This book is not about Ada but rather the author's defense of Ada's image and place in history.

There are gratuitous associations of Ada Lovelace to truly famous geniuses and science. For instance, this part of a letter (page 124) --

It cannot help striking me that *this* extension of Algebra ought to lead to a *further extension* similar in nature, to the *Geometry of Three Dimensions*; & that again perhaps to a further extension in some unknown region & so ad-infinitum possibly...

-- leads to this comparison (page 122) --

In the next series of letters Ada hyposthesized a geometry of the "fourth dimension." Several popular books today deal with this subject: Rudy Rucker's The Fourth Dimension, Stephen Hawking's A Brief History of Time, and Philip Davis's Descartes' Dream.

I don't see any reference in Ada's letter to time. I expect it is simple 4 dimensional geometry she is thinking of.

There is some incredible gushing over the programming language ADA. This book was written in 1992, when it surely should have been obvious that ADA was not the be-all and end-all. Yet the author has apprently fallen hook, line, and sinker for the party line over the programming language named after her hero. Here are some examples. Note these are the author's words, not Ada Lovelace's.

Pages 176-177: It is accordingly most fitting that the programming language ADA, developed in the early 1980s by the US Department of Defense, provides the most precise facilities for this software development (specification) task of any general-purpose software language for large-scale problems existing today.

Add this idolatry to the author's infatuation with Ada Lovelace, and the reuslt is some far-fetched comparisons between Ada Lovelace's documentation and later computer concepts.

Page 179: Here again, the ADA software language contains somewhat unique facilities corresponding in a sense to Ada's insight... A second unuusual ADA facility, exception handling, reflects in a ! different but related way Ada's vision of the Analytical Engines's superiority over the DIfference Engine...In a sense the ADA language exception handler operates at a level of control above the program itself, confirming Ada's foresight.

Page 185: One can read into the following quotations the germ of perhaps the most important advance in software development in the past twenty years, an idea variously referred to (in its many forms) as *sbatraction*, *modularity*, *separation of concerns*, *information hiding*, or *object-oriented design*.

Pages 187-188: In the first excerpt from Note D, Ada commended the use of indices, a now-basic technique for reducing complexity in the processing of regular data structures.

Page 190: ...Then she expanded the visual image she had of weaving and symmetry to highlight the *cycle*, a conceptual building block of programs for both the Analytical Engine and later the computer.

This exaggeration is also extended to Babbage's Analytical Engine.

Page 173: Babbage planned to store over 1000 fifty-digit numbers.

Page 181: It was not until the mid-1960s that the modern computer could store as many digit numbers as did the Analytical Engine.

Quite wrong; I worked on computers from the 1950s that had more storage capacity.

Pages 186-187 compare Babbage finding a new use for the Jacquard loom punched card to software reuse: Some predict that the 1990s will be the decade in which software reuse becomes the principal software development mechanism, and that the ADA software language, which simplifies software reuse because of its precise interface specification and generic subprogram facilities, will lead the way.

Page 189 compares multiple Analytical Engines operating together to current parallel supercomputers, with further comments on ADA supporting this.

I have reviewed most of the books that are readily available on Ada. This book was well written and Dr. Toole is truly the recognized authority of Ada and her life. I found an earlier edition of this book through interlibrary loan and was disappointed that this edition did not offer the same illustrations and pictures. If you are interested in finding out more about Ada especially from her own letters, this is truly one of the best books out there. I would recommend reading at least one other book on Ada Lovlace in addition to this one, for balance, at times Dr. Toole may have been too kind to Ada's memory.

Ada is a great role model for girls, her life had much turmoil and many obstacles. She fought for her right to do math (and early computer science) in a male society. This book may be a little too steep for early high school reading, a really fabulous young adult book on this subject is Ada Byron Lovelace : The Lady and the Computer (People in Focus Book) by Mary Dodson Wade.

Toole's book is an excellent introduction to the life and work of the mathematical visionary, Ada Byron King. Toole's treatment allows the reader access to King's luminous mind--no small achievement.

Although it may not be appreciated by those who clearly clearly wish to argue with issues external to the text, I highly reccomend "Ada" to anyone who enjoys work which is sensitive, illuminating, and well-written.

