Programming Mobile Devices: An Introduction for Practitioners Review

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Programming Mobile Devices: An Introduction for Practitioners ReviewThe biggest feature of this book is how you need to get accustomed to the limited resources on a cellphone, compared to a laptop or personal computer. Many programmers will come to mobile devices from developing on the latter 2 platforms. Still, if you have been programming long enough, the cellphone environments described in the text can be akin to working on the PCs of the 1980s.
It is a pity that there are two programming languages needed for cellphones. The book has examples drawn from Java and Symbian. The Java code is simpler than Java programs written for larger environments. The widget set is very limited. The Symbian examples are likewise easy to follow. What it does mean is that any commercial examples you develop have to be manually coded into both languages, if you are after the largest possible market.Programming Mobile Devices: An Introduction for Practitioners OverviewWith forewords by Jan Bosch, Nokia and Antero Taivalsaari, Sun Microsystems.
Learn how to programme the mobile devices of the future!
The importance of mobile systems programming has emerged over the recent years as a new domain in software development. The design of software that runs in a mobile device requires that developers combine the rules applicable in embedded environment; memory-awareness, limited performance, security, and limited resources with features that are needed in workstation environment; modifiability, run-time extensions, and rapid application development.
Programming Mobile Devices is a comprehensive, practical introduction to programming mobile systems. The book is a platform independent approach to programming mobile devices: it does not focus on specific technologies, and devices, instead it evaluates the component areas and issues that are common to all mobile software platforms. This text will enable the designer to programme mobile devices by mastering both hardware-aware and application-level software, as well as the main principles that guide their design.
Programming Mobile Devices:
Provides a complete and authoritative overview of programming mobile systems.
Discusses the major issues surrounding mobile systems programming; such as understanding of embedded systems and workstation programming.
Covers memory management, the concepts of applications, dynamically linked libraries, concurrency, handling local resources, networking and mobile devices as well as security features.
Uses generic examples from JavaTM and Symbian OS to illustrate the principles of mobile device programming.

Programming Mobile Devices is essential reading for graduate and advanced undergraduate students, academic and industrial researchers in the field as well as software developers, and programmers.

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Rapid GUI Programming with Python and Qt (Prentice Hall Open Source Software Development) Review

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Rapid GUI Programming with Python and Qt (Prentice Hall Open Source Software Development) ReviewFor any open source programming tool, there are always those who are quick to point out that free online documentation is of excellent quality and that a commercially published book adds questionable value. Indeed, the open process by which open source tools are made, which reveals the why's & wherefore's of the internal workings to anyone who looks, leads directly to the production of excellent online documentation; this is one of the great strengths of open source software. But everyone's needs are different. A college student or free software volunteer often has looser deadlines, less budget, and a more perfectionist attitude than, for example, a non-expert programmer, working in industry, trying to expeditiously solve a specific problem. A book of this genre is intended mainly for the latter audience, whereas the former may be disappointed at spending $50 when a web browser could have done the job. Cash-strapped college students, I know your pain; I used to be one. This book is not a particularly cost-effective study aid. If you live and breathe GUI progamming and can type out GTK2 and wxwidget classes by heart, then this book is probably a waste of time for you.
Having said that, I review this book with a view toward its value to its intended audience: Does buying this book and using it get the job done $50 cheaper, including the value of your own professional time, compared to the best available alternative? My experience is yes.
I am an electrical engineer, but not a programming expert. I have, at various times in my career, flipped bits in assembly language, suffered the rigors of Fortran, and slapped together contraptions in Matlab, VEE, Labview, etc. I have also had the misfortune of programming production test automation in Visual Basic, because that is what commercial instruments natively support. It is the shortcomings of VB that bring me to PyQT. I need to write test code that is portable, maintainable, and reliable. To give just one example, I don't want to fly across the Pacific Ocean to program workarounds for bugs in VB, because machines in the Chinese factory run Win98, and my development system in the US runs Win2k, and VB doesn't behave the same. But this is a book review, not a place to extol the virtues of PyQT nor criticize VB.
I have programmed in Python before, though for me Python has always been a language for one-off numerical or string processing tasks, where a spreadsheet is too limited and my bash script-fu is short of the task. I found the first three chapters on Python a helpful review, though it is not a complete instruction in Python. Compete beginners to Python will probably want to buy a separate book or work through the python.org tutorials. The author glosses over things that could trip up beginners; tellingly, he uses the term 'pythonic' without introduction. He is, however, careful to point out pitfalls that can waylay real-world production code, or would be of interest to experienced Perl/Ruby/VB programmers, like how Python handles the distinctions regarding {im}mutable types and {deep|shallow} copying.
I have never programmed QT before, and this book is indeed a complete introduction to QT. You don't need to know anything about QT nor how to program in C++ (QT's native language). Being able to read C++ syntax helps, though, because this book is not a QT reference, so you will probably have to look things up in the online QT references, which are written in C++.
It is something of a truism that the best way to learn a language is to read & understand someone else's well-written code, and then use that to write a program of your own. That is the approach used here, and the printed book format permits interleaving fragments of code with explanatory material in a way that doesn't work well on a computer screen. As such the text complements rather than duplicates the online documentation.
Regarding the book as a physical object, the quality is good but some extra features would have been nice. No CD is included, which I consider an oversight for a book at this price. Even the shortest examples lack source code listings, except as snippets woven into the text. You have to download the example code from a URL buried in the introduction, which is odd considering how important the example code is to this style of instruction. Occasional sidebar topics, icons, and cross-references help to organize the material, though not to the spoon-feeding level of "For {Dummies|Idiots}" books. The index is a bit above average for a book of this type, better than pure machine-generated grep output that sometimes passes for an index these days, but not as good as the best manual indices of decades past. The cover, binding, & paper stock are of decent quality. The book will stay open to just about any page when laid on a table, and the glue looks like it will, well probably, hold the sheaves in for many years. No color is used, nor edge printing to help find the chapters, which would have been helpful for a book this long.Rapid GUI Programming with Python and Qt (Prentice Hall Open Source Software Development) Overview
The Insider's Best-Practice Guide to Rapid PyQt 4 GUI Development
Whether you're building GUI prototypes or full-fledged cross-platform GUI applications with native look-and-feel, PyQt 4 is your fastest, easiest, most powerful solution. Qt expert Mark Summerfield has written the definitive best-practice guide to PyQt 4 development.

