Oracle JDeveloper 10g Handbook Review

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(More customer reviews)The authors told us in the introduction part of this book that it is for "both Oracle developers who want to make the transition to the J2EE environment and also Java developers who want to leverage the productivity tools and frameworks available in JDeveloper". The authors have done an good job to satisfy this scope, though I feel time by time that this is book is actually written for Oracle developers who have already exposed to Java/J2EE technology and also J2EE developers who possess basic knowledge about Oracle database technology. Otherwise, I do not recommend you to start your journey from this book. It could be too difficult. Further more, if you want to learn how to use JDeveloper 10g as your Java development tool, this book is not designed for you.
This book gives a good overview of the introductory information about JDeveloper 10g and many related J2EE technologies developed by Oracle. Such overview coverage is further enhanced by about 25 well-designed step-by-step hands-on practices, which are very helpful.
It is true that you may find a lot of learning material from Oracle Technology Network. However, I feel this book offers the unique value by covering this quite extensive and diversified subject in an organized way. By reading this book, you will certainly improve your productivity since JDeveloper 10g is a great tool and since otherwise you may feel overwhelmed by the vast amount of information you may find online.
This book is based on Oracle JDeveloper 10g production release of version 9.0.5.1. The current Oracle JDeveloper 10g production release is of version 10.1.2. I found some of the step-by-step instructions may need slight modification due to the difference of the two versions, though I do not think it posses much difficult to any experienced readers.
Chapter 5, Java Language Concepts for JDeveloper Work, gives a very brief overview of Java concepts. Well, if you need to read this chapter, you are not ready to read this book yet. The good news is that this chapter is only about 30 pages long, less than 5% of this thick book. The development of the rest of the story is in a quite logic and readable order.
The authors explain to us that "this book is a `handbook' not in the sense of a complete guide to all areas of the tool, but, .., a guide for creating J2EE applications using JDeveloper". It is interesting why they still insist to call it a handbook. This book covers only many of the basic features of JDeveloper. If you are advanced, and if you need quickly find a good coverage on an important but advanced features, most likely this is not the book that will give you an answer. Many of the books by Oracle Press are already written in somewhat quite a technical manner. Calling it a handbook may actually scare away those who are new to 10g. You do not start studying a subject by reading a handbook, do you?

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Create web and database applications with Oracle JDeveloper 10g--the complete, integrated Java development environment--with help from this comprehensive, real-world resource. Many chapters contain hands-on practices and source code examples reinforcing vital concepts. It's all here--from the nuts-and-bolts of J2EE applications, servlets, and JavaServer Pages technology to advanced development using the Oracle Application Development Framework. From the exclusive publishers of Oracle Press books, Oracle JDeveloper 10g Handbook will have you developing Java-based applications in no time.

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Introduction To Fortran 90/95 (B.E.S.T. Series) Review

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(More customer reviews)Fortran is still widely used in science and engineering, though if you look at new computer books, you can scarcely tell this. Since those usually discuss languages like C, C++ and Java. But when it comes to raw number crunching, and where a GUI might be nice, but is strictly secondary, there is a ton of legacy code in Fortran.
So there is still a need for a book like this, which discusses how to use the latest version, Fortran 95. What the author strives for is to cover something lacking in many older Fortran texts. Those tend to explain the syntax and how to write small programs, of a few thousand lines or less.
But there is often little discussion on how to manage the complexity of libraries stretching to 10^5 lines or 10^6 lines of code. How can you maintain and understand and add to these bodies? Issues like unit testing, which quite often discussed in java or C++, are well described here. Design discipline is also emphasised.
So if you are still writing in Fortran, and are wondering about coping with growing code, consider this book.

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B.E.S.T. (Basic Engineering Series and Tools) consists of modularized textbooks offering virtually every topic and specialty likely to be covered in an introductory engineering course.All the texts boast distinguished authors and the most current content. These inexpensive B.E.S.T modules are easily combined with each other to construct the ideal Intro to Engineering course. The goal of this series is to provide the educational community with material that is timely, affordable, of high quality, and flexible in how it is used.

