Product Description
Morgan knows that a dark wave of destruction is on its way. Everyone she loves is in jeopardy. So Morgan, Hunter, and a surprising new ally join together to fight a battle that will test their powers more than any of them can imagine. In this struggle of good versus evil, bright magick versus dark, who will survive to tell the tale? ... Read more

Customer Reviews (22)

One door closes & another one opens...
Finally, the culmination of several story lines come into fruition. After so long in the series, I have to admit that part of me was getting impatient for this moment, when we'd finally see Morgan do battle against her blood father.

This entry in the series is narrated in two different voices- Morgan & Alisa. Morgan's blood father Ciaran is still on the loose & worse- he's managed to get rid of the watch sigil that Morgan inscribed on him. He's given Morgan an ultimatum- join him or perish. Meanwhile Alisa has been struggling with not only the realization that her soon to be stepmom isn't going anywhere, but that her mother was a witch- & a powerful one at that!

I really enjoyed this book. It has a great storyline to it & I didn't really mind the story jumping from Alisa to Morgan all that much. Parts of the book were more interesting to me than others, especially some revelations concerning Morgan & what her role might be for Woodbaynes everywhere on earth.

If you've been following the series faithfully, rest assured- this book will thrill you. If you've put the series aside for whatever reason, I really suggest that you pick the series back up so you can get to this book. It's worth it- this is a fantastic read. I know that there's 3 more books left in the series, so I'm curious to see how the story could be extended past this point.

One of the better ones in the series
In this book, the narrator changes from Morgan to Alisa by the chapter.Alisa discovers she is half blood witch and realizes that all the strange happenings are Morgan's fault are actually her own power.Hunter's father is living with him now.Morgan is coming into her own in this book and the addition of Alisa breaks up the monotony of the story only being about Morgan.Morgan will also face down her father Ciaran.Hunter feels betrayed by the council and is considering leaving his role as a Seeker.

I enjoyed this book and am eager to finish this series and see how it all comes out in the end.

Recommended to Parents who can�t get their daughters to read
I purchased the Sweep series for my 13 year old daughter in the hopes that maybe she would read."She hated to read."Well I was amazed, and could not get her to go to sleep, as she would spend the whole night, with a night-light on reading these books.She enjoyed them so much, and could not stop talking first about Cal and then Hunter, that I had to see what all the fuss was about.
Well after two weeks, a book a day, for a girl who hated to read, it sparked my curiosity, so I started reading, and was surprised to find out how enjoyable a Teen book about Teen Witches could be.I am not really into Wicca, but these books are really enjoyable.I am on my fifth book, and my daughter read each twice, and is know on the Circle of Three Series.I have to highly recommend these books to those parents who can not get their daughters to read.These are excellent stories, full of fantasy, horror, and fun.

Very Good
This book is one of my favourites out the whole series. Unlike alot of readers, I really like Alisa - I think she adds a strange kind of innocence to the books that instead of being annoying is quite good - it adds some light for a change. Even though the way in which she finds out about being a half witch is very repeative and simliar (and a bit cheesy) to how Morgan found out she was an adopted blood witch, i still liked it because like I said, I like Alisa and the innocence and light she adds to the story. I think it was a very good idea to have Alisa save the day rather than Morgan for a change. I think that it was a good idea of Cate Tiernan's to have the spotlight shared by two characters because she has avoided the irritating predictable problem some books suffer from where there is always one heroic character who saves the day every time. This time, it is alot more varied.

Morgan and Alisa Join Forces
Morgan is back and so is Alisa.For those who don't remember, Alisa is the girl who is scared by Morgan because strange telekinetic things happen when they are together and she feels Morgan is unable to control her power.

One day, at practical magic, Morgan picks up a Book Of Shadows from the seventies.This is actually on we have seen excerpts from in a previous book.But when Alisa is visiting Mary K. (Morgans younger sister), she steals the book.

The book winds up revealing things about Alisa's family and just who Alisa is.As Alisa begins to deal with her situation, she gets caught up with Morgan, Hunter and Hunter's father as a new and serious danger threatens them and much of Widow's Vale.

The story switches back and forth from Morgan's point of view to Alisa's.There are no excerpts starting each chapter, but there are some interesting quotes.A good book that seems to really move the series towards a conclusion.

On a side note, does anyone else thing the town should change itsname to Widowers Vale?Morgan, Alisa and Hunter are all missing mothers.Plenty of widowers and no widows. ... Read more

Product Description
The Eclipse environment solves the problem of having to maintain your own Integrated Development Environment (IDE), which is time consuming and costly.Embedded tools can also be easily integrated into Eclipse. The C/C++CDT is ideal for the embedded community with more than 70% of embedded developers using this language to write embedded code. Eclipse simplifies embedded system development and then eases its integration into larger platforms and frameworks.

In this book, Doug Abbott examines Eclipse, an IDE, which can be vital in saving money and time in the design and development of an embedded system.Eclipse was created by IBM in 2001 and then became an open-source project in 2004. Since then it has become the de-facto IDE for embedded developers. Virtually all of the major Linux vendors have adopted this platform, including MontVista, LynuxWorks, and Wind River.

*Details the Eclipse Integrated Development Environment (IDE) essential to streamlining your embedded development process
*Overview of the latest C/C++ Developer's Toolkit (CDT)
*Includes case studies of Eclipse use including Monta Vista, LynuxWorks, and Wind River ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

Primary Emphasis is on Using Eclipse/CDT
Summary:
I have mixed feeling about rating this a 4 or 5 star book. That's not, necessarily, due to the content. But rather due to my feelings on how the title of the book and how it relates to the content and the price of the book. By way of disclosure, I read the book coming from the subject material with view of "bare metal" ARM CORTEX M0/M3 development in mind, not Linux. So, this obviously impacts how I review the book. In the end, I felt that the book was good enough to warrant 5 stars because of the value I received from reading the material on the Eclipse and, more so, on the CDT and other Eclipse plug-ins.

Details:
Mr. Abbott does a good job taking the reader through the key highlights of the of the Eclipse. There are very few books, as he states, that address both Eclipse and CDT and how the two related specifically to embedded development. I agree. This is a nice book to have for the developer new to or somewhat familiar but still puzzled with Eclipse. It is really the only "Beginner's Guide" available and fills that niche of What Eclipse is, how to begin using it, and to begin applying Eclipse to embedded development. The first couple of chapters briefly review the history of Eclipse, how to download and install eclipse (including a short mention of Eclipse on Windows using both Cygnus and MinGW), and a tour of the eclipse environment. Following chapters target the C/C++ Development Tool (CDT) with examples of how to used the CDT to edit/build and, to a lessor extent run and debug programs on target hardware. Finally, the author addresses additional Eclipse plug-ins such as the DSDP (the Device Software Development Platform), the Plug-in development Environment (PDE) and Rich Client Platform (RCP). So, in an approximately 240 pages of material, covering Eclipse/CDT/PDE/RCP/DSDP, you shouldn't by the book expecting to become an accomplished Linux developer after reading the book. Rather, you will have an introduction to one set of tools and an idea of how to begin developing with the tools, with a caveat; a compiler is not discussed in any depth.

It is at this point that I usually include the table of contents for the book, but since the book has the Amazon "Look Inside" logi, this isn't necessary.

Finally, it turns out that if you go to the web site the author is associated with [...], this book is one of a few the author has written with the full title in mind; Linux, Eclipse, and embedded development. Intellimetrix offers courses in the subject material and the books are supporting material. I felt that Newnes priced the book a bit high given the lack of in depth content. That said, I'd purchase the book again knowing what I do now.

Embedded Linux Development
This book is one of the most useful books I have ever purchased. It takes you through all necessary steps to install and operate the Eclipse IDE for those using the 'C' programming language on embedded controllers. Highly recommended!

Mismatch between contents and audience
Eclipse has grown significantly over the past years. It is actually a fairly decent code editor now. However, if you just follow the contents of this book, it will not grow beyond that - just an editor. And there are far better C/C++ editors than Eclipse.
In my experience, most people who develop for embedded Linux do not use Eclipse at all, unless they need to use specific plug-ins (as provided by the commercial Linux vendors - discussed at the end of the book).

