Programming Books

This book was a joy to read. It gives a great overview of quality issues within "Web systems" - meaning Web applications and architectures. The book balances a too-specific look with a too-general look and succeeds quite well in a balanced treatment that will make the whole worth the attention of any quality assurance or quality tester professional in the Information Technology industry.

In particular, the second chapter, on the RSI Approach, is a nice addition as this is something that most practitioners of quality subjects will not find elsewhere and the general subject matter is generally that which is avoided in books of this type. Another topic often avoided in these books is that of usability and accessibility concerns and yet these are covered here in good detail chapter six.

In general, I think the book offered a great amount of detail just where it was needed and gave a lot of "mini best-practices" in each chapter with the use of bulleted lists to highlight specific points. The detail of the book extends to various topics, like performance, compatibility, usability, and security - all topics that are of high concern in the current world of making qualitly Web systems that customers and user respond to. The appendices in the book are also excellent. The "Test Tool Evaluations" section will be a welcome addition to those who wish there are more concise evaluation forms for automated tool solutions.

I highly recommend this book to quality assurance/testing professionals, quality assurance managers, and even those who work more in the project management and development spheres. Those latter will get benefit from the book because the book manages to highlight topics of concern to both groups and also gives them insight into the quality aspects of the projects and products that are developed within an organization.

Although the authors of this book are noted experts in software testing this book goes far beyond testing by addressing the full range of quality and design issues for web-based systems.

All of the major elements of web-engineering and quality are addressed, including SECURITY (this is the first test or quality book that fully acknowledges the relationship between quality and security, which is a cornerstone of the Reliability-Availability-Support triad for systems in production), PERFORMANCE (I especially liked this section because it got into the guts of performance and scalability), COMPATIBILITY (essential for ensuring that your system works with the world of users over whom you have no control - web-based systems can and usually do extend into the great unknown), and USABILITY (this will make or break a commercial web site).

Aside for the complete coverage of all of the important topics that need to be considered, and the life cycle approach to quality and testing this book contained a real gem: RSI approach to use cases. RSI (Requirements-Service-Interface) is an interesting and highly useful approach to use cases. Some key strengths of using the RSI paradigm is that you will ensure traceability between requirements and the services and interfaces that are implemented. Moreover, this approach partitions services and interfaces, which allows you to manage the complexities when developing a test strategy and associated test cases. To me the chapter on RSI was worth the price of the book.

Overall, this is a solid book that covers testing, as well as the larger domain of systems quality. It gives some unique insights of issues and factors related to testing, but is not solely about web testing. It should be read by all key team members including requirements analysts, architects, developers, test engineers and project managers *before* a web project is initiated.

This book is excellent for any web systems tester. It covers all areas of functional and non-functional testing related to the Web.
It covers how to most efficiently model a web application using a specific use case approach, in addition it covers how to test for security, performance, usability of a web site. The book has been very useful in our testing efforts.

This book covers quality assurance of web systems beyond merely testing. It offers practical insight for designers, developers, project managers and quality assurance team members. A big bonus is the appendix which details and compares automated test tools.

This is one of the best quality assurance books in a while... Thinner than Automated Software Testing, but as informative! If you are doing any kind of web testing, this one's a must have for your library. Talks about all aspects of software testing on the web. I give it 5 stars hands down!

This book is an excellent application of formal methodologies for e-business cases. The examples are useful according to the explanations. I was expecting more emphasis on cost of IT resources or methods in order to calculate. But, the authors guide the book in the resource and performance chapters showing an approach on how to measure from regular sites not from new e-business projects which begin from nothing, without any data from logs or similar metrics. However, the estrict compliance with the methodology presented and the explanation about security provided me with a good reason to have it.

I think it is the only book that deals with the e-business implementation methodocally and lays down a formal procedure. It is very well written and contains appropriate examples. It is recommendable not only for designers but also for managers.

There's not much else I can add to the string of reviews before mine, which ALL give full marks. The words in this review's title are the only that might add value.

