Customer Reviews (14)

A Review of Programming Textbooks
The Elements of Programming Style, Kernighan and Plauger

The authors worked for Bell Telephone Laboratories in Murray Hill NJ, which is now out of business. This critique of programming textbooks has no mention of what is taught in classrooms. The `Preface' says the purpose of this book is to educate the reader by example. Many textbooks on FORTRAN and PL/I provided examples. People who write programming language textbooks are seldom experienced programmers. [Why are there no examples in COBOL?] The authors don't mention the rationale for "good programming style". One author said "economy is the prime desideratum", but didn't distinguish between implementation (fast to build) or maintenance (fast to change because of clarity and comments). The best programming style is a program that works correctly. Next involves clarity or comments that explain what is being done. Descriptive labels are next (ACCTNO not A). Before the 1980s most programming involved printing statements that were typed onto punched cards. These discrete cards had an effect on organization (adding new code to the end of the deck via the GOTO statement).

The fragment of code on the top of page 3 is used to advise against branching around branches. Wouldn't a DO loop be better? [Its always easy to critique another person's code.] There are some who claim the fewer statements the better. But such coding may lack clarity. It's best for another person to review code to suggest where comments are needed (p.33). But management may not want to budget for this, and prefer to defer the costs to the future (see page 126). Making assumptions is human nature.

Chapter 5 lists "Common Blunders". An un-initialized variable is likely for a beginner. Page 135 says "choose variable names that won't be confused". A variable name should always differ by at least two letters to catch typing errors. The example in Chapter 6 totally omits taxes and other charges! But it is an academic exercise. It doesn't check if the hours are greater than 99 (which could not be a mistake if travel time is counted). A 5-digit employee number? No test of rates? Documentation is left for the last chapter. It is best to be first, every program should begin with an explanation of what is to be accomplished. [Does COBOL do this?] There is no guarantee the code will match the comments over time with changes by others.

The `Epilogue' says "good programmers" are those who have learned "good style". No, "good programmers" are those whose programs work perfectly and are delivered on schedule; they are also amenable to the changes that will occur over time. Being a good programmer does not ensure your corporation will stay in business or that you will continue to be employed. Programmers are only a cog in the machine and can be replaced by others at another site. This book is oriented to FORTRAN, the first successful computer language, which is used by a minority of programmers. This may explain the few reviews here.
[The pages refer to the original 1974 edition w/ blue cover.]

Computer Science
The Elements of Programming Style, by Brian W. Kernighan and P. J. Plauger, is an influential book on the study of computer programming styles and languages. It endorses the strategy that computer programs should be written not only to satisfy the compiler, but also keep the human readers in mind. The book utilizes examples taken from actual, published programs. The book's recommendations are made in the context of the examples which are realistic rather than an academic vacuum.

Trees and Forests
On a recent programming forum, a poster asked if he should code his program as one procedure like his boss instructed.He was, of course, greeted with polite howls of protest.Everyone offered (mostly) good ideas about how one should code if one is a beginner.After a while, I realized they all could be traced back to Elements of Programming Style.I pulled out my first edition and browsed it.Still the best book on style ever.Unfortunately, some of their suggestions, like minimize your use of GO TOs, have now been taken as so many commandments that many languages have now deleted them entirely.

Their use of Fortran and PL/1 is hardly a problem.Any competent programmer should be able to read the examples easily and understand the point of the example.If it is a problem for you, I'd suggest you start with an easier book and build up to Elements of Programming Style.The style of which, by the way, is modelled after The Little Book aka Elements of Style by Strunk and White.

Many rules still apply
I dare say many rules Mr. Kernighan preached almost three decades ago are still NOT followed by the programming community at large. For examples, "Modularize. Use subroutines." "Each module should do one thing well." and "Don't patch bad code--rewrite it." A widespread, bad practice of 90% of the programmers today is still writing functions that are way too long! And they very often keep modifying existing functions--inserting new logic into them--to make already bad code even worse; they seldom give it a second thought about rewriting the whole damn crap!

Another set of rules from the book: "Make sure code and comments agree." and "Don't over-comment." Many programmers seldom do the first thing, resulting in widespread mismatches between the actual codes and surrounding comments. This applies to Java code as well. The comment style recommended by Java--that is, mixing code and comments that can be extracted into so-called self documentation--is an outright violation of the "don't over-comment" rule. (This is intended to be a criticism of Java-style comments.) Good code should document itself clearly; with perhaps a little help from judiciously added few comments that are not self-evident from the code itself.

The book uses FORTRAN and PL/I code examples. There are things that no longer apply today. But the fundamental rules and styles are still well applicable today and in the future.

This book is the source of a well known debugging quote
I haven't actually read the book, or seen it in person, so I'd prefer to refrain from rating it one way or the other. It's worth noting though that this book is the source for an extremely well known quote on writing software:

"Everyone knows that debugging is twice as hard as writing a program in the first place. So if you're as clever as you can be when you write it, how will you ever debug it?"

People familiar with that statement -- it gets cited all over the place -- may be interested in looking at this book if only to see if there are any other gems inside. Chances are, the advice given may be a bit out of date in its particulars, but will have some persistent, deep, profound observations like the one above. ... Read more

Product Description
Part of the highly successful Shelly Cashman Series, this text takes the project-oriented approach to learning introductory Java programming skills. With an emphasis on object-oriented programming concepts and real world examples, this book presents students with presents difficult programming concepts in a straightforward and exciting way! ... Read more

Customer Reviews (6)

Text Book
So far this is the textbook I needed for my class. Really like. A good programming language to learn.

Java Programming: Comprehensive Concepts and Techniques
Delivery was very prompt and the product arrived in the condition that was described.I am very pleased with this company.

disappointing condition
I should have bought a cheaper book from another reseller.For the price Amazon is selling this for I expected a shrink wrapped new book.But what I received was warn and not in "new" condition.It wasn't a shipping problem.The CD was in it and it is in otherwise good condition.But for the price I expected better from Amazon.

Good
I got this for a class that I had over Java.The book that the class used was terrible at explaining things and the instructor wasn't much better because Java wasn't his main language.This book helped explain the basics even thought I'm not a big fan of Java because it is the slowest language I think I have ever used.Definitely not for programs that require any kind of speed...

Timely and good quality
Although the shipping stated that the book could take up to 15 days, it arrived within just a few days (a couple of days and a weekend). The book was in good condition & had the cds that came with the book. All-in-all, a very positive experience. ... Read more

Product Description
The era of practical parallel programming has arrived, marked by the popularity of the MPI and OpenMP software standards and the emergence of commodity clusters as the hardware platform of choice for an increasing number of organizations. This exciting new book, "Parallel Programming in C with MPI and OpenMP" addresses the needs of students and professionals who want to learn how to design, analyze, implement, and benchmark parallel programs in C using MPI and/or OpenMP. It introduces a rock-solid design methodology with coverage of the most important MPI functions and OpenMP directives. It also demonstrates, through a wide range of examples, how to develop parallel programs that will execute efficiently on today's parallel platforms. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (8)

Overall good seller

The shipping was very fast and the book is in good condition, except
for a lot of handwritten markings on all pages :(

Good Introduction to Parallel Programming with MPI
This book is a great introduction to the theory of parallel programming.It is important to note that it is not a great reference for MPI, but it does a good job introducing the basic MPI functions and how to implement parallel programs using them.

