Software Books

Got the equavalent of what it cost me after about 5 minutes. Great reference and have just recently started at chapter 3 for in-depth how to instructions.

Well written.

This book is fairly comprehensive. There were just a few topics I would have liked to have seen more on. All in all, it really helped me get the job done.

This book was just what I needed. I'm an RPG programmer who has to learn SQL for a new application we're developing. Found most of what I needed here.

I had a vendor in the day this came to work. He asked me if I had a good SQL book and I replied, "Let's find out" and opened the box. It was perfect for what we needed. I have used it several times and it is easy to read. Being new at SQL on the 400, I am a little frustrated with the index. I was trying to figure out how to substring and couldn't find a reference anywhere. Twice I have had to forego the book and ask another person.
It is a great learning tool and I'm very glad I bought it.

SQL the standard for data access is now presented in a AS400/iSeries user format. The differences that exist for the DB2/400 user are minor but significant enough to warrant 500 pages plus.

Conte and Cravitz flood the text with real working examples that hit homeruns with the IBM midrange user. Yet, minus the sprinkling of RPG/ILE & Cobol code any DB2 user would find the text extremely helpful.

Keep this book at the ready since it's a "quick grab" when questions come up regarding triggers, UDF's or Database Modeling and design.

The Book is a great starting point for the AS400/iSeries guru looking to open their database to the outside world. With a solid SQL footing the JDBC mountain is a much easier climb.

Conte & Cravitz keep up the great work!

Wow. Bucknall has raised the bar on advanced Delphi books. This books coverage of Algorithms and Data Structures is suburb. This book should be required reading for all Delphi developers. No one can call themselves an expert level Delphi developer with out understanding the concepts taught in this book. Bucknall's knowledge of Algorithms and related concepts places him in a category with Knuth & Sedgewick.

This is a book that I've been waiting for for a long time (according to the acknowledgements, Julian has worked on it from April 1999 until February 2001, probably even longer). But it has been worth it, because it's an excellent book about algorithms and data structures implemented in Delphi (and Kylix) - usually version independent.

The book consists of 12 chapters. But even before the first chapter Julian takes on the question of "why a book on Delphi algorithms?" in the introduction. He explains that a number of Computer Science algorithms books are hardly practical, and the practical books are mainly for C, C++, or Java. This is a book about algorithms and data structures using Delphi (for Windows, but also Kylix for Linux), with a lot of focus on practical and useful techniques that make sense.

A great plus is that the code in the book works for every version of Delphi and Kylix (and probably also in C++Builder), and I'm fairly confident it will remain working in the next version(s) of Delphi and Kylix to come. A bonus point is the syntax high-lighting in the source code listings. A small effort for the author/publisher, but a great help for the reader who sees the source code for the first time.

This wonderful book is now again available for purchase from lulu dot com. The known errors have been fixed and its got a new smarter look and feel.

I still think of myself as being a beginning programmer, although that's not totally true, having messed around for about ten years with CAD macro's and dbase add-ons and turned them into full-blown applications that finally became fairly complex. However, I never had a decent IT training beyond some basics in Fortran and Algol, and know next to nothing about OOP.

I first thought Bucknall's book would not be for me, as I was afraid of landing into high level topics and getting lost in jargon.

On the contrary, I hardly can stop reading the book, which finally provides a very practical approach to Delphi/Kylix programming, giving light to many abstract topics you will not find in most books : the trade-off between speed and memory efficiency, how data structures and the mix you make of them in your application affect your program's speed and reliability, easy steps that make debugging and testing more efficient,...

Once you've got the hang of using the VCL within Delphi and know how to place controls on a form, you can immensely benefit from this book, that can be used as a reference into many algorithms and their Delphi implementation, or can be read chapter by chapter as an introduction to analyse the merits of several ways to sort/search/hash or use various data structures to solve a problem you face as a programmer.

Julian Bucknall's text is very understandable, even to non english native speakers, stays close to the topic while providing you with a wide scope of insights into related subjects. He's also keen on giving you all the tips he can coming from his personal practice as a programmer that make you understand why some theoretical topics matter to your program's quality. It's nearly like having him looking over your shoulder and helping you making the best choices. The book provides you with a real simple alternative to searching the web multiple times or trying to translate C coded algorithms into a Delphi equivalent, hence it will be a time saver to many Delphi user's, even a casual one like me.

