Software Books

This is a great commentary. In an expository manner, he explains each book of the Bible in detail. Wiersbe gives background information on topics that help make each passage more clear. It is always beside my Bible when I study! I highly recommend it.

I have found Wiersbe's commentaries very helpful in my study of the New Testament and in particular our recent study of Revelation - the Commentary on Revelation had many very helpful thoughts which I found very useful as I prepared Bible studies for my group.

I have not completed reading these books but so far they are exceeding my expectations. Great books for anyone wanting a greater appreciation of the word of GOd and seeking to know him(God) better.

As a Bible college graduate and youth pastor, I could not do without this commentary set. Wiersbe uses everday illustrations and gives a good explanation of the text. However as with many commentators, some difficult passages are skipped.

I use these all the time in my studies. Wiersbe writes at a level anyone can understand and provides many insights that his years of study and devotion have provided.
I would recommend both volumes to anyone wanting to gain a deeper insight into the New Testament.

This book is great for the self taught person with significant insignificant questions. In completing this book, all those questions answer themselves. None of that "cutsie" just great tutorial. Instruction is easily to understand and follow. I've gone through the book a couple of times and discovered something new each time. When I finished with this book, I knew what I was doing and why.

Money well spent on this book.

Straigh-forward writing with no pretension. Some knowledge of 3D graphics vocabulary is helpful but not necessary.

Book is one example from beginning to end; presumably the author. Starts with some pictures and, step-by-detailed-step, ends with an avatar.

The only fault I found is that he doesn't mention Poser in the list of 3D modeling programs for human figures.

If you want to learn how to model a detailed digital human,this is THE book for you! You start out with totally empty viewports,and if you follow the book you'll end up having created a model with an incredible amount of detail.

The author explains in great detail the process of modelling every body part (head,neck,arms,hands,legs,feet and torso) with anatomical references where they're most important.

I wanted a book which I could use as a definitive guide to model a detailed and anatomically correct human body or body part,and I'll look no further when I have to do so. It's also got a clever chapter about modifying the same model to create very different ones, and a good chapter about texturing and UVW unwrapping. Finally, it refers to cloth and hair (somewhat briefly) and,no,it DOESN'T cover rigging. But it does cover, extremely well, human modelling, which is what mr.Brilliant had set out to do,I assume. Very very good!

I used this as a class textbook and it worked fairly well. This is not a single program book so this will work well with whatever program you model with. Although, depending on what you model with, depends on if you need to go out and find plug-ins that will do what he does. The book is really good going through step by step. Although there are some occasions where he leaps forwards ahead with really telling you what to do. Also, sometimes when he gives instructions, there aren't any images to go along with them, so you have to end up guessing what to do.
This is modeling for realism/cinematics and if you want to use this book to model in-game characters, you are out of luck. The was he teaches you to model is extremely high poly (especially in the head). The CD doesn't do much for you, it mainly just has naked pictures of the guy he models on it so you can copy exactly what he does. The book does give good information on the differences between modeling men and women, although it is fairly brief. He does go into UV mapping pretty good as well as modeling hair. The book doesn't, however, go into modeling clothing fairly well, just a short chapter. The book also doesn't even mention rigging, which I think is a crucial part in character modeling.

Given that you are already familiar with some type of modeling software, this book is the best resource you could have! The non-software specific approach of the book keeps it focused on the concepts of creating a good model rather than the user interface. Every detail of the body is covered with step-by-step diagrams, and a lot of it focuses on creating a topology that is animatable and will subdivide correctly (ie the mesh is mostly in quads). It also covers texturing, rigging, facial animation, both modeled and simulated hair, and simple clothing. The book discusses anatomy to the extent that it is needed to create a realistic model, and uses those concepts to demonstrate how the male model you create can be changed into a female, or into a fantasy character that looks completely different.

One thing that did make it a little difficult to use was that in the screenshots, the mesh was transparent and therefore you couldn't tell whether vertices were at the front or the back of the model. More screenshots with an opaque mesh would have made it easier to see the topology.