With Rapid GUI Programming with Python and Qt you'll learn how to build efficient GUI applications that run on all major operating systems, including Windows, Mac OS X, Linux, and many versions of Unix, using the same source code for all of them. Summerfield systematically introduces every core GUI development technique: from dialogs and windows to data handling; from events to printing; and more. Through the book's realistic examples you'll discover a completely new PyQt 4-based programming approach, as well as coverage of many new topics, from PyQt 4's rich text engine to advanced model/view and graphics/view programming. Every key concept is illuminated with realistic, downloadable examples—all tested on Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux with Python 2.5, Qt 4.2, and PyQt 4.2, and on Windows and Linux with Qt 4.3 and PyQt 4.3.

Coverge includes

Python basics for every PyQt developer: data types, data structures, control structures, classes, modules, and more

Core PyQt GUI programming techniques: dialogs, main windows, and custom file formats

Using Qt Designer to design user interfaces, and to implement and test dialogs, events, the Clipboard, and drag-and-drop

Building custom widgets: Widget Style Sheets, composite widgets, subclassing, and more

Making the most of Qt 4.2's new graphics/view architecture

Connecting to databases, executing SQL queries, and using form and table views

Advanced model/view programming: custom views, generic delegates, and more

Implementing online help, internationalizing applications, and using PyQt's networking and multithreading facilities


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Fanuc CNC Custom Macros: Programming Resources For Fanuc Custom Macros B Users Review

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Fanuc CNC Custom Macros: Programming Resources For Fanuc Custom Macros B Users ReviewAwesome book for anyone, who intresting about CNC nachining/ programming - from begginers to experiensed programmers. It very simple to read & understand, with many clearly explained examples.
For begginers highly recomended to get with "CNC programming handbook" - http://www.amazon.com/Programming-Handbook-Third-Peter-Smid/dp/0831133473/ref=cm_cr_pr_sims_tFanuc CNC Custom Macros: Programming Resources For Fanuc Custom Macros B Users Overview
Offers many practical do's and don'ts while covering all the popular Fanuc control systems exclusively.
Provides the basis for exploring in great depth the extremely wide and rich field of programming tools that macros are.
Numerous examples and sample programs are used throughout that serve as practical applications of the techniques presented and as the basis of ready-to-run macro programs.
Includes a CD containing all of the sample programs.


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Refactoring HTML: Improving the Design of Existing Web Applications Review

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Refactoring HTML: Improving the Design of Existing Web Applications ReviewFirst the good:
It is an _excellent_ tutorial on modern xHTML for those that have used HTML from its tag-soup beginnings. He methodically gives examples on why we, as web programmers, need to utilize a particular technology (CSS, Accessibility, etc). For example, he doesn't just say "Use CSS" because its the new way of doing things. He gives no-nonsense specific examples in bandwidth savings, alternate devices, etc.
His writing style is easy to read for computer geeks: a signature trait of any Martin Fowler signature series book.
He also provides a series of regular expressions that you can use to search through your HTML code to find problem areas and does a good introduction to the program "tidy". Since I am definitely _NOT_ a Regex geek, these are highly appreciated.
And finally, he shows usage of some xHTML tags and attributes of which I was not aware: such as proper usage of and tags.
Onto the downsides:
Originally I purchased this book thinking that I would be able to use it to get some tools under my belt to better transform the lousy auto-generated HTML that most graphics tools export and update them to decent, modern xHTML. However, the author is definitely NOT a "graphics design guy." And because of that, I know that several of the solutions he provided in his CSS sections would NOT fly with the designers where I work.
If I had seen his website, I probably would have realized that he was an XML expert instead of a design expert and wouldn't have gotten my hopes up. So far, I've found that websites like "A list apart" are much better for working with CSS-based design.
So for those looking to refactor your HTML code from ancient "Tag Soup" to modern sleek xHTML, this is a great book. If you're looking for how to best refactor from table-designs to table-less while maintaining a similar Look and Feel that you've been given by your designers, I find this book highly lacking.
Refactoring HTML: Improving the Design of Existing Web Applications OverviewLike any other software system, Web sites gradually accumulate "cruft" over time. They slow down. Links break. Security and compatibility problems mysteriously appear. New features don't integrate seamlessly. Things just don't work as well. In an ideal world, you'd rebuild from scratch. But you can't: there's no time or money for that. Fortunately, there's a solution: You can refactor your Web code using easy, proven techniques, tools, and recipes adapted from the world of software development. In Refactoring HTML, Elliotte Rusty Harold explains how to use refactoring to improve virtually any Web site or application. Writing for programmers and non-programmers alike, Harold shows how to refactor for better reliability, performance, usability, security, accessibility, compatibility, and even search engine placement. Step by step, he shows how to migrate obsolete code to today's stable Web standards, including XHTML, CSS, and REST—and eliminate chronic problems like presentation-based markup, stateful applications, and "tag soup." The book's extensive catalog of detailed refactorings and practical "recipes for success" are organized to help you find specific solutions fast, and get maximum benefit for minimum effort. Using this book, you can quickly improve site performance now—and make your site far easier to enhance, maintain, and scale for years to come.Topics covered include• Recognizing the "smells" of Web code that should be refactored• Transforming old HTML into well-formed, valid XHTML, one step at a time• Modernizing existing layouts with CSS• Updating old Web applications: replacing POST with GET, replacing old contact forms, and refactoring JavaScript• Systematically refactoring content and links• Restructuring sites without changing the URLs your users rely uponThis book will be an indispensable resource for Web designers, developers, project managers, and anyone who maintains or updates existing sites. It will be especially helpful to Web professionals who learned HTML years ago, and want to refresh their knowledge with today's standards-compliant best practices. This book will be an indispensable resource for Web designers, developers, project managers, and anyone who maintains or updates existing sites. It will be especially helpful to Web professionals who learned HTML years ago, and want to refresh their knowledge with today's standards-compliant best practices.

