JavaRanch News - Bunkhouse category

Review of "Programming Groovy: Dynamic Productivity for the Java Developer" by Venkat Subramaniam

Ernest reviewed Programming Groovy: Dynamic Productivity for the Java Developer by Venkat Subramaniam and gave it 7 out of 10 horseshoes.

This is a reasonable, if informal, introduction to the Groovy language. Although I haven't had the opportunity to do much with Groovy myself, I suspect that this book wouldn't help if I painted myself into a newbie's corner; I would want a more detailed language guide to refer to. [...] I wanted a description of the Groovy language itself, rather than repeated assurances that it's "just like Java" interspersed with multiple demonstrations of the ways in which it's more assuredly not.

You can read the full review and discuss it here.

Review of "The ThoughtWorks Anthology: Essays on Software Technology and Innovation"

Ulf reviewed The ThoughtWorks Anthology: Essays on Software Technology and Innovation and gave it 7 out of 10 horseshoes.

This collection of 13 essays written by various ThoughtWorks (a software consulting company) employees covers a wide range of software development topics. There's no overarching theme - the essays are meant to present current thinking on issues that are being thought about nowadays even if they're maybe not on everybody's mind. ... Some essays focus purely on the programming, while the majority addresses issues of the development process. ... The depth and style of the essays varies widely, since no two chapters are written by the same author. While all of them should be of interest to any developer or development manager, not many may be applicable to a particular reader's situation.

You can read the full review and discuss it here.

Review of "Pro CSS and HTML Design Patterns" by Michael Bowers

Katrina reviewed Pro CSS and HTML Design Patterns by Michael Bowers and gave it 9 out of 10 horseshoes.

I absolutely love this book. I have two copies of it - one at work, one at home. ... It provides a solid fundamental understanding of how elements and rules interact, and especially how the same element or attribute will behave differently in different environments. ... In several cases, it has saved me hours of trying to achieve something which simply cannot be done in the current specification. At the same time, it has provided enough information to find a different approach that does work. ... The book is very systematic, and while it is a great read cover-to-cover, it functions very well as a reference volume. The 'patterns' format (name/problem/solution/pattern) makes it very easy to locate the exact information you are looking for. ... Summary: Buy this book. Read this book. I mean it.

You can read the full review and discuss it here.