Overall, the explanations are concise and makes the task seem efficient, easy, and fun.

- The authors of the early chapters talk to you as if you're in highschool.
- Since most chapters are written by different authors, most material is redundant.
- Instead of getting to the point, they try to soften the material with anecdotes and jokes that are mostly immaterial and detract from the information I seek.
- Lists a whole bunch of contracts that are apparently required for a startup, then suggest talking to a lawyer, such as Buy/Sell char Contact. Then why did I buy this book?

+ Great reference for taxing, IP, and some contracts.

Skip all the other chapters and just look at taxing, Intellectual Property stuff, and contracts. That's where the value of the book is.

For anyone interested in understanding the business of video game development this book should be on the top of your list of things to read first. Written for the person trying to get into game development or the person in game development looking to start out on their own. It combines both the business and the legal fundamentals that you need to know to get started in video game development. Includes analysis of publishing agreements and EULA's that are extremely helpful to any game developer. Also includes things you need to know to protect your intellectual property rights and what kinds of things in video games can be protected. The book is not overly complicated and in fact it is written to be easy and fun to read. The authors are all experts in the fields of business and law of video games and you can tell they had a good time writing this book. One of the most interesting chapters includes helpful suggestions from leaders in the video game industry on things that they wish they would have known starting out as game developers. Overall this book is a must for game developers and fun reading for anyone that is interested in understanding the business of games.

This book was invaluable to me in learning about doing business in the video game industry and the concerns that a game development team will face.

While many books which discuss the video game industry will waver in their accuracy on any given subtopic due to the limited expertise of the speaker, this volume avoids that problem by having each chapter written by a different author, each with particular knowledge and experience with their chapter's subject. The Primer is written by more than a dozen experts, including game developers, business persons and law professors, each talking in plain English about the problems and solutions to difficulties and issues that will arise over the course of developing a game and starting a development company.

As a student, I have read a lot of textbooks in the last few years and being interested in the game industry I regularly read magazines and articles on game development. This book is neither of those. It is informative and helpful without being long-winded or wordy, serious in its expertise and insight but fun in its approach and writing. In short, it is the type of reading you will enjoy doing while learning the things you want and need to know about business and legal issues which arise in game development.

This is an enormously helpful book. It is one of the best intellectual property law and game development book on the market that I've read. It is an enjoyable as well as practical text.

Superb book. Enormously Practical text. The best intellectual property law and game development book on the market. A very healthy read. may change your whole perspective on business, games and life.

Phoebe Mentel (computer handle "Pathphinder") is very good in virtual reality computer simulations. She has gotten so good that finally she is going to do something she has longed for a long time to do. She is going after the very powerful Peter Harding with a little help from Phagan, her anonymous boss and a few other fellow runaway outcasts. But, almost from the beginning and thanks to a very small mistake on her part, things begin to go haywire.

At the same time, Deputy United States Marshall Jake Kirby is chasing the same group for other cyber rimes. He has been called to the scene of the death of one of his fugitives. Ollie Smith is dead and was wanted for a variety of computer crimes and high tech burglaries. Jake soon realizes that Dewey Hyatt, another man he is looking for has been to this same apartment where Ollie died.

Bryn Bailey of the FBI soon joins Jake in his inspection of the scene. She works electronic crimes and gotten a hot tip from the mysterious Phagan. She has been hunting him and he still sends her leads to other problems as well as attempting through cyberspace to romance her. While on level she is flattered and interested, on another level she is annoyed with how he toys with her. He toys with her again by leaving her a computer message in Smith's apartment.

While the computer isn't helpful, they find a couple of clues that lead them to JR's Bar in Estes Park, Colorado. Phoebe's one little mistake has lead them to her doorstep and she begins a cat and mouse game with Jake while at the same time, going forward in her plans for revenge. She has very personal reasons for going after Peter Harding and her hatred will not allow her to back down and change her plans now. Once committed, she can't let go. Phagan also plays his own game with in games and continues to seduce Bryn. Soon, both agents of law enforcement face the choice between their hearts and their jobs as the plan works towards a violent conclusion.

