Internet Books

If you want to learn the basics of IPv6 and its peripheral routing and transition protocols, there are a number of good books on the market. But what if you're a software coder needing to work with IPv6, or want to understand its implementation in intimate detail?

For this, there is only one choice: The two-volume set by Qing Li, Tatuya Jinmei, and Keiichi Shima. These are the IPv6 equivalent of Steven's TCP/IP Illustrated and Comer's Internetworking with TCP/IP, books that should be on every networking professional's bookshelf. Like the multi-volume Stevens and Comer books, these books go deep into the functional structures of an IPv6 implementation--in this case the KAME implementation for BSD.

The first volume, IPv6 Core Protocols Implementation, starts off with an overview of the KAME IPv6 distribution for BSD and how to build a KAME-enabled kernel; in little more than a dozen pages the book takes you directly into the code structure. From there the remainder of the book leads you through the core protocols from basic address architecture to ICMPv6 and Neighbor Discovery Protocol to the intricacies of IPv6 at the transport layer and socket API extensions.

The second volume, IPv6 Advanced Protocols Implementation, covers IPv6 routing protocols (through route6d), IPv6 multicast, DNS, and DHCPv6. The last two chapters of the book delve into Mobile IPv6 and the basics of IPv6 security.

While these books are a deep-dive into the code, they don't assume you know IPv6; each chapter covers the basics of its topic before getting into the coding. So whether you are a coder needing to learn IPv6, a network architect wanting to know the IPv6 protocols more intimately, or just want a solid reference on your bookshelf for those times when the RFCs and general configuration guides just aren't enough to troubleshoot an IPv6 problem, I highly recommend these books. There are no others to compare.

The first volume covered the core protocols, but what's a network without routing, mobility and security? The second volume covers the rest of the story of IPv6, how it works, and how it's implemented. This book covers the routing code in IPv6, as well as important network services such as DHCPv6,
DNS. A large section on mobility describes what is likely one of the most exciting aspects of an IPv6 Internet, the ability to connect wherever you are, seamlessly. No networking book is complete without information on security, especially important in a global Internet, and the last section of this book covers how security is provided at multiple layers within the IPv6 protocols.

Written by the same writing team as the first volume, this second volume finishes the series in the same, easy to read, easy to comprehend, style.

After reading the first book in the series, I had high expectations for the second book. And this book definitely delivers beyond my expectations. This book builds on top of the basic IPv6 networking knowledge from book 1, and explain in details how it affects the various advanced protocols that build on top of IPv6, including all the nitty-grittys of protocols with corresdponding source code. A developer who is already familiar with IPv6 and want to work on certain protocol or protocols may jump right into a chapter and go through the details. And if you are a developer who is planning on working on a IPv6 project or is currently learning IPv6, will definitely find it useful going through the whole book quickly and come back to any chapter or protocol of interest later. All in all, this is an excellent reference book that I would recommend to all network developers.

This second volume on IPv6 and the KAME implementation advances the readers
to new chanllenging protocols including DNS, DHCPv6, Mobile IPv6, IPv6
routing protocols, Multicasting in IPv6 and Security. This book offers expert
instructions on these advanced IPv6 protocols and the corresponding KAME
implementation through detailed protocol discussion and intensive code
walkthrough. As the core KAME developer, I highly recommend this book to all
IPv6 developers as the must-have IPv6 network programming reference.

IPv6 Advanced Protocols Implementations provides the advanced next level core networking functions, applications, and technology that extends the use of IPv6 to support Routing, Multicasting, Domain Name System, Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol, Mobile IPv6, and Security. The authors identify each of the aforementioned technology components and provide an in-depth analysis, operational, and implementation view of these functions and applications. The authors also provide the differences at key points in the discussions with the current Internet Model and the advantages of IPv6. These are very hard technology components to present with clarity and the authors did that and in a concise manner. This book would be of value to architects, programmers, operators, and technologists that will deploy IPv6 and a good companion book to the authors IPv6 Core Protocols Implementation book.[...].

I admit I agreed to review this book with at least a tad of trepidation, not only because I'm now barely entering the second half of the 20th Century as far as technology, but also because I've always secretly nurtured a philosophical resistance to any form of human interaction that smacked of science fiction. For me this category included cloning, telepathic sex, and computer dating.

So for two weeks I pretended not to notice this manuscript to which I'd committed myself, lying there among my gardening books on the bedside table. But finally I bit the bullet and opened to the Table of Contents. I became immediately, astoundingly engaged. Those clever chapter titles! "Oedipus Seeks Older Woman," for starters. Wow. This was not your typical book about love on the Internet. I tell you it was a page turner -- a finely researched, entertaining and convincing argument in favor of computer dating.

The authors are themselves persuasive examples of the validity of the much maligned phenomenon of cyberlove, having met through the Internet personals when Kenneth was living in San Francisco and Beverly in Tennessee. As if the glow of their personal relationship is not testimony enough (they could be the happiest couple I've met), their book includes perceptive recollections from other intelligent folks who found their own soulmates in cyberspace.