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Incident Response and Computer Forensics, Second Edition Review

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(More customer reviews)I am a senior engineer for network security operations. I am a graduate of the flagship session of the System Administration, Networking, and Security institute's Forensics, Investigations, and Response Education (SANS FIRE) program. "Incident Response" (IR) should have been the textbook for that program. It is the most definitive work I've read on incident response and computer forensics. I highly recommend every security professional take advantage of this book.
IR starts with a revealing case study, and follows through with additional mini-studies and "eye witness reports" based on the authors' experiences. It provides plenty of clear diagrams and charts to reinforce key points, like the innovative "hard drive layers" outlined in chapter five. Most every mention of a command line program is followed by an example of that command in action, either via screenshot or text sample. These examples let readers try similar commands on their own workstations, reinforcing the authors' investigative directions.
Beyond the excellent presentation of technical material, IR frames its discussion of incident response and computer forensics in a practical investigative methodology. My SANS FIRE training repeatedly stressed the importance of documentation, policies, processes, and methodology when performing forensic work worthy of adversarial legal scrutiny. IR's attention to detail helps investigators collect evidence in a professional, repeatable, forensically sound manner.
Having appeared in court to defend their investigations, the authors share their knowledge and emphasize crucial steps to avoid forensic pitfalls. (An example is a DOS boot floppy's interaction with the DRVSPACE.BIN file. IR explains how to avoid this issue in detail.) Falling victim to these pitfalls could give a defense attorney an easy way to clear his client, or at least make certain evidence questionable in court.
The book is not perfect. Several typos indicated somewhat rushed publication, but did not detract from technical accuracy. I would have liked more material in chapter five on file systems; perhaps another appendix would be useful?
Many books and papers describe incident response procedures for UNIX, but few dare to discuss Windows. Given the predominance of compromised Windows hosts, this book thankfully addresses the Windows response task in a complete and clear manner. In many cases UNIX and Windows are compared side-by-side, and commands for one OS are explained using equivalents for the other OS.
IR provides a durable blend of practical investigative techniques and technical insights. I predict that investigators will cite the procedures in this book as examples of "best practices" when they defend their actions in court. I plan to build my company's incident response capability around IR's recommendations.
(Disclaimer: I received my review copy free from Foundstone.)

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Using Information Technology Review

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(More customer reviews)So the only reason why I didn't give the book 5 stars is because of the material in the book. The book itself is in great condition, came quickly and was a great price. Though, if you are a student trying to get a cheaper price and buy the older edition you MUST keep in mind that some of the information is a little outdated. Though it still works perfectly and alongside the lectures in class I don't have any issues with the book. It was the perfect decision for me and I would recommend it to other students, as long as you already have a basic background in computers.

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The Williams, Using Information Technology, 8th edition utilizes a practical, applied approach to technology. This text is user-focused and has been highly updated including topics, pictures and examples. The Williams text contains less theory and more application to engage students who might be more familiar with technology.Continually published and updated for over 15 years, Using Information Technology was the first text to foresee and define the impact of digital convergence—the fusion of computers and communications. It was also the first text to acknowledge the new priorities imposed by the Internet and World Wide Web and bring discussion of them from late in the course to the beginning. Today, it is directed toward the "Always On" generation that is at ease with digital technology—comfortable with iPhones, MySpace, Facebook, Twitter, Wikipedia, and the blogosphere—but not always savvy about its processes, possibilities, and liabilities. This 8th edition continues to address the two most significant challenges that instructors face in teaching this course:•Trying to make the course interesting and challenging,and•Trying to teach to students with a variety of computer backgrounds.In addition, this text correlates with Simnet Online for full integration of resources within the Computing Concepts course.

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Programming in C++: Lessons and Applications Review

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(More customer reviews)Dr. D'Orazio's C++ Programming textbook is very easy to follow and has many useful examples to learn from. It is very well written and helpful in mastering the C++ language. I would recommend this book for students learning C++ for the first time.

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D'Orazio's Programming in C++: Lessons and Applications provides an accessible introduction to programming in C++.It teaches the C++ language and object-oriented design to students with no previous programming experience.The focus is on developing programs for solving a variety of problems.Each chapter of the book is divided into two parts--Lessons and Applications.The Lessons teach C++ language elements and simple programming techniques, and the Applications teach program design. A step-by-step methodology for program development is presented early in the text and reinforced throughout with the help of the application examples and over thirty case studies.