While I have simplified the story considerably, there is no simplifying the results of this book. This is a very good novel with plenty of action and complicated characters. The computer stuff was more of a background level and did not overshadow the plot or storyline. The characters are real and complex and the story has plenty of twists and turns. At 242 pages, it was well worth the read and I look forward to reading more work by this very enjoyable author.

This is the second in a series of 3 and I loved every one. This is the first review I have ever written so it had to be really good for me to make this effort! I have read all of Pauline B. Jones' books except Do Wah Diddy Die, which I am about to start. Every one of these books really pulls you in and makes you want to read more. You can't put them down. I want to say I especially liked this Lonesome Lawman Series, but then I loved them all! So I can't really play favorites. It is very suspenseful & romantic with a little humor thrown in! I especially appreciated the author's humor. Read all of this author's books. You will be glad you did.

Also the third part of Pauline Baird Jones's "Lonesome Lawman" series is definitely worth reading. We are reunited with old friends, hence fans of Matt, Dani, Jake and Phoebe shouldn't miss reading this novel on any account. Even Phagan is part of the gang again. All in all, a successful end to the saga of the good looking Kirby brothers. Action and fun guaranteed!

Once again Pauline Baird Jones gives her readers a great story of mystery, thrills, and romance. It's little wonder that she's becoming one of the fastest growing stars in the genre!

If you're facing a dull evening and want to liven it up with something warm and fun, pick up Pauline Jones's book. A fast paced interesting read.

At first glance you may easily dismiss this book; featuring a rather dull cover; size that is dwarfed by the more "popular" C books - do not be fooled! This is an excellent text for learning about the C language.

Admittedly, if you're new to programming in general, then this book may seem a little difficult. For instance the first chapter launches straight into a discussion of C idioms: keywords, variables, operators etc. If these are foreign to you I would recommend you also buy an introductory programming text, then return to this book when you understand these concepts.

These assumptions aside, Kalicharan clearly and concisely discusses control structures and arrays, functions, character handling, data types, input/output and more. The concepts of each chapter are thoroughly explained and incorporated into numerous programming examples.

Indeed this is one of the strongest points of the book. In particular I liked the way Kalicharan introduces the three programming constructs; conditional execution, looping and iteration first, BEFORE discussing for example, the printf statement like most other C books do - which can be highly confusing to the novice C programmer. (Kalicharan leaves it until chapter 9). Thus a strong grounding in the fundamentals of programming is emphasised from the very start and is a consistent theme revisted throughout the book.

Unlike other C books, Kalicharan gives a brilliant discussion of pointers. What is dismissed as "too hard" in other texts is covered with ease and again, numerous examples to illustrate. For this chapter alone, one should buy this book.

Following the chapter on pointers is a good introduction to "advanced" data structures, linked lists and binary trees. These are left out of most other C books, bar those dealing with data structures specifically (university texts etc) but it is here that the power of the C language becomes apparent.

Topping off the book is a chapter in file handling. Text and binary files are discussed.

The range of topics, clarity of expression and *working* examples (I compiled every program in the book without error...) makes this book an essential addition to any C programmer's library. I hope another book from this talented author is on the way soon! (How about Java or C++?)

A friend recommended this book after I complained of the difficulty of learning C, having tried more popularly recommended books. I'm glad she did, for this book made C easy and fun to learn. An excellent book, strongly recommended.

I had Noel Kalicharan (UWI) for my Year 1 programming. Used many of the books he wrote and can vouch for the calrity and ease of use of his books, overall high quality. Even better when combined with his lectures.

