virtual applications: applications with virtual inhabited 3d worlds [book review]

92 Computer

B O O K S H E L F

P rogramming with Objects: AComparative Presentation ofObject-Oriented Programming

with C++ and Java, Avinash C. Kak.The author compares and contraststwo of today’s most popular pro-gramming languages, from basic con-structs to their use in application-levelprogramming for domains such asgraphics, networks, and databases.

Given that both C++ and Javadescend from C, learning these lan-guages together offers several distinctadvantages: It saves time and facilitatesthe mastery of each; learning by con-trast and comparison can be more effi-cient and enjoyable; and writing aprogram in one language that corre-sponds to a given program in the otherlets students tackle more difficult pro-jects in either language.

The first half of the text covers basiclanguage issues, while the second halfdetails more advanced topics, includ-ing GUI programming, multithreading,and network and database program-ming.

Wiley-Interscience; www.wiley.com;0-471-26852-6; 1,144 pp.; $79.95.

EMPOWERING DESIGN WITHRESEARCH

D esign Research, Brenda Laurel.According to the author, designers

can use design research tools to claimand direct the power of their profes-sion. The new research models thisbook describes can help designers

investigate people, form, and processin ways that make their work morerewarding.

This book introduces the manyresearch tools that can inform designand offers ideas about how and whento deploy them effectively. Chapterauthors from locations includingStanford University, MIT, Intel, Maxis,Studio Anybody, and Sweden’s HUM-lab offer observations about how de-signers can make themselves better atwhat they do through research, illus-trated with real-world examples thatinclude case studies, anecdotes, andimages.

MIT Press; mitpress.mit.edu; 0-262-12623-4; 336 pp.; $39.95.

TASK-ORIENTED TESTING

B est Practices for the Formal Soft-ware Testing Process: A Menu of

Testing Tasks, Rodger D. Drabick.Software developers should not sim-ply throw software over the wall totest engineers when coding is finished.

A coordinated program of peerreviews and testing not only supple-ments a good software developmentprocess, it supports it.

This book presents a series of tasksto help organizations develop a formaltesting process model, along with theinputs and outputs associated witheach task. These tasks include reviewof program plans; development of theformal test plan; creation of test docu-mentation; acquisition of automatedtesting tools; test execution; updatingtest documentation; and tailoring themodel for projects of all sizes.

Dorset House Publishing; www.dorsethouse.com; 0-932633-58-7; 312pp.; $41.95.

FROM VIRTUAL TO AUGMENTEDREALITY

V irtual Applications: Applicationswith Virtual Inhabited 3D Worlds,

Peter Andersen and Lars Qvortrup,editors. This collection of essays dealswith the use of virtual inhabited 3Dspaces in different societal domains.The trend now is to move from virtualreality—a reality into which users andobjects from the real world should bemoved—to augmented reality, inwhich computers move out into theworld of real users, objects, and activ-ities. The book also covers the use ofvirtual inhabited 3D spaces in bothcontexts.

The contributors examine VR andaugmented reality use by analyzing thestructure of application domains thatuse these technologies: production andmanufacturing, communications sup-port, scientific research, and artisticand cultural endeavors.

Springer; www.springer-ny.com; 1-85233-658-7; 272 pp.; $119.00.

Learning C++ and Java Together

Editor: Michael J. Lutz, Rochester Institute ofTechnology, Rochester, NY; mikelutz@mail.rit.edu. Send press releases and new booksto Computer, 10662 Los Vaqueros Circle, Los Alamitos, CA 90720; fax +1 714 8214010; newbooks@computer.org.