Networks Books

This is the BIBLE for Cold Fusion. I have read a few too many compter books. This is the first one I finished and keeped around. The CD has codeing found in the samples in the book. Very easy reading for this type of book. It even teaches you some HTML. WOW.

This book was fantastic. Sure there are the few editing errors common with computer books. I knew NOTHING about Cold Fusion or database connectivity to the web before I got this and now I've written a dozen or so Cold Fusion applications for the UPS intranet. An EXCELLENT resource for beginners and professionals with a tag index for quick referencing. A chapter on SQL also for those who don't know it. It will teach you everything you need to know to get your application online and running. Great Great Great!

Forta's book is very interesting. I almost bought a book solely on SQL, but just bought this book because of its comprehensive SQL sections. As an Application Server Developer, I also have experience with ASP, and this makes ASP look extremely primitive. In fact, I used the concepts of Cold Fusion presented here to evaluate better solutions for projects in ASP. An example of this is the easy implementation of Dynamic SQL in Coldfusion. I then built a Dynamic SQL implementation. Thanks Mr. Forta for a great one. If you know ASP, this book will show you what you need to engineer within ASP to get it to compete with Cold Fusion. An awesome book!

I have very little programming experience and have this book to be very easy to use.

Forta takes you from the start of Cold Fusion and SQL. If you are new to programming and SQL, this is the book for you. I was writing data interface apps in a few hours. A great book overall. Worth the read. I still use it as a reference regularly! A must have for the Cold Fusion developer.

I have a friend that recommended me this book and I have to agree with him that this was a very well written book. Don't let the fact that the title says "Windows NT" discourage you from getting this book. There is a lot of useful information in this book that is still standard practice for scripting in Server 2003. Probably one of the few and only outdated commands in the book is the AT command that was replaced by SCHTASK. Even then, the author goes into detail on how these different commands work and how to use them in your work environment to you benefit. I recommend this book as a learning tool and as a reference for my fellow scripting brethren.

Great book on NT shell commands that Microsoft doesn't even document. Not even "command /?" gives you any help.

Great for reference and to learn.

Although this book was authored in 1998, it is still as relavent today with Windows Server 2003 as it was when Windows NT 4.0 was first released. The fact is that the Command Shell hasn't changed all that much over the years and Timothy Hill's book remains the best guide to using and writing command scripts that I could ever recommend. And with Windows Server 2003's push to be able to do everything from the command line that one can do from the GUI, it's even more important to fully understand how the Windows Command Shell works.

Windows NT Shell Scripting is less about Windows NT than it is about how to write shell scripts. It covers the details of using the Command Shell in interactive mode, its configuration and how the 32-bit Command Shell differs from the 16-bit DOS box. Then it delves into the structure and syntax of the Command Shell language, providing a clear understanding of how the program control features such as IF and FOR work. Finally, it shows you how to create sophisticated shell scripts using the internal commands and external command-line utilities included with Windows and their Resource Kits.

Not everything in this book has survived the test of time. The old task scheduler using the AT command, though still supported in current version of Windows, has been mostly replaced by more powerful Scheduled Tasks of Windows 2000 and later. And you will want to supplement this book with a modern reference of the utility programs available for Windows XP and Windows Server 2003 (such as OReilly's "Windows Server 2003 In A Nutshell"). Yet this represents only a small part of the book and majority of material stands up very well. Certainly there is no better and more in-depth tutorial for building command scripts than Timothy Hill's book.

I like this book because unlike many technical books, the first three chapters aren't a pedestrian introduction to the basic fundamentals. This book spends chapter 1 with insight, similar to the way Applied Cryptography immediately gives you knowledge. I'm an experienced NT command shell user, and this book was valuable for me as well.
The DOS shell has become a requirement and skill relegated to the background by the direction of Microsoft curriculum, this book explains it and teaches it.

The authors instructions are easy to follow, without doting like the Teach Yourself "whatever" in 24 hour books, Tim Hill doesn't waste your time, or your money.

If you have a bit of programming experience, this book together with access to the NT Resource Kit tools will provide you with the foundation for doing almost anything you could imagine within Windows NT Shell Scripting.

The book can be used both as a tutorial and a reference for Windows NT scripting and gives good examples of the commands, tools and concepts covered. For Windows NT, this book does the job as your Shell Scripting Bible in less than 400 pages.

Since Windows NT 4.0, a lot has happened in the Windows scripting field though. With the release of Windows 2000 and the subsequent Windows XP and .NET Server, shell scripting has become much more powerful. A second edition of this book covering the new commands and tools would be most welcome. Until one exists, you might also want to look at newer books covering shell scripting for operating systems based on the Windows NT kernel.

