Product Description

If you're ready to start using Java 2 instead of simply watching on the sidelines as way-cool Web applets dance across your browser window, grab yourself a copy of the third edition of the popular Java Programming For Dummies and get set to rock your world.

Find out how to add oomph and interactivity to your Web sites with nifty Java applets, provide a friendly user interface to your corporate database, or develop games as you plumb the pages of Java Programming For Dummies, 3rd Edition:

Customer Reviews (39)

really good intro book for programming in java
If you're a newbie programmer and want to learn Java and object-oriented programming concepts, this book will get you started!Solid but fun.

not a good book at all
it does not help a beginner
it does not help a mediocre programmer
it does not help an advanced programmer
so, there, I said my peace

Surprisingly bad, terrible format
I like the "Dummies" series since it has helped me pass the GRE and learn HTML.However, I was incredibly frustrated with this book.I am so surprised that they published a book with so many errors.For example, the "Hello World" program had quite a few errors and for some reason appeared 3 times on the same page!

The worst part was the flow and format.I had to start on chapter 8 and begin reading backwards to understand the concepts introduced, but even then things were not explained clearly.

Its very rare when I give a bad review, but this one deserves 1 star just because of the numerous errors.To tell you the truth, I returned it the following day after buying it and haven't done Java since.

JAVA Programming for Dummies
It's too bad you're forced to give this book at least one star. It's misleading. The one good thing I can say about the book though, is that the coding errors embedded in the examples do serve to strengthen the readers debugging skills.

This book makes great fire wood!
When I sat down at my computer to learn Java through this book, i was left confused ,bewildered, and frustrated. This book has a lack of direction and little or no examples.This book is hard to understand and even harder to use.This book is a book you do not want to add to your cart. This book is definetly for experts and not dummies, which really kind of defeats the purpose. ... Read more

Product Description
This is a complete guide to mastering VSAM in one compact volume. Two VSAM authorities concisely explain the essentials of VSAM concepts, programming, and design. Beginning with the internal architecture of VSAM, this working reference shows how to get the most out of this powerful access method. Fully updated to reflect the latest enhancements to VSAM, this second edition features: System Managed Storage (SMS) and VSAM; Linear Data Sets (LDS) for DB/2; new COBOL coding techniques for alternative indexes; MVS/ESA and VSAM; new information on VSAM coding for CICS; a new chapter on problem determination and resolution; new VSAM features in VS COBOL II. ... Read more

Product Description
The authoritative guide to modeling and solving complex problems with linear programming—extensively revised, expanded, and updated

The only book to treat both linear programming techniques and network flows under one cover, Linear Programming and Network Flows, Fourth Edition has been completely updated with the latest developments on the topic. This new edition continues to successfully emphasize modeling concepts, the design and analysis of algorithms, and implementation strategies for problems in a variety of fields, including industrial engineering, management science, operations research, computer science, and mathematics.

The book begins with basic results on linear algebra and convex analysis, and a geometrically motivated study of the structure of polyhedral sets is provided. Subsequent chapters include coverage of cycling in the simplex method, interior point methods, and sensitivity and parametric analysis. Newly added topics in the Fourth Edition include:

• The cycling phenomenon in linear programming and the geometry of cycling

• Duality relationships with cycling

• Elaboration on stable factorizations and implementation strategies

• Stabilized column generation and acceleration of Benders and Dantzig-Wolfe decomposition methods

• Line search and dual ascent ideas for the out-of-kilter algorithm

• Heap implementation comments, negative cost circuit insights, and additional convergence analyses for shortest path problems

The authors present concepts and techniques that are illustrated by numerical examples along with insights complete with detailed mathematical analysis and justification. An emphasis is placed on providing geometric viewpoints and economic interpretations as well as strengthening the understanding of the fundamental ideas. Each chapter is accompanied by Notes and References sections that provide historical developments in addition to current and future trends. Updated exercises allow readers to test their comprehension of the presented material, and extensive references provide resources for further study.

Linear Programming and Network Flows, Fourth Edition is an excellent book for linear programming and network flow courses at the upper-undergraduate and graduate levels. It is also a valuable resource for applied scientists who would like to refresh their understanding of linear programming and network flow techniques. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (10)

Very Theoretical but good fundamental and advanced techniques
The techniques described are very theoretical but are friendly to be used in Computer programs. Has a great deal of depth.

This book is only useful if you already know about linear programming.
I am using this book for a linear programming course.The most flagrant problem with this book is that it is filled with typos, making reading through proofs and examples very frustrating because you're never sure what is supposed to be written.The book is also not very good at explaining concepts and leaves many steps out in the development of new ideas.If you can avoid it, do not use this book to learn linear programming.

