Showing posts with label software development. Show all posts
Showing posts with label software development. Show all posts

Implementing the Capability Maturity Model Review

Implementing the Capability Maturity Model
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Implementing the Capability Maturity Model ReviewThe author of this excellent book give a realistic roadmap to achieving CMM levels 2 and 3, which are major hurdles in capability maturity, especially level 2 from a culture-shock point of view.
What makes this book realistic is the way you're lead through the important steps, with a complete focus on what it takes instead of theory. The book starts off with an obligatory overview of the CMM, but quickly segues into the steps needed to attain level 2 (repeatable), which are creating the structures, processes, training program and policies. While each of these are important, I especially like the inclusion of policies because they are necessary to codify goals and are frequently overlooked. This section also includes subcontractor management, which is important for aligning those with whom you are using on projects with your own organizational capabilities. This makes sense because if your organization is repeatable and your subcontractor(s) aren't, then you either need to go shopping for more compatible subcontractors, or get dragged back into ad hoc approaches.
The same approach to graduating to level 3 is used, with slight changes. In the section that covers level 3 the first topic is about focusing on organizational process improvement, followed by an in-depth chapter on defining organization processes. These reflect the key changes between level 2's repeatable goals and level 3's focus on defined processes. After these are clearly and completely explained the same formula - structures, processes, training program and policies - is addressed for level 3.
Following the steps to get to levels 2 and 3, the next section is centered on implementation and assessment. This section prepares you for the assessment process itself, and offers excellent advice on how to get through it. Additional information of value is provided in appendices B (Annotated Level 2 Preassessment Questionnaire) and C (Samples of Level 2 Policies), both of which are provided in PDF format from the book's associated web site.
One key question that needs to be answered: Which is better, this book or CMM Implementation Guide: Choreographing Software Process Improvement by Kim Caputo? My opinion is that both books are equally important and both should be read because they cover two different aspects of attaining CMM levels 2 and above. This book concerns itself with the nuts and bolts of processes, where Caputo's book is more focused on organizational change. I recommend both books, and think that they nicely complement each other.Implementing the Capability Maturity Model OverviewPractical guidelines for an effective implementation of software development processesDesigned to ensure effective software development processes, the Capability Maturity Model (CMM)--North America's leading standard for software development--requires companies to complete five steps, or levels, in the development process. But while it is widely adopted by Fortune 500 companies, many others get stuck at the initial planning stage. Focusing on Levels 2 and 3 of the CMM, this book helps readers to get over the hurdle of the two most problematic areas in this process--the project management and software development steps. It offers clear, step-by-step guidance on how to establish basic project management processes to track costs, schedules, and functionality; how to document, standardize, and integrate software processes; and how to improve software quality.

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Pro C# 2005 and the .NET 2.0 Platform (Expert's Voice) Review

Pro C# 2005 and the .NET 2.0 Platform (Expert's Voice)
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Pro C# 2005 and the .NET 2.0 Platform (Expert's Voice) ReviewIf you ask Andrew Troelsen that question, I bet he would guess "three pounds."
Overall, this is a pretty decent book on C# 2.0. As other reviews have said, it's not for beginners. With 4 years experience in C# .Net and Microsoft MCAD certification, I have found the technical level of the book to be right on the money for me. While much of the book (and C# 2.0) is the same as for .Net 1.1, the review has certainly not hurt me and has not been hard to read at all.
The examples are more correct than any technical book I can remember reading in a long time. And the code samples and downloads work! That almost never happens. Mr. Troelsen has done a great job in that regard.
From a content perspective, it is fairly thorough, touching on most of the new features of C# 2.0, but the level of coverage for the C# 2.0 specific features is at the same level as the 1.1 features.
One area that is very poorly covered is assemblies and assembly location. Mr. Troelsen spends 30 plus convoluted pages on the subject in Chapter 11 while Microsoft clearly describes the topic in 6 pages on their web site. If you don't know about assembly location in .Net before you read Chapter 11, you surely won't when you're finished. In fact, if you do know about assembly binding in .Net before you read it, you may not anymore when you finish reading Chapter 11.
Some key .Net version 2.0 features are not covered at all - for instance, there is no discussion at all of the BackgroundWorker class. This is a very useful new feature of .Net 2.0.
Because the book is not geared for beginners, it could have been better had Mr. Troelsen de-emphasized the 1.1 features slightly and used the recovered space for more emphasis on the 2.0 features. For instance, generics are only superficially covered.
So, technically, I think that four stars is a fair assessment of the book. Since Pro C# 2005 and the .NE 2.0 Platform is a technical book and not a novel, I rated it based on its technical merits, which is a good thing. Had I rated it on its readability, I would have given it 2 or 3 stars.
As one other reader said, the book is full of overly repeated phrases and misused words like factoid and deprecated. As my opening remarks eluded to, Mr. Troelsen, while being a master of C# and the .Net framework, is not a master of the segue. A little more plain-speak and a lot less Thesaurus would benefit the next version.
Way too many code samples start with something along the lines of "ponder the following" - 43 to be precise. Nearly 100 more are introduced with the phrase "as so:". How about using just "the following example" or "like this:"? Or telling the reader to "author the following code" when he means to enter or to input or to type the code. Mr. Troelsen already authored the code. If I claimed to author it, that would be plagiarism. Again, too much Thesaurus.
The grammatical faux pas that bugs me the most is "Do be aware" which occurs in various forms over 135 times in the book, or more than 5 times per chapter. I found about 5 places where the phrase seemed to be contextually appropriate. I suggest that he does this:
book = book.Replace("Do be aware", "");
In other words, just state the facts.
But he did mix it up some. At one point, he grabbed my attention with "Be very aware". Now, this must be an important fact (not factoid), right? Imagine my disappointment when I realized that the fact (not factoid) I was supposed to "be very aware" of was that whatever topic was being presented would probably never come up in the real world. So why, then, must I be "very" aware? Couldn't I be just sort of aware? Or better yet, why not skip the failed attempt at a segue and state the fact (not factoid) that the functionality was of minor significance?
One of the best reasons to buy this book is that, if you get the first printing of the third edition, you can pass a quick one-question test on APress' site and download an e-book in searchable PDF format. As you can tell from my review, the search feature works.
If you're a beginner looking to learn .Net, C#, or how to program, I would not suggest this book. If you're a practicing .Net developer with a background in C#, I would highly recommend the book until there are more technically comparable books that may be more readable available.
Pro C# 2005 and the .NET 2.0 Platform (Expert's Voice) Overview
C# 2005 changed the .NET 2.0 landscape. To name just a few improvements, C# now supports generics, partial types and nullable types when youre coding. And the framework boasts improved speed, data access, security, and scalability.