There will probably be a richly-deserved resurgance of interest in King's life and work after the wide release of Lynn Hershman Leeson's film "Conceiving Ada," and Toole's book will be a fine resource for all who are inspired or intrigued by this singular figure.

Ada Lovelace had a rich intellectual life.

As a huge disservice to her, this book is one extended gossip column of speculation and opinion about her personal life and that of her parents. In contrast, only a few pages are devoted to the Difference Engine and Analytical Engine.

At first I thought the author was gossiping about her parents as what he considered a necessary background to understanding Ada, so I kept reading, hoping to get to the substance of the book soon-- but the gossip never stopped, right through the description of her death.

If you too have a rich intellectual life, you will enjoy this book as much as you enjoy reading gossip about celebrities in the National Enquirer.

As a historian of science and technology, and also a person very interested in computer science and fascinated by poetry as well, this book looked like a full 5 stars at first. Like some of the other reviewers, I felt swamped by the details of Ada's emotional life; yet, there are flashes of brilliance where the author makes a clear connection between her social position, her interior life as we can best judge it, and her pursuits. I wonder if there would have been a better way to organize the book; as it stands now, the book is almost purely narrative (with some asides and flashbacks), and appears to be aimed at the popular reader with a seasoning of technical information to goad the more serious critic into reading on. On the positive side, I was pleased to read a clarification of Ada's role in the Babbage Difference Engine's precocious presentation. And at times, the story was fascinating. Other times, it was just plain soggy.

Every computer programmer knows (or should) that Ada Lovelace was the first computer programmer, honored with the name of the DoD's official programming language. What I didn't know was that she was the daughter of Byron, the poet.

Her parents were a very strange match, actually: Byron the flamboyant Romantic poet and Annabella Millbanke, a coldly rational woman he dubbed "the Princess of Parallelograms." Their relationship was a brief one, followed by a bitter estrangement, but it produced a daughter, Ada.

Ada was raised exclusively by her mother, seemingly more as a science project - a demonstration of rational childraising principles - than as anything involving parental affection. Not surprisingly, she grew up to be a brilliant woman prone to nervous disorders which, when combined with attempts at treatment, led to a short life, with her dying at 37.

The focus of this book is set by the dichotomy between science and poetry exemplified by Byron and Annabella. The time period is one of extraordinary technical advancement, with the locomotive and the telegraph shrinking the world in a way that even our jet planes and satellite links can't compare. Some embraced this revolution, even some of the poets, while others rejected it.

Those like me who came to this book looking for a detailed account of Ada and her association with Babbage and his Difference Engine will come away disappointed. It is indeed covered, and Woolley describes Ada's monograph on the principles of the Engine as being a hundred years ahead of its time. But after providing a copious lead-in (to such an extent that Annabella seems as much the subject as Ada), he quickly moves on to the latter part of her life.

Still, this is an interesting book about a fascinating age and fascinating people.

Though her thoughts on what she thinks are "good" modern architects are very illuminating and insightful, her rants against Disneyfied structures and environments are tiresome, pithy and repetitious. She seems like she's trying to sound like a hip, streetwise rock critic or something. Forget the first 50% of the book (or skim), and save your time and energy for the last 50%.

The main thrust of The Unreal America is that commercial interests are choking out our experience of genuine regional and cultural diversity--in architecture, travel and even our knowledge of history. The first three quarters of the book is devoted to the theme parks, shopping centers and architectural restorations that Huxtable abhors, including Disney World, Celebration, Florida, Las Vegas and colonial Williamsburg. The last quarter of the book is disjointed from the beginning because she abruptly switches gears and lauds buildings that she finds exhilarating and which properly integrate materials, use and environmental context.

The book is must reading for anyone who has a passion for architecture and is concerned about how commericalism and real estate development affects our society. Although the tone of Huxtable's writing is haughty, angry and sometimes repetitive, her message is an important one. Huxtable rails against The Disney Company and its penchant for creating fake, idealized versions of real places. Walt Disney's dream was to create clean, controlled environments where happiness abounds, but in the years since his death in 1966, the dreams and fantasies of children of all ages have become mass-merchanidised and channeled into a narrow focus of personalities and products. Huxtable maintains that Disney has become a mass dispenser of schlock-from amusements to art to architecture.

