Software Books

Professional BizTalk Server 2006 is one of those books which really goes over and above what you can find on online documentation . There are only few BizTalk books and thank god we have one like this . The books has a lot of hidden gems that will make you go 'aha '.

Absolute Must read if you love the Product. A great Chapter on Testing which I have not seen in any other BizTalk book .

Great book for all who want to know HOW BT really works and WHY it works like that. Very valuable purchase.

It took a long time for decent BizTalk Server books to start appearing, and those of us who have been committed to the product for some time know the pain (and fun) of having to work out, for ourselves, how this product works, how best to apply it to real-life scenarios and how to exploit its rich functionality.

I was really impressed with this book. It has two characteristics which I think are particularly noteworthy. The first is that it offers a huge breadth of coverage, but also manages to combine this with reasonable depth. This is hard to achieve when writing about BizTalk Server because it is such a rich an extensive product. The second characteristic is that it reads like a book written by practitioners - people with real-life experience of using the product, and the scars to prove it. Indeed, that it very much the case, and it means that the book provides far more than just rehashed information. It provides guidance, advice and best practice which is rooted in reality.

I like to think I know a thing or two about BizTalk Server (though it still manages to spring surprises on me quite regularly). I am not greatly addicted to computer books, because so many fail to be of any very practical use. However, I can report that this is the first BizTalk book (and one of very few books, generally) that I've carried with me into engagements to use as a reference. Warmly commended and highly recommended, especially for those who have done enough with BizTalk Server to realise the extent of the mountain they must climb.

I've been on a couple of BizTalk projects, all of them for Fortune 50 clients. We did a lot of things wrong, hence a lot of lessons learned. This book is good...REALLY good. How good? Well, let's just say that I never, repeat NEVER write book reviews, even if a book was the greatest thing since the bread slicer. (I guess because I'm too busy building Orchestrations and Custom Pipeline Components.) That alone should convince you that this book is a must-have for anyone wanting to know anything about BizTalk.

DISCLAIMER: Allow me to contradict that last statement... This isn't for everyone, however. It is really in-depth and explains more than the minimum required. The book also targets those of use that continue to ask the question "Why?" and it quenches our curious thirst. If I were to pick this book up when I was first learning BizTalk, I would throw it down and stomp on it. But now that I've been around the block a few times and I know the difference between a best practice and a "you're on your own" practice, I am able to get a lot from reading this material.

With BizTalk, there's so many ways to skin the proverbial cat. This books explains all of them (from what I've read), but then it points out the preferred approaches that one should take when implementing an integration solution via BizTalk Server...lots of Notes & Caveats sections, things that I crave.

This book will give you very objective insights into BizTalk. And you don't need to worry about reading it with your rose-colored glasses, either. It's neither half-empty nor half-full, it just is, you know?

This book has information in it that you simply will not find anywhere else. Its written by people who have worked with the product on some of the largest and most important projects where BizTalk has been the platform of choice, and the knowledge that thay pass on is exceptional.

While I wouldn't recommend this book to beginning programmers, it's great for people who already know another language (preferably C/C++) and a little about object-oriented programming. It touches on many subjects, so you won't need a whole bookshelf of Java books ("Let's see...one for language reference...one for graphics and the AWT...one for networking..."). I take this book back and forth every day between work and home. What would I do without it?

This is one of the first books I bought to get an understanding of Java and how it is comprable to what I already know of C/C++. This book is the perfect starting point, giving every comprable declaration to C/C++. Kudos to the authors, can't wait for a more up-to-date version though.

Excellent book, but now that Swing is moving ahead of AWT, this book is useless for GUI. But as for the basics, it's an complete book. Good for someone who already knows a programming language

Fantastic book. Pithy style, very readable, no fluff, excellent as a reference. Anyone coming to Java from C++ should get this book. About the only thing I would do to improve it would be to have at least a short chapter on database access.

