Reviews (27)

Disappointing
I took the exam today....and....passed.Phew!This is one VERY tough exam to study for.I spent about 200 hours preparing for this exam.The exam is very broad and very deep.I bought this book and used the Transcender.
Acceptable Study Resource
I read this book twice. And I used the MS Press Training Kit Exam Prep application. I studied all 304 questions. I passed the test. So the study guide works. And this was the hardest exam I've taken (I've taken six).
I passed and that is the most important thing
Well I just took the exam today and passed (I didn't do exceptionally well but I have the certificate!). My only source was this book. By me passing I guess you can say it did the job for the task at hand. About 11 out of 16 of the chapters in the book are very easy to understand and very helpful and straightforward (minus the typos). However, some of the others, particularly those dealing with diagnostic and management configuration could use some work. My biggest issue with the book is not with how it is written, but the content. There were about 5 questions which I had no clue about and do not remember their content being directly mentioned (if at all) in the book. I am not pointing fingers at anyone, but there is a problem there with either the book's content or the access the authors had of what would be covered on the exam. All in all, I give it a 3 out 5 since I did pass. Although, I did study this book everyday, heavily, for three straight weeks. As for the practice questions, I thought they were ok as well. They helped me learn some things not covered in the book (oddly enough)and were useful to point out important points on specific topics. This isn't the greatest book in the world, but if you know it really well and do al of the examples and labs, you will probably pass. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Certification Guides - General    2. Computer Books: Languages    3. Computer Engineering    4. Computers    5. Computers - General Information    6. Digital Computer Design    7. General    8. Microcomputer Application Software    9. Programming - General    10. Computer Programming    11. Computers / General    12. Computing and Information Technology    13. Networking packages   

Reviews (49)

Key book on enterprise patterns
Even if you find enterprise stuff immensely dull, dealing with databases and web pages is a pretty common task, most of the action in software development revolves around it, and who wants to be completely ignorant of the the alphabet soup of various technologies the IT blogs, books and websites are floating in?
A must-read for tech leads and architects
Martin Fowler is making a name for himself as a luminary in the area of Software Development. He writes very practical books that have a wonderful blend of theory (e.g. design patterns, UML, refactoring etc.) with experience as you can tell he has applied many if not all of these patterns in real-life projects. This book is an exposition into architectural building blocks that will help every architect and tech lead / senior developer build code that is more extensible and easily maintained (among other things). I found the chapters on O/R structural and behavioral patterns particularly enlightening. By reading this book your "toolbox" of solutions rapidly expands and you get to focus more on the business problem at hand rather than infrastructural "plumbing" things (e.g. how do I build my objects when my data is in a relational table). Very highly recommended - and definitely one of the top 5 software books I have *EVER* had the pleasure to read.

Patterns for Business Applications
I loved this book!It was exactly what I was looking for when I went searching for patterns that would help with a new business application.It provides alternative solutions to the typical implementation problems associated with business systems, both from a design standpoint and from the perspective of the implementation.The alternatives are compared and weighed in light of the execution environment and cost of implementation, with a comparison of advantages and disadvantages, along with Martin's recommendations.I had the feeling that the comparisons and recommendations were made not based purely upon a theoretical optimum, but also based upon practical and real-world experience with these patterns. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Application software    2. Business    3. Business Enterprise    4. Computer Architecture - General    5. Computer Books: General    6. Computer Books: Languages    7. Computer architecture    8. Computers    9. Computers - Languages / Programming    10. Development    11. Hardware - Personal Computers - General    12. Microcomputer Application Software    13. Programming - Object Oriented Programming    14. System design    15. Computer Communications & Networking    16. Computers / Programming / Object Oriented    17. Software engineering   

Reviews (19)