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Python Scripting for Computational Science (Texts in Computational Science and Engineering) Review

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Python Scripting for Computational Science (Texts in Computational Science and Engineering) ReviewThe author has 2 main goals:
1) To improve the productivity of scientists familiar with specific software systems (especially Matlab, Maple, and Mathematica) by teaching them to "glue" applications together.
2) To advocate Python as the preferred "glue" language. In his own words, "I hope to convince computational scientists having experience with Perl that Python is a preferable alternative, especially for large long-term projects."
He has certainly done a creditable job. As an expert in computational differential equations, he neglects neither efficiency nor correctness, while stressing both simplicity and reliability. In this sense, he has done a great service to the Python community.
The question is: What justifies the purchase of his book?
The answer is: Chapters 4, 9, and 10.
Contents:
1. Introduction--26pp
Very convincing arguments.
2. Getting Started With Python Scripting--38pp
Interesting examples.
3. Basic Python--56pp
A too-quick tutorial. Go to python dot org instead.
4. Numerical Computing in Python--48pp
Stellar explanations of vectorized array operations.
5. Combining Python with Fortran, C, and C++--36pp
Details use of Fortran2Py and SWIG. Mentions many alternatives.
6. Introduction to GUI Programming--70pp
Useful examples of Tkinter/pmw widgets.
7. Web Interfaces and CGI Programming--24pp
Good source of ideas.
8. Advanced Python--132pp
Deep and extensive. Includes: option parsing, regular expressions, data persistence and compression, object-oriented programming, exceptions, generic programming, efficiency.
9. Fortran Programming with NumPy Arrays--32pp
All about efficiency and re-use.
10. C and C++ Programming with NumPy Arrays--40pp
More about efficiency. NumPy C API, C++ objects, and SCXX.
11. More Advanced GUI Programming--73pp
Tedious discussion of both Web and standalone GUIs. BLT, canvas, cgi.
12. Tools and Examples--70pp
Excellent examples of PDE solvers, with a powerful GUI, but quite long and tedious.
A. Setting up the Required Software Environment--16pp
Wonderfully specific installation instructions!
B. Elements of Software Engineering--50pp
Python's strength! Very practical advice on modularity, documentation, coding style, regression-testing, version-control.Strengths:
+ Downloadable py4cs package, esp. numpytools module
+ Great advice everywhere, e.g. CGI checklist, Pythonic programming, and trouble-shooting.
+ Concrete evidence for most assertions.
+ Very attractive presentation. Sturdy, high-quality cover, binding and pages. Brief, elegant code fragments (except in Chapter 12). Readable prose. No wasted space.
+ Available as 5MB pdf file, after purchase of hardcopy. Very nice.
+ Slides, installation instructions, and errata also at web site. Very professional.My peeves:
- Not enough tables to be a useful manual.
- On p.428(#7) he points out that handling a raised exception is very slow. However, when I time his example with a positive argument, the try-except version is 20% faster (b/c the if clause is skipped), so he is actually giving bad advice for the general case. Luckily, he contradicts himself later, on page 685: "Exceptions should be used instead of if-else tests." The best advice: Avoid common exceptions in inner loops.
- The 10-page index is not as great as it at first seems. (See Martelli's Python in a Nutshell for a better one.)
- Pure interface functions should 'raise NotImplementedError', rather than 'return'.
- Exceptions should never be trapped mindlessly with 'except:'. That would hide your own SyntaxErrors!
- Too many exercises. (It's published as a textbook.) Since there are no answers, the exercises are useless for non-students. (See Lutz's Learning Python for effective exercises with answers.)Overall rating:
This contains the best information on numerical programming in Python that I've seen. Though expensive, it could easily be your only Python book, given the excellent online documenation already available.Python Scripting for Computational Science (Texts in Computational Science and Engineering) OverviewWith a primary focus on examples and applications of relevance to computational scientists, this brilliantly useful book shows computational scientists how to develop tailored, flexible, and human-efficient working environments built from small scripts written in the easy-to-learn, high-level Python language. All the tools and examples in this book are open source codes. This third edition features lots of new material. It is also released after a comprehensive reorganization of the text. The author has inserted improved examples and tools and updated information, as well as correcting any errors that crept in to the first imprint.

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Pro Visual C++/CLI and the .NET 2.0 Platform (Expert's Voice in .NET) Review

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Pro Visual C++/CLI and the .NET 2.0 Platform (Expert's Voice in .NET) ReviewThis book is a terrific resource for programmers who were stuck working in the Visual Studio 6.0 coal mines and are trying to adjust to life on the .NET surface. It has very easy to follow and complete information on .NET, and it is SO much easier to find information there than trying to glean what you need from the thousands of confusing and incomplete articles on the web that are littered with references to VB and C#.
It's very well written and easy to understand (unlike the forward by Stanley Lipman...don't worry Stanley, I sometimes write that way too), and I've had no problems finding what I need in the index. Just as the author suggests, you can just read a few chapters and then reference the rest of the book for the pieces you need.
There is some information that falls into the "duh" category for experienced programmers, but I'd much rather skim over that kind of information than to have the author assume you know something that you don't and then you have to search for that information elsewhere.
Great job Stephen!
Harry Strand
StrandControl, LLC
www.homedomination.com
hstrand@homedomination.com
Pro Visual C++/CLI and the .NET 2.0 Platform (Expert's Voice in .NET) Overview
This book explains how to write .NET 2.0 applications and services. It provides you with a clean slate, erasing the need for developing the COM, DCOM, COM+, or ActiveX components that used to be a necessity. Instead, you'll learn how to write .NET applications using C++/CLI.

This book is based on its highly successful predecessor, and bridges the gap between classic C++ and C++/CLI. Furthermore, this edition is based on the newest version of Visual Studio .NET (2005) and .NET 2.0. All topic areas include specific code examples. By the end of the book, you will be proficient in developing .NET applications and services for both the Windows desktop and the Web.