This is one of those rare works which does not care to have one eye for the wannabe market. Suitable for both technicians & those folk needing to see the "big picture" (e.g. Managers)

This is one of a series of books about performance and capacity metrics by the authors. Each of their books covers a specific environment (client/server, mainframes, web services), and each explains the theory, quantitative methods and practical approaches using common tools like Microsoft Excel.

This book's focus is on performance and capacity of applications in the e-commerce infrastructure, and like the other books by the authors, it covers every facet while explaining the what's and why's. More importantly, this book will not overwhelm readers who are rusty in math because the authors weave in refresher material as they go along.

What makes this book valuable is the blend of business and technical topics, particularly in Part I where business models are thoroughly discussed. I personally believe that this material is as important as the more technically focused material in subsequent chapters because it wakes up the technical reader as to why their job of developing scalable solutions is important by linking the technical aspects to business imperatives.

Parts II (Evaluating E-Business Infrastructure and Services) and III (Capacity Planning for E-Business) are the heart of the technical matter, and the chapters systematically dissect each aspect of an e-commerce infrastructure from the application layer point of view. This is where quantitative methods are introduced and where the value of the spreadsheets on the CD ROM increase. Note that there are more up-to-date versions of these spreadsheets on the book's associated website, as well as errata for the book.

Practical considerations that blend the business and technical perspectives are presented in Part IV (Models of Specific E-Business Segments). This chapter consists of case studies that tie together all of the preceding material using real world examples.

Because this book is more focused on performance and capacity at the application and business model layer, you should read the authors' newest book, "Capacity Planning for Web Services: Metrics, Models, and Methods". That book covers the lower level details of the infrastructure
to round out the picture of an end-to-end view of performance and capacity management.

A Excellent Book witht a lot of examples and mathematical models that will help to found the correct way to implant a dot com business, Every IT must read it

This is a great book. I rarely give a book 5 stars, but this one has earned it.

The author's technical and standards body background is a tremendous help in helping the reader sort out the substance from the hype. This book covers XML and cryptography basics, DTDs, XML Schema, XML digital signatures and encryption, and SOAP.

I like the author's comparisons of XML with other encoding schemes, particularly ASN.1 DER which is prevalent in the security standards world.

Also helpful are the author's "soapbox" comments, which handily dispel the notion that you should accept all parts of a standard as the absolute truth and the final word. For example, "X.500 identities are baroque hierarchical names in which each level of the hierarchy consists of an arbitrary, unordered set of attribute-value pairs. They are just one of the complexities and false assumptions (such as the assumption that everyone would allow themselves to be listed in one global public directory, including companies listing all their employees) that doomed the X.500 Directory as originally conceived". I love it!

You'd be hard pressed to go wrong with this book.

In researching business requirements for enterprise web services, it soon became obvious that XML security would be an important issue.

I happened across this book, with a seemingly simple format and am impressed with the information it provides, the progression of information, and how well I was able to understand and comprehend the concepts detailed.

After reading serveral books on XML in general, I would recommend this book to anyone just wanting to learn XML concepts.

I wish more technical books gave me the same feeling of usefulness that this one gave me.

As they say in the movie industry... "An enthusiastic thumbs up"

Collaboratively written by Donald Eastlake (Co-chair of the joint IETF/W3C XML Digital Signature working group) and freelance technical writer Kitty Niles, Secure XML: The New Syntax for Signatures and Encryption is a solid, accessible, step-by-step guide to the processes for encrypting and ensuring security of XML applications. Individual chapters competently address canonicalization and authentication, encryption, cryptographic and non-cryptographic algorithms, and much, much more. Highly recommended for advanced XML users, Secure XML is a comprehensive, technically proficient, and detailed instructional resource and reference filled from cover to cover with extensive discussion and practical examples.

When you read the XML specification, you will notice that it contains no notion of security. Critical security functionalities such as encryption, digital signatures, and authentication are simply not part of the XML standard. XML is similar to many other protocols, languages, and operating systems in that it was originally developed without any thought to security and privacy. It is only after serious security vulnerabilities are discovered and publicized that they are patched. But this find, patch, fix mentality of information security is dangerous in that security problems can exist for months or years before they are found.