You might also want to look at other, often more powerful ways to script your Windows NT-based environment. For that matter I recommend looking at other books covering WSH (Windows Script Host), ADSI and WMI (Windows Management Instrumentation).

This book is pretty good for beginners. I have recently started teaching myself html and I was able to handle most of the things I was reading about without too much trouble. There were a couple of times I really needed to pause and go back and read it again. Then maybe I could put it together. Only one or two times did I just give up with total frustration. All in all it's a great handbook and I am sure I will get it all someday!

The text was easy to read and gave a great number of examples but lacked any questions or problems at the end of each chapter.

A very good book if you would like to understand how HTML works

I've been doing HTML work on and off for the last 5-6 years. This book is full of great examples for beginners or more advanced users who just forgot how to do something. You won't regret owning this book.

Although the author gives some superfials explanations on JavaScript, CGI & DHTML, this book offers and comprehensive and fairly complete explanation on HTML.
Higly recommended for those willing to learn and master HTML.

I graduated from the University of Redlands (California) with a Bachelor of Science in Information Systems degree a few years ago. Many of the textbooks I used were not very enlightening - I suffered through using them and immediately took them back to the bookstore for resale. This wasn't so with the CREATING COOL HTML 4 book. I use this as a reference book now.

One of the classes I took included a web design portion. How fun to create web pages that were exciting and not boring. It was easily accomplished using this book as a guide but someone who knows nothing about HTML design could easily use this and create.

The chapters are broken down from the basics to intermediate items. The author, Dave Taylor, explains exactly what entails a web page, what a URL is, basic html, graphics, tables, links, pointers, image maps, and other advanced designs.

Now many technical books are dry to read and often times leave the non-die-hard techies wondering what was just said. Not true with Taylor. He gets everyone to understand html - those creating their first web page to those who want to do more, those that want pizzazz on their pages.
If you're not a beginner, you may want to skip the chapters in which Taylor explains to new users about Web pages, how browsers work, what URLs are, and other basic concepts. (But it can be a good refresher for those who haven't designed web pages in a while). Next he expands into basic HTML, fonts, text styles, and gets the reader to understand the making of lists, special characters, pointers, and links. Next comes the explanation of graphics and the creation of tables and frames. But my favorite part is next - chapters on advanced items like background, marquees, image maps, JavaScript, forms, plug-ins, Dynamic HTML, style sheets, and much more.
Examples shown in the book are easy to follow and let the reader completely understand what the code does and how it will look on a web page. Nothing in CREATING COOL HTML PAGES is overwhelming and will let everyone create a web page of which they can be proud. I'm a computer programmer, and still use this as a reference. In fact, it's one of the most borrowed books in our office! This book is highly recommended for any level of html programmer.

I love the recipes in this book--everything is incredibly delicious. I really like the muffin recipes--the banana nuffins and spice muffins are the best--and the key lime cheesecake recipe is fantastic as well. My favorite main dish recipe is the Meatloaf Rollatini, which I stuff with different ingredients every time. I love that the net carbs are listed for each serving and that the same ingredients are used for many of the recipes, so I can buy those in bulk to have them on hand. This book has made it very easy to eat low carb because the food is never boring.

I'm giving this rating a 3 because I was very dissappointed in the book construction--the pages separated from the spine the first time I gently laid the book open to have it lay flat on my counter. At this point the pages are being held in the book by a clip until I glue it back in myself.

I ordered both of the George Stella cookbooks and am pleased with the selection of recipes and narrative of his story with the low carb lifestyle. I would recommend the purchase.

I am new to low-carb diets and Have lost 100 lbs in 5 months. I am approaching my goal and need recipes so I can maintain my weight loss. These recipes are easy.

I am not a cook. I don't know how to throw a meal together for a family, since I am single. But this is a great book for people who are tired of eating the same old thing with the Atkins diet. The recipes are easy and with practice can add flair to your cooking. I particularly like the sections that teach you how to make sauces and spice mixtures

This book had raving reviews so I bought it as a gift for my sister who is pregnant and has gestational diabetes. To avoid taking insulin she's had to go low-carb but it's getting monotinous. Hence, the loving sister ordered her a cookbook because she loves to cook. After I received it and looked through it I was surprised at the number of recipes that called for "Sugar substitute - recommended: Splenda." Yikes! THE SUGAR SUBSTITUTE/SPLENDA RECIPES ARE MOSTLY IN THE DESSERT SECTION. Splenda is an artificial chemical sweetner which contains chlorine (a carcinogen) and a host of other chemicals. Although it has been approved by the FDA as safe (in short term studies only.) After reading George's response to my comments I think there are less recipes than I though calling for a sugar substitute (about 20%) and if he's right (which he should be) they are mostly in the dessert section. So this low-carb cookbook is mostly good for prego's if you ignore the dessert section. Just know in advance what you're getting!

