Reader reviews

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. The exercises at the end of each chapter are worth doing — they caught a few misconceptions I did not know I had. The examples are small enough to type out and experiment with, which is exactly what I want from a book like this. A couple of chapters felt like they could have been merged, but that is a minor complaint. If you have the prerequisites, this is an easy recommendation. I will be keeping it on my desk rather than the shelf.

An enjoyable and informative read, though it could have been shorter.

I came to this book already familiar with the basics, and it still had plenty to offer. Some of the diagrams are dense and I had to reread a few sections, though that may just be me. The explanations are careful without being condescending, which is a difficult balance to strike. Some terminology is introduced without much ceremony; I had to look a few things up along the way. Recommended, with the caveat that it is not a gentle introduction.

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

I came to this book already familiar with the basics, and it still had plenty to offer. The balance between theory and practice is well judged; neither side dominates. The exercises at the end of each chapter are worth doing — they caught a few misconceptions I did not know I had. If you have the prerequisites, this is an easy recommendation. I will be keeping it on my desk rather than the shelf.

Useful in parts. Fine as a reference, less so as a cover-to-cover read.

I read this over a couple of weekends alongside a small side project, which turned out to be the ideal way to approach it. The explanations are careful without being condescending, which is a difficult balance to strike. Some of the material is available elsewhere, but rarely presented this clearly. Some of the material is available elsewhere, but rarely presented this clearly. Three stars feels about right. It will stay on my shelf, but it will not be the first one I reach for.

Not for me. The pacing did not work and I struggled to finish it.

There is a particular kind of technical book that is dense without being difficult, and this is one of them. The code samples assume a particular environment, which took a bit of fiddling to get running properly. The examples are small enough to type out and experiment with, which is exactly what I want from a book like this. The early chapters move quickly through material I already knew, but the later sections were genuinely new to me. I would look elsewhere unless you have a specific reason to need this particular title.

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

I bought this on a whim after seeing it mentioned in a forum thread, and I am glad I did. A few of the examples could be more realistic, but the underlying points come across clearly. The progression from chapter to chapter is well thought out; nothing feels out of order. Some terminology is introduced without much ceremony; I had to look a few things up along the way. If you have the prerequisites, this is an easy recommendation. I will be keeping it on my desk rather than the shelf.