Accept no substitutes -- THE book to read on file systems
I decided to read and review three digital forensics books in order to gauge their strengths and weaknesses: "File System Forensic Analysis" (FSFA) by Brian Carrier, "Windows Forensics" (WF) by Chad Steel, and "EnCase Computer Forensics" (ECF) by Steve Bunting and William Wei.All three books contain the word "forensics" in the title, but they are very different.If you want authoritative and deeply technical guidance on understanding file systems, read FSFA.If you want to focus on understanding Windows from an investigator's standpoint, read WA.If you want to know more about EnCase (and are willing to tolerate or ignore information about forensics itself), read ECF.
The best work on the topic
Carrier's book has prooven invaluable to this digital forensics trainee, and I expect many of the old hands in the field will be keeping it on hand as well.If you're serious about computer forensics, you need a copy.

Very deep
I'm pretty technical, so I enjoyed this book.The author has more on file systems than just about anywhere, and I found it helpful in non security work also just to understand how the different systems work.
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Subjects:  1. Computer - Internet    2. Computer Books: General    3. Computer Data Security    4. Computer security    5. Computers    6. Data structures (Computer science)    7. File organization (Computer science)    8. Internet - Security    9. Security - General    10. Computers / Internet / Security    11. Computing and Information Technology   

Reviews (5)

Yawning Hell
Is this the world's most boring book ?Technically competent but painfully dry. A gift too insomniacs. Good luck on getting past page 1 !

Only Buy if Required for a Class
Very boring reading.Chapters tend to repeat themselves.The class I had for this book was one of the most boring classes I ever had.Instructor lectured from power point slides.I could have taken this class homestudy and done just fine, than to sit in class.

Caution: Will Cause Drowsiness.
This book is simply horrible. It takes the stereotypical accountant and shoves him into the pages. It is so lethargic and monotonous that all the valuable information within the book just stops making sense. This book should be read by anyone who has doubts about becoming an accountant. They'll drop everything and go into premed. Horrible! ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Accounting    2. Accounting (General)    3. Accounting - General    4. Business & Economics    5. Business/Economics    6. Computers - Spreadsheets    7. Data Processing - General    8. Data processing    9. Electronic Data Processing    10. Information Storage & Retrieval    11. Information storage and retrie    12. Information storage and retrieval systems    13. Spreadsheets - General    14. Accounting software    15. Business & Economics / Accounting / General   

Reviews (14)

Complement to other sources available
I think author did a wonderful job filling in where other popular litrature about PIX left off.I read the CCSP book, and leared alot.This book filled in stuff that CCSP book just does not talk about.Not to knock the CCSP book; each auther can only fill in so much.It is a difficult decision on what to keep and what to leave off.I find the PIX and ASA book is very practical.If you want a good understanding of this platform, then you want this book as the pliers in your tool box of knowledge.Do not expect it to be swiss army tool though.I think author was especially considerate to the reader's needs to publish items that other litrature just does not cover.There is alot of good information.Nice pictures which addressed questions I had and even posted to some CCIE sites and there was no answer.Definately worth buying.

Very little on ASA
This book is very helpful for PIX firewalls, but is mislabeled for ASA. There is very little on the ASA product. Usually just a mention of command differences between ASA and PIX. If you are looking for a book on ASA do not buy this book.

One point makes this book a must have
Most commands explained have three lines:
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Subjects:  1. Computer Books: General    2. Computer Data Security    3. Computers    4. Computers - Computer Security    5. Computers - General Information    6. Internet - Security    7. Security    8. Security - General    9. Computers / Internet / Security    10. Network security   

Reviews (57)

Contentgood, media a problem
I got the version 1/e plus selected online chapters 2/e
Classic
Some problems are solved in this business and answers are published in one place. "Compilers" is a solved problem. This is the one place to see the solution.

still definitive after 20 years
For twenty years, this book has stood as the definitive text on compiler design. Many programmers use a compiler to write programs. Only a small subset actually write [or debug] compilers. It is for the latter that the book is dedicated. Though perhaps the broader group of programmers could also benefit ["culture"] from knowing the general ideas in the book.
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Subjects:  1. Compilers    2. Compilers (Computer programs)    3. Computer Architecture - General    4. Computer Books: General    5. Computers    6. Computers - General Information    7. Compilers & interpreters    8. Computers / Computer Architecture    9. Systems analysis & design   

