Modeling

I have experience on commercial website databases with 10000+ users per month, and picked up Teory's book to look for a primer or for some pointers. I am fairly frustrated in trying to get through this book to find straightforward explainations.

Alot of database design is common sense. When looking through most DB books, this common sense understanding of database design is blocked by jargon loaded walls of words.

Excerpted example of befuddled writing:
"Analyze redundant relationships carefully. Two or more relationships that are used to represent the same concept are considered to be redundant. Redundant relationships are more likely to result in unnormalized tables when transforming the ER model into relational schemas. Note that two or more relationships are allowed between the same two entities as long as the two relationships have different meanings. In this case they are not considered redundant." (page. 50, 3rd ed.)

That was an example of the paragraphs that wastes my time, and irks me to want to tear my hair out. Shall we posit that: 'the expository text therein displayed above for the reader is an example of the endemic pomposity of academic writing that conveys ideas in a form that is far from concise; nay, in fact in a form that is too wordy.' Or am I being redundant?

I have no wish to be too harsh, it does have some valuable DB knowledge at an academic level. It is to be lauded for being a computer book on a substantial topic weighing under 400 pages. But please: to DB & academic writers out there -- drop the pretension, and cut down on your verbiage, and get to the point in a plainly said style.

[The ratio of : (words of Jargon)/(practical information conveyed) = the average overcharge submitted by the job title in question, and the artificiality of the barrier to becoming a competing member of that profession.]

PREAMBLE: I have experience with creating small DBs in Access and basic SQL and have been a business user of DBs for many years. I am knew to the DB modeling and design world and was looking for an introductory text on conceptual & logical DB modeling. I consider myself a novice.

The GOOD: Chapters 1-5 are done well. The book does a good job of introducing the reader to the Entity-Relationship(ER) model approach using the Chen notation and its extensions. It also does a good job explaining how ER modeling can be applied to a database life cycle, in particular, requirements analysis, conceptual and logical modeling. Also, the transformation of the ER model elements to SQL constructs and the process of DB normalization are explained well. The "real-life" case study helps with the explanations. The book provides an extensive list of literary references.

The BAD: From Chapter 6 and on. It started reading like an academic literature review of all advanced database related topics like Data warehousing (DW), Object-Relation DB(ORDB), and Object-Oriented DB (OODB), OLAP. The topics were covered in a cursory manner and then the reader is directed to the referred reading list for more information. Also, the book becomes much more academic on how the DBMS deals with the physical elements like access methods, indexes, data allocation, execution times, etc. These topics are way to technical for the novice DB user. The book does not really provide any real in-depth informaton on DB modeling and design for the other DB structures/tools discussed (DW,ORDB,OODB,OLAP).

CONCLUSION: The primary reason for the "2 stars" is the misleading commentary that this book would be useful to the novice designer. This book is not for a DB novice, but for intermediate-advanced DBA/Architect/Modeler. Overall, I found the book tries to cover too many topics and in the process diluting all the topics. Leaving the reader with the feeling of not really learning that much. If you are an intermediate-advanced DB user then I can see the book being useful in providing a roadmap to the DB literature while providing a basic introduction. Books of this nature should not try to tap both sides of the experience spectrum; pick one and then stick to that level.

If you're still trying to understand just how relational databases work, don't start with this book. In fact, read several more beginner-level books before trying to deal with this one. I'm half way through and can't say I comprehend any of what I've read. I did read wonderful reviews before I purchased "Database Modeling and Design," so there are many advanced readers who will surely benefit from the dry and technical style of writing and presentation in Teory's book. This is a perfect case of using so many source references that the author forgot to write for the reader, instead of for fellow academics. The marketplace now has a new type of database designer and analyst - those with liberal arts degrees, not engineering!

The book is easy to read and has lots of illustrations.
Good read for beginners. (Someone REALLY new to the hobby.)

But, the methods described is not correct to the way real ships were built.
Since how accurately a modeler wants to model his/her ship is a matter of opinion, this book might suite the modeler.

