Software Books

Arsenovski has done a great job with this book. It is clearly written, easy to follow and very practical. A great one to keep on the shelf and reference as needed. The free tools that he covers in the book are a bonus! They really help to get you applying what you've learned quickly.

I highly recommend this book for any .NET developer, not just those who use Visual Basic.

Not a typical Wrox title, generally these tend deal with specific technology in "no-nonsense" fashion. This book has more theory in it and is not technology specific, you will find it valuable if you program in just any version of Visual Basic .Net and any type of application. Not likely to become obsolete very soon, since basic premises of refactoring will continue to be relevant even in upcoming versions of VB.

I am working with group of developers that came to VB .Net from VB6. Currently we are in process in improving the way things operate using some agile stuff. The overall disposition is pretty good, team has already been formed and things like daily stand-ups, client involvement or short iterations are generally welcomed by all. However, when more technical, code level stuff is discussed, there is more discussion (if not opposition). These folks pack years of experience and will not accept that you can teach them their job just like that. There is no way you can force things like unit testing or refactoring. You have to be able to hold your ground and answer all the questions with some good arguments.
This book gives you in-dept view of refactoring with a lot of practical, code examples. This means that you are well prepared to answer any uncomfortable question. It builds up gradually, so it is easy to follow.
Almost every chapter ends up applying the stuff that was just exposed on a sample application with a lot of code. Surely author spent a decent time on this title. You can download the code and see it progress from chapter to chapter. This gives a great insight since you can read and debug the code at the same time and not just some toy or isolated example.
Here is chapter to chapter break-down of the book.

Chapter 1
Intro chapter, defines refactorings end code smells and explains the kind of baggage VB carries because of its origins. Cool section on misinterpretations, this will prepare you for some tough questions that might come from uninitiated developers or managers.
Explains the importance of writing simple, comprehensible code. For example:
Dim oXMLDom as New DOMDocumet() vs Dim portfolio as new DOMDOcument.
The first statement gives you no idea of what first DOMDocument represents, in second it's the portfolio, and if you know the application context you will know what to expect.

Chapter 2
Teaser chapter but also good single-chapter sample of some typical refactoring work. Captures well typical process of development of VB applications. Starts out with few event-handling methods, ends up with number of domain classes and some inheritance thrown in.

Chapter 3
Chapter on refactoring tools, also gives you some insight of how different tools like refactoring add-ins and unit testing framework fit the big picture of agile development process.

Chapter 4
Intro chapter on application that is used to illustrate refactorings throughout the book. Explains the business case, requirements, lists some use cases. It is important to understand the context of the application to be able to follow-up on refactorings. Also some funny stuff here, like freshman developer that takes pride in copy-paste development.

Chapter 5
In-dept discussion on Static vs. Dynamic and Strong vs. Weak Typing that is rarely dealt with in such depth. This is basically controlled with Option Strict and Option Explicit options. If you program in VB, you must be aware how these work out.

Chapter 6
Chapter on error handling, especially legacy vs. structured error handling. Again, something everyone should know, but rarely explained in such depth. Cool stuff is step by step recipe for converting legacy to structured.

Chapter 7
Deals with some core refactorings like Dead Code Elimination, Scope Reduction etc. It's like cleaning up your code for some serious refactoring stuff.

Chapter 8
First step in structuring your code is getting serious about the problem (or business) domain. Also explains Rename and Safe Rename refactoring, talks about Interface vs. Abstract class, Open-Closed principle etc. some serious OO stuff.

Chapter 9
Some core refactoring stuff. Teaches you how to eliminate duplicated code and why it is the worst thing it can happen to your code. Explains Extract Method and Replace Magic Literal with Symbolic Constant variable. Nice and simple example based on circle geometric shape on how procedural design is transformed to Object Oriented design (Module and Shared method rings a bell?)

Chapter 10
If only method extraction would be as simple in real life... This chapter goes further with method extraction and deals with some common problems like temps.

