Product Description
A collection of essays drawn from Plauger's popular monthly column, "Programming on Purpose," in Computer Language magazine. Focusing throughout on people-related matters, Plauger shows software writers how to be really ingenious; how to protect the fruits of their ingenuity; how to mix technology and politics; and how NOT to write shelfware. 6 x 9. ... Read more

Product Description
This is a step-by-step guide to successful wireless application design and development with Sun's Java 2 Micro Edition platform. Authored by one of Sun's leading wireless application consultants, it covers every key feature of the J2ME platform, and every step of the process -- from architecture through deployment. Piroumian begins by introducing the J2ME computing platform, key terminology, basic concepts, and application development process. Next, you'll walk through creating, compiling, preparing, executing, and debugging J2ME applications. One step at a time, you'll master J2ME MIDP platform's high-level and low-level APIs, user interface components, persistent storage mechanisms, and services for networking and distributed processing. The book teaches how to build applications from the ground up, using running examples. All topics are introduced in a logical order where each concept builds upon the ones that precede it. Piroumian also covers architecture and its impact on the developer; and introduces key elements of a complete wireless solution, including gateways, Internet portal interfaces, and wireless application interfaces. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (9)

I in love with this author
I found the book to be a good book on J2ME.

I met the author while working for a big company.
I thought he was a great person and a good looking man.

I found the book to be an excellent book on not just J2ME, but
a great introduction to the world of wireless communication

An Excellent Tutorial on Wireless J2ME
I found this book to be an excellent introduction to J2ME wireless development.The author's clear and consise writing style gets the reader up to speed almost immediately with a minimal degree of effort.The fine examples and graphical illustrations couples nicely with the text.I especially found the chapter on Internationalization particularly useful.This is a good book for the beginning wireless developer.

It's a poorly written book.
Finally I learn this hard lesson: One who knows something DOES NOT necessarily know how to teach it.

I was attracted by the impressive background of the author, and it's part of SUN's Java series. But I am stunned by the poor quality of the book as a teach-yourself material. Come on, Mr. Piroumian, of course you know this is a book for Java learners, not a RFC, or API specification. But it reads like the latter.

I got my Java Programmer Certificate two years ago and consider myself an experienced Java programmer. But, I couldn't follow the book. It's that a hard and boring read. Those examples are dry, non-intuitive and useless in real world. After finishing the book, I still don't know how to do some quite simple tasks.

Very disappointed.

Sample code examples tough to use
A good introduction to j2me, but the links to download the code samples don't work, they go to an under construction apge, and no one will reply to emails to say when they will be available.

Average
I didn't find this book very helpful. What it refers to as "advanced topics" such as persistent storage and networking are basic concepts that aren't explained very clearly. Seems put together too quickly with only average coverage of j2me. ... Read more

Product Description

The purpose of network performance analysis is to investigate how traffic-management mechanisms deployed in the network affect the allocation of resources amongst its users and the performance they experience. This topic can be studied by the construction of models of traffic management mechanisms and observing how they perform by applying them to some flow of network traffic.

This useful volume introduces concepts and principles of network performance analysis by example, using the J programming language. J is rich in mathematical functionality, which makes it an ideal tool for analytical methods. The book favours a practical approach and develops functions in J to demonstrate mathematical concepts, thereby enabling readers to explore the underlying principles behind network performance analysis. In addition, this allows the subject to become more accessible to those who, although have a mathematical background, are not pure mathematicians.

Topics and features:

• Uses an example-driven approach to introduce the fundamentals of network performance analysis

• Provides a concise introduction to the J programming language

• Presents network calculus as a method for designing and engineering networks

• Focuses on statistical analysis and stochastic processes

• Demonstrates how to simulate traffic with both short-range and long-range dependence properties

• Covers ATM QoS, and examines Internet congestion control

Network Performance Analysis will equally appeal to network professionals and postgraduates studying the topic by providing valuable analytical tools and using J as a means of offering a practical treatment of the subject. Dr. Holt has a broad range of industry experience and now regularly lectures on this topic.

