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In the last decade, the performance of J2EE applications has become of monumental importance in enterprise industries that use these applications. With the complexity of J2EE applications increasing every year, it is crucial that users of these applications be presented with a level of performance that is acceptable to them, this performance usually codified in the ubiquitous "response time." The authors of this book have given a good introduction of how to deal with performance issues in WebLogic applications and have discussed a freely available tool, called Grinder, which allows load-generating and data collection. The book though can be read with respect to any load-generating tool, such as Mercury LoadRunner, etc. Even though Grinder is free, it may take time for enterprise users to trust it in testing and modeling.

After a brief introduction to what the book is all about, the authors begin in chapter 1 with discussion on a testing methodology for doing performance studies of J2EE applications, which they hope will be generic enough for all readers. Their methodology boils down to first defining the performance metrics for the application, and then setting a target for the metrics. Test scripts that accurately simulate the application usage must then be obtained, and the statistical sampling method and metrics must then be defined. The authors emphasize the need for a realistic `usage profile' for the application, and they recommend strongly a fixed number of users per test run, with subsequent runs changing the number of users. They do not give quantitative reasons for not varying the number of users, but merely say that such an approach is "statistically incorrect."

They also point out the need for including "think times" between the executions of each request in a script, asserting that the think times will have a very dramatic effect on the observed response times and throughput for a given user load. They are correct in this claim, as testing and modeling studies will show, and they give examples of this in chapter 4 of the book. In addition, they remark that the attempt to simulate more users by decreasing the think time, with the assumption that the resulting data can be then extrapolated to obtain the performance at real think times. They point out, correctly, that applications do not scale linearly over different time scales, and that the application and Web servers, the database server, and the operating system do not interact the same way with different user loads. Performance testers and modelers have verified them time and time again, and so it is beneficial for a reader who might be new to the field to see the case studies illustrating this included in the book.

The authors discuss two sampling methods in the book, namely the `cycle' method, and the `snapshot' method. Defining a cycle as a complete execution of a test script by a simulated user, each user will thus execute every request in the script once. Increasing the number of cycles will result in more meaningful statistics, but the time to run a large number of cycles might be too prohibitive. The snapshot method involves capturing the data for a specified period of time.

It is rare to see in books at this level a statement that acknowledges the difficulty in the mathematical or simulation modeling of Internet traffic. The authors though are cognizant of this difficulty, and give some brief suggestions on how to simulate the Internet in a test environment.

The authors also devote a fair amount of time discussing how to assess the accuracy of the test results. The authors report that variability of up to 50% on the performance testing of applications has been observed, and so they propose a measurement of "quality" for the sample data. This is defined as the standard deviation divided by the arithmetic mean, and when close to zero indicates high quality in the sample data. A value above 0.25 for the quality they take as a sign that the tests are not reproducible, and they therefore encourage the running of more cycles of the test in order to pin down the origins of this non-reproducibility. They define a "load factor" to better quantify this, which they define in terms of an "aggregate" average response time. Plotting this quantity versus the number of cycles gives some information on a bad quality indicator.

Frequently, application development using J2EE requires that the impact of design changes or proposals on application performance must be understood. The authors address how performance can be impacted in the context of building servlet applications. The dynamic nature of servlet applications entails that special measures be taken to maximize the performance of the application. The authors discuss how to choose a session mechanism that will preserve the session in user requests, and how to manage the servlet thread pool. Other helpful hints are given on how to increase performance, such as making sure that the auto-reload feature of servlets is disabled in a production environment. In testing the servlet API, the authors choose the snapshot method of data collection, and used zero think times as a baseline, since the real think times are unknown. They use WebLogic Server 6.1 in this discussion however, which makes their presentation somewhat dated, since WebLogic is now in version 8.1. The authors also test the performance when the WebLogic performance pack is activated, for both the average response time and the transactional rate. Also studied is the cost of maintaining HTTP logs, an issue that is very important for those businesses who must keep these logs, either for advertising purposes or other reasons. By running tests, the authors conclude, as expected for those readers who have managed Web servers, that the keeping of log files can have a considerable impact on performance, for a high number of users. The effects of the size of the response generated by the test servlet is also studied, along with the effects of using HTTP 1.0 versus HTTP 1.1.

