tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-74027243632118397002024-03-18T02:10:24.440-07:00Santosh on Software (SOS)Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger57125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7402724363211839700.post-36677282574589695132014-11-15T07:48:00.004-08:002014-11-15T07:48:49.646-08:00Book Review: MongoDB: The Definitive Guide by Kristina Chodorow (O'Reilly, 2nd Edition)<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
This is a very organized, detailed, and very easy to learn book.<br />
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As a developer who had just heard about MongoDB, I was able to get up and running with the first four chapters itself. The next four chapters focuses on indexing, aggregating, collecting, and using MapReduce. This is more than enough to get you into full swing. The rest of the book covers administration, replication, sharding, etc.<br />
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Whether you are MongoDB developer, administrator, or deployment person, you will find a lot of relevant information for your projects in this book. </div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7402724363211839700.post-75564720949791525822014-04-25T09:28:00.001-07:002014-04-25T09:28:06.904-07:00Video Review: Software Architecture Fundamentals - Part 2 by Neal Ford and Mark Richards<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
If you have read my earlier review <a href="http://santoshonsoftware.blogspot.com/2014/04/video-review-software-architecture.html">http://santoshonsoftware.blogspot.com/2014/04/video-review-software-architecture.html</a>, this is a continuation of the same series for Part 2.<br />
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No architecture is a silver bullet. One of the videos explains the trade-offs in choosing different solutions for the same problem. You have to give up something for the greater good. The videos provide coverage on comparing architectures, web services and messaging, SOA architectures, etc. I really enjoyed the video series as this was a much needed thing at this point in my career. I feel confident about being a great architect, defending my design, sticking to industry standards, and providing robust and future-proof solutions to complex IT problems.<br />
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Again, I would have given 6-stars to this series but am allowed to give only 5. </div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7402724363211839700.post-73067684792784253592014-04-24T11:47:00.001-07:002014-04-24T11:47:08.688-07:00Video Review: Software Architecture Fundamentals - Part 1 by Neal Ford, Mark Richards<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Neal Ford and Mark Richards are legendary folks in the Software Architecture world so naturally I was excited to get my hands on this video, part 1.<br />
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Being an "Architect" means different things to different people. It is a very complex, scary, world. The expectations are boundless. There are all kinds of architects in the IT world and I had a poor understanding of it before I went through this video. I was impressed by the coverage of all aspects and types of architects. Whether it is continuous delivery, tooling, navigating the political landscape, documentation, design patterns, etc - all are covered in great depth. The feeling is refreshing after you finish this series. A good sense of humor from both the architects keeps the interest piqued.<br />
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The demand and pay for architects is at an all time high. It is the best time in the IT industry to become an architect. The challenges are endless and the bar is really set high. This video puts things in the right perspective and would be instrumental in your success as an architect.<br />
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Once you go through this video, no one would be able to challenge your knowledge of what an architect should be or should not be doing. I would have given this 6-stars hands-down but the current system lets me give only 5-stars. </div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7402724363211839700.post-37323269632698623602014-04-15T11:46:00.000-07:002014-04-15T11:46:12.218-07:00Book Review: Learn to program with Scratch A Visual Introduction to Programming with Games, Art, Science, and Math <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="detailheader" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 20px; font-weight: bold;">
Learn to Program with Scratch</div>
<div class="detailSubHeader" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 18px;">
A Visual Introduction to Programming with Games, Art, Science, and Math</div>
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<div class="AuthorName" style="padding: 3px 0px 5px;">