Reviews (27)

Excellent book for undestanding SOA based Web services
This book is very compelling for anyone who want get introduced to the SOA strategies. I found it well structured, and extremely helpful in understanding the XML based standards related to SOA and its implementation approaches. The author did a very good job on XML Web Services scenarios but failed to demonstrate real code examples....that is my only biggest gripe. Otherwise it is a must-have book for anyone who involved with building an SOA solution. Interestingly, this book is much better than the author's previous blue book.

Valuable Resource
I was impressed with how much "inside information" this book reveals about how all of the xml and ws* technologies really work. It openly reveals problems and then provides strategies for dealing with these problems.
Best Book on SOA so far for Architects!
This is the best book on SOA compared to IBM's book Service Oriented Compass. And more over converage of SOA concepts are documentated excellently. Finally this is best book for thumbs-up! ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Computer Architecture - General    2. Computer Books: Web Programming    3. Computer architecture    4. Computers    5. Computers - Languages / Programming    6. Internet - Web Site Design    7. Programming Languages - XML    8. Web services    9. XML (Document markup language)    10. Computer Communications & Networking    11. Computers / Programming Languages / XML    12. Internet   

Reviews (114)

Avoid this book at all costs
Fortunately I only paid a few pound for this book at a book fair. I have been successfully day trading for over 5 years, have read in excess of 60 books. This is the worst I have seen. Oliver Velez should be taking out the backyard and horse whipped.

Beware of superbookdeals seller
If you want to buy the book, go ahead, just be careful of superbookdeals, they take your money but don't deliver and don't answer emails. Caveat Emptor.

Love this book!!!!!!!
This Book TOTALLY rocked!!!!! I read this book alot because it was so awesome ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Accounting - General    2. Business & Economics    3. Business/Economics    4. Consumer Finance    5. Day trading (Securities)    6. Electronic trading of securiti    7. Electronic trading of securities    8. Futures And Options Trading    9. Handbooks, manuals, etc    10. Investments & Securities - General    11. Personal Finance - Investing    12. Business & Economics / Investments & Securities    13. Financial services industry    14. Internet    15. Investment & securities   

Reviews (46)

On topic, but needs much better editing
I read and studied this book," Official (ISC)2 Guide to the CISSP Exam", for my one study aid in quick preparation for the CISSP exam. I found the book's coverage of topics and the common body of knowledge to be fine; indeed the book is tuned to the CISSP exam's intended scope rather well. The problem with this book is quality control and the details. Just to get it out of the way, what annoyed me the most is that many of the sample "exam questions" are flawed lacking quality control. Not flawed like the CISSP exam questions themselves are known to be, but simply poorly written. The answer section for the sample questions has many flaws and mistakes: such as mixing up answers for other chapters' questions, unfinished text, etc. A frustrating way to end each chapter.
Cosider a must-have
I rate this book very hight because it is a serious content / concept based book for not only the exam but to really make things clear that it covers.
Good book, but not end-all be-all
A very useful resource for anybody interested in the field of Information Security. It provides an overview of the 10 bodies of knowledge that candidates for the CISSP exam are required to master. However, while this book is excellent as reference material, it is not as suitable as a study guide. Due to the nature of the book (it is authorized by many different writers), there is quite a bit of repetition of material, and slightly different viewpoints on what often appears to be the same issue. Sometimes, the differences between the viewpoints are not clearly articulated, which may lead to confusion.
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Subjects:  1. Certification Guides - General    2. Computer Books: General    3. Computers    4. Computers - Certification    5. General    6. Networking - General    7. Security    8. Security - General    9. Computers / Security    10. Network security   

Reviews (14)

Great book - easy to read, informative
I really liked this SEO book. It is easy to read, entertaining (which isn't easy to do for SEO) and is laid out in a easy to follow, logical order. If you are a beginner or a professional this book will help you in your opimization efforts.