Even though this is one of my oldest Java books I keep going back to it. I wish it would be updated for the new Event model and swing however. The coverage of the 1.0 JDK is very good and I still go back to the gridbag description and examples when I get confused.

This book is excellent for any web systems tester. It covers all areas of functional and non-functional testing related to the Web.
It covers how to most efficiently model a web application using a specific use case approach, in addition it covers how to test for security, performance, usability of a web site. The book has been very useful in our testing efforts.

Although the authors of this book are noted experts in software testing this book goes far beyond testing by addressing the full range of quality and design issues for web-based systems.

All of the major elements of web-engineering and quality are addressed, including SECURITY (this is the first test or quality book that fully acknowledges the relationship between quality and security, which is a cornerstone of the Reliability-Availability-Support triad for systems in production), PERFORMANCE (I especially liked this section because it got into the guts of performance and scalability), COMPATIBILITY (essential for ensuring that your system works with the world of users over whom you have no control - web-based systems can and usually do extend into the great unknown), and USABILITY (this will make or break a commercial web site).

Aside for the complete coverage of all of the important topics that need to be considered, and the life cycle approach to quality and testing this book contained a real gem: RSI approach to use cases. RSI (Requirements-Service-Interface) is an interesting and highly useful approach to use cases. Some key strengths of using the RSI paradigm is that you will ensure traceability between requirements and the services and interfaces that are implemented. Moreover, this approach partitions services and interfaces, which allows you to manage the complexities when developing a test strategy and associated test cases. To me the chapter on RSI was worth the price of the book.

Overall, this is a solid book that covers testing, as well as the larger domain of systems quality. It gives some unique insights of issues and factors related to testing, but is not solely about web testing. It should be read by all key team members including requirements analysts, architects, developers, test engineers and project managers *before* a web project is initiated.

This book covers quality assurance of web systems beyond merely testing. It offers practical insight for designers, developers, project managers and quality assurance team members. A big bonus is the appendix which details and compares automated test tools.

This is one of the best quality assurance books in a while... Thinner than Automated Software Testing, but as informative! If you are doing any kind of web testing, this one's a must have for your library. Talks about all aspects of software testing on the web. I give it 5 stars hands down!

This book was a joy to read. It gives a great overview of quality issues within "Web systems" - meaning Web applications and architectures. The book balances a too-specific look with a too-general look and succeeds quite well in a balanced treatment that will make the whole worth the attention of any quality assurance or quality tester professional in the Information Technology industry.

In particular, the second chapter, on the RSI Approach, is a nice addition as this is something that most practitioners of quality subjects will not find elsewhere and the general subject matter is generally that which is avoided in books of this type. Another topic often avoided in these books is that of usability and accessibility concerns and yet these are covered here in good detail chapter six.

In general, I think the book offered a great amount of detail just where it was needed and gave a lot of "mini best-practices" in each chapter with the use of bulleted lists to highlight specific points. The detail of the book extends to various topics, like performance, compatibility, usability, and security - all topics that are of high concern in the current world of making qualitly Web systems that customers and user respond to. The appendices in the book are also excellent. The "Test Tool Evaluations" section will be a welcome addition to those who wish there are more concise evaluation forms for automated tool solutions.

I highly recommend this book to quality assurance/testing professionals, quality assurance managers, and even those who work more in the project management and development spheres. Those latter will get benefit from the book because the book manages to highlight topics of concern to both groups and also gives them insight into the quality aspects of the projects and products that are developed within an organization.

A well organized, logical progression of accounting and financial concepts, taught and applied in a unified fashion to give the user a high level of understanding and control over his or her business. If you want to sincerly understand your business operations, to identify opportunites and to make it better, this book is for you.

As a CPA I found this book to be completely accurate and recommend it to all my clients. No book can be all things to all businesses, but this comes close.