A fantastic book! Its simple, clear and systematic presentation and explaination of concepts along with the abundance of examples make learning to program in C an easy task. And all the scary stuff you may have heard about pointers in C become mere rumours after reading the relevant chapters! An excellent book for learning and teaching.

This book is one of the best books explaining ANSI C. It starts from the newbie level and delivers the knowledge needed for any good C programmer to survive.

The writing style is very nice, the author has done some fine efforts in keeping his threads of thought clear and easy to follow.

For people who already know C, this is also good as a quick reference and is something concise to quickly refer to, in small issues. They could also just use it to quickly refresh their knowledge of C every once in a while.

It doesn't cover any advanced topics, but it does what it promises to do, so there's nothing serious to put this book down.

This book could have helped me greatly when I was just starting to learn C programming, but it didn't... Just because I only bought it too late, at the end of my C programming days!

-Mokhtar M. Khorshid

I found the information in this book helpful from the very first page. The tips Mr. Clothier shares in his book are very practical and specific, from writing course material to dealing with "difficult" students. Although the print date is almost ten years old, I found the information to be quite relevant even today. I am not certain, however, whether it is worth the $110 price currently listed. I paid $40 used, and I don't regret a penny that I spent. I keep it at my desk and refer to it often as a refresher.

I have been teaching computer classes for over 5 years. I learn something new everytime I read this book. This book contains many of the things I tell my friends who are struggling with trying to do computer training. I think this book would be good for any company that is interested in computer training.

This is the only book that I have seen which deals with IT training - even as an experienced trainer I still got ideas from it.

Just after reading a few pages I already had enough ideas on how to change my training practices that I made changes on my next course (which was the next day).

I will continue to read, and review everything in this book.

Read it, don't miss out!

This is the only book that I have seen which deals with IT training - even as an experienced trainer I still got ideas from it.

Just after reading a few pages I already had enough ideas on how to change my training practices that I made changes on my next course (which was the next day).

I will continue to read, and review everything in this book.

Read it, don't miss out!

As a human resources and workforce learning/performance professional who has managed and executed all phases of end-user training at various times since 1982, I can't recommend this book highly enough. Although "Encouraging Independence" should be required for all novice computer instructors regardless of where they teach, it still serves as an excellent reminder for the more experienced. (I'm revamping some courseware as a result of that chapter.) "Training Delivery" provides a great outline for a train-the-computer trainer program. And for senior practitioners like me, "Trainer Development" and "Adapting to the Learner" are simply superb. (In the latter, he offers tips for handling different types of knowledge gaps plus cognitive and psychomotor challenges. With congenital and acquired neuropsychological disorders on the rise--meaning greater, not fewer, individuals with these conditions in the workplace now and in the future--plus the aging workforce, such issues have begged to be addressed in books on instructor effectiveness. Clothier rises to the occasion beautifully.) On a lighter note, I'm relieved to read Clothier's recall of an irony I've had: that limited sleep the night before a class has led to greater instructional effectiveness, adrenalin rushes notwithstanding!

I am only a third of the way through the book and it has been very informative and easy to understand. I have never been able to grasp Crystal until I started reading this book. If you want to save yourself $1000 for training, buy this book.

I've only been working with Crystal for a few weeks but am already putting together some pretty decent reports. I could not have done it without this book. After such a short amount of time my copy is somewhat dog-eared and filled with yellow post it notes for quick reference to the things I need. It is open at my desk whenever I work with Crystal.

If you are a Crystal novice this book provides an excellent foundation for Crystal Reports. If you are an intermediate/advanced user there is plenty here for you as well. I especially like the financial twist the report provides since most of my reports are payroll, general ledger and accounts payable/receivable related.

The discussion forum associated with the book is also an excellent resource. I was "stuck" on a couple issues and was helped by both the author and other users on the forum.

Bischof's book is a complete, well-researched reference that quickly arms a novice Crystal Reports user with the techniques necessary to create sound, well-formatted financial (and other) reports. The appendix on Balance Statements and Income Statemens is a fabulous jump-start for those who must get up to speed quickly! If Crystal Reports is your platform for information delivery, this book belongs in your library.

