Whether you're using Linux for personal software projects, for a small office or home office (often termed the SOHO environment), to provide services to a small group of colleagues, or to administer a site responsible for millions of email and web connections each day, you need quick access to information on a wide range of tools. This book covers all aspects of administering and making effective use of Linux systems. Among its topics are booting, package management, and revision control. But foremost in Linux in a Nutshell are the utilities and commands that make Linux one of the most powerful and flexible systems available.
Now in its fifth edition, Linux in a Nutshell brings users up-to-date with the current state of Linux. Considered by many to be the most complete and authoritative command reference for Linux available, the book covers all substantial user, programming, administration, and networking commands for the most common Linux distributions.
Comprehensive but concise, the fifth edition has been updated to cover new features of major Linux distributions. Configuration information for the rapidly growing commercial network services and community update services is one of the subjects covered for the first time.
But that's just the beginning. The book covers editors, shells, and LILO and GRUB boot options. There's also coverage of Apache, Samba, Postfix, sendmail, CVS, Subversion, Emacs, vi, sed, gawk, and much more. Everything that system administrators, developers, and power users need to know about Linux is referenced here, and they will turn to this book again and again.
The no-nonsense approach and right-on-target examples help distinguish this text. The book begins by making a case for cross-platform development. (Qt shows that Java is not the only game in town in this regard.) A later section on good GUI design and some hints for better portability help make this title a good way to learn GUI programming from the ground up.
Short, clear examples show off the basics, starting with a "Hello World" application. Emphasis is on using the Qt APIs effectively rather than getting bogged down in C++ syntax. Since GUI programming is a strength, the author covers the built-in "widgets" available in Qt in excellent detail, including fancier controls like tables and new dial components. The Qt library is also a general-purpose application framework, and there's coverage here for file APIs, collections, and late-breaking support for XML processing.
The basics are augmented here with short sections showing particular APIs at work. Most readers will likely find the material on Qt's SQL Module for database programming indispensable. A section on custom controls is also a standout and more advanced readers will learn how to using OpenGL calls in Qt as well as how to interoperate with Perl modules.
The book closes with sections that will benefit the less experienced Qt developer, including how to use Visual C++ 6 to let you build Qt executables, and how to take advantage of Qt's Designer tool to simplify designing forms and components visually.
Right up to date with the latest on Qt from top to bottom, this text really shines with its notably concise and authoritative style that readers will have come to expect from O'Reilly titles. For anyone tackling Qt development, the second edition of Programming Qt is sure to be a necessary addition to your programming bookshelf. --Richard Dragan
at the top of your code, and then add "CONFIG = release", "CONFIG += qt", and "QT += qt3support" to your *.pro project file. After that was done, I had no problems with the code from this book.
Good, if outdated, introduction to Qt.......2005-11-02
Book starts out strong, and was helpful as an introduction for Qt. However, it seems to cut out about 350 pages in, putting subjects such as "Focus Handling" in its own 3 page chapter, rather than integrating it into an existing chapter. That said, the Portability chapter, which includes a list of Qt functions that are not portable, was a valuable addition.
Keep in mind, the 2nd edition of Programming for Qt was written for Qt 3. At the time of this review, the latest version of Qt is version 4. This is a problem because Trolltech appears to reinvent the wheel for each major version. While the author had me salivating at the thought of a QStyleSheet, checking the API docs for Qt 4 QStyleSheet is now a deprecated class, and as far as I can tell there is no current equivalent.
One aspect I wish the author had covered in more detail is the actual compiling and linking of applications that use Qt. I'm starting to get the impression that Trolltech's dirty little secret is that while their API is both clean and thorough, the signal/slot method is overly reliant on #defines, and the developer has to compile and link as many as twice the number of files to make it function. Trolltech includes a program 'qmake' almost as a bandaid which will generate Makefiles that will then automatically generate and compile the extra 'moc' files. The problem is that if you're porting an application to Qt, you're likely to have existing makefiles. Adding the additional layer of qmake and it's .pro files is both cumbersome and not actually necessary. While you can certainly figure out on your own how to avoid using qmake, it would have been helpful if the book described the functionality of the qmake-generated makefiles. This would help developers porting to Qt to include that functionality in their existing makefiles.
Good but not enough.......2005-08-18
Not enough examples und for beginners as I am, too many questions. Betterone is "Das Qt Buch" in german. This ise tehe bestone what I have ever seen.
Very good book.......2003-10-27
I am new to Linux programming (I'm a .Net developer) and was a bit frustrated with the online tutorials for Qt and decided to give this book a try. I am very happy with the decision, this book is very well written. I like the style of the author, giving us some practical exercises after each topic, so we can improve the application he develops throughout the book (a "paintbrush"). Now that I understood the basics I can use the Qt documentation to do my own apps.
People who like those huge, "step-by-step" ("click File->Quit to exit the application...") books might be a bit disappointed with this one though, the author assumes that the reader knows some C++ and can figure out some stuff by himself/herself, so be warned. Not that he skips any information needed, but he doesn't repeat the same thing 10x either, so you gotta be a bit "smart" to read this book.
Great book........2003-07-21
I personally own all three published books on the Qt GUI Toolkit by Trolltech. This one is by far the best of them. It is not a 5 star book, but it will teach you some of the more advanced uses of the Toolkit. It makes for a really great comanion to the Reference guide that comes with the toolkit.
Amazon.com
Anyone who's done programming work knows that you spend half your coding time looking for other people's solutions to the problems you're facing in your project. Particularly when you're dealing with times, dates, standard calculations, and other common problems, you find yourself saying, "Someone must have solved this before." And, indeed, someone usually has. Linux Programming by Example is a dense compendium of Linux software solutions--tools, algorithms, and procedures that solve data-processing challenges of the sort that crop up in all sorts of software projects. Though it does not address X11 user-interface programming or network communications much, this book does a great job of communicating recommended practices for command-line interfaces, filesystem manipulation, internationalization and localization, and inter-process communications. Taken together with The Art of Unix Programming, this book will help you solve difficult Linux programming problems quickly.