Chapter 11
Where do objects come from? How you design classes? Some core OO stuff in this chapter, including Extract Class, Move Member (Method or Field) refactorings, smells like Database Driven Design or Data Class, Large Class, OO principles like Single Reasonability Principle etc. Lot of stuff and handful of pages in this chapter.

Chapter 12
Build upon previous chapter. Deals with inheritance, polymorphism, genericity. Explains the difference between class and interface (or implementation vs. interface inheritance), difference between delegation and inheritance and criteria to chose one or another, list some common misuses of inheritance etc. Again, a number of refactorings like Replace Inheritance With Delegation or Extract Interface, Extract Super etc. Some heavyweight OO concepts in this chapter, takes a time to digest.

Chapter 13
Explains what is important when taking a birds-view of software. This chapter is especially important for software architects. Talks a lot about dependencies in software and why you should minimize dependencies in your code.

Chapter 14
Single chapter for huge subject, still a lot of material covered. Design patterns are the most advanced subject in OO, so refactoring your code in order to make use of patterns is in no way child's play. Mostly deals with creational patterns. First mention of Dependency Injection in some VB book I come across. Now taking into account that Unity application block [...] has been released in April, this is really cutting edge stuff!

Chapter 15
Talks about latest VB improvements that come with VB 2008. Starts with XML enhancements like XML literals and then the rest is about LINQ. Explains a LINQ implementation called LINQ-to-SQL. This is first Microsoft Object-Relational Mapper (ORM). Again, cutting edge.

Chapter 16
If you still deal with VB6 code, than you know that migrating to .Net is no easy ride. This chapter explains some techniques that will help you migrate your code and make it .Net in sprit, not leaving it crippled by simple migration that will only make it execute in .Net. VB6 lacks inheritance, generics etc, so you need refactorings to make it VB .Net.

This book has no real competition as far as I know, no book on refactoring or agile for VB .Net developers. The one that come close is Agile Principles, Patterns, and Practices in C# (Robert C. Martin Series) but it is for C# developers and requires a lot higher starting point.
When other books come up, I am sure Professional Refactoring in VB will continue to hold its ground. Highly recommended!

Really great book on refactoring. Although it is based on Visual Basic examples, same advices can be applied to C#, Java or any other OO language.
Martin Fowler finally has a fair partner on my shelf ;).

First of its kind for VB.Net developers. While it does not contain a complete catalogue of all known refactorings, you get a thorough study case used throughout the book, tooling, how to use refactoring for upgrade of legacy VB6 code, a chapter on VB 2008, some important object oriented principles and even short intro on refactoring to patterns.
This book is deep and takes a while to digest. However, it's not about showing off some irrelevant academic knowledge. Author is not afraid to mention "Dependency Injection" or "Single Responsibility Principle" but all of these are demonstrated to be relevant and get illustrated through very practical and real-life examples.

I bought this book knowing VB but was new to R/3. Within days I had a working interface to SAP. If you want to use COM objects to connect to R/3 and make remote function calls this is the book. Great examples on using late binding too if you want to put the functionality into a dll without having a control bound to a vb form. Of the many computer books I've read, this is one of the best.

Details with examples. Good for all SAP R/3 tools and application developers. Explains BAPIs, RFCs, bussiness object repository (BOR), SAP DCOM Connector component etc.

"Professional VB SAP R/3 Programming" - demonstrates how to combine existing Visual Basic tools with the new extensibility tools, so that you can develop robust enterprise applications based on SAP R/3 from a non-SAP programming environment. It also explains the fundamentals of SAP, including the new SAP tools and technologies. SAP R/3 business objects and BAPIs are implemented and a guide to the SAP Business Framework is illustrated. The SAP R/3 Automation tools are used to replicate SAP functionality from VB and the DCOM Component Connector is used to generate business object proxies, aswell as programming the core components of the DCOM Component Connector. Browsing the SAP R/3 Business Object Repository is demonstrated and working code samples of both inbound and outbound SAP R/3 operations are included...

An excellent guide for understanding BAPIs and RFCs, complemented with good explained VB programs which are useful for learnig how to develop interfaces whith SAP using VB.

