Software Books

This book is excellent. Not only is it fun to read but also very informative. You can read it from front to back and you can use it as a reference manual. What graphics mode for tracks does what? You'll find it! What compression scheme do I need for what purpose? You'll find it! How do I change the movie controller? Why do I have to change it sometimes? Just look it up! Did you ever wanted to know how the people from Apple make movie trailers?

The CD contains an audio tour, many examples, and software (QuickTime 5 Pro, full versions and demo versions of various tools) for Windows and Macintosh computers.

This book was written very well, and is full of useful information. It isn't just for the web! It's a must-have for anyone working with Quicktime. Good book.

I like a lot Mr.Gulie's writing and especially the chapter about SMIL and how it can be used to create QuickTime movies.

The main reason I bought the book was that it had license keys for QuickTime5 Pro for PC and Mac. Those keys costed [price] each at that time if one bought them separately (supposing they had both a Mac and a PC). So it was a good deal apart from the book content itself. An unfortunate thing is that the QT5Pro keys won't work with QT6Pro and that QT6 can't coexist with QT5 on the same machine. So I do still use QuickTime5 (Pro) on my machine...

The book also contains a CD with lots of material which is a must for books about multimedia and rich content (would be a big download for one to get from the publisher's website).

Another thing about such books are that they're usually not printed in color :(, obviously to keep the cost low

This book contains all of the otherwise unwritten techniques for producing QuickTime movies and panoramas for the web, appropriate for both Macintosh and Windows users.

Steve Gulie is in constant contact with producers of QuickTime content (on the mailing list), and is familiar with their day-to-day travails. The book is essentially an embellished FAQ, plus suggestions from Steve's first-hand experience in producing QuickTime for the Web.

The book comes with a QuickTime Pro license for both the Macintosh and Windows, which more than pays for the cost of the book. In addition, the accompanying CD contains demos or fully functional versions of dozens of useful application, for Mac and Windows.

If you're doing any QuickTime production and delivering it on the web, then you need this book.

Steve Gulie does it again. It is rare to read a technical book that makes you laugh out loud, but Steve leavens the clearly-explained information about the intricacies of QuickTime and Web browers with wit and humour.
This second edition includes QT 5 Pro Keys for Windows and Macintosh - separately these alone would cost nearly (...), so the book is a bargain too.

Full disclosure - I am an engineer on the QuickTime team, know the author, and proof-read this book. I know that it is accurate and helpful, and that it will explain techniques that would take you a long time tolearn on your own.

Bought the book as an intermediate trainng reference for my apprentices with no backgrounds in Adobe CS2 in my own agency. The practical training one gets is limited to the kind of projects the agency does. So, one will not really learn a lot until the need arises. This book for InDesign (and I must say the same for Photoshop and Illustrator) provided my staff with the whole gamut of skills to learn and practice exercise to be able to perform their work when we finally needed to do certain tasks.

Great instructional book. The tone of the book is not preachy but confident. It's great for beginners who are trying to switch from Quark to INDesign.

Real World InDesign CS2 is what the users manual should be. For example, It covers Tables which only appear in the online help for InDesign CS2. The users manual only makes reference to See the Help files. Like the previous Real World InDesign texts it is well written, easy to understand, and covers all of the functions of the software. From creating an initial layout to color management to Printing the final project Real World InDesign CS2 is the text to have. I would recommend Real World InDesign CS2 to both Novices and long-time users of InDesign. It is the one book you will refer to time and again for problem solving.

This book is chock full of good information for new designers needing to know more about the production side of the world. This book is a great reference and enlightened me on aspects I didn't even know I needed to know. I listen to David Blatner's "InDesign Secrets podcasts", and his humor and knowledge carry through in this book.

Being an established professional in the graphics field, I am exposed to many publications. Over 85% of published 'how-to' publications are nothing more than a dressed-up copy of the user's manual. This book IS NOT ONE OF THEM!

Being technical oriented, yet creative versatile, I look at books beyond the flashy covers and the chosen layout. This title is one the finest books ever written on InDesign CS2. It challenges the reader with an abundance of information.

