Showing posts with label technology. Show all posts
Showing posts with label technology. Show all posts

21st Century Skills: Learning for Life in Our Times Review

21st Century Skills: Learning for Life in Our Times
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21st Century Skills: Learning for Life in Our Times Review
First off, thanks to the authors for writing a book that is applicable to teaching and learning. I've read 6 other books on 21st century skills topics and none have come close to providing models, examples, etc. on teaching and learning. In this book the authors spend less time detailing the changes in our world that are bringing an emphasis on "21st century skills" back to the forefront and more time on defining the skills and a learning framework to be used by educators in assisting students acquisition of these skills. The text details each "21st century skill" with descriptors of what students should be able to do. For educators, this is paramount in designing performance tasks and/or evaluating student performance tasks as actually being a "21st century skill." The authors then provide a learning framework or the "the project learning bicycle" and finish up with good descriptors of system changes to promote the implementation of their ideas. To sum up my thoughts, this is a book written for educational practitioners.
Dee W. Hartt, Ed. D.
21st Century Skills: Learning for Life in Our Times OverviewThe new building blocks for learning in a complex world
This important resource introduces a framework for 21st Century learning that maps out the skills needed to survive and thrive in a complex and connected world. 21st Century content includes the basic core subjects of reading, writing, and arithmetic-but also emphasizes global awareness, financial/economic literacy, and health issues. The skills fall into three categories: learning and innovations skills; digital literacy skills; and life and career skills. This book is filled with vignettes, international examples, and classroom samples that help illustrate the framework and provide an exciting view of twenty-first century teaching and learning.
Explores the three main categories of 21st Century Skills: learning and innovations skills; digital literacy skills; and life and career skills
Addresses timely issues such as the rapid advance of technology and increased economic competition
Based on a framework developed by the Partnership for 21st Century Skills (P21)

The book contains aDVD with video clips of classroom teaching. For more information on the book visit www.21stcenturyskillsbook.com.

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Hot Text: Web Writing that Works Review

Hot Text: Web Writing that Works
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Hot Text: Web Writing that Works ReviewThere are only a few books about writing that I consider classics, and despite the relative newness of this one, it qualifies.
First, the advice on writing online text is on the mark, especially with respect to organizing your message and presenting it with impact. Much of the advice can also be effectively used in paper-based documents. I particularly liked the way the authors presented punctuation because in paper-based text a mark such as a colon is easy to spot, whereas on a monitor it's lost. I've since begun using a dash instead of a colon when developing online content and that small piece of advice works where a colon does not. Of course there are literally hundreds of other tips and advice that will combine to make your content readable and understandable.
Second, the way the authors show you how to organize your thoughts, distill them into a coherent and succinct message, and how to present that message is a strategy that anyone who develops online content needs to carefully read and heed.
Finally, this book covers much more than how to write - it also gives excellent advice on a full range of related topics, including search engine placement using meta tags, humanizing the technical nature of web pages (such as making URLs easy to read and remember for non-technical users), and how to structure your content to find items of interest. The latter extensively uses principles from Information Mapping©. One disappointment was the omission of any mention of Robert Horn, the inventor of Information Mapping©, from the extensive list of cited references and recommended reading because the authors' approach is closely aligned to much of Horn's work.
If you're developing online content you cannot afford to pass this book up. Mine is a constant deskside companion and is likely to remain so for years to come.Hot Text: Web Writing that Works Overview

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Database Programming with JDBC and Java Review

Database Programming with JDBC and Java
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Database Programming with JDBC and Java ReviewThe author does a good job of covering new concepts as relevant to Java 2 platform and JDBC 2.0. This book is vastly revamped and is better than the first edition.
Though the author rightly says in the preface that this may not be the book for the beginners, I feel it may not be an ideal JDBC reference book either. The emphasis of this book is on how to build a robust middle tier that interacts with a relational database using JDBC.
Though several examples appear in the book, they could be categorized as relevant for developing a framework than useful for learning by example. Many books that cover EJB, Servlets and JSP now a days provide excellent stand-alone examples of using JDBC.
If you are looking for a book that gives sample "design patterns" for building a middle tier, then this one is for you. If you want to learn JDBC by example, this may not be the book you would want to buy.Database Programming with JDBC and Java Overview

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Fundamentals of Speech Recognition Review