This book is a must have, as a complement to a good Delphi / Pascal reference.

This book it's of essential importance for all mid-level delphi programmers. If you like to know the low-level working of common data structures of the IT software engineering (or if you like to build one), then buy hands down this book: it's the best around. Moreover the ezdsl (the author free library) is the fastest implementation that i have seen. Personally i look that ezdsl/delphi is faster than the STL equivalent under c++.

Bernard Golden provides the perfect introduction to virtualization for the IT professional. He starts with a concise yet powerful business case and then proceeds to walk you through the nuts and bolts of realizing the potential value that virtualization can offer to your operation.

I highly recommend his book. His blog on [.....] is also valuable and wryly amusing.

Virtualization for Dummies is a good book for beginners to get started using virtual machines and for intermediate users looking for a better understanding of the technology and its application. The author states that each chapter is written to stand alone. I found this especially helpful in that I could more easily skip sections that I was already familiar with.

A beginner will find Part IV invaluable. Here the author has step-by-step instructions on how to implement a virtual server and install a guest virtual machine. This section has separate chapters on using VMWare Server, Xen integrated into Fedora and XenExpress. As the author states, each of the products used in the examples are free.

One of the applications of virtualization that experienced users will like is building a virtual appliance. As the author states, a virtual appliance is a VM containing a pre-configured OS and software bundle. This can be a real time saver for both vendors and IT departments who want to deliver an application to a customer for evaluation or testing. For the customer, installing the application requires nothing more than copying a few files to their machine and attaching the VM to their server.

The book is well written, easy to read, and worth the price.

As a non-technical marketing person, I just needed a quick primer on the basic concepts of virtualization technology. This book was perfect. Not too shallow, not too deep and clearly organized so I could skip the technical parts (which I'm sure were great :-) about how to implement virtualization. What a time-saver!

The sections on "Making a Business Case for Virtualization," "Deciding Whether Virtualization is Right for You" and "Performing a Virtualization Cost-Benefit Analysis" were a bonus for me. This is a one-stop-shop for the virtualization newbie. The last chapter with extra resources means this book will sit close at hand in my office for a while.

Bernard Golden, THE source for open source, has done it again. A treasure of knowledge and wisdom all incorporated in one fabulous book.

Whether you are a novice, a technology expert, or at the highest level of your organization, I highly recommend you pick up this book and read it. You will gain tremendous knowledge of how to successfully apply the concept of "Virtualization" to your organization.

Chad Barr
President
CB Software Systems, Inc.

I was pleasantly surprised at the quality of Virtualization for Dummies and its worthiness. Virtualization gives the impression that it's akin to theoretical physics -- no doubt an important subject, but the nitty gritty is hard to explain. Golden demystifies virtualization and provides lucid explanations of many heretofore thorny topics, such as LUNS and RAID, two breathtakingly interrelated subjects. He also does a yeoman's job of detailing the benefits and explaining the details of setting up virtualization projects and doing "P2V" (physical to virtual) deployments. In a world increasingly fascinated by cloud computing, this is a very timely book.

One of the most striking things about the book is the wide range of input from virtualization industry players (from IBM, HP, VMware, Xensource, Platespin, Novell, Red Hat, and others). My favorite parts of the book were the real world use cases for various types of virtualization.

Read my complete review here: www.newsoftwarepathways.com/blog/?p=49.

I use this book and also the author's AD cookbook daily to help with supporting our global Active Directory server infrastructure. This is an absolutely indispensable reference.

This book is a great resource covering a wide variety of interactions with Windows Servers. Whether you are new or experienced, this book is an invaluable tool.

We're a software engineering company, and I maintain our internal servers (6-7 servers) as well as provide customer support on our products. A lot of that involves asking for information from the customer - and this book helps in putting together scripts that I can send out that will send back information to us that avoids us asking to exchange 5 emails to get the same result. Anything that saves my time - and our customers time - is worthy of purchasing. Well done, well organised book - and the author returns emails!