I think that if you are just an application developer, you won't start using Eclipse after reading this book - you'll stick to what you are used to.
If you are a kernel developer, you have no reason to switch to Eclipse.

If you are a systems designer that needs to keep a group of application developers within your company happy by providing them with an IDE - this book might be for you. How many of you are there?

A good beginner's book for developers who are new to Eclipse.
The first half of the book is about general introduction. After a quick background briefing of Eclipse, author gives detailed step to step installation guide. A walk through menu introduces functionalities for basic operations with ample screenshots illustrating the steps which are easy to follow. In addition, a demo project is used to show some more features of project and debug environment. The second half of the book targets embedded developers with introduction of device software development platform and some advanced features such as Plug-In, UML, and CVS, which covers interests beyond embedded c code development. In the end, this book has a quick browse of some Eclipse based products from several vendors. Overall, if you are a non-java developer looking for an introductory book on Eclipse, this is a good choice for you. If you expect more, you probably have to search online starting with eclipse.org. ... Read more

Product Description
Many of the earliest books, particularly those dating back to the 1900s and before, are now extremely scarce and increasingly expensive. We are republishing these classic works in affordable, high quality, modern editions, using the original text and artwork. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Seeking Reason Beyond Reason
Despite its compact size, Max Horkheimer's Eclipse of Reason is a potent manifesto against the instrumentalization of Reason in the Enlightenment, which led to a culture in which the most barbaric of acts - the Holocaust, with all of its mediatized manipulation under the Nazis - could take place.At points a whirlwind tour through some of the major trends in intellectual history since Plato, The Eclipse of Reason can be as dense as it is potent.It will reward only a close and careful reading.

"Progress threatens to nullify the very goal it is supposed to realize - the idea of man" (v).This sentence, contained in the Preface, concisely states the main concern that animates the entire book.The Enlightenment comes in for heavy critique throughout these pages, for in separating reason from religion it "retained God, but not grace" (11) and effectively killed metaphysics.Having cut itself off from any notion of a grounding worldview, it finds its ultimate expression in the development of the American worldview, as best expressed in the only philosophical movement to have ever grown up out of America's own soil: Pragmatism, which Horkheimer writes "reflects a society that has no time to remember and meditate" (30).

The lack of time and transcendence - the lack of any fundamental notion of Truth, which is fundamental to American liberalism - helps undermine any and all notions of beauty as a revealing of Truth.The reduction of everything to mere practicality robs humanity of something fundamental to it, which is contained in the work of art: seeing something beyond ourselves, outside of ourselves.Practicality reduces everything to a mere tool: and this is the essence of totalitarian violence.

Digging deeper, Horkheimer reaches back to the very origin of modern thought on the individual: Socrates.This individualism grows with the Reformation, and then the Enlightenment; against this rise in individualism is itself the huge shifts in Christianity that began in earnest with the Reformation: a Christianity that, like Hamlet, has lost its Christian faith but not its Christian soul (93).The collapse of the medieval worldview and the loss of the Church as the central authority meant that the Christian conception of self - and individual made in the image of God, thus invested with infinite worth and given the opportunity of moral choice - would continue without the Christian concept of authority.This individual would, however, even lose its cosmic worth as technology progressed; the individual would eventually become nothing more than an economic unit.

In the end, all of this leads to the death of philosophy, meaning that "irrationality still molds the fate of men" (106).Thus, Horkheimer's conclusion is worth quoting in full: "If by enlightenment and intellectual progress we mean the freeing of man from superstitious belief in evil forces, in demons and fairies, in blind fate - in short, emancipation of fear - then denunciation of what is currently called reason is the greatest service reason can render" (126).

Reason as Failure
Horkheimer's book, Eclipse of Reason deals with the concept of "reason" within the history of Western philosophy. Horkheimer defines true reason as rationality. He details the difference between objective and subjective reason and states that we have moved from objective to subjective. Objective reason deals with universal truths that dictate that an action is either right or wrong. Subjective reason takes into account the situation and social norms. Actions that produce the best situation for the individual are "reasonable" according to subjective reason. The movement from one type of reason to the other occurred when thought could no longer accommodate these objective truths or when it judged them to be delusions. Under subjective reason, concepts lose their meaning. All concepts must be strictly functional to be reasonable. Because subjective reason rules, the ideals of a society, for example democratic ideals, become dependent on the "interests" of the people instead of being dependent on objective truths.

Horkheimer is writing in 1946 and is influenced by Nazi power in Germany. He is outlining how the Nazis were able to make their agenda appear "reasonable". He is also issuing a warning against this happening again. Horkheimer believes that the ills of modern society are caused by the misuse and misunderstanding of reason. If people use true reason to critique their societies, they will be able to identify and solve their problems. ... Read more

Product Description
A string of smashing victories by the forces of the sinister aliens known as the Yuuzhan Vong has left New Republic resources and morale stretched to the breaking point. Leia Organa Solo, estranged from her husband, Han, oversees the evacuation of refugees on planets in the path of the merciless invaders. Luke Skywalker struggles to hold the fractious Jedi Knights together, even while one of them undertakes a bold but reckless undercover mission.

Manipulating their alliance with the amoral Hutts, the Yuuzhan Vong leave a cunning trail of vital information where New Republic agents are sure to find it--information the desperate defenders cannot afford to ignore: the location of the aliens' next target.

Then Han Solo stumbles into the dark heart of raging battle, thus beginning a furious race against time that will require every skill and trick in his arsenal to win...

... Read more

Customer Reviews (60)

Okay as a standalone...
As the Yuuzhan Vong conquer one star system after another, the Jedi struggle with the ethical dilemma this enemy presents. Should they join in the New Republic's all-out fight against the Vong, or should they hold themselves aloof and refuse to use the Force in battle? That conflict absorbs the still adolescent Solo children, who are more than capable of taking their places as Jedi warriors - but only if they can be convinced it's the right thing to do. Meanwhile, Han Solo's grief over Chewbacca's death has caused the ex-smuggler to return to his old ways and leave his family to roam the galaxy in search of adventure. Leia Organa Solo, former head of state for the New Republic and now its ambassador, heads for the Hapan home world to attempt enlisting that 63-planet empire and its powerful starfleet as another ally in the war against the Vong. Who are moving behind the scenes, in ways their targets don't yet suspect...for this galaxy's inhabitants are only just starting to learn about the Vong.

While it's all right as a standalone adventure, this book does not advance the series to which it belongs at all. Han stays angry and alienated, Leia stays frustrated, and the Solo youngsters stay puzzled from beginning to end. For any reader who picks up the Star Wars books because of the characters, that makes this one unlikely to satisfy. I wound up as frustrated as Leia by the time I'd finished it.

--Reviewed by Nina M. Osier, author of 2005 EPPIE winner REGS and the HIGH PLACES series

Worst Author Ever
This is the only book on which I have ever spent postage to return to the publisher requesting a refund because the writing was so horrible.I haven't yet received a refund, but at least the book no longer pollutes my shelf.

See for yourself... Here's a quote from page 2: "Dangerously close to the shield's shimmering perimeter, a thousands-strong mixed-species throng, massed behind stun fencing, pressed to be admitted."Is this for real?It's alliterative, rhyming prose with more consonants than a Czech phone book.Say the quote out loud to yourself, and then imagine trying to wade through 300 pages of this.I don't think I made it past one third of the book.This author writes as though he can never decide on which adjective or adverb to use, so he therefore browses through his thesaurus and packs every word he can find into a single sentence.Then he does this for every sentence on every page.To make reading even more difficult, it also seems that he invents his own words as labels for fictional scientific concepts which he hasn't first explained, and which aren't commonly established elsewhere in the sci-fi genre (i.e. He uses meaningless nonsense fluently).

