Reviews by Kelvin Meeks

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Think Python

Think Python

Kelvin's rating: StarStarStarStarStar 5.0

On Nov 24, 2013 Kelvin Meeks wrote: A Concise Intro to Python Programming
Pros: Concise, Well-written, Helpful examples, Easy to understand, Accurate Best Uses: Novice, Student Describe Yourself: Solution Architect Full Disclosure: I obtained a free copy of this book as part of the O'Reilly Blogger Review program. Allen B. Downey's recent release (from O'Reilly) - 'Think Python' is an excellent example of how an introductory programming book should be crafted. Clear, concise, entertaining, insightful, crisp, useful - these are some of the words that come to mind while reading this book. There is good coverage of some of the differences between Python 2 and 3. This is an excellent text for the novice programmer to learn Python - providing a general purpose overview of the language. The interested reader will find enough learning traction within this book to more easily proceed to more advanced texts. Programming concepts are gradually introduced, with successive layers of refinement adding further understanding of more complex programming concepts. At the end of each chapter are suggested exercises to further deepen the reader's grasp of the concepts just presented. The inclusion of links to codes samples and solutions at the http://thinkpython.com site is a nice touch. While this book provides a very light overview of some essential software design concepts (Functions, Encapsulation, Generalization, Recursion, Inheritcance, Polymorphism), the reader of this book should plan to further enhance their understanding with supplemental books to cover deeper functional programming concepts as well as deeper understanding of class design and object oriented concepts. It is notable that although this book certainly fits into the classification category of introductory - the coverage includes an uncommon attention to such important matters as debugging and analysis of algorithms. As an additional bonus, Appendix C provides a discussion of Lumpy ("...to examine the state of a running program and generate object diagrams...and class diagrams) - which is included in the Swampy code discussed early in the book. Full Review >

Visual Models for Software Requirements

Visual Models for Software Requirements

Kelvin's rating: StarStarStarStarStar 2.0

On Sep 3, 2012 Kelvin Meeks wrote: 2012-09-02 Monday - Book Review: VIsual Models for Software Requirements
Summary:I'll start-off by saying that if you have no process or discipline in your organization's approach to documenting and capturing software requirements - there are a lot of good suggestions covered in this book. Full Review >

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Software Requirements 3

Abe Taha wrote:
Readable and encyclopedic
One of the areas often overlooked when writing software systems is thoroughly understanding what needs… Full Review >

Rating: StarStarStarStarStar4.0