Programming Books

Absolutely essential source of information for those who are serious about using XSLT in general and 2.0 in particular.
Viktor Melekhine

This is the definitive work on XSLT & XPath, in a new format that will stand the test of time. The 4th edition contains new background material about the development and history of XSLT & XPath.

Some web content for the downloads was not present on the book download site, but this was addressed quickly when pointed out, by the author.

My only wish is that Michael Kay would write a book on XQuery now...

Everyone working seriously with XSLT will want this book. The fourth edition is newly updated and improved. Not only has it been corrected to reflect the design of the current XSLT and XPath specifications (which were not final when the 3rd edition went to press), but also it has been redesigned for usability, with much better indexes and navigation apparatus. No more casting about to find things (although you may still not resist a few post-it notes here and there). XSLT and XPath are now in one volume (a big plus); the lighter pages and hard cover make the book serviceable as a reference text in regular use. It sits open and will wear well (provided you use it for its intended purpose and not as a coaster for your drink, which will be tempting since the book will be there open on your desk).

But the book's strengths are unchanged. Complete and comprehensive, coherent, realistic, clear, with worked examples. No one knows this technology better than the author, who has served on the XSL Working Group and edited the XSLT 2.0 Recommendation. Long-time observers will also confirm that he is also one of the best in the business at explaining things.

The only thing less than positive to say about this book is that beginners may find it intimidating. Don't. Just supplement it with a treatment aimed at you such as XSLT 1.0 Pocket Reference (Pocket Reference (O'Reilly)) or anything by Jeni Tennison, and keep the Programmer's Reference ready for the summary comprehensive view, or when you need to go deep.

I have seen many decrepit copies of earlier editions of this book used by industry professionals. This one looks to be good for a long time to come.

This is an excellent update. The writing has improved. And as a reference,
I am glad the previous 2 volumes are now compiled into this single volume.
Also, I appreciate the hard cover to help reduce wear and tear. And I appreciate the thinner paper to keep the thickness/weight down.

You won't easily find any other book on XSLT 2.0 and XPath 2.0. The reason is very simple: Michael Kay is the expert on the subject, he has been publishing xslt references for almost a decade now. Currently he is the editor of the XSLT 2.0 specification at W3C. He is also involved the XQuery and the XML Schema Working Groups, also at W3C. He has developed the Saxon XSLT processor. This book (like its predecessors were and its future versions will be) is the definitive reference on XSLT.

The third edition was in two separate books, one on XSLT 2.0 (XSLT 2.0 Programmer's Reference (Programmer to Programmer)) and one on XPath 2.0 (XPath 2.0 Programmer's Reference (Programmer to Programmer)). If you are serious about XSLT 2.0, you also need the information on XPath 2.0, as it is a sub language of XSLT 2.0. So you would need both books at hand. The current book contains all of the material available in the two predecessors, and more.

I could have survived on the two books, but tired of taking them from my office to my home and vice versa, I ordered the new edition and I am enjoying it very much. After using the new edition for a week or so I have come upon quite a few improvements, for instance the chapter on regular expressions contains more information and is better structured. Examples have been updated and as have been the appendices covering the processors. There is a new appendix on the Altova processor.

I should also mention the quality of the paper, the binding and the price, they are much better than the two previous books together.

As a reference, the book is complete. It contains a clear description of all the elements of the standards and lots of (tested) examples. There is also much material about the design backgrounds of both standards (and of others like XML Schema and XQuery).

The book is extremely well written and a joy to read.

The book is aimed at developers and should not be used as a first introduction to XML transformation technology (unless you are an experienced programmer). If you need an introduction to XSLT (in its context) check out one of the other Wrox books like Beginning XML, 4th Edition (Programmer to Programmer) or Professional XML (Programmer to Programmer). One could also try Beginning XSLT 2.0: From Novice to Professional (Beginning: from Novice to Professional), it has good reviews. In any case if you are seriously interested (even as a newbie) don't buy anything from before 2004, it will not include the 2.0 functionalities. If you buy something published after 2004 check that they really updated the book and not only the title.

Bearing in mind that this book is written for people who already know XSLT, it's probably the best and maybe only book out there. There are lots of starter books but I couldn't find another advanced book. I haven't needed a lot of information contained in it, but I got more than I bargained for in the chapters I did use. It's probably not much of a reader, more of a reference book to pull out when you're stuck on a tough problem.

