Programming Books

I own many books from "The Missing Manual" series. I couldn't work without them. Easy to understand instructions for all areas of using the newest incarnation of OS X.

I just purchased an IMac from my friend who decided to get the laptop and having used a Mac from way back when thought - what's there to learn? But the new operating system and applications/tools take a bit of getting used to..so easy. But there is always something you can't remember how to configure and this book makes it very easy to find 'how to' and move on. More time to enjoy your new IMac! Highly recommend for anyone just moving back to the 'white side', or an experienced user to quickly go to the answer.

A great book -- I can't imagine anything better -- and yes, it is missing from the OS X Leopard, but hey -- Apple only charged $129 for this product, while the book would add significantly (at least percentage wise) to this price, and many wouldn't need this book even if included. But it is necessary for a newbie like me.

And note that there are other "Missing Manuals" in this series supporting Mac products. For example I already have their iMovie '08 & iDVD manual, and also their iPhoto '08 - a separate manual all by itself. These are all by David Pogue, and are products of O'Reilly Media of Canada. Maybe there are more, and I'll look for them when I get a min. David Pogue BYW is the technology columnist for the New York Times, and an Emmy-winning CBS correspondent besides being the creator of the Missing Manual series.

This is the manual that should've been included with the MAC. It has all the IN's & OUT's of the various applications as well as a guide to the hardware. As a new user to the MAC platform I found it very useful and will keep it handy as a reference tool.

I was looking for more of a "quick guide". This is great if you are looking for a desk reference book.

This is a great book by the Master of brain programming. Mr.Bandler provided more than thirty-five time-tested NLP techniques that will bring about quick and lasting change in every area of your life. It is an amazing work as it engaged me to continue reading it until I finished reading it.

It is not like any other resource since Bandler provided practical tips to change instantly anything you desire in your life. I went over many NLP resources, success books, law of attractions articles and references but this book stands on top of most.

I recommend it to anyone who really seek quick and lasting change on behavior.

as Michael Jordan was to Basketball. This is the closest analogy I could make. Because I know if I or you or most anyone stepped onto the court where Michael has the ball, in one blink, I would have heard the swish and bounce of the ball as its vibrations went up through my shoes into my legs and throughout my whole body, Michael would have scored or Richard would have made a highly personal and deeply meaningful change in your life. He and his work are both physics and magic at once.

If you want to learn HTML, XHTML, & CSS this is the book to get. It is easy to understand. You can use the book to actually do something useful. The book gives information on what to use to make your pages work in different browsers and also recommendations on the best way to accomplish a task. I have been using the book to update my web pages. This is a practical approach combing the elements of HTML, XHTML, and CSS. By using the information in this book, your web pages will load fast, be easy to maintain, and work on several browsers.

I don't like to use a wysiwyg application so this book has been very helpful in that it presents it in a hand coded example. Perfect for what I wanted. Sometimes the format seemed to jump around a bit but overall good examples. I wish it was a little more in depth in explanation or examples. I especially loved the quick reference sections at the back of the book as to reminders of tag usage and color codes. Maybe in a future edition tear out quick reference cards could be included. I recommend this book if you are looking for quick refernce for web page creationHTML, XHTML, and CSS, Sixth Edition (Visual Quickstart Guide)

Elizabeth Castro has written yet another good book. This book is easy to follow,clear and is printed in full colour, something you don't often come across in other books. I'd recommend this book to anyone who wants to learn the ins and outs of css and xhtml.This is a Great book.
HTML, XHTML, and CSS, Sixth Edition (Visual Quickstart Guide)

This book was easy to follow for a beginner and gave me a good basis to start writing code. It's also a great go-to guide for when I have questions on a specific topic.

The approach of this book is disappointing. It begins with mostly HTML. While this is useful to a point, it seems kind of a waste of time -- since most people's primary goal is to learn XHTML. There was also too much emphasis on discussing deprecated tags. The focus on coding disappointed and disengaged me as a reader. I would prefer more focus on design. I do not recomend this book.

The book was just as described if not better. It arrived in a timely matter. I was very satisfied.

This is the text book for Introduction to Microcomputer Usage at MDC. I took the class this summer and it was a breeze. I think every one in the class enjoyed it

I purchased this book for my oldest daughter who is not familiar with computers. I had seen it as a textbook at our local community college. It has very easy step-by-step exercises & really shows all the ins & outs that Office 2007 has to offer.

book was a good price, sold with the course disc, only the disc was for the 2003 course.

