I start programming in C then C++, when I removed from C language to C++ I got a 3 hours lecture then I bought a huge book about C++ as a reference. But when I start in Java I couldn't get a lecture on it so I tried to find a small book to teach me the basics of the Java, so I bought this book.

This book is good you can finish it in seven or eight days it gives you the basics that you looking for. But the problem of this book is, it's start from Zero. He takes a lot of time and paper to teach you what is the meaning of program, compiler and interpreter, then he takes more time to teach you the "meaning" of int, float, string, array, etc.... After that he takes 3 chapters about the OOP most of the contents of these chapters gives the meaning of OO, which every C++ programmer know these things.

So in my opinion if you are a C++ programmer and you can find someone who can gives you a lesson on Java it is better than reading this book

Finally this book gives you just the basics so if you want to be a professional in Java you need other books.

I bought this book having some background (but not much) in C. I was pretty familiar with programming in general, but I had never really programmed anything very complex. This book touted that it was meant to be readable by beginners who never have programmed before, but it seems like it would be rather hard to use this book as an introduction to programming, or to Java, for that matter. Let me explain...

The book starts out great...but he loses his momentum quickly. I assumed that since the book was meant to be readable by someone with no programming experience there would be lots of hand holding, but the frustrating part is that he explains in detail the things that are rather trivial (like typing stuff in the command line on your OS, for example), while the complicated subjects are rather skimmed over, leaving you confused and frustrated. I found myself often having to look up extra info on the internet to demystify the explanations in the book.

So if you do decide to buy this book, you might want to have Sun Microsystem's API reference handy ("http://java.sun.com/j2se/1.4/docs/api/", as of 3/15/03). Another thing you'll probably need to bookmark if you read this book is the Java 2 Specification ("http://java.sun.com/docs/books/jls/second_edition/html/jTOC.doc.html" as of 3/15/03). This website pretty much outlines the whole theory of the language, and is the only reference I found that describes the syntax of the entire language. Beginners be wary though, these documents are written in "programmer jargon" and are sometimes so cryptic that it can be very frustrating for those with little or no programming experience.

The reason I mention those websites is because the book is very very frustrating without them. There are lots of examples in the book that contain mystery code that hasn't been explained, and to make it worse, there are excercises at the end of the chapter that sometimes require you to use that mystery code, even though he hasn't explained it. I found this to be very aggravating. This is why I had to constantly refer to those two websites.

Another thing that I felt was a drawback was that the book never goes over boolean operators. This is something you'd expect to find in every introductory Java book, but I couldn't even find it in the index of the book. In fact, he uses them in some examples in the book, but they aren't explained anywhere in the book!...unless I missed it :/, which is unlikely, since it's not in the index :p.

You do learn how to write Windowed applications in this book, but from what I have seen, virtually any beginning Java book will cover this topic.

I wouldn't recommend this book to anyone who has never programmed before. Too many topics are skimmed over or skipped. I'll give him a bit of credit though... it WAS supposed to be condensed into "24 hours". He just doesn't quite seem to grasp the right topics to emphasize in this condensed format though. That said, let me sum it up:

1) If you are a beginner with no programming experience, then this book should be avoided.

2) If you are a beginner with some programming experience and are interested in learning Java, then this book might work, but you'll need to refer to the 2 websites i mentioned above a lot...prepare to be frustrated ;)

3) If you are already fluent in one programming language and are just getting into Java programming, then this book might be ok as a quick overview of the Java language...but might be too basic for your needs...

Lastly, I just want to say that the author mentioning EverQuest in his book did not help his image :p, as EQ is the worst MMORPG ever made! Just had to get that out of my system ;)... Sorry :(...

BEGINNING PROGRAMMERS READ AND LEARN...
...this is not a programming for dummies book. The cover does not say "learning to program for people who have NEVER wrote a single line of code before" The cover says "Java 2" and based on that I thought the book was almost very good. I am a C++ guy transforming to Java, and I can see how this book would be very difficult for someone who has never punched out code before. If you want to learn to program you need to buy a book that says "learning to program" in no paticular language, the language is irrelavent, they're all the same at the beginning level. The reason I say "almost a great book" is because he does have a tendancy to give example code in chapters and in the example code are lines of code that are a complete mistery and I hate it when instructors do that. Other than that, if you have ANY other previous programming experiance, this is the book for you. It will have you up and running with Java 2 in no time.