By <a class="byLineLink" href="http://shop.oreilly.com/product/9781593275433.do#tab_04_0" style="color: #207cc1; text-decoration: none;">Majed Marji</a></div>
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Publisher: No Starch Press</div>
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Released: February 2014</div>
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Pages: 288</div>
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This is one of those books that I didn't read but feel confident to review. Let me explain - I let my 9-year old read it instead. My kid was thrilled to receive this book and try out the exercises. It rarely came to me for any explanation except for installation of Scratch and some random troubleshooting. </div>
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This is definitely a book I would recommend to any kid. It is very clear and examples are very simple and easy to follow. It kept my kid motivated and is helping him spend his summer vacation well. </div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7402724363211839700.post-90109354100187504152013-10-08T08:40:00.002-07:002013-10-08T08:40:44.716-07:00Video Review: Douglas Crockford JavaScript Master Class (O'Reilly)<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Having read Douglas Crockford's Javascript articles and blogs, I was naturally inquisitive to try out his JavaScript Master Class. Overall, I found the contents to be very good and relevant today even though this was released in 2009.<br />
<br />
Of course, some tracks could have been done a little better. For example, the starting video of "History of the language" is 44 minutes. It should have been trimmed to under 10 minutes, in my honest opinion. I would have liked more coverage on the other sections rather than 44 minutes on the history.<br />
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I finally understood the various inheritance mechanisms in JavaScript thanks to the coverage on pseudo-classical prototypical and functional inheritance. The coverage on the "Theory of the DOM part one and two" provide insights into the complex DOM model and how the browsers render them.<br />
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There are many snippets throughout the video that are enjoyable thanks to Doug's sense of humor. Overall, a good buy for those that are new to JavaScript. This doesn't qualify as a "Master class" but it is very good nevertheless. </div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7402724363211839700.post-58440985342528778342013-08-30T13:04:00.000-07:002013-08-30T13:04:24.683-07:00Book Review: Samsung Galaxy S4: The Missing Manual by Preston Gralla (O'Reilly)<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
The Samsung Galaxy S4 is a beautiful, sophisticated piece of art. Nothing short of amazing. However, to be able to use it like a pro, the manual that ships with the phone is pretty insignificant. You could either discover by talking with fellow S4 owners or look up videos online. This book seeks to put all that information in a simple-to-understand format so you can easily go through it step-by-step.<br />
<br />
Wow, I didn't know my Galaxy S4 could do that! Many a time, this was my reaction when I read about something that I wasn't aware of. The book has a lot of graphics and screenshots that make it a real pleasure to read and understand. When I got my new S4, I had often wondered what certain options meant and how some apps were used and this book actually covered those topics very well. I actually started using some of the apps, like S Health, after reading this book.<br />
<br />
Of the many things I learned, I could sync my calendar with Google Calendar and Outlook, start watching movies and TV shows while they are loading, send pictures and videos wirelessly to your TV, etc. Pretty neat book and expansive coverage overall. This book is actually 485 pages but you should be able to skim through it pretty fast. </div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7402724363211839700.post-34104385990947207532013-08-26T20:44:00.003-07:002013-08-26T20:44:55.702-07:00Book Review: The LEGO Build-It Book, Vol. 1 Amazing Vehicles By Nathanael Kuipers, Mattia Zamboni Publisher: No Starch Press<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="detailheader" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 20px; font-weight: bold;">
The LEGO Build-It Book, Vol. 1</div>
<div class="detailSubHeader" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 18px;">
Amazing Vehicles</div>
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<div class="AuthorName" style="padding: 3px 0px 5px;">
By <a class="byLineLink" href="http://shop.oreilly.com/product/9781593275037.do#tab_03_0" style="color: #207cc1; text-decoration: none;">Nathanael Kuipers, Mattia Zamboni</a></div>
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Publisher: No Starch Press</div>