If you're trying to learn XSLT, this book isn't for you. Perhaps try the author's web site or any of the other resources out there. I'm a learn-as-you-go kind of person who picks up things very quickly, but this book would certainly have confused me if I didn't already know what I was doing.

This book does not teach you the concepts of XSLT. Rather, it truly delivers on a promise of providing answers to common problems. While often books use code to only illustrate the concepts explained, "XSLT and XPath On The Edge" has tons of real world code, some of which I was able to use straight from the book(without changing a thing).
I believe this book really helps to bridge the gap between just understanding the basics of XSLT and using it for real life, practical applications.

my first impressions are

a) this book sits right next to Michael Kay's book, as it is a great
reference to when u have specific problems i.e. ' How do i format dates ? '
and ' How do i group ' and 'How do i use keys'.

b) the level of examples and techniques is a step above introductory.

c) the latter half of the book delves into framework issues; modular
components, extending XSLT, functional modules, and

grouping
sorting
numeric manipulation
string and text manipulation

general formatting
character encoding and entities
the above subjects are all detailed in a concise manner, perfect for
reference

the following subjects are an indepth read;

framework: quite a large amt of discussion of how to break apart into
reusable elements

client side msxml: this will get the novice going

server side proc with cocoon: this will get the novice going

overview of XPATH: very detailed overview of more medium level techniques

using extensions : the clearest illustration and techniques of extending
xslt that i've read

overall i can highly recc.

cheers, jim fuller

This is an excellent XSLT/XPATH resource! However, please be aware that the "Unlimited-Edition.com" website/resource is no longer available! A big reason why I bought this book was for the updated content it promised. But, that was 2001, this is 2006, and any updated content that may have been available is no longer accessible.
Still, this book can stand on it's own feet, and is an invaluable resource, all by itself! Highly recommended!

If you are looking for a book on dealing with real world XSLT scenarios and organized accordingly by scenario. This is the book for you. Jeni (Author) is by far one of the leading XSLT experts out there. It is rare you find someone that can explain complex topics in a manor that is both concise and readable. Buy this book and it will stay with you through any project you are using XSLT on.

You Watch Too Much TV is more than just a television trivia book. It's fun you can share with your whole family! Each chapter has a short intro with interesting facts and TV history, followed by questions that range from simple to very difficult. (Depending on how much you watch tv...)

This book spans shows from The Honeymooners and I Love Lucy to Everybody Loves Raymond and Friends. It also includes an entire chapter of trivia questions about cartoons so your kids can play along too.

Even if you're not a trivia buff, or you don't watch quite enough TV, this book is sure to bring back fond memories of television shows we all used to love.

I just recieved this book and it really looks like it was done well! It has 50 sections with about 20 questions in each section. You Watch Too Much TV covers everything from Animation to Horror Related shows. The questions range anywhere from easy to Very Hard (atleast for me). I Highly Recommend this TV Trivia Book!

I bought this book for my husband for Christmas. He absolutely loved it, it was the hit of Christmas Day. The trivia-quiz style is well organized - it is fun to quiz yourself on your favorite shows and to learn new facts about other shows. And the trivia is really cool and interesting. "What a cool book!" was repeated several times.

I highly recommend this book to anyone who loves TV, especially those of us who watch too much of it!!

What a fun book to read. Not only did it bring back memories, it prompted conversations with our children about all the old shows. It was a great conversation starter and made our family trip this Thanksgiving a lot of fun.

It will be my gift of choice to give family and friends this year.

So you think you know TV huh? Well don't be so sure of yourself until you read the fun new television trivia book "You Watch Too Much TV" by newcomer Ken Kessler. Within the pages you'll find 50 chapters of TV trivia that spans over multiple generations from the early black and white days to the the latest fad-Reality TV. It doesn't matter if you're a fan of American Idol or Love American Style. There's something in this book from everyone.

Sure TV trivia books may come and go but what makes this book unique is the way it is categorized. While lots of TV trivia books focus on certain eras, this book divides each chapter by categories such as TV theme songs, single parent-themed shows, and even cop shows. What character on Gilligan's Island is named in the theme song besides Gilligan? Who played Cagney in the pilot episode of Cagney and Lacey? What was Eddie's father's name on The Courtship of Eddie's Father? Don't know? It doesn't matter. You'll have fun learning.

The only flaw with this book is the fact that it expands across so many generations of television that some people may feel left out. After all, there are people who never even heard of My Favorite Martian, Bonanza, or even Fear Factor. Still with this minor distraction it will still be difficult to put this well researched book down. In fact, it wouldn't be a surprise to see the board game. Pick it up, gather the family around and just have fun with this book. This one is definitely a winner.