This is the best book yet about J2EE performance tuning. I hope 'Expert Press' (which looks like a Wrox imprint) continues as they have started.

The authors lay out a practical method for performance tuning of Web Applications and EJB's on BEA Weblogic, but there is no reason why the approach (and the 'Grinder' tool) cannot be used to evaluate different approaches on any other Web and Application server.

Note that this is a specialized book. It will not teach you how to do Java or EJBs. What it will do is help you evaluate how to deploy them in the real world to get the performance you need, and also to help you evaluate different approaches.

I was looking for a book to help me understand how regular performance testing is performed so that I could construct a plan to do Denial of Service security testing. I knew nothing about performance testing at all. The books really well laid out, structured, has great examples and is really methodical. It was perfect !

It was a great book! Had lots of information about Performance Testing. When coupled with the power of Panorama(TM) by Altaworks.com, it is incredible.

Thanks for making such a good book avaliable. I think the chapter on testing EJB design patterns is very well written. I would recommend this book as it is one of the best I've gotten my hands on.

One of the best books I have read in this subject. Detailed and with many practical rules and examples.

The title says it all, this book really does explore all of the issues surrounding how to do just enough requirements management on your software development projects. I'd argue that it provides the insight that you require to put together an requirements program within your organization that is right for you, one that is sufficiently agile yet still reflects your situation. It explores strategies for eliciting requirements, prioritizing/triaging requirements, specifying requirements, and finally managing requirements change. Davis managed to pull off what few writers can do - by exploring the requirements management spectrum he has presented a range of strategies which should speak to both traditionalists and agilists. For traditionalists he presents some pretty convincing arguments that the "big requirements document up front" strategy might not be all that effective, and for agilists he presents convincing arguments that we need to invest some effort in requirements documentation. Most important is a running theme throughout the book: the goal isn't to write a perfect requirements document, it's to deliver working software which meets the needs of your stakeholders in a timely and cost effective manner. Sounds like really great advice to me.

If you think that requirements are not all that necessary, this book might change your view: Before you build something, you should decide what you want to build. If you think you cannot start development until requirements are "complete," Davis will convince you that, since requirements change, requirements management is an ongoing activity. He breaks it down into three major areas:

- Requirements elicitation (i.e. determining the actual needs of the stakeholders): This includes identifying ALL the stakeholders and also knowing when and how to apply different elicitation techniques. Davis comments on the proper use of modeling notations are really noteworthy.

- Requirements triage (to balance the delivery date and the development budget against desired requirements): If you don't know what triage is, then you should probably read this book. Its importance (and the author's bias) is manifest when you realize that it has the longest chapter in this book.

- Requirements specification (i.e. documenting requirements): Davis advocates for the use of lists of discrete annotated requirements written in natural language just because natural language is the language of customers (and free text is not too manageable). Supporting models can also be sensibly used, but only for those parts of the system where the use of natural language would introduce too much risk, never to completely replace the written requirements.

"Just Enough Requirements Management" ends with a reminder of change as an unavoidable fact. It also includes an extensive annotated bibliography for those interested in learning more about requirements, just after reading this cleverly-written book...

Al Davis has done it again, with a highly practical and useable book on the ongoing process of effectively managing changing requirements.

Davis is an expert in requirements, bringing to light his vast expertise in many domains including systems engineering on real (very large) projects as well as commercial software. He is perhaps THE expert on requirements triage.

This book provides practical advise on how to do triage and provides examples and wisdom on documenting requirements that honors both the need to 'write it down' in some way with the reality of ever-changing requirements.

I was very impressed when reading Alan Davis' latest book on 'Just enough Requirements Management.'

In his past work he has worked on bringing more formalism into requirements engineering in order to make them correct. However, over time he realized that this doesn't solve the real problems, because the requirements are changing despite the fact they've been formalized in advance.

There are not many people who are confident enough to admit that they have learned over the past years which also means that they've changed their mind. Alan is competent enough doing so which makes him really authentic.

A real eye opener for most of the readers is probably his illustration of the reality of ongoing requirements activities despite using a waterfall approach.