For example: planking.
The book describes how to taper a plank to a sharp point to fit all slots.
This was/is NOT the way real ships are built.
On the other hand, I've already built two ships this way before I learned the proper way to plank and the model ships still look very good.

Wooden Model ship building is a hobby with vast depth and is very confusing for beginners.
Reference material for this hobby is just as confusing and vast.

But their are better beginner books out their with proper methods.
Example: "How to build first-rate ship models from kits"

For some reason I remember seeing very poor rating for this book. Maybe because it has lots of endorsement for a particular model maker?

But still, I felt it was the best book for a beginner. The fact that you can get it free with a kit from a retailer makes the decision easy to handle.

If you buy this book (Ship Modeling Simplified), just remember that the methods described in the book are all suspect.
I wan't very happy that I learned the incorrect method of building model ships from this book and had to re-learn the correct way.

This book provides very useful insights into planking a model ship from a kit. The book is better organized than many books on model ship building, but does not cover complete construction from start to finish, instead pinpointing specific areas of difficulty you are likely to encounter with a variety of models and kits. The book has several lists of tools and equipment for establishing beginner, intermediate, and advanced workspaces and also provides directions for designing several specialty tools that are quite useful. The illustrations throughout are very detailed.

as im just starting out, about halfway through my first wood model. this was the first book i bought. it was very helpful, but much of what is in it is common sense. i havent gotten to the rigging though, so it may come in a lot more handy. it wont tell you all you need to know...but its a good book to have on hand.

I am borrowing a copy of this book at work, and I agree with the other reviewers that its helpful, and it doesnt "talk down"

But it can get quite rambly, the IO Request Chapter is a great example of this.

That being said I actually tried to include his DEVQUEUE in my driver code im using at work...Ive been programming for 10+ years so im not a slouch.

Problems:
1) C code written using C++ rules. This is annoying.
2) Doesn't compile at tighter warning levels...LOTS of warnings
3) Bug in DEVQUEUE initialization sent me on an IRP goosechase for good part of a day, and YES I did download his code service packs first. Watch out for stallcount being initialized to 1, StartNextPacket will refuse to run unless you change this to zero.

Walter Oney is an expert who doesn't talk down to you. There's a lot of gold in this well-written book, but to extract it happily you'll need a strong background in Windows programming, including first and foremost a couple of years of professional driver-writing experience for Win9X/NT platforms; in a few places, some knowledge of COM and MFC will also be helpful. Plug and Play, power management, and USB issues are covered in detail, as well as driver basics (from an advanced perspective), the intricacies of cancelling IRPs, etc.

I like Oney's approach to teaching -- he concentrates on the logic of the few dozen basic steps needed to write a driver, leaving it to the samples on the accompanying CD to flesh out the skeleton. This has the advantage of highlighting the mechanics, and the often convoluted reasoning behind them, without sacrificing completeness. He identifies and analyzes many potential race conditions and other pitfalls that you might not think of on your own.

One of the best things about the book is the tips and sidebars. Some examples: why you should use the PAGED_CODE macro and Driver Verifier when using Soft-Ice/W on Win2k; the hazards of using DDK "function calls" that are actually macros; how to ship a single binary for both Win2000 and Win98, given that Win98 doesn't support some key functions (such as those involving IO_REMOVE_LOCK) -- the book suggests writing a VDD with stubs for the missing functions, as explained in Appendix A. The sample code also contains very instructive workarounds for the shortcomings of Win98. Another strong point is the DEVQUEUE code that Oney has developed to extend the standard Windows driver model to handle PlugandPlay. In addition to including the code on the CD, he gives a detailed and highly instructive discussion in the text. DEVQUEUE is a useful tool that can be taken over as-is in your own projects.

Once you've finished this book, you'll be writing much more solid code and have enough technique to pick and choose among methods of your choice, rather than feeling cornered and boxed-in. Oney maintains a web site with errata and updates for the book and code samples (for instance, the stub VDD is now replaced by a filter driver to avoid the need to reboot).