Similarly within XML, much of the security functionality has been added post- facto, namely in Canonical XML, XML Signature, and XML Encryption Syntax and Processing. By adding security to the core feature set of XML, the W3C has ensured that,
to a degree, the find, patch, fix method won't be the manner in which XML security is developed. A good reference book can help you navigate this XML security landscape.

Topics such as authentication, encryption, XML signatures, algorithms, and keying are discussed. For the most part, the bulk of XML security is covered.

Donald Eastlake, the lead author of Secure XML: The New Syntax for Signatures and Encryption, is the co-chairman of the joint IETF/W3C XML Digital Signature working group, a member of the W3C Encryption and W3C XML Key Management System working groups, and co-author of the XML Digital Signature, XML Encryption, and XML Exclusive Canonicalization standards. It is clear that Eastlake lives and breathes XML. As Eastlake is a writer of numerous W3C XML standards, and standards are often written in a terse and abstract manner; his book has a slightly stiffer writing style than XML Security. If you can get over this style, you can appreciate the comprehensive and uthoritative look at XML the book provides from one of the key architects of the syntax.

Secure XML covers and details every XML security feature. Also, it spends a lot of time giving examples of syntax and language use. This is especially so in chapter 9, XML Canonicalization - The Key to Robustness. Canonicalization is the extraction of the standard form of some data and the discarding of insignificant aspects of the data's surface representations. The book notes that getting the right canonicalization is one of the most important, yet difficult aspects of digital authentication within XML. Chapter 10 goes into great detail about XML signatures and authentication. The chapter gives numerous code examples of various contexts, schemas, and elements that readers can use on their own XML servers. Chapter 10 also has numerous notes and historical information about XML security with information that can't be found elsewhere.

Suppose you have XML data that you want to regularly
send to Bob, across the Internet. But it is of a
confidential nature, so you don't want to send it as
plaintext. Well, you can try using low level
encryptions, like SSL or TLS. But these don't give any
authentication, ie. Bob can't tell that you actually
sent them. Also, once Bob gets the messages, they are
all in plaintext, so he can't easily protect these
against others, if he is on a multiuser computer.

One answer is to incorporate encryption into XML, by
defining cryptographic standards that sit atop XML,
and generate XML documents with encrypted data. These
let you and Bob use powerful XML-based routines like
XPath, XLink and XPointer. Plus, you can now do things
like append your digital signature to your plaintext
file, encrypt the combination with Bob's public key,
and get a resultant XML document that you can send
Bob. Upon receipt, he can decrypt it and verify that
you are the author, all the while dealing with XML
documents.

This book explains the emerging XML standards that
make this possible. They discuss at a high level the
various cryptographic algorithms, like AES [Advanced
Encryption Standard], Diffie-Hellman and MD5. Little
mathematics is needed, as they leave the mechanics of
the algorithms to other books. Instead, they describe
the XML infrastructure that uses these.

The book has a necessarily comprehensive description
of canonicalisation; which refers to the rewriting of
an XML document in a standard form, prior to
encryption. Otherwise two semantically identical
documents would give different ciphertexts, which is
confusing.

If you have been wondering if you should encrypt your
XML documents, and how to do so, this book may clarify
many issues.

I really enjoyed "Self-Inquiry, Dawn of the Witness and the End of Suffering" by Yogani, I found it to be consciousness expanding which so few books can really claim. I found Yogani's insights incredibly helpful and think it is a must read for anyone who is truly dedicated to making lasting spiritual change in their lives.

The sections on "Practical Applications of Self-Inquiry" and "Pitfalls of the Mind" were excellent and would help spiritual seekers avoid the many distractions or wrong turns that anyone is capable of making while navigating the sometimes hard to see spiritual path.