If you are looking for a good parallel programming primer, this book is a good start.If you are looking for an MPI reference guide, or a detailed discussion of more advanced MPI use, look elsewhere.

What it does, it does well
I used this as a textbook for a parallel programming course in 2005.The author goes into a fair amount of detail about a number of different algorithms (e.g., fast fourier transforms, differential equations, sorting, alpha-beta pruning) rather than focusing exclusively on parallel programming constructs.I consider this a feature; the algorithms serve as good motivation and illustrations of the parallel programming concepts that are presented.

The summaries of the MPI commands in the appendix are as good as anything I've found on the web.

The book also gives detailed examples (code) of how to do mundane things like distributing the contents of a file across distributed memory processors and using your random number generator in such a way as to guarantee that your program produces the same results irrespective of the number of processors it runs on.

Excellent Introduction to MPI
This book provides very good introductory material to beginners of parallel programming in MPI. It provides many examples and through them one can learn not only the syntax of MPI but also how to design parallel programs.

Probably not worth the money
Well, to begin with, for a book that has "...programming in C..." in the title, there is very little C code in the text-- most is pseudocode. Most of the book is an analysis of various parallel algorithms, with very little instruction on how to use MPI. There are much better resources out there for learning MPI, as Quinn only covers about 30 of the over 100 functions in MPI, without all that much detail. Some of extremely important and necessary concepts of parallel programming are only mentioned in passing...such as load balancing. Most of the applications (with the exception of matrix operations) are simple and basic to the point of making me wonder why you would even bother parallelizing them...even as a pedagogical tool. The book does a very good job of analyzing algorithms, but calling it an "introduction to MPI" or even an "introduction to parallel programming" textbook is incorrect. ... Read more

Product Description
Design is an essential topic for all computer science students regardless of whether or not they will ever have to create a programming language. The user who understands the motivation for various language facilities will be able to use them more intelligently; the compiler writer to implement them more reasonably. This new edition of Principles of Programming Languages covers both design and implementation issues important for computer users and compiler writers. It goes beyond these basic topics to cover descriptive tools as well as historical precedents so that design issues can be communicated and viewed in their historical context. Principles of programming languages are emphasized, not the details of language syntax. Principles of programming languages are emphasized, not the details of language syntax. Methods of implementation are emphasized over the specific techniques. A horizontal organiation, analyzing individual languages in their entirety makes this book unique.

This third edition is a complete and thorough revision of the last edition including the following: Discussions have been added in the "phenomenology" of programming languages and the rolse od conceptual models in language design; also, a discussion of system implementation languages, with an emphasis on C, has been added. Programming environments are discussed, as illustrated by the Interlisp system. This is in the context of a discusssion of language characteristics conducive to rich programming environments. Furthermore, since window-oriented interfaces are now more widely known, their description has been eliminated from the discussion of SmallTalk, except for a few historical remarks. This permits some new discussion of recent developments in object oriented programming (including C++, Ada 95, CLOS, Java, and the like), to the extent that they support the overall objectives of the book. Also, the discussion of multiple inheritance has been expanded.

The purpose of this book is to teach the skills required to design programming languages. These skills are summarized in a number of principles, which are illustrated by case studies of several programming languages representing the five major generations of programming language design.

This text is designed for a graduate course in Computer Science; the course is commonly called Programming Languages, Comparitive Languages, or Theory of Programming Languages. It could be used for any course in programming languages, even if the emphasis is not on design. In such cases it might have to be supplemented with another book containing detailed language descriptions. In addition, it might also be an auxillary text in a course on human interfeace design or software engineering. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Still an excellent treatment of the Principles behind programming languages.
Today I needed to recommend a book that would treat the ideas and concepts behind good programming.I remembered in college that I had taken a languages course, I looked on my bookshelf, and found this text.I started to re-read it, and found that the ideas and concepts that are covered in this book are still relevant and well treated for today's computing landscape.I only have the 2nd edition so it does not have a treatment of C or C++, but the ideas that it conveyes are still the most important aspect of learning about computer languages.A language you know does not help you with designing good code, however concepts of computer languages will help you no matter what language you code.Inside the cover flap reads a list of principles that are covered throughout the book in each section.Some of them are:Abstraction, Automation, Infomation hiding, Orthogonality, Portability, etc.I would recommend this book to anyone who wanted to learn how to *design* quality software from the ground up.This book will not teach you a language, this book will teach you how to design good code.

Very out of date.
This book reads like it was written in 1990 and the author never bothered to do any further research. It makes some good points, but it should not be a first choice for a survey of the state of the art with regard tofunctional, OO, and logic programming. ... Read more

Product Description
Technology Overview

The Java 2 Enterprise Edition (J2EE) specification is one of Java's success stories; a standard for enterprise web application development that has wide industry support.

J2EE is basically a collection of specifications for web services, business objects, data access, and messaging. They define the way in which web applications communicate with the servers that host them. J2EE focuses on two things - creating a standard that allows web applications to be portable between servers, and giving the server control of component lifecycle and other resources, in order that it can handle issues of scaling, concurrency, transaction management, and security.

This book is based around one of the most popular J2EE and EJB implementations, BEA WebLogic Server. The authors work for BEA in Europe, providing technical support for customer's implementations of Weblogic-based solutions. They have first-hand knowledge of the practical difficulties developers face in applying J2EE and WebLogic to their projects, and in debugging and testing these applications. This book is a distillation of their real-world expertise.

Who is this book for?

This book is for professional Java developers who want to see the development of a full J2EE example and its configuration and deployment on BEA WebLogic Server. Coverage of the APIs involved, reasoning behind the architecture decisions made, and how the example is tested, is included.

Java knowledge is assumed, as is a basic tutorial understanding of the J2EE APIs. Some experience of enterprise level / web application programming is expected.

What does this book cover?

Moving a client/server app to the web using J2EE APIsInterfacing multiple front ends to the underlying business logicHow to create business logic components with Enterprise JavaBeansUsing Java Message Service for reliable and broadcast messagingWebLogic Server-specific programming and configuration detailSecurity concerns for an e-commerce siteThe Grinder, a stress-tester for web applicationsResults of stress-tests compare application architectures under different loadsFull working example developed and tested in the book

Amazon.com Review
Despite its wordy title, Professional Java 2 Enterprise Edition with BEA WebLogic Server actually is one of the better books that you can get for learning JSP-based programming with Java and Enterprise JavaBeans (EJBs). By highlighting practical matters--including setting up and running the popular BEA WebLogic Server, and benchmarking performance--the authors manage to cover the essentials of EJB-based development in a friendly and intelligent style that's ideal for any aspiring Java EJB developer.

The focus on hands-on matters begins with installation and configuration of BEA WebLogic Server, one of the more widely used platforms for running EJB applications. Most books cover EJBs more theoretically and leave deployment by the wayside. By focusing on an actual EJB product, the authors can talk about what works and what doesn't work in real applications. For examples, a single case study for a chain of pizza shops gets enhanced in stages, first with a Web front end for ordering pizzas, then with other features--including call-center support, e-mail, and XML. A section on converting an ASP version of a front end for this sample application into a JSP version is a highlight.

