Software Books

¶ I had another Unicode book on my desk for a long time. Hardbound, thick, impressive. Never found a way to derive useful information from it however. This book is different.

¶ I had high expectations for this book because the author, Jukka Korpela, is one of those erudite and patient people who work hard to raise the signal to noise ratio in Internet newsgroups and other forums. I certainly have quite a few posts from "Yucca" in my working archive of Web tips.

¶ Working with Web pages and applications, one can run into practical problems with text display. For Americans especially, often using default software configurations, some of the problems of displaying content in other languages can seem intractable. They are not of course -- but a bit of help from workers in the rest of the world can be a real lift. After all, they deal with these issues in a practical way more often.

¶ I had a nasty run-in (also known as "learning experience") with browser display issues when my "CSS Cheatsheet" rose in popularity in Google and other search engines. I decided to create a page quoting comments from linking sites in their native languages. Everything was fine until I got to Russian. I felt as if I were up against a conspiracy of browsers, tools, operating systems and even particular custom configurations!

¶ If you are like me and your focus is practical, I recommend:
The first two chapters in Part 1: Characters as Data; Writing Characters
All the advanced topics in Part 3: these 5 chapters covered character issues involved with programming and developing in the Internet environment.

¶ Overall, this book is well-organized and quite readable, with lots of relevant illustrations. Important material is repeated and summarized for greater clarity. The author also used lots of examples from Windows programs that are familiar to many of us. This is a real plus.

Are you an IT professional who needs to understand Unicode and work with it? If you are, then this book is for you. Author Jukka Korpela, has done an outstanding job of writing a book that explores Unicode processing generally, but does not go into great detail on all parts of the Unicode character space.

Korpela, begins by providing a self-contained tutorial presentation of Unicode and character data. Then, the author gives detailed information about using Unicode and other character codes. Finally, he discusses relatively independent topics to be read according to each reader's specific needs.

This most excellent book guides you through the Unicode and character world. More importantly, it explains how to identify and classify characters.

I had to deal with Unicode in greater detail for two reasons. I am working on some old ASCII and ANSI text converter for the web to be able to show them in text format in a browser, rather than converting them to an image as existing tools do. The second reason is XML and the normalization of the content distributed via XML and processed or used by XSLT or DHTML apps.

I realized that the whole subject is a lot more complicated than I initially thought and the number of questions that needed an answer to move forward with what I was doing increased significantly. I was finding stuff on the web, a little bit here and a little bit there and had it one day, because progress was slow.

I stumbled one day across this book via a Google search, which returned passages from it from its Google Book search results. I found a very good answer to one of my questions and answers to some other questions that were lying around unanswered from before. I checked the index of the book to see what subjects it covers and realized that it pretty much covers all of them. So I went ahead to Amazon and bought it right there and then.

I am glad to this day that I found it and can recommend it to anybody who has only little or no knowledge of Unicode and struggles with getting a grip on all those standards for data encoding, which make it hard to keep the data within XML and text files intact across platforms and prevent your XML based application or tool from breaking because of illegal data in your content.

This book is excellent. The author's writing style is easy to read and he pretty much explains everything about Unicode. It's perfect if you're working with multi-lingual Web sites or email, or just if you want to start using Unicode for all of your Web site development (something everyone should do).

The only thing disappointing about this book is that all of his examples and screen shots are for and from Windows. A reader could come away with the feeling that Mac OS X and Linux don't have as much support for Unicode as Windows which, of course, is not the case at all. The least he could have done is to mention and give screenshots of Linux's "Character Map" app and Mac OS X's built-in "Character Palette", both of which are pretty much just like the Windows "Character Map" app.

I'm surprised O'Reilly allowed a book about such a platform-neutral subject to be so Windows-centric. Hopefully they can hire someone to add Linux and Mac OS X examples into the second edition.

If you're like me, you probably think of Unicode as "expanded ASCII" and that's about it. But there is infinitely more to the subject than I thought, and Unicode Explained by Jukka K. Korpela is an exhaustive reference to all that is Unicode. And in this increasingly global computing environment, you will need to know this information...