Fundamentals of Speech Recognition
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Fundamentals of Speech Recognition ReviewThis book is a comprehensive and excellent introduction to the ever-expanding
field of Automatic Speech Recognition. Starting with models of speech
production, speech characterization, methods of analysis (transforms etc),
the authors go onto discuss pattern comparison, hidden Markov models (HMMs),
and design and implementation of speech recognition systems, right from
isolated word recognition to large vocabulary continuous speech recognition
systems. Neural networks and their use in speech recognition is also presented,
though somewhat briefly.
Rabiner was the author of the first widely-read tutorial on HMMs, so
naturally the presentation of HMMs is one of the strong points of this
textbook. The theory is developed in detail, but in an easy to follow
fashion, starting with the very basics and with plenty of helpful examples.
The implementation is discussed at great length as well, starting with
the simplest of tasks and progressing to the state-of-the-art (circa 1993).
That isn't to say that HMMs are the only good part of this book - indeed,
practically every topic, whether it be perception, transforms, vector quantization
or dynamic programming, is presented with great clarity. This book really is easy to
learn from, with numerous examples and illustrations.
The field of speech recognition is inherently multi-disciplinary in nature,
drawing upon various areas of study, including Physics, Physiology, Acoustics,
Signal Processing and Computer Science, to name but a few. The authors do a
great job of explaining all these facets, as well as the mathematics that
is an essential tool.

The only caveat is that it's now a little old (published 1993), since the
field has been growing by leaps and bounds - so while the basics remain
the same, things have changed and hence what's said here should not be
taken as the last word on the subject.
Perhaps a new edition is due, and would certainly be most welcome.
However, for an excellent, accessible introduction to this exciting field,
this is still a great choice.Fundamentals of Speech Recognition Overview Provides a theoretically sound,technically accurate, and complete description of the basicknowledge and ideas that constitute a modern system forspeech recognition by machine. Coversproduction, perception, and acoustic-phoneticcharacterization of the speech signal; signal processing andanalysis methods for speech recognition; pattern comparisontechniques; speech recognition system design andimplementation; theory and implementation of hidden Markovmodels; speech recognition based on connected word models;large vocabulary continuous speech recognition; and task-oriented application of automatic speech recognition. For practicing engineers, scientists,linguists, and programmers interested in speech recognition.

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Software Estimation Best Practices, Tools & Techniques: A Complete Guide for Software Project Estimators Review

Software Estimation Best Practices, Tools and Techniques: A Complete Guide for Software Project Estimators
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Software Estimation Best Practices, Tools & Techniques: A Complete Guide for Software Project Estimators ReviewMurali Chemuturi has written an excellent book that provides a nice overview of both the philosophy and practices of software estimation. In it, he covers the theories and practical realities of estimating software development projects in a simple to read, and easy to understand writing style. Software Estimation provides an excellent summary of various methods of software sizing and covers the pros & cons of each, including an excellent primer on Function Point Analysis. It also includes a very helpful review of Software Size Units, which is the latest way to think about the overall size of a software project taking into account both data and process. SSU seeks to overcome much of the difficulty and ambiguity of trying to count "points" needed for FPA.
One of my personal pet peeves is when developers do not include adequate effort in their estimates for test preparation and the overall testing effort. The book covers this area well and includes an excellent overview of incorporating testing into all your estimates, plus it explains multiple ways to help you do it. Since this is a significant area for me in my work, I have read this section over several times and have already incorporated many of the concepts and metrics covered in this book into my projects.
The only area that is not thoroughly covered in this book is how to estimate using iterative or Agile methodologies, as it tends to focus on the traditional software lifecycle process. However, there is still more than enough valuable information in this excellent book. Chemuturi's book is within easy reach on my desk, and is often stashed in my briefcase. It has easily become my bible for all things related to estimating software application development projects. It is a great value and should become part of any software development manager's toolkit.
Larry Hanthorn
Director, Delivery Excellence
Microsoft Corporation
Software Estimation Best Practices, Tools & Techniques: A Complete Guide for Software Project Estimators OverviewSoftware Estimation Best Practices, Tools & Techniques covers all facets of software estimation. It provides a detailed explanation of the various methods for estimating software size, development effort, cost, and schedule, including a comprehensive explanation of test effort estimation. This unique desk reference, for the novice to expert, also offers direction on which methods are most appropriate for each of the different software project types commonly executed and criteria for selecting software estimation tools. Key Features-- Presents software estimation best practices and shows how to avoid common pitfalls-- Demonstrates a practical methodology with templates for using Delphi estimation and analogy-based estimation for software projects-- Introduces a new method referred to as software size units for measuring software size that does not make use of the untenable concept of complexity for adjusting software size-- Provides useful methods for converting software size to effort, deriving true productivity, and analyzing variances between actual and estimated values as a tool for productivity improvement-- WAV offers a free downloadable test effort estimation tool (TPPal), a software size unit estimation tool (SSUPal), and a 180-day demo for a comprehensive estimation tool known as EstimatorPal available from the Web Added Value Download Resource Center at jrosspub.com

