as a Java developer, to understand how to use the tool to code and test your programs. They also devote coverage to how CVS, the open source version control tool. Even if you're not interested in extending the Eclipse tool for your own use, this first part of the book would be worth the purchase.

Part 2 gets into how the Eclipse framework can be used to write your own tools to integrate into the environment. Granted, this part of the book won't necessarily appeal to everyone, as some of you will only want to use the core functionality of Eclipse as an IDE. But you can think of this section as a lesson on the internal architecture of Eclipse. The more you understand about the tool, the more effective you can be with it.

And finally, you have the third part of the book that consists of a number of exercises to bridge the gap from theoretical to practical. Taken as a whole, working through this entire book will give you a solid foundation in Eclipse.

And for Notes/Domino professionals... I think a case could be made that you should seriously consider buying this book to prepare for your future. ND8 is projected to be a rich client built on this platform. By reading up on it now, you'll be prepared for what's coming. And if you're a business partner who builds tools for the Notes/Domino client, you'll need this information to start to figure out how you can transition your business in the future. Don't let it sneak up on you.

Conclusion
If you're thinking about diving into the Eclipse world, get this book. And if you're already an Eclipse user but want to make changes to your environment, this book will give you the information you need to start down that path.

Learning Eclipse, the open-source IDE and tool platform, can be a
daunting task. While a plethora of on-line resources exist for
learning.... knowing where to start, and
remembering what you've read, can be challenging. Finally a book
with much of this in one place: The Java Developer's Guide to Eclipse.

As a long-time lover of books, expecially Java books, I find that
learning from online resources on the web can be sufficient, but
often it's hard to know what you've read, where you stopped, where to
find something, etc. Especially when you're learning something very
new, or very complex, having it all in your hands can be comforting.
(And you don't have to close the book during takeoff and landing.)

Written by Eclipse experts with experience using *and teaching* other
developers in its use, the chapters and exercises are well thought
out. The authors are instructors with experience in teaching Eclipse
to software developers, so have a good knowledge of Eclipse and how
to present and explain it.

This book contains three parts: Using Eclipse as an IDE for
Java developement, Extending Eclipse with plug-ins, and exercises
for all of the above. While a few other books are available on using
Eclipse as an IDE, this is by far the most comprehensive
book on extending it by developing plug-ins.

This book is unique in its thorough coverage of plug-ins (extending
Eclipse: want a new popup menu? code reformatter? Write it yourself!)
but don't overlook its good introduction to using the
Eclipse IDE itself for developing Java code, as well as a great
chapter on using CVS and the Eclipse interface to CVS
code respository that is part of the standard download.

The exercises on using Eclipse and building plug-ins are great, and often walking through the exercise
(resources included on the CD with the book) reinforces or sheds
additional light on what is covered in a chapter. At times
I jumped directly to the exercise after only briefly reading
the associated chapter information, and the hands-on learning
accomplished in this manner was great for this impatient Java
developer.

I took the IBM class with the same name as the book, and found
the exercises in the book similar, if less extensive than, those
included with the course. But the basics are there, including
the exercise that introduces action sets etc. that I referred
to several times in my first plug-in development. A lot of my
code started with the exercise code and grew from there. As I worked
through subsequent chapters and exercises, I came to a clearer
understanding of what had been done in the previous code imported
in the exercises, yet I was already up and running in terms of
developing my plug-in.

The book is written to Eclipse 2.0, with a few comments regarding
changes for version 2.1. While it would be nice to have the minor
2.1 changes reflected in the book, I know the authors had to stop
somewhere to get published. This was the first Eclipse book
published, I understand.

Excellent, and highly recommended for all Java developers wanting
to use Eclipse, and especially for those wanting to develop
plug-ins for extending Eclipse to their own applications.

This helpful and extremely well-written book is really many books in one. The Java Developer's Guide to Eclipse provides a coherent, organized, and well-written reference for using the Eclipse platform and developing plugins. In addition to the basics, the book covers such advanced topics as Eclipse Configuration Management and Providing Help. One section of the book provides a comprehensive set of exercises that enable you to get hands-on experience working with Eclipse.

The book is organized into three sections, each geared towards a different level of experience with Eclipse. While you may make use of all three sections, the organization of the book helps you to quickly find and focus on the material that you need.

The information provided with Eclipse and the Web sites that support it is considerable. The great aspect of this book is that it offers so much usable content in one convenient source, while providing additional information to supplement the online help already provided with Eclipse.

