Programming Books

This is not a common book on Computability and Complexity as Hopcroft-Ullman, Sipser or Papadimitrou. You won't find here too many words describing topics: you'll find the power and elegance of a superlative mathematical approach from one the best authors of the century in the field. Conversely, you'll find here a detailed and elegant treatment of the whole history of computational models that starts at the Primitive Recursive Functions, something you won't find in the other books above mentioned.
A special note goes to the chapter on Blum's complexity, which is about the only good place where I found it and from where I studied for my course on Complexity I.
For this reason the book requires quite more attention than others, but it really worths all the time one can spend reading it. Truly understanding Computability and Complexity as Professor Davis teaches them with this book is in my opinion a definitely high achievement, bringing the sensation that you grasp it totally, with no space for ambiguity or weakness.

The authors of this book define theoretical computer science as the mathematical study of models of computation, and they do an excellent job of detailing the major results in the theory of computation as related to mathematical logic. Mathematicians, programmers, and philosophers will find the book an effective one in which to learn computability theory, and it serves well as a textbook for courses in the subject.

After a brief review of elementary mathematics and mathematical logic in chapter 1, the authors move right into the consideration of computable functions in chapter 2. They choose a particular abstract programming language in which to study the computability theory, which is built from variables, and programs that can be built from lists of instructions. Examples of programs are given, which have a Fortran flavor, with examples of computing partial functions. Unfortunately, a plethora of GOTO statements appear in the programs, and throughout the rest of the book, which is surprising given the publishing date. The use of these GOTO statements in the book is a major annoyance.

Then in chapter 3, the authors discuss primitive recursive functions, beginning with a treatment of composition, followed by the all-important concept of recursion. The class (PRC) of primitive recursive functions is introduced, and shown to be computable. The primitive recursive predicates are introduced, followed by a proof that the existential and universal quantifiers over an element of a PRC class are also PRC. This is followed by a discussion of minimalization and Godel numbers.

The next chapter is very interesting, wherein the famous halting problem is discussed and related to Church's thesis. The authors stress, most importantly, that an algorithm cannot be defined outside of the choice of a language, and therefore Church's thesis cannot be proved as a theorem. The authors also introduce recursively enumerable sets and show, via diagonalization, that non-recursively enumerable sets exist. They give an interesting example of a function that is computable but not primitive recursive.

The next chapter extends the results to strings of symbols instead of just numbers, and the authors introduce programming languages for doing string computations. One of these is the famous Post-Turing language, which they use to discuss the halting problem, with a variant used in the next chapter on Turing machines. The authors discuss the famous halting problem for Turing machines in this chapter. This is followed in chapter 7 by a discussion of productions and simulation of nondeterministic Turing machines. A very lucid treatment of Post's correspondence problem is given.

Things get somewhat more complicated in chapter 8, where the authors attempt to classify unsolvable problems. It contains one of the best discussions I have seen in the literature on oracles, and the authors give a very clear treatment of arithmetic hierarchies.

The second part of the book reads more like a book on compilers, as the authors delve into the area of grammars and automata. Regular languages, deterministic and non-deterministic finite automata are discussed, and Kleene's theorem, which states that regular languages and finite automata define the same languages, is proven. The context-free languages, so familiar from the study of compilers, are discussed also, along with a proof that a context-free grammar can be reduced to a Chomsky normal form grammar. Pushdown automata, needed for accepting context-free languages, are treated in detail. The authors give a good explanation here as to the additional facilities needed for a finite automaton to decide if a word belongs to a "bracket" language. Chomsky hierarchies are also discussed, and the authors motivate nicely the need for a linear bounded automaton to accept context sensitive languages.

Part three of the book is an overview of mathematical logic, and begins with a treatment of the propositional calculus. The satisfiability problem is discussed for this system, along with how to reduce formulas to normal form. The important compactness theorem is given a very detailed proof. Predicate calculus is then discussed, and Herbrand's theorem, which effectively reduces logical inference in predicate calculus to a problem of satisfiability of universal sentences, is proven. This theorem is fascinating and has important applications to automated theorem proving, as it ties together semantic and syntactical properties of a formal system. The Godel incompleteness theorem and the unsolvability of the satisfiability problem in predicate logic is proven.