Some people quickly looking at a description of this novel, Big If by Mark Costello, may mistake it for a book driven by suspense. After all, it has secret service agents, a world wide computer program simulating war, and a whole host of potential assassins. Those readers looking for a novel of suspense, or even any of form of a narrative driven approach to the novel, will be dismayed but, if they stick with it, they will be very richly rewarded and often delighted and moved. The author gives the reader a rich tapestry of minor and major characters and moments in their life. I marvelled that there was not a single character that did not interest me. There are no conclusions in any pat sense in the lives of these peopel only snapshots of a weekend. This book is a marvelous creation that should be enjoyed for these fascinating and pertinent characters. It is a wonderfully written moment in our time.

With this book blurbed by Franzen and Foster Wallace you know sort of what you're in for: verbal brilliance, unusual settings, darker humor. Costello does not disappoint. His novel about Vi, a Secret Service agent assigned to an unnamed Vice President in the midst of a Presidential campaign, also tells of Vi's larger family, her collegues, their 'down time' lives, and a refracted view of America. While Costello seems to fit right into a certain subcategory of novelists (afore mentioned Franzen and Wallace--what category would that be labelled I wonder?) he isn't a clone. He has a more narrative driven, accessible novel here, one where you get to care about some of the characters; certainly he is very very talented with the language; quick wit.

Mark Costello is a federal prosecutor from Boston whose first book was Bag Men, published under the name of John Flood. With Big If, he writes a novel that defies easy classification. Big If is politically suspenseful, humorous, domestic, and literary, with a few elements of near-futuristic science fiction. Like George Orwell (who wrote about British society in 1948 and disguised it slightly to come up with 1984), Costello writes with a great deal of insight into contemporary culture.

As the Vice President makes his way around the country on the campaign trail, the Secret Service people who protect him each deal with their own monsters and visions of potential disaster. Gretchen, a survivor of the L.A. riots of 1965 and 1991, has to balance the pressures of single motherhood with her highly demanding job. Tashmo's having marital problems dating back to his days with Felker on the Reagan team. Always alert for potential assassins, Vi is in conflict with her brother Jens, a programmer who designs monsters for a web-action survival game called Big If. Bobbie just wants to make it through the campaign alive so she can land another wealthy husband. As in Lawrence Kasden's 1992 movie Grand Canyon, the unexpected strikes again and again, keeping the reader glued to the page.

The result is a funny, suspenseful, and truthful book of great interest to anyone who grew up American in the last 50 years, whether you're usually drawn to political suspense or not.

This is the first published book for the SCJEA certification.
Although it's very light (less than 200 pages), it does cover
EJB, UML, Design Patterns, Security, Internationlization, and Protocols. It provides useful information on how to apply your
knowledges on these topics, but you should learn the knowledges
from practice or from other books. It contains some very interesting mock questions, on UML, Security, Internationalization, Protocols, which help you a lot to understand the concept in an architect's way. It provides a case study for part II and part III, although it is a good example, you need to know enterprise java architecting before reading this chapter.

I finally decide to give it 4 stars instead of 5 because of two reasons:
1. There is nothing about messaging. legacy connectivity.
2. They copied the nine sample questions from Sun's site, but gave no more explanation. What's more, in the book, the answer of question 5 is incomplete (it should be A, E, but in the book, the answer is E), and the answer of question 9 does not appear in the book (which is D).

Since it's the only one available, I suggest you buy (or borrow) this book...

I was tempted to only give the book three stars, but it does accomplish what it sets out to do, which is to prepare you for the 48-question enterprise architect exam. The exam was somewhat easier than I expected, so I've moderated my initial opinion that the book was too simple--now it's the exam that I think is too simple, and the book is just right for the exam. Reading this book, just like taking the exam or gaining certification, won't make you an architect nor even prove that you already are one.

Note however that this book was published in March 2002, so it is already somewhat dated. However, as of June 2003 the SCEA exam still focuses on J2EE 1.2 (and EJB 1.1), so for now the book is still relevant to the exam. By the end of 2003 there should be a new version of the exam, and then the book will be out of date. (BTW, if you take the J2EE 1.2 version of the exam, beware not to answer any questions based on J2EE 1.3 or 1.4--for instance, there were no message-driven beans in EJB 1.1.)

