Product Description
Linear Programming: Foundations and Extensions is anintroduction to the field of optimization. The book emphasizesconstrained optimization, beginning with a substantial treatment oflinear programming, and proceeding to convex analysis, network flows,integer programming, quadratic programming, and convex optimization.

The book is carefully written. Specific examples and concretealgorithms precede more abstract topics. Topics are clearly developedwith a large number of numerical examples worked out in detail. Moreover, Linear Programming: Foundations and Extensionsunderscores the purpose of optimization: to solve practical problemson a computer. Accordingly, the book is coordinated with freeefficient C programs that implement the major algorithms studied:

+The two-phase simplex method;+Theprimal--dual simplex method;+The path-followinginterior-point method;+The homogeneous self-dual methods. In addition, there are online JAVA applets that illustrate variouspivot rules and variants of the simplex method, both for linearprogramming and for network flows.Also, check the book'swebpage for new online instructional tools and exercises that havebeen added in the new edition. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Professor Robert Freund's review
This is a much more detailed one as compared to the other two and was penned by MIT ORC Professor Robert Freund.

Summary. This book presents a thoroughly modern treatment of linear programming that achieves a healthy balance between theory, implementation, computation, and between the simplex method and interior-point methods. It's most novel feature is that it is written in a delightful and refreshing conversational style, that bespeaks the author's teaching style and relaxed wit. It is a pleasure to read: students will find the book to be friendly and engaging, while professors will find in the book a wealth of teaching material, nicely organized and packaged for classroom use. The book is also meant to be used in conjunction with a public-available website that contains software for various algorithms, additional exercises, and demos of algorithms.
The need for new linear programming textbooks. The world of linear programming has changed dramatically in the last ten years. For one thing, the incredible changes in computer technology have made it easy to solve truly huge LPs, and routine LP problems solve in fractions of a second even on a personal computer. As a result, the study of linear programming algorithms is of less interest to the casual student. (In a similar vein, we usually do not teach students how to efficiently compute square roots; we simply presume they can press the right buttons on their calculator.) On the other hand, because we can now solve truly gigantic linear programs, issues of computer implementation, numerical stability, and software architecture, etc., are as important for the serious optimizer as is, say, duality theory. Furthermore, the development and recognition of the importance of interior point methods has changed the landscape of linear programming significantly, so that linear programming is no longer synonymous with the simplex method, and a modern treatment of LP must also present an in-depth treatment of the most important interior point methods.

Vanderbei's book is thoroughly modern. Vanderbei's book is completely up-to-date. Aside from a nice treatment of the simplex method, it also contains a very up-to-date treatment of interior point methods, including the homogeneous self-dual formulation and algorithm (which might soon become the dominant algorithm in practice and theory). It contains extensive material on issues of implementation of both the simplex algorithm and interior point algorithms. A politician might call it a book for the 21st century.

Vanderbei's book has many novel features. This book is quite different from most other textbooks on LP in a number of important ways. For starters, the standard form of a linear program in the book is the symmetric form of the problem (max c^T x | Ax <= b, x >= 0), as opposed to the usual form (min c^T x | Ax=b, x >= 0). This difference allows for an easier treatment of duality, and allows one to see the geometry of linear programming more easily as well. The symmetric form also makes it easier to set up the homogeneous self-dual interior point algorithm. However, this form has the drawback that discussions of bases, basic feasible solutions, and some of the mechanics of the simplex method are all a bit more awkward. (The book uses the language of dictionaries to describe the essential information in a simplex method iteration.) The book has more of a focus on engineering applications than does the more typcial LP textbook (which tend to rely on business problems). For example, there is a nice chapter on optimization of engineering structures such as trusses. The book gives a very broad treatment of interior point methods, including several topics that are not usually found in textbooks such as the homogeneous self-dual formulation and algorithm, quadratic programming via interior point methods, and general convex optimization via interior point methods.

These novel features are good in that the author has clearly tried to be innovative and to build an LP text from the ground up, without regard for past texts.

Some Nice Features. There are some particularly nice features in the book. The book contains a much-simplified variant of the Klee-Minty polytope that allows for a more straightforward proof that the simplex method can visit exponentially many extreme points. In addition to proving strong duality, the book also presents Tucker's strict complementarity theorem, which has become important in the new view of sensitivity analysis, optimal partitions, and interior point methods. The book also contains a nice treatment of the steepest edge pivot rule, which has recently emerged as an important component in speeding up the performance of the simplex algorithm. In the treatment of interior point methods, the author spends very little time on polynomial time bounds and guarantees (as a theorist, I like to see this material), instead adding value by discussing important computational and implemention issues, including ordering heuristics, strategies for solving the KKT system by Newton's method, etc. The book sometimes has an engineer's feel for the proofs, which is good for students but is a bit frustrating to hard-core math types such as myself. There are many instances where the proof is just a proof via an example. This is consistent with the conversational and informal style of the text, and this informality spills over into the mathematics on occasion.

This book has style. As mentioned earlier, the book has a wonderfully appealing conversational style. While the author does not purposely go out of his way to be cute and corny, he succeeds in leaving the reader grinning with his humor. There are some passages that are downright funny, but the style succeeds mostly by default. One section on the issue of modeling the anchoring of truss design problems is called Anchors Away, the subsection on updating factorizations to reduce fill-in is aptly called Shrinking the Bump. And there is the hint of a racy discussion of an application of Konig's Theorem involving boys and girls that the curious reader might enjoy.

Overall, I greatly enjoyed reviewing this book, and I highly recommend the book as a textbook for an advanced undergraduate or master's level course in linear programming, particularly for courses in an engineering environment. In addition, the book also is a good reference book for interior point methods as well as for implementation and computational aspects of linear programming. This is an excellent new book. ... Read more

Product Description
As Linux increases its presence throughout the world as atarget platform for professional application development, its growthas a powerful, flexible system offering many free development toolsassures its place in the future. By giving you easy access to thiscomprehensive range of tools, supporting new and nascent technologies,at little or no cost, developing with Linux allows you to apply thesolution that's right for you.

In this follow-up to the best-selling Beginning Linux Programming, youwill learn from the authors' real-world knowledge and experience ofdeveloping software for Linux; you'll be taken through the developmentof a sample 'DVD Store' application, with 'theme' chapters addressingdifferent aspects of its implementation. Meanwhile, individual'take-a-break' chapters cover important topics that go beyond thebounds of the central theme. All focus on the practical aspects ofprogramming, showing how crucial it is to choose the right tools forthe job, use them as they should be used, and get things right firsttime.

Who is this book for?

Experienced Linux programmers and aspiring developers alike will finda great deal of practical information in this book on libraries,techniques, tools and applications. You should be familiar with asimple Linux system, have a good working knowledge of programming inC, and a basic understanding of object-oriented programming with C++for the Qt/KDE chapters.

What does this book cover?

Product Description
Programming Web Services with Perlbrings Perl users all the information they need to create web services using their favorite language. It steers clear of the hype surrounding web services and concentrates on what is useful and practical. It was written for Perl programmers who have no prior knowledge of web services. You can pick it up without any understanding of XML-RPC or SOAP and be able to apply these technologies easily, through the use of publicly available Perl modules detailed in the book. The book introduces the major web services standards, such as XML-RPC, SOAP, WSDL, and UDDI, and shows how to implement Perl servers and clients using these standards. You'll find detailed references on both the XML and SOAP toolkits, and will learn when to use one technology in favor of the other.It is rich with programming examples that you'll find useful well past the learning stage. And, moving beyond the basics, the book offers solutions to problems of security, authentication, and scalability. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (7)

Needs update
This book desperately needs an update with real-world SOAP examples passing complex data into SOAP::Lite running in PERL.

Fantastic
This book was fantastic and allowed me to get up and running on a web services project for work very quickly.

While I still needed a few internet resources to complete the project, I would not have been able to get far along without this book!

relevant, practical and well-balanced
Programming Web Services with Perl is principally a book on implementing solutions using XML-RPC and SOAP in Perl. It also covers complementary and alternative standards such as WSDL, UDDI, and REST in some detail. And on the periphery, it finishes with a whirlwind tour of developing message routing, alternative data encoding within XML, security, transactions, workflow, internationalization, service discovery, extension, and management techniques and specifications.

The book assumes the reader will have the knowledge of an intermediate level Perl programmer. I.e., the reader is assumed to have a working knowledge of references, data structures, and object-oriented Perl. On the other hand no previous knowledge of XML, XML-RPC, SOAP or XML related technologies is required.

It should also be mentioned that both of the authors Randy J. Ray and Pavel Kulchenko are also the principle developers of the most popular XML-RPC and SOAP Perl modules: XML::RPC and SOAP::Lite respectively. That said, the book is not a soap box for the authors to tout the merits of their tools.