In part 4, issues in computational complexity are addressed, the measure of complexity given in terms of the Blum axioms. This is a very abstract way of introducing complexity theory, as it introduces measures of complexity that more general than time and space complexity. The fascinating gap theorem, comparing program performance on two computing machines via complexity measures, is proven. This is followed by a detailed discussion of the speedup theorem, which essentially states that there is a wildly complicated recursive function such that for any program computing this function, there exists another program computing the function that works a lot faster for almost every input. The polynomial-time computability is discussed along with the famous P vs NP problem, with the discussion given in terms of Turing machines. Examples of NP-complete problems are given.

The last part of the book covers semantics, with operational and denotational semantics defined and compared. The emphasis in this part is on programming languages and constructions that one would actually find in practice, and so the preceding chapters on computable functions must be extended. The concept of an approximate ordering is introduced to allow for the instantaneous of a computation at some point before its completion. The denotational semantics of recursion equations and infinitary data structures are discussed, with the latter put it in to deal with the sophisticated systems that are constructed here. The discussion here is very involved, but the authors do a fair job of explaining the need for these types of data structures. The same is done for operational semantics, and the authors finally show that the computable numerical functions are actually partially computable. They then show the existence of computable irrational numbers.

I haven't found a better book on the Theoretical foundations of Computer Science. However since this IS theory the text can be a bit cryptic. Still, I'd recomend this book to any PhD Candidate or full Professor. Even a lowly Master's student like myself could use it.

I first learned computability from this book and I loved every minute of it. It has lots of material and is superbly written. In fact, I think the chapters on logic are the most painless way to learn that subject. There are many other books around on this subject, but this is the ultimate!

It taught me how to think about the theory of computation. The exercises added to the second edition are a big improvement over the first editon.

This treatise on modern visual communication provides an important in-depth focus on computer color graphics as they're applied to ads, brochures, and color presentations. From using the Web and developing materials for web publication to working with designers and understanding the commercial printing process, Computer Color Graphics is packed with ideas and insights into color graphics as a whole.

This book will be more than just a textbook for the students in my class, I expect it to be a constant reference source. Without getting overly technical Harry waldman is able to explain the concepts behind today's image and page development applications and processes. Adjunct Professor, Carnegie-Mellon University

This is not a childrens' book, and I'm not 12. If I were to teach a course on 'Color Graphics for Web Page Design' I would probably use this book as a text. I wish I had read it before taking a course in Adobe Photoshop, where it is all too easy to get bogged down in programming detail.

Computer Color Graphics takes some essential matters like screen vs. paper, CYMK vs.RGB, vector vs. raster graphics and explains them clearly with good insight and good examples.

What the book is leading the reader towards is the design of web pages. Very sensibly there is a discussion of the ten or so major graphics and publishing programs.

This is a book that can be read profitably many times

Tired of buying highly enigmatic technical books and realizing just how lost you actually are trying to master today's graphic software?

Well Harry Waldman has put an end to that all too familiar scene for computer newcomers and pros alike. In Computer Color Graphics, Waldman works as a personal mentor through this easy, fun, non-technical ride into the concepts that compose the world of digital color graphics.

Business professionals will love the book because it explores the concepts and tools with programs like QuarkXPress, Adobe PhotoShop, Adobe Illustrator, and many others. Waldman removes the mystery of digital imaging by breaking down the basics: dots and pixels, vector and raster graphics, CMYK and RGB, Web technology, and much more, into non-technical, easy to follow language.

New-comers will love this book because of its layman's terms and full color illustrations that expand comprehension. Computer Color Graphics unlocks the secrets of enhancing or manipulating photos like a pro, producing websites and newsletters, and giving dynamic presentations.

Imagine understanding the software used by designers and printers simply by reading this book. Becoming a part of today's world of color communications has never been so easy!