It includes interviews with owners of reputable online dating services, offers advice on how to choose an appropriate matchmaking service, and provides tips on writing effective personal profiles. The book outlines precautions taken by dating services to protect the privacy of their clients, and guidelines to attracting sincere people.

But it's not as simplistic or one-sided as that. The pitfalls are investigated and unsuccessful attempts examined. Participants describe their first-hand experiences with online dating. The characters are familiar and human, with all the usual flaws and fears we recognize (embracingly or otherwise) as our own. It's a page turner, I tell you. It's drama.

The Appels have written a fascinating book about love and human contact on the Internet personals. This is not about the flirtations of the chat rooms. This is about a serious presentation of self in which a person says this is who I am, this is what I stand for, this is the way I lead my life, this is my passion and spirituality, and this is what I want from another human being. Unlike the usual ways of meeting a person-at church, on the job, through friends--these presentations of self on the Internet reach across time and space like a beacon. The Appels are both serious psychotherapists and their guidance is gentle and accumulative, and, from the first page on, deeply optimistic. They have made contact with over 1000 people who have used the Internet personals, and they recount their stories on virtually every page. This is, in a very real sense, a book of love stories. I was astonished by the wisdom of this book. I love the human speech contained in it. The Appels believe that in time millions of people will use the Internet personals and meet their beloved in this fashion. This notion astonished me.

It Takes Two.Com should certainly be a prerequisite for anyone placing or responding to an ad on an Internet personals site. The many stories shared by people who have used the personals demonstrate how we must know and love ourselves--our games, our illusions, our fears, our desires, our dreams--so that we may more fully experience genuine love with another. These stories validate that there are unseen forces ever present guiding us, and that LOVE is really all there is, even when brought and given to us via the Internet. Sharing the strength and hope from first-hand accounts is a very powerful learning tool for those willing to have an open mind and heart. The authors' descriptions and explanations of what composes the essence of a person, how our persona/archetypes are lived out in our lives, and how these then come to dictate who we meet when it becomes our written ad or email is right on! Even the stories of fantasy, constant courtship, married and flirting, and disappointment can teach us. For the reader who is willing, the catalyst is there to help see how our superficial actions are not conducive to an intimate, trusting, accepting, committed relationship--if that is what we truly desire. Of course, to have faith and be open to accept and recognize our destiny when it meets us face to face is also required.

The authors are both psychotherapists who came together via the Internet. Their online love story is transcendent, inspirational, and, yes, even magical. The Appels' book is most noteworthy for its emphasis on the powerful aura of spirituality which is evident when soulmates connect. There's no way to predict it. If there were a way to manufacture it, I'm sure it would sell better than Viagra. In 1979, psychologist Dorothy Tennov coined a term by calling this attraction limerence. In her book, Love and Limerance: The Experience of Being in Love, she speaks of this soul-to-soul connection and how it can enter one's life. Suddenly a stranger is known. Not only does the Appels' work reflect this wonderful state, but it permeates their romance and that of the couples who were also blessed in discovering their spiritual partners online. It Takes Two.Com is a book about spirituality, persistence, hope, faith, and the uniquely human need to be loved. Thanks to reading their book I am better able to recognize when a person I am corresponding with online is sincere about wanting an enduring relationship; able to identify those who are simply looking for someone to play a role in their fantasies; and how to spot those who prey on the unwary. I was one of a 1000 research volunteers who participated in the Appels' study prior to the release of their book. Although I have yet to meet my soulmate, I believe it will happen. And thanks to Beverly and Kenneth, I'll know and see him before I meet him.

When I was searching for a book of information about online dating, I bought four books from Amazon. Three of these were silly and superficial in their approach. IT TAKES TWO.COM was strikingly different. Not only do the authors have the first-hand experience of meeting online themselves, but also in helping people resolve relationship problems. What I really enjoyed about this book were the many specific examples and directions for how to be successful online, and how to learn more about yourself in the process. Through accounts from people who have lost as well as won online, the authors explain ways to protect yourself as well as avoid hurting others on the way to finding a partner. IT TAKES TWO.COM was a very meaningful book to me personally, and I'm sure it will help many people in their online search.

In the last decade, the performance of J2EE applications has become of monumental importance in enterprise industries that use these applications. With the complexity of J2EE applications increasing every year, it is crucial that users of these applications be presented with a level of performance that is acceptable to them, this performance usually codified in the ubiquitous "response time." The authors of this book have given a good introduction of how to deal with performance issues in WebLogic applications and have discussed a freely available tool, called Grinder, which allows load-generating and data collection. The book though can be read with respect to any load-generating tool, such as Mercury LoadRunner, etc. Even though Grinder is free, it may take time for enterprise users to trust it in testing and modeling.