Rather, it is a practical book which starts with grounding fundamentals. Readers should walk away with a core understanding of XML-RPC and SOAP and not just a particular tool set for working with them. The authors examine the alternative XML-RPC and SOAP tools, illustrate how they are used, and give practical and even handed reasons why their modules should be preferred. Which comes down to issues of features, active development, support, and the amount of work required to code to a particular interface. They then settle down to a comfortable and thorough guide to XML::RPC and SOAP::Lite.

The topics and issues are illustrated throughout using real world web services. For example creating an XML-RPC client for O'Reilly's Meerkat news wire, or a SOAP client to covert use.perl.org's journal stream to RSS. Code is presented to the reader filtered down to highlight each particular issue as it is discussed. This is nice in that it avoids listing slight variations of the same code multiple times, but on the down side it can also leave the reader flipping back and forth to reassemble an example in their head. Full code for each example is provided in the appendices. And all of the example code may be downloaded from O'Reilly at [their web site].

All-in-all, the book is a thorough practical introduction to working with XML-RPC, SOAP and related technologies. When I started reading the book, I was a bit disappointed to see that it only covered XML-RPC and SOAP related services. When I finished, I was impressed with how very much information they'd managed to pack into so few pages.

And yet, I was left wishing there'd been a more through coverage of interoperability issues between other SOAP implementations and things like custom de-serializers. To be honest interoperability and de-serialization are mentioned, and the authors do an excellent job of referring the reader on to sources for continued reading on most other topics.

The book does an admirable job balancing content, length, and information density. Not to mention an excellent job delivering the information that will still be relevant years and not just weeks from the date published. Most of the topics I'd wished to see covered in more depth are those that are still developing and consequently most likely to become quickly dated. In short a well balanced practical guide to applying XML-RPC and SOAP to solve problems.

A "complete reference" is oh so hard to find...
And yet this book covers every aspect of web service development utilizing perl.As a long time user of the original Frontier::RPC2 module, things have come a long way, and with that greater complexity, the concepts have grown in scope considerably.This IS the book that you want to read if you REALLY want to understand SOAP and XML-RPC.From the XML DTD's to implementation code (either standalone applications or utilizing mod_perl) this book covers everything in between.In all it is a welcome addition to the O'Reilly family of Perl books.

Great intro to XML-RPC
As with all O'Reilly books there's a great intro to the technologies. They take you through how it works, not just how to deploy some code. When you get to the XML-RPC modules, they don't force a solution on you, but give a great tour of what's available and let you pick. For me, the highlight was the intro to Randy J. Ray's RPC::XML modules (he's also one of the authors). I've been fighting with getting the 'system.*' handlers hacked in with other aproaches and it was great to see someone had already figured out such a clean approach. (Which is something since Perl can get reeeaaal ugly!) This book has saved me many days of wasted development. ... Read more

Product Description
Have you ever seen a player's eyes light up as they explore the worlds that you've created in your games? If you have, then game development probably has you hooked firmly in its grasp! If you've never taken your games beyond the PC, now's the time! "J2ME Game Programming" is a hands-on guide that teaches you how to create games for micro-devices. You'll be amazed at just how cool the games you create can look and play. Focusing primarily on mobile phone game creation, you'll jump right in and create your own games as you work your way through the book. The thought has surely crossed your mind that it would be nice to make some money off of this cool hobby of yours. J2ME offers real opportunity to profit from your games. Learn how you can earn revenue from your games by taking them to market. If you have a basic understanding of Java, then you're ready to explore all that "J2ME Game Programming" has to offer! ... Read more

Customer Reviews (9)

Great book
I'm a teacher of game programming in a brasilian educational institution and this book is going to help me a lop when I teach game programming on mobile devices.

Rescued Me!
I purchased this book when I was doing my final year project on J2ME. Although I was even new to J2SE I started coding in J2ME since I had to finish the project, using the internet sources and some introductory books to J2ME. After lots of disappointment in understanding J2ME I found this book and in a very short time I built up my knowledge of J2ME to write a 4000 line,object-oriented,well designed J2ME application. The book was not a game book to me, it was a complete source of J2ME.

Good intro to J2ME and programming games using it
This book will show you how to code games using J2ME, with a clear focus on creating games for mobile phones. The chapters in this book are intended to be read sequentially, so if you're already familiar with the content covered in a particular section, you should skim over it rather than skipping it entirely. The author assumes you're already familiar with Java, or at least another object-oriented programming language. You don't need to be an expert, but you do need to know the basics. The book requires an understanding of rudimentary mathematics; however, the toughest level you get to is simple trigonometry, and even then the explanations are fairly detailed. It is also assumed that you're familiar with basic PC operations and can take care of environmental details such as downloading and installing software. Sometimes the language of the book is just a little too cute ala Andre LaMothe, but the information is all there.

Part I is an introduction to J2ME, including its origins and current position in the marketplace. This section also takes a look at a range of typical J2ME devices and mentions the sort of gear for which you'll be developing.

In Part II you'll grab all the tools you need and set up your environment for development. Then there is a review the APIs provided as part of Sun's J2ME SDK, along with the added features available with device-specific libraries. At the end of this part, all these tools are put into action with the creation of a small action game called "RoadRun" that presents the player with the challenge of helping a little wombat across a busy highway. The game is very simple and small, but it does illustrate some key points of J2ME game coding. I thought it was a good beginning example.

Part III covers real project development. There's a discussion of how to refine game ideas into project plans before embarking on the development of a full-scale action game called Star Assault. Then, through nine chapters the book covers all aspects of developing a commercial-quality game, including graphics, physics, environments, front ends, device-specific customization, and finally localization. This is the real meat of the book for people interested in game development, but even here there is nothing particularly difficult going on.

Part IV moves into the world of marketing and publishing games. This section looks at how to create marketing material to promote your game, as well as how and where you can earn revenue. This material is all pretty subjective.

Part V takes J2ME game development further by covering the features available in MIDP 2. The author shows how to create different types of games by developing both an isometric and 3D ray-casting engine. Finally, the book explores networking with MIDP and how it can be utilized to create multiplayer games.

All in all, this is a pretty good introduction to J2ME and to writing games using it. Just don't expect anything advanced in the arena of mathematics or physics, and get used to sitting through the author's "surfer dude" narrative style. Plus, although it is mentioned, there is a lack of sufficient information on MIDP 2.0 due to the date of publication.

Best way to learn J2ME + MIDP1.0
Some months ago I did an exhaustive research on books about J2ME + MIDP1.0.
(Although MIDP2.0 or Symbian is what you need to know to develop for the latest handsets, the big market out there is MIDP1.0)
Comparing reviews from this site and citations in expert forums like Nokia Forum, it was soon clear that this book was a winner.

This book is a heavy one. You will dedicate a complete month to master it. And a second month to develop your own game engine based on the one proposed in this book.
What I liked most about this book is exactly that. There are no open-source or cheap game engines for J2ME+MIDP1.0 around. You have to assemble your own! And Wells does a very good job explaining you every decision he made while developing the framework for the game presented in the book.
More precisely, the book presents two games. The first one is a Frogger clone, done in a pretty simple way...after the first chapters learning J2ME he shows you how to code a prototype of a game. But developing a real game is a much more involved task. That's he spends the next 300 pages explaining you how to develop your game in a professional way. Perfect!
The book also has chapters on marketing your game and sales aspects. It also has a brilliant chapter on isometric games and a -let's say- experimental chapter on a 3d technique known has raycasting (you probably wont use it but its very interesting to read anyway). It also has an introduction chapter to MIDP2, explaining you how some of the decisions he made in the development of the game where influenced by the migration path logic to MIDP2.
A word of warning: you will find some typographical mistakes in the book. There is even an example code at the beginning which is misplaced.
But you probably won't type anything from the book, everything you need to try the examples is located in the CD.
The book is in a way outdated. It explains how to code in a IDE like Eclipse and compile versions for the various handsets using Ants. Today we use Netbeans which does that transparently. Anyway, its good to know how is it done in the inside.
I finished reading this book 2 month ago and I still use it as reference while I'm developing games.

If you just want to know about mobile game programming, don't buy this book, it's too hard and long for you. But if you want to develop games professionally, this is the right book for you.

Review from someone currently reading the book
I bought this book because I'm looking to get into J2ME game development. There are VERY few books on the subject, and this book (although written for MIDP 1.0 and not the newer MIDP 2.0) seems to be the one that everybody recommends.

I've worked up through the examples in Chapter 5 and so far, the content is great. If I were just grading on content then I'd definately give it 5 stars. What I'm finding I'm having a huge problem with about this book is the staggering amount of errors in the code. I simply can't believe that a book could be released to the public (and have the publisher expect consumers to pay money for it) with so many typos. So far EVERY SINGLE example I've entered and ran has had errors. Not syntactical errors (so you can't chalk it up to "I just didn't type the code in right"), I'm talking LOGIC errors that either cause the sample applications to run incorrectly or completeley different than how they are described in the text (in the case of the first example in chapter 5. Its practically an entirely different application than what the text says its supposed to be).