This book has been written to help you assimilate all this new information and realize its potential to make your coding life easier. It will keep you ahead of the curve. To make it easy for you to access this information, the book has been loosely grouped into five sections:

1. Introducing C# 2005 and the .NET 2.0 Platform explains the mechanics of .NET programming and the philosophy that lies behind it
2. The C# Programming Language outlines everything you need to know to start using C# 2005 quickly and efficiently. Object lifetimes, exception handling, genericsits all here
3. Programming with .NET Assemblies deals with one of the most important aspects of .NET programming: reusing code. This book shows you how to capture your code in reuseable external assemblies that you can call upon throughout your applications
4. Programming with the .NET Libraries guides you through them. Of course youre not expected to write every function yourself. The .NET Framework provides a vast array of .NET Libraries containing functionality that allows you to do everything from opening a file-stream to rendering graphical data to the screen
5. Web Applications and XML Web Services concludes the book by taking you away from console-based C# applications and investigating the myriad possibilities that become available when you blend C# 2005 with ASP.NET 2.0 to launch your applications onto the Internet


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Advanced Linux 3D Graphics Programming (With CD-ROM) Review

Advanced Linux 3D Graphics Programming (With CD-ROM)
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Advanced Linux 3D Graphics Programming (With CD-ROM) ReviewThe "Advanced Linux 3D Graphics Programming" is the second volume in the set of books written by author Norman Lin. The title "advanced" is rather crudely portrayed in the examples the author has written. Many of the examples are based off true cross-platform development which adds hundreds of lines of not needed code considering the book was supposed to be for linux.
The "advanced topics" include texture-mapping, lighting, fog, and several other components which sound impressive at first however the examples given are rather long in code-size, and don't get straight to the point of what the example does. I was rather disapointed that the lighting section had no real details on the math behind it all.
From the title of the book, one would assume you would be programming 3d graphics in linux, however the author spends 60% of the book talking about Blender and World Foundry. Those programs should have been in a separate book rather then used as filler so the author could make several extra bucks on a new book.
The examples are all using the GLUT SDK for MesaGL (OpenGL for Linux) which doesn't teach you about true linux X11 initialization.
I think this was a big disapointment, and would not recommend this book.Advanced Linux 3D Graphics Programming (With CD-ROM) OverviewThis second colume provides programmers who are experienced in both Linux and fundamental 3D graphics concepts with a well-rounded perpesctive on 3D theory and practice within the context of programming larger interactive 3D applications.

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Information Modeling and Relational Databases: From Conceptual Analysis to Logical Design (The Morgan Kaufmann Series in Data Management Systems) Review

Information Modeling and Relational Databases: From Conceptual Analysis to Logical Design (The Morgan Kaufmann Series in Data Management Systems)
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Information Modeling and Relational Databases: From Conceptual Analysis to Logical Design (The Morgan Kaufmann Series in Data Management Systems) ReviewI used to think that the best book one could read in order to really learn the science and the art of data modeling was Conceptual Schema and Relational Database Design. I used to think that, that is, until I read the Information Modeling and Relational Databases: From Conceptual Analysis to Logical Design.
Originally intended to be the third edition of the "Conceptual Schema" text, this new book offers the same definitive information as its predecessor with a large amount of added information. So much more information, in fact, that the book has grown by roughly 250 pages (and that is not counting the additional appendices available online)!
The text begins with a warning. Halpin refers to the 1999 Mars Climate Orbiter accident in which a simple conversion from imperial to metric units caused the $125 million dollar craft to be destroyed. "Data itself is not enough," Halpin cautions, "what we really need is information."
And so begins the introduction of the most accurate way to model data: Object-Role Modeling (ORM). For those of you not familiar with the technique, ORM is a fact-based approach to modeling that not only captures the semantics of data - in the native language of the subject matter expert - but it also captures many rules, offers an embedded process to ensure the model is correct, and completely maps to any fully normalized logical notation (e.g. ER, UML).
Let me re-phrase the above, because it is extremely important. With ORM, you can:
a) Talk to subject matter experts in their language and in terms they can understand - you don't have to define tuples, entities, foreign keys, attributes, and all that other nonsense;
b) Verify that the model is correct by using a robust method (ORM is more than just a notation) filled with quality checks;
c) Document more rules - intrinsic in ORM's rich constraint language - to ensure the resulting system captures all of the rules crucial to the data being modeled;
d) And finally map the conceptual schema into a fully normalized database structure.
If you are new to data modeling, this is the first book you should read. This book will detail the concepts you need to know in order to analyze and create correct data schemas - regards less of which notation or tool you end up using (although both Halpin and myself have an opinion on which to choose). In other words, use this book to learn how to think about the problem. In so doing, you can easily map the concepts into the more trendy notations and methodologies, if you must.
If you are a modeling veteran, you should also read this book. In so doing, I'll wager that you will discover you have been making correct models the hard way all these years. You'll see, in exquisitely clear detail, the inherent problems in the other techniques (such as ER and UML). Further, if you are open minded enough to temporarily forget what you have learned so far, you too can learn how to think correctly about data modeling problems - and their solutions.
Now that I (hopefully) have convinced you to give this book a try, I'll detail the contents.
The first two chapters are introductory material intended to give the reader a sneak peek at what is coming up. In them, Halpin provides a brief overview of three techniques (ORM, ER, and UML) and discusses the pros and cons of each. With Halpin's witty, clear, concise writing style, and the clear evidence of problems with the other techniques, I expect the reader to be fully motivated to read on and delve into the more rigid explanation of the technique.
Don't let the academic nature of the topics intimidate you; Halpin uses easy-to-follow examples and well-tuned prose to inform academics and industry professionals alike. Just because the method is academically sound (it's firmly rooted in predicate calculus and set theory) doesn't mean that the material has to be boring. In fact, the tone of the text and the sample data provided in the examples will imply to the reader Halpin's distinct sense of humor that actually makes database theory fun to read.
The next five chapters form the definitive explanation of the ORM technique. This material is solid. Written, adjusted, instructed, and adjusted again over the past couple of decades, Halpin once again delivers this material in an optimal way. Those of you familiar with Halpin's "Conceptual Schema" text will be glad (even, as I was, surprised) to see that this material is even more solid than his past explanations of the technique.
The latter half of the book has, perhaps, changed the most from the "Conceptual Schema" text. In it, Halpin details Entity Relationship (ER) modeling, relational implementations (mapping ORM into tables and columns), the Unified Modeling Language (UML), and relational languages (SQL) - all from the ORM perspective you have just learned.
Further, these chapters are fascinating. I expect the reader to both understand how to map ORM concepts into the vendor-controlled world of information systems and to wonder in amazement at how techniques with so many fundamental problems have become "industry standards".
Finally, Halpin closes the text with more advanced chapters on schema transformations (equivalent models) and other design methods, issues and trends.
All in all, this book is great. It instructs in the fundamentals and them maps those orthogonal concepts into the current trends. Along the way, the book is filled with real world examples, easy to follow explanations, and sample problems for the reader to work on (in fact, I expect that this book, like its predecessor, will be used internationally as secondary/post-secondary class texts).
And finally, as someone who regularly attempts to explain technical concepts via writing, I am truly impressed - awed, even - with the style and ease with which Halpin delivers this content.
Thus, in summary, I have to say that this book is a great explanation of a robust technique; data architects and information systems analysts/designers need to own this book.Information Modeling and Relational Databases: From Conceptual Analysis to Logical Design (The Morgan Kaufmann Series in Data Management Systems) Overview
Information Modeling and Relational Databases provides an introduction to ORM (Object Role Modeling)-and much more.In fact, it's the only book to go beyond introductory coverage and provide all of the in-depth instruction you need to transform knowledge from domain experts into a sound database design.
Inside, ORM authority Terry Halpin blends conceptual information with practical instruction that will let you begin using ORM effectively as soon as possible.Supported by examples, exercises, and useful background information, his step-by-step approach teaches you to develop a natural-language-based ORM model and then, where needed, abstract ER and UML models from it.This book will quickly make you proficient in the modeling technique that is proving vital to the development of accurate and efficient databases that best meet real business objectives.* The most in-depth coverage of Object Role Modeling available anywhere-written by a pioneer in the development of ORM.* Provides additional coverage of Entity Relationship (ER) modeling and the Unified Modeling Language-all from an ORM perspective.* Intended for anyone with a stake in the accuracy and efficacy of databases: systems analysts, information modelers, database designers and administrators, instructors, managers, and programmers.* Explains and illustrates required concepts from mathematics and set theory.* Via a companion Web site, provides answers to exercises, appendices covering the history of computer generations, subtype matrices, and advanced SQL queries, and links to downloadable ORM tools.

