The Man Who Knew Too Much: Alan Turing and the Invention of the Computer (Great Discoveries)
Author: David Leavitt
A "skillful and literate" (New York Times Book Review) biography of the persecuted genius who helped create the modern computer.
To solve one of the great mathematical problems of his day, Alan Turing proposed an imaginary computer. Then, attempting to break a Nazi code during World War II, he successfully designed and built one, thus ensuring the Allied victory. Turing became a champion of artificial intelligence, but his work was cut short. As an openly gay man at a time when homosexuality was illegal in England, he was convicted and forced to undergo a humiliating "treatment" that may have led to his suicide.
With a novelist's sensitivity, David Leavitt portrays Turing in all his humanity—his eccentricities, his brilliance, his fatal candor—and elegantly explains his work and its implications.
Publishers Weekly
Hounded by authorities and peers alike, British mathematician Alan Turing committed suicide in 1954 by biting into a cyanide-laced apple. A groundbreaking thinker in the field of pure math, a man principally responsible for breaking the Enigma code used by the Germans during WWII and the originator of the ideas that led to the invention of the computer, Turing was also an avowed homosexual at a time when such behavior flew in the face of both convention and the law. Leavitt (The Body of Jonah Boyd) writes that the unfailingly logical Turing was so literal minded, he "neither glorified nor anthologized" his homosexuality. Educated at King's College, Cambridge, and Princeton, Turing produced the landmark paper "On Computable Numbers" in 1937, where he proposed the radical idea that machines would and could "think" for themselves. Despite his Enigma code-breaking prowess during the war, which gave the Allies a crucial advantage, Turing was arrested in 1952 and charged with committing acts of gross indecency with another man. With lyrical prose and great compassion, Leavitt has produced a simple book about a complex man involved in an almost unfathomable task that is accessible to any reader. Illus. (Nov. 28) Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.
Library Journal
Sparks are bound to fly when the life of one of the 20th century's greatest scientists and thinkers is displayed through a gay lens. Novelist Leavitt (The Lost Language of Cranes) picks over old bones in the closet of acclaimed mathematician, cryptographer, computer theorist, and philosopher Alan Turing (1912-54), looking for insight into the influence that his homosexual orientation might have had on his personal and professional life. Turing spent his life bridging the gap between pure mathematics and real-world applications. Perhaps the best example of his work is the machine that broke Germany's World War II Enigma cipher. This book balances lay reader-friendly explanations of Turing's accomplishments with the story of his life and offers a great exploration of the relationship among reputation, talent, and influence. But despite Leavitt's best efforts to bring something new to Turing's story, the gay lens never really illuminates anything of substance. Because the book attempts to appeal to a gay readership, some popular science readers will be lost. For larger collections only.-James A. Buczynski, Seneca Coll. of Applied Arts & Technology, Toronto Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.
Kirkus Reviews
Given the example of the great British mathematician and inventor Alan Turing, it's ironic, writes novelist Leavitt (The Body of Jonah Boyd, 2004, etc.), that the study of mathematics was once thought to cure homosexuality. Turing expanded upon important ideas of how thinking happens and how machines could be taught to think, and he had a certain inclination toward machine-like literalness himself. A brilliant man who never quite shone, he was always off in the corner, becoming increasingly eccentric and spectacularly unhygienic as he grew older, oblivious to the norms by which others around him lived. Still, Turing found himself at the very heart of the British effort during WWII to crack the German Enigma code. He labored endlessly to decrypt enemy communications, making important discoveries about machine logic in the process. Many of Turing's contributions to mathematics and nascent computer science date to his years doing top-secret work at Bletchley Park. He might have gone on to greater things had he not been hauled up on the postwar morals charge of "gross indecency with another male: the same crime of which Oscar Wilde had been convicted, and for which he had been sent down, more than fifty years before." No jail for Turing, though: He instead ate a cyanide-laced apple in homage to a favorite movie, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, a gay martyr who had written of himself, sadly: "Turing believes machines think / Turing lies with men / Therefore machines do not think."Competent and always interesting, if a little cursory on some of the heavier mathematics.
Interesting textbook: Economic Change in China C 1800 1950 or Supervision
Alison Balter's Mastering Microsoft Office Access 2007 Development
Author: Alison Balter
Microsoft Office 2007 is a major upgrade from the last version of Office; Access will also be greatly revised. Alison Balter is the name that Access developers will trust to guide them through Access 2007's new features. She has the rare ability to take complex topics and explain them clearly, as shown by the success of her ten previous books on Access. Balter is known for providing real-world solutions to specific Access development problems. She also is known for her ability to back up her practical examples with just enough underlying theory to give the reader a good overall understanding of Access. In short, this book will provide beginning and intermediate Access developers with everything that they need to know to design and build Access 2007 applications. It should also appeal to DBAs and power users who want or need to get started building custom Access apps. This latest book in her Mastering Access series will not disappoint her many fans who anxiously await each new version, and should win her new fans as well.