One area the book completely misses, but which figures prominently in the exam, is the subject of interfacing with legacy systems. Fortunately for me I had plenty of experience interfacing with legacy systems already when I took the exam or I would have felt a little blind-sided by the lack of coverage for it in the book. (Hmmm...not sure if 'fortunately' is quite the right word to describe my experience with legacy systems.) Other than this omission, if you feel comfortable with the subjects in the book then reading this book (which won't take too long) should be enough preparation for the exam. Hopefully most of this will be review of stuff you already know with a few new pieces of information scattered throughout. I mean, you only need to get 33 out of 48 questions correct to pass, so it's not exactly rocket science.

I disagree with what some readers feel about the book. This book is just what a study guide should be. Concise and focused on the objectives of the exam. I read the book, took the exam and passed. I had very little time to study and this book, being so concise, definitely helped.

If it had taken 1000 pages to help me prepare for a 48 questions exam, then I would think that the author merely just did a 'cut and paste' from EJB specs and a few other books. Instead, this author bothered to extract the essence of the information required for SCEA and presented it to the reader.

Most of the sections - Security, I18n, Protocols, EJB, and Design Pattern are well written in an easy to understand and concise manner.

Having said all that, I wonder why some objectives are missing. Common Architecture, Legacy Connectivity and Messaging are left out completely. Also, the UML section could have covered a few more notations.

Still a good book for SCEA candidates but take note, it says "Study Guide" not "Idiot's Guide". So don't expect the book to teach you how to write the "Hello World" Bean.

One day I was trying to play a star trek demo that I downloaded and it woudln't run on my cyrix MII machine, so I said "forget this, im going to buy a new comptuer", then I said "nah, i will just pay a friend to make it", then i said "forget that...I WILL MAKE IT". I then went out and bought this book. The first 2 or 3 chapters give you alot of inspiration..and "you can do it"'s. The author gives you alot of invaluable background information, but I didn't find myself using the book to make the pc. I mean how many words does it take to tell how to install a pci card..and the author didn't quite give you enough details about what to buy specifically, In the beginning when it came down to video cards and a motherboard, i found myself looking into newsgroups (which the author reccommended). Well the moral of the story is i promised myself i wouldn't write a review unless it was from my new computer..and here I am fulfilling my promise. a PIII 550, 15.0 gb hard drive, 128mb ram, 32 mb tnt2 video card, 16 pci soundblaster, blah blah blah..i spent $1200 grandtotal including monitor. be prepared to spend money for a good system. You will not find a secret to building your own computer for $300. my system works, this book got me started, but once i was past the starting phase I needed more resources. Good luck to anyone trying to build a computer and if you have any questions email me at igiantsl@aol.com AND bobbyt10213@aol.com and i will try to help you.

This is another great book in the Dummies series. I had never built a computer before, but this book showed me how. My brother and I built two computers in about a day and a half, and this book was a big help. But although the book was a great introduction to computers and components, and although it did a great job convincing me that even I could build a computer, it was a bit outdated when it came to hardware. That's a dilema, of course, because new computer products come onto the market so fast that by the time a book makes it to the market, it's already a bit behind. I suggest that the publisher post an "update" chapter on its website. Then, even if the book gets a bit outdated, readers can download the "update" chapter to find out about important recent developments in computer hardware that the book didn't already cover.

As a Value Added Reseller, I have been building computers for the last 15 years. I am now recommending "Building a PC for Dummies" for first time computer builders and those who want to open the hood and understand what's inside. The book takes a humorous approach to the construction process and provides a complete "How To" step by step processes. The components of a computer system can change each month. Information about the latest and greatest parts can be gained from many other sources, such as Toms Hardware. For the first timer, this book is a must have.

Dave Barnett Vice President SDSI Business Systems

As you can see from the assortment of past reviews, people either love Mark Leyner or hate him (I wanted to use "get him" or "don't get him" but then this becomes snooty, and I'm trying to avoid snooty). He's different, what can I tell you? If you're a traditionalist who demands plot, theme and some semblence character development, you'll do better to move on past. However, if you fancy something a bit different, where the words and imagery take precedence over literature style-points, you've got to give Leyner a shot. I've found him to be especially popular with those who enjoy contemporary poetry, if that's more helpful. "My Cousin" was the first Leyner book I ever read and my mouth hung agape the whole way through- I never realized that anyone could get away with writing like that and be so great at it! Anyway, keep in mind, he's not for everyone, but if he's for you, you won't be sorry.