The latter half of this text turns into a primer on benchmarking. A benchmark (called the Grinder) measures performance, with a wide range of choices for EJBs that run on WebLogic. Different Java Virtual Machines (JVMs) and choices for implementing the applications (for example, stateful vs. stateless EJBs) are tested, and the numbers of concurrent users (up to 400) are varied. The result is a solid glimpse into the choices that give the best performance on WebLogic.

Besides covering the basics of building e-commerce applications with JSPs and EJBs, this book has a genuinely practical side. The case study is very useful, as is the plentiful performance advice. Smart, friendly, and well organized, this title strikes an excellent balance between presenting information on some of the latest Java technology and APIs, and showing just how to do it on a real EJB platform and with real code. --Richard Dragan

Topics covered:

• Introduction to Java 2 Enterprise Edition (J2EE)
• Getting started with BEA WebLogic Server: features and administration
• "Webifying" existing applications
• Introduction to JavaServer Pages (JSPs)
• Overview of BEA dbKona and htmlKona for simpler JSP/servlet development
• JSP architectures (Model 1 and Model 2)
• Using Enterprise JavaBeans (EJBs)
• Session beans, including stateless session beans
• Entity beans (container-managed and bean-managed persistence)
• Converting ASPs to JSPs
• Sending e-mail and the Java Message Service
• Security issues for Web applications, including authentication, SSL, and authorization
• Introduction to Wireless Markup Language (WML) and wireless applications
• Stress-testing performance for Web applications
• Grinder (custom benchmark for performance testing)
• Comparative benchmark scores (comparing JVMs, stateful and stateless beans, entity beans, and clustering options for up to 400 users)
• Case study for chain of pizza shops with e-commerce features and call centers
• JSP syntax reference

Customer Reviews (34)

An interesting case study
The words "A Case Study" added to the title of this book would more clearly explain what this book is about. This book doesn't really work as a stand-alone introduction to J2EE development but should be thought of as a companion to your favorite J2EE book. The premise of the book is a case study of an imaginary company (Pizza2Go) which wishes to take its current applications and migrate them to a J2EE internet application. The migration goes through stages as the developers first move to JSPs and servlets followed by the edition of various Enterprise JavaBeans. Following sections include integrating a J2EE application with an ASP application, messaging using JMS, and adapting an application to handle wireless devices. The last section discusses how to thoroughly test your application including stress testing. The case study is the heart of the book and is both the book's strength and its weakness. The book features an enormous amount of code but in some places little discussion of that code. Without some knowledge of servlets, JSPs, and J2EE this book would be difficult to follow. However, if your complaint about other books is that the examples are too simplistic or not realistic then this book may be just what you want. Although the book does discuss topics within BEA WebLogic Server, there is little if anything that can not be adapted to any J2EE server. Overall, I found this book to be a very helpful and interesting case study.

Excellent Book, Don't be scared by other poor reviews.
After reading the other reviews here on Amazon.com (many "one stars"), I decided not to buy the book. But I saw it in a book store and picked it up out of curiosity... and did not put it down until I had walked out the door having purchased it.I have purchased and read scores of computer books over the past ten years, this is one of the best I have come across. It thoroughly covers both specifics about the product as well as general principles of J2EE (JMS, JNDI, all types of EJB's, XML, WAP). Its chapters on testing are also well done, providing a solid framework.Having only read the book, I walked straight into an architecture level job on WebLogic and have been successful. I have also been able to evaluate two complex JMS systems, also having only this book as background.A great knowledge/time investment.

Best Book
Hi This is very good book for weblogic,ejb and jsp with practical examples rather than boring theory. This is very good for reference for industrial projects also.

A failure from both sides
I purchased this book because it was a perfect fit for what I want to do - develop J2EE applications centered around EJBs on WebLogic server.This was the only book I could find of this type.What I discovered is that that the authors, despite being BEA employees, didn't talk about WebLogic details very often.Also, they really didn't talk about EJBs with any detail.What they really spend the "core" of the book on is their "pizza shop" sample application.They talk about EJBs, J2EE, and WebLogic only just enough to explain how this sample application works and no more. At times, they give useful information, but mostly they should open a pizza shop (as one previous reviewer stated). Since reading this book, I have been reading the Wrox book entitled, "Professional Java Server Programming J2EE Edition", which covers the subject with great detail and success (however, it doesn't talk about WebLogic, of course, because it is not a WebLogic book) and I've come to expect from Wrox books. I would suggest forgetting this book and instead either get the other Wrox book I mentioned, or the new J2EE/WebLogic book coming out this month (ISBN: 0130911119) or else seek the online resources that can be found at javasoft.com and weblogic.com (these along could probably teach you everything you need to know). Also, as a side note, the sample "pizza" application that this book focuses on does not work with the new versions of WebLogic 6.0+.I was able to get some of it to work through trial and error, but failed to get the rest to work. Bottom line: I don't see a reason for anyone to get this book!Wihle at times it is slightly useful, it is mostly "pizza talk".Your money and time could be better spent on another resource. I gave it two stars because I believe that it is definately not worth more (unlike the insane people who gave it 4 or 5) and I also thought it was slightly better than a 1 pointer book - for which I would have simply used to start a fire.

Very good book for developers new to Java based Web Apps
I liked the way the authors use a common scenario, a company trying to make a traditional process (phone and fax based) appropriate for the Web.The authors help the reader think through moving a client server app to the web, and for many developers, that type of activity will be their first introduction to web programming with Java.The book doesn't get into any great technical details, and is not a book aimed at those who want to go into details of the WebLogic Server.The authors are programming J2EE, they use simple examples, that are meaningful.They do use some of the specific features of WebLogic, but WebSphere or any other J2EE compliant app server would do (that is kind of the point of J2EE, isn't it).They chose to target WebLogic, 'cause it is the best, on this point I agree. ... Read more

Product Description
Windows Web Forms pages can streamline development for a variety of applications—but many Microsoft Windows®–related programming books skip over the details that allow developers to take full advantage of Web Forms. In addition, Version 2.0 of the Microsoft .NET Framework introduces new capabilities that even those familiar with early versions of Web Forms will want to learn to use. Written by well-known columnist and author Douglas Reilly, this book offers a concise, focused tutorial suitable for new and experienced Web Forms developers who want to expedite their productivity with Microsoft Visual Studio® 2005 and .NET Framework 2.0. The book features insightful code samples in Microsoft Visual C#® 2005. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

A Better Microsoft Book
This book is an improvement on most of the Microsoft Press books I have read, especially the "Step by Step" ones. The writing is terse and the explanationsand examples are pretty understandable.

"Programming Microsoft Web Forms" is a mish mash of web development tools for the developer that is not a novice, but not a pro either. This book is for that middle ground programmer who is looking for realistic problems to solve that can be applied to someone with a little more than beginner understanding of ASP.Net, C#, JavaScript, CSS, databases, and web development.

You can even use it as a refresher course or an update on Microsoft web tech if you're relatively new to .Net.

