Computer and Science Books

In his book, "Information Security Intelligence", Professor Thomas Calabrese grants his audience two things of note. First, he discusses the topic of Information Security with great passion and loads each chapter, topic, and subtopic with key facts, historical insight, and real world application. Second, he writes with a clarity and expertise that I could only posit as unrivaled; this man's education, life, and professional experiences have obviously lent him a great deal of information on Information Security which he gladly presents to us simply and directly, and without beating any topic into the ground.

'Information Security Intelligence' articulately and clearly discusses the major issues of Information Security. The book keeps the reader engaged with challenging and interesting labs. The author's background as a professor comes through in his ability to cleary express the complex issues surrounding Information Security. A very informative and useful book.

Mr. Calabrese has written a wonderful book. Complete with examples and in an easy to understand format. The mathematical principles behind cryptography were a lot easier to understand than other books I have read on the subject. The CD is very helpful and the personal touch where you can see and hear Mr. Calabrese answers questions was very helpful. If you are interested in information security or cryptography this book is a must have.

'Information Security Intelligence' by Thomas Calabrese is a very informative and interesting book. The author has done a superb job of explaining principles and illustrating his points through easily understood examples. This book does a great job of presenting the issues that organizations face and the importance of securing their information. I would highly recommend this book.

"Information Security Intelligence" by Thomas Calabrese is a very easy read for the non-infomation security professional reader. Although, very detailed and analytical when working through the cryptography algorythms, the first and third sections are very readable and provide a thorough understanding of how organizations can protect their most important asset!! I would highly recommend this "how-to-book" to any IT professional tasked with protecting their business' information.

Sarah's Page is a wonderful book! The characters have real personality, they're not dull. You discover the story as she e-mails her best friend in New York. She's stuck on a farm with her sister and her sister's husband. Life gets tough, but Sarah is tough to.

Originally I bought this book for my niece who is a Michigander. The weekend it arrived from Amazon, she was off with her parents to a wedding for the weekend. It didn't take her long to read the entire story. This weekend she lent it to me. One day. That's all it took. I couldn't put Sarah's Page down. Not only is it a clever idea, but the story is compelling. Sarah is your best friend or the one you wish you had. (BTW I am 53 years old ;) )

Thsi book is really good. I have something in comman with the author she went to the same school that I am at now. This book relates to people today. Its a great book for girls who like to surf the web. I would reccomend this book to everyone.

I loved this book so much. It is just like real life. I could see this happening to myself or one of my friends, I felt like I was really there. Also I have something in common with Anna Murray. I go to the high school that she graduated from and I have the same English teacher she did. Maybe I will write a book some day.

The book Sarah's Page is a good, easy read. The plot is simple and good. The plot is not wonderful, but good and interesting. One factor that made this book an enjoyable read was that it was written all in e-mails. It was a different way of writting and I really liked that. For those of you who liked the book P.S. Longer Letter Later and/or the book Snail Mail No More, I think you would like this book. The characters in this book wre very believable. The book was quite detailed and added a lot of description, which was a nice aspect. The setting played an important role in the plot, for in the book the main character is this girl named Sarah who is from New York and is from a wealthy family has to live on a rustic farm and do chores. The reason why I gave this book a four star rating instead of five was because at times this book seemed to drag on a little, and got off the point. Overall, this book was pretty good. I think it is probably worth a read. I liked the writing style and characters best. I think girls ages 9, 10, or 11 would really enjoy this book. This is a good book.

Every single one of these reviews is planted. Fake. The majority are pristinely written and punctuated TOO nicely. And they all say the same thing. "I couldn't put it down" "It's not bogged down with description" "I wasn't interested until such and such..."

Really?!

That being said, I haven't read the book. But I AM interested because I read an article about how Haarsma had video games in mind when he wrote it. He's trying this to reach out to the generation of kids that favor video games over books, and I'm curious to see how well it translates across the two mediums.

