Software Books

Cover to cover this book sails through the hype dispensing nuggets not to be forgotten!!! .Net and C#-aholics had breathed so much hot air, I was having trouble find a place to start. Once received I put everything else aside. I used to use arrays, types, RDS, and ADO to get the plumbing done but now its OOP, and serialization from now on!!! I got so many good pearls from this book its ridiculous.

I have been programming in VB since 1992 and decided to move to VB.NET when it was released but found the learning curve was immense - until I bought the book of VB.NET. This book is my Bible, it sits besides my computer all the time. Without delving into the VB language, it simplifies the transition to VB.NET for the experienced VB Programmer. It's not for VB learners nor does Matthew propose that it is. If you know VB this is the book to ease the quantam leap from VB to VB.NET - explained in logical steps with excellent examples. I have had to EMail Matthew with a few queries and the response is always prompt and helpful.

There are certainly other books you need in your arsenal - such as Francesco Balena's Microsoft Reference - but this one is a must.

I won't do a lengthy review... just read the other 5-star reviews and you'll get the drift. This book is so easy to understand you can learn without a PC in front of you (if you're a VB6 developer looking to understand .Net). The explanation of what ADO.NET is all about is worth purchase price alone. No chapter is super comprehensive, but it's a great text to get you rolling in VB.Net right quick. As an MCSD and MCDBA certified developer, I wouldn't write such a great review on just any book. Buy it.

There is so much that is lacking in this book. First, it is not user friendly. It is difficult to follow. Second, it simply does not cover enough information that one needs in order to truly be able to use .Net technology.

This book has a very good intention and concept - to introduce VB6 developers to VB .Net. In general it is a very good book. Not very deep, but good enough to start working with VB .Net and bee reasonably productive. So, if not for sloppy writing, I would probably give that book all 5 stars.
What do I mean by sloppy? For once, author uses terms object and class interchangeably throughout the book. Sometimes it is contextually understandable what he means, but often it might be very confusing, especially for people relatively new to OO. Then there are errors and typos in code examples. Some of them are also very confusing. For example: on page 80 author introduces the new VB concept - delegates. For VB6 folks this is something fundamentally new and strange.
In code example author defines delegate type and calls it ProcessFunction. Then he defines variable of this type and calls it ProcessDelegate. After that on the same page he shows how to use delegates and assigns value to ProcessFunction and retrieves value from ProcessFunction.
From the context one should understand that in the last two cases the variable ProcessDelegate should be used instead, and that this is just a typo. Yet, given that VB .Net now supports shared properties and methods, when Class (Type) name can be used where one expects to see Object (Variable), this types of mistakes are very confusing and annoying.
I would not go here into more examples of books imperfections. There are some more. Not terribly many, but enough to frustrate.
Would I recommend this book? Yes, if you have patience and some other VB .Net book to resolve inevitable confusions.
This could become a great book in its next edition if author takes time to make it a bit more accurate and precise.

I think Rajesh has done a significant amount of effort and studies to explain the Vista gadget in his book. Before reading this book i had little info about the vista gadget but after reviewing this book I have gathered all the technology and the programming aspect of Gadget. The way Rajesh has added the example and explain the impact of the gadget in the real world is just awesome. The way good and bad gadget explanation and about choosing the design for it is absolutely perfect. This book covers most part of Gadget programming for windows vista.

Although it requires lots of practice and knowledge of different technologies to create gadget but this book tries to cover most of the technologies involved.

I would definitely suggest my friend to have a look into this book.

This book is very simple to follow, and there are variety of useful examples. A great start for gadget developers. If you want to create vista sidebar gadgets, this is the book. Your skill-set doesn't need to go beyond familiarity with HTML, CSS and JavaScript to use this book. I have read other books most of the time the examples don't work, but this book is different, all examples just work. I can say simply great book for creating gadgets and an excellent read.

Easy to understand and written brilliantly. I was able to create my vista gadget in a day.

There are numerous gadget examples which are developed through out the book. I particularly loved the Comic Strip Gadget included in the extra section of the book, that one gadget is worth the price of the book.

I am beginner to Vista gadgets and I found the book to be explanatory with lots of examples. The book explains design, architecture, deployment etc very efficiently.
Gadgets development is very interesting for me now. I would definately recommend this book to my web designer friends.