Huxtable also decries the way that shopping center malls and superstores such as Home Depot and Walmart have choked out diversity in retailing. "In the reality of suburban America," she writes, " there is no place else to go", because malls and movie megaplexes have replaced downtowns and streets. Huxtable acknowledges that architecture is largely influenced by investment economics. She is a realist that does not expect that strip malls and shopping centers should go away, but she denounces the banality of their designs and how our collective experience of that stifling sameness makes society more homogenized.

This book was awesome from the beginning to the end. The way she wrote was breath taking. I like cheese and pasta. Cheese is good on asparagus. I like the cheese on this book.

I was expecting quite a bit more from this book. Essentially every game that the White Sox played in 1959 is summarized in a paragraph or two with both highlights and lowlights. What's lacking is current interviews by the author with the men who played the game. The few quotes mentioned are easily obtainable from other printed sources.

Another thing that I found somewhat annoying was the author's nostalgic trips into his own childhood. If I was interested in his little league activities and visits to Comiskey Park with his dad I wouldn't be looking for a book titled "The Story of the 1959 White Sox". Enjoyed the extensive stats in the back of the book and the game chronologies but was left wondering, "Is that all there is?".

Author Kalas has provided the reader with pretty much a game by game summary of the 1959 Chicago White Sox season. I went through the book in two sittings. The book contains too much game summaries with no real in depth information. Occasionally, he provides some nostalgic information from that period of time. I was in high school when the Pale Hose won their first flag in forty years so I am well aware of this time period and the players that were on each team's roster. The author concludes the book with a biographical summary of each player and mentions if they are now deceased. I guess I expected more. If you want to read a book on the 1959 White Sox I would suggest "'59: Summer of the Sox."

The 1959 Chicago White Sox were an godsend for a young Yankee hater in the '50's. Larry Kalas, a local fan at the time, takes you back to through a day-by-day accounting of the season recalling all the runs, hits and errors of his beloved Go, Go, Chisox. With roster changes and pitching performances his research of games provides the reader with throw back memories of the time. Names like Bill Tuttle, Rocky Colavito, Don Buddin and Jackie Jensen will jog your brain and take you back to a better time for the world, yourself and baseball. The book drags at times as he never alters from his game-to-game format. A little more local flavor of the stadium crowd and neighorhood following could have been substituted for his school stories. All-in-all it is a book I've been hoping to find for years since the Sox were a boyhood favorite that year. Nostalgia of Nellie Fox, Jim Landis and little Looey Aparicio is well worth the journey back with this book.

As a MIS major in a co-op school, I thought that learning VB would give me a competitive advantage when I applied for a job. This book was excellent in providing a general overview of all of the things that you can do with VB. Like a survey course in college, however, it merely scratches the surface. THE BEST WAY TO LEARN VB is not through a book, class or any other academic environment. THE BEST WAY TO LEARN IS BY DOING IT. Hands-on (not the easy spoon-feed exercises found in most books) experience is the best teacher. I wanted to learn VB, so I would get a job where I use it every day. The better I get, the more I would get paid. However, this is not always possible, and I recommend the following books for those who want real "hands on" exercises: Visual Basic 6 Developer's Workshop and Sams Teach Yourself MORE Visual Basic in 21 Days.

There's another version of this that comes w/ a developing version of VB6 - w/ the exception that you can't compile your programs.

Still, it's good enough to work along w/ the book as you're reading it. I bought VB1 a LONG time ago, and upgraded to VB3 years later. Back then, VB was still a little difficult to work w/ but I managed to get a few very helpful applications written for myself.

Now, searching like a madman for a freeware/shareware version of something that would meet my specific needs, I'd given up and decided to write it myself.

The question I had to ask myself was, "Is VB6 worth the upgrade?" To just write a few small applications and the hastle of learning another version?

The answer is a resolute - YES! This book just touches the surface of what VB6 is capable of doing, but it's enough to get you started. Once you've mastered the small apps here, you can go to online resources for more in depth help. I'd buy this book, as well as a more in-depth book that's filled w/ examples. You have to start somewhere!

