The Mythical Man-Month: Essays on Software Engineering Review

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(More customer reviews)There really are very few software engineering books written in 1975 that are worth reading today. Brooks remains powerful stuff because large system projects are still often disastrous. We are not often bothered by the flowcharts that Brooks dislikes, but the disorganized projects, endless meetings, problems of scaling, unhelpful documentation and inflexible systems are certainly still with us.
I was struck recently by the parallels with Kent Beck's Extreme Programming: Brooks had in his way foreseen much of what this recent movement has been urging.
Brooks' classic book underlies much systems engineering thinking, and his example along with the frightening story of OS/360, enlivened with Brooks' inimitable anecdotes and illustrations, remains essential reading.

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Professional SharePoint 2010 Development (Wrox Programmer to Programmer) Review

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(More customer reviews)First off, Other than Mathew Ranletts posting (in which I am in complete agreement) I'm very surprised at the previous posts...
This book is a must have no matter where you sit regarding experience. If you are a Novice or Expert, there is a TON of great information (contrary to a previous post)and "Code Examples". Every SharePoint book that I have purchased has several Chapters that are middle of the road with a few that hit the mark. However, this book seemed to stay on track and serve up the content to help our SP dev team make the decisions required for a Vnext product. We are in the process of upgrading all of our SharePoint code from 2007 to 2010 in which this book was a key read in order to plan and explore the plethora of new features and functionalities in which dovetail with the current suite of features added to 2010.
Personally - this book is a Must Have hands down.
Great Job to the Authors!


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Mobile Design and Development: Practical Concepts and Techniques for Creating Mobile Sites and Web Apps (Animal Guide) Review

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(More customer reviews)Original review written by Pasquale Granato, JUG Lugano, [...] First of all, let's clear the field from a possible misunderstanding: this book is not about general mobile design and development but it is about web mobile development. The author states a precise, despite arguable, opinion that brutally said is: do not code native applications but prefer as much as you can web applications. This statement is largely discussed across the book and everyone can make up his own opinion about this. Mine is that currently times are not mature to consider to write just web applications both because mobile browser are not powerful enough (on average) to assure a smooth experience on all devices and because of the lack of a good way to make money from your web app.
The first three chapters of the book are a really good introduction to the history of mobile, to the mobile current status and to the reasons that should drive an approach to the mobile development. These chapters are a well written recap of the status of the art and present a lot of data useful to understand the global situation. Unfortunately the book is printed in black and white and several pie-charts and graphs are pretty much impossible to read.
The central part of the book, chapters from four to ten, is devoted to design issues and, despite the lack of an in-depth examination of some subjects, offers a pretty good survey of the topic.
The final part of the book is slightly more technical covering topics such as XHTML-MP, CSS, HTML5, device adaptation, etc. The problem here is that there is nothing really practical and all remains at an introductory level. To give you an example, a capital topic in device adaptation like Media Queries is covered in half a page with just a trivial example. Furthermore the author seems to be unaware of things like XwapProfile or UAProf (that is probably a obsolete and unreliable method but deserve at least a notation).
My biggest complain is anyway about the author's obsession for the iPhone. The Apple's jewel is referenced continuously and always with great glorification: the word iPhone recurs 99 times in the book and out of the 115 pictures in the book as many as 37 depict an iPhone. An entire chapter is devoted to iPhone web applications development even though most of the concepts presented here are common to other modern devices.
This is overall a decent introductory book, if you are completely new to the field, and it's packed with many good advices but do not expect much from the practical techniques promised by the title.