Please don't look at the other reviews. Even the last one that appears to be poorly written in the awful Internet/chat room/texting lingo. They're all fluff. But don't let it deter you either. I suggest giving it a try and seeing what it's all about. It could be the next great literary idea. Maybe not.

I've always liked to read science fiction but for the most part you had to read through the tedious technical description of a whole new world. While I think it has always been worthwhile to stick with these books anyway, I can relate to young adults who - for that reason - don't.
This is exactly why The Softwire: Virus on Orbis 1 is the perfect book for reluctant readers. The story is fast paced, the characters draw you in and the new world PJ Haarsma created is complex and fascinating - but it doesn't overwhelm you and, more importantly, - the lack of overwhelming technical details leaves enough room for ones's own imagination and suspense. In fact, it does exactly the opposite: it leaves you wanting more, both of the story and this newly discovered world.
The book touches upon a variety of subjects like growing up, taking responsibility and standing up for one's ideas which make it both interesting for young adults and grown-ups.
With Christmas again not so far away (again), it's the perfect book to give away as a present!

The Softwire: Virus on Orbis 1

The Softwire: Virus on Orbis 1 is an excellent book. I thoroughly enjoyed it from start to finish. P.J. Haarsma is obviously a very talented writer, he manages to keep the reader enthralled throughout the novel. The Softwire is a brilliant story filled with original ideas and characters. I particularly liked the Keepers. With plenty of suspense, unanswered questions and mysteries I can't wait for the future installments. Turning the books into a movie series would be a great success as I am sure they will maintain the very high standards set by The Softwire: Virus on Orbis 1.
Jericho

I've never really been a fan of science fiction books. They all seemed to follow the same recipe. They all had the same heroes, saving the day at the last moment, telling us how life should be...That gets boring and predictable.I read The Softwire at the suggestion of some good friends, and I found an author who, through the creation of another world, created a bok that was fast paced without giving the reader too much information all at once making it hard to comprehend for the younger reader.

The Softwire: Virus on Orbis 1 revolves around an imaginative world of computers, fantasy creatures, kids banding together in crisis, and a boy struggling to find his purpose in life amid adversity. It includes themes of facing fears, importance of "family," kindness versus cruelty, self-reliance and the power of a positive attitude. What more can you ask for in a young adult reader?

The main character is immediately appealing. In JT, the author has found the voice for all children struggling to deal with self-consciousness towards their unique qualities. Most children can identify with this, but especially kids who face challenges. For this reason, the book has a strong drawing power for youngsters who have difficulty reading. Just like the "hero" in the book, they usually feel less worthy. Further enhancing the appeal for reluctant readers is the fact that there are no long, drawn-out descriptions to drag the story down. The book gives enough information to spark the imagination, but does not overdo it. Rather, the action moves along at a fast clip from the outset, building and building to the exciting and surprising ending.

The author has created Rings of Orbis, a free online videogame based on The Softwire book series, to grab the attention of those kids who would never pick up a book for recreation. Answers to questions in the game are found within the book, encouraging the players to read. What an innovative idea for improving literacy among children!

The Softwire: Virus on Orbis 1 is the perfect book to give kids who could benefit from a strong protagonist who overcomes adversity with grace and perseverance. And it's a fun read for adults as well.

This is an excellent book on debugging. Whether you're debugging mechanical systems, electrical circuits, or software, the methodology presented is extremely practical and systematic. The author presents nine debugging rules that can be applied to any problem. The text is well-written, engaging, and humorous. The author also included a wealth of war stories that are worth the price alone. Highly recommended.

This Book Demonstrates How you could debug SOMETHING systematically, from most important principle to least important principle.(All 9 As the Book name said.) The Examples covers software, hardware, electrical, mechanical debugging. It is just amusement to read the example. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.