Customer Reviews (1)

Excellent
I have read this from cover to cover and it is an excellent text on the subject ... Read more

Product Description
With MICROSOFT WINDOWS 2000 ACTIVE DIRECTORY PROGRAMMING, developers get the hardcore, hands-on guidance they need to fully exploit the network directory services in the Windows 2000 operating system. The book delivers a concise, conceptual introduction to the technology, then plunges into the how-to's for building powerful distributed applications that use the Active Directory service and the Active Directory Service Interfaces (ADSI). Developers working with the Microsoft Visual C++ and Visual Basic development environments get practical instruction on how to "directory enable" their Windows applications-including how to take advantage of Active Directory support inActive Server Pages. Network administrators will find useful coverage and examples geared to their needs, learning how to use ADSI with Windows Scripting and VBScript to automate common administrative tasks. Each chapter examines a different facet of programming with Active Directory, with code samples suitable for real-world applications. All the book's code is packed onto the companion CD-ROM, along with the ADSI Software Developer Kit and helpful utilities so readers can study and reuse them in their own projects. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (12)

Only one problem with this book,It need a security Chain.
I have found only one problem with this book.It needs a security chain built in to lock it to my desk.It has an annoying tendency to get barrowed when I am not ask my desk.

I would suggest that Amazon bundles it with "how to train your Doberman to guard your computer books"

I would recommend that any who likes this book, check out Charles Oppermanns other book that is the sequel of this integrated with dot.net.It is here at Amazon under the title "Programming Directory Services with Microsoft .Net and Xml".

The only problem is that Microsoft canceled it.

Maybe if enough of us ask for them to release it....

I have taken a lot of information in this book and integrated it with dot.net on my own.But it's my belief that we need the Sequel.

Joe.

First look at Active Directory
This is an expert guide with excellent examples.I would have
liked sample code in one language.Not enough information on COM
(BSTR) and LDAP.

Microsoft Windows 2000 Active Directory Programming
As a newcommer to ADSI by being "thrown into the arena" by the departure of another programmer, I found this book to be an excellent starting point to not only clear up problems I was having with my "inherited" programs, but also by seeing the power of AD and how to work with it programmatically, I was given ideas for additional features in existing programs and also for a couple of new tools to make life for our help desk people a bit easier.

Great book!
I recently needed a book to get started doing some ADSI programming, this helped me achieve what I needed.

Flawed by a lack of focus
There is a lot of good AD information in this book, but a lack of focus makes you wade through too much extraneous information.The author continually get sidetracked, for instance two pages are spent discussing Visual Basic's On Error mechanism and a straightforward error reporting function; a full page on how C++ handles strings with _TCHAR; too much time explaining Windows Scripting Host, including emphasis boxes; etc.This 417 page book could have imparted the same AD knowledge in about 300 pages.

Finally, my plea to all future authors - enough with the 5-20 page explanation of COM.If someone is not a COM developer yet, your mini-thesis is not going to make the difference.There are plenty of excellent texts for new developers.This author takes it to the extreme, continually going over fundamental COM issues (BSTR's, FAILED(), etc.) throughout the book.Choose a target audience, preferrably a COM knowledgeable developer, and focus all explanations on that target audience.

All that being said, it's not a bad book, it just pressed all my personal hot buttons repeatedly. ... Read more

Product Description
This collection of current research on logic programming languages presents results from a three-year, ESPRIT-funded effort to explore the integration of the foundational issues of functional, logic, and object-oriented programming. It offers valuable insights into the fast-developing extensions of logic programming with functions, constraints, concurrency, and objects. Chapters are grouped according to the unifying themes of functional programming, constraint, logic programming, and object-oriented programming.K. R. Apt and J. W. de Bakker are Professors and J.J. M. M. Rutten is Research Scientist, all at the Centrum voor Wiskinde en Informatica in Amsterdam. ... Read more

Product Description
The job of the constraint programmer is to use mathematical constraints to model real world constraints and objects. In this book, Kim Marriott and Peter Stuckey provide the first comprehensive introduction to the discipline of constraint programming and, in particular, constraint logic programming. The book covers the necessary background material from artificial intelligence, logic programming, operations research, and mathematical programming. Topics discussed range from constraint-solving techniques to programming methodologies for constraint programming languages. Because there is not yet a universally used syntax for constraint logic programming languages, the authors present the programs in a way that is independent of any existing programming language. Practical exercises cover how to use the book with a number of existing constraint languages.

