Software Books

If you find delight in the optimization of code--and you SHOULD--this is the book for you.

The book contains a great collection of techniques and tricks for highly efficient numerical programming.
Great read.

I have a virtual calculator called the DIY Calculator that accompanies my own book "How Computers Do Math" The Definitive Guide to How Computers Do Math : Featuring the Virtual DIY Calculator.

I recently added a "Conundrums, Puzzles, and Posers" section to the "Programs and Subroutines" page on my DIY Calculator website ([...]) and I've started to build a collection of simple puzzles for people to play with.

One of the first problems I posed was to count the number of ones in the 8-bit accumulator and to present the result as a binary value. I thought I had discovered the best-possible solution, until someone pointed me in the direction of the "Hacker's Delight". (In this context, "Hacker" refers to a hero who is manipulating code; not a nefarious rapscallion who breaks into other people's computer systems.)

I immediately ordered a copy from Amazon, and took delivery just yesterday as I pen these words. This book is fantastic - I kid you not - on the first page of Chapter 2, for example, I discovered at least five or six capriciously clever tricks that blew my solutions out of the water!

I highly recommend this book.

The term "hacker" in this book means someone who enjoys making computers do interesting tricks regardless of whether it turns out to be useful, not someone who is intent on circumventing computer security. Plus, how relevant would those kind of tips be coming from a book that was written in 2002? Don't let the author's definition of a hacker fool you, though - the tricks in this book are very useful.

This book is a collection of small programming tricks on various subjects. The presentation is very informal, and the methods use very basic computer math. You should know your binary number system backwards and forwards before you start this book. Either C or assembly language is used to demonstrate the hacks in code form. When assembly language is used, it is that of a fictitious machine that is representative of RISC computers. That is because the tricks are meant to be platform independent.

After disposing of basic arithmetic operations early in the book, the author turns his attention to more complex math problems such as calculating square roots. His discussion of the subject is both complex and simple. First, he explains Newton's method of computing square roots through a page full of equations that require some effort to follow. Then he gives an implementation that requires fewer than twenty lines of C code. This is followed by another method that is longer and more cryptic but executes faster, by using a binary search algorithm. Whether you are interested in the equations or merely need the C code to do your job, these solutions are efficient and elegant.

Other topics addressed include Gray codes, the Hilbert curve, and prime numbers. Gray codes are a method of arranging the integers from 1 to N in a list so that each number can be visited exactly once by flipping only one bit at a time. The Hilbert curve is a similar idea expressed geometrically: a single continuous curve which, given a space divided into a grid of squares, touches every square exactly once and does not cross itself. In each case, both the mathematical discussion and the code to solve the problem are provided.

The chapter on prime numbers is the most challenging mathematically but also one of the most interesting. It starts with a concise overview of various mathematicians' efforts to devise ways of finding prime numbers. The author is one of those people who periodically become fascinated by some problem and devote themselves to learning more about it and searching for a solution. The chapter ends not with the usual code sample, but instead with an invitation to continue the search for interesting solutions to the problem.

Clearly, the author views this book not as a finished collection, but rather as a snapshot of work in progress. After decades of interest-driven research, the author has amassed a collection of studies big enough to fill a book, and it is fortunate for the rest of us that he has written one.

This book is an absolute essential to the right reader. That right reader is either a low-level coder, a high-level logic designer, or someone who builds tools and libraries for same. In other words, not a lot of people. This is hacking at its bit-level finest, though. If you're among those few, or think you might be, or want a good laugh at the people who are, dig in.

It's good for things like counting the number of 1 bits in a word-length integer (hint: if you count the bits, you're doing it the hard way). It's good for things like fast division by an integer constant, or mod to a constant integer modulus (hint: if you perform division by dividing, you're barking up the wrong tree). If you can look into a 32x32 bit multiplication and see a convolution going on, you're way ahead of the game. The only tricks I know that didn't appear here are A) for purposes that almost no one has or B) for machines that almost no one has.

Warren presents the coolest collection of slimy coding tricks ever collected, with full attention to the number of machine cycles and the compiler-writer's unique needs. I've seen a lot, and this is by far the biggest and coolest collection around. I have two complaints, though, a small one and a really big one. The small one is that the author didn't score a direct bullseye on my somewhat offbeat needs. Well, he never tried to - that's just me griping that he didn't write a different book. The big complaint is that pages, lots of them, just fluttered out of this pricey book and onto the floor. GRRR. This takes nothing away from the content of the book, until some critical page flutters off never to be seen again. Still, if you can keep a rubber band around it, this will be one of the deepest mines of coolness in your uber-geek library.

//wiredweird

My first introduction to binary operators wizardry was in a 1st year, 1st semester course in Digital Systems at the Technion, IIT. I thought it was fun. While I was trying to write a computer program to compute Karnaugh Maps for me, I run into performance problems, and then some binary hackery helped me get back on the horse.