Not every operator uses InDesign CS2 the same way. This book addresses the needs of the readers. A Must Buy for the InDesign end user than needs more information than how to setup a document, and an expanded view of the rich features InDesign has to offer.

Excellent book for those wanting to set up colour workflows. In depth explanations based on practicle applications. This is not a step by step guide for those wanting to learn photoshop

Very in-depth explanation of Photoshop CS3. A lot more detailed and advanced than most Photoshop books. This is really a resource or reference book and not a book that you can just sit down and read through like Scoot Kelby's book on CS3 for digital photographers, but it is far more informative and in-depth than Kelby's book.

There's nothing else out there that comes even close to this book as an encyclopedic reference to Photoshop CS3. Losing Bruce Fraser is a terrible blow to all of us who've relied for decades on his ability to make complicated subjects understandable, but David Blatner is keeping up the tradition and it appears that Conrad Chavez is a valuable addition to the lineup.

The chapter on color settings in this book is worth the price of admission all by itself. If you do serious work with CS3 you NEED this book. Sit down and read it all the way through, highlight revealing passages, and make notes on the blank parts of the front pages. When you finish you'll have the whole story at your fingertips. Like most CS3 users I work with a subset of Photoshop most of the time, but when I'm faced with an unusual problem I can dive into this book and come up with the solution in a minute or two. Once you've done your homework on the book you won't want to be without it.

This book is so much more than a list of Photoshop options. It tells you how to do the things that as a photographer you will probably be doing a lot of, not all kinds of theoretical stuff that you will probably never even think about doing. That said, there's too much pre-press and print industry material for my taste. But the photography-relevant material is first-rate.

This book surpassed all my expectations, it was made for serious professionals, and that's what I wanted. Although I'm only an amateur photographer and Photoshop enthusiast, I'm enjoying the book, but because I'm very curious and exactly because I love Photoshop so much I wanted to understand everything about it.

If you are also an enthusiast/amateur but don't care about how this marvelous program works, you better get an easier book with canned "how toos". This book also has step by step guides, but on the top of it they explain every single detail of how everything works.

The authors give very in depth explanations on color theory, color management (I had a hard time on this), color spaces, exactly what is a digital image, etc. Although I found this all fascinating, as I already said I had a hard time trying to understand some concepts about color management, but my guess is that if you are a professional you will understand it better.

They also explain Bridge and Camera Raw. I understand why they included these 2 programs in the book (they work together, although CR is actually a plugin), but I could live without it, mostly because there are more in depth books about CR, like Real World Camera Raw with Adobe Photoshop CS3 (Real World), by Bruce Fraser and Jeff Schewe (I love this guy, check out his videos on CR at the Luminous Landscape website). If you don't plan on buying a specific book on CR, then the chapter about it is a good introduction.

The most fun part is of course on Photoshop itself, covered in a brilliant, flawless way, with everything you could wish for and more.

The book is massive, more than 700 pages, and is written in a nice, light but serious way. They won't waste your time and patience on endless silly jokes like Scott Kelby. For someone like me, whose mother language isn't English, I could understand everything and the reading flowed smoothly.

I was first introduced to Kris Jamsa's books when I first took DOS Programming. When I saw it was written by Kris Jamsa, I bought it on the spot! It is very step-by-step. I used this book instead of the book assigned in my JAVA class. It also comes with software and shows you how to install JBuilder on your computer which I found out is a thousand times better for code writing than Microsoft Visual J++. More raw coding and less Microsoft's invasive code. I highly recommend this for the first time JAVA programmer.

I'm just starting JAVA programming and this is by far the best book I've read on the subject. It mainly deals with programming applets but explains the logic of JAVA programming well enough to extend what you have learned into more complex applications. The problem I've had with other books is that they don't teach the basics and by the third chapter you're completely lost. Short chapters make concepts easy to remember and refer back to. Examples are cogent and apply the material directly related to the current chapter. After I'm done with this book I will have a good working knowledge of JAVA and will finally be able to understand the more difficult books.

After scouring bookstores for a Java book that was to the point, didn't weigh 25 pounds, and best of all made immediate sense, I was pleased to find this book by K. Jamsa.

Each chapter is concise, tells you what you're going to learn, tells you about it, then tells you what you just learned. The ideal model for education!

