Crunching Data

After reading positive reviews of this book in Dr Dobbs and on Slashdot, I decided that I needed to check it out. Every now and then I run into data that comes from some crazy source (web page, text file, spreadsheet) that needs to be massaged into some other format. I'm also a big fan of Python and Java, so this book seemed like it would be right up my alley.

The book is rated as a "beginner to intermediate" level book, and I found this to be true. It does assume working knowledge of Java and Python which is nice for me, as I am tired of seeing books that look interesting and then find out that half of hte book is an introduction to how to program in Java. This book dives into the problems and shows you the solutions fast.

My only real complaint would probably be the XML section of the book, it seemed really long, and little bit on the basic side. Not that a good review of XML is a bad thing, but it just felt like the book lost some momemtum in that chapter. I was able to apply the ideas in this chapter to a work counting program I wrote that looked at my Blog's posts and determined the most popular words. That was very cool and useful.

The section on database is also slightly on the beginner side, but I really don't think that is such a bad thing. Databases are a big topic, and trying to explain how to get data into and out of them is no small task. This chapter is definetly good for someone just getting started with programming, it gives a gentle introduction to the basics of SQL.

Overall I really like the book. Some of the tricks I was already familiar with, some were ones I had seen a long time ago and had forgotten about. The writing that connects these tricks and the chapters together is pretty good, and I think this will help me use the book in a "I read about this somewhere before..." style of reference.

I give it 8 out of 10