Contents:
Part 1 - Working with Characters: Characters as Data; Writing Characters; Character Sets and Encoding
Part 2 - A Systematic Look at Unicode: The Structure of Unicode; Properties of Characters; Unicode Encodings
Part 3 - Advanced Unicode Topics: Characters and Languages; Character Usage; The Character Level and Above; Characters in Internet Protocols; Characters in Programming
Appendix - Tables for Writing Characters; Index

In concept, Unicode is real simple. An expanded character set using 16 bit encoding, and you can accommodate far more languages and symbols than straight ASCII. But the implementation is far more complex than that. Korpela starts with the basics of characters... what they are, what they mean, and the nuances involved. From there, you learn about how applications have to interpret the different encoding standards and handle things like case, sort orders, line breaks, etc. When I saw the size of the book (600+ pages), I wondered if the material was just a lot of reference tables that could be found online. Gladly, it's not... This is an exploration of everything that is Unicode, and you'd have to wade through a lot of web pages to even begin to glean the level and value of information that you'll find here.

If you have anything to do with programming or designing global software, this book purchase is a no-brainer. And even if you're not doing anything in that area right now, this is one of those reference titles that is worth having on your bookshelf and available for the first time you *do* need it. It won't take long to pay for itself...

In my opinion, this is the best book on UNIX programming I have seen. If you already know C and want to learn how to program on the UNIX os, this is the book to get. This is what taught me. I usually always have this book with me. I even like the color!

This book gives an excellent introduction to systems programming in unix. Within a couple of weeks of buying this book, I was able to design and implement a multi-process client server (socket based) application from scratch. The author also discusses the common C library functions used and the caveats there of. (for instance, the gets() function is a dangerous one!) Although I program a lot in windows NT, I still find this book to be a good reference, especially when porting applications from unix to NT. One thing that I wish the book had is a discussion on remote procedure calls (RPC).

This book isn't just a handy reference for programming in C in the UNIX environment; it's a useful reference for any C programmer. For example, the discussion of file I/O is very clear.

This book is written in a very easy and understandable way. It explains main concepts, system calls and their parameters and how to use them. It lays an excellent ground for a quick start in UNIX systems programming and prepares for more in-depth material like books by R. Stevens. I would say that this book is a must-read for all starters.

If there ever was a book that was badly advertised, this one is it. If we're to believe the cover and even the reviews on Amazon, it's just another book on Unix, when actually it's an essential Unix System V C libraries reference for C programmers. I haven't found anything remotely similar out there. I only bought it after flipping through the pages in a bookstore. It covers everything from file I/O through IPC. It contains tons of code that clearly show how to use each function. As it's a little dated, It doesn't cover pthreads or IPV6, but hopefully the author will make a second edition soon...and make sure that C programmers know that this book is what they're looking for!

What a great pleasure it is to thumb through my buddy Tim's (and Ahui & Steve's) hard work and see the big payoff. Guys, this thing is great. Sits perfectly alongside any computer/instructional/technical/howto book. Things are made easy and very well explained throughout. And hey, any book I'm in can't be a bad one. :-)

Dude i know the guy that wrote this book. I had a beer with him one night and he told about this book and i was like wow. I think i might have to buy it. TIM YOU RULE

This book is excellent in almost every respect.
It does a great job of introducing the reader to the LDraw suite of tool for making LEGO creations on your computer. Though this book is geared toward beginners, it is also a great tool for those intermediate users looking to expand their LDraw horizons. I especially liked the sections on creating building instructions. Additionally, all the reference sections make this book worthwhile for even the seasoned LDrawer; I loved the visual color reference on the inside front cover. This book would make a fine addition to any LEGO enthusiasts library.

This is an EXCELLENT book for people SERIOUS about building simple AND complex models using LDRAW. While working with the program I found myself constantly referencing the book--which can be read front-to-back... but ALSO be used as a quick reference book. This has earned itself a permanent position on my bookshelf--no wait--next to my computer!

If you want to do lego CAD, this book is for you! I had used MLCAD and LPub before I got the book to some degree, but my abilities exploded after going through the tutorials. LSynth is also very clearly explained. The CD that is included is a big plus for those who have had difficulty installing the software (all of which is free from the internet though) and also includes some tutorial models for use with the book. The additional resources described in the book show that he is interested in getting as much use out of Lego CAD from the general populace.

All in all, well worth the money and the read!

I like this book because this book takes the user from begining to expertise.

I would just like to say , that this book has been a real asset , in learning and developing my VB skills. - Couldn't put it down !!

I bought this book by accident thinking it was something else and I've never put it down since. It covers all the major points I wanted to learn and more. I read this before taking the MSCE training course. After reading the first 6 chapters I found I had covered the first 4 days of the 5 day VB course.

I recommend this book for all begining VB programmers even if you want to start using VB6, read this book first for all your ground work.