It's a shame that they still allow him to write for this series, because otherwise, I enjoyed the Star Wars books on the whole, and would have liked to have known the sections of the story he covered.

3.5 stars - At least it puts Han Solo back in play
I'm not really sure why this book, which is the 5th volume in the massive New Jedi Order series and the closing volume of James Luceno's Agents of Chaos duology, was titled Jedi Eclipse, when the Jedi play such a minor role in this one. Even though another Jedi Knight dies in this book, the real star of this "series within a series" is Han Solo. Everyone else is just along for the ride.

While the Yuuzhan Vong invasion was still the focal point of the story, this book felt like one of the pre-NJO Star Wars novels where the characters go their separate ways only to have their adventures bring them all back together for a dramatic action sequence at the end of the book. Han spends much of the story helping his new partner Droma track down his missing kin, Leia travels to Hapes to elist the Consortium's aid in the conflict, and Jacen and Anakin Solo travel to the reactivated Centerpoint Station. In the end, all points lead to (I'm not saying where, as it is a major plot point).

I found it more than a little disturbing when I went back and reread these New Jedi Order novels in a post-9/11 world, as there are definite parallels between the Yuuzhan Vong's ideology and the fundamentalist Islam that has been the source of so much misery. The matter of refugees also brings to mind post-Katrina New Orleans; only in these novels the enemy actively torments the refugees.

Luceno definitely has an appreciation for the Star Wars characters, and seems quite knowledgeable about the vast Star Wars history. He also knows how to write a rollicking adventure story, which despite the grim overtones of the Yuuzhan Vong invasion, Jedi Eclipse certainly was. I still prefer the NJO novels that focus on the larger conflict, but the Agents of Chaos series was an enjoyable side-story, and were particularly useful in that they pushed Han Solo back into action, which is not going to be good news for the Yuuzhan Vong!

Not much here unfortunately...........just filler.
Well, im back again.Sorry to keep ya waiting a bit longer than usual.I do however have an explanation.It is because this installment simply doesnt go anywhere.The pay off appears in the last 48 pages and that simply is not acceptable to me.There is no buildup, no suspense at all.I had a hard time wanting to continue the book.It sat on the shelf for days on end wanting to be read to the finish line but alas....................Hero's trial was fantastic.It had everything in it for me.All the ingredients were there.This one should go further since it is part 2 of the duology but it just doesnt.Ive enjoyed the last 4 books quite a bit, but this one is the worst of them so far in terms of keeping the interest goin.It is definitely NOT a page turner.It is however written very well.The characters are all represented well, with the exception of a few, like Luke and Mara who barely see any page time.The characterizations though are dead on good.The book also appeared rather fragmented with too much going on, too many subplots that were confusing to follow at all times.Of course read it, its Star Wars, but its overshadowed greatly by those that came before it.

#5
ive only read this far so far but will put out reviews as i read the rest of the series.this was an excellent book as was its [predecessor agents of chaos 1.mara may have found a cure to her ailment.but is it permanant?han goes back to his old scoundral like days.he still has his good side as he does great things for the war effort but in his own time hes become quire reckless.leia gets the blame for a lot of bs stuff going on in the world.she even has ppl fighting over her at one point.one of her old would be suitors no less.anakan gets a weopon of mass destruction working again but will he use it?the ever oppurtunistic lando even starts bringing in refugees.the republic tries to be friends with rhe hutts also.all trust seems to dissipate everywhere!even c3-p0 begins worrying about deactivation like an old person would dying.the vong make prisoners massage thier living ships heart so itll runbetter.the being turns a lot of ppl into veggies or corpses.however a jedi resists its tortures.the vong killed enough stuff now that the core worlds like where corascant is were looking like good targets.like i said,as i read more,ill report more.the 2nd best book so far! ... Read more

Product Description

• Step-by-step guide that introduces novices to using all major features of Eclipse 3
• Eclipse is an open source extensible integrated development environment (IDE) that helps Java programmers build best-of-breed integrated tools covering the whole software lifecycle-from conceptual modeling to deployment
• Eclipse is fast becoming the development platform of choice for the Java community
• Packed with code-rich, real-world examples that show programmers how to speed up the development of applications by reusing and extending existing Eclipse components
• Describes SWT and JFace (Eclipse's alternative to the Java AWT and Swing) and demonstrates them in practice in a JavaLayer based MP3 player
• Shows how Eclipse can be used as a tool platform and application framework

Customer Reviews (4)

Too little eclipse - too much Java
I had hoped to find in this book the things I had not found out between the weeks I was started using Eclipse and the arrival of the book. I thought that it would detail in to the nitty gritty details that cost you hours to find out.

Even though it covers Eclipse it seems more a Java programmer manual. The examples used in the book are a speech synthesis program and some Eclipse plugins. The problem is that way to many pages cover the code of the examples and the way to program them.

If I had wanted to find out about those thing I would have bought a book about that. I wanted a book that told me about Eclipse, not about how to write a program.

This book has really helped me
I'm no Java jock, though I have done small projects in it and know it enough to be a Java fan. I downloaded Eclipse and almost immediately was confused by the discrepancies in the tutorial with what I was seeing on the screen, so I bought this book. The introductory chapter alone was enough to give me a broad perspective on where I could go with Eclipse (and SWT and JFace), and the first couple of chapters got me started to the extent where I could easily proceed with my new project, run Junit tests within Eclipse, etc.

I think it's a fine book so far, for a person who already knows the basics of Java but doesn't need to be an expert. I find the whole Eclipse thing to be tremendously exciting, actually.

almost a manual
This book does cover the material for RCP and version 3 so its more up to date than the earlier Eclipse in Action book byGallardo et al, or the S. Holzner Eclipse book.
Something I've noticed when many programmers give public talks, like at EclipseCon, is that they skip-over the perspective and context and jump right into coding details.

This book too suffers from the LaundryList problem. Some chapters of Daum's book are more like a big list with only a sentence or two to frame them.
I appreciate that Daum is being comprehensive and so
the book comes of a bit like the manual you didn't get when you
'bought' eclipse.The book is worth having around for reference because its systematic and pretty complete.If you're looking to produce a proof-of-concept application in eclipse this book contains good examples of a stand-alone, plugin, and an rcp apps.This book is helpful in framing what you can learn from experimenting with eclipse.
Its a good reference book, but if you're lost in the wilderness trying to figure how to structure a larger application this book won't provide the persepective you need.

Nicely done, and it covers the latest in Eclipse...
There are definitely an abundance of books on Eclipse to choose from.One of the latest additions to the field, Professional Eclipse 3 for Java Developers by Berthold Daum (Wrox) is a nice new choice...

Chapter List:Introduction to Eclipse; Effective Programming with Eclipse; The Art of (Visual) Composition; Organizing Your Code; Project One: Duke Speaks; Project Development; Advanced Topics of Project Development; The SWT Library; JFace; Project Two: Jukebox; Developing Plug-ins for the Eclipse Platform; Developing Your Own Eclipse-Based Products; Project Three: A Spell Checker as an Eclipse Plug-in; The Rich Client Platform; Project Four: The Hex Game as a Rich Client Application; Conclusions and Outlook; Useful Plug-ins for Eclipse; Migrating Projects to a New Eclipse Version; Important Downloads; Bibliography; Index

There are a number of things I liked about this book.For one, it deals with the latest Eclipse release (version 3).Although it's not a major problem to mentally translate text between 2.1 and 3.0, it's still easier to learn if both the book and the student are on the same page.Next, Daum concentrates a lot on practicality.The four projects included in the book cover four of the major types of development you'd face as a Java developer.By using the projects during your learning, you should have a good grasp of Eclipse when you're finished.Finally, I appreciate the coverage of the Rich Client Platform.My personal opinion is that this feature of Eclipse is going to be a very big deal, and this book is one of the few that covers it in any detail.

