Word and Object (Studies in Communication)

Book Description

Language consists of dispositions, socially instilled, to respond observably to socially observable stimuli. Such is the point of view from which a noted philosopher and logician examines the notion of meaning and the linguistic mechanisms of objective reference. In the course of the discussion, Professor Quine pinpoints the difficulties involved in translation, brings to light the anomalies and conflicts implicit in our language's referential apparatus, clarifies semantic problems connected with the imputation of existence, and marshals reasons for admitting or repudiating each of various categories of supposed objects. He argues that the notion of a language-transcendent "sentence-meaning" must on the whole be rejected; meaningful studies in the semantics of reference can only be directed toward substantially the same language in which they are conducted.

Customer Reviews:

Empiricism Squared.......2006-09-03

Quine tells a fascinating story about translation. His is not a lazy mind.

His assumption (or belief) that language is learned completely through experience is simply false. Ample evidence drawn from experiments in psychology, neuro-physics, and even common sense demonstrate otherwise. Like the English philosophers who wrote about language and cognition centuries before him, his work will be found to be historically interesting, but ultimately dated; one might say, in the field of linguistics, pre-Copernicus.

Probably wrong but great nonetheless.......2006-06-22

First of all, unless you specialize in self-torture, don't try to read past chapter 2. (I myself died in the middle of chapter 5.) Chapters 1 and 2, however, are fantastic. You've probably heard the story before...it seems we can't tell whether by "Gavagai" the natives mean "rabbit", or "undetached rabbit part." The reason is, every single time a native is stimulated by the one, he is stimulated by the other...or something like that. That much is a fairly amusing observation, and Quine has a field day with it, suggesting that it's impossible in principle to discriminate between these putative "referents". Hmm. Well, let's just see. Say you and I are observing a "source"...a black box, out of which ticks a stream of letters. Say that, occasionally, the string of characters "R-A-B-B-I-T" appears in the stream. You have noticed that whenever this happens, I announce (gleefully) "Gavagai!" It seems you're stuck. You can never tell whether by "Gavagai!" I take myself to "refer" to "R-A-B-B-I-T" or to the rabbit-embedded "B-B" appearing in the stream. At least, not by passive observation. Once you can ask me questions about what I do take myself to be "referring" to, it seems that we can clear this issue up, but fast. Or not? Quine thinks not, and that's where things get interesting. I'm pretty sure he's wrong, but I'm not (exactly) sure why. Probably you can employ a meta-language to artificially attach referential information to sentences...more interesting, however, is the question why you would want to. Indeed, wouldn't a philosopher versed in the paradox just say "what's the difference?" when asked whether he "referred" to "R-A-B-B-I-T" or a rabbit-embedded "B-B"? The moral seems to be that you aren't stuck at all...you know what I *mean* either way, you just don't know what I'm referring to: reference, in short, doesn't contribute in the way we usually think it does to meaning. But, whatever the answers are, the puzzles are here, so read it.

A Seminal Book in Contemporary Pragmatism.......2005-11-14

This book is Quine's first full-length book, and it sets forth his most elaborate statement of his wholistic thesis of language. Instead of the metaphorical statement in "Two Dogmas" written a decade earlier, here in Word and Object Quine expresses his thesis in the literal vocabulary of behavioristic psychology with his idea of "stimulus meaning".

Much of the book is an exposition of his thesis of semantic indeterminacy as it is manifested in translation between languages, which thus appears as his indeterminacy of translation thesis sometimes called his "radical translation" thesis. In fact there is nothing radical about it; linguists have long known of such translation problems. As has long been said: translate est traduttore. But Quine uses it to critique positivism, and it is essential to his pragmatism.

In the translation situation he portrays the field linguist in the same situation that the positivist Carnap postulates in "Meaning and Synonymy in Natural Language", where Carnap attempted to describe how the field linguist can ascertain a term's "intension" or meaning by identifying its extension or range of application from the observed behavior of native speakers of an unknown language. Carnap admitted that this determination of extension involves uncertainty and possible error due to vagueness, but he excused this uncertainty and risk of error, because it occurs even in the concepts used in empirical science. While this admission of extensional vagueness in science made the fact unproblematic for Carnap, it had just the opposite significance for Quine.

For Quine extensional vagueness is an inherent characteristic of language that he calls "referential inscrutability", and which he later calls "ontological relativity." And what Carnap called intensional vagueness, Quine prefers to consider as a semantical indeterminacy in stimulus meaning but without admitting intensions.

For more on my views on Quine, please Google my book History of Twentieth-Century Philosophy of Science, which is also on my web site philsci with free downloads by chapter - especially BOOK III, and my other reviews of Quine's books at this AMAZON site.