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The Ruby Programming Language Review

The Ruby Programming Language
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The Ruby Programming Language ReviewOriginally planned as a second edition to Ruby classic, Ruby In A Nutshell, The Ruby Programming Language is a new book by David Flanagan and Yukihiro Matsumoto (a.k.a. Matz - creator of Ruby) and published by O'Reilly. The book covers both Ruby 1.8 and 1.9 and with its esteemed authors and technical approach, is sure to become a new "Bible" for Ruby developers.
As of the start of 2008 this book is REALLY fresh and up to date. Its style is very direct and matter-of-fact; well suited for existing Ruby developers and proficient developers coming from other languages. The examples are clear and logical and the explanations concise; this is a well edited and authoritative book.
The structure of the book is a delight with ten well-defined chapters (with titles such as Reflection and Metaprogramming, Statements and Control Structures, and Expressions and Operators) that each contain a tree of sections. Consider Chapter 4, Expressions and Operators. A sample dive down to section 4.5.5.2 takes us through 4.5, Assignments; 4.5.5, Parallel Assignment; and finally to 4.5.5.2, One lvalue, multiple rvalues. This is a breath of fresh air in a Ruby reference work.
The only downside, in terms of the thousands who might be browsing Amazon looking for a single Ruby book to start off with, is that this book is so well focused on documenting the core elements of the Ruby language, it doesn't work either as a tutorial / beginner's introduction to Ruby, or as an exhaustive reference work (as, on both fronts, the Pickaxe attempts to be.) This lack of dilution may be an ultimate strength, however, since anyone above the station of "beginner" will be able to learn Ruby thoroughly from this book, use it as a general reference, and then be able to use the exhaustive documentation that comes with Ruby itself to cover the standard library and built-in classes.
In conclusion, whether you're an existing developer or a newcomer to Ruby, you need just three things to be up and running with Ruby in the book / documentation department. Buy this, the Ruby Way (by Hal Fulton), and learn how to use the documentation that comes with Ruby.
This book will act as the "Bible" for Ruby, the Ruby Way will make you an expert, and learning how to use the documentation that comes with Ruby will mean you're not using information that's out of date within a couple of years. The perfect combo! It'll last you for years.The Ruby Programming Language Overview
The Ruby Programming Language is the authoritative guide to Ruby and provides comprehensive coverage of versions 1.8 and 1.9 of the language. It was written (and illustrated!) by an all-star team:

David Flanagan, bestselling author of programming language "bibles" (including JavaScript: The Definitive Guide and Java in a Nutshell) and committer to the Ruby Subversion repository.
Yukihiro "Matz" Matsumoto, creator, designer and lead developer of Ruby and author of Ruby in a Nutshell, which has been expanded and revised to become this book.
why the lucky stiff, artist and Ruby programmer extraordinaire.
This book begins with a quick-start tutorial to the language, and then explains the language in detail from the bottom up: from lexical and syntactic structure to datatypes to expressions and statements and on through methods, blocks, lambdas, closures, classes and modules. The book also includes a long and thorough introduction to the rich API of the Ruby platform, demonstrating -- with heavily-commented example code -- Ruby's facilities for text processing, numeric manipulation, collections, input/output, networking, and concurrency. An entire chapter is devoted to Ruby's metaprogramming capabilities.The Ruby Programming Language documents the Ruby language definitively but without the formality of a language specification. It is written for experienced programmers who are new to Ruby, and for current Ruby programmers who want to challenge their understanding and increase their mastery of the language.

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