Fiction, nonfiction, poetry, & technology book reviews, plus social, political, & economic commentary
Mastering Python, Second Edition by Rick van Hatten aims to help you “write powerful and efficient code using the full range of Python’s capabilities.” It’s a big book, some 680 pages in print form, and well written. And it does indeed delve into Python’s “full range.” Even so, a few reviewers have commented that they … Continue reading Mastering Python, 2nd Edition -> Big & Beneficial
Introducing Data Science Davy Cielen, Arno D. B. Meysman, and Mohamed Ali Manning – paperback The three authors of this book note that “[d]ata science is a very wide field, so wide indeed that a book ten times the size of this one wouldn’t be able to cover it all. For each chapter, we picked … Continue reading ‘Introducing Data Science’ – A good doorway into the world of processing, analyzing & displaying Big Data – #bookreview
The White House and the University of the District of Columbia are two of the sites helping spotlight the National Week of Making, June 17-23, 2016. “America has always been a nation of tinkerers, inventors, and entrepreneurs,” a White House news release recently stated. “Empowering students and adults to create, innovate, tinker, and make their … Continue reading Some Book Choices for ‘National Week of Making,’ June 17-23, 2016 – #books #WeekofMaking
Spring in Action Craig Walls Manning – paperback If you have worked with the decade-old Spring framework, you know well that it has a long history of providing configuration headaches for developers. The new Spring Boot framework, on the other hand, literally brings much-needed simplification and automation to the process of using Spring. And it … Continue reading ‘Spring Boot in Action’ can help you push aside the old drudgeries of configuring Spring applications – #programming #bookreview
Many people who want to jump into 3D printing have almost no idea what they actually want to make. Or, they may have projects in mind that far exceed their abilities to fabricate as beginners. If 3D printing is on your mind (or arriving soon in some shipping boxes and downloads), here are two new … Continue reading Getting started with 3D printing? Consider these two new Maker Media books – #bookreview
Make: Paper Inventions Kathy Ceceri Maker Media, Inc. – paperback Don’t just hand this book to your kids, say “Have fun,” and then go off to play with your computer. Get out the glue, scissors and paper and join in. You might enjoy seeing what happens when you (1) cut all the … Continue reading Make: Paper Inventions – A fun how-to book for kids and their adults
Agile Metrics in Action Christopher W. H. Davis Manning – paperback In the rapidly changing world of software development, metrics “represent the data you can get from your application lifecycle as it applies to the performance of software development teams,” Christopher W. H. Davis writes in his well-written, well-structured new book, Agile Metrics in Action. … Continue reading Agile Metrics in Action: A good how-to guide to getting better performance measurements – #programming #bookreview
Unity in Action Joseph Hocking Manning – paperback Unity, the cross-platform game development environment, is easy to download and get running. But it definitely is not easy to learn without some help. Fortunately, Joe Hocking’s Unity in Action makes it reasonably straightforward to learn how to develop games in 3D, as well as with Unity’s … Continue reading Unity in Action: A top-notch how-to guide for game developers – #gamedev #programming
Elixir in Action Saša Jurić Manning – paperback “Elixir,” Saša Jurić writes, “is a modern functional programming language for building large-scale, distributed, fault-tolerant systems for the Erlang virtual machine.” What Elixir really is, of course, is a breath of fresh air for software developers who find it hard or confusing to work with … Continue reading Elixir in Action: A good guide to the ‘alternative language for the Erlang virtual machine’ – #programming #bookreview
I strolled into my favorite Austin Starbucks recently and noticed a startling sight. Every person standing in line or sitting at tables simultaneously had their head down as if in group prayer. All at the same moment were staring at their smartphones. I pulled out my own phone, dramatically flipped it open, held it aloft, … Continue reading Will “Smart” Device Dependence Make You Increasingly Dumb?
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