Product Description

In additionto its careful expository prose, Learning Python includesexercises that both test your Python skills and help reveal moreelusive truths about the language. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (161)

Not "LEARNING" Python; more like: REFERENCING Python
If you have any type of programming background (in my case, quite a lot of bash, awk, some perl, some java, a little of this and that in-between) and are looking for anything resembling a comprehensive tutorial on learning python, you'll find yourself quickly infuriated with this book. As a reference, it's pretty good. As "LEARNING PYTHON" it is incredibly inadequate... And God help the poor shmoe who tries to learn Python as their first language from this book. Here are the basic problems:

First of all, one does not learn how to program in a new language until you ACTUALLY start programming in said language. O'Reilly books generally take one of two approaches in this respect: Very hands on or very run-down-ish (for experienced programmers, the main features of the language are described in great detail that borders on comprehensive for the scope of an introductory text, and then end of chapter tests and exercises force you to employ this knowledge). Not only will it take dozens of hours (perhaps 4, maybe 2) of PURE UNADULTERATED READING (with more "more on this basic function of programming much, much later" which is a nice way to say: YOU STILL CAN'T USE ANYTHING I'VE TOLD YOU after a WEEK OF PURE READING), the vast majority of the first 300 pages is incomplete even as a reference. I mean, I understand the learning process, and how an author has to strike a careful balance between comprehensiveness of the material versus the skill level of the student, but EVERY SINGLE TEACHABLE MOMENT of the first 230 some odd pages is completely wasted, asking the reader to endure more (incomplete - because everything that would make anything familiar/usable to anyone with programming experience is always 400 pages away) basic gibberish. And it's not even COMPREHENSIVE GIBBERISH.

A book for beginners that's written in this fashion should either be comprehensive enough so that they can start coding with the information that they've learned, or be so obtuse as to deserve inclusion in the O'Reilly "In A Nutshell" series (which I have great respect for, btw). Regardless: it does not deserve the title of "Learning Python," as it fails to teach programming to either intermediate level programmers or beginners in any meaningful way; beware all ye who enter here with the goal of actually "learning python."

I don't HATE this book, but I don't like it at all; it lives in a distant bookshelf as a reference. Anyone who buys it hoping to 'LEARN PYTHON' will probably find themselves served better by google searches for freely available python documentation and tutorials. To that end, I have (charitably) given it 2 stars.

Utterly verbose, not structured
I am completely disappointed by this book. It has no structure. In most of the cases writer starts a concept and left it in the middle stating that we will look this in next chapter. It creates confusion in the learners mind. Everything was repeated 4-5 times and there is not link between concepts.
I will not recommend this book to any one.

An overly wordy and very narrow/arrogant view of programming
This book is twice is big as it needs to be. It seems the author wants to boast about how awesome he is at Python; quote "after teaching Python to roughly 225 groups and over 3000 students during the last 12 years blah blah blah". As a result, he goes on and on about how awesome Python is and how it can be used for everything.

The worst part however is that this arrogant narrow minded view of programming is limited to just Python. Meaning if you look in the index for the word "array" you can't find it????? Why, because in Python they're called lists! Seriously, how pathetic is that?

I once had a Visual Basic instructor who thought he was so awesome cause he knew VB. I remember mentioning the word "float" and the super confused look that came over his face. Why? Because in VB, floats are called singles.

So the point I'm trying to make here is, the world is much bigger than Python (or VB), and it's wrong to mislead new programmers into thinking that this is the one and only language they will ever need to know. Python serves its purpose, just as C++, assembly and PHP do, to name a few.

I did much better just going to online tutorials in Python, and I'm well on my way to using the worlds greatest programming language.

P.S. The review was written in Perl, invoked through a bash shell script :)

Wordy, repetitive, disorganized, with at least one inexcusable error at teaching OOP
I don't understand why 5-star reviews have the highest number for this book.A lot of the 5-star reviews are one-liners that simply say "this book is great" without giving concrete reasons.

I want to echo other reviewers' comments that this book is wordy, repetitive, disorganized.That is so true when I tried to learn Python from this book.After hundreds of pages, one still can't write a small program with functions and control structure.That is simply ridiculous.

I thought my biggest problem with this book was its verbosity, but now i knew that the biggest problem is that it gives the impression of completeness in introducing OOP with the 200+ pages (longest of all introductory Python books), yet it manages to omit one important topic in OOP: the built-in super() function.

On page 654:

Person.giveRaise(...)

This is where the super() function can be first introduced to improve the hardcoded class name Person, like this:

super(Manager, self).giveRaise(...)

or like this in 3.x:

super().giveRaise(...)

But the author did not mention it.

Again in page 659:

Person.__init__(...)

This is the second place where the super() function can be introduced to improve the hardcoded class name Person, like this:

super(Manager, self).__init__(...)

or like this in 3.x:

super().__init_(...)

But the author again failed to introduce it.

In calling a method or the constructor of a superclass, this use of super(...) instead of hardcoding class name ("Person") is indisputably the correct way of using OOP in Python.After all, one benefit of OOP and a general principle of software design are not hardcoding things to avoid maintenance problems.

Yet, in the remaining 150+ pages of OOP coverage since page 659, there is absolutely no mention of this correct usage of super(), and the hardcoded Person.__init__(...) was left as the final, ultimate, "good" way of calling superclasses's constructor, in the opinion of the author.For example, in a later OOP chapter, Chapter 30 (page 739), the author continued to use hardcoded superclass name like Employee.__init__(...) to demonstrate how to call superclass constructors.At this point, his ignorance of the correct usage of super() is evident.

The author at the beginning of Chapter 27 said that he will teach beginner OOP programmers step by step how to actually code OOP correctly instead of just understanding OOP on paper, and he indeed gave an actual coding example using the Person and the Manager classes, from step1 through step7 to gradually improve it (from the bad way to the good way), but alas, he omits the super() usage in the end, which is the only good way.His attempt at teaching OOP clearly failed.

This is an inexcusable omission of OOP in a book that spends 200+ pages on OOP and covers more advanced OOP concepts than super().the super() built-in function was introduced in Python 2.x, and is later improved in 3.x.Its omission in this book really boggles me.

See how some other superior Python introductory books and reference books deal with super():

The Quick Python Book (Ceder): half page coverage, but better than nothing.
Programming Python 3 (Summerfield): super() used dozens of times in this code-filled book, and called out in index 7 times.
Beginning Python - From Novice to Professional (Hetland): super() clearly mentioned in 3 pages, and its history from 2.x old-style class to 2.x new-style class to 3.x super() is clearly mentioned too.The author also recommends the 3.x argument-less super() in a sidebox for good reasons.
Python Essential Reference (Beazley): super() appears in 3 places: code example in OOP chapters, built-in function reference section, and "what's new in 3.x" section.In the built-in function reference section, the with-argument version of super() is clearly explained.

Too wordy and not enough exercises
Learning Python is written by an expert in Python training, and it shows.The author fully explains each language feature, pointing out common mistakes beginners make, and explaining the finer points repetitively. The author carefully details the inner workings of Python from the ground up, explaining in great detail how objects are combined to form expressions, which in turn form statements, which are packaged as functions in modules.

The problem with this approach is that it's only until part III of the book, at about page 300, that the reader finally has enough information to write useful programs. Worse, there are not enough programming exercises for the reader to practice all of the nuances that are explained so carefully again and again. The result is that it's hard to apply the theoretical knowledge about Python learned from the book into the practice of writing Python programs, and without writing code it is difficult to retain the information presented in the book.

The book should have fewer explanations and more exercises, because the experience of writing code will drive home a point more thoroughly than explaining it many times over. While reading the book, I started working on problems from Project Euler and the Python Challenge to help me solidify the knowledge I was tenuously grasping from just reading the numerous and tedious explanations. This practical programming experience helped, but I would have preferred the author to give exercises that were crafted specifically to clarify the subtleties of the book's explanations.

Perhaps the best aspect of the book is that it covers all the basics of Python as well as a few advanced topics. One of the problems with O'Reilly's books for beginning Perl programmers is that basic material is split over multiple volumes. Although this is not a cheap book, at least it covers enough material to be worth the cost. It covers all the basics of the language Python, although it does not cover commonly used libraries, such as the regular expression library.

This is a well written book with very clearly written and detailed explanations, and those who read it and do the exercises will be able to program in Python. I'm not sure how many of the explanations will be retained by readers who do not carefully put into practice the nuances of Python right after reading the book. ... Read more

Product Description
This is the second edition of John Zelle's Python Programming, updated for Python 3.This book is designed to be used as the primary textbook in a college-level first course in computing. It takes a fairly traditional approach, emphasizing problem solving, design, and programming as the core skills of computer science. However, these ideas are illustrated using a non-traditional language, namely Python.Although Python is used as the language, teaching Python is not the main point of this book. Rather, Python is used to illustrate fundamental principles of design and programming that apply in any language or computing environment. In some places, I have purposely avoided certain Python features and idioms that are not generally found in other languages. There are already many good books about Python on the market; this book is intended as an introduction to computing.Features include the following:*Extensive use of computer graphics.*Interesting examples.*Readable prose.*Flexible spiral coverage.*Just-in-time object coverage.*Extensive end-of-chapter problems. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (42)

python programming
When I ordered the book I expected it to come a little worse then what was advertised because the price was so low. However, I was pleasantly suprized when I recieved the book and it was still in it's original srink-wrapped package.

Beautiful and deep introduction to programming for the very first beginner

Zelle's "Python Programming" takes you smoothly and slowly through the art of programming and you also learn a little computer science. He uses a modern object oriented script language (Python) for this purpose: a surprisingly good choice for a first language. Python is clear and powerful and does not require you to learn bad habits too early.

If you are more advanced and just wanted to learn Python you will probably find the pace of Zelle way too slow. If you are the brilliant type you might want to read Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs - 2nd Edition (MIT Electrical Engineering and Computer Science). For all others I can fully recommend this Zelle's "Python Programming".

