JavaScript

Average customer rating:

It really isn't that good
Good book to have
Larry Wall is a genius.
The Essential Perl Book
Not my style of learning

Programming Perl (3rd Edition)
Larry Wall , Tom Christiansen , and Jon Orwant
Manufacturer: O'Reilly Media, Inc.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Learning Perl, Second Edition
Perl Cookbook, Second Edition
Mastering Regular Expressions
Perl Best Practices
Perl Pocket Reference, 4th Edition

ASIN: 0596000278

Amazon.com

Larry Wall wrote Perl and he wrote Programming Perl. Better yet, he writes amusingly and well--all of which comes across in this latest edition of the definitive guide to the language.

Like Topsy, Perl just grew, and as a result the need for a third edition came about. It's now over 1,000 pages, which it needs to be, as it performs several different duties. First, it's an introduction to the Perl language for those who are new to programming; also, it's a guide for those who are coming from other languages; and, finally, it's a Perl language reference.

Among Larry Wall's other pursuits is being a linguist, and it's perhaps for this reason that Perl is a peculiarly flexible language with many routes to achieving the same ends, as the authors ably demonstrate. It's also extensible in several ways, designed to work with many other languages. Also, as it's largely interpreted, programs written in Perl tend to run unmodified on a variety of platforms--although platform-specific Perl modules and programming practices are also discussed.

A major strength of Programming Perl is the way subject areas are approached from several directions. This constant shift of viewpoint eliminates blind spots in the reader's understanding and provides a pleasing echo of the way Perl itself can take many routes from here to there.

Because the Perl community is both knowledgeable and active, the language covers much more ground here than in the previous edition. Even if you have both previous editions, you'll want this latest version--if only for the new jokes. --Steve Patient, amazon.co.uk

Book Description

Perl is a powerful programming language that has grown in popularity since it first appeared in 1988. The first edition of this book, Programming Perl, hit the shelves in 1990, and was quickly adopted as the undisputed bible of the language. Since then, Perl has grown with the times, and so has this book. Programming Perl is not just a book about Perl. It is also a unique introduction to the language and its culture, as one might expect only from its authors. Larry Wall is the inventor of Perl, and provides a unique perspective on the evolution of Perl and its future direction. Tom Christiansen was one of the first champions of the language, and lives and breathes the complexities of Perl internals as few other mortals do. Jon Orwant is the editor of The Perl Journal, which has brought together the Perl community as a common forum for new developments in Perl. Any Perl book can show the syntax of Perl's functions, but only this one is a comprehensive guide to all the nooks and crannies of the language. Any Perl book can explain typeglobs, pseudohashes, and closures, but only this one shows how they really work. Any Perl book can say that my is faster than local, but only this one explains why. Any Perl book can have a title, but only this book is affectionately known by all Perl programmers as "The Camel." This third edition of Programming Perl has been expanded to cover version 5.6 of this maturing language. New topics include threading, the compiler, Unicode, and other new features that have been added since the previous edition.

Customer Reviews:

It really isn't that good.......2007-05-14

The book is written by the creators of Perl, but the truth is that the book is not nearly as good as it's cracked up to be. It suffers from the "fish describing water" syndrome, where the authors find it hard to know what to talk about and what not to talk about.

The book definitely is useful, but it's not as useful as a book written by more skillful technical writers would have been. It's very "ivory towers" and it badly needs more simple example scripts rather than "head in the clouds" discussions.

Unfortunately a lot of people who want to be "macho" about computers will say that this book is much easier to understand and useable than it really is - they'd probably tell you about how wonderful the emperor's new clothes are too.

It's not a bad book, and it's definitely useful, but I'd recommend borrowing a copy of this book to have a good look at it before buying it.

Good book to have.......2007-02-20

I haven't actually used this book in some time, but never got the last copy back from the person who borrowed it off my bookshelf. When it did see use, it was mostly to quickly look up things in the back.

Larry Wall is a genius........2006-11-17

Larry Wall (the father of Perl) is a genius. This book is essential for anyone who loves PERL. You might also want to consider "PERL: Essential Programs for Your Survival at Work" by Larry L. Smith.

The Essential Perl Book.......2006-08-23

This book is _the_ book to get when you want to get serious about Perl.
If you want to simply get to know Perl and write a few scripts, get "Learning Perl" and that'll teach you what you need to know, plus a few interesting tips here and there that you wouldn't catch yourself.
When you want to actually program in Perl and do the serious work, it's worth it to have access to this book. All the idiosyncrasies are given and you will develop a very indepth understanding of Perl... and once you have that, you can get a huge load done with Perl.

Not my style of learning.......2006-07-30

The book is well edited and has obviously evloved since its first edition to meet the needs of its readers, based on their feedback.

Unfortunately, it teaches you things inside out (and to be fair, the authors do actually tell you this about two chapters in).

They briefly mention/cite concepts in the early chapters which they then don't delve into until later chapters (e.g. they discuss symbol references early on, in regard to operators available in the language, without any introduction as to what a symbol reference is -- and I was left pretty confused sat 30k feet in the sky. I had to hop around the book to find out what was going on).

I am someone that likes to know what's going on every step of the way, where plausible, but I find it very difficult not to stop when I encounter a situation like this and hit Google to work out what they're referring to.

If you like a more methodical approach to learning a new language, try Learning Perl by Schwart et al.

Having said that, everything they do decide to drill down into is well described and becomes absorbed into your memory a lot quicker than most other texts.

Average customer rating:

Excellent reference
Definitely Definitive But...
Must-have resource for the serious web developer
Good, but too informal
Definitive Guide

JavaScript: The Definitive Guide
David Flanagan
Manufacturer: O'Reilly Media, Inc.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Similar Items:

JavaScript & DHTML Cookbook
Dynamic HTML: The Definitive Reference (Dynamic Html)
Ajax in Action
CSS: The Definitive Guide
Cascading Style Sheets: The Definitive Guide, 2nd Edition

ASIN: 0596101996

Amazon.com

Provides a rapid and thorough exposition of the JavaScript programming language, as well as an in-depth reference section covering each JavaScript function, object, method, and even handler. Experienced programmers will quickly find the information they need to start writing JavaScript programs.

