Web Books

After thoroughly going through every chapter in this book (somtimes several times to understand exactly how everything was linking together) I have an incredibly improved understanding on how you might go about building a more complex web application, and an advanced understanding of the MVC pattern.

Every section is extremely well laid out, and the code is explained in detail (in most cases.) The only times where an explanation is lacking are when an approach has been previously explained in the book. Use that memory!

I think if you really dig into and understand this code, you may find yourself well ahead of a lot of your peers.

I even had a problem with one piece of code, and the author was kind enough to reply to my e-mail and help me troubleshoot the problem. (It was my fault.)

Highly suggest this book!

First of all. What is Web 2.0? Everyone has a definition. The important point is how does THIS BOOK define it. The author of this book defines Web 2.0 as sites that use: standard compliant HTML/CSS, use AJAX, share data using web services, and incorporate social networking tools. This book seeks to show the reader how to use the four components in conjunction with PHP.

The cover of the book states "Develop a complete PHP web application from start to finish." This is exactly what the book does. As the chapters progress you are shown how to create a blog that also includes an image gallery. Additionally, Google maps integration is covered. While, the author is not necessarily advocating that you create blog software from scratch, the blog is perhaps the quintessential Web 2.0 application. This allows the book to highlight the four main design criteria of Web 2.0.

This book makes extensive use of the Smarty and Zend frameworks. The Zend framework is used to achieve the Web 2.0 goals. In many ways this book could be considered a guide to using the Zend framework. MySQL is also used.

The book contains many code examples and demonstrates many techniques that can be reused in any web 2.0 project.

The only quip I have with this book is the title "Practical Web 2.0 Applications with PHP" it should be called "Practical Zend Framework Applications using PHP"

There is not one example in the book that doesn't use the Zend Framework. That being said the Zend Framework is a great framework - but far the best web framework I've seen. I'm PhD student in Computer Science at UCLA whose dissertation research involves the web. I've used a lot of web applications and frameworks. Symfony, Drupal, Joomla, Ruby on Rails, etc.

Most of these applications and frameworks just suck - that is, it is more work using them than not using them and many severely limit what one can ultimately do.

I like Ruby on Rails but I love the Zend Framework. There are two big differences between the Zend Framework and Ruby on Rails: 1) they both promote MVC style programming but Ror forces you to use it everywhere and the Zend Framework allows you to mix MVC with simply using their framework as a library wherever you want. For example, I am building a social network but want to mix that with a related wiki. I can use MVC for all the social network code and use and existing MediaWiki (which is not MVC based) all I need to do is rewrite some of the mediaWiki code to hand over user authentication to my controllers.

2) it's Php based ... there is much, much more existing Php code to cannibalize for applications than Ruby code

The book itself basically takes you through setting up user profiles, a blog, an image gallery, prototype (javascript) and Google maps using the Zend Framework. The code is very professional and complex at times so a beginning user may have to read a chapter 2-3 times to fully understand it. Still the only way to really learn to write "professional" code is to see it and understand why it was written as it was.

There are some issues I have with the book. In places where something could reasonably be done in multiple ways the book only shows one without any explanation why that way was chosen. For example, in the installing Zend chapter the book tells you to edit the httpd.conf file to set your paths. Most people who use a commercial hosting company don't have access to edit httpd.conf or restart the server. There are ways to reset the path within the Zend bootstrap (which I did) but if I didn't know how to do that I would not have been able to get the examples to work without setting up a server locally on my machine.

Also the bootstrap is left in the index.php file when Zend recommends using the index.php to call the bootstrap.php file from a non-public web directory.

The Zend Framework is only a few months old and this is by far the best web framework out there. There is only one other (decent) book on the framework. This book is about the Zend Framework and only marginally about "Web 2.0" (you use Google maps). The book that should have been titled "Practical Zend Framework Applications using PHP" will teach you how to use the best web framework out there. If the next book shows one how to really use web services, ajax and present web services using the Zend Framework then it can be called "Web 2.0" not this one.

Being new to the field of multimedia design, I read many books hoping to get the basic idea of what is involved in creating an interactive project. This book provided me with exactly the introductory level materials I needed to begin building a solid foundation. I now have a plan of action for what I need to focus on in order to be successful in designing multimedia projects. Kudos to Lisa...I anxiously await the release of your new book!

A friend of mine recommended this book (he works for NASA) and I'm glad he did. This book talks about the basic principles of design necessary to creating a good web site or multimedia design project . . . in a way understandable to us non-programmers (but my tech-head friend at NASA liked it too). One of the strengths of this book (and there are too many to list) is that the author doesn't get trapped in talking about programming. This is very unlike other books that quickly go out of date due to a focus on the technology-of-the-moment. Ms. Graham talks about how to design interactive projects in a way undoubtedly valid 30 years from now. I feel as if this book will become a classic in design books. Even better yet, this book is very informative and not a bit condescending in tone. The book was an easy read and left me with plenty to think about.