So, if anyone were to ask me for a recommendation on a book for Eclipse, this book would be among the top of the list.It's good stuff. ... Read more

Product Description

Customer Reviews (2)

The Abbess, the Tout, and the Thoroughbred
"Eclipse first, the rest nowhere" was a challenge uttered by this outstanding Thoroughbred's boastful owner, Dennis O'Kelly. At the time of Eclipse's first race in May, 1769 at Epsom, a horse that was more than 240 yards (a furlong = 220 yards) behind the lead was said to be `nowhere.'Eclipse won all of his races, some of them walkovers because none of his competitors wanted to face him, but not all of his rivals ended up `nowhere.'According to this author, another unbeaten Thoroughbred named Bucephalus challenged Eclipse in a 4-mile race at Newmarket:

"As they came within sight of the stands, Bucephalus moved up on Eclipse's flank to challenge, goading Eclipse into the most determined gallop of his career.Eclipse surged ahead.Bucephalus strained to keep in touch until, broken, he fell away, leaving Eclipse to arrive at the line well in front.Bucephalus never raced again.Eclipse, by contrast, shrugged off his exertions to race again two days later."

Eclipse retired to stud after competing only 17 months on England's 18th Century racecourses.Nobody wanted to run their Thoroughbreds against him.Perhaps it was just as well this remarkable horse was retired early to the breeding shed, because of "the extraordinary influence that Eclipse has exerted, through his male line, on the development of racing."The genetic legacy of this stallion is to be found in 80% - 90% (depending on the source) of all modern Thoroughbreds.Of all the current top stallions at stud in Europe and America, only Tiznow is not a male-line descendant of Eclipse--he is a tail male descendant of Machem, another great 18th Century English Thoroughbred.

The story of Eclipse takes up only part of this book, which is also a history of Georgian England--at least, as viewed from the racetracks, debtor prisons, gaming houses, and brothels.Eclipse's owner, Dennis O'Kelly was a larger-than-life Irish immigrant, who spent more time in the Fleet debtor's prison than he did on the racetrack--at least during his earlier years. He met his long-time mistress, Charlotte Hayes at the Fleet, then graduated from debtor's prison to become a professional gambler (`blackleg'), while Charlotte became the `abbess' (madam) of a high-class `nunnery.'Everyone who was anyone in Georgian England--from the Butcher of Culloden (Prince William, son of George III), who was Eclipse's original owner, to Sir John Fielding (the `Blind Beak of Bow Street'), who once tried Dennis O'Kelly following a brawl at the Bedford Arms.

One of my favorite anecdotes involves the Duke of York, brother of King George III, who insulted a high-class prostitute by leaving her only half of her normal fee:

"Kitty, whose usual charge for a night was 100 guineas, illustrated her contempt by placing the banknote between two slices of buttered bread, which she ate for her breakfast."

The latter part of `Eclipse' skips around a bit, telling the story of George Stubbs, who painted Eclipse several times, the travels of Eclipse's skeleton, and the racing/breeding careers of several of this Thoroughbred's descendants.The author has collected many memorable stories about Thoroughbreds and their owners, right into the 21st Century.

One of the most recent anecdotes involves the feud between `Sheik Mo' (ruler of Dubai) and the `boys' (Ireland's Coolmore Stud), and the battle for the world's most expensive Thoroughbreds (not necessarily the best, but definitely the most expensive).According to this author, Coolmore is winning handily.I am hoping very much that Nicholas Clee expands this ongoing story into another fascinating book about the world of Thoroughbreds.He would be the perfect author to record the high (and low) shenanigans of the world's richest racehorse owners.

Speed bonnie horse like a bird on the wing
Born in 1764, Eclipse easily won every event in which he competed. This wide-ranging book provides a long-overdue look at his life and career, together with the people around him and an insight into life in eighteenth century London. It also explain some of the major developments in the way horseracing evolved and what happened to Eclipse`s skeleton. There's even an art chapter featuring George Stubbs and other painters. Part of one of George's paintings adorns the front cover.

The early history of horseracing is hazy, as events weren't chronicled meticulously. Other events of the time are also open to doubt, especially concerning the people who were in some way connected to the story of Eclipse. Eighteenth century journalists, like their modern counterparts, were prone to distorting the truth when it suited their objectives. With all those caveats, and allowing for further embellishment by the author, the story as told is certainly fascinating even if it may not be entirely true.

Plenty of upper class people feature in the story, notably the Duke of Cumberland. His military career included victory over Bonnie Prince Charlie's army at Culloden, but was otherwise mostly a series of failures. (Bonnie Prince Charlie escaped; his army were butchered.) More successful as a racehorse owner and breeder, the duke bred both Herod and Eclipse, but he died of ill-health (at least partly self-inflicted, it seems) in his mid-forties when Eclipse was just a yearling, well before he started his racing career.

The main characters were a disreputable but charismatic Irishman, Dennis O'Kelly, and his partner, Charlotte Hayes, an up-market brothel owner. Charlotte was well aware that her reputation depended on the health and well-being of her prostitutes (aka nuns), so she encouraged her clients to use Mrs Phillips' famed new engines to avoid spreading venereal diseases. Charlotte also taught her nuns to behave in a very ladylike fashion, appropriate for her upper class clients.

In 1769/70, when Eclipse raced, all races were run in heats over long distances, as they had been for centuries before. Within the next decade or two, British racing changed rapidly to single races over shorter distances. The St Leger started in 1776, the Oaks (for fillies only) in 1779 and the Derby in 1780. If these races had existed in 1767, when Eclipse was three years old, he would surely have won the Derby and St Leger. As it was, he didn't start his racing career until he was five, which was the custom of the time.

Two chapters on Eclipse's male line legacy feature horses that the author wanted to write about, irrespective of whether they were important to its continuance - Hambletonian, Whalebone, Running Rein, Gladiateur, Hermit, St Simon, Sceptre, Pretty Polly, Phar Lap, Arkle, Nijinsky, Secretariat and Dubai Millennium. (Seabiscuit wasn`t a member of the Eclipse male line, otherwise it's clear that he would have been included too.) Running Rein doesn't deserve mention in such illustrious company, but the author clearly wanted to write about the notorious 1844 Epsom Derby. Really, I think that somebody in Hollywood should use that race as the basis of a movie. In the piece on Nijinsky, the author grudgingly concedes that Mill Reef (who got me hooked on racing) may have been a better racehorse than Nijinsky; Lester Piggott certainly thought so. In the piece on Dubai Millennium, he disparages Snaafi Dancer, The Green Monkey and Jalil, omitting to mention that Jalil was a decent horse who won at Group level, albeit never justifying his purchase price.

In those legacy chapters and in the main story, the author sometimes contradicts himself in different passages. He acknowledges the importance of Herod and Matchem in the development of the thoroughbred, especially in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, yet maintains that the pre-eminence of the Eclipse line today proves Eclipse's superiority. Yet the eighteenth century annual champion sires lists (which Eclipse never topped, though he was often second) show that the Herod line was the strongest at that stage, as the author acknowledges. Eclipse was probably the best racehorse of the eighteenth century (though Flying Childers and Highflyer appear to be other candidates for that title) but he was a less successful stallion than Herod or Herod's son Highflyer. The author even suggests that St Simon ensured the survival of the Eclipse line, yet St Simon's branch of that line is as much in peril today as are the Herod and Matchem lines.

The author discusses Eclipse's large heart, explaining a theory that the gene for it may be tied to the X chromosome. If so, a stallion can only pass it to his daughters, but a mare can pass it to all her offspring. That may explain why Highflyer (often mated with Eclipse's daughters) was such a great stallion and may also explain why some stallions (including Secretariat, who had a huge heart) become successful broodmare sires while their sons are disappointing. If this theory is true, Eclipse was a more important stallion than we thought, but not because of the male line. Male lines are interesting as Ed Bowen's Dynasties shows, but never tell the whole story, as the author also acknowledges.

The book is fascinating, but sometimes strays far beyond the world of horseracing. Although the author may have tried to write with a wider readership in mind, I'll be surprised if it appeals to a non-racing readership; this book isn`t another Seabiscuit: An American Legend. I wanted to read about all the people connected to Eclipse, but I wonder if the author overdid this aspect, especially as the main story continues into the early nineteenth century, well after both Dennis O'Kelly and Eclipse were dead.