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Released: July 2013</div>
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Pages: 136</div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13.333333969116211px;">When I showed the book cover to my 8-year old son, he just couldn't resist the temptation. He kept on asking me to get the book for him which I eventually did. I must say this book has made him happy and engaged.</span><br style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13.333333969116211px;" /><br style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13.333333969116211px;" /><span style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13.333333969116211px;">I am glad that the book has a one-pager with a "bill of materials". That allowed me to take a printout with me and my son to the Lego shop "pick a brick" section. If you already have a couple of Lego toys for building cars, you probably don't need to buy the parts at all.</span><br style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13.333333969116211px;" /><br style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13.333333969116211px;" /><span style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13.333333969116211px;">The graphics in this book are really crisp and delightful unlike the Lego manuals. The detail step by step instructions make it easy to make progress for a kid. If you have Super Speedster Item: 5867, then you don't need to buy the parts.</span><br style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13.333333969116211px;" /><br style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13.333333969116211px;" /><span style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13.333333969116211px;">Have fun for hours with your kids. I loaded the ebook on my laptop and projected to my big screen TV and enjoyed with my son.</span></div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7402724363211839700.post-46773228659651227282013-06-27T19:28:00.002-07:002013-06-27T19:28:35.611-07:00Book Review: AngularJS by Shyam Seshadri (O'Reilly)<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Although many readers may have been disappointed by the code examples in this book from the outdated Github site, I think overall this is a good book. AngularJS concepts are a bit difficult to comprehend for any beginner but this book does a decent job of easing the reader into it. More advanced readers, especially those who are impatient, may get a bit disappointed at the pace of this book.<br />
<br />
It takes a completely different mindset, no matter how fluent you are with web application programming, to understand the "Angular Paradigm". It is going to take time to grasp the concepts if you are learning Angular for the first time, no matter how well it is presented. It is certainly not the fault of this book if you get a cultural programming shock.<br />
<br />
The ideas and examples provided in the later part of the book are very useful and I would be using some of them for my applications. </div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7402724363211839700.post-34858605983197713882013-05-22T11:41:00.003-07:002013-05-22T11:41:48.934-07:00Book Review: Exam Ref 70-480: Programming in HTML5 with JavaScript and CSS3 by Rick Delorme (Microsoft Press)<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">This book takes care of a wide range of audience from a beginner to intermediate users at different levels of learning. It is pretty large and comprehensive with exercises and Q&A at the end of each chapter. </span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">I recommended this book to some more folks on my team and they found it useful as well.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">I got my certification with a good score. </span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><br /></span></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7402724363211839700.post-20661914632311127112013-03-14T09:14:00.001-07:002013-03-14T09:14:13.889-07:00My Review of CSS3: The Missing Manual, 3rd Edition<div class="hreview"><div class="item"><p><a href="http://oreilly.com/product/0636920024996.do">Originally submitted at O'Reilly</a></p><div><img src="http://images.powerreviews.com/images_products/10/04/17729565_100.jpg" class="photo" align="left" style="margin: 0 0.5em 0 0"><p style="margin-top:0">CSS3: The Missing Manual, 3rd Edition</p></div><a href="http://shop.oreilly.com/product/0636920024996.do" style="display: none;" class="url fn"><span class="fn">CSS3: The Missing Manual, 3rd Edition</span></a></div><br clear="left"><p><strong class="summary">Excellent coverage of all CSS3</strong></p><div>By <strong>sandyboy55</strong> from <strong>St Louis, MO</strong> on <strong><abbr title="2013314T1200-0800" class="dtreviewed" style="border: none; text-decoration: none;">3/14/2013</abbr></strong></div><p><div