Personally, this book did for me exaclty what I expected it to, which was help deepen my understanding of ASP.Net and how .Net handles on the web.

Great for a beginner
I bought this book because I took a skills assesment w/ Microsoft and it was their recommendation. Based on the complexity of the assessment I would have thought that it would have been much more in depth. It is very Top-Level. Good if you are just getting into ASP.NET 2.0, not a great reference if you are looking for the subtleties however. ... Read more

Product Description
Rather than a simple update of the existing Professional Java Server Programming book, the J2EE edition represents an evolution of the content to reflect the changing state of server-side Java development. Whereas the first edition can be seen as an introduction to Java on the server, the new edition is a more tightly integrated vision of how to combine the Java technologies to develop n-tier applications in Java based primarily around J2EE. Since the release of the first edition in the fall of '99, probably the single most significant change in the Java server-side landscape has been the release of the Java 2 Platform, Enterprise Edition (J2EE). Although we covered many of the elements of J2EE in the first edition of the book, many things have changed.

J2EE represents a serious attempt by Sun to make Java not just a viable language, but more importantly a viable platform for enterprise development. This book is about how to use Java for enterprise development, using the J2EE runtime architecture.

Wide range of technologies including: J2EE, RMI, JDBC, JNDI, LDAP, XML, XSLT, Servlets, JSP, EJB, JMS, JavaMail, CORBA, Performance, Scalability, Unit Testing, and Debugging

Benefits and limits of the typical real-world vendor implementations of the J2EE specification

The resulting practical aspects of real-word design using the J2EE technologiesAmazon.com Review
Sun's Java 2 Platform, Enterprise Edition (J2EE), provides all of the APIs that are needed to build world-class enterprise applications. Written by over a dozen experts, this new edition of Professional Java Server Programming provides a truly massive and authoritative guide to the latest standards and APIs that are available in J2EE. This title is a must-have for anyone who's serious about enterprise development in Java.

Weighing in at over 1,400 pages, Professional Java Server Programming provides a wide-reaching resource of all of the APIs that are required for J2EE development that centers on servlets and JSPs for creating UIs and Enterprise JavaBeans (EJBs), XML, and JDBC for getting to data on the server. Besides being a practical guide to how to combine these standards (with plenty of useful examples of these APIs in action), it also delivers a healthy dose of the design philosophy that's recommended by Sun for building scalable and robust enterprise Web applications.

Throughout, this text does a good job of merging theory with practice. Almost every chapter has a useful working example that shows how APIs work, with sample code for such Web applications as an e-commerce shopping cart, tech support pages, and a front end for a manufacturing database. The core of this volume is its treatment of servlets and JSPs for building Web-based front ends in Java. This new edition also highlights EJBs in excellent detail, with a thorough tour of designing, programming, and deploying EJBs effectively. (There's also notable coverage of the emerging EJB 2.0 standard, which adds several important features, like a query language for more powerful database access.)

The practical focus here is reflected also in chapters that are devoted to debugging, testing, and deploying J2EE applications--critical issues for any aspiring enterprise developer. While no single book can make you an expert, this one can get you started with a superb tour of the APIs and technologies that you'll need to tackle large-scale development in Java. --Richard Dragan

Topics covered:

• Introduction to enterprise computing with the Java 2 Enterprise Edition (J2EE) platform (technologies, APIs, architectures; development roles)
• Introduction to RMI (including security, parameter passing, and distributed garbage collection)
• JDBC tutorial (including prepared statements, updateable result sets, batch updates, connection pooling, and distributed transactions)
• JNDI and LDAP
• XML basics (including XML parsers, XSLT, and CSS)
• Servlet tutorial (servlet APIs, the servlet life cycle, requests and responses, and maintaining session information)
• Shopping cart servlet example
• JavaServer Pages (JSPs) tutorial (directives, scripting elements, custom tags, and tag libraries)
• JSP coding standards
• Using JSP and XML together
• JavaMail
• Enterprise JavaBeans (EJBs) tutorial
• EJB containers
• Design guidelines for EJBs
• Session and entity beans
• Container vs. bean-managed persistence
• New EJB 2.0 features (including the EJB 2 0 Query Language)
• Sun's Model-View-Controller architecture for designing enterprise-level applications
• Performance and scalability hints
• Debugging and testing techniques
• The Java Message Service (JMS) and message queuing
• Integrating J2EE with CORBA
• Deploying J2EE applications

Customer Reviews (30)

This is an into book
This is a "intro" book from several authors. If you don't know the j2ee technology at all or you intend to know any part of the j2ee then this is a good start point. But if you liked to dig into a specific area or to develop an j2ee application then this book is not sufficient.
Moreover this j2ee book is a bit obsolate, the 1.3 edition is a better choice though the j2ee tech goes to the 1.4 edition.

Most complete J2EE book I've seen
This is a great book for people wanting to learn more about the many features, services, packages and nuances of Enterprise Java.I have yet to see another book that as much breadth of information on J2EE.It explains what each part is, how it works, and how it integrates with other parts.While you would have to buy some additional books if you needed more in-depth information on a particular topic, this book will help you know which questions to ask.Granted, with so many authors there isn't much continuity, and being a Wrox book there will be errors in the examples.But as a reference book, especially for newbies, this one is hard to top.

Great book
This book is one the most comprehensive ones that I've bought.It provides you with most of the possible technologies that you could use in a basic J2EE application. I love the section on the J2EE architecture.For newbies I typcially request that they read that section first. It does justice to basic topics like JDBC & Servlets & tag libraries, and the concepts about them.As well as introduces EJBs and other technologies.I am a long time java developer and I use it as a constant reference.Great job WROX!

Professional J2EE is good reference material�
Overall the book is ok as a reference material.But not a really good as a teaching material. I found it to be not very concise in delivering the intended information.At times it feels that the authors are wondering aimlessly.However, the book is packed with good information making it a rather decent source of reference material...

Great Overview, but needs an editor
The content of the book is a great way for Java programmers to get an overview of the J2EE APIs and Java-based Web applications with reasonable hands-on depth. I can't say enough in that regard. More depth requires more specific books, but that's just due to the size of J2EE. However, the editing on this book is just short of awful. There are numerous typos and non-grammatical sentences. Part of this is obviously insufficient attention given to the writing of non-native speakers. The approach differs radically from chapter to chapter, ranging from elaborated regurgitation of the documentation (useful due to its experienced commentary) to teaching almost solely by example. In one chapter, the author's coding style is full of distracting peculiarities. If he were consistent in their use, it may not be so distracting, and his at time really strange departures from common control structure idioms leaves you guessing. If the chapter weren't so strong from an architecture and design perspective, you would wonder about his command of Java. All in all, I recommend this book as in introductory cram course on J2EE, but the Wrox multi-team approach broke down somewhat here. ... Read more

Product Description
Learn the essentials for developing mobile applications for any device. Focusing on proven techniques and practices, this guide addresses the real-world needs of experienced Microsoft Windows® mobile developers. Users are growing increasingly dependent on mobile devices, and with innovations such as the Windows Vista(tm) Sync Center that make it easy to manage data synchronization, this proliferation will continue. Developers need to respond to this evolution with more than simple adaptations of the user interface--they need to implement mobile solutions for most of their applications. From expert authors with years of real-world experience, this book addresses this evolution, covering key mobile-development topics, including design, debugging, deployment, performance optimization, security, and globalization. It also covers mobile applications that use Microsoft .NET Compact Framework 2.0, Microsoft SQL Server(tm) 2005 Everywhere Edition, and Microsoft Windows Mobile® 5.0, running on devices such as Pocket PCs and Windows Mobile Smartphones. In addition, it includes extensive code samples in Microsoft Visual C#®, with additional code sample in Microsoft Visual Basic® on the book's companion Web site. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (7)

A WHOLE LOT OF INFORMATION
This book has information that can not be found in many other books.The book looked brand new and came in a very timely matter.

