Reader reviews

Outstanding. I kept finding reasons to come back to it.

I have been working with databases & big data for a few years now and I still found plenty here that was new to me. The code samples assume a particular environment, which took a bit of fiddling to get running properly. I particularly liked the way the author builds up from simple cases before introducing the harder material. It is denser than the page count suggests, and I found myself slowing down around the middle. Worth the money and the reading time, without hesitation.

A genuinely enjoyable read that also taught me a great deal.

A colleague recommended this and I can see why. It does something that few technical books manage: it respects the reader's time. The chapters on parallel programming are the strongest — the examples are stripped down but complete, and I could follow along without constant guessing. The author avoids over-explaining, which keeps the pace up but means you need to pay attention. If you have the prerequisites, this is an easy recommendation. I will be keeping it on my desk rather than the shelf.

Strong content, uneven pacing. I would still recommend it.

I have been working with javascript for a few years now and I still found plenty here that was new to me. The exercises at the end of each chapter are worth doing — they caught a few misconceptions I did not know I had. The code samples assume a particular environment, which took a bit of fiddling to get running properly. The chapters on javascript are the strongest — the examples are stripped down but complete, and I could follow along without constant guessing. Good value for the price and worth the time it takes to work through properly.

A useful guide. The examples assume a particular environment, but that is fixable.

A colleague recommended this and I can see why. It does something that few technical books manage: it respects the reader's time. Some terminology is introduced without much ceremony; I had to look a few things up along the way. The examples are small enough to type out and experiment with, which is exactly what I want from a book like this. Some of the material is available elsewhere, but rarely presented this clearly. Four stars, and I suspect a second edition could easily push it to five.

Worth every page. I have already recommended it to two colleagues.

I read this over a couple of weekends alongside a small side project, which turned out to be the ideal way to approach it. There is a section near the end that ties several earlier ideas together in a way I had not seen before. The author is unusually honest about where the simplifications break down, which I appreciated. An easy five stars from me. I look forward to whatever the author writes next.

A genuinely enjoyable read that also taught me a great deal.

I bought this on a whim after seeing it mentioned in a forum thread, and I am glad I did. A couple of chapters felt like they could have been merged, but that is a minor complaint. The index and cross-references are surprisingly good, which matters for a book I will come back to. The writing is direct and does not waste space on filler, which I value in a technical book. This is the book I wish had existed when I started working with graphics.