I have another of Wallace Wang's books--"Steal this Book," which I found amusing and useful, and in my search for something to supplement a poorly written text for a class in vb.net, ran across this. I am dissappointed and have to agree with the other reviewer here who noted something like "why use 50 pages for what you can do in 350." The text is the most basic I have seen out of greater than twenty (I've looked at), and uses over the first half of the book just explaining why a programmer might like to align his objects and basic tripe like this. For non-designers even, this is poorly written. The reader won't get into anything really useful until the book is almost complete and then you'll be like "what the..."

I needed a reference because the text I'm using by Diane Zak, did not even explain the most basic things like "why define a variable" and honestly, for ten dollars less than the Wang book, Sybex' "Visual Basic .NET Complete" is a bargain and even has this question indexed! I like "The Complete Idiot's Guide to Visual Basic .NET" for a beginners book, by Clayton Walnum, though I'm still reviewing it, and there's a multitiude of good high-end works on the subject. Wallace Wang really needs to reassess this technical end, because the entire compilation of information in this book was covered in the first couple of chapters in Zak's. One extreme to the other. Both inadequate. I would be hard pressed recommending this for even a "dummie."

For non-programmers who won't need to DO any VB programming. Much of content is repetitive and did I say repetitive? Examples are useless and do absolutely nothing you'd ever want to actually do. No CD with book, but you don't need one since code is as advertized, for idiots. On some of the more complex issues (the few he covers) I found treatment confusing and generated many more questions than it answered. I did enjoy the author's "flippant" tone. This may be the place you want to start if you are a computerphobic who's determined to start programming. Its almost painless and just as useful.

Having no experience in programming, this book provided an excellent introduction to VB.NET. I had looked some other books but found them to be written for programmers, not newbies. I gave this book a 4 because although it does deliver the basics of VB.NET in a easy to understand way, it has some worthless examples. I can understand some simple examples not to confuse the reader, but I also want steady progression throughout the book to some half-way decent real-world examples. If you get this book, which I do recommend for newbies, supplement it with one of the books from the big guns (Wrox, O'Reilly etc...).

This book is poorly organized and poorly indexed. It appears to be written by someone who wants to impress upon others what a great programmer he is but is not concerned with clearly passing on his knowledge. He uses unnecessarily extravagant examples in early chapters to explain relatively simple concepts. He then expects you to constantly flip back to these early chapters while trying to decipher the later chapters. He covers the syntax fairly well but virtually ignores the semantics. The power of C++ programming lies in understanding the semantics of the language - the syntax is trivial. If you are a computer science professional who understands how scoping and function parameter passing is implemented at the cpu and memory level then get Ira Pohl's "Object Oriented Programming Using C++". Pohl tersely explains the semantics and power of C++ without resorting to unnecessarily complicated code examples.

I didn't have the chance to read the book thoroughly until recently when I have free time to go over it all. I find all the fundamental aspects of the C++ programming has been explained thoroughly and very clearly. But I would not recommend anyone with very little C++ experience to read the book because it's not meant for beginners.

a good book not only on C++, but also a good intro. to OOP. strongly recommended. but, it's not for everyone, just like the Unix OS.

I read this book because I was interested in reading something from China. They say Shuo is the most popular writer in China, so.. but I was overall disappointed by this book: I'm sure there's something in it concerning the chinese sensibility that I couldn't understand, but what the heck! I'm talking from my own point of view, and my point of view says that the plot is too confused, the middle part is really slow and there are too many things to keep in mind: I think a good writer should help the reader remember things that are important to the plot. I liked the descriptions very much, any of them, they sound like beautiful dreams. And I liked the dialogue between Fang Yang and Li Jiangyun very much: it's good to put the wiser words in a woman's mouth. Nice metaphors, too.