Written only for the Marketing Department
If you're looking for actual instructions on how to improve your Web site's code or design to be better optimized for search engines, then don't read this book. This book is written for the Marketing Department of a middle- to large-size company. It should be called, "Search Engine Optimization; An hour of paperwork a day." It's all about how to track campaigns and other esoteric tasks that have no value for someone actually doing the work.

Great for amateurs and professionals as well.
I have never purchased any book on SEO before as I assumed the content would be too dated.
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Subjects:  1. Computer - Internet    2. Computer Books: General    3. Computers    4. Information Storage & Retrieval    5. Internet - World Wide Web    6. Web search engines    7. Automation of library & information processes    8. Computers / Internet / World Wide Web    9. Web browsers   

Editorial Review

Gigantically comprehensive and carefully researched, Read more

Reviews (24)

Available for free
Before purchasing this book, you might like to browse through its contents.It is available in its entirety for free on the author's website.Here's the URL:
More high-level concepts and less hands-on guidance
This is certainly a good book for getting introduced to most high-level architectural concepts related to Network security, cryptography, mandatory/multi-level access control etc. From a application development perspective, this book falls short on how to build architecure, design and implement them into your business applications which ultimately meets the end-user. The author justifies the high-level concepts well enough from a generalist perspective, but the industry-standards from OASIS leans towards standards-based application security protocols..which pushes a developer/architect like me to take those suggestions first and how to apply them in real world.The book also does'nt address on how-to build security for emerging application architectures based on Service-oriented architecture (SOA), Identity Management, Net-centric Federated applications. As a developer/architect using Java or Microsoft .NET or open-source based distributed applications, I need guidance on how to implement the recommended concepts (in the book) for example using biometrics or smartcards for building multi-factor access control at my application-level...unfortunately I don't find any answers for real-world implementation.

Best security book on the market
This book is a must own and a must read.Ross Anderson may tweak people's noses on occassion...but usually because they need tweaking.Get this book now.Really. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Computer Books And Software    2. Computer Data Security    3. Computer security    4. Computers    5. Computers - Computer Security    6. Computers - General Information    7. Distributed Computer Systems    8. Distributed processing    9. Electronic data processing    10. Management Information Systems    11. Networking - General    12. Programming - Systems Analysis & Design    13. Security - General    14. Computers / Networking / General    15. Data security & data encryption    16. Network security   

Reviews (15)

Honest and insightfull
This is a great introduction to SOA. The authors focus on the fundamentals of SOA, displaying both wisdom and honesty as they discuss the structure of an SOA, its essential and optional elements, strategies for SOA introduction (from technical and organizational points of view), SOA oriented project management techniques, success (and failure stories), etc.
Excellent overview
This book was an excellent broad overview of the technology related items associated with an SOA adoption.It is a good read for an IT manager or architect that is more concerned with the bigger picture.This book, combined with a book that has more of a business oriented slant, such as Service Orient or Be Doomed or Service Blueprint make a great combination for enterprise architects interested in the potential of SOA.

Good SOA book, lacks the Open Source approach.
I mostly agree with all former posts. My contribution to the comments is that the book focuses only on proprietary platforms and grossly misses the point on how to use Open Source platforms as an alternative, thus doing the same stuff with a much smaller budget. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Client-Server Computing - General    2. Computer Architecture    3. Computer Architecture - General    4. Computer Books: General    5. Computer network architectures    6. Computers    7. Computers - General Information    8. Distributed Computer Systems    9. Information technology    10. Management    11. Web servers    12. Computers / Online Services / General    13. Internet   

Reviews (17)

Good, detailed book
I'm a data architect at a small tech company, now working mostly with data warehouses, and was looking to refresh my data modeling skills.After reading Amazon reviews about different modeling books I chose this one and have not been disappointed.Rather than reading it from front to back, I read the first couple hundred pages and am now skipping around and reading sections that interest me.
Decent book
I bought this as a reference for a college course, and it seems to be a decent reference for data modeling.