Industry leaders sometimes share their experience with the rest of us, but rarely is such a publication as welcome as this work. Waldman cuts to the chase, demystifying every major tool currently used by graphic designers, layout artists, web-authors, presenters and more! Each category contains a well edited overview that is sure to raise the skill level of novice and pro alike. The illustrations (tons of them!) are purposeful, well placed, and immediately demonstrate the concepts at hand. I've been in the graphics business for almost 3 decades, and can't imagine a more useful tool as a combination tutorial/reference source. With computer graphics spinning off into so many specialties, even a seasoned professional will find this a useful quick-start for tackling other segments of the industry.

You don't have to be in the business to make use of this. Family photos, community organization web-sites, newsletters, etc. can all be improved with tips in this book.

Credibility is on the author's side, since the Publisher is the GATF (Graphic Arts Technical Foundation) Press.

Obviously specifically for Ada but a good resource for any programmer interested in the general concept of concurrent programming. The organization of the chapters and the introduction to concurrency are alone worth the price.

Fully harnessing multi-core processors requires concurrent programming, yet most mainstream languages have little support or do so with poor portability. Well-written concurrent Ada programs can be extremely portable and support multi-core and multiple processors automatically. This book explores, in-depth, the concurrent programming ("tasking") part of the Ada language. The authors then show how the concurrent programming facilities of Ada are augmented by the language to support real-time programming. These standard real-time facilities are state-of-the-art, extending, for example, beyond the POSIX real-time facilities in their expressive power.

The book first establishes the necessary foundation for understanding concurrent programming by explaining the possible problems (e.g., deadlocks and race conditions) and highlighting some of the mechanisms traditionally used in concurrent programming, such as semaphores and message-passing.

The tasking part of Ada is then covered in full detail, necessarily including interactions with some other parts of the language, such as exceptions, but also including interactions with the Ada object-oriented language facilities. The implementations of a number of reusable concurrency abstractions serve to illustrate the use of the tasking features.

The authors next lay another foundation, this time for scheduling in real-time systems, and show how Ada directly supports the common approaches. Both fixed-priority and dynamic-priority dispatching are supported by Ada and these are covered in detail. Ada 2005 also defines a number of time-related abstractions, such as a monotonic clock and timing events, and these are also covered completely. As in the concurrent programming part of the book, a number of reusable abstractions are implemented; in this section they illustrate the real-time language facilities. A discussion of the popular Ravenscar Profile, adopted by some other languages, is included.

No language is perfect and Ada is no exception. The tasking part of Ada 83 was particularly controversial in the domain of real-time systems. Ada 95 addressed many of these issues and added some new ones. Ada 2005 does the same. These issues are not ignored in the book.

I own 46 books on Ada (not counting older editions of some of them), gathered over 27 years of applying the language. Some are excellent and some not, but this one is highly prized. I highly recommend it to professionals and students alike.

By far the best on the subject. Offers complete coverage of any aspect of concurrency with Ada, including real-time and distributed programming issues. Burns and Wellings are the acknowledged experts on this topic.

The best aspect of the book is the analysis of features and their interactions, providing a depth not available in other texts covering the entire language.

Assumes you know some Ada, but includes an introduction to the sequential part of the language.

I own quite a few books on Ada; this is the one to get if you want the details of Ada concurrency.

Ada has been one of few languages which provides facilities for concurrent programming, but readings for the feature had been limited. This book is not only the first but also an excellent guide to the capability of the new Ada standard.

It covers,

1.@The Ada Language

2. The Nature and Uses of Concurrent Programming

3. Inter-Process Communication

4. Ada Task Types and Objects

5. The Rendezvous

6. The Select Statement and the Rendezvous

7. Protected Objects and Data-Oriented Communication

8. Avoidance Synchronisation and the Requeue Facility

9. Using Protected Objects as Building Blocks

10. Exceptions, Abort and Asyncronous Transfer of Control

11. Tasking and System Programming

12. Real-Time Programming

13. Object-Oriented Programming and Tasking

14. Distributed Systems

15. Conclusion

Not only Ada programmers, but also all professonal software engineers who design real-time, embedded systems, advanced students of computer science, and even beginners should find it quite useful.

I've read the original print published in 1995, which has been out-of-print.