The very clearly written style, REAL WORLD EXAMPLES!!!, and great technical content make this book a must have for Crystal Reports Development.

5 Stars

This is my first crystal report book and i can say this is the best crystal report book ever i found. Every chapters has a lot of Tutorials and Tips.

Not only is this a first-rate book on data analysis, it's also an absolute treasure trove of useful SQL. This book belongs within arm's reach of every data analyst, business intelligence professional, reportsmith, and, most happliy in my case, those involved in data quality. If I were pressed to find one thing missing, it would be coverage of MS Query, which is embedded within Excel and allows one to connect it directly to a database and execute queries against it, thus obviating the need to cut and paste. To his credit, the author does mention this capability in chapter two, but deems it outside of the scope of the book and therefore goes no further. Perhaps he and/or his editor might consider covering it in an appendix of a future edition, which I fully expect there to be several of--this book is a generous 600+ pages of hard-earned knowledge, and deserves every one of its five-star ratings.

"Data Analysis Using SQL and Excel" is an valuable resource for business intelligence and data mining practitioners in all industries. Having said that, I would like to offer some solid practical advice to potential readers that might not be fluent in statistics or data mining.

First, the reader should have a solid understanding of SQL. If the extent of your SQL interaction comes through a program on the level of Access, then you can still benefit from this book, but you will have to apply yourself more than others. Keep in mind, that proprietary releases of SQL might cause problems in directly translating the author's examples.

Second, if your statistics knowledge is a little rusty, have a secondary resource on-hand. Sometimes the definitions or explanations of the statistical concepts may not be as intuitive for some readers as they are for others.

With those caveats in mind, the reader need only to keep his or her patience and work through the concepts of the first 4-5 chapters. These chapters tend toward simple exposition of the concepts. For those with little patience, it may seem as if it is just a laundry list of concepts with little effort to tie those concepts into practical uses. Thinking like this is a great way to miss the enormous benefits of the book!

For me, the "Ah Ha!" moment came in Chapter 6 and 7. The concepts I had worked on in the previous chapters suddenly came together with customer tenure onward, when the techniques use will call to mind everything learned in the previous chapters.

In short, spend plenty of time in the first few chapters - the extra effort to master those concepts will only enhance the benefits of later chapters.

Lastly, there are a few odd differences between the text and the files downloadable from the web site. Whenever I hit a snag based on the text, opening the accompanying Excel files and seeing the formulas, queries or table/graph structures resolved all issues for me.

This is a text that will always have a place on my shelves.

If you work, like me, on data warehousing, data mining, analytical CRM or similar projects, this book will save you a lot of time, and provide you with a lot of inspiration.
Statistical concepts are clearly explained, and examples with very smart SQL queries and Excel sheets are shown.
For instance, no other book will explain you so clearly Survival Analysis, and how to practically implement it (I mean, with working code!).
As a previous reviewer wrote, why should you believe me? I'm one of the authors of another Wiley book, "MDX Solutions", and I earn my living by consulting with DaisyLabs, a Business Intelligence company.
Keep Gordon's book on SQL, and my book on MDX, on your desk, and no data analysis project will scare you anymore!

Having seen a multitude of books offering either statistical analysis techniques or suggestions around data mining tools, it is refreshing to see someone approach the subject using simple, readily available tools and a practical, business oriented approach to the topic. The apparently mundane subject of customer retention coupled with buying patterns and market basket analysis is laid out in an effective and sequential manner. The SQL examples take some getting used to but, once understood, offer a series of easily implemented and highly effective methods to illustrate the concepts shown in the book. As a reference guide and an illustration that one needs to know the questions to be asked of the data before investing in the latest drag and drop business intelligence tools, this book is unparalleled. The author has not stinted on providing a wealth of examples and explanation. If this tome is a reflection of how Mr Linoff and his team approach their real world consulting activities, they must be a formidable team indeed.