Book Description

This Fifth Edition is completely revised and expanded to cover JavaScript as it is used in today's Web 2.0 applications. This book is both an example-driven programmer's guide and a keep-on-your-desk reference, with new chapters that explain everything you need to know to get the most out of JavaScript, including:</p> <ul>

Scripted HTTP and Ajax</li>

XML processing</li>

Client-side graphics using the canvas tag</li>

Namespaces in JavaScript--essential when writing complex programs</li>

Classes, closures, persistence, Flash, and JavaScript embedded in Java applications</li> </ul>

Part I explains the core JavaScript language in detail. If you are new to JavaScript, it will teach you the language. If you are already a JavaScript programmer, Part I will sharpen your skills and deepen your understanding of the language. </p>

Part II explains the scripting environment provided by web browsers, with a focus on DOM scripting with unobtrusive JavaScript. The broad and deep coverage of client-side JavaScript is illustrated with many sophisticated examples that demonstrate how to:</p> <ul>

Generate a table of contents for an HTML document</li>

Display DHTML animations</li>

Automate form validation</li>

Draw dynamic pie charts</li>

Make HTML elements draggable</li>

Define keyboard shortcuts for web applications</li>

Create Ajax-enabled tool tips</li>

Use XPath and XSLT on XML documents loaded with Ajax</li>

And much more</li> </ul>

Part III is a complete reference for core JavaScript. It documents every class, object, constructor, method, function, property, and constant defined by JavaScript 1.5 and ECMAScript Version 3.</p>

Part IV is a reference for client-side JavaScript, covering legacy web browser APIs, the standard Level 2 DOM API, and emerging standards such as the XMLHttpRequest object and the canvas tag.</p>

More than 300,000 JavaScript programmers around the world have made this their indispensable reference book for building JavaScript applications.</p>

"A must-have reference for expert JavaScript programmers...well-organized and detailed."
-- Brendan Eich, creator of JavaScript</p>

Customer Reviews:

Excellent reference.......2007-05-25

This book is an absolutely excellent reference for what Douglas Crockford rightfully calls "the world's most misunderstood language". It contains useful examples with plenty of source, in-depth and accessible explanations, and great coverage of Javascript's core features.

Unless you are developing a javascript framework like ExtJS, YUI, JQuery, or something equally complex, it seems most likely that you will be using this book as a reference. There is no better reference that I've seen, so you can't go wrong there.

If you are in fact writing a framework like one of the ones mentioned above, this book is an indispensable resource. It contains excellent examples of how to write an extensible object-oriented framework that is not only powerful, but easily extended and maintained.

If you are just looking for a quick introduction to the javascript language, this may not be the book for you. If your current job position requires an in-depth knowledge of javascript, you cannot go wrong buying this book.

Definitely Definitive But..........2007-05-18

The information in the book is absolutely solid, but WOW is the information mundanefully unappealing. There was ZERO thought into keeping the reader interested with content layout, bordering, graphic design, illustration, examples, etc. It is a good resource to have handy. I hate to be the superficial simpleton in the bunch but I'm rather BIG on ascetically appealing text... (it helps with my acute A.D.D. ... j/k ;) this is not that. It's like reading the paper version (vs. online version) of the wall street journal... dampened by the rain and chewed up by the neighbors chihuahua. For those like me try, 1. "JavaScript in easy steps" 2."JavaScript for the world wide web" and 3."Pro JavaScript Techniques"... in that order.

Must-have resource for the serious web developer.......2007-04-11

Comprehensive reference, not overly technical yet not wanting for detail. I've checked out numerous books from numerous local libraries and even bought some only to sell or give them away after a few weeks. After studying this book i can say this is a resource i will wear out.

Good, but too informal.......2007-04-10

A good overview of JavaScript and an in depth coverage of libraries, 'native functions' etc. Some descriptions are not as formal as I expected, the exact semantics of the language is left to interpretation. For the compiler writers out there, go to the ECMA specification directly!

Definitive Guide.......2007-04-09

Worthy of its title, this book is very well organized and covers everything you need to know about JavaScript and it does so concisely.

This fifth edition is up-to-date enough to stand very useful for quite some time to come - a wealth of interrelated information all in one place.

This book is a must-have reference for any web developer interested in adding interactivity to their web content.

Agile Web Development with Rails (Pragmatic Programmers)

Average customer rating:

Must-read for new Rails developer
Very good
Best Development Book...
Learn Rails from the Experts
Very Good book

Agile Web Development with Rails (Pragmatic Programmers)
Dave Thomas , David Hansson , Leon Breedt , Mike Clark , James Duncan Davidson , Justin Gehtland , and Andreas Schwarz
Manufacturer: Pragmatic Bookshelf
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Programming Ruby: The Pragmatic Programmers' Guide, Second Edition
Rails Recipes (Pragmatic Programmers)
Ruby for Rails: Ruby Techniques for Rails Developers
Ruby Cookbook (Cookbooks (O'Reilly))
Ajax in Action

ASIN: 0977616630

Book Description

The definitive, Jolt-award winning guide to learning and using Rails is now in its Second Edition. Rails is a new approach to web-based application development that enables developers to create full-featured, sophisticated web-based applications using less code and less effort. Now programmers can get the job done right and still leave work on time.

NEW IN THE SECOND EDITION: The book has been updated to take advantage of all the new Rails 1.2 features. The sample application uses migrations, Ajax, features a REST interface, and illustrates new Rails features. There are new chapters on migrations, active support, active record, and action controller (including the new resources-based routing). The Web 2.0 and Deployment chapters have been completely rewritten to reflect the latest thinking. Now you can learn which environments are best for your style application, and see how Capistrano makes managing your site simple. All the remaining chapters have been extensively updated. Finally, hundreds of comments from readers of the first edition have been incorporated, making this book simply the best available.

Rails is a full-stack, open source web framework that enables you to create full-featured, sophisticated web-based applications with a twist...you can create a full Rails application using less code than the setup XML you'd need just to configure some other frameworks.