Unlike a lot of code-oriented books, this one manages to keep its samples concise, and devote more space to discussions of why things are done than to the code that actually does them. This promotes understanding: You can always mess around with the code yourself on your own. Overall, Arnold Robbins does an excellent job of stripping away some of the hacker mystique to reveal the code behind the curtain. This book shows how to work Linux magic. --David Wall
Topics covered: Linux programming in C, mostly at a level concerned with user input from the command line, file I/O, interprocess signalling, and memory management.
Customer Reviews:
Good Introduction.......2007-01-07
This is a good introductory book for Linux OS related programming concepts including memory management, files, IPC, signals and debugging. It does explain the concepts quite well and the code illustrations are very helpful. Its debugging and internalization chapters are noteworthy. As mentioned by others, this book does not cover threads and sockets.
It could be better to provide more complete coverage of the topics such as IPC and memory management. For example, the IPC chapter is limited to pipes and fifos (they are not even explained depth enough).
In short, I strongly recommend it as an introductory book for the topics covered.
Quality book, a keeper.......2006-03-20
I learned about this book from its sister book, Linux Kernel Primer: A Top-Down Approach for x86 and PowerPC Architecture. While the kernel book is not a good one at all, this one is a true gem. The writing is clear, lucid, and the examples are from the real world and thoroughly explained. In contrast, the kernel book gives overly broad and general introduction to a subject and then dives into the source code with disconnected commenting; there is such a big gap between the intro and the source code that it's not readable at all.
The auther Arnold Robinns also wrote a few other great books, including Learning the vi Editor and Learning the Korn Shell. With the achievement of this book, he ranks near the great, late Richard Stevens in terms of writing quality.
Great real world examples.......2005-01-25
Linux Programming by Example: The Fundamentals is a great book that covers three main concepts in Linux programming: files, processes and debugging. In each part the author explains and gives several examples of functions, systems calls and APIs that will help the Linux programmer. He also includes several real world examples of how these concepts are implemented. Here are the some things that I found interesting:
The Good: 1) This book really focuses on the use of standards and good program design. Right from the beginning, the author goes out of his way to make the reader aware of standards from ISO and POSIX and how they apply to good programming and design. Along this line I also like that the author explains the benefits of - and promotes - the use of Gnu software. Being an avid Gnu user myself (as most Linux users are) I agree that Gnu software is generally better software.
2) I feel that knowledge is power, and the author goes along with this idea by showing how some things should *not* be done. He often points out several functions that are available but should be avoided. I appreciated this, and feel that it makes the reader an all-around better programmer. The author also frequently gives extra information and history which helps explain why things are the way they are. This was especially useful when explaining mount points and types of file system.
3) I liked the fact that the author uses real world examples to demonstrate the ideas being presented. I really appreciated the fact that he uses V7 code (older, smaller and less comlex code) to demonstrate his examples. This allowed me to be able to see how the features were implemented in simple code, without being overwhelmed by the modern equivalents. A great example is the V7 echo program - only 23 lines!
The Bad: There weren't too many things that I didn't like about this book, but if my arm was twisted I would say the following: 1) This book is called *Linux* Programming but really it is about Unix programming. I know they are similar, and maybe I am splitting hairs here, but the title could really be *Unix* Programming. Most of this stuff is generic Unix programming, and the author points out the special exceptions not only for Linux but for other Unix variants as well - such as BSD.
2) Don't confuse the word "Fundamental" with "Beginning." This book really isn't for beginning Linux programmers, but rather it teaches basic (or fundamental) concepts that Linux programmers should know and use. The reader needs to be moderately familiar with the C programming language if he or she is to be edified.
A great read, with some excellent examples of well written Linux programs. If you are interested in moving beyond basic Linux programming then you should definitely pick up a copy of this book!
An invaluable resource.......2005-01-06
This is an exceptionally fine book.
Robbins has supplied the reader with a vast number of
programs and a lot of elucidation. This is a primer in
Linux programming, but also serves as a tract on UNIX
programming. The illustrations stem, for the most part,
from actual GNU and Linux code.
This is an invaluable resource for those converting from
another system to Linux.
A new classic.......2004-07-13
I loved this book. It's earned an honored place on my bookshelf, and I'm going to recommend it to people who need information about Linux and UNIX development.
Many computer books are practically obsolete before they ship: within a few months, "Learn Foomatic 4.3 in 21 Days" is in the bargain bin at the Dollar Tree. Some books have longer lives, and a few can remain useful for years. "Linux Programming by Example" (LPE) is in this last category; this book can stand alongside Steven's "Advanced UNIX Programming" as an essential tutorial and reference.
LPE covers everything you'd expect (working with files, processes, signals, users) and some things you might not (internationalization). But it's this book's voice and unique perspective that make it truly a gem. LPE is written in a clear, friendly, authoritative style. As I read, I often felt that I had gained a new understanding of things I've known for years.
The long and twisted history of UNIX has given rise to multiple competing APIs. Perhaps the greatest thing about this book is the way that Robbins cuts through these thickets, explaining your choices, pointing out the best alternatives, and explaining why they're the best. LPE's modern vantage point means it can cover V7, BSD, POSIX, and GNU APIs. The chapter on signals alone is worth the purchase price of the book for the way in which it clearly compares and contrasts the various signal APIs.
Customer Reviews:
Samba, open source replacement for Micro$oft's networks........2007-01-09
Samba is great and this book covered the subject thoroughly. Very pleased.
One of the Better Books Out there on SAMBA.......2005-10-24
I tried to get started with SAMBA, but could never get off the ground using material printed in many Linux books. After going through this book, I realized many key concepts that I was missing, such as windows domain accounts to Unix account mappings and such.
This book has an abundance of information in it. Some things that look exciting were some information about the PDC/BDC style integratrion and also Active Directory Kerberos integration. There's also a section on CUPS integration.
