nazarijo writes "You can usually tell someone who's been writing a lot of code by how they write code. That may sound like a tautology, but it's got a deeper meaning than that. What editor they use, what idioms they use to avoid common pitfalls, and what organization patterns they employ all tell you what kind of programmer you're meeting. When you first start writing code, so many things are inconsistent and just plain wrong that it's almost embarrassing. I know that when I look over older code that I've written I feel sheepish about it. But how do you grow as a programmer, and what really makes a good programmer beyond language familiarity?" Read on for Nazario's review of Code Reading: The Open Source Perspective, a book which attempts to instill deeper knowledge about programming than just "knowing how."

Ken Hansen writes "It was with great anticipation that I pre-ordered Apple I Replica Creation by Tom Owad -- I'd always been interested in 'classic' hardware, and the Apple I came just before I got interested in computers (the late '70s -- timeshare terminals, TRS-80s, and my first computer, the SYM-1). I'd seen the story on Wired about Vince Briel's Replica 1 project, and wanted to try it out. When the book arrived, I quickly scanned it, and it looked pretty good: sections on the history of the Apple I, instructions on how to build the Replica I from Vince Briel, programming the Replica I in both BASIC and 6502 assembler, and some details on how the actual Apple I and Replica I hardware works. Then I started reading the book ..." Read on for the rest of Hansen's review.

James Edward Gray II writes "If you've ever wanted to know more about the agile programming methodologies, Integrating Agile Development in the Real World is a fine place to look for the answers to your questions. Various agile methodologies are explained, compared, and contrasted within. A good look is taken at how they work, their strengths and weaknesses, and how they compare to the more traditional approaches of software development. This proves to be a strong introduction and overview to agile programming practices." Read on for the rest of Gray's review.

James Edward Gray II writes "I'm not an XML junkie and I thought this was a very good book, so I'm betting that XML aficionados will love it. Effective XML covers 50 best practices that all developers should know and use. This amounts to a book of distilled wisdom that will push you a good distance up the chart of XML mastery." Read on for the rest of Gray's review.

Motor writes "Stephen Baxter is a remarkably prolific British hard science-fiction author -- one of many that have come to prominence in Britain over the last ten years or so. Exultant is the second part of his Destiny's Children series (no Beyonce jokes, please). The first part, Coalescent, was also reviewed on Slashdot. Set in both 400 A.D. and modern times, Coalescent dealt with the possibility of humans lapsing into a eusocial society (a hive). How would such a thing get started? How would it function? And how would it hide itself from 'normal' human society? At the end of the novel, the action jumps forward twenty-thousand years to when humanity has spread out across the galaxy and is cleaning out worlds which have become coalescent. This is where Exultant begins... or rather, it seems to begin." Read on for the rest of Motor's review.

norburym (Mary Norbury-Glaser) writes "Mac OS X Server 10.3 Panther is one of the latest in Peachpit Press' Visual QuickPro guides (not to be confused with the beginner "QuickStart" series) and is written by one of the best IT/Mac trainers in the industry, Schoun Regan, with assistance by his devoted sidekick and co-trainer at itinstruction.com, Kevin White. Peachpit and the authors have produced a book with excellent content and delivery; the installation and setup of Mac OS X Server and Web services is explained with clarity and precise detail." Read on for the rest of Norbury-Glaser's review.

A few weeks ago, reader James Mitchell reviewed Malcolm Gladwell's Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking. Now book_reader (Gary Cornell) writes with a very different take on Blink. "When I finished this book I was impressed. Then I blinked -- and realized that I was taken in by its surface attractiveness. After the initial glamour wore off, I was left deeply unsatisfied. This book is over-hyped, and so underperforms. The point of this book can be summed up as: "Trust your intuitions. Well, not quite; trust them, if and only if they are good." Gladwell tells lots of anecdotes to indicate that sometimes less is more. But of course he also tells anecdotes that tell us sometimes less is less." Read on for the rest of Cornell's thoughts on the book.

nazarijo (Jose Nazario) writes "With regulatory compliance hanging over so many peoples' heads (GLBA, SOX, HIPAA, etc), information security and related fields have taken on a new twist in recent years. To that end, a number of people are looking at formal evaluation methods like OCTAVE to help guide them through the tricky world of audits. It's a sensible move, too, because you want something documented, thorough, and demonstrable when it comes to an audit, and preferably something objective. The book Managing Information Security Risks: The OCTAVE Approach by Christopher Alberts and Audrey Dorofee is intended to help you fill this need." Read on for the rest of Nazario's review.

prostoalex writes "The premier issue of Make magazine arrived in a thick envelope in my mailbox a few days ago. The magazine has been previousl publicized on Slashdot. Edited (in chief) by Mark Frauenfelder from BoingBoing and published by John Battelle and O'Reilly, this is an attempt for a quarterly publication for hackers, tinkerers, do-it-yourself type of guys and people interested in technology (not necessarily computers)." Read on for Alex's review; this sounds like the best parts of 1970s-era Popular Mechanics.

charliedickinson writes "Web Design on a Shoestring offers the premise that modest budgets for Web development can pay off in focused, uncluttered, appealing Web sites. Author Carrie Bickner, who took on Web development with a professional background as a librarian (she is now Assistant Director for Digital Information and System Design at The New York Public Library), eschews the nuts-and-bolts mechanics of Web page crafting for a comprehensive overview of 'project management, usability, design, copywriting, hosting, and post-launch maintenance.'" Read on for the rest of Dickinson's review.

nazarijo (Jose Nazario) writes "Everyone knows that Kerberos is the biggest solution to the single sign-on dilemma. How can you get everyone using one bank of accounts on loads of machines, from UNIX, OS X, and Windows environments, and do so securely? You can shoehorn in a variety of mechanisms, or you can adopt Kerberos. However, Kerberos intimidates a lot of people, somewhat deservedly so, but also somewhat needlessly. Enter Kerberos: The Definitive Guide, one of the latest 'definitive guides' from O'Reilly." Read on for the rest of Nazario's review.