Whoever proofread this book at Thomson publishing must not have been a technical person who just glossed over the code and focused on the content of the text. But most of the blame has to fall on the author's shoulders for writing and releasing code that doesn't work right in the first place...

Either way, I really can't say that I can encourage or endorse this book so far.

I hope that when I get into the main focus (after the first 200 pages of the book which rehash the same old J2ME techniques that you can read online or get from a J2ME book) that the 2 example games you write in the book from start to finish do not have so many errors. ... 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 (4)

If there could be ZERO star
I suspect the Java knowledge of the author.
The book teaches you using outdated style of Java instead of new recent syntax such as J Components...
The explanation is extremely difficult to understand...
This damn book throws a wreck into my Java career.

Java Review
The book was bought for someone else and they said it suits their purpose just fine. It was received in a timely manner and in very good condition.

A waste of money & makes you feel stupid!
I bought this book in hoping to learn Java programming; instead I found a book that DID NOT explain the fundamental aspects of java programming in a clear and in an understandable format for a beginner. After reading the introduction chapter, I was confused by the author's explanation of simple OO terms.But I let it pass, since I thought the important aspect was knowing how to create components and codes for java.I was wrong; I should have returned the book back after reading the first chapter.

After going through the first few exercises inbeginning chapters, I was unable to complete the supplementary labs since these labs were completely irreverent to the chapter exercises(There are no solutions in this book for the Test Your Knowledge,In the Lab, and Cases and Places- a section devoted to producing labs on your own).In the Case and Place section, the authors want the beginner reader to create some labs after every chapter on their own.They only provide a case scenario but they DO NOT help the reader produce these labs by providing a solution or step by step instructions in the back of the book if you get stuck(whichWASTE a lot of your TIME and makes your head spin). However, these labs are completely IRRELEVANT in their designated chapters since the authors ask you to create components and programs that they DID NOT TEACH you in the previous chapters.Furthermore there are no solutions for these labs.

The explanations of the programming terms and coding are NOT clear and are NOT understandable; rather it was CONFUSING and VAGUE.The authors did NOT properly explain all the programming terms AND coding in a comprehensible language.Furthermore, this book did NOT SHOW the new programmer how to develop simple components in an understandable format, so the readers would be able to implement these components in their future programs.

This book is more of a SUMMARY than introducing a beginner to java programming.It seems to me that the authors expected that their reader must have some experience in java programming or needed a refresher in this language prior to purchasing this book.This book DOES NOT MAKE THE READER FEEL CONFIDANT IN learning, coding, and implementing java programming, rather it makes YOU FEEL VERY STUPID.You would be WASTING your MONEY and TIME if you purchased this book!This is one of the worst Java programming books that I purchased.

A waste of money & makes you feel stupid
I bought this book in hoping to learn Java programming; instead I found a book that DID NOT explain the fundamental aspects of java programming in a clear and in an understandable format for a beginner. After reading the introduction chapter, I was confused by the author's explanation of simple OO terms.But I let it pass, since I thought the important aspect was knowing how to create components and codes for java.I was wrong; I should have returned the book back after reading the first chapter.

After going through the first few exercises inbeginning chapters, I was unable to complete the supplementary labs since these labs were completely irreverent to the chapter exercises(There are no solutions in this book for the Test Your Knowledge,In the Lab, and Cases and Places- a section devoted to producing labs on your own).In the Case and Place section, the authors want the beginner reader to create some labs after every chapter on their own.They only provide a case scenario but they DO NOT help the reader produce these labs by providing a solution or step by step instructions in the back of the book if you get stuck(whichWASTE a lot of your TIME and makes your head spin).These labs are completely IRRELEVANT in their designated chapters since the authors ask you to create components and programs that they DID NOT TEACH you in the previous chapters.Furthermore there are no solutions for these labs.

The explanations of the programming terms and coding are NOT clear and are NOT understandable; rather it was CONFUSING and VAGUE.The authors did NOT properly explain all the programming terms AND coding in a comprehensible language.Furthermore, this book did NOT SHOW the new programmer how to develop simple components in an understandable format, so the readers would be able to implement these components in their future programs.

This book is more of a SUMMARY than introducing a beginner to java programming.It seems to me that the authors expected that their reader must have some experience in java programming or needed a refresher in this language prior to purchasing this book.This book DOES NOT MAKE THE READER FEEL CONFIDANT IN learning, coding, and implementing java programming, rather it makes YOU FEEL VERY STUPID.You would be WASTING your MONEY and TIME if you purchased this book!This is one of the worst Java programming books that I purchased. ... Read more

Product Description

If you thought programming was nothing more than bits-and-bytesdrudgery, you haven't tried Borland's Delphi development packagefor creating Windows and Windows 95 applications. Now with supportfor 32-bit programs in the latest release of Delphi, Delphi 2.0,creating even the most complex applications has never been easier.Delphi Programming For Dummies, 2nd Edition, shows youhow. In plain English, author and programming whiz Neil Rubenkingshows you how to...Create and run Delphi programs effectivelyWrite 32-bit programs with no more effort than it takes towrite 16-bit programsTake advantage of powerful components tailored for Windows95Design complex applications for Windows or Windows 95 usingDelphi's intuitive, visual interfaceGain insight into programming technique by studying Delphi-generatedcodePut all of Delphi's components to work for you

Delphi Programming For Dummies, 2nd Edition, also featuresNeil Rubenking's own top ten lists for Delphi, including...Ten of the most common Delphi mistakes and how to avoid themTen handy built-in Delphi functionsTen Windows API (Application Programming Interface) functionsto use with Delphi

Plus, a free Delphi programming cheat sheet is yours for the detaching-- keep it close by for quick reminders and tips whenever youuse Delphi. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Delphi Programing For Dummies
For a beginner in Delphi this book is great! It shows some great examples that can actually be used in real world. Most are not covered by other publications.I have been programming in Delphi for 3 Years and I still go back and take a look at it from time to time.

An excellent book to start working with Delphi
Delphi Programming for Dummies is excellent. The book is structured veryclearly. The reader is introduced to Delphi very carefully and smoothly.When no technical words are necessary, none are used. The language used isvery natural and sometimes even funny. This makes this book actuallypleasant to read. The great thing is that this book (as promised by thetitle) does explain a lot about the programming part of Delphi, and notjust about the components (which are also described). A great way to startworking with Delphi. ... Read more

Product Description

The Pocket Guide to TCP/IP Sockets is a quick and affordable way to gain the knowledge and skills you need to develop sophisticated and powerful networked-based programs using sockets.Written by two experienced networking instructors, this book provides a series of examples that demonstrate basic sockets techniques for clients and servers.

Using plenty of real-world examples, this book is a complete beginner's guide to socket programming and a springboard to more advanced networking topics, including multimedia protocols.

* Concise, no-nonsense explanations of issues often troublesome for beginners, including message construction and parsing.
* Comprehensive example-based coverage of the most important TCP/IP techniques-including iterative and concurrent servers, timeouts, and asynchronous message processing.
* Includes a detailed, easy-to-use reference to the system calls and auxiliary routines that comprise the sockets interface.
* A companion Web site provides source code for all example programs in both C and WinSock versions, as well as guidance on running the code on various platforms.Amazon.com Review
The explosive growth of the Internet in no small part is due to the sockets programming interface. This elegant API allows almost any computer that runs TCP/IP--from palm computers to mainframes--to communicate seamlessly. The Pocket Guide to TCP/IP Sockets provides beginning and intermediate network programmers with a practical tutorial and reference guide. Instead of trying to break new ground, this book establishes modest goals and achieves them splendidly. It is a concise, high-quality resource for students and professionals.

This book targets the accomplished C programmer who wants to learn network programming. You're assumed to have a good working knowledge of basic IP addressing and network configuration--not much time is spent educating you on the fundamentals of networking architecture.

A highlight of this book is the solid sample code. Even for those who already write socket code, a brief refresher is always helpful--this book delivers valuable client and server code for both TCP and UDP sockets. Although the samples are based on a Unix environment, it's a trivial matter to port most of the code to Microsoft Windows and the Windows Sockets interface (ported samples also are available directly from the book's Web site). No longer do you have to paw through a thick reference to find parameter lists for sendto() or accept(). More subtle issues--data alignment, network vs. host byte order, and differing approaches to handling client connections--also are handled with ease.

