Software Books

I found this book to be excellent. It clearly defines areas to be researched, how to do that research, where to find the resources and how to make sure the package will meet the needs of the users. It is well written, easily understood by all levels of users and extremely, extremely helpful. If only users of open source software went through these steps, open source would be far more successful than it already is.

Bernard Golden's book offers one of the most comprehensive analytical tools for evaluating open source software projects, his Open Source Maturity Model (which is also featured on his website, www.navicasoft.com.) The book starts with a general overview of open source software, open source business models, and key legal issues, and then discusses the OSMM in depth. It also offers a very detailed and fair evaluation of a major open source project, JBoss.

Whether you are a developer creating an open source project, a user evaluating an open source project, or an investor doing due diligence, this book is a very valuable resource.

This book is perhaps the best resource I've run across on the subject of evaluating open source.

In this book, Golden explains the methodology of applying his Open Source Maturity Model (OSMM). OSMM is a framework for evaluating the maturity of an open source project and its usefulness, specific to an organizations software requirements. The book provides excellent insight into the organization and culture of open source projects and provides a wealth of recommendations for investigating and evaluation open source software.

I was really blown away by the accessibility and accuracy of Golden's writing. Having been involved in open source for about 6 years in one context or another, I found his analysis of open source software to be spot-on. If you are looking for a simple, guided, and clear methodology for evaluating the usefulness and maturity of a specific open source project, you should read this book. It's a goldmine.

Any IT Manager with their eye on the radar knows that open source software is rapidly maturing into a viable alternative to expensive commercial software packages. However, there are still some barriers to entry into the OSS world, especially for IT Managers within large, traditional, non-IT companies.

The OSMM evaluation method described in this book is a perfect fit for an IT Manager trying to find a way to justify their use of open source software inside the software stack of one of those traditional, non-IT companies.

The real-world examples provided by Bernard throughout the book are very interesting and can be used as additional "weight" to your arguments if you are trying to convince your boss that your use of OSS is no longer the pioneering adventure that it once was.

This book not only provides OSMM evaluation method, but also a well-written overview of the current status of OSS in the first three chapters.

I was not able to find blank worksheet templates on www.navicasoft.com although the book indicates that these are located somewhere on the website. I also could not find a way to upload an assessment to share with the OS community. This is a something that should be considered as it would really be a tactical advantage for IT Manager's efforts if there was a section of Navica's website dedicated to sharing OSMM assessments of the different OS packages. I can imagine that a user community would quickly spring up in response to such an portal.

Truly an excellent book!

Have you been wondering how to extend the use of open source software in your organization, but would like to know how to find the right software and do pro-quality evaluations of alternatives effectively? This excellent book by Bernard Golden will show you what's different about open source in detail, how you might make those differences work in your organization, and how to use a simple, effective model that summarizes the necessary elements to compare different apps that might fit into your environment. Using Golden's methods will educate your choices, reduce your risks, and help you to succeed with open source.

This is a "How-To" book for IT managers, but it's also very suitable for beginners. The concepts don't require technical knowledge, and the explanations are clear and concise.

Part I is an overview of everything you wanted to know about open source. It dispells myths, and helps you to understand why open source works at all. Best of all, each chapter has an executive summary, and most paragraphs have a margin note that summarizes the paragraph's concept. This really makes the book easy to read or review. You can skim down the page reading the concept notes until you come to the areas where you want more in-depth knowledge. The overview is excellent.

Part II (which also includes the great paragraph notes) introduces Golden's Open Source Maturity Model, the framework for applying what you learned, or knew, from Part I, and more that you will learn later in Part II. The model is a template that grids the elements for software assessment and weighting factors. When you do the math you get the product maturity score, maturity being how full-featured and ready for production use the product is. Of course, your weighting factors will affect the score to make it useful in light of your organization. Formally scoring a number of products will pinpoint the products you should and should not be considering. This part is pretty simple.

