Practical Subversion, second edition Daniel Berlin and Garrett Rooney Apress, 2006 Two years ago, I reviewed the first edition of Practical Subversion. The second edition has substantially updated the reference information about the Subversion commands. The previous edition had been based on a pre-1.0 version of the program and had somewhat incomplete coverage of the… Read More »
In Search of Stupidity, Second Edition Merrill R. Chapman Apress, 2006 This book aims to explain many marketing disasters in the computer software and hardware industries. Chapman covers marketing mistakes of both hardware and software companies. Some of these stories provide insight into the thinking behind the mistake. As an insider at MicroPro, Chapman could… Read More »
Practical Development Environments Matthew B. Doar O’Reilly, 2005 Although this is a very good book, it was not exactly what I thought it would be. From the title and the blurb on the back of the book, I thought it would describe some complete development environments that would be worth implementing. Instead, Doar does a… Read More »
Programming Ruby Dave Thomas, Chad Fowler, and Andy Hunt Pragmatic Bookshelf, 2005. This book has taken me a really long time to finish. It’s not because of the writing. The writing is clear and readable. The material is well-presented and seems to cover the topic well. I don’t see any glaring errors or anything that… Read More »
Software Estimation Steve McConnell Microsoft Press, 2006 Software Estimation is the latest book on the craft of developing software from Steve McConnell. If you have read any of his earlier books (Code Complete, Rapid Development, or Software Project Survival Guide), you might suspect that the book will contain lots of useful information that is well… Read More »
Higher Order Perl Mark Jason Dominus Morgan Kaufmann, 2005 The simplest thing you can say about MJD’s Higher Order Perl, is that it is not your ordinary, everyday programming book. It is not even your everyday Perl programming book. MJD introduces an approach to programming that will be new to most programmers. Even those who… Read More »
Perl Hacks chromatic , Damian Conway, Curtis “Ovid” Poe O’Reilly, 2006 When I first saw the title Perl Hacks, I was a little unclear what the book would cover. After all, the Perl Cookbook has recipes that span the spectrum from basic to advanced. What would Perl Hacks supply that wouldn’t be found elsewhere? The… Read More »
Eric Sink on the Business of Software Eric Sink Apress, 2006 Eric Sink has been writing on the Business of Software for quite some time. This book shows that not only does he know something about the business side of things, but he’s also familiar with the technical side. These essays do a pretty good… Read More »
The Career Programmer, Second Edition Christopher Duncan Apress, 2006 If you are thinking of The Career Programmer as an insight into the best techniques and technologies for becoming an ultimate Alpha Geek, you will be sorely disappointed. However, if you’ve spent some time dealing with the realities of software development in real companies, much of… Read More »
Micro-ISV: From Vision to Reality Bob Walsh Apress, 2006. This is not the sort of book I would normally read. I’m usually more interested in the technical side of software than the business side. I found this book to be particularly difficult going partly for that reason. But, before I get into what I didn’t… Read More »