Components Books

I really cannot add much to what other reviewers have already said. This book is, simply put, excellent. It covers prototype and scriptaculous libraries very thoroughly by illustrating various features with relevant examples. Server-side technologies used in some examples use either Java or PHP. No prior experience is required with Java/PHP as enough detail on instructions for running the examples is included in this book. Editors seem to have done a very good job - I could not find any significant errors that are too often presented in some programming books. By reading through the chapters in the book, you can quickly identify areas in your application that can utilize these two libraries. Scratch pad application included in the source code turns to be a nice way to test your own code. I tried the examples and they work as expected.I was once fearful of writing javascript and this book has made it much more palatable and interesting. Highly recommended.

Overkill/ repetitive explanations of simple codes and examples. I would recommend reading "Prototype & Scriptaculous" published by the "Pragmatic Programmers" instead - they consistently publish concise, detailed books that are highly rated by readers.

I was looking for a good intro to Scriptaculous and Prototype and this books is pretty good. There are a few irritating things, however. First, the visual illustrations for Chapter 8 are completely wrong. There is a new Chapter 8 posted on the book website.

Second, while some of the code is included in the download (also available from the site), not all is - especially all of the "snippets" which take up all of Chapters 8-11. While most of the "snippets" are under 50 lines of code, it is still annoying - especially when they provide a scratchpad application specifically to run the snippets.

Overall, the problems are not deal-killers, they just show a lack of attention to detail on the part of the book team.

Javascript has exploded onto the web development scene in the last few years, and powers much of the web 2.0 and Ajax revolution. Every web developer now needs to know how to do common Ajax tasks. Thankfully, Prototype and Scriptaculous In Action makes it both easy and enjoyable.

This is a comprehensive book. The size (510 pages) was initially intimidating, but Prototype and Scriptaculous In Action is exceedingly well written and a genuine pleasure to read. The thorough and thoughtful organization of the book provides some real structure to the discussion, making complex subjects easily digestible. This is the defacto bible of Prototype and Scriptaculous, and these days I turn to this book more than anything else on my shelf.

The book is divided up into four multi-chapter parts, any of which could stand on it's own as a definitive guide. The chapters are full of useful examples, and there's strong emphasis given to migrating existing sites to Prototype and Scriptaculous, which is a major plus. You could turn to any section of the book and immediately see how to inject some new behavior into your existing application, but if you take the time to read from cover-to-cover you'll be rewarded with some deep understanding of both the libraries and Javascript itself.

I'll summarize the four parts of the book:

Part 1, Getting Started, introduces the Prototype and Scriptaculous libraries, focusing heavily on Prototype and Ajax. There's a lot of information on re-designing an existing site for Ajax. Two full chapters are devoted to Prototype's Ajax features. You can get up and running VERY quickly after glancing through these chapters. There's also a lot of depth, and consideration is given to the pervasive effects Ajax has on architectural issues and the new ways that an application will have to manage HTTP traffic.

Part 2, Scriptaculous Quickly, covers effects, controls and drag-n-drop. This is hands-down the best Scriptaculous documentation currently available, anywhere. The core effects are explored and tweaked, and there's lot of very practical examples demonstrating some of the niftiest stuff, like running effects in parallel versus sequentially. And the drag-and-drop coverage is incredibly clear, making it easy, almost trivial, to implement. The Scriptaculous coverage is indispensable, and you'll return to it again and again if you implement Scriptaculous-enabled pages.

Part 3, Prototype in Depth, explores Prototype's Javascript-oriented features. There's a fantastic chapter on functions contexts, and the discussion of closures is one of the best I've seen. There's a lot of information about Javascript fundamentals, and how Prototype can be used to implement inheritance, address arrays, and manipulate the DOM in the browser.

And finally, Part 4 Advanced Topics, has two unrelated chapters. The first chapter overhauls an example app, giving it a Prototype and Scriptaculous makeover. The last chapter is about integration with Ruby on Rails. Prototype was initially written as the Ajax interface to Rails, so there's some strong integration.

As a long-time enterprise web developer, dealing with Javascript has always been a chore. But now I actually (gasp) look forward to tasks that involve Javascript. I'm a convert, and I have Prototype and Scriptaculous in Action to thank.