Wang Shuo knows Beijing and its citizen and shows they better than anybody else.If you have the chance go and live the ways of the Beijing of Wang Shuo. Maybe you'll find a Fan Yang in your way....

certainly there were times when you might lose a thread, but i don't get why people didn't think the plot came together. i find his style a little austerish (paul), in that psuedo-mystery sort of way. after su tong he's now my second favorite chinese writer.........

I found this book somewhat outdated. Even though it was well-written if was of little value. There are several other books of better quality.

I found this text very valuable in explaining the differences between these two methods and how each handles the dependent variable (head) and its first derivative (flow). The text also discusses Laplaces equation, iterative methods including Gauss-Seidel/SOR. Chapters are dedicated to finite difference and finite element methods under steady-state and transient conditions. It also demonstrates how each element is handled separately using finite element method and then the equations are assembled into a conductance matrix.

This text is a very good complement to other modeling texts. However, if you want to learn how to set up your hydrogeologic conceptual model, what data is needed to develop a good model, how to choose your numerical model, verify, calibrate your model, interpret results and perform a post audit, this is not that text. For the purpose of model setup etc. I would recommend Applied Groundwater Modeling.

I've used this book in two of my groundwater modeling classes. Despite the fact that it is a little outdated, it has the clearest explaination I've come across of the mathematics behind groundwater modeling. In addition, it contains very good example problems.

If you're job requires database marketing and you need to find ways to do it better, this book is not for you. This book appears to have been written more for the marketing manager who has database marketers reporting to him or her, but who has no direct involvement in the process. This book is just a basic overview of what database marketing is, with no practical use.
Even the examples appear contrived and not actual case studies.

Incidentally, years after purchasing this book, I took a database marketing course in my MBA program that was taught by the wife of one of the authors. Like the book, the course didn't offer much either.

This book doesn't have a lot of real world business cases, a little bit boring. On the other hand, it doesn't have much theoretical depth either. As a practioner, I didn't find much useful info. inside.

Jackson and Wang have developed a "Bible" for implementing database marketing. The book helps marketers implement a customer management program at any level of application by applying 3 basic building blocks of skills. Best book i've read on the topic !

Mathematical difficulty will make you tired. But the idea to adjust the fuzzy parameters, i think, is helpful to study adaptive fuzzy control. Mathematical difficulty is due to stability analysis.

The previous reviewer said this is a mathematically difficult book? I say yes and no. This is a nice book for theoretical fuzzy control novice. It is considered a thin book but covers sufficient basics leading to concept and design of fuzzy logic and fuzzy control.

But watch out! This is not a book for those who have not a propriate background of control theory nor advanced mathematics (abstract algebra and numerical analysis). If you are a student or someone who has little or no knowledge of such topics, I suggest you to find other books.

I think this book is excellent for those who need to design control machinary, as artificial intelligent base. I recommend this book to anybody who needs an introduction of fuzzy control theory and design (maybe for people who work for control machinary manufacturing companies?).

Master Wang is one of China's great energy healers and a fascinating personality who has visited America for several years to teach Taoist & Tibetan Qigong. I have attended a dozen of his healing workshops and recommended several acupuncture patients to attend, & he gets results. So I would like to give this book high rating but that's not possible. Although it gives basic background and presents some interviews of people who benefit from treatments, it really misses the chance to present either a portrait of a wonderful, fascinating healer or an in-depth examination of an extraordinary healing modality. This is more like an advertising document, descriptions of workshops are lifted from the healing brochure, and most of the details could be heard by anyone who attends a couple of workshops. In a day and age when there exists a substantial body of excellent literature on Qigong, Taoism, Budhhism & Tibetan studies, this book still preaches on the tired theme that the West doesn't understand Eastern philosophy. Still, anyone who reads this is encouraged to attend Master Wang's healings & workshops, and you can easily get your own ideas beyond what is offered here.

I've gone to one of Master Wang's workshops and find his approach to healing to be unique. This book is not by him, but by a follower, and so doesn't have much theory. Still, it helps explain the experience of being treated by Wang, and how it improves health.

