Digital Business & Culture
Apple
Confidential: The Real Story of Apple Computer, Inc.
by Owen W. Linzmayer
Owen Linzmayer's Apple Confidential is subtitled The Real Story of
Apple Computer, Inc., and while nobody will ever know the complete, "real"
story about Apple, Linzmayer's is probably as close as they come. Having
covered Apple news since 1980, he offers extensive insider details about
Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, John Sculley, Gilbert Amelio, Bill Gates, and
other major players whose lives were (and are) intertwined with Apple's
history. And along the way, we also learn about lesser-known figures whose
stories have remained hidden in the Apple myth: Ronald Gerald Wayne, for
example, who was actually a partner with Wozniak and Jobs in the original
incarnation of the company, but who sold his share when he realized he
would be financially vulnerable if it should fail.
Linzmayer's tale does have a few drawbacks. Because he mixes a chronological
narrative with chapters that focus on key points in the Apple story, he
sometimes repeats himself. Case in point: the chapter "Big Bad Blunders"
makes a great record of Apple's failures, but the story of the exploding
Powerbook 5300s is duplicated at later points. Nonetheless, Apple Confidential
is rife with gems that will appeal to Apple fanatics and followers of the
computer industry. Especially enjoyable are the revelation of "Easter eggs"
that are hidden in several versions of the Mac operating system; the many
screen shots, timelines, and telling quotes from Jobs, Gates, Wozniak and
others that populate the margins and concluding sections of each chapter;
the "Code Names Uncovered" section that makes public the monikers of several
secret Apple projects; and Bill Gates's 1985 letter to John Sculley and
Jean Louis Gassee pleading for Apple to license Mac technology and develop
a "standard personal computer." --Patrick O'Kelley - Amazon.com
Paperback from No Starch Press
Book Published: May, 1999 |
| |
Customers
Rule! Why the E-Commerce Honeymoon is over and where Winning Businesses
Go From Here
by Roger Blackwell, Kristina Stephan
(Hardcover -- June 19, 2001)
The Perfect Store: Inside eBay
by Adam Cohen
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Hacking
Exposed: Network Security Secrets & Solutions, Third Edition
by Stuart McClure, et al
(Paperback -- September 26, 2001)
Hacking
Exposed Web Applications
by Joel Sambray, et al
(Paperback -- June 15, 2002)
Hacking
Exposed Windows 2000
by Joel Scambray, Stuart McClure
(Paperback -- August 29, 2001)
Inside
Intel : Andy Grove and the Rise of the World's Most Powerful Chip Company
Tim Jackson
Paperback - 432 pages (November 1998)
Plume; ISBN: 0452276438
UML Distilled: A Brief Guide to the Standard Object Modeling Language
(2nd Edition)
by Martin Fowler, Kendall Scott
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Software Requirements
by Karl E. Wiegers
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Web Redesign: Workflow That Works
by Kelly Goto, Emily Cotler
Listed under Web Design
Counter
Hack: A Step-by-Step Guide to Computer Attacks and Effective Defenses
by Ed Skoudis
(Paperback -- July 23, 2001)
.NET
Framework Security
by Sebastian Lange, et al
(Paperback -- April 24, 2002)
The
CISSP Prep Guide: Mastering the Ten Domains of Computer Security
by Ronald L. Krutz, et al
(Hardcover -- August 24, 2001)
Bitter Java
by Bruce A. Tate
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Cisco Secure PIX Firewalls
by David W. Chapman Jr., Andy Fox
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Extreme
Programming Explained: Embrace Change
by Kent Beck
(Paperback -- October 15, 1999)
Microsoft®
Excel 2000 Power Programming with VBA
by John Walkenbach
(Paperback -- May 1999)
Writing
Effective Use Cases
by Alistair Cockburn
Alistair Cockburn's Writing Effective Use Cases is an approachable,
informative, and very intelligent treatment of an essential topic of software
design. "Use cases" describe how "actors" interact with computer systems
and are essential to software-modeling requirements. For anyone who designs
software, this title offers some real insight into writing use cases that
are clear and correct and lead to better and less costly software.
The focus of this text is on use cases that are written, as opposed
to modeled in UML. This book may change your mind about the advantages
of writing step-by-step descriptions of the way users (or actors) interact
with systems. Besides being an exceptionally clear writer, the author has
plenty to say about what works and what doesn't when it comes to creating
use cases. There are several standout bits of expertise on display here,
including excellent techniques for finding the right "scope" for use cases.
(The book uses a color scheme in which blue indicates a sea-level use case
that's just right, while higher-level use cases are white, and overly detailed
ones are indigo. Cockburn also provides notational symbols to document
these levels of detail within a design.)
This book contains numerous tips on the writing style for use cases
and plenty of practical advice for managing projects that require a large
number of use cases. One particular strength lies in the numerous actual
use cases (many with impressive detail) that are borrowed from real-world
projects, and demonstrate both good and bad practices. Even though the
author expresses a preference for the format of use cases, he presents
a variety of styles, including UML graphical versions. The explanation
of how use cases fit into the rest of the software engineering process
is especially good. The book concludes with several dozen concrete tips
for writing better use cases.
Software engineering books often get bogged down in theory. Not so in
Writing Effective Use Cases, a slender volume with a practical focus, a
concise presentation style, and something truly valuable to say. This book
will benefit most anyone who designs software for a living. --Richard
Dragan - Amazon.com
Paperback: 270 pagesAddison-Wesley Pub Co
ISBN: 0201702258; 1st edition (January 15, 2000)
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