This book is not one for beginners who don't know what they are doing and are looking for detailed explanations of topics. This is made purely for the admin who needs to get a job done, and quickly, and knows already what they are trying to accomplish. I really appreacieate all the scripting examples and also how Rob puts in some great building blocks for scripting (like how to redirect your output to an excel file rather than just the usual Wscript.Echo output that you can redirect to a text file or to stdout). Great Job Robbie!!

This book has a sound foundation for managing a windows 2003 server. The chapters are logically organized. I used some of the examples in the book to migrate some file shares in my network from unix to windows, the book was there for the rescue (the fact that the author has a solid windows/unix experience makes this book even more attractive). The solutions in this book include windows scripting, an area that is seldom talked about in windows literature. If you are serious about managing a windows 2003 server competently then you want to have this book in your arsenal.

I haven't gotten through the entire book yet but I am impressed with it so far. The author talks about techniques in an interesting manner making you want to read more. I have a multitude of Maya books and so far this one is my favorite.

was very pleased and excited to see such a great new refreshing book on texturing. Great book for a beginner or advance maya user. Great visuals and will touch on many different topics and will show you technigues on creating difficult textures in maya.

This book is written for intermediate Maya artists and it begins by covering some basic skills. In addition to lighting and texturing it goes on to cover a lot of valuable techniques. Since textures and lighting require good rendering setups, the author explains raytracing, mental ray, global illumination and HDRI. Those subjects are covered in more detail in other books but the author goes a long way in introducing them. Overall, it's a great way to advance your skills.

I had certain expectations when I chose this book and I found that it lived up to almost all expectations I had. This book gives you an overview of a large range of Maya's texturing and lighting utility nodes and it explains to the reader all their individual attributes. At the end of each chapter useful tips and tricks are explored in the form of step-by-step tutorials - from lighting to texturing and rendering techniques. One chapter is devoted entirely to Maya's lighs, another to only 2D texturing nodes, a third to 3D texturing nodes, and so on.
It is a good book for people who have already some experience in using Maya and want to broaden their knowledge.
That said the book contains 13 topical chapters plus a 14th chapter filled with "additional techniques". However, the last three chapters (12-14) can only be found as PDF files on the accompanying CD. The printed book itself finishes with chapter 11. The book could also do with an update to bring it in line with the extensive changes to Maya's UI since the release of version 8.5, but if you use your brain a little you can use Maya's online reference to help you locate menus that have been moved or renamed since this book was published.

I bought this manual to help me ugrade from Maya 7.0 to Maya 8.5 and it's become my most prized and relied upon resource. Every tutorial I've gone through has worked perfectly (no missing steps or errors so far), Mr. Lanier writes coherently & well, and each new topic is presented in a straightforward and matter-of-fact fashion.

As a professional Video Game Artist, I've reccommended this manual to our enitire company of 300, and will continue to do so to everyone else. In the past, decent documentation on the finer points of Maya has been elusive, but Mr. Lanier has saved us! I will be adding his other manuals to my library.

Mr. Smith's book is well illustrated and supported by the accompanying CD (images to work with that are in the book). His explanations are clear to the Photoshop user and he does explain some terms, as in methods of cropping and re-sizing an image and which method is suited for which type of image), file formats of images, and other areas like the applications under adjustments that I had not used until I began working with the book.
I have found some techniques that are similar to other authors (Scott Kelby, in particular, whose books I have enjoyed quite a lot), and that was part of my interest in purchasing the book-to broaden my reference library with people aside from Kelby, Deke McClelland, and some folks on-line like Earth-Bound Light and Photography, etc). I recommend purchase. Readable, well cross-referenced, and helps deliver results.

Excellent training material. I would also recomment The Photoshop CS2 Book For Digital Photographers by Scott Kelby. The combination is outstanding.

I am an amaetuer photographer. This book has helped me fine tune my photos and bring out its full potential. I will gladly recommend this book to anyone who wants to gain more knowledge on photography and perhaps learn a very powerful photo editing tool.