Quite liked it. I now have a game plan for approaching bugs in a nonrandom manner (including intermittent bugs):


Understand the System
- Read all related documentation
- Draw a system diagram and understand how things are connected
- Know the capabilities of your debugging tools


Make It Fail
- Start from a clean initial state
- Consider automating lengthy steps
- Make it fail in situ; don't waste time simulating the environment
- For intermittent bugs: list possible factors and try varying them one at a time; output a logfile and look for patterns


Quit Thinking and Look
- Watch it fail
- Use Remote Desktop / VNC
- Add logging and monitors
- Don't start thinking until you've limited the number of possible causes


Divide and Conquer
- Binary search
- Use test data with an easily identifiable pattern
- Start at the failure point and work backwards
- If you discover other bugs that may be related, fix them before continuing your search


Change One Thing at a Time
- Don't panic
- Back out changes that have no effect
- Compare the logfile with that of a good system
- Check earlier versions


Keep an Audit Trail
- Keep a detailed written log


Check the Plug
- D'oh!
- Have the components been properly initialized?


Get a Fresh View
- Try explaining the problem to someone (or something)
- Ask an expert: co-workers, the vendor, documentation, bug database, the web
- Report symptoms (including possibly unrelated observations), but not your theories


If You Didn't Fix It, It Ain't Fixed
- Fix the root cause
- Make the problem happen again by undoing your fix

I worked with Dave Agans for over 10 years and I can tell you first hand the man knows what he's talking about. From developing hand-held controllers in the late eighties to single-board OS/2-based videoconferencing products to software collaboration tools, we have debugged problems of every ilk. Whether the problem was an FPGA bug, a faulty component in a board, a race condition in a device driver or a dangling pointer in a DLL, Dave always approached the problem with his same set of debugging rules, and they never let him down. Read this book. It's engaging and fun to read. But more importantly it will make you a better debugger, whether you're debugging hardware, software or your lawnmower.

This book is absolutely indispensable for anyone working in any job where things occasionally work in an unexpected manner. It's concise, funny, well-written, and full of immensely useful tips on how to go about debugging problems.

One of the great things about this book is that it's generalistic in nature, not specific. Agans's decades of troubleshooting experience has given him great insight on how to go about debugging in all sorts of environments, so he lays out nine rules for approaching any problem:

Understand the System
Make it Fail
Quit Thinking and Look
Divide and Conquer
Change One Thing at a Time
Keep an Audit Trail
Check the Plug
Get a Fresh View
If You Didn't Fix It, It Ain't Fixed

[...]

Debugging isn't an art performed only by folks with some odd genetic disposition, it's a critical craft which can and must be learned. I was fortunate to have some good troubleshooters as mentors during my days working radar inflight in the Air Force, but I've fallen out of many of the good practices those folks beat^H^H^H^Hinstilled in me. Agans's book is helping me pull out of the thrash and churn mode of debugging.

This book's only 175 or so pages long and is well-worth adding to your library. Actually, substitute "a critical addition" for "well worth adding". I'm also going to make sure this book gets added to the professional development reading list I'm working on creating.

Great book for reference and self study if you remember your circuit analysis and laplace transforms. Very detailed with out making ones eyes gloss over. Do wish it had a few more d examples but overall cant complain.

This book can be an excellent resource for any Analog Integrated Circuit Design Electrical Engineering student or practicing engineer. The book can assist in the modeling of IC devices such as transistors, resistors, and capacitors. It also sensibly covers the building blocks of analog integrated circuits: gain stages, output stages, level shifters, current sources and mirrors.

The reader is expected to have a general understanding of electronics, frequency-domain analysis procedures, and understand basic Pspice operations. The book generally covers enough material for a half-year of courses at the upper-division/graduate level although the book could certainly be useful for a single class.

The material generally starts out as basic and proceeds to a complex level. There are helpful figures and diagrams on nearly every page and the organization is generally sensible and intuitive. There are many worked examples and hundreds of end-of-chapter problems. The text is supported by a website that offers downloadable design projects, additional examples, and design software. Franco has done an admiral job at presenting a complicated subject.

Here's a brief description of SOME of the topics found in each chapter:

1) Basic amplifier concepts and arrangements are explored. Also covers negative feedback, the loop gain, and basic circuit analysis.