This is a really great book on BGP and Internet Architecture. The explanation of BGP at the protocol level is great. More importantly though is its explanation and examples of using eBGP / iBGP with an IGP.

I've heard it criticized as being dated and too Cisco specific. Though it is Cisco specific, it's still very relevant. I would start with this book and read past NANOG presentations on introductory BGP if I wanted to learn how the Internet works.

Internet Routing Architectures is considered the BGP4 handbook and rightfully so. I found the overall composition easy to read. Even though the book is aimed at varying levels of expertise, it does not assume any level of knowledge in TCP/IP or routing. It explains all the concepts, from the simplest one right up to the most demanding, in a fluent way. The book works hard not to withhold protocol details and design-oriented information, while at the same time realizing that building general understanding comes first. An in depth look at BGP is supplied here from the theory aspect, if you need actual configurations and commands I suggest also:

Cisco BGP-4 Command and Configuration Handbook : CCIE Professional Development

This is a good book, let there be no doubt about it. But in my opinion it goes beyond the scope of the 682-661 exam for which purpose I bought it. However, every ISP backbone routing engineer should have this book with him and use it as a dictionary in case of.

This is the best BGP-4 book out there in preparation for the CCIE. Do not waste your money on others this is the one that you need. It takes you from the beginnings of the Internet to the current uses of the protocol. This book is a must have.

I have always felt that I am part of the small minority that just does not see the beauty of this book if studying for the CCIE. I have, for years, read other's comments on the how Halabi's "Internet Routing Arch" is a `must have', yet I still have not found a similar reason why. While I do feel that the book does (probably) the best job at explaining BGP and how to implement BGP in a Cisco-centric world, I have not discovered the value for the CCIE. I would much rather spend my time with CiscoPress's "Routing TCP/IP" Volume 2, by Jeff Doyle and Jennifer DeHaven Carroll than this book.

One item of concern, there is a noticable amount of trivial errors in this book that can lead to disaster if implemented incorrectly. For example:

Page 106 - "...any traffic that has an origin OR destination that does not belong to the local AS." This clearly should be an AND, not OR.

Page 315 - "You can also specify a PREFIX list..." - I believe this should be a filter list, not a prefix list.

And then there are places where the book is too opinionated - for example - page 206 "Many operators choose to filter dynamically learned defaults to avoid situations in which traffic ends up where it is not supposed to be." I do not feel this is true, and can think of multiple times when not filtering the advertised default route may just end up being the worst option. In fact, I do not feel either configuration is the right configuration to admit or condone, as the wrong configuration can have disastrous effects.

I still have to give this book 4 stars - simply because of it's utilitarian value and overwhelming sense of loyalty given to this book by others. But I don't reach for this book too often.

I give this book 4 pings out of 5:
!!!.!

I heard about Paul Hawken few weeks ago and I decided to buy his book. I just feel that I learnt so much, the information is clear, the writing is great. Loved the image of the immune system as a comparison of the reaction of people who fight for Human Rights, Environment, Culture, Language, etc. I just want to read more now about these subjects. (sorry for the mistakes)

I am giving this book to many friends who care about social justice and the critical issues facing the environment. Paul Hawken has made a clear case for citizen activism that combines a commitment to both, noting that planet Earth is an endangered species, particularly from global warming but also from the exploitation of its resources. His history of the environmental movement and the appendix, which lists a myriad of groups doing important environmental justice work, makes this a very important book.

A book anybody who cares about living creatures and our universe should read. It shows how an amazing number of people in both small and large groups are getting together to try and make a difference. Inspiring and filled with hope which in these often dark days is uplifting. As good and important a book as will ever be written.

It almost always happens, when I speak in telephone conferences with university classes or with larger groups, that someone will ask if I have hope for the future and, if so, why. My answer has always been an intuitive one, the intuition being that in the last fifteen years or so awareness of the perils we face in the immediate future has expanded explosively-and that this in itself provides authentic hope for the future.

In Blessed Unrest Paul Hawken, with his extraordinary passion for information, has transformed my mere intuition into a reality. Acting on the same "hunch" as mine, he "began to count. . . . I initially estimated a total of 30,000 environmental organizations around the globe; when I added social justice and indigenous peoples' rights organizations, the number exceeded 100,000. . . . I now believe there are over one-and maybe even two-million organizations working toward ecological sustainability and social justice."