I was really surprised this was such an excellent book. Usually I just read the chapters I am interested in , but I read this whole book--it was just so instructional and one that I will keep close to the computer for reference book.

This book has a lot of good information in it, but is not well written. You may be halfway through a paragraph before you get to the topic sentence and figure out what the author is talking about. It often takes a second or third trip through a paragraph to figure out what it's about. The author also is not consistent with his word usage. I've found as many as three or four different words used for the same thing. For instance luminosity and brightness are used interchangeably, sometimes on the same page or even the same paragraph. So, using the book can be frustrating, though the author clearly knows Photoshop and I have learned a lot from the book.
The book does not mention or discuss some of the neatest features of Photoshop CS2 including some of the Automate features such as Merge to HDR (high dynamic range). This feature combines an underexposed and an overexposed picture into one high dynamic range image (bright areas are not washed out and dark areas are not black). This is an amazing capability that is not mentioned.
I would buy this book again, but only after searching diligently for one that covers the same scope or more and is better written. Actually, I'd probably get a book that covers CS3 as well, and hopefully indicates where features are unique to CS3. Or maybe just a CS3 book if you are going to upgrade. I understand the upgrade to CS3 is well worth the price even though it is now $200. Ease of use alone makes CS3 valuable to novices from what I've read.

This book teaches with extreme clarity everything you need to know to program for Director/Shockwave 3D. A rarity amongst programming books due to the didactics, organization, and clarity/accuracy of code. It is current with Director MX 2004 and I suspect it is current with Director 11 given the information Adobe just released. You cannot go wrong with this one. The only problem is that it is hard to find, I had to buy my copy from a reseller.

I have every book publish about developing interactive 3D using director. This is the best one of the bunch. After reading this book I wish I hadn't purchased any of the others. Although the book is for director 8.5 it still the best book for Director 3D +

As anyone knows reading this review knows Director is the only program that will allow you to create 3D games and programs for the web. Hopefully Adobe will update it rather than let a very powerful program fade away.

This is an excellent book for Director and Director 3D. It is very in depth and involved, although a bit hard to understand at times. This book is not for beginners and requires a lot of hard work to obtain its end results, but they are very much worth it.

Other reviews have captured the gist of this wonderful, accessible, and thorough treatment of Director's 3D functionality. What I would like to add is that Catanese's book is just as current with Director MX as it is with Director 8.5.

If you plan to do 3D in Director MX, either games or presentations, you owe it to yourself to read this book.

I'm an IT student and possessing VB & C/C++. I have never learn about 3D and Director before. So when I want to make a Director project (game), I need a book!
And this book is the great answer. Everything you need about Director 3D is in this book! (although this book doesn't cover about Havok Physics Engine).

This book tells you WHAT and HOW, I mean, this book not only tells you HOW to make something (ex: primitive object) but also explains about that thing. (ex: what is a primitive object). So, you're not only able to programm but also understand about WHAT are you doing.

This book explains from basic and the last page explains advance technique. So, if you start from first page and finish the book, you'll become an advance 3D Director programmer (even before you read this, you're nill in 3D Director).

OK, I'll tell you what I get from this book, here is my project: a Multiplayer First Person Shooting (FPS) game! (like Counter Strike, Quake, etc). Notice that this is my FIRST 3D Director project! And I got A!

NB: if you're NOT a programmer and don't WANT to possessing 3D Director programming SERIOUSLY, I don't recommend this book, for this book is code heavy, full of code programming, just try "Macromedia Director 8.5 Shockwave Studio for 3D: Training from the Source" (by Phil Gross).
Just a note: I learn about Multiuser form Director 8.5 Studio (you won't find about Multiuser in Director's Third Dimension).

Captivate is a very useful elearning, simulation/demo program that lets you do a multitude of things. This book touches on many of those topics. I work for an instructional team that works with Captivate students and we find this book to be very boring. The sample files are drab and while some of the files on the CD rom in the back of the book are useful, many of the files are bit silly - such as the sound bytes - not real world enough. It does have a decent section in the front that briefly discusses script writing with accompanied files.

I don't agree with some of the author's opinions and the choice of a sans-serif font throughout the book - makes it a difficult read.

