The Buildmeister's Guide: Achieving Agile Software Delivery Review

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The Buildmeister's Guide: Achieving Agile Software Delivery ReviewThe whole build and release space is getting lots of attention these days. There seem to be many different vendors coming out with "automated frameworks", many different "best practices" and a wealth of opinions. This book is a nice introduction to the space and should help you to make sense of it all.
I liked the clear definitions of the build process, patterns, frequencies and how they apply to different processes (Agile/Enterprise) and language (Java/.NET/C++) environments. The book documents a number of common sense tips (a la the Pragmatic Programmers books) and they would certainly be good to keep in mind if you are implementing or improving a build process. There is really little technical content, i.e. how can I use Apache Ant, GNU Make etc... but the author states that this is not the purpose of the book - although some examples would have been nice to back up the tips!
A lot of the information has already been published on the auhtors portal: [...], so I would go there first to see what type of information is included in the book. I believe the book is being helped to fund the maintenance of this site - so if you like it you can keep it going by purchasing a copy - you can decide!
In summary The Buildmeister's Guide is an easy and enjoyable read about a relatively new space. It is by no means perfect but I would recommend it if your were a "buildmeister", developer or integrator on a project.The Buildmeister's Guide: Achieving Agile Software Delivery OverviewHow to design and implement the right software build and release process for your environment.The Buildmeister's Guide researches and documents the build process in detail. It's aim is to increase awareness of the build process and to raise the level and quality of discussion that occurs around it. The book looks at how the build process affects and is affected by different software development languages and methods, and what intrinsic value a "well defined" build process can bring to an organization. It defines the set of skills and capabilities that implementers of the build process should posses, and also a framework for a generic best practice build process with tips and guidelines on how to implement it.Whether you are a software developer, manager or integrator, this book will help you understand the importance of the build process to your organization and what role you will need to play in it.

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Excel 2007 Advanced Report Development Review

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Excel 2007 Advanced Report Development ReviewI used this text in my CIS 2640 Business Reports and Analysis class at WMU in Spring 2008. It's a great text for learning Advanced Sklills with Pivot Tables in particular with Excel. There ar elots of diagrams, and the author attempts to make the book seem personable and familiar, not dry and technical. There is lots of support for this book, and excercises you can do on the publishers website, and files to download in concordance with the text. The only drawback is if you have Windows Vista, as this text is designed for Windows XP OS, even though it uses Office 2007. Otherwise, very straightforward, with no advanced knowledge of Excel necessary.Excel 2007 Advanced Report Development OverviewCreate powerful, innovative reporting solutions with Excel 2007! With this new book, which is significantly updated from the bestselling Excel 2003 version, author Timothy Zapawa provides you with in-depth coverage of Excel 2007's enhanced reporting capabilities. Discover what you can do with PivotTable and Spreadsheet reports, enhanced conditional formatting and filtering functions, improved data access and management tools, and expanded OLAP features. With notes, tips, warnings, real-world examples, and how-to videos in every chapter, you'll soon be an expert on Excel report development!

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Microsoft® Windows® XP Inside Out, Second Edition (Bpg-Inside Out) Review

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Microsoft® Windows® XP Inside Out, Second Edition (Bpg-Inside Out) ReviewThis huge volume is definitely a must-have guide for everyone aspiring to becoming a Windows XP advanced user. Casual users should stay away for now until they become familiar with Windows. Also, strangely, you won't find coverage of Windows Movie Maker in this otherwise complete power user's guide to WinXP.
This "deluxe edition" is hardcover (vs. paperback for the regular, cheaper edition), has two added chapters (one on fax and one on advanced user adminitration), and includes a couple interesting e-books from Microsoft on the CD-ROM, in addition to an e-book version of the book itself.
This book covers both the Pro and Home editions of WinXP -- and each chapter has a handy brief discussion of the differences between the two editions. In fact, I find this feature, together with the two extra free e-books, worth the price premium over the regular edition. Besides, hardcovers are just easier to lay down on a desk and they last longer as well.
In terms of "meaty stuff," this book will satisfy your hunger for advanced knowledge of XP. After reading the book you'll become an XP expert. If you want to become a guru, then get the other "Inside Out" books such as Windows XP Networking Inside Out and Windows XP Security Inside Out (highly recommended). Or you can use this book as a jumping board to acquire some advanced knowledge and then figure out the guru-advanced topics yourself. Either way, this book can help you master Windows XP.
Still not convinced? Pick a copy and read the chapter on system optimization. Clearly written and organized, the chapter gives you everything you need to know about optimizing Windows, including the best explanation of the performance monitor I've come across (as well as concrete steps for taking advantage of this and other tools). Then you'll see how useful this book is.Microsoft® Windows® XP Inside Out, Second Edition (Bpg-Inside Out) Overview
Hey, you know your way around a desktop-so now dig into Windows XP and really put your PC to work! Fully revised for Windows XP Service Pack 2 and other recent updates, this supremely organized reference now packs even more timesaving solutions, troubleshooting tips, and handy workarounds in concise, fast-answer format. It's all muscle and no fluff. Discover the best and fastest ways to perform everyday tasks, and challenge yourself to new levels of Windows mastery!