He concludes this encyclopedic work with these heartening words: "There is no question that the environmental movement is critical to our survival. Our house is literally burning, and it is only logical that environmentalists expect the social justice movement to get on the environmental bus. But it is the other way around: the only way we are going to put out the fire is to get on the social justice bus and heal our wounds, because in the end, there is only one bus. Armed with that growing realization, we can address all that is harmful externally. What will guide us is a living intelligence that creates miracles every second, carried forth by a movement with no name."

A few years ago, activist author Paul Hawken set out to create a database of every non-profit in the world categorized into a taxonomy, which is now on the web in a sort of Wikipedia community format at wiserearth (dot) org - This had never really been done before and he was surprised by the sheer number of organizations working independently to make the world a better place. He found a common thread that all were concerned about the environment and human justice. From this he concluded that there is a global "movement" (a word with many qualifiers) the likes of which have never been seen. He compares it to the "Industrial Revolution" - at the time everyone knew something different was happening, but no one had a name for it or even described it as a unique event, it was both everywhere and unrecognized. Likewise, according to Hawken, this global movement is from the ground up, with no core ideology or leadership, it's an historical mass movement that has snuck up on us and only now being recognized as a major shift.

I think Hawken's message is a powerful one and will appeal to the millions of people working in small groups in isolation against large and powerful forces. Hawken does in fact describe a new trend that has been observed by others: the recent rise, proliferation and influence of NGOs. Hawken contends top-down organizations led by ideologies are old school 20th century, the future is distributed small organic holistic, sort of like how Wikipedia is made, millions of individuals (small and large NGOs) contributing expertise on a local basis that has the net effect of global human and environmental justice.

I had some problems with the book, it is clearly a one-sided manifesto and much of it is historical anecdote of well known incidents (the Bolivian water wars, the India coke pesticide case, etc..) and presents a single side. These issues are extremely complex, it is rarely so easy to say there are good and bad guys, it is harmful IMO to present these controversial issues so one-sided and hold them up as poster children for reform. Why not look at the real undisputed success stories that everyone can get behind? He does in some cases such as Rachel Carson's fight against DDT. Overall I was touched by Hawken's passion,
vision and (ironically) his idealism.

Nutshell review - Another great book by Ed Skoudis. Covers all the popular attack vectors and a variety of possible defence techniques. A solid book from which further study and investigation can be undertaken. Management people should read this too.

Counter Hack Reloaded (CHR) is an excellent book for someone looking for a broad overview of computer/network security written in a very clear, logical, and even enjoyable manner.

After CHR's Introductory chapter, the reader is given an overview on Networking, Linux/Unix, and Windows. These three chapters give the reader enough to be able to understand the subsequent chapters which deal with specific phases of an attack. These phases are, Reconnaissance, Scanning, Gaining Access (with different chapters for different methods of gaining access,) Maintaining Access, and Covering Tracks. Throughout these chapters, CHR introduces the reader to the tools used by attackers; how they work, where to get them, and how to defend yourself against them (often by using the tools themselves.) Finally, CHR "puts it all together" with different scenarios of attacks. The scenarios show how attackers use different phases of an attack, and different tools, to penetrate a network/system. Throughout this chapter CHR highlights the mistakes the victims make in their networks/systems to allow the attacks to succeed.

CHR is exceptionally well written, especially for a technical subject. Explanations of complex topics are clear, simple and even entertaining. I would even go so far to say that it is a joy to read.

Overall, CHR is about core concepts. It's about understanding how attacks occur, and understanding why they can succeed. Only then can you have any hope in understanding how to go about defending yourself.

Are you people smoking CRACK??? This &*$% book doesn't even cover XP or Vista!!!

What bloody use is it???

I'm technically not finished reading this book yet and probably never will be until they update it again and still it will be a good reference manual for several years anyway. Skoudis and Liston do have a way of making complex issues seem to make sense. I thank them for writing it and thank Amazon for making it available to me.

It was an easy read, as far as the writing itself. It wasn't too dry, but in some places there was too much information all at once. I've only read the first 350 pages or so, but I can say for sure that Chapter 6 should have been cut into 2 or 3 chapters. The sheer ammount of material covered in those 100 pages or so was too much to be taken all at once.

Easily the most readible treatise on DB weblishing that I've seen, Greenspun's book covers all the bases without descending too far into geek speak.

Your VP will understand it, and your MIS manager will be able to use it for something.