I am so happy to know it is now to be RE-PRINTed, and every programmers would be.

the authors of this book is famous. and the contents of the book do not disappoint me.

i have several references about ada. of course, some of the references are written by the author of this book. But, regard to the acting mechanism of ada task, this book is awesome.

but, if you are the beginner of real-time & embedded system, you should have another reference(s) to fully understand the meaning of the every article of this book.

This book is a delight. Written by an expert in the field, it is useful to to various people, from beginner to advanced.

"Constraint Processing" features a perfect balance between theory and practice, proving itself a valuable aid both in teaching and in production.

This is the most comprehensive book in the area of Constraint Processing (aka Constraint Solving and CSP) I have seen. It starts with the basics and takes the reader all the way to advanced topics. It is an excellent place to start if you want to learn the field. It is also an excellent reference for researchers and practitioners. I use this book frequently in my research and my work in the field of Formal Verification. The book is also of great value to those in Artificial Intelligence, Optimization, and Operation Research.

This is the only book I found that contains almost all important results in the field. I have to refer to it from time to time.

This book includes the basics of constraint satisfaction that should appear in a textbook while in the same time presenting in a unifying manner important research results that constitute the state-of-the-art in the field. Diverse lines of research like tractable languages, constraint optimization, temporal CSPs etc are gathered in a single reference. The material is presented along with comprehensive examples. In my opinion this is an essential reference.

This book covers both introductory and advanced material. It is a
solid resource for introducing students to the basic mechanisms of
Constraint Processing and for training the future generation of
researchers in the field. It is also an invaluable tool for
perfecting the knowledge of the seasoned researcher in topics beyond
his/her particular expertise.

Its coverage of the relationship between relational algebra and
Constraint Satisfaction is unique and bound to inspire new synergies
between Databases and Constraint Processing. The depth and rigor
at which advanced topics are addressed (e.g., advanced consistency
methods, tree decomposition techniques, and temporal reasoning
networks) are a remarkable achievement, possible only given the wealth
and significance of the author's own contributions to the field.

This is one of those rare books you will enjoy reading over and over
again, every time acquiring new knowledge.

This is probably the best book I own on Mac programming. It goes into the lower level, hard-core topics that other books are afraid to touch. As I read it straight through, cover to cover, I see how I've been doing things wrong, and I constantly refer back to concepts I just read when I write new code. It makes me the envy of all my peers.

Go to this website for details:

http://www.bignerdranch.com/products/core.shtml

I bought some months ago "Cocoa programming for Mac OS X" written by the same author A. Hillegass. It was the key book for me to understand the Cocoa. Now I write my own applications and I am sure the next book from The Big Nerd Ranch will help me to discover next areas of the Mac OS X Programming.

However it is a pity that Amazon.com tells us it is a bargain (nearly 30% off the catalog price $97.95). On the Big Nerd Ranch there is a link to a company which sells this book for $65.

This book is a bit on the pricey side, but it delivers the goods more than many other expensive book in my bookshelf. I own hundreds of programming books (as well as have written several of them). Of them all there is only a handful that I consider trully excellent. This is one of them.

This book covers every possible topic (both OS X specific and UNIX) that you could possibly think of, but the coverage is not lightweight. It is heavy duty information delivered at its best. Fine code examples, and fine discussion, well worth the price.

If Amazon had a ten star rating, this book would get it. - GET IT!

If you're a programmer and you want to learn more about Mac OS X and its Unix underpinnings, you must have this book. The information in here is not available anywhere else, including in Apple's documentation. The authors have done a remarkable job in ferreting out cool stuff, such as how the memory model works, programming with sockets, using GDB, multithreading, and a zillion more nifty topics. This is a remarkable book.

I liked reading it. Was simple to understand. I got a lot of info. on starting a web page. The only thing is it shows you how to use a program to get a web page going but its only 2 programs so if you don't have the programs that it helps you with than don't buy this book.
The programs are Macromedia Dreamweaver MX 2004 and Microsoft FrontPage. It also helps you learn about some basics about photo editing and some graphics. I got some good use out of it. I just wish that it had the info. on my program I have. Other than that its a great book very informative about the basics of running your own web page.

i generally have found the for dummies series to be helpful, and this book is no exception -- you can sit down, thumb through it, and create a photo album online quickly without having to wade through any technical jargon or fluff. i'm no slouch in the web development department and even i found lots to like about this book -- it has helped me explain certain concepts and steps to my less technical family members. i'm including it with my standard baby shower package from now on (which also includes an aromatherapy relaxation candle, lip moisturizer, charmin-to-go, dove facial cleansing wipes, hand sanitizer, and other small items that new moms appreciate).