This book was a valuable resource for my successful driver development project.

For newbie's, the book is a great companion to the DDK. The text provides simple and concise sample code. The examples on the CD-ROM are a great way to start exploring driver programming concepts using a kernel debugger. The DDK samples are far too complicated for understanding the fundamentals, so use the book to get started and then the DDK samples will be much easier to comprehend.

I recommend that you read through the entire book at a high enough level that you don't get caught up in the details. Next, find the chapter and sample driver that is most appropriate for your task and get started. Throughout the rest of development, you'll reference various parts of the book to understand the details and avoid the hidden pitfalls in kernel mode programming.

For experts, the book provides comprehensive treatment of the topic. It's full of tips and suggestions based on real-world experience. Many of the driver components on the CD-ROM can be integrated into real drivers in order to reduce development time and complexity. If you are creating a production driver that you intend to ship to real customers, the book will also provide you many options for creating a top-notch user experience during the install process. WHQL and driver security issues are addressed as well.

The author updates the CD-ROM sources in service packs located on the web site. These updates are based on his continuing work and feedback from readers.

What a disappointment - this is a fairly decent book for Mechanical Desktop 5, but ALL instructions pertain to the command line prompt codes (not the toolbar).

For those of you who don't know what I'm referring to: Autocad gives you two main ways to execute commands - by typing in 8 to 10 letter codes (the old way), or by clicking on the toolbar buttons (the more user-friendly way). In some cases, you have no choice and must use the code commands, however this book makes no mention of the toolbar buttons that relate to what they're doing. Unless you are 'old school' and plan on trying to memorize hundreds of command codes, forget about this book - its no help.

This book is a good study guide for anyone to use when they are making the move from AutoCAD to Mechanical Desktop. Without an AutoCAD background though, one would really struggle. There are detailed explanations of the commands for making models of parts, parts' drawings, assemblies, and assembly scenes and drawings.
I found many commands explained in this book that weren't even mentioned in the User's Guide tutorials.
There were several typos and grammatical errors in the book, but it was not difficult to figure out what was meant.
I would like to have seen more information as to the alternate ways of invoking commands; such as Toolbars and drop-down menus.
MDT is a very complex software package with tremendous capability, but with study of the detailed explanations in this book, and practice one can learn to produce 3D solid models and drawings.
I would highly recommend this book both as a study guide and a reference manual.

This is a good book for those starting MDT. It shows pictures on almost every page and explains commands very well. The tutorials are great to get an understanding of the command. I only wish it had tutorials of every command. I would recommend it to anyone starting MDT.

Currently this is the only .NET book that addresses Threading and nothing else. Furthermore, it targets VB developers and as such, it is bound to be a success (although apart from the code listings there isn't much VB-specific about it). It deserves the handbook title as it comes in 240 smaller than A4 pages and I think it is good value for money. It must be said that there isn't much in the Threading namespace that isn't covered in the book, although not all classes/methods get the same coverage and the book could have been even smaller in my opinion.

It is divided in 7 chapters. The first chapter is a good introduction to threading but a lot more could be said on AppDomains. The second & third chapters are the core of the book introducing the threading namespace, the Thread class along with almost all of its methods and the synchronization techniques available (Monitor, ReadWriterLock, Manual and AutoResetEvent, Mutex and Interlocked). This is all good stuff and if it weren't for the very basic examples, it would be excellent.

Chapter 4 is titled Design Patterns but don't get your hopes high. Not only it does not include design patterns (according to the common definition of the term) but it discusses the STA & MTA threading models in such a way that the reader may be left confused. This includes factual errors and bad grammar. It then usefully introduces 3 threading models (Main & Worker, Peer, and Pipeline models) but they are really let down by the respective accompanying examples. The (many) authors have tried to describe a single code example by retrofitting the 3 models to it each time; they should have introduced a different example per threading model as applicable.

