|
Product: Book - Paperback
Title: Visual Basic 6 for Dummies (for Windows) Publisher: For Dummies Authors: Wallace Wang Rating: 4/5 I own the VB 6 version of this book. I thought that overall it was great; the book offers excellent examples, esp. with the CD enclosed, it's kind of funny, in a corny sort of way, and it does a good job of explaining things in easy-to-understand english. This book is divided into two sections; the first explains how to make interfaces, and the second explains how to write the code that make the interfaces work. Unfortunately, at the end of the first section, the author gradually slides into using a lot of BASIC code. Granted, BASIC is the only way to make some of the user interfaces, and he uses good examples. However, the author seems to have forgotten an important detail, that almost by default, the reader does not have much previous experience in BASIC. Thus, it can make things somewhat confusing when attempting to understand the construction of the menus AND deciphering the code. In many examples later on, the author simply says something like, "In order to make so-and-so type of box, you'll need to use this..." and follows the screenshot up with several or more lines of code, without really explaining what any of the code does. Except for this apparent lapse in logical order, the book is otherwise great. Chapter 14 begins with "the basics of code", which is odd, since a lot of code had already been covered in Chapter 13.
Product: Book - Paperback
Title: The Official eBay Bible Publisher: Gotham Authors: Jim "Griff" Griffith Rating: 3/5 I picked up this book to find out Quickly how to sell something on eBay, and what it would cost me. I found out eventually how to sell, but not the cost, and not quickly. I began by browsing the inspirational stories of people who'd sold all they wanted and more and of people who'd bought an item they'd been searching for for years. Then I went to the beginning to learn about eBay. But the beginning is geared for people who are turning on their computers for the first time: what is email? what is a browser? "Clicking a link will move you forward to that page" etc... So I skipped to the section on how to sell. Again I found myself swamped with basic info. For example, Griffith devotes several pages to explaining step by step the sort of registration process most people have gone through dozens of times on other sites. Then he goes into digital photography for 36 pages. All useful, no doubt, to someone who has decided to sell. But not to someone who wants some idea of PRICE. I went to the index to look up "fees". I found three entries, two of which (Final Value Fee and Turbolister) were arcane and of no use to me. The other was "listings". Thinking I'd found what I wanted, I quickly flipped to p.273, where I found, not a schedule of fees nor a percentage of any kind, but rather a tiny reproduction of a web page with tiny numbers representing the fees for a ceramic jug pictured on the previous page. What is going on here? Is eBay shy about money? Are they ashamed of charging fees and making money? Do they want to imply in their "Official Bible" that their services are free? Did Griffith neglect to put in this information because it was not upbeat enough for his enthusiastic compendium of online auctioneering? Another annoying feature is the vast amount of white space on each page, with tiny reproductions of web pages marooned in the middle. Is it too much to ask that publishers blow up the web page images so that their text is at least equal in font size to that of the book itself? I've noticed this trend in other computer books. What is this passion for empty white space? If a web page image is so unimportant that it can be shown at one third the size of the regular text, why show it at all? Griffith goes on to discuss topics such as setting up your own store and dealing with piles of feedback, but this reader had lost heart, and in any case could not find his magnifying glass.
Product: Book - Hardcover
Title: Introduction to the Theory of Computation Publisher: Course Technology Authors: Michael Sipser Rating: 5/5 This book is suitable for beginners and graduate students who want to explor the theory of computation . It explains the hard theory and logic by easy sentences and words. Even if you use English as foreign language , you can read this book by yourself and understand its contents easily. This book is near perfect.
Product: Book - Paperback
Title: The Windows 2000 Device Driver Book: A Guide for Programmers (2nd Edition) Publisher: Prentice Hall PTR Authors: Art Baker, Jerry Lozano Rating: 5/5 I have read all, but one of the Windows 2000/NT device driver books and found this one to be the best for beginners, by far. It is very well organized in a top-down approach. I though the concepts were well presented and easy to understand. After readin two other books on NT device drivers, this one finally explained things clearly for me. The book is also very hands-on. It describes an example device drive in full source and develops it through each chapter. You can actually build the driver as you go and the driver is developed as you would develop your own driver. This book is also not wordy and quick-reading. I would suggest is, if you are trying to grasp NT device drivers.
|