Strong Graduate Treatment in Linear Programming
I used this text while taking a graduate linear programming (LP)course on LP and network flows.I really liked the treatment.The typesetting was clear ,consistent and easily followed (not as good as Nash and Sofer's).The book also includes lots of nice side discussion on how or why the theory is the way it is.Plenty of references are offered for further study.Proofs were not rigorous.The highly mathematical reader may be disappointed by the "show proof" style used instead of a rigorous theorem-proof style.In fact, I seem to recall a time or two where the theorem came after the usage.For me, I didn't mind that, but a pure math guy would likely grind his teeth.

The network material was acceptable.I personally thought the text problems were not of the best quality.I would suggest a teacher supplement their own favorites outside of the book.

One caution is that the book is somewhat aged.I noticed a text like Nash and Sofer seems to have newer updates on the theory.

Overall, a great read for getting into the nitty gritty details of LP.

Excellent but DENSE!!!!
I am currently working toward a Ph.D. in Management Science and used this book for a LP course.If you can get past the matrix algebra (which isn't too terribly difficult) you will find that this book contains more practical LP information than any other resource available.However, those looking for a "how to" book on linear programming might want to try a more elementary text first.This book is geared toward those interested in the more advanced computational aspects of LP (e.g., revised simplex method, LU decomposition, product form of the inverse, bounded variables, etc.).The chapter on sensitivity analysis is particularly well written and thorough.But beware, this book packs more info per page than I have ever seen!!!

Best Math oriented LP book
I used this book as part of my grad level LP course that covered the first half of the book. Let me start out by saying that this is by no means a beginner's book. This book assumes a strong Linear Algebra and basic OR (assumes you know the Simplex method solution procedure, etc.) knowledge.If you are looking to get these OR prerequisites, then refer to the basic OR books by Hillier & Lieberman, Wayne Winston, Ignizio & Cavalier or A. Ravindran; this book is not for you.

This book is outstanding for understanding the theory and mathematical mechanics of LP and the first half of the book covers this comprehensively. The excercises in this book are outstanding (and can be hard). For those who need this book but are weak or rusty on the basics (like I was :) ) refer to one of the books above (I liked the Ignizio & Cavalier book a lot). I can't comment on the Network flows part of the book but it will almost surely be excellent if it is anything like the first half.

An excellent book for the intended audience. ... Read more

Product Description

A step-by-step guide to building PHP web sites and applications using the Smarty templating engine

• Bring the benefits of Smarty to your PHP programming
• Give your designers the power to modify content and layout without PHP programming
• Produce code that is easier to debug, maintain, and modify
• Useful for both Smarty developers and users

In Detail

Smarty is a templating engine for PHP. Designers who are used to working with HTML files can work with Smarty templates, which are HTML files with simple tags while programmers work with the underlying PHP code. The Smarty engine brings the code and templates together. The result of all this is that designers can concentrate on designing, programmers can concentrate on programming, and they don't need to get in each others way so much.Even if you are developing a site on your own, Smarty is a powerful way to make your code clearer to you and others, as well as easier to debug and modify later.

What you will learn from this book?

Customer Reviews (10)

Interesting
I am fairly familiar with PHP, and love the way you can weave it through HTML pages.SMARTY was a concept I wasn't very familiar with, since most sites can achieve a template look and feel via CSS.I found this book to be interesting and informative, to the point where I think SMARTY is a good addition to a web designer's arsenal. I recommend this book as a good starting point to understanding and using SMARTY.

This book is awful
In the process of learning web development, you read a lot of technical books.This is the worse technical book, Ive tried to read. To start, the book is written by three authors, not a good sign. The prose is poor.They tend to talk down to the reader. The writing is all over the place, one minute their assuming the reader is a developer, and the next minute their defining terms like: cache, and debugging for the completely unknowing designer.And that's the main problem with the book.It lacks a unified direction.It tries to be all things to everyone. It tries to cater to the technical level of every reader, the designer, the developer, the web administrator, and at the same time be a Smarty variable reference.In the end, if fails at all of them.Your better off just going to the Smarty website, and reading their documentation.Unfortunately, this is the only book currently on the market that focuses on Smarty.Don't expect to learn Smarty from this book, you'll be disappointed.

Good Start
This was the only book I could find for Smarty. I know some people may enjoy the adventure of learning software from the help menu, but I personally prefer to have some written details to eliminate a lot of the trial by error that will frustrate me no end.

This book gives you all the facts to getting a good start using Smarty templates.