A tangy blend of sex, violence, and everything you should havelearned in Chem but they wouldn't teach you, My Cousin combinessubjects that were always afraid of each other in a way that makes just enough sense to keep you reading. By the middle of the book, you will be enough in tune with Leyner's message to laugh when Yogi Vithaldis's eye lands in the styrofoam coffee cup. In addition to its taboo subject matter, My Cousin covers the seemingly inconsequential with viscious detail, while easily skimming over anything that might become a plot. The dialog is indiffererent and cynical, indicative of the world where Leyner lives, where phone sex happens on the answering machine and a man is a man is an android. This book paints an exiciting and depressing picture of the future, a time when all the priorities will have changed. My advice to the reader: read twice, once to laugh and ask "why the hell..." and once to see "why" and to put it together. Lynne Plettenberg PS: Makes great quotes to throw off your friends in conversation.

In the hyperkinetic style of writing, one Leyner has been doing for well over a decade now you have to take what happens as a fever dream or the author inviting you into his acid flashback world.

Mark Leyner has a gift for prose and uses it along with cultural icons to create smart, if sometimes near-incoherent fiction. I remember reading this to a class of computer music students after class and they were laughing so hard they were near tears.

Perhaps it is a love/hate thing but there is no denying Leyner can conjure up some witty situations and absurdist comedy. It isn't that Leyner is a bad writer, rather it is readers expectations that make "My Cousin, My Gastroenterologist" polarizing. Leyner's metaphors are great fun, he does not spend much time with scenic description unless it has significant import to the story. The dialog is crisp and, well weird, but in a droll way. His choices of charaters and their stories are funny and merit re-reading.

If you can check the book out try the first page or two. If you find it funny or engrossing you probably won't be let down. If it makes no sense you might as well put the book down as it's not going to get any easier to deal with.

To the right minded reader this book is a treasure.

What a frustrating read!

As coursework, this book is very good: the explanations are logical and understandable, the sample code is clear and relevant to the topic, and the hands-on emphasis is great (although it occasionally tends toward "type this in - we'll explain why later").

As a publishing effort, however, VB5IC is abysmal! There are literally dozens errors of virtually every kind throughout its 1,000 pages: typos, inconsistencies, factual errors, and, perhaps most frustrating, leftovers from Visual Basic 4, including instructions to access menus which no longer even exist!

I found myself unable to sustain any kind of continuous learning experience because I was constantly being distracted by glaring errors. It's the print equivalent of being in a classroom with people talking, lights flickering, chalk squeaking, and spitwads flying.

In summary, I am very unlikely to buy another Waite Group Press book. It's not that I can't forgive them for producing such a messy product and then charging $50 for it -- it's that I can't trust them not to do it again!

As an Avid Visual Basic Fan who has programmed extensively with all versions up to VB3, I find the concept of providing a mentor and recording the scores of the quizzes very useful. I believe the opportunity to receive a certificate of completion will help stay with the book as I wade through the more elementry material. A lot of changes have been made since VB3 and this looks like an ideal way to catch up. I have three problems with the Mentor portion of the approach. 1. The limit of 10 questions seems inappropriate. If the author fails to address 50 issues that are puzzling to the readers, he should welcome 50 questions. This would be beneficial to both the reader and the author. 2. The response from the Mentor should have enought depth to cover the question without further questions. My first question was responded to with little effort from the Mentor. 3. The questions should be added to the FAQ list for the chapter. My first question was not. A list of empty FAQ lists might massage the author's ego but it doesn't serve the readers. In spite of this, I love the approach and plan to take more of the courses. I hope that in time, some of these problems will be addressed. Keep up the good work. Jerry E. Shepherd

I found this book very well set out. Every time I have wanted to do something I have found it. A lot books have examples of things that you will not want to do. This book is filled with good practical examples. Don't listen to the wingers - yes there are typos in some code but the clear explanations and practical style more than make up for them and an Errata sheet is available from the waite website