After a brief introduction to what the book is all about, the authors begin in chapter 1 with discussion on a testing methodology for doing performance studies of J2EE applications, which they hope will be generic enough for all readers. Their methodology boils down to first defining the performance metrics for the application, and then setting a target for the metrics. Test scripts that accurately simulate the application usage must then be obtained, and the statistical sampling method and metrics must then be defined. The authors emphasize the need for a realistic `usage profile' for the application, and they recommend strongly a fixed number of users per test run, with subsequent runs changing the number of users. They do not give quantitative reasons for not varying the number of users, but merely say that such an approach is "statistically incorrect."

They also point out the need for including "think times" between the executions of each request in a script, asserting that the think times will have a very dramatic effect on the observed response times and throughput for a given user load. They are correct in this claim, as testing and modeling studies will show, and they give examples of this in chapter 4 of the book. In addition, they remark that the attempt to simulate more users by decreasing the think time, with the assumption that the resulting data can be then extrapolated to obtain the performance at real think times. They point out, correctly, that applications do not scale linearly over different time scales, and that the application and Web servers, the database server, and the operating system do not interact the same way with different user loads. Performance testers and modelers have verified them time and time again, and so it is beneficial for a reader who might be new to the field to see the case studies illustrating this included in the book.

The authors discuss two sampling methods in the book, namely the `cycle' method, and the `snapshot' method. Defining a cycle as a complete execution of a test script by a simulated user, each user will thus execute every request in the script once. Increasing the number of cycles will result in more meaningful statistics, but the time to run a large number of cycles might be too prohibitive. The snapshot method involves capturing the data for a specified period of time.

It is rare to see in books at this level a statement that acknowledges the difficulty in the mathematical or simulation modeling of Internet traffic. The authors though are cognizant of this difficulty, and give some brief suggestions on how to simulate the Internet in a test environment.

The authors also devote a fair amount of time discussing how to assess the accuracy of the test results. The authors report that variability of up to 50% on the performance testing of applications has been observed, and so they propose a measurement of "quality" for the sample data. This is defined as the standard deviation divided by the arithmetic mean, and when close to zero indicates high quality in the sample data. A value above 0.25 for the quality they take as a sign that the tests are not reproducible, and they therefore encourage the running of more cycles of the test in order to pin down the origins of this non-reproducibility. They define a "load factor" to better quantify this, which they define in terms of an "aggregate" average response time. Plotting this quantity versus the number of cycles gives some information on a bad quality indicator.

Frequently, application development using J2EE requires that the impact of design changes or proposals on application performance must be understood. The authors address how performance can be impacted in the context of building servlet applications. The dynamic nature of servlet applications entails that special measures be taken to maximize the performance of the application. The authors discuss how to choose a session mechanism that will preserve the session in user requests, and how to manage the servlet thread pool. Other helpful hints are given on how to increase performance, such as making sure that the auto-reload feature of servlets is disabled in a production environment. In testing the servlet API, the authors choose the snapshot method of data collection, and used zero think times as a baseline, since the real think times are unknown. They use WebLogic Server 6.1 in this discussion however, which makes their presentation somewhat dated, since WebLogic is now in version 8.1. The authors also test the performance when the WebLogic performance pack is activated, for both the average response time and the transactional rate. Also studied is the cost of maintaining HTTP logs, an issue that is very important for those businesses who must keep these logs, either for advertising purposes or other reasons. By running tests, the authors conclude, as expected for those readers who have managed Web servers, that the keeping of log files can have a considerable impact on performance, for a high number of users. The effects of the size of the response generated by the test servlet is also studied, along with the effects of using HTTP 1.0 versus HTTP 1.1.

This is the best book yet about J2EE performance tuning. I hope 'Expert Press' (which looks like a Wrox imprint) continues as they have started.

The authors lay out a practical method for performance tuning of Web Applications and EJB's on BEA Weblogic, but there is no reason why the approach (and the 'Grinder' tool) cannot be used to evaluate different approaches on any other Web and Application server.

Note that this is a specialized book. It will not teach you how to do Java or EJBs. What it will do is help you evaluate how to deploy them in the real world to get the performance you need, and also to help you evaluate different approaches.

I was looking for a book to help me understand how regular performance testing is performed so that I could construct a plan to do Denial of Service security testing. I knew nothing about performance testing at all. The books really well laid out, structured, has great examples and is really methodical. It was perfect !

It was a great book! Had lots of information about Performance Testing. When coupled with the power of Panorama(TM) by Altaworks.com, it is incredible.

Thanks for making such a good book avaliable. I think the chapter on testing EJB design patterns is very well written. I would recommend this book as it is one of the best I've gotten my hands on.

As other reviewers pointed out, this is indeed a nice work on Java Messaging. For the most part, the concepts are presented clearly and I had no trouble following them. What's good about this book is that there are enough examples to play with and most of them indeed work as promised in the book. This book uses ActiveMQ 2.1 for JMS Provider while the current version is 5.x. However, the ActiveMQ 2.1 libraries are included in the CD, so using those you will have no problem in running most of the examples. I could not get the examples that use Java Web Service Developer Pack (JWSDP) to work however (chapters 8 and 9). This book uses JWSDP 1.4 version which I could not find on the web (at the time of this writing only JWSDP 2.0 is available for download on Sun's site). The book says that JWSDP 1.4 is included on the CD but it was not. Except for these minor issues, this book is worth reading and owning. Highly recommended.