Great book...
For my whole life I've been meaning to "get around" to programming.But online tutorials could not teach me anything useful, and the introductory texts I had acquired through the years all told me one thing: that I shouldn't bother.Zelle, though, has written an outstanding introductory text to not only Python but also programming.He emphasizes what many authors do not - that programming is as much a way of thinking as it is a set of languages.To program effectively, one must problem solve.It is an obvious point oft ignored by other authors.Zelle hammers it home.After studying his book for just one week, I was able to code my own set of non-trivial and useful programs with minimal reference to his book or to a guide elsewhere.

What I don't like is that Zelle's discussion of graphic design relies upon a module of his own design (graphics.py) and NOT a standardized toolkit that a user would benefit from learning.Zelle's logic is that toolkits can overwhelm the beginning programmer and that any introductory text must include heavy discussion of graphic design (because graphic design is what interests most people).So he must figure out a way - and he writes a very good module - to teach GUI design to beginners.While I see Zelle's point, it was frustrating to use a module that Zelle himself admitted wouldn't be of much use down the road.

Ultimately, though, I highly recommend this book for beginners, as it will teach you to think like a programmer, and understanding that thought process is more important than mastering the syntax of any language.

not good for an introductory course in programming
I am a professor of computer science and specialize in teaching intro programming courses. I am currently considering several Python books for use in an introductory course with no prerequisite programming knowledge. I just read chapter 1 of this text and have already decided NOT to use it for my class.In chapter 1, the author manages to introduce machine code (never really explained), binary storage (never explained), the eval and input functions, for loops with "in" and mathematical chaos theory, all with little or no explanation and quite a few "we'll put this off until later" remarks, along with "this is complicated but don't worry if you don't understand it yet" statements.I can just imagine what my students would think of this.This book may be great for those who have *already* taken at least 1 programming course, or for graduate students who have a certain level of intellectual sophistication but don't know how to program yet, but for undergraduates in an intro course with no pre-reqs - there is no way I would subject my students to this level of confusion.There is a basic principle in teaching: before you can teach B, you must teach A to the level of understanding.

Update to a classic
I teach high school computer science and greatly welcomed the new edition to this classic book.Zelle has written a book that manages to serve two purposes quite well: 1) a good introduction to computer science, and 2) a good introduction to Python.

Sure, you could say that it could be better in one way or another, but any changes would push it more towards one of those purposes, and not really serve the other.As it stands, I believe this is the best book available for a high school computer science class.Zelle teaches good programming and encourages students to learn a "software development process" that will serve students well as they further explore programming and computer science.The clarity of Python ("pseudocode that runs") allows Zelle to focus on a strong programming foundation that will allow students to move on to other languages, including Java--the current language for the AP Computer Science exam.

Zelle has updated his graphics library for this edition, and this book covers Python 3.x.His graphics library is a great supplement to any class teaching Python to beginning programmers, and there is a nice reference to it in this text.The library module is, as always, released under an open source license (GPL).

Highly recommended. ... Read more

Product Description
The first edition of C Programming: A Modern Approach was popularwith students and facultyalike because of its clarity and comprehensiveness as well as itstrademark Q&Asections.Professor King's spiralapproach made it accessible to a broadrange ofreaders, frombeginners to more advanced students. With adoptions at over 225 colleges,the first edition was one of the leading C textbooks of thelast ten years.The secondedition maintains all the book's popularfeatures and brings it up todate with coverageof the C99standard. The new edition also adds a significant number of exercises and longer programming projects, andincludes extensive revisions and updates. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (55)

C Progamming - Great Book!
With about 800 pages of material this book covers both the C89 standard and the C99 standard. It also has about 500 exercises. In terms of how this book is structured it seems to be tailored for College students, as it has questions at the end of each chapter. Some of the questions are multiple choice, while some are structured questions. At the end of the book King discusses the differences between C89 and C99. He also provides C standard library functions supported in both C89 an C99.

Overall I would say this is a great book, just so you know the past edition of this book was used by over 225 Colleges, a clear sign that Professors from different Universities like King and his style of writing. If you are serious about learning C programming, this is the bookfor you!

C Programming: A Modern Approach, 2nd Edition

one of the excellent programming book
This book is one of the excellent programming book I've seen.
The explanation is very clear, and the examples are concise.
Also, most chapters refer to previous chapters minimally, so a reader can understand later chapters even if he skip some of the previous chapters.

This book works excellent for both a school textbook and a reference.

Great C Book
There are two C books you absolutely need to read. This one, and "Programming in C" by Stephen G Kochan. don't bother with the K&R C book - It's so outdated. I frequently hear people say that the only C book u need is the K&R book, but they're so wrong!

Learned more from this book than others I bought on the subject
This is a great book if you are learning C.It explains the "whys" better than any of the previous books I bought on the subject (3) and has Q&A as well as exercises to try out what you have learned from each chapter.Even though I read all the other reviews, I was still skeptical about the learning curve but this book really breaks it down well.The only downside is the exercises don't have answers to them and to get them you have to be a faculty member of a teaching institution.

C Programming: A Modern Approach
An excellent book for someone starting with C.
It covers everything and includes a library reference and some brilliant tips.
Quite an old publication but still totally relevant.
Recommended. ... Read more

Product Description
Programming Game AI by Example provides a comprehensive and practical introduction to the bread and butter AI techniques used by the game development industry, leading the reader through the process of designing, programming, and implementing intelligent agents for action games using the C++ programming language. Techniques covered include state- and goal-based behavior, inter-agent communication, individual and group steering behaviors, team AI, graph theory, search, path planning and optimization, triggers, scripting, scripted finite state machines, perceptual modeling, goal evaluation, goal arbitration, and fuzzy logic. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (38)

Great book
This is an exceptional book about Game AI, hands down.I purchased this book to get a better idea of how to program game AI without the usage of massive switch statements and this is the holy grail.Every example he offers in the book is a real world, down to earth application of a game AI.It covers pathing graphics as well as Finite state machines, with a branch into Fuzzy state machines as well.I highly recommend this book.It also provides a good scripting reference and usage for LUA scripters.Great book, worth the price indeed.

Very Good Book
The contents are varied and offer a very good insight of the different techniques to build AI. Thanks to this book I built my first AI engine from scratch and optimized it to use as little resources as possible. My games have a pretty challenging difficulty thanks to this book.
The theory is explained well even if just scratches the surface, but you can dig deep somewhere else if you want to go beyond what the game gives you. But in general I think this is a must have book

Solid examples, not just theory
The book has great examples for incorporating good artificial intelligence in games.The author knows how to organize code effectively, and if you're a beginner programmer with C++, you'll learn a few things there as well.I also like that the extra material for the book that is usually included as a CD in other books can be found online for download instead, so you don't have to worry if you're missing something when buying the book.

Some of things I've learned in the book include agent movement behavior, using finite state machines, and message handling for state changes.A good understanding of C++ or some object oriented language is a must.Otherwise, the author uses easy to understand language and relates the subject very well.

Excellent C++ AI Game Programming Book
The author does a great job of discussing and illustrating theory and then supporting that discussion with practical examples.

Great book, with logical progression, each chapter building and extending on the previous.

Topics covered are highly relevant to commercial games programming (steering behaviours, pathfinding, scripting, fuzzy logic).

An excellent read, and reference book - and the fact that it uses C++ and plenty of UML makes it even better.

Academia should consider this as a textbook for any course involved in games, AI, etc.

Congratulations Mat, an excellent book.

Good book, defiantly teaches by example
This is the book used in my AI and Data Structures programming class at DeVry University in their Game and Simulation Programming major. This book combined with my professor who's the lead software engineer for High Voltage, Inc. have made learning various AI concepts easier than I had imagined. The book has complete source code for various types of AI structures including a message based finite state machine that allows for easy creation of states, actors, and messages with easy to understand memory management functions. There's also a graphic based test board type of application that allows you to test how fast path search algorithms ranging from Depth First, Breadth First, Djikstras, and A* methods. There's also features to learn and experiment with different heuristic methods as well. The book is easy to read and the C++ code source is easy to follow and understand for a beginner to intermediate programmer skill level. ... Read more

Product Description
Do you think the programmers who work at your office are magical wizards who hold special powers that manipulate your computer? Believe it or not, anyone can learn how to write programs, and it doesn’t take a higher math and science education to start.

Beginning Programming for Dummies shows you how computer programming works without all the technical details or hard programming language. It explores the common parts of every computer programming language and how to write for multiple platforms like Windows, Mac OS X, or Linux. This easily accessible guide provides you with the tools you need to:

• Create programs and divide them into subprograms
• Develop variables and use constants
• Manipulate strings and convert them into numbers
• Use an array as storage space
• Reuse and rewrite code
• Isolate data
• Create a user interface
• Write programs for the Internet
• Utilize JavaScript and Java Applets

In addition to these essential building blocks, this guide features a companion CD-ROM containing Liberty BASIC compiler and code in several languages. It also provides valuable programming resources and lets you in on cool careers for programmers. With Beginning Programming of Dummies, you can take charge of your computer and begin programming today! ... Read more

Customer Reviews (46)

A Life Saver!
I ordered this and two other "Dummies" guides while taking computer programming classes in college and they saved me from failing! Not everyone immediately understands the course materials given, but these guides simplified everything I needed to know and got me through the tough parts of my courses! Thank you!!

Too many mistakes
I typically like the dummies books for introductions into subjects.For basic concepts, this book does very well.However, the programming language examples are in a couple different forms of BASIC, C++ and a mac compiler.

I don't know if it's the book itself or the accompanying cd, but NONE of the C++ programs work properly.I've been forced to try and learn how to correct some of the most basic mistakes off of the internet, but it has really hampered my ability to learn this programming language, especially as the programs get more complex.

This is the 4th and most recent addition.I would assume that enough sales to quantify four iterations would qualify this book for a technical editor, not just someone with a firm grasp of English.