The book was bound to be flawed because of its reliance on eighteenth century sources, but the author has added in his own flaws. Nevertheless, there's a great story here with a lot of information that's worth reading, if you tolerate the flaws. ... Read more

Product Description
Poetry. " 'Hints and symbols die out./ All's actual now.' These lines seem to contain the germ of Joseph Donahue's massive, mesmerising new book, INCIDENTAL ECLIPSE. Something is going under, something is coming to the surface; each is documented by two voices, one speaking in italics. This sequence confirms Donahue as one of the major American poets of our time" - John Ashbery. "For Donahue...the 'personal' or the 'confessional' is precisely the site of connection to the 'cosmic,' the 'place' at which one's life explodes into myth" -The Alsop Review. Joseph Donahue has lived for many years in New York City, and now lives in Durham, North Carolina. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

"one of the major American poets of this time"
For Joseph Donahue, the art of poetry implies an art of listening: the poet's ear becomes an angelic receiver, attentive to the song of the earth and to the voices of its inhabitants, both living and dead. Such signals, mysterious and fleeting, might have vanished into the void, but are sensitively received and brilliantly reconceived in the lines of INCIDENTAL ECLIPSE. In this collection, as in his previous and later books, Donahue is developing a poetic form unlike any other, a form in which listening is a kind of speaking, and speaking a kind of listening--a form in which the noise of a fallen world is transmuted into transcendental music.

Donahue's dialectic of (active) testimony and (passive) witness plays out differently in every poem: in one, the reader may enter a landscape, in another, a room resonant with whispers. Every poem opens a different door onto otherness, a space of expectancy;as the title poem states, "[T]he tremor in the air / is that of a love yet to be given." The words here are "aiming, as do all finite things, / at endlessness. . ." In attempting to say the unsayable, Donahue's passages are shaded with emotions known primarily to lovers and mystics.

Here, Donahue has created a new poetic instrument, that, like a wind harp, is responsive to the nuances of chance and necessity. But Donahue's harp is made to respond to the waves of the human voice, lost and found in time, as well as to the unpredictable weathers of the world-soul: the sounds that issue from this harp are ghostly, dissonant, melancholic and mesmerizing.

Unfortunately, none of the real qualities of Donahue's work is reflected in the hasty and ill-considered comments of the previous Amazon reviewer. That reviewer falsely characterizes Donahue's work as "Ashberyean," yet, as is readily apparent, the spiritual urgency of Donahue's poetry has little in common with the mandarin ironies of Ashbery's verse. (The reviewer may have been distracted by the blurb that John Ashbery provided for INCIDENTAL ECLIPSE, in which Ashbery hails Donahue as "one of the major American poets of this time.")

The most galling among the previous reviewer's misrepresentations of Donahue's work is his description of "Aria Nowhere" as "sentimental." This elegy on the death of the poet's mother possesses the power of one of Bach's pieces for unaccompanied cello: "Aria Nowhere" is a hushed lament, a confrontation with feeling so overwhelming that it must be held back from an overflow that could not do it justice--the very opposite of sentimentality. Indeed, the poem's line about "the only hope that can exist / is the hope that remains unknown" is, with its rich Gnostic overtones, the most un-sentimental statement imaginable.

The previous reviewer's poor judgement is also illustrated by his claim that lyricism is "not typical of the book as a whole." In fact (a fact that will be obvious to the most casual reader), INCIDENTAL ECLIPSE is lyrical throughout, in the deepest, most Orphic sense of the word: here is a lyric that strives to rescue the dead by listening for the infinity within "all finite things." Each of Donahue's poems is aimed (with a necessarily nonlinear "sense of an arc") in the direction of an unknown hope.

when style becomes constraint
Joseph Donahue is a practitioner of the John Ashbery mode of calculated drift, following the meanderings of mind through the world of words and things.But ultimately his poetry lacks a distinctive stamp of its own, just as the poems in _Incidental Eclipse_ tend in their fluency to run together, making it difficult to distinguish one poem from another or to hold an individual poem in the memory.The tone is conversational; the mind wanders, but the voice is never raised.

The "citywide/Disintegration Festival" of one poem rarely disturbs the poems' deadpan poise.(Another poem's description of a woman's expression is an apt characterization of the book's tone: "sardonic and dreamy.")

The poems have several striking lines and phrases: "The air is alive with bright grit/or dead with dirty light," "the glittering dead who believed...true/thought comes as a kiss," "the angel's jibe/would harry the glitter from the dew/in a field with a dozen gulls and one crow," "we are the residue of what will be," "the turquoise universe and all/the stars fill his lungs," and a gorgeous passage like: "Hail in sunlight, black clouds flare./Rain, throttling full.Lightning wires/detonate the sky."But the lyricism of these moments is not typical of the book as a whole (this is one reason they stand out so), and they tend to stay just that, moments, not adding up to wholes larger than the sum of their parts.One line follows another until the poem ends; the reader rarely gets a sense of arc or shape.

"A Parish in the North," with its Roman Catholic imagery, has an intensity most of the poems lack, though a religious or quasi-religious subtext winds through much of the book, as do bits and pieces of classical philosophy."Target, Mongolia," perhaps because it's based on a painting, has a visual specificity and a verbal energy missing from much of the book.Strangely enough, the poem which seems to have the greatest degree of emotional investment, "Aria Nowhere," an elegy for the poet's mother, verges on sentimentality ("Perhaps the only hope that can exist/is the hope than [sic] remains unknown").The poet stumbles when grappling with something of real import, something that offers resistance to the smooth, even flow of his lines.

Donahue is clearly a skilled and talented writer.But I wish that he would push a bit at the boundaries of the poetic sub-genre in which he has so comfortably ensconced himself.
... Read more

Product Description

Achieve Breakthrough Productivity and Quality with MDD and Eclipse-Based DSLs

Domain-specific languages (DSLs) and model-driven development (MDD) offer software engineers powerful new ways to improve productivity, enhance quality, and insulate systems from rapid technological change. Now, there’s a pragmatic, start-to-finish guide to creating DSLs and using MDD techniques with the powerful open source Eclipse platform. In Eclipse Modeling Project, Richard C. Gronback illuminates both the principles and techniques software professionals need to master, offering insights that will be invaluable to developers working with any tool or platform.

As coleader of the Eclipse Modeling Project, Gronback is singularly well-positioned to demonstrate DSLs and MDD at work in Eclipse. Gronback systematically introduces each of the Eclipse technologies that can be used in DSL and MDD development. Throughout, he introduces key concepts and technologies in the context of a complete worked example and presents new best practices and never-before published techniques. He also covers Eclipse projects discussed in no other book, including Query/View/Transformation (QVT) and the Graphical Modeling Framework (GMF)–a project the author personally leads.

