The Teach - aNobii

Books (102)

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- Visual Basic Game Programming For Teens (4)
- By Jonathan S. Harbour
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Visual Basic Game Programming For Teens

Visual Basic 6 in a 2005 book???

How can a book published in 2005 be about Visual Basic 6?
Helloooo! VB 6 is dead! Not supported anymore. Learning it now is a total waste of time, even for a teen. The author should have written
a game programming book in VB.NET 2005, but I guess he, not being very young, is still stuck in ... (continue)

How can a book published in 2005 be about Visual Basic 6?
Helloooo! VB 6 is dead! Not supported anymore. Learning it now is a total waste of time, even for a teen. The author should have written
a game programming book in VB.NET 2005, but I guess he, not being very young, is still stuck in his old habits and doesn't t have the proficiency to do it. Don't waste your time with stuff that belongs to the past, especially if you are young!
And just to confirm this, you VB6 dinos who are defending this book, a new edition is coming out now (2007) finally dealing with VB.NET. Wonder why if VB6 is so alive and well.... Anyhow, better late then never!

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— Nov 7, 2009 | Add your feedback
- J2EE Web Services (7)
- By Richard Monson-Haefel
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J2EE Web Services

Typical Monson-Haefelian

Warning: this book is only a rumination on the J2EE web services specification, fat on "theory" and with absolutely no real code examples you can run and play with to learn. Unless you are someone who can learn playing tennis looking at people playing it, or become a musician by listening to music, ... (continue)

Warning: this book is only a rumination on the J2EE web services specification, fat on "theory" and with absolutely no real code examples you can run and play with to learn. Unless you are someone who can learn playing tennis looking at people playing it, or become a musician by listening to music, I doubt you can become a web services developer by just reading words and code snippets.
As the author says: "this book doesn't attempt to cover installation, configuration, or deployment except in terms of standard J2EE requirements". I do believe that a decent tech book must have running code to support its explanations and support its value and usefulness. With this text Monson-Haefel is well on his way to win the "Most useless java book of the year" award.

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- Java Concepts (7)
- By Cay S. Horstmann
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Java Concepts

Textbook Tax

An excellent intro to programming from an outstanding author and programmer. It keeps reasonably upto date with the latest java version and presentation trends (pages are so full of color that reading it reminds me of a kid's birthday party.. personally I hate it, but it seems that's the current fas ... (continue)

An excellent intro to programming from an outstanding author and programmer. It keeps reasonably upto date with the latest java version and presentation trends (pages are so full of color that reading it reminds me of a kid's birthday party.. personally I hate it, but it seems that's the current fashion..). My only problem with this book is its price and outrageous selling strategy. This book, as well as Big C++ and Big Java sell for 80 to 90 bucks in the US, where they can be imposed to college students as textbooks. Here in Italy, where this trick can't work they sell for their real value, that is from 40 to 50 bucks.
So, exploiting the enthusiasm of the student buying his new textbooks (I know how it feels I have been there myself) or just the plain fact that it can be imposed as required reading in some classes this text is oversold at almost double its real market value. I find this disgusting. Unless you are forced to adopt this text, go for a maybe less academical and colorful book (but reasonably priced ) by the same author, Core Java.

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- JBoss 4.0 - The Official Guide (2)
- By The JBoss Group
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JBoss 4.0 - The Official Guide

Low quality open source reference manual

I don' t recommend buying this book, since it is just a printout of the JBoss Guide freely available on JBoss site. Given the speed at which JBoss evolves you would soon find yourself with a stale documentation snapshot. Besides, the low quality of this documentation doesn' t really deserve a hard c ... (continue)

I don' t recommend buying this book, since it is just a printout of the JBoss Guide freely available on JBoss site. Given the speed at which JBoss evolves you would soon find yourself with a stale documentation snapshot. Besides, the low quality of this documentation doesn' t really deserve a hard copy. I admire the JBoss team for their work and their intuition in supporting and adopting the most promising and advanced technologies, like Hibernate and AOP. Frankly, I don' t understand why they don't make the little effort of employing a few professional trainers to create top class documentation and tutorials. It would greatly push JBoss into the market as most potential JBoss adoptees are pushed back by the lack of way to become skilled and confident at using this server. It would not harm their certification revenues , given that to pass the exam you HAVE to take the class.
Anyways, this text as other as noted is an arid, barely coherent, messy agglomerate of dtds, schemas, example code and superficial explanations. Not deep enough for the wanna be JBoss developer and not clear and detailed enough for the JBoss programmer or administrator.
It is just the typical product you would expect when the project manager tells his average Joe programmer : "Hey I know this sucks but we need documentation for our framework in one week so try to put something together".
I really wish the JBoss team will understand soon that clear documentation and engaging tutorials are the heart of a successful project. Meanwhile, save your money for something else.