For anyone who has wrestled with a means to understand their customer buying patterns and product affinity patterns in their historical sales data, this book cannot be beaten

Wow - if you need a book that: 1. describes basic data analysis and statistical concepts in an easy to understand but thorough way. 2. uses real world business examples that you run into every day. 3. gives you the recipes of how to implement them in your business with real world computer tools like SQL and Excel. 4. and is written by a proven authority in the field (4 books and two decades of consulting). Then this is your book.

But why should you believe me? Just a little on my background. I wrote two books on databases and data analysis for McGraw-Hill: "Building Data Mining Applications for CRM" and "Data Warehousing, Data Mining and OLAP" and have led teams that have built data mining engines for super computers that later became Oracle's data mining engine, as well as implementing sophisticated data mining applictions (CART) in SQL and integrated between a relational and OALP database. Though I don't get to do a lot of 'data mining' in my current business I would definitely find this book very useful if I did.

Anyway, I thought this book was tremendously thorough in providing common sense explanations on everything from the Null Hypothesis to the Monty Hall Paradox (very cool). Buy this book if you want a single reference that will allow you to quickly solve real world business problems in a rational and doable way.

Phil.

This is another great DB2 book. I really like the blend of XML developer, database designer, DBA, and architecture chapters, which helps plug any holes in readers' perspectives. I just wish I had written a book like this myself. Instead I'll stick with yours.

Terry

This book is a must have for anyone working with DB2 databases on the linux, unix, or windows platforms. Chapter 5 Developer Workbench helped me to get up and running with the workbench and implement several stored procedures I needed for a project. Chapter 9 The Optimizer, Chapter 11 Monitoring, and Chapter 12 Performance provide great detail and insight into the monitoring and tuning of the database that helped me to build processes to monitor the performance of my databases. Phil's experience and dedication to DB2 makes this book a winner.

Mr. Gunning has done it again!
Having studied under Phil Gunning and knowing the dept of his expertise this book brought to life real world experiences in a classroom like setting. As a DBA I found the Chapter#8 on "Tuning Buffer Pools" and Chapter #9 "The Optimizer" to be of great help to me personally. This book is a great reference material for any DBA faced with the challenge of daily performance. I was excited to read Mr. Gunning's explanation of the `Utilities" incorporated in DB2 V9. I would recommend this book for any DBA or DBM who needs an in-depth understanding of developing and monitoring DB2 V9.
DeWayne Stansell DBA

This is a great book for developers because covers pureXML and other features and great to for DBAs the chapter on monitoring is a must have when you are in trouble with your database

Just keep in mind that this book is focues on the LUW(Linux, Unix and Windows) version of DB2, I say this because a friend of mine bought for using with z/OS by mistake.

I bought this book because I needed to get up to speed real fast on using the new XML data type and Developer Workbench, and Chapter 2, 3, 4, and 5 contained everything I needed to get started. I also liked the Chapter on the Optimizer and Monitoring and Performance. A good reference.

This book is unique in many respects. First, there is no other book I know of that covers the topic of program debugging even though I found myself educating countless engineers on how to properly and methodically debug programs. Up to now, this knowledge is passed down "in the field" from experienced software writers to their younger colleagues. Second, it is quite comprehensive and covers a pleasantly broad set of topics ranging from the type of bugs and their origin to memory debugging, parallel program debugging, runtime monitoring, link-time related bugs or even profiling. Third, the book can be enjoyed cover to cover with gems (astute way to use debugging tools) that will surprise every software programmers save, perhaps, the most seasoned veteran. Students will find the book equally pleasant as it remains truly accessible and should be read by every person who intends to major in software engineering. Debuggers are wonderful tools, yet extremely rich. It can take years to discover/develop debugging methods. The book will help all newcomers to zero in on the critical tools and methods. The material is made extremely relevant with a substantial amount of efforts devoted to the discussion of specific concrete tools (e.g., gdb, valgrind, gprof, quantify, dmalloc, etc..). The focus is unmistakably on UNIX related tools (albeit with a clear effort to show the equivalent tools in a Microsoft setting).