Thomas J. Hickey

An Essential Read for Philosophy of Language Enthusiasts.......2002-12-30

In this incomparable and engaging book Quine takes up many of the questions he raised in "Two Dogmas of Empiricism" and in his other early papers. In Word and Object, he levels an attack against the traditional notion of meaning that is accepted by so many, because it is understood by so few. Though the position defended here is alomost completely wrong, it is wrong for interesting reasons and, along with Quine's other works, establishes a position regarding matters semantic that, from his ultra-empiricist positivist perspective is nearly inevitable. If you don't find his position at least a little compelling, then your heart is made of stone.

Pinnacle of Philosophical Clarity.......2001-06-20

This book is a true classic, both in content and presentation; Quine's pithy style, sometimes ironic, is singular in the literature of analytic philosophy. This book describes the generation of reference and logical categories out of the confluence of "sense-data" and "stimulus synonymy", and proceeds to plow through every permutation of problems which can arise from such an endeavor. Chapter two (the [in-]famous "indeterminacy of translation" thesis) is a fascinating linguistic reformulation of the "other minds" problem, demonstrating that one must conclude a type of "ontological relativity" amongst speakers. Along with Wittgenstein's "Philosophical Investigations," Ryle's The Concept of Mind," and Sellars' "Philosophy and the Empiricism of Mind," Quine's major work completes the quadrivium of mid-20th century analytic philosophy.

Average customer rating:

Encyclopedic but not very useful for beginners
Covers a lot, but "complete"? No.
This book is useless
A great resource for the budding database developer.
If you love to read read & read some more this is for you!

Access 2000: The Complete Reference
Virginia Andersen
Manufacturer: McGraw-Hill Osborne Media
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Intranets & Extranets | Networking | Computers & Internet | Subjects | Books

Databases | Software | Computers & Internet | Subjects | Books

General | Software | Computers & Internet | Subjects | Books

General | Programming | Computers & Internet | Subjects | Books

General | Computers & Internet | Subjects | Books

General | Databases | Computers & Internet | Subjects | Books

Look Inside Reference Books | Trip | Specialty Stores | Books

All Amazon Upgrade | Amazon Upgrade | Stores | Books

Computers & Internet | Amazon Upgrade | Stores | Books

Professional & Technical | Amazon Upgrade | Stores | Books

Reference | Amazon Upgrade | Stores | Books
Similar Items:

ASIN: 0078825121

Amazon.com

Access 2000: The Complete Reference confronts the least intuitive element of Microsoft Office 2000 and does an admirable job explaining how to use its numerous tools and features. Intermediate and advanced Access 2000 users--as well as people upgrading from earlier versions of the database program--will appreciate Andersen's comprehensive treatment of her subject.

Access 2000: The Complete Reference opens with a quick overview of the program's most rudimentary functions before stepping back to discuss relational database concepts. Andersen then documents Access 2000's data manipulation features, including the tools for establishing and manipulating relationships among tables. Readers also get a full rundown on building good queries.

Data presentation comes next: The book covers report creation--with and without the Report Wizard--and goes into depth on creating and editing graphs. The coverage of PivotTables--being both extremely powerful and rather hard to understand--could be more extensive. There's also a considerable amount of text dedicated to Access 2000's abilities to publish database information on networks and a little bit on Visual Basic as it applies to Access.

Throughout, Access 2000: The Complete Reference presents its documentation as a mixture of prose, stepped procedures, bulleted lists, and tables. A companion CD-ROM includes a quiz program that gauges the skills of people interested in taking the Microsoft Office User Specialist (MOUS) exam on Access 2000, plus the sample files discussed in the text. --David Wall

Book Description

Access is the leading database of choice for individuals and corporations looking to manage data easily, share information over intranets and the Internet, and build faster business solutions. Complete details on every aspect of creating, customizing, and maintaing an Access database. Full coverage of Web applications--hyperlinks, Web publishing, HTML output, importing, exporting, and linking. Explains how to integrate Access with the other components of the #1 Office Suite. CD-ROM contains hundreds of practice exam questions covering the material on the Access segment of the MOUS exam.

Download Description

Access 2000: The Complete Reference explains everything from installing and configuring a relational database to sharing your data across an intranet or the Internet to integrating your database with other Office programs.

Customer Reviews:

Encyclopedic but not very useful for beginners.......2007-07-22

The book comes with a sample data base loaded on the CD but the author never took the time to illustrate the principles of data base construction with written out examples.
A word to publishers of mammoth books like Anderson's; a neophyte software user is not going to be very adept at dreaming up examples of the principles, and therefor really learn from all of the massive amounts of information contained in the book. This book is very difficult to use and probably would not be used by a serious programmer since it is not aimed at that audience. In fact I'm not sure who the audience is supposed to be except for the group of unwary buyers.

Covers a lot, but "complete"? No........2006-02-05

When I bought this book, I thought this would have everything I would need. Wrong. The book is good for taking the exam, because it covers everything in just enough detail. However, if you want to do a lot of advanced operations like using cross-tab queries, Visual Basic, dynamic reports, etc, etc.. the book pretty much leaves you out in the cold.

