Hardware Books

I had to buy this book for a class I am taking, and it has proven very helpful and useful.

John Huntington's book is the THE reference tool in our lighting shop for show control. It has everything you need for the different control languages, in clear and concise formats.It is a must on every theatre technician's bookshelf

John Huntington's new book, Control Systems for Live Entertainment, is one of the most useful and informative books available for anyone interested in theatre technology. The book covers such technologies as MIDI, DMX512, MediaLink, MIDI Show Control, and others.

A well dog-eared copy of the first edition has been in my tool kit / computer kit for the last couple of years. I have found it a valuable resource. It has helped me on-site more than once. The second edition is more comprehensive and organized. Kudos to John in publishing a great resource fit for the student and experienced professional.

George Tucker- Show Control Engineer- Scharff Wesiberg NYC

I grasp computer concepts very quickly and have worked with some desktop publishing programs, but had never worked with a "professional" graphics program before. This book, however, was excellent; within an hour I was up and running and very comfortable using both the program and the book. Would recommend highly. Now I wish the author would write one for Corel PhotoPaint (hint, hint).

I love the quickstart books. This one is no different. I would recommend this book for people who have a desire to get up and started quickly with Corel. It is easy to follow and you will be surprised how quickly you will be able to create your own professional documents.

This is an excellent step by step tutorial book for beginners.

This book is exactly what the Visual QuickStart Series is all about - concise, illustrated explanations of most of the features you'll need to be up and running with minimal effort. Ms. Davis' enthusiasm and expertise with CorelDraw 8 makes the book a pleasure to read and work with. Although I use the Macintosh version of the program (there are several interface differences), this book for Windows was exactly what I needed to start using the prgram to create a newsletter for work. I'm brand new to these types of programs, and after struggling through the Bible and Real-World books on Illustrator and PageMaker, this book was a welcome and mercifully brief grand slam. You can skip most of the first 40 or so pages if you are not new to desktop design/publishing, and get right to working with the impressive tools in the program. For me, though, they were a godsend.

I'm still hoping for a Mac edition of this book, but I probably have all I need with this one

I have waited for what seemed like forever for this WOW book to hit the shelves and I must say it was well worth the wait. I have other books written by both Shane Hunt and Linnea Dayton and I'm glad to say they have maintained their rep of putting out good references for the rest of us. Every time I open it I see something else I want to try or gives me ideas for new things. This book is well designed and written - not too techie for novices and chock full of great illustrations. If you dislike working your way through the effects menus, you'll love the pages that show all the fountain presets, bitmap filters, etc. I appreciate the authors remembering all of us who do not upgrade every year or who use more than one version (or Macs). Every CorelDRAW user, using any version, should get this book. You'll be glad you did.

I first bought coreldraw7 a couple of years ago, at student price.. and it didnt come with a manual. So I figured out a lot of techniques thru trial and error. But I missed out on a lot of the Coreldraw features, although I thought it was great software all the same, and did a lot of drawing with it.

Just last week I bought the Coreldraw Wow book, and ..at last! ..the tools and features of this software are revealed to me in an amazing compendium of techniques, tips and excellent information.

Shane Hunt's 'The Coreldraw Wow! Book' is clear, well written, and an inspiration. Full of useful techniques, it's an excellent book to really show the power and versatility of Coreldraw.

Shane Hunt has a gift for clarity and precision as he describes how to get the most out of Corel Draw. This book is for both beginners and advanced users and lets users in on the secrets of the amazing special effects supported in the program, in all its versions.

I've been following Shane Hunt's writings on graphics for a while, so I was sure to grab this one. He and the other authors show you some of the finer and more detailed aspects of Draw's abilities. I keep seeing things in other images and wonder how they did this or did that - now I know - and it isn't that hard when you know the tricks. It is written in easy to understand instructions and walks you through the difficult parts. I highly recommend it to anyone that is serious about increasing their Draw vocabulary and repetoire.

I loved Danny Goodman's Complete HyperCard Handbook and have relied on it for years. So when I wanted to learn what is really going on in AppleScript and how to do things with it, I figured I could count on Goodman. I was not disappointed. I had already read the entire reference manual on AppleScript put out by Apple but was still almost clueless as to how to use AppleScript successfully. My beef with most books that purport to teach you how to use a scripting language is that they simply lay out all the elements that you have to work with, along with a few trivial examples, and then leave it up to you to figure out how to put something useful together. Goodman has a real knack for knowing the questions a beginner will have and the types of things a person is likely to want to do using the scripting language. In the first 100 pages, Goodman concisely answered numerous nagging questions and pointed out significant features of AppleScript that had escaped my notice. Even though the book was published way back in 1994, it is still very relevant, as the essentials of AppleScript seem to have changed very little. An extremely helpful book.