I ended up looking for another book after receiving this book. It didn't seem to answer any of the specific questions I had regarding Quick books - It seemed to be more of a hardcopy version of the help function online which was a big disappointment. I would look at the online help in the software and if it works for you, don't waste your money on this.

A cogent resource for easily and thoroughly navigating QuickBooks. The author provides a comprehensive source enabling all business professionals to utilize QuickBooks for maximum business advantage. Highly recommended, its on my desk and should be on yours.

An invaluable resource for any business who
uses Quick Books. Concise, well-organized and complete
QuickBooks 2005 Bible is a resource we are already putting to great use in our business.

If you are a beginner to Renderman like I WAS go and get this book. ... This book will give you enough confidence and get you hooked to Renderman...big time!!..So you have been warned!!..The title should read "Get hooked to Renderman"...or "Get high on Renderman"...:). It was a little hard when I started reading the Advanced Renderman book sometime ago..Having almost gone through much of the RfB book a lot of things that were "deep" in the advanced Renderman book is very clear now...This book is simple enough to read and yet the topics are covered in great detail and depth...Can't wait to get my hands on the RSL Guide book from the same author.Indispensable if you want to learn Renderman.

i have been reading this book for some time now and frankly the much i have read i am fully satisifed with it. its well written and clears lot of concepts.


Regards

Renderman is one of the most powerful rendering packages out there, and this book forms a good guide to the self motivated reader. The author assumes little previous graphics knowledge. The basic ideas of matrix algebra and how these can be applied to graphics operations are demonstrated. Aided by numerous clear figures.

More involved operations are also explained. Bezier surfaces, NURBs, anamorphic warping etc. The Renderman language is seen as compact and versatile.

As a grad student in graphics, I've found that creating nicely rendered images is essential for effectively displaying results. I began learning RenderMan with a more advanced book, but found that my overall understanding was lacking. "Rendering for Beginners" has filled in the gaps, giving me a much better foundation for generating images. The book is easy to read and understand, and it is full of images and code snippets (full code is available on the web - which is great!)

The book and companion website has greatly enhanced my understanding, from rendering basic scenes such as wire-frame meshes to writing complex shaders. I highly recommend this book to both those beginning to learn RenderMan and people who want to strengthen their understanding of the basics.

This is a terrific book - and not just for beginners. The author gives a very clear grounding in the concepts that underpin 3D rendering applications, and shows his own deep experience with Pixar's Renderman specification and the implementations built on it by Pixar and others. He also conveys very strongly his own enthusiasm for Renderman and the underlying REYES algorithm, and this is infectious. After a few pages, you will certainly want to access one of the free or trial implementations, and give them a go for yourself.

The book is informed by extremely attractive and colorful images that very clearly illustrate the specific tools and techniques available to Renderman users, and these are fully supported by code snippets (within the text and on the companion website) that make the Renderman structure fully transparent for beginners - just as the title promises!

This is no small accomplishment as the power of Renderman - as exampled in the Pixar and many other movies made with it - arises from the extremely fine degree of control over visual phenomena that it makes accessible to users. First time exposure to the range and precision of these controls can be daunting even for experienced 3d users, but the author's explanations of the RIB and SLIM shader language scripts that drive Renderman are all you need to begin experiments of your own, and to take advantage of more specialized/advanced titles like Advanced Renderman by Apodaca and Gritz.

Renderman is great for photorealistic rendering, but it also excels for non-photorealistic techniques like 'tooning and beyond, and one exceptionally interesting part of the book (again well-supported by the website) provides plenty of illustrations and code for exotic techniques that emulate all sorts of effects from impressionist paintings to woodblock illustrations, and more.

For anyone into 3d, Renderman for Beginners makes clear that rendering packages are not just the back end of a modeling process, but are absolutely central to the practical and artistic effects that define the amazing potential of today's 3d/CG work. To understand the conceptual framework of a high-quality renderer is also to understand, and to be thrilled and amazed by the remarkable workings of our own visual engagement with the world. And, after many years of working in this field, Saty Raghavachary, the author, is obviously still very much under the spell of this excitement. Whether you read Renderman for Beginners as a practical introduction to a prospective career, say as a Technical Director in CG, or whether you read it just for a general understanding of how our contemporary visual culture is evolving, this book will satisfy you fully. Thanks, Saty.