Since then, whenever I come across some binary trick I write it down with a few examples of usage and sometimes with some reasoning why it works.

Then came "Hacker's Delight" and I felt compelled to buy it.

I wasn't disappointed at all! Not only it contained all of the tricks that I have collected, but also it contains a lot more in depth examples of how these tricks can come in handy when trying to squeeze performance from an implementation or save a few more bytes and bits.

The book also gave me a fresh perspective on the implementation of some well known algorithms with the twist of binary arithmetic. This was very enlightening.

I read the "BASICS" chapter (chapter 2) with a single breath of air, and just couldn't leave it down. Not only it was nice to have all these tricks summarized in one book, but also I liked some of the reasoning and the "so-called" proofs.

Remaining chapters were, as I mentioned before, a fresh look for me on known algorithms. This fresh look was through the glasses of binary arithmetic.

I'd recommend this book to anyone who feels comfortable with binary arithmetic and/or computer organization -- even just for the fun of it!

I'd recommend the book to developers who don't necessarily have a sympathy to this topic, but would like a Copy&Paste solution to some problems they have to tackle.

I really enjoyed reading this book, and I will probably reference it from time to time.

This is a benchmark book for interactive design. It separates the design process into information design, interactive design and presentation design. Those who head the process and focus on information design tasks at the beginning of an interactive project will find that costs are lower.

Information design changes are easiest at the beginning of a project and create large cost problems at the end.

If you have proceeded with good information design then interactive design and costs are much less difficult and less expensive.

Finally if you have made good information design and interactive design decisions, then you have a vast arrays of how to present the final product. It is at this stage the costs the highest with graphic designers, video producers, web developers, programmers and so on.

Read the book and memorize the process.

The book promised a lot based on previous readers' reviews and the publishing house's reputation but I was disappointed with its contents. The information is well presented but too simplistic. Lacking any further elaboration this book is of little use if you have some experience in the field of interactive design. A good brain-storming session at home would come up with the same findings of this book.

I have had this book for 4+ years. I loaned it to a friend once who didn't return it, so I bough another one.

Among the dozens of books I own and read on usability or project management, etc. this one is fantastic - a real stand-out.

The one drawback is that it's not as contemporary/up-to-the-minute as newer books. [shrug]

This is nicely organized, introduces important concepts and explains them in plain english. I used it as a textbook for a multimedia class and it was well received.

You will not find fancy tricks and designs, but you will get a good overview of multimedia, interface design and project management. It is 'outdated' so it is not suitable for experts but its information is excellent for an intro class, especially for people with little graphics experience.

For once, someone makes the distinction between information design, interaction design and presentation design. This book was invaluable in helping our division more clearly define our process for product development.

If you have been working with Dreamweaver for some time now, and are ready to take your skills to the next level, Beyond Dreamweaver is the perfect resource. Through a concise and straightforward writing style, the author takes you on a broad exploration of development possibilities beyond Dreamweaver's "everyday" usage.

The book begins with an excellent chapter on the ease of integrating Dreamweaver MX with Content Management Systems. While this chapter may not seem as relevant to developers since Macromedia's introduction of their content management system - Contribute, it clearly demonstrates the extensibility of Dreamweaver. In doing so, it opens the reader's mind to virtually unlimited possibilities for creating custom integrations. Additionally, it continues to be a valuable example for developers using other Content Management Systems such as Interwoven or BlueMartini.

The next chapter provides an excellent overview of Section 508 website accessibility requirements. It also discusses new features available in Dreamweaver MX that will assist developers in ensuring that their websites are accessible.

Beyond Dreamweaver goes on to provide a great introduction to XML. Examples clearly demonstrate how to use Dreamweaver MX, both to export template content to XML and import XML into Dreamweaver templates.

The next few chapters present a variety of techniques that will enhance productivity. You will learn how to build Sequential Navigational Systems for both small and large scale websites; about Dreamweaver's ability to cross-integrate with other Macromedia products such as Fireworks and Flash; and how to go beyond Dreamweaver's built in capabilities and actually build your own custom cross-product extensions.

If you are interested in creating your own extensions, Beyond Dreamweaver explains how to use the standard classes and libraries that ship with Dreamweaver as a starting point. And if you really want to dig in and explore under the hood, it gives you an excellent example of how to take this even further by using C++ to create your own extensions to JavaScript.

The chapter "Making Flash Connections" was of particular interest to me as a designer/developer who specializes in Flash site development and dynamically generated database driven websites. A valuable example that was provided demonstrates the ability to pass data - either static or dynamically generated - from a Dreamweaver coded page to a Flash .swf file. Additionally, a second example demonstrates the new Flash Remoting features which allows Flash to send and receive more complete data structures. I particularly enjoyed exploring the possibilities of combining the Macromedia tri-product MX powerhouse - Flash, Dreamweaver and ColdFusion. Quite a combo!

Beyond Dreamweaver does not extensively delve into any one topic. Instead it provides the reader with a broad range of examples that can be used as a springboard for further exploration.