With this book, you'll learn how to use Rails Active Record to connect business objects and database tables. No more painful object-relational mapping. Just create your business objects and let Rails do the rest. You'll learn how to use the Action Pack framework to route incoming requests and render pages using easy-to-write templates and components. See how to exploit the Rails service frameworks to send emails, talk to web services, and interact dynamically with JavaScript applications running in the browser (the "Ajax" architecture).

You'll see how easy it is to deploy Rails. You'll be writing applications that work with your favorite database (MySQL, Oracle, Postgres, and more) in no time at all.

Customer Reviews:

Must-read for new Rails developer.......2007-06-17

This is an excellent book for someone who is new to Ruby on Rails development. You should buy an accompanying Ruby book though for those pesky Ruby questions =).

Very good.......2007-05-30

Of all the books I have read about ruby on rails, this is the most comprehensive and easy to understand, even without deep ruby knowledge.

Best Development Book..........2007-05-24

I've been a software developer for 19+ years, and have been teaching hundreds of programmers for the past year on a wide range of topics...and hands-down...this is the best learn-how-to-program-in-whatever book.

Most other tech books follow certain patterns to get their point across

* deliver concepts in small chunks followed by short samples
* preach endlessly - and then end with a big code-dump
* all text - little code
* too much code - not enough text
* etc...

"Agile Web Dev with Rails" gets the right mix. The first half of the book builds a Shopping Cart application with Ajax features (and even administration screens and REST web interfaces). The second half of the book provides a solid overview of Rails. So you get two books in one -- a great tutorial, and a great Rails reference.

And the tutorial portion is written in a way that you feel as if the author is sitting next to you while doing the exercises. You can hear his thoughts about why certain things are done, or certain code need to be refactored. Using Agile development techniques where the requirements can unfold in real-time, it even sends you down paths only to back-up a few steps once a better-way is discovered (or the mythical client steps in and says they want it done a different way).

[...]

But if you're serious about Ruby on Rails -- just buy the second (current) edition of Programming Ruby along with this book. You'll be glad you did.

...Highly Highly recommend!

Learn Rails from the Experts.......2007-05-07

When I came onto a new project, I needed to learn Rails fast. This book got me up and running in no time. Despite being new to Ruby, I found the examples easy to follow and the sample application easy to work with. This book is the gold standard when it comes to Rails.

Very Good book.......2007-04-18

Very good book for learning rails. The only problem I have with it is that it doesn't get too in-depth with why things work and how they work, it just says that they work --this way-- and how to actually use it.

Don't get me wrong, this is a VERY good book. I would recommend it to ALL rails starters. I just wish that it was DOUBLE the size and had this book in the beginning and then a more in-depth behind it. I just ordered ruby for rails thinking this should fill in the whys.

Average customer rating:

Everything you ever wanted to know about PowerShell
Outstanding Book!
Of Scripts and Cmdlets
Remarkable! How To Use the Powershell Language Effectively
Do not stop at think, go straight to buy and read.

Windows PowerShell in Action
Bruce Payette
Manufacturer: Manning Publications
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Microsoft Windows Powershell Programming for the Absolute Beginner
Microsoft Windows PowerShell: TFM
Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 Unleashed
Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 Administrator's Pocket Consultant (Pro Administrator's Pocket Consultant)
How to Cheat at Configuring Exchange Server 2007: Including Outlook Web, Mobile, and Voice Access (How to Cheat) (How to Cheat)

ASIN: 1932394907

Book Description

PowerShell replaces cobbled-together assemblies of third-party management tools with an elegant programming language and a powerful scripting shell for the Windows environment. In the tradition of Manning's ground breaking "In Action" series, this book comes from right from the source. Written by Bruce Payette, one of principal creators of PowerShell, Windows PowerShell in Action shows you how to build scripts and utilities to automate system tasks or create powerful system management tools to handle the day-to-day tasks that drive a Windows administrator's life. Because it's based on the .NET platform, PowerShell is also a powerful tool for developers and power users.

Windows PowerShell in Action was written by Bruce Payette, one of the founding members of the Windows PowerShell team, co-designer of the PowerShell language and the principal author of the PowerShell language implementation. The book enables you to get the most out of the PowerShell environment. Using many examples, both small and large, this book illustrates the features of the language and environment and shows how to compose those features into solutions, quickly and effectively.

This book is designed for anyone who wants to learn PowerShell and use it well. Rather than simply being a book of recipes to read and apply, this book gives you the deep knowledge about how PowerShell works and how to apply it.

Customer Reviews:

Everything you ever wanted to know about PowerShell.......2007-05-12

I don't ever remember reading a computer book from cover to cover, but I got hooked on this book and "can't put it down"... Plus, who ever thought that the history of a program could be as interesting as this one is. After all, the book begins by asking "why another shell language?" By the time you are into a few chapters you realize the question should have been "what took you so long?"

The book is peppered with valuable code examples that show off everything from the basics to the most advanced concepts, and the examples are built incrementally so you can see how and why every character in a command line works. Since PowerShell is object oriented, you easily learn why this is important, and how to extract the power of an OO shell.

I've already put PowerShell to work at the office using it for WMI, Active Directory, and file management tasks and have incorporated it into my AutoIT scripts as well. This book was a great help in getting me up to speed as fast as I have.

Outstanding Book!.......2007-03-30

This is a great book for those wanting to learn not only how, but why.

Of Scripts and Cmdlets.......2007-03-23

This is _the_ PowerShell book.

A well written technical reference with an in-depth journey into PowerShell's design.
This book reads more like good fiction than tech, which may be caused, in part, by the disbelief of the things possible with PowerShell.
Payette's style is honest, insightful, passionate and funny.

favorite quote: "Dude! Where's my code?" (chapter 1.4)

Remarkable! How To Use the Powershell Language Effectively.......2007-03-21

The remarkable thing here is that they got the actual inventor of the powershell language and convinced him to write a book.

It's so packed full of good stuff that I wish Microsoft would ship the book, free, with every download of Powershell.

The title 'Powershell In Action' doesn't really give you a clue about just how good this book is. The title is just so that it fits in with Manning's (very good) range of 'In Action' books. But the focus here isn't on action -- it's on really **REALLY** getting to know the language used in Powershell.