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Graphics Gems V (IBM Version) (The Morgan Kaufmann Series in Computer Graphics) (No. 5) Review

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Graphics Gems V (IBM Version) (The Morgan Kaufmann Series in Computer Graphics) (No. 5) ReviewI'm the archivist for the free Graphics Gems code base on the web. I do it for free, because this code is so valuable. Others think so, too: there is an average of 100 hits a day on the site. Go look at the online list of what's in this volume to see if it's for you.
Highlights (for me) include polygon/cube intersection testing, a good polygon triangulator, and an entire z-buffering library.Graphics Gems V (IBM Version) (The Morgan Kaufmann Series in Computer Graphics) (No. 5) OverviewGraphics Gems V is the newest volume in The Graphics Gems Series.It is intended to provide the graphics community with a set of practical tools for implementing new ideas and techniques, and to offer working solutions to real programming problems.These tools are written by a wide variety of graphics programmers from industry, academia, and research.The books in the series have become essential, time-saving tools for many programmers.Key Features* Latest collection of graphics tips in The Graphics Gems Series written by the leading programmers in the field* Contains over 50 new gems displaying some of the most recent and innovative techniques in graphics programming* Includes gems covering ellipses, splines, Bezier curves, and ray tracing* Disk included containing source code from the gems available in both IBM and Macintosh versions

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Patterns-Based Engineering: Successfully Delivering Solutions via Patterns Review

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Patterns-Based Engineering: Successfully Delivering Solutions via Patterns Review"Patterns-Based Engineering is a big thick hardcover book with three parts. The audience is mainly architects/designers with OO, UML and patterns experience. The reader should also be comfortable dealing with abstract thought.
I had different reactions to each part so reviewing separately:
Part 1
The parts on how to generalize and look for patterns in what we do was interesting. It was approachable and I found myself scribbling in the margins.
Part 1a
There was a case study to walk you through how patterns based engineering works in practice. This was the least abstract part of the book, but it had one major problem - too much exposition on the dev team along with their names. Two pages later I was already backflipping to recall who these people are and by the next day/chapter I had no idea. Felt like I was missing something important.
Part 2
The patterns themselves are very reference like and dry. Nothing wrong with it, but didn't hold my attention. Maybe they aren't meant to be read straight through.
Part 3
I was back to being engaged and writing in the margins for the costs and benefits chapters. I think the misconceptions chapter could have been fleshed out more. Parts of it read like "X is a myth because X is not true" and could have used more examples.
---
Disclosure: I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for writing this review on behalf of CodeRanch.Patterns-Based Engineering: Successfully Delivering Solutions via Patterns OverviewSuccessfully delivering Solutions via Patterns In Patterns-Based Engineering, two leading experts bring together true best practices for developing and deploying successful software-intensive systems. Drawing on their extensive enterprise development experience, the authors clearly show how to deliver on the promise of a patterns-based approach—and consistently create higher-quality solutions faster, with fewer resources.Lee Ackerman and Celso Gonzalez demonstrate how Patterns-Based Engineering (PBE) can help you systematically overcome common obstacles to success with patterns. By bringing discipline and clarity to patterns usage, their techniques enable you to replicate your success broadly and scale patterns to even the largest projects.The authors introduce powerful ways to discover, design, create, package, and consume patterns based on your organization's experience and best practices. They also present extensive coverage of the nontechnical aspects of making patterns work, including a full chapter of guidance on clearing up misconceptions that stand in your way. Coverage includesUsing patterns to optimize the entire development lifecycle, including design, coding, testing, and deployment Systematically managing the risks and economic returns associated with patterns Effectively implementing PBE roles, tasks, work products, and tools Integrating PBE with existing development processes, including eXtreme Programming, Scrum, and OpenUP Using Domain Specific Languages (DSLs) with patternsWhether you're an architect, designer, developer, analyst, project manager, or process engineer, Patterns-Based Engineering will help you to consistently derive greater business value and agility from patterns.

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CNC Programming Handbook, Third Edition Review

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CNC Programming Handbook, Third Edition ReviewI have read close to 20 books on CNC programming and can honestly say that this is the only one that has covered both basic and advanced programming techniques for both mills and lathes. Mr. Smid obviously spent a lot of time in developing, writing, and completing this work. It is the best reference available today for Fanuc and EIA/ISO type programming standards. Well worth the price!CNC Programming Handbook, Third Edition OverviewOver 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'. 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.

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A Developer's Guide to the Semantic Web Review

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A Developer's Guide to the Semantic Web ReviewNot only does A Developer's Guide to Semantic Web offer an excellent introduction to "what is" Semantic Web, but it also guides the readers onto the "how to" stage with assiduously, almost mind-numbingly easy to understand, step by step coding examples. Needless to say, the author has an amazing grasp of the Semantic web technology himself. Unlike some quite complicated and mind-boggling books on Semantic Web, A Developer's Guide to Semantic Web is easy to comprehend, therefore an outstanding tool. Concepts such as RDF, OWL, SPARQL, and well-known applications such as FOAF, Wiki, DBpedi and LOD are brilliantly illustrated with ample coding examples. The last section of the book weaves all of them together with raw examples of running applications, which are readily available for use. This is a must-read for students, researchers, software engineers and developers who are interested in the Semantic Web technology. Highly recommended.A Developer's Guide to the Semantic Web OverviewCovering the theory, technical components and applications of the Semantic Web, this book's unrivalled coverage includes the latest on W3C standards such as OWL 2, and discusses new projects such as DBpedia. It also shows how to put theory into practice.

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Design of Multithreaded Software: The Entity-Life Modeling Approach Review

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Design of Multithreaded Software: The Entity-Life Modeling Approach ReviewDr Sanden has created a very impressive piece of literature. As a professor of computer science, I found this book to be an incredible asset to my professional "tool kit," so to speak. Further, Dr. Sanden's book would be critical asset as a text book as its narration keeps the reader enticed, yet has a number of solid application concepts. I unequivocally recommend this book as a professional asset as well as a text book. Again, this book is quite an impressive piece of work that is a strong contribution to this professional field.Design of Multithreaded Software: The Entity-Life Modeling Approach OverviewThis book assumes familiarity with threads (in a language such as Ada, C#, or Java)and introduces the entity-life modeling (ELM) design approach for certain kinds of multithreaded software. ELM focuses on "reactive systems," which continuously interact with the problem environment. These "reactive systems" include embedded systems, as well as such interactive systems as cruise controllers and automated teller machines.
Part I covers two fundamentals: program-language thread support and state diagramming. These are necessary for understanding ELM and are provided primarily for reference. Part II covers ELM from different angles. Part III positions ELM relative to other design approaches.