Related course material in Powerpoint format (Win95)

Programs from the book in ASCII format ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Very good introduction
This book is one of the few devoted to constraint programming, and does a good job of introducing the field to those interested. Optimization problems are finding use of constraint programming and there are a few commercial packages available that implement constraint programming technique in optimization. The book can be used as a textbook of an actual course, since there are many exercises included in it. The authors encourage the reader to use the CLP(R) package, which is freely available, to solve some of the practical exercises.

After a brief introduction to constraint programming, the authors introduce three types of constraints that exist in constraint programming, namely arithmetic, tree, and finite domain. They also introduce three operations involving constraints: satisfiability, simplification, and optimization. The authors spend most of the chapter on the question of satisfiability. Constraints are defined from the standpoint of mathematical logic, along with what it means for them to be satisfiable, and a discussion on modeling with arithmetic constraints and constraint satisfaction is given with an example from electric circuits. Tree constraints are then discussed with an example of a C-language binary tree used to motivate the discussion. Boolean constraints are then discussed, along with sequence constraints, which are shown to have an interesting application to DNA mapping and decoding. An application to artificial intelligence is given, and this one involves constraints that are not taken from mathematics. The authors

finish the chapter with a discussion of constraint solving using local propagation, a technique used in graph theory.

The authors discuss the simplification and optimization of constraints in the next chapter. They show when constraints are redundant, give rules for deciding when one constraint is equivalent to another, and show how using projection can allow the simplifying of a constraint with respect to the variables of interest. When projection cannot be done, they then show how to add variables to a constraint in order to achieve simplification. The (polynomial-time) Dantzig simplex algorithm is discussed for problems with linear real arithmetic constraints. Algorithms are discussed for deciding when two constraints are equivalent or when one implies the other.

In chapter 3, the authors discuss constraint problems for the case where the constraint domain is a finite set. The arc and node consistency, bounds propagation, and integer programming techniques, familiar from AI and operations research, are discussed in detail. The famous N-queens problem is introduced as motivation for the constraint satisfaction problem. The free-ware Prolog package ECLiPSe is introduced in the practical exercises. The authors give references to an interesting application of constraint satisfaction problems to planning gene-splicing experiments (the MOLGEN system).

The next part of the book concerns the constraint logic programming (CLP) paradigm wherein the authors define constraint logic programs and programming techniques. The reader familiar with logic programming (Prolog for example), will clearly see the influence of ideas from that area, such as rules, goals, rewriting, and derivations. An interesting and useful example of applying CLP to the modeling of options trading is given. Also, the authors show how to employ some of the more common data structures, such as lists and binary trees into CLP. In addition, they show how one can measure the efficiency of a CLP program, and how to improve it using various programming techniques to reduce the search space. The authors show how CLP can be implemented for both cases of infinite and finite domain constraints.

In the last part of the book the authors discuss other ways of viewing constraint logic programs, such as thinking it in terms of a database, called a constraint database. The discussion is very interesting, for the authors show how they are generalizations of the standard databases, and they show how the usual evaluation techniques in CLP, such as backtracking, must be generalized if one is to efficiently implement constraint databases. This "bottom-up" evaluation is compared with the "top-down"; approach usually employed. They show in great detail how constraint databases are a natural generalization of relational databases. They also show how CLP can be generalized to the case of concurrent constraint programming, where agents can execute concurrently and communicate via some global constraint in memory. In addition, they give a brief overview of how CLP can be implemented into the functional and imperative programming paradigms. They mention the use of various commercial packages for doing constraint programming, such as Mathematica, Maple, Macsyma, and ILOG SOLVER. Since the time of publication a very powerful commercial package, called ILOG OPL has appeared.

The applications of constraint programming are mushrooming, and I have found it to be a very powerful tool for example in network modeling and simulation, and in mathematical portfolio analysis, although sometimes one must be patient because of performance.The programming methodologies used are different than the usual ones, but I find them to be very effective for program transparency and economy of thought. Others have also apparently found constraint programming to be useful, for example the problem of protein structure prediction has recently made heavy use of constraint programming techniques. Other recent uses of CLP include a system for transport planning and scheduling for a large food industry, a system for a TV/radio company to plan and control the assignment of journalists and technicians to different emissions, and a system to develop work plans and schedules for train drivers and conductors, optimal planning of digital cordless communication systems, and nuclear fuel transportation and scheduling.