Chapter 5 describes the Thread Pool and makes good reading. I was looking forward to the 6th chapter on debugging/tracing threads but there was only a generic description of debugging for VS.NET, which in my opinion, could have been omitted altogether. The book ends with a complete example that uses the classes from the Net namespace.

Besides any criticism you find above and the 3 star rating that reflects the quality of the work, I do recommend this book to .NET developers who are new to threading.

the people who gave this book 3 starts are very close
The books does demonstrate the basics very well,
but when it comes to the interesting pieces the
download examples were missing

The book is very good. Especially the Synchronization and the Scalability chapters. Chapter 1 is fine, but the code in chapter 1 is not edited properly. The editors haven't done a good job in correcting gramatical errors. But, I recommend this book if you want to learn threading in .Net. This book has some good end-to-end examples that show the importance of threading.

This book is a perfect reminder of the publishing truth that the people who write jacket copy have almost never read the book they are writing about. While this book is advertised as an "introductory book", it is nothing of the kind. A more revealing title would be "Assorted Thoughts on Data and Databases", and in fact the author admits as much in his preface: "This book is not a complete, formal text....I simply did not have the time or temperament to do a formal text." In each chapter the author dwells on some ideas and gives others a glancing mention, seemingly at random. There's nothing to tie the sections and chapters together other than their broad relation to the subject of databases.

There are some books that people find useful long after they have been acquainted with a subject--books that articulate ideas and principles that they have internalized from long experience and that elicit a "Yeah, that sure is true" response from the intermediate or advanced reader. This might be one of those books. But speaking as one programmer with some database experience, looking for books to supplement the knowledge I'm having to acquire on the job by necessity, this wasn't a helpful book for me. If you're looking for a true introductory text, spend your time and money elsewhere.

This is a strange book. I had a continual feeling of disjointed writing presenting a rag-bag collection of unconnected ideas.

If you need an introductory book on data and databases then DON'T buy this book, as it's nothing of the sort. If you need a book giving a complete, thorough grounding in all aspects of relation theory, data and databases, again DON'T buy this book. However, if you work with databases for a living, already have a reasonable understanding about them, and want an assorted collection of discussions about the nature of data and databases then certainly DO consider buying it - you may find it gives deeper insights in this case.

The title is interesting - "Data and Databases", which reflects the book itself. The first half of the book mostly discusses the nature of DATA, with the second half mostly about DATABASES. "Concepts" - certainly, the book is mostly about concepts. "In Practice" - definitely NOT the case, as the book is mostly conceptual with very little of a direct practical nature.

I found the chapter on Keys most useful - an in depth discussion about surrogate keys, which most books barely mention at all. However, even this chapter reflects the general nature of the book. For any given topic, Celko picks a specific aspect which interests him, discusses it at length, but gives very superficial coverage of other equally important aspects of that topic.

The main problem with this book is that the description on the back cover is a blatant misrepresentation of its contents. It leads you to believe it is a comprehensive grounding in all aspects of data and databases, but it simply isn't. Celko admits as much in the Preface, stating it is "a collection of ideas...not a complete, formal text".

Previous reviews range from 1 star to 5 stars, but both types of reviews are actually equally valid depending on where the reader is coming from. If you are new to databases and looking for an introductory text then this book is NOT for you, despite the publishers claiming so on the back cover. If you are experienced with databases then certainly DO consider it, as it does give insights you don't normally come across.

I would have given four stars, but can only give 3 due to (a) the disjointed presentation of topics, and (b) the blatant misrepresentation by the publishers about the book's contents. However, I do recommend it to experienced database professionals.

(p.s. - before someone else goes on about reviewers who don't what they are talking about, I've spent over a decade earning my living developing databases, and spent literally thousands of hours doing formal study to Masters level, so I do have a reasonable idea what I'm on about).