Chapter 6 contains an under-the-hood discussion on TCP/IP implementation that will be useful to the more advanced user and that explains possible deadlock conditions, discusses the TCP state diagram, and sheds light on how the operating system handles socket resources. These juicy nuggets are reasons enough to keep this book handy--even after the thrill of your first successful network program subsides. --Pete Ostenson ... Read more

Customer Reviews (14)

Excellent Book - Especially for Beginners
I ordered this book because I needed a quick and dirty explanation of how to write socket programs in C.The text was straight to the point and explained to me everything I needed to know.

Great TCP/IP Guide
I bought this guide while in College for one of my programming classes. I could not be more happy with this guide. It told me exactly what I need to know without going on and on. I highly recommend this guide if you want an understanding of TCP/IP sockets.

Possibly THE Perfect Unix TCP/IP Sockets Quick Reference Guide
Having written network code for both Unix and Windows in professional and academic environments, I can say that this book is quite possibly THE perfect TCP/IP sockets programming quick reference guide for the Unix/Linux environment.If you are looking for a good reference guide with many concise code examples, then this is the book for you!

Every example that I tried worked beautifully; it's apparent that the authors took great care in crafting this book.As an aside, I attended an advanced, graduate level networking class taught by one of the authors (Dr. Calvert).It was an amazing class!This author knows his "stuff."

Every computer science book should be so clear
The Pocket Guide to TCP/IP Sockets is a wonderful, hands-on introduction to socket programming. It's small, light, and inexpensive. Perfect!!! I wish that all computer science books were as well-presented and affordable as this one. Definitely a keeper. I know people who refuse even to loan their copy to friends :)

Good, could have been better
I was disappointed in this book, but it is still usually the first of the many on the shelf that I reach for when I need a quick sockets reference. The examples are excellent. The API reference is the biggest disappointment, it is incomplete and occasionally inaccurate. There are many better books for WinSock programmers, but for C/Unix programmers this is a handy book to have on the shelf. Be sure to check out the Stevens _Unix Network Programming_ book for a deeper and more authoritative reference. ... Read more

Product Description
Originally developed by Alfred Aho, Brian Kernighan, and Peter Weinberger in 1977, AWK is a pattern-matching language for writing short programs to perform common data-manipulation tasks. In 1985, a new version of the language was developed, incorporating additional features such as multiple input files, dynamic regular expressions, and user-defined functions. This new version is available for both Unix and MS-DOS.This is the first book on AWK. It begins with a tutorial that shows how easy AWK is to use. The tutorial is followed by a comprehensive manual for the new version of AWK. Subsequent chapters illustrate the language by a range of useful applications, such as:*Retrieving, transforming, reducing, and validating data *Managing small, personal databases *Text processing *Little languages *Experimenting with algorithms The examples illustrates the book's three themes: showing how to use AWK well, demonstrating AWK's versatility, and explaining how common computing operations are done. In addition, the book contains two appendixes: summary of the language, and answers to selected exercises. 020107981XB04062001 ... Read more

Customer Reviews (18)

Classic title for an unbeatable utility...
This is an absolute classic which although ancient in Computing years is an absolute gem full of relevance yet.

Perhaps there may be a reason within the pages if this book and within the wonders of awk itself to return to a simpler way of just "getting things done". Maybe I'm just a hopeless devotee to almost everything Brian Kernighan (and his esteemed colleagues) gave to the world of computing over the last forty years.

Whether it's the next wave of the web you are potting to invent or if you just want to deduplicate a text file, reading this book will stand you in good stead.

The Publishers Should Be Ashamed of Themselves
This is a wonderful book -- but the price is ridiculous. I purchased a paperback copy of "The Awk Programming Language" about 15 years ago, and its price was in the $20 range. Times change, and prices go up, but $73 for a 200-page book, even if it is a hardcover, verges on outright theft.

Which is a shame, because this is a great book, written by the men who developed the language. In addition to a lengthy tutorial, it contains many examples of sophisticated programs that can be constructed from the simple tools provided by Awk. Anyone who supports computers for a living, whether in the Unix or Windows environment, can find valuable ideas here.

But the price: c'mon guys, you've got to be kidding. This book has been in print for 20 years now. You've long since made back the initial costs of publishing it. The authors are famous in computer science circles, and have written many other books. I'm sure they don't need the money. So I have to conclude that this is just a cash cow for the publishers.

If you're looking to learn about Awk, and you're on a budget, I would suggest "Effective Awk Programming" by Arnold Robbins. It's available in PDF form as a free download. If you'd like to support the author, buy a printed copy of the book, as I did. Published by O'Reilly, it's available in paperback at Amazon for about $26.

And if you can find a reasonably-priced copy of "The Awk Programming Language", by all means, grab it. It's a classic. Thanks to the publishers, however, it's a classic that's out of most people's reach.

Not what I expected
I am torn about this book. My primary complaint is that this book costs so much. Its only a 200 page paper back book. I'm a sucker for classic books though. This text appears to be the original 1988 version by the authors. The actual text of the book is very good and being written by the authors of AWK, provides a certain view on the language and their intent that was well received. I do carry this book with me as a reference which I have found invaluable in my shell scripting endeavors. This book will give you a solid overview of the language. Be prepared for example references to the world of 1988 such as the USSR. Despite my complaints about the price, I have to admit that I enjoy owning this bit of Unix history and having the authors own words about AWK. From a practical standpoint however, I think that you can learn every bit as much about AWK by learning from freely available internet content on GNU/Linux versions of AWK (gawk). Since I have worked with Unix since about 1984, I have to concede being blinded by a bit of nostalgia. However, AWK is still a vital tool for anyone's shell scripting bag of tricks and this book will help you further develop your skills with AWK if you have only used it lightly in the past.

If you could have only one programming book...
This is my choice for the answer to the question "If you were stranded on a deserted island and you could have only one programming book which book would you choose?". Over the years I have periodically returned to this bookto read or work through for fun. "The AWK Programming Language" may be from 1988 but it is still outstanding! It has an incredible amount of depth for a book of only 200 or so pages. Well-written, concise, with great examples. Truly an enjoyable book to work through.

Put this in your toolbox
I've become a big fan of Awk.Some people may tell you that Awk is outdated and no longer useful; not with other languages such as Perl and Ruby available.Well, Awk does one thing and does it well.It does it "fast enough" most of the time, and does it with a very small language.

Perl and Ruby are fine, but if you lean towards "small is beautiful", you must learn Awk.For times when you need it, it's a Godsend.I've used it recently to automatically generate SQL insert statements from some flat files and to do automatic code generation for larger languages.

Some of the best tools have survived the test of time.

In this book, I feel like I learned all the things I need to know about Awk - all the way from beginner to advanced.It's a classic.Not a lot of books get five stars for me.This book fulfills it's goals perfectly, so deserves a perfect rating.


... Read more

Product Description
This manual describes how to use Valgrind,an award-winning suite of tools for debugging and profiling GNU/Linux programs. Valgrind detects memory and threading bugs automatically, avoiding hours of frustrating bug-hunting and making your programs more stable. You can also perform detailed profiling, to speed up your programs and reduce their memory usage. The Valgrind distribution provides five tools for debugging and profiling: Memcheck (a memory error detector), Cachegrind (a cache profiler), Callgrind (a call-graph profiler, Massif (a heap profiler) and Helgrind (a thread error detector).These tools and their options are described in detail, with practical examples and advice. Valgrind is free software, available under the GNU General Public License. It runs on X86/Linux, AMD64/Linux, PPC32/Linux and PPC64/Linux systems. This is a printed edition of the official reference documentation for Valgrind 3.3.0. For each copy sold 1 USD will be donated to the Valgrind developers by Network Theory Ltd. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

disappointing
I thought that book will have some more information about the code in Valgrind-core. So, any developer can use it as a developer guide.
Actually, the book is like user-guide that list the tools in valgrind and how to invoke them through command line.

Valuable Resource for a Valuable Tool
Ordinarily I wince at the notion of a book dedicated to an open source tool. Usually online resources are abundant and a book only summarizes the information that is already freely available.

My thoughts are different for the Valgrind Develpment Team's manual for Valgrind 3.3. Admittedly, this is a very advanced tool for developers. Having used it myself I find the tool and the authors' in-depth explanation to the nuances and pitfalls of such advanced debugging invaluable.

The audience may be small for such a publication but if you do any development on Linux (and now Mac OS X and *BSD) then Valgrind should be part of your development and testing plan.