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AI Game Programming Wisdom 4 (AI Game Programming Wisdom (W/CD)) Review

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AI Game Programming Wisdom 4 (AI Game Programming Wisdom (W/CD)) ReviewThis is a great reference if you're in need of architectural or conceptual advice regarding AIs. It's not "learn AI in 24 hours" type of book, the reader is assumed to posses substantial knowledge of programming, as implementations aren't usually explained - this is a good thing, because it means there's more pure knowledge inside. (There's a CD with implementations and some sources.)AI Game Programming Wisdom 4 (AI Game Programming Wisdom (W/CD)) OverviewWelcome to the latest volume of AI Game Programming Wisdom! AI Game Programming Wisdom 4 includes a collection of more than 50 new articles featuring cutting-edge techniques, algorithms, and architectures written by industry professionals for use in commercial game development. Organized into 7 sections, this comprehensive volume explores every important aspect of AI programming to help you develop and expand your own personal AI toolbox. You'll find ready-to-use ideas, algorithms, and code in all key AI areas including general wisdom, scripting and dialogue, movement and pathfinding, architecture, tactics and planning, genre specific, and learning and adaptation. New to this volume are articles on recent advances in realistic agent, squad, and vehicle movement, as well as dynamically changing terrain, as exemplified in such popular games as Company of Heroes.You'll also find information on planning as a key game architecture, as well as important new advances in learning algorithms and player modeling. AI Game Programming Wisdom 4 features coverage of multiprocessor architectures, Bayesian networks, planning architectures, conversational AI, reinforcement learning, and player modeling.These valuable and innovative insights and issues offer the possibility of new game AI experiences and will undoubtedly contribute to taking the games of tomorrow to the next level.

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Programming the Cell Processor: For Games, Graphics, and Computation Review

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Programming the Cell Processor: For Games, Graphics, and Computation ReviewFirst and foremost, this is NOT a book for beginners. It's for experienced programmers who want to start working with the Cell processor. If that describes you, then you should buy this book immediately.
Every imaginable detail about the Cell is covered here. You'll learn how to write code, yes, but you'll also learn how that code works in terms of the Cell's physical architecture. This is crucial to understanding how best to harness the Cell's power. There are numerous diagrams and clear writing throughout, succinctly explaining what your code does and why it does it.
The book opens with a few chapters on setting up your work environment. This goes into great detail, walking you through installing Linux on a Windows PC or a Playstation 3 system, using gcc/make, acquiring and configuring the Cell SDK, debugging and simulating Cell applications, and setting up Eclipse and the Cell IDE. If you already know your way around Linux you'll be able to skip most of this, but if you're a Windows user (like me) this section will prove invaluable.
This is followed by in-depth technical discussions of the PPU (the Cell's primary processor) and the SPUs (the smaller, distributed processors at the heart of the Cell's power), how these communicate with each other, and how to optimize these communications. Sprinkled throughout are use cases for various functions in the Cell standard libraries; by the end of this section you should be able to program the Cell processor reasonably effectively.
While this book is focused on the Cell processor in general, it does recognize that perhaps the most ubiquitous application of the processor at present is the Playstation 3 system; to that end, the third and final section of the book is targeted at using the Cell processor for specifically game-related tasks: programming the frame buffer, using OpenGL, running the popular Ogre3D engine on the Cell, and using the COLLADA shared graphics file format and libraries. Depending on your focus, this section may or may not be useful, but either way its quality remains up to par with the rest of the book.
My only complaint is that the book's structure is not particularly conducive to use as a reference guide. That is, while it covers a significant portion of the Cell libraries and features, you can't just quickly look something up. The book's design seems to suggest a deep, initial read-through and then only occasional re-references thereafter. But perhaps supplementing it with the SDK's own documentation is sufficient. This is the only reason the book falls short of 5 stars for me, and of course your mileage may vary.
Overall, highly recommended for experienced programmers who want to start working with the Cell processor.Programming the Cell Processor: For Games, Graphics, and Computation OverviewMake the Most of IBM's Breakthrough Cell Processor in Any Gaming, Graphics, or Scientific ApplicationIBM's Cell processor delivers truly stunning computational power: enough to satisfy even the most demanding gamers and graphics developers. That's why Sony chose the Cell to drive its breakthrough PlayStation 3 and why Cell processors are at the heart of today's most powerful supercomputers. But many developers have struggled to create high-performance Cell applications: the practical, coherent information they need simply hasn't existed. Programming the Cell Processor solves that problem once and for all. Whether you're a game developer, graphics programmer, or engineer, Matthew Scarpino shows you how to create applications that leverage all the Cell's extraordinary power. Scarpino covers everything from the Cell's advanced architecture to its powerful tools and libraries, presenting realistic code examples that help you gain an increasingly deep and intuitive understanding of Cell development. Scarpino illuminates each of the Cell's most important technical innovations, introduces the commands needed to access its power, and walks you through the entire development process, including compiling, linking, debugging, and simulating code. He also offers start-to-finish case studies for three especially important Cell applications: games, graphics, and scientific computing. The Cell platform offers unprecedented potential, and this book will help you make the most of it. Mastering the Cell SDK, including the GCC-based buildchain, ppu-gdb/spu-gdb debuggers, IBM Full System Simulator, and Cell IDE

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Cross-Platform .NET Development: Using Mono, Portable .NET, and Microsoft .NET Review