Don't get me wrong: the book is great if all you want is a good overview of everything inside Access, but the title "Complete Reference" is totally misleading.

...just my two cents...

This book is useless.......2005-08-10

I can figure most things out by example, but this book's examples are worthless. You would think a 1319 page book would have the space to give some working examples rather than code snipets taken out of context.

I suppose that if you read the book from page 1 on through you might be able to understand the examples, but to use it as a index based reference is impossible.

A great resource for the budding database developer........2004-04-16

After perusing the other reviews I reached this conclusion: (which makes sense) everyone has reviewed this book from their own perspective. As will I.

But first what the book isn't:
This book was not designed as an easy reference manual for you SQL and VB gurus out there who can whip out something superior to Microsoft Money in an afternoon. Check out the title The COMPLETE Reference. This book is 1300 pages long. It can be used as a study guide if you are going to take the MOUS.

This book was not designed (though the diligent can try) as an introduction to Access. There is so much information here that you will swamp yourself with details and give up before too long.

This book is:
A great resource for someone who has had one class in Access development, or (like me) two or three years of playing with simple databases (like tracking one checking account, etc.). There is a quick reference in back, which I've had limited success with. However, with a quick flip of the book's index, I can usually find what I am looking for on the first try.

What I feel was being said by the other reviewers (as a whole): This book doesn't fit my knowledge level!
Those who were not familiar enough with Access 2000 would not know where to look in an index. Those who can design Deep Thought (for all you Hitchiker's fans) would look it up but then have to sift through an entire lesson on the topic instead of just being told what to do.

*****Final Thoughts*****
This book fits the majority of Access users who have been using Access for a while, but aren't proficient enough to work as a professional database developer. Reading through two pages isn't a waste of time at this level because you get a well rounded view of the control/command/whatever.

If you love to read read & read some more this is for you!.......2004-03-11

I wasn't looking for a novel when I bought this book. I have enough knowledge to get around in acces and just wanted a referece that will give me the guidence to do the rest in a matter of few minutes. Wasn't expecting to read a novel to find something simple!!
If you prefer pictures illustrations to essay descriptions this isn't the book for you ..

Average customer rating:

Probably the best book one can buy for learning VBA with Word
Very useful, and a great reference
Not a very good book
It Continues to Remain ýGreek To Meý
It Continues to Remain ýGreek To Meý

Writing Word Macros
Steven Roman
Manufacturer: O'Reilly Media, Inc.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Programming | Computers & Internet | Subjects | Books

Word Processing | Microsoft | Computers & Internet | Subjects | Books

General | Software | Computers & Internet | Subjects | Books

Windows | Programming | O'Reilly | By Publisher | Books

General | Programming | O'Reilly | By Publisher | Books

All Titles | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books

Computers & Internet | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books
Similar Items:

ASIN: 1565927257

Book Description

Many Microsoft Word users and VBA programmers don't realize the extensive opportunities that exist when Word's Object Model is accessed using Visual Basic for Applications (VBA), which replaced WordBasic in conjunction with the release of Word 97. By creating what is commonly called a "Word Macro" you can automate many features available in Word. Writing Word Macros (previously titled Learning Word Programming is the introduction to Word VBA that allows you to do these things and more, including:

Create custom pop-up menus
Automatically create tables from lists
Append one document to the end (or beginning) of another
Create a toggle switch to change a document from draft to final copy by adding or removing a watermark in the header
Generate reports using data from other applications

Not intended to be an encyclopedia of Word programming, Writing Word Macros provides Word users, as well as programmers who are not familiar with the Word object model with a solid introduction to writing VBA macros and programs. In particular, the book focuses on:

The Visual Basic Editor and the Word VBA programming environment. Word features a complete and very powerful integrated development environment for writing, running, testing, and debugging VBA macros.
The VBA programming language (which is the same programming language used by Microsoft Excel, Access, and PowerPoint, as well as the retail editions of Visual Basic).
The Word object model. Word exposes nearly all of its functionality through its object model, which allows Word to be controlled programmatically using VBA. While the Word object model, with almost 200 objects, is the largest among the Office applications, readers need be familiar with only a handful of objects. Writing Word Macros focuses on these essential objects, but includes a discussion of a great many more objects as well.

Writing Word Macros is written in a terse, no-nonsense manner that is characteristic of Steven Roman's straightforward, practical approach. Instead of a slow-paced tutorial with a lot of hand-holding, Roman offers the essential information about Word VBA that you must master to program effectively. This tutorial is reinforced by interesting and useful examples that solve practical programming problems, like generating tables of a particular format, managing shortcut keys, creating fax cover sheets, and reformatting documents. Writing Word Macros is the book you need to dive into the basics of Word VBA programming, enabling you to increase your power and productivity when using Microsoft Word.

