Jason's rating:
  3.0
On May 6, 2013 Jason Irwin wrote: Good computer science introduction with ruby
The book is a short read, at 188 pages, yet does an admirable job of providing a basic overview of both the core Ruby programming language and some fundamental computer science concepts. I was particularly impressed with the overviews of some major sorting/searching algorithms and measurement of complexity (Big O Notation). The authors made these topics very accessible which is an impressive feat. Full Review >
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Tools and Techniques That Make Data Work
Jason's rating:
5.0
On Mar 30, 2013 Jason Irwin wrote: My favorite set of O’Reilly videos
This set is without doubt my favorite set of O’Reilly videos to date. It combines the usual diversity of topics from a good tech conference with numerous deep dives - groups of videos with 4 or 5 titles in the set that dig deeper into a specific subject. Full Review >
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Web Performance and Operations
Jason's rating:
5.0
On Dec 9, 2012 Jason Irwin wrote: Another excellent video set!
For those who don't know, Velocity is O'Reilly's Web Performance and Operations conference. Similar to O'Reilly's other conferences Velocity brings together experts from many prevalent technology companies - including Google, Amazon, Facebook, Twitter and Walmart, to name but a few. The conference was split into four tracks: Web Performance, Operations, Velocity Culture and Mobile Performance and focuses a lot of attention on web metrics and large scale web performance. The set weighs in at a whopping 54.5 hours for $400 (at time of writing). As with previous O'Reilly content that I have reviewed, the production quality of this set is amazing. Video is high definition, sound is crystal clear and while the set may seem pricey at first, the video set is a very viable alternative to attending the conference in person. Given the impact of performance on both user engagement and conversion optimization this set is invaluable to anyone building or maintaining a commercial web application. Full Review >
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Jason's rating:
5.0
On Aug 4, 2012 Jason Irwin wrote: Excellent Product
So, let’s address the cost. $400 is expensive, relative to the cost of purchasing books or other materials. But it is inexpensive relative to the cost of going to such a conference (I believe fluentconf ran at about ~$1200), let alone the necessary travel and accommodation costs. You also get to see all conference tracks – choosing one talk over another is the bane of conference goers everywhere – which makes it even more worthwhile. If you’re in the market for JavaScript material and can afford this bundle, buy it – you won’t regret it. I can’t recommend it highly enough! Full Review >
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A Guide to Securing Modern Web Applications
Jason's rating:
4.0
On Jul 6, 2012 Jason Irwin wrote: Great stuff, maybe not for beginners...
The Tangled Web is an excellent book where a prominent expert in the field of web security makes a dry and dull topic read like prose. I'd recommend it to any professional web developer! Full Review >
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Jason's rating:
5.0
On Dec 29, 2011 Jason Irwin wrote: Excellent Title with Information for Everyone
If you’re a webforms developer, you should absolutely own this title. It is extremely detail oriented and well written and gets into low level nitty-gritty details. It’s not for the feint of heart, but if you love developing web applications on the ASP.NET stack, you’ll love this book. If you, like me, are more enthused about MVC development I suggest you head to a bookstore and flick through the book. There were definitely some sections that I skimmed over, but there there was no lack of relevant content. I hope and believe that you will find enough valuable information to make this a worthwhile read. Full Review >
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Jason's rating:
4.0
On Mar 8, 2011 Jason Irwin wrote: This is the Amazon EC2 Bible
I read somewhere that Programming Amazon EC2 is a title for people looking to adopt Amazon’s cloud platforms while avoiding a large amount of trial and error. I’ve been wanting to play around on this platform for a long time but have been a little intimidated by the myriad of terms and acronyms used to describe the available tools and configurations at my disposal. I fit firmly into the demographic that wants to get up and running with Amazon but doesn’t have the time to learn in this manner. The book is a pretty quick read and is packed full of useful information. Despite a couple of issues this is the de facto guide to Amazon’s web offerings and should (and will) act as a bible for anyone embarking on such a project. This book will undoubtedly save me countless hours in my future endeavors with these services and will pay for itself in no time. I highly recommend it. Full Review >
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The Art and Science of Converting Prospects to Customers
Jason's rating:
5.0
On Feb 21, 2011 Jason Irwin wrote: Great Title
Didn't really have any set expectations when reading this title. As a professional developer I continually strive to fill gaps in my knowledge and conversion optimization was (read: is no longer) something I didn't know much if anything about. At less than 300 pages the book is a pretty quick read, but is packed full of useful information, lessons learned from real world conversion optimization and plenty of case studies. I read the book over the course of a weekend and highly recommend it for anyone involved in ecommerce or lead generation websites - from developers and designers all the way to marketing and business folk. There is a health balance of descriptive and prescriptive guidance and I feel like I learned a lot while thoroughly enjoying the read. Full Review >
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Jason's rating:
3.0
On Feb 17, 2011 Jason Irwin wrote: Good, but not exactly what I was expecting...
I've long needed to brush up on my design skills and was excited to review O'Reilly's series - Scott & Neil's Designing Web Interfaces Master Class. Full Review >
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Social Media Analytics
Jason's rating:
4.0
On Jan 7, 2011 Jason Irwin wrote: Review - Croll & Power's Communilytics Master Class
I was eager to watch these videos but didn't know what to expect. Happily I was met with excellent content, explained by an entertaining an knowledgeable instructor in a very well-produced package. Full Review >
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