In this fast moving world, it is essential to know how much requirements engineering is necessary in order to being able to moving on and it is even more important to know when to stop doing requirements engineering for being in-time on the market.

I really recommend reading this book in order to know what barely sufficient requirement engineering is all about.

This book is the best way for anyone who want to work with the Real Time Image Proccesing.

Thanks to the Autor ......

I first read a friend's copy of this book, it was already out of print and he had lost the CD, but the tecniques and ideas in this book are clearly written and easy to read. This is an excellent reference even if you are not working in Java (which I wasn't at the time) The Ideas are easily adaptable to C - C++ and the information and theories are fundamental to understanding 3D imaging from Movie Special Effects to Gaming. I spent 2 years trying to track down a copy with a CD and finally found it through Amazon.com, Thanks Amazon!

Don't let the age of this book fool you. It is basically all about the algorithms necessary for producing visual effects in both 2D and 3D that just happens to use Java as an implementation language.
The first chapter is titled "Easy Animation." The chapter's main focus is creating quickly loaded images, and reducing flicker.
Chapter two covers sound and is eight pages long. Two pages are sample code. Remember this book was written when Java had very primitive sound support.
Chapter three goes deep into image processing. The end result is that this chapter shows you how to code many of the special effects found in PhotoShop. Wave, ripple, and explode filters and 3D button effects among others are included here. To me this chapter is the one that stands the test of time the best due to all of the algorithms shown.
Chapter four covers two-dimensional rendering. The main topic of this chapter is creating small animations based on single pictures. The author introduces his framework class "ImageProcessor" first in this chapter.
Chapter five is entitled "Entering the Third Dimension". A really interesting star field program is included that was written, of course, before Java3D. Other programs include a bouncing ball and some take-offs of the star field. Then a 3D spiral program is introduced. The chapter dives back into the ImageProcessor class next. A program to break apart a picture and put it back together ends the chapter.
Chapter six discusses the now obsolete VRML. 3D transformations, movement in 3D, and wire and shaded objects are all covered, quickly and with no sympathy for the novice. A full page and half is dedicated to a discussion of VRML. This is a lot for this book. Most topics get explained once, very quickly and then it's off to the next topic. Several pages are dedicated to explaining a turning cube script. The Matrix3D class is covered next. Navigation is covered briefly, and wireframes are introduced. Shading is covered very lightly then a truly monster program for a so-called "basic" Model3D class is given. This is twelve pages of code. A second program follows that allows you to view Model3D. The chapter ends with a discussion on precalculating movement and passing HTML to the VRML animator, which is also included. There are interesting ideas here, but VRML is old hat and the code will require adapting to more modern needs.
Chapter seven is titled "Adding Realism." The main targets of this chapter are shading, illuminating, and textures--all, of course, very important to making that virtual world look real. The chapter walks through the creation of a cube in wire form then shows how to fill in the surfaces and begin shading. Shadows and perspective are discussed, then another little jewel is given. Listing 7.7 "Creating a 3D object from an image" and the accompanying viewer in 7.8 show how to take a title, make it 3D and shadow it. Texture is covered in great depth with lots of good code and more interesting tricks with pictures. The rest of the chapter is one long update to the Model3D class introduced earlier.
Chapter eight gets into tricks with text. This chapter is crammed with interesting scroll tricks. Late in the chapter some great 3D text scroll scripts, like a 3D spiral, are given.
Chapter nine is titled "Navigation." The keys to this chapter are frames, tracking the mouse and 3D animated menus. This stuff gets more directly into HTML.
Chapter ten is about making imaging effects look better and load fast. Some of this material is dated because the author is writing from the viewpoint of Java 1.0.2.
The appendix is a great summary of classes and commands used in the book. It serves as a very good reference source and is very helpful when trying to read through the programs in the book. The CD-ROM contains some shareware and freeware and a Java version of the old game "Asteroids". Most importantly it contains all the programs in the book. The shareware is pretty ancient and source code for the shareware is not included.
Even though this book was obviously written at a time when Java's main purpose was to jazz up web pages, it is still interesting for people who already know Java and basic computer graphics and are looking for some interesting graphic effects and their explanations. The two main bad points about this book are:
1. Everything is in the form of an applet. This is certainly due to the fact that the contents were written in 1996.
2. For a book that is supposed to be about graphic effects, the illustrations are very shoddy and they are all in black and white.
In spite of these drawbacks, it is a good source of information on how to perform effects at the pixel level, and in that respect the book will never be obsolete.

