Software Diagnostics Library

I was visiting Microsoft in March and here are some pictures I took outside the building where I worked (click to enlarge):

I also visited the company store where people were buying “Microsoft Brain” toy and saw one of the thickest software engineering books (1488 pages) there. Initially I hesitated to buy it because of its price but subsequently bought it nevertheless upon my return to Ireland:

Software Engineering Foundations: A Software Science Perspective

- Dmitry Vostokov @ DumpAnalysis.org -

Full-color special edition is available now. PART 6: Fun with Crash Dumps that features memory dump visualization pictures is the most impressive there. All screenshots and diagrams are color too. The book is thicker, heavier and much more expensive. Print on demand color books are very pricey. It is only available on Lulu because my Ingram distributor, Lightning Source, doesn’t print color books with more than 480 pages:

Memory Dump Analysis Anthology Collector’s Edition, Volume 1 

- Dmitry Vostokov @ DumpAnalysis.org -

ManagementBits Blog:

Management Bit and Tip 0×400

Managing Reading via Cooperative Multireading

LiterateScientist Blog:

The Science of Sherlock Holmes

Is it Safe to Eat?

- Dmitry Vostokov @ DumpAnalysis.org -

Just discovered that priority goes to Mikel Lasa

Memory Dump: 1960-1990 (Poesía vasca, hoy)

- Dmitry Vostokov @ DumpAnalysis.org -

Following the introductory division of memory analysis into two broad categories I decided to plan yet another book with the following title and preliminary product details:

• Title: Memory Analysis Forensics and Intelligence: An Integral Approach
• Author: Dmitry Vostokov
• Publisher: Opentask (01 September 2009)
• Language: English
• Product Dimensions: 22.86 x 15.24
• ISBN-13: 978-1-906717-05-6
• Paperback: 256 pages

As you might have noticed, I prefer to put 128, 256 or 512 pages in my book announcements. What that would say about the author’s background? I would like to set 1024 pages for my memory dump analysis anthology series but 740 or 800 pages is the limit for POD technology I use.

- Dmitry Vostokov @ DumpAnalysis.org -

Motivated by the following book title that I bought a month ago:

The Oxford Book of Modern Science Writing

I decided to convert my library into a beautifully illustrated color book called

The Opentask Guide to Modern Software Engineering Writing

I plan to update it yearly with new titles that come to my attention. The first edition is planned for this summer and has the following draft product details:

• Title: The Opentask Guide to Modern Software Engineering Writing, 2008 Edition
• Author: Dmitry Vostokov
• Publisher: Opentask (25 August 2008)
• Language: English
• Product Dimensions: 21.6 x 14.0
• ISBN-13: 978-1-906717-04-9
• Paperback: 128 pages

Draft table of contents and sample chapter will be posted soon. 

- Dmitry Vostokov @ DumpAnalysis.org -

It now becomes a tradition to publish a sample chapter about heap. As promised here are two draft pages from the forthcoming Windows® Debugging Notebook:

05 (0×05): Heap / Pool / Paged / NonPaged

- Dmitry Vostokov @ DumpAnalysis.org -

01:00 am 24.05 I noticed it reached #1 bestseller status in Assembly Language Programming category:

Because the status is updated hourly you might not see the same status when you read this post

- Dmitry Vostokov @ DumpAnalysis.org -

The book has finally made it through Google Search program and is available for search here:

http://www.google.com/books?id=RR5whfK1BYsC

Also, yesterday I approved the hardcover version for distribution on Amazon and it should be available there in a week or so.

- Dmitry Vostokov @ DumpAnalysis.org -

This is a new Xen book that I got in the post a few days ago and it seems to be so good that I took it home from work to start reading it during this weekend:

Running Xen: A Hands-On Guide to the Art of Virtualization

I’ll post a review once I read past the first chapter which is the excellent overview of different virtualization technologies.

See also another good Xen book that I discovered previously:

XEN from a system programmer’s perspective

- Dmitry Vostokov @ DumpAnalysis.org -

This is a picture from PubForum event gallery. I’m on the left and Rich Crusco, MVP, Citrix Technical Evangelist for Application Delivery and Virtualization technologies, is on the right. Visitors often think that these books are just on crash dumps… Click on it to enlarge:

More pictures can be found on here.

 - Dmitry Vostokov @ DumpAnalysis.org -

The following books helped me immensely to get up to speed with self-publishing.

Write Faster, Write Better

This book shows the power of write-page(s)-a-day process where writing incrementally adds up to a book.

Aiming at Amazon: The NEW Business of Self Publishing, or How to Publish Books for Less, Sell Without Hassle, and Double Your Profit (or More) With Print on Demand and Book Marketing on Amazon.com

The book recommends to register as a publisher and use Lightning Source as POD printer and distribution channel.

Perfect Pages: Self Publishing with Microsoft Word, or How to Avoid High-Priced Page Layout Programs or Book Design Fees and Produce Fine Books in MS Word for Desktop Publishing and Print on Demand

Use Microsoft Word to prepare your book. Very good chapters about indexing and cover design. The latter can be created in MS Word too!