Joseph Lowery has a love affaire with Dreamweaver dating back to 1998 and version 1.0; that's why this book is more than just an expert writing about a piece of software, Joseph is passionate about Dreamweaver and the result is a real work of love. The book contains 10 chapters, covering different topics; each chapter stands on its own, allowing the reader to pick only one topic at time, there is no need to read from cover to cover here. The vast majority of the material available here is simply not available elsewhere; Mr Lowery covered things that may surprise even a seasoned Dreamweaver veteran like me. If you enjoy pushing Dreamweaver to its limits you can't miss this one

Beyond Dreamweaver covers one of my favorite things about Dreamweaver, which is its open-endedness. Web design is all about pushing limits -- of our own knowledge, of HTML, of browsers -- and Dreamweaver gives its users lots of room to push. So you want to adapt Dreamweaver to work with your company's Content Management System? This book shows you how. You want to work with the latest, greatest XML-based language out there, even though Dreamweaver doesn't *officially* support it? Dreamweaver can support just about anything you throw at it, and this book shows you how. And each chapter is written from a problem-solving, why-would-I-want-to-do-this perspective that makes it quickly useful.

This book will show you what you didn't even know you need to know. I am a medium to advanced Dreamweaver user and I learned so much from this book, starting in the first chapter. I think this book is perfect for people who have used the software for a while, but don't really push it to its limits. Mr. Lowery shows you important things in two general categories: how to accomplish things you couldn't before and how to streamline your workflow to be more efficient.

With an abundance of books on the market focusing on the techniques built into Macromedia's Dreamweaver MX product, reading this book was a breath of fresh air as it takes the product, and completely blows it apart.

The techniques in this book, such as integrating DMX into your content management solution, extending the product using C++ as well as dealing with cutting issues such as accessibility will make you more productive and your workflow more refined.

Lowery leaves no stone unturned, showing clearly how to integrate through the extensibility layer with Fireworks; and explains how to link data into Flash in a concise, easy to understand way.

The techniques discussed are also fully extendable to your own ideas so the book will lay down a very important framework.

A fantastic tome which should hold pride of place on your desktop.

This is a GREAT reference book. You won't learn how to program Mathematica from it. You will learn an amazing amount about how Mathematica works by reading it. If you don't believe me, check out it's thorough explanation of cubic splines. It's better than the Mathematica Help. It also comes with the complete book which can be installed in the Mathematica help system.

There is, literally, a wealth of information to work with in this book.

I would also strongly recommend getting An Introduction to Programming with Mathematica, Third Edition. This is a first rate "course in a book" for programming.

There are other books which are good. Between these two books, you will have an amazing arsenal to work with!

Paul

I agree with many of the other reviewers - this book is great. I recently got Mathematica and found the imbedded Help browser a little cryptic at times. I purchased Mathematica Navigator after reading many of the reviews here. I haven't read the book from cover to cover, but instead use it as a reference after having read chapters 1 through 3.

I'm studying Matrix algebra, so I skipped to Chapter 18 and worked through the examples without any problem, save a small error on page 467 where an upper case P was typed in lower case.

Highly recommend for anyone wanting help making the most out of very powerful software.

Very well written and full of useful information to start learning Mathematica. It covers all the foundamentals.

I liked the first version so much that I bought this second edition also. The first edition was based on Mathematica 3 but this second edition is based on Mathematica 5 (Mathematica 6 has only just shipped within the past 2 months).

As did the first edition, this second edition comes with a cd that contains the entire book in Mathematica notebook form. The style sheets used to format the second edition cd notebooks are much cleaner looking than the first.

At anyrate, I definitely recommend the second edition even if you already have the first edition.

Mathematica is an excellent program, with good built-in and online documentation - although many feel the Documentation Centre in version 6 is not as good as the Help Browser in version 5.2. But sooner or later you will find a problem for which the official Mathematica documentation does not help. The program can then be very frustrating, as the syntax is complicated and error messages can be very cryptic. Help online is painfully slow, as the official resource, the news group comp.soft-sys.math.mathematica (Mathgroup), is moderated, so help requests have to be approved before they will appear. (The newsgroup sci.math.symbolic is sometimes helpful and since its not controlled by Wolfram Research, posts appear immediately). Hence Mathematica users will need one or more good books - more so than with other similar programs such as Maple or Matlab.

In addition to the book Mathematica Navigator by Ruskeepaa, I own several other books on Mathematica, including:
* The Mathematica Book, Fifth Edition by Stephen Wolfram
* The Mathematica Guidebook: Programming by Michael Trott.
* The Mathematica GuideBook for Symbolics (w/ DVD) by Michael Trott.
* Schaum's Outline of Mathematica by Eugene Don
* An Introduction to Programming with Mathematica, Third Edition by Paul Wellin
* Programming in Mathematica (3rd Edition) by Roman Maeder - I also own the first edition.
* The Beginners Guide to MathematicaRG, Version 4 by Jerry Glynn and Theordore Gray

plus a few more old books I've either had a very long time or bought very cheaply on Amazon.