Eclipse Modeling Project gives software practitioners all the knowledge they need to explore the remarkable potential of DSLs and MDD–and includes coverage of

• Why a model-based approach enables the rapid customization of high-quality solutions within the product line paradigm
• How the Eclipse Modeling Project’s capabilities can be used to efficiently create new DSLs
• Powerful techniques for developing DSL abstract syntax, graphical notation, and textual syntax
• How to build Model-to-Model (M2M) and Model-to-Text (M2T) transformations–including a powerful new M2M implementation of the Object Management Group’s QVT Operational Mapping Language (OML)
• Efficiently packaging and deploying DSLs with Eclipse
• Complete reference sections for the Graphical Editing Framework (GEF), GMF runtime and tooling, QVT OML, Xpand, and more

Foreword     xix

Preface     xxi

Acknowledgments     xxiii

About the Author     xxv

Part I: Introduction     1

Chapter 1: Introduction     3

Chapter 2: Modeling Project as a DSL Toolkit     17

Part II: Developing Domain-Specific Languages     27

Chapter 3: Developing a DSL Abstract Syntax     29

Chapter 4: Developing a DSL Graphical Notation     55

Chapter 5: Developing a DSL Textual Syntax     227

Chapter 6: Developing Model-to-Model Transformations     231

Chapter 7: Developing Model-to-Text Transformations     277

Chapter 8: DSL Packaging and Deployment     303

Part III: Reference     315

Chapter 9: Graphical Editing Framework     317

Chapter 10: Graphical Modeling Framework Runtime     353

Chapter 11: Graphical Modeling Framework Tooling     503

Chapter 12: Graphical Modeling Framework FAQs     545

Chapter 13: Query/View/Transformation Operational Mapping Language     549

Chapter 14: Xpand Template Language     605

Part IV: Appendixes     651

Appendix A: Graphical Modeling Framework Key Bindings     653

Appendix B: Model-Driven Architecture at Eclipse     661

References     671

Customer Reviews (4)

Very comprehensive coverage of a complex programming topic
I have a number of books in the Eclipse Series (The Eclipse Modeling Framework, The Eclipse Rich Client Platform, etc.) and this one seems to be the pinnacle of the series, describing the fusion of a number of different Eclipse project initiatives into the Eclipse Modeling Project (the EMP). The book is well written, but the topic that it deals with seems to be in a state of 'becoming' rather than 'being'. As a result, a good portion of the book addresses topics and development processes specific to this project that either have already changed, or are in the process of imminent change. This apparently led the author into prescribing a rather rigid workflow for the creation of models and their corresponding tooling, for inclusion as part of an Eclipse application or workbench feature. Personally, I believe that the EMP and GMF are about to hit a point of collapse (in a good sense of the word): a number of portions of the workflow that the author describes really should be refactored to reduce their complexity and streamline the process of model and tool construction and deployment. In its current state, following the EMP workflow is very sensitive to the sequence of operations, and apparently small changes in the sequence can lead to unpredictable results or even failure in the construction of the target. I would definitely buy a revised edition of the book, once the platform that it describes has gone through a couple of revisions and streamlining/stabilization efforts. The author is obviously extremely knowledgeable of the topic, and describes it quite well. He was also able to communicate the fact that the EMP overall is a very important technology in the software engineering landscape, specifically in the areas of model-driven design and development, and the cultivation and continued improvement of the EMP will pay huge dividends in the development of high-quality software. I believe that the sooner the EMP matures and stabilizes, the better! I'm very much looking forward to using it as a primary part of my software engineering toolbox in the future!

This book may not deliver what you want, but its out there
I need to give a bit of balance to the previous reviews. I basically like the book, but it is a mixed bag and could be a lot better in certain areas. If you expect a start to finish tutorial, you will be disappointed because some background material is presented out of order and you really should read some of his cited references beforehand.For example he discusses the dynamic instance capability in EMF using a mindmap DSL, but doesn't introduce the mindmap DSL itself, until a little later. Also, it will help to have some familiarity with EMF as the coverage in chapter 3 can be followed but is a bit thin and EMF and ecore are purposefully not intended to duplicate the EMF book. The book's usefulness to you will depend upon where you are in MDD and how you want to use MDD and DSLs. The eclipse modeling project is and will undergo rapid change and this book appears somewhat rushed and rough in spots.His second edition when it comes out should be really better organizationally as the Eclipse Modeling projects mature. For example,Chapter 5 on Xtext and TCS is basically a mild description with no example content because that area was not mature at publication. The examples in Chapter 14 on the Xpand template language are in my view a bit skimpy and simplistic for folks wanting to do serious scripting.Similarly if you want to learn QVT, section 13.6 on library operations provides syntax but little to no examples, but the discussion in section 13.5.3 on the shorthand notation used in imperative iterate expressions is really helpful in understanding QVT syntax in the examples presented elsewhere in the book--like chapter 6. Therefore to get the most out of this book, you will be hopping around and be doing multiple reads and passes until it makes sense to you. Don't give up. Do buy the book if you're interested in MDD and DSLs.Gronback has done a nice job developing a mindmap and requirements DSLs that he uses in chapter 6 on model to model transformations.Although you'll need to get comfortable with the QVT and OCL, try running the examples yourself--typing them in to get used to the syntax.His view of MDA at Eclipse in Appendix B is spot on accurate, and I hope OMG takes his advice.If you are interested in graphical model development for your DSL, then Gronback offers strong support for that in Chapter 4 and Chapters 9 through 12.This is no surprise as Gronback is the project lead for GMF. However if you are interested in model to model transformations, QVT, and model to text, and OCL you will be disappointed if you are a beginner requiring step-by-step explanations of the QVT code. Also, don't give up when you reach section 3.2.4 on applying OCL. If you're new to OCL and ecore Eannotations, this will be a rough spot.Finally if you're put off by the price, I'd recommend taking a look at downloading all the OpenArchitectureware tutorials.They are a little stale wrt the later Eclipse Modeling releases, but still helpful and free!

A technical title recommended for any advanced computer collection
ECLIPSE MODELING PROJECT: ACHIEVE BREAKTHROUGH PRODUCTIVITY AND QUALITY WITH MDD AND ECLIPSE-BASED DSLS is for any Java programming library strong in domain-specific languages and software engineering guides. It covers the benefits of a model-based approach and surveys the Eclipse Modeling Project's ability to create new DSLs. An outstanding survey evolves in a technical title recommended for any advanced computer collection.

from a diagram of a domain model to autogenerated code
If you use Eclipse, you probably know it as a neat Integrated Development Environment for java, where perhaps you manually write all the java code. This book shows a different take on Eclipse; a much higher level of sophistication. Basically, it shows how to go from a diagram of a set of related classes to autogenerated java code. Developers have put a massive amount of effort into fleshing out this ability; something well documented by the book.

The starting diagram is a domain model. It models a scenario that you are interested in. You might think that an alternative approach is to use Backus Naur Formalism to define the same information. But the book deprecates BNF. Decades-long experience with BNF suggests that it lacks expressive power, and that perhaps the pure text nature of a BNF instantiation is too hard to grasp relationships between objects. Instead, the expression of a domain model in terms of what is roughly [or exactly] a UML diagram gives visuals that people can far more easily absorb.

What the book has is a set of very detailed tutorials. Each walks through a given example model. Fleshing out how to use Eclipse to make the model. Initially, the book's narrative is at a very abstract level, which may hard for some to follow. But the tutorials help give this substance. Each tutorial is non-trivial, and shows how Eclipse has extensive abilities to help you.

In terms of autogeneration, it's not just java code. The book gives examples of autogenerated XML, and in general we see the use of Model to Text transformation templates that spit out text files. One common feature of all of these is the sheer verbosity of the the textual output. Autogeneration saves you labour and reduces the occurrence of simple bugs. Thus Eclipse lets you work as much as possible at a diagrammatic level, which can be more productive. ... Read more

Product Description
Discover WTP, the New End-to-End Toolset for Java-Based Web Development

TheEclipse Web Tools Platform (WTP) seamlessly integrates all the toolstoday’s Java Web developer needs. WTP is both an unprecedented OpenSource resource for working developers and a powerful foundation forstate-of-the-art commercial products.

Eclipse Web Tools Platformoffers in-depth descriptions of every tool included in WTP, introducingpowerful capabilities never before available in Eclipse. The authorscover the entire Web development process–from defining Web applicationarchitectures and development processes through testing and beyond. Andif you’re seeking to extend WTP, this book provides an introduction tothe platform’s rich APIs. The book also

• Presents step-by-step coverage of developing persistence, business logic, and presentation tiers with WTP and Java
• Introduces best practices for multiple styles of Web and Java EE development
• Demonstrates JDBC database access and configuration
• Shows how to configure application servers for use with WTP
• Walks through creating Web service application interfaces
• Covers automated testing with JUnit and Cactus, and automated builds utilizing Ant, Maven, and CruiseControl
• Introduces testing and profiling Web applications with the Eclipse Test and Performance Tools Platform (TPTP) project
• Describes how to extend WTP with new servers, file types, and WSDL extensions

Customer Reviews (5)

Develop a Java web based application with ease
This book did it for me! I was struggling reading numerous books on how to get started developing a Java web based application. Here in this book it explains clearly in steps (snap shots) how to configure Eclipse with the various technologies. How to write basic but essential JSP , Servlets..etc and how to debug it and like wise.