I agree ... this book covers all aspects of SQL. Code examples work and are meaningful.

A must have book for database programmers and administrators. Covers all aspects in detail. A very good reference.

I wasn't expecting two people from UPS to have carry this book into my office--the book is huge.

I have been using MYSQL for a year and I am moving to MS SQL Server. The book's tips (over 600) have been invaluable.

I used the code the book provides to convert many of applications to support transactions. Got to eliminate tons of code.

Very well done! Recommend.

This book has a lot of tips about SQL Server, although it doesn't say that on the cover. This was actually good for me since I was going on a job interview and I needed something like a comprehensive tips reference book on SQL (and SQL Server). I could have easily chosen a worse book. It's a bit wordy for me, and I'm not used to seeing so many typos, but considering that I have seen some terrible SQL books out there (including my college text), this book is actually well thought out.

For me this has become a reference for solving problems, organizing teams, prioritizing tasks, and generally getting things accomplished. I would recommend it to anyone that could use some very practical help in becoming more effective. Thought provoking and useful. I'm looking forward to Brecht's next book.

The 5-A Process is an extremely powerful and dynamic problem solving and improvement tool. Brecht does a superb job of relating real life experiences to the process to help the reader visualize the process. With over twenty years in the engineering and utility industry this is without a doubt the clearest and easiest problem solving process that I have seen. The 5-A process works and will bring you to the right solution or decision quickly and efficiently!

Everyone who routinely has to make decisions needs to read and apply this book to their lives!

In reading this book I found it giving a very good in detail, (I might add) program on how to solve a problem, and how to approach the total process step by step.I also liked the complete review on the process its self. Its ease to see how this process could be used in alot of different situations just by using some basic fundamentals. As the author says the power of the program is in its simplicity. The flow chart is there all you have to do in plug in and use it. I can see how you would get alot of verbal input using this program. In following the flow of the chart once you establish your problem , should you reach a point and not agree you simply return and re-analyze and follow the flow. Its a very detailed program. Its easy to see alot of time and effort went into developing this process. I enjoyed reading the book.

The 5-A Process of Programming is a simple, powerful way to make decisions, whether complex or small decisions. It is street-wise and can be invoked by one person or a group of people. The 5-A is applicable in any venue; personal or business. It is a fairly quick read, yet intellectual enough to make one want to get back into it to study and apply. The book has real stories that one can equate to and relate to one's own circumstance. Bottom-line, it works. It is worth reading, studying and applying to decisions that we all make every day.

This is really a rare book. Not stupid-funny, and so knowledgeable and pedagogic. I had bought my new iMac, the first since my Mac+ nearly 20 years ago. It looked like a modern Mac, and worked as such. Then I got Joe Kissel's book! And discovered all the stuff underneath. The holy grail of UNIX. And how smart the engineers at Apple still are! I was amazed by how many intelligent goodies they have put into the box. And really enjoyed the profound know-how of Joe Kissell, and his many step-by-step guided tours into the heart of the iMac. I learnt to install a firewall- and that I already had a firewall in my box. I was taught GIMP, and file sharing, and all about the iApp's. Backing up, booting and so on. Apache-in-the-box too. Thank you VERY much, Joe!

I've been using a spare iBook as a webserver for about 8 months now and decided to turn it into an email server as well. In just a few pages, this book explained exactly how to do it with Sendmail.

Unfortunately however, Panther ships with Postfix preinstalled (and from what I've read Postfix is a better alternative to Sendmail) so obviously the steps for configuring Postfix weren't included in the book. I emailed the author (who thoughtfully provides his email address in the book for help related questions) asking for instructions to configure Postfix, and within hours he emailed me concise details of how to configure Postfix with a shareware program called Postfix Enabler.

Just a short while later my iBook was not only an HTTP web server, but a POP/IMAP email server too. I had no idea it would be so easy, and there's 49 other wonderful techniques that are simple to follow: everything from using the command line with Terminal to installing PHP and MySQL and so much more.

The front of the book does say, "Covers Jaguar!", but I've been using it with Panther and the only trouble I had was with the Postfix issue. It's one of the most helpful OS X books I've ever read.

