Windows 8.1: The Missing Manual Book Review

I have said more than once that one of the biggest misconceptions people have about my skill set is that because I can develop software for the iPhone, iPad, and Windows 8 tablets, I must know everything there is to know about using them. 90% of my time spent on a computer is spent in code, UML tools, and using basic Word functionality. I do not play games, make photo albums, plan vacations, or read books on them. In other words, I am not as computer savvy as the business user or teenager that use them to connect to the world and conduct their business or coordinate a gaming session. I am very grateful for the Missing Manual series because they put everything I need to know about my devices in one place, and I don't have to spend the time looking for features. I have listed the eight parts of this Missing Manual and the chapters they contain below. Part One. TileWorld 1. The Start Screen 2. Customizing the Lock, Login & Start Screens 3. How TileWorld Works 4. TileWorld’s Starter Apps 5. TileWorld Settings Part Two. The Windows Desktop 6. File Explorer, Folders & the Taskbar 7. Searching & Organizing Your Files 8. Redesigning Your Desktop World 9. Help at the Desktop 10. Programs & Documents 11. The Desktop’s Starter Programs 12. The Control Panel Part Three. Windows Online 13. Hooking Up to the Internet 14. Security & Privacy 15. Internet Explorer 11 16. Windows Live Mail Part Four. Pictures & Music 17. Windows Photo Gallery 18. Windows Media Player Part Five. Hardware & Peripherals 19. Printing, Fonts & Faxing 20. Hardware & Drivers Part Six. PC Health 21. Maintenance, Speed Tweaks & Troubleshooting 22. Backups & File History 23. The Disk Chapter Part Seven. The Windows Network 24. Accounts (and Logging On) 25. Setting Up a Small Network 26. Corporate Networks 27. Sharing Files on the Network 28. The Road Warrior’s Handbook Part Eight. Appendixes A. Installing Windows 8.1 B. Fun with the Registry C. Where’d It Go? D. Master List of Gestures & Keyboard Shortcuts As with all the Missing Manuals, the book is on the Missing Manuals web site. It has links to all the sites, software, and white papers mentioned in each chapter. They are organized by chapter so they are easy to find. One of the things that is nice about this Missing Manual is that it covers Windows 8.1 WinRT (the book calls this the TileWorld) and Windows 8.1 Desktop in detail, and then proceeds to cover the context in which you will be using both. The book getting online, working with media and pictures, keeping your PC healthy, hardware, and networking. That makes the book a great asset for those people who need to get their devices attached to the rest of the world. I have been using Windows 8 since Microsoft made the first pre-release available to download in 2011. Until a few months ago I went straight to the desktop and used WinRT for nothing. Then I was assigned to do a Proof of Concept in WinRT. It is moving an old Windows Forms application to WinRT to take advantage of newer technology and add long awaited enhancements. I have been working on it for a while and have referenced this book often. It has helped me get up to speed on the WinRT ins and outs much quicker than I would have just playing around with it. Personally I do not like WinRT. There are many features that don't work as advertised or as expected. Being able to validate how something should work with this book has helped me differentiate between things I may be doing wrong, and the things Microsoft just haven't implemented correctly. An example of one of those things is Sharing using the Share Charm to move data back and forth between applications. Many of Microsoft's own products do not work correctly. The one that has given me the most grief is OneNote for WinRT. It cannot even Share correctly with Microsoft's own products correctly, so trying to get it to work with a custom application is out of the question. This book has helped me reach this and many more conclusions much faster than I normally would without it. The index is very thorough and laid out really nice. This may seem trivial, but I am currently reading two programming books, and one of them has a horrible index, and the other has none. They are both great books, but they won't be very good references at all. I highly recommend this book to the user that wants to know how to use all the applications and features included with Windows 8.1. The most amazing thing about this book is how many topics the author covers, and they cover them in detail giving lots of screenshots so you can see what they're discussing. If you are thinking about buying your first PC or Tablet with Windows 8.1, this book is perfect for seeing what you'll be getting. If you already own a PC or Tablet with Windows 8.1, this book can definitely help improve your experience using it.