I'm not even halfway through this book yet and I'm already satisfied with my purchase. I look forward to reading about Scriptaculous, but to me the book is already worth it for (a) the treatment of JavaScript in general and the details on object-oriented JavaScript, JSON, and especially JavaScript prototypes and function closures, (b) Prototype, especially how prototype extends JavaScript itself by modifying various object prototypes, and (c) AJAX, including historical perspective, details and gotchas of AJAX request/response versus traditional GET or POST via browser, and the utilities Prototype offers to ease AJAX communication. Additionally, I know this book will make a great reference for it's coverage of the DOM basics and it's appendices on HTTP basics and traffic. There's even some useful contrasting of different server-side options (PHP versus servlets/JSP, etc.) I don't mean to sound like I'm fawning over this book but it's exactly what I hoped to find after working for the first time with all these technologies on a recent project; I wish I'd had this book during that project.

you into Analog ? You got to have this book. Its a tribute to the LEGENDS. Legends that ever were, that ever will be. My boyhood favourite of almost 10 years. Dont miss it on the analog shelf. I would deem it blasphemy.

For people who are not already into analog design, this book only mystifies the subject further. It presents analog design with an aura of eccentricity and a feeling of more artistry than engineering. This is an eclectic collection of articles, but among them there are a few gems. Paul Brokaw's description of linear IC design is by far the best exposition I've seen. Jim Williams' Zoo Circuit makes interesting reading into the mind of the designer.

Analysis is a science: there's a right answer out there, and we can all agree when it's found. Troubleshooting is the same way: when the broken bit is found and fixed, the circuit starts working properly.

Design, on the other hand, is an art; there's always more than one way to do it, and the individuality of the designer has a strong influence on the way the design turns out: hence "Art, Science, and Personalities".

This isn't to say that a good designer does unusual things without a good reason, or adds expensive bells and whistles because he happens to like them. What it means is that for designs that are not routine, the designer's personality has a lot to do with how it comes out.

To become an expert designer, you need a well-developed technical taste. Once you have a design that works at some level, it's that sour feeling in the back of your mouth that will tell you that it isn't right yet, that it can be simpler, cheaper, or more reliable. There aren't a lot of other sources of that information.

Arts are taught by apprenticeship. But where are you going to go to get taught this stuff nowadays? EE departments are going more and more to software, as shown by the vast number of graduate EEs who don't know which end of a soldering iron to hold. Jim Williams can't be everybody's mentor, but in this informal (and sometimes whimsical) book, he and his friends show us how the best analogue designers in the business go about things. You know what? One of the most important elements in the art of design is *play*.

Maybe listening in on these guys playing at being analogue designers isn't quite the same as sitting elbow-to-elbow with them, but it's as close as most of us are going to get, and it's terrifically valuable. I recommend this book to anyone who wants to become a better analogue designer, and who is not easily put off by whimsy in technical writing. (I find it refreshing and fun, myself.) I've owned this book for 6 or 7 years, and it's about ready to fall apart from rereading.

I agree completely with the reviewer from SLC: there are some interesting insights, but too much ego invested in personal memoirs and irrelevant anecdotes of personal history.

This is a great book to help you understand Analog engineers - I recruit them for an IC design company and am impressed how smart they are - this book gives you an idea of their depth...

This book clearly explains the concepts and principles of SOA and makes the vital link to Enterprise Architecture. I would highly recommend this book to start with. If you then need more detail on for instance SOA Design Principles or SOA Design Patterns read Thomas Erl's series.

I have not seen a SOA book that is as practical as this one. Most of the people I work with understand why SOA is important, and we all get the vision by now. Many of the other popular SOA books ONLY focus on the vision and "what is SOA?" but not much else.

This book is different. It provides details. It focuses on architecture, design, and provides in-depth guidance for a wide variety of problem areas that we all encounter when we build SOA implementations. The book is a long one, but it is worth the read.

I found this book valuable for providing a solid approach to designing service oriented architectures. It is important for people to understand that this book does not focus on implementing web services - there are plenty of other books that do that. This book focuses on the hard parts - how to design an architecture around the concept of services.
This book is also not a "cookbook" - it does not offer easy answers to these tough problems. Instead it walks you through the thought process so you can learn how to come up with the right answers yourself.
I am actively using this book to help my customers get started with SOA and to help them avoid common design pitfalls. My favorite chapter is Chapter 9: Using Services to Build Enterprise Solutions. The distinction between today's monolothic applications and tomorrow's composite applications requires a paradigm shift that the authors express well.
Finally, I especially liked the practical approach, practical steps and practical advice continually peppered throughout the entire book.

I just recently read through Applied SOA, and I found it to be one of the most practical and comprehensive SOA books out there. What I thought was especially helpful were all of the examples - specifically some of stories of where SOA implementations have gone wrong, how they were corrected, and how to avoid traps. I especially appreciated the in-depth case studies at the end of the book. I haven't seen many books that offer such a practical approach, and that is why this book stands out.


