BW2 :: the bitwise supplement

Essential ActionScript 3.0

Huw Collingbourne — 2008-07-23T10:57:32Z

$54.99 / £38.99
By Colin Moock
Pages: 946
O'Reilly: http://oreilly.com/catalog/9780596526948/index.html
ISBN-10: 0-596-52694-6
ISBN-13: 9780596526948
Lots of books call themselves ‘essential' but very few of them live up to that claim. This is an exception to the rule. ‘Essential ActionScript 3.0' is exactly what it says: whether you are a beginner who wants to learn ActionScript from the ground up or an old hand who needs an authoritative reference work, look (...)

Encapsulation, OOP and Sapphire

Huw Collingbourne — 2008-07-22T12:24:23Z

I've just posted an article about some of the mysteries of encapsulation and why this means different things to different people.
In object oriented programming, the word ‘encapsulation' is used a great deal. But not everybody uses it to mean the same thing. In my article, I try to clarify what I mean by encapsulation. You'll find the article on the blog I write on my software company's web site:
What is Encapsulation? (and does it matter?)
The central theme (...)

The Essential Guide to Flex 3

Huw Collingbourne — 2008-07-18T11:35:48Z

$54.99 / £33.99
By Charles E Brown
Pages: 600
Friends Of Ed: http://www.friendsofed.com/book.html?isbn=9781590599501
ISBN-10: 1-59059-950-0
ISBN-13: 978-1-59059-950-1
Adobe's Flex 3 framework, for ‘rich internet applications' is becoming increasingly important for developing both Web-based and (when using the new AIR runtime) desktop applications. In order to master Flex you will need to be comfortable with quite a range of cooperating technologies including the (...)

Get To Grips With Python

Huw Collingbourne — 2008-07-02T10:59:41Z

Over the past few years I've been so involved with the Ruby language that I've been guilty of ignoring an important alternative, Python. The two languages have much in common - they are both dynamic, object oriented languages with a simple syntax far removed from the ‘curly-bracket' C-like languages which are so dominant. In this new series, I plan to explore the basics of the Python language. If you are interested, you may want to follow my progress...
First you (...)

Microsoft Office Word 2007 - Essential Reference for Power Users

Huw Collingbourne — 2008-06-17T10:44:26Z

$74.95 / £39.95
By Matthew Strawbridge
Pages: 628
Software Reference Ltd: http://www.swref.com
ISBN: 978 0 9554614 1 5
Word 2007 is both a powerful and an exceptionally annoying word processor. Its huge range of features combined with an eccentric user interface make it hard work - even for a long-time Word user like me - to find half the things you are looking for. Add into this mix the odd inscrutable bug and you have a recipe for confusion. Things might be better if it came with a (...)

Practical Artistry: Light & Exposure for Digital Photographers

Huw Collingbourne — 2008-06-12T20:30:54Z

$29.99 / £18.50
By Harold Davis
Pages: 176
O'Reilly http://www.oreilly.com
ISBN 10: 0-596-52988-0 ; ISBN 13: 9780596529888
A long time ago I used to take photographs professionally with cameras that contained (rather quaintly!) spools of actual film. I had some pretty serious kit in those days and I took things like lighting an exposure with due seriousness. These days I use a digital camera and I generally let its electronics take care of all the technical stuff for me. After all, (...)

Now We Are Three

Huw Collingbourne — 2008-06-01T10:54:10Z

Well, time really has flown! The first issue Bitwise went online in June, 2005. At that time, I was recovering from a long (10 year) stint as the Delphi programming columnist for PC Plus magazine in the UK - which may explain why the content of that first issue of Bitwise had a decidedly Pascal-like flavour.
There was a an article by me all about writing a screen capture program in Delphi and another article by Bob Swart all about writing a Blog application in Delphi. Just for good (...)

Adobe Flex 3: Training from the Source

Huw Collingbourne — 2008-05-27T13:36:33Z

Adobe Flex 3: Training from the Source
by Jeff Tapper, Michael Labriola, Matthew Boles, James Talbot
Adobe Press: http://www.adobepress.com/
Computer Manuals (UK): http://www.compman.co.uk
ISBN-10: 0321529189
ISBN-13: 978-0321529183
$52.99 / £42.99
One thing you can't accuse Adobe of is being skimpy with documentation. There is a huge amount of free documentation on the Flex framework and associated technologies such as AIR, Flash and Adobe's Flex IDE, Flex Builder. So what, (...)

The Book Of Ruby - Free Ruby eBook

Huw Collingbourne — 2008-05-15T15:31:00Z

I guess quite a few Bitwise readers (in the UK, at any rate) know me best for the innumerable programming tutorials which I've written over the years in PC Plus, PC Pro, PC Answers, PC Magazine, Computer Shopper and various other magazines...
I now have a software company to run and spend much of my time actually writing software instead of writing about it. Even so, I haven't completely given up writing programming tutorials. A while ago, I released a free eBook called The (...)

The Ruby Programming Language

Huw Collingbourne — 2008-05-09T14:16:51Z

The Ruby Programming Language - $39.99 (£24.99)
by David Flanagan and Yukihiro Matsumoto
O'Reilly http://www.oreilly.com/
444 pp.
ISBN 10: 0-596-51617-7
ISBN 13: 9780596516178
There has been a glut of Ruby programming books in recent months. However, The Ruby Programming Language is different. It is co-authored by Yukihiro Matsumoto (‘Matz') the creator of the Ruby language itself. So, if you want to get the lowdown on the language from the really authoritative source, (...)