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Cross-Platform .NET Development: Using Mono, Portable .NET, and Microsoft .NET ReviewMicrosoft and cross-platform?! Sounds like an oxymoron. Yet the book shows how .NET has given rise to this. The key step was Microsoft transferring the specifications of C# and .NET's CLI to ECMA and ISO. This lets third parties write compilers that produce IL bytecode and thence to assembly in a given hardware.
So you could write C# code on some platform, like linux. Then with Mono or Portable.NET, produce x86 binaries.
The authors describe the open source Mono and Portable, and compare these with Microsoft's own .NET offerings. They show that Mono and Portable are quite functional. For example, using Portable, you can write in Java, C#, C or VB.NET and compile.
The book goes into some moderate level of detail about CLI. But if you are a programmer in C# or C, say, and you just want to get native binaries, without wanting to know about CLI, the book is still useful. You can safely skip the CLI sections, without losing the gist of what you need to know. For many of us, whatever language we use, we don't need or want knowledge of a specific assembly language.Cross-Platform .NET Development: Using Mono, Portable .NET, and Microsoft .NET OverviewTaking a radical departure from past practices, Microsoft successfully lobbied ECMA to turn its C# and .NET software specifications into an ECMA standard, thereby allowing others to create and release compilers, software, and runtimes for the .NET environment. Since the release of the standard, several projects have undertaken the development of open source .NET capable of running on Wintel and non-Wintel platforms, such as Linux, Unix, and Mac OS X. The best known of these projects are Mono (from Novell, formerly Ximian), and Portable.NET from Southern Storm and the GNU Project. But can all of these implementations of .NET interoperate? Can you take a Windows .NET application and run it on Linux? The answer is yes, if you understand the issues. Cross-Platform .NET Development is the first book to examine the advantages and issues of building portable, cross-platform .NET code. Using this book, a programmer that's even a little familiar with .NET can learn how to run the same .NET code on Linux, Unix, Mac OS X, and Windows, using Mono (on Linux), Portable.NET (on Mac OS X) and .NET on Windows. Filled with example code and wisdom - do's, dont's, pitfalls, gotchas, and insights from two experienced .NET developers - Cross-Platform .NET Development shows why .NET isn't just for Windows anymore.

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Mastering Mathematica, Second Edition: Programming Methods and Applications Review

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Mastering Mathematica, Second Edition: Programming Methods and Applications Review7.24.99 SJW*****
This is something of a book review, but also a commentary on the Mathematica package. My background is a recent MS in Computer Science. My interest in Mathematica is as a thinking tool for Programmer/Analysts or R&D Prototypers.
John Gray's book comes with a CD-ROM including the entire text of the book (the book was produced using Mathematica) as well as help files which can easily be integrated into the resources of the Mathematica Help Browser.
The book is well laid out (see the Table of Contents at amazon.com) topically, starting with very basic usage of the math abilities, and the user interface, then moving on to programming styles using Mathematica and methods of representing information in Mathematica. (All major commands in the Mathematica package are searchable, topical resources are available via documentation chapters on that topic, and explanatory text is hyperlinked in html format.)
The book's style is absolutely functional, and is targeted at users who have at least a threshhold knowledge of modern programming. Much of the material somewhat assumes that the reader has read enough using the Help Browswer with its on-line manual to be able to operate the notebook interface. Examples are given for almost every topic (the examples are executable in Mathematica, as the text of the book is in the form of a Mathematica notebook), although the specifics of each example are not necessarily explained.
As a programmer, the most amazing revelation of Gray's book is the degree to which the Mathematica package is programmable. Of course, procedural commands are built in to allow the coding of procedural algorithms (these commands have the form of generic pseudocode commands, or "near-C"). But Gray gives examples of programming using functions (recursion is allowed), as well as instructions re o-o and constraint (rule-based) styles of programming. (Note that Mathematica has built in pattern matching notations--especially useful for rule-based programming.)
In short, not only is Mathematica a completely integrated symbolic/numeric advanced math utility with integrated graphics and statistical packages, but it also has its own virtual operating system (full file i/o controls), and it allows the user to write rule-based programs (such as LISP or Prolog interpreters) which have full access to all of the built in Mathematica abilities, and to custom compiled components which the user has written.
Because all Mathematica's abilities are integrated, data can easily be displayed graphically, allowing visual debugging of difficult algorithms, or analysis (or reports). Gray provides a few examples of the visual display of algorithms.
The bottom line is that Mathematica is an astounding prototyping tool, as well as being the best graduate CS math utility I have used. And John Gray's book opens up these possibilities to the reader. Savor the possibilities!Mastering Mathematica, Second Edition: Programming Methods and Applications OverviewThis new edition of Mastering Mathematica focuses on using Mathematica as a programming language, because programming in Mathematica is the best way to use the software to its fullest capacity. The book covers functional programming, imperative programming, rewrite programming, and object-oriented programming. It also addresses the use of Mathematica as a symbolic manipulator and a general tool for knowledge representation.* Focus on four different types of programmingstyles with Mathematica: functional programming, rewrite (or rule-based) programmng, imperative (or procedural) programming, and object-orientedprogramming, with many examples of each style* Compatible with Mathematica 3.0 and its programming language* Chapters on graphics programming show how to make the most of the considerable graphics capabilities of Mathematica* Includes coverage of programming needed for creation of Mathematica packages that allow a user to extend the language as needed for particular uses* Applications include:* Polya pattern analysis*Critical points of functions*Object-oriented graph theory*Minimal surfaces* Mathematica-Enhanced CD-ROM Enclosed* Complete text in active Mathematica Notebook files, enhanced for v3.0; Allows you to evaluatecomplex examples without retyping; Extensiveuse of the v3.0 math typesetting system* Hyperlink index and table of contents * Instant access to any chapter or topic* Index is automatically merged with the main Mathematica help system forming a master index of all the user's Mathematica related information; Quickly see listings on a given topic from The Mathematica Book, Mastering Mathematica, the Guide to Standard Packages, or any other Help Browswer aware books you have installed

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ShaderX6: Advanced Rendering Techniques Review

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ShaderX6: Advanced Rendering Techniques ReviewThis is a great book if you are looking for advanced gpu programming. It's only shortcoming is it is light on actual code examples and the maths can be a little daunting. More complete code examples would make this book perfect.
ShaderX6: Advanced Rendering Techniques OverviewWelcome to ShaderX6, the latest volume in the cutting-edge, indispensable series for game and graphics programmers. This all-new volume is packed with a collection of insightful techniques, innovative approaches to common problems, and practical tools and tricks that provide you with a complete shader programming toolbox. Every article was developed from the research and experiences of industry pros and edited by shader experts, resulting in unbiased coverage of all hardware and developer tools. ShaderX6: Advanced Rendering Techniques provides coverage of the vertex and pixel shader methods used in high-end graphics and game development. These state-of-the-art, ready-to-use solutions will help you meet your everyday programming challenges and bring your graphics to a new level of realism. This collection offers time-saving solutions to help you become more effi cient and productive, and is a must-have reference for all shader programmers.