Customer Reviews:

Probably the best book one can buy for learning VBA with Word.......2006-04-08

This is probably the best book one can buy for learning VBA and Word. That said, one should also note that it is a terrible book. The trouble is that there is no other book available that covers this subject.

I refer to this book all the time I am trying to program VBA, but most of the time the book is no more help than what I can get by using Microsoft help. I have wasted hundreds of hours (no exaggeration) trying to find out information that should be in this book but is not there. He makes a plug for you to send him money for his "enhanced object model browser" because the one in Word "gives only a flat one-dimensional view of the object model" whereas his is "two-dimensional". He nowhere explains what he means by those terms, and the illustrations he gives do not help one either.

Before buying this book you should first be a professional programmer who uses VBA already. Mr. Roman assumes you know many things that he will not explain. That might be OK if he would give more programming examples so that one could try to extract from the examples the steps that his book does not explain. On a more positive note, Mr. Roman likes to explain things that most persons who buy this book already know: the different kinds of variables, the importance of declaring variables before using them, and so forth.

It would have been better if in the draft stage he had had some neophyte try to work with what he had written so that he would know where he contradicts himself and where he leaves out material one has to know to make things work. A better solution would be for him to read John Walkenbach's "Excel ... Power Programming with VBA" and then try to imitate that for Word.

One wishes that someone else could write a book on VBA for Word. I hope Mr. Roman's students at CSU Fullerton have the opportunity to ask him questions to get him on the right track when he is unclear. Unfortunately his readers do not have that ability.

Very useful, and a great reference.......2004-03-23

As someone who has been making a living writing Office macros for the past three years, I'd say this is the book I refer to most often. I taught myself Word VBA with this one book, after having briefly studied Excel VBA with SAMS Excel Programming (Podlin/Webb).

Even now that I'm working in XP, the book is as useful as ever as a quick reference for solutions to common tasks, for descriptions of Word objects, and answers when "Help" is no help at all.

It's certainly possible to learn Word VBA from zero with this book, but if you prefer a structured 'teach yourself' course with excercises, then you'd better get another book to go with this one. A good start might be Sams Teach Yourself Microsoft Word 2000 Automation in 24 Hours.

Not a very good book.......2004-03-13

I think the review from "A reader from Lawrenceville" got it right.

It is not a good book. It is mostly a list of the various classes and their properties and methods. It can be useful for getting an overview, but it soon becomes tedious.

It does not cover vital suff like Word application event handling.

I suppose the only reason that it still sells is that all the other Word VBA books are out of print.

It Continues to Remain ýGreek To Meý.......2003-08-16

Having read/studied "Writing Word Macros" authored by Steven Roman, I've been able to discern more accurately the meaning behind the phrase, "it's all Greek to me".

If it was my intent upon having read through this manual to then be able to compose macros for the MSWord program, then the purchase of this manual was a serious waste of time, mental energy and money.

I would hate to think that my life and/or my employment stability could be based upon what I was able to garner from having read this book from cover to cover. Needless to say, I would be simultaneously unemployed and "laid out" prior to either burial or cremation, at the funeral home of my choice.

I am not more equipped to construct a simple [or complex] macro from having read through this manual than I would be able to submit a resume touting myself as a "rocket scientist."

I believe that the author would have been more in keeping with what was expected of this manual if he had included more actual, usable examples and/or exercises. I haven't any greater idea as to how to actually apply what I've read to anything that even comes close to being practical with regard to the use of VBA or MSWord macros.

I equate having read through "Writing Word Macros" with having initiated the reading of a novel or the watching of a motion picture with the thought in mind of seeing it through until the end in the hopes of, at the denouement, eventually enjoying the fact of it somehow coming together and making some semblance of understanding.

I hesitate to even think of how "utterly in the dark" I would currently be had I not recently finished a 20 hour course on Visual Basics at my local community college.

At this juncture, I would rather take my chances with one of the manuals alluded to by Mr. Roman in his introduction as "...very slow paced, primarily by padding them heavily with overblown examples and irrelevant anecdotes..." or one of the "monstrosities" that programming manuals are apt to be, and walk away having a sense of having learned something, than to have spent the time, energy and money on a book where the end result was simply and unequivocally "huh?"

It Continues to Remain ýGreek To Meý.......2003-08-16

Having read/studied "Writing Word Macros" authored by Steven Roman, I've been able to discern more accurately the meaning behind the phrase, "it's all Greek to me".

I am not more equipped to construct a simple [or complex] macro from having read through this manual than I would be able to submit a resume touting myself as a "rocket scientist."

I hesitate to even think of how "utterly in the dark" I would currently be had I not recently finished a 20 hour course on Visual Basics at my local community college.