The devil, of course, is in the details. Golden discusses different types of organizations, how they should set up their reviews, weightings and interpret scores. Then he applies this process to a real-world example using JBOSS, a significant open source product. Each element is fully explored in its own chapter, and this is where the rubber meets the road. Golden compares how commercial products provide the elements, then he discusses how open source provides the elements, many times by using different mechanisms. He gives great guidance on how to find and use these resources when they differ from the single-point solution of commercial software. If differences between open source and commercial software implementation weren't clear to you before, they will be after these chapters, and you'll begin to know how to get the most out of them, too. Open source may not be the right answer for your environment, but now you'll know exactly why, and what has to change before it is.

This is a well-written and thorough book, good for initiates and decision makers, made easy to use by the paragraph notes. If open source is on your radar, I highly recommend it.

Well thought-out, clear and thorough book. I have several networks books, but this is by far the best I've ever used, even surpassing "Computer Networks: a systems approach". Another advantage of this book is that it has a website with quizzes and results to help reinforce the information displayed in it. A must have for anyone learning about networks.

I had to use this book for a graduate course. It has been very suitable for this purpose. The level of details is good, but not to the point of a protocol standard. If you need to master the concepts and do not want to refer to very superficial practical references or detailed standards this book is right in the middle. Lecturers will find it very appropriate and students will easly grasp the concepts. One can still use some parts of the book as a reference. If the required information is not there some of the references to RFCs and standards will guide the reader to more information elsewhere.

As a beginner, this book can deliver a full and clear picture about details of TCP/IP including each protocol alogorithm, characteristics and it's usage. One can easily understand the TCP/IP basic architecture even without any experience after reading.

Just recently, I began writing network drivers for my custom Operating System and found myself a little in-the-dark about the proper format for a TCP/IP packet. This book proved to be a great read, and also an extremely useful reference later on.
Two thumbs up.

This may be the best textbook I have ever used. The text is concise and to the point with no extra "fluff". The illustrations are fantastic. The author has spent a tremendous amount of time on these... they take you directly to the meaning of the text, and give a strong visual and intuitive foundation to what has been written. Example problems with answers are numerous, and seem to be placed at exactly the points where you need to stop and work through concepts with pencil and paper. I really can't say enough about this text, I've read it cover to cover. It imparts an amazing amount of technical information without being dry... again, I think it's the illustrations that are so helpful, and it's nice that the author's style is direct and not wordy. I don't think you can buy a better TCP/IP book, this one's worth twice the price.

I found this book to rehash information found in many other sources. It covers a wide range of topics, but none in sufficient detail. A good overview of the topics; for detailed information look elsewhere.

I have a nice little library of books that would put a small library to shame, but I find myself connected to a few much like the kid with his favorite teddy bear. Well, this book is like that teddy bear. I carry it 2 miles each day to and from work. Any good book is invaluable to a job/certification. This is one of them!

I read the entire book over the last few weeks and found that is was very helpful in giving me a better understanding of networking. I learned a lot about the basics and a ton about the advanced aspects of NT networking. I found out about how to use key NT tools and the book was a great resource.

I don't usually take the time to come back and comment on a book unless it's very bad. In this case the book is way better than I've come to expect from most NT books. There were so many extra topics in the book that I don't think I've seen elsewhere. Important registry setting are listed and explained but not ALL of them (with no explaination) just what is important. I liked the IP Management section and DNS overview. The capacity planning section that somebody else here mentioned was excellent and the tuning and troubleshooting chapter had a great section on problem resolution. It covers a very wide range of topics relating to NT and networking and does it very well.

-Tom

This book, along with Tony Northrup's Windows NT Plumbing, will put you a step above your other NT peers. Both of these books go into the nitty gritty details of how NT REALLY works in the real world and how best to deploy and configure it.

Both are excellent primers on networking and TCP/IP as well as NT specifics. Highly recommended.