Wiley Publishing, please stop making computer study aids edited by people that don't understand the technical terms and programs.I've wasted hours just trying to figure out what's wrong instead of actually LEARNING.

Rview opinion
This is a good product but it most -if posible- to show grafic refernce for better comprehention

Excellent Teacher
This book is very good to have the basics of programming in your mind.. After this book, I was able to read other programming books without trouble. However always remember practice makes the teacher not just a simple book...

Wanna learn programming? Buy this book, NOW!!
I just finished a course in object-oriented programming (Java) as part of a master's program in information systems management. Yeah, I aced it, but not without a lot of help from professional programmers. Trouble was, I couldn't understand Java because I had no programming experience; even the textbook, Head First Java, assumes prior programming experience. HFJ read like the proverbial Greek. (Trust, I will let my school know they need to revamp this part of the program.)

Now, I'm doing a course related to software frameworks, so this program isn't gonna get any easier.

So I went out and bought Beginning Programming for Dummies, and it hasn't disappointed. It clearly breaks down the languages BASIC, Revolution and C++, and presents the fundamentals of logic and programming in an uncomplicated way. This book is one giant ephiphany. "Oh, that's was a string is! Wow, is that was .NET is designed to do? Holy moly, loops are really that simple?" Before reading this, I had no idea that programs in differing langugages could be stored on Dynamic Link Library (DLL) files and linked together into a larger program using Visual Basic. I'd heard of DLLs, but had no idea what they were.

I work for an IT integration firm in an administrative position, and now I feel like what this company does has been somewhat demystified.

I usually don't comment on books on this site, but if you want to get a good overview what computer programming is all about before you delve into the programming language of your choice, do yourself a favor and buy this book. ... Read more

Product Description

Customer Reviews (74)

Best WCF book around
This book is a great resource for the WCF technology. You would not be disappointed.

Some good information, but uneven
Thistext (which I'll refer to as P) is one of the better WCF books, but there's plenty of room for improvement.The other reviews have plugged a lot of the strengths, so I'll keep this brief.

The real way to review this book is to compare it to the other leading title (Resnick's Essentials of WCF, which I'll call E).Since both books are missing a lot of information, but are in some ways complementary, if you read both, you get about 75% of the basics.

Organization:E is uniform and iterative, and provides introductions and summaries for those who read systematically. P is uneven and non-iterative.Some P chapters are strong, but E looks as if someone consciously went through the entire book with a fine-toothed comb (so to speak).

Transactions:E barely treats transactions, but P dedicates (IIRC) a chapter to them and takes a stand on using them in the design guide.

Hosting: The P hosting section is weak, and the coverage of WAS (which the author recommends for W2K8 deployments) is seriously deficient.Properly hosting and tuning a WCF application is half of the battle, and that battle is almost entirely left as an exercise for the reader.E does a much better job of explaining hosting, but, unfortunately, is also deficient in coverage.OTOH, P has an introductory section of using service host factories to gain some programmatic control over hosting from inside the app, something that E ignores.P also includes hosting advice in the nice guidelines section at the end.

Design:The P design standards section is a nice checklist, but it's not argued properly and it's difficult to find the rationale for some of the points made in the text.OTOH, E doesn't have anything like this.Anyone can read the MSDN/P&P literature on creating WFC services;what readers really need is an informed explanation of how to do it correctly.P takes a stab at it, but E doesn't.Neither text covers other important topics like testability, flexibility, and maintainability as they relate to WCF programming. Both books treat SOA and integration very superficially.P takes a basic stand on good contract design, but E doesn't.

Solution structure/VS project templates/etc:Neither book does a good job covering the different templates (WFC app vs. WCF service library), or how WCF layering should take place.P advocates putting "service logic" in a DLL, but that's about it.E ignores the topic.


Until the next version comes out later this year, I can definitely recommend getting P, but would also recommend getting E to fill in some of the gaps.It would be nice to see not only Lowy expand the design principles section, but maybe also make proper design a first-class component of the book (or maybe even publish an "Effect WCF" book).

Best book to learn WCF in details
I had been programming using WCF for couple of years before I picked up this book. To me, this is not a great beginner book; reading it requires some effort. However, the investment pays off. After reading most of it, I developed a great appreciation for the WCF architecture and its extensibility model. I continue to use this a reference for many advanced WCF items.

Best In (service) Class
As a senior product architect, I needed to come up to speed on SOA and WCF and, although not a "Hello World" sort of book, this book did it.

I must have read half a dozen books on the topic, including Step-By-Step and Inside WCF, and this was by far the most deep and insightful (although those books are excellent, as well).I find myself rereading chapters to extract all the little jewels that you many not have noticed the first time through.

This is not easy stuff, however, so be prepared to do your homework and go through ALL of the code examples from the website.The download for the ServiceModelEx project contains great out-of-the-box solutions on all aspects of WCF and provides architectural techniques and insights to boot.

Between this book and all of the examples on the website, I have everything I need at my fingertips.No matter what other WCF books you feel would work better for you, this is still a must-have book for any library.

Juval, thanks for the great book and all of your insightful WCF articles on MSDN magazine.

Not for WCF beginners!
Even the back page of the book mentions "If you choose to learn WCF, you have choosen well...", this is not for learning WCF.
I thought I could learn WCF with this book because of its table of content, but you can't.

This is more or less a reference book. If you already know how to implement WCF and need to know some details regarding some certain
implementation, than it seems to be fine.

Because they mention on the back page one can learn WCF with it, I am disappointed about this book.

... Read more

Product Description
This is your complete guide to programming and thinking like a drummer - not a drum machine user. Instead of merely providing instructions for you to program into your machine, this book is a direct, mathematical approach to learning how to drum and how to best emulate a drum kit on a pre-recorded track. By following this book, you will gain an understanding of the drum kit that takes many drummers years to learn - and that will lead to more realistic programming and better results! ... Read more

Customer Reviews (8)

A great basics guide.-
Well, I bought this book about half a year ago:is avery comprensible guide about how to program drum machines (or drum software), from the basics, sounding like a real drum pattern.My original book was stolen (with my laptop).Now I have my second new copy.This book is " a must "that all compumusic man must have!

great info
Teaches the process behind drum programing not patterns.Was exactly what I was looking for.

Must have
It great reading! good info for the beginner and even for the experienced.
It really is a joy to read and has lots of detail to. Get one if you have the chance.
If you aer not a drummer but you like to program drum patterns in your hardware or software drummachine then this gives you everything you need. Patterns in the book are by the way more rock/pop orientated then dance. But with the basics learned you will know enough to program your own weird drumloops.

A Missing Piece Of The DAW Puzzle
Although there are many books available on the various Digital Audio Workstations, most of them just cover the software and assume you'll know things like drum programming. Fortunately this book provides that missing information. I have no musical aptitude and have never gotten anything out of a book on music until I read this one. I had to figure out how to apply its instructions to a specific drum machine, ReDrum in Propellerhead Reason, but other than that it was really easy to understand and I was immensely pleased with the results. I feel like I'm finally making some progress in mastering Propellerhead Reason! Drum programming is easy given some good instructions and you'll find that in this book.

The book itself is fairly short, only 54 pages of actual text with a lot of space taken up by drum tabulatures. It is oversized like a lot of music books. It resembles a song book. But it is cheap enough and thoroughly explains a topic that you won't find covered in most digital music manuals or books.

Great for the basics!
My first workstation was the Yamaha SY85, which I regret selling to this day. The drum kits and pre-programmed drum patterns were really nice. Most of the patterns, though very good, would still suggest "canned." So, to learn to build my own patterns, I bought "Drum Programming: a complete guide to program and think like a drummer."

I give this short book a high rating because it did the job. Of course, I went on to develop much more intricate patterns, but this was were I started. The lesson I still hear clearly in my mind is this: The living, breathing drummer has only two hands! The author gives an ample explanation of the different elements of the drum kit. To really keep "the live action" in mind as I'm developing a pattern, I keep an old picture of a Pearl drum kit (an old Export 825 with extras) at my workstation; this helps. All in all, though, if you want your pieces to have a little personality or sound less mechanical, you will need to learn to program patterns; and this, again, is a fair place to start.

Joseph L. D'Agostino, author of "Modern Music Systems: a new perspective on music scales, clefs, and chords"
... Read more

Product Description

Get Started Fast with iOS Game Programming

Since the launch of the App Store, games have been the hottest category of apps for the iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad. That means your best chance of tapping into the iPhone/iPad “Gold Rush” is to put out a killer game that everyone wants to play (and talk about). While many people think games are hard to build, they can actually be quite easy, and Learning iOS Game Programming is your perfect beginner’s guide. Michael Daley walks you through every step as you build a killer 2D game for the iPhone.

In Learning iOS Game Programming, you’ll learn how to build a 2D tile map game, Sir Lamorak’s Quest: The Spell of Release (which is free in the App Store). You can download and play the game you’re going to build while you learn about the code and everything behind the scenes. Daley identifies the key characteristics of a successful iPhone game and introduces the technologies, terminology, and tools you will use. Then, he carefully guides you through the whole development process: from planning storylines and game play all the way through testing and tuning.

Download the free version of Sir Lamorak’s Quest from the App Store today, while you learn how to build the game in this book.

Coverage includes 

• Planning high-level game design, components, and difficulty levels
• Using game loops to make sure the right events happen at the right time
• Rendering images, creating sprite sheets, and building basic animations
• Using tile maps to build large game worlds from small reusable images
• Creating fire, explosions, smoke, sparks, and other organic effects
• Delivering great sound via OpenAL and the iPhone’s media player
• Providing game control via iPhone’s touch and accelerometer features
• Crafting an effective, intuitive game interface
• Building game objects and entities and making them work properly
• Detecting collisions and ensuring the right response to them
• Polishing, testing, debugging, and performance-tuning your game 

Learning iOS Game Programming focuses on the features, concepts, and techniques you’ll use most often—and helps you master them in a real-world context. This book is 100% useful and 100% practical; there’s never been an iPhone game development book like it!