This is a wonderful book for all us souls who use OSX. The techniques are almost always a way to either solve a particular problem or learn a particular tool. I have only gone through about 30 of them, but each one has made my life either a little easier or a lot. A couple of examples are that I know understand how to best utilize the Finder and am no longer intimidated by Terminal. The style is breezy and very easy to understand without being condescending or dumbed-down. Strongly recommended

Joe Kissell writes for both the techie and we "normal" folk. His teaching of UNIX basics leaves you with knowledge, not boredom, and is worth the price of the book by itself. Most of the improvements he describes for both OS X and MAC are useful, and in some cases just plain fun, to any MAC user, and his ability to explain his techniques to the reader is an absolute pleasure. Can't wait for his OS 10.3 version.

It is great for teaching class on the basics of MS ACCESS.

Byron Giles
www.gilestechgroup.com

Each chapter is a Project. Project 1 took you through what you should already know about other Windows applications. I felt that I would not be trying to learn Access if I did not know how to use "Help" in other Windows applications.

Anyway, this was a great BASIC Access book. I did, however, have to send an email to Prentice Hall. After a week, I still have not heard from them. There are sections in the book called, "Discovery Zone Exercises". They let you figure out what to do by using "Help". Sometimes "Help" is no "Help". My advice to you is, if you can not figure out the "Zone" exercises just go on. I found one answer in the "Intermediate" book. Another at a book store.

With all that, the book is well written. They have you do the same thing more than once and sometimes in different ways. It earns 5 star's.

I am now starting on the "essentials Access 2000 intermediate" book. Look for that review.

I bought all three book, beginning, intermediate & advanced to use in a course that I teach in Theories of Database. My students used these books to learn Access on their own. The book is very clear with practical examples. It includes many hints and tips that help avoid many of the pitfalls that beginners will typically encounter. Gives plenty of assignments and examples. My only complaint in that the binding on the spiral addition is pretty flimsy. I highly recommend this book for beginners or for teachers looking for a good access "workbook".

Great way to learn Access basics. Interesting examples, lots of stuff to help you along, plus neat tips and pitfalls. Good CD for practice.

serves as a valuable tool regarding my project on AN

This is an excellent book for the signal processing community as the stress is mainly on algorithms and implementation. A reseacher who wants to work in this field without much background in acoustics, finds this book very useful and it enables him to get to know how he can apply his adaptive signal processing skills to active noise control. This book provides in a simple way the active noise control field and its associated problems. As the book provides only required amount of acoustical details and explains the filtered LMS algorithm very clearly unlike other books, for a beginer it is a very good book. I didn't know any thing aboout ANC when I started, but to day I am able to contribute even to international journals and conferences. Further I have under taken projects at national level from government agencies to develop ANC systems. I feel this book is really well written and it makes the reader keen to know about the subject and provides him high level of confidence. I sincerely recommend this book for any person who is new to this field and has signal processing background. It is a very very very excellent book.

This is an excellent book for persons with signal processing background. The book provides only minimum information about acoustics for a signal processing person and does not confuse with too much of details. In this way, the book makes to reader comfortable. Also many aspects of signal processing which can improve the performance of an active noise control (ANC)system are explained and hence the reader feels more confident that he too can work in this field. This is very much essential as the adaptive algorithms play a crucial role in the ANC implementation. The FXLMS algorithm and its problems are well described. To start with I did not know any thing about ANC, but this book has helped me to get good understanding about it. Presnently, I am able to do research contributions to international journal and to conferences. Further, I have taken up projects at national level in ANC. I feel this book has presented the subject in a simple way retaining all the intricate details. This background enables a reseacher even to follow new developments taking place in this filed. This is a very very useful and excellent book.

This excellent text is written for advanced study and practicing engineers who need to design controllers for active noise control systems. The emphasis is on the algorithms that are usually implemented in a Digital Signal Processor. The book's treatment of acoustics, sensors, and actuators is not as in-depth as texts by Fuller or Nelson. Included in the book is C and assembly code for the most popular adaptive control techniques, but beware of bugs and patent issues. One of the algorithms covered in detail is the Filtered-X Least Mean Squares technique that one of the Authors (Morgan) help to make popular in the community.

[Also posted on my blog: http://msmvps.com/blogs/luisabreu/archive/2008/06/11/book-review-ado-net-3-5-cookbook.aspx]
After several days, I've finally finished reading this book. This is really a very complete book wit lots and lots (and lots!) of examples. It's fair to say that it covers most (if not all) ADO.NET related scenarios (I'm an SQL Server user but if you're into Oracle then it also has several examples that show how to use ADO.NET and Oracle).

