Malcolm McDonald

Much has been and continues to be written on the topic of computer security, but a lot of that content is directed towards computer security professionals. Few resources exist that are written for software developers, by developers. In this work, McDonald seeks to answer the need for a comprehensive exposition on this topic. In this attempt, he succeeds in providing a clear and thorough introduction of what developers need to know about security.

The biggest advantage of this book is that it show more collects all a developer needs to know in one space. McDonald’s treatment does not go in too much detail for the audience, as in many security books. Instead, as the book’s subtitle suggests, it pragmatically focuses on how security principles apply to the art and science of programming.

This work is written for a general audience of programmers and not focused on one specific language. The author appears to be a Ruby developer as many of the examples are written in that language. However, knowledge of Ruby is not required to appreciate and learn from this book. Indeed, the vast majority of this book is pertinent to any language on any platform.

Despite these strengths, McDonald’s book exhibits some weakness as it contains very little cutting-edge material. It would have been nice to include towards the end a chapter or two on emerging concepts. Because of this, people who stay engaged with the state-of-the-art might find the book redundant and not worth their time.

Web Security for Developers is geared mainly for web developers who are in early-to-mid career. Despite the introduction’s claim that experienced programmers will fill in a few knowledge gaps, in truth, experienced programmers will find little new here. Nonetheless, this work fills a needed gap in the literature for all that programmers need to know about computer security concepts. This solid work should be relevant for years to come. show less

This review is from: Marketing Plans: How to Prepare Them, How to Profit from Them (Paperback)

Customer review from the Amazon Vine Programme.

I am reviewing the book Marketing Plans: How to Prepare Them, How to Profit from Them, Paperback by [a:Malcolm McDonald|456590|Malcolm McDonald|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/u_50x66-632230dc9882b4352d753eedf9396530.png](Author), [a:Hugh Wilson|1191785|Hugh Wilson
show more |https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/u_50x66-632230dc9882b4352d753eedf9396530.png] (Author). Here are my thoughts:

^^ When I say paperback, it's one of those big thick textbook types, not a quick read at all, with 640 pages to indulge your marketing drive.

^^ This is an updated (8th) edition packed chock full with valuable information for those serious about preparing and benefiting from marketing plans aimed to make a profit. Aren't they all? I have previously reviewed earlier versions of this book and have been equally impressed with the amount of information provided, which is written in a concise and easy to understand manner.

^^There are also exercises and chapter reviews to assist your understanding , so you both learn and understand better using practise and a hands-on approach to improve upon and achieve the results you need.

Overall: Covering key concepts, strategies and marketing insights provided by experts in their fiel
d, this book should be on every marketers desk. You could say, I'm a fan! show less

Authors and experts in their field, [a:Adrian Payne|272100|Adrian Payne|http://www.goodreads.com/images/nophoto/nophoto-U-50x66.jpg], [a:Malcolm McDonald|456590|Malcolm McDonald|http://www.goodreads.com/images/nophoto/nophoto-U-50x66.jpg] and [a:Pennie Frow|4901085|Pennie Frow|http://www.goodreads.com/images/nophoto/nophoto-U-50x66.jpg] set out to teach how to create a competitive advantage through the use of marketing plans for service businesses and other service organisations. In this show more complete guide, they focus on how markting plans should be developed, the planning process, theory, techniques and research and
how businesses can use a new approach with this unique step-by-step teaching system. Marketing plans are not a once-a-year issue and there is a difference between operational and strategic plans!

In each chapter they highlight the difference between the "process" of marketing planning and the "output" of this process with clear objectives and examples, which are both detailed and easy to understand. Also included are the inevitable glossary of terms, references and index you get with books of this size. And at 495 pages long it's a chunky marketeer's buddy with more expert advice than you can shake a stick at. I loved it.

There's no hiding the fact that marketing plans are a challenge, yet they are proven to increase your success rate and produce a higher ROI, whilst minimising the unexpected and conflicts, purely because one is forced to think ahead and work out exactly what is needed within a certain time frame and hence spot possible problems befo
re they arise. Besides, any marketing plan you make is always going to give you a marked improvement over no plan at all, and with these authors' tried and tested methods at hand failiure is not an option! show less

A pretty lightweight book on basic sales methodology. Although purportedly aimed at selling services, the content is very general to all sales and some of the content talks specifically about product. I didn't find much content unique to services, except perhaps some of the examples.