Full of Filler and Code is Incorrect
The whole first part of this book is just filler. It is a long walkthrough of the features found in SSMSE.

The very first code examples don't work specifically the smo backup code... and the code examples aren't teaching proper coding techniques. The writers of this book need to take a course on Microsoft's Design Guidelines.

This book is teaching bad programming habits, the code is incorrect, and the book is stuffed with filler.

Nice Intro but Little Content.
This is your typical intro book, good for a tour through the highlights.But it is not a reference book, and because it covers so many topics it can spend very little time on any one subject.You will find all the material at the MS web site.You will still need to find more thorough reference material in order to be successful.

Great Reference!!!!!!!!!!!
From the beginning, this text illustrated an overview of the SQL CLR with a sufficient amount of detail so that someone just starting to learn SQL could understand it, but also a developer familiar with this topic would benefit from this review.Debugging was covered extensively in Chapter 9.I was impressed with all of the scenerios that were brought to light for debugging SQL Server code.I especially liked Chapter 7 on Security.The chapter started off slow to make sure the reader understood the four themes of SQL Server 2005 security, and then went on to explain encryption support and protecting SQL 2005 with great examples.I would definitely recommend this book to any developer interested in learning about new features in SQL Server 2005.I found it to be extremely well-written, interesting, and helpful!

New Favorite Reference Book
I've had this book for a little over a week, looking for time to give it some proper due. Now I only wished I had delved into it right away. Or gotten it sooner. It's now moved to the front of the line as my favorite reference book.

Clearly written and organized, it took me all of 15 minutes to follow a new concept (to me). It was logical, building upon itself and fully explained what was going on, and HOW it works too. It's been my experience in the past that developer books fall into one of two categories: Tutorial and Reference. This is the first one that I have seen sucessfully split the two and combine the best of both. The author right up front explains what the book does and does not cover.

This book isn't for DBAs or people who want to know how to use SQL Server 2005. The book is for developers who want to know how to use the new features of SQLServer 2005, and how to use them in .NET 2.0.

I'm not sure how I've gone so long with out this book. Just in the last hour, it's been a life savor. I'm learning about capabilities that I'd never seen documented anywhere else. ... Read more

Product Description
Get ready to create your own J2ME game! This updated edition to the popular J2ME Game Programming provides updated sofware coverage as well as updates to the programming approaches specific to Java ME software. It also covers the recent innovations in mobile games with relations to iPods and cell phones. You will learn the essentials of J2ME game development from the ground up. Throughout the book you will discover the issues involved in developing for multiple target devices and how to work through the jungle of device-specific libraries and device capabilities. Working on a limited platform it is important to squeeze as much as you can out of those precious bytes, so in this book you will find the tools and source code you need to get the most out of the constrained resources. You will also learn how to structure your code and classes to achieve as small an application footprint as possible. As you work toward developing your own J2ME game, you'll examine the game lifecycle, how to handle resources, various methods of drawing to the screen, optimizing memory usage, handling the users input, and even sharing high-scores online! Previous experience in programming object-oriented languages and a basic level of math skills is recommended. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

Title is misleading
This book has little to do with game programming. It's a book about MIDP 2.0 programming with Java ME for building mobile applications (using GUI controls). The last three chapters (which are quite small) touch on tiles and sprites. So basically you've got a 400+ page book while only about 50 pages is actually about programming mobile games? I would have STARTED the book with chapter 13 and moved on from there into various game topics, instead of ENDING there and doing a poor job of it. The example game in the last chapter was designed for the old 128x128 screens and is probably about 4-5 years old (with 8x8 sprites) which is unacceptable for a book released in 2007 with this title. This is a GOOD book on MIDP 2.0 programming...if you ignore the "game" part of the title. I used this book to teach a course on the subject, but will need to find another for next semester.

If I didn't know Java already, I'd be really confused
Like one of the other reviewers, I got this book because it was required for one of my classes.This book is kind of a paradox, in that it's meant for beginners as it tries to explain things in excruciating detail, but it somehow manages to do a really poor job of it.It does a good enough job of explaining the software that you need, but once it gets into code samples, it ends up saying almost nothing using a lot of words.There are many parts where the same thing is explained two or three times over, while other important parts of the code are glossed over.

The worst part is that the text is littered with typos, which is especially bad because many of the typos are of class and method names, and even worse because I've noticed several typos within the code samples.If they had an editor for this book, he should be shot.

I would not recommend this book unless you really needed it for a class, like I did.I can understand most of what it's trying to explain (albeit after reading some things over two or three times), but if I didn't know a good bit of Java already, I'd be totally lost with this book.

Good beginners book but...
The authors do a good job of going into excruciating detail to get you started. I bought this book because my school is forcing me to use Java for this class, which isn't that bright. Writing programs for small devices is better done in a widely used language such as C. Using Java, you have more constraints, such as only being able to write apps for devices that support Java's VM and also having to give up some of your memory to Java's GC and abuse of the heap.

Writing apps for small devices using C makes a heck of a lot more sense because you have a lot more control over memory usage and can write apps for ANY device in which the manufacturer allows you hardware access.

Skim read
In all honestly I can't give this a accurate rating as I only skimmed through it. The reason being that I was expected something similar to the first edition but found it was completely different and focused less on game development and more on fundamental MIDP2.0 programming. People who are interested in learning JavaME will find this book interested. Anyone looking for a updated version of the excellent first edition will not find much here - but that's only my opinion. ... Read more

Product Description
This practical guide contains a detailed set of C standards and UNIX system comparisons for the construction of highly portable software. Professionals will learn the underlying causes of portability problems as well as the techniques for creating portable UNIX system software. It shortens the software development and test cycle and enables the user to reduce the cost of long-term support. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Clarification on authorship
Cowan's only half-right. The "E" in "J.E.Lapin" is for "Eric" (as in "Eric Raymond"). The "J" is for "Jon" (as in
"Jon Tulk").The book was actually a team effort undertaken by several software engineers working at Rabbit Software in the 80s.

This book should be far better known
In addition to being everything the previous reviewer said it was, its true author is Eric S. Raymond, rather better known in the community now than he was then. ("Lapin" is French for "rabbit", as in Rabbit Software, the publishers.)So it should really be filed along with "The Cathedral and the Bazaar" and "The New Hacker's Dictionary".

Somewhat dated now, but still very worthy ideas.
First off, the composite authors name is Lapin, not Laping.