Page after page, be astounded at the versatility of this language! Gasp in awe at the wise decisions that were made which allow the language to seemingly read your mind!

There is depth here that you cannot possibly find anywhere else. No one else would know the things Bruce Payette knows.

Do not stop at think, go straight to buy and read........2007-02-28

Where's the 6 stars option? I haven't enjoyed a software engineering book to the same extent for a long time. 'PowerShell in Action' works on two levels. Firstly it delivers immediately in getting you up to speed on PowerShell and being able to use it in-anger for simple tasks (and from there on it just gets better and better as it tackles more complex scenarios).

Secondly however it's not just a 'What' and 'How' tutorial, but also guide to 'Why'. Since Bruce was the design lead for the actual PowerShell language only he can tell you why they choose to implement features the way they did. On this level the book reads like one engineer talking to another. It gives you a fantastic insight into the thought processes behind the choices (what alternatives where considered, and discarded, and why).

The text is full of Bruce's entertaining and sly asides which make it clear that here's a guy that's quite possibly used every language on the planet. As a reader you get the clear impression that nothing in PowerShell is there out of whimsy. And when you start working through the book you'll get a real impression of how every feature of it hangs together and supports the whole. Get this book.

Average customer rating:

Great for experienced programmers
"Learning Python" is right
A more appropriate title would have been "Learning to program using Python"
Not for beginners...
fast shipping

Learning Python, Second Edition
Mark Lutz , and David Ascher
Manufacturer: O'Reilly Media, Inc.
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Binding: Paperback

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Programming Python
Python Cookbook
Python in a Nutshell (In a Nutshell (O'Reilly))
Beginning Python: From Novice to Professional (Beginning: From Novice to Professional)
Learning Perl, Second Edition

ASIN: 0596002815

Amazon.com

The authors of Learning Python show you enough essentials of the Python scripting language to enable you to begin solving problems right away, then reveal more powerful aspects of the language one at a time. This approach is sure to appeal to programmers and system administrators who have urgent problems and a preference for learning by semi-guided experimentation.

First off, Learning Python shows the relationships among Python scripts and their interpreter (in a mostly platform-neutral way). Then, the authors address the mechanics of the language itself, providing illustrations of how Python conceives of numbers, strings, and other objects as well as the operators you use to work with them. Dictionaries, lists, tuples, and other data structures specific to Python receive plenty of attention including complete examples.

Authors Mark Lutz and David Ascher build on that fundamental information in their discussions of functions and modules, which evolve into coverage of namespaces, classes, and the object-oriented aspects of Python programming. There's also information on creating graphical user interfaces (GUIs) for Python applications with Tkinter.

In addition to its careful expository prose, Learning Python includes exercises that both test your Python skills and help reveal more elusive truths about the language.

Book Description

Portable, powerful, and a breeze to use, Python is the popular open source object-oriented programming language used for both standalone programs and scripting applications. Python is considered easy to learn, but there's no quicker way to mastery of the language than learning from an expert teacher. This edition of Learning Python puts you in the hands of two expert teachers, Mark Lutz and David Ascher, whose friendly, well-structured prose has guided many a programmer to proficiency with the language.

Learning Python, Second Edition, offers programmers a comprehensive learning tool for Python and object-oriented programming. Thoroughly updated for the numerous language and class presentation changes that have taken place since the release of the first edition in 1999, this guide introduces the basic elements of the latest release of Python 2.3 and covers new features, such as list comprehensions, nested scopes, and iterators/generators.

Beyond language features, this edition of Learning Python also includes new context for less-experienced programmers, including fresh overviews of object-oriented programming and dynamic typing, new discussions of program launch and configuration options, new coverage of documentation sources, and more. There are also new use cases throughout to make the application of language features more concrete.

The first part of Learning Python gives programmers all the information they'll need to understand and construct programs in the Python language, including types, operators, statements, classes, functions, modules and exceptions. The authors then present more advanced material, showing how Python performs common tasks by offering real applications and the libraries available for those applications. Each chapter ends with a series of exercises that will test your Python skills and measure your understanding.

Learning Python, Second Edition is a self-paced book that allows readers to focus on the core Python language in depth. As you work through the book, you'll gain a deep and complete understanding of the Python language that will help you to understand the larger application-level examples that you'll encounter on your own. If you're interested in learning Python--and want to do so quickly and efficiently--then Learning Python, Second Edition is your best choice.

Customer Reviews:

Great for experienced programmers.......2007-06-17

Learning Python is an efficient way to learn python if you are familiar with one or more other programming languages. The book does a nice job of comparing and contrasting python's qualities with those of other languages (C++ and Java in particular) and provides many concise examples that highlight specific features well. For me, Learning Python was a great way to get going with software development in python.

If you are fairly new to programming, however, this book probably isn't for you. The first few parts try to be a more general introduction to programming, but they aren't enough for those truly new to programming languages. As an experienced developer, you will likely skim through the first few parts of this book quickly.

It's also not an exhaustive reference manual, and with Python 2.5 now released the book is getting a bit dated. But the core language features have not changed much, and there is plenty of online material describing that changes since version 2.2/2.3 that this book is based on.

"Learning Python" is right.......2007-06-05

The title of this book says it all: "Learning Python" is a great book to read if you want to learn Python. Granted, Python is not the hardest language in the world to learn, and I'm not sure that this book goes into enough detail about Python's trickier features (generators, anonymous functions, etc.). Still, I was able to sit down, read this book, work through the examples, and walk away feeling like I really knew how to develop software in Python. Most learn-a-language books are too dense for you to learn the language from the book alone, but "Learning Python" definitely made it as easy as possible.

A more appropriate title would have been "Learning to program using Python".......2007-05-15

This book spends a LONG time going over some of the fundamental concepts of programming. Although it does include very thorough coverage of the Python language itself, it suffers in many places from not knowing who its target audience is. For example, there are many comparisons made between Python and Java (and even C); however, one would assume that anybody with even a passing familiarity with another language knows what a "variable" is or that you shouldn't type the "c:\python22> " part when following along with the examples. If this demeanor was limited to the first few chapters, it might not have bothered me, but throughout the book, the authors can't seem to figure out if they're talking to experienced programmers or people who need to be reminded where the "on switch" is. Chapter 19, for example, is 12 full pages of "the concepts of Object-Oriented programming".