What a lot of helpful information, and it's written so average folks like me can understand it! My family is having fun sharing photos from our family reunion, and this book made it so much easier. Other books I've seen assume I know things I don't know. If you want to create a Web site but aren't sure how, I recommend this book.

If you've ever been bugged for photos from the family reunion, or wanted to show off your new kid/cat/car, this book actually makes it seem easy. I know, I know, putting up your own website has a reputation like dragging all your neighbors in and making them sit through your vacation slides used to. But this book shows you how you can still show off a little, without boring everyone to tears. Actually, you can do some pretty neat stuff, which can be really fun when your family is scattered all over, and you don't feel like running up the long-distance bills just so you can keep up on current events.

Very highly recommended.

As with the other For Dummies books, this book is intended for beginners and absolutely minimizes the jargon. At the most basic level the book provides a series of templates that can be used with a fill in the blank approach to get a site up and running quickly. Then it branches out to increasing the creativity by designing your own pages. At this level there is almost no mention of dynamic database driven sites. This is building a static web site with pictures and text. This is a book to get you started.

Most of the book is on showing you how to do things using Microsoft's Front Page. But on the CD is a trial version (30 Day limit) of Dreamweaver MX 2004. In addition, the CD includes:

Family Tree Maker
Contribute
Fetch, and
WS_FTP.

If you're a complete beginner to web design and programming, here's a good way to get started.

I used the source code in this book when I implemented buddy system in my OS.
Bruno's code is very effective and the design is excellent too.
I've learned a lot of things in this book.
So, I'd like to recommend this book absolutely!

I think I said it all right there. Great for intermediate/advanced c++ users. It also contains sections on various algorithms which implement many of the data structures discussed in previous chapters. Just get the book already!

The book has a detailed introduction and explanation to the subject and clearly explains how to analyze and implement in programming. This is done all in C++ and it is suited to students in Computer Science Courses. The exercises at the end of the chapters are quite useful.

Believe the summary...this book is for 2nd and 3rd year post-secondary students. I am an experienced C++ programmer, but Grade 12 math isn't enough to cut through the explanations to get to the code, which I can understand perfectly well.

Who should buy this book? Students with a good grasp of basic calculus, who want a thoroughly academic treatment of algorithms in C++ in order to pass Computer Science.

Who should not? A C++ programmer that wants clear, effectively presented information on implementing standard algorithms and data structures in order to get their project done.

I'm of the Keep It Simple school of thought, and the practical theory and implementations in this book could have been presented much more effectively without the adademic bafflegab.

I am currently working on my calculus skills in my spare time, and as my familiarity with the mathematical notation grows, I may be able to put this book to good use. Untill then I wish I'd bought something else, programming doesn't need to be as dense as this book makes it.

This is a great book for one who has had a formal study of undergraduate Calculus/Algebra and a very good understanding of the C++ language. The book starts off with explaining the fundamentals that will be applied to measure the effectiveness of a piece of code, and is very helpful for those who wants to understand the basic theory applied in the later chapters. This books treats almost all the basic data structures and have been presented in a very simple non-profounding way, like keeping the class design and hiearchy the same throughout. All the data structures have been explained using the (easy to use) arrays as well as link-lists. This makes it easier for a novice to grasp the fundamentals and go on to implement more complex and effective data structures using link lists. Overall, I found this book extremely helpful in getting a sound footing on this topic.

From its very beginning until the end the book contains adaptations of software design and architecture patterns to the field of dating. This makes dating an engineering discipline. It is a fun book, though the author claimed on her homepage that the patterns somewhat resulted from personal experience and so there was some truth in the patterns proposed.

The fun a reader might experience for sure while reading this book may result both from his or her a priori knowledge on software design and architecture patterns and from his or her insight into the specific subculture the book talks about.