I used this book back around 1990 to develop a large software suite.The first 5 chapters are an excellent intro to portable C coding.We used the beginning chapters to design and develop our common platform headers, libraries and Make system.We did not take their examples unchanged, but used them as starting points for a our needs, which was a somewhat more comprehensive system.My team gives the book credit for helping us get us some of our 10x improvements.Still have not seen the likes of this book even today, in terms of the quality of data to use.

The last half of the book is a summary of different API calls and /bin functions available on different Unixes of the day. Interesting now, from a historical perspective. ... Read more

Product Description
The first book published that fully describes object-oriented programming in an accessible manner for a wide range of readers. This new second edition covers the changes that have occurred in Objective C version 4.0, the newest release, and the tools that assist in developing object-oriented software. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

Interesting history, but that's about it
(This review is about the 1986 edition, not the 1991. I assume big changes, but either way I haven't read it.)

Okay, so you just got a Mac or an iPhone and you've noticed that the development tools you need are free (and, indeed, come with the computer). You go out and buy books, but you want to see the original book. Well, this is it. Congratulations, you've just purchased an interesting historical document that has almost nothing to do with Mac programming, in a language that is almost but not entirely unlike the Objective-C you'll be using to write your app.

The 1986 edition is truly a time warp -- for example, the choice of "acetate" as an analogy to describe a GUI view is probably going to be lost on anyone who's only ever done page layout on a computer. Cox writes comparisons of Objective-C to Ada, C++, and Smalltalk, but the comparisons are far, far outdated. Three years before the original ANSI C standard came out, Cox was still using K&R C as his substrate language. The coverage of how object-oriented GUI systems work is more or less on target, but since it's based on a very old version of X, it isn't very much like the OpenStep/Cocoa environment. But a bigger problem than its antiquatedness is the fact that (probably by necessity) it's three parts textbook, one part advertisement for Stepstone's (or at the time, PPI's) product. The grating and poorly-thought-through term "Software-IC" (for a binary object library) pops up everywhere.

Used copies, however, can be had pretty cheaply, so if you like computer archaeology it's certainly a nice little trip to the days when object-oriented programming was just going mainstream and Steve Jobs was looking for technologies to build his NeXT system on. There's also enough source code to learn a bit about writing your own Objective-C libraries, if you know how to translate to the @ syntax that ObjC has used since not long after this book came out. For the most part, though, unless you're a serious Mac or programming languages historian, it's not worth going out of your way for.

The original reference work on Objective-C
The original reference work on Objective-C; the second edition was published May of 1991.So don't expect anything about OS X or Cocoa.But it's still a good book.If you want to read about the language itself, its history, the motivations behind its design, and its relationship to other languages, this is the book for you.If you want an introduction to the concept of object-oriented programming that is not mucked up by the foulness of C++ or Java, but rather gets you started down the One True Path of Cocoa right off the bat, this would also be a good place to start.I learned Objective-C from this book, and it is still handy as a reference work.Kind of the Kernighan & Ritchie of Objective-C. Four stars instead of five because it has less and less relevance for the typical Obj-C programmer nowadays, who is almost certainly coding for Cocoa on OS X.

This book is awesome.. it explains alot.
The book is kind of small.. but its packed w/ info onobjective-c. It gives complete info on how to use the objective-c OOPextension as well the objective-c internals.

The main reference on Objective-C.
The first three chapters are conceptual, and compare various approaches to object-oriented programming.Chapters 4 until 8 are highly technical and give detailed information on the Objective-C runtime and class libraries.I find the chapter on user interfaces a bit sloppy. Interesting, on the other hand, is the final chapter with projects for extensions.

One of the best books on Object Oriented Programming
This book is a must read for anybody working in Objective-C (NextStep/Rhapsody). It basically describes Objective-C, how it works, and future directions for the language. It also has a good comparison of other OO languages. Overall, it's a great book ... Read more

Product Description
An Introduction to Programming with Mathematica® is designed to introduce the Mathematica programming language to a wide audience. Since the last edition of this book was published, significant changes have occurred in Mathematica and its use worldwide. Keeping pace with these changes, this substantially larger, updated version includes new and revised chapters on numerics, procedural, rule-based, and front-end programming, and gives significant coverage to the latest features up to, and including, Mathematica 5.1 Mathematica notebooks, available from www.cambridge.org/0521846781, contain examples, programs, and solutions to exercises in the book. Additionally, material to supplement later versions of the software will be made available. This is the ideal text for all scientific students, researchers, and programmers wishing to deepen their understanding of Mathematica, or even those keen to program using an interactive language that contains programming paradigms from all major programming languages: procedural, functional, recursive, rule-based, and object-oriented. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

Best book on basic programming with Mathematica
This is by far and away the best basic book for learning how to program with Mathematica. I spent 2 hours a day using the book for one month and I'm now quite comfortable with the software. If you are new to Mathematica, do yourself a favor and read this book.

Incredible, consistent text
This book is extremely useful to take a beginner through simple, well explained exercises.I can honestly say you will learn tremendous amounts about Mathematica.

If I could only have one book and needed to program Mathematica, this would be it.Hands down.I can only believe this book was intended as a book for a course.I feel the book is paced to allow any student to read the pages and work the very well thought out exercises.


If you are working on your own and learning Mathematica, do yourself a favor and buy this book.The only other book that I would get is the amazing reference "Mathematica Navigator".You won't learn how to program Mathematica from it.You will learn an amazing amount about how Mathematica works by reading it.If you don't believe me, check out it's thorough explanation of cubic splines.It's better than the Mathematica Help.It also comes with the complete book which can be installed in the Mathematica help system.

There are other books which are good.Between these two books, you will an amazing arsenal to work with!

Paul

Excellent. A must have.
As a mathematical hobbyist, I love Mathematica(TM). Also, I love the Lisp programming language. This book, at last, opened my eyes. Now, after some years, I finally can say what "programming Mathematica" is. If you really need to learn to programming in Mathematica, this book is for you. A big thanks to the Authors.

Omissions
Please note that the book does NOT cover Object Oriented programming as stated on this page in the description - in fact OO is not even in the index.

The 3rd Ed.is based on Mathematica 5.1
This book is an excellent introduction to Mathematica. It is based on Mathematica 5.1 and hence bring the 2nd Ed. based on Mathematica 2.2 up to date to the most recent version of this software package. The book covers all aspects of programming functionalities available in Mathematica: procedural, functional, recursive, rule-based, and object-oriented. There are ample examples in science and mathematics as well as devising one's own software packages. The emphasis of the book is on the fundamental programming concepts. While there are examples of complete packages that solve specific problems more emphasis in this direction would even further strengthen the book.

... Read more

Product Description
The release of the 1.3 version of the Java 2 Platform, Enterprise Edition (J2EE) represents the evolution of Sun Microsystems' server-side development platform into a more mature and sophisticated specification. Servlets 2.3 gain events and filtering; JavaServer Pages (JSP) 1.2 gain a new XML syntax and enhancements to the custom tag mechanisms; and Enterprise JavaBeans (EJB) 2.0 has some significant changes to its container-managed persistence model, as well as support for asynchronous processing with the new message-driven beans.