Praise for Learning iOS Game Programming

“An excellent introduction into the world of game development explaining every aspect of game design and implementation for the iPad, iPhone, and iPod touch devices. A great way for anyone interested in writing games to get started.”

–Tom Bradley, Software Architect, Designer of TBXML

“A great developer and a great game.That’s everything you can find in this book to learn how to write an awesome game for iPhone.Maybe you’re the next AppStore hit!”

–Sebastien Cardoso

“With Learning iOS Game Programming, you’ll be writing your own games in no time. The code included is well explained and will save you hours of looking up obscure stuff in the documentation and online forums.”

–Pablo Gomez Basanta, Founder, Shifting Mind

“I always thought that to teach others one has to be an expert and a person with an established reputation in the field. Michael Daley proved me wrong. He is teaching others while studying himself. Michael’s passion in teaching and studying, ease of solutions to problems, and a complete game as a resulting project makes this book one of the best I have ever read.”

–Eugene Snyetilov

“If you’re interested in 2D game programming with the iOS using OpenGL and OpenAL directly, this book walks you through creating a complete and fun game without getting bogged down in technical details.”

–Scott D.Yelich

“Michael Daley brings clarity to the haze of iPhone application development. Concrete examples, thorough explanation, and timesaving tips make this book a must have for the up and coming iPhone game developer.”

–Brandon Middleton, Creator of Tic Tac Toe Ten

“This is the A-Z guide to iOS game development; Michael’s book takes you from the basics and terminology to using the techniques in practice on a fully working game. Before you know it, you will find yourself writing your own game, fueled by a firm grasp of the principles and techniques learned within. I could not ask for a better reference in developing our own games.”

–Rod Strougo, Founder Prop Group

Customer Reviews (6)

great guide for experienced programmers interested in app development
This is a well-organized, well thought out guide to writing game apps for the iPhone.It's a "beginner" 's guide to writing computer games for those who already know Objective-C, C, Xcode and Interface Builder and have programming experience; so it's more for someone who is already writing iPhone apps but hasn't ever done a game before; it's not for true beginners.That said, the author presents a personal and personable introduction to game design.This part could be read by anybody interested in game design, even beginners.It's a good intro to concepts such as lives, health, storyline, etc.Further chapters are:

Terminology, Technology, and Tools
(Xcode and OpenGL)
The Game Loop
Image Rendering
Sprite Sheets
Animation
Bitmap Fonts
Tile Maps
The Particle Emitter
Sound
User Input
The Game Interface
Game Objects and Entities
Collision Detection
Putting It All Together

In addition, there's a free RPG called Sir Lamorak's Quest that you download and play, and as the book progresses, you are analyzing and building this very game.

This is incredibly well done, and you have to give the author credit for going the extra mile to include a game and letting you look under the hood.This is a complete project with a friendly manual.

Personally, I don't have enough programming to actually write the code, but I've still enjoyed the book immensely.As a longtime gamer, I learned a lot about game design.Great job!

great
Great book, great tutorial.
Fully recommend this book to iphone game developers.
Good intro on opengl and texturing.
The explanation of the game loop and game loop alternatives was done very well.
Finally, the interaction between opengl and UI toolkit was explained very well.

A very good read, for beginner and experienced developer.

Small point, but worth noting ....syntax colouring on sample code made reading the code easier - well done.

Michael Daley is a first class teacher.

Loving it! And the forum is very helpful!
It does what it does very well:Helps you make a full-fledged role playing game for iphone with good controls. Tell me where you can get that elsewhere using the iphone sdk itself and not an editor and I'll eat the book.:)

Very Great Book!
I honestly love this book.I'm a fan of the author's blog and this book is right in line with his other work.If you want to know what you are getting into you really should check out his website for some great video tutorials that cover some of the details from this book.I could probably have written a video game using just the videos but I wanted to take it farther and I'm so glad I did.I highly suggest reading it.As the other commenters said this isn't for the beginning iOS developer.You should know your way around XCode & Objective C (having done a few hello worlds and made a few simple apps should be enough to get you started).Afterwards prepare for the ride of your life.I'm deep into writing my own game now and am thankful that I've found a great resource to help me get it done.If you are curious about the details go check out the iphone tutorials on the author's website ([...]).Also throughout the book the author suggests several other resources.

(Be warned the 3rd chapter is very dry : some of the core rendering engine details really tripped me up when I was reading through it, but everything else is great.)

A great book for learning about games programming
Having nearly finished the book I thought it would be a good idea to write a review.

Reading the last review I felt even more compelled to write my own. The last reviewer really hasn't got a clue about what this book is about! He tries to pitch it as a book that covers many different technologies in great detail and fails. There is a note on the first page of chapter 2 that tells that totally contradicts what he says.

Note
It is not intended that this book will teach you how to develop in Objective-C or C or teach you everything you need to know about the other technologies in their own right; there are many excellent books and online resources that cover OpenGL and OpenAL in greater detail. We will however cover these topics in enough detail to allow you to understand why we are using them and how.

Thats what I love about this book! It tells you how to write an entire game from start to finish and doesn't bore you with incredibly complex algorithms or low level code or the ins and outs of every technology.

As for the game engine you write, it's very modular so you can include only the bits you need in your game. I wanted to recreate the JetPack game I played when I was younger. With this book I'm well on the way. It's saved me a huge amount of time trying to learn from other resources on the net.

Their forum and blog is quite active too, I've posted a few questions and they've answered promptly. ... Read more

Product Description
Programming Language Pragmatics is the most comprehensive programming language textbook available today. Taking the perspective that language design and language implementation are tightly interconnected, and that neither can be fully understood in isolation, this critically acclaimed and bestselling book has been thoroughly updated to cover the most recent developments in programming language design. With a new chapter on run-time program management and expanded coverage of concurrency, this new edition provides both students and professionals alike with a solid understanding of the most important issues driving software development today.

• Classic programming foundations text now updated to familiarize students with the languages they are most likely to encounter in the workforce, including including Java 7, C++, C# 3.0, F#, Fortran 2008, Ada 2005, Scheme R6RS, and Perl 6.


• New and expanded coverage of concurrency and run-time systems ensures students and professionals understand the most important advances driving software today.


• Includes over 800 numbered examples to help the reader quickly cross-reference and access content.

Topics covered: A survey of today's programming languages, compilation vs. interpretation, the compilation process, regular expression and context-free grammars, scanners and parsers, names, scopes and bindings, scope rules, overloading, semantic analysis, introduction to computer architecture, representing data, instruction sets, 680x0 and MIPs architectures, control flow and expression evaluation, iteration and recursion, data types, type checking, records, arrays, strings, sets, pointers, lists, file I/O, subroutines, calling sequences and parameter passing, exception handling, coroutines, compile back-end processing, code generation, linking, object-oriented programming basics, encapsulation and inheritance, late binding, multiple inheritance, functional and logical languages, Scheme and Prolog, programming with concurrency, shared memory and message passing, and code optimization techniques. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (25)

Comprehensive Programming Language reference

Well written and organized text with in depth history and explanation for Programming Language Pragmatics.

good book
I am currently using this book for a class in programming semantics.The book is clear in its explanations and diagrams.I also like the additional content on the CD... this is the first book CD that I have used more than once!In my opinion great book.

a fine text
I have found this book to be useful as a means of becoming familiar with the considerations that one needs to keep in mind when designing programming languages. I found that I needed a supplementary book on theory of computation, as those topics are relevant, but not covered in this book. On the whole, it's a well-written book, but certainly not one that teaches how to program, nor how to implement a compiler. Look elsewhere for those
kinds of practical details. This book moves too fast for that.

Required Reading for Debugging and Memory Dump Analysis
Every debugging engineer needs to know how the code is interpreted or compiled. Debugging complex problems or doing memory analysis on general-purpose operating systems often requires understanding the syntax and semantics of several programming languages and their run-time support. The knowledge of optimization techniques is also important for low-level debugging when the source code is not available. The following book provides an overview of all important concepts and discusses almost 50 languages. I read the first edition 6 years ago and I liked it so much that I'm now reading the third edition from cover to cover.

Thanks,
Dmitry Vostokov
Founder of DumpAnalysis Portal
Editor-in-Chief of Debugged! MZ/PE magazine

Excellent book, but will not do the intended job
I enjoy the book very much. The author gives an over all introduction to the basics of the programming languages. It does not, however, dig deep into any specific area. To master in a specialized subject, one will have to seek help from other books.

As the author has stated, to learn all the subjects the book is covering, one will have to spend years (taking different courses in computer science). This book has include all the material to give an overall view of the big picture and the students are suppose to learn the material in 2 semesters.

I personally tend to think that the book is better suited for the experienced programmer for the reviewing purposes. Students that never have real world experience probably will feel the book to be very dry. ... Read more

Product Description

One of the most popular beginning programming books, now fully updated

Java is a popular language for beginning programmers, and earlier editions of this fun and friendly guide have helped thousands get started. Now fully revised to cover recent updates for Java 7.0, Beginning Programming with Java For Dummies, 3rd Edition is certain to put more first-time programmers and Java beginners on the road to Java mastery.*

*
• Java is the platform-independent, object-oriented programming language used for multimedia applications and popular with beginning programmers
*
• This book explores what goes into creating a program, putting the pieces together, dealing with standard programming challenges, debugging, and making the program work
*
• Offers new options for tools and techniques used in Java development
*
• Provides valuable information and examples for the would-be programmer with no Java experience
*
• All examples are updated to reflect the latest changes in Java 7.0
*

Beginning Programming with Java For Dummies, 3rd Edition offers an easy-to-understand introduction to programming through the popular, versatile Java 7.0 language. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (40)

Wonderful Book
Wonderfully written book.Great for someone who has no or very little experience with programming.I started out with this book and have since moved on to other more advanced books.Great teacher, and I don't think there were any errors in the example codes the book would give.Glad I bought it!Other reviews are write that you won't be programming anything of any importance after this book but I don't think that's what this book is for.It is a beginners guide to introduce the Java programming language.