Overall I found this resource quite invaluable. Maybe there's online material that is better, but for printed text this is one of the best books out there...
Great technical reference for advanced use of Samba.......2005-09-18
This is not an introduction to Samba but a technical reference written by those who know it best - the Samba Team. If you already know something about Samba then this is the place you will find very detailed explanations of all the internal and external capabilities of Samba-3.0.11 and higher. While it is easy enough to find information on how to set Samba up as a file and print server, how to use its other features is harder information to come by. This book details setting up Samba as a domain controller, backup domain controller, or domain member, network browsing, access controls, record locking, securing Samba, interdomain trusts, printing support, user profiles, administration, monitoring, and tuning. A voluminous tome, most people will not be inclined to read through it but would more likely read the sections relevant to their current needs and the book is organized so that it is easy to use that way. A true technical reference it has everything you are likely to ever want to know about Samba-3 and how to set it up correctly as well as how to resolve common problems. This is a reference that I will be keeping close at hand and you will want to too if you use Samba-3. The Official Samba-3 Howto and Reference Guide, Second Edition is highly recommended.
Sadly disappointed.......2004-12-30
Anxious to set up samba at home I headed down to the local bookstore and picked up this book at full price (perhaps the only samba 3 book there). I think I read about 1/4 of the book and have now decided it will be going back tomorrow. It's easy to read if you have some Windows and some Linux/UNIX experience, but every chapter is plagued with sentences an 8th grade student failing English could have pointed to problems! Sometimes it was difficult to determine what the meaning of some statements should be. In one chapter a discussion of non-encrypted passwords repeated advantages from the discussion of encrypted passwords, advantages that clearly do not exist!
It feels likes the HOWTOs from the Internet were simply copied, so why wasn't there time to edit?
Samba 2 and not Samba 3.......2004-12-30
This book reports the Samba 2 configuration examples and seems to ignore that Samba 3 "talks" directly with LDAP without the numerous "scripts" that are reported in the examples. This ia a Samba 2 daptation to the LDAP directory service and simply sucks!
If you want to make a donation to the Samba "father" John Terpstra, then buy the book but for real stuff, simply go in Internet, you will find exactly the same obsolete documentation, not a word more nor less.
Book Description
There is a wealth of open and free software available today for Windows developers who want to extend the development environment, reduce development effort and increase productivity. Windows Developer Power Tools is an encyclopedic guide to more than 100 free and open source tools available to programmers who build applications for Windows desktops and servers, including web applications and services. With its unique task-oriented organization, this book will help you find the tools you need to solve common (and uncommon) problems. Each tool in the book includes a capsule summary -- a mini user's guide -- to help readers get up to speed quickly. Also, plenty of links point you to additional detail online if you wish to delve more deeply into features and functionality. This one-stop resource covers a wide range of open source and freeware tools to help you answer questions around planning, developing, testing, and rolling out great software.
Customer Reviews:
Bookshelf essentials - Windows Developer Power Tools.......2007-10-17
Windows Developer Power Tools: Turbocharge Windows development with more than 140 free and open source tools (Power Tools)
Overview
Open-source and free developer/performance tools can be found in abundance on the internet today but one of the few issues that generally comes up after you've gotten hold of one is "how does this work?".
On occasion you'll start to use a tool or add-in only to find out later on that there's a much better way to utilise the power you suddenly have at your hands - but by then, you've spent hours already "mis-using" the tool.
This book arms you with information, tips and tricks, how-tos and descriptions on a host of known, and possibly unknown, tools that will seriously help you speed up your development - so why not be the hero of the office and start developing smartly!
Over the last couple of years i've been in and out of windows and web development and felt that i was comfortable in both arenas. But after reading this book I knew that I could have been a much more efficient developer if only I'd known about the tools it explores.
The book is divided into suitable chapters, making it very easy to use the book for fast reference if you suddenly remember that you once read (somewhere?) about a tool doing exactly what you're trying to achieve in the old fashioned way - doing it yourself from scratch.
Each chapter (or tool/tip/add-in) is presented in an easily to understand english, with a logical order that makes reading this book a pleasure. Some books comes across with technical jargon without explanations for the varied levels of developers out there, but this book can easily be enjoyed by both the experienced developer and the starting rising star.
Some of my most favorite tools are included in this book, such as Anthem.Net, which encapsulates web forms and extends AJAX capability without having to write a single line of JavaScript.
Other tools which was new to me, included CopySourceAsHTML, and the experience with which i've had with posting code over the years, or including snippets in documentation, has just been greatly improved.
Conclusion
What i found most pleasing about this book, is the consistency in which it presents each topic for you. The authors has gone to great length to make it a flawless experience in reading this book and even though many has contributed to the content, the layout is flawlessly simple.
A very easy read and a bookshelf essential! Five stars...
Excellent Productivity Booster.......2007-10-01
[...]
Until reading this book, I did not realize how much productivity I stood to gain.
When I first agreed to review this book I didn't know what I was really getting into. I expected a brief catalog of fairly standard, well-known tools which would only come as a surprise to fresh graduate. I expected I getting a small pocket-sized book which I could devour in one train ride. I could not have been more wrong.
The book covers over 170 Open Source tools across a wide variety of development domains from Windows Forms and Web Development, to working with Databases and XML data. Each tool will in some way enhance your productivity in some way, allowing you to do the things your really enjoy about writing software on the Microsoft Windows platform. The productivity gains vary from being able to generate the tedious 80% of your project to those 5 second boosts which all add up and prevent RSI.
Each of the 23 chapters is targeted at a particular issue or development task and opens with one or two pages describing this task. These are so well written that I think the opening of Chapter 9 [Analyzing Your Code], which gives a quick explanation of code metrics, is my favorite section of the whole book. This means that the book is not just an encyclopedic reference of tools, but also of modern development techniques.
After the introduction a very brief description of each tool follows. These are great memory refreshers once you have read the book and are repeated on the companion web-site. Each tool is then given its own section and the chapter closes with a bibliography for people interested in finding out more.