This is the best book on the subject.
So simple, straight forward, highly comprehensive but elegant bok on this subject is rarely available. Most topics covered in the book are readable with almost no effort. This is due to the authors' inherent capability ofpresentation. The foundation of the book rests on constraint simplificationand optimization(chapter 2). Definitions are clear with adequate examples.Chapter 4 to 10 deal with Constraint Logic Programming. Here the authorsfocuss various important issues that are needed to researchers in thisdomain.Many applications in these chapters are highlighted to introduce theconcepts. The last 2 chapters deal with constraint databases and concurrentconstraint programming languages. Though it is a monograph readers ofgeneral interest in AI will find the chapters 1-4 useful and highlyreadable for knowing the state-of-the-art of this subject. ... Read more

Product Description

This comprehensive guide covers the C++ programming language 2.1 and itsio stream library. It also discusses the pre 2.1 versions of the languageand also how pre-ANSI C and ANSI C differ from C++. It offers completecoverage of the new features provided in the C++ programming language,including multiple inheritance, so the reader can incorporate thesefeatures into their C programming style. This manual will benefitapplication programmers who need to expand their knowledge of C++ as wellas software engineers such as graphics, database, systems, network andtechnical managers.

Customer Reviews (4)

Still (2004) one of the best introductions to C++
I've been using this book since 1992, and I have yet to find a book that covers so much so precisely and so concisely (about 450 pages). For mature C programmers who want to get into C++, this is the perfect introduction, if there is ever one. If you don't know C, or if you are a novice C programmer, this is _not_ for you. It is clear, to the point and presents code that clearly highlights the concepts. Chapter 6 alone is worth the price of the book. Example: What are the three situations under which the memberwise initialization function is created [by the compiler] and called? If you have read one of those "thick" intro books and don't know the answer, you'll appreciate the clarity and directness of this book. The authors clearly explain why things work the way they do. They also separate what is fact from what is their preference.The production values are high; code in easy to spot boldface, and all white space is there. Within the confines of its target and the page limit, it is a superb book. To master C++ [and its STL], you'll need several books, a lot of studying and a lot of time. But, this one will put you on the right track.

Chapters:
1. Introduction to C++
2. Non Object-Oriented Extensions to C++
3. Overview of Data Abstraction and Object-Oriented Features
4. Fundamental Concepts and Building Blocks
5. Classes and Abstract Data Types
6. Constructors and Destructors
7. Friend Functions and Operator Overloading
8. References
9. Inheritance and Virtual Functions
10.Conversions
11.Input and Output - iostream Library
12.File and In-Core I/O
13.Manipulators
14.Formatted Stream I/O
15.Porting C Applications to C++
Appendix A:Program Sizeof
Appendix B:Program to determine implicit conversions
Appendix C:iostream Library Synopsis
Index

A clear and concise intermediate to higher level text.
This is an excellent book, and it's sad that it hasn't been updated with a second edition. I certainly expected to find one by now, as I've had my copy for several years.

As an 'old timer' C programmer looking for a conversion course I found the book to be written at just the right level. When C is brought into the picture it is to compare and contrast, and not as ab initio text. So the book is not at all suitable for beginners, or for those who do not have hands-on experience with C. In fact it is exactly what it says it is in the title, and a refreshing change from some lesser texts that promise more.

I particularly like the way this book explains the underlying mechanisms of C++, but in a machine independent way. I've had no problems using the examples with Borland C++ Builder (in a command line environment), and found the best way to learn C++ was to modify, and play with, the extensive code examples.

There are a few typos, but these are fairly obvious and don't detract too much. Contrary to other reports I've found the index to be quite adequate, and I have used it (and continue to use it) extensively. Because of the typos and the failure to update I'd like to give it 4.5 stars, but will have to settle for a good 4.

As to whether the book is good value for money: Well admittedly it is not as thick as some tomes, but there is little padding, and almost every page has been useful at some point. My copy cost the equivalent of about $40 in England, and that was $40 well spent!

not good
This book is really pretty bad.The index is TERRIBLE.Buy the Lippman book.