I wrote the "Great Idea, But Poorly Executed" review of this book some months ago. After recently reading over some of the criticisms of my review, I think many reviewers missed my point. I DON'T necessarily disagree with at least some of Mark Hertsgaard's opinions in "The Eagle's Shadow". At times Americans can be overly greedy and materialistic, we probably should be paying more attention to our environment, and compared to most of Europe, our political instincts are definitely more conservative and "right-wing". I don't agree with some of his other statements, but the point of my review was that the subtitle of Hertsgaard's book, "Why America Fascinates and Infuriates the World" is inaccurate and misleading. Hertsgaard is essentially guilty of false advertising. I bought this book believing - as the cover title and introductory chapter indicates - that it is an account of how foreigners view the United States. What I got instead was a book with (at most) twenty quotes or comments from foreigners about the USA, and the remaining ninety percent of the book is all about Mark Hertsgaard's opinions of the USA. I'm all for learning about how Europeans, Africans, Asians and Latin Americans view our nation - but I don't really give a flip about what Mark Hertsgaard thinks - if I did, I'd have bought another book. As I wrote in my first review, Hertsgaard should have advertised this book for what it truly is - a platform for his personal (and, yes, generally left-wing) views of America. Maybe Hertsgaard thought that no one would buy a book about his personal views of what ails America - I know I wouldn't have. If your idea of learning about why many foreigners distrust and resent America is to study one guy's opinions on the subject, then by all means read "The Eagle's Shadow". As for myself, I'd rather hear the comments of, you know, actual foreigners. Not recommended.

In the prologue to "The Eagle's Shadow", Mark Hertsgaard - a writer and broadcaster for National Public Radio - states that, beginning in 2000, he traveled around the world interviewing foreigners for their opinions of the USA. His goal was to write a book about how people from other nations view the USA. And, given that the great majority of Americans often don't know much about their own country, much less other parts of the world, it's a worthwhile and timely topic to consider, especially since the tragic events of 9/11 last year. Unfortunately, Mr. Hertsgaard spends far more time giving his personal beliefs regarding how to improve America than actually looking at how foreigners regard the world's only surviving superpower. He starts off each chapter with a few quotes or anecdotes from people he met in Europe or Asia or Africa (for some reason many of his quotes come from South Africa), and then he quickly discards this analysis of foreigner's opinions and instead he begins describing his own beliefs about America in great detail. To cite just one example, in his chapter on the shortcomings of American democracy, he gives a few quotes about how foreigners viewed the 2000 presidential election controversy, and he then spends the rest of the chapter trying to prove that George W. Bush and the Republicans stole the presidential election from Gore. Frankly, I don't care what Mr. Hertsgaard felt about the 2000 election - instead, I wanted to learn how foreigners viewed Bush's election - which, after all, is what "The Eagle's Shadow" is supposed to be about. By the end of "The Eagle's Shadow" I knew all I wanted to know (and more) about the author's personal views of America's economic system, environmental record, greed and materialism, crooked politics, and more, but I still didn't know very much about how people from other parts of the world viewed these issues, or whether they blamed America for their own nation's troubles. Hertsgaard is a good writer and his book can be witty at times, but overall I felt that he should have advertised this book for what it really is - a platform for the author's personal beliefs about American society and politics - rather than an in-depth exploration of how foreigners view the USA. Out of five stars, I'd give this book two-and-a-half.

The Eagle's Shadow is a book that I would recommend to everyone no matter where they live on the planet. It is a well written look at the way we Americans are perceived by people who live outside the US.

The book is very informative about how much American culture and policies affect everyone in the world. Hertsgaard has encountered people in very remote areas of the world who are quite knowledgable about American culture. American products reach every corner of the earth, thus, they affect everyone on earth. The book also explains how our policies on the environment, economics, and foreign affairs affect people throughout the world. As globalization becomes more and more prevalant, books like this one become more important in order for us to understand our role and how we affect others in this new society. We must understand our actions so that we may anticipate and change how the rest of the world reacts to us.

Although it is clear from his writing that he is in support of the left wing, that does not mean this book is "left-wing propaganda." This book looks at the flaws of American foreign policies and our sometimes "cowboy mentality" when dealing with other countries and suggests some ways that we can change that and form better relationships with the rest of the world. However, it also looks at the wonderful freedoms, wealth, and potential that exists in America and how these can be gifts to the world if used responsibly.