A Data Modeling Classic
Simsion and Witt's _Data Modeling Essentials_ has been a classic on my data management bookshelf since the first edition.Now in the 3rd Edition, this work has become even more valuable and useful on data management projects.The fact that the authors continue to enhance and expand their work is a real asset.
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Subjects:  1. Computer Books: Database    2. Computers    3. Computers - Data Base Management    4. Data structures (Computer scie    5. Data structures (Computer science)    6. Database Management - General    7. Database design    8. Information Storage & Retrieval    9. Computers / Database Management / General    10. Databases & data structures    11. Systems management   

Reviews (20)

Excellent !!
In order to complete any jigsaw puzzle, you normally need to refer to the picture on the box.
Excellent hands on service development model solutions for SOA!
Excellent hands on service development model solutions for SOA!
Explaining the Basic Concepts
A surprising amount of the spending for information technology in virtually all organizations is spent on supporting, updating, integrating, or otherwise maintaining legacy systems. SOA is an attempt to define a generalized group of services oriented 'objects' (for lack of a better term) that have a well defined interface and output that is oriented to provide a business orjective.
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Subjects:  1. Accounting - General    2. Business & Economics    3. Business / Economics / Finance    4. Business enterprises    5. Business/Economics    6. Computer Architecture    7. Computer Architecture - General    8. Computer network architectures    9. Computer networks    10. Information Management    11. Information Processing (Information Science)    12. Information technology    13. Knowledge Capital    14. Management    15. Management Information Systems    16. Business & Economics / Accounting / General    17. Computer architecture & logic design    18. Customer services   

Reviews (42)

Excellent overview of SOA
I am new to the SOA world, and as I am now just about through reading "Service-Oriented Architecture; Concepts, Technology, and Design", I can highly recommend this material to interested technical and non-technical professionals.No book is going to provide everything you need to become an expert, but this book has laid an excellent foundation that I shall build upon when I start reading Thomas Erl's associated "Field Guide" book.As an added bonus, Thomas Erl has many web pages with additional information enabling you to drill down in particular areas of interest.
Verbose, Mostly High Level Concepts
This book might be best described as SOA for managers.Most of the book covers high level concepts.In some parts everything is presented as an abstraction, leaving the reader to wonder what the connection with the real world is.
Simple concepts are expressed in overly complicated manner.
I have read 30% of this book and I'm sure not going to by another one by Thomas Erl.
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Subjects:  1. Computer Books: General    2. Computer architecture    3. Computers    4. Computers - Languages / Programming    5. Internet - Web Site Design    6. Online Services - General    7. Programming Languages - XML    8. Web services    9. Computer architecture & logic design    10. Computers / Online Services / General    11. Systems analysis & design   

Reviews (13)

Good content overall
I used this book in graduate school while taking the Database Management System course. The book has usefull information. It help me understand and practice normalization. Some unfamiliar concepts also were learnt from the book. I can recommend this book to anyonegetting into the database world.

Very practical.
Indeed, a brilliant rendition of practical information. I am currently working as a chief technical designer in a financial data warehouse project for a fortune 100 company. Chapter 11 (Data Warehousing) unfolded some time-critical points.