Given the choice of only one book, I would choose Mathematica Navigator by Ruskeepaa. It comes with a CD-ROM which has the whole contents of the book, which may be integrated into Mathematica's help system. It's not unique in that respect, as so do Micheal Trott's Mathematica Guidebooks, but they have far too much irrelevant material in them. Ruskeepaa's book sticks to important facts about Mathematica. The book covers a wide range of topics. Sometimes I wish in more depth, but the book offers a good compromise between width and depth. In particular, the information on writing Mathematica programs is far too short, so its unlikely to satisfy someone wanting to write a major Mathematica package. For writing packages, Programming in Mathematica (3rd Edition) by Roman Maeder based on Mathematica 3 is arguably still the best, although Maeder's 1997 book is very old.

The only significant fault I can find of Ruskeepaa's book is its age. Mathematica 6 is a really major upgrade from 5 with many functions now built into the kernel which previously needed to be loaded from packages. Many functions or options have been deprecated. As such, some of the information is no longer accurate. But given at the time of writing (December 2007) there is no book on Mathematica 6 published, I think Ruskeepaa's book, which is based on version 5, is the best Mathematica users can get. However, if by the time you read this, someone has published a book on Mathematica 6, then it might be worth buying that instead.

I would have given this 5 stars, but it is getting a bit dated now.

Book is overly pendantic teaching for instance how to switch the directions of the mouse.

In learning how to use FrontPage 2003 step by step, this is the book. It's very colorful & informative, it provides all you need to get started in the development of your own website, you're going to like it very much.

I bought this for my daughter and she said it was very easy to follow. She has already started designing web sites for her friends.

I have just begun to use this book. I am an extreme beginner and find the book attractively laid out and well-illustrated. I have not finished my web site yet, but I'm on my way. There are a few details that are "over my head" but I think I can work around them and still get good results.

FrontPage was a new application to me and somewhat different than other web page applications. I was asked to take over website updates and didn't have time to go through a class, etc. This book enables the user to look up the task at hand and then basically follow the step-by-step instructions. It has been a fabulous tool. It is very user friendly for the novice but still has enough technical information to satisfy the HTML hound. I found it to be a more effective tool than Microsoft's on-line classes.

If you can only have one book on FrontPage, this should be it.

This book is like a SQL SERVER 2000 bible for me. It has the most wonderful information in it, clear and easy to understand. I needed to interview for a job and I looked to this book for clarity and knowledge and boy was I enlightened. A must read for a beginner DBA like myself!!!!!

This is the best book ever written on performance tuning. Excellent text and very well written too. Thanks a lot.

I have been a DBA for a bunch of small sites for many years. Recently I committed to a job w/ a large, online OLTP retailer and needed to fine tune my knowledge of the SQL Server engine.

I was shocked at just how flawed/lacking my knowledge was after reading this book.

Let me first state this sucker isn't for people looking to get by using the Enterprise Manger GUI. This book dissects the inner most workings of the db engine and it's under lying theory. Their is a lot of TSQL. I found myself limited to reading only a small number of pages at a time and then needing a break. The book is that intense and I have a Masters of Science degree as well as MCDBA and MCITP certifications.

Probably my favorite feature of the book is its small size, under 400 pages from tip to tail. I'd suggest this book to anyone wanting an understanding of what they are actually doing in SQL Server when they issue commands from EM. This book should be a requirement for any DBA or DB Designer in my opinion.

I am a SQL Server performance consultant to many large corporations and government agencies. I have read and re-read this book so many times I should know it by heart. Still, I carry it with me on consulting engagements everywhere I go. There is almost always someone at my client's site who wants to improve their performance tuning skills. I show them the book and tell them this is where you start.

I don't know if there will be a version specifically for 2005, but it really doesn't matter much. The central concepts of the book have not changed for SQL Server 2005.

Ken England's writing style is clean and lucid. He can explain complex issues in a remarkably understandable way. His explanation of indexes and strategies of indexing is a great example of readable technical writing. He also has a good understanding of what is important and what is not.

This book is accessible to anyone who has some experience with SQL Server or any relational database. Someone with little experience may not get it all in one pass, but they will be much better prepared for real-world SQL Server performance tuning.

I have been working with SQL for several years and always felt a bit weak in my understanding of best practices. I have only absorbed a few chapters so far on index structure and execution plans but already I feel like I have fast tracked into the clever peoples class. The layout is excellent and the language unambigous.

I purchased this four volume set when I was studying Greek at Denver Seminary, back in 1989 as it was highly recommend by my Greek professor. I used it quite a bit during seminary and even after that in my personal Bible studies, and more so when I started working on my Analytical-Literal Translation of the New Testament: Third Edition (ALT).

The arrangement of this set is by English not Greek words. But the fourth volume provides an index to where the discussion on Greek words can be found.

