Software-Technology – Page 9 – Scott J. Pearson’s Book Review

From Gutenberg to OpenType: An Illustrated History of Type from the Earliest Letterforms to the Latest Digital Fonts

By Scott J. Pearson | August 9, 2020August 9, 2020 by Scott J. Pearson

Although I am not a graphic designer, I have followed graphic design and computerized fonts since the 1990s. Thus, many of the font-forms referenced in this book are familiar to me. This book narrates how letters have historically been formed by technology. As the title implies, it starts with ancient scripts, continues with Gutenberg’s printing press in the 1400s, and closes with modern fonts digitized in OpenType on computers. Dodd focuses her energies on how…

Software-Technology

Web Security for Developers: Real Threats, Practical Defense

By Scott J. Pearson | July 31, 2020August 3, 2020 by Scott J. Pearson

Much has been and continues to be written on the topic of computer security, but a lot of that content is directed towards computer security professionals. Few resources exist that are written for software developers, by developers. In this work, McDonald seeks to answer the need for a comprehensive exposition on this topic. In this attempt, he succeeds in providing a clear and thorough introduction of what developers need to know about security. The biggest…

Cybersecurity Management-Business Software-Technology

Cybersecurity: Insights You Need from Harvard Business Review

By Scott J. Pearson | July 16, 2020November 23, 2024 by Scott J. Pearson

As an IT professional, I do not reside in the intended audience of this book. It is geared towards business leaders, not software developers. It provides a high-level and non-technical overview of the field of cybersecurity. Through several authors, it makes the case that cybersecurity cannot be overlooked by all C-suite executives, even in non-technology-based companies. That case is underscored by the direct impact cybersecurity has on a business’ bottom line. Having in-depth technical experience…

History Software-Technology

Biomedical Computing: Digitizing Life in the United States

By Scott J. Pearson | June 28, 2020June 28, 2020 by Scott J. Pearson

Confession: I work in the field of biomedical computing as a software developer. After journeying through a BS in computer science and medical school, I desire to devote much of my life towards advancing this field along with other bookish pursuits. So this book, by its title, caught my interest. November does an excellent job of chronicling the advance of applying computing towards biomedical pursuits. Much of the early advances in computing came at the…

Cybersecurity Indie Software-Technology

Cybersecurity: Advanced and Effective Measures to Secure Your Cyber Networks

By Scott J. Pearson | June 22, 2020November 23, 2024 by Scott J. Pearson

This book attempts to provide basic and practical measures that can guide an IT professional into more security expertise. It claims that it can teach the reader methods on how to detect vulnerabilities. It succeeds in surveying the technologies relevant to the task, but it falls short in the execution of writing. Lewis, no doubt, is a good security professional. However, he does not explain a topic thoroughly. He is too terse and concise. He…

Presentation Software-Technology

Getting Started with Processing: A Hands-On Introduction to Making Interactive Graphics

By Scott J. Pearson | June 17, 2020June 17, 2020 by Scott J. Pearson

Processing is a computer language that is well-adapted to creating graphics. Its target audiences are hobbyists and professionals who are not full-time developers but who want to produce quality graphics. As the title implies, this book introduces the reader to the concepts it takes to get started. No extensive programming experience is required. The programming environment to produce Processing graphics is accessible via a free download. This book provides plenty of examples to excite the…

Indie Software-Technology

JavaScript from ES5 to ESNext

By Scott J. Pearson | May 19, 2020 by Scott J. Pearson

In recent years, JavaScript (JS) has seen a resurgence in popularity. From NodeJS on servers to PhoneGap on mobile devices to common standards in web browsers, JS seems to be everywhere. ES is the abbreviation for ECMA Script, the standard which JS implements. This book covers in detail the advance of the ES standards from earlier days (ES5) to 2019 (ESNext). Much effort has been given on the issue of “callback hell” and features resulting…

Biostatistics Indie Software-Technology

Ultimate Step by Step Guide to Machine Learning Using Python

By Scott J. Pearson | May 4, 2020June 26, 2021 by Scott J. Pearson

The conscientious reader should carefully heed the words of this title. The book functions as an introduction to Python that leads, step by step, to using it with Machine Learning. It takes the shortest and easiest path to get there. As such, it provides fairly immediate gratification for the reader. With such low-hanging fruit, its intended audience is beginners without a lot of knowledge in computer science. For that audience, Anis effectively communicates his message.…

Indie Software-Technology

The Vue Handbook

By Scott J. Pearson | April 29, 2020April 29, 2020 by Scott J. Pearson

Vue is a popular software programming package based off of JavaScript. It is an add-on that makes a client’s web browser to all sorts of fun and useful things. Through using templating and a centralized API, it can help create fast user interfaces on the web. It’s more-or-less a competitor with other JavaScript libraries like React. Vue functions as a templating engine in JavaScript. That means that it is a client-side templating engine (in your…

Indie Software-Technology

The React Handbook by Flavio Copes

By Scott J. Pearson | April 19, 2020April 22, 2020 by Scott J. Pearson

Flavio Copes, an expert on JavaScript, maintains a blog and manages courses that introduce folks to the myriad uses of this long-time staple of a computer language. React is a technology by which JS is used to create more responsive websites for users. These websites operate more quickly and do not wait as often for servers to respond. In this book, Copes first covers the advances in JavaScript over the past few years. Those who…