Although the book uses a specific JMS engine for the examples the details and the concepts were all right on and covered everything I needed for JMS. It literally saved my bacon, especially the peer to peer stuff over topics. Whew!

Super job.

Sam

Eric Bruno's JAVA MESSAGING explores different ways of messaging using Java software, from JavaBean events and JMS to SOAP. Web programmers receive all the basics to using these features, tips on how and why to use each feature and when to choose something else, how to combine features, and more. The basics of Java communication processes are revealed in chapters which form 'classes' to link related information in a logical progression. An excellent, basic foundation for Java users.

As we look at how much we use the web, it is sometimes hard to remember just how new this concept of worldwide packet switching really is. Java was started as a new language before a lot of the new concepts like XML and SOAP were conceived. But as a new language it has been able to move into using these new concepts faster than nearly any other language.

What I especially liked about this book was the first chapter. So often computer books start with programming. This one starts with a description of what we're trying to do here. He gives several examples of the types of communications that he is going to cover in the book. I had a particular application in mind when I got the book, but in reading the first chapter I began to see several other ways that messaging would help our system.

After the first chapter, I've go to say that it's a pretty regular computer software book. It tells you how to do the things that you want to do. It is quite clear on all the different software protocols, packages, and philosophies. Basically it is all that a Java programmer needs to implement messaging in Java.

The CD included with the book gives you all the sample code from the book, as well as the complete messaging toolkit and several open source tools.

Excellent introduction to messaging, including healthy portions on JMS and web services.

The writing style is clear, consistent, and to the point. Probably what I liked most was this no-nonsense writing style. If it's on a page, it's important to understand. The author doesn't waste your time with irrelevant discussions or out of scope topics.

Editing and code presentation are top notch, making it easy to follow, and build upon from one example to the next. The author also shares some gotchas and considerations that I wouldn't have expected to see in an introductory discussion which were particularly valuable.

Another great feature is one of the drawbacks of the book. The framework presented in the book is elegant, but in many of the examples, there is too much cognitive overhead involved in grokking the level of abstraction in the framework, and this takes away from actually learning the concepts. I would have liked to see more non-framework code for the introduction, which is then tied together with the framework.

I thought the examples in this book were excellent. They helped a lot in understanding the concepts. However the 2.3 API has not yet been covered. But overall a good read with good examples.

The book was indeed wonderful and comes in handy for a programmer in his day-to-day activities. I am working in Java Servlets for the past one year and I have been wanting to have a quick reference as well a good companion for me.

And I have found one today written by the four stars whose names tell that they belong to my Country. I really feel proud for these people have written such a wonderful book. I would urge the publisher to keep these authors always on the top of their list.

Hats off to the Authors!!!!!!

The book is well structured and the contents very much relavant to the topic discussed. this can be used for learning and as a reference for experienced programmers. The examples are pretty good and easy to follow. Would rocommand

If only I had this book when I first worked with Java Servlets. The writers must have kept their audience in mind when they wrote it. The detailed explanations and examples, in this book, are extremely helpful. I was completely thrown away by their Shopping Cart examples because till this point I have not found any reference material that could superbly explained it the way they do. I highly recommend this book to anyone who is, or plans on, working with Java Servlets to get this book.

After reading Marty Hall's Core Servlets and JSP and O'Reilly's Java Servlet Programming 2ED, I think this book does a better job of teaching and explaining the concepts and examples as they pertain to servlets in a clear and concise manner. Hall's and O'Reilly's books are good after you read this one first since they are more in-depth. I've been looking for a book that clearly explains Applet-to-Servlet communications. I've finally found a book that explains Applet-to-Servlet communications far better than the other 2 books, or any other books for that matter.

Marty Hall's examples are too scattered. For instance, you'll be on one page, but it will reference code from a totally different chapter-the layout of such examples are too annoying for me. Most of O'Reilly's examples are not explained very well and needlessly complicated (like most O'Reilly's books), but its examples are comprehensive. Both books over-use multiple classes or user-created packages when explaining a concept. I'd suggest using just one or 2 classes to explain a concept, as this book has done, which has reduced code clutter spanning multiple pages. This may go against "proper" OOP, but who cares as long as the point is made. If you have read any books published by Murach, then you'll know what I'm talking about. Too bad Murach don't publish a book on servlets! Don't get me wrong, Hall's and O'Reilly's books are good for in-depth coverage, just wished I had read Java Servlet Bible prior to reading the others.

Anyways, Java Servlet Bible isn't comprehensive and in-depth as it should NOT be in one book. The title is just marketing-if you feel tricked, look at that 545-page book again. But, it does a good job of covering the basics. It explains Servlets at their core and other APIs that servlets often use (JDBC) and useful programming paradigms (MVC architecture). It even threw in a brief intro to JSP to illustrate how to create dynamic web pages.