This is awesome book with in-depth analysis and great reading material. User friendly explanation that is even good for the starters. The book contains many topics that give detail orientation of learning and implementation. This book has very comprehensive details that explain everything and require no further explanation. 200% worth reading!!!

While the early chapters go overboard with meta-meta-meta-data, the latter chapters are truly exceptional. Hoberman's experience doing data models at many firms shows through here, which translates into truly smart advice. Chapters 8 and 9 are gems, and should be required reading for all data modelers.

I loved that book since it is full of practical advices and really justifies its goal of being Modeler's workbench. I use this book often in my daily data modeling practice.

I have less than one year of data modeling experience and I thought the whole book was a great read, but I got the most out of the discussion on Abstraction in Chapter 9. After reading this chapter, I feel I can spot opportunities to make my modeling structures more flexible. Definitely recommend this book.

I like the way Steve uses analogies to help us better understand modeling. His introductions to each chapter are both amusing and a great intro to the subject matter in each chapter. His creative way of introducing techniques and the innovativeness of the techniques themselves have had a large impact on the way our department does data modeling. There are two books every data modeler must own: This book and Data Modeling Essentials by Simsion.

I just finished reading the Data Modeler's Workbench cover to cover. It is an excellent piece - or as Steve would say, a great story!

I wish I had read this when I first bought it years ago. It would have really helped my modeling career - and I've been a modeler the past seven years.

I think this book is a must read for modelers of any level - from start to finish, not skipping chapters. It nails requirements gathering and analysis, providing templates for capturing same, recognizing that is where the most work lies. I really like the normalization hike and analogy to hiking to the highest peak, then denormalizing and/or abstracting.

It is not a book on theory written by some college professor or glorified lecturer that never or rarely worked in the field; rather, Steve is a tenured data professional who took the time to write down how he does it successfully. Why reinvent the wheel or proceed along in a haphazard way when he lays out how to do it?

Steve also has all the templates on his website, which is a big help.

One of my Junior Engineers asked me some months ago about my process for debugging. This book gave him a much better answer than I did at the time. It pretty much exactly summarises everything I have learned in over ten years of embedded software development, and presents it in a very readable and compelling form. Highly recommended for all levels of developer.

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.

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.

I thought this was a well written book on the fundamentals of demonstrating and or presenting software. I am a big believer in "Discovery" it makes for a much better and targeted demo. I also particularly like the metaphor he uses of "crossing the bridge" and how applying the principles in this book can help our prospects bridge the gap. He has some great nuggets for sales people who are involved in enterprise or consultative sales. Don't let the title fool you,(not just for SE's) I would recommend this book for all sales people who are interested in mastering their craft!

Excellent Book!!!



Since 1988, I have conducted many system software demonstrations!!

Demonstrating to Win touches all of my experiences from small client engagements to some one pulling out the plug of a mini AS/400!

By reading this book, I felt like you were a spider on the wall recording my many demo successes and failures.

Good Job.





Kevin M. Lee

Industry Director:

High Tech & Electronics

SSA Global

8913 Metheny Circle

Tampa Florida 33615



C 813-495-0332

O 813-249-0961


Kevin.Lee@ssaglobal.com

This is an excellent how-to book for improving your discovery and demo skills for enterprise software sales.

Chapter 4 (Demo Crime Files) and Chapter 5 (Discovery Process) more that justify the price of the book.

I sincerely wish that all presales engineers would read this book before presenting to customers.

I read Demo2Win and fell in love with the concept. After years of demonstrating software, I always felt like I could have done better if I had more tools. Robert's book gave me those tools. The tools I remember from the book were simple. Just be a little different than the other person or company. The Discovery Phase in the long run will save you and your customer time. You will find out if you can supply what the customer needs or leave it to someone else to fulfill their needs. Why waste time. The Demo Crimes made me cringe because I know I've committed a few of them over and over. Now I won't commit those crimes because it's been brought to my attention by Robert.
After I read the book I asked my boss to read it. He read it and ordered about 30 copies for all of our salesforce to read. Each and every person that read it then praised it. It was kind of like the lights went on in everybody's head.
I'd recommend this book to any salesperson. I've already read it more than three times. I take it on each flight I make and read at least a few pages each time.
Thanks, Robert.