This structure of "Introduction, Overview data, Full text, Where to get more information" is repeated for each tool. The overview data includes such information as:
The version covered
The home page
The license type
Which versions of the .NET Framework are supported
A collection of related tools for cross-referencing purposes
The full text of each tool explains where to get the tool, how to install it and how to get started using it allowing you to jump straight in and leverage the tool. This section is often littered with useful screenshots which give you a glimpse at the experience you will find when using the tool. The text for each tool closes with instructions for getting support on the tool and often a brief passage from the tools creator explaining the thinking behind creating the tool.
If that weren't enough, the book also has a companion website at www.windevpowertools.com where all of the tools are listed and tagged, each with a download link enabling you to download one straight from the site. You can even create your own "toolbox" and add tools from the site to it, allowing you to quickly and easily provision new machines from the web site itself.
All in all I have thoroughly enjoyed reading this book. I would have liked to have seen more information about the selection process for the tools and readers would do well to remember that a tools inclusion (or lack of inclusion) in the text is not necessarily an indicator of its maturity or usefulness. Be sure that you have a lot of time if you buy this book as you are likely to download, install, and play with many of the tools. If you do then using a virtual machine is highly recommended. None of the tools did anything harmful to my computer, but having 170 tools running at once just isn't advised!
Great for anybody who wants to be more productive.......2007-09-18
I'm big into using the right tools for the right jobs. One can find a gazillion of tools out there on the internet, so it's hard to decide which ones are actually worth checking out. This book remedies that by giving you a consolidated list of tools that everybody developer should at least have a look at.
I also blogged about this book at:
http://claudiolassala.spaces.live.com/blog/cns!E2A4B22308B39CD2!356.entry
Excellent Reference Guide to Developer's Tools.......2007-08-16
This book is an excellent source of useful tools and mini-howto guides. I especially like the layout where each tool is described along with links to the code, a summary of its abilities and a mini-howto on how to get started with the tool. The book gives a nice cross section of tools for all occasions, broken up by category. If you are new to development or are needing a tool to help you develop code then this book will probably point you in the right direction.
The reason for 4 stars rather than 5 is more because of the topic rather than the book itself or the authors. By its very definition some of the tools were outdated by the time of the book's release. It is a limitation of the publishing process. The authors simply have no way of knowing what tools will be available at the time of the books release. Therefore readers should not assume that each tool is the best in its category. Nor should readers assume that the howto guides are completely accurate for the current version. This book could have really used a CD containing each of the tools at the time of the writing so readers could get a feel for the tool without: a) having to download the tool separately, and b) try to match the current version of the tool to the version discussed in the book. Even better would have been a VPC image that users could run without having to install all the tools on their own system.
I'm hoping the authors put out a new edition later and, perhaps, include a CD of the tools. Until then this is one of the best books available for getting information on some really useful developer tools.
Excellent Resource.......2007-08-03
Clocking in at close to 1300 pages, this book is an excellent resource for almost every Windows developer scenario you can think of. It's certainly not a book you're going to read cover-to-cover, but the next time you're implementing a project of type X (SQL, unit testing, performance monitoring, etc. etc. etc.) you'll want to look it up in this book to see what tools are available to aid you in your development goal.
One of the things I found wonderful about this book is that not only does it list the tool, where it's available, and basic stats, but it also goes in depth on how to use the tool to fit the need with sample source code, screen shots, and real-world examples.
Great stuff. It should be on every Windows developer's bookshelf.
Customer Reviews:
Good, but publicly available on the Web.......2007-03-27
I find this book a good mate for everyone who likes more reading on printed paper rather than a pc screen.
Through the pages you'll find plenty of examples and advices, expecially in the FAQ sections, but on the other side every single word is already available on the samba's official site.
Maybe, if this book was cheaper, people could buy it and place it on their desktop as a trusted fella.
Long story shortened..........2007-02-17
This handy book takes common tasks and presents how to accomplish them, but it does more than that - it puts context around the dry reference material I usually end up using. That context makes a difference and ends up saving me time when I want to accomplish some task I don't do every day.
This book is a time and headache saver.
Great Examples for Samba 3.......2005-12-23
The name says it all. This book is an excellent guide for the latest version of Samba. From small networks to enterprise level integration, Terpstra walks the user through examples.
I recommend this book not only for the great examples, but because it is great at instruction. In the first chapter it reviews network scanning and nessus as a way of troubleshooting and understanding the protocols. This kind of instruction is hard to find in most books.
Another great feature of this book is the breadth of the subjects covered. From active directory to ldap to kerberos and security - I was impressed with just the table of contents.
Overall, you can find more in-depth coverage of any of the individual topics in the book, but no one source quite like this one. It is a great book both for novices and for experienced administrators newly faced with unix/windows integration with samba.
Examples thgat Work.......2005-11-24
Most books either provide untested examples for how to do this sort of thing, and so can only be taken as illustrative, and/or they cover a very narrow range of tasks. Terpstra has done neither: he's provided examples that actually work, that have been tested in operational environments, and he has provided a broad range of examples, examples that are useable regardless of the network type in place.
Further, he has written this book in a very accessible way. While Samble-3 is targeted at Readers with experience in networking, this book is useable by newbies, as well. Although Terpstra provides some rationale for his setups, his step-by-step directions simply can be followed in cookbook fashion until experience teaches more broadly.