Java games are a hobby of mine, and I must say this the most practical book for the topic that I've found. It contains great practical examples, and doesn't stray from the subject - programming techniques that allow you to produce excellent-looking applets. Ever see those flashy slideshow applets, with various special effects? This book will show you how to construct one by yourself, explaining each step with great detail. It goes through great extent in helping you understand what you're doing, all while sticking close to subject, without beating around the proverbial bush.
The only downside to this book is its coverage of sounds in Java - if you need help with sounds and sounds alone, don't buy this book. It contains a miniscule amount of information regarding the subject - namely just a brief introduction to sounds, and usage of the Applet class' primitive audio playback functions (Java has great support for generating audio on-the-fly, which this book does not cover).

Lack of detailed sound documentation doesn't take away the value of this book, however, and I recommend it to anyone who would like to produce "kickass java" applets.

Firstly, as expected this book is not for the beginner programmer. It has excellent, working, examples which really takes you to the "cutting edge". Its focus is more on advanced animation (game-like programming techniques) and doesn't include for example database design and implementation, etc. Overall an excellent book, and for everyone bored with simple java UI's

My copy of this book is well worn, dog earned, and filled with enough paper clips to set off airport alarms. It has well over half a pad of pink post it notes extending from its pages. Several Xerox copies of book pages hang from my desk for quick reference. I would never go back to L*****'s book!

It was Diller's manuscript that allowed me to publish my dissertation with LaTeX in a timely fashion with minimal headache (from text processing!).

Pure TeX geeks will shun this book. It's too readable and too practical. If you want to hack away your grad school days solving Knuth's TeX programming exercises, this book is not for you.

Purchase this book if you actually want to get some productive work done with LaTeX!

This book is well written and is great for anyone trying to put together reports and simple documents with no frills (base fonts and formatting). It does not cover font selection (NFSS), customization, and many other important things for advanced documents, like a book. If you need a much more comprehensive book for LaTeX I would recommend Kopka's book. The book is structured in a very confusing and sometimes illogical manner, but it covers much more. This book is much more efficient, but you may find yourself needing more.

I've recently been through most of the beginning to intermediate LaTeX books and have found the bulk of them almost worthless in helping to learn and use LaTeX. This book is extremely readable and useful with correct syntax. The focus is unapologetically LaTeX2e and is not encumbered with outdated 2.09 commands. This is hands down the one book I would buy if I were only going to buy one. After this I would recommend Kopka, though that is much less well presented but definitely the next best (it is loaded with superfluous 2.09 command comparisons which just get in the way of getting through the book). It is way down hill after that, including Lamport's book (beautifully typeset but not clearly written).

In the TeX/LaTeX universe, I've found that you get the program for free, but then you wind up buying $200 worth of books to learn the program because no one textbook is all things to all people. This is hands down the best "introductory book." It's easy to read and gives you enough information to start up quickly. Hahn's book is outdated with its coverage of Latex 2.09, and Kopka's, while having lots of good stuff in it (if you can find it), reads like a scientific text translated from a foreign language--which it is.

If you want to start getting productive with LaTeX immediately, get this book.

I agree with the previous review. Among other nice touches the book contains a descriptive list of all LaTeX commands. This alone made it worth the money for me.

The book consists of 26 chapters plus 1 appendix.

The first 2 chapters cover the questions of "What is a robot" and "What is a program" and introduce the topic of pseudo code. There are many different methods when it comes to pseudo code, but this method will hopefully help teachers, parents, and students to understand how to take an idea for a program and turn it into actual NXT-G block code.

All 36 blocks are covered (the book is useful for both the retail version software and the educational version), and each block has its own chapter with the exception of a couple of blocks that share a chapter (such as the Random block and Number-To-Text block that share chapter 14).

There is a chapter dedicated to the concept of data plugs and wires (Chapter 7). This can be one of the more confusing elements of NXT-G, so this chapter uses a simplified method of showing how data types (number, text, logic) are passed between blocks.