The chapters are paced well, with little fluff, just well-explained examples. All the graphics are laid out quite well, all in all, a well designed book!

The CD that comes with it has everythng that you need to get up and running, no extra downloads necessary.

Hope that they come out with "Rescued Again by Java", covering advanced topics.

5 out of 5

Kris Jamsa has written some excellent C/C++ tutorials, so its no surprise that this beginners guide to Java is just as clearly written and explained. In this volume, Kris is giving you just enough of everything you need to know to get started in the right direction. You'll likely need a more comprehensive reference book (I recommend Ivor Horton's Beginning Java 2) if you want to turn 'pro'. But here's the best thing about this edition -- you get a fully functioning copy of Borland's JBuilder 2 Pro edition on the CD-ROM. That's a pretty nice bargain considering the price of the book. The latest version of JBuilder would costs many, many times that. I would recommend any book on programming written by Jamsa, and this one is no exception.

I was lost in reading on-line tutorials and Java books that claimed to be for beginners. "Rescued by Java" truly came to rescue. It allowed me to built a solid foundations of the language concepts and syntax. I can see it now possible to reach for more advanced books. The book is written in a very thorough way. The examples are simple but so well thought out that all the language concepts are easy to grasp page by page upon reading for the first time. By the way I'm a COBOL programmer with many years of industry experience.

As an author of technical books I am especially critical of the delivery of technical information - especially when covering topics that can be heavily theoretical. Iljitsch van Beljnum's book on IPv6 provides an excellent balance between theory and practice. It introduces the IPv6 protocol and how to run it. It provides real-life examples of the protocol in action and how it can be used with a variety of applications. It particularly addresses the transition from IPv4 to IPv6, myths about IPv6, routing and DNS. It also importantly covers changes in IP protocol security as a result of the introduction of IPv6.

If you're looking at moving to IPv6 or if you are simply interested in how it is run, routes, and interacts with operating systems and applications then I strongly recommend this book.

'Running IPv6' by Iljitsch van Beijnum is an essential reference for any IT people who are looking to:

1. Upgrade from IPv4
2. Learn more about the IPv6 standard
3. Want to configure and set up IPv6

This book covers Windows, Mac, Free BSD, Linux, Cisco routers, DNS and bind... the whole shebang

Not written for a novice, this book assumes that you have knowledge of IP-related material and are not reading this book simply for "vacation reading". In a niche market this book scales its way to the top of the moutain.

Great resource!!

***** HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

When I read and reviewed O'Reilly's IPv6 Network Administration by Niall Richard Murphy and David Malone, I called their book "a must-have book for all network administrators." Upon seeing Apress' Running IPv6 by Iljitsch van Beijnum, I wondered if I would waste my time reading and reviewing another book on IPv6. Now I'm glad I digested Running IPv6 -- it's my first must-read book of 2006. The books are complementary, so I recommend them both.

Three years ago I read and reviewed van Beijnum's book on BGP, which I liked while thinking it was somewhat terse. In Running IPv6, van Beijnum strikes the proper balance between explanatory language and technical details. Every chapter in the new book taught me something useful. In Ch 1 I liked comparisons involving IPv4, IPv6, IPX, DECnet, AppleTalk, and OSI CLNP. In Ch 2 I enjoyed sections on using 48 bit MAC addresses in IPv6 addresses. Ch 3 featured tips on the "on-link" assumption. As would be expected in a book by a BGP expert, Ch 4 provided lots of guidance on routing IPv6. Ch 5 included history on the evolution of DNS for IPv6, with RFCs 1886 and 2874 competing for primacy.

Ch 6 covered issues that applications might encounter when handling IPv6. Ch 7 introduced the "HD ratio," which estimates the point at which the effort required to manage increasingly "used-up" address space suggests that expanding it would be more efficient. Ch 8 mentioned the headaches caused by automatically generated, multiple MAC addresses for IPv6 multicast. Ch 9 scared me with use of the multicast ping for host discovery. Ch 10 was the first time I saw an effort to show how to use Tcpdump with IPv6.

I had no real issues with Running IPv6. I found a few production errors and typos that can be fixed in later printings. All are obvious, except the use of the word "maximum" in the first sentence of the last paragraph on p. 153. (I think that should be "minimum.")