The definitive guide to Valgrind
This book is a nice little reference to Valgrind.It covers pretty much the common stuff you'll use Valgrind for.It is the first book I've ever bought that is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License.The book is also available online, but since it's a pretty inexpensive book, I like having a dead tree version.Plus, I'm sure my money is going to some good cause. ... Read more

Product Description
Created by Silicon Graphics, Inc., OpenGL has become the industry standard for the 3D graphics programming community. From SGI's X Windows graphics expert, who developed the utility toolkit which serves as the cornerstone of OpenGL, this book explains how the OpenGL libraries are implemented under X Windows allowing programmers to take advantage of the ease and functionality of OpenGL. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (6)

My first openGL book
This was the first book I purchased on openGL. This book is a very good introduction to openGL.If I might add one peice of advice to the up and coming linux Graphics programmers.DO NOT shy away from windows openGL programming books.Once you understand the concepts you will easily apply them to your linux or unix work.I think that every unix/linux openGL programmer should have this book, as well as the RED and BLUE openGL programming guide books on their book shelf.One last word.All of these books will primarily focus on understanding the concepts and to do this they spend alot of time working with the GLUT libraries.It will be up to you to figure out how to integrate this with QT or Motif.However....this book does have a section on openGL programming with Motif....if you use QT however you will be learning on your own.It isn't impossible or even that hard.It does however require a good hacker like approach.One last word while on the subject.You might also want to purchase a good book on linear algebra or mathematics for computer graphics if you plan on rendering more than a few simple programs.

Good luck to you.

Definitive for 1996
Back when I was learning GL, this book was the best.It covered the basics at a good level of detail.Almost as if Mark could read our product requirements, it also has appendecies on off-topic-to-GL-but-not-to-ustopics, such as the X input extension and graphics overlays.

I believeGLX has gone through a few revisions since this book last had a newedition.Therefore some of its data may end up referencing deprecated oldglx functions instead of the slick new method.In particular I'm thinkingI saw something about visual selection changing.That's the only reasonI'm holding back on star number 5.

Overall a very good supplement to the Red Book
Mark has a very good way of describing how things work. I have been using OpenGL for while but not using XWindows extensions that much. This book helped a lot and I used it to make sense of some the convoluted text inother books for the wgl functions.

I enjoyed the book.
I think that it was a good book. This was my first OpenGL book, and I'mnow purchasing more. It's good to see that there are some X Window Systemspecific books out there. The book explains in detail GLUT, but not someother complex areas of OpenGL (Why I'm buying more OpenGL books...). I'drecommend the book for beginners of OpenGL that are frusterated withWindows-specific texts.

Good beginners book but no realworld examples
This book gets you up and running fast with OpenGL and X but it fails to point out how to do specific tasks.I didn't know how to use Xlib until I got this book.The examples are kinda flakey as they don't translate well to realworld programming.A ball bouncing in a box would have been a great example.Would somone please write a cross platform OpenGL manual insted of these platform specific books!!! ... Read more

Product Description
This is the only introduction you'll need to start programming in R, the open-source language that is free to download, and lets you adapt the source code for your own requirements. Co-written by one of the R Core Development Team, and by an established R author, this book comes with real R code that complies with the standards of the language. Unlike other introductory books on the ground-breaking R system, this book emphasizes programming, including the principles that apply to most computing languages, and techniques used to develop more complex projects. Learning the language is made easier by the frequent exercises and end-of-chapter reviews that help you progress confidently through the book. Solutions, datasets and any errata will be available from the book's web site. The many examples, all from real applications, make it particularly useful for anyone working in practical data analysis. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

A beginner's book
Book was most defintely written for the beginning R student.I would recommend this book to someone who has never had any experience in R.There were a few examples from the book that I thought interesting.If you have had experience in R, I would suggest a different book; however, this is a great book for the beginner.

Easy to understand introduction to "R" that has sufficient breadth to be used in a course
Given that it is open source and easy to use, the programming package "R" is a natural choice for courses in statistics where a fundamental component is programming. Provided of course that an understandable text is available.
This book satisfies that requirement, making the fundamentals of programming as implemented in "R" accessible to the programming novice. Given that the mathematical coverage is a bit advanced, the prerequisites are mathematical in nature with precalculus a necessity and calculus very helpful.
While the basics of statistical programming are covered in sufficient detail, some more advanced topics in the area of numerical analysis are also included. Those topics are:

*) Computational linear algebra
*) Numerical optimization
*) Linear programming

If you are looking for an inexpensive computational package that your students can download on their laptops for use in a course on statistical programming, then "R" is a natural choice. With this textbook, it also becomes a practical one.

Good book; Not quite whtt I was looking for, though
This is a really well written book and does everything it said it would do.The only problem was that I was looking for a book that was more geared towards learning R, than a book on learning statistics.The book is surprisingly cursory in regards to leading the reader through the structurees and approach that R takes to solving problems.I found that most of the discussions of R's syntax to be incredibly lacking and its discussion of the how the various features of R to be very disappointingly poor for someone who is trying to learn R as a novice.I have spent most of my 30 years in the workforce learning a variety of languages and am used to "sefl study" challenges...but I have yet to find anything ever remotely similar to what almost every other language provides...an introductory tutorial that focuses on the language rather than all the cool things you can do with the language.This book is the losest so far; but is still, in my opinion, not a very useful or productive approach to learning R.

great for beginners, or casual users
A lot of people have need of means to manipulate and chart data.Some of them are professionals from various fields, some of them are students, some of them are users of computers who have outgrown the meager capabilities of Excel or OpenOffice's Calc, or simply can't stand the spreadsheet model any longer. R is a good solution to these needs.

Recognize that R is not just a programming language, not in the sense of Python or Ruby or C.It is a universe.In addition to the capability in the base language, the availability of hundreds of sophisticated packages extends its capability to all kinds of terrains, from the traditional and statistical, to GIS, spatial, image-based, and nearly research edges.Mastery of those packages would take a lifetime. There are new ones every month.

But these packages are not what the average user needs or wants.What the average user needs or wants is a gentle introduction, how to install R, how to use it for common things, getting data in and out, some graphs, some basic statistical notions.Alas, until recently, most R books were sophisticated presentations, ones giving terse, in depth illustrations of R's uses for statistics and analysis.It was difficult to find discussions on the core language, and most of those went back to S+, and Chambers.Admittedly, there are detailed discussions of these as PDF documents with installations, but these may not be reachable by the casual user.

Fortunately, today we have at one end of the beginners' path, the Venables and Smith AN INTRODUCTION TO R. That text is also available online, and was part of some installations of R, at least on Windows.At the other end of the beginners' path is Rizzo's STATISTICAL COMPUTING WITH R, a book on introductory statistics using R for illustration.And, in the middle of the path, there's this text, Braun and Murdoch's A FIRST COURSE. It's fine. It won't let you down.You won't learn how to do projection pursuit regression with R from it.But, then, many people don't need that.

A solid week's worth of material.
It's nice in that it gives you problems and solutions to the problems, so you can teach yourself the language.But it is not nearly comprehensive enough to be a reference book.If you can afford it, buy this much more comprehensive, but still good for beginners, book instead:The R Book

Now if you just want to explore R some and are looking for a lower cost book with which to do so, or want a structured book with problems and exercises, then this Braun and Murdoch book is fine. ... Read more

Product Description
Part of the highly successful Shelly Cashman series, this text offers a step-by-step, screen-by-screen approach and extensive hands-on projects for meaningful learning of JavaScript. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (15)

This is a dreadful book!
I had the misfortune of purchasing this textbook to refresh my JavaScript skills.Well, it's all here... the deprecated tags, the outdated syntax, and the errors... OH MY GOD!!!You will also find that the end of chapter exercises incorporate knowledge and features that were NOT EVEN COVERED in the preceding chapters!!Because I already knew JavaScript, I was able to ferret my way through this atrocious text.So it wasn't a total loss.This textbook is used at our local technical college, so I thought I was safe in purchasing it.Do NOT buy this book unless you know enough of JavaScript and HTML to make the corrections yourself.This is the second Shelly Cashman Series textbook that I've had the misfortune to purchase.From what I've seen, the Shelly Cashman Series is probably one of the worst I've ever encountered in the computer field.

Used book for a class
This book has some coding errors in it, but nothing I wasn't able to work around.If it wasn't the required book for the course I was taking I would not of bought this book.It is dated and uses HTML coding that has been deprecated and compares operating systems that are no longer suported. (Windows95/98).Find a book that is more current.

Worst Book EVER
If there was a 0 stars rating, this book would get it. How bad is it? When I sold it back to my college bookstore, I got a whopping $3! Even my crappy dreamweaver book netted me $5, but $3 isn't even enough to buy lunch. I guess it's all good, as I'd rather have my cheetos and Faygo than this book anyways. The numerous errors caused me to lose points on homework assignments, even though I did the project step by step as they are in the book. What a disgusting excuse for a text. And I've used lots of great books too, so I can tell the difference between one that has effort put into it, and one that's out of date and, for lack of a better term, a disgrace. I'm just happy I was able to buy it on the amazon marketplace instead of paying the $46 the college would have sold it to me for.