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- Struts Design and Programming (3)
- A Tutorial
- By Budi Kurniawan
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Struts Design and Programming

Best book around to LEARN Struts

This is a very clear, concise introduction to the Struts framework.
It' s up to date, and present the subject with a learn-by-example strategy. I appreciated the fact that the various aspects of Struts are presented with many little independend manageable examples intead of the typical "example ... (continue)

This is a very clear, concise introduction to the Struts framework.
It' s up to date, and present the subject with a learn-by-example strategy. I appreciated the fact that the various aspects of Struts are presented with many little independend manageable examples intead of the typical "example application" that many book use to "put it all together". Overall an excellent text to understand the whys and hows of Struts. Be warned you will not find material on the more sophisticated aspects and usages of Struts, but a good foundation upon which you can build with working experience and more advanced books like "Struts Recipes". Anyhow you can just make up your mind by going to jtutedotcom and checking the entire book online!

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- Core JavaServer Faces (20)
- By David Geary
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Core JavaServer Faces

Java Monkey Wrenching

Great book on JSF, the absolute best intro to JSF in the concise, terse, classical style of Horstmann & Geary. You can buy any book by these two dudes with your eyes shut. I would have loved to see more new material in this second edition, especially on Seam and EJB integration in general. The book ... (continue)

Great book on JSF, the absolute best intro to JSF in the concise, terse, classical style of Horstmann & Geary. You can buy any book by these two dudes with your eyes shut. I would have loved to see more new material in this second edition, especially on Seam and EJB integration in general. The book being so similar to the first edition there is little need for you to buy it if you already own the previous one.
The chapter on custom JSF tag development will be well over your head if you are reading the book as a first intro to JSF, and the LDAP material is pretty brutal and useless for a newbie to the subject, the chapter on opens source miscellanous frameworks is way too sparse to be useful beyond a little inspiration to learn more, but the rest of the book is top notch and will greatly help you to understand the JSF framework deep down to the bone.
The monkey wrenching title is not really about the book but about my feelings towards the development of java web development (forgive the horrible pun). First there were servlets, then JSP then EJB then Struts then JSF then Seam then Facelets then Shale...Am I the only one who feels that stacking framework over framework is going definitely overboard and leading us to do "frankenstein programming"? (omg I think I am starting to blog.. pls stop me! ;)

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- Professional Hibernate (2)
- (Programmer to Programmer)
- By Joseph D. Gradecki, Eric Pugh
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Professional Hibernate

Absolutely Disappointing

This book has some of the good qualities of a typical Wrox title: code centered, clear layout, step-by-step practical approach, but has clearly been published without even the shadow of a technical review. My guss is the book was rushed and not really invested into because "the hibernate book" (by G ... (continue)

This book has some of the good qualities of a typical Wrox title: code centered, clear layout, step-by-step practical approach, but has clearly been published without even the shadow of a technical review. My guss is the book was rushed and not really invested into because "the hibernate book" (by Gavin King) was looming on the horizon. The publisher would have shown much more business sense if it had taken time for a really solid book on Hibernate 3. The amount of typos and inaccuracies both in the text and in the code is staggering. Several interesting subjects are mentioned, like AspectJ and Design Patterns, but in a too superficial way to be of any real help. Gradecki, I hope you have not really co-authored this but just supplied the AspectJ chapter...

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- STL Programming from the Ground Up (2)
- By Herbert Schildt
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STL Programming from the Ground Up

So clear it makes yous wonder.. is it really that easy?

For those who are still interested in dear old lean and mean C++ in these days of Java and C# this is an excellent second book (assuming the first was a good one ;) If you have mastered the basics of C++ this book will gently introduce you to the power of the Sandard Template Library teaching you ho ... (continue)

For those who are still interested in dear old lean and mean C++ in these days of Java and C# this is an excellent second book (assuming the first was a good one ;) If you have mastered the basics of C++ this book will gently introduce you to the power of the Sandard Template Library teaching you how to use vector, list, deque and all the other containers and how to manipulate them with STL algorithms. You will also get a tutorial on how to extend STL. Written by a master of the language, it has a clean, efficient, lean and mean style... just like C++.
(answer to the title question.. no, it's not, not even close :P

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- Strategy Game Programming with DirectX 9 (2)
- By Todd Barron
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Strategy Game Programming with DirectX 9