I thought that Part 1 of the book is good for those new to SOA, and I found that the rest of the book provides great guidance and detail for more seasoned architects. I liked the chapters on "Using Services to Build Enterprise Solutions" and "Designing and Using Integration in SOA Solutions", as they provided much detail. I have to disagree about an earlier review on this site - I found the chapters on SOA Security and SOA Governance to be incredibly well-done. I thought that the SOA security chapter was comprehensive in laying out different security blueprints, and I felt that the governance chapter focused on governance in a technology and vendor-neutral way, which is rare to find these days..



If I were to make one complaint, it would be that the book is very large. It is not a quick read, but it is a comprehensive guide to SOA and it is practical. I highly recommend it.

This book added very little to my current understanding of SOA. In fact I am not really sure what it contributes to the design strategies of SOA, and it is kind of too late to introduce SOA in year 2008 -> about almost 8 years after its inception. To learn about SOA basics I suggeet to get the SOA for Dummies book that does a better job on explaining SOA. Also the chapters about SOA security and SOA governance are poor and again do not add to the current industry discussion of SOA. I do not recommend it to mid or expert level SOA persons. But even people that starting with SOA will find it poor to begin with. It is too late too little. I like the case studies in the end of the book and again I am not sure why these cases are for insurance companies. Is this book for the insurence industry only?

I've been an analog circuit designer for forty years. Jim's book provides great historical information and a lot of circuit design information. Definitely a "must read" for someone that wants to learn more about electronics and has a desire to be a knowledgeable design engineer. I really don't understand the smug response from the two-star reviewers. Buy it, you'll like it.

This book has a number of good sections, but the majority of the book is really stupid. It has a really good section for job interview preparation, and it gives a good idea of workplace politics. The technical knowledge from this book is not useful whatsoever. I did not find it to be funny, it was actually really embarrassing to be reading a book with random pictures such as an open pizza box, or the guy's wife with a rolling pin about to smash an oscilloscope.

You gotta admire the experienced geeks and how they learnt electronics stuff the hard but lasting way. They can never forget the basics as they have so much practical experience. Being a beginner in this wonderful field of analog design, I enjoyed the book a lot. We tend to cram ourselves with knowledge from different books and our instructors also encourage us to explore different methods of explaining things but nothing can beat the time tested, practical experience gained by doing stuff on the bench. Some of the design ideas are really good. After reading this book read the book "trouble shooting analog circuits" by Bob Pease. The authors have proven that practical bench experience is as important as theory in doing good, marketable designs.

This is a Lazy Saturday Afternoon book. You can read it front-to-back or you can just flip to random pages. Either way, you'll find very entertaining stories (as long as you're an EE) packed with great information. Covers everything from obscure transistor parameters to marketing. It made me a better engineer and I enjoyed every page.

The title and reviews give the impression that this book is a collection of the black arts and secrets of analog design. It isn't. 80% of the chapters are old-timers' "when I were a lad" stories. It's not necessarily a bad book - it's highly entertaining and well-written, and new graduates will find the real-life hints and caveats useful, but if you have more than a few years of experience in the industry, don't expect to be educated.

I just finished my first semester of French and we used this book for the course. The book was pretty well organized with a grammar and vocabulary summary at the end of each chapter. I found the grammar explanations pretty easy to understand and the exercises were helpful. The instructor for the course followed the book for the most part with some minor changes to ordering and some supplemental handouts. After learning the grammar and vocabulary in class it was pretty easy to use the book to locate specific areas for review.

Overall I found this book very good as a course textbook. But I'm not sure how good it is for self study.

It is a very good choice for those who want to learn French.

It is a very good choice for those who want to learn French.

These tapes are an excellent addtion to(and really a necessity for anyone who uses)the corresponding textbook, HORIZONS. They are fun and interesting in subjest matter. The only drawback to them is that they do not list the vocabulary words from the textbook, that the student might hear each word spoken individually.

I had to buy this book for class and I really, really don't like it. It is confusing in the way that it is organized. The professer for my 102 class hated it as well. He said that it left out a lot of critical information and confuses the reader. I agree. I find I learn a lot better with a couple vocabulary books and a grammar book.

the book was expected as hardcover, received is paperback and the printing quality looks like photocopy.. sorry the price became too much.
i returned the book immediately.

This book is great. Exlains everything crystal clear. Just be careful when you order it...I ordered a hardback and they gave me two paperback sections, part A and part B.

Bottom Line: This is currently the best undergraduate textbook for a first course on electronic circuit design.

The authors give full, complete solutions to the end of chapter problems! This makes this text extremely good for self study. Sedra and Smith should consider doing this because all serious students will use a disciplined approach to learning and benefit greatly from this; you either learn how to design the circuits or you do not. The solutions are excellent. *I do not, however, give this book a great review simply because there are solutions.* This book is simply written better than the other available books.