If you get a class that ever uses this book, petition your board of cirriculum directors and have it changed, this book will help you learn javascript almost as much as a lobotomy will.

This book is a mess
The first chapter sems to be ok, but once you get to chapter 3 you'll start to get confuse. I won't recomande this book if you are new to javascript.

horrible
This book is absolutely horrible, I am also using this book as part of a college class, there are errors in both projects 1 and 2, I am SO frustrated.There errata does not address the 2nd edition.Very poorly written, I pray I can get something done before I fail this class. DO NOT BUY THIS BOOK! ... Read more

Product Description
Wireless Java Programming with J2ME provides Javadevelopers with the information, techniques, and examples needed touse Java 2 Micro Edition (J2ME) to create applications forJava-enabled wireless devices

Wireless Java Programming with J2ME presents fully-developedexamples of J2ME applications designed for wireless devices. Bybuilding examples based on Sun's CLDC (Connected Limited DeviceConfiguration) API and Mobile Information Device Profile (MIDP),readers will become familiar with the standard practices for J2MEprogramming for wireless devices. This hands-on guide to wireless J2MEprogramming is loaded with practical sample programs that can beapplied in real world development.

Wireless Java Programming with Java 2 Micro Edition is beingwritten by Yu Feng, the first-prize winner of Motorola's WirelessApplication contest. MotoShop, the winning m-commerce application,takes advantage of J2ME incorporates both innovative interface designand location-based service features. The authors' in-depth knowledgeand commercial interest in this technology truly separates this bookfrom other Java books on the market.

Wireless Java Programming with Java 2 Micro Edition assumesreaders are motivated to build the next generation wirelessapplication by leveraging the J2ME technology. The book providescommercial-quality code and examples.Amazon.com Review
Perfect for the experienced Java programmer making the transition to wireless development, Wireless Java Programming with J2ME delivers a capable tutorial to what's new and different on smaller Java devices. This title is all you need to get started writing wireless applications successfully.

This book provides a nicely packaged tutorial for wireless development, beginning with a tour of the acronym-laden world of Java wireless devices based on the Java 2 Micro Edition (J2ME). You'll learn about the Mobile Information Device Profile (MIDP), which this text centers on, plus the Connected Limited Device Configuration (CLDC). Clearly, this is a market in flux, and the authors do a good job of describing the kinds of J2ME devices available today. They also explain what's different about J2ME development when compared to traditional Java 2 programming.

After this introduction, the book delves into the APIs you'll need to master to use J2ME. The authors create a number of "MIDlets" for wireless devices (such as a PIM and eventually a front end for an online bookstore). They cover the new APIs that are used to program such devices. This includes the higher-level UI library for MIDP devices, which lets developers design for the restricted displays of these devices. They also cover lower-level graphics, which calls for a more do-it-yourself approach to UI design. Illustrated with a calendar utility, they show you how to draw on the screen of a wireless device.

Later sections look at other features that you need to create robust wireless applications in Java, including network connectivity options (like sockets and HTTP), plus storing records in the built-in storage APIs that come built-in on the platform. The book also covers the surprising variety of XML tools that let you add XML support to wireless applications. The centerpiece of this text is the authors' MotoShop--a case study for a wireless front end for an online bookstore, which is used to demonstrate many of the techniques covered earlier in the text. Final sections on SyncML (for synchronizing data between wireless devices) and new support for Java on the popular DoCoMo i-Mode platform help round out this book.

With the wireless marketplace poised for explosive growth, this title can let Java developers get ready for a new kind of Java platform. This book delivers a very solid tour of what an intermediate to advanced programmer needs to get started building the next generation of wireless software in Java. --Richard Dragan

Topics covered:

• Overview of Java development for wireless devices
• Overview of the Java 2 Micro Edition (J2ME)
• Key J2ME standards explained: the Mobile Information Device Profile (MIDP), Connected Limited Device Configuration (CLDC), and the K Virtual Machine (KVM)
• Using Sun's J2ME Wireless Toolkit and Motorola's MotoSDK for wireless development
• CLDC versus MIDP libraries
• MIDlets
• Limitations for CDLC devices and the KVM
• J2ME security
• Packaging and deploying MIDlets
• Tutorial for user-interface design with the UI for Wireless Devices (including images and event handling)
• High-level UI APIs (including lists and choices, text boxes, alerts, and forms)
• Low-level UI APIs (including drawing graphics shapes and text, double-buffering, plus a calendar example)
• Persistent storage (record stores, adding and deleting records, enumerating records, a sample mobile scheduler)
• Network programming in J2ME MIDP (the Generic Connection Framework, programming with sockets, datagrams, and HTTP)
• XML for wireless applications (survey of wireless XML parsers including SAX 1.0, TinyXML, and NanoXML)
• Case study for a mobile book-ordering application
• Data synchronization (SyncML protocols, a mobile scheduler)
• Reference to CLDC and MIDP class libraries
• NTT DoCoMo's Java for i-Mode introduced

Customer Reviews (10)

Good startup for J2ME
A real good book. It introduces with basic wireless device technological architecture and then explains how J2ME can be used to develop wireless applications. A useful reference book if you want to start learning wireless programming.

Excellent book
Recently I had a need to come up a prototype in a short period of time. I started with no idea about J2ME programming. This book helped me a lot. It gives very detailed information on how to get start.

The examples in the book are excellent. Some examples about Networking, XML and SyncML, addresses the real problems every developer would encounter.

Considering the book comes so early, its coverage on J2ME is pretty decent. High level introduction of J2ME is not very comprehensive but very precise and informative.

Just About All That Is Available
Not many books are yet available on J2ME. For this reason alone, this text is decent. However, much of the text is simple embellishement of the limited J2ME MIDP documentation available from Sun. The examples are decent but sometimes confusing -- I typed in several and experienced minor problems with a few. My basic issue with the text is the lack of explaination. Code examples are good, but explaination is better and the topics are only modestly explained.

Overall, a decent first book on this issue but nothing spectacular.

Average book but good compared to what is out there.
Normally I would rank this book as average, however compared to the books that are out there on J2ME technologies this book is good.The high level overview is informative and I liked that it drilled into the details of J2ME application development.The examples are and simple and clear.Overall, a good book for intermediate java programmers looking to get their foot into the J2ME door.

excellent book
An excellent book for experienced Java developers who want to quickly learn J2ME. It covers almost everything you need to know about J2ME MIDP programming. This book is very comprehesive and contains a lot of valuable infomation. The code examples are useful and clearly illustrate the points made. I highly recommend this book if you want to get into writing J2ME applications. ... Read more

Product Description
In-depth coverage is given of the emerging POSIX Threads library for UNIX and how to code with it. These pages explain the concepts and foundations of threads programming, including real-life constructions. The book compares and contrasts the Pthreads library with those for OS/2 and Windows NT throughout.Amazon.com Review
Multithreading lets programs do two or more tasks at once, andit can let programmers take advantage of the latest symmetricmultiprocessor (SMP) systems in Unix. But to get this performanceboost, you'll want to read Multithreaded Programming withPthreads first. It delivers both the concepts behind multithreadeddesign along with real-world source code excerpts that show you how toapply the concepts to real-world Unix projects.

This book beginswith the evolution of the various libraries that supportmultithreading. In the ecumenical spirit of Unix, the authors coverall the bases of Portable Operating System Interface for Unix (POSIX)libraries, including Linux, DEC, IBM, HP, and Sun Solaris, and evenadd-ons to NT and OS/2 for their POSIX support. The authorsacknowledge that there may be variations in your version of Unix, butsuggest that POSIX threads have good support from most vendors.

Theauthors then cover the basics of threads and how they run in today'sUnix. The authors turn quickly to their implementation in variants ofUnix, including Lightweight Processes (LWPs). They then cover thelifecycles of threads and how they are scheduled.

The primary focusin Multithreaded Programming with Pthreads is on how to makethreads work together effectively. Multithreading involves a host ofdesign issues, from patterns of how to organize threading in a program(with models such as the Producer/Consumer or the Master/Slave) to howto coordinate work done by multiple threads with facilities such asmutexes, critical sections, semaphores, and more arcane solutions(such as monitors and spin locks). The authors guide the reader to allthe possibilities here, including suggestions on program design.

The real-world focus here involves some sample code (in C), a quicktour of the issues in using Pthreads with other programming languages,and some excellent material on benchmarking multithreaded code. Theauthors' ideas on when to use and when to avoid Pthreads are alsouseful. Though Pthreads will not work everywhere, they have a lot ofpotential to enhance the performance of today's software. Thistechnical--and quite engaging--text can show you if Pthreads are inthe cards for your next Unix programming project. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (7)

User of Sun Equipment, writer of parallel software.
As technical books go, this is the second worst book I've ever personally bought - and I have five book cases full of books (mostly technical ones).