Good intro to templating with Smarty
The authors do a good job of introducing you to the Smarty templating system. You'll need to have knowledge of PHP if your a programmer or XHTML & CSS if your a designer in order to make use of the Smarty templating system. As the authors state; you don't need both skill sets unless you plan on doing your projects single-handedly. I like the fact that they stick to Smarty & don't try to teach PHP, XHTML & CSS. I have very strong XHTML & CSS skills & very basic PHP & MySQL skills & find that by using Smarty you can greatly simplify looping through arrays & calling variables. I'm impressed by the apparently non-English speaking authors writing skills. I wonder if they have plans of authoring a book on PHP/MySQL & maybe even the Cake PHP development framework? The publisher PacktPub supports Open Source software development with donations from sales to Open Source projects which I consider a plus. Hopefully Open Source will take more market share from the Microsoft monopoly & promote a more innovative & prosperous internet community! Make a donation to the Smarty project if you find it useful.

Good Reference but not everything
I found this book to be a good reference if you are not already familiar with Smarty. It gives you the basics but doesn't get too involved.
I would recommend having some PHP experience first before you buy it.
I bought it to be used as an additional programming help guide to work with X-Cart. It's been good for that.
Overall, it's worth the price. ... Read more

Product Description
This textbook provides a self-contained introduction to linear programming using MATLAB® software to elucidate the development of algorithms and theory. Early chapters cover linear algebra basics, the simplex method, duality, the solving of large linear problems, sensitivity analysis, and parametric linear programming. In later chapters, the authors discuss quadratic programming, linear complementarity, interior-point methods, and selected applications of linear programming to approximation and classification problems. Exercises are interwoven with the theory presented in each chapter, and two appendices provide additional information on linear algebra, convexity, nonlinear functions, and on available MATLAB commands, respectively. Readers can access MATLAB codes and associated mex files at a Web site maintained by the authors. Only a basic knowledge of linear algebra and calculus is required to understand this textbook, which is geared toward junior and senior-level undergraduate students, first-year graduate students, and researchers unfamiliar with linear programming. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Weak on theory and
This book was used for a graduate course in LP.For that purpose it was very weak.It takes a practical view of LP and relates it to Matlab, just as the title suggests.I found its content more applicable to undergrads than grads.

On the positive side, the book includes a large set of Matlab routines for manipulating LP tableaus.The support routines are great for solving problems quickly.

I would not recommend this for graduate work.I like Bazaraa's treatment of this subject much better.This book might be OK for professional work if you need a practical intro. ... Read more

Product Description
This book is focused on "getting the concepts" as well as teaching how to apply OOP concepts in the new version of Visual Basic. The reader is not expected to have any mastery of a given OOP language. In fact, the stress of having to learn the syntax of an OOP language, without first having a strong conceptual foundation about the OOP paradigm, often prevents the programmer from doing effective Object Oriented Programming at the language level. However, a beginner's knowledge of the Visual Basic language is a definite plus. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

disappointed...
Sorry guys but I thought your book was not comprehensive and it confused the heck out of me when I read it couple of years back. (John Sharp- C# step by step is an excellent book to learnOOP).

I took this book as a teach yourself/ intro to OOP and unfortunately the authors didn't do a good job with their intended audience- people trying to learn OOP. Plus there were multiple bugs in their code, which was not helpful.

Where's the 2nd Edition?
This book is not well written, it looks like the book was based on a Beta Version of Visual Studio .NET, and was never validated against the final release version of VB.NET.

I like creating the programming examples from the book, I find that helps me to learn the product better and faster, however, I could not get the programs to work correctly when entered from the book.

I stopped reading the book after the first chapter, because the information is incorrect.

huge improvements needed...
this book attempts to teach the reader how to develop VB.net applications using object-oriented methodologies.
While it tries in meeting this objective, it falls short in a few areas.
First, the codes in the book seem to be different from what you get, evenwhen you follow the authors' guidelines religiously. Some lines of code just appear almost from nowhere; some of those that are accounted for are mysteriously rearranged in the book.
The authors' coding styles are neither here nor there. They do not seem to be within easy grasp of the VB.net newby or at the league of the blackbelt category.
Secondly, there are several omissions and inadequate explanations in the text. The authors obviously know their jobs. But they have difficulty imparting that knowledge to their readers. 21 chapters in a book of 360 pages mean each chapter, including the code snippets and screenshots, occupy less than 18 pages. Not that I am a fan of fluff, but I believe that adequate explanations would require many more pages.
Thirdly, a few explanations are simply wrong. E.g. you don't save files with .visual basic extension, but with .vb; neither do you write:

Me.TextBox.AcceptReturn = True
Me.TextBox.MultiLine = True
.......

But you write:

With Me.TextBox
.AcceptReturn = True
.MultiLine = True
.......
End With

I gave it three stars because it gives the reader a bird's eye-view of what OOP looks like in VB.net. But that's how far this book can go. If you really want to learn OOP in better details, you will need to use additional resources--either one that is geared to the newbies, or one that is aimed at the gurus out there. This hermaphrodite of a book defies easy placement.