Nothing like specific examples to see how to do something.......2005-09-17
Using Linux in a Windows desktop environment requires the use of Samba for file and print sharing via the Windows explorer. But Samba has grown up as a full-fledged package for communicating between Linux and Windows over the last few years. Installing Samba as a Primary Domain Controller, implementing ldap for easy directory integration, or just installing it as a file and print server are all easy to do with the help of this book. The author takes a much easier to follow approach than most other writers on this subject. Instead of trying to go through each of the features and discuss them in detail he organizes the book by the type of installation and then walks you through a correct setup for that situation. For example some of the sections are: No-frills Samba Servers, Small Office Networking, Secure Office Networking, The 500-User Office, A Distributed 2000-User Network, Migrating NT4 Domain to Samba-3, and Migrating Netware Server to Samba-3. For each one of these situations the author dissects the technical issues, discusses each one, and then walks the reader through the implementing. The author also includes sections on things like performance, reliability, LDAP, and updating Samba. Nothing is left unexplained but each time you are told to check something or do something the exact syntax for doing it is given. Even with only very little or no Linux experience you can walk through this book and install a correctly functioning Samba server. Samba-3 by Example is highly recommended.
Book Description
Open Source Game Development: Qt Games for KDE, PDAs, and Windows starts with a review of game design and walks the reader through Open Source game development using Qt and KDE. From there it moves on to cover topics such as Canvas Games (2D), OpenGL (3D), graphics & sound, pathfinding, AI, particle effects, math, and physics. All relevant sections of the book include ready-to-use code snippets that are accompanied by fully functional tutorial/example programs and extensive API documentation. The companion CD-ROM includes C++ source code for Qt applications and all of the algorithms from the text. After reading this book, game programmers will have the tools and knowledge to master Open Source game development.
Customer Reviews:
Good but not too deep.......2006-11-10
See this book as a general introduction to developing games and open source software, but some definitions are often shallow and/or briefly explained. You'll have to follow its many references to gather the whole knowledge together. Recommended for those with good skills in C++ and class programming but are willing to build some board games for fun. Interestingly, it gives some insight into AI and 3D gfx, but never deep enough for someone to start any serious project. The attached CDROM contains complete projects which does help a lot (but nothing that you can't find in the Web).
Open Source Game Programming : QT Games For KDE, PDAs, And Windows (Game..........2006-06-05
This book, by Thompson Learning, is an excellent book in that it not only goes into the code aspect of game creation using QT and a C++ compiler, but gives some insight into what it takes to design a particular game program solution.
However, even though it does not take a whole lot of programming experience to program a game, one does need to have at least a working knowledge of form creation using (QT or a Visual program language) and some knowledge of a C++ compiler.
Remember, to show a form it must be called by code which includes at least one (Show form) code block.
I would say the programming level needed to use this book effectively is at least advanced beginning. And I believe some experience in the Linux version of QT and the Linux GNU C++ compliler would be very helpful.
Excellent!.......2006-04-24
Well written, concise, clear -- this is book is the perfect introduction for anyone who wants to code using Qt and KDE as well as for anyone who wants to get into game programming as a hobby.
A must for Linux and KDE game developers.......2006-01-07
This book contains everything you need to know to develop game programs on Linux and the KDE desktop, with information on how to make your games portable to Windows, Mac and PDA. It covers a wide range of topics in a very clear fashion - technicalities of various platforms, use of Qt canvas 2D graphics and OpenGL 3D graphics, sound, artificial intelligence, path finding, maths and physics of games and network play, to name just a few. The references to websites and other texts, at the end of each chapter, are alone worth their weight in gold.
If only I had had this book available when I sat down to develop a game 4 years ago. I would have saved about a year of my life, which I spent finding out things the hard way!
Average customer rating:
- Migration patterns explained
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ASIN: 1584504226 |
Book Description
Linux has established itself as the fastest growing server platform and is poised to capitalize on its success in the enterprise data center to become a formidable desktop operating system. One area that potential desktop Linux users find lacking is that of information on the capabilities of Linux as a desktop operating system in comparison to Microsoft Windows. Windows to Linux Business Desktop Migration explores the advantages of the Linux desktop and forewarns of the possible pitfalls associated with a Linux desktop migration. The reader will benefit from the tips included in the text to realize the goals of increased productivity and better value from their desktop computing investment. In order to make this possible the book focuses on four main points: * Explaining the factors involved in a Windows to Linux migration, including how to form a strategy for a Windows dependent organization, including advice on what open source back office software could potentially augment the new desktop solution; * Advising IT managers on data migration strategies for critical information (Office documents, bookmarks, address books, etc.); * Improving the overall stability, security and productivity of their desktop environment by utilizing Linux' extensive management capabilities and permissions; * Providing recommendations for open source applications that can be used in lieu of commercial applications on both Windows and Linux with consideration given as to how to maintain equivalent or better experience. Unlike other Linux desktop books, Windows to Linux Business Desktop Migration discusses both the strategy of how Windows users would implement the Linux operating system along with tactics to avoid pitfalls during the migration.
Customer Reviews:
Migration patterns explained.......2006-04-14
Mark R. Hinkle's WINDOWS TO LINUX BUSINESS DESKTOP MIGRATION compares the potentials of Linux as a desktop operating system, contrasting the more common MS Windows operating environment and exploring how Linux holds advantages as a desktop program as well. Readers learn how a migration between the two is achieved and how IT managers can customize and devise strategies for strategic management of critical information, and receive discussions which focus on how Windows users would implement the Linux operating system.
Something You Really Should Start Thinking About.......2006-03-12
Sooner or later you have to be thinking about moving Linux to the business desktop. The factors of software cost, of reliability, of virus protection have become so powerful that you have to at least think about it a little. You probably haven't done anything about it yet, but maybe it's time for a little investigation.
This book is an excellent place to start, and for two reasons.
First, you probably haven't started to play with Linus yet. You have your PC on your desk, it's (finally) working the way you want, you don't want to go put Linux on it and screw everything up. Solution: the CD included with this book has Linux on it in a version that will run off of the CD. You can start playing with Linux on your own desktop without screwing it up.
Second, the writer is oriented to thinking like managers. He discusses such things as the true cost of ownership. What does a visit from tech support really cost? What about the cost of a hit from a virus that puts your call center down? He talks about Linux, not as a teckie, but as a manager who really is concerned about his people getting some use out of their PC's.
This is a good place to at least start your thinking.