I'm not a VB programmer. I obtained this book to better understand how BAPI's worked and could interface with external applications based on a project team demand to develop better masterdata loaders. The first three chapters alone are goldmines of information that are neatly tied together and explain the concepts and framework used. After reading them I understood why SAP went this route and better understood some of the potential areas where BAPI's could assist our development team. The latter chapters get into more VB oriented issues but are useful regardless of VB experience (or lack thereof). Our VB developers all own this book.

Love Perl but wish it had the ability to work with the .NET framework? Well, this is the book for you! Let me tell you, if you program with Perl, then this book will earn its purchase price again and again. I've always loved the ease of programming in Perl, especially how well it works with sockets and network programming, but these days, you've got to be able to program Graphical User Interfaces. I've never been able to master programming GUI's using Tcl/Tk, but the C# like format of programming Visual Perl made creating Windows Forms a snap. The book gives so many examples of working with the .NET classes in any practical situation. Its got a great format including a discussion of programming with the .NET framework, a strong overview of programming in Perl, and of course the definitive guidelines to programming in PerlNET. It covers creating your own classes, components, forms, database interaction, and working with ASP.NET. It also gives an overview of working with the CPAN modules which is invaluable. The authors are intelligent, well-spoken, and are clearly experts in this particular area. You have GOT to buy this book!

This book was not only extremely valuable to me in understanding how to use Perl in the .Net Environmental, but also contains the best presentation of how to build pure Perl Modules that I have read to date. These concepts really jelled for me after reading and utilizing the examples presented in the book.

With my limited experience in object oriented programming, this book presented the topics in the right order to overcome my lack of OO experience.

I did have a few instances of failing to find specific terms in the index.

This book will continue to be a valuable resource as I continue to refine my Perl skills in creating perl modules and utilizing Perl in the .Net environment.

Love Perl but wish it had the ability to work with the .NET framework? Well, this is the book for you! Let me tell you, if you program with Perl, then this book will earn its purchase price again and again. I've always loved the ease of programming in Perl, especially how well it works with sockets and network programming, but these days, you've got to be able to program Graphical User Interfaces. I've never been able to master programming GUI's using Tcl/Tk, but the C# like format of programming Visual Perl made creating Windows Forms a snap. The book gives so many examples of working with the .NET classes in any practical situation. Its got a great format including a discussion of programming with the .NET framework, a strong overview of programming in Perl, and of course the definitive guidelines to programming in PerlNET. It covers creating your own classes, components, forms, database interaction, and working with ASP.NET. It also gives an overview of working with the CPAN modules which is invaluable. The authors are intelligent, well-spoken, and are clearly experts in this particular area. You have GOT to buy this book!

Can you mix Perl and Dot.NET ??
I didn't think so till now.

I found the mix of Perl and Dot.NET quite strange - that's why I was surprise to see a book on that matter.

I felt very curious to see how can it work together.

Perl has lots of advantages that make it such an enormous success - very easy to write fast and efficient code.
Ask any unix admin / programmer.

The way Perl works with the rich options of Microsoft's new engine is good. I like the combination. It works well, the examples are quite good.

The first part of the book looks similar to every Dot.NET one can find, but the second part is the value for this book - and that's why I liked it.

Good techinal explainations and examples.
It was a good investment for me.

Hi, All!
I am the lead author of this book. Together with Michael Saltzman and Robert J. Oberg we tried to make this book as good as possible.
The book will be useful for you whether you are an experienced Perl programmer that wants to learn .NET technology or you are new to Perl.
The first part represents a tutorial of Perl itself. In the second part we dive into exciting world of programming Perl inside the .NET Environment.

I hope you will enjoy reading and our code samples will be useful and helpful for you.

Happy reading and programming!

The psychiatry 2002, is an excellent quick review of psych. In the clinics it will give you easy to read summaries of all topics in psych and treatments. An ideal book for any med student or resident.

Great reference for the psych clerkship. Written by same 3 authors at UCI who write the psycho-pharmacology book for CCS.