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Mobile Design and Development by Brian Fling is a start to finish guide for designing and building mobile apps regardless of experience, device or platform. Brian took on the daunting challenge to write the mobile guide missing from bookshelves. As Brian describes it "this is a book that teaches people how to cook, not a collection of recipes."Since its release the book has been incredibly well received. It has being described as a "must have" by many experts in the mobile community. The 16 chapters, and 85,000 words within the book have helped thousands understand and dive into mobile.The first half is a crash course in the mobile ecosystem: how to develop a strategy, address the mobile context--even how to decide which of the multiple mobile application types is best for you, and finally, how to create a user experience for it. The second half is focused on using these principles to make a mobile website or web app.Mobile Design and Development is a comprehensive resource covering all aspects of the mobile ecosystem. The book covers a great number of topics, however each are described in practical and common sense way—making easy for anyone at any technical level to understand the inner working of the mobile medium.
A Brief History of Mobile
The Mobile Ecosystem
Why Mobile?
Designing for Context
Developing a Mobile Strategy
Types of Mobile Applications
Mobile Application Medium Types
Mobile Application Media Matrix
Mobile Information Architecture
Mobile Design
The Elements of Mobile Design
Mobile Design Tools
Mobile Web Apps Versus Native Applications
When to Make a Native Application
When to Make a Mobile Web Application
Mobile 2.0
Mobile Web Development
Mobile Markup
Mobile CSS: Cascading Style Sheets
Mobile JavaScript
iPhone Web Apps
iPhone Markup
iPhone CSS
iPhone Javascript
Creating a Mobile Web App
Web Apps as Native Apps
Tools and Libraries
Adapting to Devices
Device Targeting
Full Adaptation
What Domain Do I Use?
Making Money in Mobile
Working with an App Store
Mobile Advertising
Supporting Devices
Device Testing
Desktop Testing
Usability Testing
The Future of Mobile
If you're a web designer, web developer, information architect, product manager, usability professional, content publisher, or an entrepreneur new to the mobile, Mobile Design and Development provides you with the knowledge you need to work with this rapidly developing technology.

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Writing Secure Code, Second Edition Review

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(More customer reviews)The title of the book is misleading to begin with. The book is not about writing secure code. It's about (1) not writing non-secure code and (2) using Windows specific security APIs.
(1) Not writing non-secure code. Covers several issues, some more obvious, like buffer overruns and validating user input, some more complex, like escaping URLs and socket security. I thought the book would teach me best practices about organizing code, as in "do like I do". Instead it goes like "don't do like I'm telling you".
(2) Using Windows security APIs. This is THE BEST part of the book. Gives you a very good overview about several different APIs, including ACLs, protecting sensitive data, securing DCOM and .NET code, excellent tips on installing programs etc. etc.
Keep in mind that this book is said to be used internally within Microsoft with "security pushes", with the audience of 8000 people, including not only developers of all levels, but managers as well, therefore the book is by definition a high level overview.
Sometimes the book feels like MS educational course. Ex. (tip on p.77) "I created the ... diagrams ... using ... Microsoft Visio Professional 2002". That's cool, but what does it have to do with security ?
Some topics should never be there. How about 3 pages of tips for a kernel driver writer ? It's a huge topic in itself and how many readers outside MS do this anyway ? Privacy issues are covered idealistically. Yeah, sure, if you put a specially crafted XML to the special place on your site, the users magically start trusting you... I'd better read about real situation with privacy, not how the government rules it to be. Oh, and how about 40 pages about cryptography ? Please...
The book tries to show you the security process with development and testing. I can easily see they use this process in Microsoft, with 8000 people. For a small team it's completely useless. How about using 4 (!) people for a code review ? Sure, upon reading this book you will know that security code review is a must (if you have enough resources). Didn't you know that before ?
The code samples are ugly. How about this: "... X is cool ... several pages of Perl (!) ... see what I mean ?". Ok, one of the authors admits to be a Perl fan, but how am I supposed to read through all this gibberish ? C(++) samples are not much better. May be they are fully functional and compilable and all, but please, they are huge and inconsistent in themselves.
All in all, 5 stars for Microsoft, 3 stars for the rest of the world.

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Real World SharePoint 2010: Indispensable Experiences from 22 MVPs (Wrox Programmer to Programmer) Review

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(More customer reviews)As an early adopter and preview reader of technical books (mainly surrounded around SharePoint technologies and its dependencies/complimentary components), I found Real World SharePoint series continues on its path of excellence. This book is very well written and contains 20 chapters of varying aspects within SharePoint 2010 lifecycle. This book is most valuable to the person who touches all aspects of SharePoint 2010 management (from administration to oversight of the development experience). If you are currently running SharePoint 2007 and need to get an immediate boost of information then this book is for you. If you are heavy on one side of the SharePoint 2010 experience (development or admin) then this book will help acquaint you to the other side.Additionally, I found three chapters within this book which collectively do not exist anywhere (yet) - so to me that was a bonus!