I have all RenderMan books on the market.
This one is impressed me!
The authors explain step by step and that make readers understand RenderMan more.

Same as other reviews, lacking of CD is the shame.
However, overall still be very good to me.
And if you consider the price is very worth for money.
That's why I think this book should be given 5 stars.
Hopefully, There will be more good RenderMan books available soon.

Tee

The RenderMan Shading Language Guide is an excellent resource. It contains numerous examples of shader code, to help get you started with writing your own shaders. I was happy to see the robust section on illumination models, with some sl code provided for most of them. I found the section that had common functions (like gamma() and remap()) very helpful, and appreciated the disscussion on more sophisticated components of the shading language (like subsurface scattering and global illumination). In addition, for the user who is new to the process of writing and compiling shaders, a number of pages are devoted to explaining how to achieve these goals. All in all, I would highly recommend this book to any user who wants to learn how to write his/her own RenderMan shaders.

I have read many technical manuals relating to the 3D Animation and Visual Effects industries, and I can honestly say that this is easily one of the best available.

Given the limited library of Renderman books, I'd call this an absolute must have for any Lighting/Rendering/Shader TD, or any artist or technical director involved in the look development and shot finaling pipelines.

Even if you haven't yet worked within a Renderman pipeline, this is the perfect publication to introduce you to, and bring you up to speed in, the Renderman Shading Language (RSL).

I've found that the majority of technical manuals suffer from a number of common flaws:

1. The information is presented chaotically, and with minimal use of examples or descriptions, resulting in a publication that would readable only by those that already know everything it has to teach.

2. The information is presented so laboriously that what should take a paragraph instead takes up three chapters.

The Renderman Shading Language Guide is perfectly paced for beginners and intermediate users alike, and indeed when I showed the book to a couple of highly experienced Renderman TDs, they were surprised by the sheer volume of information and ordered copies for themselves.

Everything is presented in short blocks with an easily readable description, examples, shortcuts and conclusions. There is no unecessarily complicated geek speek, and neither is the reader treated like a 4 year old.

Even though I barely remember my high school math, and in the most flattering estimation I'd be considered a competent beginner when it comes to the math involved in RSL, I found the examples relatively easy to follow for the most part. And in those parts where the math went well over my head, I found the simple descriptions and concise, well explained instructions to be all I needed to quickly understand the topic.

From cover to cover this book is crammed full of useful information. There is no wastage of space in these pages. It seems that every conceivable question is answered - every possible topic covered from introduction to an advanced level of understanding and a practical and immmediately useful conclusion.

And at the price? This book is a steal.

One very minor complaint I would make is in regards to the occasional typographical error. An equation or two is printed with "?" in place of "*" or another symbol, and there are a few spelling and grammatical errors. But as I said, it is a minor complaint.

Also, I would have liked to have seen more complete shader examples demonstrated in a step-by-step process, as while this book is overflowing with informative mini-tutorials, it all seems a little incongruous. It would have been good to see a few more examples where the information was brought together in real-world ways to create some amazing completed shaders. Perhaps in a sequel? ;)

All in all, HIGHLY RECOMMENDED, from an industry Lead Lighting TD.

9.5/10

This book presents a well organized approach to shader writing. It is focused on practical advice and application that a beginner can use in the industry. An example would be the chapter on setting up the development environment,things like which were not the focus of Advanced Renderman. The technical content has been diluted to expand the readership-I think antialiasing is covered better in Advanced Renderman. In this book that chapter comes at the end. Note also that this is a shading book, so don't expect topics like procedural geometry creation or hair or fur DSOs or level of detail, though there is a one paragraph reference to deep shadow maps on page 239.