Take it with a Grain of Salt
This is a great book for learning Java, and it gets you into the code quickly, but he has some proprietary functions that you use that are not used in normal Java programming, so keep this in mind. I prefer the Dummies version of C++ because I think it stays much closer to the real code rather than creating code snippets that you will never be able to use in the industry. I know he's just trying to get you going on the code, but I wish it didn't include that provision.

Get Down to Business!
Barry Burd wastes so much space trying to be cute and funny that it is a real chore to search for the important bits of information in this book.I don't want to be entertained, I just was to learn Java in as few pages as possible.

Excellent, but too late
This Book is in very good condition, but I don't recommended if you in rush or you need it soon

Good Intro to Programming Concepts - Poor Intro to Java
I am a System Administrator and have been programming since 1970 when I first learned Fortran. I have also taught various beginner computer courses. I have never had a need to know Java until recently my wife (who knows nothing at all about programming) had to take a Java class for her college major. I have had good experience with the "Dummies" books in the past (I learned .ASP from a "Dummies" book), so I figured this book would help her with her class, as well as give me something to learn from so I could help her. With that in mind I was very disappointed. My wife was looking for help learning Java, and without taking the time to go through all of the "concept" material, the book was too technical for her to understand.

If you just want to learn the in depth general programming concepts and have lots of time, this book does a good job of that. For actually learning how to write Java, it is far too limited.

-It has no real complete examples to show how to fully implement the items it covers.

-It has no practice exercises.

-I covers only a very small portion of the Java code.

-There is a tear-out reference guide in the fromt that lists commands with a brief description of what they are, but some of them are not even covered in the book, so you have no idea how to use them.

-The Index is not very comprehensive so that combined with the limited commands covered, it does not even make for a good reference book. (I frequently use my other "Dummies" books for reference).

In Summary, if you are getting this to get an overview of how programming works, it is great for that (and would warrant 5-stars). But if you are getting it to learn Java, look elsewhere. ... Read more

Product Description
Beginning Linux Programming, Fourth Edition continues its unique approach to teaching UNIX programming in a simple and structured way on the Linux platform. Through the use of detailed and realistic examples, students learn by doing, and are able to move from being a Linux beginner to creating custom applications in Linux. The book introduces fundamental concepts beginning with the basics of writing Unix programs in C, and including material on basic system calls, file I/O, interprocess communication (for getting programs to work together), and shell programming. Parallel to this, the book introduces the toolkits and libraries for working with user interfaces, from simpler terminal mode applications to X and GTK+ for graphical user interfaces. Advanced topics are covered in detail such as processes, pipes, semaphores, socket programming, using MySQL, writing applications for the GNOME or the KDE desktop, writing device drivers, POSIX Threads, and kernel programming for the latest Linux Kernel.Amazon.com Review
Provided you have some previous basic exposure to C and Unix, Beginning Linux Programming delivers an excellent overview of the world of Linux development with an appealing range of essential tools and APIs.

The standout feature of Beginning Linux Programming is its wide-ranging coverage of important topics in basic Unix programming. In a series of short chapters, the authors discuss the basics of writing Unix programs in C, with material on basic system calls, file I/O, interprocess communication (for getting programs to work together), and advanced topics such as socket programming and how to create Unix device drivers.

Parallel to this, the book introduces the toolkits and libraries for working with user interfaces, from simpler terminal mode applications to X and GTK+ for graphical user interfaces. While you won't be an authority on X or GTK+ after reading this book, you will certainly be able to explore real Linux development on your own after the capable introductory guide provided here. (The book's main example, a CD-ROM database, gets enhanced in subsequent chapters using new APIs and features as the book moves forward.) This text also serves as a valuable primer on languages and tools such as Tcl, Perl, and CGI. (There's even a section that explains the basics of the Internet and HTML.)

More than ever, there is no shortage of specific information on Linux programming, but few titles provide such a wide-ranging tour of what you need to know to get serious with Linux development. In all, Beginning Linux Programming gives the reader an intelligent sampling of essential topics in today's Linux. It's a wise choice for aspiring Unix C developers or folks seeking to extend the range of their Linux knowledge. --Richard Dragan

Topics covered: Linux overview, compiling C programs, shell programming, pipes, script keywords and functions, Unix file I/O in C, Unix system functions, terminal interfaces (termios, keyboard input, the curses library), memory management, file locking, dbm databases, make and source control basics, man pages, debugging with gdb, processes and signals, POSIX threads and synchronization, IPC and pipes, semaphores, queues and shared memory, sockets, Tcl basics, X Windows and GTK+ for GNOME, Perl basics, HTML and CGI, writing Unix device drivers. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (80)

great
It arrives pretty soon. The book is in good quality and this is the type of book I need.

Excellent book for beginners
I was just beginning in Linux programming when I bought this book.It was fantastic.The authors provide clear yet concise explanations of basic Linux system calls and library functions, as well as tons of background information concerning the inner workings of Linux and basic knowledge that one coming from a Microsoft background may not have considered.The book is very well-written and is easy to follow, with some humor along the way.All of my questions of the specific subject material seemed to be answered very soon after they popped in my head.

One word of caution, though.I was proficient in C# on Microsoft platforms prior to starting this book, so it was quite a shock going to pure C in Linux.I would strongly recommend a basic knowledge of C and how it differs from C++ and C# beforehand.Be sure to have a thorough understanding of pointers, pointers to arrays, pointers to multi-dimensional arrays, and anything else concerning pointers.The authors seem to expect it.

All in all, though, I give it an A+!

A Best Buy
Beginning Linux Programming, is in my opinion a "Best Buy" I purchased this book because, I am a IT major, and I am interested in learning more about Linux and it's many fascets. For being a used copy, it arrived in great condition, and I am very grateful to those whom, I purchased it from. Thank you, kindly! Joe Scalise.

useful and straightforward
This book gives you a nice look at many of the useful facets of the UNIX OS using C.It paves the way for understanding some of the more advanced treatments such as Richard Stevens's book. This book is the right tool for someone with for someone with a good understanding of how to use UNIX and with good C skills to get a stronger understanding of how UNIX works.

The introduction to GTK+ is a good starting point for anyone interested in working with the Gnome desktop.All things considered, this book is a very useful learning guide at a reasonable price.

Excellent coverage of all bases
This book is an excellent place to start with programming in the Linux environment. Its a good overview of all bases in the Linux environment, it takes every major topic in Linux programming and gives the reader a good foundation and gives enough information to help the reader know where to go from there. If you are new to Linux programming and not sure where to start, THIS IS THE BOOK FOR YOU. ... Read more

Product Description

“In this second edition of Extreme Programming Explained, Kent Beck organizes and presents five years’ worth of experiences, growth, and change revolving around XP. If you are seriously interested in understanding how you and your team can start down the path of improvement with XP, you must read this book.”

—Francesco Cirillo, Chief Executive Officer, XPLabs S.R.L.

“The first edition of this book told us what XP was—it changed the way many of us think about software development. This second edition takes it farther and gives us a lot more of the ‘why’ of XP, the motivations and the principles behind the practices. This is great stuff. Armed with the ‘what’ and the ‘why,’ we can now all set out to confidently work on the ‘how’: how to run our projects better, and how to get agile techniques adopted in our organizations.”

—Dave Thomas, The Pragmatic Programmers LLC

“This book is dynamite! It was revolutionary when it first appeared a few years ago, and this new edition is equally profound. For those who insist on cookbook checklists, there’s an excellent chapter on ‘primary practices,’ but I urge you to begin by truly contemplating the meaning of the opening sentence in the first chapter of Kent Beck’s book: ‘XP is about social change.’ You should do whatever it takes to ensure that every IT professional and every IT manager—all the way up to the CIO—has a copy of Extreme Programming Explained on his or her desk.”

—Ed Yourdon, author and consultant

“XP is a powerful set of concepts for simplifying the process of software design, development, and testing. It is about minimalism and incrementalism, which are especially useful principles when tackling complex problems that require a balance of creativity and discipline.”

—Michael A. Cusumano, Professor, MIT Sloan School of Management, and author of The Business of Software

Customer Reviews (14)

Perfection
This book started a movement in software development. Others tried to add to it and change it, but the pendulum is swinging back the other way and the merits of pure XP are becoming more and more clear every day. If you are a programmer, this book belongs on your bookshelf.

perfect to start applying XP in a team!
excellent book! and easy to read, very focus on people!
I bought it for the team leader after reading it and she is loving it. we were already in the first steps of applying XP practices, but now she is in the right track

Thorough Overview of Extreme Programming (XP)
"Extreme Programming Explained" offers a thorough and good overview of the Extreme Programming (XP) approach to software development.

This book covers the fundamentals of XP and describes some of the benefits of this approach to developing software.While this approach may not suit all developers, project managers or companies, this book offers an interesting overview of XP.

A must read for any developer
I believe the basis in software development for business is in this book.
You can have the technique, the skills, and the money, but you will need the human side for any agile way of working.
This is not the silver bullet, but you NEED to read this book.

Nice intro to XP
This book is a good introduction to different aspects involved in extreme programming.

The author is the initial proponent of XP. First part of the book explains the present day software development realities(like deadlines etc) and the pitfalls that take place due to these time sensitive expectations. Author moves onto explain the necessity for XP and what are the basic guidelines of XP.

The author should be commened for covering where XP is impractical and should not be used. The book explains the life cycle of a XP project and different roles that are part of this radical process.

XP is not suitable for many present day organizations(due to age old approaches that are already implanted in the system); but should be considered for time sensitive deliverables. This book will definitely give a headsup on how to approach XP.

Small negative: The book takes too much time on what is wrong in other traditional approached to software development(for the size of the title:about 200 pages) ... Read more

Product Description

Multi-core processors are no longer the future of computing-they are the present day reality. A typical mass-produced CPU features multiple processor cores, while a GPU (Graphics Processing Unit) may have hundreds or even thousands of cores. With the rise of multi-core architectures has come the need to teach advanced programmers a new and essential skill: how to program massively parallel processors.