New publisher, same old crap

Publishing one bad game development book wasn't enough for this author, he had to try to do worse...and finally succeded! Here's the typical example of a "game development" rip-off book. Some amateurish programmer with no deep and solid game programming knowledge and absolutely no clue about how to ... (continue)

Publishing one bad game development book wasn't enough for this author, he had to try to do worse...and finally succeded! Here's the typical example of a "game development" rip-off book. Some amateurish programmer with no deep and solid game programming knowledge and absolutely no clue about how to effectively teach the little he knows has been playing around trying to implement his little game. Realizing his work is no good he stumbles upon the idea that he could scrap up a few bucks writing a book on what he is unable to do. Unscrupulous publishers aren't hard to find it seems: the leading champion being Premier Press, who has been a road opener to publishing trash game development books (and a few good ones, probably by accident). Now Wordware seems to have happily joined in the business...inside this book you will find countless pages in which the author passionately reminisces about his teenager gaming habits, some general considerations about gaming and programming, and quite a few irritating jokes.And yes there is some working code coming with the book, but lost in his blabbering the author gives to it just a passing look and very shallow coverage. I understand that plastering a book with source code might not be the best tactic to teach programming, but exlaining only 5% of the code you present is even worse ...but certainly quicker and easier. That this peace of junk made it to the press is unbeliavable, and that its price was $40 is outrageous. My advice: stay clear from this title and from the upcoming (inevitable I guess) books from the same author.

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- The Da Vinci Code (4288)
- By Dan Brown
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The Da Vinci Code

2 people find this helpful
"Carramba what a surprise!"

Exasperating... this is the only word I can find to describe this insult to the writing art. It could be forgiven only if it was the work of a budding 14 years old aspiring writer.. The characters are stereotypical mannequins monstruosly bumping aroud in a shallow, totally unrealistic plot devoid of ... (continue)

Exasperating... this is the only word I can find to describe this insult to the writing art. It could be forgiven only if it was the work of a budding 14 years old aspiring writer.. The characters are stereotypical mannequins monstruosly bumping aroud in a shallow, totally unrealistic plot devoid of any originality. The Harvard professor is shy and reserved, the english lord is snob and the french cryptologist.. well she is hot! Inconsistencies and blunders are scattered all over the place, and leave you in this strange state when you don't know if you want to throw the book away in a fit of rage or have a great laugh at such an helpless author. The Harvad professor and the cryptologist together have the brain of a turnip, fighting hard to solve little riddles that would be a joke for kid. But what made really burts with laughter was the choice of the super secret passord that should have securely guarded the cryptex (basically a bycicle lock) containing the precious Holy Grail secret.. the Gran Master chose his grandaughter's name! Anyone who has even a slight familirity with security knows that a loved person name is the first and most obvious and stupid password choice of a dummy! :)
Another comical side is the attitude of Langdon and Sophie towards feelings and sex... when you read that Sophie has interrupted all contact with her beloved grandfather you imagine all sort of violent things..murder.. pedophily, ..rape and it finally turns out she just caught him giving a "ride" to a middle aged plump lady? Coooooome on!!!! And ok, you had to have a couple to make the story just a bit more stereotypical.. but at least make something reaistic, comlex and deep happen! No, by the end of the story Langdon and Sophie share only a timid kiss "full of promise". Is the author a teenager or just trying to win the favours of the neo-con prude wave?
And the final blow.. at the end of all that road, the little secrets and passords and riddles.. there is nothing like the Grail but just a happy family reunion! In the best tradition of old telenovelas....
Citing a really trashy italian TV show I could yell "Carramba che Sorpresa!".

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- Java Regular Expressions (1)
- Taming the java.util.regex Engine
- By Mehran Habibi
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Java Regular Expressions

Taming What ????

This book starts very well with a practical, easy to follow, step-to-step introduction to regular expressions and their use with Java. This is to be appreciated since regexp are a complex subject that can easily be presented in an intimidating and obscure way. The problem is, this books never soars ... (continue)

This book starts very well with a practical, easy to follow, step-to-step introduction to regular expressions and their use with Java. This is to be appreciated since regexp are a complex subject that can easily be presented in an intimidating and obscure way. The problem is, this books never soars over this elementary level and in the end leaves you a bit disappointed even if you are totally new to the subject. The book is small and there are lots of white spaces, repetitions and not so useful discussions. I am under the unpleasant impression that the author and publisher realized the book lacked some meat and tried to cover up for it. It can still be a useful text if you want a really gentle intro to regexp usage in Java, but be warned that it lacks a serious and convincing treatment of regexp syntax. You will come out from this book with the ability to use regular expresisons only for really simple cases.
The subtitle should be "a light intro to java.util.regex engine" and not certainly "taming the java.util.regex engine".