Another chapter provides a walkthrough on creating a My Block. My Blocks are powerful methods for simplifying NXT-G programs, and this chapter shows how the ability to re-use My Blocks can be helpful.

Finally, the appendix covers some basic math such as converting back and forth between degrees and rotations. It also explains the LCD screen's resolution and how the X/Y coordinates work.

Teachers, parents, coaches, and kids should find this book useful. It's written in a very friendly and easy-to-read style and provides plenty of sample programs in each chapter to demonstrate how to use the blocks. Also, coverage of each block's configuration panel is also provided. Overall, the book can be used as an additional source of information on the NXT-G programming language to supplement the Help files included with the software.

This book covers a lot of ground on NXT-G programming and is a must have resource for anyone serious about programming in NXT-G as the on line help included with the NXT set is not adequate.
As a professional programmer and a robotics hobbyist, I would recommend that anyone wanting to bring out the full potential of their NXT creations move to a text based language like Robot-C instead. While NXT-G is good for simple programs, it is just to difficult to create anything of any complexity as the graphical elements and all those connecting lines distract you from what you are trying to accomplish.
I am giving this book 5 stars because it does well at what it is, a reference / guide to the NXT-G programming language. It is NXT-G itself that I would only give 2 stars.

We bought this book for our nine year old son who had recently received the Mindstorms NXT for Christmas. He could not put the book down - read it from cover to cover and thinks it is a great book. Highly recommend.

When it comes to wanting to do Lego Mindstorm NXT-G, this is the first book you should get. The book shows the reader what different blocks are and how they work. The book also reads in terms that middle school students can understand and follow. Programming is the most difficult item that you have to do with a roboit. This book shows is a great resource for people that are in to lego roboits.

There's no other book out there that covers the NXT-G programming language. Jim Kelly covers the subject thoroughly, in a clear, friendly and encouraging style.

The book not only covers NXT-G, it's also a primer on what programming is and how it works. With this book, teachers, students and beginners will have everything they need to understand how NXT-G works and how to use it. Advanced users will learn a thing or two as well, particularly with respect to some of the lesser known blocks within the NXT-G program.

This is far and away the best book available on Lightwave rigging. Gorden is the only author to thoroughly address the relationship between weight maps, bones and the polygonal structure of the model and how they must be combined to create a working 3D character. I consider this book absolutely essential for anyone looking to do any kind of character animation in Lightwave.

I'm a Lightwave user for about 3 years now, I did a lot of 3D stuff but never any boned character animation. Just had trouble getting trough the process of rigging ( like every other beginning 3D artist ).

I bought the Volume 1 and 2 en really took the time of reading it word by word. Underlining the most important things so i'll be able to use these books as a quick reference guide. Sometimes I just forget things and then I like to quickly return to my books for help ;-)

I know that a lot of you prefer some training DVD's above reading because it takes some time to get trough these books... But believe me, they are worth it. They get you trough the basics and then take you up to the next level. The CD that comes with this book also helps a great deal. You can go and analyse the settings of the examples.

I recommend this book to anyone who's thinking about character animation, even if you haven't got any knowledge of rigging. You have got to get this book...

This book has proved invaluable resource for dealing with Ligthwave's rigging. Filled with great tips and examples, this book shows you clearly how to build efficient rigs.

This is an excellent book for detailed instruction on using Lightwave for character rigging and texturing.

Until I read this book Rigging was always a challenge and something I avoided. This book clearly explains not only the buttons to click but the basic concepts needed for anyone that wants to rig. Then when you have mastered the basics he walks you thru complex, power, but easy to setup rigging setups.

As an Instructor I recommend this book not only to my students but also to high end studios. Jonny has written the "Rigging Bible" in my honest opinion.

I hope we see more from this talented artist!

Orberg has given us a priceless gift that will have a prominent place in the annals of language learning for many years to come. Revised and improved over the course of many years, I suspect this series was what began convincing language scholars that immersion, or as Orberg calls it, "the natural method," is the logical way -- and by far the best way -- to learn a language.

This book should be in the personal library of every language student in the western world. It has been refined to the point of grammatical precision. I have never seen anything like it.