The author starts with saying: "This book is a collection of ideas about the nature of data and databases". Perhaps this is the reason that it is a bit chaotic, there is no red line throughout the book. But I found some of the sections very interesting, like the data structures and relational tables. I would recommend the book to everyone who would like to explore the ideas behind relational databases and who wants to become a bit more advanced. But do not take it for granted all he says. Some of it points are discussible and everybody can have his own opinion, like the use of intelligent and surrogate keys. I like surrogate keys very much. Users always want to change their typing errors, no matter if it is the primary key and has some child records attached to it.

There is one thing I do not like that much in his books. His likes to show that he knows a lot or knows where to find it, without any use for the book. This irritates me a bit. For example, why on earth list the axioms of intuitionist mathematics. I suppose I am one of the few readers who heard about intuitionism before and it is of certainly no help in this book. It is not there for the purposes of the book! Or another example, section 1.2.2 tells a bit about bad math. He tries to show that reporters cannot do simple math. But why does he assume there is a linear relation between weight and burned calories? May be there is a fixed amount of calories that you always burn, no matter what you are doing. I am not an expert on calories, but his logic of showing somebody's errors is not always correct. The correct answer for this calorie problem should be: we do not know and the 'proof' of the reporter is wrong. This does not mean the proposition is wrong! Another mathematical error, he writes that: "The idea of a limit is that there is a value that the sum never exceeds". Well, this is the definition of a upperbound. In case the function is non-decreasing the smalles upperbound will be the limit, it is easy to proof this. Of course, this is not a math book, but if you use the techniques you should be correct.

However, still a nice book to have and Joe mailed me always back when I had a remark or question. This care deservers one extra star!

Common sense tells us that who would know more about a product then it's inventors. Who whould be better to teach us about that product then the inventors. Well Microsoft has not and does not believe in common sense. you rely on this book to pass the test or to know anything pratical about 2000 and buddy you're in for a world of hurt. It leaves out significant details and aspects of 2000 that are need for a complete understanding of 2000. Yes, what little detail and knowledge it prvides are accurate, but they are so few. Old Billy Gates again with a half attempt like everything he does. It seems their idea of common sense is: Well we charge $135 a test and sell the book for $45 and since they'll never pass the test on the first or second try then we'll make a bundle. Save your money and save your time. Buy the Sybex book for preparation for the test.

Common sense tells us that who would know more about a product then it's inventors. Who whould be better to teach us about that product then the inventors. Well Microsoft has not and does not believe in common sense. you rely on this book to pass the test or to know anything pratical about Server 2000 and buddy you're in for a world of hurt. It leaves out significant details and aspects of server 200 that are need for a complete understanding of server 2000. Yes, what little detail and knowledge it prvides are accurate, but they are so few. Old Billy Gates again with a half attempt like everything he does. It seems their idea of common sense is: Well we charge $135 a test and sell the book for $45 and since they'll never pass the test on the first or second try then we'll make a bundle. Save your money and save your time. Buy the Sybex book for preparation for the test.

I used this book and Measure-up practice tests to prepare for 70-215 Windows 2000 exam. I found the book complete and to the point. I did pass the test. I recommend using this book in combination with such practice tests as Transcender and Measure-up - simply reading the book isn't enough. Make sure you take practice tests and fully understand the problem discussed in each question - why the right answers are right and why the wrong answers are wrong. This approach works; the only problem - it's time-comsuming...

If you send a CD along with a book - the files you claim to be on the CD should actually be on it! If you spend some time with the 3D Studio MAX 3 Reference Volumes, you will learn a lot more than you'll ever learn from this book, wich basically only repeats the same things found in the Reference Volumes. There are much better books on MAX out there - so this is not a good choice.

A solid introduction to Max for those who are already aware of the area. This book explains the use of Max's wide range of tools in a tutorial format. Probably not ideal for anyone who lacks a basic understanding of 3D. This book could benifit from greater expalination of the way the tools are used. Nevertheless, well written with well set out examples.