Price is too expensive for a 1992 version of C++
The authors are excellent educators and extremely knowledgeable of the C++ subject matter.This is an excellent text book for anyone wanting to gain a explicit knowledge of C++.. Relative to comparable texts available on the C++ paradigm, the listed price of $51.00 seems to be out of line with most contemporary literature on this subject.Unfortunately, the listed price is definitely a deterent for purchasing this item ... Read more

Product Description
The most complete guide available on the practical applications of UNIX Threads—one of the most exciting breakthroughs in advanced computing. The first part covers multiprocessing and multithreading then progresses to more difficult programming problems. Details the application programming interface with numerous C language examples. Includes reference material essential to support the programming principles. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

Good book but no online source
very good book on Thread programming for beginners as well as advance developers. But without the online software its doing a dis-service to the book !

The book gives the web site which has the software but that's incorrect.

Concepts are very well covered
Well written book with lot of details. If a CD was included or if a web site was given to find the source code it would have been better.

Where's the source code?
Despite the fact that this book covered the subject at a level I found to be appropriate, the lack of source code availability severely restricts the usefulness of this book. In this day and age, not providing the source codeis inexcusable. There are other equally good sources of information on thissubject, source code included.

OK, but too low-level. Source for examples NOT available!
Source code for the examples is NOT available via the Internet, as the book states. Publisher/Author acknowledges this. This book is geared more toward systems/low-level programming use of UNIX threads rather than application level use of threads. This book is written on an advanced level. It does provide thorough explanations of the principles of threads programming. ... Read more

Product Description
Part of the new Cracking the Code Series, Wireless Programming with J2ME provides a look at the code behind wireless Java applications.

Think of J2ME as a tiny version of Java specifically for mobile devices -- perfect for bringing powerful, robust applications to mobile phone, pagers, PDAs, and other handhelds. Writing applications for handheld and mobile devices is different than regular Java programming. Mobile developers have to deal with limited screen real estate, bandwidth and computing power. This book covers six wireless applications complete with Flow Diagrams and line-by-line code description. It covers all of J2ME including CDC,CLDC and MIDP with an emphasis on practical code. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Some good descriptions but confusing overall
Some of the examples in the book are pretty good but for the most part it jumps from subject to subject. Definately not good for beginners and an experienced J2ME programmer would probably find this book to be way off track.

Dont Buy it
Please dont buy this book.I spent a long time trying to make one of its projects work.The author is not at all clear about what they want to say.one of the worst books on the matket.please dont buy this book. ... Read more

Product Description
Programmers who want to move from SPSS to SAS now have a great resource to help them make that transition. Written by the authors of The Little SAS Book: A Primer, Coming to SAS from SPSS: A Programming Approach focuses on topics of special interest to SPSS programmers. The authors discuss differences in terminology, show how to move SPSS data files into SAS, and then give examples illustrating reports and analyses of likely interest to SPSS users. After reading Coming to SAS from SPSS, users will wish they had made the change sooner! ... Read more

Product Description
Provides a complete guide to multithreaded development with the Java 2 platform.Covers the underlying structures upon which threads are built, thread construction, and thread lifecycles, including birth, life, death, and cancellation. Softcover. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (13)

Fascinating, flawed but essential
This is the only book I have seen that thoroughly covers how threads are implemented in a modern OS and how this affects how code runs. It's certainly the most useful book on threading I have. It's a good book to buy after you've written some concurrent code and have some problems.

It's not a Java book - it's a platform focused
multithreading book. It could do with some restructuring to make it more accessible.

Great under-the-hood book for experienced developers
This was the first threading book I read--which turned out to be a huge mistake.The material is very dense and only a small part of it is Java. Most of the book deals with operating system threading concepts. There is a lot of space dedicated to contrasting MS vs. Unix threading models. Also, comparisons between Java and c threading.

If you are looking for a solid beginner book on Java threading (or threading in general), I highly recommend Concurrency: State Models & Java Programs. This is the second threading book I read and I highly recommend it if your goal is to _understand_ thread theory and problems. It approaches the subject in a very rigorous manner and models all concepts using finite state machines and then showing the Java source code.