This was great to review quickly right before the shelf exam, and it was a big help. I read through it and then it isn't worth reading again, so it seems overpriced.

This is like the washington manual for Psychiatry. It's about a centimeter thick and small so it;s easy easy to carry around. But don;t be fooled by its size. It has all the info you need to do well in psychiatry rotation.

A good light handbook for quick reference on the run. Point-form and well laid out. Ideal for helping with differential diagnosis. I like the practicality & succintness of the information in it, as I can go to bigger texts if I want details. Bonus is that, if you own the handbook, you can download free a PC version, as well as a Palm, or EPOC (Psion Revo/Mako) versions. Mine is on a Revo and goes around with me when I'm on call.

Reading it I found that I was doing many things wrong in the Quickbooks and later at the tax time I would have do all the entries again. It certainly saved me a lot of time and money and help me keep my reports accurate.

I just received the book and I'm so happy that I bought it. I had taken a course in college on one of the previous versions and they only did part of what QuickBooks can do and that was a service company. I have a retail business and this book tells me what I need to know about setting up everything for a retail store, inventory, invoice, etc. With this book you don't have to be a CPA to use it but if you have one that's great as CPA's can help you stay out of trouble. Very informative and check with your CPA to see if it's deductible as a business expense and this book will show you how to enter it in as such.

This books is great for users with little accounting background just starting out their own business - A Must Read

This book is a must have resource if you use QuickBooks or have clients using QuickBooks. It is comprehensive and includes setting up the data file and getting started, to entering transactions, and using the reports to help you manage your business. It also includes chapters on managing your QuickBooks files and customizing QuickBooks for your business.

Michelle L. Long, CPA, MBA
Author of: Successful QuickBooks Consulting: The Comprehensive Guide to Starting and Growing a QuickBooks Consulting Business
Advanced Certified QuickBooks ProAdvisor
Member of Intuit's Certified Trainer Network

So far Quickbooks pro 2008 has had an option for everything I've needed to do relating to business accounting. It is easy to make minor form changes, invoice customers, create estimates later turning them into invoices, and tracking payments. It is not so great as a time tracking application which I've ended up going back to my old system then at the end of the month enter in my hours from that. In case you are looking for a product to track time I find Timeless Time & Expense very easy to use for tracking project times. For me it isn't overly difficult nor overly easy to track down all the features I use in Quickbooks. However I purchased Quickbooks 2008 the Missing Manual and highly recommend it to any newbies which makes locating those features much easier and aids in my comfort level knowing I'm referring to an experienced users approaches to the software. Even with it's shortcomings I can recommend Quickbooks. It gets a little easier to use as well as powerful each year, which is something I find is usually contradictory. Also for all you get in the package the price (though I hate to spend money on business accounting software) I must admit is much less than I'd expect from such a full featured product.

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.

The cover states that all features of the application are covered, and I can't claim to have discovered a gap. Each author (Kvern and Blatner) offers a deep perspective, and when they differ with one another, they say so. Thus the user gets two keen insights rather than the monolithic pronouncements so common in software books. This empowers the reader: a goal I try to achieve in my software classes. As I try to give my students enough information and methodology to make their own workflow decisions, this book does likewise. That is why I recommend this volume in my classes.
Be warned, however, that this is not a "how-to", or book of exercises. It is a reference. It is a perfect complement to my classes, but not a workbook for use during them. This gives the book usefulness well beyond the learning curve and into daily and even advanced use.

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.

I bought the first edition 2 years ago and then the second edition to keep up with new changes because this book is a very good and complete introductory course on making real world video (i.e. starting from choosing DV camcorders to final production and delivery to the world depending on your budget).

It starts from current DV technology (like CCD and DV formats) and then introduces various DV camcorder types depending whether you are normal consumer or pro-sumer or professional users. (It even shows you the approximate price range for various camcorder class.)