2) Current-to-Voltage & Voltage-to-Current Converters, Current, Difference, Instrumentation, and Transducer Bridge Amplifiers.

3) Active Filters. Transfer Function, 1st order, KRC, multiple-feedback, state-variable, audio, and biquad filters.

4) Filter Approximations, switched-capacitor, universal sc filters, and cascade design.

5) Low-input bias-current Op amps, low-input-offset-voltage Op Amps, Op Amp Circuit Diagrams, and Input offset Voltage.

6) Open and Closed loop response. Transient Response, Input and Output Impedances, and effect of Finite GBP on Filters and Integrator Circuits.

7) Noise Dynamics and Properties. Sources of Noise and Low-Noise Op Amps.

8) Stability problems. Stability of CFA Circuits and in Constant-GBP Op Amp Circuits. Internal and External Frequency Compensation.

9) Schmitt Triggers, analog switches, voltage comparators, and precision rectifiers.

10) Sine, Triangular, Sawtooth, and Monolithic Wave Generators. Also Multivibrators and V-F and F-V Converters.

11) Voltage References and Regulators. Switching, linear, and monolithic switching regulators.

12) Performance Specifications, D-A and A-D Conversion Techniques. Oversampling Converters and Multiplying DAC Applications.

13) Nonlinear Amplifiers. Phase-Locked Loops, Monolithic PLLs, Analog Multipliers. Log/Antilog and Operational Transconductance Amplifiers.

Mulling through some old reviews, I noticed that I left a technical error (more of a technical glossing-over) in my review of Franco's opus. It's high time I corrected it, since it's been there for more than a year, no doubt befuddling readers who thought they knew something about analog electronics. Specifically, I had said that the designation of the input terminals as '+' and '-' really made no difference: it's more reflective of convention, sciz. (assuming something other than a difference amplifier), the significant input network is attached to '-'--with '+' grounded--if the configuration is inverting, but to '+' (with '-' grounded) if the configuration is non-inverting. That's the truth, but it isn't the whole truth. When we examine border cases--those that tax the operational limits of the device, straying outside the "passband," analogically speaking (yes, I know, that typically refers to a frequency range, but here I use it to address an input voltage difference range)--the otherwise cosmetic or mnemonic choice of '+' or '-' terminal becomes rather more manifest. Remember that the amplifier actually amplifies the input voltage difference in the microscopic sense--even though it implements a semantically notable linear operation in the macroscopic sense--relying upon the feedback network to remanufacture an appropriate input voltage difference that maintains the nominal purpose of the circuit. When things go ape and the input voltage difference is much too high or, alternatively, much too low (and that may be a tough nut to crack), the output characteristic will be dependent upon what was connected to '+' and what, to '-'.

Now, wasn't that as clear as mud? Remember, I'm constrained to use words, and words alone, as my medium of communication, and, since I have only a fraction of a thousand words, I have only a fraction of a picture!

This is an excellent book on linear circuit design, the best I have read to-date. It covers feedback theory, ideal op amps, active filter design & most importantly practical op amp limitations. It also covers voltage regulators, voltage references, ADCs, DACs, op amp noise & more. What I liked most was the combination of mathematical circuit analysis & practical design. Too many books show useful circuits without bothering to explain anything about how they work. It also has plenty of exercises to tax the brain.

Really a top notch book on op-amps and almost anything you'd ever do with them. Has math where it's needed and rules of thumb where it isn't. Actually is just a great analog design book altogether. Really the definative text on the subject of designing with op-amps.

This is a good book, that covers a lot of info. It also holds up as a book, and not just a how-to. All the info in this book is good info, but it is better suited for large markets. Don't expect to be able to read this book and be able run a business right of the gates, but at the same time this will help get you on the right track. Get this book, it is a good look into how someone got into the business and was able to make it work for a long time.

A great book that gives you the important information you need to run your own production company! I don't know of another title that actually tells you how to get the work that will support your financial needs. After all, you have to have work coming in the door or else...