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Pro Oracle Database 10g RAC on Linux: Installation, Administration, and Performance (Expert's Voice in Oracle) Review

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Pro Oracle Database 10g RAC on Linux: Installation, Administration, and Performance (Expert's Voice in Oracle) ReviewThis book can easily be used as a college textbook on Oracle RAC. I am studying for the Oracle Certified Master exam and this is possibly the most high level book on Oracle I have read.
It has 3 major strengths which I found to be superior to any Oracle RAC books I have read (including the manual from Oracle).
1)Technical Depth
2)Comprehensive Overview and instructions
3)Quality of writing1)Technical Depth
The authors write about Linux and Oracle and are high level experts in the subjects. For example, the authors have a very detailed description of how Oracle Cache Fusion handles locking across all the nodes in a RAC environment (probably the crown jewel of RAC technology). They also discuss, in detail, different types of CPU, memory, and storage and contains detailed description of each architecture. Lastly, it contains vast number of "how to" install, configure, change, analyze, backup/restore, and utilize Oracle RAC and Linux.
2)Comprehensive Coverage and Instructions
No small amount of detail has been skipped. The book contains every utility (there are many) provided by Oracle to implement RAC. It provides a good step-by-step coverage of Linux and Oracle RAC installation as well what each step is adding to the RAC environment. To top it off, it adds how to performance tune, administer, troubleshoot, backup/restore, and use Dataguard in a RAC environment. I can't think of a subject on RAC which the authors did not cover.
3)Quality of Writing
I was pleasantly surprised how well written this book is. Although far from a Pulitzer Prize material, it certainly belongs in that category amongst the Oracle books. Every praragraph has been well organized and written. The proofreader of this book deserves major praise for their work.
Pro Oracle Database 10g RAC on Linux: Installation, Administration, and Performance (Expert's Voice in Oracle) OverviewReal Application Clusters and the Grid architecture are Oracle's strategy for scaling out enterprise systems to cope with higher and higher workloads and more and more users. The premise of Grid is simple: it works just like a utility (e.g. electricity) grid. You don't care which "station" you get your data from as long as you get it, and if one station goes down then it's just fetched from somewhere else without the user being any the wiser. As demand grows you just add another cheap 2-CPU Intel machine (running Linux) to the cluster.While the premise is simple, the technology and the reality of its implementation is complex. Therefore many books are limited to talking conceptually and theoretically about the RAC technology. This book, however, will be the first to show how to actually implement and administer an Oracle 10g Real Application Cluster (RAC) system in a Linux environment. Based on extensive real world experience gained with Fortune 500 companies, this book discusses: basic concepts underlying Linux and Oracle RAC, design strategies, hardware procurement and configuration and many more. Many RAC specific technologies are covered including configuration of the interconnect, OCFS, ASM, Cluster Ready Services and Grid Control. Use of Oracle features such as RMAN to provide backup and recovery and Data Guard to provide disaster recovery are also discussed along with the many hardware options available including servers, storage and networking options.Practical examples and details configuration information are given throughout the book. After reading it, you will have all the information you need to build an Oracle RAC database on Linux whether it is on a single laptop or on a 64-node Itanium cluster.

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Principles of Biomedical Informatics Review

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Principles of Biomedical Informatics ReviewThis is an *excellent* book. I read it enthusiastically and I'm glad that it was available for me to do so. I think it fills a unique niche in the informatics book market in two ways:
- it is a book with significant attention to clinical informatics that has a strong computer science angle.
- it is an informatics "monograph"
While informatics is often described as the intersection between something like computer science, life science/medicine and library science books rarely position themselves squarely at this intersection. I have found that it is easier to find bioinformatics books that have a strong computer science angle than it is to find clinical informatics books with a strong CS/implementation angle. This book is the exception to that rule. It has an unabashedly serious approach to the computing inherent in clinical informatics (one should take author's choice of Lisp as telling) and a clinical focus. The treatment of library science topics, while less rigorous, is present and credible.
Unlike the standard textbooks in the area (ex: Shortliffe) it is not an edited volume; rather, it hangs together page after page as a single work by a single author. Because it has the hand of an individual it a much more pleasant book to read from cover-to-cover.
The physical book is very appealing. The pager is glossy and thick, the binding is substantial, the dimensions are pleasant, the figures are clear, and the typesetting (as with all LaTeX books) beautiful. Unfortunately unlike most LaTeX books it is hard to read. While the pages look wonderful I found that function was sacrificed in the process. The vertical spacing is cramped, the margins are small, and the lines are long. This makes the going slow and difficult which detracts from an otherwise excellent book. If it was 50 pages longer with a bit more generous white space the book would be a complete home run.
In short, I have nothing but positive things to say about the content of this book and mixed emotions about the physical book. I would suggest that the ideal reader has some background in informatics. For total novices the larger edited volumes are a better starting point. Additionally, while a reasonable introduction to Lisp is provided some background knowledge of the language is helpful.
If you care about informatics, have a soft spot for Lisp and want to really hold the field in your hands this is a book that cannot be overlooked.Principles of Biomedical Informatics OverviewThis book provides a foundation for understanding the fundamentals of biomedical informatics, which deals with the storage, retrieval, and use of biomedical data for biological problem solving and medical decision making. It covers the application of these principles to the three main biomedical domains of basic biology, clinical medicine, and public health. The author offers a coherent summary, focusing on the three core concept areas of biomedical data and knowledge representation, biomedical information access, biomedical decision making, and information and technology use in biomedical contexts.* Develops principles and methods for representing biomedical data, using information in context and in decision making, and accessing information to assist the medical community in using data to its full potential* Provides a series of principles for expressing biomedical data and ideas in a computable form to integrate biological, clinical, and public health applications* Includes a discussion of user interfaces, interactive graphics, and knowledge resources and reference material on programming languages to provide medical informatics programmers with the technical tools to develop systems

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Programming and Meta-Programming in Scheme (Undergraduate Texts in Computer Science) Review