I think some of the people who gave bad reviews may have missed the point of the way the book was written. The book was not supposed to be a bunch of interviews without any insight or reasoning to how these perceptions about the US formed. The author gave a few specific examples of ideas that many people in the world share regardless of their geographic location. The majority of the book was about the source of these views, both good and bad. Hertsgaard takes his interviews and applies the history and the current events that shape the ideas that are expressed by the people he spoke with.

Also, I think the bad reviews illustrate the author's views that Americans are largely ignorant of things that happen outside of this country, and the policies that our goverment and corporations impliment both at home and abroad. It is very hard for someone to hear that they are ignorant in any way. This does not mean Americans are ignorant. It just means we tend to be ignorant about certain things. As illustrated in the book, this is not entirely our fault. Our media gives us a very one-sided view of the world and how it works. The vast majority of mainstream media is owned by a handful of corporations who are naturally going to give us news that benefits their profit margins and image. This is not some conspiracy idea or anything like that. For the past few years, I have almost exclusively watched BBC and ITN news (on PBS). The amount of unbiased information that I received from these sources far exceeds that of network news and even CNN. Two months ago, I got digital cable and EuroNews was one of the new channels I watch (it is like a European version of CNN). Although I do not know how it ranks with other news sources in Europe, I do know that it is the BEST television news source in the US right now. I hear ideas and events that are going on all over the world (and here in the US) that are either not mentioned or glossed over in American television news. I apologize for this rant, but I think it illustrates that we are not as knowledgable about history and current events as we should be. This has to change if we are going to enter the new globalized society that is forming right now. If not, we will be left behind.

After the 9/11 tragety, the majority of Americans felt that they had to agree with everything our government was doing. Anyone who disagreed was considered anti-American. While support to our leaders and society was needed and important, it was also important to voice honest ideas and opinions. When I think of America the first thing that comes to my mind is that I have freedoms that others don't have. The first of these is the freedom of speech. So, when people disagreed with Bush and the policies that the government wanted to implement, THEY were being the real patriots and were the most pro-American. To paraphrase Hertsgaard stated in his book, we cannot substitute a feeling of security for our rights.

I read this book to help me with character development. Dr. Dimitrius writes with great authority, if not excrutiating detail about jury selection. But I found a lot of profiles share so many similarities that it got confusing. Most behavior and appearance clues are something the average person already knows. And Dr. Dimitrius is careful to remind the reader that (whatever it was on the list) is not enough to make an accurate conclusion - repeatedly. The mention of the Rodney King and O.J. Simpson trials were also tedious. What I hoped to gain from this book is to read people then possibly anticipate how they will act and react. But I feel all the information stops at identifying what a person possibly is. Maybe I was expecting too much.

As a counsellor who has studied behavioural psychology for years, there are very few times when I cannot read the inner thoughts of people. No I am not psychic, nor can I read minds, but what I can do is rely on my education and experience to discover where people are truly coming from, what they are really telling me and what they are not. I can unleash supressed feelings and predict future behaviour. Are they frightened, guilty, angry, depressed, anxious, lying, holding something back - emotions run rampant. Are they organized socials or disorganized antisocials? What will their next course of action be?

While this book certainly will not give you the credentials to psychoanalyze anyone in-depth, it will give the reader a broader insight into understanding people and where they are coming from. Sometimes predicting behaviour is often a matter of understanding a person's unique characteristics and patterns. Each of us has our own set of patterns - what time we generally arise each morning, when we leave for work, our spending and saving habits, where we shop, where we sit at the kitchen table, what we like and dislike, the way we think, and the list goes on.

In "Reading People" the authors present a variety of situations and explain what to look for in predicting and analyzing people. Tone of voice, body language, character traits all come into play. You do not need to be a psychologist to understand this book; it is well-written and exceptionally well organized and researched. I highly recommend "Reading People" for lawyers, business people, and as a guide for anyone in their personal lives. It certainly is not going to make one a professional analyst, but it will give you a better understanding of people and what makes them tick.

I originally picked up this book at the library, hoping it might give me quick tips for my sales job. It didn't, but what it did give me was a way to better understand people. I had to buy a copy for myself to read again, and I'm getting as much out of it the second time. Yes, a lot is common sense, but this book goes beyond common sense and stereotypes to help us see what's underneath the clothes, skin color, etc. I have found it to be a helpful aid to choosing the people I want in my life. I also found it enjoyable to read because of my interest in people and psychology.