style="margin: 0.5em 0; height: 15px; width: 83px; background-image: url(http://images.powerreviews.com/images/stars_small.gif); background-position: 0px -180px;" class="prStars prStarsSmall"> </div></p><div style="display: none"><span class="rating">5</span>out of 5</div><p><strong>Pros: </strong>Concise, Easy to understand, Accurate, Well-written, Helpful examples</p><p><strong>Best Uses: </strong>Expert, Student, Novice, Intermediate</p><p><strong>Describe Yourself: </strong>Developer</p><p style="margin-top:1em" class="description">This book has been a pleasure to read. CSS3 has brought some great enhancements to the plain old CSS and this book does an excellent job of covering that. <br xmlns:pr="xalan://com.pufferfish.core.beans.xmlbuilders.xsl.Functions"><br>This book has 650 pages and that might sound intimidating. However, the language and the flow has been so friendly that you could literally pick something that interests you and get a deep coverage. <br><br>If you want to learn everything about CSS3, go out and pick this book. You will not regret it.</p><p style="margin-top:0.5em">(<a href="http://www.powerreviews.com/legal/terms_of_use.html" rel="license">legalese</a>)</p></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7402724363211839700.post-46859538556633855622013-01-04T13:55:00.001-08:002013-01-04T13:55:20.053-08:00My Review of Python for Kids<div class="hreview"><div class="item"><p><a href="http://oreilly.com/product/9781593274078.do">Originally submitted at O'Reilly</a></p><div><img src="http://images.powerreviews.com/images_products/00/53/16944046_100.jpg" class="photo" align="left" style="margin: 0 0.5em 0 0"><p style="margin-top:0">A Playful Introduction to Programming</p></div><a href="http://shop.oreilly.com/product/9781593274078.do" style="display: none;" class="url fn"><span class="fn">Python for Kids</span></a></div><br clear="left"><p><strong class="summary">Great book for 8-12 year olds</strong></p><div>By <strong>sandyboy55</strong> from <strong>St Louis, MO</strong> on <strong><abbr title="201314T1200-0800" class="dtreviewed" style="border: none; text-decoration: none;">1/4/2013</abbr></strong></div><p><div style="margin: 0.5em 0; height: 15px; width: 83px; background-image: url(http://images.powerreviews.com/images/stars_small.gif); background-position: 0px -180px;" class="prStars prStarsSmall"> </div></p><div style="display: none"><span class="rating">5</span>out of 5</div><p><strong>Pros: </strong>Accurate, Easy to understand, Well-written, Concise, Helpful examples</p><p><strong>Cons: </strong>Too basic</p><p><strong>Best Uses: </strong>Novice</p><p><strong>Describe Yourself: </strong>Developer</p><p style="margin-top:1em" class="description">I highly recommend this book for your 8-12 year olds (or other grownups who have an interest in learning programming). This book makes it dead simple by going over installation, basics of Python, and moving over to interesting things like graphics and building games with animations. <br xmlns:pr="xalan://com.pufferfish.core.beans.xmlbuilders.xsl.Functions"><br>The font is pretty kid friendly and the graphics used throughout the book will make sure your kids are not intimidated by the programming fears. The companion website makes it easy to grab all the examples in the book in addition to more programming puzzles. I have a 7-yr old who is grasping this book slowly. That's why I feel this book is suitable more for 8 year olds. However, it all depends on your child and your 5-year old may be able to pick it up as well. <br><br>Overall, the contents of the book are great and engrossing.</p><p style="margin-top:0.5em">(<a href="http://www.powerreviews.com/legal/terms_of_use.html" rel="license">legalese</a>)</p></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7402724363211839700.post-82281877259529424282012-12-02T18:17:00.001-08:002012-12-02T18:17:24.455-08:00My Review of HTML5 and JavaScript Web Apps<div class="hreview"><div class="item"><p><a href="http://oreilly.com/product/0636920024088.do">Originally submitted at O'Reilly</a></p><div><img src="http://images.powerreviews.com/images_products/08/25/15838915_100.jpg" class="photo" align="left" style="margin: 0 0.5em 0 0"><p style="margin-top:0">Building Apps for the Open Web</p></div><a href="http://shop.oreilly.com/product/0636920024088.do" style="display: none;" class="url fn"><span class="fn">HTML5 and JavaScript Web Apps</span></a></div><br clear="left"><p><strong class="summary">This book rocks!