Those familiar with Goodman¹s ³Complete HyperCard Handbook² will feel right at home with this comprehensive look at AppleScript. His style moves beginners through the rough first stages of the learning process with a quick look at the basics of the language and cogent metaphors that help convey the underlying structure of AppleScript. His early chapters are easy to follow, but present the nuts and bolts of the language in a way experienced programmers will appreciate. Perhaps the strongest point of the book is the reference section. Variables, operators, and commands are presented in a well organized way, with all the information on function and format close at hand. It is this section one will flip through again and again in the process of exploring the first few scripts, and the enclosed disk is packed with utilities and samples to get started on.

When I wanted to learn Applescript I bought serveral books, included this one. This book gave me clear insight in the AppleScript mechanisms but also why I should use it. It is been a reference since and I don't travel/develop without it.

Danny Goodman's absolute treatise on AppleScript. The definitive, must have bible for learning, using, living with AppleScript.

Danny's easy-to-read and insightful tomb. This takes you from absolutely clueless to programming in as little as a month. Danny starts with theory then delivers pratical, real world solutions as examples.

Many books eschew the object oriented underpinnnings of AppleScript, often assuming (wrongly) the customer already knows OOP (Object Oriented Programming). Danny goes through object-oriented programming with outstanding lucidity comprehensible to everyone.

After laying the foundation, Danny dives into addressing the issue by issue in AppleScript including referencing, coercion, looping, optimizations, object-store, and so so much more. The depth of AppleScript is only limited by your imagination.

Many programming books are considered authorities, the last stop, first stop, definitive source everyone turns to. Danny Goodman's _AppleScript Handbook_ is that. If you want to learn AppleScript the right way so your can use it, adapt it, relearn it, and reapply it from application to application, then you *must* own this book.

-Scott

Having programmed the AS/400 since its inception, I thought I knew everything about the DB2/400 database. But Conte's insightful volume reveals new possibilities and capabilities.

Filled with a perfect mix of theory and hands-on examples, this book allows a reader of any level of experience to benefit from the author's many years of expertise. Conte is a stickler for professionalism and attention to detail, and "Database Design And Programming For DB2/400" not only typifies his love of excellence, but encourages the reader to raise his or her own personal expectations.

If you're a manager, buy every programmer a copy and make it mandatory reading. If you're a programmer who wants to be the best, you must have this book; my copy rests at arm's length on my desk. If you're an educator, this would make an ideal textbook.

This is the best work on the subject available today. Paul obviously put his heart, soul and considerable talent into this book. It's hard to believe that a book so filled with useful information is available at the rather low price of $75. ----small errata---- There's an error on page 410, 2nd paragraph. The sentence which starts out "Although the SQL precompiler requires Declare Cursor statements to be coded in the procedureal part of a program..." is not true for Cobol. Cobol allows you to put Declare Cursor in the Working-Storage Section as well.

It has become my daily Bible in my job as an AS/400 DBA. Even after reading the whole book last winter, I still seem to read a passage from it everytime I need inspiration on doing something new or different (or that I can't remember how it is done) with DB2/400.

I am looking to modernize our AS/400 database development with the latest modeling tools and functions without disrupting the traditional DDS-centric RPG development efforts of my programmer customers. I serve customers in dozens of countries with varying levels of SQL/400 knowledge, but being an ex-mainframe DBA, I appreciate the effort IBM has placed into DB2/400 (or "DB2 for AS/400") into giving it mainframe-DB2-like capabilities. I am hoping Paul Conte will come up with a new edition of this book for OS/400 V4.3 because I would love to see these issues addressed in the same manner that DB2/400 V3.6 is presented in this book. Maybe even a chapter devoted to interoperability issues between DDS and SQL/400 and why/how to make the migration would be splendid.