Adobe InDesign CS/CS2 BreakthroughsI bought this book a little over a year ago. I was starting a new job where the primary tool is InDesign CS2 and although I was familiar with the program it had been a while since I'd used it professionally. I was looking for a book to help me quickly learn some keyboard shortcuts as well as to learn some workflow tips.
This book was everything I needed and a lot more. InDesign is a deep program and InDesign CS/CS2 Breakthroughs is a comprehensive, well written and easy to use primer and overview, for beginners and veteran users alike. My copy has become a fixture on my desk (I work designing ads for a newspaper) and all my coworkers find it as instrumental as I do. The book also functions wonderfully as a bridge for people migrating from Quark to InDesign. Ms. Concepcion and Mr. Blatner have created a perfect tool! Bravo!

I am an InDesign instructor, and this book has helped my workshop participants tremendously. Folks who've been using Quark and PageMaker will also find this book a great time-saver. Will it be updated for CS3 soon? Evenso, it is a great reference book -- my copy is dog-eared (a sign of a useful resource). Bravo!

Living in South Africa, there are not many opportunities to attend InDesign Forums. I am a self-taught typographer, so I found this "Breakthroughs" book most useful and easy to turn to in solving a number of problems.

I am not a super nerd and do not usually buy books on computer program. But I use InDesign every day at work and home and love it. I was just looking for and inexpensive, quick-read to learn some neat new tricks and this book is exactly what I was looking for. I immediately sat on my couch and started reading. I've already used tips from the book and I've only owned it for a few weeks. Not only does it answer your specific questions about frustrating InDesign issues (yes, other people have the same ones as you!) but it gives you tips and ideas that you didn't know were possible and wouldn't have known to ask about. I have already called current and former co-workers to tell them about the simple solutions I have found in this book...it is really great.

I use InDesign every day. And still I found so many usefull tips in this book. It is not for a beginner, but definitely the book for every professional. Highly recommend the book.

This book helped me learn how to use Curves in a very thorough way. I used to be intimidated with Curves and had preferred to use the Levels command instead.

Mr. Willmore also showed how to find highlights, shadows and gray areas and then adjust the colors by the numbers. You have to average the numbers of the highlights, shadows and the gray from each individual channel within the Curves dialog box.

I practice some images with extreme color casts. I managed to get rid of the color casts to make images more exceptable.

Mr. Willmore took the time to teach people the theory of using Curves.

The rest of the book is great too.

This is not your usual do step 1 do step 2 kind of book, the author goes in to great detail about every feature of photoshop. I'm not a photoshop guru but I'm no newbie either and this book was very helpful. It shows you how to do things in multiple ways which is very helpful. While reading this book, there were plenty of instances when I found out I was actually doing things "The long way." Overall, this book doesn't just instruct, it helps the reader understand Photoshop.

I see a lot of complaints from advanced users saying the books is just a re-write of the previous. Well for one thing, there usually are not that many changes from one version of photoshop to the next, and two, they obviously haven't been to Ben Willmore's website since he constantly adds new techniques and tutorials for the experienced user. If you want the best "how to" book for photoshop then look no further. Instead of telling you how he did some complex picture with techno babble, he explains the purpose, history, and the use of all the tools, and this is the most important part, in plain English. Only after he explains how to use the tools does you give some examples of their use. The only thing he assumes is that you have no clue about any of the features and goes into great detail. Ben Willmore is the equivalent to those teachers we all have had now and then that make the process of learning fun and nearly painless.

If you are already an advanced user you'll find very little that is new to you, but if you are a brand new or intermediate then you are missing out on a great resource if you pass this book by.

This has a very thorough (so far--I haven't finished the book) intro to production work with Photoshop. My design program does not address technology and I've found it a very practical and cheap solution to learning production basics for my own classwork and as I prepare for the job market. So far it has demystified resolution, levels, curves, and I'm reading about color management now. MUCH better than the introductory classroom titles, and a required supplement to the manual if you ever expect to do extensive work with Photoshop.

I am a second year graphic design student at a tech-college and i must say this book has taught me more about Photoshop than any class I've taken or could take. This book has not only given me a priceless understanding of the application, but it has also given me the skills necessary to take my design to a whole new level. The time saving tips as well as the newly discovered tool capabilities has allowed me to get more done on my school projects. I hope you don't buy the book simply because if we ever compete for the same job my skills will prevail. Thanks Ben !!!!!!!!