I was initially disappointed that this book did not cover JUnit and that it was based on Eclipse 2.0; however those issues aside this book is a great resource on Eclipse written by folks on the development team. I am using Eclipse 2.1.1 and there are some differences for some things, but most are minor. The book is divided into three parts with Part Two having two sections. Part One focuses on the Eclipse development environment. In this section, there some very good tips about using Eclipse. I particularly liked the chapter on using CVS with Eclipse. There was some practical advice given about how to deal with issues one would encounter in projects while using Eclipse and CVS.

In chapter one, the authors challenge Eclipse veterans to read it with "bet you didn't know how to ...". There are some great keyboard shortcuts and other features of Eclipse that surprised me. There is a blind programmer on our staff that will get great mileage out the keyboard shortcuts.

Part Two is about creating plug-ins for Eclipse. At first, I was moderately interested in some plug-ins, but after digging into this section, I already have a couple of plug-in ideas that I want to pursue. The authors make it seems like a very natural thing to do. Part Three is composed of exercises on using Eclipse for Java development, with CVS, for debugging, for updating your Eclipse, for Plug-in Development Environment (PDE), and for feature development. The exercises are step-by-step instructions relating to certain chapters in the previous parts. Read the chapters first, but do these exercises!

If you are using Eclipse for development, this book has a wealth of information from those in the know. After all, WSAD is basically a bunch of Eclipse plug-ins.

Back in 80's when unix network programming was a black art, Stevens book on Unix Network Programming showed the way to common programmers about how to write something magical in unix/c/sockets. I can only compare this book with the same spirit.

By reading the book and practicing the exercises in the accompanying CD, it is almost guaranteed someone will not only become a good java programmer but it will also help to extend and share the knowledge of creating tools. Writing good code in java is not simple. This book clearly explains what is really needed from a user perspective to become a good programmer and team-oriented productive resource using eclipse.

The first part explains what a freely available Eclipse can do for you. This is the most comprehensive introduction I have seen so far. It will teach you the smartest way to deal with java projects from a life cycle perspective - create, test, debug and maintain. Each chapter is clear and concise. Tips and tricks are every where.

The second part explain that extending and customizing eclipse is no rocket science. It is hard in a way but definitely manageable even for a starter. Referencing eclipse api is a must while reading this part. I wish some concise reference (like O'Reilly's "...nutshell" book style) would have helped the programmer a lot.

The third part is a gem. Added to the explanation of materials of each chapter, it went far beyond. Just by practicing the examples will take the user to a commanding position. This part also makes the book a handy desk reference on using eclipse tools. I'd also recommend the reader to take a look at the eclipse.org site to check the plug-ins. A lot of them are very useful and free too.

Overall, this book is excellent. In my opinion, this book is one of the major contributors to the community in the increasing the popularity of using eclispe tools, customizing and enhancing it.

This book is a MAINSTAY in my reference library. Though I do only limited back-end development in the applications I work on, this is the first book I look for when I need to be pointed in the right direction. I highly recommend it!

I bought this book as a complete Oracle novice, transitioning from Microsoft T-SQL to PL/SQL. I was worried about the transition being difficult until I read this book.

It is one of those very rare books that presents advanced concepts in a context understandable by users of all experience levels. The author often throws in tips about Oracle PL/SQL quirks to watch out for, as well as some very applicable information about how Oracle works internally.

I've since become more comfortable with PL/SQL, and the book also serves as a great reference. I highly encourage you to read this book straight through.

I recommend this well-written book to anybody wanting to learn PL/SQL, as well as anyone needing a great reference.

Although the information was accurate and useful, I think the strength of this book was it's clear and logical presentation. It is easy to read and very helpful. For example, I needed to know how to dynamically build the "where" clause for select statements and his chapter on DBMS_SQL gave me the tools to accomplish my task at work.

This is definitely an excellent book. No one should rank it less than 5 stars just because it was published in 1996. Please do some research before talk. Actually, Scott Urman has wrote a book, "Oracle8 PL/SQL Programming", which was published in 1997. Buy this one if you want to learn PL/SQL 8.0.

Oracle 8 is out and in this book it only covers to Oracle 7. It is a very well written book. It is a valuable reference however it was published in 1996. Still looking for Oracle SQL Plus 8.0 AND the PL/SQL Programming. I hope the author steps up to the plate and updates his work.