Like IPv6 Network Administration, I liked van Beijnum's attention to command syntax for multiple OS' -- especially FreeBSD. He even covered Cisco and Juniper in the same book. Since I suggest reading the O'Reilly and Apress titles, I recommend reading the former first and the latter second. Van Beijnum's book is best read by those with a little more exposure to IPv6, but it can certainly stand alone if need be.

If you plan to ever have anything to do with IPv6, you must buy van Beijnum's latest book. Bravo.

I've have been working on an IPv6 lab and Running IPv6 is a great reference for setting up OS and router configurations. Excellent material in a short compact format with no bull or filler. I have to say this is the best IPv6 book I have read so far. It is also the most up to date of the books considering all the RFC changes that happen for IPv6.
If you are looking for something that is clear and to the point about how to USE IPv6 then this is it. There are plenty of other books out there that go into the theory and design which might be better suited for studying (Joseph Davies - Understanding IPv6 or Regis Desmeules - Implementing Cisco IPv6 Networks) but if you want to get an IPv6 network running NOW then Iljitsch van Beijnum book is for you. Kudos for writing a great practical IPv6 book.
- Ed Horley

IPv6 has been brooded over for a decade by various Internet groups. This book shows its present incarnation. It has grown very sophisticated; well beyond a simple vast expansion of the address space from 32 bits to 128 bits. So the text talks about the various tunnelling and routing options that become possible under it, that are unavailable under IPv4.

Yet to me the most interesting section of the book is the chapter on transitioning from IPv4 [the current Internet] to IPv6. Every other technical issue about IPv6 pales in comparison to this quandry. The author gives the best value in the book in this chapter. He shows firstly that IPv4 will inevitably exhaust its space. Though he prudently refrains from speculating when that might be. The transition must also be incremental. No one expects a swift global change to be realistic.

Then he explains that the modes of transition come down to analysing only 4 communication models for most common web usage. Namely email, Web browsing and two types of peer-to-peer usage. Examples of the latter are VoIP and BitTorrent.

From the models, we see the necessity for using a proxy or address translation to handle the transition. An especially clear analysis.

I am currently working on a compiler that outputs SVG. 'Teach yourself SVG in 24 Hours' has enabled be to gain a good understanding of how to use some of the nice, handy features of SVG without having to spend ages geeking around on the internet looking for online tutorials!

It was a pleasent suprise to open a computing book that wasn't in too much jargon - quite a handy thing when its your first exposure to a new language. This book it written for everyone! (unless you have no interest in computers or the internet etc..)

I am a graphic artist using Adobe Illustrator and I wanted to learn more about SVG. I asked the Adobe people about this file format that is included with the newest versions of Illustrator but was unable to find out much. Finally I found this great book.

This book begins with an overview and describes the justification and process of development of SVG. In chapter 2 it jumps right in and teaches the nuts and bolts of creating images with SVG. As I am not a coder or programmer, I was amazed at the simplicity. Once a few basics had been explained I was off and running. Anyone with even the most basic computer and a simple text editor can create sophisticated graphics.

Towards the end of the book is a section on using Adobe Illustrator and in the back there is a reference section for oddball color conversion. The book also comes with the Adobe Web Collection CD that includes the viewer and tryout versions of Illustrator and Photoshop.

I'm really excited by the potential of this technology and can recommend this book to anyone who wants to develop some expertise in a hurry.

Good Luck...Tom Burns

Teach Yourself SVG in 24 Hours, I believe, is one of the best computer books I've read. I am a computer savvy with 5 years experiences in programming and network administration as well as database management. Recently I am working on a project involving SVG.

This book walked you through a series of detailed tutorials to build a dynamic weather forecast web page using SVG step by step. In each chapter, a new topic is covered in an easy-to-understand and informative manner, which makes the learning curve pretty flat. As the title suggests, this book is an introductory primer to a new technique so it is not intented to delve too deep into a specific topic. However, a good many hyperlinks to W3C's online SVG specification appear here and there for your reference if you would like to make your hands dirtier...In a nutshelll, if you would like to teach yourself SVG from the beginning, it is The book, though it may, by a large chance, take you more than 24 hours to go through it.