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Oracle JDevelopment 10g: Empowering J2EE Development Review

Oracle JDevelopment 10g: Empowering J2EE Development
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Oracle JDevelopment 10g: Empowering J2EE Development ReviewSometimes you just get lucky. You write a book about a fairly obscure and expensive Java IDE and then, without any warning, the company that makes the IDE releases it to the general public for free. The book is mostly a summary of the features of JDeveloper and doesn't go in deep into any area. If you are interested in a book to get you started with JDeveloper then this might fill your need. If you are looking for a book to show you the power of JDeveloper and help you get deep into its capabilities then this isn't the book for you.
The book has some major shortcomings; first and foremost that it was written using the preview version of 10g. Because of this there are some screen differences and the flow isn't always exactly as described. It would have been better if the author had waited until the final release version. Also, because JDeveloper was formerly a purchased product, there is quite a bit of information available free from the Oracle web site. You can find tutorials, demos, product tours, etc on the Oracle Technology Network (OTN). Finally, the book doesn't cover writing your own custom extensions and instead points the reader to OTN.
So what does the book offer? It is a fairly basic overview of the features available in JDeveloper. The author looks at servlet/jsp development, UML, web services, EJB, database interaction, Swing, and a few other features including the Application Development Framework (ADF). It covers everything at a fairly high level so at the end of the book you might not know how to do a lot in JDeveloper but you will know what JDeveloper is capable of doing. There really isn't a better JDeveloper book on the market however. A book about JDeveloper with the detail available in the many Eclipse books is still waiting to be published.Oracle JDevelopment 10g: Empowering J2EE Development OverviewOracle JDeveloper 10g: Empowering J2EE Development offers a look at the Oracle9i tool JDeveloper 9.0.5 (a fully functional, freely downloadable tool), and takes developers through designing a single project from start to finish. It touches on the various aspects of the tool's environment which begins with the UML design aspects, moves along to the J2EE components including Web Services and deployment, discusses the plug-ins available to use with JDeveloper, and wraps up with troubleshooting tips and a quick reference guide. The book will enable even experienced Java developers to be more proficient and productive using JDeveloper.

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J2EE & Java: Developing Secure Web Applications with Java Technology (Hacking Exposed) Review

J2EE and Java: Developing Secure Web Applications with Java Technology (Hacking Exposed)
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J2EE & Java: Developing Secure Web Applications with Java Technology (Hacking Exposed) ReviewThe book uses an example Java application which is intially very unsecure, and throughout the book the vulnerabilities of the example are discussed and countermeasures are written. Then the application is webenabled, creating new vulnerabilities which are fixed again, and so on. This way the complex material is covered in an easy accessible yet comprehensive way, without becoming lengthy. This book is a must have for any serious Java web developer interested in application security. Not recommended for beginners, though.J2EE & Java: Developing Secure Web Applications with Java Technology (Hacking Exposed) OverviewWritten in the same exciting and informative style as the international blockbuster Hacking Exposed, this book provides comprehensive coverage of the tools and techniques for testing and correcting J2EE and Java security issues. Includes examples of J2EE attacks and countermeasures, risk ratings throughout the chapters and case studies.

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Visual Basic .NET Bible Review

Visual Basic .NET Bible
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Visual Basic .NET Bible ReviewI guess that I am the exception here, since everyone else seems to love this book. I thought that the book was not very well put together. Let me give you some concrete examples:
First, I think that it has already been said that this book does not have enough OOP. That is probably true. I have been doing OOP for so long that I didn't miss the omission, but it might be a little frustrating for a novice.
There are also a lot of little things that I noticed. Much of the book seems to be a reprinting of the .NET SDK documentation. Another thing that bothered me quite a bit is that in their tables that list the methods of classes, they didn't list the return values of the methods. This may seem like a little thing, but it meant that I had to go look everything up in the SDK anyway, so after a while I ditched the book and just used the SDK.
Another thing that I noticed was some incorrect terminology. As an example, Mr. Beres refers to the System.IO.Directory class as a "static" class. I knew what he meant, because I am also a Java programmer, but that terminology is not used in VB.NET. That could be very confusing because there is no such thing as a static class in VB.NET. VB used to support static methods, but static in this sense meant something completely different than what Mr. Beres is trying to express. I believe that he meant that the class consists only of Shared methods, not that it is a static class.
Again, I don't mean to nitpick here, because there were some good things, too. I have also written books for a competing publisher, so I know how hard it is to get everything just right (trust me folks, its not as easy as it looks!), and the authors have done an admirable job. It's just that better attention to detail as well as more consideration of the audience could have made this book so much better.Visual Basic .NET Bible OverviewContributors Include: Jim Chandler, Jacob Grass, Kevin Grossnicklaus, Uday Kranti, NIIT, Rob Teixeira, and Yancey Jones.Visual Basic .NET Bible covers everything you need to get up and runningwith this much changed version of Visual Basic and to begin creating applications for the new Microsoft.NET Platform.