POD People: Beating the Print-on-Demand Stigma

This is the book that I recently discovered and read. Although the author discusses POD in the context of fiction publishing it has some good points to remember even if you self-publish professional and technical books. It recommends to use Lulu as POD printer and distributor. I find it useful if you plan to publish one book only. However if you plan to be a full-blown publisher you should use POD services for publishers like Lightning Source.

Hope this helps. I’m also reading other self-publishing and marketing books at the moment and will post reviews of them soon.

- Dmitry Vostokov @ DumpAnalysis.org -

I thought I discovered the concept “Books as Software” but Google search reveals that it was done before me by Shriram Krishnamurthi:

http://www.cs.brown.edu/~sk/Memos/Books-as-Software/

It’s good to see that I wasn’t alone to notice this concept after publishing my first book on Lulu. However I went further and registered as a publisher and now use Lightning Source for long term publishing through Ingram and online bookstores like Amazon. Lulu now serves the purpose of a bookstore, instant publishing to test concepts, and also to publish in formats that are not available through Lightning Source.

Moving forward and thinking about multiple books brings us to consider book series as software product lines as well. We also need some kind of a management process that I call Iterative and Incremental Publishing taken from the family of scalable Unified Processes like Rational that I am used to. Scaled down to just one book it can be called Iterative and Incremental Writing as well. I was thinking about during past two months and finally came up with an idea to release a short book in October to help others to spring into technical self-publishing and writing especially software engineers. Iterative and Incremental Writing techniques can also be applied to traditional publishing as well where you already have an accepted book proposal similar to vision and requirements documentation and perhaps you have a draft chapter and table of contents that can be considered as a working software prototype.

The forthcoming book has the following draft product details:

• Title: Technical Books As Software: Iterative and Incremental Writing and Publishing
• Author: Dmitry Vostokov
• Publisher: Opentask (15 October 2008)
• Language: English
• Product Dimensions: 22.86 x 15.24
• ISBN-13: 978-1-906717-03-2
• Paperback: 128 pages

I think there is a big difference between technical and other book genres like fiction so I decided to limit myself to technical book writing and publishing although some concepts of iterative and incremental development can be applied to other book categories as well where a process needs to be established to achieve the writing and publishing goals.

- Dmitry Vostokov @ DumpAnalysis.org -

This is a must have book for system administrators of complex Windows server platforms and client workstations to understand and choose the best course of action to address system and application crashes, hangs, CPU spikes and memory leaks. It is also invaluable to general Windows users and technical support engineers.

• Title: Crash Dump Analysis for System Administrators and Support Engineers
• Authors: Thomas Monahan, Dmitry Vostokov
• Publisher: Opentask (30 November 2009)
• Language: English
• Product Dimensions: 22.86 x 15.24
• ISBN-13: 978-1-906717-02-5
• Paperback: 180 pages

 - Dmitry Vostokov @ DumpAnalysis.org -

Finally, thanks to agreement with Lightning Source, the paperback edition is available on Amazon where you can purchase it too:

Memory Dump Analysis Anthology, Volume 1

Hardcover edition will be available there in a few weeks.

- Dmitry Vostokov @ DumpAnalysis.org -

Preliminary Table of Contents is available for previously announced Windows® Debugging Notebook:

Draft Table of Contents

This book also features:

• - 256 pages 

• - 64 essential WinDbg commands

• - 32 essential concepts

• - 16 essential tools including Citrix

• - Hexadecimal and binary page numbering

• - Quick base, meta and extension command reminder at the bottom of each page

• - Expanded Crash Dump Analysis checklists

- Dmitry Vostokov @ DumpAnalysis.org -

Not too many new posts. Will try to catch up in May. 

ManagementBits Blog:

Managing Reading via Preemptive Multireading

LiterateScientist Blog:

Rise And Fall Of The Third Reich

The Fall of Berlin 1945

The Hundred-Year Lie

- Dmitry Vostokov @ DumpAnalysis.org -

I have created Book Errata page at this address:

http://www.dumpanalysis.org/MDAA-Volume1-Errata

The link to it has been also added to the main book ad page:

Memory Dump Analysis Anthology, Volume 1

- Dmitry Vostokov @ DumpAnalysis.org -

This is the next scheduled book from Crash Dump Analysis Publishing Roadmap:

• Title: Windows® Debugging Notebook: Essential Concepts, WinDbg Commands and Tools
• Authors: Roberto Alexis Farah, Dmitry Vostokov
• Language: English
• Product Dimensions: 22.86 x 15.24

• ISBN-13: 978-1-906717-00-1
• Publisher: Opentask (1 December 2009)
• Paperback: 256 pages

• ISBN-13: 978-0-9558328-5-7
• Publisher: Opentask (1 February 2010)
• Hardcover (Cloth): 256 pages

Draft Table of Contents will be published next month together with a sample chapter.

- Dmitry Vostokov @ DumpAnalysis.org -

Due to demand from people that prefer ebooks I published Memory Dump Analysis Anthology, Volume 1 in a digital format that can be purchased in Crash Dump Analysis Store. This format has color pictures inside.

- Dmitry Vostokov @ DumpAnalysis.org -