Windows 8.1: The Missing Manual

Windows 8.1: The Missing Manual

Programming iOS 7 Book Review

When I read the Programming iOS 5 version of this book about 2 years ago I started my review off with the paragraph below. A little background so you know what type of experience I have. I have been a Microsoft .NET architect and developer since the first beta release. Before that C, C++, ColdFusion, ASP, JavaScript and of course HTML. Being a .NET developer has many advantages, but the one major disadvantage we suffer has driven me to Java and Objective-C over the past year. That one disadvantage? Microsoft themselves. They come off as completely lost and have wreaked havoc on .NET developer community the past few years. That was Thursday, April 12, 2012. In my opinion nothing has changed except for Microsoft being a little more lost, and I have floated towards iOS much more than Java (Android). This book is different than the Programming iOS 5 version. The Programming iOS 5 version has been broken into two books. This is the second book. The first is iOS 7 Programming Fundamentals: Objective-C, Xcode, and Cocoa Basics. If you are just getting started with iOS, I recommend reading iOS 7 Programming Fundamentals: Objective-C, Xcode, and Cocoa Basics first. This book is broken down into four parts. I have listed the topics covered in each part below. Part I Views contains chapters on Views, Drawing, Layers, Animation, and Touches. This part is all about paths, clipping, gradients, colors, patterns, transforms, shadows, points, pixels, layers, sublayers, hierarchy, resizing, positioning, depth, borders, everything about animation, touch events, gestures, and hit-testing. In other words a ton of information about views is covered in this part. Part II Interface includes chapters on View Controllers, Scroll Views, Table Views, Popovers and Split Views, Text, Web Views, Controls and Other Views, and Modal Dialogs. The understanding you gain of view controllers in this part of the book is amazing. The author did an awesome job explaining them and how they relate to rotation. Part III introduces some of the other Cocoa frameworks available including Audio, Video, Music Library, Photo Library and Image Capture, Address Book, Calendar, Mail, Maps, and Sensors. Part IV is called Final Topics. In this part of the book the author introduces Persistent Storage, Basic Networking, Threads, Undo, and includes an Epilogue. The downloadable code is very well organized and usable. It is broken down into folders by chapter and page number which makes it very convenient to find the sample you want. There are 269 projects in the download. What I like about the samples that accompany this book is that they are in the context you would use them in. Some books don't do this and just run everything in main. That is fine for some code, but I find it very annoying when the discussion is about the UI. These examples don't do that and they provide more value. The author's approach and writing style made it a pleasure to read. He does a great job of explaining complex topics and always covers everything in depth. If you are an iOS 7 developer, you owe it to yourself to buy this book and keep it at arm's length!!!

Programming iOS 7

Programming iOS 7

Microsoft SQL Server 2012 Unleashed Book Review

Another Unleashed behemoth!!! It is a whopping 1683 of printed pages and 2765 pages when you include the additional chapters available in the eBook you get with the printed book. If this book doesn’t contain the information you need about SQL Server 2012, then you probably won’t find it anywhere. Just like I am not a server administrator, I am not a Database Administrator (DBA). I don’t want to be a DBA, nothing against DBAs, but I just think it is a full time job. It is not possible for me to keep up with my .NET, iOS, Enterprise Architecture, and Software Architecture skills and also be an effective DBA. Of course I have to be familiar enough with them to architect scalable, secure, high performing software, so I chose this book as my learning resource. It is a great resource. I have not gone too it and come away disappointed yet. What does make this nice is there is a lot of developer content included with the book in addition to the DBA topics. The book is broken down into 10 parts. Below is the entire Table of Contents- Part I: Welcome to Microsoft SQL Server Chapter 1. SQL Server 2012 Overview Chapter 2. What’s New in SQL Server 2012 Chapter 3. Examples of SQL Server Implementations Part II: SQL Server Tools and Utilities Chapter 4. SQL Server Management Studio Chapter 5. SQL Server Command-Line Utilities Chapter 6. SQL Server Profiler Part III: SQL Server Administration Chapter 7. SQL Server System and Database Administration Chapter 8. Installing SQL Server 2012 Chapter 9. Upgrading to SQL Server 2012 Chapter 10. Client Installation and Configuration Chapter 11. Database Backup and Restore Chapter 12. Database Mail Chapter 13. SQL Server Agent Chapter 14. Administering SQL Server 2012 with PowerShell Chapter 15. SQL Server Policy-Based Management Part IV: SQL Server Security Administration Chapter 16. Security and Compliance Chapter 17. Security and User Administration Chapter 18. Data Encryption Part V: Database Administration Chapter 19. Creating and Managing Databases Chapter 20. Creating and Managing Tables Chapter 21. Creating and Managing Indexes Chapter 22. Implementing Data Integrity Chapter 23. Creating and Managing Views Chapter 24. Creating and Managing Stored Procedures Chapter 25. Creating and Managing User-Defined Functions Chapter 26. Creating and Managing Triggers Chapter 27. Transaction Management and the Transaction Log Chapter 28. Database Snapshots Chapter 29. Database Maintenance Part VI: SQL Server Performance and Optimization Chapter 30. Data Structures, Indexes, and Performance Chapter 31. Understanding Query Optimization Chapter 32. Query Analysis Chapter 33. Locking and Performance Chapter 34. Database Design and Performance Chapter 35. Monitoring SQL Server Performance Chapter 36. SQL Server Database Engine Tuning Advisor Chapter 37. Managing Workloads with the Resource Governor Chapter 38. A Performance and Tuning Methodology Part VII: SQL Server High Availability Chapter 39. SQL Server High Availability Fundamentals Chapter 40. Data Replication Chapter 41. Database Mirroring Chapter 42. SQL Server Failover Clustering Chapter 43. SQL Server AlwaysOn and Availability Groups Part VIII: SQL Server Application Development Chapter 44. What’s New for Transact-SQL in SQL Server 2012 Chapter 45. Transact-SQL Programming Guidelines, Tips, and Tricks Chapter 46. Advanced Stored Procedure Programming and Optimization Chapter 47. SQL Server and the .NET Framework Chapter 48. SQLCLR: Developing SQL Server Objects in .NET Chapter 49. Using XML in SQL Server 2012 Chapter 50. SQL Server Service Broker Chapter 51. SQL Server Full-Text Search Chapter 52. Working with SQL Azure Part IX: SQL Server Business Intelligence Features Chapter 53. SQL Server 2012 Analysis Services Chapter 54. SQL Server Integration Services Chapter 55. SQL Server 2012 Reporting Services Chapter 56. Master Data Services and Data Quality Services Chapter 57. Parallel Data Warehouse Part X: Bonus Chapters Chapter 58. Managing Linked Servers Chapter 59. SQL Server Disaster Recovery Planning Chapter 60. SQL Server Configuration Options Almost every chapter begins with a section that covers what is new in SQL Server 2012. There are a ton of diagrams that are really helpful with learning the topics, and a ton of great tables that help to summarize topics. The thing I like most about this book is the quantity of information about profiling, tracing, monitoring, and performance. There is a whole chapter on locking!!! The authors writing style makes it an easy to read book, or at least as easy as server reading can get. My only gripe about the book is that over 1000 of the pages are only available in eBook format. It is time to break this book down into 2, or maybe 3 printed volumes. I use eBooks for searching for topics, but do not read them. After 8 - 10 hours a day staring at a computer I don't want to read a book on one. This will be my last edition of this awesome book if I can't get it all in print when the next edition is released. The code downloads are organized by chapter and usable are very usable. Each chapter has a folder. If you are in anyway involved with SQL Server 2012, you owe it to yourself to get this book. It will not leave my side!!!! I highly recommend this book for DBA's, developers, and architects.