However, it's worth slogging through page after page of intro to programming material to get to the discussions on some of Python's advanced features, which they do cover well. I had previously tried learning Python from the online tutorial and although I made some progress, I could tell I was missing some concepts. After reading this book, I feel like I understand the "Python philosophy" - a few days ago, I wrote "datetime.date( *[ int( x ) for x in token.split( '-' ) ] )" in a program - on purpose! (That creates a date object from a string in the form "2007-05-13", if you're curious).

If you've got a reasonable amount of programming experience, you might want to start with "Python in a Nutshell" instead, though; as well written as this book is, it could have been two-thirds as long and still contained all the information I needed from it.

Not for beginners..........2007-05-07

This book bills itself as a book for beginners to programming but actually it's for experienced C programmers who are making the transition to Python. Someone with little coding experience will quickly get discouraged due to all the poorly explained terminology and constant references to C. Also, the pattern of the book is to give an introductory chapter on basic concepts then two or three chapters that get into extremely detailed explanations. At the end of one of those mind-numbing journeys through obscure details, the author will often will often say something like "But I would suggest you avoid doing this because..." Huh? Then why even bother to explain it? I can't believe Python is as dense and involved as this book makes it. If the authors would only spend as much time on simple, logical explanations as they do on explaining why Python is superior to every other programming language on the planet, this book might be useful.

fast shipping.......2007-05-06

The shipping is very fast, and the condition of the book is cool!

Average customer rating:

Code examples that you can use and learn from
Very good examples
Must have for the beginning or intermediate perl programmer
Index is very good
ok book

Perl Cookbook, Second Edition
Tom Christiansen , and Nathan Torkington
Manufacturer: O'Reilly Media, Inc.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Programming Perl (2nd Edition)
Learning Perl, Second Edition
Perl Best Practices
Mastering Regular Expressions
Perl Pocket Reference, 4th Edition

ASIN: 0596003137

Amazon.com

When the second edition of Programming Perl was released, the authors omitted two chapters: "Common Tasks with Perl" and "Real Perl Programs." Publisher O'Reilly & Associates soon realized that there would be too many pages in Programming Perl if it put updated recipes in the new edition. Instead, O'Reilly chose to release the many Perl code examples as a separate entity: The Perl Cookbook.

The recipes are well documented and the examples aren't too arcane; even beginners will be able to pick up the lessons taught here. The authors write in relatively easy-to-understand language (for a technical guide). Through this book and its arsenal of recipes, you will learn many new things about Perl to help you through your toughest projects. The next time you're working on a project at 2 a.m., you'll thank yourself for the guidance and direction The Perl Cookbook provides. --Doug Beaver

Book Description

Find a Perl programmer, and you'll find a copy of Perl Cookbook nearby. Perl Cookbook is a comprehensive collection of problems, solutions, and practical examples for anyone programming in Perl. The book contains hundreds of rigorously reviewed Perl "recipes" and thousands of examples ranging from brief one-liners to complete applications. The second edition of Perl Cookbook has been fully updated for Perl 5.8, with extensive changes for Unicode support, I/O layers, mod_perl, and new technologies that have emerged since the previous edition of the book. Recipes have been updated to include the latest modules. New recipes have been added to every chapter of the book, and some chapters have almost doubled in size. Covered topic areas include:<ul>

Manipulating strings, numbers, dates, arrays, and hashes</li>

Pattern matching and text substitutions</li>

References, data structures, objects, and classes</li>

Signals and exceptions</li>

Screen addressing, menus, and graphical applications</li>

Managing other processes</li>

Writing secure scripts</li>

Client-server programming</li>

Internet applications programming with mail, news, ftp, and telnet</li>

CGI and mod_perl programming</li>

Web programming</li></ul> Since its first release in 1998, Perl Cookbook has earned its place in the libraries of serious Perl users of all levels of expertise by providing practical answers, code examples, and mini-tutorials addressing the challenges that programmers face. Now the second edition of this bestselling book is ready to earn its place among the ranks of favorite Perl books as well. Whether you're a novice or veteran Perl programmer, you'll find Perl Cookbook, 2nd Edition to be one of the most useful books on Perl available. Its comfortable discussion style and accurate attention to detail cover just about any topic you'd want to know about. You can get by without having this book in your library, but once you've tried a few of the recipes, you won't want to.

Customer Reviews:

Code examples that you can use and learn from.......2007-04-25

As a programming cookbook, this book presents a bunch of problems that you, as a Perl programmer, may encounter in your everyday development work and then shows you both the code that solves the problem and a lengthy discussion on how the code works. So far none of the problems has applied to my everyday Perl development chores, but by simly reading through some of the more interesting problems, I've learned a great deal more about Perl than before.

So this book works well as a learning tool for someone who already knows Perl but is still intrigued by its vast arsenal of powerful features -- and arcane usage. Any serious Perl programmer can be helped by this book, whether he or she finds the examples in the book directly applicable or not.

Very good examples.......2007-03-10

This book is filled with great examples by very experienced authors, which will not only show you how to do that exact thing you want to, but also point you to the Perl ways of solving problems.

As any other cookbook it's not intended for complete beginners (If you are a beginner look at "Learning Perl" by Randal L. Schwartz, Tom Phoenix, and Brian D Foy), but rather for programmers with some experience in Perl.

This book is a great recipe book which will spare you a lot of issues if you keep it at your hand while coding.

Must have for the beginning or intermediate perl programmer.......2007-02-20

I've got both the 1st and 2nd edition of this book. While my perl skills are strong, I'm not a guru my any stretch of the imagination. I've found this book useful on many occasions. Every time I've wanted to do something but wasn't sure of a good approach, I could always find examples in this book. The problem and solution approach is great. For the beginner it will help them get started right away, even if they don't quite understand what they are typing. For the intermediate user, it provides a good base of quick examples. For the advanced user, you probably wont need it, but is a handy item to hand to the guy who is always asking you perl questions.

