Archive for the ‘Books’ Category

Print on Demand is the Future

Monday, February 9th, 2009

Here is the message from John R. Ingram:

http://www.lightningsource.com/podnow.aspx

All my books are printed on demand. For me it is the most economical way to publish and I look forward to seeing POD offering more formats.

- Dmitry Vostokov @ DumpAnalysis.org -

Debugging Études

Tuesday, February 3rd, 2009

Listening to étude No. 1 in C major written by Frédéric Chopin (Op. 10) an idea came to me about writing 16 debugging études (ISBN: 978-1906717575). It is surprising that there are many programming études out there but there are no debugging ones. Stay tuned and be in touch with this blog.

Draft definition:

Debugging étude is a composition of software with intentional defects (bugs) of considerable difficulty to find and fix, designed to provide practice material to perfect debugging techniques and problem-solving skills.

The idea actually came to me long time ago to create some sort of debugging excersises for training purposes. 

- Dmitry Vostokov @ DumpAnalysis.org -

Being Fearetical

Tuesday, February 3rd, 2009

Last week had some fearetical features. What’s it all about you should wait until my memoirs are published:

Crash Dump: A Software Engineering Autobiography, ISBN: 978-1906717193

If we break down fearetical linguistically we come with the following free morphemes:

fear e tical

According to Wikipedia, the last one is a currency unit subdivided into into 64, 32, 8 and 4. A coin weighing 15g (0xFg). It was replaced by another currency unit, the franc.

- Dmitry Vostokov @ DumpAnalysis.org -

Windows Debugging book has been published!

Monday, February 2nd, 2009

I very proud to announce that after 3 weeks of final work the book has been released in both paperback and PDF format. In a week or so it should also appear on Amazon and other booksellers around the world. The book information and how to buy it can be found on the portal:

Windows Debugging: Practical Foundations

- Dmitry Vostokov @ DumpAnalysis.org -

TOC for WDPF Book

Thursday, January 29th, 2009

Draft Table of Contents is available for the forthcoming Windows Debugging: Practical Foundations book to be released next week:

Draft Table of Contents

- Dmitry Vostokov @ DumpAnalysis.org -

Vector Space Chemistry

Friday, January 23rd, 2009

I’ve been fascinated by Chemistry since the age of 13-14. At that time I noticed organic formulae on the blackboard of a higher school class and was curious about what they meant. So I asked my mother to bring me a book about Chemistry from a library and she brought a school textbook about Inorganic Chemistry. I read it in a few weeks and proceeded to reading a textbook about Organic Chemistry. At the same time I found in a local library 10 volumes of The Feynman Lectures on Physics (in Russian translation) and started reading the first volumes on classical mechanics and learnt about calculus. Another popular book about Quantum Chemistry raised my curiosity in Quantum Mechanics and Morris Kline’s The Loss of Certainty book (in Russian translation) made me interested in abstract mathematics and its logical and set-theoretical foundations including Gödel’s theorems and intuitionistic mathematics. All this happened before the age of 16 and in one evening when I was reading a Linear Algebra textbook an idea struck me to represent certain aspects of Inorganic Chemistry formalisms like Periodic Table and empirical formulas of chemical compounds as linear vector spaces of element vectors over the field of numbers.

Now OpenTask is going to publish its first popular science book called:

Vector Space Chemistry (ISBN: 978-1906717551) 

with a preface written after 25 years since the discovery of this mathematical model and formalization of Chemistry.

A note for cautious readers: I’m aware about over-excessive application of mathematics in sciences, especially after reading these books:

Fashionable Nonsense and Social Sciences as Sorcery

My book is just a popular science book that explains some chemical and abstract mathematical concepts and provides an example of using Mathematics as a modeling and formalization tool for Chemistry.