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JavaFX in Action Review

JavaFX in Action
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JavaFX in Action ReviewWell organized, JavaFX in Action enables beginners, as well as experienced developers from any language background, to immediately hit the ground running with the JavaFX platform. This book provides great examples that demonstrate the abilities of JavaFX to create engaging Rich Internet Applications (RIA) ranging from game programming to business applications. While the book has a strong focus on the fundamentals of the JavaFX Script language (two chapters and Appendix B to be exact), it also details the new JavaFX 1.2.x controls API (Chapter 7). The author, having a good sense of humor, keeps the reader alert and capable of digesting technical jargon. By including many bonus sections the author keeps you wanting more information. JavaFX in Action is definitely a teaching style book with concise code blocks containing great comments along with outputs (displayed results) after a program is run, thus freeing the reader from having to be handcuffed to their compilers. There are lots of FAQs which challenges your ability to think in real world situations when using the JavaFX language and APIs.
[...]
I highly recommend this book. It has a great mixture of graphics, gaming, media, mobile and business application examples. I believe you will enjoy it as much as I have.
JavaFX in Action Overview
JavaFX is a Java-based rich user interface technology that sits atop the existing Java Standard and Micro Editions. Using it, developers can build rich user interfaces with access to all Java components already installed on their systems. At its heart is the easy to learn JavaFX Script language that lets developers describe what they want to accomplish in clear, declarative terms rather than abstract code. JavaFX also provides numerous libraries to make development extremely fast and efficient.

JavaFX in Action is a hands-on tutorial that introduces and explores JavaFX through numerous bite-sized projects. The book provides a solid grounding in the JavaFX syntax and related APIs by showing web developers how to apply the key features of the JavaFX platform. Readers quickly absorb the fundamentals of the technology while exploring the possibilities JavaFX provides for creative, rich designs.

Readers learn to transform variables and operators into bouncing raindrops, brilliant colors, and dancing interface components. They also learn how to interact with existing Java code to give old apps some new JavaFX sparkle.


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Best Kept Secrets in .NET Review

Best Kept Secrets in .NET
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Best Kept Secrets in .NET ReviewAlthough I'm giving this book high marks for thoroughness of content, I did feel slightly dejected after expecting it, based on its title, to be a cornucopia of gems of little-known facts that .NET developers of varying levels could use. And while it certainly contains a lot of good remarks about how to work faster and/or more efficiently with have better performing code, it's not exactly a collection of "secrets".
I'm a somewhat experienced programmer, and a lot of what I read I found to be best practices that most introductory books on a variety of subjects will feature. The book's magic is that the tips are consolidated to within a single bound title, relieving the reader of needing to buy and read multiple titles to acquire such knowledge.
The book's finer points are evident in the many code samples being featured in both Visual Basic .NET and C#, and the book's succinct nature. Author Deborah Kurata doesn't spend hours poring over concepts; she just gets right to the point and lets you know how you can use a certain trick in your .NET programming. On that point, there's also a nice discussion of using regular expressions and operator overloading, and a good preview of refactoring in Visual Studio 2005 (at the time of this writing still in early beta).
However, I was disappointed in the fact that there wasn't a chapter on such secrets for web development with ASP.NET, and leans heavily towards those programming for Windows Forms (there are faint mentions of using web.config for web projects, but that's about it). This makes the book more applicable to desktop developers, and unfairly denies the browser crowd of using this book for their work.
Still, I came away with a couple of morsels that I'll take with me, such as the ability to use VB .NET's IsNumeric function in C# by referencing Microsoft.VisualBasic.dll. As with most APress titles, it's made the stand the test of time, with heavy paper and sturdy binding, so it's great as a desktop reference.
Overall it makes for a nice, quick read - priced pretty decently.Best Kept Secrets in .NET OverviewWhether you are a new or experienced .NET programmer, this book offers data management methods that you might frequently miss in the rush to complete projects on time. Author Deborah Kurata writes a handy, complete guide to lead you through hidden features and tricks buried within Visual Studio.The book focuses on daily code management, rather than deep .NET framework discussions. Kurata concentrates on efficiencies, presentation, controls, data management methods, and day-to-day code snags. So if you've developed inefficient habits or have been fighting the development environment, you will, mercifully, save hours in the team development cycle by putting the book's tips into practice.

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Mastering Apache Velocity (Java Open Source Library) Review

Mastering Apache Velocity (Java Open Source Library)
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Mastering Apache Velocity (Java Open Source Library) ReviewThis book does a very good job of explaining Velocity, but the code examples in this book are full of mistakes. I felt as though the book made things seem easier than they actually are, and I would have appreciated a more in-depth technical exploration of Velocity. The title is misleading, because there is not enough information in this book for you to "master" Velocity.Mastering Apache Velocity (Java Open Source Library) OverviewA comprehensive tutorial on how to use the power of Velocity 1.3 to build Web sites and generate contentDesigned to work hand-in-hand with Apache Turbine, Struts, and servlets, Velocity is a powerful template language that greatly enhances the developer's ability to customize Web sites. It separates Java code from the Web pages, making a site more maintainable. Because of this, it is a viable alternative to JSPs and PHP and is expected to become the standard template engine. In addition to its use with Struts and Turbine, Velocity can also be used to generate Java and XML source code, XML schemas, HTML templates, and SQL code. Even with all its promise, finding expert instructions on how to properly program with this language has been difficult. This code-intensive tutorial gives you all the tools you'll need. It begins by quickly bringing you up to speed on all of the Velocity fundamentals and the Velocity Template Language. You'll then learn how to apply Velocity in a variety of areas with the help of richly detailed code examples. Additionally, you'll be taken through the steps of building a complete application in order to see how you can utilize all of the techniques and technologies discussed in the book. Covering the latest features of Velocity 1.3, Mastering Apache Velocity shows you how to: Build Java-based Web sites with Struts, servlets, Turbine, and other open-source toolsGenerate a wide variety of Web content and code, including Java, XML, SQL, and Postgres

