The book is pretty concise, and packs a lot information and examples into the book that are excellent. Even though it is concise, it still does a pretty good job in explaining C and it's constructs. I was especially pleased in the second edition because they expounded a bit more to reach further down to the more inexperienced programmer.

Ideal for those potential buyers who already know 75% of what is written in the book. But please note that this is not necessarily a put-down or a bad thing. This book is reference material for people who are already familiar with the concepts and syntax of C++.

The authors of this book are also the co-founders of the Java language. Therefore, their authorship makes the book a de facto reference. The previous book is a learning tool, not this one.

Chapters (5-12) gradually build up to a storefront app with incremental & increasingly complex functionality to show Ruby on Rails' capability. Walking through this helps you get some hands-on experience with the framework. The next 10 chapters go through the various aspects of the Rails framework & describes how RoR does its thing. The book also covers Security, Caching & performance, & testing.

Excellent introduction to XML, which is an unavoidable and critical technology. An essential amount of foundation is provided on the basics of XML and XHTML (DTDs schema, structuring rules, web vocabularies, etc.), it also delves into CSS, DOM scripting, remoting via XMLHTTP for AJAX interfaces, server-side XML in ASP.NET 2.0 and PHP, and using XML in Flash applications.

A good example book. Each section of a chapter presents a problem, a solution, & a discussion of the issue. You're told what browser versions will support this approach, you're pointed to other sections in the book that relate to the same issue. Goodman includes JavaScript subroutines that accomplish functions that are commonly needed but aren't something you can do in a couple lines of code.

revised and updated for Perl 5.8, this book offers a gentle but thorough intro to intermediate programming in Perl. Topics include packages and namespaces, references and scoping, manipulating complex data structures, object-oriented programming, writing and using modules testing Perl code, and contributing to CPAN.

A "list" programming language. Thorough introduction to Common Lisp, providing you with an overall understanding of the language features and how they work. Over a third of the book is devoted to practical examples such as the core of a spam filter and a web application for browsing MP3s and streaming them via the Shoutcast protocol to any standard MP3 client software.

A logic programming language. Nowhere is the Prolog paradigm better conveyed than here. Prolog is unique and demands a unique way of looking at computer programming in general. It is dated a bit in that it does not cover all the latest developments in Prolog/AI research but no other Prolog books provide the foundational understanding that it does.

A functional programming language. This book makes an excellent gradually-paced intro to Haskell, with plenty of examples and exercises, for those who are a little overwhelmed by the online "Gentle Introduction to Haskell". It can be a bit dry, but the details are here.

The theory and practice of OOP with ActionScript. You do not need any extensive prior programming experience, just a desire to go beyond the usual Flash interfaces. Takes you through the complete development cycle of a series of related applications, using numerous step-by-step instructions. Learn to develop highly reusable applications & services that leverage the dynamic features in Flash.

Teaches you every basic step of using MATLAB and how to apply it to real engineering or mathematical problems in an interactive environment. It has very good screen shots and real world problems to show how to use MATLAB. It reinforces the concepts with quality exercise questions. It is very easy to read and understand.

Teaches VHDL(Verilog Hardware Description Language) using system examples combined with programmable logic and supported by lab exercises. Offers a fully integrated presentation of VHDL and design concepts by including a large number of complete design examples, illustrative circuit diagrams, a review of fundamental design concepts, fully explained solutions, and simulation results.

The book teaches you Objective-C, which is a strict superset of C, then moves on to teach you the connection with Cocoa, used to program applications on Mac OS X. This is Objective-C's main use.

The best introduction to C# out there. It starts from the beginning and takes you through the ins and outs of the language. C# itself is not that complex, but understanding how it fits into Microsoft platform programming sometimes can be.

The visual development language of Microsoft apps. Features the basics of Visual Basic 2005 programming in the first half of the book. The second half serves as a reference that allows you to quickly locate information for specific language features. It's a comprehensive look at programming using the increased set of language options offered with the VB 2005 release.

First discusses the WSF XML format for scripts, why you want to use it, & how to convert your existing scripts to this format. Then shows how to utilize scripts as COM objects, how to add an interface to your scripts via HTML and HTA applications, perform remote scripting, & expand your scripts ability using database, ADSI, WMI components. Works with Exchange 2003, MOM 2005 & Virtual Server 2005.

The language of database manipulation. Presumes readers understand how databases organize data in tables. This book is a great summary of SQL. It is well organized, clearly written with working examples to get you started quickly. The book is more or less focused on MySQL and Oracle syntax.

Most of the book is a tutorial on awk, a text processing scripting language common on UNIX platforms. The last three chapters focus on applications and even how to internetwork with awk.

COBOL is one of the oldest programming languages still in active use. Its primary domain in business, finance, and administrative systems for companies and governments. The bigger financial institutions still rely on Cobol for high-volume transactional processing - many ATM transactions are handled by Cobol programs. This is a very good and recently published book on the language.