Help - I'm confused
After spending heaps of time sudyinh the UML - finally a book that brings OOP - UML and VB.NET together. I was wrong. After 1 chapter where the code doesn't match the examples in the book and where saving visual basic id actually .vb I am thouroughly lost and confused.

A basic, practical, "user friendly" introduction
Sams Teach Yourself Object Oriented Programming with Visual Basic.NET in 21 Days by progamming expert Richard Simon is specifically focused on mastering the basic concepts as well as teaching beginning to intermediate level users how to apply OOP concepts in the new version of Visual Basic. The reader is not expected to have any mastery of a given OOP language. In fact, the stress of having to learn the syntax of an OOP language, without first having a strong conceptual foundation about the OOP paradigm, often prevents the programmer from doing effective Object Oriented Programming at the language level. Still, it should be recognized that a beginner's knowledge of the Visual Basic language undeniably helpful. Highly recommended for anyone needing a basic, practical, "user friendly" introduction. 432 pages. ... Read more

Product Description

Too often, healthcare workers are led to believe that medical informatics is a complex field that can only be mastered by teams of professional programmers. This is simply not the case. With just a few dozen simple algorithms, easily implemented with open source programming languages, you can fully utilize the medical information contained in clinical and research datasets. The common computational tasks of medical informatics are accessible to anyone willing to learn the basics.

Methods in Medical Informatics: Fundamentals of Healthcare Programming in Perl, Python, and Ruby demonstrates that biomedical professionals with fundamental programming knowledge can master any kind of data collection. Providing you with access to data, nomenclatures, and programming scripts and languages that are all free and publicly available, this book —

• Describes the structure of data sources used, with instructions for downloading
• Includes a clearly written explanation of each algorithm
• Offers equivalent scripts in Perl, Python, and Ruby, for each algorithm
• Shows how to write short, quickly learned scripts, using a minimal selection of commands
• Teaches basic informatics methods for retrieving, organizing, merging, and analyzing data sources
• Provides case studies that detail the kinds of questions that biomedical scientists can ask and answer with public data and an open source programming language

Requiring no more than a working knowledge of Perl, Python, or Ruby, Methods in Medical Informatics will have you writing powerful programs in just a few minutes. Within its chapters, you will find descriptions of the basic methods and implementations needed to complete many of the projects you will encounter in your biomedical career.

Product Description
P.J. Plauger's monthly column "Programming on Purpose" has been entertaining and educating readers of Computer Language magazine for years. Now he presents a guided tour of numerous software design methods--from structured analysis and data structured design, to the myth of the "bottom-up-is-foolish" myth. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Why is software design so hard?
Maybe because, unlike Plauger, most authors tend to advocate for their particular methodologies and do not really teach how to make the best use of the available design techniques. (Well, maybe it is just that way and it will never become easier. That's part of its charm.)

There are no silver bullets (that is, no "one-size-fits-all" method) and "we often cannot articulate why we do what we do when we do it." Plauger tries to address this problem not by proposing yet another silver bullet, but discussing useful design principles.

Despite some dated examples, Plauger's observations and advice are still relevant. You will find interesting essays on stepwise refinement, the use of grammars to parse input data, and structured design techniques.

If you think these are not "hot topics" today, pick this book just to enjoy yourself reading about "software design heresies" (apparently counterintuitive ideas), the authors' curious approach to teaching, or his peculiar comments trying to demystify [and even debunk the hype behind] object-oriented programming (written at a time when object-orientation was something completely new for the standard software developer.)

I'm sure you will not regret the time you spend reading this book.

A must have for any professional programmer
Definitely a must have. One thing to keep in mind while reading this book is that it is a collection of essays taken from Plauger's column in Computer Language. Mr. (or should I say Dr since he has his PhD) has an easy and enjoyable reading style. The book's main thrust is collection of design methods each with a specific purpose. These design methods are used at various stages of developement on specific type of problems typically faced by programmers. Thankfully, P.J. also provides an overview chapter of when these various design methods must be used as well as their strengths and weaknesses.

This is not an OO methods book. Although P.J. does mention OOP, he is not focused on this subject. However, he does remind us that abstraction, encapsulation, and inheritance existed long before OOT. While this is rather obvious, it is something many of us need reminding. This book convinced me that understanding pre-OOT design methods (i.e. structured analysis, data-structured design) would enable me to better apply OOT.

Although Plauger mentions near the end of the book that he is not a text book writer, I sure wish he would reconsider turning this material into a textbook. The essays are really good, but some lack enough detail to be applied strictly from the knowledge imparted in the essay. Plauger also cheerfully reminds us that there is no one-size-fits-all method to solving a problem and that sometimes experience might lead us to do things we previously thought we shouldn't. In the end, software development is still as much an art as it is anything else. Thanks Mr. Plauger for an excellent read.