</strong></p><div>By <strong>sandyboy55</strong> from <strong>St. Louis, MO</strong> on <strong><abbr title="2012122T1200-0800" class="dtreviewed" style="border: none; text-decoration: none;">12/2/2012</abbr></strong></div><p><div style="margin: 0.5em 0; height: 15px; width: 83px; background-image: url(http://images.powerreviews.com/images/stars_small.gif); background-position: 0px -180px;" class="prStars prStarsSmall"> </div></p><div style="display: none"><span class="rating">5</span>out of 5</div><p><strong>Pros: </strong>Helpful examples, Accurate, Well-written, Easy to understand, Concise</p><p><strong>Best Uses: </strong>Novice, Intermediate, Expert</p><p><strong>Describe Yourself: </strong>Developer, Technical Leader</p><p style="margin-top:1em" class="description">Having met with Wesley Hales personally at the recent SAPInsider conference, I was pretty impressed with the quality of his presentation. Naturally I picked up this book as I wanted to learn more and I must say - This book rocks! <br xmlns:pr="xalan://com.pufferfish.core.beans.xmlbuilders.xsl.Functions"><br>Today web app development is a convoluted place to be. Wesley Hales demystifies the landscape by explaining what has changed from the traditional client/server model. That is, the browser is the platform!!! The browser has traditionally been a thin interface between the user and the server and that has changed in recent years due to enormous strides in the JavaScript capabilities supported today. <br><br>I don't want to mention too many details of this book but do want to mention how much I thoroughly enjoyed reading each and every chapter and learned quite a few new things in each chapter, although I have been playing with HTML5 for more than a year now.</p><p style="margin-top:0.5em">(<a href="http://www.powerreviews.com/legal/terms_of_use.html" rel="license">legalese</a>)</p></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7402724363211839700.post-69199119801897667532012-11-02T19:17:00.001-07:002012-11-02T19:17:14.395-07:00My Review of JavaScript and HTML5 at OSCON 2012<div class="hreview"><div class="item"><p><a href="http://oreilly.com/product/0636920027904.do">Originally submitted at O'Reilly</a></p><div><img src="http://images.powerreviews.com/images_products/08/23/18358351_100.jpg" class="photo" align="left" style="margin: 0 0.5em 0 0"><p style="margin-top:0">From the Client-Side to the Server Side</p></div><a href="http://shop.oreilly.com/product/0636920027904.do" style="display: none;" class="url fn"><span class="fn">JavaScript and HTML5 at OSCON 2012</span></a></div><br clear="left"><p><strong class="summary">Just OK</strong></p><div>By <strong>sandyboy55</strong> from <strong>St Louis, MO</strong> on <strong><abbr title="2012112T1200-0800" class="dtreviewed" style="border: none; text-decoration: none;">11/2/2012</abbr></strong></div><p><div style="margin: 0.5em 0; height: 15px; width: 83px; background-image: url(http://images.powerreviews.com/images/stars_small.gif); background-position: 0px -144px;" class="prStars prStarsSmall"> </div></p><div style="display: none"><span class="rating">4</span>out of 5</div><p><strong>Pros: </strong>Easy to understand</p><p><strong>Cons: </strong>Not comprehensive enough, Too basic</p><p><strong>Best Uses: </strong>Intermediate, Novice</p><p><strong>Describe Yourself: </strong>Developer</p><p style="margin-top:1em" class="description">Compared to OSCON 2011, these set of videos are just OK. There is no introductory type videos but most of the videos are just general. The number of videos is lesser too compared to last year. The quality of the videos is great. The presenters are well-respected too.</p><p style="margin-top:0.5em">(<a href="http://www.powerreviews.com/legal/terms_of_use.html" rel="license">legalese</a>)</p></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7402724363211839700.post-71469274309524657632012-10-07T18:18:00.003-07:002012-10-07T18:18:45.908-07:00Video Review: An Introduction to iOS Programming by Alasdair Allan<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<h2>
An Introduction to iOS Programming</h2>
<span class="subtitle">From Getting the SDK to Submitting Your First App</span> <br />
<div class="author">
By <a href="http://www.oreillynet.com/pub/au/3904">Alasdair Allan</a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-LjsLWaQBm_8/UHIotC4d0VI/AAAAAAAAFpE/BOozPrcVrJI/s1600/ios.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" mea="true" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-LjsLWaQBm_8/UHIotC4d0VI/AAAAAAAAFpE/BOozPrcVrJI/s1600/ios.gif" /></a></div>
This is an insanely great video for those starting out fresh with iOS Programming. iOS programming is much more complex than Android programming due to the large initial setup and licensing agreements. This video makes it easy to understand what exactly needs to be done and when. The author has made it look dead simple. Making absolutely no assumptions whatsoever! I was amazed at the detail oriented coaching that the author has put through with this video. It covers everything from the basics to getting your app prepared for sale on the app store and uploading it to iTunes Connect. This is so much better than reading a book. I was able to play the video side by side on a dual-screen with me trying out stuff in the first screen. It was an enjoyable experience.