I've programmed in Assembly Language on mainframe computers for 5 years and know quite a bit about programming techniques. I've been looking for a good book to teach me VB 6 and found this to be execellent. Sure, it teaches basic programming techniques, along with VB. But I've learned alot and feel confident that I can program useful stuff with VB. The examples are clear and concise, and the end of chapter exercises are excellent. (Other books I've read on Visual C++ had horrible exercises at the end.) I'd recommend this book to everyone wanting to learn the basics of VB 6.0.

This is one of the worst software development books I have ever read. Both grammatical and syntactical programming mistakes are present frequently throughout the text. Do not get this book!

I don't know what the other reviewer here was thinking, but this book, though a few syntactical flaws in it, is an excellent book, written just like how lecture would be given. Algorithms, packaging, and all concepts are all explained thoroughly. Good Job!

Althougth the writing style was not terrible (for a book on a programming language), the utiliity of this book is near zero. There are no complete example programs in the book. In order to understand how different parts in an Ada program interact it would be helpful if complete programs were included. This book was assigned reading for a programming language course.

John was one of the creators of Ada83 and his books have long been regarded as the "Bibles' of the Ada language. This is a great book for anyone using Ada 83 (which is still in heavy use in many defense companies). It also gives a nice intoduction to the new Ada 95 (called Ada 9x at the time of this edition). This book covers the entire language in great detail yet avoids many of the 'language lawyer' issues that might confuse the beginning Ada programmer. I have used Ada for about 10 years in avionics and simulation applications and have always recommended John's books to newcommers to Ada. The inclusion of more complete examples would have helped (and have been added in later editions). While there are many good books on Ada available, this one still ranks as one of the best. It should not be the only book you use to learn the language (if you're really serious) but it should be one of them!

Note that this book is for the old Ada standard not still in use. It does not cover the current Ada 95 standard (As you can see it was written years before the standard)

This state version explains nearly exhaustively the ADA application in the State of California, which some say is a trendsetter in ADA compliance. Packed with information. To be used in conjunction with the NATIONAL ADA resources.

Though this book is impressively packaged and appears authoritative, it's anything but. The authors are pop historians who specialize in fiction and their weaknesses show throughout. There is almost no basic understanding of Hitler, his life, his personality or placing him in the proper historical context. There are a number of small, but nagging errors. Example: Hitler was punctilious in his personal hygiene, took two baths daily and was a fanatic about keeping clean. This is attested to by all who knew him. However, the authors claim that Hitler's architect, Albert Speer, claims Hitler had horrible B.O. (a claim he never made)and they repeat this canard three times.

Their examination of how Hitler died is similarly flawed and dated. It doesn't matter if bunker personnel like Baur, Linge and Kempka all have small discrepancies in their narratives, the fact remains that Hitler shot himself in the head and simultaneously took cyanide while Eva Braun took cyanide. End of story. The pages of padded material on Hitler's death drone on and tell the reader nothing new whatsoever.

As for the Russian archives and the supposedly flashy "new" material they unearthed... forget it. The new materials are a photo of Hitler's uniform jacket, some common photos and a sketch book of watercolors which the authors claim were all executed by Hitler. This ludicrous assertion is proven false by the inclusion of a postcard of Haus Wachenfeld which they claim Hitler painted in the 30's! The color photo of the postcard clearly shows it was never painted by Hitler.

This is a disappointing book for serious historian and novice alike. There is nothing new to justify its purchase.

This book is written as a detective story and it is an interesting attempt to solve the misteries of Hitler's final days in Berlin. The Soviet style of segregating every piece of intelligence covered the last days and, of course, the investigations that followed the bunker capture. Despite the end of the cold war, the evidence is still fragmented and this book is an attempt to show a collection of definitive data. In this respect the book is quite interesting due to the good job made by the authors in collecting facts. Unfortunately the style is too journalistic, therefore a little dissapointing, since the narrative is sometime erratic and the plot is interspersed by minute informations of little value. So the work comes close to that sort of "light" reading about the history of the Fuhrer demise, while a more scholarlike approach is needed to deal with this matter, potentially embarassing for the many of politically "uncorrect" iussues still pending in the aftermath of IIWW.

After seeing their report on the learning channel, I decided to read the book. I was not disappointed. It is chock full of little blurbs of information about Hitler and his last days in the bunker. It comes across as an extremely long magazine article instead of a heavy "study" undertaken by college students. I recommend it as fluff reading for a vacation getaway, but for sincere hitler nuts its not enough.