Simple, powerful ideas
Few books I review get 5 stars. This is one of them. Programming on Purpose is a collection of essaysoriginally written for Computer Language magazine. Although the original publication of this collection was in 1993, the materials in the book date back considerably further. Are Plauger's observations and nuggets of advice stillrelevant? Absolutely.

When you read modern classics like Design Patterns (Gamma, et. al.) you might mistakenly think that such works are revolutionary instead of evolutionary. Going back and reviewing books like this should correct any such misconception. Here's an example:

In his discussion "order out of chaos", Plauger writes "When you encounter a situation where data is presented in chaotic order, but must be processed in some definable order, you have a sorting problem. Forget about data structures or structured programming for the time being. Instead, cast the problem in a form that can be handled by known sorting technology, then apply it."

In short, Plauger urges you to "see the patterns" in the problem. If books that purport to teach design patterns were so pragmatic and clear they might bemore successful! Plauger has many such clear, lucid thoughts, elegantly expressed. Here's another:

"My major concern here is the Principle of One Right Place--there should be One Right Place to look for any nontrivial piece of code, and One Right Place to make a likely maintenance change." Of course. Good OO design, indeed any good system design, should support this notion. Yet, how many systems and their designers do not?

UML design tools and other wizard-like code generators may produce the superstructure of our programs (under our design and direction, of course), but what goes between those curly braces often, if not always,dictates the final quality of our work. Plauger provides powerful insight into our craft that shouldn't be missed by anyone who codes for quality. ... Read more

Product Description
This comprehensive overview of programming languages, their history, current application, and future direction, is based on the proceedings of the second conference on the History of Programming Languages. Its contents include a summary of the HOPL conferences, plus sections addressing successful programming languages by some of the most prominent names in computing. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

A Fascinating Look at the Origins of Important Languages
Until such time as someone tries to fill the shoes of Jean Sammet and write a new overview of programming languages (a major job, that!), the HOPL conferences are the main source of insight into the development of programming languages that, Sapir-Whorf style, have shaped the way we view programming and the problems we try to solve with a computer.Even if someone does take up that task, the HOPL conferences are invaluable, since they provide information straight from the people involved.

This volume of the proceedings of HOPL II is thus invaluable for the student of programming.HOPL I covered the main early languages (Algol 60, FORTRAN, COBOL, LISP, APT, BASIC...); HOPL II covers important languages of more recent vintage (Algol 68, Pascal, C, C++. more recent dialects of LISP). C.H. Lindsey's fine paper on the turbulent development of Algol 68, the best language you probably never used and a major influence on later languages, is worth the price of admission by itself.

Outstanding Collection of Resources
I have read many many computer jounrals about the history of computing. Very few resources have put the kind of time and effort that Thomas Bergin has done in his book. Along with assistant editor, RIck Gibson, both men doa fine job collecting the best of the best resourcesand giving it rightto the public upfront. I wish Bergin can do another book or somethingInternet related because this is truly apart of computing that we do notreally have much material on. ... Read more

Product Description
Over the past decade, software engineering has developed into a highly respected field. Though computing and software engineering education continues to emerge as a prominent interest area of study, few books specifically focus on software engineering education itself.

Software Engineering: Effective Teaching and Learning Approaches and Practices presents the latest developments in software engineering education, drawing contributions from over 20 software engineering educators from around the globe. Encompassing areas such as student assessment and learning, innovative teaching methods, and educational technology, this much-needed book greatly enhances libraries with its unique research content. ... Read more

Product Description
Entropy optimization is a useful combination of classical engineering theory (entropy) with mathematical optimization. The resulting entropy optimization models have proved their usefulness with successful applications in areas such as image reconstruction, pattern recognition, statistical inference, queuing theory, spectral analysis, statistical mechanics, transportation planning, urban and regional planning, input--output analysis, portfolio investment, information analysis, and linear and nonlinear programming.While entropy optimization has been used in different fields, a good number of applicable solution methods have been loosely constructed without sufficient mathematical treatment. A systematic presentation with proper mathematical treatment of this material is needed by practitioners and researchers alike in all application areas. The purpose of this book is to meet this need. Entropy Optimization and Mathematical Programming offers perspectives that meet the needs of diverse user communities so that the users can apply entropy optimization techniques with complete comfort and ease. With this consideration, the authors focus on the entropy optimization problems in finite dimensional Euclidean space such that only some basic familiarity with optimization is required of the reader. ... 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 (3)

Not that good of a book
I'd say the things this book teaches you could be found on a web resource.