Web developers and designers alike should have a full acquaintance with this exciting new technology. There aren't many resources yet available, and this book will prove to be a trailblazer.

SVG (Scalable Vector Graphics) is an XML implementation utilizing a markup language similar to HTML but created specifically to render and control graphics. It is a robust mix of technologies including the DOM, CSS, Xlink, XSLT and JavaScript, and using the Adobe® SVG Viewer (a free plug-in), it supports static and dynamic graphics and WAV or MP3 audio.

Web developers should learn SVG because it is open-source and built in a simple text editor. It gives complete control of each graphic element. Web designers should use SVG because it is powerful -- graphics packages such as Adobe Illustrator, Corel Draw, Jasc Web Draw and others support SVG output. SVG also enables flash-like animation. In fact, SVG is THE open-source solution to web animation. No longer do you need expensive proprietary software to get the job done.

Anyway, this book is what you need. (That's how I learned all this.) Author Micah Laaker, while presenting the material in a comprehensive, straightforward and exciting manner, will leave an excellent reference guide on your book shelf. Buy it, read it and keep it handy.

The book provides an excellent introduction to logic and then shows how by using the language of logic and mathematics to specify pre-conditions and post-conditions one can develop provably correct programs from these pre-conditions and post-conditions.

I have used the methods in this book to develop advanced algorithms in Computer Graphics which could not have been developed in any other way.

The book is both a tutorial and reference. It is clearly written and organized.

When I first read this book, it was as though a bolt of lightning had struck me. Applying its methods, I became a much better programmer. I went from someone who struggled to get the code right to someone who always got the code right. For the first time I understood what programming was all about. I read the book on vacation while my wife and I were staying at my father's home in Sag Harbor New York and it was one of the most incredible intellectual adventures of my life. I'll never forget the smell of the sea and the sand and the logic going off like lightning flashes inside my brain.

This book makes my top-ten list of best computing books of the decade of the eighties. It certainly changed my outlook on how to write programs. The incorporation of logic into the code to mathematically prove that it works correctly was an ideal in the eighties and to some extent it remains an ideal. Nevertheless, that is not a reflection of the value of program correctness, but a consequence of the slow changes that sometimes take place in computing. Programmers may change their languages easily, but often not their styles.
At the time this book came out, I was in the process of designing and adding a course in computation theory with an emphasis on program correctness at Mount Mercy College. Before I encountered this book, I was having a difficult time pressing my case. However, after this book came out and I could use some of the comments regarding the significance of its' content, the course was easily approved. I also used the book in the class and the student comments were overwhelmingly positive. Ten years later, the book is still used in the class, something that is rare in computing.
The quality of the writing and explanations of the examples in the book are outstanding. Most of the students had no experience in formal logic, and yet they had little difficulty understanding and applying the concepts. The examples of proving the code correct were well chosen and I rarely heard any of the traditional complaints from math students regarding their frustrations over having to work through proofs.
The quality of programs would be dramatically increased if the principles of program correctness in this book were widely adopted. I continue to push for it every chance I get, and this review is one part of that push.

If you want to make a good programmer,you should study it. Many programmers just like programming , but they ignore how to verify their program is whether good enough or not.

The book deals with the way of development of programs using mathematical principles. This line of observation ( mentioned in the preface) " One can not learn to write large programs effectively until one has learned to write small ones effectively" captures the motivation of the book. There are three parts; part I introduces predicate logic; it includes natural deduction system; Part II builds the mathematical treatment of the programming constructs like assignment, alternative, iterative command and procedure call. Part III shows how programs are developed and proved correct using the mathematical principles discussed earlier. Given the nature of the area, the book is written with a lot of attention to instructional impact. The best recommendation for the book is by Dijkstra: The topic deserves no less author... To get the message across requires a scientist that combines his scientific involvement in the subject with the precious gifts of a devoted teacher".

Simply put, a book that re-introduces the idea of program correctness over all else. An excellent source on program design & analysis, checking for correctness using a logic-based approach. A book that builds from the fundamentals. Not for those who are looking for quick fixes.

This book was a welcome break from the manual that comes with version 7.0. Very easy to understand the basics and it also contains alot of other stuff. I needed to create some reports quickly and this book really helped.