Read the iterations. It was very rewarding for me by the time i completed reading and practicing the examples given. It boosted my confidence towards continuing to learn everything I need to know about building Java web based applications.

Trying to Be Too Much?
The reason I bought this book was so I could quickly get through some hands-on examples and see the power of WTP.Also, I thought it would be really helpful to see various web development tools through the lens of Eclipse development.After going through it, though, I'm afraid I can't recommend the book for those purposes.

But first, let me applaud the web development "wisdom" portions of the book.There are some really good "why are we doing this?" and "why are we doing it this way?" explanations in this book.Nothing to do with WTP, really, but these portions of the book werevery well done.

The majority and purpose of the book are the hands-on exercises.Here's where I had some issues.Throughout the exercises, the reader is always being asked to go out and download some tool or another.I spent way too much time at update sites, trying to get the right versions of things.Iwould rather all of this be established up-front.Just say "if you want to do all of the exercises, download these specific versions of these 8 tools".Later, there can be some explanation as to why those tools over others, but lets get a platform that's going to do everything, and not sprinkle installation issues throughout.In fact, I think that in an Eclipse book, they instructions should say, "start with a clean install of (some version of Eclipse) and build it with (these versions of these plugins), and you will be able to do every exercise."

I know it's not the job of the authors of this book to detail a tool's installation, but a line like "check the (some tool) documentation for the exact list" is a cop out.Presumably, the authors just got done using the list, so a few words as to how to find the list within the documentation would be really helpful.With a little guidance, digging time could be reduced from an hour to two minutes.

The exercises had separate iterations, which I found helpful.I did run into discontinuities that required some improvisation, though.I'm pretty sure that nobody sat down with an empty machine, installed all of the tools and ran all of the exercises, start to finish.Or if they did, the book didn't get updated.

The book was written using WTP 1.5, EJB 2.1, etc.These are older versions than what's currently available, but it's not a problem to run through the exercises with the older versions.The problem comes at the end of the exercise when they give you a "tease" about how cool the next version is.I resisted temptation for almost the whole book but finally I grabbed some updated versions to try out the cool new stuff!Bad idea.I backed-up to earlier exercises, and although I was able to replicate most of them under the newer versions of things, there's not enough detail to get through quickly (lots of trial and error).And when I was finished, I wasn't convinced it was an optimal result.But I just couldn't sit still with the old versions when the authors were plugging the new versions.

A picky issue I have concerns references to other books.I don't think they belong in the main text, really.They wouldn't even need footnotes.Just a recommended reading by chapter would be sufficient.If you are more of an academic than someone who needs to apply this stuff quickly, maybe reading these other books might be a possibility, but I'll tell you I'm not going to make time to read a 9 year old EJB book!

I'm not sure that pitching to a WTP user and a WTP volunteer developer in the same book was really in the flow of the book.This is a picky one too, and there weren't that many pages dedicated to this topic.I suppose there's a need to recruit, it's just that I'm not sure the audience overlaps very much.

The bottom line for me is that a book should simplify the task of setting up the environment so that I can concentrate on the "why" and "how" of coding.Although I wouldn't have enjoyed the "wisdom" and other continuity the book offered, I don't think I saved any time on the development environment.I spent as much time tinkering with the development environment as I would have if I had just grabbed 6 or 8 tutorials from6 or 8 different authors off of the internet.

Review from Web Tools Platform Past Committer
To give a brief background about myself. I have been one of the primary contributor and committer of the Web Tools Platform (WTP) eclipse tools project since its inception through WTP 1.5 release. I contributed the Validation Framework component for this project. I read a large portion of this book and can say that this most comprehensive book that explains the complete WTP in a step by step fashion that can be help you easily understand the whole WTP project, its sub projects, its components and features through several real world examples. I strongly recommend this book to all users and contributors of WTP.

Vijay Bhadriraju, IBM

Excellent: How books on programming should be written
Eclipse Web Tools Platform: Developing Java(TM) Web Applications

This is an excellent book; I specially liked the iterative approach (for example, for presentation tier, iteration 1: HTML, iteration 2: add CSS, iteration 3: add Javascripts, iteration 4: XML and XSLT, iteration 5: DTD)authors have taken. I have used examples from this book, with Eclipse and NetBeans, of course for Eclipse user this book has added value, since it goes through configuration of Eclipse and recommended practices. Please ignore the gripe about errors in the code; there are two minor errors which are detailed in the errata on book's companion site, it doesn't take more than a minute to fix those two issues.

Authors discuss All three tiers in great detail. How about this, by page 85 you would be deploying a simple web service (and you would be amazed how simple it is).

Great book for getting up and running with WTP
Though I have had some experience in Java, Eclipse, and WTP, a recent project required me to get more into depth. This book got me through the whole development process. It explained to me clean coding techniques when writing web apps in Java, how to get my web server up and running for use with WTP, to get my apps to talk to the server, debugging using different tools, and unit testing in a web environment.

This book was an invaluable addition to my collection, and is also a great reference now that I have mastered these concepts. ... Read more

Product Description
It never ceases to shock when time slips away from me. Two weeks. Gone. Completely wiped from my existence. Two weeks ago, there was another me, sleeved in another morph. There was a mission and it led to my death.

Sava wakes from the dead with a new body and a new mission. This time, the job entails returning to a ruined Earth, avoiding the dangers left behind by an apocalyptic war between AIs and transhumanity, and putting their lives on the line for lost information. It is a mission they won't forget--and may not remember at all.

"Lack" takes place in the Eclipse Phase universe. This story originally appeared in the Eclipse Phase Core Rulebook.

Your mind is software. Program it.
Your body is a shell. Change it.
Death is a disease. Cure it.
Extinction is approaching. Fight it. ... Read more

Product Description
A Song Called Youth, Book 3. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

A Satisfying Conclusion to "A Song Called Youth" Trilogy
John Shirley shines once more, in the riveting conclusion of his "A Song Called Youth" trilogy. After being discredited in the United States, the Second Alliance makes its final stand in Europe. About to unleash genocide as it tries to unite Western Europe under its Christian Fundamentalist Fascism, only the New Resistance (NR) stands in its way. And high in Earth orbit, the NR's chief financial sponsor has his own sinister plans for humanity. Again, Shirley delivers the goods with his fine, fast-paced lyrical prose. Without a doubt, his "A Song Called Youth" trilogy is one of the classics of cyberpunk literature. ... Read more

Product Description
A Song Called Youth, Book II ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

dont worry-the end of world will have commercials :)
My review for Episode I of eclipse stills stands for this 2nd part of the series.Shirley raises the bar here for sci-fi/cyber literature.More action, more characters, and more insanity-in a good way. Not only can Shirley write a good action piece he also gives you just enough about the many characters to care about them, or depise them :)If you want a story that has shoot em up action, cyber-tech action, even sex,drugs,and rock and roll than look no further. Shirely may suprise but he does not dissapoint!