If you are already comfortable with basic threading concepts and some systems programming then I would recommend the Multithreaded Programming with Java Technology.

I deducted a star because of a few annoying typos and for a few convoluted sections.

Little to do with Java besides the title
That this book was a member of the Sun Java series was the primary reason make me take a look at this book.

I have been highly disappointed. This body of work for this book is primarly a rushed port of the authors other title - named, funnily enough Multithreaded Programming with PThreads.

The Java topics seem to be bolted on as an after-thought - and makes the book read and present very badly. For example a good amount of examples are presented in C not Java, demonstrating POSIX threading!

The author is also in the bad habit of presenting material out-of-order, so that the reader has to wait sometimes 50 pages for clarification. This does not breed suspense, merely frustation at the disorder.

The low-level OS technical coverage is quite adequate - with a good explanation of LWP and POSIX threading (if only this is what I bought the book for!).

The author is clearly a C type who has come to Java and tries to basically recreate the semantics of C POSIX threading in Java... while at the same time constantly drifting back to a topic that he is clearly more comfortable with - PThreads.

This is hardly an embracing approach for a book with the word Java in the title - an obvious cash-in on the behalf of the publisher, Prentice Hall.

Do not buy this book.

it cover de ground mon, and a lot more too.
Any book on multithreading this well written and illustrated and going from test-and-set to volatile- well mon, you gots to
understand what you getting- the very best. Mucho kudos to the
writers and their collaborators- power players if there ever were power players. I give it a ten.

Disorganized Mess
I purchased this book hoping to develop a deeper understanding of multi-threading, the proverbial under-the-hood down androll-your-sleeves-up nitty gritty. Frankly this book left mequite disappointed. It's poorly organized and poorly editted.While I am sure it has some valuable content, the lowreadability level and very poor organization (it really gives the impression that it was sort of patched together) preventedme from ever getting into it. In my humble opinion, the book

"Taming Java Threads" by Allen Holub is a fare better choice if you want to master Java threads. ... Read more

Product Description
This book is designed for a first course in nonlinear optimization. It starts with classical optimization notions from calculus and proceeds smoothly to a study of convex functions. This is followed by material on basic numerical methods, least squares, Karush-Kuhn-Tucker theory, penalty functions, and Lagrange multipliers. The book has been tested in the classroom; the approach is rigorous at all times and geometric intuition is developed. The numerical methods are up-to-date. The presentation emphasizes the mathematical ideas behind computer codes. The book is aimed at the student who has a working knowledge of linear algebra and partial differentiation but has had no previous exposure to optimization. Mathematics instructors will be comfortable with the mathematical approach which deemphasizes recipes and emphasizes understanding underlying concepts. There are many exercises chosen to highlight the fundamental ideas. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Peressini and Sullivan are not enough to make you Uhl
This book takes an unusual path to the usual results in optimization. Though refreshing in some ways, the standard results--Kuhn-Tucker conditions for non-convex programs--are not achieved until the last chapter. Little of the preceeding six chapters can be skipped without ruining this development! D.M. Greig, by comparison, develops this result in her first chapter, in a book at a comparable level. With Peressini et al, you sink weeks into learning restricted convex programs; an interesting niche, but one best studied once the main results are in hand.

Excellent first book on nonlinear programming.
I am a graduate student, working on a PhD in Optimization (nonlinear programming).This book provides an excellent first exposure to the field of nonlinear programming.It is full of "easily visualizable" 2or 3 dimensional examples, which greatly aid in the development of strongintuition.Although the intended level of this book is the advancedundergraduate level, it serves as a very thorough and useful companion toany graduate text.This book almost single-handedly helped me pass myqualifying exam in optimization, mostly because it "made all of thepieces fit together."

I heartily recommend it to _anyone_interested in learning about nonlinear programming. ... Read more

Product Description

Guzdial introduces programming as a way of creating and manipulating media—a context familiar and intriguing to today's readers. Starts readers with actual programming early on. Puts programming in a relevant context (Computing for Communications). Includes implementing Photoshop-like effects, reversing/splicing sounds, creating animations. Acknowledges that readers in this audience care about the Web; introduces HTML and covers writing programs that generate HTML. Uses the Web as a Data Source; shows readers how to read from files, but also how to write programs to directly read Web pages and distill information from there for use in other calculations, other Web pages, etc. (examples include temperature from a weather page, stock prices from a financials page). A comprehensive guide for anyone interested in learning the basics of programming with one of the best web languages, Python.