The book covers far too much material, in far too small a depth, to be of any use to anyone. Since it's published by Sun Microsystems, whose main operating system is Solaris, I thought there might be a decent coverage of threads on Solaris, with less devoted to NT, Dec and whoever elses. But no, there is as much coverage on Solaris threads, as there is on any other. You could say it's a balanced coverage, but at such a depth to be useless to anyone really. If you need to know about threads on Windows, find a specific book. If you need to know about pthreads, find a better book on pthreads.

Just avoid this book. However Sun Microsystems, a respected producer of hardware and some excellent technical books, published such rubbish I don't know.

Do youself a favor, take a look at 'Multithreaded, Parallel and Distributed Programming' by Gregory R. Andrews. That is a good book on parallel programming, with an indepth discussion about algorithms, and code to implement them in threads, openMP and MPI. It's coverage of algorithms, barriers, locks etc is excellent.

Wonderful!
The authors of this book, in addition to their knowledge of threads, also know how to teach. The only shortcoming I could point out is that certain topics are treated shallowly, while less important topics are explained with too much detail.

What's really interesting about the book is the authors' ``don't do that'' style. Another reviewer found this style to be bad. I found it highly helpful. Instead of presenting a single solution for a problem (``The One and Only True Solution''), and leaving the reader wondering about alternative solutions, they go on to explain what's wrong with these other solutions. People learn by making mistakes, and the authors point out lots of mistakes that can be avoided. This is an invaluable feature, not a bug.

Simply useless
If you have no clue what a pthread function name is, or what this crazy multithreading idea is all about, then maybe this book will help you some...but I have my doubts.Otherwise, this serves as both a poor reference, a poor primer guide, a poor advanced guide, and poor toilet paper.I've never seen a book manage to miss as a reference, miss as a primer, and miss as an advanced guide.There are easily better books and online resources available, as it's hard to be much worse than this.

This book is akin to learning French by teaching some basic grammar, some advanced grammar, and then shouting: "Je ne sais pas!" "Je voudrais un peu cherise!" without telling you what these mean...and leaving you clueless as to how to find out about them.

No as good as It looks like.
This Book covers too many topics unnecessarily, so when you really want to go a little deep into a specific field and make yourself clear, that will be not possible.
This book is not really suitable for real multi-threaded programmer.
New multi-threaded leaners maybe will found it useful for basic concepts.

Where is the source-code for download?
This book didn't supply source code for download neither attach CD-ROM. How can I verify whether it's true? ... Read more

Product Description
Provides developers with the practical information and step by step guidance they need to become productive with .NET. Tutorial offers a comprehensive yet approachable introduction to the .NET framework, ASP.NET programming, and XML Web Services development. Softcover.Amazon.com Review
Active Server Pages (ASP) has been the backbone of server-side programming in the Microsoft environment for several years. Visual Basic has been that company's toolkit for developing client-server applications in a hurry. Now, with the release of the ASP.NET specification and the VB .NET development environment, the two technologies intersect more than ever. ASP.NET and VB.NET Web Programming explains how each of these technologies works on its own, and explains in implementation-level detail (i.e., lots of code listings) exactly how they work together to provide Web services under the .NET Framework.

Matt Crouch uses a nifty technique for annotating his code. Rather than comment long listings extensively, or repeat sections later for commentary, he attaches a number to interesting lines in long listings. Then, in the commentary sections that follow the listings, he refers to lines by number (so-and-so happens in line 84 because we did thus-and-such in line 56, for example). The effect is like reading an analysis of poetry. The technique works well, except for the fact that you sometimes end up flipping back and forth between commentary and listing. Overall, this is a fine choice for someone familiar with VB 6 or old-style ASP who wants to learn about Microsoft-style Web services with the help of numerous code samples and careful commentary. --David Wall

Topics covered: How to create Web sites under the Microsoft .NET Framework. The author covers techniques for creating HTML interfaces with ASP.NET, shows how to build managed components for COM+, and explains how to create Web services under VB .NET. It's a comprehensive guide to Web services and HTML page generation for VB .NET programmers. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (16)

Very disappointing
.NET technology is specifically tailored for internet applications and the title of this book includes Web Programming. In fact there is very little coverage of web programming. The entire section on VB.NET covers only console applications. We are almost half-way through the book (if you ignore the 140 plus pages of appendices and index at the end) before a step-by-step guide to creating a (very simple) web application is given.
Most of the book consists of tedious listings of available controls and their properties/methods - is not that what the user manual is for? Code samples are almost childish, like displaying a message stating which check boxes have been selected. In the intro Crouch states the book is aimed at software developers. If so, why spend so much of the book explaining the simple in detail and skipping over the difficult concepts that are new to VB.NET. OOP is not new or exclusive ot VB.NET so why should it be covered here? And why having covered OOP, does Crouch then proceed to totally ignore the concept in his samples? Nowhere does Mr Crouch explain how to use his code samples, which are usually separate HTML andVB code, in the .NET framework. Loads of topics covered come without any code samples at all (yes, you've guessed it, the complicated or difficult parts).
The book also covers ADO.NET. Why? If I wanted a book on ADO.NET, then that is what I would buy. Ironically, the code included with the section on ADO.NET is much more practical than in the rest of the book. Pity the same standard could not have been applied throughout. I strongly recommend you buy something else.

Poorly written, "jumpy" explanations
The author's writing style is not only extremely poor, but confusing as he uses terminologies that a LOT of beginners may not be familiar with. You'll find yourself going over to webopedia.com for explanations for a lot of his terms which he simply mentions or just glosses over.

I was forced to by this text for a college course and have found much better beginning asp.net and vb.net texts since buying it.

Bad Book
Disorganized....ADO.NET example in chapter 7 doesn't even make any sense if you follow it....Errors throughout...download of examples doesn't even have the examples from the book....

General
Over all this book is covering a lot of topics and should be good for beginner. Too much explanation of the code and stuff that's obvious for intermediate / senior levels. I did encounter couple problems. COM+ part does not go into details. The sample that I made (downloaded) for this chapter did not work. It might be the operation system problem, but I did not find any references in the book that you can't do this if you are running on WIN2000. Also, web services did not work with my components, again, no references in the book what do you do if web service looks inaccessible.

Not for begginers to Microsoft programming
I am an experienced HTML, PHP and Javascript developper.

I recenctly decided I would like to pick up VB.net for web development and maybe pass 70-305. I just finished VB.net Step-by-Step and was pretty happy.

I bought this book based on the reviews and I have to say I am frustrated and disappointed.

First off, most of the book is spent making console applications, not web applications.

Second, there are no clear tutorials or labs that allow you to practice or apply what you have learned. Lots of code snippets and incomplete programs that aren't terribly clear. Lots of theory, not much application

Finally, the author assumes knowledge that hasn't been demonstrated in the book to date when giving examples or using terminology. For someone who is unfamiliar with the MS programming world, it can very confusing.

All in all I'm not impressed. ... Read more

Product Description

Genetic Programming IV: Routine Human-Competitive Machine Intelligence presents the application of GP to a wide variety of problems involving automated synthesis of controllers, circuits, antennas, genetic networks, and metabolic pathways. The book describes fifteen instances where GP has created an entity that either infringes or duplicates the functionality of a previously patented 20th-century invention, six instances where it has done the same with respect to post-2000 patented inventions, two instances where GP has created a patentable new invention, and thirteen other human-competitive results. The book additionally establishes:

GP now delivers routine human-competitive machine intelligence

GP is an automated invention machine

GP can create general solutions to problems in the form of parameterized topologies

GP has delivered qualitatively more substantial results in synchrony with the relentless iteration of Moore's Law

Customer Reviews (3)

Jaw Dropping Inspiration
The depth and breadth of what GP can do just isn't known by the techies.This book should scare those that are content to repeat the same old design rules.The book is a bit dry for someone with only a passing interest, but I think that was the author's intent: show in unhyped, and no-uncertain terms that GP can do what we do.For someone with a curious mind, this is proof of a brave new world.