It then introduces how scripts planning should be like for making different scenes of video (newscast or documentary or movie). It teaches different techniques of shooting pictures/video by cameras/comcorders (angles, views, lighting and audio control). I likes the book giving you various examples of lighting equipments and audio equipments required for making good video.

For movie pre-production process, it tells what kind of production crews and things you will need and do for different stages (including cost ranges). For movie post-production process, it shows how to edit all movie and audio footages into final movies and how to fix video/audio problems. It also describes what types of movie editing systems (computers, hardware equipments and software video applications) available in the market depending on high-end, mid-range, or low-end production and budgets. It also describes how the final process of movie copies are generated and delivered to the world.

I like the book because it gives me pretty good ideas how DV movies are made with real equipments that are availalbe in the current market. This book is highly recommended especially for serious beginning DV/movie producers.

This book should be required reading for anyone making a digital movie with more ambition than experience. This book will be worth its cost in just the first project by eliminating many of the learning mistakes we all make. I wish someone would have sat down with me and given me this advice when I started and yet, even with many projects behind me, this book offers me new ideas. Reading the book and the watching the DVD are like having real work experience - both in production and post-production. In one memorable section of the DVD, Pete Shaner sits down with you and gives you lots of advice on how to shoot and things to consider in shooting and editing.

Highly recommended reading...for the home hobbyist...the USC film student...the software geek... or AV professional.

The authors approach the Digital Video Universe in a real world, common sense and entertaining prose...allowing the reader to apply their level of interest, budget, technical background, project objectives and pace to a surprisingly current and comprehensively deep offering of digital video material.

The supportive DVD is awesome!

This book took me into a whole new World. I sure could have used it before I bought my used BetaCam! Now I can work quicker, cleaner, look like a pro and save $$$. The furture of film making is here. Thanks guys!

As the prices of digital data capture and storage have dropped, new avenues of artistic creation have opened up. One of these areas is in the realm of digital video, where it is possible to make movies using simple and relatively inexpensive digital equipment. However, the fact that the equipment is now cheap does not make it any easier to make movies that people would want to watch. There is an enormous amount of subtle technique involved in making a movie, and until I read this book, I had absolutely no idea how complex a simple shot can be. This is a book that will show you how to make a digitally recorded movie, and should be the first thing you read if that is your aspiration.
It all starts with planning, from the initial idea, on to budgeting, clearing all legal hurdles, organizing and shooting the scenes, editing and cleaning the stored scenes, and ending with publicizing and distributing the finished product. All are so complex, that you do not make a movie, you survive its' creation. The fact that the movie can now be stored on digital devices only significantly affects one of these steps.
Written primarily for those who are interested in making DV projects for entertainment, this is one of the most interesting books I have ever read. The number of detail hurdles that need to be cleared to make a movie are astounding, and kudos to the authors for explaining all of those hurdles in great detail.

I Love the way the author explains everything in detail the way I can understand. I was'nt intimidated! once I opened the book I could'nt put it down. The illustrations were wonderfully done and so helpful as well as interesting and fun to see. Thank you Lisa DaNae Dayley I cant wait to read your next book. You've helped me so much!

An easy to read, step-by-step guide to Roxio Easy Media 8, this manual answered most of my questions.

This book will substantially reduce your learning curve when using Easy Media Creator 8. The time saved is well worth the modest price. EMC8 is fun to use when accompanied with this easy-to-read self-help manual.

I purchased this book on Easy Media Creator 8, last April. I have been using Roxio's Easy Media Creator since version 5. The software is very powerful but, at times, can be a bit frustrating. The knowledge in this book will smooth the project path quite a bit.

Just inside the front cover is "Contents at a Glance", every subject or software function has it's own tab which makes using the book as a reference manual very quick and easy. I found the organization of the book and the presentation of the material to be straight forward and easy to understand.
If you are new to the software, I would recommend reading the 25 page introduction, "Start Here", first. If you have experience with the software, the book is organized so that all of the information you will need for your project is in one place (follow the tabs).