I bought this book for an Intro to Dreamweaver CS3 type class and found this to be a throughly helpful text. Its examples were great, well thought out and easy to follow. I would recommend this book to anyone wanting to start out learning Dreamweaver.

The author gives you a good workout in practicing many of the common tasks that you will need in using Dreamweaver. All the exercises work just the way he describes in the book (as is not always the case). He does not thoroughly explain WHY you need to do these tasks, but he goes a long way to making the program approachable, at least. I found that I also needed more knowledge of XHTML (I used XHTML Essential Training by William Weinman) and an actual Dreamweaver training class to bring it all into focus. Dreamweaver is more difficult than I expected, and I am very experienced with the other Adobe products.

I read many reviews of many books before I bought this one. This was a great choice. The exercises provide hands-on practice to see how elements of the program work rather than just reading about them. It doesn't go into great detail explaining the theory behind the workings - there are plenty of other books for that, ie. the Dreamweaver Bible. Everything is presented in a straightforward manner. Great for a beginner, like me. This isn't a book for someone who is already a seasoned web designer. It is meant to get the novice up and running with the program. It also has additional training videos on the CD and a 24hr access to Lynda.com - a great site for finding training of all sorts.

I was compelled to buy this book because I am taking a Dreamweaver course at the local community college. We're most of the way through it now, and I've learned a lot, and feel pretty comfortable using dreamweaver now. For the class I'm taking the instructor pretty much just has us read each chapter of the book, follow along with the exercises in the book, then do little projects from what we learn. The point is though, the learning that we're doing is like 90% from reading the book, and if you want to cut to the chase and not bother with a class like mine, just picking up this book is a pretty nice option.

One other option that you might consider instead of this book, check out the video training by this same author. I've watched enough of it to know that it's pretty darn good, and it covers the same material that the book does. I think watching the video is in some ways a nicer, easier, more visual way to learn, but the advantage of having the book is that it also serves as a decent reference once you've been through it. Something to consider... but both are really good.

This book makes Dreamweaver very clear, and when I have a question, it is always answered in the next sentence. It is so clear and easy to understand. It has a cd in the back with excercises in it for every chapter. Then the illustion in the chapter will show you how it is supposed to look....just like a text book!! Very well written and easy to follow. I have computer experience but not much with web design, so I am basically a beginner. Thanks.

David McFarland's guide answers most, but not my any means all, of the questions, a beginner or intermediate user might ask about Adobe Dreamweaver, the absolute best commercial program for web design. It's a good start and McFarland writes clearly and accurately but doesn't always follow through to the depth that some users nned. That said, it's still probably the best book yet published on Dreamweaver, useful and easy-to use.
JoeGraphics, Memphis, TN

I'm only a few chapters in, but this book is great for learning Dreamweaver. Step by step instructions and tutorials, along with a little humor make it an easy and fun read.

Just as the subtitle reads, this is the "manual that should have been in the box". Well written and organized, the tutorials were especially helpful for me.

I've only just started working my way through this book. So far it is well-written, clear and detailed, and I feel the author did his best to help his readers get up to speed with Dreamweaver quickly.

However, I had to knock one star off the review, because there are no page numbers! The author refers to something that will come up on page 126, but there's no way to find that page; there's no way to know what he is talking about when he references any page number, because there's not one, not anywhere in the whole book! Once I started flipping through it, I realized they had been cut off in printing. Overall, a very sloppy job was done with the printing. The text appears at an angle, and the pages are torn at the bottom.

Publishers are getting cheap and indifferent to quality. This terrible printing job should have been caught by someone before it left the publisher's warehouse. Instead I paid full price for something that can not really be used for reference after I finish reading it, because the table of contents is pointless without any page numbers for guidance.

Before getting this book I knew absolutely nothing about Adobe Dreamweaver. Granted, I use Adobe Photoshop and InDesign a lot...so I was familiar with the Adobe family. Regardless, this book covers everything. I went from knowing nothing about web design to having my own web page up and running in 2 days. The book is very thorough, easy to read...especially for beginners, and the format is setup so that you can quickly refer to a particular topic if needed. The included tutorials are solid and really helped me learn at my pace.

I probably read half a dozen books on CSS and still never fully understood the "box model" or CSS positioning. "Head First HTML with CSS" was the first book to explain these concepts in a manner than even I could understand. I was impressed enough to buy my own copy.

Highly recommended for someone who wants to understand the basics of HTML, XHTML and CSS. Not recommended for someone who already knows these subjects and and looking for a more in-depth reference.