Demonstrating To Win is an exhaustive book on the topic of demonstrating software by experienced hand Robert Riefstahl. The author delves into the subject at hand with precision and detail through chapters like Demonstrating Is Not An Art!, Important Demonstration Concepts, The Demo Crime Files! and Your Demonstration Setting. There can hardly be a better resource than Demonstrating To Win for professionals in the industry. The book covers the obvious, mundane and elementary to the detailed nuances and tricks of the trade and aims to articulate the author's main thrust that in order to win the day the presenter has to build a bridge that the prospect wants to cross in order to reach you (and your software product).
Each chapter is augmented by a brief summary which offers a synopsis of the topic covered and the author practices what he preaches by offering his experience in plain language. There certainly are a couple of instances where the reader will notice the book's age and its year 2000 publication date, most notably during the technical discussions, but Riefstahl's guide is comprehensive and advantageous all the way through and still relevant to those demonstrating software to potential customers.

If you're a moderately skilled programmer, a self-learner, and you want to get beyond just "getting started" deploying and using Sql Server 2000 Reporting Services, this is the book for you.

I especially found the chapters on customized set up extremely helpful. The installation wizard doesn't offer a whole lot of options, and most of teh time you don't know fully how you want to configure it until you've tried it out. You'll get some good starters on rconfiguring your installation here.

You'll get enough basics to be ready to dive in, and then some tricks well enough beyond that to give you well on your way to devleoping customized solutions.

For a total beginner (which I definately was) this is a FANTASTIC introduction to Reporting Services. Three months after starting my first job as a programmer straight out of University, and now I'm the main person in the firm with Reporting Services knowledge - and it's all thanks to this book.

The writing style is actually excellent for beginners, as I was terrified by the prospect of reading such a mammoth. But these guys make it fun and interesting to read (right down to the jokes and sidenotes) and really do touch on everything you need in a useful manner without boring you.

And excellent resource that now never leaves my desk. I can only hope these guys do a SQL Sever 2005 one. I cannot recommend this book enough for those starting on Reporting Services. It really is the book to read.

And if you are looking for a book on SQL Reportin 2005 - I would still recommend this book to give you the basics and introduction which is unbeatable thus far.

I really the beginning part on the setup and installation of the reporting services themselves. At my firm we needed to set up a seperate server for this purpose and the IT group was swamped with another project and this helped a great deal. I still am workign on development but the book has been very usefula and easy to understand.

Now that all the friends and family have promoted the book...

In order to understand something new, we all must relate that which we're learning to that which we already know.
Pete and Bill have a difficult time transitioning from campy comedians to thoughtful educators. To this extent, their writing style lacks any useful analogies whatsoever which might bridge the gap between the known and the unknown.

The book is full of droll and distracting fantasy references which are completely irrelevant to the subject matter, and are prone to taking the unsuspecting reader off task.

The potential purchaser should also be forewarned that the authors tend towards another immature trait of attempting to impress the reader with their linguistic abilities. Yet, to be effective at teaching they should have remembered to never use a complicated word where a simple one will do.

Many examples are rambling and inconcise, where step-by-step quickly degrades into an ambiguous and vague path.

Not every developer can obtain DOMAIN Authority in order to issue SSL certificates and it's too bad that the authors don't allow for this type of scenario, especially when a reporting system is on a VPN.

All of the content is there, but it's up to the reader to filter and translate most of it from the pitfalls aforementioned into something more to the center of the bell curve.

This book has been written from a VB programmers point of view. If you want to just start creating reports or if you're not a VB programmer (ie DBA etc) you may find this hard work.As another reviewer mentioned, you may find the authors' jokes and writing style to be a hit and miss affair.

Nevertheless, there is some depth on Reporting Services not to be found elsewhere that is quite handy.

Good book, but i was disappointed that the text depends upon the cd. If you are looking for a book to look up tools and how-to's, this may not be the book for you.

a very helpful tool for the novice. Index helps located area that is creating a logjam when your are trying to complete a piece. Essential for anyone not enrolled in classes.

This is the sort of book that you hold with one hand while running the program with the other. Well written (utilizing the CS3 software!)and entertaining, the book is laid out in an easy to understand format and the included CD makes learning clear, easy - and fun. This is a great place to start if you're new to CS3 - and there's enough depth that people familiar with the software can learn quite a bit as well!