- Dmitry Vostokov @ DumpAnalysis.org -

Cover for Computer Memory Visualization Book

Thursday, January 15th, 2009

Last weekend I spent a few hours devising a cover for the forthcoming computer memory visualization book and finally created this one piece cover featuring a journey to the center of pagefile theme and the discovery of cosmic rays in memory:

Coincidentally the whole 100 x 18400 centered slice of pagefile.sys image fit on the cover and nothing was left!

- Dmitry Vostokov @ DumpAnalysis.org -

Front Cover for DebugWare Book

Saturday, January 10th, 2009

Finally designed a conceptual cover for DebugWare book using command-line theme:

- Dmitry Vostokov @ DumpAnalysis.org -

MDAA Variety on Creme and White Paper

Thursday, January 8th, 2009

Which paper type do you prefer? Paperback Memory Dump Analysis Anthology volumes are printed on creme paper. Hardback volumes sold on Amazon are also printed on creme paper but Lulu uses white paper for them. Full color hardback Volume 1 Collector’s Edition is printed on white paper too and sold on Lulu only. I chose creme paper for Amazon and other distribution channels because I read that this type of paper is easier to read. So if you like text printed on white paper your only option at the moment is to buy a hardcover on Lulu.

Here is a stack of all different types of volumes:

From top to bottom:

  • - Paperback Volume 1 on crème paper (Lulu, Amazon, B&N, … )
  • - Hardcover Volume 2 on crème paper (Amazon, B&N, … )
  • - Paperback Volume 2 on crème paper (Lulu, Amazon, B&N, … )
  • - Hardcover Volume 1 on crème paper (Amazon, B&N, … )
  • - Hardcover Volume 1 on white paper (Lulu)
  • - Hardcover Volume 2 on white paper (Lulu)
  • - Hardcover Volume 1 Collector’s Edition on white paper (Lulu)

- Dmitry Vostokov @ DumpAnalysis.org -

Book Review: Core Memory

Wednesday, January 7th, 2009

While working on “Computer Memory Visualization” book I noticed this recent title and immediately bought it:

Core Memory: A Visual Survey of Vintage Computers

Buy from Amazon

This is not only a wonderful hardcover coffee table book with stunning photographs of old computers and their memory hardware but also has numerous historical notes. It nicely complements my own DLL List Landscape: The Art from Computer Memory Space book that features virtual memory visual images.

- Dmitry Vostokov @ DumpAnalysis.org -

The Cover of Debugged! Volume 1 Issue 1

Tuesday, December 30th, 2008

Here is the front cover image for the first issue of previously announced Debugged! MZ/PE magazine:

- Dmitry Vostokov @ DumpAnalysis.org -

What Happened to Debugging Books?

Monday, December 29th, 2008

Last quarter was very busy for me and to keep up with schedule I now employ pipeline book writing techniques borrowed from CPU of my laptop to work simultaneously on 10 books. I also feel more relaxed with take it easy attitude towards writing and publishing: TIEP - TIE Publishing. In summary: the following book is planned to be released in Q1, 2009 where I’m an author:

  • - Windows® Debugging: Practical Foundations (ISBN: 978-1906717100)

A magazine issue is planned for Q1 where I’m an editor:

  • - March issue of Debugged! MZ/PE: MagaZine for/from Practicing Engineers (ISBN: 978-1906717384)

- Dmitry Vostokov @ DumpAnalysis.org -

Memory Visualization Books

Friday, December 26th, 2008

OpenTask publisher plans to expand its offering of computer memory visualization titles:

http://www.opentask.com/memory-visualization-titles

More details will be announced soon.

- Dmitry Vostokov @ DumpAnalysis.org -

Debug It! and Debugged!