And the cover is cool and the illustrations informative and interesting. Altogether a very good book and one that will have a place on my bookshelves for decades.

This is an unusually intelligent yet practical book, clearly written and highly readable. No other book in this genre comes close to the ease and usefulness it offers. While the book does not dazzle the reader with many visually dramatic pages it packs an enormous amount of information in every chapter. Obviously the synergistic combination of the husband-and-wife teamfs respective backgrounds -- one an academic who pioneered technical writing for the high tech world and the other who created many types of print materials for Microsoft -- shines through the pages.

Whether you are a professional Web site designer or a novice interested in learning to produce a Web site simply for pleasure, this book makes a great addition to your library.

I predict that this will become, if it is not already, a standard textbook in its field. I give it an unequivocal 5 stars.

Principles of Web Design explains the concepts and principles that underlie Web design and prepares you to discuss, build, critique, and improve websites. Unlike many trade books on Web design, this book is not light reading. It is, however, accessible and well organized. It is worthwhile for its intended university audience and for the working professionals who desire to expand and strengthen their skill sets. As an information architect and usability specialist, I find it a valuable addition to my professional library. Highly recommended.

I haven't found anything else that spells out privacy concerns for businesses like this book, delivered with straight talk, real world examples, and solid, practical advice.

The web can be a great way for businesses like mine (insurance) to communicate with existing and potential customers but there are risks as well as rewards. I bought this book after the company I work for sent out a message to several thousand customers and cc'd everyone on the list! Fortunately the message was fairly innocuous, but it was still a scary wake up call (the person who sent the message had not even been trained on how to use email properly). I pointed out to my boss that we could have ended up like Eli Lilly, having to explain ourselves to government regulators.

The author has clearly had real world experience helping companies deal with things like this. He explains the `privacy players' and the risks that companies face when they make mistakes, but without preaching. His whole perspective is that consumers want privacy so getting privacy right is smart business. Besides examples of what can go wrong, he also points out what can go right (like the bank that literally makes millions from their respect for privacy). I can recommend this book to anyone who works with customer data.

I haven't found anything else that spells out privacy concerns for businesses like this book, delivered with straight talk, real world examples, and solid, practical advice.

The web can be a great way for businesses like mine (insurance) to communicate with existing and potential customers but there are risks as well as rewards. I bought this book after the company I work for sent out a message to several thousand customers and cc'd everyone on the list! Fortunately the message was fairly innocuous, but it was still a scary wake up call (the person who sent the message had not even been trained on how to use email properly). I pointed out to my boss that we could have ended up like Eli Lilly, having to explain ourselves to government regulators.

The author has clearly had real world experience helping companies deal with things like this. He explains the `privacy players' and the risks that companies face when they make mistakes, but without preaching. His whole perspective is that consumers want privacy so getting privacy right is smart business. Besides examples of what can go wrong, he also points out what can go right (like the bank that literally makes millions from their respect for privacy). I can recommend this book to anyone who works with customer data.

If you are in the market for a book that clearly, concisely, and, oft-times, humorously describes the sometimes daunting task of developing ASP.NET-based websites - your search may be over.

Mr. Homer has crafted a book, that by no means covers all of the bases, but provides the reader with a wealth of useful, and more importantly, USEABLE information. If you're looking for esoteric discussions of the variegated server controls, "best practices" for web designers, how to best tune an application's performance, et al - you would behoove both yourself, and the author by looking elsewhere.

This is a "down-and-dirty," "real-world" application development book. If you want to know how to build a web-based application, aren't afraid to get your hands dirty, and are at least conversant with the technologies covered, this is the book for you. Mr. Homer's writing style is conversational, and seldom does he "talk over one's head," or make assumptions about the reader's level of expertise as sometimes tends to be the case with technical, and help-book writers.

In summary, Mr. Homer has written an excellent guidebook to the world of ASP.NET web design. Each chapter builds on the previous one, and at the end of the book, you have a working model of a well thought out website. One area I would recommend that Mr. Homer rethink is in his decision to create two separate sites for cookieless and cookie-enabled navigation, but ultimately, that is a matter for the reader to decide.

I would highly recommend Mr. Homer's "Pro ASP.NET Web Form Techniques" for any beginner to intermediate level ASP.NET programmer.