Index is very good.......2006-11-17

Index is very good. This book sometimes just provides small sections of code instead of complete examples. You might also want to consider "PERL: Essential Programs for Your Survival at Work" by Larry L. Smith.

ok book.......2006-11-13

for a beginner like me this book was a second read after I finished the llama book.. bit bulky but worth the money

Average customer rating:

Learning? This book is confusing on purpose!
How to write unmaintainable code
Keep it handy!
Wonderful Introduction into Another Language
Bought it to stop the questions

Learning Perl, Fourth Edition
Randal L. Schwartz , Tom Phoenix , and brian d foy
Manufacturer: O'Reilly Media, Inc.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Programming Perl (2nd Edition)
Perl Cookbook, Second Edition
Perl Pocket Reference, 4th Edition
Perl Best Practices
Intermediate Perl

ASIN: 0596101058
Release Date: 2005-07-01

Amazon.com

In this smooth, carefully paced course, a leading Perl trainer teaches you to program in the language that threatens to make C, sed, awk, and the Unix shell obsolete for many tasks. This book is the "official" guide for both formal (classroom) and informal learning. It is fully accessible to the novice programmer.

Book Description

Learning Perl, better known as "the Llama book", starts the programmer on the way to mastery. Written by three prominent members of the Perl community who each have several years of experience teaching Perl around the world, this edition has been updated to account for all the recent changes to the language up to Perl 5.8. Perl is the language for people who want to get work done. It started as a tool for Unix system administrators who needed something powerful for small tasks. Since then, Perl has blossomed into a full-featured programming language used for web programming, database manipulation, XML processing, and system administration--on practically all platforms--while remaining the favorite tool for the small daily tasks it was designed for. You might start using Perl because you need it, but you'll continue to use it because you love it. Informed by their years of success at teaching Perl as consultants, the authors have re-engineered the Llama to better match the pace and scope appropriate for readers getting started with Perl, while retaining the detailed discussion, thorough examples, and eclectic wit for which the Llama is famous. The book includes new exercises and solutions so you can practice what you've learned while it's still fresh in your mind. Here are just some of the topics covered: <ul>

Perl variable types </li>

subroutines </li>

file operations </li>

regular expressions </li>

text processing </li>

strings and sorting </li>

process management </li>

using third party modules</li></ul> If you ask Perl programmers today what book they relied on most when they were learning Perl, you'll find that an overwhelming majority will point to the Llama. With good reason. Other books may teach you to program in Perl, but this book will turn you into a Perl programmer.

Customer Reviews:

Learning? This book is confusing on purpose!.......2007-06-25

It's amazing how this book could become so popular.
The set of examples is very confusing.
The authors seem to be trying to break the world record of code "compactness" or something.
I understand the language is very powerful and allows to write compact code, but this is definetly not the right thing to do while learning a new language, at least not if you do it at the expense of clarity.
In my opinion, a good programming introductory book (as this one intends to be, from the name) should teach one concept at a time, and give very clear examples.
I don't recommend this book.

How to write unmaintainable code.......2007-06-03

I've been programming for a long time, C/C++, some Java, PHP, shell scripts, awk, etc. I needed a way to learn perl fast for a project, and a colleague recommended this book.

There's a lot of unreadable unmaintainable perl code out there, and books like this a probably a primary contributor to that. The authors seem to go out of their way to avoid writing clear code, constantly saying things like "well, you could write it this way, but perl programmers consider that a waste of typing," instead preferring to depend on hidden variables and the wide range of default behaviors that are perl.

The book is organized in a peculiar way that made it hard to find things: I don't usually expect to find descriptions of control constructs such as loops only in chapters about arrays.

I've come to see that its quite possible to write clear maintainable perl, but this book encourages poor coding habits.

Keep it handy!.......2007-05-01

I have owned this book for a couple of years now and I keep it on a bookshelf an arms reach away. It spends most of the time on my desk anyways. The book is excellent for beginners - I knew nothing of Perl when I bought it. I used it as a textbook and spent about a week reading through the chapters and doing the excercises. I've used it as a reference ever since. It really only covers basic Perl topic - there is a brief mention of databases at the end and two mentions of references in the whole book, but as a tutorial I certainly recommend it.

Wonderful Introduction into Another Language.......2007-03-22

I purchased this book hoping to gain insight into Perl after having experience with C, C++ and Java. I came back with not only a wonderful, base knowledge of the principals of Perl, but came out with some other skills as well.

This books provides a wonderful, quick, easy read for beginners and pros alike. The knowledge of the language coupled with the coverage of core concepts, methodology, practices and practical programmatic thinking was a delight to read/review.

Bought it to stop the questions.......2007-02-20

I picked this one up for a friend in an attempt to get him to stop bombarding me with perl questions. It didn't work. He just asked me more.

Professional Ajax, 2nd Edition (Programmer to Programmer)

Average customer rating:

excellent in several respects
Surprisingly easy to read for a programming book
Brief review
Best code explanations ever
Very well done

Professional Ajax, 2nd Edition (Programmer to Programmer)
Nicholas C. Zakas , Jeremy McPeak , and Joe Fawcett
Manufacturer: Wrox
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Professional JavaScript for Web Developers (Wrox Professional Guides)
Ajax in Action
JavaScript: The Definitive Guide
Ajax Patterns and Best Practices (Expert's Voice)
DOM Scripting: Web Design with JavaScript and the Document Object Model

ASIN: 0470109491

Book Description

Professional Ajax 2nd Edition provides a developer-level tutorial of Ajax techniques, patterns, and use cases. The book begins by exploring the roots of Ajax, covering how the evolution of the web and new technologies directly led to the development of Ajax techniques. A detailed discussion of how frames, JavaScript, cookies, XML, and XMLHttp requests (XHR) related to Ajax is included. After this introduction, the book moves on to cover the implementation of specific Ajax techniques. Request brokers such as hidden frames, dynamic iframes, and XHR are compared and contrasted, explaining when one method should be used over another. To make this discussion clearer, a brief overview of HTTP requests and responses is included.