The lack of a paragraph stating it's contents is your first clue. The second is looking at the cover, enlarged, you see it covers NT 4. Those tests are not given any more. Wait until Dummies puts out one that covers Wondows 2000.

I'm looking for a study set for the MCSE Core exams. I thought I would check out the reviews for this Dummies series. But, I don't feel I can trust the review from Mr. Kropp since his review is dated 2/2000 stating how much this set helped him but, the series wasn't published according to this site until 5/2000 some 3 months later. I can't imagine how the 21 of 22 people found this helpful, unless they just needed a good laugh to brighten their day.

I think Amazon should bar some people from reviewing. I was browsing through A+ Certification books and 1 name kept popping up. This guy has reviewed about 20 books pretaining to the A+ Certification and has given them all 5 stars! Does anyone really need to read 20 books for 1 exam? Or is he just skimming through them like a so called speed reader? Anyway, I find this rather annoying and I would like to warn people not to let professional reviewers influence your decision. I have NOT read this book so ignore my rating. I have the Dummies book for A+ and would highly recommend it!

"Steal This Computer Book" is a good introduction to the existence of the dark side of computing, but there's not a whole lot here for the advanced user. Some chapters just seem to be lists of reference material (URLs, mostly); others provide some in-depth info on specific topics. If you're looking for a "how-to" guide, this is not the book for you. The final chapter, "Hostile Java Applets," contains the entire code of three such applets, but has no explanation of how they work -- if you don't already know Java, this chapter will do almost nothing for you. It has the feel of an author who has some basic knowledge of the subject, and has read some other books or articles on the topic, but then went and found some things and just pasted them into his book. The section on phreaking is the same way. My advice? Buy this book, read it all the way through and copy down all the URLs, and then return it. Even advanced users (like, I daresay, myself) will have gained some additional perspective on certain matters, though a good amount of the material needs to be taken with a grain of salt. Newbies certainly should read this book, to gain at least a basic groundwork of knowledge (if not understanding) about the topics presented herein.

Overall this is a good book. The first part is sorta stupid, though. It talks mainly about how not to only listen to one person but to get information from multiple sources. It could be summed up in about a page.

Chapter 4 talks about buying computers and software. It helped me out by giving me some tricks to do next time I buy a computer.

Chapter 5 tells you about keeping your files secure with encryption. It tells you about some different types of encryption algorithms and how to write your own encryption programs. It also shows you how to play some dirty tricks. It talked about using anonymous remailers to send anonymous email and talked about just how anonymous they were. It even told you how to surf the web anonymously so that people couldn't receive information about your computer, browser, and more.

Chapter 6 told about phone phreaking history such as captian crunch. Wallace then goes on by telling you possibly things that could've happened but didn't. When telling these stories he tries to make himself sound like a phreaker but he didn't even do anything. Then, he tells your some really obvious stuff like "To start phone phreaking, you need access to a telephone." and "phreaking from your own phone will let the telephone company trace it to your house." I don't know if he couldn't think of anything else or he thinks you are really stupid. After that, he talks about phreaking color boxes and then goes on to voice mail hacking. Then, he talks about cellular phone fraud and tv satellite descrambling.

Chapter 7 talks about defeating windoz 3.1/95/98 screen saver passwords which if you ever tried you should've done it on the first or second try. It also talks about cracking program passwords and then it goes on to defeating parental control software. If you can't access certain web pages, Wallace tells you how by having the html code emailed to you. He also shows you how to read banned books in secret.

Chapter 8 talks about harassing online services, how pedophiles stalk innocent children and what you can do to stop them. He tells you about generating fake credit card numbers and making your own online harassment program.

Chapter 9 talks about stopping spam. It shows you multiply ways to take revenge on spammers. If the spammer used a forged email address, Wallace shows you how to track down the spammer like two magnets attracting each other.

Chapter 10 shows some pictures of acctual hacked web sites and how to hack them.