As if that were not enough, it is also highly entertaining. After learning simple geography about the Roman empire in the first chapter, you immediately become acquainted with an endearing second-century family. Soon you are hooked and learning Latin naturally as the story unfolds.

Of the ten to fifteen series of Latin Primers I've looked at and taught from, this is the best. The next best is probably Oxford or Cambridge. The problem with Henle and Wheelock is that although one can thoroughly understand grammar, one does not acquire the idiom. I mean idiom as Cardinal Newman in Elementary Education (in Idea of University) describes it. Oerberg best gives you a knack for "how the Latin sentence is thought" or put together (not merely idiomatic expression). It is harder to teach, but much more enjoyable. My students love learning. It also has rave reviews from teachers at the publishers' forum for Oerberg. There is also a brand new companion book that is supplement to the grammar.

It is a "natural" approach. Everything is in Latin. My students learn to recite the Latin in 2 months of 6th grade, and learn about 4 times the vocabulary without ever using a dictionary (and I only give them a few difficult words, in particular some prepositions and conjunctions).

It is difficult on your own I imagine, but there are additional resources. It's by far the best approach, the closest to actually acquiring the language by immersion. Suitable for adults and used in colleges. (Oerberg has a very subtle and also not so subtle humor, making it suitable for all ages.)I studied Latin formally for ten years and never acquired a knack for the idiom. Teaching from Oerberg has actually improved my Latin. It is, I think, an answer to Dorothy Sayers who said her biggest complaint was that after 20 years of study, she never really acquired Latin -- she started when seven.

Vive, Hans! He's done a great service for Latin pedagogy. It's really a brilliant little work as are the best Latin text books -- the difference is, this works. Latin is the toughest elementary "subject" there is -- I've taught almost all of them including AP Calc. It's also the most beneficial. I'm grateful to the Oerberg for having made it a little easier.

FINALLY, if I haven't yet convinced you, I suggest that you get it as a supplemental reader. Just read it in the Latin and try not to translate. Read and reread until you master the first book. It will help all future Latin reading. (BTW the second book is helpful too, and Hans is attempting to make an intro. to the Aeneid.)

I am doing my MFA in English at UC Irvine, where I'm also taking a Latin reading course. Reading courses usually amount to, more or less, a student standing in place while an instructor tries to throw a grammar at the student's head, hoping for a direct hit. The student is then handed some passages to translate, along with a healthy pat on the back and some words of encouragement: "Figure it out! It's really hard, isn't it? Learning Latin can sure suck! Have a great weekend!"

Okay, there's a little more academic structure than that and some courses are undoubtedly better than others. But the traditional approach to learning Latin has been, seemingly to me, a rough road. This book comes to the rescue. It's amazing. The only English in the entire book appears to be on the publisher's page and the back cover. The rest is all Latin -- you pick it up and start reading. You don't even have to pick it up. You could prop it up against something and start reading that way.

The experience isn't quite magic. You need to pay careful attention to what is happening in each and every paragraph. Concepts in this book come at you fast, and while they are reinforced, it helps to pick them up clearly the first time around. For example, some distinctions of case are very subtle, as with the genitive which is, at times, indicated by a mere long vowel mark. Because Latin is inflected, it can be very compact. But if you're astute and not in a big rush, learning is accelerated by this text's approach.

I am in love with this book. It's a revelation and a lot of fun. But I don't recommend it to anyone who prefers their learning to be painful, frustrating, or unpleasant. I also don't recommend it to anyone who believes that the acquisition of a language should exclusively be a slow, classroom process punctuated by nights of stressful cramming for the next morning's test. For those people, definitely go with Wheelock and enjoy the pain.

But if you want to work toward reading Virgil and Cicero in the most pleasant way available today, this book is the way to go. I also recommend the supplementary materials, especially the grammar, the student's guide (which is very useful), and the Exercitia Latina (which really works concepts well).