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Visual SourceSafe 2005 Software Configuration Management in Practice: Best practice management and development of Visual Studio .NET 2005 applications with this easy-to-use SCM tool from Microsoft Review

Visual SourceSafe 2005 Software Configuration Management in Practice: Best practice management and development of Visual Studio .NET 2005 applications with this easy-to-use SCM tool from Microsoft
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Visual SourceSafe 2005 Software Configuration Management in Practice: Best practice management and development of Visual Studio .NET 2005 applications with this easy-to-use SCM tool from Microsoft ReviewAs far as books about Visual SourceSafe go, there aren't many to choose from, and the software itself didn't get updated for the longest time. Imagine my surprise, then, when I get this and it's not only a simple coverage of VSS, but it's also an excellent technology book in general! And I don't say that because the writing is clear, not dry and boring, even though that is true. I say that because of the fair and seemingly unbiased way that the author treats source/version control in general and how the approach of VSS fits into that. Rarely do I see technology books assess technologies without subtly vilifying or sugar-coating them, it was a nice shock to see such even-handedness here.
So if you're new to source control and you're in the Windows world of development, pick this up to learn the basics and a piece of software you can branch out from. If you're stuck being a VSS administrator and you need a reference, there's another reason to get this. And lastly, if you didn't know there was a 2005 version of VSS, this will provide a nice, in depth explanation of the new XML Web Service and remoting features.Visual SourceSafe 2005 Software Configuration Management in Practice: Best practice management and development of Visual Studio .NET 2005 applications with this easy-to-use SCM tool from Microsoft OverviewThis book uses a real-world case-study project to teach you how to manage software configuration efficiently using Visual SourceSafe 2005, Microsoft's Software Configuration Management (SCM) solution for independent developers and for developers working in small- and medium-sized teams. It also provides a best-practices reference on using SourceSafe 2005 to manage the software development lifecycle. This book is for .NET developers, testers and configuration managers who: Use Visual Studio .NET 2005 for building software. Want to use software configuration to manage their products in day-to-day activities. Want to improve their efficiency by learning to use the best practices with SourceSafe. Want to install, manage, and configure Visual SourceSafe 2005 for optimal operation. The book does not assume previous knowledge of Software Configuration Management or Visual SourceSafe. It takes the reader from the ground up and is a great resource for people starting to learn about this subject. Readers with previous SourceSafe experience will benefit by discovering the improved and new features in Visual SourceSafe 2005.

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Continuous Integration: High-impact Strategies - What You Need to Know: Definitions, Adoptions, Impact, Benefits, Maturity, Vendors Review

Continuous Integration: High-impact Strategies - What You Need to Know: Definitions, Adoptions, Impact, Benefits, Maturity, Vendors
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Continuous Integration: High-impact Strategies - What You Need to Know: Definitions, Adoptions, Impact, Benefits, Maturity, Vendors ReviewIf you click the "Look Inside" button, you'll see that all this book contains is the text of a few dozen Wikipedia articles.Continuous Integration: High-impact Strategies - What You Need to Know: Definitions, Adoptions, Impact, Benefits, Maturity, Vendors OverviewIn software engineering, continuous integration (Ci) implements continuous processes of applying quality control - small pieces of effort, applied frequently. Continuous integration aims to improve the quality of software, and to reduce the time taken to deliver it, by replacing the traditional practice of applying quality control after completing all development.
This book is your ultimate resource for Continuous Integration. Here you will find the most up-to-date information, analysis, background and everything you need to know.
In easy to read chapters, with extensive references and links to get you to know all there is to know about Continuous Integration right away, covering: Continuous integration, AnthillPro, Apache Continuum, Apache Gump, Bamboo (software), BuildBot, BuildMaster, Cabie, Cascade (software), Comparison of Continuous Integration Software, CruiseControl, CruiseControl.rb, Go (release management), Hudson (software), Jenkins (software), Multi-stage continuous integration, Serenity Code Coverage, TeamCity, ThoughtWorks Studios, Tinderbox (software), Extreme Programming, Dave Astels, Kent Beck, Chrysler Comprehensive Compensation System, Class-responsibility-collaboration card, Code refactoring, Mike Cohn, Concutest, CppUnit, CsUnit, Ward Cunningham, Daily build, Database refactoring, Dunit, Extreme programming practices, Extreme project management, FireBenchmarks, Martin Fowler, Funit, Google Guice, Itch-scratchware, Ron Jeffries, Jripples, Jtest, Junit, Mauve (test suite), Mock object, Mstest, Nmock, Nunit, NunitAsp, Pair programming, Phpunit, PyUnit, Regression testing, Ken Schwaber, Sunit, Jeff Sutherland, Test-driven development, Test-Driven Development by Example, TestDox, Unit testing, Unit++, UquoniTest, User story, Visual Studio Unit Testing Framework.
This book explains in-depth the real drivers and workings of Continuous Integration.

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Working with Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 Team System (Pro-Developer) Review

Working with Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 Team System (Pro-Developer)
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Working with Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 Team System (Pro-Developer) ReviewIf you are looking for a book that gives you the ins and outs of Team System, this is not the book. If, on the other hand, you would like to know what Team System is, then this book is fine.
I did not get a chance to get a PDC version of the book, so I am not sure exactly what was in that "beta" edition. I will take the other reviewers word that this book is very much the same edition. It is quite common for authors to simply fix chapters from beta to final release, so this is both a common and accepted practice. Given the advice, however, I would probably not own both.
I have been using VSTS since the first beta that had its bits. I am, overall, impressed with the tool, as well as the MSDN online articles on the product. I was looking for a book with a bit more depth on the subject and there are some notable portions in this book, although most of the book is far too simple for my tastes.
What do you get?
The first three chapters are an extremely high level overview of Team System, including the Team Foundation Server. They are useful for a foundation on the product, but anyone with any type of exposure will likely skim through these chapters.
The next four chapters deal with the four roles (Project Manager, Architect, Developer and Tester) across the products (Team Foundation Server and its hooks, Team System Architect, Team System Developer and Team System Tester). These chapters have a bit more meat than the first three chapters, but are stil fairly high level.
The next two chapters are a bit deeper. Chapter 8 deals with MSF (Microsoft Solutions Framework) and is a decent overview of how MSF works, for those with little or no exposure; It is not, by any means, a full featured tome on the subject. Chapter 9 focuses on extending Team System and has a few nice code samples; most of the work is far too simple to make up for the shortcomings of Team System (for example, the build engine has to be customized for Continuous Integration (like using Cruise Control with nAnt for a truly automated build on check in)).
The final chapter of section 3 deals with deployment and closing out a build cycle. There is not a great deal of detail here and it primarily focuses on the reports available in TFS.
Of the two appendices, the first is probably the most useful as it provides context for how Team System is used from end to end. It is fairly basic information, but does deal with how to recognize Release Candidate time. The second is not much more than a text only listing of some of the visual elements you can use in the designer.
Don't get me wrong, I am glad I have this book, as I have learned a bit more Team System through the book. I wish it was a bit deeper, but there is certainly a market for intro level material in this product.
My recommendation: If you are a beginner with Team System and want an overview with a bit of meat, this book will fill the need. If you are already familiar with the product and looking for a full meal, it would be best to wait for other books on the product.Working with Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 Team System (Pro-Developer) OverviewA pragmatic, hands-on overview of the new Microsoft Visual Studio team development environment, which features new tools and end-to-end integration for the roles of architect, developer, tester, and project manager.