The only reservations I had on the book were in the areas of readability. I felt overall, that particularly the beginning chapters of the book could have used more real-life examples to get past the limitations of language. I found myself needing to re-read a lot in order to understand some of the author's points. I also felt one of the primary points of the book, that self-inquiry needs "the witness" present in order to be effective, could have been made with more brevity. I personally would have preferred to see more time spent hearing Yogani's unique perspective and wisdom on the practical applications of self-inquiry instead.

Overall, a mind expanding read which I would recommend to any advanced spiritual seekers.

I have found Yogani's book "Self-Inquiry - Dawn of the Witness and the End of Suffering" to be a very clear and well-written guide to the understanding of this and related subjects of the spiritual path. It deals with questions like "Who am I?", "Who or what is God?", "What is the real nature of things?" And so on. The key factor in finding the answers to these questions is the presence of what we call inner silence, also called pure bliss consciousness, the Self, or the witness. One very effective way to cultivate this state of consciousness is with daily deep meditation.

When self-inquiry is based on inner silence, then there can be a true relationship between the experiencer, the witness, and all thoughts, feelings and perceptions of the body and external phenomena. Such self-inquiry is called relational, and seeks to dissolve the identification of awareness with all of these perceptions. If there is not enough inner silence present, and self-inquiry is based on and identified with the external thought process itself, then we have non-relational self-inquiry, which is much less effective.

Yogani goes over the details of all these considerations, and then further discusses the fruits of effective spiritual self-inquiry, namely Enlightenment, transcending duality through divine love, and the end of suffering, which unfold naturally on the spiritual path. The book is only about 100 pages, and is easy to read, but contains a lot of profound teaching for its size.

It is impossible for anyone to have written this book who does not have a very HIGH level of consciousness! Once again, Yogani's writings are wise, yet practical and immensely valuable to my spiritual journey. I'm only half way through the book but I'm wowed by the content! Thank you Yogani for creating such an awesome book and I can't wait to finish it!

For thousands of years the subject of Spirituality has been steeped in superstition and dogma. Yogani, in Self-Inquiry, and all of his other writings, is clear and no-nonsense about the practices of Yoga. I have studied the subject of Enlightenment for over 30 years and Yogani is one of the only people I have come across to offer his guidance, obviously drawn from first hand experience, in a way that both supports us on our Path as well encouraging each seeker to know for themselves the Truth. He states very clearly that each must find it within. Very good for those who know, in the end, we must be accountable to only ourselves and the inner teacher. Thanks Yogani for your diligence and caring.Self-Inquiry - Dawn of the Witness and the End of Suffering

Information on how to do self inquiry can be obtained from many sources. However in order for self inquiry to be effective it is necessary to go beyond the mind. It is almost impossible to "get" the mind with the mind (intellectually).

Yogani's book covers this aspect of self inquiry, emphasizing the importance of having a daily meditation practice in place that will help transcend the mind and increase inner silence (awaken the witness in you). Once the witness is awake, self inquiry becomes a way of life rather than something you have to work at to "get". He explains how self inquiry is not about running away from the world, but to be completely immersed in your world, filled with love and compassion, without being mentally and emotionally attached to it in a clingy way.


This book covers the five stages of mind on the way to spiritual maturity: Pre-Witnessing, Witnessing, Discrimination, Dispassion, and Merging of Subject and Object in Outpouring Divine Love. The stage of mind will determine what kind of self inquiry will work the best. Taking on more than you can handle will definitely slow down progress. Self Inquiry works best when the witness is present. In this book, Yogani calls self inquiry with the witness already established (through meditation), "relational self inquiry."


Two main kinds of self inquiry are covered in this book. There is self inquiry that arises in our every day life. We can inquire into things that worry us or bother us or make us unhappy, things that are considered "mental baggage" and how to free ourselves from this. The other kind of self inquiry is for the ultimate truth. These are questions that arise in us like "Who am I?" and "Who is doing this?" The answers to these questions are found by letting go into our silent witness.