As I write this, there are three other good textbooks on the market that compete well against this one. However, this book stands out in that it actually talks to you as if you are an intelligent student; other books read like a data sheet or a dry manual.

This book emphasizes design and intuition without sacrificing rigor, but it is not a cookbook. It is for those serious about designing electronic circuits and understanding why a particular design path should be chosen over others.

It is less encyclopedic than Microelectronic Circuits by Sedra and Smith but has better explanations on how to design circuits; Sedra and Smith is good for reference, examples, and the analysis of the said circiuts. Electronic Circuit Design by Comer is more brief than this text, presents the fundamentals, but does not contain enough detail and intuitive design procedures. Microelectronic Circuit Design by Jaeger is the most systematic, has the best examples, and very good examples of analysis and design procedures. However, the book by Jaeger fails to do what this book does -- bridge the path between real-world design procedures and textbook circuit specifications for designs.

All in all, all the said books are good books. However, I believe this one is better than the popular Sedra and Smith textbook and could be supplemented by the Jaeger book as a solid way of learning.

This is definitely the clearest, most lucid book on electronic circuit design I have read to date.

I am an undergraduate electrical engineering student, and I wish I had found Spencer/Ghausi years ago; It is by far the best, best, BEST book I have ever seen on circuit design.

There are three main things that make this book so great:

#1 -- It explains things extremely well. Things are explained simply, concisely, completely, and in a way that is down-to-earth and easy to understand. There are so many other books that get lost in math proofs before even explaining basic concepts; This book first explains concepts and builds an intuitive understanding of the topic, and explains WHY the topic is important to learn about, and then goes through the math proofs in a very easy-to-follow way. But don't think that you are going to be bogged down with long chapters; even with all the enlightening explanations, the sections are shorter and quicker to read than other books.

#2 -- This book is actually FUN to read! When I entered college, I decided to study electrical engineering because I thought that this stuff was really interesting and fun. The textbook that Arizona State University uses (Sedra/Smith) quickly squashed all joy and fun out of the subject. The Sedra/Smith textbook was so boring, difficult, and frustrating, and it never once made electrical engineering seem fun at all! Every time I would open up Sedra/Smith to study, I would fall asleep because it was so boring! THIS BOOK IS NOT BORING. It is interesting and fun to read. No coffee is required to read this book! Since I have been using this book, I have rediscovered the reason why I chose this major in the first place.

#3 -- This book always answers the question "...so why should I care?" Every subject is accompanied with an explanation about why the subject is important to you, and how it fits in with the real world. It is surprising how many other books just throw a bunch of information at you, and just expect you to be able to figure out what it's all for. With this book, you always know what each piece is for, and how they all relate to each other. For example, I now know WHY I would want to choose one amplifier type over another; The Sedra/Smith book never explained that to me - it just presented me with a bunch of amplifier types...

Get this book! You won't regret it.

This book is a great book in my opinion. I have not finished all of it but find it to be a great reference. The thing I liked the most about this book so far was the explanation of the BJT!! It is the best explanation I have read on the subject so far. The author clearly tries to show why the inventor of the transistor would think to use PN junctions characteristics to make the BJT, and how important the minority carriers play in the whole process, something entirely neglected in most other descriptions. I truly feel now I understand how a transistor works, and can analyze not only the npn transistor but the pnp transistor as well, and get why pnp transistors are thought of as being hole injected versus electron injected for the npn.

I did not enjoy this book. It is a very high-level view on component-based development that lacks any detail. Often statements are made without further explanation and terms are used without definition. The book does not go into detail how you would group functionality to components nor what makes good interfaces. References to some technology in the middle of an abstract discussion are somehwat irritating.
The book is not bad. However, it gives you what you probably already knew and leaves you with the feeling "and now?".

This book is somewhat brief and high level, but it does a good job describing how components should interact within the enterprise. It is also gives a good description on how to define component interfaces.

The book is well written and well organized but does not go into much detail. The book can be read quickly and gives a good high level view of component-based design. It does not offer rigorous definitions of the elements of CBD nor practical guidelines for factoring a design into components and services. It is certainly not "definitive". The book by Herzum and Sims is a better source for architects and developers.

The book is well written and well organized but does not go into much detail. The book can be read quickly and gives a good high level view of component-based design. It does not offer rigorous definitions of the elements of CBD nor practical guidelines for factoring a design into components and services. It is certainly not "definitive". The book by Herzum and Sims is a better source for architects and developers.