The tech support from Iconlogic has been good. I would like to do plenty of business with this company, but would like to see a better organized book that I can easily use in class.

Overall, you won't lose by buying this book. The book and student files could be a bit more interesting.

This is a very user friendly book. The ony thing that would make it better is if it were geared for Captivate 2. After going through this book, I feel that I don't need any organized teaching sessions for the skills.

"Essentials of Macromedia (now Adobe) Captivate" is the
title of the book. The promise is maintained when you buy it,
read it and follow its step by step exercises.
If I'm right, "essentials" are the things that come first and
foremost. When you are new to a jungle, a subject or an
application you want to get the essentials as fast as you can.
If the application you want to learn is Captivate, then Kevin's
book is the buddy on your side, the one with more
experience, the one that helps you with clear instructions and
useful tips.
The exercises on the CD are well written and work. They take
you step by step through the major features of Captivate.
The language is simple. Even for those, like me, that have
English as a second language.
In a matter of days you are up and running, creating your own
multimedia instructional materials.
Then you'll probably need other books, because Kevin's
Essentials has brought you, fast and safe, to the point you
can take another leap forward, to reach Station "Advanced".
Last but not least, Kevin Siegel is a "real person" that stands
behind his product. Like other reviewers before me, I wrote
him an Email and he answered promptly.

I really think this is the best software tutorial I have ever used, and I have used quite a few in my trillion-year career as a technical writer. It has just the right level of detail. So many tutorial writers leave major concepts and steps out because they assume that you know what they know. And you don't, that's why you bought their stupid book. But this one guides you gently through all you need to know to get firmly established in using Captivate. It was a great help to me when I suddently found a Captivate project on my desk and didn't know exactly where to start. Essentials of Macromedia Captivate helped me start at the appropriate beginning point. It also provided lots of handy tips that I'm sure helped save me a ton of time that I would have spent if I had tried to figure out the software by myself. I would reiterate, as others have here, that you need to follow all the steps in the book to get the most out of it. But doing so is well worth your while.

This book is the cheapest class you may ever have, and it is a good class. As you may have noticed there are not many books written on Captivate. It's a shame because Adobe's Captivate really is great program.

I am a freelance web designer and Flash animator in the Seattle market. Last year I wanted to learn Captivate and realized there are no classes in the Puget Sound area and only 3 books on the market.

I purchased this one and it taught me the program just working on the exercises at night. The book has not typos, a nice flow and they cover most of the program. It is a productive book and you see results quickly. Since then I have added E-learning to my list of skills I offer thanks to this book and the Adobe's Captivate.

I do admit I also purchase the Visual Quick Start book. But when I need to reference something I go to Essentials first. I will look at the example in the exercise I did and it will click right away, "Oh that's how I did it".

This is a great book. All Oracle people must have this.

It covers majority of the database topics and is a very useful reference.

I am a MS SQL DBA learning Oracle and this was the first book I read after going through the Oracle's official curriculum. Here are my thoughts.

1)This book is definitely not for the beginners. I highly recommend you start with a more basic book that gives you an overview of Oracle. Oracle tools are highly unintuitive and using them can be a frustrating experience especially for MS SQL DBAs *smirk*. Learning to just to connect to an Oracle database is a learning experience that will take knowledge on how Oracle's network and security function.

2)If you already have a working knowledge on how to operate an Oracle database, this book will no doubt provide a more solid foundation for your knowledge (except RAC). I particularly found its chapters on RMAN and IMPORT/EXPORT utilties particularly helpful.

3)Perhaps the best part of this book is that it encompasses what the author believes is the most essential knowledge to becoming a highly competent Oracle DBA. The book does not try to be a reference for every Oracle topic. Instead, the author has smartly picked the most important information needed and presented them in a readable format.

4)My only issue with this book is that it is wordy. The book is 1200 pages long and it could easily have been 1000 pages or fewer.

An excellent book covering all essential DBA topics for Oracle 9i Administration. Explained very well covering In-depth details, Illustrations and examples makes this book invaluable. I use it as a true source of reference and I will strongly recommend this book.