For each entry, the English word is given in bold, then the basic Greek word in a box. Then variant forms of the Greek word are given and synonymous Greek words, each with an English equivalent. Then the main article begins with a discussion of the use of the word(s) in classical literature. Then there's a discussion of the usages of the word(s) in the LXX translation of the Hebrew, OT, often indicating what Hebrew word the LXX was translating, and finally is the discussion of the usage on the NT.

So lots of information is presented, and if you read through the entire article for a word, you will definitely gain full knowledge of the history and usage of the word. However, the thoroughness of this set can sometimes be a drawback. It is just too much information and takes too long to read through. Most of the time when studying a word, you don't need that much background, so standard lexicons, like the ones on the BibleWorks 7 software program, provide sufficient info.

But that said, I am glad I purchased this set when I did. I didn't refer to it that often in my translation work, but on the occasions that I did, it helped to clarify how to translate a particular word.

For instance, some claim that "porneia" only refers to prostitution. The article in volume one of this set explains that this was originally the sense of the word. However, by the time of Christ, "porneia" referred to any kind of sexual intercourse outside of a Biblically lawful marriage (pp. 497-501). As such, I rendered this as word as "sexual sin" with the alternative translation of "fornication." I explain in more detail the reasons for these renderings in the Glossary contained in the Companion Volume to the Analytical-Literal Translation: Third Edition. The information for that glossary entry was mainly taken from the article in this set.

This set is also helpful when working on articles for my Web site. And it would be helpful in sermon preparation.

All that said, this volume is rather expensive. So only get it if you really think you will need in-depth word studies for transition work, sermon preparation, and the like. Less expensive lexicons and software programs will provide sufficient information for less serious Bible studies.

`New International Dictionary of New Testament Theology' edited in its English translation from the German by Colin Brown, is the most useful DICTIONARY on this subject I have found over the last two years of teaching Bible study. It is a true dictionary, with a primary focus on Greek etymology in classical Greek literature (Homer, Hesiod, playwrights, Plato, Aristotle, historians), the Greek translations of the Old Testament, and the New Testament, with distinctions made between Synoptic, Pauline, and other uses of the same term.
Before acquiring this work, I wrestled with `Theological Dictionary of the New Testament', edited in German and completed around 1933 by Gerhard Kittel, and translated into English by Geoffrey W. Bromiley, which has 10 huge volumes filled with a wealth of information, except that everything is organized by original Greek terms, and my reading of Greek is simply not up to snuff yet. So, while I have never been disappointed by this resource, it is simply too clumsy to use for the quick check on a meaning.
Brown's translation, on the other hand is marvelously organized by English words, with a transliteration of the Greek into English characters, followed by the original Greek script. Super, when the term you want is one of the major terms. A fly enters the ointment when the term you want is secondary to a more common word. I ran into this situation when I tried to look up `mute' (kophos) which my annotated Bibles told me could bean both deaf and dumb. Well, there was simply nothing there in volume 2 (G - Pre) under `mute'. By this means, I discovered the great value of Volume 4, the `Indexes'. `mute' was here in abundance, with the primary entry (within the entry for `dumb') highlighted, and I was merrily on my way.
I discovered an even greater value to this work when I looked up `hypocrisy', to help me understand the use of the word in Luke (who happens to use if far less frequently than Matthew). A recent lecture on Matthew stated that `hypocrisy' didn't mean the same to the ancients as it does to us. I did not entirely trust this observation. As I stated above, this Dictionary gives at least three different interpretations of words, one for classical Greek, one for Old Testament (LXX) Greek, and one for New Testament Greek. Well, classical Greek did mean an actor or explainer of narrative in dramas who may have performed with a mask. But usage in the Synoptics is virtually identical to our modern meaning. Even better, Luke's quote of Jesus may even been a metaphor using both meanings, one who explains as well as one who does not believe what they preach.
I was even more pleased with the book when it confirmed an interpretation I had of Luke's use of `yeast', which disagreed with the notes in my study bible. Brown, et. al. even went so far as to point out the common mis-interpretation of `yeast' in this context.
You may be using `Vines Complete Expository Dictionary', which puts everything in a single volume and is keyed to Strong's concordances. I've used Vines often, but I also often find this book light on interpretations in all parts of scripture. Vines is good, but this set of four smallish volumes is better for quick, but discriminating reference. Of course, it also has all the usual scholarly doo-dads, which are great, but not as important as the sound, discerning interpretations.

We are very pleased with the service and product. There were a few glitches but were cleared up immediately. I am very happy with the service. Thank's to all involved

A must for any bible study. As Greek has been transliterated there is really no need to even know the original language. The articles are AMAZING!!! AMEN!!!

The transliteration of the Greek is the only draw-back to this work as personally I prefer the Greek terms and in the Greek word order.Allow me to explain why. I do not use the NIV, though I know it to be a trustworthy translation, thus I tend to come directly from the Greek text to this. Thus I usually find the term, I am searching, in the transliterated indexed 4th volume. So if this was in the Greek word order and untransliterated it would prove easier. But enough of my crying! It IS WORTHY TO BE PURCHASED!