For me, from this point on, it's either a "Fill In The Blank for Dummies" or a third party, albeit monstrous tome, published by Que or Sybex. This is, without a doubt, my first and last purchase of any book either authored by Mr. Roman and/or published by O'Reilly Publishing.

Average customer rating:

Sorry, not funny.

Waste

Went to lulu...

GOD SPEAKS! The Flying Spaghetti Monster in his Own Words
Jon Smith
Manufacturer: Lulu.com
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Essays | Humor | Entertainment | Subjects | Books
General | Humor | Entertainment | Subjects | Books
General | Religion & Spirituality | Subjects | Books
General | Spirituality | Religion & Spirituality | Subjects | Books
Devotionals | Spirituality | Religion & Spirituality | Subjects | Books
Look Inside Religion & Spirituality Books | Trip | Specialty Stores | Books
Similar Items:

The Gospel of the Flying Spaghetti Monster

Small 'shapely' Flying Spaghetti Monster Pendant/Necklace - bright silver finish

Oval Flying Spaghetti Monster Lapel Pin - silver and black finish

Jolly Pirate Fish Car Emblem

The God Delusion

ASIN: 1411682769

Book Description

NOT FOR CHILDREN! Jon Smith shares his experiences with the world's newest deity, the Flying Spaghetti Monster. According to legend, the FSM created the universe, starting with mountains, trees, and a "midgit." Jon Smith presents words of wisdom directly from the Flying Spaghetti Monster's noodly lips. All readers, both believers and skeptics alike, will be transformed by the revealed poetic wisdom on love, sex, service, and cleanliness. Read eye-opening commentary on the seven deadly sins and other world religions. Discover the only logically proven answers to the questions "What is the one true religion?" and "Who is the one true God?" GOD SPEAKS! ends with astonishing prophecies on the end of the world, and a catalog of 10,000 mysterious and uncensored verses. This book is also a thoughtful essay on delusion and belief. Through humor, GOD SPEAKS! challenges us to take our spirituality and religion seriously, and look deeper.

Customer Reviews:

Sorry, not funny........2007-07-19

The Gospel of the Flying Spaghetti Monster was a hoot--I recommend THAT book easily--but this book is a waste of money. Seriously. I'm sorry, but even The FSM wanted to smack this author with his noodly appendage.

Waste.......2007-06-06

The author didn't have any purpose. This book was short and boring. He used a computer to create a list of anagrams of FSM related words. The list of anagrams alone takes up about half of the book. In the other half, he talks about the anagrams. There isn't anything clever or revealing about them. It's mostly a series of, "Oh, isn't it a coincidence that this is an FSM anagram?" moments. He also writes about how great his FSM logo is and how it's better than the more common ones. Please don't waste your time or money.

Went to lulu..........2006-04-09

...and clicked on the preview this book link. I only got a 7 page pdf (so if it's half the book the whole book is 14 pages?) that had a different title to the book. Not much of a preview.

I still think it's poor form to publish this book at the same time as Bobby Henderson's. This is his baby, and he should be the one profiting from it.

Process Patterns: Building Large-Scale Systems Using Object Technology (SIGS: Managing Object Technology)

Average customer rating:

Solid Foundation for Process Maturity
Keep going back to this book ... keep getting more from it
It's about time
Wow!
It could use a good editor & some organization

Process Patterns: Building Large-Scale Systems Using Object Technology (SIGS: Managing Object Technology)
Scott W. Ambler
Manufacturer: Cambridge University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Programming | Computers & Internet | Subjects | Books

Systems Analysis & Design | Computer Science | Computers & Internet | Subjects | Books

Word Processing | Microsoft | Computers & Internet | Subjects | Books

General | Operating Systems | Computers & Internet | Subjects | Books

General | Software | Computers & Internet | Subjects | Books

All Titles | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books
Similar Items:

ASIN: 0521645689

Book Description

Written by one of the best known object-oriented practitioners in the business, Process Patterns is based on proven, real-world techniques. Scott Ambler shows readers how to successfully deliver large-scale applications using object technology and carefully describes how one develops applications that are truly easy to maintain and to enhance. He shows how such projects can be supported and points out what is necessary to ensure that one's development efforts are of the best quality. His object-oriented software process (OOSP) is geared toward medium to large-size organizations that need to internally develop software to support their main line of business. Developers and project managers who have just taken their first OO development course will find this book essential. It describes the only OOSP to take the true needs of development into consideration, including cross-project, maintenance, operations, and support issues. This book uses the Unified Modeling Language (UML).

Customer Reviews:

Solid Foundation for Process Maturity.......2001-09-27

This book's collection of process patterns is the foundation for best practices in applications delivery, and align to a variety of methodologies, including the Rational Unified Process. These patterns can also be used as the basis for key process areas for achieving increasing levels of capability maturity or process improvement capability for organizations that use SEI's CMM or ISO/IEC
15504 (SPICE).