Fast and Furious
I used this text for my first programming class. It jams a lot into 8 chapters (really 7 as the first doesn't hit you with much). I would prefer a little more of a chapter spread. In fact I would say this is a lousy intro to programming book. Now that I have been through a higher level programming class I am going back to this book and finding it more useful. The programming examples are quite complicated and makes a few assumptions on your level of understanding. The programming examples do not have errors as stated in a previous review, but when you are first learning you make typos and don't know what to look for to correct them. I like to type in all the examples for practice but after an hour of compiling and getting nowhere it would be nice to have downloadable files (Instructors can get them). Overall I would say by the time you can understand this book... you don't really need it for the price.

Good but outdated
This book is good for beginning programmers or for those who wanted to learn Java.The book is very detailed about the methodology of programming and such.However, as you continue along in the book (about chapter 3) you start finding more and more code errors in the examples you are working with.It makes it really hard to learn if the examples are wrong.Also, the Author doesn't follow his own rules in his consistancy of variable naming.I wouldn't buy this book if you are trying to learn the most current version of java and techniques.I would buy it if you are interested in learning the fundamentals of programming. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Mathematical notation-based approach
The author utilizes mathematical notation rather than suffering through the inevitable inadequacies and limitations of any particular language (LISP, ML, Haskell, ..) However this actually simplifies the instruction,assuming the reader is familiar with set theory and the basics of formallogic.

The illustrations are primarily of the kind familiar to anyoneinvolved in computer science, such as parse trees, flowcharts, andschematics of memory allocation. There are also mathematical typesignatures.

Program examples include [very] infrequent ones in LISP, aswell as occasional procedural examples given in antiquated-yet-adequatePascal.

For the purpose of general instruction this may well beunexcelled in the field. Upon completion the reader will have a betterunderlying understanding of any particular functional language than peerswho have been programming in one ad-hoc for a substantially longer time.Many of the general topics are fundamental to other language paradigms aswell, including procedural and object-orientation (of which the author isan expert and contributor). Of particular note are the topics of recursion,binding, and computability issues, as discussed using the lambdacalculus.

This is an extremely clear work, systematically coveringsubjects ranging through logic, computing and math without drawing anyattention to distinctions between them. Throughout, it maintains a completefocus upon functional programming. In this way there is a satisfying flowto the book, allowing the incredibly rich and fine detail to be betterunderstood in context.

It is important to take note that this work doesnot merely teach the reader about programming in a functional language.Many tangent subjects will become familiar in the process, including somewhich may have previously been a source of intimidation. And, asprogramming languages evolve, such a foundation will prove over time to bean invaluable resource. ... Read more

Product Description
This collection of essays drawn from Plauger's popular "Programming on Purpose" column in the magazine Computer Language, focuses on the technology of writing computer software. Plauger's style is clear without being simplistic, reducing complex themes to bite-size chunks.KEY TOPICS: Covers a number of important technical themes such as computer arithmetic, approximating math functions, human perception and artificial intelligence, encrypting data and clarifying documentation. ... Read more

Product Description
The easiest way for programmers to learn important new multi-threading techniques that are increasingly important in Windows NT/95, UNIX, POSIX, and other application development.Each concept in the book is illustrated with a picture, making this an exceptionally easy-to-understand guide. The book introduces the process model, the thread model, and basic thread management functions. Learn how to synchronize and schedule threads. In a Programming Guidelines chapter, learn the basic do's and don'ts of multithreaded programming. The book includes extensive examples, exercises and references, including manual pages, debugging advice, and a CD-ROM loaded with practical information.This book is an effective introduction to multithreading for both professional programmers and students. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

You need another book as well...
Having recently re-read this book, I find it's explanations of various concepts relatively clear, if a little verbose. The book is 50% of the time quite good at explaining something, and 50% of the time exceedingly dull and tedious, obviously large parts of boilerplate text must have been cutted and pasted into various parts of the text.

What the book does not give you, is an introduction to concurrent programming. This is a pity, because most programmers aren't especially well trained in tackling concurrent programming. The mindset involved is different, and formal proofs suddenly becomes more important than debugging.

To make matters worse, the examples in the book is completely and utterly useless. In the first half of the book, they typically exercise one API function at the time, with 5 lines of comments per api call. In the latter half, sometime, you can see a few API calls in sequence, but none of the examples in the book will help you getting ideas for how to structure a complete multithreaded application.

On the bright side, to someone already knowledgeable about concurrent programming, the discussions in the book of the same issues related to pthreads make it possible to gain a thorough understanding of how to program pthreads safely.

Would I recommend the book? Yes, I am not aware of that many other pthreads books, but this book clearly has a lot of useful content. But it certainly has a split personality. Half the time, targetting the idiot who can't even figure out how to call an api function given the prototype and a description of it's semantics, and half the time giving actual useful information on issues regarding the use of pthreads and its interaction with processes, signals, and other parts of the unix environment.

Needs better examples
Best book I've seen on the subject of POSIX thread programming.My only criticism is that the examples are lame.They excercise the API calls described in the preceeding text without adding any helpful context, insight, or details.

