Practical Perforce
Laura Wingerd
O'Reilly, 18, November 2005
ISBN 0596101856
384 pages
Buy from Amazon
About: Practical Perforce If you want to use Perforce then a copy of this book is an excellent investment. It's better than the documentation, because it assumes that you have a rough idea of how everything works, and explains the less obvious details and the bigger picture. Part I provides a tour of all the features and Part II describes how the package is used for real applications. There are lots of asides and discussions of how Perforce's syntax can occasionally be less than obvious, plus tips, hint, and descriptions of common traps which all help make this book livelier read. This book packed more than I was expecting from a Perforce title. I thought the focus was going to be only Perforce ways. I was dead wrong. Not only will learn valuable insight into Perforce, you'll also get solid coverage of the SCM field, codeline and branch strategy, as well as best practices, version control usage, and tips/tricks/traps. And a very clear and friendly read. Whoever this author is, please publish MORE books on this field. One of the best reference books for perforce that I've read. Has excellent detailed information on all aspects of using perforce for software development. The book really digs into the complex details covering all the simple stuff in the first 10 pages. If you want to understand the best ways to use perforce to maximize development this book is a must have. It's not for the complete beginner and it's probably better if you get a little experience of the real thing before picking up this book. It's not a re-write of the documentation and it's not a reference work. The only area it doesn't is the use of the API to customise the way Perforce works - perhaps this should be another book. It is an indispensable companion for any Perforce user who wants to get it right. Highly recommended.
Conclusion
If you use Perforce (or any other SCM for that matter) you should pick this book up. About 40% of the book explains the exact Perforce commands, but other 60% gives you real life applications for any SCM that will support specific features (i.e.: branching, merging, and live distribution). For me it became another angle on the SCM scene. This book's methods can be merged and augmented to existing SCM schemes and processes. Great read for the novice and an asset to the veteran.Resources
Biography
Laura Wingerd:Laura Wingerd is Director of Product Technology at Perforce Software. She currently leads the P4Web development project, and continues to work with customers in her role as Perforce product expert. Her mission is to reveal the power and elegance of Perforce to everyone
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