I am an instructor at advanced multimedia classes at a Business School close to Copenhagen, Denmark. I've been around for a while and have been working with 3D, animation, database programing and webdesign and I have also read parts of this book with great excitement and can't wait to finish it. This is a book that has been a demand for on the Danish market for several years...and now it is here. Wonderful. I particularly like the very direct and bold way it describes how the future entrepreneurs should behave on the market in order to survive. Conclusion: the absolute BEST step-by-step book ever written on the topic and a must for anyone going into the media business.

As a reader just finishing the final pages of 'Desktop Video Studio Bible', I must say I totally enjoyed it. This is an excellent guideline to starting and maintaining a business. I'll keep this as a reference for years.

My wife and I have recently started a media production business on the side as presently we both work for a large computer company. I have been in the engineering related field for over 20 years. We got started in this media business at home doing simple home movies and transferring video tape. Slowly the word spread at work and among friends and before too long we saw a nucleus for a potential business. This spring we presented a surprise 40th birthday video produced by our company at a party hosting about 80 people. It was a great success and was a rush and now we are hooked. Maybe this was a peripheral effect of the "Really Big Thing"? Read this book to find out about the "Really Big Thing".

Even though I have over 16 years experience in the video industry, this book has given me the tools, advice and motivation that I'll need to finally realize my dream of owning my own media creation business.

Not only is the book extremely informative, it has a very readable and enjoyable writing style that made me feel as if the author were speaking directly to me. If you have even the slightest interest in getting involved in digital video production and/or web production, you need this book!

This book makes a complicated machine like computer very easy to understand

The best thing I love about this book is the writing style of Prof. Freedman and how easily and clearly it can crystallize, the otherwise complex computer terminology, components and concepts. The explanations used here are vivid. I have owned a copy since 1997 and I have never been disappointed with anything that I needed to look up, for instance 'kludge' is described here as - "Also spelled 'kluge' and pronounced 'klooj'. A crude, inelegant system, component or program. It may refer to a makeshift, temporary solution to a problem as well as to any product that is poorly designed or that becomes unwieldy over time."

It will be hard to obtain better explanations than they are written in here.

There are several other similar Encyclopedias around which I have never looked at, because I had no need to look for another Encyclopedia.

Unlike most other computer dictionaries/encyclopaedias in its class, the inclusion of a companion CD-ROM gave this "Computer Desktop Encyclopedia" a comfortable jump-start in the superiority contest.
The book (and its attached CD-ROM) covered, in the most definitive way, all the important terms and acronyms that apply to today's computer and networking technologies. Hardware, software, and allied peripherals were adequately represented.
It is descriptive and well-illustrated, and included all the commonly used file extensions. With over ten-thousand terms and definitions, its scope is rich: in comparison to what exist now.
This computer encyclopedia ranks among the best currently on sale. However, potential buyers may be frustrated (at the moment) by its limited availability.

And too bad it's out of print. While this book will not teach you how to use a PC, it will define every computer related (and often electronics) term you can imagine. I was surprised on some of the really obsecure terms this book contained that I didn't expect it to mention. I got this book used and after reading over some of it, I'd say this is a must have on any nerd's desk as the it compares up there with as good as an internet search for explanations of PC related terms.

I work people whose computer knowledge varies from very little to a serious computer user. This reference manual is one book that all levels can benefit from. This book is the perfect manual to answer the questions in an easy to understand format without all that technical jargon.

The book is over 1100 pages and is loaded with pictures and figures to give a visual representation of the definition which makes is easier to understand some of the concepts covered. There is computer definitions, vendor breakdowns, and certification analysis and application definitions.

Some of the topics covered are networking, computers, MACs and applications. Some of the technologies included are CISCO, CompTIA, ATM, FDDI, Ethernet and token ring. Also included is a cd-rom which has over 5000 more definitions not included in the book. Overall a great addition to my technical library.