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MCITP Self-Paced Training Kit (Exam 70-646): Windows Server Administration Review

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(More customer reviews)This edition is useless for the new 70-646 exam. Microsoft Training and Certification has already stated that the second edition with the new content is due out July of 2011; although, they are currently testing using the 2008R2 content. Do not waste your money. I've tested twice using this self study including a completely different set of questions from MeasureUp and have failed the test twice. I have scored average 95% for ten certification modes on this book and the MeasureUp tests.

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How to Build a Million Dollar Technology Consulting Practice Review

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(More customer reviews)The title is about sucessful technology consulting. The text is a list of stuff that has been used in numerous other books. There is nothing new or inspiring. This book is written specifically for the CPA (not mentioned in the title) and is not for the IT professional or general consultant. I am returning mine today - not something even useful enough for the bookcase.

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JSP Examples and Best Practices Review

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(More customer reviews)I am teaching myself server-side Java programming. After reading, using, and reviewing many books on Java server-side web development, I had found they fell into two categories: Beginner and advanced. The beginner books typically introduce a lot of bad coding practices, such as filling JSP pages with java code, or using outdated examples of Servlets that output HTML. After a few chapters of this, they jump to the Struts framework, thereby never helping the reader build good coding practices and skills.
The advanced books get quickly into frameworks like Struts, and also employ EJBs. EJBs are not needed in many web applications, where they introduce unneeded complexity. What I wanted but couldn't find was a good book that covered the middle ground: how to build applications based on JSPs and Servlets that demonstrate good design and coding practices, with a realistic sample application, and yet understandable for someone learning the J2EE technology.
When I found this book I was surprised to see that it concisely and clearly presented all the key topics I had hoped for. I found it by accident, because I never would have guessed from the scant 3 or 4 reviews on Amazon that it would be worth looking at.
Prerequisite knowledge for this book is basic Java skills and an introductory understanding of JSPs and Servlets. I liked this because so many beginner books spend a lot of time going over the basics. The book covers all the key intermediate-level topics you'll need to get started coding good Java web applications. This book goes beyond others I read in also showing how to use JUnit to do unit testing, and Ant to do application deployment. The author demonstrates these so clearly and simply that a person new to these tools will find it easy to follow and put to use.
Finally, the author finishes with taking the reader through how to build a basic but solid application framework that even the beginner to frameworks can follow. This framework is no Struts with its relatively steep learning curve. By the time the reader has got to the framework chapter he has learned what he needs to understand the framework. As if this were not enough, the author then shows how to deploy the framework, and then use it to build a sample application. All this is done in slim, concise, easily-to-follow chapters and code that is clearly and completely presented. You won't have to go hunting through the source code download or CD to research a bunch of code that is not illustrated in the book itself. It's all in the book.
A previous review rated this book low because he thought it didn't have a realistic application. I don't know what he is looking for exactly, but I thought the application was quite real enough in giving a fully functioning, realistic, web application. It is no super app, but neither is it a toy app. Again, it aims for the later novice to intermediate-level skill set. And I think it succeeds well.

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While most other books merely instruct on basic JSP and servlet development, JSP Examples and Best Practices gives you some of the best practices and design principles, enabling you to build scalable and extensible enterprise Java applications. And JavaServer Pages technology can be used to build complex enterprise applications in a highly re-usable manner.

This book takes basic JSP and applies sound architectural principles and design patterns, to give you the tools to build scalable enterprise applications using JSP. Further, this book covers features of the JSP 1.2 specification, including the standard filtering mechanism.

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J2EE Best Practices: Java Design Patterns, Automation, and Performance (Wiley Application Development Series) Review

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(More customer reviews)This is the best J2EE helper book period. I've been developing J2EE based applications for 2 years now and have read many books on the subject. Most of the J2EE books just repackage the specifications and write about common sense approaches.
J2EE Best Practices, will give you concrete information on how to use EJB 2.0 for the "real" world now!. You can and will use this book to ensure the success of your current EJB 2.0 project.
The material on CMR Entity beans is extremely valuable for anyone trying to implement Business Objects based on J2EE.
I use Cocoon for my Web Interface, but this book has some good info for Struts users as well.
Go to your nearest book store and get that edge you've been looking for. While your buddies are reading "Core J2EE', "Bitter EJB', "Expert One on One J2EE Design..", "Mastering J2EE..", etc...