OK, when I saw this under the tree I thought that the Gang had a new little workbook deal out or something, and then I saw that there was a silhouette of a naked woman on the front and that it was very very doubtful that this was going to help me figure out distributed programming. But at that point I didn't care anymore and it is now officially my favorite gift. Applies the rules of patterns (strategies, refactorings, all that) to dating and it's hilarious. Definitely a kick for anyone with even remotely geeky tendencies.

It's like the Gang of Four had a little too much to drink (or something) at a National Lampoon party and went home and wrote a sequel. I think my favorite pattern is goTo guy, which is prefaced with a note that the article "GoTo Considered Harmful" doesn't apply to dating patterns. Haven't tried any of the patterns since my SO disapproves strongly of multithreading.

I don't know what kind of mind is so into patterns that they come out the other end with this book, but the result is very funny. You need to be a geek to get it, but if you do it's definitely worth it. It's a satire of patterns and of some fairly leading figures in the computer industry. Basically the authors say that the Gang of Four came up with these dating patterns in college: Trojan Proxy, Interested Listener, Half Bad Boy Plus Protocol, Unexpected Persistence, Container-Managed Relationships, etc. Christopher Alexander was in on it, too, starting off kind of geeky and playing Dungeons and Dragons and going on to be a dating machine.

I've never laughed this hard reading a patterns book. (Well, OK, I haven't really laughed much at all at patterns books.) Can hardly wait for the book on refactoring. Wonder if Martin Fowler was dating refactoring god in college?

We all know that software development has benefited tremendously from design patterns. But I had no idea what you could REALLY do with patterns. Fortunately, my partner Bert was a beta tester for some of these patterns, and let me tell you, without half-bad-boy-plus-protocol, I'm not sure he would BE my partner today ; )
If you have a brother/friend/co-worker geek in your life who is still single and searching, you might want to slip this under the tree as, you know, a "gag" gift. But it's really a lot more than that--there's REAL dating advice in there! Don't be fooled by the fun; this book is really stealth love-life-improvement wrapped up in a package that will look funny and geeky and won't embarass the guy who needs it. He can put it on his desk or bookshelf where it'll look right at home next to the Dilbert-a-day thing. It'll make every developer/programmer (and yes, even the *architects*) laugh out loud, but secretly they'll be learning how to apply a pattern language of design to... dating. (Sorry, no sex patterns in this edition, so if the advice works and you find yourself in a successful dating scenario, you're on your own for what happens after that. Perhaps there'll be an eXtreme Dating (XD) version?)

Heck, forget the single guys--if you're a woman, you might give this to your partner if he's forgotten (or never knew) how to *act* like he's trying to sweep you off your feet.
There's one more reason I like this book... if even a fraction of the guys who work in cube farms take up the advice, the workplace will get a lot more fun and stimulating! How could more chocolate, games, and toys at work be anything but GOOD? (Yes, they really are girl magnets...although they might be guy magnets too, but that's OK too... the more friends you have in your camp, the more likely it may be that one of them will introduce you to your next hot date. And don't forget the puppy.
This is no fluffy, foofy, self-help, mars vs. venus, get-in-touch-with-your-inner-whatever book. You'll find all the things that make a software developer feel right at home, beginning with UML. If you've read GOF or just skimmed it, you know what to expect from the format.
So, get it for the humour, get it for the practical advice. And for gosh sakes, go get a slinky, a couple of unusual action figures (there's even an Einstein action figure now and a Starbucks-style barrista--either one a better choice than G.I.Joe) and some chocolate, right now, and put them on your desk tomorrow.
Have fun!!

This was an absolutely delightful book! I am a complete novice to osCommerce and almost didn't purchase the book as it was not marked as a "beginners" book. What a mistake that would have been. With this book my site went from ho-hum to professional and functional and fantastic (IMHO).

I was so impressed that I sent the author this message: "I love the cookbook style layout. Showing you what you will be doing, telling you what ingredients (pages) you will need and then taking you into detailed steps as to what needs to be done. There is no pretension in The Cook Book. The humor is great too. It really brings it to the comprehension level of the novice and still serves as a guide for those who are already "in the know".