As a brief summary, the book start in chapters 1 through 3 by discussing the nature and source of bugs, which classes of bugs exist (from benign to mid and severe) and finally how to get started with the simplest form of debugging: tracing and inspecting. Chapters 4 through 6 focus on memory related issues, i.e., they focus on memory leaks, memory corruption, memory protocol violations (e.g., double delete) as well as memory performance profiling and improvements. Chapter 7 briefly touches on debugging parallel code (a truly difficult task). Chapter 8 and 9 focus on problem related to the build/link/run process and environment. The last three chapters cover more advanced topics for sophisticated instrumentation/observation techniques (e.g., conditional breakpoints, watch points, signaling, dealing with statics, dump analysis and runtime changes to the state).

Naturally, it is quite difficult to cover every single aspects and tools related to the debugging process so some tools are not covered in the book. The sole omission that is noteworthy is the DTrace tools (created at SUN and available on both Solaris and Apple Mac OS X) which offers an amazing array of instrumentation tools. This does not however diminish the value of the text that I will highly recommend to my own students. A second edition will surely address this omission.

All in all, this is an excellent text that will please many developers who will most certainly find themselves referring back to it again and again. Highly recommended.

A solid text on debugging and profiling for C/C++ programming. It identifies the available tools, both open source and proprietary, explains good debugging methodologies, and provides brief but informative examples. It covers a lot of ground so the level of detail is limited, but it is the best overall compendium of this information that I have seen.

This book provides an excellent treatment of debugging techniques in C/C++ and is must-read for all serious software engineers. It contains practical advice and introduces a wide variety of debugging methods, ranging from the simple to the sophisticated. The book will prove valuable to the novice and the expert programmer alike. The illustrations and examples will be particularly useful to the new programmer for whom debugging is often ignored to their detriment later on. The expert will find the many specialized debugging tools and techniques interesting and useful. This is the rare book that will appeal to both audiences.

While the focus of this work is somewhat narrower than the title suggests, it does an excellent job of covering the debugging of C/C++ programs with a non-exclusive emphasis of the Linux and Unix environments. It contains a wealth of practical advice, ranging from basic methodology and debug-friendly code style to detailed usage examples of a plethora of dedicated software tools.

The easy-to-read text allows beginners to get started by introducing the use of a classical source-level debugger such as GDB. It then proceeds to cover a wide variety of techniques, some of them often unfamiliar to even experienced developers (e.g., the use of LD_DEBUG). Among the most useful parts of the book is the discussion of a number of open-source and commercial debugging tools based on practical examples, including memory and performance optimization and the debugging of multi-threaded parallel programs. Both the specific use of the tool (such as command line options) as well as the interpretation of its output are well explained. These descriptions considerably lower the barrier-of-entry for using the sometimes very powerful multi-function tools (e.g. valgrind) and give the reader a good base for diving into the tool-specific documentation.

In summary, the book should be quite helpful for most C/C++ developers. I definitely will recommend it to my students who are working on such projects.

Are you a marketing executive in the software tools industry? Then this is the book for you. If you have written your last line of C-code more than a decade ago, such as myself, you will find that the world has evolved quite a lot from "printf" debugging.

If your customer is no longer calling the hotline, but starts to elevate the issue to you, it is time for you to understand, what is going on behind the scenes in your engineering organization. What are the secret ingridients of their debugging soup to cure the problem?

The book offers a very comprehensive review of all relevant techniques. It shows the basics as well as advanced techniques and can serve as a good reference for the challenges and solutions of software tools debugging. The authors do a good job of balancing the book for readability for novices and as well offering practical examples which drill a little deeper.

I highly recommend the book for anybody managing complex software tools. Know what your engineering team is talking about - more power to you!