I just got this book from the library and I decided to read through it before I buy. I think I will buy a copy of it. The book touched pretty much all the areas of Oracle 9i. It is a book to have on your desk as key reference. I will recommend this book to new DBA. The author did a pretty good job. The book seems too big but very useful. I give 4 stars.

As a technical writer myself I am not a huge fan of the current style of most of the "How To..." books on the market. iPhoto 6 by Derrick Story therefore comes as a breath of fresh air in an arena so full of carbon dioxide as to leave one gasping.

Clearly written, entertainingly framed, wonderfully efficient in telling you what you need to know, when you need to know it. Better yet this wonderful manual is tightly organized around the nearly forgotten technique of creating a context for technique rather than simply an spewing forth a breathless recitation of "Push this button, tweak this dial, buy this product."

This extremely well written inside look at iPhoto 6 is all you will ever need to get up and running. If ole Steve Jobs had half a brain he'd kidnap this guy and put him to work advising the techies responsible for fine tuning future versions of iPhoto.

Well done Mr. Story and please keep up the good work.

And Mr. Pogue, you are forgiven for the mess you made of my life with the Missing Manual for Appleworks6!

Some say lightening can never strike the same place twice. The Missing Manual series proves that wrong. David Pogue and the O'Reilly gang constantly hit the mark and spark creativity and knowledge in a variety of programs.

IPhoto 6 covers absolutely every aspect of digital photography on your Mac, leaving few stones unturned. In order to make sure you get the great photos you need and minimized the editing needed in iPhoto, Derrick Story and David Pogue make sure you buy the right digital camera for your needs and tells you the basics of lighting and composition. After reading that chapter, I looked at my own iPhoto library and understand why I liked certain shots and why others ended up on the digital darkroom floor.

After explaining how to buy a camera and create great photos, the authors take you through the steps of using iPhoto in logical order: importing, managing, outputting and of course backing up. More technical manuals need to do this. Instead of taking you through the features, they take you through the workflow.

The writing was typical of the series: clear, understandable with plenty of screen shots to explain the concepts. While I consider myself an expert on iPhoto, the book was full of subtle tips and tricks to shave hours off my digital photo management.

The strength of the book was definitely the extensive chapters on what to with your photos after they are in iPhoto. Photos are meant to be shared, not locked up in your hard drive. He went over not just the specifics of all the printing options such as photo books and calendars, but also using iMovie, iWeb, and iDVD to share the photos with the world.

The final chapters covered some more advanced options such as AppleScript and Automator. Unlike other Missing Manual books that simply point you to the website to download utilities, Pogue and Story explained some of these programs and how they can help you expand your iPhoto capabilities. The Appendix was definitely the icing on the cake handling practically every iPhoto error and it's solution, as well as walking you through the basics of every iPhoto menu command and its implications.

My only complaint was somewhat weak coverage on desktop printing of photos. I always get confused about the way to feed the photo paper and how to configure settings to get the proper output. iPhoto, the printer's software, the printer, and Mac OS X must all be in alignment to print properly. These days, I simply upload it to the drugstore website and print it there. Printing to services other than Apple's wasn't really covered either.

While iPhoto basics are simple and quick to learn, "iPhoto 6 the Missing Manual" helps you become the hands down master of digital photos on your Mac. Others will tremble in fear of your massive knowledge after reading this book cover to cover.

Pros: Covers every aspect of digital photography and makes everyone an iPhoto wiz.
Cons: Needed more coverage of desktop and third party printing of photos.

ANY question you might have, any project you might conjure up.....this book has all the answsers in the most easy format. A must have if you have an iMac and a digital camera!

As a beginner with digital photography,there is a great deal of iPhoto that is intuitive;however,there are so many options and errors that can be made,at least in my limited experience,that this book is a constant reference guide. I previously purchased "Switching to Mac,The Missing Manual",and found it so valuable that I bought this "Missing Manual".This series of books has been both informative and entertaining.

Might not have much for experienced power users - but for me as a Mac newcomer it did the trick. iPhoto is easy to use and most things you can figure out by yourself, but this book is a big timer saver in doing so and has also some tips that you otherwise might not have figured out