I had originally bought this book for son who was going to spend the summer working for my development team writing unit test for our database POJOs. I was so impressed way in which concepts were incrementally introduced I read the book cover to cover. It is now the only book I recommend to beginners and I introduce it as a 'must' read for all my new hires.

This is my new favorite-book-to-give-to-anyone-who-is-learning-or-using-Java.

The title is misleading in that this book is about much more than just the Agile Programming stuff. While it does a great job talking about Agile techniques and always starts by creating a unit test, the book really is about all aspects of Java (specifically Java 5) programming. Anyone who takes the time to work through the examples will become a much better Java programmer.

OO patterns, collections, type safety and more are covered and explained in the context of a rich, in-depth example. And because the author has you construct a high-quality test suite around the example, you are free to experiment with different ways to implement each new feature - thus proving to yourself the benefits of Agile design.

Just like it says in one of the quotes on the cover, this book is now required reading for the Java programmers at our company.

I'm not a beginning programmer, or even an absolute Java novice, so maybe this book isn't really aimed at me. My biggest gripe is that the code snippets continue on and on making the book very poor for anything other than cover-to-cover reading.

I've gotten about 6 chapters into this book and I love it. I've been developing Java for almost 7 years and am currently teaching myself Agile principles and this book comes as a great help.

This book is primarily for new programmers who want to learn Java as their first programming language. The book can also be helpful for programmers familiar with test driven development (TDD) but new to Java, or vice versa. I am an experienced Java developer, and I found that going through Agile Java presented me with a new and better way of approaching Java code development. This book covers Java 2 Standard Edition (J2SE) version 5.0, but covers only a few of the additional APIs at an introductory level. Technologies that are used pervasively in the majority of enterprise applications, such as logging, JDBC, and Swing, are presented in Agile Java. Some of the information, such as that on logging, will teach you all you need to know for most purposes. Other lessons, such as those on Swing and JDBC, will give you a basic understanding of the technology and will tell you where to go when seeking further information.

The core of Agile Java is fifteen lessons of about 30 pages each. It starts with baby steps in Java, TDD, and OO. The book finishes with a strong foundation for professional Java development. The core lessons should be read sequentially since each lesson builds upon the previous ones. Once you have completed the core lessons, you should have a solid understanding of how to build robust Java code. If you haven't completed the fifteen core lessons, you should not assume you know how to write good Java code. Each of the fifteen core lessons in Agile Java has you build bits and pieces of a student information system for a university. This single common theme helps demonstrate how you can incrementally build upon and extend existing code. Each lesson also finishes with a series of exercises. Instead of the student information system, the bulk of the exercises have you build bits and pieces of a chess application. Some of the exercises are involved and quite challenging, but they are where learning the methodology really begins.

There are three additional lessons to cover a few more Java topics. Two of the lessons present an introduction to Swing. These two lessons will provide you with enough information to begin building robust user interface applications in Java. But the bigger intent is to give you some ideas for how to build them using TDD. The third additional lesson presents an overview for a number of Java topics that most Java developers will want to know such as JARs, regular expressions, cloning, JDBC, and internationalization.

I really liked how the author integrated the three concepts of Java programming, TDD, and object-oriented design without confusing matters. The book is very clear with good illustrations. I highly recommend it. The following is the table of contents:

Lesson 1. Getting Started
Lesson 2. Java Basics
Lesson 3. Strings and Packages
Lesson 4. Class Methods and Fields
Lesson 5. Interfaces and Polymorphism
Lesson 6. Inheritance
Lesson 7. Legacy Elements
Lesson 8. Exceptions and Logging
Lesson 9. Maps and Equality
Lesson 10. Mathematics
Lesson 11. IO
Lesson 12. Reflection and Other Advanced Topics
Lesson 13. Multithreading
Lesson 14. Generics
Lesson 15. Assertions and Annotations
Additional Lesson - Swing, Part 1
Additional Lesson II. Swing, Part 2
Additional Lesson III. Java Miscellany
Appendix A: An Agile Java Glossary
Appendix B: Java Operator Precedence Rules
Appendix C: Getting Started with IDEA
Agile Java References

I have been working on each chapter every week and I can't wait to start the next one. Not only does it give great tutorials which are easy to follow but while you're reading it gives tooltips that make you work faster or even better, if something goes wrong how to fix the problem. I recommend this to anyone who is just starting to learn editing or just needs a quick refresher. A+

I went from knowing absolutly nothing about Final Cut Pro HD to knowing enough to be top of my class in Film Editing. The lessons go by quick to. Easy to learn and really hands on. I HIGHLY suggest buying this if you are interested in editing video.