Customer Reviews (5)

Good entry level book
This book takes that you have some basic understanding of computer programs, but is very introductory.

Very Nice Hands-on Multimedia Book for Learning Python
Not knowing Python, I read the book from cover to cover, doing many of the examples as interactive exercises.The book comes with a CD and includes a bunch of files (.jpg, .wav, .html) to experiment with (same files as the examples in the book).So, right off the bat, the reader is engaged in the material.

The CD that comes with the book runs on any PC and is easy to install and use.Because it's a multimedia-based book and self-study course, you get to do neat things like:

- manipulate images (.jpg files):understand bit representations of colors in a pixel, loop through pixels in an image, change colors in a photo, create a sunset (darken, lighten), convert to grayscale, remove red eye, repair photos, perform mirroring (symmetry in a photo)

- manipulate sounds (.wav files):understand the bit representation of sounds; view signals; change the volume; sample sounds at various rates; create echoes; splice sounds together; and learn a bit about compression, MP3, and MIDI

- manipulate strings and html pages:scrape Web pages for specific data and create your own Web pages based on the data you've pulled from other pages, perform string searches, work with files, deal with lookup tables (dictionaries) to act as primitive databases

- manipulate videos (series of .jpg images): there are tools on the CD that let you create simple animations (including fade outs and chroma key) and see how a stream of images combines to form a simple 3-second video

Overall, it's a great book, and a fun way to learn programming.

strong image analysis
Guzdial teaches Python from the angle that you want to use it to easily manipulate various types of multimedia files. The files might contain images, sounds, video or even just plain text. This gives some of you extra motivation to learn the material.

Along the way, you can learn how images are encoded in JPG, and how colours are represented, either in RGB or HSB. There is a fair amount of image analysis and modifications that can be easily done in Python. This does not approach the sophistication of what Photoshop provides. But being able to do a lot yourself, instead of invoking canned Photoshop routines, might appeal to you.

Audio manipulation is also covered, though perhaps not as extensively. There are more specialised audio tools available elsewhere, especially for music synthesis.

The discussion of movies is very weak. Due to the complexity of what is required. Here I suggest you turn to what Apple and others offer.

best python as a first language book so far
This book achieves both of the things you would want a Python as a first language book to do - it engages the beginner with things they might actually want to do, but doesn't fail to introduce the deeper concepts that are needed to come to appreciate the beauty and elegance of Python.

Focusing on computing applications in the arts, this book uses a clever approach to enable the beginner to do really interesting stuff, very quickly. There are things in there that would be of interest to any photographer, not just a software beginner.

Yes, Photoshop is faster and easier, but it hasn't got this level of control! If you ever wanted to write your own Photoshop plugins, this book might be of interest just as an alternative way to get to design your own effects.

The end of the book gets carried away, trying to pack too much in. It tries to explain OOP and Swing, HTML, Javascript and SQL. I think this is too much to get into one book, and if you are working through the text yourself without any mentors you should probably not give yourself too much grief if you don't get all the way through it.

Admittedly, it is also pretty darned expensive.

Otherwise great stuff! This book fills a gaping hole in the Python literature. If you are an intelligent beginner, it is a great place to get started in getting real control over your computer!

Great Book
Guzdial presents concepts in simple form that is easy for beginners to understand. Actually entertaining to read. Worth every penny! ... Read more

Product Description
A quick guide to everything anyone would want to know about the soaringly popular Internet programming language, Python. Provides an introduction to new features introduced in Python 1.6, and topics covered include regular expressions, extending Python, and OOP. The CD-ROM includes the source code for all of the examples in the text. Softcover. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (38)

This book takes you nowhere...
As a UNIX/linux shell programmer for 20 years, this book took me nowhere... I'm not sure what the author had in mind, but it wasn't for python programming. That's for sure... The scam of writing "really bad books" has to stop. Next time I will not waste my money but check it out from my local library. I just made a calculation, and only 20% of programming books I have purchased are good. The remaining 80% (like this one) are plainly junk.