The book also does a good job in covering raytracing and global illumination, an area that has seen changes in PRMan since Advanced Renderman was written. How to use shadow maps is covered well too.

One issue is that the code is not included, I hope I find it on the website. Typing in hundreds of Halton sequence shader number samples does not sound very appealing.
Giving it a 5 overall because of its practical, industry focused advice. Technical content wise it would rate a 4.

I caught wind that this book was coming out well before it actually came out and could hardly contain my excitement. I had it ordered before it was even off the press.

Let's face it, trying to learn Renderman online is like trying to ride a bike with a flat tire. You can go, but not very fast or very far. I own several other renderman books but found them to be a bit out of date and lacking in areas. Since leaving school and entering into the industry I had actually been considering writing a Renderman book myself. I am glad to say that now I don't have to!

I have been enjoying my copy of the book since december of last year. I admit that I was thrown off by all the refrences to the accompanying cd, as well as a few typos throughout. I was overjoyed however to find the website today! This is the book that I have needed for a long time. It is well worth what you pay for it.

This encyclopedia is a leading resource written by leading philosophers and scholars. It is indispensible for researchers and students who need to refer to a philosophical topic or a great thinker and their thought. It is also good for the casual reader who may be interested in philosophy and wishes to learn more about the subject.

The encyclopedia is very comprehensive and covers all the main areas of philosophy as well as both Eastern and Western philosophy. Jewish and Islamic and African Philosophies are also well represented. There are many biographies of leading philosophers, as well as scientists, theologians, lawyers, writers and politicians who have covered philosophical questions.

The price puts this resource beyond the means of most individual buyers, but all good libraries should stock it.

It is the best encyclopedia of philosophy available in English,
and as comprehensive as one could reasonably want on the
Anglo-American analytic tradition. However, it is still inferior
to the magisterial Historisches Woerterbuch der Philosophie, ed.
Joachim Ritter (12 vols., of which 11 have thus far been
published) - the one true indispensable philosophical reference
work.

We bought this encyclopedia set to the Royal School of Library and Information Science in Copenhagen (both the 10 vol. hardbound and the cd-rom version). I simply find it indispensable and so do many of my colleagues and students. My experience is that this effect comes from the first glance in this work. We are not using this work as professional philosophers but as library and information scientists who needs a broad orientation about fundamental problems related to knowledge, its production, dissemination and use. In my opinion there is a general trend in many of the social sciences towards more theoretical and philosophical foundations. In this process it is extremely important that you have works that bring concise introductions to various traditions in thinking and scientific methodology. The importance of this work is in my view, that it allows researchers and students in social sciences and other fields to have a central reference point when we put forward our arguments.

This work is useful along several dimensions. In this review I shall only mention epistemology and the philosophy of science. We have in all the sciences (especially in the social sciences, psychology, media and information sciences) many approaches or "paradigms", for example: (social) constructivism, critical realism, empiricism, feminist epistemology, hermeneutics, historicism, paradigm theory (Thomas Kuhn), Marxist philosophy of science, critical rationalism (Karl Popper), positivism and logical positivism, postmodernism and poststructuralism, pragmatism, rationalism, and realism (with scientific realism and antirealism). One simply need to be informed about the basic principles behind such approaches, and the Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy is the only place where you can get a reasonable detailed and comprehensive overview. Add to this that every article starts with a summary, and ends with references and reading lists (often annotated). This is simply a very user friendly design. Of course no work can answer all questions, and of course serious students need much more than this (and of course a few articles is a little disappointing). This work is, however, an important tool, that in my view cannot be overestimated. Its real importance is, I think, that it can strengthen the theoretical approaches in many sciences because it provides us with a common overview and reference point. When I am introducing or discussing Library and Information Science, I am trying to connect the different approaches or paradigms in this field to basic philosophical questions (se my article "Library and information science: practice, theory, and philosophical basis in the journal Information Processing and Management, vol. 36(3), 2000, pp. 501-531). In this way I hope to be able to contribute to the development of this field. In my opinion all other fields should benefit in a similar way. Why is philosophy important for most fields? Because the empiricist and positivist view is simply wrong. You cannot produce knowledge from observations alone. You simply have to consider many theoretical issues which have been clarified through accumulated experiences.