Like the rest of the series, it gives basic how-to information for newbies. It's well written and concise.

This was my first Apple Training Series book, and it was a very good experience. Going into this I had never learned a software package, let alone a complex one, almost completely from a book, and this experience proved it possible for me. It's no-nonsense, as comprehensive as I would want as a beginner, with very few errors, and user friendly - much more so than the tutorial that came with my software. At times it was very challenging, but that's the complexity of the s/w. Pictorials may not be as colorful as in other books, but this quickly becomes a non-issue as they are more than adequate and offset by the clarity of the text.

After several attempts at learning FCP, it was this book that did the trick. Each lesson is clear and concise. Not to mention, the book follows a logical progression in what it teaches you. In the end, I recommend this book without any reservation.

This is by far the best book on real applications using XML. The author is an expert in the field, and the book is clear and concise, yet it deals with fairly complex applications also.
I highly reccomend this

This book covers the most popular XML application architecture patterns. Great source both for ideas and ready-to-go source code. I was pleasantly surprized to find the whole chapter (Chapter 6: Import from Any Format) devoted to the problem I am facing in my current project... Another excellent book from Marchal that really helps me to do my work.

There are already lots of 5 stars here and it seems unnecessary to vote another 5 stars. Anyway, I would like to give some personal feedback.

1)This book is short in length but rich in content.

Chapter 1 convers XML in a standalone java application, SAX parser is used in this chapter; chapter 2 shows a survex project using SAX parser and servlet; chapter 3 demonstrated how to use DTD, CSS within XML editor XMetal; chapter 4 covers XML publishing, same content can be published with different style sheets for HTML, WML and RSS; chapter 5 and chapter 6 describe the conversion between XML and EDI using xsl; chapter 7 is devoted to an e-Business project, using xsl and servlet; chapter 8 can be read after chapter 4, it is also devoted to publishing, with dynamically generated xml content; chapter 9 is devoted to a stock tracking project, which uses SOAP as the communication protocol, it can be read after chapter 7.

In a whole, this book covers:

a) XML parsers in chapter 1, 2, also java, servlet, design patterns Builder, Visitor.

b) XML editor in chapter 3, also CSS, DTD,

c) Publishing (XSLT) in chapter 4 and 8, also servlet.

d) XML and EDI in chapter 5 and 6, also XSLT.

e) e-Business: chapter 7 and 9, also servlet, SOAP.

2)This books is written for java developer, good understanding of java and servlet is required.

3)There is no chapter on JSP and XML, although there are application of XML with servlet and you can transfer some servlet into JSP; there is no chapter on JMS and XML neither, you may hope to find this kind of example in a JMS book.

4)This book is surpringly easy to use. I read it several times, from the beginning to the end. I tried EVERY EXAMPLE in the book, and every example works.

To be more honest, I only find one problem in the example (I just want to prove that I really tried every example): on page 81, third paragraph, first line, the author talks about how to chnage display style in XMetal:

Choose Tools, Editor Display Style

I found "Editor Display Style" in the menu "Format" instead of menu "Tools", so maybe we shuld replace "Tools" by "Format".

5)This book uses a JDBC database HypersonicSQL, and it is on the CD. So no preinstalled database is required.

6)The servlet container used in the book is jetty, the author provided batch file to use it without any difficulty. However, if you use Tomcat or Weblogic or jrun or another servlet engine, you need to configure it.

This book has many projects, which gives insight into various parts of XML. Basic knowledge of XML is required though. Implementation of these projects is a good way of learning XML. Nothing like hand's on experience.