I also supplement this set with 'Theological Lexicon of The New Testament' by Ceslas Spicq, which tends to develop words the NIDNNT and Kittle have omitted. The TLNT is in the Greek word order and untransliterated, so it may feel odd to some who are not yet aquainted with the Greek.

Without question purchase the NIDNNT prior to the TLNT by Spicq as you will gain far more use from it.

soli deo gloria

I hate to be the only one not giving this a 5 (but four means it's great). [NOTE: My rating was accidentally registered as a five] Others have already highlighted how great this is. In many respects, it is superior to Kittel's Theological Dictionary of the New Testament (10 volumes). I've owned my set since 1980, when it was three volumes (the current fourth volume is an index). I can't give it five stars because 1) organizing by English words is very difficult and annoying for those of us who can look it up in Greek word order, like all the other Greek resources (20 minutes learning the Greek alphabet is all it would take for someone who doesn't read Greek). 2) Like so many other works geared to both those who read Greek and those who don't, it uses transliteration in the articles. I think that's the ONLY thing I like better about Kittel's - no transliteration! 3) This is not cost-effective compared to the absolutely outstanding and inexpensive "abridged" version of this set (see more below).

I've used DNTT for years. I always come away from reading articles quite edified. It's a tremendous resource. It's so good I overlook it's organizational faults.

However, consider the following:

Zondervan quietly put out an abridged version of this. Nothing important is missing! See my review of the New International Dictionary of New Testament Theology - Abridged Edition here on Amazon for more details. That is only $23, while this four volume set is $93. That uses the odd English based organizing system, the abridged is easier to use and all words are listed in Greek word order. They crammed the information into one volume by shrinking the type (still plenty big), moving to a double column format, and making the book taller and deeper than the original size. Read more about it at my review.

If you are considering this set, you may want to consider the abridged instead. When I've used the abridged, I never feel cheated because they kept all the relevant stuff! I have all the major theological dictionaries of the NT (TDNT, DNTT, Exegetical Dictionary of the NT, and Spicq's TNLT) and I use them routinely. I'm telling you that the Abridged version of this is not a kiddie version. It's the real thing. It's the best kept secret in scholarly resources for the NT! Don't feel like you're slighting yourself by getting the abridged, you're not. Now the abridged Kittel's, by contrast, is a different story. That was a serious abridgement and a serious compromise of the original. I sold that on eBay. I retain and use the original.

A great supplement to this set (or the abridged version) is Spicq's Theological Lexicon of the New Testament. See my review of that. It is far more theologically refreshing and insightful than either this set or TDNT (EDNT is the most bland, but it has its strengths).

May God bless you in your pursuit of a greater understanding of Holy Scripture.

Have you ever considered the advantages to having your nose on your face? Or what life is like for a boneless chicken? Or lamented a night of homework? Then this book is for you! Jack Prelutsky's collection 107 poems are silly, catchy, and classic. Readers bounce from poem to poem, carried along by James Stevenson's squiggly illustrations. Though this is a fast read, Prelutsky's odd characters, like the Underwater Wibblies and Drumpp the Grump, will keep you giggling.

These quirky poems will entertain readers both young and old. Prelutsky's poems are made for reading aloud, and audiences will enjoy listening to the made-up names and punchlines. Stevenson's artwork, which can also be found in The New Yorker, fits perfectly with the singsong style of the poems. The black and white drawings wobble and flutter around the text, interacting with it. Prelutsky's work, combined with Shel Silverstein's, makes for an excellent introduction into the world of poetry for young readers.

My child came home from her gifted/talented school requesting the book. She loved it in her classroom and has already read most of it.

This is a great book to share with friends and families because it is funny and a lot of the poems seem true to what kids are thinking and feeling. Some of our favorites were, "An Alleycat with One Life Left," "Homework! Oh, Homework!," "The Nothing-Doings," and "I Wonder Why Dad is so Thoroughly Mad." This is a great book for everyone!

This book introduced my son to poetry at age eight and he became an avid fan. He became so enthralled with poetry that he began to write poetry himself. He even wrote a very insightful poem as one of his college entrance essays. Prelutsky retains his inner child and writes from a child's point of view--hard for children to resist. A must have for your home library.

I think that this a great way to introduce poetry to kids that may believe it to be boring or stuffy. My son would ask me to read these to him over and over. We did a lot of giggling over some of them.

Top notch all the way around. Got me through all five exams. That OCP logo looks mighty good on my resume!

Though the Financials OCP exam is being retired, the Financials package itself remains unchanged. This book is still the best introduction to how to use Oracle Financials.

The exam this book relates to retires in about 2 weeks from now and Oracle Corporation has not given an indication of what will succeed this exam.