A Fine Work Of Cyberpunk Fiction
Once more John Shirley gives a fascinating, riveting tale about 21st Century Fascism attempting to take hold in the United States and Western Europe, in the waning phases of a conventional war between the United States and the Soviet Union. Dissent and treachery are rife in the leadership of the Christian Fascist Second Alliance (SA) and its primary opposition, the New Resistance (NR). The SA's grip on Western Europe grows tighter as it bids to win control of FirStep, the orbiting space colony. A splendid tale filled with mesmerizing characters that is among the finest works of cyberpunk fiction. ... Read more

Product Description
From the former tech editor of Sport Compact Car comes a comprehensive tuning guide to maximize the power and handling of the Mitsubishi DSM for street and strip action. Not only does it cover such different names as Mitsubishi Eclipse, Eagle Talon, and Plymouth Laser, it also includes all makes and models from 1990 to 1999. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Author's Note
As the author of this book, I wanted to take a moment to respond to "Ed M." about the lack of information about the Dodge-sourced engine in non-turbo 2G DSMs. First, I do mention the 420A, and point out that Hahn Racecraft offers a turbo kit for it. It's a good kit, and if you're interested in turbocharging that particular engine, I highly recommend it. However, that is about the extent of the performance aftermarket for that particular powerplant, and as I explain in the book, for the price of the 420A turbo kit and installation, you could have sold your non-turbo Eclipse and purchased a turbo version which, even stock, offers as much power as the Stage 1 version of the HRC setup. I also wanted to point out a correction in my bio above: I have not been the editor of Honda Tuning for about five years, and wasn't even working for that magazine when the book was published. Repeated requests to change this information have gone unheeded by Amazon. Currently I am Road Test Editor at MyRide.com.

Not as advertised
I bought this book based on the writeup which states it covers "all makes and models 90-99."The book does a good job covering the models with the turbocharged Mitsubishi 4363 motor, but that's it.It does not cover, at all, any of the earlier non turdo Mitsubishi engines or the later models with the Chrysler 420A engine.

Upgrading your Eclipse
The book outlines some basic ideas and principles for doing some aftermarket upgrades to 1G and 2G eclipses.It gives some good tips and some dos and don'ts, but it doesn't really go into detail.This book would be good for someone that really doesn't know anything about performance increases for an eclipse. ... Read more

Product Description
It was a match not made in heaven, but in pound notes-an arranged engagement between a girl of thirteen and a lord's younger son. Since then, thirteen years have passed, and as her betrothed has been sowing his wild oats, Penny has grown up, grown impatient, and grown resentful. In fact, she's vowed never to marry the man who blighted her life and destroyed her dreams.

Viscount Westfield is happy enough to return the bridal dowry. But one look at Penny and Westfield knows he can never, ever let her go...

... Read more

Customer Reviews (17)

Reminds me of Julia Quinn
This is the first book I have read by Barbara Metzger. It will not be the last. She reminds me of Julia Quinn with her humorous take on love in Regency England. I liked the resourceful heroine. Some reviewers don't like her because they find her mean. I think most people would have a bit of a burr in their hide if they had been made to wait 13 years for their partner to show up. Both the hero and the heroine were waiting for the other to say "I love you" first but I chalked that up to the usual stupidity of lovers. I can remember being that stupid. My wife might say I still am. So I gave this book 5 stars for the reasons already stated in other four and five star reviews. And by the way, I laughed at the fictitious quotes from the book on arranged marriages that started each chapter.

Pass on this Book, you'll be glad you did.
I proabley would have of like this book if not for the hateful,spiteful, despicable and petty heroine who made me want wish I to go through the book and rip her hair out.
Why is it ok for authors to let these woman strike men for what they feel is good reason (even though it's usally is immature) and we as readers are to be o.k. with it. To me a women who has a voilent temper should be treated as the way we would a man with the same m.o..
I felt this author allowed Penny to have one two many tanturms. She was a down and out SHREW. Who did not deserve West.
I WILL NEVER EVER read another book by this AUTHOR.

"What was that?"
All I have to say is I do not like this atuthors way of writing.Barched writing and very boring!!!!!!!!!!!!!

can not read
I own and have read almost all of Barbara Metzger's romances, so clearly I typically enjoy them.They are uneven and sometimes jarring to read, as she works to integrate humor with her choppy style, but I like humor, and usually the books come together to make a fun diversion.This one - not so much.Nothing makes sense, the characters' actions and attraction to each other are incomprehensible, the "danger" element is forced and unbelievable, the problems they had could all be solved with one conversation, and Ms. Metzger's choppy style has devolved into poor - and boring - writing. "The Bargain Bride" was a trial to read, so much so that I could not finish it.I'm hoping for better things in future books.

All of the problems, none of the magic
If you've read more than one or two of Barbara Metzger's novels, you know that she has a basic plot framework that she weaves her gifted prose around.In this novel, she has the framework, but that's about it; and the lack of substance exposes the flaws of the underlying plot.

What I truly love about Metzger (and I have nearly every book she's written, and read them all multiple times) is her playful, almost mischievous use of language; the stories are often more a starting point for her linguistic flights of fancy rather than being moved along by them.In this book, the flights are almost non-existent.

In addition to this, I found the heroine to be getting dangerously near to being self-centered and her issues bordering on irrational. The gay plot point, while commendable in its inclusiveness, is implausible in its handling.

If you have never read a book by Metzger, I recommend that you find a different book - "A Loyal Companion" is her best, and can be found used.

If you are a Metzger fan, only get this one if you just have to read every book she's ever written. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Tongues Of Fire
Tongues Of Fire is one my favorite short stories.This book is also available on cassette tape so if you can check it out at your library.I fell in love with Karen a young girl growing up in the south with a mentally ill father and a mother who's most concerned with getting her eldest daughter in college with her reputation intact.

Poor Karen turns to the church and prayer without ceasing.Karen falls in love with a young guest preacher at first sight.It reminded me of my own crush I had on a guest preacher once.I remember shaking his hand and eating a breakfast of scrambled eggs with him. When the story ended I wanted to know what happened to Karen.What kind of a person did she grow up to be?Lee Smith I want more!Above all this story is an inspiration to writers.If you don't have the confidence to tackle an entire novel you can start with a brilliant short story. ... Read more

Product Description
Together for the first time, two of Amanda McCabe's most captivating regency classics... Lady Rogue and The Star of India

In Lady Rogue, Georgina Beaumont is a fiery spirit who believes that she doesn't need a man to make her happy. For Alexander Kenton, the Duke of Wayland, this is startling news since he's fallen for Georgina, and needs her hand to regain his place in society, if she'll take it...

The Star of India is a jewel that's been kept with Lady Emily Kenton since her childhood friend, the Earl of Darlinghurst, left for India at age eight. Will the longing they've harbored for all these years fall to ruin when he learns of the terrible secret she bears regarding the jewels? ... Read more

Product Description
What has happened to the magic of learning? Playful illusions,spellbinding games, and lifelike automata were once integral toeducation. Artful Science reveals the exhilarating but paradoxicalintertwining of enchantment with enlightenment in the early modernperiod. A cross-disciplinary guide to intellectual high and low life ofthe eighteenth century, Artful Science makes the case for thepedagogical opportunities inherent in an oral-visual culture. BarbaraStafford draws on an extraordinary range of historical sources andpopular imagery, exploring from a new perspective the perceptualcognition that she so deftly analyzed in Body Criticism. Herimportant reinterpretation also casts many well-studied paintings asinstances of an instructive art of demonstration. Artful Science opensby describing the evolution of mathematical recreations and theirrelationship to the middle class's increasing leisure time. Subsequentchapters focus on the problem of distinguishing legitimate science fromvirtuoso fraud; the public performance of experiments; and earlyattempts to create informative and attractive natural history exhibits.Throughout, Stafford emphasizes the concern for telling truth fromfiction in a world of alluring technology. The enlighteners' relentlessassociation of sensory evidence with deception led to the submergence ofa "tricking" oral-visual culture by "serious" mass literacy drives,Stafford observes. Yet sophisticated teaching techniques and ingeniouslearning machines made abstractions concrete and appealing toever-widening eighteenth-century audiences. With the modern computergraphics revolution always in view, Artful Science suggests fresh meansfor putting intelligence, enjoyment, and communicative power back intothinking with images. ... Read more

Product Description
In Societies in Eclipse, archaeologists combine their current discoveries with insights from anthropology, history, and Native oral traditions to examine the cultural transformation among the eastern Woodlands tribes immediately preceding and following the arrival of Europeans.While the profound effects of European explorers, missionaries, and traders on Eastern Woodlands tribes cannot be denied, the archaeological evidence suggests that several indigenous societies were already in the process of redefinition prior to European contact. ... Read more