IT'S POORLY ORGANIZED AND DIFFICULT TO FOLLOW; NOT INTRO BK
This is a required textbook for an Intro to DB course. Once again, the University of Texas at Dallas has followed a constant pattern of requiring textbooks that are 1) Poorly organized/written books, 2) expensive and 3)The professor haven't read the book themselves AND are not using/following a required book when teaching their course! This said, my review of this book.Read more

Subjects:  1. Computer Books: Database    2. Computers    3. Computers - General Information    4. Database Engineering    5. Database Management - General    6. Database management    7. Information Management    8. Information Storage & Retrieval    9. Office Automation    10. Business & Economics / Information Management    11. Databases & data structures   

Reviews (4)

extremely useful
This book covers many aspects of programming the ARM familiy, including a surprisingly thorough discussion on fixed-point DSP computation.
If your company will buy it for you, get it
In the ARM tradition of charging for everything, thefirmware guide by Sloss is easy to read, and comprehensive up to ARM10/StrongARM XScale/926/940.That said, the book looks like the notes from a firmware lecture delivered by an Arm Apps engineer.The book is strongest in coverage of MMU and cache, but weak on ARM11 (1136 only and as a final chapter) and essentially non-existent in Jazelle coverage.Nice features are the toy RTOS which appears early at reappears with more features (memory protection, and MMU, for example).That this book is so quickly out of date brings the point that MDR bulleted last year, that the ARM family needs birth control but that is a topic for another discussion.Sloss' book has 'non-commercial license' for all the sourcecode.huh?Regarding this book, Freescale for example publishes equivalent information (old ESS manuals) in the 860/8260 training manuals for free, on their website.If your company pays for your books, by all means have them get the sloss book for you it makes a great read on the john, but if you are a student or independent developer, you would be as well served by studying the ARM ARM and applicable ARM source code for U-Boot, Redboot and the L4 microkernel, or even Ed Sutter's book, with the added benefit that you would have a license to use the code in your project.

6 Stars
If you are developing something that contain an ARM core.... this is definitely the BOOK.
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Subjects:  1. Computer Architecture - General    2. Computer Books: General    3. Computer architecture    4. Computer software    5. Computers    6. Computers - General Information    7. Development    8. Programming - Software Development    9. RISC microprocessors    10. Computers / Computer Architecture    11. Software engineering    12. Systems analysis & design   

Editorial Review

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Reviews (35)

great reference book
This is the definitive OpenGL guide and reference book.It is hands-down the best reference book covering all basic OpenGL operations.I'm very satisfied with my purchase, and I use it every day.

Still the definitive guide to OpenGL
For those graphic programmers who think that Java3D requires that you program at too high a level and want more elementary control over their graphics operations, OpenGL is probably a good choice for a graphics programming API. So, assuming you already have a good grasp of computer graphics programming concepts and can already program in the C language, this guide is probably your best bet. If you don't already know these things, you will be completely lost trying to read this book. The book starts out in chapter one showing the reader exactly what OpenGL can and cannot do. Supporting code and instructive figures are supplied. The next few chapters deal with performing basic graphics tasks by using the OpenGL API. Topics included are viewing, display lists, color, lighting, blending, antialiasing, and fog. Again, if you are not already familiar with how to write pseudocode for these type of graphics tasks, you need to find a good basic computer graphics text and learn the techniques first. The next part of the book moves on to slightly more advanced topics such as texture mapping, tessellators, quadrics, and NURBs all from the standpoint of "How do I do this in OpenGL?". The chapter entitled "Now That You Know" is especially valuable to the experienced graphics programmer. Unlike previous chapters, this chapter presents a collection of examples of higher-level graphics capabilities and some incomplete OpenGL code for those examples. The reader is expected to flesh out the code to get a running graphics program, and the book does point this fact out. Chapter 15, "OpenGL 20 and the OpenGL Shading Language", is the only truly new material in this 5th edition of the OpenGL programming guide. Thus, if you are not interested in using the OpenGL shader, you can probably forge ahead with the 4th edition of the guide if you already have a copy.
An OpenGL Companion
The fourth edition of "OpenGL Reference Manual" edited by Dave Shreiner provides an official command reference for the OpenGL graphics library version 1.4.Published by Addison Wesley (ISBN 0-321-17383-X) the text is approximately 760 pages and has a suggested retail price of $59.99.