Reader reviews

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

I bought this on a whim after seeing it mentioned in a forum thread, and I am glad I did. Some of the material is available elsewhere, but rarely presented this clearly. A few of the examples could be more realistic, but the underlying points come across clearly. There is a section near the end that ties several earlier ideas together in a way I had not seen before. This is the book I wish had existed when I started working with databases & big data.

I have read a lot of books on this subject and this is the clearest.

I picked this up after getting stuck on a project and it turned out to be exactly the right book at the right time. The code samples assume a particular environment, which took a bit of fiddling to get running properly. The index and cross-references are surprisingly good, which matters for a book I will come back to. The author clearly knows the subject deeply and has thought hard about how to teach it. This is the book I wish had existed when I started working with user experience.

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

I bought this on a whim after seeing it mentioned in a forum thread, and I am glad I did. The writing is direct and does not waste space on filler, which I value in a technical book. The author is unusually honest about where the simplifications break down, which I appreciated. One of those books that pays for itself within the first few chapters. Highly recommended.

Very good, with a few caveats. The core material is strong.

This is the third book I have read on software development this year, and it is comfortably the best of them. The chapters on software development are the strongest — the examples are stripped down but complete, and I could follow along without constant guessing. The book rewards careful reading. Skimming it would be a mistake. Good value for the price and worth the time it takes to work through properly.

A worthwhile addition to my shelf, with realistic expectations.

This is the third book I have read on programming this year, and it is comfortably the best of them. I particularly liked the way the author builds up from simple cases before introducing the harder material. The examples are small enough to type out and experiment with, which is exactly what I want from a book like this. The author is unusually honest about where the simplifications break down, which I appreciated. Recommended, with the caveat that it is not a gentle introduction.

I got a lot out of this, even if a few sections felt rushed.

A colleague recommended this and I can see why. It does something that few technical books manage: it respects the reader's time. The early chapters move quickly through material I already knew, but the later sections were genuinely new to me. The early chapters move quickly through material I already knew, but the later sections were genuinely new to me. A good addition to a technical library, as long as you know what you are buying.