The author's writing style is also good, he gives reasons choosing any particular implementation.

If you really need to know XML, buy this book.

The author presents very practical example projects in each chapter. The project in Chapter 9 is especially clear on demonstating the SOAP concept. Buy this book to jump-start your XML/Java knowledge and experience. You'll never regret buying this book.

This is not a highly technical Oracle book but it does demonstrate how many of the Oracle features rely on intuition instead of science. It is not the kind of book that you will refer to later, but it is an excellent one time read

This book is a great place to start to learn about performance tuning for Oracle. The book covers the different type of performance tuning methods in a neutral and matter of fact manner. I like the candidness of the author and the fact that he does not push or suggest one method is better than any other. Use this book to start to understand the different methods then move on to more in depth books on a particular performance tuning method. Take a moment and look at the Table of Contents

Lawson gives the Oracle DBA many useful ideas on customising your Oracle database. He pretty much assumes you already possess a reasonable background in Oracle. There is no wasted space on elementary SQL or Oracle tasks.

Perhaps the key chapters are 7, "Oracle Pathologist" and 8, "Analysing SQL Bottlenecks". Later chapters add important refinements. But if you are in search of quick gains, chapters 7 and 8 could be the most fruitful. The ideas in those might not have to involve a major overhaul of your architecture.

Great book,nice and easy to follow approach,fine life examples.

Among other things the author very intelligently also reiterates

the importance of a good self image and the importance of a

good relationship to co-workers in a very casual,realistic and

non intrusive manner

The technical Oracle performance tuning section doesn't start until Chapter 5. The first 94 pages of the book is spent on topics such as "Maintain a Healthy Skepticism","Blame should be Avoided","The Cost of a Poor Working Relationship", and "The Universal Law of Reciprocity". Although the author's advice on these matters is sound, the first 94 pages clearly does not provide what the users are looking for.

The crown jewel of this book is its technical explaination of wait events. Its explaination of v$SQL, v$system_event, v$session_event, and V$Session_wait tables is well worth your money and your time. If you do not know of these tables, then do yourself and your Oracle users a great service and buy this book and master its contents. You will not regret it.

The weakspot of this book is in the resolution of Oracle's slow performance. Although the book provides strong hints that most Oracle issues can be resolved with better indexing and index hints, the book does not emphasize it as much as it should. It also doesn't provide a whole lot of suggestions on how to optimize the SGA.

As a Director of Christian Education, I wish I would have had this CD sooner as a tool for Sunday School teachers and Confirmation guides. It provides a marvelous overview of the Bible, with detailed information about each book, its key themes and its key figures. I thought the images and maps were terrific--they help to provide a sense of place and a context for many of the Bible stories. The Tutor would be a great tool for self-study or for use with small groups. It would also be a nice reference for Bible study leaders--it would enable novice leaders to develop a sense of comfort with the Bible narrative.

I highly recommend the Bible Tutor for all levels....Sunday School, confirmation, seminary, adult eduction, or just a family project. It makes learning the facts fun.

This CD is a great overview of the Bible. It is easy to manuever. Self-test questions are cross-referenced with detailed information. Charts, pictures, test questions, and text provide a variety of methods for learning the material. Works on MAC or PC computers.

I am a seminary student serving as an intern this year and have been using this program as an additional learning tool in our Confirmation classes. There is often competion among the kids to see who can get the most right answers. This is a fun and easy way to refresh one's Biblical knowledge or to teach those new to Scripture in a non-threatening and interesting way. Older folks who have used the program feel challenged by the more advanced level. This program also inspires extra reading and research into the Bible and that has been the real reward for many who have used it in this parish.

The interactive cd allows the reader to learn about the Bible in a more in-depth manner than merely reading the text descriptions often found within. Links in the program allow you to see pictures of the locations (in modern times), learn more about the culture, or get an overall description of the individual books. Once you think you know the information, if you desire you can test your knowledge with the quizzes. It's a great tool for anyone, whether they are new to the Bible or a seasoned reader.