Table of contents
Since the "look inside" doesn't contain the toc, here it is from Barnes&Nobles:

Table of Contents
1 Introduction 1
2 Background on genetic programming 29
3 Automatic synthesis of controllers 49
4 Automatic synthesis of circuits 129
5 Automatic synthesis of circuit topology, sizing, placement, and routing 175
6 Automatic synthesis of antennas 205
7 Automatic synthesis of genetic networks 221
8 Automatic synthesis of metabolic pathways 229
9 Automatic synthesis of parameterized topologies for controllers 281
10 Automatic synthesis of parameterized topologies for circuits 301
11 Automatic synthesis of parameterized topologies with conditional developmental operators for circuits 341
12 Automatic synthesis of improved tuning rules for PID controllers 367
13 Automatic synthesis of parameterized topologies for improved controllers 387
14 Reinvention of negative feedback 413
15 Automated reinvention of six post-2000 patented circuits 421
16 Problems for which genetic programming may be well suited 483
17 Parallel implementation and computer time 515
18 Historical perspective on Moore's law and the progression of qualitatively more substantial results produced by genetic programming 523
19 Conclusion 529

Gp here we Go
Since using evolutionary algorithms for my work, it is easy to see how many of the current EAs can be used to solve or tackle various real world problems. But what Koza does once again is to argue the case that GP is more than just an optimization algorithm but instead an algorithm that tries to show what AI should do and how user and AI should interact to solve a problem. Once again numerous examples are given, with detail on how problems are laid out so as to get the best results from the GP. Koza shows that with well thought out planning GP's can be applied to all sorts of fields.
In one of the chapters he presents the characteristics a problem should have for GP to be applicable.
All-round Great work, my advice get all his books and digest how he approaches various problems with GP. This example format Koza uses is far more useful than talking about what GP is and its theory. Though for a good intro into Evolutionary Algorithms including GP get either Foundations of Genetic Programming or an Introduction to Genetic Programming. An all round good intro is Introduction to Evolutionary Computing. ... Read more

Product Description
A tutorial designed for anyone needing to create simple Kornshell scripts--system administrators, programmers at various levels and UNIX users. Rosenberg has given us a book that is 85% examples-oriented. This unique format allows readers to learn Kornshell Script programming in the shortest amount of time. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (36)

Brilliant, clear, complete, marvellous !!!!!!!
This book was published 17 years ago (from the time of writing this comment).
At the beginning I was a bit reluctant about buying this book and I was thinking maybe the book is a bit old and does not fully cover the subject.

However, after reading all the 5 stars comments written by amazon
customers and more surprisingly after seeing that everybody (without exception !!) had given 5 stars to the book, I said to myself "hey man, let's try this book". This is the first book that I used to learn Korn Shell (In fact I had found the job of my dreams which needed me to learn very fast the KornShell language, that I didn't know at all).

I'm really happy about my decision. The book is really well written, with
a very clear and simple language and contains loads of pertinent
examples. I highly recommend it particularly for those who are going to
learn the KornShell for the first time.

It took me only one week (roughly 4 hours per day) to read and finish
this book.

Try it! you won't regret it, trust me!!

Great book for older Korn Shell versions
This books covers pre 93 Korn shell.

However this actually makes learning the shell more simple.At work we have a pre-93 version so the instructions are sure to work.

The author's "93" version of the book is also good, but a bit harder to understand for a beginner.

best!!!!!!!
I am programming with korn shell for 12 yr. already. And I started with this book. It is an excellent book for beginner and even intermediate programmer. It took me about 2 days to go through all book. i still looking inside once in a while. Few times i was loosing this book, bought another one and after short time i dumped it and bought this one again.
Examples and explanation in this book are so usefull, short and easy to understand, that you can't find better book. Your learning efficency really depends on it. Buy it, by all means you will be glad you did it.

Brilliant
This book is *the* way to begin working with the Korn shell. I needed to get up to speed with a shell scripting language in order to do Oracle DBA tasks. I bought this based on the strength of it's Amazon ratings and was completely delighted.

The author has a great style, easy to understand and very clear. I found the procession of topics to be very logical; a nice gradual build up from the simple to the more complex. There is plenty of 'depth' in each chapter and good highlighting of potential problem areas and difficult concepts. These have additional coverage to help steer clear of the hassles and come to a clear understanding of the more challenging ideas.

The examples are well thought out, they present each topic of interest clearly and in a meaningful way, without clutter. I have coded almost every single one and found only a few errors. Within a chapter the examples are presented with increasing complexity, but are never the page after page monsters that leave you lost. It is amazing how well the author illustrates the content with short (20 - 30 line) samples.

When I was puzzled with something I had read here, I turned to two of my friends who 'live' in shell scripting up to their necks. Both have learned useful techniques from this book through my questions.

My copy is literally starting to come apart from constant use for reference. It is that good.

Excellent Tutorial
I found this to be an excellent hands-on tutorial in KornShell.Wish there were a book-2 and book-3 with advanced training. ... Read more

Product Description
Mark Guzdial and Barb Ericson have a most effective method for teaching computing and Java programming in a context that readers find interesting: manipulating digital media. Readers get started right away by learning how to write programs that create interesting effects with sounds, pictures, web pages, and video.  The authors use these multimedia applications to teach critical programming skills and principles like how to design and use algorithms, and practical software engineering methods–all in the context of learning how to program in Java. Mark and Barb also demonstrate how to communicate compatibly through networks and do concurrent programming. The book also includes optional coverage of rudimentary data structures and databases using Java and comes with a CD-ROM containing all the code files referenced in the text and required for media manipulation. Allows readers to use their own media, such as personal sound or picture files. Demonstrates how to manipulate media in useful ways, from reducing red eye and splicing sounds to generating digital video special effects. The book also includes optional coverage of rudimentary data structures and databases using Java and comes with a CD-ROM containing all the code files referenced in the text and required for media manipulation. For beginners interested in learning more about basic multimedia computing and programming. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (6)

CHEAP USED BOOK - GREAT CONDITION
I received this item particularly late. Later than the other items I purchased from Amazon. Other than the time it took to arrive, three weeks later, I am pretty satisfied with my purchase. Best deal under the sun. It was missing the instructional CD-Rom though, but it's ok I didn't need it.

Rating my purchase of book
The item was a lot more better than I expected and also a fast shipping, I'm very satisfied.

Thank You

Good idea, rushed and poor implementation
I've used this book to teach my CS1 course for two semesters.The authors implemented some handy classes to make it easy for students to manipulate images and sound, however the book is rough.

One of the authors (I presume Erikson) writes some really terrible code.Here's a sample of some of the worst:

//loop through the columns
for(int sourceX = 0, targetX = 0;
sourceX < sourcePicture.getHeight();
sourceX++, targetX++)
{
//loop through rows
for(int sourceY = 0, targetY = 0;
sourceY < sourcePicture.getHeight();
sourceY++, targetY++)
{
...

(for reference this does exactly the same thing without the extra two variables and the terrible comma operator:

for (int x = 0; x < sourcePicture.getWidth(); x++) {
for (int y = 0; y < sourcePicture.getHeight(); y++) {
)

The images in the book are almost entirely amateur photographs taken by the authors.The subjects of those photos are almost entirely the authors (husband and wife) and their kids, as well as some shots they took on their vacations.This gives the book a very amateur feel.

The later chapters of the book are unpolished.Topics are rambling, some simple ideas with potentially elegant algorithms are explained poorly and implemented roughly (like the code example above).

I've decided to teach the course using the author's Java classes (which contain a few bugs) without using the book.I'd recommend the same; Guzdial makes the code freely available on his website.

I'd give the BOOK 1 star, but the Java classes themselves are worth 4.

Excellent CS Book!
This is a GREAT ComputerScience resource for Java Beginners. It has really helped me connect everything that my Professor has taught in class with the actual java applications. There is a CD that comes with this book, that has all of the needed media files to work on the examples and problems.

Pictures and Dr Java are a powerful combination
I used this book to teach a college-level course in Java Programming this year.70% of the students had taken a 'CS1' level course in Java, and I didn't want to bore them with the same examples.At the same time, the students new to Java needed to get over the syntax and OO hurdles.

The author introduces DrJava early in the book (chapter 2), and provides a set of simple classes that students extend by adding their own methods.The use of Turtle graphics (Turtle class) really helped students 'see' what was happening, and the Picture class allowed them to view and manipulate graphic images as well as learn about arrays.

The Picture class is used extensively, which allowed students to build their own set of methods to manipulate pictures, and use them in a big project to build a collage.Pictures provide a way to get interesting data into a program without reverting to using random() or keyboard input.DrJava allowed students to write their new methods in the 'Definitions' pane, and then test them using the 'Interactions' pane.

Integrating web pages using the URL class as the basis for File I/O is also a great idea.It connects programming to 'real' pages that the students can see in their browser.

The only concerns I have about teaching Java using this book are:
1)Strings are covered quite late and not very deeply (chapter 12)
2)No Swing GUI coverage (students want to write GUIs)
3)Late coverage of 'main' method (p. 366)
-- Students became somewhat dependent on DrJava's interactions pane to test their apps
4)Dependency of book classes for Picture handling
-- Students had to use the getBufferedImage method to display pics on a swing container

I was able to supplement with other GUI material to help students over some of these instead of covering sounds chapters.

Overall, the students did very well.Two-thirds of the students new to Java were able to follow and did very well.All of the students with previous Java experience did well.A few students that had struggled to pass the 'CS1' course showed significant improvement in the ability to complete complex projects.
... Read more