Customer Reviews (11)

Introductory book
i bought this book because i was short on time, i needed to learn CUDA quickly and efficiently, and on that the book delivered perfectly, but now after some experience with CUDA i can see that this book has nothing that u cant get online for free, if u are an experienced programmer and want to get into CUDA and GPU Programming, u dont need this book u just need some time and web tutorials, if u r a novice programmer in general then this book is for you, as it has some chapters on scientific thinking and parallelism in general which are important basis. the openCL chapters helped me a lot though it has some conflicts with the current releases so u ll need to look online a bit as well to get things working.
im giving it 3 stars because of its quality,its well written,it gets to the point and will give u wat u want, i took one star out because it gave nothing special or nothing more than what u can get online, and another star out because it is hugely overpriced.

An excellent guide to learn CUDA
This is all you need to start learning CUDA, includes good exercises and online material.

A must-have book.

No Kindle edition!
It makes me sad when I see a good book on computer science like this, that I want to read, and it's not available electronically at a decent price. My heart sinks at the thought of having to order a package several kilos heavy to wend it's way around the globe on all sorts of diesel vehicles until it is delivered to me weeks later. I have thought about ordering this book several times only to give up because it just seems wrong to buy something so old fashioned as a book any more. Why can't I just get it downloaded now? Author gets the royalty into their account, Amazon doesn't have to ship, I make my deadline for the paper I'm giving and we're all happy. Please, David, get this one into Kindle ASAP!
.

Great introduction to CUDA
A great introduction to programming GPUs using CUDA. The writing is concise and easy to read and understand. Most programmer should be able to read this book in a couple of days.

a little odd but good enough for first pass
This book is a much better introduction to programming GPUs via CUDA than CUDA manual, or some presentation floating on the web. It is a little odd in coverage and language. You can tell it is written by two people with different command of English as well as passion. One co-author seems to be trying very hard to be colorful and looking for idiot-proof analogies but is prone to repetition. The other co-author sounds like a dry marketing droid sometimes. There are some mistakes in the codes in the book, but not too many since they don't dwell too long on code listings. In terms of coverage, I wish they'd cover texture memories, profiling tools, examples beyond simple matrix multiplication, and advice on computational thinking for codes with random access patterns. Chapters 6, 8, 9, and 10 are worth reading several times as they are full of practical tricks to use to trade one performance limiter for another in the quest for higher performance. ... Read more

Product Description

Over its first two editions, this best-selling book has become the de facto standard for training and reference material at all levels of CNC programming. Used in hundreds of educational institutions around the world as the primary text for CNC courses, and used daily by many in-field CNC programmers and machine operators, this book literally defines CNC programming. Written with careful attention to detail, there are no compromises. Many of the changes in this new Third Edition are the direct result of comments and suggestions received from many CNC professionals in the field. This extraordinarily comprehensive work continues to be packed with over one thousand illustrations, tables, formulas, tips, shortcuts, and practical examples.

The enclosed CD-ROM now contains a fully functional 15-day shareware version of CNC tool path editor/simulator, NCPlot(tm). This powerful, easy-to-learn software includes an amazing array of features, many not found in competitive products. NCPlot offers an unmatched combination of simplicity of use and richness of features. Support for many advanced control options is standard, including a macro interpreter that simulates Fanuc and similar macro programs.

The CD-ROM also offers many training exercises based on individual chapters, along with solutions and detailed explanations. Special programming and machining examples are provided as well, in form of complete machine files, useful as actual programming resources. Virtually all files use Adobe PDF format and are set to high resolution printing.

New and Updated Features of the 3rd Edition
- Detailed section on CNC lathes with live tooling, including examples- Image files of many actual parts, used as examples- More programming examples (both in printed text and on the CD-ROM)- Optimized for the latest Fanuc and related control systems- Additional formulas, calculations and handy reference material- Fourth axis programming (indexing and rotary)- Improved index for better search of topics ... Read more

Customer Reviews (25)

CNC Programming Handbook, Third Edition
This book was recommended to me by a local college instructor. For me it is a great book for review. If you're new to CNC machining it's a must read. It gives much needed background in the field.

Great book needs a proof reader
As with all things in life no one is perfect. The material detailed in the book is dead on the money from what I can see. On the other hand the book becomes a slow read when poor grammar as well as lack of works cause you to re-read the sentence to render the true meaning of what he is saying. Having said that the author is without a doubt the master of his world when it comes to CNC. Maybe version 4 will see the grammar rectified and smoother reading as a result. Then perfection will exist. One must also remember that the author may write the pub but it's up to the proof readers to proof and edit the book, so once again my hat goes off to the author and his knowledge of the subject that we are all trying to master.

It's all inside
I recently built a 4x4 CNC router with an indexer (Joe's Hybrid) but had never programmed a CNC machine. This book is a textbook that has everything I need to know or will ever need to know. It makes a great reference book when I need to review a topic. Best CNC programming book and necessary to get the most from a machine.

Good information
This is a worthwhile book with a ton of information.No matter what type of CNC work you do, this is a good basic reference and resource.My only criticism is that it should have been edited more carefully - lots of typos and misspellings.

Essential for CNC programmers
Peter Smid not only knows his subject backwards, he has the ability to put it into a form which is easily understood. This book is a fine example of this and should be on every CNC programmers bookshelf. It is easy to read from front to back or to keep as a reference book for when you need to look up a particular topic. ... Read more

Product Description

Customer Reviews (57)

Changed my life!!!
This is an utterly FASCINATING book - talks about subliminal communication and how it's used in politics, marketing, and more!!
It comes with a free CD utilizing his patented "Innertalk" program....supposed to help you relax and as soon as I hit play, I was INSTANTLY more chill!!

I browsed his website for a minute and found that he offers a, "Genius Learning" program, as well; it's supposed to help with cognition, retention, accelerate learning, and expand your vocabulary.I've noticed a TREMENDOUS difference after listening to this program!!I'm SO grateful!!
Now, I know what you're thinking: first, you're skeptical - don't worry, I was, too.secondly, you're probably a little uneasy with people talking directly to your subconscious: I don't blame you a bit,...but with each program, he includes a list of the affirmations that he's telling your subconscious.

I'll DEFINITELY be using this to rid myself of the rest my insecurities!!This is an EXCELLENT book, DO NOT let it get away!!

If you want to keep your rose-colored glasses on, don't read this book
This book could also have been called You've Been Brainwashed - Here's How to Get Free. For the growing number of people who've become dissatisfied with their lives - the status quo - and wondering, "Is this all there is?" this gutsy piece of work by Eldon Taylor is a harbinger of hope and enlightenment.

But first, be prepared to squirm a bit as Dr. Taylor guides us into proving for ourselves that we've all been "brainwashed". This step is necessary because once you understand how easily your thoughts have been manipulated, you'll have the motivation to take charge of your life once and for all, and discover the peace and happiness within.

Dr. Karen Kan

HIGHLY RECOMMEND
I highly recommend this book to everyone!
Mr. Taylor is a very engaging writer. This book is packed full of eye-opening information about how we are subtly influenced by marketing technology (advertising), music, and other avenues to plant information into our brains without our consent or knowledge.

I first heard of Eldon Taylor from a coast to coast program I was listening to on my way home from working at the hospital one night.
[...]

I bought this book and Choices and Illusions. I've finished the Choices and Illusions and I'm ½ way through Mind Programming. The chapter about Forgiveness was amazing.
I usually read about 1/3 the way through a book and then never finish the rest. This material in both books has been so good that I read a chapter, then read it again to get anything I missed the first time. I am planning on reading the whole 2 books over again and I'm going to make sure my kids read them. This information has been so valuable in making me wake up (or at least pay attention to [which by the way in itself empowers me to not be influence]) to what I see on TV, advertising, & music.
This book delivers what it advertises 100% in an easy conversationalreading style that I love. I feel that I am sitting down having a conversation with this highly intelligent man. He has earned doctoral degrees in psychology and metaphysics. He is a fellow with the American Psychotherapy Association and a nondenominational minister. He knows what he's talking about and he delivers it in an understandable manner.I sincerely appreciate this man's contribution in making the world a more lovable place.

Finally, the truth about the advertising industry and domestic child sex trafficking
This book is the most truthful book I have ever read besides the Bible. This book explains in detail about how advertising is changing the very fabric of our society into a not so positive way. I am a Child sex trafficking abolitionist and I am convinced the 'pimp and ho' culture in our society has been created with this harmful subliminal type of advertising, along with blatant songs, movies, and porn depicting children in sexual positions and attitudes.

Our culture is being high-jacked into a society of mindless followers of the advertising world thus creating over sexualized children and over stimulated adults who aren't satisfied with 'normal' adult sexual relations. This over stimulated, sublimial culture is producing more pedophiles faster than Free At Last: Human Trafficking & Sexual Abuse Abolition Series (Volume 1)a candy shop creating lolipops.

Loli's ~ A term pedophiles use to describe children they have had or want to have sex with.

Thank-you Mr. Taylor for helping me connect the dots so I can then explain it to other people. I am a survivor of child sex trafficking and I refuse to accept the excuses of people in our society who say this is 'normal' and it is 'ok', to sleep with children.

NAMBLA (Pedophile organization) has been working very hard to make this behaviour acceptable and accesable to the public. Sublimial advertising, media, and porn is certainly contributing to this awful phenomina. Sleeping with children is NOT 'ok' and children don't 'like' it like they try and tell us!!!! I will work endlessly to eradicate this is in our community.

Thank-you Dr. Eldon for helping me to heal and grow strong in my community!