He points out the pitfalls the mind can fall into along the way on a path of self inquiry, and how to avoid them -- over analyzing, being deceived by the feeling of having "arrived," and claiming life to be "unreal" while retreating from responsibilities. He also shows how self inquiry fits into the 8 limbs of yoga, including covering the intimate and powerful relationship between samyama (an advanced yoga practice) and self inquiry.


Most of what Yogani has written has been my experience too, and I definitely recommend this book for people who are thinking of starting out with self inquiry. This will give you a good set of guidelines to follow as you move along. If you are into self inquiry already, it will be a good book to go through for a reality check.

It does not matter whether one follows a down-to-earth approach to self inquiry like Byron Katie or Eckhart Tolle, or an "ultimate truth" approach like Ramana Maharishi or Nisagardatta. This book is very useful for understanding and effectively utilizing any system of self inquiry.

I was very happy to finally find this book after much confusion and disappointment weeding through the huge number of Rails tutorials, postings, and books including the beta Agile Web Development With Rails 2.0. By the way, if you are new to Ruby, and I assume to Rails, get this book. The people behind the so-called authoritative AWD book are still scrambling to update their book to 2.0, and if you are like me new to Rails and Web development frameworks in general, you will have a heck of time trying to make sense of the various components that make up Rails, the deprecated syntax. Unlike 'Agile Development with Rails' book, 'Simply Rails 2' starts you off with an introduction to Ruby and the theory behind the framework in concise and clear language. I recommend this book highly.

This is an excellent way to start learning about rails with 2.0 and above. Unfortunately, many of the older tutorials and books will break with with 2.0 and above, which is a shame because they contain good information. I'd advise anyone who is learning Rails to start with this book. Once you have the basics down, you can switch to more advanced books and articles.

I also give top marks to Patrick Lenz for making testing such a big part of the book. He doesn't just recommend testing, or give it a cursory treatment, he works testing into every chapter. He walks the walk, and it's pretty great.

While I'm giving the book five starts, it actually does lose a quarter star in my book by integrating AJAX into the application before the concepts have been introduced with simpler forms. Don't get me wrong, I really like AJAX, and I think it's presented very clearly so the treatment of AJAX itself gets top marks. But I think that it would be better to introduce one to many and man to many with forms without the distraction of AJAX, and then work in the UI improvements later.

Small complaint for such a good book, though, and not enough to go below 5 starts. If you want to learn Rails 2.0, this is your book.

Programming (and logical thinking in general) is definitely not my forte'. I consider myself much more of a designer, but I was still really interested in learning Rails so I could build AND design my own web applications.

I haven't finished the book yet, but after reading the first few chapters I have to say it is an amazing book. This, combined with watching some content from [...] has given me a really good introduction to Rails and I'm confident that I'll have a very decent grasp of it within a matter of months.

This is THE book to get if you want to learn Ruby on Rails.

This book is excellent, if you know nothing of Ruby on Rails, and know very little of other programming languages.

It is a book to introduce you to Rails (and Ruby) without going into too much of the technical aspects.

This will in no way make you proficient at developing Rails applications, however, it introduces you to the fundamentals (especially testing) of rails with which you can go and watch screen screencasts, follow tutorials or read other books on rails with a basic understanding of the process.

I do NOT recommend this book to anyone trying to further along their Rails training (nor is it intended for that).

I DO recommend this for anyone who has picked up a rails book or watched a screencast and blindly started to regurgitate the code that is being taught without understanding what it is supposed to do. This book will explain it.

A (free) tutorial with which I recommend in conjunction with this book is:
[..]
This tutorial goes into gory detail over (nearly) every basic step that you need to know to start your Rails apps.

I have read nearly 10 books , plus countless screencasts and tutorials (mostly outdated due to Rails 2.0) on Rails and Simply Rails 2 is by far the most up-to-date and easy to read for a true beginner.

I have to concur with the previous reviews on this site. I'd been searching for months for a good Rails 2 book, and, at last, I have found one. It doesn't start with a massive, unwieldly tutorial, one that throws everything at you at once ("look: scaffolding! look: helpers! look: I'm horribly lost! :-) but actually takes the time to coherently explain the underlying structure, and builds on that explanation step-by-step.