My copy is dog-eared. You can get the book online; I still prefer dead trees in hand.

You can read the table of contents and get a feel for the book. But what is best is Greenspun's attitude.

I think his best comment is that the hard part is the design and the easy part is to "Write a couple of programs that parse the HTML forms and turn them into actual database transactions". (pg 172) And then he provides examples of doing just this.

But as I said, Greenspun has an attitude that is very refreshing.

Some of the specific technology described in this book is a little outdated now, but the core techniques live on.

Greenspun's writing is a delight to read, and the information he shares here will provide you with the foundational knowledge on which to build a wide variety of web applications.

Buy this book (or read the online version at philip.greenspun.com), follow the examples, and start building yourself (and others) great, content-filled, easy-to-use web sites.

Philip Greenspun is a rare find: a techie who knows how to communicate. He doesn't even limit himself to one media! While other books may take a schlolarly approach to building websites, Greenspun's story is told by someone who's rolled up his sleeves. As the reader, you get to view web-database design through Greenspun's eye for detail. All tech books should be this good.

This book focuses on the goals of Web site design rather than the nuts and bolts. Although the book contains specific code fragments, it is not a coding book. Rather it is a chronicle of Greenspun's experiences in setting up more than 50 Web sites over the years. This chronicle contains many hard-won lessons that will help prevent the reader from making similar mistakes.

Greenspun has an easy-to-read writing style and a wry sense of humor. (The book has no CD ROM attached to the inside back cover but a picture of a CD ROM with the international "No" symbol overprinted. All code an more is available from Greenspun's Web sites, as you would expect from a book about Web sites.) He also emphasizes esthetic choices and subscribes to a minimalist visual style, in the book and for Web sites, that enhance reading and make downloads as fast as possible.

Many networking books I read (or other books on similarly technical subjects) have a tendency to get bogged down in technical minutia that distracts from the big picture. Not so here. Cormer does an excellent job of getting all the important information out there and explains the common networking protocols, what goes into them, and what they do, without losing the reader. Do not think that this is a superficial view though - I've been in the field for several years now and still use it as a reference on occasion.

I purchased the book titled: Internetworking with TCP/IP Vol.1: Principles, Protocols, and Architecture (4th Edition)for a class. The book arrived ahead of schedule, marking the service amazon provided as second to none. Keep up the great work.

Look for the 5th edition of this same book.
4th edition is much older than the newer 5th edition.

I knew nothing about TCP/IP. As a result, I bought a book "learn TCP/IP in 24 hours" and trashed it after I bought this book, no more 24 hour books. I had no idea what routing is and were to start looking for documents on the internet. This book is scientific and puts it all together. Each chapter lists the RFC that he relied on so you know were the stuff came from. The book is not boring; the author is excellent in explaining ideas. He covers ICMP, GGP, OSPF, EGP, DHCP, DNS, BOOTP, ARP and more. I feel I have accomplished something big by reeading this book. If you are not a beginner in routing, then look at the RFCs they are the source.

Want to really, really, really know TCP-IP???

Read this book and you will know it cold.

I disagree with those who have reviewed this book as suitable for unexperienced programmers. Java 2: A Beginner's Guide is a solid and well written book but in my opinion it is not a book for someone who has no or very little programming experience.

The first couple of chapters are fairly easy to follow but later chapters become somewhat difficult for the novice. I would definitely recommend this book for anyone who has prior programming experience in Fortran or C but if you are looking to learn Java as your first real computer language you should look elsewhere first.

I would compare Java to learning calculus. Something you really should not do before completing arithmetic or algebra. I would recommend getting your feet wet with something like RealBasic (www.realbasic.com) which, for example, introduces the concept of classes in a much more manageable format. Another great approach would be the programming language of 4D (www.4d.com). Both of these are available as free full working demo downloads and would give you an easier slide into the programming world.

After taking a class on Java, I bought this book to review based on other reviewers comments and it's low used price. I was not disappointed. This is an excellent value for the beginner/intermediate. Written clearly and plainly there is no wasted space in the book. You will need another source for swing/graphics (perhaps the newer editions?) but as a beginner's guide this book truly delivers.

If Herb Schildt wrote it, it's gotta be good. I find his explanations very accessible and easy to follow for this non-programmer. If it weren't for the explanations and examples in his book, I'd never have gotten a passing grade in my class. It was far more useful than the textbook (or the professor, for that matter).

I use this book as an alternative source for students in my introduction classes. They repeatedly give me excellent comments about this book. They consistently find the book helpful.

This is very easy to follow and does not assume any previous prgramming experience for real and gives very good explaination chapter wise.