This book is really nice. The way of using a lot of pictures works for me. I love reading it, and I was excited every time I enter a new chapter. Very good for beginner web developer to understand clearly about the concept of HTML & CSS.

Having been out of the web-design loop for about 10 years, this book was perfect for me. I am a hobbiest who learned HTML back in the days of HTML 1.0 and got frustrated with the browser wars enough to move on to other things (and I mean other things completely non-web-related). Now, with the existence of the W3C and standards-based web-design, I decided to jump back in, and this book has brought me right back up to speed with all the basics. I couldn't recommend it highly enough.

I read this book from cover to cover, doing most of the exercises. Knowing HTML previously but new to CSS this was a wonderful introduction.

My only wish that could make it better is if the index was more comprehensive. As I started to create my own pages based on the learning, it was difficult to refer back to ideas because the index does not list many things. It's a pain to then search page-by-page in the chapter.

This is my only issue. I actually love this book!

I teach college courses on Web development that emphasize Web standards and usability. This is one of only two entry-level (X)HTML + CSS books that I will recommend to students.

"Head First.." is a fun and lively book that is very much aimed at ordinary folks who are having a hard time figuring this stuff out. It's pleasurable scenarios and tongue-in-cheek humor push learning toward the authentic and affective.

Great book that beginners and experts alike can gain valuable knowledge from. Though you really need to know a little bit about Java or C so that you have a little background on programming so you will have something to compare it to Cocoa programming.

It's the best book i know for programming on Mac OSX !

Thanks from Berlin Germany !

Honestly, I was quite apprehensive because I'm a newbie to programming, with just a passing knowledge of Objective-C (gained from online resources). However, after going through 80% of the book (and looking forward to the next few chapters), I can say that this is definitely a great resource for any beginner who wants to learn how to write Cocoa programs. At the same time, concepts which I first found difficult to comprehend in Apple's online documentation became much easier to understand after they were discussed in the book.

IMHO, anyone interested to become a Mac developer should read this amazing book + Apple's great online documentation. I guess the only way to improve it would be to include sections on iPhone development for the 4th edition. Thanks for a great book Mr. Hillegass, and for making Cocoa fun to learn! =)

The author is probably the only professional Cocoa instructor, and if not the only, at least the one that's been so the longest. As such, his book is absolutely amazing. The instruction takes you through everything you need to know to start writing your own Cocoa applications. The pace in which he introduces topics is just right. It's structured to make you question things, then he immediately answers any question you might have had. And by the end of the book, you're also taught how to teach yourself anything else you may find yourself needing to know about the Cocoa frameworks. The beginning of the book is also a great crash course in Objective-C, that is, if you already know another OO-language. This gets my highest review, a first for an instructional material.

This book is excellent. The explanations are short and very clear. The author makes cocoa really easy to learn, step by step. There are good and instructive exercices he calls challenges.
You can really get to work right after reading this book and completing the so called challenges. And it will certainly be a handy reference book.
A must have.

If any book is being worshipped for it's content on Algorithms in Academia, then it is this book. I have used this book both in my undergraduate and my Masters and definitely the best in the field.

But, I personally think the topics covered are complex to begin with. So, it takes this book and couple of books for reference to understand the topics completely. If you want to develop new efficient algorithms, then this is the book to begin with. Over all a very good book. Would definitely recommend it.

This book is must have for any software programmer. It is one of the best book I had ever had. It has many mathematical concepts and ppl who are mathematical geeks with software skills will love this book even more like me. This was the first book i bought from Used book section and I am extremely satisfied with the condition. I was quite skeptical when I was buying the book, but the sellers are really good with the what they promised. I am totally impressed and i really appreciate it.
Thanks Guys.

I used this book for a graduate level Algorithms course, and I really liked it. It is packed full of content on a wide range of topics. While this book does provide some high-level implementations of algorithms in pseudo-code, you will not find any examples of how to program algorithms in this book. That's really not what this book is meant for anyways.

I found the reading to be easier than Knuth on similar topics, but you still need to have sufficient mathematical background in order to keep up (statistics, discrete math, some calculus). Also, unlike many technical books I've read recently, I did not find any mistakes, not even a typo.

Some people are not aware that the MIT Open Courseware website has some excellent free video course lectures that use this book. I highly recommend at least viewing the first three or four of those lectures if you are new to this topic because they compliment this book very well. Make sure you understand the first four chapters of this book before moving on to other topics.

Also, since it had been a while since I had the math as an undergraduate, I was relieved to learn that this book had several appendices that provided a review of the math topics required by the book.