The diagrams are great -- if anything, the book could use more, e.g., showing the tie between controller actions and views.

If I were to teach a course in Rails -- and I very well might -- this would be my hands-down choice.

If you need to learn Rails, Simply Rails 2 is simply the best out there.

It will bring you trouble if you are new to programming.
By "trouble" I meant the book is very successful in teaching u how to build a solid programming foundation, thus you will have hard time with your teacher's assignments.

I have read some other books about C++ before and found "no problem" in them because after reading, I have no clue... and of course, I don't do the assignments.

The choice is yours.

I am a computer Science student. Like any other computer science curriculum , C++ is the main programming language that is taught in any University .This is an excellent book for anyone who is starting to learn C++ programming. The language , examples and the content of this book are better than any book available in the market . I actually learned C++ reading this book , as prior to this i had no experience in programming. This book will teach you everything that u need to know in C++ programming. Well ofcourse C++ is really vast , you really dont need to know everything that is on the book , so anyone who buys this book should get a syllabus or discuss it with someone who has had prior experience in C++ programming to what to study or what not to .
Highly recommended if you are serious about becoming a programmer.

I bought this book a month back.Its an amazing book for beginners. Its well written and have good examples.

I purchased this book for a C++ course I am taking. I have found it very easy to follow. I also like how the author does not get bogged down in minutiae or jargon but quickly gets into topics that are usually reserved for later--such as file processing.

This book is used as the textbook for the class in C++ I am taking. It makes no assumptions about previous knowledge in programming and is very thorough in testing your understanding as each concept is presented. It has obviously been tested in the classroom as it anticipates many of the questions a beginner would have about programming and the C++ language.

The book includes a C++ compiler by Borland so if you have a Windows computer you can follow along with the programming exercises. There is another version of the book that has a Microsoft compiler instead of the Borland compiler, but you have to make a special arrangement with the publisher to purchase it (according to information in the book).

I would recommend this book to people who are new to programming as well as to the C++ language. I have tried to learn C++ on my own with other books and was frustrated--they would start too basic (how to turn the computer on) and would introduce subjects in a haphazard manner ("here is a list of all C++ operators and what they do"). This book develops its topics in digestible chunks of information with each chapter building upon the previous chapter.

This book won't teach you everything you need to know about programming or the C++ language, but it will give you an excellent start.

I would like to add to my review that the book does have errors in the exercises that could seriously frustrate a reader who doesn't have an instructor or other resource for outside help. Some exercises can only be solved using concepts taught in later chapters, which I believe is an important flaw.

There are also typos in the example programs that could derail someone studying without assistance from an instructor. I still believe this is a very good textbook, but now I believe it should either be avoided by people learning programming on their own, or be used with other C++ reference works.

With a strong example-to-paragraph of information ratio, this this title is readable and well presented: highly reccomended. But I'll hold back on a 10 only because the authors only skimmed the most important aspect of HTML layout: tables. While this book *was* just a starter, as the "...24 Hours" claims, I am still struggling to learn how tables function. Still it's, very well-written, enjoyable, topical (covering what you need to know), and organized, giving you a good taste so all those lines of Hypertext Markup start becoming legible.

This is, without a doubt, the best book on the market for learning beginner's HTML.

This book helped me out so much when I just started out. I was 13, and had just gotten the internet and I realized that even the average person had a web page, so I looked at the source code and realized that it is not that hard. I wanted to expand my knowledge, so I bought this book, and it helped so much. It has definetly helped me as a resource when writing my pages now. I reccommend this book to anyone just starting out.

I bought 2 other HTML books before I found this one. This book was really awesome. It was easy to read and understand. I learnt a lot.

Dick Oliver is the best author!! You will really get a lot out of this book even if you are a beginner!