I give this book 4 stars because in chapter four, the review questions are for the wrong chapter...But this book really gets into the wireless side of Security. I have not taken this test but cannot wait. I have my CWNA cert and had to read the book about 4 time due to the fact that I don't work in the wireless field.

I enjoy reading these books by planent3 wireless I wish they authored other topics. Unlike the CWNA book, this book fouces alot on secuirty..well the cert is called Certified Wireless "SECURITY" Pro. I have read this book only twice and still feel that I should read it 2 more time before exam day.

The only thing is that many times this book "tells" you how to implement a solution; it doesn't show you how. Don't get me wrong this book is a great learning tool. I enjoy this books so well that I'm going to get my CWAP, after earning my CWSP.

Good luck , all and have fun with this stuff !

I was on the look out for a comprehensive book for wireless security, something which was vendor neutral and would cover a lot of wireless protocols and authentication solutions.
This book is packed with a wide range of wireless networking security protocols and solutions including 801.x, 802.11i, DES, 3DES, AES, WEP, WPA, TKIP, PPTP & IPSec VPNs, wireless VLANs, EAP, EAP-TLS, LEAP and EAP-TTLS.

So I got just the book I was looking for.

Niloufer Tamboly, CISSP

The Devinator does it again with a superbly written book. However, did anyone notice the review questions for Chapter4??
The chapter talked about DOS and the questions were about Encryption? Is this a typo or was that intentional?

I have read three other wireless security books and they all basically [stunk]. Some of them had three or four good chapters, but they also had a lot of "fluff" material and just did not cover the material in a logical manner. This is by far is best wireless security book published to date. Even more important than being a study guide, the book will become your permanent reference book when deploying solutions in the real world.

The book covers a wide range of wireless networking security solutions including 801.x, 802.11i, DES, 3DES, AES, WEP, WPA, TKIP, PPTP & IPSec VPNs, wireless VLANs, EAP, EAP-TLS, LEAP and EAP-TTLS. It covers numerous Layer 2, Layer 3 and even Layer 7 solutions.

The guide also has a great section on wireless security auditing tools. In addition there are several chapters that discuss the implementation of security policies and why corporations need wireless security policies in their company handbook.

Although this book is the best wireless security reference book available, I would still highly recommend that you take the CWSP class which is about 80% lab with about 35 hours hands-on with the equipment. The guy who writes the tests for Planet3Wireless is the Marquis de Sade of test creators. He is sadistic, but bottom line is that I was forced to learn and understand the material and concepts. Hands-on experience combined with intense self study from this study guide will enable you to pass the CWSP test.

But regardless of whether you plan on getting certified or not, this book will be your Wireless Security Bible.

I spent many, many hours going over the CWSP Official Study Guide. I feel like Devin Akin did an awesome job of authoring it. This book was developed to help people attain the Certified Wireless Security Professional certification but I use it whenever I need a definitive answer on questions related to wireless security.

A ton of research was put into making sure all types of wireless security products were covered and I think you'll benefit not only from the challenge of the CWSP exam but also from the knowledge you'll gain while studying for it. I can certainly vouch that undertaking this complex subject has definitely helped my career in the IT industry. Getting the CWNA and CWSP certifications could do the same for yours.

I only gave this book three stars because the author is rather jaded, and I am not entirely sure how much of what he says does what he says.

As an example: He spoke of remotely erasing data from devices to prevent someone who stole the device from obtaining data somewhere in the first chapter. That is simply not going to help you. If some one steals a device for the data, erasing it is not going to help you, they are just going to use a utility to rewrite all the allocation table indexs back to 1's, and whalla the data is back (if there smart they wont even have to buy anything to do it, because DOS has that utility built in). When it comes to file protection, encryption is the only way to go... unfortunately when someone has the device, if there good enough they can get at the key.

Making data hard to get at is one thing, but believing that there is an absolute solution is obsurd.

The book was helpful in that it introduced me to many if not most or all of the concepts. As with every one else that is most likely reading or going to read this book, I have not messed with wireless to terably much, and I now have a good bases to start researching the topics further... because I definitely do not trust this mans judgement.