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Essential Open Source Toolset Review

Essential Open Source Toolset
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Essential Open Source Toolset ReviewI used this book twice as a text for a summer class reading class for students in an executive MS program at UT Austin. There were 9 students the first summer, 7 the second summer.
I really liked the concept of the book, and the set of topics is very good - the only topic I didn't like was the material on slicing & the only topics I felt were missing were shell scripts and logging.
This the the first edition of the book, and some of the shortcomings I'm pointing out below stem from the fact that it's a first edition, hopefully the authors will have a second edition that takes care of these issues.
1.) Some of the chapters could do with more written and programming problems.
2.) Source the assignments is not available online (and the versions I got from the authors was buggy, e.g., for testing the primes program).
3.) The emphasis on C should be reduced, maybe even removed completely. All the C oriented tools - lex, yacc, doxygen, etc., have counterparts in Java now. I would also remove tcl, replace it with a more mainstream scripting language (i.e., Perl).
4.) The material on code tuning and IDEs could also be more detailed.Essential Open Source Toolset OverviewA unique guide to the classic Linux/Unix Toolset.Programming is more than just coding. Software developers must build, analyse and test their programs; they have to avoid performance bottlenecks, administer internal and foreign modifications, find and remove errors. Using tools available under Linux/Unix, developers can solve the problems of the programming practice.* Tools covered are the 'classics' in Linux/Unix environments* Unique coverage of wide range of tools including: DIFF, PATCH, UNRAVEL, GPROF, GCOV, SniFF+ and many more* Includes practical exercises to test competence* Companion Web site includes information on more recent developments as well as extensive additional resources

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Ruby on Rails for PHP and Java Developers Review

Ruby on Rails for PHP and Java Developers
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Ruby on Rails for PHP and Java Developers ReviewVohra makes strong emphasis on suggesting that Ruby on Rails has advantages over PHP and over Java. Of course, this stirs up fans of those approaches. But approaching Ruby on Rails through this book shows a fairly easy language to learn. You can code with an object oriented outlook, as well as using the Model-View-Controller pattern or architecture. Experience in other languages has shown OO and MVC to be very useful, especially for developing web applications.
The book also takes the programmer into the use of Ajax. This highly popular method is readily compatible with Ruby and Rails. So too is the idea of running a Web Service. The latter is typically defined strictly in terms of [ascii] XML messages. Leaving the developer to choose an application language. Well, the book suggests that Ruby on Rails is a plausible choice.
And for those of you already using the Eclipse IDE, Vohra explains how Ruby can be coded inside Eclipse. So you don't have to abandon Eclipse. I've noticed that Eclipse users tend to be avid fans of it, and deeply reluctant to leave its nice surroundings.Ruby on Rails for PHP and Java Developers OverviewThe web framework Ruby on Rails for developing database based web applications provides a Model-View-Controller framework. The required web server WEBrick is included with Ruby on Rails. The framework is configured with the MySQL database by default, but may be configured with another database. The book covers developing web applications with Ruby on Rails. Technologies discussed include Ajax, directory services, and web services. A comparison is made with PHP, the most commonly used scripting language for developing web applications.

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Enterprise Java Development on a Budget: Leveraging Java Open Source Technologies Review

Enterprise Java Development on a Budget: Leveraging Java Open Source Technologies
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Enterprise Java Development on a Budget: Leveraging Java Open Source Technologies ReviewGiven the scope of what the authors are trying to achieve here, I didn't expect them to succeed: it is, after all, just a lot of information.
Fortunately, they've proven me wrong. This book is excellent, technical, well-written, and well-organized. If you're looking for a mechanism go from Programmer to Developer, or from Developer to Lead Developer, then this book will give explain the technical material you need to master.Enterprise Java Development on a Budget: Leveraging Java Open Source Technologies OverviewEnterprise Java Development on a Budget is an annotated roadmap covering every major aspect of Open Source enterprise Java development "on a budget". This book allows a programmer or programming team to develop complex applications for enterprises using as little money as possible. Open Source has had a profound effect on the Java Community. Many Java Open Source projects have even become de-facto standards. The principal purpose of this book is to guide the reader through the development of a real enterprise Java application(s) using nothing but Open Source Java Tools, Projects and Frameworks. Each chapter will deal with an aspect of the design and development of the application as they relate to a specific tool or framework being used. In areas of the application where there may be implementation choices in terms of which Open Source project to use, we will show one more possible paths and explain why, in the context of the application we chose one project/tool versus competing/similar ones. This book is intended to define the role of Open Source on the Java Community. It will provide information on how, when and why to use Open Source. It will also contain as a useful appendix a catalog of Open Source Projects/Products making an impact. The catalog provides information and examples necessary for managers, developers and architects to make decisions on whether to use or evaluate specific projects.