Strategies and Information for Linux Migrations.......2006-03-09
If you're considering a move to Linux for all or part of your computing needs, then Windows to Linux Business Desktop Migration is a welcome reference. After reading it, you will have a better understanding of your computing needs and how that translates to existing Linux solutions. In addition, you will be able to make informed decisions regarding Linux migration strategies and conduct additional, focused research as needed.
"Would't it be nice to be the only lemonade vendor in the middle of the desert," asks Hinkle. Obviously, the lemonade vendor in question is Microsoft, and if you are considering this book, then you realize vendor lock-in is a costly proposition. The book outlines the business case for Windows to Linux migration by emphasizing the cost savings, openness, and flexibility of Linux; however, Hinkle tempers his advocacy by addressing the reasons why some businesses should wait before moving individual services to Linux. In fact, the many ways Linux and Windows can exist in a heterogeneous network is an enlightening aspect of the book.
Hinkle's task is tough, but in the opening three chapters he gives a thorough analysis of the Windows to Linux migration process. As a result, you end up with a checklist of items that will help you successfully migrate to Linux, as well as guidance to help you determine what functions to move to Linux and when to move them.
The remaining chapters discuss deployment and support considerations for the actual migration. You will not find a step-by-step guide to installing and using software, but you will find a well versed overview of applications, Linux distributions, remote display technologies, and thin client computing. Hinkle clears the information gathering hurdle by providing an impressive collection of software reviews, including practical uses. He easily saves unfamiliar Linux users a hundred hours or more in research and analysis.
The Knoppix Live CD included with the book is an invaluable, low-risk tool to explore Linux. Many of the topics and software introduced throughout the book can be immediately tried by booting the Knoppix CD, which requires no changes to your system. The Knoppix Live CD itself is a testament to the power of Linux, and with Hinkle's guidance you know where to look for that power.
Book Description
This is a great book for anyone who wants to use .NET on Linux. It is a must have for anyone doing cross-platform .NET.
— Dennis Hayes, .NET Developer's Journal
Practical Mono offers you a detailed portrait of Mono and its many facets. You'll learn about building GUI-based applications with Gtk#, database interaction with ADO.NET, and powerful applications with XML and web services.
By embracing this implementation, you can take advantage of the powerful development paradigm, building Internet-enabled cross-platform applications based on open source technologies. This book includes a primer on C#, so even if you're a novice .NET programmer, you will still gain plenty from this practical guide.
Customer Reviews:
Brilliant Starter to Intemediate book.......2006-02-21
I picked up this book, hoping it would be to the usual APress standard and I wasn't disappointed. I've played with .NET on the Windows platform before but had often wished that this technology would be made available on Open Source.
When Mono was introduced, I wanted to get my hands dirty but not start learning all the facets of .NET from scratch and without having to go through the trauma of understanding the implications, how GTK+ may hook in etc.
I was therefore overjoyed to find that this book covered all of this and more and using a practical book project rather than theoretical examples. It starts gently which I was happy to go through as I picked up a tip here and there. The C# primer chapters were comprehensive and I use them to as a reference guide.
Then we went into chapters that covered ADO.NET, ASP.NET, XML, Networking and much much more. The Author has not only covered the essentials but added tips along the way and these proved very useful in ensuring that I was following a standard path.
At the end of the book, I feel comfortable with .NET and Mono and its all within the familiar surroundings of Open Source. How could it get any better!
I'd therefore recommend this book to anybody wanting to no more and .NET, Mono and more.
Detailed Review.......2006-01-27
At first glance, you would think that Practical Mono is yet another
introductory book about C# and Mono, but all of that drastically
changes the moment you look at the book's table of contents and see
the variety of topics it covers and the lengths to which the author
goes to describe the more important details.
The book gently eases the into what .NET and Mono are giving a
historical background for each. What I found very interesting is the
fact the author takes time to explain about .NET in the real world,
and ties this to Mono to give the reader a clear idea of how any why
Mono was started and what the reader can do to participate in this
effort.
Since a lot of people using Mono might be coming from a traditional
.NET environment, the author expects those people to be used to
certain development tools. To that effect, the second chapter in the
book is dedicated to introducing the reader to development tools that
can be used with Mono, especially Mono Develop. This gives the reader
some heads up about what can be used instead of their conventional
development tools and makes sure you start off on solid grounds.
Having gotten the user all set up and ready for action, the book then
moves on to introduce the author to C#. This is a subtle introduction
that eases the user into what C# is and how the language works.
Chapter 3 comes in very handy when you want to brush up on your C#
skills or are new to C#. the author continues to give the reader more
information about C# in a more detailed fashion in Chapter 4,
"Learning C#: Beyond the Basics". This chapter goes into some
nitty-gritty detail about C# classes, exceptions, and all round more
advanced C# topics.
Chapter 5 moves into the more exotic areas of .NET that deal with the
CLR, IL, assemblies, and the general assembly cache (GAC). This
chapter is very helpful if the reader wishes to acquire in depth info
of how the .NET environment works. Other discussed topics here are
garbage collection, application domains, and the class library. This
is one of those chapters that make this book an excellent
recommendation for both novice and advanced users of C# and .NET.
The first 5 chapters have made sure the user is very knowledgeable
about what Mono is, what .NET is, what C# is, and how all of them
relate to each other. They have also explained C# and introduced the
reader to its syntax and advanced features. Starting with Chapter 6,
the "Practical" bit from the books title starts to kick in quite
strongly. If its a book with both theoretical and real world
information that you want, then the coming chapters are really going
to quench your thirst.
Chapter 6 goes right into the heart of on of .NET's most desired
features, Windows Forms. The author explains what Windows Forms is,
what GDI+ is, how to implement a good user interface, and gives real
world examples of how to do all of that introducing the reader to
Windows Forms' various controls. A nice section that is mentioned in
several chapters is the "Whats New in Version 2.0?" section that
informs the reader about what to expect in the new version of .NET in
regard to that particular topic.