The author also often feels that he can predict the future and tell you with in a good 3-6 month period of when certain vulnerabilities are going to be exploited... such as wireless viruses being written on a regular basis in mid 2006. That one has already been proven false... I suppose that is more of an annoying writing style though, I am sure that at some point they will start poping up more readily... just not in mid 2006!

This book provides the knowledge necessary to master wireless technology quickly and, more importantly, guide an individual/organization through the pitfalls of deploying the technology securely and rapidly.

As a professional consultant, increasingly I have to deal with wireless networks. This book provides for me the details about wireless networking, all at my fingertips.
No, it's not a complete guide on how to setup and install a wireless network, but it's not supposed to be. A book like that would be out of date before it went to print! Rather, this book lays out the necessary information for integrating wireless platforms into corporate and business enterprise--securely! It's all about the tools to use and what job to use them for. Knowing the right tool for the right job is half of what this book is about. The other half is about scenarios and procedures and security and the theory behind the technology. Everything you need to know whether you are involved in corporate firewalling of wireless networks, security, integration, etc. This book is a must-read for anyone involved in network architecture and planning.

I couldn't put the book down. Vacca's Guide to Wireless Network Security is the one-stop-shopping reference to everything you need to know about the security impacts associated with wireless technology. Just back from a roadtrip across the US, I was astonished to find almost every motel/hotel now equipped with wireless access. Upon use, I would always wonder about their implementations regarding the *real* protection of my data exchanges. This book has educated me and frankly has scared me quite a bit. IT professionals, this is a terrific read. Highly readable and highly recommended

John Vacca has brought to light, and more importantly, into focus all the underlying issues related to securing a wireless network in his new book Guide to Wireless Network Security. This all encompassing book belongs in the hands of all active IT professionals and "C" level executives needing to keep abreast of our ever changing technical environment.

A comprehensive, concise IT reference bible.

If you find delight in the optimization of code--and you SHOULD--this is the book for you.

The book contains a great collection of techniques and tricks for highly efficient numerical programming.
Great read.

I have a virtual calculator called the DIY Calculator that accompanies my own book "How Computers Do Math" The Definitive Guide to How Computers Do Math : Featuring the Virtual DIY Calculator.

I recently added a "Conundrums, Puzzles, and Posers" section to the "Programs and Subroutines" page on my DIY Calculator website ([...]) and I've started to build a collection of simple puzzles for people to play with.

One of the first problems I posed was to count the number of ones in the 8-bit accumulator and to present the result as a binary value. I thought I had discovered the best-possible solution, until someone pointed me in the direction of the "Hacker's Delight". (In this context, "Hacker" refers to a hero who is manipulating code; not a nefarious rapscallion who breaks into other people's computer systems.)

I immediately ordered a copy from Amazon, and took delivery just yesterday as I pen these words. This book is fantastic - I kid you not - on the first page of Chapter 2, for example, I discovered at least five or six capriciously clever tricks that blew my solutions out of the water!

I highly recommend this book.

My first introduction to binary operators wizardry was in a 1st year, 1st semester course in Digital Systems at the Technion, IIT. I thought it was fun. While I was trying to write a computer program to compute Karnaugh Maps for me, I run into performance problems, and then some binary hackery helped me get back on the horse.

Since then, whenever I come across some binary trick I write it down with a few examples of usage and sometimes with some reasoning why it works.

Then came "Hacker's Delight" and I felt compelled to buy it.

I wasn't disappointed at all! Not only it contained all of the tricks that I have collected, but also it contains a lot more in depth examples of how these tricks can come in handy when trying to squeeze performance from an implementation or save a few more bytes and bits.

The book also gave me a fresh perspective on the implementation of some well known algorithms with the twist of binary arithmetic. This was very enlightening.

I read the "BASICS" chapter (chapter 2) with a single breath of air, and just couldn't leave it down. Not only it was nice to have all these tricks summarized in one book, but also I liked some of the reasoning and the "so-called" proofs.