Chapter 1 assumes no prior knowledge of patterns or object-oriented software processes, and gives a descriptive overview of both. It also discusses various approaches to software development, which provides a context for how patterns can fit within various approaches, such as serial, iterative, incremental or parallel projects. It also introduces a process framework called Object-Oriented Software Process (OOPS)and compares this process to other common OO approaches to development. Although this book is structured for OOSP, the patterns will fit within any framework or methodology. This makes the book valuable to any shop regardless of whether OO or traditional procedural languages and approaches are used. A highlight of this chapter is the discussion of process maturity that uses SEI's CMM as a baseline. The information can be realigned to SPICE or Bootstrap as well because there is no firm bias towards the CMM - I suspect the CMM is used because it's well known to U.S. readers.

The book is divided into parts after chapter 1, with each part aligned to a life cycle stage and comprised of a collection of chapters that describe patterns that are applicable to the stage. Each chapter is a pattern and is structured as Initial Context, Solution, Solution Project Tasks, Resulting Context, Process Checklist and What you have learned.

Part I is the INITIATE stage. Patterns include: Initiate Phase (how to start the phase itself), Define and Validate Initial Requirements, Define Initial Documents, Justify and Define Infrastructure. Part II is CONSTRUCT, with patterns for Construct Phase Initiation, Model, Program (development), Generalize and Test in the Small.

What I like is the format of the patterns make them easy to read and consistent. It is easy to tailor them for organizational use, as well as to add more patterns. It also adds a defined structure to the development process itself, providing a solid basis for documenting key process areas and defining development workflow. The second book in this series, More Process Patterns, completes the pattern library by addressing test, release and operational aspects of applications and systems. I read that book last February and feel that both books should be a part of any mature development organization, or organizations that are seeking to improve their processes and capabilities maturity.

Keep going back to this book ... keep getting more from it.......2001-01-26

In the two years since I first read this book I have found myself going back to it like an old friend. It is a constant source of information that focuses on application development processes that are set forth in the form of patterns.

The explanatory text covering processes, phases and stages in the OOSP (object-oriented software process) has crystalized the development process like no other book in my library. The accompanying patterns have been a source of best practices that I keep referring to in one consulting engagement after another.

This, and the companion (More Process Patterns) are an A to Z resource for development, application delivery and service delivery. I have used it in the past as a resource for developing and implementing software engineering processes. My present situation (in early 2001) finds me using this book as a source of ideas on how to integrate application delivery and service delivery for a model on information technology management that I co-developed. The approach provided in the book, the framework of OOSP, and the patterns themselves have heavily influenced the development and refinement of the model. They have also further clarified my ideas on development life cycles that have led me into the Rational Unified Process camp.

From the foregoing it is clear that this book remains a valid reference on system development, as well as the foundation of service delivery (which is addressed in more detail in More Process Patterns). It is also must reading for project managers and software engineering process practitioners. What is not so obvious, but in my opinion eaqually valid, is that this book also provides a foundation for a solid software quality assurance program. It does so by providing patterns that have clearly defined quality objectives for every phase and stage in the development life cycle. This is an unexpected bonus that I did not catch the first time through the book.

I strongly recommend that anyone involved in development (maintenance or project level efforts), and SQA read this book. If your focus is application and service delivery, get this book as a foundation for More Process Patterns, which is more applicable to those areas. Regardless of what your job is in the IT or consulting world you will find information and ideas that in this book that will influence your thinking and approach.

It's about time.......1999-05-29

I was really impressed with this book, and it's follow-up, More Process Patterns. It's about time someone described a software process that can be used by actual development teams, likely because it is written based on the author's real-world experiences. He tackles all the issues of software development, not just the cool ones such as modelling and programming that everyone else appears to focus on. The fact that he has shown how "boring" topics such as quality assurance, risk management, reuse, and people management fit into the picture throughout the entire software process makes the book worthwhile for any project manager. The programmers that I've shared the book with have gotten a lot out of it, in fact one was even amazed at how complex software development actually is. A true eye opener. There is something in this book for everyone.

I think readers will benefit most from the general philosophies that pervade the book, such as testing early and often, letting requirements drive modeling which drives programming (i.e. think first, then act), taking maintenance and support into consideration, and actually doing the work necessary to obtain high levels of reuse. I highly suggest this book to anyone involved in the development of software. Although the book is large, 550 pages, it is an easy read. Another good thing about it is that it's size and content make it a good book to beat your pointy-haired managers over the head with when they do something stupid like set an unrealistic schedule for your team.

Wow!.......1999-05-03

This is an amazing book that should be required reading not only for OOSP engagements, but for more traditional approaches as well. This is must reading, especially by project managers.

It could use a good editor & some organization.......1999-03-26

Some of the recommendations made in this book could be used by the editor or by the author on this book itself. Maybe SIGS & the author could apply some techniques from a business jargon called "quality management".