Because the author knows that not all people will be using Windows
Forms to design their graphical interfaces, he goes into GTK+ and
Glade and takes up a complete chapter explaining what they are and how
they can be used instead of Windows Forms. Chapter 7 serves as a
gentle introduction to the GTK+ and Glade world, and makes sure the
uses knows how to pick between Windows Forms and the GTK+ / Glade
combination.
After finishing Chapter 7, the user has a very good idea about how to
design a complete graphical user interface using freely available
tools (Windows Forms in Mono, and GTK+ / Glade using GTK# in Mono).
The author now moves on to describe ADO.NET, a heavily used feature of
.NET which is also available through Mono. This chapters enlightens
the reader and explains all aspects of using ADO.NET in applications
to connect and utilize databases. The particular example is geared
towards installing MySQL. Explanation is given both for Linux and
Windows, which also shows that Mono can be used as a .NET alternative
on Windows.
Since XML is constantly referred to as a "hot topic", the author does
not let us down and dedicates a complete chapter to discussing XML and
Mono. If the reader is new to XML, then he / she will be pleased to
find out that an explanation to what XML is and its history is given
at the beginning of Chapter 9: Using XML. The chapter deals with
looking at XML documents and traversing them. The author shows us a
real world example by applying this knowledge to create an RSS feed
class library.
Chapter 10 is for those of us with enthusiasm for networking and
remoting. This chapter, "Introducing Networking and Remoting", starts
by explaining what networks are and their general concepts, then dives
into how we can do networking related programming in .NET. We apply
this knowledge later on and create an RSS feed handler.
Another heavily used feature in .NET is ASP.NET. Chapter 11: Using
ASP.NET, explains what ASP.NET is, how it works internally, and how to
use it. This chapter shows the reader how to set up a web server for
ASP.NET (both the XSP web server and an external web server) and moves
on to show the user how a web service can be written. A lot of readers
will find this chapter very useful as web services seem to be an
increasing and expanding field right now.
Finally in Chapter 12: Using Advanced Mono Techniques, the author
dives into such topics like performance tuning, reflection, and using
threads. Advanced readers will particularly like this chapter as it
handles some of the "harder" more demanding features of .NET.
This book not only serves as a great learning experience that shows
you how things are done in the real world, it also as a general good
reference for C#, .NET, and Mono and several of their features.
Definitely one you should have in your bookshelf right by your work
desk.
I enjoyed reading Mark's book, and I would recommend it to
people that are either getting into .NET / Mono or have some
experience but would like to further it.
Good Beginners Book.......2006-01-07
I have used .NET before but only in a limited capacity and I was interested in using .NET on Mono. I therefore found the C# primer useful, but obviously not a replacement for a dedicated book. However, the step by step way in which I was introduced to key topics was intuative and easy to understand and its coverage of most .NET topics was comprehensive, especially given the constraints of a single book.
Entry Level, Several Mistakes.......2005-12-26
If you are an experienced C# developer looking to move to Mono for Linux support, this is NOT the book for you. It is a very basic level introduction to development using Mono and C#. It also contains several editing and content mistakes including misplaced screen shots, and simple factual errors such as describing INSERT and UPDATE as DDL and SELECT as DML (they are all DML). Frankly I expected more from APress.
Book Description
In the 1960s, the Broadway musical underwent a revolution. What was once a form of entertainment characterized by sentimental standards, such as Camelot and Hello, Dolly! became one of brilliant and bittersweet masterpieces, such as Cabaret and Fiddler on the Roof. In Open a New Window, Mordden continues his history of the Broadway musical with the decade that bridged the gap between the fanciful shows of the fifties, such as Call Me, Madam, and the sophisticated fare of the seventies, including A Little Night Music and Follies. Here in brilliant detail are the decade and the people that transformed the Broadway musical--from the writer who knows it best.
Customer Reviews:
An Accessible and Enjoyable Book.......2002-07-26
I discovered Ethan Mordden through his books on movies. I enjoyed his style and then started reading his books on Broadway Musicals.
I am not an expert on musicals by any stretch of the imagination. However, I found "Open a New Window" very readable and interesting. I was continually surprised to find people in musicals that I never would have imagined. (Vincent Price starring in a Broadway musical in 1968? My universe is still reeling.) To someone who knows "Funny Girl" and "Cabaret" as films, it was revealing and useful to read about the plays they started as.
As for complaints that Mordden overlooks the big picture in the development of the musical, I would disagree. Granted, I am no expert, but to me he kept referring to the social changes going on and kept emphasizing how the subject matter of musicals kept becoming darker.
"Open a New Window" isn't a heavy, scholarly tome, but it is fun and accessible to readers who are curious about Broadway musicals while not obsessed with the subject.
Mordden's first slip.......2001-12-29
No one writes about musical theatre better than Ethan Mordden, and I anxiously await his every book on the subject. This fourth in his new series, however, is a surprisingly disappointing entry.
1960s witnessed the implosion of the Golden Age musical theatre format, as one show after another tanked trying to recapitulate the old formulas. New practitioners were blowing new life into the game with the "concept musical"; meanwhile, the countercultural revolution and the incursion of rock were eating away at the very space that musicals once occupied in the culture.
One would expect, then, that a chronicle of musicals in the 1960s would hold these developments front and center -- chapter headings might include "The Concept Musical", "The Rock Revolution", "The Countercultural Revolution", "The New Ethnicity", etc. But in OPEN A NEW WINDOW the new America musicals existed in hovers far in the background -- when these changes were, after all, the REASON the form had to change the way it did.
Instead, Mordden basically takes the occasion to dish and do post-mortems on almost every show that hit the boards from 1960 to 1969, dividing the shows into butterfly-collection subsets like "flops", "English shows", "dark shows", "three shows of 1969" that he just happens to find particularly interesting, etc.
Of course, his descriptions of and opinions on the shows are razor-sharp as always, and often laugh-out-loud funny. By the 1960s, Mordden was old enough to actually see all of these shows in their original performances, and this lends especial vividness to his tour.