My name is Matthew (the name above is my Mom's name), and I am a 16-year old homeschooled highschool student. I just recently started studying this curriculum, and am thrilled! Last year (my freshman year) I struggled through Henle Latin, a terrible curriculum, and had almost given up hope that Latin could ever be rewarding and enjoyable. Then a friend recommended Lingua Latina to my Mom, and we bought it immediately. The moment I opened the book, I knew it was perfect. Instead of bombarding students with conjugation after conjugation, declension after declension, word after word, and rule after rule, all Lingua Latina requires is that students read the fun and interesting stories that are so well presented in this book. Although this sounds too good to be true, it works! Through the use of detailed pictures and clever diagrams, the meaning of each sentence is made clear. Even if students are fuzzy about the translation of a word or phrase, Orberg repeats it plenty of times, so by the end of the chapter nothing is left unclear. The characters: Julius, his wife Aemilia, and their three children - Marcus, Quintus, and Julia (along with a multitude of servants!) The episodes in their lives are often witty and humorous, making the learning of new words and sentence structure easy and enjoyable. Lingua Latina has proved to me that the Latin Lanuage need not be boring and discouraging! I would highly recommend this curriculum!

I take latin, and this is the book we use. I think it is VERY well writen, (all in latin) and very easy to use. I would, though not recomend it as a begining latin book, but as a second year latin course. The many pictures make it fun, and it is exciting to read about the roman family; Mother, Aemilia, Father, Julius, and the three children, Marcus, Quintus and Juila, (who is my favorite!) The story's are progressive, starting with simple introductions to the geography of Italy, then meeting the family, then moving on the more complicated things like runaway slaves. All in all, this is a very well written textbook!

It's an excellent anthology. Here are some of the writers, playwrights, authors, and others who have contributed to this text.

Aesop; Matthew Arnold;
Anne Bradstreet; Aphra Behn; William Blake; Robert Burns; Lord Byron; Elizabeth Barrett Browning; Robert Browning; Robert Bridges;
Thomas Campion; Richard Crashaw; Samuel Taylor Coleridge; Lewis Carroll;
Michael Drayton; John Donne; John Dryden; Emily Dickinson;
Anne Finch;
Thomas Gray;
Robert Herrick; George Herbert; Nathaniel Hawthorne; Frances E.W. Harper; Thomas Hardy;
Henrik Ibsen;
Ben Jonson;
Henry King; John Keats;
Richard Lovelace;
Christopher Marlowe; John Milton; Andrew Marvell; Moliere;
Thomas Nashe;
Katherine Phillips; Alexander Pope; Edgar Allan Poe;
Sir Walter Raleigh; Christina Rossetti;
Sophocles; Saint Luke; Edmund Spenser; Sir Philip Sidney; William Shakespeare; Jonathan Swift; Percy Shelley;
Edward Taylor; Lord Alfred Tennyson; Mark Twain;
Sir Thomas Wyatt; Edmyund Waller; Phyllis Wheatley; William Wordsworth; Cornelius Whur; Walt Whitman;

Obviously I purchased this for class, but unlike some textbooks which can be boring this one was really great. It's more of a collection of plays, stories, poems, etc. than a "literature is blah, blah, blah". It's also very informative, some of the english books I've had for other classes have been really boring or they've cut some of the authors work short. This one gives you so much that I'd really call it more of a book of collected works than a textbook.

It's also broken into sections like Fiction, Poems, which makes it easy to navigate through and the sections are further broken into chapters such as theme, setting, etc. with works that correspond, so you really get a good example of what each chapter is talking about.

One negative though would be the size, it's really big but with all that's included I guess it only makes sense that it would be that massive.

All in all it was a great purchase plus I think I bought it from someone on Amazon for a $1 (for a hardcover!) so it was also a good buy. My suggestion would be that more English professosrs should use it or for anyone who just wants to be informed literally, this is a really good book.

Used for my college English II class, this text presents many literary ideas which could be useful for fully learning the many apsects of english.

There is an adjunct video course also usually taught in conjunction with this text, and its available for free on demand online at learner dot org.

I've kept this text for the many stories and usefull English info. Worth having.

This is not a review. I am searching for a teacher's manual for this book. Is there one?

This book has a companion video series called Literary Visions. That series alsoo includes a study guide. I would highly recommend it.

This is just a excellent overrview of Machinima - way above the norm for Dummies books. The depth and breath is very impressive.