1. The editing is atrocious. There are so many incomplete paragraphs missing from the text e.g. page 106, the paragraph ends in mid sentence, "you increase the productivity of your p" (litterally the p is the last letter in the paragraph). This book is filled with such sloppy editing.

2. Bad Editing is obvious when we look at the diagrams. No one has taken the time to make them presentable in a book format. Some diagrams have text flowing out of a box. Some diagrams are not even related to the text. They seemed to be inserted because they were simply available.

It's sad to see a potentially good book ruined by sloppy editing.

3. In terms of content, I found there are many good ideas in the book but it is organized terribly. Once we got the thesis that OO development is "serial in the large" & "iterative in the small" and to combine various object-oriented design & analysis techniques, then we are lost in many disorganized details. If the author has concentrated on the two theses above, the book can be very useful.

4. It is obvious that the author has done much oo development and really want to convey his exeperience to the readers. But if you are looking for process patterns that can be applied in your work, there are not many from this book. A lot of anecdotal, amusing stories, but few "process patterns".

5. The book is more of a mind-dump from the author's lecture notes. He kept promise to provide real-world development examples and away from the "theoretical, ivory-towered", but I feel like what we got is what the author think about the original ideas of other object-oriented experts.

Average customer rating:

Lovejoy prevails

What a smasher of a book!

The words are what it's about

Tedious, except for antiques hunters, maybe

Great start fades into confusion, repetition

The Ten Word Game
Jonathan Gash
Manufacturer: St. Martin's Minotaur
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Mystery | Mystery & Thrillers | Subjects | Books
Gash, Jonathan | ( G ) | Authors, A-Z | Mystery & Thrillers | Subjects | Books
General | Mystery & Thrillers | Subjects | Books
General | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books
Look Inside Mystery & Thriller Books | Trip | Specialty Stores | Books
Similar Items:

A Rag, a Bone, and a Hank of Hair: A Lovejoy Mystery

The Rich and the Profane (Lovejoy Mystery)

Year of the Woman

The Possessions of a Lady: A Lovejoy Mystery

The Sin within Her Smile: A Lovejoy Mystery

ASIN: 0312323476

Book Description

Lovejoy cannot be said to have clean hands and a pure heart, flitting bee-like as he does from one flower of womanhood to the next, and straining the truth when necessary. But when it comes to the relics of history, be it a silver tea service or the gold buttons from Lord Nelson's second-best uniform coat, he cannot be topped. In The Ten Word Game, Lovejoy is hiding out from the law in a port city far from London. By a ruse, he is shanghaied aboard a luxurious cruise ship on its way to Russia. There a group of schemers feed him well, but hold him prisoner because they need his talents for their daring plan. They intend to steal Russia's legendary 'amber room,' wall panels and all, and sell it for ransom back in the U.K.

Customer Reviews:

Lovejoy prevails.......2007-01-09

I love the series, sadly the television series is not out on DVD. many of the more recent stories are also hard to get and not in print in the US.
It took me awhile to find this copy.
The best part about Lovejoy is the antiques and Gash's profound knowledge and his artful way of weaving real history into the mix.
I love the series and hope for many more to come.

What a smasher of a book!.......2006-03-03

This book is a real smasher. We have Lovejoy at his very best here. And the setting that Gash has set this book in is quite wonderful. And the women! Lovejoy has a whole string of quite wonderful women in his orbit this time. Lovejoy is on the lam again, and while he's hiding out in Southampton he gets hijacked onto an ocean cruise to Russia that includes all points north. He's living the high life on the cruise, and he meets all kinds of weird and wonderful people, but it takes him a while to determine why he was shanghaied and what this group of crooks need him for. But never fear. The irrepressible Lovejoy lands on his feet and he'll be around to deal with other outrageous adventures.

The words are what it's about.......2004-09-16

I would read this book just for the words - words I've never seen before, juicy new words, almost none of which appear in my dictionary since they turn out to be British slang. I fall for British writers the way some people fall for accents. "Black hair fungated above his straining belt." "Benjie would marmalise me if I so much as looked at Gloria." "Once a boxer, he looks a real gent and wears a monocle, very Brigade of Guards, waistcoated, suit, George boots, a toff." "Rob the Hermitage, join this gaggle of duckeggs enacting a crazy Priscilla-of-the-Lower-Third dream?" "A crocodile of passengers," "I wittered, a perfect prat," "a mingy three pieces of toast ... a manky plate of toast," "I said, gormless," "scarpering through undergrowth...." How can you not like a book abounding with such charms?