How relevant is the book if I can't use it for the specified exams?

This is the most thorough book on Financials I've seen. A must-have, whether you're going for the OCP certification or not.

Most complete treatment of Financials I've seen. Excellent book.

There must be other readers who find a bit awkward the following comments provided within the first page of the introduction: "O.K., we'll be frank: we chose 'Agile' for the title out of marketing concerns. It seems to be the current term of choice for the kinds of things we describe in this book. It is a term that rolls off the tongue more easily than other clever names that clamor for your attention on today's bookshelves". Now, the authors quickly follow these comments with the argument that many of the ideas shared here had their genesis prior to the Agile software development movement, they also note that the scope of this book is broader than "so-called" agile development. The authors attempt to describe their interest in "effective" rather than "agile" software development, and that some of the ideas provided within the pages of this book "would fit nobody's definition of agile". In addition, some of the patterns shared here, the authors continue, were criticized by one of the founders of Extreme Programming (XP), who noted that "anyone who worked on organizational issues was avoiding real work". This reviewer provides this background here because the book starts off on a strange note, provided that anyone is willing to read the introduction. In the conclusion to their introduction, the authors save themselves by getting down to the core purpose of this book: "We have captured the good things organizations do, and we have recorded them as patterns. We hope these patterns will be as interesting and useful to you as they have been to us". It is with this frame of mind that one needs to read this book, if it is to be of any use to them in their business of software development. The history behind this book is what might make it particularly attractive to potential readers. As stated, "this work draws on data gathered as part of the Pasteur process research program at AT&T Bell Laboratories. In the Pasteur program, we studied software development organizations in many companies worldwide, covering a wide spectrum of development cultures". The Pasteur studies used social network diagrams and adjacency diagrams to make some sense out of the network of organizational roles and the communication paths between them. While this reviewer found these diagrams to be of some aid in understanding the associated dialogue with each, at first glance they sometimes appear as like large entity relationship (ERD) diagrams with entity relationships liberally overlapping each other to a degree that can pose a challenge to even the most attentive reader. Another type of diagram that the authors provide, the interaction grid, which is intended to convey a communication matrix for a given organization, sometimes adds to the discussion but often does not, especially when the number of roles included is very high. The authors, however, seem to understand the costs and benefits of process usage very well, noting that they started their studies on process and organization just as software development standards increased their influence in the 1980s and 1990s, and while process can add significant value, these cultures "often ignored important variations in organizational behavior that are key in dealing with market uncertainties or the uncertainties that arise in any process rooted in human intellect and instinct". And three problems typically arise with the process specification document as the final word on development activities in practice: lack of empirical conformance between practice and process specifications, incompleteness of process models, and inability to capture long-term stable process abstractions. One of the best quotes that the authors provide in the entire book is as follows: "In Contextual Design, we always try to build on natural human ways of interacting. It is easier to act, not out of a long list of rules, but out of a simple, familiar model of relationship. A list of rules says, 'Do all these things' - you have to concentrate so much on following the rules you can't relate to the customer. It's too much to remember. A relationship model says, 'Be like this' - stay in the appropriate relationship, and you will naturally act appropriately." (For a much more in-depth look at this debate, see my review for "Balancing Agility and Discipline" by Boehm and Turner.) While the project management pattern language, piecemeal growth pattern language, organizational style pattern language, and people and code pattern language portions of this text hold the most content, it is unfortunately a fact that much of the content provided in these sections, however truly relevant, can now often be found elsewhere in late-2008 industry literature. The difference that this content provides is that organizational design and construction patterns are presented as patterns, such as "Community of Trust", "Architect Also Implements", and "Incremental Integration", much like other books of the patterns genre. In the opinion of this reviewer, the most insightful portions of this text that might be of interest to individuals already familiar with many of these ideas are contained within the organizational principles and anthropological foundations portions of the book. Essentially, the former section, as the authors indicate, "offers practical advice that will make it easier to apply the patterns. You need to know when an organization is ready to try out patterns, and, once it is ready, you need to know how to apply the patterns. You also need to know what to do when a pattern doesn't seem to be working. This isn't an academic exercise: The future of your organization is on the line". Among the topics discussed here are dissonance, team burnout, crisis management, change, empowerment, schismogenesis, team building, piecemeal growth, and the role of management. The latter section follows the thought of the authors that "it would be a good idea to build on the insights and foundations from anthropology, the formal world of the study of culture". Among the topics discussed are structure and values, shortcomings of process, roles and communication, and social network theory. Some readers might be interested in the fact that one of the closing chapters to this text is a rather interesting case study on the Borland Quattro Pro for Windows project, which was adapted from an article written by one of the authors, Coplien, and Jon Erickson, that appeared in a 1994 industry publication. The answer of "probably not" is provided to the following question: "Can we capture the architecture of the Borland development organization and process and expect phenomenal results if we apply it to large development projects such as those that we have at AT&T?" The productivity that was demonstrated on that project, however, demonstrates what is possible.