Wednesday, December 24th, 2008

Seems every respectable publisher now comes with its own debugging book title. Now it is Pragmatic Bookshelf:

Debug It!: Find, Repair, and Prevent Bugs in Your Code

Curiously enough the title sounds similar to Debugged! magazine from Dump Analysis Portal… 

Debugged! MZ/PE: Magazine for/from Practicing Engineers

Despite this similarity both titles also have a pragmatic difference: Debug it! is an imperative but Debugged! is a statement of success :-)

- Dmitry Vostokov @ DumpAnalysis.org -

WinDbg In Use: Debugging Exercises

Wednesday, December 24th, 2008

The analogy between learning a complex tool with its own language and a foreign natural language has been developed further after the release of WinDbg Learning Cards and finally culminated in “WinDbg In Use” book series with the first book to be published during the 1st quarter of 2009:

  • Title: WinDbg In Use: Debugging Exercises (Elementary and Intermediate Level)
  • Author: Dmitry Vostokov
  • Publisher: Opentask (15 March 2009)
  • Language: English
  • Product Dimensions: 23.5 x 19.1
  • ISBN-13: 978-1-906717-50-6
  • Paperback: 200 pages
  • Book Annotation: Includes 60 programmed exercises from real life debugging and crash dump analysis scenarios and multiple-choice questions with full answers, comments and suggestions for further reading.

Some example exercises will be published on this blog from time to time. I also plan a corresponding column in the forthcoming Debugged! magazine. 

- Dmitry Vostokov @ DumpAnalysis.org -

Visual Learning Guide to Stack Traces

Tuesday, December 23rd, 2008

The following book is planned for publication during the 1st quarter of 2009:

Title: Reference Stack Traces: Windows Server® 2008 and Windows Vista™
ISBN-13: 978-1-906717-23-0

It features visual separation between kernel and user space in thread stack traces and useful footnotes for IRP and modules. Its publishing was delayed by a few months but fortunately my editing just got new breath by introducing thread stackprint images for kernel stacks (12Kb bitmaps):

Sample pages 13 and 96

Thread stackprints were generated from a complete memory dump using WinDbg scripts and Dump2Picture.

- Dmitry Vostokov @ DumpAnalysis.org -

Salary Figures are on sale!

Monday, December 22nd, 2008

Previously announced Salary Figures book is on sale:

Salary Figures: A Codebook of Expectations

Front cover:

Back cover:

- Dmitry Vostokov @ DumpAnalysis.org -

Fun with CV

Tuesday, December 16th, 2008

I noticed that Amazon sells used copies of my Curriculum Vitae:

- Dmitry Vostokov @ DumpAnalysis.org -

Forthcoming Salary Figures

Monday, December 15th, 2008

OpenTask publishes the following sequel to Resume and CV book:

Title: Salary Figures: A Codebook of Expectations
Author: Dmitry Vostokov
ISBN-13: 978-1906717469
Paperback: 100 pages (1 January 2009)
Product Dimensions: 20.3 x 12.7
Book Annotation: After publishing Curriculum Vitae as a book the author started receiving e-mails asking for his salary expectation. Being shy to discuss such matters openly he devised a codebook of salaries. Now everyone could answer a question about his or her salary expectations by referring to specific page. Also colleagues and friends could say to each other: “I’m still on page X” or “Last month I turned the page Y over”. The last 10 pages of the codebook specify various perks. The response template to the question of salary expectations is: “My salary expectation is on page Z plus benefits listed on pages N and M”. (*) X,Y,Z,N,M are page numbers from 3 to 100. Good luck with job hunting :-)

Typeset in Chilling font the book is suitable for wide salary ranges, from 1,000 to 1,000,000.

- Dmitry Vostokov @ DumpAnalysis.org -

The First Computer Memory Visualization Book

Sunday, December 14th, 2008

Finally previously announced full-color coffee table book is on sale:

DLL List Landscape: The Art from Computer Memory Space

Buy from Amazon

Memory Dump Analysis Anthology, Volume 1 and Volume 2 have numerous articles related to computer memory visualization techniques using Dump2Picture and Microsoft debugger WinDbg.

I’m also working on Computer Memory Visualization book together with Jamie Fenton that was originally conceived as a coffee table book for general readers but now becomes more software engineering and science oriented the more I work on it. Coffee table status now comes to DLL List Landscape book.

- Dmitry Vostokov @ DumpAnalysis.org -