BOTTOM LINE: This is an excellent book to understand, learn, and get startly quickly with servlets. Read the other books afterwards for more comprehensive and in-depth coverage.

PROS: easy to follow, examples are clear and concise. Best of all, it doesn't try to teach you XML-related technologies like several other books : ) .
CONS: pricey, section on security too brief

book got to me fast, it was in great condition. made me a please customer

I agree with everyone, this is a true clear written JS book.
I'm a beginer, and took a JS class which was sucked. So I ended of reading this book outside class, and was very helpful. It helped me understood a lot of programming language methods.
But only one thing I have to point out: this book is a "Microsoft" JS book. It is helpful to get known the PC environment, but it's just too much. Well, this is a understandable since the publisher is Microsoft Press.

I haven't actually finished the entire book, but I am about 75% done. It is clearly written with good examples. Easy to understand. I have a lot of programming in my background, but javascript is new to me. I strongly recommend this book for people in the same situation.

This book was a great for a beginner to Java Script. The exercises were easy to follow and were relevant to real world problems that you may need to solve. The author keeps things lite and keeps the material interesting. Not only is this written for beginners with little to no programing experience (like me) but I can definitely see coming back to this book as a reference as I continue developing with Java Script!

I'll agree with Chris from Minneapolis. This is a great book no matter what level of scripting experience you have. I had/have very little java scripting experience and with this book, it's very simple to learn in a fashion that is geared more toward real-life situations, vs. just some script that a professor or teacher wants you to write that has no meaning besides giving you work to do. GREAT BOOK, RECOMMENDED TO ANYONE OF ANY LEVEL OF SCRIPTING EXPERIENCE!

This book by Wilson Smith is a little gem. He has written bravely and honestly about events in his life that will make the reader laugh and cry and just wonder how on earth he ever lived to tell the tales in Just Dirt.

It is amazingly touching and and not without humour. I think every teen who is thinking of running away should read this book. In fact every teenager should read this book and if I had a say I would put it on all reading lists in High Schools.

Just Dirt is not just for kids. Mr. Smith has recalled events that touched his life, his family and those around him. Every person reading this book will be moved in some way.

Mr. Smith has written the book in a really casual style, if I may say that. While reading Just Dirt, the reader feels as if he/she is sitting with a good friend while he is recalling episodes from his eventful past.

Wilson Smith, Just Dirt (Lulu, 2007)

I'll start off by saying there's no way I can write an unbiased review of this book. I've been reading Wilson Smith's writing for nigh on a decade now-- as hard as it is for me to believe that stockboy recruited me old pal Mike Burns and me for xnet membership almost ten years ago, such is the case-- and, like most of the list folk, I am well aware that Smith can spin a mighty fine tale when he takes the mike. And I have heard a number of these tales before, either just as they are here or in somewhat rougher form. Besides, I'm actually thanked in the credits. Me? Unbiased? Are you [censored] kidding?

I should also start off by saying that memoirs generally drive me up the wall. And that, interestingly, perhaps what I value most about this book is that Smith nailed why, on the head, in a brief digression in one of these stories. And then went on to write the first truly readable memoir (as opposed to those memoirs-passed-off-as-novels that are far easier to bear, witness Bukowski or Exley or even Jay McInerney's Ransom, his best and most underrated novel) I've come across in... longer than I care to remember. I consider this just payment for having forced myself though 100 Strokes of the Brush Before Bed.

Part of what makes it so readable is that this isn't a memoir in the way you might think of memoirs. It reads more like a collection of short stories. (As a side note, the book's main weakness also comes into play here; there are some times when pieces of a story are repeated. Remember in the Encyclopedia Brown books, where Donald Sobel's first few paragraphs were startlingly similar in every story? You get that here, but only once or twice.) The end result has a sort of concept-album kind of impressionism, a feeling that you're not getting the whole story, just the pieces that matter. Would that a number of other memoirists had thought to do such a thing.

But what really nails it for me is something I found completely surprising. In this scene, Smith finds a number of old stories (from a long-abandoned first draft of the title piece) in his attic, and is re-reading them:

"The stories, though, were non-stop "Show, don't tell" (the first rule of writing, eh?), to a degree of which I'm now mostly incapable. It makes me feel like a hamster on a wheel to try to write that way now."

Now, I'm a big fan of "show, don't tell." A huge fan. It's by far the best way to approach fiction. It's the only way to approach poetry if you want a poem that your public won't laugh at. But when I read that bit, I looked back on all those memoirs I've hated over the past few years, since they got so huge, and I realized that they were all trying way too hard to show (and to show every excruciating minor detail), whereas Smith is just sitting there like the guy next to you at the (juice) bar talking about all the stupid [censored] we did as kids. Well, some of us did as kids. (If you can't find anything in here to identify with, I envy you.) And, wonder of wonders, miracle of miracles, it works. I'm not sure it would work in a longer manuscript-- Smith's book weighs in at a light, easy-to-digest-in-one-sitting 132 pages-- but it works here like a charm. (Which begs the question: how well do charms work? And what do they do? My mom's just dangled from her bracelet.)