Once a basic understanding of the various request types is discussed, the book moves on to provide in-depth examples of how and when to use Ajax in a web site or web application. Different data transmission formats, including plain text, HTML, XML, and JSON are discussed for their advantages and disadvantages. Also included is a discussion on web services and how they may be used to perform Ajax techniques. Next, more complex topics are covered. A chapter introducing a request management framework explores how to manage all of the requests inside of an Ajax application. Ajax debugging techniques are also discussed.

The last part of the book walks through the creation of two full-fledged Ajax web applications. The first, FooReader.NET, is an Ajax-powered RSS reader. The second, called AjaxMail, is an Ajax-enabled email system. Both of these applications incorporate many of the techniques discussed throughout the book.

Professional Ajax 2nd edition is written for Web application developers looking to enhance the usability of their web sites and web applications and intermediate JavaScript developers looking to further understand the language. Readers should have familiarity with XML, XSLT, Web Services, PHP or C#, HTML, CSS. This book is not aimed at beginners without a basic understanding of the aforementioned technologies. Also, a good understanding of JavaScript is vitally important to understanding this book. Those readers without such knowledge should instead refer to books such as Beginning JavaScript, Second Edition (Wrox, 2004, ISBN: 978-0-7645-5587-9) and Professional JavaScript for Web Developers (Wrox, 2005, ISBN: 978-0-7645-7908-0).

Professional Ajax 2nd edition adds nearly 200 pages of new and expanded coverage compared to the first edition. Some of the new topics covered here include: <ul>

Ajax Libraries including the Yahoo! Connection Manager, Prototype, and jQuery

Request Management with Priority Queues and the RequestManager Object

Comet push-based web systems and HTTP streaming

Maps and Mashups with Geocoding, Google Maps API and Yahoo! Maps API

Ajax Debugging with FireBug and Microsoft Fiddler

ASP.NET AJAX Extensions (formerly code-named "Atlas") </ul>

And of course the Second Edition retains and updates the core first edition content including: <ul>

the range of request brokers (including the hidden frame technique, iframes, and XMLHttp) and explains when one should be used over another

different Ajax techniques and patterns for executing client-server communication

Ajax patterns including predictive fetch, page preloading, submission throttling, incremental field and form validation, periodic refresh, multi-stage download and more

Syndication with RSS, Atom, and XParser

JSON and creating an autosuggest textbox example

web site widgets for a news ticker, weather information, web search, and site search

Ajax Frameworks JSpan, DWR, and Ajax.NET Professional

A Web-based RSS/Atom aggregator case study

An AjaxMail case study </ul>

Customer Reviews:

excellent in several respects.......2007-03-23

Last year (2006), I plowed through practically every available book on Ajax. This one really stands out for its excellent historical overview of how Ajax grew to exist. It also is one of the few that covers the use of hidden frames and Iframes as an Ajax technique (it has been around longer but is still used widely). The writing is outstanding. If you can only buy one Ajax book, this one should be it.

A free copy of chapter 1, "What is Ajax?" is available online at [...]

Surprisingly easy to read for a programming book.......2007-02-20

The information you need to get started on ajax programming happens very quickly in this book. The way it is presented also helps a great deal. While it still has it's dry parts, this book was actually surprisingly easy to read(meaning I wasn't falling asleep after 5 minutes of reading)

Brief review.......2007-01-04

I haven't got a chance to go through all details yet, but looks pretty good so far.

Best code explanations ever.......2006-09-04

As a newcomer to Ajax, I cant comment on the coverage but it seemed reasonably comprehensive.

But the code walkthroughs were terrific - completely readable, easy to follow and sometimes even quite fun to read. I cant remember reading better code runthroughs ever.

Very well done.......2006-05-18

This book is very well done. It is a good introduction to AJAX and gets you up to speed quick.

CONS:
1. Not enough treatment on the server side of things in the beginning chapters. Needed a little more on serializing XML, but then how do you do that in a platform-agnostic way. I was a little disappointed that there were little or no examples in java/jsp/servlet during the Basics, Patterns and XML chapters. Could have used that. Assumes knowledge of PHP.

2. Need a little more treatment of XML/XPath/XSLT. Gets a little bit confusing when the technologies are all combined.

3. I feel like the patterns chapter could have followed the XML/XPath/XSLT chapter.

4. Maybe JSON could be left for the back of the book since the X in AJAX stands for XML. Just a thought.

5. About 65 pages of the book are just on AjaxMail, which has numerous examples, but was a lot of reading to go through on one application.

PROS:

1. Not a beginner's book. Assumes knowledge of many things, like PHP, network protocols, HTTP, etc. I'm glad a lot of those details were left out and AJAX was focused on.

2. Gets you up and running with good, working examples.

3. The patterns chapter is very helpful in deciding how to use the stuff.

4. Good chapter on widgets.

5. Bang for the buck when talking about the AJAX frameworks that are out there. Fairly good treatment of JPSpan, DWR and AJAX.NET.

HTML Dog: The Best-Practice Guide to XHTML and CSS

Average customer rating:

best CSS book ever written
A Superb Reference

HTML Dog: The Best-Practice Guide to XHTML and CSS
Patrick Griffiths
Manufacturer: New Riders Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Transcending CSS: The Fine Art of Web Design (Voices That Matter)
CSS Mastery: Advanced Web Standards Solutions
Web Standards Creativity: Innovations in Web Design with XHTML, CSS, and DOM Scripting
CSS Web Site Design Hands on Training (Hands-On Training)
Bulletproof Ajax (Voices That Matter)

ASIN: 0321311396

Book Description

<p style="margin: 0px;">For readers who want to design Web pages that load quickly, are easy to update, accessible to all, work on all browsers and can be quickly adapted to different media, this comprehensive guide represents the best way to go about it. By focusing on the ways the two languages--XHTML and CSS--complement each other, Web design pro Patrick Griffiths provides the fastest, most efficient way of accomplishing specific Web design tasks. With Web standards best practices at its heart, it outlines how to do things the right way from the outset, resulting in highly optimized web pages, in a quicker, easier, less painful way than users could hope for! Split into 10 easy-to-follow chapters such as Text, Images, Layout, Lists, and Forms, and coupled with handy quick-reference XHTML tag and CSS property appendixes, HTML Dog is the perfect guide and companion for anyone wanting to master these languages. Readers can also see the lessons in action with more than 70 online examples constructed especially for the book. </p>

Customer Reviews:

best CSS book ever written.......2007-06-09

By far the best CSS manual I've ever read and I've read many of them. The writing, style, examples.. everything is lucid, easy to read, easy to understand. Perfect. Thank you Mr. Griffiths.