Mr. Homer has produced that rarity in a serious programming book, quality with clarity. The examples individually and as a whole are all very well done, and any ASP.NET programmer from intermediate level up will find something useful in here. One other note, I had a specific question and e-mailed Mr. Homer, and his response was quick, cordial, and solved my problem on the first try.....many software companies should do so well.

The complete application presented is easy to understand, but at the same time filled with features that display information in a visually superb manner. I have learned a lot from this book, and refer to it frequently.

Yes, it's on the high-end price wise, but I feel every penny was well spent. You won't go wrong with this one.

Kudos to the author and publisher for this release.
This book is a tour de force of the subject of Mashups.

I was looking for a good book on this subject so that I could introduce it to students as part of an extra-curricular technology program in NYC and this book is perfect.

In a sentence, Mashups are created by taking data from one or more sources and making something new and useful from them.

In my opinion, the subject is very important because there is a vast amount of data that is available now. Today the challenge is not just finding data but putting to use. This book shows you how to do that.

The author's writing style is excellent, mixing theory and applications. The book is filled with hands on examples as well as references for research in each of the areas.

I believe that this book can be read by anyone interested in the subject, regardless of their technical background. For those that want to create Mashups without programming, this book shows you how. For those that want to delve into programming, everything that you need is covered including AJAX, PHP, various data formats and how to parse them, various Javascript libraries and more.

The book is laid out in four parts:

1. Remixing Information Without Programming
As the title suggests, the chapters in this section require no previous programming experience. The author walks through some specific examples, introduces terminology and analyzes how sites like Flickr and del.icio.us work so that you can get the most out of them. Tools such as Yahoo! Pipes (a browser-based visual application for Mashups and Remixing) are explored. Following along with the discussion the reader can put together a Mashup or Remix by simply understanding the concepts and using tools, but not having to delve into coding.

2. Remixing a Single Web Application Using Its API
For the person who wants to code, this part of the book jumps right in discussing the Flickr API, PHP usage, XML processing and more. From there the discussion moves to other APIs and using AJAX/Javascript widgets.

3. Making Mashups
This section starts by delving into the ProgrammableWeb website. Showing how to find what resources are available, studying existing Mashups via which APIs they use and how to go about creating new ones. From there XMLHttpRequest and Javascript libraries such as YUI are covered and a step-by-step example is given using the previously discussed techniques. Lastly, the author addresses issues around implementing Mashups on your site including standards, accessibility and your own API. I was glad to see these topics covered as sometimes in the haste of getting something online, they can be overlooked.

4. Exploring Other Mashup Topics
This final section of the book covers a large range of interesting topics such as Map-based Mashups, Social Bookmarking, Calendars, Online Storage, Desktop and Office Suites, Embeddable Data Formats and Searches.

As you can see, there's a lot of information covered in this book. In my opinion, everything that one could want on the subject and written in such a way that you want to keep reading, exploring and creating your own Mashups.

I highly recommend this book - so far, it has been my favorite read of 2008!

This is the type of book that you can either skim and get ideas from or sit down at a computer and work through all of the examples. The material is presented clearly and thoroughly illustrates different types of mashups. The book discusses how to use Yahoo Pipes and Google Mashup Editor, their respective map API's along with manipulating Flickr properties and API's. Integrating feeds and blogs into mashups are also described. Though not required, a reader would understand more of the book with some background in languages like javascript, php, and of course xml/html.

Amazon insisted that I give my book a rating - what would you do?

This book is an update and expansion of Strategies for Real-time System Specification, which was written by the late Imtiaz Pirbhai and me, and published in 1987.

The original book has been widely used throughout the USA and the World. This new book updates the material in the first, and adds comprehensive, practical case studies that the first book lacked.

The new book is accompanied by a web site - www.psare.com - which you are welcome to visit. There we will develop on-line case studies, and conduct a discussion forum on those case studies and on the book.