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Code Leader: Using People, Tools, and Processes to Build Successful Software (Programmer to Programmer) Review

Code Leader: Using People, Tools, and Processes to Build Successful Software (Programmer to Programmer)
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Code Leader: Using People, Tools, and Processes to Build Successful Software (Programmer to Programmer) Review"Code Leader" is a book for developers who have been on a few projects and are ready to take that next step beyond just the "code" part of "coding." The book covers topics like when to build components vs. when to buy them, good testing practices, automating your build, and analyzing your code to learn where to improve it. Each topic is addressed at a reasonable pace, not miring you in super-low-level detail but providing enough information to get the point across.
As you read it, you'll find that much of it sounds like common sense, like some long-forgotten tidbit that you didn't realize you already knew. That's the strength of the book - bringing those things to light and showing you the benefits. The best example of this is the "Done is Done" chapter, bringing up the idea that sometimes when a developer says that a task is "done," there really are things left to do... and ideas on how to solve that so when someone says something is "done," all of the i's are dotted and t's are crossed.
At the end, the book brings all of the lessons together in a case study showing a developer performing a task from beginning to end and using the tenets described in the book. It's a good way to put everything into perspective and solidifies the concepts.
If you already practice things like test-driven devleopment and continuous integration; if you already know about the benefits of the MVP/MVC patterns (and use them); if you already know what dependency injection is and how it affects your testability; if you've got some nicely structured source control policies and do branch/merge per task (and know why that's good)... you may not get as much out of this book. You're probably already doing most of the stuff discussed and don't need to be sold a car you've already bought (so to speak).
Only two technical downsides to this book:
First, while the content could apply to any software development project in any technology, most of the tools mentioned and code samples are specifically .NET-oriented. That may be a little off-putting to non-.NET developers, but if you can get past that, you'll be rewarded.
Second, the text is abnormally small. I compared it to some of the other Wrox books I've got and there's got to be a two-or-three point size difference here, which makes the book lightweight but might give you a little eyestrain.
If you're looking for complementary books to this one, check out Coder to Developer: Tools and Strategies for Delivering Your Software by Mike Gunderloy. The two offer similar types of advice - ways to go beyond "just coding" and take your projects to the next level. While there are some overlapping topics, the two really are more complementary, each offering great guidance to help you sharpen your saw.Code Leader: Using People, Tools, and Processes to Build Successful Software (Programmer to Programmer) Overview

This book is for the career developer who wants to take his or her skill set and/or project to the next level. If you are a professional software developer with 3–4 years of experience looking to bring a higher level of discipline to your project, or to learn the skills that will help you transition from software engineer to technical lead, then this book is for you. The topics covered in this book will help you focus on delivering software at a higher quality and lower cost. The book is about practical techniques and practices that will help you and your team realize those goals.
This book is for the developer understands that the business of software is, first and foremost, business. Writing code is fun, but writing high-quality code on time and at the lowest possible cost is what makes a software project successful. A team lead or architect who wants to succeed must keep that in mind.
Given that target audience, this book assumes a certain level of skill at reading code in one or more languages, and basic familiarity with building and testing software projects. It also assumes that you have at least a basic understanding of the software development lifecycle, and how requirements from customers become testable software projects.
Who This Book Is Not For: This is not a book for the entry-level developer fresh out of college, or for those just getting started as professional coders. It isn't a book about writing code; it's a book about how we write code together while keeping quality up and costs down. It is not for those who want to learn to write more efficient or literate code. There are plenty of other books available on those subjects, as mentioned previously.
This is also not a book about project management or development methodology. All of the strategies and techniques presented here are just as applicable to waterfall projects as they are to those employing Agile methodologies. While certain strategies such as Test-Driven Development and Continuous Integration have risen to popularity hand in hand with Agile development methodologies, there is no coupling between them. There are plenty of projects run using SCRUM that do not use TDD, and there are just as many waterfall projects that do.
Philosophy versus Practicality: There are a lot of religious arguments in software development. Exceptions versus result codes, strongly typed versus dynamic languages, and where to put your curly braces are just a few examples. This book tried to steer clear of those arguments here. Most of the chapters in this book deal with practical steps that you as a developer can take to improve your skills and improve the state of your project. The author makes no claims that these practices represent the way to write software. They represent strategies that have worked well for the author and other developers that he have worked closely with.
Philosophy certainly has its place in software development. Much of the current thinking in project management has been influenced by the Agile philosophy, for example. The next wave may be influenced by the Lean methodologies developed by Toyota for building automobiles. Because it represents a philosophy, the Lean process model can be applied to building software just as easily as to building cars. On the other hand, because they exist at the philosophical level, such methodologies can be difficult to conceptualize. The book tries to favor the practical over the philosophical, the concrete over the theoretical. This should be the kind of book that you can pick up, read one chapter of, and go away with some practical changes you can make to your software project that will make it better.
That said, the first part of this book is entitled "Philosophy" because the strategies described in it represent ways of approaching a problem rather than a specific solution. There are just as many practical ways to do Test-Driven Development as there are ways to manage a software project. You will have to pick the way that fits your chosen programming language, environment, and team structure. The book has tried to describe some tangible ways of realizing TDD, but it remains an abstract ideal rather than a one-size-fits-all technical solution. The same applies to Continuous Integration. There are numerous ways of thinking about and achieving a Continuous Integration solution, and this book presents only a few. Continuous Integration represents a way of thinking about your development process rather than a concrete or specific technique.
The second and third parts represent more concrete process and construction techniques that can improve your code and your project. They focus on the pragmatic rather than the philosophical.
Every Little Bit Helps: You do not have to sit down and read this book from cover to cover. While there are interrelationships between the chapters, each chapter can also stand on its own. If you know that you have a particular problem such as error handling with your current project, read that chapter and try to implement some of the suggestions in it. Don't feel that you have to overhaul your entire software project at once. The various techniques described in this book can all incrementally improve a project one at a time.
If you are starting a brand new project and have an opportunity to define its structure, then by all means read the whole book and see how it influences the way you design your project. If you have to work within an existing project structure, you might have more success applying a few improvements at a time.
In terms of personal career growth, the same applies. Every new technique you learn makes you a better developer, so take them one at a time as your schedule and projects allow.
Examples: Most of the examples in this book are written in C#. However, the techniques described in this book apply just as well to any other modern programming language with a little translation. Even if you are unfamiliar with the inner workings or details of C# as a language, the examples are very small and simple to understand. Again, this is not a book about how to write code, and the examples in it are all intended to illustrate a specific point, not to become a part of your software project in any literal sense.
This book is organized into three sections, Philosophy, Process and Code Construction. The following is a short summary of what you will find in each section and chapter.
Part I (Philosophy) contains chapters that focus on abstract ideas about how to approach a software project. Each chapter contains practical examples of how to realize those ideas.
Chapter 1 (Buy, not Build) describes how to go about deciding which parts of your software project you need to write yourself and which parts you may be able to purchase or otherwise leverage from someplace else. In order to keep costs down and focus on your real competitive advantage, it is necessary to write only those parts of your application that you really need to.
Chapter 2 (Test-Driven Development) examines the Test-Driven Development (or Test-Driven Design) philosophy and some practical ways of applying it to your development lifecycle to produce higher-quality code in less time.
Chapter 3 (Continuous Integration) explores the Continuous Integration philosophy and how you can apply it to your project. CI involves automating your build and unit testing processes to give developers a shorter feedback cycle about changes that they make to the project. A shorter feedback cycle makes it easier for developers to work together as a team and at a higher level of productivity.
The chapters in Part II (Process) explore processes and tools that you can use as a team to improve the quality of your source code and make it easier to understand and to maintain.
Chapter 4 (Done Is Done) contains suggestions for defining what it means for a developer to "finish" a development task. Creating a "done is done" policy for your team can make it easier for developers to work together, and easier for developers and testers to work together. If everyone on your team follows the same set of steps to complete each task, then development will be more predictable and of a higher quality.
Chapter 5 (Testing) presents some concrete suggestions for how to create tests, how to run them, and how to organize them to make them easier to run, easier to measure, and more useful to developers and to testers. Included are sections on what code coverage means and how to measure it effectively, how to organize your tests by type, and how to automate your testing processes to get the most benefit from them.
Chapter 6 (Source Control) explains techniques for using your source control system more effectively so that it is easier for developers to work together on the same project, and easier to correlate changes in source control with physical software binaries and with defect or issue reports in your tracking system.
Chapter 7 (Static Analysis) examines what static analysis is, what information it can provide, and how it can improve the quality and maintainability of your projects.
Part III (Code Construction) includes chapters on specific coding techniques that can improve the quality and maintainability of your software projects.
Chapter 8 (Contract, Contract, Contract!) tackles programming by contract and how that can make your code easier for developers to understand and to use. Programming by contract can also make your application easier (and therefore less expensive) to maintain and support.
Chapter 9 (Limiting Dependencies) focuses on techniques for limiting how dependent each part of your application is upon the others. Limiting dependencies can lead to software that is easier to make changes to and cheaper to maintain as well as easier to deploy and test.
Chapter 10 (The Model-View-Presenter Model) offers a brief description of the MVP model and explains how following the MVP model will make your application easier to test....