I have read the author's previous books on Newton programming, so I knew what to expect from this book. I wasn't expecting a combined tutorial/reference that could stand apart from the Palm docs, nor was I expecting it to cover "cool" stuff like writing Hacks for Hackmaster.

I mostly got what I expected, which was a good introduction to programming for the Palm platform, with fairly detailed technical introduction and programming hints for the user interface, database management, beaming, find, and a few other basic topics.

In a few places, though, the text gets a little hard to follow, and could benefit from a re-edit. Also, the code examples for the book's sample application are frequently presented out of context. You can usually understand how a particular API call is used, but it becomes difficult to see how this code fragment fits into the bigger picture.

Finally, for Linux programmers, the accompanying CD contains packages of development software (GCC, PilRC, and associated utilities). However, one of the packages (the prc-tools RPM) was put together badly, and hence if you install the software you get a non-working development environment. Once you do get a working development environment, the sample code needs some tweaking before it will compile - the Makefiles have DOS carriage-returns in it which confuse gmake, and the code examples themselves have mixed case in the #include directives which do not match the actual files on disk. It's obvious the code was developed on Windows, and the Linux side was never tested. I have tweaked, built, and run the sample application from Linux, so it can be made to work - you just have to be a little resourceful. I have to say, though, that I expected better quality control from O'Reilly.

After reading the other reviews here I was a bit hesitant at purchasing this book. I just needed a little bit of a helping hand in several areas. This book gave me exactly what I was looking for. It made many of the basic functions easier to understand.

In the introduction the book states that it was not written from start to finish, and was not really designed to be red that way, but if you want to you can. I did not need to read cover to cover, I just jumped to the bits that I needed help with. If you are not a C programmer or are an experienced palm programmer this book is not for you. If you know C (even just the basics of it) or C++ and you do not know palm, or only know limited palm, then this book could be a big help. I know it was for me.

I would sum it up as "A good learning reference". Not a learning guide to itself but that is what the palm documentation is for anyway.

I found this book to be extremely helpful. Well organized, excellent examples, it was a great fit for me. Very helpful for any sort of Palm Programming. Provides motivation for development as well as explanations of benifits of using a Palm and how to program to take advantage of these benifits...
Also, I had a question and emailed the author and heard back in only a few hours - talk about fast response and customer care!

I would like to share my thoughts with everyone that wants to buy this book.
I'm obsolutely agreed that this book is full of buggy codes and errors, even the finished files that provided in the CD are not working. This is really a waste of time and money for just figuring out the bugs!!

There are no Source-Code Files added on the CD. Without that Files it is very difficult to complete the lessons, especially because there are isn't everything correct in the book. Additional to that the SWF Files added on the unkind designed CD are completely useless, because they don't work and some files are missing that are important for the SWF's to work. I looked at [the web site] and the Project Files downloadable from there are useless as the ones on the CD provided with the book. To the book: The book itself is written in a clearly and easily style. If you are new to flash but almost have written one or two lines of code in java or any other language it will be no problem to get through the book, if there was not the file-issue i described. The design of the book is very undkind and there are too many white blank spaces. This spaces would have better been filled with a good reference. But there's no refernce at all.

In my opinion the book was published for A) money making B) something cool to show-off with for the editors on their webpage as 2advanced did for example. Don't get me wrong, i appreciate the style and high skill from 2advanced but i do not appreciate with the style and the spare knowledge imparted to the reader.

Summary: bought, opened, closed, sold again. Thank god for the amazon marketplace. This book is no longer my property. I'll will spend the money wiser next time, "friends of ed" - books.

I have been designing Web sites for years, and was a Network Engineer for years before that. This book is well written and talks about great examples, but it doesn't work. I know Flash. I know a bit about Flash Action Scripting, but I have not been able to get one single script to work correctly. You shouldn't have to read a second book just to get the one you bought to work right. Like someone else said, even the finished examples don't work right, so you can't look at that code to see what's wrong.
I expect much more than that from any book, and I would return this book if I still could. I spent too much time thinking I was doing something wrong to be able to return it now, though.
In summary, buy another book. You will probably be happier.