But it doesn't have much either for the middle-level to advanced Notes developer. There's little on the Domino Object model, for example, and what there is, is very basic in coverage of both the objects mentioned and what you can do with them.

There's no mention of the use of JavaScript or Java as programming languages in Notes client applications, nothing on developing your own LotusScript classes, nothing on the use of NotesViewNavigators and NotesViewEntrys, nothing on XML and the Domino support for it.

And nothing on what to do when the application runs like a dog (funny expression that -- in British English it means it goes very slowly. Most dogs run faster than I do. Go figure).

"Tips for Rapid and Successful Deployment"? Well, maybe the criticisms I've made aren't mandatory for all rapid and successful deployments, but i find it hard to see much in the book that earns that subtitle.

It's not a book for the advanced developer. It's really just another book for the novice/intermediate level person, a training aid for them with worked exercises in the middle of the book, and the tips in the second half. It is not the detailed reference book of ideas/tools/tips that the subtitle hints at.

How do we rate this? ZATZ has some well-defined rating standards and, following ZATZ standards, the book's not good enough for a 3. To make a 3, it needs to be "a good, solid, well-working product, but one that cannot be considered exceptional", and while it's close to that in some areas, it's not close enough. There's certainly room for improvement.

So it has to be a 2. It "is missing important features, or is just poorly thought out.", and I think that the price is a bit out of scale with the benefits for most readers.

I guess one benchmark has to be the IBM Red Book: Domino 6: A Developer's Handbook. While that's not perfect either, it does have 10 pages on Layers, it mentions @thisname and @thisvalue in passing, and is free for download.

I give it a DominoPower rating of 2 dominos out of 5.

OUR RATING: 2 of 5