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Exploring IBM SOA Technology & Practice Review

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(More customer reviews)I was an IBM Fellow and Chief Architect for IBM Software Group. I helped lead the team that produced many of IBM's SOA products, as well as author many of the industry specifications. I am currently a Technical Fellow at Microsoft.
This book is excellent for teams starting SOA projects, or moving to the next level in SOA and Web services. IBM's products appear complex due to the depth and breadth of functions. This is not the case. The most common question in my customer briefings was "What do we do next, and how do we get started." IBMers presenting the big picture and next steps is not scalable; there are only so many briefers.
This book codifies the most important information that teams need. The authors have extensive experience working on projects with customers, and enabling successful projects. Writing this information in a book will allow other teams to succeed based on best practices and hard won experience for early adopters.
This book is a critical resource for any SOA/Web service team

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Service oriented architecture (SOA) is a major technology trend focused on making corporate information technology (IT) an enabler of business flexibility and innovation. While SOA is not the unique province of any single vendor, IBM has taken a leadership position in the industry and is actively helping organizations in many industries be successful with SOA. This book will help you migrate your existing computing infrastructure in the direction of a service oriented architecture using IBM technology and services. In Exploring IBM SOA Technology & Practice, IBM SOA expert Bobby Woolf explores IBM's vision for success with SOA. Woolf starts by describing the reasons an organization should consider adopting SOA. Issues and challenges faced once you decide to adopt SOA are examined. Guidance is given on how to prepare, select good SOA projects, and how to structure a committee to manage all SOA projects in an organization. Woolf then moves in for a closer look at the nuts and bolts of SOA including the IBM SOA Reference Architecture, the suite of IBM products/services (e.g., IBM WebSphere) used to implement that architecture, and SOA application development practices. Vital topics such as lifecycle management and governance are covered. At the "Member's Only" Web site, you will find direct links to a rich array of SOA videos, Webcasts, white papers, and other SOA resources to help your projects succeed. This book is a key resource for IT professionals and business people who work closely with IT and want to learn how to use SOA to make their corporations more successful and it shows how they can work with IBM to achieve that success.

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Web Application Architecture: Principles, Protocols and Practices Review

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(More customer reviews)This book is an ideal text for providing intermediate-level web developers with a solid grounding in architectural principles and more advanced techniques. Before going into why I like this book I do want to offer one caveat - the authors' approach is towards the Model-View-Controller paradigm, and is based on Java Standard Tag Library, Jarkata struts and Apache. These are solid elements, but if you are working in a different environment you will not appreciate this book as much.
The historical material in this book is not fluff if you approach it with the intent to gain a fuller understanding of the major components of the Internet and web. This material is rich with details about why the core web technologies developed and evolved, including design choices the pioneers made in the face of constraints. In a subtle way this part of the book is a primer on design and architecture.
What makes this book so valuable is the non-trivial application that brings this book alive. This is a refreshing change from other books that use thinly contrived snippets of code or trivial applications. The code for this application can be downloaded from the book's supporting web site, which also contains errata (thus far there are only two entries), and articles that are valuable resources with or without this book.
Overall this is one of the better books on web application design and development, and one that dives into code and technical details.

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An in-depth examination of the core concepts and general principles of Web application development.This book uses examples from specific technologies (e.g., servlet API or XSL), without promoting or endorsing particular platforms or APIs. Such knowledge is critical when designing and debugging complex systems. This conceptual understanding makes it easier to learn new APIs that arise in the rapidly changing Internet environment.* Includes discussions of markup languages: HTML, the eXtensible Markup Language (XML), XHTML, eXtensible Stylesheet Language (XSL), and Cascading Style Sheets (CSS)* Contains exercises geared to constructing an advanced XML application that makes use of XML and XSL parsers* Explores emerging technologies: Java 2 Enterprise Edition (J2EE), industry-specific XML standards, Resource Description Framework (RDF), and XML query languages

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