This is an excellent VB Book. I constantly turn to it for code samples and commands when in need. It contains almost all the common VB Commands. Aside from that, each chapter is a lesson in itself.

I consider this book to be a lucky find for me. It is one of those uncommon books that explains things very well, starts from basics, and works its way up through more advanced and very practical and useful subjects. I originally got this book just because it was the only one I could find that covered serial-port communications for Visual Basic. Since then (having done a lot of programming in Visual Basic and having looked through many, many other books of various sorts), I find that it's one of the best books I could have chosen for learning about Visual Basic in general. It got me up to speed on several topics (pictureboxes, file I/O, writing database front ends, the basics of ActiveX, just to name a few things). I heartily recommend this book for beginners through advanced intermediates -- and for folks who already have programmed a lot in other languages and are looking to broaden out into Visual Basic.

Thanks for sending the book among others that I ordered along with it in good condition, and sooner than I had expected. Its a simple and straightforward book that orients itself around the MacOSX Web Objects application. Good value for money a worth while buy.

Let's cut to the chase. Josh Marker's new WebObjects 5 book rocks the house. Trudging through Apple's WebObjects API documentation can turn ones eyes red and bleary, so where do ya start? Well, I say start with Marker's new gem. pple's WebObjects is a best kept secret as it derives from the brilliance of the geniuses at NeXT, and who knows why Steve Jobs doesn't market WebObjects more aggressively? This book helps get a person (particularly the WebObjects newcomer) to get down and jiggy with WebObjects. The world is not always Microsoft and so don't let Apple's genius scare you. Start out with Marker's book and then go from there. You won't get lost and Marker keeps things easy to understand. The only thing missing from this book with slight disappointment is coverage of WebServices which was introduced by Apple in WebObjects version 5.2. Otherwise, rock and roll!

I ordered this book expecting it to be a more advanced WebObjects book than it actually is. Unfortunately, most of the material covered in the first 11 chapters CAN be gleaned from Apple's documentation accompanied by some experimentation (which I've done over the last year or so). For me, those chapters were a rehash of stuff I knew, although I did pick up some good advice and tips from those chapters.

However, for a Java developer (the book doesn't pretend to teach you Java) who is new to WebObjects, those first 11 chapters are a a godsend, filled with well-written text containing a huge amount of practical advice and illustrated with extensive screenshots. Reading this book and doing the exercises will save you literally dozens if not hundreds of hours of "doing it the hard way."

Chapters 12 and 13, on the other hand, are filled with bits and pieces that are NOT easy (or sometimes possible) to get from the official documentation and can only be learned by finding a more experienced developer to mentor you. For me, these two chapters were worth the price, and for a computer programming book, the price is quite reasonable.

A big thumbs up for this book as an introductory WebObjects tome, and here's to hoping that some publisher will contract Mr. Marker to write a follow-up "Advanced WebObjects for Mac OS X" because I'll be first in line to buy that one.

This is the best beginner WebObjects book ever! Examples are clear, concise and easy to follow. It has made me a believer in this technology.

I'd like to agree with the previous reviewers. This book finally made the progression through WebObjects clear and understandable. Its power is apparent and the gotchas are clearly highlighted as you go through the book. Mr. Marker also wrote the excellent Apple document on WebObjects web applications. (Un)fortunately, the Apple document is only about 100 pages, so this book nicely moves on from it. Technical overview by mmalcolm only lends further credibility to this book. Thank you, thank you, thank you!

Last March 2007, I purschased the Vista Visually Series that this writer wrote. And, I was so impressed with the author and the content of this book that when I discovered this newer Vista book by the same author, I bought it as well. The reason that I bought this book that I wanted a quick overview on both Tips and Tricks of Vista. After one year using Vista, I have learned so much more about it. Yet, there is always more to learn and an easier and better way to do things in Vista. This author gives you 10 very easy to read and follow chapters that give wonderful and helpful information yet do not bore or overwhelm the reader. The graphics are excellent! The most helpful chapter I found is chapter 5, which is called "Enhance Internet Security and Privacy". Although this chapter could have been longer and more detailed, it gives enough information about: Scanning for Spyware, Web Page Media Safely and Privately, Spam info, and super email info and more. Another chapter I was very impressed with the content is chapter 6. In this chapter the author gives you basic Internetting tips and faster movement in pages showing you how to use tabs, a real help when you are browsing more than one web page at a time and wish to go back to each of them. Also in this chapter I found many good suggestions for websites, safe websites, web feeds and more. Superb book, superb author, I highly reccomend this book!