I'm pretty much a beginner to this topic, and I've found this is precisely the book you need to get if you want to learn how to make movies on your PC... I've found answers to every question I've ever had without all the jargon (and understandable definitions of jargon I've heard). It even gives advice on getting organized and how to go about creating a story... and with the included DVD (which has a little machinima program called "Moviestorm"), you can get started right away, and for free. Time for creative fun!

Highly recommended!

This book is the perfect guide for anyone interested in making films. Not only does it reveal the world of machinima, but the authors have provided a very informative and useful guide to the world of filmmaking. This could very easily be the classroom for students who want to explore film production as well as open up the new possibilities of film to the seasoned pro.

Machinima for Dummies is simple to understand, entertaining and if you only want to get one book on Machinima - this is the one.

Somebody gave this book two stars because he thought it lacked coverage of Second Life. Oops, he was wrong. Even if he was right it's a stupid thing to attack the book about. So here's another uninformed opinion to balance out his.

Finally! A book discussing the many aspects of Machinima for a "dummy" like me! ;) I've been looking all over the corners of the web for advice and tips for filming, editing, and creating Machinima, but now I can just look at this book for easy reference. The book kept me pretty interested throughout, and I felt that the writers really worked hard. (I read their blog..) :)

The book details the aspects of Machinima in a variety of games; some I never even heard of before! There are enough tips, hints, and advice in this book to allow any person, beginner or novice, to feel confident enough to enter the world of Machinima. Oh, and the attached DVD was an incredible bonus! I never even heard of "Moviestorm", but it came free (yes, FREE) with the book. This is one book that any "Machinimaker" needs, no matter your skill level! :)

If you are responsible for delivering results from your company's data warehouse, you owe it to yourself to read this book. Chris Adamson has lived and breathed this stuff and he knows first hand the challenges facing those who enable the business intelligence systems that more and more organizations have come to rely on. The implementation of aggregates in your data warehouse is not trivial. Make a mistake and the consequences can be very serious indeed. Mr. Adamson is more than an author. He is a scholar, an educator, and an experienced practitioner in the data warehousing world and the information he shares in this book is worth many times the cover price.

I must confess that I was skeptic before reading the book, because I thought that it could not add very much to Kimball's books. However, I was wrong: this turned out to be a very useful book. Not only it contains the most detailed explanation of DW aggregates available, but it also contains a very good discussion of the loading process for various types of dimensions and facts, which forms the bulk of data warehouse "back room processing".
One more final plus: the author completely adopts the Kimball approach to Data Warehousing, so this book fits very nicely with other books from Wiley's describing Kimball methodology.

Mr. Adamson is certainly the foremost expert in this area. He has many years of hands-on experience, research, and knowledge in Data Warehousing. I have been able to consult his books and find answers and solutions to problems that I encounter every day in my work. You shouldn't waste your time by not buying this book. Definitely don't waste your money by buying a book written by some else.

Recently, a colleague recommended "Mastering Data Warehouse Aggregates" and I have already applied many of the powerful techniques so ably presented by Mr. Adamson. Although experienced in the implementation of the Dr. Kimball's star schema approach, I have never been able to exploit its full performance potential - until now.

Despite the complexity of the material, the book is concise and easy to understand. NOTE: Adamson's approach is not tied to any proprietary HW or SW product. The book guided me from design fundamentals to a performance-optimized upgrade of an existing data warehouse. And it didn't take a long time to do it, either.

If you're a performance-oriented data warehousing professional, you'll find this book deserves a place on your book shelf of essential references. Highly recommended.

Chris does a great job of laying out both the good and bad associated with using aggregates as a means to support Business Intelligence and Hierarchical-type queries within a Data Warehouse environment. As a disciple of Ralph Kimball's Chris kept true to the doctrine and helped the reader understand why he recommended the tacts he did throughout the manuscript. The material was easy to follow and his illustrations were clear representations of the material being presented. I especially liked that he added platform-specific hints and scenarios to tailor the material to the reader's environment. While I do not necessarily agree that building aggregate tables are the solution to many of the challenges in a Business Intelligence use of Data from a Data Warehouse, I do feel that Chris' book is a great place to start to learn the challenges and start down the path of solution to the problem. Add on material might include mention of other solutions that are not manual that also address the same challenge - such as the software package from HyperRoll.