The best on the market you will find. The book is very easy to follow and chapters are very nicely arranged. Good work.

My company purchased Crystal Reports as the main utility for pulling data from our large relational database. I had never seen Crystal before much less used it. I got my hands on this book today at 12:30 p.m. By 1:17, I was pulling data and manipulating reports like a pro. I would recommend this book to anybody who has to learn Crystal in a hurry.

The company i work for purchased Crystal Reports for a report conversion proyect and i had never used this software before and in couple of hours i was creating some basic to complicated reports. I recomend this book for anyne who need to get hands on fast.

This book was an excellent start for Crystal. I can actually read the huge technical Crystal Report books and understand what they are reffering to. It helped open the door to a whole new world.

A comprehensive survey which will be useful for Exchange admins, but also allows others (CIO's, CSO's, business folk) to understand the issues and solutions available for Exchange security.

I'm NOT an Exchange admin, I focus more on compliance and security, and found the chapters on this the best summary I've seen. Very valuable to anyone dealing with compliance issues for corporate email.

If you've read the 'Security Operations for Microsoft Exchange 2000 Server' guide from Microsoft, what value can this book possibly add? That's the question I asked myself before digging into this book. Answer: A LOT!

For starters, it's a very well-written book - starts with some great explanations of Security Fundamentals - the buzzwords, the protocols & algorithms, threats, risks, and vulnerabilities. I've read many security books, but seldom have I found just the right balance - as technical as it needs to be, but still interesting enough for the non-techies.

The section on Installing Exchange With Security in Mind is particularly interesting. Everything you want to know about messaging/Exchange security is covered - SMTP Relays, spam, content filtering, antivirus, SSL, MAPI/RPC security, et al. Great coverage of email encryption and Public Key cryptography, Outlook client security, POP/IMAP security. Can never get tired of readng about securing Outlook Web Access.

Overall, a must-read for Exchange admins. The only thing I would've liked to see is: i) this book to be released at least a year ago.. this one's at the tail end of the Exchange 2000 lifecycle - too close to the Titanium (Exchange 2003) release. ii) Perhaps some more coverage of specific vulnerabilities of SMTP and Exchange, and how secure Exchange is compared to other messaging systems - Notes, Sendmail, etc. THE TRADEOFF (or benefit rather) is we have a book that can still be carried with one hand... still under 400 pages without the index. Remarkable! (A round of applause for Paul Robichaux..)

Bharat Suneja
MCT

If you maintain or administer Exchange servers, this book is a must for you. It covers a borad set of security topics specific to Exchange server, secure messaging and even secure IM. Very valuable guide for IT. Does not dive at too low a level for practical use.

This book has enough information about security, both of the messages and the messaging environment, for a good Exchange administrator to build and maintain a rock solid secure messaging environment.

Paul wrote the book, but the people who helped review the book contributed much of their real-world experience to the content. A number of the reviewers are heavy hitters in the Exchange and security fields. What you get is "This works in the real world" solutions to security problems.

I own an IT service business. This book is literally on the money. The author discusses essential financial concepts that are applicable to all IT services companies. If you own an IT business I highly recommend buying this book and using it as a reference.

This is a valuable "how to" book. Do yourself a favor and have this book recently read before you start the process.

Bob has done a masterful job of presenting a step by step approach to selling a business. As usual, he brings twenty years of real world experience to the process, demystifing a difficult process. An invaluable addition to your library.

In "Selling Your IT Business" Mr. Chalfin has a rare accomplishment for a book of this kind; knowledgable, informative and a "good read". Jacob Weingarten

I have had the pleasure of getting to know Bob and had him as a professor at Wharton. He applies the same level of energy and enthusiasm that he brings in the classroom to this very practical book. I have had many people come up to me and tell me if they had only known Bob or read his book before they sold their business, they would be in a much different and better situation. His knowledge of the topic is unbelievable and he brings so much practical experience to his latest book. I hope everyone gets to experience the wonderful work Bob does by reading his new book.

I know I will share this book with many of my clients who are contemplating selling their businesses. Bob's work makes all of us more educated and provides yet another resource that will add value to our clients.