The only negative about the book is that it does not provide answers to any of the exercises at the end of the chapters, so you really need to use this book in conjunction with a course in order to be able to check your progress and how well you are learning the information. If you're not using this book with a course, check the MIT Open Courseware website that I mentioned previously. It has some sample assignments you can use.

This book is (in my opinion) an essential resource of common computer science algorithms. It covers a broad range of different algorithm topics and I found the explanations by the authors extremely helpful and simple to understand (both with simple and advanced topics). It does attempt to cover as many algorithm topics as possible, so some topics may not be covered in fine detail (it does not spend as much time on runtime analysis as other books, or spend much time on NP problems). It is perfect for someone taking an algorithms class (grad or undergrad), or someone looking to broaden their algorithm knowledge. I only wish there was some form of solutions guide to help verify answers to review questions.

There are three versions of the second edition, only one of which has the CD:

The first one is published by the MIT Press, with the title "Introduction to Algorithms". This one has no CD. This is the one Amazon currently carries, so if you buy from Amazon, you get no CD.

The second one is published by McGraw-Hill, also with the title "Introduction to Algorithms". This one also has no CD.

The third one is published by McGraw-Hill too, but has the title "Introduction to Algorithms and Java CD-ROM". This is the one with the CD. It's much more expensive than the other two.

The CD in the third version contains implementations of the algorithms in Java.

To find someone that carries the CD version, search for this ISBN-13 number: 9780072970548 , or for "Introduction to Algorithms and Java CD-ROM" .

Note: Some listings that come up for the ISBN number will not be the correct version. Look carefully for "and Java CD-ROM" before buying.

Even though this book meets my criteria for having `fluff', this is still one great introduction book to NLP. The language is down to earth, the exercises are well explained and the authors give a lot of thoughtful advice to beginners.

I do like the author and have heard him on tape and CD before, but this CD set was originally a tape set (we repeatedly hear "on this tape" spoken), and should have been re-done instead of edited.

Some (only some) of the basics of NLP are included here, and if you've ever opened a book or heard a tape about NLP, you probably already know all that's offered on this CD.

Three of us here listened to "NLP," and we all found the constant reference to "tapes" annoying, along with the voices of two people who do a lot of speaking on the second CD. They both sound like they're trying to do cartoon voices, and my husband couldn't stop laughing. Yes, the voices are that distracting.

The author co-wrote a better introduction to NLP years ago, called "Success Mastery With NLP." It's usually available used on tape. Having used NLP since 1976, I really do recommend it as a more useful introduction to the subject.

This book is great in that it not only explains some of the basics of NLP but it also includes 43 different exercises to do while you are reading the book. Most of these exercises can be done quickly and have been, for me, generally quite effective. These exercises are not easy to find online, so it's nice to have them compiled in one place here. For the price of a paperback it's hardly a question as to whether or not you should buy this book, especially if NLP is something that interests you.

This is a great book on how to improve your performance in any area of your life. I've only just started applying some of the ideas and already I notice that I am able to focus better when I study and dragging myself out of bed in the morning is not as difficult as it once was.

I am giving this book two stars- but I begrudge it the second one. It has to be two because it DOES contain the information I bought it for. But I wish I could in good conscience give it one single star- or fewer- because on nearly every page, there's something that makes me want to reach through the book and slap the writers.

I don't enjoy books that effuse with frothy enthusiasm so trillingly that it undercuts the information it's supposed to deliver. And I don't enjoy books where the authors seem to be addressing me and my curiosity about the topic in a sugary voice as if I am a Kindergartner.

So I am not enjoying this book. At all.

I wish that before I'd purchased this book I'd seen the dedication page. It reads: "Dedicated to the joyful heart and soaring spirit of every child reaching for a greater world, especially in yourself."

Now, friends- I sincerely hope your heart is joyful and that your spirit soars. But that sugary prose in the dedication would have tipped me off about what was ahead- and I'd have run for the hills. To get to the information, you have to deal with the authors achingly precious hopes for this book to change your life.

Ever have a cappucino that was all foam with only a little sip of coffee at the bottom of the cup? Remember how you raised the paper cup to your lips and there wasn't anything to swig? Remember the sense that you'd just been ripped off?

Yeah. It's a lot like that.

If you like non-fiction delivered to you like a bed-time story, maybe you'll like this book. But if not-- don't buy this book. Run very fast to the next selection.

If I can stop even one person from buying this book, it was worth my time to write this review.