I do have one complaint though: chapter 8. Currently, I'll personally "hurt" anyone that is working on the same project as me and that uses ADO.NET objects on window forms or ASP.NET front ents! Ok, I'm not violent, so I wouldn't really hurt anyone :) serioulsy, don't use ADO.NET objects on your UI.

Having said this, I still recommend it (specially if you're working with ADO.NET).

The 'ADO.NET 3.5 Cookbook' is a great resource for every .NET database developer out in the world. With 950+ pages of content you will not be reading thin, as this goodies book comes with 222 tidbits of information that will help you in your everyday work.

Subjects covered include:

- connecting to a variety of data sources
- working with disconnected data objects (datasets)
- querying data
- executing functions and stored procedures
- using LINQ
- searching and filtering data
- adding and updating data
- copying/transferring data
- database integrity
- binding data to web forms
- XML data
- optimizing .NET data access
- debugging stored procedures
- doing batch updates
- enumerating SQL servers
- SQL Server CLR integration

I feel that is an outstanding companion book for .NET database developers that are looking for a resource that specifically outlines tasks into a neat, organized manner. Instead of thumbing through a book to figure out a particular way to do something, these common tasks and questions are broken up for ease of use and efficiency. If you are a .NET DB developer you definitely owe it to yourself to add this great book to your collection of technical books immediately.

***** HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

I received a copy of this book from the publisher for a review by a "technical expert". I really liked how the book was laid out with a problem-solution-reasoning approach (known as a recipe). Each one was generally useful for those unaware of how to do things in ADO.NET. The examples were short and too the point. The topics were quite varied so just about everyone will find something in this book. In particular the recipes on getting schema information programmatically will really benefit a lot of people because it is neither common nor easy.

I had only a few complaints about the book. The first complaint is with the title. It says ADO.NET v3.5 but in reality almost all the recipes cover any version of ADO.NET from v2 on. This might cause some people to shy away from the book. This book is really for anybody using ADO.NET.

This leads me to the second complaint. There really was no 3.5 content mentioned. LINQ and SQL 2008 were mentioned a few times but they aren't specific to ADO.NET v3.5. LINQ itself seemed out of place for the topic.

The final complaint I had was that the recipes are mostly designed to be copy and pasted into working code. The code samples don't really follow what I would consider an appropriate pattern for professional code. Therefore simply copy/paste will cause more problems than not. It really would have required no additional lines of code and would not have complicated things to have "done it right". Still this seems to be standard practice for most technical books so I can't harp too much.

Overall I recommend this book for anyone who works with (or will) ADO.NET of any version.

(Full Disclosure: I was a tech reviewer for this book and received a free copy)

I've been using the various incarnations of Microsoft data access technologies for quite some time and have been using ADO.NET for a few years, so I wondered whether I was going to learn anything new from this book. It covers all of the territory to get started (connection strings, basic usage of ADO.NET classes, etc.), but what I really appreciated was that it topics that advanced ADO.NET users would find useful and I certainly learned a few new tricks.

The topic on writing provider and database independent code (Section 10.22) which covers how to do it right if you are targeting .NET 1.1 (which we do) was particularly useful to me. Chapter 10 (Optimizing .NET Data Access) is just generally a good chapter no matter what your level and covers asynchronous SQL calls (executing and cancelling), ASP.NET data caching, paging queries, SQL Server stored procedure debugging and more.

Since my job was to actually run every code snippet, I can vouch for their quality. Most are built off the AdventureWorks sample database that comes with SQL Server Express, so they are ready to run. The rest come with full DDL to create what you need (databases, stored procedures, etc), and the code and SQL is available online so you don't have to type it in.

This book was excellent and very informative. Mr. Young impeccably explains how to use PDFs to achieve the desired results of your product. I've often been confused on how to precisly use various PDF products, but with this book, I can now design my product the way I want it to look. This book is definitely a "must read"!

I'm one of those people who buys every software book on the market. I've looked at lots of books on PDF. This is the best yet. It's practical and tells me how to avoid making the most common mistakes in creating a PDF. I wish the rest of my colleagues would read this.

Unlike many books in this category, Carl Young's book is not a rewrite of the Acrobat Help file. He lays out the most common mistakes creators of PDFs make, and then provides step-by-step solutions. Highly recommended.

Every graphic designer should own this book! Designers constantly send PDFs
that are waaaaay to big, or have missing fonts to my small marketing/pr
firm. I may buy copies for every designer I work with.