I wish I had this book as soon as it was published. After programming on the S/38 and the AS/400 (in RPG) for over 14 years now (with some interruptions), I consider this one the best AS/400-related computing book I have purchased - ever! And compared to other computer books, well, if only that kind of quality would be available on other topics as well more frequently, either DBMS's or programming languages. The book saved one of my clients hours of work: with no previous SQL knowledge but having this book they were able to do some work with SQL that otherwise would have required them to write a program. Another client (and myself for my own system) took advantage of the chapters on Referential Integrity. If you're serious about accessing your data on your DB2/400 database, you owe it to yourself to buy this book !

This book is a must have for all newbies to ActiveX Control Development. Tom Armstrong shows you how to develop a robust ActiveX Control using the most efficient routes.. He leads you past all of the troublespots and guides you with the best methods. I developed my first ActiveX Control within 4 days after walking through all of the great samples he had in his book.. If asked, I would recommend this book to anyone. It's a must have.

ActiveX is by no means an easy topic to understand. However, if you are determined to wade into ActiveX anyway this is about the best introduction to the subject that you will find. The author takes you through the material with clear and concise instruction and touches upon COM, Automation, ActiveX and ATL. If you are an advanced COM programmer info dont bother with this book, but if you are looking for a introduction to ActiveX that you might actually understand, this book is absolutely the best I've ever seen.

Tom Armstrong's development of a simple class that grows up to be an automation control is very straight forward. The clear logical progression is well supported by the accompanying source code that I compiled and worked with as I traversed through the book. I was able to apply the techniques directly in creating my own activeX control for use with our product. There are a few improvements that should be incorporated into the next edition: 1. A proof- reader needs to be hired...too many typeos...Figure 6.5 on p.256 is not even readable. 2. A small "snippet" of detailed usage intructions for certain utilities like the ActiveX Control Pad presented in Chap12. Otherwise a keeper!!!

For a great resource of how to develop activex controls with MFC...this is the book.

MFC makes getting started in ActiveX controls easy... but these's a world of details that can have you pulling your hair out...don't go that route...get this book. I bought this after a year of developing many MFC controls - and I still found this book usefull.

Check out the author's ATL book also!

Sweetest Job in Washington

The White House has a new executive pastry chef,
William "Bill" Yosses, whose last project was helping
to open lefty Paul Newman's new restaurant in
Westport, Conn. (Dressing Room: A Homegrown
Restaurant) where the emphasis is on locally grown and
organic foods.

As the top pastry chef, Yosses will be responsible for
dessert menus for state dinners and holiday
celebrations among other events. He got a taste of the
work recently when he served as a holiday pastry chef,
and has extensive experience at New York City
restaurants.

"Chef Yosses has impressed us from the start with his
original and delicious creations. He has a light touch
with desserts, and the enthusiasm with which he
approaches his profession makes him a real asset for
all of us in the White House," First Lady Laura said
in announcing the appointment.

Not in the White House press release: Yosses is also
co-author of the cookbook "Desserts for Dummies," an
Amazon.com review of which promised: "Before you know
it, you'll start creating desserts that you've only
dreamed of." -Mary Lu Carnevale

[...]

The book made me feel confident and I took on more and more recipes. They all came out wonderful. My family is trying a lot of new dishes out of Dessert for Dummies, and they love them all.

The recipes are great, beautiful, wonderful, and most importantly-just about fool proof! Try the lemon poppy seed cake with the blueberry topping. It alone I think was worth the price of the book. The only time I messed a recipe up was when I was to impatient to wait for a pan of custard to cool. Stunning recipes for a novice cook.

I went to school(BICC in Baltimore)for baking and pastry and can only wish that I had had these guys as teachers. Very informative with easy to use directions. They explain every thing very thoroughly and I gotta tell you the pie dough recipe is excellent. I am no longer afraid to attempt pie making!!! If you are into desserts and want a good book with some great recipes go for this one to start your collection. You just can't go wrong.

We used this book for an intro course on computer engineering.

The book, despite being the 1st edition, is very clear and concise, and I turned to it a number of times when the lectures weren't as clear and specific as they might be. Duecks book delves into a bit more detail with more examples {on things like flipflops, latches etc} than other similar books on the market. It also relates the material learned to actual computers looking at the structure of RAM in home PC's.

We didn't use the VHDL or CPLD portions of the book, so I cannot comment on their usefulness... but judging by the rest of the book they should be well written.

I recommend this book for a good introduction to digital electronics.