Chapter 11 shows you how to track people down by using specific things about them. For example if you only had their SSC# how you could still find them no matter where they were. At the end of the chapter, he shows you how to hide yourself if you don't want to be tracked down or how to let someone easily find you if, for example, you gave your child up for adoption years ago and you don't want to contact him/her but you do want to let them find you if they ever wanted you.

Chapter 12 shows you about ConGames on the Internet. It shows you how to do them and how to protect yourself from them.

Chapter 13 Viruses Part I. ( I heard that the plural form of virus is exposed to be virii, just like the plural form or fungus is fungi but in the book it is written viruses so that's how I will spell it.)

This chapter expains what viruses are, the parts of them, how to tell if you have a virus on your computer, the different infection methods, if all viruses are bad and how to learn more about them.

Chapter 14 Viruses Part II.

This chapter shows the different methods of how an antivirus program works and what to do if you find a virus ( If you say any idiot knows that if you find one you should delete it, but you could also send it in to an antivirus program if you think it is a uncommon virus, keep a copy of it, modify the virus and make a new one and many other things.)

Chapter 15 tells you about writing your own computer virus. Wallace also tells you to watch out because viruses sometimes attack their own creators. He tells you some true things about antivirus companies like how they hire virus writers to help them detect viruses (makes sense, doesn't it) and how that their isn't any evidence of this, but that they may hire the virus writers to write a virus that only they have the antidote for so people will buy their program to detect it.

Chapter 16 is about Java applets. I haven't read all of it but so far so good.

Appendice A is the glossary with a decent amount of terms covered in the book. I really haven't used it too much because I never needed to.

Appendice B is Visual Basic 3.0 ( a very easy programming language that I suggest you learn ) source code for altering Mega$hack. A program he discusses in 12. ( it is used by cons but he alters it so they get a taste of their own medicine.) The source code is written on the page so you will have to type it into your Visual Basic Compiler.

Appendice C is about additional resources. It is compiled of online magazines, webpages, hacker conventions and more.

Summary: This book is for you if you are interested in the above things. The websites and newsgroups in the book lead to nothing except for a few like metacrawler that he obviously was paid to advertise for. If you are still unsure after unreading all the reviews, go to a local bookstore and see if they have this book there. If they do then look at it, see if you like it and if so, compare the prices of Amazon plus the shipping and time to the prices of the bookstore. I hope that this review helped you because I know what it is like to have one person rate it 5 stars and another person rate it 1 star. Sinse this is a pain, I figured that instead of giving my opinion, I would tell you what the book had in it.

A great way of teaching some of the less enlightened about computer saftey some of the ins and outs. It has some wonderful information. One complaint: it doesn't really *tell* you how to certain things, just hints at how you could find out.

Highly recommended.

Of all the many decks that I own, I find this one to have the most patheticaly-rendered artwork. This is the only deck I own that looks as-if it was painted by someone who should really have let someone-else do the work. There are a few cards that are well-done (very few) and I have used those in a collage of Tarot cards and backs (from the extras in most decks). The rest of the cards are collecting dust. I would only recommend this one for collectors and those interested in Secret Societies/ Occult groups.

I cant testify as to the accuracy of the cards' symbolism (I havent gotten the appropriate books yet), but what I've seen gave me some insights.

The main problem I see with the deck is it's art, which, IMHO, is mediocre and to which I cant connect. It's a far cry from the art of Crowley's deck, and isnt as good as the art of Waite's "cartoonish" deck.

I have found the simple artwork of this deck to be excellent for meditation and visulization exercises. There are certainly flashier decks around. There are certainly decks around that are more beautiful. However, I find this deck to be a highly useful tool. When I first got the deck to use with Kraig's _Modern Magic_, I admit that I didn't like it very much. Over time, the deck has grown on me. Robert Wang's book which explains the deck gives a clear introduction to the philosophy behind the deck.