This may sound like, well, it's just some guy sitting there telling you a story. Anyone who made the mistake of signing up for a first-year psychology class in college knows just how boring that can be (especially if you had my professor). Smith's self-deprecating wit coupled with the basic insanity of the times keep it from ever being boring. (Note: Smith does assume something of a knowledge of those times. If you're not familiar with, for example, the sixties hippie counterculture, you might find yourself confused. Be warned.)

Also, something else of note. As I mentioned; this is a one hundred thirty-two page manuscript. I grant you, I wasn't reading with a proofreaders' eye, but I noticed a total of two typos in the entire book. I can't think of the last book I came across from a major press with two typos. It's unheard of in the realm of print-on-demand books. That alone is reason enough to pick up a copy of this, even if the book itself had sucked. And this one doesn't, not by a stone's throw followed by a world-record chaw spit.

End result: even if you loathe the entire memoir genre, check this one out. It may just change your mind (though, I rush to add, just about itself. The rest of those memoirs? Yeah. Still garbage). *** ½

"Harrowing" is an over-used word in pop culture criticism, but I can think of few places where it is better and more aptly deployed than in a review of Wilson Smith's "Just Dirt." This loosely chronological memoir is crafted as an integrated series of short, near-still life vignettes (painting brutally honest and specific pictures of moments and places in time) and longer tales of transition (where thing/place/person A becomes thing/place/person B, and where the process, the crucible, is key).

In less deft hands, such a tale could have been ponderous, self-indulgent and dire, but Smith's story-telling skills are sharp, and his language and characterization are rich and evocative, drawing a reader into the emotional peaks and valleys that frame his psychological landscapes. He paints his self-portrait with brutal candor, and does a tremendous job at building tension in some of his longer works. You just know that something awful is going to come of all this, but you can't stop reading until Smith shines the spotlight on the shortcoming or mistake that wishes to expose or expunge, at which point you generally find a hidden element of beauty and grace, where you least expected it.

And ultimately that's what makes this book so lively and lovely: these are dark and troubling tales, but grace and transcendence and growth (and the desire to find them all) permeates the narrative, palpably. There's no treacly ending, no easy answers, no pat wrap-up, just an uplifting sense in the end that, hey, even though we're often our own worst enemies, and even though we may not always like ourselves, we're still something finer and grander than the sum of our molecular matter, and we're not just dirt, not by a longshot.

"Just Dirt" regales the reader with wonderfully disturbing stories, stories painfully familiar to many of us -- except we didn't have the balls to make them public. Smith has a refreshingly honest style of writing, sort of "in your face," witty, intellectual, anti-intellectual and hip all at once. Part journal, part personal journey, part freak show, it's a lurid, sensational look into the very deepest, darkest corners of not just Smith's world, but certainly mine and probably yours.

"Just Dirt" is a gloriously readable collection of events that may make you draw comparisons to your own experiences or may make you aware of your own relatively uneventful life. The style Smith employs is highly personal, and while he doesn't glorify the dysfunction, he embraces it in a way that helps explain how he has become the man he is today.

His ability to step away from himself and look back with remarkable clarity is impressive.

As a reader, I felt some guilt because I wanted MORE, even though reading his memoirs resulted in a level of discomfort. To say I "enjoyed" the book seems inappropriate, but I couldn't stop reading it, and it's been a long time since I can recall being so captivated.

This book is the best way for anyone who want to work with the Real Time Image Proccesing.

Thanks to the Autor ......