Remaining chapters were, as I mentioned before, a fresh look for me on known algorithms. This fresh look was through the glasses of binary arithmetic.

I'd recommend this book to anyone who feels comfortable with binary arithmetic and/or computer organization -- even just for the fun of it!

I'd recommend the book to developers who don't necessarily have a sympathy to this topic, but would like a Copy&Paste solution to some problems they have to tackle.

I really enjoyed reading this book, and I will probably reference it from time to time.

The term "hacker" in this book means someone who enjoys making computers do interesting tricks regardless of whether it turns out to be useful, not someone who is intent on circumventing computer security. Plus, how relevant would those kind of tips be coming from a book that was written in 2002? Don't let the author's definition of a hacker fool you, though - the tricks in this book are very useful.

This book is a collection of small programming tricks on various subjects. The presentation is very informal, and the methods use very basic computer math. You should know your binary number system backwards and forwards before you start this book. Either C or assembly language is used to demonstrate the hacks in code form. When assembly language is used, it is that of a fictitious machine that is representative of RISC computers. That is because the tricks are meant to be platform independent.

After disposing of basic arithmetic operations early in the book, the author turns his attention to more complex math problems such as calculating square roots. His discussion of the subject is both complex and simple. First, he explains Newton's method of computing square roots through a page full of equations that require some effort to follow. Then he gives an implementation that requires fewer than twenty lines of C code. This is followed by another method that is longer and more cryptic but executes faster, by using a binary search algorithm. Whether you are interested in the equations or merely need the C code to do your job, these solutions are efficient and elegant.

Other topics addressed include Gray codes, the Hilbert curve, and prime numbers. Gray codes are a method of arranging the integers from 1 to N in a list so that each number can be visited exactly once by flipping only one bit at a time. The Hilbert curve is a similar idea expressed geometrically: a single continuous curve which, given a space divided into a grid of squares, touches every square exactly once and does not cross itself. In each case, both the mathematical discussion and the code to solve the problem are provided.

The chapter on prime numbers is the most challenging mathematically but also one of the most interesting. It starts with a concise overview of various mathematicians' efforts to devise ways of finding prime numbers. The author is one of those people who periodically become fascinated by some problem and devote themselves to learning more about it and searching for a solution. The chapter ends not with the usual code sample, but instead with an invitation to continue the search for interesting solutions to the problem.

Clearly, the author views this book not as a finished collection, but rather as a snapshot of work in progress. After decades of interest-driven research, the author has amassed a collection of studies big enough to fill a book, and it is fortunate for the rest of us that he has written one.

This book is an absolute essential to the right reader. That right reader is either a low-level coder, a high-level logic designer, or someone who builds tools and libraries for same. In other words, not a lot of people. This is hacking at its bit-level finest, though. If you're among those few, or think you might be, or want a good laugh at the people who are, dig in.

It's good for things like counting the number of 1 bits in a word-length integer (hint: if you count the bits, you're doing it the hard way). It's good for things like fast division by an integer constant, or mod to a constant integer modulus (hint: if you perform division by dividing, you're barking up the wrong tree). If you can look into a 32x32 bit multiplication and see a convolution going on, you're way ahead of the game. The only tricks I know that didn't appear here are A) for purposes that almost no one has or B) for machines that almost no one has.

Warren presents the coolest collection of slimy coding tricks ever collected, with full attention to the number of machine cycles and the compiler-writer's unique needs. I've seen a lot, and this is by far the biggest and coolest collection around. I have two complaints, though, a small one and a really big one. The small one is that the author didn't score a direct bullseye on my somewhat offbeat needs. Well, he never tried to - that's just me griping that he didn't write a different book. The big complaint is that pages, lots of them, just fluttered out of this pricey book and onto the floor. GRRR. This takes nothing away from the content of the book, until some critical page flutters off never to be seen again. Still, if you can keep a rubber band around it, this will be one of the deepest mines of coolness in your uber-geek library.

//wiredweird