My primary goal to read the book was to find out more about components, especially how to design EJB components for the enterprise. The author explains very well what a component is, the importance of component specifications, and how to apply component techniques. The book is not specific to any component infrastructure. It covers COM as well as EJBs.

I liked the detailed cbd modeling example at the end of the book as well as the author's list of useful resources on enterprise-scale application development.

The book is extra clean for a very good price. The service and shipping are excellent. Very good choice!!

Very good service. fast and accurate. The book is well wrapped and in well shape. I like it.

I thought there was going to be a CD included or some type of software. A friend of mine purchase it and she received a CD. I like to know how I can get a CD that belongs to the big. Please help. Is the CD really needed???

This is a great book if your just getting into business, however if you already know the basics you may want to try something a little deeper. There are quite a few questions this book just won't answer so make sure you go to class. As a supplement to in class lectures and hands on study you will be able to gain alot from reading this text. It offers alot of valuable information in an easy to understand format. I hope you like reading though because it tends to get a little dry.

As the President and CEO of FranchiseInterviews.com, I have read many books relating to entrepreneurship. I think the authors did a fantastic job at writing this book. They use many examples and cases to help you easily understand the topics.

I highly recommend this book for aspiring entrepreneurs as well as schools that offer a program in entrepreneurship.

I am an undergrad and I think this is a great introductory book. It is extremely comprehensive and detailed. I highly recommend it if you really want to learn the material in detail.

The book is very descriptive in the area of theory but less so in the area of fully worked problems in use as a classroom textbook. The organization of the book material from one topic to another could be better.

The second edition of the book is about the same as the first exept for the introduction of a website about the book and a cd-rom with slides and sample programs for electronics.

This book covers most of the standard topics in a third year university course in electronic circuits.

It is accurate, but rather unimaginative. It does not do enough to describe the context in which circuits arise, nor to describe the design process. It also fails to tell the reader what comes next: that is, where is all this going, what is our next course, and so forth.

Its strong point is a lot of problems that, if worked, should provide a good background for the student.

A detailed book. Covers a lot on MOS technology and explained how transistors are used in digital electronics. Some good examples too! This book covers those important elements which are left out by introductory or standard books on electronics.

This book is a very good book. Care has been taken to explain details very carefully. There is an extensive list of problems to tackle. But I'd suggest that a reader use this book in conjunction with another more elementary book, Electroinc Principles by Malvino becuase for some readers the extensive usage of mathematical analysis might prove to be a 'turn-off'. However, for an undergrad course, one needs to know what is given in the book and when used in conjuction with Malvino, it makes a winning combination. Overall, a good book.

I used this textbook when I was an undergraduate student 6 years ago, but I still find it an useful reference for my job. Its coverage is comprehensive and the depth is appropiate. The drill problems let readers to pick up the basic manipulations quickly. In summary, I am looking forward the updated edition of the book.

amplifier

C.J. Savant, et al, have done a fine job in creating this textbook for the undergraduate level engineering/physics student. However, one should be extremely cautious when using this text. Don't accept the book's content without careful review of the material. Throughout the textbook, I have found many errors in principles and "useful formula" derivations. Mostly arising from simple algebraic mistakes - but they are always present in most every chapter; some worse than others. Chapters 2,3 and 4 have the most. Additionally, there are numerous "answer/solution" calculation errors in both the "drill exercises" and end of chapter problem sets. In many sections, when an answer is given, check your own work carefully; the answer printed in the book may not always be the correct one! Finally, overall, this is a good book for a 1 or 2 semester undergraduate course in basic electronics with practical, real world design problems. At the expense of validity, the textbook could have been reviewed a little more carefully before publication.

This is a very good book. Its explanations on electronic circuits are spot on. Having had to loan it from a library, I hope I can manage to get it (from amazon maybe :) ). Being an engineering student, I found it useful, but it I know other non-student type people who have said it is very good. They should start printing it again.....

C.J. Savant, et al, have done a fine job in creating this textbook for the undergraduate level engineering/physics student. However, one should be extremely cautious when using this text. Don't accept the book's content without careful review of the material. Throughout the textbook, I have found many errors in principles and "useful formula" derivations. Mostly arising from simple algebraic mistakes - but they are always present in most every chapter; some worse than others. Chapters 2,3 and 4 have the most. Additionally, there are numerous "answer/solution" calculation errors in both the "drill exercises" and end of chapter problem sets. In many sections, when an answer is given, check your own work carefully; the answer printed in the book may not always be the correct one! Finally, overall, this is a good book for a 1 or 2 semester undergraduate course in basic electronics with practical, real world design problems. At the expense of validity, the textbook could have been reviewed a little more carefully before publication.