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7402724363211839700.post-22644322139386903622012-09-29T15:33:00.000-07:002012-09-29T16:01:40.028-07:00Book Review: Super Scratch Programming Adventure by The Lead Project (O"Reilly)<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-3pkGrdoWEdY/UGd0wjfyJ7I/AAAAAAAAFo0/4wM3hweakxA/s1600/cat.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" kea="true" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-3pkGrdoWEdY/UGd0wjfyJ7I/AAAAAAAAFo0/4wM3hweakxA/s1600/cat.gif" /></a></div>
Scratch is developed by the Lifelong Kindergarten Group at the MIT Media Lab, with financial support from the National Science Foundation, Microsoft, Intel Foundation, MacArthur Foundation, Google, Iomega and MIT Media Lab research consortia.<br />
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I had heard of Scratch before but I didn't know what age group of kids it targetted. I assumed it was for teenagers that had an interest in computing but weren't interested in developing heavy-weight enterprise level projects. Since my kids are not teenagers yet, I put Scratch on the backburner. I was wrong!!! <br />
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This book made me rethink the target userbase for Scratch as anyone 8 and above (although 7-years olds will do well too!). Each page in the book is very colorful and full of graphics which makes it a pleasure to read for kids as well as adults (me!). I thoroughly enjoyed reading each page as I felt like a little boy out on an adventure. Once I did completed this book, I got my kid started and enjoyed his feelings and thoughts on Scratch. He hasn't completed the book yet but I know he will go slow and steady on it.. probably reading a chapter a week. This is his third week and he is on chapter 3 and he hasn't put the book down yet. I don't think he will!<br />
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7402724363211839700.post-49179960994254075432012-09-07T18:05:00.004-07:002012-09-07T18:05:57.124-07:00Book Review: What's new in CSS3 by Estelle Weyl (O"Reilly)<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
If you are a serious HTML5/CSS3/JavaScript developer, chances are you have heard of Estelle Weyl, seen her presenting at OSCON and other conferences, or bookmarked her <strong><em>standardista.com </em></strong>website. Estelle Weyl is a very popular speaker and author so I was naturally excited to get this book. For the most part it is good stuff. <br />
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This book is a very very brief overview of what's happening in the CSS3 world of specs and recommendations. Most of the chapters are extremely small. For example, Chapter 10 and 11 are just one paragraph each. Chapter 9 is just two pages. The writing is of high quality just like the author. However, I am slightly disappointed by the total lack of any depth in the book. It would easily have been an article on the web or just a blog. The actual book content (excluding TOC, Preface, etc) is about 25 pages. If you remove the last pages of the chapters that are just a paragraph long, it's even lesser. <br />
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In short, I absolutely love the author and am a huge fan of her presentations on OSCON and other conferences. This book falls short of my expectations, not in the quality of the content but in the lack thereof. </div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7402724363211839700.post-4359758783673852402012-09-06T15:32:00.000-07:002012-09-06T15:32:26.382-07:00Book Review: WebGL: Up and Running by Tony Parisi (O'Reilly)<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
This book makes it easy to learn WebGL. Although not targetted for advanced users, it made it easy for me to understand WebGL and the three.js library. Honestly, I haven't worked in 3D so most of the concepts were pretty new to me. This book cleared some of the concepts and didn't overwhelm me with complexity. Tony Parisi has definitely taken care to keep it simple and useful. <br />
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There isn't much coverage on how WebGL works natively and I probably don't need to learn that. What I got out of this book are concepts and more depth on three.js and for a beginner, that's more than enough. </div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7402724363211839700.post-27652287890240398282012-08-22T19:35:00.000-07:002012-08-22T19:35:52.474-07:00Book Review: Head First HTML and CSS, 2nd Edition (O'Reilly) by Elisabeth Robson, Eric Freeman<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
There are two kinds of people in this world - those who know Elisabeth Robson and Eric Freeman and those who don't. If you have read any of the "Head First" series of books, you would know why the web developers love these guys. "Head First HTML, CSS, and XHTML" was a super-hit when it launched and most of us, including me, had great pleasure reading it. The book is back with a refresh and with a couple of new chapters on HTML5 and also loss of a chapter on XHTML. If you are a fan of the "Head First" series, then this is the book to get on HTML and CSS before you venture out to "Head First HTML5". <br />
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Since I had read the first edition, it was great to quickly skim through this book and stop occasionally to read some new material. My only disappointment was that there was no in-depth coverage of CSS3 but overall this book is worth it. I do hope the authors come up with a "Head First CSS3" book in the future. I would be the first to buy it. <br />