I've read quite a few of Jim's works over the years, and he has never failed to impress me. This book should be required reading for any project manager!

My initial pre-read perception of this book was that it was going to be just another perspective of agile methods. I was wrong. Coplien and Harrison have dissected development teams to identify the key criteria leading to successful efforts and high-performing teams. Beyond process, this book identifies the organizational structures required to make the processes work.

From an organizational perspective, roles and responsibilities within your development teams are a primary success criteria for your agile (or any other process) adoption. This book presents how and why key roles within your teams work and why teams without these key roles don't work. The way they have presented the material provides for a quick cross-reference when you are looking for solutions to help your teams.

Beyond the organization patterns themselves, I believe some of the richest material in this book is presented in the last few chapters as they present the history and importance of organizational structures, roles and responsibilities in applying process - "Process emerges from structure, and structure emerges from values". There is great value in this book beyond most software development process books.

As project managers, most of us who've been in the field working for a while come to realize that successful project teams are more the result of "good" ongoing social engineering of one sort or another rather than just dumping an almost randomly selected group of people together, coming up with an MS Project Plan and saying "do this" (the Death Star approach, all to common in large traditional process-driven IT shops). After this has happened to you, painfully, you begin to come to the realization that perhaps there's more to project management than the mechanistic "people are interchangeable resources" PMBOK-style approach.

If it hasn't already, it begins to dawn on you that the "soft" side of project management (client relationship building, communication within the team and between teams, team dynamics and team morale, motivation, empowerment, commitment, a human-style of project management) are as important or even more important than the technical work and the technical skills required. Most of us have run across teams with prima-donna's who think they're the cat's whiskers, be they project managers or technical personnel, who have the personal graces of a warthog and who are incredibly destructive to team morale and team performance. They continue to exist, sadly, and because they often deliver, albeit at the expense of everyone who works for them or with them, they continue to survive in "Death Star" style IT shops where delivery is all important and the style of successful delivery means nothing or is short-sightedly disregarded. OK, so that's my rant.

Now for the book. We've all seen successful projects and successful teams (or at least, I hope we all have). Some teams gell and perform way above the norm. What this book does is distil over 100 successfully applied organizational patterns of one sort or another from real projects in real software development groups. These patterns are broken down into logical groups (Project Management Patterns, Piecemeal Growth Patterns, Organizational Style Patterns & People and Code Patterns) which are dissected and explained, with examples provided. What the authors have done is to identify and describe key organizational patterns which are used by successful teams - not processes, but organizational structures of various types that are needed to make processes work successfully. A large amount of practical experience has gone into the content - over ten years of research experience from the authors alone.

I've read a lot of books on Agile, but this is the first I've come across that sets out organizational patterns - and does it so effectively that you'll wonder why all the stuff in here never occurred to you before. As you read through the book, you'll see patterns that will make sense, the kind of "ah-ha, that's what the problem is and this is how I can dom something about it" sense. You'll find this book useful in that the contents can be taken and applied right away. It's easy to pick what is most useful for your team, what can be applied immediately and what would be nice later on, once some of the basics are in place. The content is practical in that you can easily identify what your problems are and what pattern would help fix it, why the pattern is intended to fix it, and there's good advice on how to introduce new patterns.

With over 100 patterns, there are a lot, but they're set out concisely, a page or two to each pattern. There's no fluff, it's well-written, there's no appreciable bias, there's a lot of material, including some good coverage of the importance of effective organizational structures in applying process. As we all know, all the process in the world will not a great project team make. The book's structure is coherent and well-organized, the patterns described can be used individually or as groups and the authors give you some pretty good ideas as to what's immediately useful.

And the pictures all the way through the book are great! A nice humorous touch that helps make the point each time. Overall, I'd recommend this book very highly as a resource to anyone managing a project / team, whether Agile or not. There's a wealth of practical advice in here that any project manager could take and use, although the orientation is towards Agile Projects. An added bonus - unlike many technical books, this one won't date quickly - organizational patterns that work don't change much over the years, unlike programming languages. From a practical point of view, I've applied some of these patterns to teams I work with and the results have been positive - I've also shared the book with co-workers and they've all found it both illuminating and useful.

This book has to be The Grand Unifying Theory of Software with respect to managing the people and processes involved in software production.

To anyone who has worked in the software industry, this book is clearly the product of an enormous amount of practical experience in both management of people and projects as well as the development of software.

Coplien and Harrison have written a book which both the project manager and software engineer will understand and will immediately be able to apply to their respective work environments: This is because the book cunningly captures essential organisational concepts using a framework that is familiar to software engineers. Thus, the concepts will be by recognised by staff trained in business as well as those trained in software and systems.

I strongly feel that the material covered in this book can achieve a common communication basis between managers and engineers, and can help business developers understand the nature of their people and organisation.

If I could insist that all people in software read this book I would; but without the policing power, I can only highly recommend this book to those involved in all facets of software.