The book has even more pleasures, chief among them antiques and art forgery. Lovejoy is a "divvy," someone who can divine true antiques by nearly fainting when he's in their presence. He's used this talent for a career just sort of definitely almost barely (his words) this side of the law. He is drawn against his will into a mysterious caper involving the Hermitage and a shipful of antique enthusiasts, almost none of whom can recognize a real antique from a fake. The mystery never completely resolves, a flaw that can be overlooked since it's secondary to the local color in the book. Occasional forays into the history of amber, pottery, wicker chairs and other antiques are a lot of fun, and Lovejoy is quite a storyteller. Is it true that Elvis once entered an Elvis impersonator contest and lost?

Tedious, except for antiques hunters, maybe.......2004-04-27

I much enjoyed the TV series based on Lovejoy and his crew, largely because I enjoyed the rural English locations and the portrayals by excellent English character actors. So I expected this, the first of Gash's books to come to hand, to be equally clever and to the point. No so. I found the characters too numerous and not particularly well developed, save for Lovejoy himself. And since much of the yarn takes place on a cruise ship, there are no locations to speak of. The frequent lapses into technical talk about how to identify various items was pretty tedious, although I expect antiques hunters would enjoy it. And anyway, if Lovejoy is a "divvy" who spots the real item by instinct, why has he bothered to learn so much technical stuff anyway, and why he hasn't he put his gift of divination to more lucrative use? Instead, he seems to get by as a not-too-successful forger/thief/con artist who's primary goal is sleeping with women. He's seems not the sort of scholar who's going to master a wealth of arcane minutiae.

Great start fades into confusion, repetition.......2004-04-01

I had high hopes for this book, the first Lovejoy mystery, after enjoying the character on tv and being an antiques buff. The book drew me in right away and I really enjoyed the first third or so. Then after repetitious scenes (escape, capture, escape, capture, on and on) and the introduction of a dozen minor characters that come and go without a meaningful role or purpose, I got bored. I finished it out of determination and in the hope that there would be a wonderful denoument that would tie all together, but there was no big payoff; just a lot of preposterous happenings and vague explanations. My sense was that the author went on a cruise and put everyone he met on the cruise into a story, no matter how it all fit together.

Book Description

A picture of the world as chiefly one of discrete objects, distributed in space and time, has sometimes seemed compelling. It is however one of two main targets of Henry Laycock's book; for it is seriously incomplete. The picture, he argues, leaves no space for stuff like air and water. With discrete objects, we may always ask 'how many?', but with stuff the question has to be 'how much?' Within philosophy, stuff of certain basic kinds is central to the ancient pre-Socratic world-view; but it also constitutes the field of modern chemistry and is a major factor in ecology. Philosophers these days, in general, are unlikely to deny that stuff exists. But they are very likely to deny that it is ('ultimately') to be contrasted with things, and it is on this account that logic and semantics figure largely in the framework of the book. Elementary logic is a logic which takes values for its variables; and these values are precisely distinct individuals or things. Existence is then symbolized in just such terms; and this, it is proposed, creates a pressure for 'reducing' stuff to things. Non-singular expressions, which include words for stuff, 'mass' nouns, and also plural nouns, are 'explicated' as semantically singular. Here then is the second target of the book. The posit that both mass and plural nouns name special categories of objects (set-theoretical 'collections' of objects in the one case, mereological 'parcels' or 'portions' of stuff in the other) represents, so Laycock urges, the imposition of an alien logic upon both the many and the much.

Macromedia Authorware 6 Training from the Source (With CD-ROM)

Average customer rating:

What an absolute waste of time and money
Poor organised and very uneven in quality
Step by step, but very confusing
I Like the Book - Thorough Explanations
Not a Reference Manual

Macromedia Authorware 6 Training from the Source (With CD-ROM)
Inc. Macromedia
Manufacturer: Macromedia Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Graphic Design | Computers & Internet | Subjects | Books

Word Processing | Microsoft | Computers & Internet | Subjects | Books

General | Computers & Internet | Subjects | Books

General | Software | Computers & Internet | Subjects | Books

All Titles | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books

Computers & Internet | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books

Professional | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books
Similar Items:

ASIN: 0201774267

Book Description

Untitled

Macromedia Authorware's accessible, icon-based development environmentmakes it a favorite of developers who create sophisticated interactiveprojects, from multimedia presentations to computer-based trainingprograms. Whether you're new to Authorware or upgrading from a previousversion, Macromedia Authorware 6: Training from the Source providesexactly what the title promises: project-based lessons modeled onMacromedia's own training courses.

With Macromedia Authorware 6: Training from the Source, you learnthe basics of Authorware by doing. The hands-on tutorials that form thecore of this workbook and CD-ROM package take you step-by-step throughreal-world interactive projects. Each lesson covers a specific topic, suchas adding motion and sound to your project, working with templates andknowledge objects, and incorporating Flash and XML into your projects. Thisedition of the book covers what's new in Authorware 6, including the "onebutton publishing" feature. The CD-ROM holds all the files you need to workthrough the lessons, plus a full-featured, time-limited version ofAuthorware 6.

Books:

Books Index

Books Home

Recommended Books