The teaching of digital electronics using CPLD is very useful, the book covers theory, truth table, gate level implementation. The examples show you how to create a module, for instance,a multiplexer.It doesnt only end here, it further demonstrate the application of the multiplexer. From there, you can have better understanding from gate level up to system level. I benefit a lot from this approach. The examples are very useful despite I am not writing in VHDL.

The book also explain the internal architecture of CPLD, starting from the history development of programmable logic devices. If you want to learn on CPLD, this is definitely the book for you, even if you are not using VHDL.

This is a good book for beginners to digital logic and VHDL. It spends a lot of time explaining how different components like encoders, decoders, muxes, state machines, etc work. That's good for people who haven't been exposed to the material before. If you want to learn that stuff and apply it in VHDL, it's a great book. If you're just trying to learn one or another aspect, there are probably better books out there. If you want to learn VHDL from the book and already know a fair amount about digital logic, it's tough because you keep on skipping stuff you already know and and then later find out that there was VHDL information buried in that section on seven-segment displays. Similarly, people just trying to learn digital logic who are uninterested in VHDL will probably find that they spend a lot of time skipping past explanation of VHDL. Add in the fact that lots of space is taken up by screenshots of Altera software, and the book ends up containing surprisingly little information for its size. People who want a thorough discussion of digital logic or VHDL should look elsewhere. Beginners will probably be right at home.

This is one of the best presentations of digital electronics in the CPLD Altera MAX Plus II design enviroment and VHDL I have ever seen. I do not know of another digital book like it.

It also includes Altera's MAX Plus II software on CD in back of the book along with design files for use with the book prepared by the author.

The real power of Director is in Lingo, Director's programming language. I have more than 10 books covering Macromedia Director; most are designed for the beginner and intermediate level user. Warren's book is by far the best introduction to programming in Director.

I am an instructor at a small college in Colorado and find Mr. Ockrassa's text a pleasant resource for my students and myself. I have been working with Director for 5 years and have learned a great deal from his book. He has great examples of how to write effective and efficient code. This is the best example of a technical text I have ever worked with. We can only hope that he writes an intermediate and advanced text as well.

I am an instructor at a small college in Colorado and find Mr. Ockrassa's text a pleasant resource for my students and myself. I have been working with Director for 5 years and have learned a great deal from this book. This is the only text I have come across as a student or as an instructor that really teaches the fundamentals of programming in a way that can be easily followed and understood. Mr. Ockrassa did an excellent job with his examples and his explanations. I recommend this book to anybody that is new to Director and anybody who has been at it for a while. We can only hope he does an intermediate and advanced text as well.

I'm just getting into the world of Director, and this book has been my guide. It is written in an entertaining manner, (thankfully not overly cute,) and is making my learning experience an enjoyable one so far. Each lesson is laid out in an easy to read manner and features quick quizzes through out the text, designed to make sure that the important concepts are driven home. I recommend it for other readers looking to begin their Director education!

I thought this was an excellent source of informaion. I used it for a class and earned an A. Very thorough and easy to understand. Lay terms are frequently used and I found I learned a lot and found it very valuable.

An excellent general overview, covering drug use and regulation, pharmacological basics, in-depth analyses of the legal drugs, tranquilizers and stimulants, narcotics, hallucinogens, and marijuana, and comments on "a rational look at drug use." Well-documented with an abundance of relevant quotes and statistics; a rich set of references follow each chapter.

I bought this book to study for a quiz-out test for my Psych major. I read through three chapters the first time I picked it up. I usually have to force myself to complete an assignment, but with this book I just kept reading with no pushing whatsoever! I highly recommend this book to anyone taking a class in this subject, whether or not it is the required text. It would be a great additional information source. It is helpful if you or someone you know may be going through any type of drug or alcohol treatment--from caffeine to heroin. I also enjoyed the online quizzes you are allowed to access once you have the book. It really enforces what you have learned.

This book is the source for unbiased information on the sociological, psychological, pathological effects of "drugs" - this compendium covers everything from caffeine to antipsychotics to alcohol to psychedelics and everything in between. A review of the history of each drug introduces each chapter. Careful attention is paid to not only the effects of the drugs themselves, but the effect which they have on our laws and the way in which treat addiction.

As a former student of Dr. Ray's I can attest to the thoroughness of this work. It is the one book that doesn't tell you what to think about drugs - it provides you with the data to be informed to make your own decision. In fact the DEA uses this book in training! If you are looking for a comprehensive resource for school, your own interest, or just to be informed to talk to your kids, look no further.