The author would have done better to provide one or two fairly complex case studies as examples, with analysis of their design process and tradeoffs.Instead there are small examples of every little detail of the API, that they add nothing of value to the book.

That criticism aside, it is a well-written, useful book, which I highly recommend.

Great book for introduction to threads and POSIX
This seems to be the only good book I have come across on the basics of thread programming. Focused on POSIX, comparison is provided between process and threads, which slowly but surely convinces the reader the significance of using threads and also, when to use them. Finally, the best feature I liked was that each topic is discussed and then the use is illustrated by a small independent program (sometimes 'extern' functions have been used which might require use of a previous source code). Overall, best book I have come across for getting introduced to thread programming. If there are even better ones ( beginners level) I am interested to know. ... Read more

Product Description
With Perl.NET it is now possible to use and create .NET components and to wrap existing Perl modules so that they are available to all .NET compliant languages. Perl.NET enables you to enjoy both worlds - .NET and Perl. By combining their features you'll have an ability to develop powerful robust components that may be reused in other .NET applications. This book provides many programs that illustrate features of Perl and .NET. The programs are clearly labeled in the text, and they are available through the associated Web site. There is also a case study that illustrates many features of Perl and .NET working together in combination, as they would in a practical application. The authors show you how to use .NET classes in Perl programs and how to create .NET components using Perl. Important .NET classes are surveyed, and there is coverage of using .NET in specific areas, including graphical user interfaces, database programming using ADO.NET, XML, ASP.NET and Web services. Also, in the appendix "C# Survival Guide" you will see how Perl interoperates with .NET languages, using C#, the language designed for .NET, as an example. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

Programming Perl in the .NET Environment
Love Perl but wish it had the ability to work with the .NET framework?Well, this is the book for you!Let me tell you, if you program with Perl, then this book will earn its purchase price again and again.I've always loved the ease of programming in Perl, especially how well it works with sockets and network programming, but these days, you've got to be able to program Graphical User Interfaces.I've never been able to master programming GUI's using Tcl/Tk, but the C# like format of programming Visual Perl made creating Windows Forms a snap.The book gives so many examples of working with the .NET classes in any practical situation.Its got a great format including a discussion of programming with the .NET framework, a strong overview of programming in Perl, and of course the definitive guidelines to programming in PerlNET.It covers creating your own classes, components, forms, database interaction, and working with ASP.NET.It also gives an overview of working with the CPAN modules which is invaluable.The authors are intelligent, well-spoken, and are clearly experts in this particular area.You have GOT to buy this book!

Programming Perl in the .NET Environment
Love Perl but wish it had the ability to work with the .NET framework?Well, this is the book for you!Let me tell you, if you program with Perl, then this book will earn its purchase price again and again.I've always loved the ease of programming in Perl, especially how well it works with sockets and network programming, but these days, you've got to be able to program Graphical User Interfaces.I've never been able to master programming GUI's using Tcl/Tk, but the C# like format of programming Visual Perl made creating Windows Forms a snap.The book gives so many examples of working with the .NET classes in any practical situation.Its got a great format including a discussion of programming with the .NET framework, a strong overview of programming in Perl, and of course the definitive guidelines to programming in PerlNET.It covers creating your own classes, components, forms, database interaction, and working with ASP.NET.It also gives an overview of working with the CPAN modules which is invaluable.The authors are intelligent, well-spoken, and are clearly experts in this particular area.You have GOT to buy this book!

Programming Perl in the .Net Environment
This book was not only extremely valuable to me in understanding how to use Perl in the .Net Environmental, but also contains the best presentation of how to build pure Perl Modules that I have read to date.These concepts really jelled for me after reading and utilizing the examples presented in the book.

With my limited experience in object oriented programming, this book presented the topics in the right order to overcome my lack of OO experience.

I did have a few instances of failing to find specific terms in the index.

This book will continue to be a valuable resource as I continue to refine my Perl skills in creating perl modules and utilizing Perl in the .Net environment.

Strange mix - comes up quite well
Can you mix Perl and Dot.NET ??
I didn't think so till now.

I found the mix of Perl and Dot.NET quite strange - that's why I was surprise to see a book on that matter.

I felt very curious to see how can it work together.

Perl has lots of advantages that make it such an enormous success - very easy to write fast and efficient code.
Ask any unix admin / programmer.

The way Perl works with the rich options of Microsoft's new engine is good. I like the combination. It works well, the examples are quite good.

The first part of the book looks similar to every Dot.NET one can find, but the second part is the value for this book - and that's why I liked it.

Good techinal explainations and examples.
It was a good investment for me.