While there are a number of quality tutorials (both written and video), Deke McClellen's teaching skills make this book a cut better than average. Chapters are organized logically with enough info to grow the novice and challenge the intermediate user. I especially appreciate McClellen's videos. They are neither too slow nor too fast and assume the viewer is starting from scratch. The book itself also serves as an excellent template or model for someone venturing into book publishing.

I've been fumbling my way through InDesign for work for a while but got so frustrated that I decided I needed some help. I've started going through this book, chapter by chapter and have had so many, "A-Ha! That's how you do that!" moments. It's been very helpful and I've only had a little bit of trouble following along but that's bound to happen when you're trying to teach yourself.

...purchase this book. I was looking for web sites to enjoy with my nieces and younger cousins and decided to purchase a book which could "direct me" in the right places. This book is a wonderful addition to have if you have younger children and younger visitors and need a way to "keep them occupied"! Buy this book. It is very well put together! It is also worth every cent. The only thing it doesnt have that I would give it 5 stars is a CD ROM directory for the electronic version...otherwise go for it if you dont mind typing in the sites yourself!

The Internet Yellow Pages is a "must have" book for students, adults, schools, teachers, and public libraries. Parents, teachers, and libraries should have access to this fabulous resource. After all, most homes and offices have at least one telephone directory. Let your fingers do the walking with this fabulous Internet directory which includes over 800 pages of carefully alphabetized, categorized, and graphically appealing subjects that can be used for research and information gathering. Does your child or someone you know need to write a report? Possibly a state, gold rush, science, animal, or other type of school report? Look no further. Just get out the Internet Yellow Pages, type in the URL and you will be instantly connected to quality web sites without wasting valuable time using various search engines.Each site is full of great information that has been carefully reviewed as "kid safe" by the author, Jean Armour Polly and her staff.

In addition to the excellent educational locations there are also many sites that are fun to visit, such as, jokes and riddles, toys, sports, games and fun, rainbows, boating and sailing, to name a few.

The final section of the book is dedicated to parenting and families. This section includes subjects such as entertainment, movie, video reviews, education, baby-sitting, health and safety. All the information is carefully referenced in the final index and the bonus CD-ROM includes tutorials, for safe and fun surfing on the net. This is a wonderful book and a very good investment. It is a reference guide each home, school, or library should have at their fingertips.

C. Mendenhall Teacher Deer Creek School

Customers may be confused by the way this book is listed. There is a NEWER edition of this book out, I should know, I am the author! It's available here at Amazon. Look for the one that says 4th edition. The ISBN number of the new edition is 0-0072121858. It is also called the Millennium Edition.

Our Girl Scout/Brownie International Day was a smashing success thanks to this book. Our troops were able to find information, recipes, songs and dances quickly and easily. We kept it at the Headquarters for a few months and everyone turned to it to find out about every country from Haida Nation to Iceland. The girls loved the website activities and the leaders loved the ease with which they could retrieve information. I also used her editorial blurbs to entertain the crowds between performances.

The 2002 Net-mom's Internet Kids & Family Yellow Pages directory offers kids and their entire families a number of refreshing, entertaining, and informative Websites. After a brief introduction readers are treated to Net-mom's top hotlists, top Websites, and safety tips for surfing the Internet. Then the real fun begins!

This 587-page yellow page directory covers hundreds of topics of interest to kids and their families. Websites offer information about animals, art, buried treasures, coin collecting and money, computers, food, foreign countries, American history, insects, interesting facts, the Internet, music, scouting, ships and shipwrecks, space missions, sports history, toys, transportation, weather, world leaders, and much much more. I took the time to visit some of the Websites listed in the book. Here are several that caught my interest:

Students will be in for a real gooey education at Silly Putty University. Here they will learn about the history, composition, and many uses of this still-popular toy - the toy with only one moving part. Students will also learn about the many varieties of Silly Putty currently available - the original pink, the 50th year anniversary metallic gold, glow-in-the-dark colors, temperature sensitive color changing colors, and an assortment of bright colors. When ready, students can elect to take the final exam in order to receive their Silly Putty degree!