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- Programming Game AI by Example (19)
- By Mat Buckland
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Programming Game AI by Example

Give some life to your game agents!

If you are intererested in coding intelligente agent that can move around, flock, swarm, hunt and flee or follow a basic sort of strategic behaviour this text is an excellent choice. It offers practical examples examples of all of the above in the context of a simple soccer game and a search & destr ... (continue)

If you are intererested in coding intelligente agent that can move around, flock, swarm, hunt and flee or follow a basic sort of strategic behaviour this text is an excellent choice. It offers practical examples examples of all of the above in the context of a simple soccer game and a search & destroy game called raven. Don 't expect 3D and fancy graphics. All games and concepts are 2D and the graphics is rudimentary at best, but that serves the puropose of keeping teh complexity of the book to manageable levels and the focus on AI programming. There is ton of example code to study and play with, and the little theory in the book basically is just an explanation of the code that the author has written. I would have liked to see more space dedicated to theory, and clearer and more genral explanations instead of "here is the code that.." but oh well better too much practice than too much theory.. and after all the book title makes it clear that this is a hands-on kind of text.
Definitely a must have book for the aspiring AI programmer or hobbist. Code is C++ but you don' t need to be a C++ guru, knowing the basics will serve you fine. Only one warning: you won 't get much out of this book is you don't spent a lot of time tinkering with the code presented and trying to extend it.

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- Spring into HTML and CSS (9)
- By Molly E. Holzschlag
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Spring into HTML and CSS

1 person find this helpful
Quick and somewhat dirty introduction to HTML and CSS

More of a commercial operation than an attempt to bring out a good introductory text on HTML and CSS authoring, this text is very concise, direct and no fluff, but also dry and lacking in through explanations and examples. One of the most interesting application of CSS, layout management without tab ... (continue)

More of a commercial operation than an attempt to bring out a good introductory text on HTML and CSS authoring, this text is very concise, direct and no fluff, but also dry and lacking in through explanations and examples. One of the most interesting application of CSS, layout management without tables, is relegated to the last chapter and receives just a cursory treatment. Also be warned that half of the book is dedicated to basic HTML tags which you should really be already familiar with unless you have lived in a cave for the last 10 years. Don't buy this book if you are interested in design. It is not a bad book after all, if you are totally new to the subject and looking for an easy and direct introduction just to get your feet wet, but from an author of the caliber and reputation of Molly Holzschlag I was expecting something more inspired and inspiring. My advice is stay clear form this book and use freely available web tutorials if you really need some material now, and wait till "CSS Hands-On Training" by Eric A. Meyer comes out. That should be the right book to give you decent training and inspiration on CSS.

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- Dive Into Python (42)
- By Mark Pilgrim
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Dive Into Python

Great book & it comes for free!

I am definitely a C++ & Java aficionado (or bigot , you might say) but I think Python is one scripting language that is worth some studying. This book is a very clear, practically oriented introduction, best suited for people who already know how to program in some other language. It gives you a sol ... (continue)

I am definitely a C++ & Java aficionado (or bigot , you might say) but I think Python is one scripting language that is worth some studying. This book is a very clear, practically oriented introduction, best suited for people who already know how to program in some other language. It gives you a solid knowledge of Python fundamentals with an accent on parsing HTML and XML. Ah I forgot the best part... you do not have to buy the book! It is available for free download at diveintopython.org ... but the book is so good and the price so "right" that you might consider buying the hardcopy. Thank you Mark!

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— Nov 3, 2009 | Add your feedback
- Professional Portal Development with Open Source Tools (7)
- JavaTM Portlet API, Lucene, James, Slide
- By Joe Vitale, Kevin B. Smith, Peter Len, …
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Professional Portal Development with Open Source Tools

Portlet Stew

As other reviewers have noted (on Aamazon) , this is far from being a professional (ie advanced) guide to portal development in Java. It is more of strange mix of articles and brief tutorials (of the kind that you might find on the net) vaguely related to portlet technology. A pitiful attempt to cas ... (continue)

As other reviewers have noted (on Aamazon) , this is far from being a professional (ie advanced) guide to portal development in Java. It is more of strange mix of articles and brief tutorials (of the kind that you might find on the net) vaguely related to portlet technology. A pitiful attempt to cash in on the first wave of a new and poorly known technology.

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— Nov 3, 2009 | Add your feedback