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Programming and Meta-Programming in Scheme (Undergraduate Texts in Computer Science) ReviewI highly recommend this book to help explain the mathematics and vocabulary used in the Scheme language. I recommend this book especially to those that are perplexed by the text in the book called The Little Schemer.
This book doesn't make the assumption, which The Little Schemer makes, that one understands the words used to program in Scheme.
The chapters are well organised, and shows the author to be organised in his thought processes. I can well imagine him to be a very understanding lecturer on the subject, giving thought to the probability that each student has different levels or aspects of understanding, and that nobody knows everything about any one thing.Programming and Meta-Programming in Scheme (Undergraduate Texts in Computer Science) OverviewBy now, Scheme is a well-established programming language and is finding increasing popularity in programming courses for undergraduates. Its expressive capabilities are matched by a simplicity of language and ease-of-use which have made its adherents disciples! This textbook provides a comprehensive first course in Scheme and covers all of its major features: abstraction, functional programming, data types, recursion, and semantic programming. Although the primary goal of this text is to teach students to program in Scheme, it will be suitable for any student studying a general programming principles course. Each chapter is divided into three sections: core, appendix , and problems. Most essential topics are covered in the core section, but it is assumed that most students will read the appendices and solve most of the problems. (Nearly all of the problems require students to write short Scheme procedures.) As well as providing a thorough grounding in Scheme, the author discusses in depth different programming paradigms. An important theme throughout is that of "meta-programming": the perspective that programs themselves can be treated as data, and hence can be analyzed and modified as objects. This provides insight into topics such as type-checking and overloading which might otherwise be missed.

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CIL Programming: Under the Hood of .NET Review

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CIL Programming: Under the Hood of .NET ReviewHas this ever happened to you... There's this new technology or programming language that you're dying to learn, but there are no books. Finally, someone writes a book, you get the book from the bookseller (Amazon), you open the book, and you thumb through the pages. Well, that's the way I felt about learning Microsoft IL for .NET. I really was keen about learning .NET's "assembly language" because throughout my career I found that having low level knowledge about how a system is put together is very, very useful. Now, I'm not suggesting that you stop everything you're doing and run out to learn CIL programming. However, I believe that if you want to be a serious .NET professional, learning CIL should definitely be on your To-Do list.
So what about Bock's Book: "CIL Programming: Under the Hood of .NET"? In a word - disappointing. Bock spends most of the book's first chapter entitled "Language Interoperability" on detailed discussion of programs written in a variety of languages. He's trying to make the point that the CLR allows programs written in different languages to freely interoperate. Duh? Why spend the better part of the book's opening talking about everything but CIL. There's even an Oberon (?) programming sample here.
The second and third chapters on ILASM Directives, and, CIL Opcodes, respectively, read like my weekend shopping lists. While it is true that programming books have to regurgitate all the nasty details of the programming language, the good books tell its readers how to internalize the information and describe useful ways of summarizing the information in one's mind. That is, the authors of the better books have figured out some rhyme and reason to the language and they share these insights with their readers. On the other hand, this is what I found in these two most important chapters of Bock's book: the more I read, the more questions I had. I wound up spending significant time on the NET trying to resolve questions that were raised in the material in these two chapters. Clearly, the author did not anticipate these questions.
The fourth chapter, "ILASM and CIL in Practice" is a decent discussion of a typical sample program in IL. It demonstrates some of the IL constructs and programming concerns discussed in the previous chapters.
Chapter 6 is interesting. Here the author talks about and contrasts the IL generated by various programming languages. Some of the VB.NET and C# exposés were eye-opening, but then Bock goes back to Oberon again.
The author ends off the book in chapters 7 and 8 with some very long and tedious samples. I got nothing from this. Chapter 9, the last in the book, is a two-pager on "CIL Tips".
So why do I give this book 3 stars?
1) The book includes Chapter 5, a well-written and interesting discussion about CIL Debugging.
2) Right now, Bock's book is one of three books that talk about CIL. It is the only book that is targeted directly at programming. Although John Gough's "Compiling for the .NET Common Language Runtime" is an excellent book, it is very specialized and targets would-be compiler authors. I didn't read the third book in the IL arena, Serge Lidin's "Inside Microsoft .NET IL Assembler", but I did thumb through it several times (you know what little that is worth): this book strikes me as being very difficult.
RECOMMENDATIONS:
If you need to learn IL Programming right now, buy Bock's book - read the second half of chapter 1, and read Chapters 2-5, maybe Chapter 6. If you have the time, money, and inclination, then buy and read Gough's book. You'll need a lot of time for Gough, but you will definitely learn.
If learning IL is not that pressing right now, I would wait to see if someone else releases a better book.CIL Programming: Under the Hood of .NET OverviewFor the most part, .NET developers use a high-level language, such as C# or VB .NET, to develop their systems. However, the core language of .NET is the Common Intermediate Language, or CIL. This language is the language of .NETdevelopers can use CIL to do whatever is allowed by the .NET specifications, which is not the case for C# and VB .NET. Although it is unlikely that the majority of .NET developers will create their assemblies in CIL, understanding how CIL works will give them a deep, language-independent insight into the core parts of .NET. Furthermore, such knowledge is essential for creating dynamic types, a powerful part of the .NET Framework.In CIL Programming: Under the Hood of .NET, Jason Bock covers the essentials of programming the CIL. First, Bock discusses the basics of what .NET assemblies are and how manifests fit into the picture. He then shows how to create assemblies in .NETincluding the ilasm directives and CIL opcodes, and how these are used to define assemblies, classes, field, methods, and method definitions. Bock also covers how C# and VB .NET and other non-MS languages emit CIL and how they differ. Finally, he reveals how developers can create dynamic assemblies at runtime via the Emitter classes.After reading CIL Programming: Under the Hood of .NET, developers will have a better understanding of the CIL and how to program directly into it. A must-have on every .NET developers desk!Jason Bock is consultant and instructor for Intertech-Inc. (a company devoted to delivering hands-on workshops for enterprise web developers and whose focus is the professional Java, XML, and .NET enterprise developer).He has worked on a number of business applications using a diverse set of substrates and languages such as C#, .NET, and Java. He is the author of ".NET Security" by Apress, and "Visual Basic 6 Win32 API Tutorial, and has written numerous articles on technical development issues associated with both VB and Java.Jason holds a B.A. and a Masters degree in Electrical Engineering from Marquette University.You can find out more about him at http://www.jasonbock.net

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