This collection, especially the CD-ROM version is a very useful resource. It is easy to use and very consice, full of information. This encyclopedic collection contains all themes in philosophy and some in religion, which makes it useful when someone is trying to make connections to other fields. Individual philosophers and a general overview of their life works and projects, different idealogies and terms are all explained in full extent in this simple to use encyclopedia.

It is so exciting to be able to use this resource. It is a recent acquisition at the college's library, and since I have discovered it I haven't been able to put it down. I give it 5 stars, and although I haven't read it entirely (for obvious reasons), I think it will be a resource I will be using for the rest of my life.

Check it out and see for yourself!?!

I was excited about this collection, but I thought it was 37 dollars and 75 cents, so I was a bit disconcerted to find a $3,775 dollar charge to my Visa. However, once I started reading the collection, I realized it was worth every penny of the cost -- for all you get, this is an absolute steal, really! Now I'm sending the collection to friends and family as gifts. Take out a loan, beg, borrow or steal: Do whatever you need to do to get the money to order this series -- you won't be disappointed.

The book is really well written, covering even more topics (i.e. Networking) than the first edition. Considering the advanced nature of the book, it's surprisingly easy to understand.

However, i would recommend reading Operating Systems: Design and Implementation (3rd edition) by Andrew S. Tanenbaum and Albert S. Woodhull before this one if you're not familiar with Operating Systems, as this book covers advanced topics which are not for begginers.

Reading this book, I think it helps to know UNIX and some C already, but is ok if you don't... This book gives great details and examples. Must have for anyone working on/with solaris 10.
Yes.. it explains how zones and things like that work...

Do you want to know how the Solaris kernel works? This is the book for you!

If you've read any of the other titles by these authors you'll know how clear and succinctly written this book is. The book is not your normal 2nd edition "nip and tuck", it's a rewrite!

One of the things I really like about this book is that it describes the internal theory and implementation of many kernel subsystems, but is not a code walk through or reiteration of other books / manuals.

The book covers many of the new and recent features of Solaris, so it's also valuable for long time Solaris engineers that need to keep updated. People that are new to UNIX internals will also like this book as it starts with the assumption of some UNIX principles (but not too much), and takes you a *lot* further.

There are pointers to other material for the truely adventurous, and small examples with sample output that keep the subject material relevent and enable to reader to make the connection between the theory and their system.

Very highly recommended!

The book "Solaris (TM) Internals and OpenSolaris
Kernel Architecture (2nd Edition)"
is one of the best
books (perhaps the best one) that I own on
the Operating Systems related field.

I study also the Linux Kernel which is also
technically elegant, and I recommend to anyone
interested in Operating Systems design and
implementation, to study the
OpenSolaris Kernel also,
since is very well designed and
in my opinion is technically
the best design that I know until now.

The book is excellent, it has clear presentation of the
advanced algorithms used at the Solaris internally,
and the reader has a lot to gain by elaborating
the internals of perhaps the most
advanced modern operating system.

Well written and detailed. If you wish or need to know about the internals of Solaris this book is the source. This is a second edition and covers 10 and updates information on 8 and 9. The first edition covered 2.5.1, 2.6, and 7. I liked the first edition and waited for this edition based on the books/authors web site and have not be disappointed. Highly recommended, a reasonable background in OS theory is helpful with the type of material covered here - but not required - it will aid in understanding however. Recommended more general OS books would include "Operating System Concepts" by A. Silberschutz, J. Peterson, P. Galvin, "Operating Sytstems" by A. Tanenbaum, A. Woodhull, and "Unix Internals" by Uresh Vahalia among others.