Introduction
Part I The Basics of Access Development
1 Access as a Development Tool. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
2 What Every Developer Needs to Know About Databases and Tables . . . . . . . 75
3 Relationships: Your Key to Data Integrity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
4 What Every Developer Needs to Know About Query Basics. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137
5 What Every Developer Needs to Know About Forms. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . 189
6 What Every Developer Needs to Know About Reports. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 269
7 What Are Macros, and When Do You Need Them? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 315
8 VBA: An Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 345
9 Objects, Properties, Methods, and Events Explained . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 401
10 Advanced Form Techniques. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 431
11 Advanced Report Techniques. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 493
12 Advanced Query Techniques . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 539
13 Advanced VBA Techniques. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 599
14 Exploiting the Power of Class Modules. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 637
15 What Are ActiveX Data Objects, and Why Are They Important?. . . . . . . . . . 671
Part II What to Do When Things Don’t Go as Planned
16 Debugging: Your Key to Successful Development . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 727
17 Error Handling: Preparing for the Inevitable . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 755
18 Optimizing Your Application. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 801
Part III Developing Multiuser and Enterprise Applications
19 A Strategy to Developing Access Applications. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 835
20 Using External Data. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 847
21 Access 2007 and SharePoint . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 883
22 Developing Multiuser and Enterprise Applications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 909
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Part IV Black Belt Programming
23 Working with and Customizing Ribbons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 935
24 Automation: Communicating with Other Applications. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 949
25 Exploiting the Power of the Windows API . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 985
26 Creating Your Own Libraries. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1011
27 Using Builders and Wizards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1027
28 An Introduction to Access and the Internet/Intranet. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1055
Part V Adding Polish to Your Application
29 Documenting Your Application. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1073
30 Maintaining Your Application. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1091
31 Database Security Made Easy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1103
The following appendixes are available for download
at samspublishing.com/title/0672329328.
Part VI Appendixes
A Naming Conventions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . PDF:1131
B Table Structures. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . PDF:1137
Index. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1193
Table of Contents:
IntroductionPart I The Basics of Access Development
1 Access as a Development Tool. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
2 What Every Developer Needs to Know About Databases and Tables . . . . . . . 75
3 Relationships: Your Key to Data Integrity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
4 What Every Developer Needs to Know About Query Basics. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137
5 What Every Developer Needs to Know About Forms. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189
6 What Every Developer Needs to Know About Reports. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 269
7 What Are Macros, and When Do You Need Them? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 315
8 VBA: An Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 345
9 Objects, Properties, Methods, and Events Explained . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 401
10 Advanced Form Techniques. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 431
11 Advanced Report Techniques. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 493
12 Advanced Query Techniques . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 539
13 Advanced VBA Techniques. . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 599
14 Exploiting the Power of Class Modules. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 637
15 What Are ActiveX Data Objects, and Why Are They Important?. . . . . . . . . . 671
Part II What to Do When Things Don’t Go as Planned
16 Debugging: Your Key to Successful Development . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 727
17 Error Handling: Preparing for the Inevitable . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 755
18 Optimizing Your Application. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 801
Part III Developing Multiuser and Enterprise Applications
19 A Strategy to Developing Access Applications. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 835
20 Using External Data. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 847
21 Access 2007 and SharePoint . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 883
22 Developing Multiuser and Enterprise Applications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 909
00_0672329328_FM.qxd 5/4/07 9:23 AM Page iii
Part IV Black Belt Programming
23 Working with and Customizing Ribbons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 935
24 Automation: Communicating with Other Applications. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 949
25 Exploiting the Power of the Windows API . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 985
26 Creating Your Own Libraries. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1011
27 Using Builders and Wizards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1027
28 An Introduction to Access and the Internet/Intranet. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1055
Part V Adding Polish to Your Application
29 Documenting Your Application. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1073
30 Maintaining Your Application. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1091
31 Database Security Made Easy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1103
The following appendixes are available for download
at samspublishing.com/title/0672329328.
Part VI Appendixes
A Naming Conventions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . PDF:1131
B Table Structures. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . PDF:1137
Index. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1193
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