If you have experience with earlier 3D Studio MAX versions (or with any other 3D application - it always helpful), you can't find it dificult to follow this book. But don't buy it as your first 3D Studio MAX book. First, this book is directed for the Modeling, Material and Rendering concepts. Sometimes it make some references to commands and terms that you can't understand or just don't know were to find it. I'm a great 3D enthusias but I've never made anything serious (but I would love to - perhaps when I consolidate my MSCE+I carreer, I'll follow some 3DS MAX serious studies =). I've bought this book first and found it a bit dificult to follow. Sometimes I've spent more than 5 minutes to figure out "we're this xxxx command" or "what does it mean by xxx"? So, I've bought the "Inside 3d Studio MAX 3" (ISBN 073570905X) and all becames clear. They really complement each other. Of course, you can then follow other books like "3D Studio MAX R3 f/x and design", "3D Studio MAX R3 in depth" and the great "3D Studio MAX 3 Media Animation".. Although I don't have them yet, I'm planning to buy all them and I had a quick look at them and I also heard many good words and reviews about them. Most Newsriders books (at least the ones about 3DS MAX) are great books. But don't BUY THE 3DS MAX R3 fundamentals. I heard MOST people (from the beginner to pros) says that it sucks.

This book provides a fair description about modeling for basic business components. However, it fails to be useful for specifying a buildable or testable system and does not address enterprise issues. The models in chapters 4 and 5 are useful only for coffee discussions - they are far from practical for business analysts, requirements engineers, testers, and OO designers.

Furthermore, it misses the mark by representing OO design as ontology under the disguise of UML diagrams. I was disappointed and expected more from a book that is published in the Object Technology Series.

I bought this book by seeing its title. But, when I finished reading it, I did not learn anything new. The book is written as a novel instead of a technical book. Bottom line, I did not get the worth of my money back after reading this.

As a Management Consultant with an IT company, I have always been compelled by ideas to improve communications between the "top" consultants and the actual analysts and programmers. This is a very hard exercice indeed as everybody seems to speak his own language.

UML can certainly improve on this and more, but beware, it is not a panacea as it is only a way to express situations. There are still a bunch of loopholes like uniform B-IT patterns that have to be developed (in-house).

So, yes indeed, this book gives you more than a few kicks in the butt, but we still have to walk a long walk.

I have the first edition of this book (1998), so some things hopefully may not apply any more. FormZ is not an intuitive or easy program, and I found this book (the only one available at the time) only moderately helpful, with a number of problems.

It starts with a one-by-one review of the menus, options, palettes and tools, and then has a series of examples. The review of commands was OK, but not very deep -- looked like it was pulled directly from the manual. I felt the examples were also not very thorough given the nature of the program. FormZ has an odd (but, I'm told, powerful) interface, and nothing in this book hints at how to really exploit it.

There were many errata in Chapter 5, the modeling tools section. One can't expect a literature masterpiece from something like this, and it's understandable that a typo occurs here and there, but when figure references don't match the pictures, when pictures are switched, or when images are plain wrong, I begin to distrust all the presented information. When you're going through things carefully, one page at a time, those things have a big impact. I got the distinct impression that there was no editor for the whole chapter -- it was littered with errors. I expect a little more for ( ); hopefully was better in the revised edition.

There is an advanced book for FormZ that looks pretty good, but I'm still waiting for a introduction that goes into technique/strategy. Couldn't recommend this book over online resources; I think one could learn elsewhere what's given here.

This book is an ok book. It focuses more on describing the tools in FORMZ and what they do than educating the user on how to use the program. I don't think it's for a new user in 3d. The author writes this book with an assumption that the user has a previous understanding of 3d concepts and so schemes over a lot of important information. Sometimes I wonder if there was an ongoing battle on wether to just make this a FORMZ manual or a tutorial book. The tutorials are just ok, they don't go into a lot of detail.
Overall it is a good book but only if you have a relatively solid grasp of 3d concepts or are using it in a class where an instructor can fill in the blanks. And for a program that has such an unintuitive interface, there are a lot of blanks.

Inside Form-Z is a very helpful book to have next to your computer so that you can quickly get pretty specific help once you have learned the program. And it is great for teaching the program by reiewing the exercises at the end. Overall, it is a great resource.