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Pro SQL Server 2005 Review

Pro SQL Server 2005
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Pro SQL Server 2005 ReviewThis books seems to be a list and quick summary of new features of sql server 2005. I like the fact that the authors do make an attempt to explain why the new features are present and how to use them. However I would not call it a professional book since it does not dive into depth in any one particular feature on how to take advantage of these features and how to implement something like it in a production environment. All we have is short demo samples which is good for explaining but not really helping the dba/developer integerate it with their existing systems and applications as seen in more advanced/architecture books.
I fell asleep a few times whilst going thru this book. It could do with alot more pictures too to keep the motivation going
A very good intro to sql server 2005 but you still going to need to buy a book for each topic/chapter on this book to be competent user since there simply isn't enough information/examples in itPro SQL Server 2005 OverviewSQL Server 2005 is next generation of SQL Server database and represents a massive leap forward for SQL Server developers in terms of programming options, productivity, database management and analysis. This book will take a deep look at the full range of SQL Server enhancements that will give meaningful and relevant examples that show not just how these new features work, but also how to architect their applications in order to exploit the new features most effectively.This book is all about getting developers working on their own SQL Server 2005 solutions as quickly and painlessly as possible. Some of the core topics covered in the book are: Enhancements to database programmability features and languages, such as ADO.NET, XML, .NET assemblies, and T-SQL; New Servers, services and tools such as Reporting Services, and the Service Broker and DTS; Enhancements to the BI capabilities such as Analysis Services and Notification services.

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Professional Visual Studio 2005 Team System (Programmer to Programmer) Review

Professional Visual Studio 2005 Team System (Programmer to Programmer)
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Professional Visual Studio 2005 Team System (Programmer to Programmer) ReviewThis is the book for leverage the power of VSTS. It covers setup and install of VSTS, specific Visual Studio tool enhancements, implementing methodology, extensibility, and overall team integration.
Each of the authors are experts in specific technologies/methodologies that VSTS addresses and they take you through the insides of all the major components of VSTS.
- Sam Guckenheimer's book "Software Engineering with Microsoft Visual Studio Team System" is focused on software engineering and project management using VSTS.
- Richard Hundhausen's "Working with Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 Team System" is an introduction to "What is Team System?"
This book is the technical ins and outs of Team System.Professional Visual Studio 2005 Team System (Programmer to Programmer) Overview
A team of Microsoft insiders shows programmers how to use Visual Studio 2005 Team System, the new suite of products from Microsoft that can be used for software modeling, design, testing, and deployment
Focuses on practical application of the tools on code samples, development scenarios, and automation scripting
This timely book serves as both as a step-by-step guide and as a reference for modeling, designing, and coordinating enterprise solutions at every level using Team System
The book begins with an overview of Team System and then offers nuts-and-bolts guidance on practical implementation
Code examples are provided in both VB.NET and C#


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Software Engineering - ESEC '93: 4th European Software Engineering Conference, Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany, September 13-17, 1993. Proceedings (Lecture Notes in Computer Science) Review

Software Engineering - ESEC '93: 4th European Software Engineering Conference, Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany, September 13-17, 1993. Proceedings (Lecture Notes in Computer Science)
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Software Engineering - ESEC '93: 4th European Software Engineering Conference, Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany, September 13-17, 1993. Proceedings (Lecture Notes in Computer Science) ReviewSommerville gives a keen view of the entire breath of this broad topic. His text is filled with easy to understand illustrations and chapter summaries. The examples are end-to-end because he provides the needed preliminaries (concepts and foundations) to understand the results. His treatment of requirements engineering and formal specification methods is quite good. In addition to the key points (of each chapter) he provides pointers to other resources on each subtopic. I find this text better for use in the classroom than the other leading text (which I use as a reference) because Sommerville's presentation provides a more logical flow and organization (i.e., its easier to read). I used the slides that are available (.ppt) from his web site to supplement my lectures.Software Engineering - ESEC '93: 4th European Software Engineering Conference, Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany, September 13-17, 1993. Proceedings (Lecture Notes in Computer Science) OverviewThis volume contains the proceedings of the fourth EuropeanSoftwareEngineering Conference. It contains 6 invitedpapers and 27 contributed papers selected from more than 135submissions.The volume has a mixtureof themes. Some, such as softwareengineering and computer supportedcollaborative work, areforward-looking and anticipate future developments; others,such as systems engineering, are more concerned with reportsof practical industrial applications. Some topics, such assoftware reuse, reflect the fact that some of the concernsfirst raised in 1969 whensoftware engineering was bornremain unsolved problems.The contributed papers are organized under the followingheadings: requirements specification, environments, systemsengineering, distributed softwareengineering, real-timesystems, software engineering and computer supportedcollaborative work, software reuse, software process, andformal aspects of software engineering.

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