Computing Internet Books

After having completed Microsoft's MCAD certification, I am using this text along with the Tom Carpenter text to prepare for MCTS and MCITP certification. Though I haven't taken the exam yet, the material appears to be covered in a thorough and in-depth fashion. Yet, it does not get bogged down in unnecessary detail.

Excellent book!

Well written and in depth, this book should cover everything necessary to pass these tests.

I have two complaints:

1) The book is laid out functionally for SQL Server, not for each test. So, for example, when you are studying for the 70-442, it may involve a portion of chapter 3, 4, 5, and 8, but all of 12 and 13. All this information is entwined with the stuff for the other tests.

2) You choose to only take one of the tests on the CD. For example - you couldn't say just test for the 70-441 test. I found the CD questions less useful than books dedicated to one test because of this.

These are minor complaints though, and I'm not really sure the issues can be avoided to begin with. Don't let them stop you from using this as your resource to pass these three tests.

For the 431 exam, I used the (Tom) Carpenter book as my primary study guide and this book as a side reference. My main reason for purchasing this book is for the next two exams (441,442). After taking the 431 test and looking up some questions I guessed at in this book, I regret not using this book as my primary study guide. This book seems to point out the exact information needed to get through the test. I look forward to using it for the next two exams. Note that the author of this book is the technical editor for the Carpenter book.

Update to previous review:
I just passed both exams (441 & 442) without difficulty and with plenty of time remaining (each exam took about 2 hours). This is definitely the book to use for these exams. The topics and sample questions are on target with the actual test. Be sure to review the topic list for each exam in the front of the book before taking the test. The 'what you need to know' section at the end of each chapter is not always accurate. Also - the explanation of cascade deletes is incorrect in the book.

The end-of-chapter exam questions were perfect for helping me know what I know and what I don't know. I already passed the 70-431 and 70-441 exams and the questions I looked at in the back of the chapters hit the knowledge needed to pass these exams.

Unfortunately I failed the 70-442 exam before this book was released. However, after reviewing the end-of-chapter exam questions, I saw exactly what I needed to brush up on. I spent several days in a marathon study session doing the exam questions in the back of each chapter for the 70-442. For anything I missed, I studied the material in the chapter. In addition to learning what I needed for the exam, I also learned a couple things I didn't know about in SQL Server 2005. I then took and passed the 70-442.

This book was just what I needed. I only wish I had it before I took the 70-442 the first time.

This book is a good introduction to the new features of 2008. If you plan on taking the exam, you are definately going to need some help from a testing website, like transcender or others. The book itself read easily enough, but there are several editing mistakes that make for a slight annoyance.

In hindsight, I think I would have bought a book geared more towards MS press, then used a test engine to study, since those books, or books like them tend to be more of a useful resource.

The Windows Communication Foundation (WCF) is the latest offering from Microsoft to address the need of passing messages from one software component to another. Using the .NET platform, Microsoft has built a single framework that can encapsulate any type of message passing (at least all the major one's of which I am aware). By abstracting the important pieces of the communication challenge (transport mechanism, security, reliability, etc.), Microsoft has made building components that communicate via SOAP, WS-*, REST, binary, and other methods of communication a much simpler problem than it once was. One cautionary note: WCF is a deep technology, so do not expect to understand all the concepts at once. Having a solid object oriented programming background will help you understand some of the underpinnings of WCF.

If you are a developer looking to get specific examples of how to use WCF in different situations, this book provides the most common situations in which you are likely to run into WCF (think Web Services) as well as an introduction into some more rare circumstances (like building custom Behaviors, Transports, and Channels). The sheer breadth that book attempts to cover means that it does not fully cover each item presented in the table of contents. I personally would have like to have seen more coverage on WS-*. That being said, for the consulting and product work that I do, this book got me 95% of the way to solving all the challenges that I have faced to date. For the other 5% WCF Unleashed is a great book for giving you the nomenclature and background you need to seek help elsewhere. There was also a chapter on WCF guidance that gives you some ideas for best practices that was quite refreshing as many books leave out these crucial tidbits. Interestingly, this book gives brief coverage of Windows Workflow and also CardSpace. Those chapters were not only an interesting aside, but quite useful when thinking about integrating WCF with these two new technologies from Microsoft.

There were a few small things that I want to mention. The authors provide all the code in the samples - even the code that is not necessarily relevant to the topic at hand. While I found this annoying at first, I did appreciate it later when the examples got a bit more complex. Also, the sample code was easy to miss. As of this review, the code download was from InformIT's site and not Sam's publishing site.

Overall, I would highly recommend Windows Communication Foundation Unleashed for anyone starting out with WCF who learns well from "How To" guides and sample code.

[...]