If you decide to write another Cook Book style book, please shout it from the roof tops so I can hear it all the way here in Costa Rica. I can't wait to see more of your wit, know-how, and style."

Expert or novice, everyone will find simple and detailed recipes to improve your site. As mentioned in one of the other reviews, a zip file with all the recipes is available for those of us with fingers that live in fear of code.

Good Luck!
Athena

Deep Inside osCommerce is the latest osCommerce reference book from Packt Publishing. Written in a cookbook style, this book is filled with easy-to-understand recipes for improving your osCommerce site. If you are looking to take your osCommerce installation to the next level, you should definitely pick up a copy.

You won't just sit and read Deep Inside osCommerce from cover to cover. By the time I had finished chapter one I was already modifying my latest osCommerce project. As with any good cookbook, you will open it up to a recipe and work carefully through all the steps to completion. Each recipe is well laid out in an easy-to-follow style including screenshots clearly showing how the code change will affect an osCommerce default
shop. The "Chef's suggestions" at the end of each recipe provide increased clarity and add greater depth.

If you know Monika Mathé by reputation from the osCommerce forum, you know she is a well-respected expert in the community and that her code is well thought out and effective. By publishing Deep Inside osCommerce Monika has given osCommerce store developers a useful resource. I give this book a full 5 stars, highly recommended for all osCommerce users.

submitted by Ruth Maude - Dandelion Web Design Inc

This is one of those books that does exactly what it tells you it's going to do. There are a few others out there, but not many. Add this to your short list.

I've read in a few places that this is not a beginner's book. That really depends on your definition of "beginner." If you've managed to get osCommerce up and running, and if you've managed to install even just one or two of the contributions from the osCommerce support site, this book is for you. This is much closer to a beginner's book than to an expert's book, though I'm sure there isn't an expert out there who couldn't use at least some of the presentations.

At first glance, the chapter titles seem to be a little too "cute." But they grow on you. And you get to appreciate them. Besides which, a little light-heartedness mixed in with your work is a good thing. In what might be Monika's terms, I'd say it makes for a good recipe. I think of those titles as a sign that she enjoys what she's doing. And it's obvious she does. And when you enjoy what you're doing, you do it best. And she has.

The format of the book works well. At the beginning of each section, she presents specifically what that sections coding will accomplish. She then gives you the list of all the files you'll need to be working with. (This is a good time to back those up.) After, she explains in clear, concise and simple terms the step-by-step process to accomplish the goal.

Again, if you've installed a single contribution, you'll recognize the format and be immediately comfortable with it. While most of the instructions that go with the contributions on the osCommerce support site are well done (no pun intended), these are all very well done. I couldn't find a bit of confusion anywhere.

A great feature of the book was the insertion of screen shots to give a graphic display of the expected results. And her decision to use the default display was excellent. Everyone who has used osCommerce knows what that looks like and can immediately see what's changed.

In essence, what Monika has done in a very easy to understand manner is provide numerous recipes to make your eshop a little sleeker and more appealing, and your customers stay more pleasant. That, of course, should mean money in your pocket.

If you're planning to go into ecommerce and osCommerce is your choice (which I highly recommend), buy this book now. Even if you've never seen a bit of code in your life. By the time you get your first installation up and running (an incredibly easy chore), and you figure out how to get rid of "What's new here," "Lets see what we have here...," and "This is the default osCommerce setup...," you'll be ready for this book.

Just don't be tempted by the goodies in this book to ignore the contributions on the support site. They'll do a lot of good things for you that aren't covered and are not meant to be covered in this book.

My one disappointment is that although Monika taught me how to put the billing address phone number in the confirmation email, she never taught me how to put the shipping address phone number in the confirmation email.

I'm going to repeat myself here for emphasis. If you're thinking of going into ecommerce and osCommerce is your choice, buy this book; you'll be glad you did.

And if you do that, I'll see you in the forums.

Look for me.

PS: After you buy the book, it's possible to get a download of the code to save yourself some typing. A great idea!

This is indeed a cookbook. Monika takes you step-by-step through 69 different "recipes" to make helfpul tweaks to an osCommerce installation. And along the way, you learn how to make other modifications you might need.