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7402724363211839700.post-48671649351892961322012-08-22T12:55:00.001-07:002012-08-22T12:55:02.055-07:00Book Review: Windows PowerShell for Developers by Douglas Finke (O'Reilly)<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
To be honest with you, I had just a slight idea what Windows PowerShell was. I had never used it before but I had heard of it being a scripting language for .NET and the Windows Platform. Similar to what BeanShell provides for Java. There is a lack of resources on Powershell that explains the power you can unleash for automation, testing, repititive tasks,etc. This book explains the concepts step by step so that not just the pros but also regular developers can take a shot at using it without fear. <br />
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The first three chapters are very basic and are devoted just to help you get started. This includes installation for the different flavors of Windows and also the language constructs. They are very well written so that the reader gets curious to continue reading more. The rest of the book takes a deep dive into explaining how to embed PowerShell in your applicaiton, use it with web services, XML and JSON processing. It also shows how to create UIs and interacting with DLLs. I found interacting with DLLs very useful as I needed to do that for one of my projects which had a third-party DLL and I wasn't ready to buy Visual Studio and learn C# .NET just to play with the DLL. This book helped me quickly get started on doing that. <br />
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This book is definitely for any developer, not just .NET or Java or Ruby or Python developers. If you are working on the Windows Platform, regardless of your language of choice, this book will take you to new heights. As a plus, it offers an overview of PowerShell V3 and Windows 8 so that you are ahead of the curve. </div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7402724363211839700.post-28266458405085181042012-08-18T14:27:00.001-07:002012-08-18T14:27:59.568-07:00Review: Velocity Conference 2012: Complete Video Compilation<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
The Velocity Conference motto is "Building a Faster and Strong Web". As such, the conference is focused on Web Performance and Operations. This conference is targetted for web professionals from companies of all sizes. I happen to be one of those web professionals. Unfortunately, this year I couldn't go. Or so I thought until I got access to this video compilation of all sessions! I am happy again.<br />
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The whole gamut of web performance has been covered in this video sessions. All the sessions are pretty good so I am unable to say "this one was better than that one". Also, I haven't watched all the videos since it covers whole 3 days. I do make it a point to watch in my infinite spare time and I learn something new each time. Regardless, these videos are making me smarter and standing out at my work place. It's been incredible. I strongly recommend this compilation to anyone wanting to make a difference in their app performance. </div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7402724363211839700.post-52944241404235803112012-08-01T19:55:00.001-07:002012-08-01T19:55:19.639-07:00Book Review: Mobile JavaScript Application Development: Bringing Web Programming to Mobile Devices by Adrian Kosmaczewski (O'Reilly)<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
This is an excellent book that focuses on using Javascript (and only Javascript with HTML and CSS) for mobile application development. The author introduces HTML5 in chapter 1 which is a must for developing using Javascript on the mobile devices. He also introduces the Modernizer library to test for HTML5 features for cross-browser compatibility. Snippets of code that introduce the reader to Geolocation, Orientation, Device motion, Network connectivity, Canvas, Client-side storage, etc, set the base for the future chapters. Chapter 2 is a quick introduction on using Javascript productively by avoiding common pitfalls. <br />
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Chapters 3, 4, and 5 provide a detailed coverage on jQuery Mobile, Sencha Touch, and PhoneGap. These are the leading frameworks for Javascript Mobile development. Chapter 6 completes the gap by going over debugging and testing using Jasmine and Siesta and other tools, like Adobe Shadow and iWebInspector. Chapter 7 concludes by providing a comparison of various frameworks and when to use what. <br />
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Overall, this book is very pleasant to read and is really geared towards folks evaluating different JavaScript mobile frameworks and didn't know where to start. This book will make it easy for you to decide what's suitable for your application. </div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7402724363211839700.post-920955403876079672012-07-19T19:34:00.000-07:002012-07-19T19:34:02.755-07:00Video Review: Fluent Conference: JavaScript & Beyond Complete Video Compilation<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
I think this is the first time that O'Reilly has held a JavaScript & Beyond conference totally focused on JavaScript based technologies. The video compilation is an excellent collection of presentations from the stalwarts who have defined and shaped the JavaScript industry. <br />