This book demonstrates how to design and construct secure and scalable n-tier J2EE applications, using JSP and servlets for the web tier and EJBs for the business logic. It also covers J2EE Connector Architecture that allows you to easily integrate your J2EE applications to enterprise information systems.

This book covers:

Product Description
Computing for Scientists focuses on the principles involved in scientific programming. Topics of importance and interest to scientists are presented in a thoughtful and thought-provoking way, with coverage ranging from high-level object-oriented software to low-level machine-code operations. Taking a problem-solving approach, this book gives the reader an insight into the ways programs are implemented and what actually happens when they run. Throughout, the importance of good programming style is emphasised and illustrated. Two languages, Fortran 90 and C++, are used to provide contrasting examples, and explain how various techniques are used and when they are appropriate or inappropriate. For scientists and engineers needing to write programs of their own or understand those written by others, Computing for Scientists:
* Is a carefully written introduction to programming, taking the reader from the basics to a considerable level of sophistication.
* Emphasises an understanding of the principles and the development of good programming skills.
* Includes optional "starred" sections containing more specialised and advanced material for the more ambitious reader.
* Assumes no prior knowledge, and has many examples and exercises with solutions included at the back of the book. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Pithy Treatment of a Voluminous Subject
In addition to being a chemist myself who uses programming technologies extensively, I also teach courses designed to introduce relevant software technologies to other chemists, such as programming and database skills.

One of the problems that I faced was lack of a good introductory text on programming that would be relevant to an applied scientist. Most introductory programming books appear to be written for someone who intends to be a computer scientist, or even worse, rather than teaching language-independent skills, they try instead to teach you one programming language. As anyone knows who has ever browsed the computer section of their local bookstore or even here on Amazon, the number of books available on the topic of programming is enormous, to say the least.

I was pleasantly surprised when I came across this book at a local electronics store. For the time being, I am going to refer to it as a good starting point for any scientist who wishes to enhance his/her programming skills.

Barlow and Barnett cover many of the topics that I consider essential when learning any programming language, such as data types, operators, conditional statements, looping constructs, etc. Furthermore, he even covers important concepts like accessing memory (e.g. pointers in C++), state machines, abstraction, and object-oriented techniques. I was very happy to see the authors stress the importance of striving for ANSI compliant code.

For a book that was published in 1998, I was very impressed to see a section on template programming with C++. Clearly, Barlow and Barnett are very good at recognizing emerging trends.Furthermore, they are equally adept at explaining difficult concepts in a lucid way. Towards the end of the book, the authors' physics slant is evident by the section on numerical analysis, but the treatment is great, since it exemplifies how programming can be used for solving computationally intensive tasks that have physical significance.

Although this book on programming is geared towards scientists, it really would serve as a nice introduction to programming for any discipline. Although Fortran's popularity is very low outside of engineering, the juxtaposition of C++ with Fortran was a very nice touch, as it really allows one to look past language specific features in order to see generic programming concepts. Computer languages, like spoken languages, are such that, the first one is hardest to learn, but with each one you learn, the process of learning the next one becomes successively easier, and authors' use of two languages in one book really exemplifies this concept.

This book does not aim to teach you either C++ or Fortran, although it does point out some real pitfalls (e.g. in C++, x = a[i] + i++) in each language. Instead, the authors gives you a great foundation, from which you will be able learn generic programming concepts, as well as evaluate programming languages, so that in the future, you should be able to select one that is appropriate for your task at hand. Finally, they authors give great examples of using programming technologies to solve problems of a scientific nature, and he is able to accomplish in less than 300 pages what most books fail to do in three to four times that amount.

unorthodox but very nice introduction to programming
Intended for first or second year engineering or science students.It teaches programming at an introductory level. Yes, its a text book for one of those Programming 101 courses.

However, what sets this textbook apart from others is that it employs two languages (i.e. Fortran and C++), instead of one, to teach the same old material.And this has some interesting charasteristics.The authors has presented the material in a comparative way so that the student has the chance to see, very clearly, the relative merits of each language.For example, when they introduce arrays you will see the ease of Fortran in dealing with them. On the other hand, when object oriented programming is presented, C++'s superiority becomes apparent for that purpose.By seeing two languages side by side, one can also discern the fundamentals from language specific rules.

I'm familiar with Fortran and it has been a while since I took my first course in programming but this textbook has taught me quite a lot of things.If you know one of the languages, it might still make sense to buy it.You will appreciate your language better and will find what the other language does better.By the way, the book doesn't teach about mixed language programming. ... Read more

Product Description
The changes to UNIX programming that have taken place since 1985 are extensive to say the least. The first edition of Advanced UNIX Programming is still used and considered to be a must have book on any UNIX programmer's shelf. With this new edition UNIX programmers now have a one-volume, comprehensive, in-depth guide to the essential system-level services provided to them by the UNIX family of operating systems - now including Linux, FreeBSD, and the Mac OS X kernel (Darwin). All UNIX application programs, regardless of what language they are written in, run on top of these services, so mastering them is essential for successful UNIX programming. And, with a movement towards open-source systems, programmers will appreciate the book's emphasis on portability. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (19)

Read more on Unix
The copy I read had a different cover.
This book is interesting, showing you the relation between C and Unix.

THE book to get for UNIX programming
I am a systems administrator professionally, but I have a need to know the inner workings of UNIX that only seems to be covered in programming books. Specifically relating to certain system calls and interprocess communication methods.

This author has forgotten more about UNIX than I will ever grasp. While this book is dedicated to programming applications in UNIX and understanding the operating system's function calls, I am finding it to be a very handy reference for advanced system administration as well. The book is worth the price just for the chapters on process communication, in my opinion.

I really like the author's writing style. He gets down to business and covers the material without adding a lot of needless fluff or by making the chapters overly wordy.

The book is designed to server as a reference and is well-indexed, which is refreshing to find these days. It's very easy to find a topic you need as not everyone will need the amount of depth covered by each chapter in full.

I wish there were more UNIX books out there like this one.

Informative
The book is good for beginners.All you need to know to get started with Unix/Linux programming.

A very useful reference
I bought this book in order to get an overview on what primitives I have available on a unix system for doing system programming. I found the book to be very useful for that purpose.

I use it occasionally.

I also found my peers lending it from me again and again.

To summarize: useful.

The best UNIX programming book that I know of
What's more to say, the title say's it all...Buy it! ... Read more

Product Description

This textbook for students and practitioners presents a practical approach to decomposition techniques in optimization. It provides an appropriate blend of theoretical background and practical applications in engineering and science, which makes the book interesting for practitioners, as well as engineering, operations research and applied economics graduate and postgraduate students. "Decomposition Techniques in Mathematical Programming" is based on clarifying, illustrative and computational examples and applications from electrical, mechanical, energy and civil engineering as well as applied mathematics and economics. It addresses decomposition in linear programming, mixed-integer linear programming, nonlinear programming, and mixed-integer nonlinear programming, and provides rigorous decomposition algorithms as well as heuristic ones. Practical applications are developed up to working algorithms that can be readily used. The theoretical background of the book is deep enough to be of interest to applied mathematicians. It includes end of chapter exercises and the solutions of the even numbered exercises are included as an appendix.