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Software Requirements Review

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(More customer reviews)Karl Wieger's book is destined to be classic in software requirements. It delivers a large set (over 40) no-nonsense best practices in highly readable, non-nonsense manner. I believe every project manager, IT (Information Technology) and business analyst, and IT account manager should read this book. Further, developers would do well to read it to gain critical insight into the 'big picture' of requirements engineering.
The book is broken down into three sections: the case for requirements engineering best practices ("What and Why"), the requirements discovery, verification and validation process ("Software Requirements Engineering"), and the essentials of requirements management ("Software Requirements Management"). Throughout, the dual necessities of doing requirements right (verification) and doing the right requirements (validation) is addressed. Wiegers has thoroughly delved into the literature in the software requirements field. The text is liberally spiced with tidbits of data to support the business case for implementing these best practices. I found myself making notes in the inside cover and folding back pages to reference again as I read through the book.
Early in the book, Wiegers presents a set of software engineering best practices which are classified into priority (high, medium, low) and difficulty (high, medium, low). Although you may disagree with the specific rankings for your shop, this table is an excellent example of modeling appropriate requirements engineering practices - prioritizing requirements! Other goodies abound. For example, a partial case study flows throughout the book which gives the reader enough of an idea of what a use case, dialog map, text requirement, etc. looks like to get the concept being resented. Each chapter ends with a concise list of suggested next steps, providing the reader with concrete actions to take to implement the practices covered in that chapter. In addition, there are numerous sample templates (e.g. Risk Item Tracking, Software Requirements Specification), several excellent checklists (e.g. Inspection Checklist for Software Requirements Spec, Software Elements Affected by a Proposed Change,), visual models (e.g. Requirements Traceability Links, Change Control Process) and a wonderful "bill of rights" for the software customer which boldly and directly asserts both rights and responsibilities of the customer.
A set of example models is provided in the chapter called "A Picture is Worth 1024 Words". You will need to read other books or take training on the mechanics, notations and semantics of these models for visualized functional requirements. But the author covers the key models and their purpose succinctly.
This book is easy to read, cuts to the chase, and provides a bounty of information that will wet our appetite to take action. This book is not a requirements engineering method or methodology, which would prescribe step-by-step protocols of task, roles, and techniques. Rather, like the classic cookbook The Joy of Cooking, you will find well-proven, sensible, and reusable practices. In Software Requirements, you will find the right ingredients and essential practices needed to 'cook' tasty requirements.

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Without formal, verifiable software requirements-and an effective system for managing them-the programs that developers think they've agreed to build often will not be the same products their customers are expecting. In SOFTWARE REQUIREMENTS, Second Edition, requirements engineering authority Karl Wiegers amplifies the best practices presented in his original award-winning text?now a mainstay for anyone participating in the software development process.

In this book, you'll discover effective techniques for managing the requirements engineering process all the way through the development cycle-including dozens of techniques to facilitate that all-important communication between users, developers, and management. This updated edition features new case examples, anecdotes culled from the author's extensive consulting career, and specific Next Steps for putting the book's process-improvement principles into practice. You'll also find several new chapters, sample documents, and an incisive troubleshooting guide.

Discover how to:

Set achievable expectations for functionality and quality
NEW: Incorporate business rules into application development
Employ use cases to discover user requirements
Arrest creeping requirements and manage change requests
NEW: Deal with requirements on maintenance, outsourced, and package solution projects
Curb the impulse to "gold-plate" your programs
NEW: Grow effective requirements analysts
Cut revisions-and costs-dramatically
Produce better software!

No matter what kind of software you build, or what your role in the development process, SOFTWARE REQUIREMENTS, Second Edition, delivers expert guidance and field-tested techniques for engineering software success.

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Information Systems Development: Methodologies, Techniques & Tools Review

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(More customer reviews)Avison and Fitzgerald produced a thoroughly researched comparison on commonly used software development methodologies. Not only do the authors highlight the methodological mess that bothers researchers and practitioners alike, they also provide a comprehensive evaluation framework for those who are still wondering what methodology to use. This book certainly helps the reader to bring some order into the chaos.

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"Information Systems Development" has been adopted as the key text for many information systems, business and management, and computer science courses. The book has seven parts which relate to the Information Systems Development context, the Systems Development Lifecycle, Themes of Systems Development, Techniques, Methodologies, Tools and Toolsets and finally Issues and Frameworks. This structure enables flexible use, either sequentially or by selecting sections or chapters to fit the specific needs of particular courses and favored approaches. Offering comprehensive coverage from traditional approaches through to the most recent agile methods, the book's unique strength lies in its combination of descriptions and insight into methodologies, techniques and tools with the analysis of context, issues and real-world problems associated with information systems development.Retaining these existing strengths, the fourth edition has been thoroughly updated and revised to reflect progress in this fast-paced discipline and to include the authors' recent experience of teaching with the text, as well as feedback from reviewers, colleagues and students.

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