Dean Wilson writes "When it comes to software development the Pragmatic Programmers are widely recognised as masters of their trade, but with the release of their award-winning Starter Kit Series they've begun to gain a reputation for writing, editing and finding book authors that are as talented as they are. Pragmatic Version Control Using Subversion by Mike Mason is an excellent example. The book itself is an introduction to using Subversion (focusing on the command-line tools), but while it clearly covers all the essentials: basic commands, tagging, branching, etc. it also delves into some of the related, but often overlooked areas of version control. When it comes to version control systems, CVS has long been the workhorse of the Open Source and Free Software movements -- but with the release of Subversion, it's time to put the old nag to rest; and this book tells you what you need to do it." Read on for the rest of Wilson's review.

r3lody (Raymond Lodato) writes "Writing Linux applications is not a simple endeavor. The Linux operating system provides a sophisticated framework for running programs, and learning how to take advantage of that framework requires some research. The book Linux Application Development, 2nd Ed., by Michael K. Johnson and Erik W. Troan provides much of what you need to know within its sturdy covers. Pitched to the intermediate to advanced programmer, all of the basic programming APIs are covered -- some in detail, some in brief." Read on for the rest of Lodato's review of this book.

norburym writes "AppleScript: The Missing Manual by Adam Goldstein is part of the Missing Manual series of beginner/intermediate books published by Pogue Press/O'Reilly and Associates. This series focuses on computer products that have been released without adequate printed manuals (Mac OS X, iLife '04, Google, iPod and iTunes, Windows XP, Windows 2K, among others). I would venture that this also applies to most major software releases, which should keep Mr. Pogue, O'Reilly and their contributing authors busy for quite some time. Their newest release, AppleScript: The Missing Manual, is a welcome addition to their catalog of smart, funny and user-friendly books." Read on for the rest of Norbury-Glaser's review.

Despite a growing interest in the field, books on game design can be jargon-filled textbooks too intimidating for the average game player. Raph Koster's A Theory of Fun for Game Design takes an entertaining look at a subject that has, in some ways, been taken too seriously by other authors. The book is thoughtful as well, providing a groundwork for a discussion of games as learning tools, art, and societal shapers. Read on for my thoughts, and some commentary from the author, on this distillation of a designer's viewpoint.

ThinkMagnet (James Mitchell) writes " Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking is Malcolm Gladwell's foray into the study of intuitive decision-making. The author, a former Washington Post science and technology writer, reveals his journalistic background in his narrative style. His assertions are based on recent scientific findings, but are always presented as a story. This makes good conversation fodder, but can frustrate readers who prefer direct presentation of scientific arguments." Read on for the rest of Mitchell's review.

norburym (Mary Norbury-Glaser) writes "The third edition of Build Your Own Database Driven Website Using PHP & MySQL is written by Kevin Yank, Technical Business Director for sitepoint.com, a popular online resource for Web development. Updated for PHP 5 and MySQL 4 in this edition, Yank has put together an easy-to-follow, hands-on tutorial using the tools and techniques necessary to build a functional database-driven Web site. Many Web designers don't have deep knowledge and experience in data coding but want to get started serving up dynamic Web pages. This book gives designers and beginning coders a concise introduction to PHP and MySQL and quickly brings the reader to the page-creation stage." Read on for the rest of Norbury-Glaser's review.

barryhawkins writes "When sharing with others that I was reviewing an O'Reilly book through their User Group & Professional Association Program, the first question was always the same: 'What book are you reviewing?' After saying the title was Understanding Open Source & Free Software Licensing, responses ranged from 'What's that?' to 'Well, you won't have any trouble sleeping!' One might think that this list of people included relatives and coworkers who were not attuned to the open source community and its issues. On the contrary, the responses came from those within my circle of acquaintances, which includes software developers, system administrators, and even an intellectual property lawyer. Licensing is not exactly the sort of topic where people slide forward in their seats and ask to be told more. Such is the appeal of software licensing; however, the importance of understanding licensing, particularly within the context of open source development, cannot be overstated." Read on for Hawkins' review.

Bruce Lawson writes "I've read a lot of CSS books, but this one is the one I wished that I'd read when I was learning, and I suspect that other slashdotters may concur. It is firmly pitched at the coder rather than the designer, takes you from CSS virgin to upper intermediate level, with good attention to the process of (re)designing with CSS, legal issues such as Accessibility (section 508), and assumes that you're not scared of mark-up." Lawson offers this disclosure: "I should immediately disclose that I've worked for two different companies that have published the author, Rachel Andrew, but I have no connection with the publishers, or this book." Read on for the rest of his review.

Craig Reynolds writes "In his recent book Artificial Intelligence for Computer Games: An Introduction , author John Funge takes us on a whirlwind tour of techniques from the literature of academic AI research and discusses their application to the nuts and bolts of game AI programming. While some of these topics are quite advanced, the text remains easily readable and grounded in what the techniques mean to real game programmers developing real game AI." Read on for Reynolds' review.