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If you can make time for 54 hours or even half of that, you would come out technically stronger and make an impressive impact at your workplace. I was amazed at some of the presenters' in-depth knowledge and command of the technology while appreciating the simplicity in presenting the concepts. I have watched about half of this compilation and I am going to watch the other half including keynotes. I have already started making an impact at work with the knowledge gained from these videos. I feel more empowered to talk about concepts at work since they are now clear. <br />
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If you missed attending the conference in person, this is the next best thing and there is no doubt about it. It's totally worth the money even if you watch half of the videos. </div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7402724363211839700.post-85093185029358284792012-07-04T07:08:00.001-07:002012-07-04T07:08:47.103-07:00Web Design Bibliography (O' Reilly)<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
This is a good compilation of web design related categories. The categories are classified into - Web design fundamentals, Planning, Web Coding, Web Design Toolkit, Usability, Imagery and Illustration, Advanced Graphic Design, Design Lifestyle and Business, Mobile Design, and Content Management Systems.<br />
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This book provides a handy reference to all currently available books on Safari pertaining to a particular category. Safari online links are provided for each item.<br />
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My only disappointment is that all of the items listed in this book are Safari online items. There are no references to anything outside of Safari like blogs, web articles, etc. This makes the book appear more like a Safari catalog than a bibliography.</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com82tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7402724363211839700.post-50209821514280313032012-06-29T02:20:00.002-07:002012-06-29T02:20:31.068-07:00Book Review: The Manga Guide to Linear Algebra by Shin Takahashi (Trend-Pro Co Ltd)<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
To be honest I haven't touched Linear Algebra for 20+ years. I had a gruelling time in high school just trying to keep up with an insane syllabus that I didn't have the time to really understand the purpose of Linear Algebra in real life. To make it worse, my professors didn't bother to explain either as they had a lot of topics to cover in very little time. So it was all mechanical learning trying to solve problems and proofs without understanding why. I always had this feeling in me that my learning of linear algebra was incomplete in spite of scoring well in Math. So 20 years later I picked up this book out of sheer curiosity whether my learning could be completed. <br />
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I must say I am very impressed with the approach of this book. The author has made learning delightful using a comic format with two kids - one a math wiz trying to explain it to the other who is struggling. At a steady pace, the book covers a lot of the basic concepts of linear algebra like vectors, matrices, Gaussian elimination, subspaces, dimension, and linear span. The author makes it interesting by explain how they apply in computer graphics, cryptography, and engineering. I finished reading the entire book in 3 hours! It all just came back to me after 20+ years! Thanks to this book, I am glad that my kids will not be struggling to understand math when they go to high school. <br />
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Albert Einstein said, "You have really learned something if you can explain it to your grandmother". I can confidently say I have learned the concepts of Linear Algebra thanks to this book and I can teach it to my grandmother (if she is willing to learn!).</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7402724363211839700.post-70558315511001873312012-06-25T23:23:00.000-07:002012-06-25T23:23:09.273-07:00Book Review: Enterprise JavaBeans 3.1, 6th Edition (O'Reilly) by Andrew Lee Rubinger and Bill Burke<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
I was not a big fan of EJBs as the previous versions of the spec left me baffled and frustrated. I kept away from learning EJBs as not one at my work place seemed to care about them either. With EJB 3.1 there has been a renewed interest on this topic and so I started reading "Enterprise JavaBeans 3.1, 6th Edition - O'Reilly". <br />
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I think the authors have done a good job starting with the basics in the first section of the book explaining what the purpose of EJBs are and how the container takes care of providing services so we can focus on writing the business logic instead of re-writing plumbing and cross-cutting code. <br />
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Section two of the book provides chapters of the book provide a coverage on the various types of beans with practical examples on when each is suitable to use. I really enjoyed this section of the book as I could relate it with my daily life as a programmer. <br />
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Section three and four focus on Entity beans and Container services but I read them lightly as I don't have much interest in going too deep into those. Section five of the book wraps up with lots of practical examples (like recipes) on each bean type. I enjoyed reading this section of the book as well. <br />
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Overall, I think this book is much better than reading the EJB 3.1 spec online and the authors have done a great job in bringing the spec to life with practical examples and simplified language. <br />
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