Customer Reviews

Essential SourceSafe

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

The book is great if you need help integrating VSS into your applications or plan to Administer VSS. It does not go in depth into topics I would have liked to see like:

- designing the project in VSS
- branching theory and practical examples
- pinning theory and practical examples
- basics of configuration management

The visual layout was tough too because whitespace was not used well. I found myself having to trace through with my finger to keep track of where I was. Would have liked to see it more like "Teach yourself VSS in 21 days".

Not worth the price tag. It does a fair job of listing the dialog boxes and explaining them, but so does the help. It also lists the command line switches, but again, so does the help. The so-called "Advanced Features" alluded to in the synopsis is 23 pages label "Beyond the basics" - the help has essentially the same material. One star is generous.

This book looks more like the online help. I am totally disappointed with this book. Unfourtunately I cannot return it because I got the ebook. I should have heeded to one of the reviews on this site about this book and not bought it. The MSDN resources give you a better understanding of how to use sourcesafe more effectively in a complex environment. This book lacks information on complex topics like sharing, branching, pinning and how to effectively use them. If you are looking for a printed version of the online help organised and worded bit differently then this book is for you, otherwise please stay away!!!

I have found it difficult to find books that provide good information for automating various products. This is one of those rare books. In a fairly large project it became necessary to automate Visual Source Safe for some data versioning and storage. Without this book it would have taken weeks to get everything working correctly. Mr Roche's clear and succinct information regarding the automation of VSS was invlauable in getting this project completed. This is an excellent and very useful book.

Whipple and Roche goe beyond the very limited Microsoft documentation. He actually explains real world applications and how SourceSafe works and doesn't work in a variety of situations. This is the manual that SourceSafe should have had. The addition of screenshots to give you a clear picture about what he is discussing is helpful. Why didn't MS do that? Because that would be user friendly. Don't get me wrong I love most of the stuff MS puts out, it's their documentation that stinks. Thank goodness for authors like Roche that put it in the proper perspective. If you are working with SourceSafe you will want this book. It may not give the tips that "Real World Software Configuration Management" does, but it has most of what you will need to administrate SourceSafe. I did expect a bit more for the price, but then books are just overpriced.

The book is great if you need help integrating VSS into your applications or plan to Administer VSS. It does not go in depth into topics I would have liked to see like:

- designing the project in VSS
- branching theory and practical examples
- pinning theory and practical examples
- basics of configuration management

The visual layout was tough too because whitespace was not used well. I found myself having to trace through with my finger to keep track of where I was. Would have liked to see it more like "Teach yourself VSS in 21 days".

Some authors would take advantage of the dearth of books on a particular topic, and simply "cash-in" by cranking out a one-of-a-kind title with anemic, poorly researched and incomplete content. Fortunately, Mr. Roche hasn't taken the easy way out, instead choosing to draw upon his own apparently extensive experience working on a daily basis with VSS, and delving into it's workings under-the-hood, exposing both how to make effective use of this invaluable tool, and traps that lurk for the unwary developer or project manager.

It's unfortunate that it has taken this long for a quality book on this subject to appear. Many thanks to Mr. Roche and his publisher for producing a reference that is my constant companion in configuring and using VSS in our shop.

I've known of many developers who have given up on using VSS in their shops, instead choosing to find other (often more costly and ineffective) methods of dealing with version control and trying to manage collaboration in multi-developer projects. This book could have allowed them to confidently deploy and implement a VSS installation.

This is a wonderful book that condenses all of the information that I needed to get up and running "properly" with SourceSafe. It is a good reading as well as excellent reference book. I have referred back to it many times since my initial read. Great job Ted!

The cutting edge of technology for this book is Visual Studio 6.0! And the author's language of choice is Visual Fox Pro!

The copyright date for this book is 2001. How about an update? Take the .NET technology into account. Work with VB.NET or C#.

And "Essential"? What I was hoping to learn was the ins and outs of creating and maintaining different threads of a project -- production, debugging, development. This book was no help there.

Visual SourceSafe (VSS) is a complex product. There are a lot of ways you can use it, and you can find yourself fighting with the product rather than working with it if you don't completely understand how it works.

Ted does a great job of explaining the basics of VSS and how to use it properly. Then he really digs in and explains the advanced concepts necessary to make the most out of it. It's obvious the depth of his knowledge on this product is very deep indeed.

If you use VSS, this is a must-read book!