After viewing the Silly Putty Website I moved on to Coin World , to look up some information about my favorite coin - the 1943 steel pennies. During the second World War copper was needed for the war effort so zinc-covered steel pennies were struck. However, some rare 1943 copper pennies and even rarer 1944 steel pennies were made. At least one 1943 silver-bronze penny was made! I performed some additional online research and ended up placing bids at eBay for some steel pennies - and I won!

As with any child-age educational material, parents should become seriously and creatively involved with the upbringing of their children. They should take the lead to protect their children at all times while they surf online. To her credit, the author advises parents to review certain Websites that contain sensitive material. Topics such as religion, politics, child development, environmentalism, and the creation-evolution debate sometimes touch upon controversial issues and require responsible parental involvement.

The author provides brief and concise summary descriptions of each site mentioned in the book and creatively relates topics of interest to encourage readers to dig deeper in their online researching. As I've found out for myself, visiting Websites like the ones listed in this book can be a good educational experience, as well as a bunch of fun for the whole family. Parents can sit down with theirs kids and have many hours of fun and adventure. This book is ideal for babysitting, daycare, home-school, and public school use!

This is a good resource. Provides good information on many topics, and provides specific information.

Just as the introduction promises, full of just what you wanted to know about all the things that are too simple to be taught in medical school or on your ER rotation, but that you nevertheless weren't born knowing. As a recent graduate from Family Medicine residency, I keep this with me anywhere I'm seeing patients.
This book came recommended to me, so I didn't shop around much, but I can't imagine a better urgent care reference. It also has most of what you need for office procedures, though still doesn't replace "procedures for primary care" by pfenninger and Fowler.

This book should be stocked in Emergency Departments/Urgent Care Centers as a necessary piece of equipment. Great for nurses!!!

Minor Emergences is making the rounds as the resource to have in the remote field. I'm a medic that works in isolated camps or offshore vessels with the closest MD available only via phone or email. Sometimes evacuating a patient to a higher level of care is not an easy thing to do or even a possibility. Being able to take care of minor problems and recognizing when you cannot is always a consideration. While no book or manual could possibly take the place of adequate training it sure is nice to have such a wealth of knowledge close at hand.

Minor Emergencies - Splinters to Fractures is more than worth having to pack its weight around and has a permanent place in my very limited traveling library.

Sandy Fraser
Remote Medic

I used the first edition of this book while working in a busy urgent care center. As a point of care reference, it is a true godsend. The information is based on the authors' real-world experience and presented in a straight forward manner. The reader is not overwhelmed with detail. The clear, informative illustrations greatly enhanced the utility of this text. As a student rotating through the ED, on more than one occasion I impressed my clinical instructors with knowledge gained through this book.

I bought this product about a week ago. Im somewhat familiar with photoshop cs2, but know-where near an expert. This book opened my eyes to all type of creative ideas. The tricks that are in this book are easy to follow, thanks to the step by step tutorial. The tricks that I thought i knew, thanks to this this book i found easier ways to complete a project with less time. If you are a beginner I strongly suggest this book. If you are an intermeidate I strongly suggest this book.

The only thing i wish is that they were actaully 100 tricks. Few tricks are your computer settings. A few other tricks are plug-ins, you must have plug-ins to complete about 5 or so tricks. This is nothing to worry about, because this book compensates for that.

You can not beat the price for this book! GREAT BUY

This book is easy to follow. The step by step illustrated instructions are easy to follow. Great book!

This is a wonderful book for those of us that learn by SEEING rather than just reading words on a page. Each project takes you step by step from start to finish. You see every screen. Listed in oder, it is easy to follow. Excellent for those of us "cyber challenged" users.

I absolutely love this book!! It is easy to follow and shows some terrific tips. If you're looking for a book to make some Photoshop CS2 editing easy go for this book. I rate it 5 out of 5 stars for what information I'm looking for.

I gave this book only four stars as it was a little to basic for me. This was the only reason!

There is lots of valuable information and it is very easy to follow the instructions to get the desired results/effects. Some things I had already learned either on my own, from another book, or from a two day Photoshop CS2 class I took.

Would recommend to beginners or maybe beginner/intermediate looking to expand with fast tips.

I bought "Hacking Photoshop CS2" use off of Ebay, Amazon has them new, but this book really paid for itself just in the first chapter of tweaking the Photoshop preferences, etc. Starts up noticiably faster on my laptop now! Would recommend that book highly for intermediates and up.