While working on a 90 page directory for our church, complete with written history, pictures, and lists of official acts in columns, I ran into a few formatting questions. I ordered this book and I found it answered my questions in lanugage I could easily understand, point by point, after looking up the difficulty in the books' Index. I highly recommend the book to those using WordPerfect X3. The boxed "Tips" on many subjects from the two authors are a nice plus.

I found the book to be quite useful in adapting to WordPerfect Office X3. My only complaint: My copy started falling apart almost as soon as I started using.

I've been using WordPerfect for about 20 years or more. It's a fine WP for anyone writing books. I bought this resource book after getting the X3 office suite and I find that even though I thought the upgrade of the word processing feature was not much advanced over version 6 or 9, the "Using" book shows me otherwise. I need it to make sure my investment in X3 is fully realized. It seems clear, complete, and with enough detail to keep me busy when I need to know something.

Having used WordPerfect since version 4.1, it remains my word processor of choice. When forced to (usually when dealing with other people's files with multiple inserted images) I can grit my teeth and use the "other" program, but I always bail out of it and get back into WP as soon as I can.

This guide is big and user-friendly, and fills the gap caused by software makers providing less and less in the user guide department. On-screen help and PDF on-disk manuals have their place, but there are times when nothing works like a hardcopy manual that you can tag and make notes in and that doesn't clutter up the screens you are trying to work on. This guide is well worth the price if you only need it once in a while.

I've been a WordPerfect user (and never much of an MS Word user) ever since adolescence. A major attraction for myself and many others being the Reveal Codes function. However, this review is not about WordPerfect vs. MS Word, but about the book Special Edition Using WordPerfect X3.

One of the most important features of a book such as this (which is about 2 inches thick) is its index. I find the index to be well laid out, easy to read and a good combination of bold and plain text. There is also a Contents at a Glance on the very first page, as well as the Contents proper.

New features of WordPerfect X3 are listed on pages 2 to 7. Note that I don't consider the addition of the Yahoo! toolbar, and the Y! icon (which I couldn't get rid of - it kept reappearing) as enhancements. This is clearly a commercial move rather than purely an enhancement, which brings me to my only complaint with this book, it seems to lack a critical edge. Not once in the whole manual is there a "bug", nor "plugin". Come on, let's get into the workarounds and tweaks! Anyway, this isn't enough for the manual to lose any stars in my opinion.

The ease of pasting unformatted text from other programs/documents (an essential feature - done in a more round-about way in MS Word) is described on page p339. I use this feature all the time, I'm very pleased to learn (p339 - again) of the shortcut key Ctrl+Shift+V to do this very quickly.

Just to go back to the WordPerfect vs MS Word debate for a minute. The #1 downfall of WordPerfect is becoming more and more clear in our globalised world: The lack of unicode support (especially obvious when it comes to Asian languages).

Overall: Highly recommended. Special Edition Using WordPerfect X3 complements the simplicity and comprehensiveness of WordPerfect itself.

I was given this book when I first joined Mcdonnell Douglas back in the early 90's, as every programmer did. It is the bible of design books. Every software engineer and designer should have a copy.

One of the first book written on structured systems analysis and still, after 20 years, one of the best. The techniques has stood the test of time.

I read this book over 20 years ago. It is still the best. I keep it right on my desk.

I was introduced to Data Flow Diagraming in college with this book. Since then I have seen many other books describing DFD's. All fail to explain them as clearly as this book does. I highly recommend it!

As a business process consultant and information systems designer, I am constantly looking for effective techniques for capturing business details and new system requirements. I have looked at every new tool and method to come along, but this is STILL the best one there is. A testament to this book and it's methods is that many of the latest software tools, using the latest technology, still build on the methods and diagrams used in this book. And it's all still valid. Every consultant, business analyst, and systems designer MUST have a copy of this book in their library!