A Superb Reference.......2007-05-12

Clear, concise, accurate. If I could only keep one CSS/XHTML book on my desk, this would be the one.

The author also provides an excellent website that builds on the topics covered in the book[...]

Beginning PHP and MySQL 5: From Novice to Professional, Second Edition

Average customer rating:

Great starter guide
Excellent Standalone Learning Material!
Excellent Book
Not for novice...
Great Book

Beginning PHP and MySQL 5: From Novice to Professional, Second Edition
W. Jason Gilmore
Manufacturer: Apress
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Similar Items:

Essential PHP Tools: Modules, Extensions, and Accelerators
PHP and MySQL Web Development (4th Edition) (Developer's Library)
PHP and MySQL for Dynamic Web Sites: Visual QuickPro Guide (2nd Edition) (Visual QuickPro Guide)
PHP 5 Objects, Patterns, and Practice
The Definitive Guide to MySQL 5, Third Edition (Definitive Guide)

ASIN: 1590595521

Book Description

<ul>

Written for the budding web developer searching for a powerful, low-cost solution for building flexible, dynamic web sites.</li>

Essentially three books in one: provides thorough introductions to the PHP language and the MySQL database, and shows you how these two technologies can be effectively integrated to build powerful websites.</li>

Provides over 500 code examples, including real-world tasks such as creating an auto-login feature, sending HTML-formatted e-mail, testing password guessability, and uploading files via a web interface.</li>

Updated for MySQL 5, includes new chapters introducing triggers, stored procedures, and views.</li></ul><h3>From the Back Cover</h3>

Interested in becoming a master of the PHP language and MySQL database but don't know where to begin? This best-selling book ranks among the most thorough and practical guides in print, covering all of the key concepts and features, and showing you how to effectively integrate PHP and MySQL to build powerful web sites.</p>

The book begins with a vast overview of PHP's capabilities, starting with a survey of the installation and configuration process on both the Windows and Linux platforms. Next, several chapters are devoted to basic PHP concepts, including variables, datatypes, arrays, functions, string manipulation, and processing user input. Other key PHP topics are also covered, including PEAR, session handling, LDAP integration, the Smarty templating engine, Web services, and PDO.</p>

Next up is a presentation of MySQL's key features. You're first guided through MySQL's installation and configuration process, and are presented with an introduction to its storage engines, datatypes, administration utilities, security features, and data import/export facilities. New MySQL 5--specific chapters have been added in this edition, covering triggers, stored procedures, and views. Along the way, you'll gain insight into PHP's assortment of MySQL functions (using both the mysql and mysqli extensions), and learn how to create and execute queries, perform searches, and carry out key database tasks from within your Web application.</p><h3>What You Will Learn from This Book</h3><ul>

Install and configure Apache, PHP, and MySQL on both Windows and Linux.</li>

Accept and process information submitted via HTML forms.</li>

Authenticate users and track user preferences and data using PHP's session-handling capabilities.</li>

Process web-based file uploads using the HTTP_Upload PEAR package.</li>

Create your own RSS aggregator using Magpie, and process XML files in amazingly efficient fashion using SimpleXML.</li>

Use both command-line and graphical MySQL clients to effectively manage your data.</li>

Secure the MySQL server, creating roles and restricting access even at very granular levels.</li>

Effectively integrate PHP and MySQL to create dynamic, data-driven web applications.</li></ul>

Download Description

Beginning PHP 5 and MYSQL: From Novice to Professional offers a comprehensive introduction to two of the most popular Web application building technologies on the planet: the scripting language PHP and the MySQL database server. This book will not only expose you to the core aspects of both technologies, but will provide valuable insight into how they are used in unison to create dynamic data-driven Web applications.</p>

Beginning PHP 5 and MYSQL explains the new features of the latest releases of the world's most popular Open Source Web development technologies: MySQL 4 database server and PHP 5 scripting language. This book explores the benefits, extensive new features, and advantages of the object-oriented PHP 5, and how it can be used in conjunction with MySQL 4 to create powerful dynamic Web sites. </p>

This is the perfect book for the Web designer, programmer, hobbyist, or novice that wants to learn how to create applications with PHP 5 and MySQL 4, and is a great entrance point for Apress's extensive spectrum of PHP books planned for 2004.</p>

Customer Reviews:

Great starter guide.......2007-06-22

this guide speaks in laymens terms and teached using simple examples. I would recomend this book for grandmothers and professional web admins collections

Excellent Standalone Learning Material!.......2007-06-15

I recently purchased "Beginning PHP & MySQL: From Novice to Professional" to
help me in my summer project of expanding my knowledge of web design. As it
turns out, the book has been more than a help! It's practically all I've
needed.

Excellent Book.......2007-06-11

Only through the beginning of this book, but so far so good. Excellent explanations and the other reviewers are on the money when they say that this is a good book. Highly recommended.

Not for novice..........2007-06-10

This book shouldn't be advertised as "from novice to professional", since it start assuming that you have pretty complex knowledge of C++, HTML, etc. The book doesn't even have an ordered structure: when you are in the first chapters, it start using functions that will be explained later, just as if you should know them before.

Sometimes very complex, other times it just seems like a big appendix of functions descriptions instead as a guide to use them in real program environment.

After reading the whole book, and having it at sight, I tried to create a simple program and it was just impossible, because I learned useless and too complex functions but I couldn't make the simplest program without looking for help at php forums.

It may be a good option for not-novice, but if you're looking for a novice book, DON'T buy this book.

Great Book.......2007-06-08

I really enjoyed reading through the book. It's not only good for someone just learning PHP, but it serves as a great reference material as well. I'd highly recommend this book to anyone getting started with PHP.

Programming Book:

Programming Book

Programming Book