Don't let the age of this book fool you. It is basically all about the algorithms necessary for producing visual effects in both 2D and 3D that just happens to use Java as an implementation language.
The first chapter is titled "Easy Animation." The chapter's main focus is creating quickly loaded images, and reducing flicker.
Chapter two covers sound and is eight pages long. Two pages are sample code. Remember this book was written when Java had very primitive sound support.
Chapter three goes deep into image processing. The end result is that this chapter shows you how to code many of the special effects found in PhotoShop. Wave, ripple, and explode filters and 3D button effects among others are included here. To me this chapter is the one that stands the test of time the best due to all of the algorithms shown.
Chapter four covers two-dimensional rendering. The main topic of this chapter is creating small animations based on single pictures. The author introduces his framework class "ImageProcessor" first in this chapter.
Chapter five is entitled "Entering the Third Dimension". A really interesting star field program is included that was written, of course, before Java3D. Other programs include a bouncing ball and some take-offs of the star field. Then a 3D spiral program is introduced. The chapter dives back into the ImageProcessor class next. A program to break apart a picture and put it back together ends the chapter.
Chapter six discusses the now obsolete VRML. 3D transformations, movement in 3D, and wire and shaded objects are all covered, quickly and with no sympathy for the novice. A full page and half is dedicated to a discussion of VRML. This is a lot for this book. Most topics get explained once, very quickly and then it's off to the next topic. Several pages are dedicated to explaining a turning cube script. The Matrix3D class is covered next. Navigation is covered briefly, and wireframes are introduced. Shading is covered very lightly then a truly monster program for a so-called "basic" Model3D class is given. This is twelve pages of code. A second program follows that allows you to view Model3D. The chapter ends with a discussion on precalculating movement and passing HTML to the VRML animator, which is also included. There are interesting ideas here, but VRML is old hat and the code will require adapting to more modern needs.
Chapter seven is titled "Adding Realism." The main targets of this chapter are shading, illuminating, and textures--all, of course, very important to making that virtual world look real. The chapter walks through the creation of a cube in wire form then shows how to fill in the surfaces and begin shading. Shadows and perspective are discussed, then another little jewel is given. Listing 7.7 "Creating a 3D object from an image" and the accompanying viewer in 7.8 show how to take a title, make it 3D and shadow it. Texture is covered in great depth with lots of good code and more interesting tricks with pictures. The rest of the chapter is one long update to the Model3D class introduced earlier.
Chapter eight gets into tricks with text. This chapter is crammed with interesting scroll tricks. Late in the chapter some great 3D text scroll scripts, like a 3D spiral, are given.
Chapter nine is titled "Navigation." The keys to this chapter are frames, tracking the mouse and 3D animated menus. This stuff gets more directly into HTML.
Chapter ten is about making imaging effects look better and load fast. Some of this material is dated because the author is writing from the viewpoint of Java 1.0.2.
The appendix is a great summary of classes and commands used in the book. It serves as a very good reference source and is very helpful when trying to read through the programs in the book. The CD-ROM contains some shareware and freeware and a Java version of the old game "Asteroids". Most importantly it contains all the programs in the book. The shareware is pretty ancient and source code for the shareware is not included.
Even though this book was obviously written at a time when Java's main purpose was to jazz up web pages, it is still interesting for people who already know Java and basic computer graphics and are looking for some interesting graphic effects and their explanations. The two main bad points about this book are:
1. Everything is in the form of an applet. This is certainly due to the fact that the contents were written in 1996.
2. For a book that is supposed to be about graphic effects, the illustrations are very shoddy and they are all in black and white.
In spite of these drawbacks, it is a good source of information on how to perform effects at the pixel level, and in that respect the book will never be obsolete.

I first read a friend's copy of this book, it was already out of print and he had lost the CD, but the tecniques and ideas in this book are clearly written and easy to read. This is an excellent reference even if you are not working in Java (which I wasn't at the time) The Ideas are easily adaptable to C - C++ and the information and theories are fundamental to understanding 3D imaging from Movie Special Effects to Gaming. I spent 2 years trying to track down a copy with a CD and finally found it through Amazon.com, Thanks Amazon!

Java games are a hobby of mine, and I must say this the most practical book for the topic that I've found. It contains great practical examples, and doesn't stray from the subject - programming techniques that allow you to produce excellent-looking applets. Ever see those flashy slideshow applets, with various special effects? This book will show you how to construct one by yourself, explaining each step with great detail. It goes through great extent in helping you understand what you're doing, all while sticking close to subject, without beating around the proverbial bush.
The only downside to this book is its coverage of sounds in Java - if you need help with sounds and sounds alone, don't buy this book. It contains a miniscule amount of information regarding the subject - namely just a brief introduction to sounds, and usage of the Applet class' primitive audio playback functions (Java has great support for generating audio on-the-fly, which this book does not cover).

Lack of detailed sound documentation doesn't take away the value of this book, however, and I recommend it to anyone who would like to produce "kickass java" applets.

Firstly, as expected this book is not for the beginner programmer. It has excellent, working, examples which really takes you to the "cutting edge". Its focus is more on advanced animation (game-like programming techniques) and doesn't include for example database design and implementation, etc. Overall an excellent book, and for everyone bored with simple java UI's

This is a perfect place to start for learning how to program with Processing. The methodology is very well thought out in a progressive series of steps, allowing one to build upon, complexify and extend previous examples in the book. It also allows one to grasp general programming principles applicable to other environments. It would be great to see this book translated into French one day!

In the past 10 months I have returned to programming computers, having taken a decade off doing such to produce dance music, work as a surgical nurse, and currently to do CAD/CAM programming for a stone manufacturer. In the nineties I coded a bit in pure assembly, but have never coded in a high level language, never one with objects or garbage collection, and honestly haven't coded at all for 12 years.

This book should have been the first book I picked up when I was staging my return, as it is the first beginner level programming book to hold my interest, and one which enables the user to work with first class multimedia applications while still coding at the beginner level. Data visualization has really taken off, and Casey Reas and Ben Fry's Processing language is a beautiful abstraction on top of Java for creating rich media, generative art, and visualizations.