Review from the lead author
Hi, All!
I am the lead author of this book. Together with Michael Saltzman and Robert J. Oberg we tried to make this book as good as possible.
The book will be useful for you whether you are an experienced Perl programmer that wants to learn .NET technology or you are new to Perl.
The first part represents a tutorial of Perl itself. In the second part we dive into exciting world of programming Perl inside the .NET Environment.

I hope you will enjoy reading and our code samples will be useful and helpful for you.

Happy reading and programming! ... Read more

Product Description
Recent progress in VLSI provides massive parallelism but general purpose parallel computers remain elusive due to limited communications performance. This book proposes a new high level approach to programming that addresses the pragmatic issue of how a computation is distributed across a machine.The book's approach is based on functional programming and has significant advantages over existing comparable approaches, extending the domain of functional programming to include computer architectures in which communication costs are not negligible. It looks at how high-level functional programming languages can be used to specify, reason about, and implement parallel programs for a variety of multiprocessor systems, but in particular a class of loosely coupled multiprocessors whose operation can be described by a process network In these networks the nodes correspond to processes and the arcs to communications channels.A simple language called Caliban is described in which the functional program text is augmented with a declarative description of how processes are partitioned and mapped onto a network of processing elements. The notation gains expressive power by allowing these annotations to be generated by predicates defined in the functional language. Thus, common communications structures have simple and concise definitions as "network forming operators." The main objective of these annotations is to provide an abstract description of the process network specified by the program so that an efficient mapping of processes to processors can be carried out by the compiler.Paul H. J. Kelly is Research Assistant in the Department of Computing at Imperial College, London Functional Programming for LooselyCoupled Multiprocessors is included in the series Research Monographs in Parallel and Distributed Computing, copublished with Pitman Publishing. ... Read more

Product Description
Currently there are more than 500,000 programmers worldwide who use Visual Basic and Microsoft Office to develop applications. This is a great book for beginner and intermediate Visual Basic programmers and an excellent training guide for in-house corporate developers. The tutorial/reference focuses on automating objects--mostly Office 95 objects--from Visual Basic for Windows 95. ... Read more

Product Description
X Window Programming From Scratch shows how to create a graphical user interface and accomplish graphic rendering using the X Window System software. It offers a unique approach to skill development by leading you through basic to very advanced concepts. This book provides a guide to the Linux operating system for application development, step-by-step instruction to the correct usage and syntax of C, a comprehensive introduction of the X Window System for interface creation and graphic rendering, and a complete structured project to "learn by doing." ... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

Don't buy this book - it's a waste of money
This book is very poorly written. Yes, there are usable things in it, but you're better off buying the X Toolkit Cookbook (if you need a tutorial approach), or the Motif Programming Manual (Volume 6A from O'Reilly).

Do NOT waste your money on this book
This book reeks. It's poorly written, and organized so badly I was tearing my hair out after the first few chapters.

Buy "X Toolkit Cookbook" - it's so much better, it defies description.

Nothing about everything
It has been said that a specialist knows everything about nothing, while a generalist knows nothing about everything. This is a generalist book.

The title of this book is completely misleading, except, perhaps the "scratch" part: After reading it, I am scratching my head, and asking, so how do I write programs for X Window???

The author is spreading himself too thin. He assumes you do not even know how to edit a text file, you do not know how to program at all, you do not know what a linked list is. This is ridiculous. Obviously, if I want to learn about X Window programming from scratch, I do not know how to program for X Window, but I do know how to program in general. Alas, the book tells very little about X Window programming. It talks about Unix shells, about computer graphics, about make, about trigonometry, etc. But when it comes to X Window programming, it just breezes through it very fast. There is no systematic explanation of a basic structure of an X Window program. Instead, it offers the code of a vector image editor, completely confusing to an X beginner.

One thing the author excells in is self-praise. For example, chapter 13 says, "Chapter 1 provides an EXCELLENT introduction to ..." (emphasis mine). Give me a break!

I feel I was had. I feel I wasted both my money and my time. Don't waste yours!

Very Thorough!
The book provides a great overview of Linux, C, and Makefile then leads you through an excellent introduction to X Window programming including the mathematics necessary for writing a viable graphics editor!! The appendices are a little long (and exist on the CD) but the book is full of content! Even has a bonus chapter on PostScript for adding a print driver to the project.

Still usable
I am a complete beginner, so I hoped this is the book for me.And yes. itis, but...
First part of the book, about 100 pages, contains intro toUNIX/Linux, C cmpiler, make, programming and C language. Very short, more areview than introduction.
Then it explains the basics of X WindowSystem, widgets + some background. Follows a part containing the math stuffneeded for the real drawing program, which is then implemented.
At theend the book contains more then 9000 lines of Vector Font Deefinitions(contained among others on the CD), which is almost 200 pages.
The bookis still pretty good, but you are buing not a 800 pages book, but a 500one, don't forget it. ... Read more