Dawn E. Worswick
[...]
Author of Free At Last ~ A child Sex Trafficking and Sexual Abuse Abolition Series

Awaken from our sleep.
We are living during a very exciting time in mankind's history. Within the past 15 years, more and more we are gifted with such revealing literature to shaken our consciousness to awaken. Here is another brilliant contribution. Here Eldon Taylor explores, teaches and enriches our minds of what we are doing to ourselves everyday. This book is a must read for yourself and everyone you care about to enrich our journey here together. Thank you Eldon for this wonderful contribution to lighten our path. Many Blessings. Valarie ... Read more

Product Description

Customer Reviews (13)

A fun read
I've finished Don Chamberlin (SQL), and am reading Tom Love (Objective-C).
Don Chamberlin was funny:

- Question:Why did you become interested in the query languages?
Don: I have always been interested in languages.
- Question:Do you speak other languages (beyond English)?
Don: No, I don't speak any other human language, but I like to read and write, and I find languages a fascinating subject

Tom Love's interview seems to be more informative.
...

Where's Wirth?
I've read the table of contents, and am part way through the book, but I can't see how a book of interviews with designers of influential programming languages can be considered complete without interviewing Niklaus Wirth. Pascal, Modula-2, and to a lesser extent, Oberon, have all greatly influenced the design of most (not all) of the programming languages discussed in this book.

Unengaging
This is, as its subtitle says, a set of interviews with creators of programming languages. The interviews assume familiarity with the languages being discussed, which means that few people will find the book fascinating from cover to cover. Like many programmers, I first learned Basic, then C/C++, then Java and a smattering of other, hipper procedural languages (Python, Ruby), with a dollop of SQL on the side. So while I'm interested in functional languages like ML and Haskell, I often had no idea what the interviewees were talking about. Concrete examples would have been enormously helpful.

For a book about programming languages, there's astonishingly little source code. Someone who never learned Basic could read the whole chapter on it without having any idea how pleasingly simple its syntax is. The lack of code makes this book mainly useful as a supplemental text to other books on programming languages.

There are also some glaring omissions: Ruby, one of the hottest languages of recent years, is nowhere to be found. Nor is JavaScript, a language found on every modern web page. I would also have liked to see Erlang and Scala represented.

It's nice to get into the heads of programming languages designers
It's really enlightening to get into the heads of programming languages designers and understand some of the ideas behind the way each of them designed the language, the problems they were trying to solve and how they solved them.

I find that very interesting and mind opening and I recommend this book to anyone who is interested in computer sciences as well as any programmer who aspires to be better.

Packed with thoughtful, geeky quotes and insights
Masterminds of Programming: Conversations with the Creators of Major Programming Languages (Theory in Practice (O'Reilly)) by Federico Bioancuzzi and Shane Warden and published by O'Reilly and Associates is a large (480 pages), dense book packed full of exposition about language design, software engineering practices, software development lifecycle methodologies, Computer Science curricula, and unique insights into computer and computation history.

The format of the book is straightforward. Each chapter is dedicated to a programming language and contains a series of questions by the authors and responses from designers and creators of the language being highlighted.

I expected the chapters on languages I was familiar with to be the most interesting and those I was not familiar with to be the least interesting but my experience was the opposite. Chapters highlighting languages that I have had no exposure to such as Forth, APL, ML, and Lua were full of intriguing information, especially languages that were designed in the 1960s or 1950s. It's fascinating learning about how these languages came to be given the relatively restrictive hardware they were developed with.

Other languages highlighted in the book include:

* Python
* Perl
* Java
* C++
* C#
* Objective-C
* UML
* AWK
* Postscript
* Eifel
* Haskel
* BASIC

The book is just overflowing with powerful quotes that carry substantial meaning to developers, language designers, and managers. Here are a few that stood out to me.

"Whenever I hear people boasting of millions of lines of code, I know they have grieviously midunderstood their problem. There are no contemporary problems requiring millions of lines of code. Instead, there are careless programmers, bad managers, or impossible requirements for compatibility." --Chuck Moore in the Forth chapter

"As processors continue to get faster and memory capacities rise, it's easier to do quick experiments and even write production code in interpreted languages (like AWK) that would not have been feasible a few decades ago. All of this is a great win.

"At the same time, the ready availability of resources often leads to very bloated designs and implementations, systems that could be faster and easier to use if a bit more restraint had gone into their design. Modern operating systems certainly have this problem; it seems to take longer and longer for my machines to boot, even though, thanks to Moore's Law, they are noticeably faster than the previous ones. All that software is slowing me down." --Brian Kernighan in the AWK chapter.

"Software engineering is in many ways a very pathetic field, because so much of it is anecdotal and based on people's judgements or even people's aesthetic judgements." -- Peter Weinberger in the AWK chapter

"The software business is one of the few places we teach people to write before we teach them to read. That's really a mistake." -- Tom Love in the Objective-C chapter

"What do you think the chances are that Microsoft applications get slower and slower because they haven't managed memory properly? Have you ever met a three-year-old Microsoft operating system that you wanted to use? I actually operate with a laptop that has a Microsoft-free zone. It's amazing how much more productive I am than other people sitting in the same room with Microsoft computers. My computer is on, and I've done my work, and I've closed it down before they've gotten to their first Excel spreadsheet." -- Tom Love in the Objective-C chapter.

"If you study gold or lead from day to day, you can measure the properties and employ scientific methods to study them. With software, there is none of that." -- Brad Cox in the Objective-C chapter.

"C# basically took everything, although they oddly decided to take away the security and reliability stuff by adding all these sorts of unsafe pointers, which strikes me at grotesquely stupid, but people have used most of the features of Java somewhere." -- James Gosling in the Java chapter responding to the question related to C# being inspired by Java.

"I think architecture is very important, but I am cautious about labeling individuals as architects, for many reasons. Many times I have seen companies with a team of architects that they send to other organizations to work on projects. That may be fine if they work inside a particular project, but companies such as big banks usually have a group of enterprise architects that sit and draw representations of the architecture. Then they throw this over the wall to the developers. The developers just ask themselves: `What is this? It's useless.' In many companies, enterprise architects sit in an ivory tower without doing anything useful." -- Ivar Jacobson in the UML chapter

"Developing software is not rocket science. Look at the 5-10 million people who call themselves software developers. Very few of them really do anything creative of fundamentally new. Unfortunately, the outside world thinks that programmers are creative and brilliant people, and that's far from reality." -- Ivar Jacobson in the UML chapter.

"I rarely have met a programmer who understands the principles of computational complexity and puts them into practice. Instead they fuss with all kinds of pointless suboptimizations that are `pennywise and pound foolish... I think the most important skill in computing (as in physics and other creative fields) is the ability for abstraction." --James Rumbaugh in the UML chapter.

"I have found over my career, whether it be researchers or engineers, that in addition to the sort of intellectual skills that they manifest, if they are people who finish what they set out to do, they tend to be much more productive and have a much larger impact." -- Charles Geschke in the UML chapter.

These quotes are just scratching the surface.

Many of the interviews discuss history of computer science and computation theory. For example, Charles Geschke and John Warnock gave answers in the Postscript chapter detailing how Xerox PARC came into existence out of ARPA's emphasis on digital communications which was the result of thinking within the Eisenhower and Kennedy administrations.

Because of the simple, straightforward format of this book, there is definitely room for improvement. For example, readers unfamiliar with certain languages would find it immensely useful to see examples of the language in use. One thought is that each chapter could start with a code excerpt showing how a programmer might use the highlighted language to solve a generic problem. Readers could then see, in code, how each language differs in their approach to the same problem.

Each chapter is preceded by one paragraph description of the language which may contain brief history of the language's history. This could definitely be expanded upon. This book is big already and I don't think O'Reilly's goal is to make it a computer language text book, but it would be useful if each chapter started with 2-4 pages of introductory abstract about the language.

The authors have placed biographical information about each of the contributing interviewees in a Contributors appendix near the end of the book, but it would be more helpful to the reader if this information appeared at the beginning of each chapter instead.

Masterminds of Programming is available at a suggested price of $39.99. I rate it at four and a half stars.
... Read more

Product Description
Want to tap the power behind search rankings, product recommendations, social bookmarking, and online matchmaking? This fascinating book demonstrates how you can build Web 2.0 applications to mine the enormous amount of data created by people on the Internet. With the sophisticated algorithms in this book, you can write smart programs to access interesting datasets from other web sites, collect data from users of your own applications, and analyze and understand the data once you've found it. Programming Collective Intelligence takes you into the world of machine learning and statistics, and explains how to draw conclusions about user experience, marketing, personal tastes, and human behavior in general--all from information that you and others collect every day. Each algorithm is described clearly and concisely with code that can immediately be used on your web site, blog, Wiki, or specialized application. This book explains:

• Collaborative filtering techniques that enable online retailers to recommend products or media
  
• Methods of clustering to detect groups of similar items in a large dataset
  
• Search engine features--crawlers, indexers, query engines, and the PageRank algorithm
  
• Optimization algorithms that search millions of possible solutions to a problem and choose the best one
  
• Bayesian filtering, used in spam filters for classifying documents based on word types and other features
  
• Using decision trees not only to make predictions, but to model the way decisions are made
  
• Predicting numerical values rather than classifications to build price models
  
• Support vector machines to match people in online dating sites
• Non-negative matrix factorization to find the independent features in adataset
  
• Evolving intelligence for problem solving--how a computer develops its skill by improving its own code the more it plays a game 

Customer Reviews (59)

Popular Web Algorithms Explained in Detail
He makes very good pointers sometimes I lose him through all the math. Don't buy this if you are not willing to pick up phython or if you don't have an extensive math background.All his examples are written in python. I wish he had a PHP version.

Excellent Resource, Clear and Concise
Excellent resource for beginners and experts alike. I was impressed with the organization and the concise explanations that nonetheless explained what you need to know to understand the methods in practical statistical programming being used today. The fact that all examples are given in working code ensures that everything you need to start programming your own applications is provided for you.

The only minor fault in my mind is that it could have been easier to explain some of the hairier concepts with mathematical formulas (which the author avoids, for legitimate reason) in an appendix. An appendix is provided with seemingly similar purpose, but is underdeveloped. This is a minor issue, as all concepts can be supplemented with a simple web search.