I've built a small coding library of 75-100 retained books from the 400+ I bought from Amazon in the past 10 months, and this is absolutely the first book I should have read - without a doubt. Processing, the language, is an absolutely wonderful platform for learning to program - and I wish I could say that I first learned to program using this book and Processing.

If you are curious about learning how to program, "Learning Processing" gives you a much more interesting set of tools to work with for learning the basics - I think this will lead to continued interest in some who might otherwise give up early.

I have (but have not read cover to cover) the other Processing related books - "Processing" by Reas and Fry, "Processing" by Ira Greenberg, and "Visualizing Data" by Fry - and I think the reason I haven't completed them is because they are intermediate level programming books, and will make more sense to read now, having completed "Learning Processing."

Finally, I think it's important to mention that I have noticed that it is increasingly obvious when books are written by educators, as opposed to professional coders. There is a certain command of the readers attention span that only teachers/educators can harness, and this is no exception.

I highly recommend this book, which perhaps, could have been titled more aptly "Learning to Program via Processing," but which was a fabulous read nonetheless!

grantmichaels

I was really hesitant on sinking money on Yet Another Programming Book since I had bought a few in the past and they all failed to make things understandable or digestable. All the books before this had the pacing all wrong, too. This book does a really good job of slowly introducing one concept at a time.

Processing is perhaps the best "learning" language. After about halfway through the book, you may start to realize the limitations of Processing.

My only gripe is that the book doesn't cover certain topics enough, like Return type. Also there should've been more attention paid to Boolean perhaps. Still, these are mere nitpicks when I consider how easily and comfortably I was able to learn Processing with this book.

This is my second amazon review ever in seven years. I mention this to emphasize how much I believe in this book. I teach an introductory programming class to artists/designers at a University. Finding a good textbook has not been easy. I am very happy to finally find what I consider the "missing" book. I will definitely be adopting this book as one of the required texts for my Intro to Interactive class in the spring. I am very impressed with the content. It is very well suited for my students who are not fluent (and are sometimes quite intimidated) in programming lingo and concepts:) Other books cover the fundamentals usually in one chapter, and get into the key concepts very quickly. This book is paced better for the novice, and, as another reviewer noted, is very friendly and inviting. Job very well done!

I just received this book yesterday, and I have to say that this book is probably the friendliest "instructional" book. I say instructional, instead of programming because as a designer, I can comprehend the concepts that Shiffman talks about. It's even friendlier than some Photoshop and Flash books that I've read through.

I have both Shiffman's and Casey Reas' book (last year), and I'm starting Shiffman's book. Casey's book is for intermediates. I would even recommend this book to high school students who are interested in programming, however, most high school students are professional programmers already (look at the kids that work on Facebook).

I loved this book. The software the author talks about is on the cd rom with documentation! There are
a lot of nice extras on the cd-rom. Great sense of humor and kind of hard to put down. Twice already
I've used it as a reference. I will look to buy other books from this author. I can't believe he covers both
command line and gui apps that either do or almost do the same thing! Now I can get work done no matter
what with my small home network.

~~~~~
I picked this book up out of pure curiosity - a chimpanze on the cover of a Linux book? As I looked inside, I thought, "Gee, I really DIDN'T know you could do that in Linux!" My curiosity soon turned to amazement "Hey, you can't even do that in Windoze!" Next, I realized, "Hey, I have to DO this!" and bought the book.

The author has a refreshing sense of humor that makes you grin as you learn. He provides dozens and dozens of hard-to-find applications and tells you exactly what to type to implement the program. The CD includes helpful utilities, entertaining games, and even a full office suite. (Try to get THAT in your Windows O.S.!) Most of the programs on the CD include complete source code as well as a binary executable file. Many of the tools can run right off the CD.

This book is hard to beat if you want to get that "extra edge" in Linux. Your friends will be amazed and exclaim, "Gee, I didn't know you could do THAT with Linux!!!"

Lloyd W. Cary
~~~~~

I just bought this book. It contains 50 tips and tricks on using Linux. It also includes a CD-Rom with RPM's (for Red Hat 6.x) and lots of .tgz files. It has usefull info like how to undelete files and info on what applications are available to make Linux a real desktop OS ("real" replacement for Windows 98). It's a book for everyone and most software mentioned in the book is on the CD-Rom included. This book is definitly worth the price. Buy it!

I loved this book. The software the author talks about is on the cd rom with documentation! There are
a lot of nice extras on the cd-rom. Great sense of humor and kind of hard to put down. Twice already
I've used it as a reference. I will look to buy other books from this author. I can't believe he covers both
command line and gui apps that either do or almost do the same thing! Now I can get work done no matter
what with my small home network.

I have been using Linux for the last 5 years, and I have read quite a few books. I read this book just to refresh what I have learned throughout the years, and I can honestly say, this book is the only one I have actualy been able to sit down and read. This is a must-read for anyone getting into linux, or just want a refresh. It covers many useful topics, and is very easy to follow.