Derek Hatley

The requirements of a software system are similar to the demands that people make in negotiations. In a negotiation, both sides know that the party making the demands is asking for much more than they expect to achieve. However, the side receiving the demands does not know which of the demands will be negotiated away and which are inviolable. While the similarities do exist and knowing them can be helpful, there are some fundamental differences.
When a client comes forward with a set of features considered requirements, even they rarely know what is essential and what can be delayed or eliminated. I have personally witnessed a customer arguing passionately for a feature, literally screaming that it was essential. But, after being told that inclusion would lead to an extended delay, they agreed to accept the product without it and after use, quietly forgot about the formerly essential requirement.
I was impressed with this book from the moment I first opened it and read the section heading, "What exactly are requirements anyway?" At first glance, this may appear to be a "Duh" question, but in fact pursuing it leads to a great deal of wisdom. Requirements are ephemeral creatures, constantly being altered by market forces, technical complexity, time deadlines and many other factors too numerous to mention. A list of initial "requirements" generally must be whittled down to those absolutely essential if there is to be any hope of completion.
Determining the project features is not something that can be done based only on desires. There are dependencies between requirements and of course there is a vast difference between the difficulty of implementing different features. There is a tightly linked feedback loop between the requirements and the architecture. As reality alters the requirements, forcing a change in the architecture; changes in the architecture based on feature implementation will feed back to alter what can be done, hence changing the requirements. The Hatley/Hruschka/Pirbhai (H/H/P) approach described in this book defines a coexistence between the requirements and architecture so that they may be iterated in tandem. This process makes more sense than almost anything else I have read recently. It formalizes what is in fact done in all but the most simple of projects.
There is a natural strain to the creative process, but in software it has grown to the point where it is a hurdle that is almost impossible to overcome. While it may sound like an oxymoron, formalizing and limiting the creative process will make it more efficient, if for no other reason than all will have a better idea what the result is supposed to be. I strongly recommend this book and have included it in my list of best books of the year.

Making web video involves a cross section of products and skills and "Producing Flash CS3 Video" puts it all together in one book both suitable a a good read and as a reference. While reading through this you'll also pick up on interesting facts about different video formats, After Effects tips and tricks and ways to tame Flash. All in all, this was a great buy for me.

This is an AMAZING resource for Flash CS3. I was really impressed with how concise and well-organized this book is. A must have resource for any developer!!

I'm usually very skeptical of books with multiple authors as they rarely turn out to have either consistent quality or consistent pacing. So, I picked this up with very low expectations.

Needless to say I was very pleasantly surprised. It has the perfect combination of detail (which means that you're going to use it as a reference book for a long while), and clarity of explanations (which means that you're going to be the richer for it.)

At many times it does take the scenic route (e.g., it takes 2 chapters before you even install Tomcat), but for the most part, the information is well written and easy to read.

One example of the excellent detail of coverage - there's an entire section on verifying the integrity of the download using the MD5 checksum/PGP. What could be a better start for a chapter on Tomcat Security?

You may want to consider Tomcat the Definitive Guide as a companion volume. That book has more of a practitioner's feel to it, and rounds off areas that this one does not cover very well (such as running Tomcat on different operating systems, or using CATALINA_BASE to run multiple Tomcat instances off a single Tomcat distribution).

I was really impressed with this book and felt like it had been written with my requirements in mind. The other Tomcat books I have read felt like they were paraphrasing the online help; additional material was provided, but little of it was new. While reading the first few chapters of this book, several of my ongoing queries had been answered, and there were a bunch of other gems as well - it sorted out my AJP and APR queries, gave options for running Tomcat on privileged ports without running as root, and dug further into the server.xml configuration than I

Professional Apache Tomcat 6 (WROX Professional Guides) is aimed at the serious Tomcat user. It will be useful to people that do serious tinkering at home, but it is a an absolute bible if you have Tomcat running production code or other critical uses.

Personally I found that the level of information did not always provide 100% coverage but, for example, the level of detail provided covering server.xml, web.xml and context.xml configuration will be of great use. The descriptions go into plenty of detail but rarely goes overboard. Examples of places to hook into or extend the existing functionality are pointed out, but the authors don't get distracted in providing sample implementations when the defaults are sufficient. The information is full of the sort professional advice and directions that I would expect from a book of this name, and that has been sadly missing from the other offerings I have seen.

As a short description, it covers topics like AJP connectors, Apache Portable Runtime libraries, configuring Tomcat behind IIS or Apache servers, clustering, shared hosting, oodles of configuration options, and also takes two chapters to look at testing the performance and then tuning applications running Tomcat.

If I had to provide negative comments, I would say that the book was written by three authors and at times it doesn't mesh well and it is clear that one section had a different author to another. There were also a couple of areas that didn't have the coverage I had hoped, but in most cases an explanation was given as to why this was done.

Realistically I find it difficult to fault this book and look forward to migrating our own servers to Tomcat 6 and tweaking the behaviour using the information provided. With this book in hand I feel completely confident that I have the know-how to set up the environment correctly.

This book is has an excellent work for the people who do not have knowledge to make a vestibule of Internet, I recommend all the people who wish to create a site in the network.

Estaba buscando un libro que simplificara el uso de herramientas de desarrollo web, una suerte de 'puntapie' inicial para construir un sitio con tecnologias de contenido activo, etc. Esta guia fue vital para eso: pude incluir contenido en PHP, y tambien montar un servidor Apache propio. El libro no se limita a tecnologias libres; tambien da explicaciones para SQL y manejo de bases de datos en Access. Es muy completo, y por ese precio es insuperable