I purchased "Vista Simplified",I also purchased "Vista Manual"(The missing manual).
Vista simplified is an extremely good instruction book.It introduced me to Vista and how to use Vista.It contained information to me that is not obvious unless you know how to find it.

The "Missing Manual" Gives a more detailed
introduction to Vista. It is very inforamtive and explains everything in plain language. It includes descriptive information
that is easy to follow.It is also a good reference book
if one gets into trouble

I highly recommend both books.
George High

This is one of the finest instructional books I have ever come across. The step-by-step instructions are very clearly written and illustrated. There is no guess-work required regarding the interpretation of the instructions. Each task is preceded by an informative narrative explaining its' purpose and effect. Every command is numbered, with a corresponding number highlighted in relavent screen shots to show exactly how to perform the task. Tips, recommendations, cautions and other options are also included after most tasks. Instructions on removal to return you to the previous configuration are also prevalent. Difficulty levels are assigned. There is much more detail here that is present in most Vista manuals. The pages are glossy and in color. I can't think of a single recommendation to improve this book and shall consider other books in this series. Excellent!

Great book for vista. Simple instructions, clearly written. Nice full color illustrations, although some of the text is a little difficult to read in some of the pictures. Includes tips on each section and a difficulty level bar which rates how hard each task is to perform for the average user. Overall a great starter book. Hope they write 100 more tips.

I ordered this book and another book on Dec 22nd, and it was on my porch early afternoon on Christmas Eve. I did not expect to get it that soon!

This book makes everything so simple. Everytime you get a new computer, and it has a new operating system, you can't do much with it for a while. I was actually able to do things with this book explaining the steps.

I was so impressed with it, I just ordered the author's 'Teach Yourself Visually Windows Vista' book. It is the first book to impress me for it's ease and userability.

Back in the "OLD" days they use to supply books with computers that helped to explain how to do tasks...or at least the steps a new user shoukd go through to find the info on the computer. NOW ALL YOU CAN DO IS GUESS WHERE SOME USEABLE INFORMATION IS LOCATED, AND HOW TO GET TO IT.

AN EXCELLENT SOURCE BOOK....THANK YOU!

This book was so easy to follow. It gave easy to follow directions. It was very thorough. It gave great examples. I have all the One Step Books. Do you have one for understanding email and internet? PLEASE HELP! I am working from a book called "creating web sites" that has numerous errors. It leaves out instructions. I don't know how a publisher can put this book on the market.

This book was so easy to follow. It gave easy to follow directions. It was very thorough. It gave great examples. I have all the One Step Books. Do you have one for understanding email and internet? PLEASE HELP! I am working from a book called "creating web sites" that has numerous errors. It leaves out instructions. I don't know how a publisher can put this book on the market.

This book was so easy to follow. It gave easy to follow directions. It was very thorough. It gave great examples. I have all the One Step Books. Do you have one for understanding email and internet? PLEASE HELP! I am working from a book called "creating web sites" that has numerous errors. It leaves out instructions. I don't know how a publisher can put this book on the market.

The second One Step to buy. The "talk you through" audio is on target in every way. One major drawback...These books are hard to install. Clearly the team that wrote the book was customer focused. But, the teams that put the installation together are tech types who leave little things out here and there, thus requiring their support and making you frustrated when it does not work right. Additionally, the installation instructions are hidden in the back. Lots of improvement can be made to the content organization...they are in no way as bright or customer focused as the actual computer content of the books. One cannot install more than one book without trouble. Additionally, if you have win 98, make sure the book states its system requirements support 98...I assumed and lost on this word book. Support sent me a patch. In short, installation can be a real pain, but stay with it because the product is worth the pain.

The flow of the book is perfect. The quick learn or refresh memory via the demo mode cuts time to use into a fraction of looking and reading.

I cannot recommend this concept enough.

The cd-rom software that comes with this book is great. The software is mulit-media and guides the user along, literally, through a series of lessons that give a solid foundation in Word 97. I used the book-software to help me earn my Microsoft Office User Specialist, Word 97 certificate. I've recomended the book to several others, and I am glad to give the book praise here too.

If you read the NIV Bible and use the study Bible you simply must add this Bible to your computer. Demons and Prophets

This is a really cool user friendly desktop Bible. I read it now, instead of surfing aimiably looking at usless stories on the web.