This book had been sitting on my bookshelf for sometime collecting dust. When I finally had a need to familiarize myself with WCF, I dug it out and ended up finding myself more confused than anything. The code samples do not work. There is no online update (The 45 day "Free" version on Safari is also incorrect). Four authors, with four different goals. The intro sections were written way too technical, and the higher chapters didn't give enough detail. The only chapter I liked was Chapter 21 - Guidance. A lot of good thought behind that chapter. Otherwise, I've learned more from Microsoft's MSDN site than this book.

I haven't finished the entire thing (about 200 pages to go), but so far it has covered up to the most obscure detail you might need to know. I must admit, however, WPF has an incredibly steep learning curve and some of its features are terribly counter-intuitve, but it is an amazing technology. The book shows you the power of the technology with great examples and explanations of the details you thought you knew.

Code sample provided does not work. The author doesn't seem to know the difference between a client and host! No source code is provided in a cd or by download.

Between the WPF Unleashed book and this one I am thoroughly impressed by the quality of this series. This book is easy to read with in depth information, very relevant. It covers a lot of useful techniques: in particular security, customization and integration with WF. A real step ahead of the other books. A Must have for all serious WCF programmer.

I love Photoshop Elements 6.0 so much so I enjoy this book anyway. It is very simple and clear step by step.

If your are serious about PHOTOSHOP 6.0 this is the book to have at your side when editing photo's. The best I ever bought and I bought several 6.0 books.

A well laid out book. Nice photos, orderly info and directions. Paper and binding good quality, so the book lays open conveniently--no fighting to keep pages open while you use it as a reference! Covers all (or at least most) bases well, with clearly-stated directions.

Nutshell review - A good overview of the threat landscape. Good resource, ideas, and insights for a dangerous virtual world.

The book's good, a bit outdated, not really ment for people who don't know too much about computers, but gives you a really good simple cover on (Insert title here).

This book is a good explanation of hackers of all varieties, their techniques, and what ordinary people and businesses can do to protect against them. In a usually-even-tempered voice, Mr. Schwartau tackles common misconceptions and explains what hackers really are and what threats we should really be worrying about. He has had a reputation of being a Chicken Little with regard to hacking, but at least a respected Chicken Little. None of this is real knock-your-socks-off stuff. But it's good in an enjoyable sort of a way.

Speaking as someone who once spent three months behind bars for computer hacking, I can vouch for the authenticity of this book. It should scare you right out of your socks.

And it's not the technical details that should scare you, though there's enough of that. It's the simple "social engineering" that can cost you hundreds of thousands of dollars. A good hacker doesn't need to touch a computer - he just picks his target, gains a bit of information and uses others to do the dirty work, all unsuspecting. By the time you work out you are under attack, someone has taken out a second mortgage on your home, cashed in your life insurance, raided your credit cards and had a hell of a good time at your expense.

Here are case studies to demonstrate it. people driven to bankruptcy, despair and suicide.

Get a firewall on your computer right NOW. And do all the other things this book advises.

Otherwise you are a mug.

Don't figure it won't happen to you - if you are at all active in cyberspace, then you are leaving footprints behind that can be picked up and exploited by a hacker looking for his next target.

Buy this book - it will be the best handful of dollars you ever spent.

This is quite possibly the worse book I ever read on the subject. The author has a tendency to make unqualified statements with no supportive evidence. He thinks Hong Kong is an ".... emerging country around the Far East, having problems with software piracy. (Where have you been for the last 50 yrs ? Australia has a software piracy rates on par to Hong Kong. The highest is in Thailand and Vietnam.) He thinks when you start a web browser, and a small program running in the background, it is written in a "new" computer language called JAVA. Not knowing that JavaScirpt and JAVA has nothing in common, but share a name. He is not sure whether to called hacker as "immature bastards" with no real skills, or to take the high road and suggest that talented individuals like them should be nutured, and jail sentences should be reserved for murderers - so he did both.
The author has the hallmark of a typical sales/marketing/management type, knowing all the buzz words: risk management, business contingency plan, ..etc. CEO loves it, but can he tell the different between PPTP and IPSec ? and why should you use one and not the other ? I started questioning his credential after reading three chapters. If you want a better introduction to the subject, try Personal Firewalls by Lisa Yeo, Firewalls and Internet Security by Cheswick and Bellovin or Hacker's Challenge by Schiffman. Luckily, I only paid $4 for this paper weight.

This is a short but very clear and very detailed book. It gives most of the techniques and the concepts to understand neural networks. it was my first introduction to the topic and since then I have been able to read more advanced texts and papers. I would say that this is the ideal entry point to the topic as well as an interesting book for the general reader willing to have a general overview of the field