I suppose it was just bad luck that the first API (ReadDirectoryChanges) I needed help with wasn't in this book. I ended up spending some time searching the news groups to get more information. Seems like ReadDirectoryChanges should have been included in a book that has been described as the "definitive reference for the Win32 API"... A bit disappointing.

I could say 5 Stars and it would be all what to say - but if you are not shure, what a type of book to choose that would be to few. Well I have this book for a long time and it is my bible. It is very practice indeed and close to the problems. My own projects have gone much more easier to solve. My own focus is on automation sectors and so I did some work for automating rs232 driven radio controls for hobbie and HAM- interested people. If you are interested in it so you can look at my website http://www.peter-geisler.de - looking to results from which I can say are a lot of ideas from John Ayres Tomes of Delphi - I rating it 5 Stars.

you just cant afford not to get it, with the declining availability of good delphi source out there... its indespensible

Have only been been using Delphi for 4 months now. This book and the Core API are very good. I found them very easy to understand.

Imposing as the material in this book might otherwise be, I am most impressed with the clean authorship of the material. This book is more than a developer can reasonably hope for in a source reference. I expected to have to give maybe 10 days' time to absorbing it cover to cover, but it is written so well that most chapters require reading less than a page describing the chapter; and the rest of the material can simply be used. So full of treasure is this book that I spent hours the first evening just typing code into projects. All of it ran right the first time. I doubt a better book can be written on this subject, and will from here on consider any book with John Ayres' name on it the one to look at first on whatever the topic. A huge thanks to you John for doing your work so well. You made ours' far easier than we imagined.

Bought my copy from Booksamillion's website. This kit has EVERYTHING. The CD has actual practice tests with several modes as well as a second CD with video tutorials and more, Flash Cards, and a HUGE book with pictures and easy to understand language. Worth every penny.

I found the material to be very complete and the flash cards were an excellent addition to the study materials. Well worth the money.

The resource kit is awesome! You get everything in both books for software and hardware by Jean Andrews for half the price! It's in black and white, but who cares if you are getting a deal like that, instead of buying both books in color?! Plus you get all kinds of ways on CD to test and prepare for the A+ Certification, as well as flash cars to quiz you for the test! This is great! Buy this instead of both of her books for hardware and software! This covers it all! Also Amazon sent it to me super-fast! It was in the mail before I knew it! Thanks Amazon!
Sincerely,
James

This kit did help me pass the A+ exams. Admit it, technical books are a bore. I usually get narcoleptic on the fifth page of most computer books. This book was not like that for me however. I actually read the whole book (over the course of about 4 weeks), watched many of the videos (which I admit were not all that useful for me - but it helped to get to know the author), went through the flash cards once, and (very helpful) took all the CertBlaster CBT tests (a couple times). The best part of the book is the way it's crafted. It's a physically large book (which makes it easy on the eyes - and the pages lay flat) and it's well illustrated. The sentences are carefully constructed to convey knowledge. They explain things the way they are without getting boring. Even though I have 14 years experience in IT, I found myself saying: "I didn't know that, that's good to know". In that respect, the book stands on its own as a good way for anyone not familiar with the way things work in the personal computer world to get familiar with computerdom. I found a few mistakes - for instance: "Windows 2000 does not offer automatic updates" and the test answer (of false) for the question regarding the speeding up of a CD drive as the laser moves to the center is wrong (s/b true). There are also a couple things that were a bit dated in my opinion, such as giving the impression BTX will be the new standard form factor (when was the last time you saw a BTX board?) and the somewhat debatable assumption that Mozilla Firefox is a safer browser than IE (no flaming allowed).

As of this review I have not yet taken the 220-602 but will add to this review when I take this portion of the A+ as well.

I took my A+ essentials 220-601 yesterday, 1-8-08, and passed using this study material. So far this has been quite effective as both a learning and test preparation tool. It works because it is written well and has good structure which goes a long long way when people need a guide to an area of study.

The Certblaster CD based training was pivotal in helping me retain the information presented in the manuals. A word of caution, when you install the Certblaster Programs to your computer, make sure you immediately click the update buttons for each test prep install. This will bring the test prep CD to current status. The CD is version 1.0 where with the updates the information is brought up to like version 2.02. So make sure you do this after you install.

