Search results for category: reviews

JavaScript & DHTML Cookbook Review by Arien Malec, March 2005 — by Bill Deegan — posted on Aug 27, 2008 05:37 AM —

• reviews

As older browsers have mostly faded away, and new applications, such as GMail and Google Maps, have shown the power in the Document Object Model, interest in the JavaScript language has grown. The classic JavaScript reference is JavaScript: The Definitive Guide, by David Flanagan (also published by O'Reilly); Danny Goodman's other book, Dynamic HTML: The Definitive Reference (again, also published by O'Reilly), is a reasonable companion document. These two guides wear the term "Definitive" reasonably well, although they fail to document some of the more interesting XML and HTTP tools available in later IE, Firefox, Safari and Opera browsers

Programming Collective Intelligence Review by Charles Merriam, Jan 2008 — by Bill Deegan — posted on Aug 27, 2008 05:05 AM —

• reviews

Toby Segaran has written an excellent book in Programming Collective Intelligence. The books introduces the algorithms and thinking for developing cutting edge recommendation engines, searching tools, and data driven analysis. The beauty of this book is how Toby makes the subject fun and playful.

JavaScript The Missing Manual Review by Dennis Reinhardt, August 2008 — by Bill Deegan — posted on Aug 27, 2008 05:01 AM —

• reviews

For a book sub-titled "The Missing Manual," my expectation is this book would serve as a useful reference manual. Its real value would rely on being able to consult it when I faced a problem. Accordingly, immediately after receiving the book, I turned first to the index to see how useful it was.

Building Scalable Web Sites (The Flickr Way) — by Bill Deegan — posted on Jul 28, 2008 06:00 AM —

• reviews

This is a very informative book describing many facets of what it takes to build a scalable website. Written by the engineering manager for Flickr. Topics range from how to set up your developement environement, to caching, to the various types of mysql clustering you can setup.

Joomla! A User's Guide: Building a Successful Joomla! Powered Website — by Bill Deegan — posted on Jul 27, 2008 04:49 AM —

• reviews

A great book about setting up a Joomla! site, including tips on organizing your site, managing and configuring Joomla!, SEO and how to do it with Joomla, and three example sites: A School, A Restaurant, and a Blog

Head Rush Ajax Reviewed by Eric Walstad, November 2006 — by Bill Deegan — posted on Nov 29, 2006 06:00 AM —

• reviews

Head Rush Ajax is a great beginning course that covers a few fundamental JavaScript programming concepts. A beginning web developer will benefit from its slow, repetitivestyle that mixes graphics, conversational text, handwritten notes and homework-like exercises. Developers experienced with JavaScript or looking for a JavaScript or Document Object Model (DOM) reference book should consider a different book.

Learning Python, Second Edition Reviewed by Corey Coughlin, October 2004 — by Bill Deegan — posted on Oct 01, 2004 09:35 PM —

• reviews

To start off, I should probably admit that I originally learned to program with Python 1.5 using the original version of this book. This latest version is a lot bigger, almost 600 pages versus the original's 360 or so, and the type in the new version is also a little smaller. This makes some sense, in the original there was always the sense that Python was a work in progress, and now since it's gotten much more popular and well defined, there's a lot more to cover. This means that generally, almost all of the original material has been kept, so any references you may have relied upon previously should be intact. I was thrilled to see that the slicing index figure (page 38 of the old version, page 83 of the new version) was kept.

Learning Python, Second Edition Reviewed by Corey Coughlin, October 2004 — by Bill Deegan — posted on Oct 01, 2004 05:00 AM —

• reviews

To start off, I should probably admit that I originally learned to program with Python 1.5 using the original version of this book. This latest version is a lot bigger, almost 600 pages versus the original's 360 or so, and the type in the new version is also a little smaller. This makes some sense, in the original there was always the sense that Python was a work in progress, and now since it's gotten much more popular and well defined, there's a lot more to cover. This means that generally, almost all of the original material has been kept, so any references you may have relied upon previously should be intact. I was thrilled to see that the slicing index figure (page 38 of the old version, page 83 of the new version) was kept.

CSS Anthology 101 Essential Tips Review by Arien Malec, October 2005 — by Bill Deegan — posted on Aug 31, 2008 09:23 PM —

• reviews

While one should never judge a book by its cover, one should, for technical books at least, be able to judge by its title. The CSS Anthology fails this basic test: it is neither an "Anthology" (that term is properly reserved for collections of previously published texts), nor, as the subtitle suggests, a book of advanced "tips, tricks and hacks" (the subtitle does read "essential," but the lure of "tricks and hacks" more than suggests an advanced book.) It is, rather, a CSS cookbook. The obvious title, "The CSS Cookbook," was taken, but there were many other alternatives that would have better communicated the intent of this book. As a random example, "101 CSS Solutions: A Problem-Centered Guide" would have worked quite well. Does this matter? Both in online, and in the bookstore, the title is a major key to what the book is about. Publishing technical books with misleading titles is a sin: the reader who makes purchasing decisions on the basis, at least partially, of the title deserves to get what is advertised.

Python Cookbook, 2nd Edition Review by Tony Cappellini, October 2005 — by Bill Deegan — posted on Aug 31, 2008 09:22 PM —

• reviews

The eagerly-awaited 2nd Edition of the Python Cookbook hit the shelves in bookstores everywhere in March 2005. Compared to the first edition, which was 574 pages, the 2nd Edition weighs in at a whopping 807 pages. Having both editions side-by-side while writing this review, it was convenient when comparing changes and additions to the 2nd edition.