Microsoft SQL Server 2012 Unleashed

Microsoft SQL Server 2012 Unleashed

Microsoft SharePoint 2013 Pocket Guide Book Review

This little book is packed with tons of information. The authors did a good job of selecting topics that SharePoint administrators need to know, but may use so infrequently, they don't retain the details. In today's IT world that is just life. A little over a year ago we upgraded from 2007 to 2010. By the time the process was over, I had a 120 page document full of reminders. At the end of this year we will be going to 2013. I have barely touch SharePoint in the interim, so without those notes I would be as lost as the day they told me I was going to do the 2007 to 2010 upgrade. In the introduction the authors say this book is designed for those with SharePoint experience as well as with a basic knowledge of Windows Server 2012, Active Directory, Internet Information Services (IIS), SQL Server, and web browsers. I would agree with that. The book is broken down into 3 parts. I have listed each part along with the chapters they contain. Part I: Deploying Chapter 1. Installing SharePoint Server 2013 Chapter 2. Configuring Farm Operations Chapter 3. Creating Web Applications and Content Databases Chapter 4. Creating and Configuring Service Applications Chapter 5. Scaling Web and Service Applications Chapter 6. Deploying Sites and Site Collections Chapter 7. Deploying Business Intelligence Technologies Part II: Configuring Chapter 8. Configuring Enterprise Content Types and Metadata Chapter 9. Configuring Document Management Chapter 10. Enterprise Search Chapter 11. Web Content Management Chapter 12. Branding in SharePoint 2013 Chapter 13. Configuring the Social Experience Part III: Operating Chapter 14. Backing Up and Restoring SharePoint Server 2013 Chapter 15. Managing Apps and Solutions Chapter 16. Configuring Sites and Site Collections Chapter 17. Upgrading from SharePoint Server 2010 This book does a great job of covering a ton of topics in a very condensed format. That means a lot of thing may not get drilled down into, but it does a great job of pointing you in the right direction. A good example of this is the chapter on upgrading from SharePoint 2010 to 2013. It does a good job of pointing out all the things you will need to look into in order to do a successful upgrade. Although there is a lot of work you need to do with all those things, to have a map of what they are is awesome. I would have loved to have that chapter 4 years ago when we started looking at SharePoint 2010. The authors' writing styles are great. No filler. They do a great job of making use of visualization with diagrams, screenshots, and summary tables. The book also has an awesome index, which helps it live up to being a great reference. Although a reference is what this book is intended to be, the book is arranged in a logical cover to cover read. I love the size of this book. It's small size lets me carry it around easier than the larger SharePoint tomes that I have. I highly recommend this book to any SharePoint administrator looking to move into the 2013 SharePoint world. I will definitely have it by my side.

Microsoft SharePoint 2013 Pocket Guide

Microsoft SharePoint 2013 Pocket Guide