But ultimately it's just a tour, or more precisely, an excuse to gab about the subject at book-length, getting his particular impressions on each show between two covers. And in a book by Mordden, this by itself is a let-down. Mordden specializes in taking whole swatches of theatre history and identifying dominating themes within them, rendering that theme in almost novelistic prose. Even when you can see that he has carefully fashioned his outline to allow him to hang every single show on it at some point, the result is still caviar.
His survey of the 1920s, MAKE BELIEVE, is also a tad too "taxonomic", but he gets away with it because he emphasizes theme overall, and describing the shows requires an archeological virtuosity that Mordden never ceases to dazzle me with. The 1940s and 1950s volumes are masterful in keeping larger points front and center, even when at times he has to shoehorn some shows into thematic points that they do not really quite fit.
But in OPEN A NEW WINDOW, archaeological smarts are largely beside the point; these shows are well-recorded and recent memories. And then Mordden's interest in theme here is for some reason weaker than in any of his other books. He covers the concept musical -- but sprinkled throughout. He gives little more than a page to the place of rock in musicals, in contrast to his articulate discussion of that issue re film in his THE HOLLYWOOD MUSICAL. The emerging black presence is something we largely must glean here and there, and it really won't do for HALLELUJAH, BABY! to get half a page while the misbegotten MATA HARI gets three.
Discrepancies like this do not follow from anything inherent to charting how the sixties musical developed, and reveal the problem with the book. HALLELUJAH, BABY was an attempt to engage the times, was written by top pros, won a Tony, had something of a run, and contained some fine performances. MATA HARI was just business as usual, written by semi-talents, no one really shined in it, and it didn't even make it to New York! The only reason to dwell lovingly on MATA HARI and rush past HALLELUJAH BABY is that MATA HARI fascinates in its obscurity (Mordden's archaeological bent again). The choice is natural for a few hundred die-hard show buffs, but it's questionable historiography. As the events themselves proceeded, MATA HARI was an ignominious, passing mistake. And yet we get loving, even musicological rundowns of some of its numbers, while HALLELUJAH BABY gets a polite nod.
The result is a book whose audience is a little unclear. People who don't know the shows are going to get winded with the endless procession of descriptions, ticking off of key songs, etc., especially in, say, a chapter on Off-Broadway musicals few people even noticed when they were running. A particular problem here is that there were an awful lot of weak shows in the 1960s; in the 1940s and 1950s books one reads about one gem after another, but how much will most people want to read about how magnificently inept one show after another was? Certain show buffs cherish campy dishing about "Flops", but that little joke does not travel far beyond this little set. Most people want to read about good work.
But then the small coterie of people who know the shows well and have all of their recordings -- who I suspect are Mordden's main audience -- do not need the listings, and do not need to be apprised of the existence of each and every musical. Or if we must have this, it must be cast in readable form, where we have a REASON to follow Mordden through several dozen productions.
I imagine people like us are supposed to just enjoy reading Mordden's opinions. And we do. But a sort of show-by-show reference book would do just fine here. This book barely needed to be cast in prose. OPEN A NEW WINDOW, as much as I hate to say it, left me a little bored about halfway through -- for the first time in twenty years of reading Mordden.
Mordden will always be God when it comes to chronicling musicals, and anything he writes is worth reading and re-reading. But in the end, the 1960s throws him a bit.
Another Fine and More Personal Addition to the Series.......2001-12-24
Ethan Mordden's Open a New Window (The Broadway Musical in the 1960's) continues his series looking at the development of musical theatre in New York decade by decade. This book has the burden of describing a decade that will more than likely be a great deal familiar to his readers, certainly more so than previous books. This is more than compensated for by just how personal the author makes the book. The volume interjects opinion into fact (on occasion, blending the two). This element is often quite enjoyable particularly in such juicy (and necessary) asides as George Abbott being taken down a couple of notches. This book is actually more fun as a read than previous volumes while still being consistently sharp in its analysis. A fine addition to this worthy series.
Musical theater history as good as it gets.......2001-12-09
As someone can't resist a book, no matter how bad, on musicals past, I feel like I've found a new best friend in Ethan Mordden. He knows his subject, thinks for himself and writes extraordinarily well. He's quick to confute the common memory - pointing out the unremembered virtues of Camelot, Funny Girl and even The Unsinkable Molly Brown, yet perceptively skewering Hair, Dear World and Zorba. His identification of trends and repeating patterns is brilliant, and at the same time he gave me several good belly laughs, notably when he referred to Ilya Darling as the culmination of 3000 years of Greek culture. A treasure of a book. I'm ready for the 70s, Mr. Mordden.
Another entertaining entry in this series.......2001-12-03
In this installment of Ethan Mordden's decade-by-decade series of books about the Broadway (and off-Broadway) musical, Mordden covers the 1960s.
Perhaps because I know this decade's shows more intimately than I know most of the shows in the earlier decades Mordden has covered, I was surprised to discover a rather large number of factual errors in this one.
And every once in a while in this book Mordden writes something truly bizarre, like his comment that the title song of "Cabaret" comments on "not voting when democrats oppose communazis in elections." Huh? Or his citing of the fact that "Hallelujah, Baby!" lost money even though it won the Tony for Best Musical, which is true but rather misleading if you don't also mention that it had already closed when it won the Tony.
As always, Mordden is a very entertaining writer. He is not shy about stating his opinions, but even when I disagree with him, I almost always enjoy reading him.
This is probably not a book for someone who doesn't already know the subject fairly well. I suspect most musical-comedy addicts will find it hard to put down, as you greedily wait to see what Mordden will say about every show. There are a few shows that Mordden doesn't cover (among them, "Billy" and "Something More"), probably for lack of space. This book definitely could have been a bit longer. But that is my main complaint, except for those factual errors and the several truly bizarre statements.
Isn't it great to want a book to be longer than it is?
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