Product Description
Extend your programming skills with a comprehensive study of the key features of SQL Server 2008. Delve into the new core capabilities, get practical guidance from expert developers, and put their code samples to work. This is a must-read for Microsoft .NET and SQL Server developers who work with data access—at the database, business logic, or presentation levels.Discover how to:Query complex data with powerful Transact-SQL enhancementsUse new, non-relational features: hierarchical tables, native file streaming, and geospatial capabilitiesExploit XML inside the database to design XML-aware applicationsConsume and deliver your data using Microsoft LINQ, Entity Framework, and data bindingImplement database-level encryption and server auditingBuild and maintain data warehousesUse Microsoft Excel to build front ends for OLAP cubes, and MDX to query themIntegrate data mining into applications quickly and effectivelyGet code samples on the Web. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

MyReview - Programming MSSQL 2K8
Programming Microsoft SQL Server 2008 (PRO-Developer)

I've been working with 2008 for 2 years now and with 2005/2000/7.0/6.5 since '98. This book has really become my right hand man with quick, easy to understand reference on the new capabilities of Sql Server 2008. I find it a great, fast to access source of information for a broad range of MSSQL concepts including; CLR, Replication, BI, Linq, New Syntax, deprecation warnings.. the list goes on. The book gives enough insite to a programmer to get him started with all the above. It does not delve into great depth on any of these ideas giving the developer a chance to utilize his/her own intelligence and pursue their own path of specific interest. It does, however, provide a great launching pad on all these ideas. Personally, I would have liked to have seen more on Performance Tuning and using the Service Broker. Reality is though, this IS one book. These days there's enough going on inside Sql Server to fill a library!! This book is a fantastic single point of reference for getting one's self started in 'most' of the concepts involved in a package that's quickly becoming an SOA/Enterprise platform of choice.

A mush mash of development
What would you like to do with SQL server, programming wise as the title suggests ? - Database development for applications or Business Intelligence (reporting, analytics)? This book covers both aspects and does not give sufficient depth to do any sort of reasonable programming in either environment. "Smart Business Intelligence Solutions" ISBN-10: 0735625808 is a good book on Reporting, Analytics and ETL using integration services. For application development, I have not found a single source yet. I recommend: Apress T-Sql recipes and MSPress SQL Server Internals; also MSpress T-SQL fundamentals for beginners.

Programming Microsoft Server 2008 (PRO-Developer)
It is one of the best books I have on this new Server software.
I fully recommend it to anyone needing an update on their SQL Server skills.

Comprehensive, well-written, practical
Very useful, usable information about new features for developers in SQL Server 2008.Highly recommended.

.NET Developers need to know more about SQL Server
And this book is the book to teach them.Leonard, Andrew, and Stephen know their stuff. After one read I've already gotten tips to help me with work on SQL I'm doing right now, and I think it will be an even better reference.Nice job guys. ... Read more

Product Description
This book provides a comprehensive description of the theoretical foundations, design, and implementation of an innovative logic programming language in which computations are produced directly from equational definitions. Like LISP and Prolog, the equational programming language is based on the concept that a programmer should give a mathematical description of the result of a computation rather than a series of commands to direct a computation. Unlike LISP and Prolog, however, the equational programming language strictly follows the rules of equational logic, providing powerful programming techniques not available in conventional languages.Equational Logic as a Programming Language covers the entire spectrum of theoretical and applied work involved in eight years of designing and implementing the equational logic programming language. Separate chapters cover the intuitive logical semantics of the language, the powerful programming techniques supported by it and their connections to procedural techniques such as coroutines, the methods used to produce a highly flexible implementation of the language with very little manpower, and the potential for implementation on parallel computers.Michael J. O'Donnell is Associate Professor of Computer Science at The Johns Hopkins University, on leave from Purdue University. Equational Logic as a Programming Language is included in the Foundations of Computing Series, edited by Michael Garey. ... Read more

Product Description
Written by a pioneer in the field, this is a thorough guide to the cost- and time-saving advantages of Flow-Based Programming.It explains the theoretical underpinnings and application of this programming method in practical terms. Readers are shown how to apply this programming in a number of areas and how to avoid common pitfalls. This is a revision of the original book, describing a number of related approaches and uses of the technology that have developed since the book first came out. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

TFlow based programming - it is the future?
This is the single most valuable book on programming that I purchased in the last ten years.

If you are a programmer writing conventional programs using standard programming languages such as C++ and Java you've probably learned the hard way that concurrency is hard, that code usually isn't reusable, and that translating design into actual programs is a lot of work.There is a better way; it's called flow based programming.

In this book Morrison explains the principles of flow based programming.Conventional programs are structured around the flow of control; flow based programming is based upon flow of data.In FBP applications are developed by creating a network of components.Each FBP component acts like independent mini-process with input and output ports.Information is transferred between components using data flow channels.Systems are built by specifying the flow of information in the system.

Flow based programming promises easy and natural concurrency, real reusability, and easy translation of design into code.It's an attractive idea, but does it work?Morrison says yes and shows us how and why.This is a distillation of decades of experience with real life systems.It talks about structuring components, structuring networks, and building applications.

It also discusses the relationship of the flow based paradigm to other programming paradigms such as object oriented programming and functional programming.In the final sections it surveys other languages and projects that are conceptually related.

The one complaint that I have with the book is that it does not have an index.

... Read more

Product Description
Emphasizing problem-solving skills throughout this very successful book, Stephen Chapman introduces the MATLAB? language and shows how to use it to solve typical technical problems.The book teaches MATLAB? as a technical programming language showing students how to write clean, efficient, and well-documented programs.It makes no pretense at being a complete description of all of MATLAB?'s hundreds of functions.Instead, it teaches students how to locate any desired function with MATLAB?'s extensive on line help facilities.Overall, students develop problem-solving skills and are equipped for future courses and careers using the power of MATLAB?. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (9)

please no more matlab
This book and class were tough.I wish it had more answers in the back of the book.

MATLAB programming for Engineers
Book arrived very quickly and in great condition. I would buy from this seller again.

Close to useless
Buy this if you are completely lost or aren't much of an analytical thinker. Otherwise, just type "help function" in the command window.

I never really needed to open this book, but did so on occaision for curiousity's sake--not very clear on a lot of areas, you learn best by playing with the program.

Very Good
The book is expensive for paperback but it is very helpful for my matlab class. If you have the previous version already, don't bother with this one its almost the same except some homework problems are switched (just find a friend and write down the problem). B+

Works....sometimes. Don't get it if you have a Macintosh.
Bought Matlab.This company spends more time/resources making sure you don't steal it (ie allowing you to install it on your own computers hassle-free)...then it does in working the bugs out. It is advertised as working with Os X....GOOD LUCK getting it to run right. This stupid program was so important that I had to run out and buy an Intel iMac..Install that Bootcamp/Windows OS "thing", and install Matlab on the pc side so that I could have stable environment. This P.O.S. is NOT Mac compatible... Sooo...having said that....whatcha think?

Dear Matlab Folks: drop the RETARDED activation scheme which ONLY hurts LEGITIMATE users ( you can find lots of cracked versions in the newsgroups btw) and make this program WORK. ... Read more