The formula I used was to take the practice tests in assess mode which check to see what your strong and weak points are and it maps out what subject matter you need to study the most and from what I saw it was quite accurate. So I followed the course outline it presented me based on my weaknesses and studied those first to the point of total and utter overkill. Once I was able to consistently score 95% minimum on the practice questions in those weak areas, only then did I go back and study in my stronger areas, again to the point of total and utter overkill, for added assurance that I would pass the real thing. I basically trained myself to make sure every shot made a dent when I took the test for real. Also make sure you get a good night sleep before you go take the real test.

Like I stated earlier, I will update this review when I take the 220-602 IT Technician test and give my results but so far it has done exactly what I needed it to do and I give it a thumbs up.

UPDATE: I just took the 220-602 test on 4-8-08 and again by following the formula mapped out by the test assessment software, and studying until I was literally blue in the face for about 5 weeks up to the night before the test, I passed the 220-602. I am happy with the test prep course, and I think it is a great investment for anyone who is willing to study for the A+ certification.

:) I passed both the 220-601 and 220-602 on the first try :)

For 95% It covered all subject matter very well. The only thing I felt was somewhat weak about the test prep kit was the Networking section. I read the entire Networking Curriculum several times, and it did not seem to be as "test specific" as the other sections were. When I was using the networking section of the test prep CD in assessment and study mode, there were many questions asked that were not even covered in the test prep guide. So watch out! Not to say that the Networking section was not good information, because indeed IT IS GOOD INFORMATION. I just feel it was not as "test specific" as it could have been, which for some could possibly make a hole that could be stepped in on test day. Use outside study materials if necessary for that one, which the prep CD will have direct links to online content and resources to click on during study mode if you have an internet connection. Take advantage of all of this.

And above all, Study! Study! Study! Study! Study! Put into practice and really engross what this Resource Kit is teaching you. You will thank yourself on test day.

Overall I give this Product a 95% out of 100, and I think it is absolutely worth it.

Though I've been mostly interested in writing for animation and comics, while playing video games I questioned who came up with it's stories. Many games have little to no stories and focus mostly on mindless entertainment...which isn't always a bad thing. But some video game stories really touch the viewer (Half Life 2, Final Fantasy, Bioshock, etc. come to mind.)

On a whim I bought this book and have enjoyed it immensely. Both the authors provided much more than I was hoping for. Both are seasoned game writers/designers who have worked on many games you know, and are still working on games. Stuff like UNCHARTED - DRAKE'S FORTUNE, CRIMSON SKIES, PROJECT ORIGIN, and FRANK MILLER'S SIN CITY - THE GAME. These guys know what they are doing.

The book breaks down not only how to write for games, but what that entails, hardships you will find along the way (both with writing and people), they provide sheets you can fill out to create your own game bible to pitch. And as an added bonus they occasionally have writing exercises to help you hone your craft or understnad a point better.

Leave no stone unturned and that's what these two have done. It has my highest regards! Buy it and truly educate yourself.

I am a Multimedia student in Community College.

This book has given me a ton of good ideas on how to create a top-notch game!

I reccomend it to anybody (Like Me.) who wants to design a hit videogame!

this book is chock-full of incredibly useful information about writing and game design. many of the classic traps in this area of game development can be avoided by following flint and john's advice here. everything is outlined in a very clean and (not surprisingly) fun and witty read.

as a game developer for 10 years now, i found information in this book that i'll be using in the future and i can't recommend this book enough. these guys get it, and so should you.

As a member of the student team who needed to produce video game in rather short amount of time, I have found this book extremely helpful. I did like one-sheet summary that allowed us to summarize everything. The content was very helpful. Thank you.

This book, is a no nonsense guide to the video game industry and more specifically to game design. It gives relevant realistic experience written in an upbeat humorous and succinct style.

There aren't any cons to it that I can think of.