Chapters in the book cover:
1.-Start Here
2.-Importing Audio
3.-Editing Audio
4.-Creating Audio Projects
5.-Importing Photos
6.-Editing Photos
7.-PhotoSuite Projects
8.-Creating Slideshows
9.-Capturing Video
10.-Editing Video
11.-Advanced Video Editing Techniques
12.-Authoring DVDs
13.-Creating Data Disks
14.-Backing up Data

Label Creator and Media Manager Tools are bonus content on the publisher's website.

There are other books on Easy Media Creator 8 but unless you'r a Dummie (also a good book) this is the one you will want.

I have the Dummies book for EMC 8 and it leaves many questions unanswered or gives wrong information.

This "In A Snap" book is really wonderful. It shows you what to do through pictures of the screens and simple, easy to understand text. It is extemely easy to understand and allows you to get right to work on a project.

It is just about the easiest computer instructional book I have seen. Just as the title states "Teach Yourself" EASILY.

Good import CDs for businessman's.
2 CD w.
1 - English Russian English Translator
2 - Pop-Up dictionary Polyglossum II with 5 English Russian and Russian English dictionary-data bases and over 500 000 terms

Is very useful in activity. Saves a lot of time. Thank.

The double CD with MT PARS with Bisiness-dictionaries set and Polyglossum-Business-dictionaries set is good PRODUCT for businesmann and for stjudent. RECOMMEND!

It on my supervisings the largest and modern selection of the E-R-E dictionaries on business : economy, jurisprudence, business correspondence etc. It is very convenient, that in a complete set of delivery is present CD with the program computer-translator and CD with the electronic dictionaries Polyglossum

THE BEST ENGLISH RUSSIAN DICTIONARIES !!!!!!
Excellent product!
Qualitative translation.
Huge quantity of the words in the dictionaries!
Very - Very - Very RECOMMEND!
Well works in our internal corporate network!
Constant updating from the publisher till the Internet...

I don't setup a network without this book. It's as complete as any book I have on any subject.

Excellent. Plenty of examples with notes about the differences in the major flavors of Linux. Also, good background information on TCP/IP and basic strategy for including SAMBA in your network.

This book is now 2 years old but still the best reference available. I only say that because I have spent $$$ getting everything on the subject I can. With the recent changes in Microsoft licensing every sensible IT professional should be exploring alternatives. A SAMBA server is a great alternative. Mr. Litts book is all you need to go from knowing next to nothing to knowing enough to impress your geeky Network Admin friends.

This book is well written, clear and expansive. I didn't read it cover to cover (not at first anyway) I found pieces I needed, applied it, digested it, reviewed it and then went on to the next morsel I needed. If I missed something it was easy to find. By the way, it works with Win2K and WinXP neither of which is well documented by anyone anywhere.

I'm just glad they didn't charge me for what it was really worth! (most books I buy I quickly regret wasting the money unfortunately)

I recently installed Samba on a couple of Solaris servers in my organization to integrate these servers with our Windows NT domain. I needed a good reference book that could fill in the gaps left by the "man" pages, and other online docs. I looked at just about every other Samba book around but found something to my disliking with each of them. Even the O'Reiley book, which is very well rated, seemed disjointed and too cursory on some topics that were important to me. Then I saw Samba Unleashed and it was a solid winner! This book is EXTREMELY thorough and guides you through various configuration scenarios from beginning to end in great detail. Additionally, this book does an excellent job of explaining the underlying networking and communication principles involved. One could almost argue that this book is TOO inclusive because at 1200 pages, it's a monster! But I like a little hand-holding now and then and this book does exactly that. I also enjoyed the "special interest" sections one of which covered the nuances of Samba in a Solaris environment. This is the best Samba book out there right now, IMHO of course!

This book is awesome. Covers all of the basic Samba configuration as well as the "sticky" NT domain issues & Win2000 as well. Also provides real-world examples as well as some pretty complex issues I was never able to solve before. Holds your hand if you need it, but is also an outstanding reference book if you don't. Definitely recommended for anyone considering using Samba to replace WinNT servers on their network & needs real-world examples of interoperability does & don'ts and how-to's.