Excellent reference for Python
Summary: Core Python Programming lives next to my keyboard.

Having been programming, in a scientific role, for a decade, I recently took up Python. This book was the text used with a short course on Python I took, and I can see why. As other reviewers have said, Python has excellent documentation; what the Python documentation usually lacks is both practical examples and an explanation of why. This book gives both of those things and in a very readable way. It's been the fastest and simplest way for me to get to grips with object-oriented concepts, and has been a great reference for most things I've needed to do.

Drawbacks: If you've never programmed before, this probably isn't for you - perhaps try Beginning Python: From Novice to Professional, Second Edition, which covers programming fundamentals while teaching you Python. For those with a little more background, I really like Dive Into Python 3 (free under a GNU license, so Google it). For experienced Python programmers, this perhaps doesn't have sufficient depth as it's not specialized in any one area. If you want to learn Python for basic data analysis and visualization (without a need/desire to do more), then go for Beginning Python Visualization: Crafting Visual Transformation Scripts (Books for Professionals by Professionals).

This really is a good CORE Python book. It's not really a beginner's guide, or a specialist text on any given niche topic. It's a great reference and that's it.

Avoid this textbook pretender--ANNOYED
I purchased this book from a bricks and morter bookstore and after spending a frustrating week with it realized the the annoying habit of the author presenting a snippet of code and then coping-out when it came to adding anything that would make it possible to invoke the snippet (read, to make it ACTUALLY useful). He would announce that HE LEFT THAT EXERCISE FOR THE READER.
Really?
Either he has delusions of someone using this book as textbook (not a chance) or he is just too lazy.
I RETURNED THE BOOK, and by the way, I NEVER WRITE REVIEWS. That's how annoyed I was with this book.

Excellent
This is by far the best of the five Python books I have, and one of the best general programming books I've read.The book covers every aspect of Python, from basic syntax to regular expressions, object-oriented programming, database manipulation, GUI development, and Jython.The numerous examples are compact and emphasize the topic being presented.And Wesley Chun explains the philosophy behind Python and how to make programs more "Pythonesque."

So-so
I bought this after reading its review on Slashdot, but I'm a little disappointed. Sometimes Chun just gives code with no explanation, and other times he glosses over examples of how to use things in favor of prose. I've also found some typos, perhaps the most amusing of which is his repeatedly calling Python creator Guido van Rossum "van Rossum Guido" in one part of the book.

I haven't read any other Python books, but even if this one really is a best-of-breed, IMHO it is just so-so.

Hence, I decided after about 400 pages to read other things instead. I got what I wanted out of it, after supplementing with a couple side projects to fill in the gaps with hands-on experience and the official docs. ... Read more

Product Description
Developmental programming is a rapidly advancing discipline of great importance to basic scientists and health professionals alike. This text integrates, for the first time, contributions from world experts to explore the role of the placenta in developmental programming. The book considers the materno-fetal supply line, and how perturbations of placental development impact on its functional capacity. Chapters examine ways in which environmental, immunological and vascular insults regulate expression of conventional and imprinted genes, along with their impact on placental shape and size, transport, metabolism and endocrine function. Research in animal models is integrated with human clinical and epidemiological data, and questions for future research are identified. Transcripts of discussions between the authors allow readers to engage with controversial issues. Essential reading for researchers in placental biology and developmental programming, as well as specialists and trainees in the wider field of reproductive medicine. ... Read more

Product Description
In software engineering there is a growing need for formalization as a basis for developing powerful computer assisted methods. This volume contains seven extensive lectures prepared for a series of IFIP seminars on the Formal Description of Programming Concepts. The authors are experts in their fields and have contributed substantially to the state of the art in numerous publications. The lectures cover a wide range in the theoretical foundations of programming and give an up-to-date account of the semantic models and the related tools which have been developed in order to allow a rigorous discussion of the problems met in the construction of correct programs. In particular, methods for the specification and transformation of programs are considered in detail. One lecture is devoted to the formalization of concurrency and distributed systems and reflects their great importance in programming. Further topics are the verification of programs and the use of sophisticated type systems in programming. This compendium on the theoretical foundations of programming is also suitable as a textbook for special seminars on different aspects of this broad subject. ... Read more