This is an excellent choice for a computer-based Bible study program at a very reasonable price. It features the NIV translation that many people (including me) regard as the best of the contemporary versions. The study notes are concise but very helpful. Also, you can add just about as many other versions and references as you wish (at additional cost, of course.

I have been looking for an electronic Bible for a while now. When I came across this product, I was pleased. Zondervan is a company my church and home family have trusted for years.

While I love the product, I would have to say that the browsing program, Pradis, takes a little getting used to. Still though, the product works well, and after you learn how to use it you are home free.

I would recommend this product to anyone seeking an electronic Bible who has at least basic computer skills and the will to learn a new program.

This is one of the best computer programs for bible study I have used. It was easy to install and is very user friendly. The price was also good. I recommend this CD to anyone who would like to study the Bible using their computer.

Good collecton of Eng-Rus-Eng dictionaries! RECOMMENDED!
My activity of a translator was hardly sped up. And I have counted, that a purchase of this CD Polyglossum save to me about 800 dollars on a purchase of the paper dictionaries.
Thank!

I have purchased this CD with Polyglossum-dictionaries two years back. Also is completely pleased with activity of the Polyglossum-2 dictionary.
Unexpectedly I have received from ETS Publishing House mail, in which one was writen that I can free download new version of the program - Polyglossum-3. I have downloaded from page of ETS Publishing House free update to version Polyglossum-3. This is really essential updating. A new principle of search of the words and simultaneous search under all dictionaries. Search both on headers of entries, and under all words in all dictionaries etc. At the expense of it quantity of the search words was increased approximately at 30 - 40 %. The program very correctly works with Windows XP. A thank for good user support. A thank to the Amazon.com employees for so useful contacts.

The largest set of ERE technical & science dictionaries. More 1 000 000 search, fantastical! Highly RECOMMEND! AAAAA+++++++++

Largest & modernest set of RusEngRus technical & science dictionaries, More 2.000.000 search words and pharses. Free update from Polglossum zShops to win XP and more 40 others download dictionaries . Delivery in real time. Lovest cost and high quality bu ETS Publishing House. AAAAAAAA+++++++++

2 years I use these the dictionary and practically I do not buy the paper dictionaries. Recently I find in Polyglossum zShop more new and updated dictionaries (40 or 50). Polyglossum-dictionary-shell update is free for dictionarie from the CD. Other dictionarie I have buy as registered user only for [$$$] Publishers priece. Delivery is trough Intenet - fast and comfortable . Very friendly ... Recdommend.

24 Victorian Display Fonts CD-ROM and Book (Dover Electronic Display Fonts Series)

A great collection of fonts that's easy to download to the Mac. I was impressed that there were no filler fonts (poorly designed fonts included in a collection to make it appear that you are getting a better deal). All were well designed. Some were classic and others very unique to a particular genre of Victorian Type. We were looking for a font that looked like it would be in a medical advertisement and one that looked like it would appear on the cover of a horror story. We found both on this disk and they look genuine on our poster.

A great resource for the cutting edge designer who want more choices in this currently fashionable font group (2006). Goes far beyond what is on either Mac or PC OS and reveals a treasure trove of standout designs.

Includes Arboret. That should be enough enticement if you're truly a font freak. Pages have maps/grids/graphics to show you what characters are actually there. Sometimes a few dingbats are incl. Some (many?) western European (non-English) characters are absent.

Hope there will be a second set of Victorian fonts from Dover.

These Victorian fonts were from a period of "anything goes" in type design and everyone will surely find some goodies here. Dan Solo had a huge collection of great old and new type faces. You'll find 24 of them here. Some, you might already have, and some are so nice that I believe if you find one gem here, it makes the price worthwhile. The fonts are in both Windows True Type and Macintosh formats. The pages have the complete alphabets and a character chart. Be sure to notice the "extra characters" that are offered in some fonts.

The Victorians were responsible for some really hideous, over-decorated typeface designs - but you won't find them in this book. This Dover collection of 24 fine examples from the 19th century include many elegant faces deserving of more exposure, together with lightly-ornamented designs which recapture the charm of a bygone age. This isn't a reference book you'll leave on the shelf. The 24 faces are supplied as good quality Postscript and TrueType faces on CD-Rom. All have been deftly restored to their full glory - there are no broken kerns and worn hairlines with these little gems. My guess is that you'll find a use for most of them within a few months of receiving your copy. A must for any designer's library and a typographer's dream.