It's well-written and can even help those with just a little php knowledge.

An excellence source of information for anyone working in the open source osCommerce software. The book includes 69 different code solutions very cleverly developed and written by osCommerce expert Monika Mathe.

Although the book is targeted at intermediate users already familiar with osCommerce, I found that most chapters (or recipes as they are appropriately referred to in the book) were easy to implement as long as you have a working installation of osCommerce in place and have some basic understanding of php and html.

Free download and installation instructions of osCommerce can be found at www.oscommerce.com, however this book will allow you to apply several key enhancements and additional functionality to your basic installation. You will find a range of useful applications; from simple code snippets to customize the design of your shopping cart to much more sophisticated functionality to tweak shipping, payment and other modules. Check out a full chapter summary above in this page.

For those not familiar yet with osCommerce, Monika makes each recipe easy to implement and understand. She always offers a "plain English" practical description of the application before delving into the insights of the code. Additionally, screenshots of the final result are offered as well as a list of new files to be created and files that will need to be modified (useful for preliminary backups).

I strongly recommend you buy this book, you will be glad you did as soon as you see your shopping cart projects take on additional life with these recipes.

This book does justice to the many issues facing any corporation today when designing their software. It has a balanced blend of theory and practice. While it can be used very easily in a college classroom, it is also well-suited for a more practitioner oriented audience. Practicing managers will find the chapters and corresponding steps very useful as they try to design and implement higher quality software.

My favorite chapter was chapter 5. This chapter presents a very clear list of steps that need to be addressed when designing trustworthy software. The authors do a great job integrating the various literatures on management of change. The implementation steps would probably apply to many more change issues in organizations - showing the versatile nature of the book.

Great text!

Design for Trustworthy Software is an excellent book for developing robust software designs. The book explains very well the principles and methodologies that can help in developing of software with emphasis on prevention rather than corrective action.Professionals have been looking for a good book which can describe and help them in the reliability side of the software. This book just does that.

I particularly like Part II-Tools and Techniques of Design for Trustworthy Software. Although these tools and techniques are well known



and applied for a long time on the hardware side, their application for software is very well rxplained here. The book is excellently organized for students and beginning practitioners. In each chapter key points are are braught out at the end to confirm the understanding and then the exercises and questions challenge that understanding.

The authors have demonstrated their knowledge of wide array of concepts and principles.At the same time, their keen grasp of those concepts and princples is clearly evident.

I will strongly recommend this book for the students of the subject as well as professionals who are working to achieve robust software designs.


ASH SAHNI
PRESIDENT,ASH AND ASSOCIATES
International Consultants in Quality and Compliance Management

College-level students of quality assurance will welcome this integrated approach to software quality issues, which tells how to prevent bugs in implementation rather than discovering them after. Case examples of DFTS technology include FMEA, QFD and more, and provide a blend of theory, applications, and exercises designed to test student knowledge. Classrooms in particular will find it excellent. Its authors are a CEO of a quality assurance company and a chairman of a consulting group, and professor.

Diane C. Donovan
California Bookwatch

This thoroughly researched book begins with an excellent summary of the state of software development methodologies. It provides a useful description of the important strategies, life-cycle models, and process improvement methodologies. The theme of the book comes from applying Taguchi Methods to software development. This approach to trustworthy software shifts effort "upstream" from testing to design: Build software right in the first place rather than waiting for a huge quality assurance department (or worse yet, customers) to find the bugs for you. Several chapters provide detail on how to apply these principles to large scale software systems.

The authors have pulled together material from an impressive set of resources into one, admittedly lengthy, book. The shear number of methodologies (including corresponding acronyms!) contained in this volume is staggering. The chapter endnotes document these sources and web references give many pointers for additional information. They also include several case studies written by practioners who have used the methodologies described in the book.

This is an excellent book providing exposure to a new technology in software design. Design For Trustworthy Software is well written. The quality initiative ideas are quite innovative.
I like the fact that the book's focus is on building quality into the product at the early design phases. Bugs found further downstream in the development process get more and more expensive to fix.
The exercises at each chapter's end are well presented to allow for better understanding of the material.
This is a great resource for both students and software professionals for producing high quality software.