Great sample code in Python
A fun, fast read.Good depth, but still concise.The code is well written, broadly applicable, and easy to modify.This book is the opposite of A New Kind of Science.

Bold New Writing plus best O'reilly book ever
This book is spectacular, I love the way that the Author approaches a "new middle" ground of writing books.That is a book that is somewhere in between pure theory, and pure practice. That observation and follow through is simply genius.Python is an excellent choice for this as it can be easy to read.I had to study Python a little before I could totally digest the code.The book is around 300 pages but it is very dense, if someone else wrote it, it would be 600 pages.
Most O'reilly books are boring, useless documentation that you could find on the internet.This book is full of useful examples, showing you how to use "real" data, even how to get the "real" data. For that reason if you are not fond of O'reilly books, don't worry this one is different.

The downside: this book has over 1000 proposed errors and not 1 accepted errors on the O'reilly web site.Some of the code simply does not work as it's written in the book.You can download the code examples but even those do not work 100%.Check the O'reilly site to get the latest code updates.Also the book was published in 2007 and the internet has changed since then so the API's are a little out of date.By not updating this book they are doing the community and they author a huge disservice.

Intuitive and motivating book
I am not completely finished reading it but I already think it's a great introductory book which is strongly committed with transmitting intuition and comprehension of its material (machine learning) usually hard for regular people. It focuses mainly on implementation and application but some general coverage of the underlying theory is done to motivate inexpert readers. Examples are taken from the Web domain so this text can be very useful for people interested in combining BI and AI, among others. Personally, I approve using Python, which is not (yet) my favorite language, I consider it actually as a plus because it complements very well author's intention of simplicity which is all over behind the book design. This book seems to me like an excellent old school teacher among those ones who really take the right timing and words for carefully explaining you something probably difficult in an easy way so that you really will want to learn more about it. ... Read more

Product Description

Customer Reviews (8)

great starter if you have some c knowledge
I found this book really helpful to get me going. Admittedly my c background was reasonably weak and I found I needed to read most of a short objective-C book before it really worked for me. BTW I read Learning Objective-C by Robert Clair which did a fine job. Learning iPhone Programming did a nice job walking me through the app creation process. I have also found myself going back to the examples to lift out various pieces. I liked the way it stepped me through the process. I typed in almost all the code myself and found this really helped me start to notice some of the patterns.

Good introduction, other skills needed
For an O'Reilly book, I was surprised that this book had some code that would not run (the samples are on the book's website), and there were some critical points that were not mentioned which I found elsewhere. Previous O'reilly books were better written and the code ran without issues. The author places his e-mail address in the front of the book but does not respond to e-mail messages. O'Reilly has a forum for discussion of many of its other books but not this book. The forum could be a great place to get help.

The introduction to iPhone Programming is done fairly well. I think the reader's time is well spent. There are some tips in the book which were certainly helpful. Keep in mind this is the only intro level iPhone Programming book I have read. The small improvements needed in this book leave me recommending someone to look elsewhere to learn iPhone Programming. At least until a new edition is released.

For someone new to programming, the typical path seems to be learn C first, then Objective-C and Cocoa, then iPhone programming.If you do not know these other related languages, the code in the book will not be understandable. I did have a little experience with C++ so the code was not totally foreign.

Dr. Dobb's Journal recently wrote a little about iPhone development. Their main thought was that it took quite a bit of learning to get up and running. Since Cocoa is built from Smalltalk and C, it takes more time to learn than something like Visual Basic. But don't get discouraged - iPhone development seems worthwhile.

Great introduction to iPhone development
I really enjoyed this book.I thought it was well written, easy to follow, and did a great job covering all the major aspects of iPhone programming.This book also does a great job showing how to create a lot of different kinds of apps (from weather to TableView, etc.).The author also goes through how to interact with some of the iPhone hardware, including the GPS.

As other reviewers have mentioned, this book really shines in helping the reader understand the iPhone memory management philosophy.I'd highly recommend this read to anyone trying to begin iPhone application development.

A guide recommended for any programmer's collection
Alasdair Allan's LEARNING IPHONE PROGRAMMING offers keys for iPhone and mobile programmers, presenting an easily-followed guide for building several sample applications using Xcode tools and the Objective-C programming language. Learn how to build a data-entry interface and how to store data received with a guide specific to iPhone programming needs: a guide recommended for any programmer's collection.

Reflection
After spending some time thinking about how I can update my apps that are in iTunes, I realized that I had moved up a level of app development maturity.I was thinking about next plateaus that I would have not thought possible a couple of months ago.Why?Well, this book was one of the main reasons.

I agree with other reviewers that this book dives into some of the complexity rather quickly and that maybe some other books might be a better place to start if you are a rank beginner but for where I was in my development cycle, that book was at the right place at the right time.

All I know is that I have zero crashes reported from iTunes for my apps and I credit this book and it's explanation around memory allocation to thank for that.Now to move on to my next mountain; working/syncing with a db in the cloud.

... Read more

Product Description

Introduction to Java Programming, Comprehensive, 8e, features comprehensive coverage ideal for a one-, two-, or three-semester CS1 course sequence.

Customer Reviews (37)

A great learning tool
This book is a much better learning tool than "Java How To Program" by Deitel.As a new-comer to Java, I was struggling learning Java with Deitel, not knowing that this gem by Y. Daniel Liang existed.The Liang book explains the concepts in a natural-flowing way, with tons of code examples and clear explanations.All those new and complex programming concepts are demystified, and explained in a non-intimidating way.It is a joy to learn programming with this book.It covers lots of details, and gives clear examples of correct and incorrect ways of doing things.The instructor from the Java class I'm currently taking insisted on this book, and I'm so very glad he did.This book is making my progress so much easier. I'm a happy Java junior-programmer now.

Excellent and thorough
This is an excellent book, lots of examples showing you how to program.It is very accessable for anyone, and progresses naturally to the end increasing with more complex programming as you would expect.There is a companion website which contains more chapters, as well as videos detailing parts of the book.This was very well put together, if you want to learn Java this book will help accomplish this for you.

good beginner guide but some displaced topic
This book is very clear and comprehensible. However there are a few displaced sections which would belong in other chapters. For example the "Array list class" definitely does not belong into the "inheritance" chapter and the "Math class" should not be in the "methods" chapter. It would have been better to locate those topics in a special chapter about Java libraries.

One more lack of the book is it's too short description of OOP. As a C++ programmer I know the principles in detail, but if someone did not do any OOP before a more comprehensive discussion would be desirable

Very good java book
I am new to Java programming and took a java/programming course at a community college. This was the required text. Overall a fantastic book. Make sure you look the the erratas on the author's website and the programing exercise solutions too - great resource.

Very Serious Seller
Ordered at night, express shipped the next morning and arrived in two days. Great conditions as described. ... Read more

Product Description
Take your Excel skills to the next level with VBA programming

Now that you've mastered Excel basics, it's time to move to the next level—creating your own, customized Excel 2010 solutions using Visual Basic for Applications (VBA). The new edition of this non-threatening guide is your key to getting there. Using step-by-step instruction and the accessible, friendly For Dummies style, this practical book shows you how to use VBA, write macros, customize your Excel apps to look and work the way you want, avoid errors, and more.

The book's Web site provides all the programming examples from the book.

• Introduces you to a new range of Excel 2010 options
• Shows you how to use Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) to program your own custom Excel applications or to automate functions
• Explains how to create VBA macros, program, handle errors, debug, and more
• Covers Visual Basic Editor tools and functions; working with range objects; controlling program flow; and the easiest ways to create custom dialog boxes, toolbars, and menus
• Includes a companion Web site with all the sample programs from the book

Create your own, custom Excel programs with this information-packed guide!

Note: CD-ROM/DVD and other supplementary materials are not included as part of eBook file. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (41)

i'm still waitig...
i have been always very happy with amazon till now. I m still waiting to receive the book althoug it is more than 1 month ago the i ordered the item. I hope to have good news soon

Great Book
This was a truly great book that helped me with Excel VBA for a project at work.

That being said, this book is purely for introductory purposes. Assuming you know how to work with Excel, this book will greatly help you get a start on VBA for Excel. This book doesn't cover the kind of topics you would find in the Power Programming in Excel VBA book, but it covers really basic topics for a beginner.

If you're a beginner to Excel VBA, I would highly recommend this book as a starting point for learning to master it.

Excel VBA Programming for Dummies
I am an accountant--not a programmer and I am only about 1/2 way through the book.I need this information to improve my job skills.I need to complete Excel spreadsheets faster, more accurately, and less manually repetitiously.I am learning many new things that are going to help reach that goal.My previous experience with Macros only included what you could write with the keystroke wizard method (which is very limiting).

Starting around Chap 7, Mr. Walkenbach starts giving a lot of examples of code that is setting dimensions; static counters, offsets; cells vs ranges, etc, but he doesn't complete those examples with the actually code that would run some macro after the previously defined dimensions.I would prefer to see how each actually work; thus I need an example of some code in each case so I can type it and run it.Maybe in some following chapters, he get to it, but by then I will have to go back and review.

Guess this is why this is a book for "Dummies"--looks like I qualify. LOLAll in all, I'm getting along well.And occasionally, he throws something funny in--which gives me major amusement considering how intense all of this language is for non-computer programming techie like me.

I recommend this book as a good starting place for someone like me who has some experience using the Macro Record tool in Excel.

Helpful book
A good book for first learning VBA. Not as in depth as other books though.

A good reference for part-time Excel users.
I`ve been trying to learn VBA for some time and have several books on the
subject.Excel VBA for Dummies is a good reference tool and
an easy read.I think however, the best book I own on Excel
is the old QUE book, Using Excel Visual Basic for Applications
by Elizabeth Boonin.I had started using it first and since
I am only a part-time Excel user I thought another perspective
would help me understand Excel better which the for Dummies book
does.I would certainly recommend this book to anyone just learning
Excel.Mr. Walkenbach makes learning Excel fun and interesting. ... Read more