Build on what you already know about Windows and quickly dive into what's new
NEW-Master security essentials, including updates from Windows XP Service Pack 2
Set up your own network; manage shared folders and printers
NEW-Produce your own music CDs and create movies with special effects
Learn security tactics for Microsoft Internet Explorer
Manage browser add-ons and help block pop-ups
Employ smart startup and shutdown options
Get expert tips for editing-and monitoring-the Registry
Automate routine tasks with scripts and batch programs
Tune, tweak, and troubleshoot your system

Covers Windows XP Service Pack 2

A Note Regarding the CD or DVD

The print version of this book ships with a CD or DVD. For those customers purchasing one of the digital formats in which this book is available, we are pleased to offer the CD/DVD content as a free download via O'Reilly Media's Digital Distribution services. To download this content, please visit O'Reilly's web site, search for the title of this book to find its catalog page, and click on the link below the cover image (Examples, Companion Content, or Practice Files). Note that while we provide as much of the media content as we are able via free download, we are sometimes limited by licensing restrictions. Please direct any questions or concerns to booktech@oreilly.com.


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Agile Java Development with Spring, Hibernate and Eclipse Review

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Agile Java Development with Spring, Hibernate and Eclipse ReviewI bought Agile Java Development with Spring, Hibernate and Eclipse just because I buy a lot of books. The idea behind it looked very nice. Spring, Hibernate and Eclipse form a very good development platform. I already knew this much. I had even used all of them, but I can always learn more.
The book is, according to the author, based on the development of an example project which is also a very good idea.
The problems begin when transforming those ideas into the reality of a book.
For starters, the book is poorly written/edited. The author gets ahead of himself a lot. "We'll see more on this later" - he says, and later can be a good eight to ten pages. Section and subsection titles seem to have random importance and chapters are strangely structured, as if you were listening to a presentation where the speaker hadn't bothered to order things.
"Now, I will explain this", "Now, I'll do that"... "Oh, and by the way, I hadn't said anything about this other thing. I'll mention it now even if it doesn't fit here".
The next *big* problem is the code. The book relies a lot on the code, but instead of inserting the code within context, it just comments a couple of selected lines and you're expected to follow along with the downloaded code on your computer.
This is a big turn off for me. I don't usually read books by the computer.
Then there's that thing about the author. Don't get me wrong. This is the first I've read from Mr. Hemrajani but I'm sure he's a great developer. But a good book, more so a book like this, should be about Agile Development, about Java, about Spring, Hibernate and Eclipse.
Sure, I do like an author who can express and convey his own views and opinions, his experience and know-how. But reading this, there's a feeling that this is all only about how _he_ does this or that. There're too many mentions on "this particular piece I wrote years ago about...", too many self-references and details which ultimately do not seem to be all that relevant.To sum it up: The idea is very good, and you may still get good bits from the book. But it *needs* a very thorough re-write and editing work.Agile Java Development with Spring, Hibernate and Eclipse OverviewAgile Java™ Development With Spring, Hibernate and Eclipse is a book about robust technologies and effective methods which help bring simplicity back into the world of enterprise Java development. The three key technologies covered in this book, the Spring Framework, Hibernate and Eclipse, help reduce the complexity of enterprise Java development significantly. Furthermore, these technologies enable plain old Java objects (POJOs) to be deployed in light-weight containers versus heavy-handed remote objects that require heavy EJB containers. This book also extensively covers technologies such as Ant, JUnit, JSP tag libraries and touches upon other areas such as such logging, GUI based debugging, monitoring using JMX, job scheduling, emailing, and more. Also, Extreme Programming (XP), Agile Model Driven Development (AMDD) and refactoring are methods that can expedite the software development projects by reducing the amount of up front requirements and design; hence these methods are embedded throughout the book but with just enough details and examples to not sidetrack the focus of this book. In addition, this book contains well separated, subjective material (opinion sidebars), comic illustrations, tips and tricks, all of which provide real-world and practical perspectives on relevant topics. Last but not least, this book demonstrates the complete lifecycle by building and following a sample application, chapter-by-chapter, starting from conceptualization to production using the technology and processes covered in this book. In summary, by using the technologies and methods covered in this book, the reader will be able to effectively develop enterprise-class Java applications, in an agile manner!

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