Distributed Computing Books

This book can get you started just in the way you would like to. Mike understands what PB developers need to get started with Web development and Jaguar. Although EAS versions have changed, but the basic concepts suc as "stateless/stateful, instance pooling, transaction support, connection, etc" remain the same. This book is not for Java with EAServer - this is PowerBuilder with EAServer - as the name suggests.

This book was written for PowerBuilder 7 (now 7.03) and Jaguar CTS 3.0 (now Sybase Enterprise Application Server 3.6.1.08). While PowerBuilder hasn't changed much EAS most *certainly* has. When Jaguar 3.0 came out there was no database persistence standard for the Java platform, EJB was barely a spec (v 0.4), and a lot of things that we take very much for granted in the J2EE Specification simply didn't exist. Also, Jaguar 3.0 was a much 'clunkier' system to administer than that newer 3.6.1 release that Sybase has done. While many of the concepts discussed in this book from the PowerBuilder side are still applicable, some of the screen shots and processes are dated on the Jaguar side. Still, the book represents a good history lesson if nothing else. Being that this is the *only* book on the subject of using PowerBuilder as a front end to your Jaguar/EAS server-side code I'd say get it. But it's quickly become in *dire* need of a revamp. Are you listening, Mr. Barlotta??

The site was going to use PB7 and Jaguar - exciting! I ordered the book, read it, used the many fantastic code bits to get an n-tier PB7 app up and running. Fantastic book.

4 months later, the client decided to use Java, scrap PB development and sacked me without even a day's notice. Oh well. I still think Jaguar and the book and PB7 are tops! But the lesson learned is that Powerbuilder is on the way down and out!

I've been developing applications for over ten years. This book stands out as one of the best I've ever owned. It's very honest about how familiar you'd better be with PowerBuilder if you expect to use this book. The author takes into consideration the probability that you're new to Jaguar and yet doesn't 'dumb down' his guidance. It takes you through an explanation of CORBA, distributed processing, and gets you using Jaguar immediately. Excellent coverage of the administration of and development using Jaguar. If you plan on using EAS to build distributed apps, I highly recommend you read this book.

Excellant guide to getting started with Jaguar. Written for those users who know PowerBuilder and need to move to Jaguar. No distributed PB knowledge is required - Barlotta explains everything you need to know in plain english.

The time it will save you in figuring out what you are doing is well worth the cost of the book and more.

The examples in the book are good and source is available on line. The only complaint I would have is the code on the web is not organized in the zip file as well as it could be, but the author mentioned he was going to work on that. A little searching will find the code you need.

If you are thinking of doing distributed or web based applications using Jaguar, buy this book today.

I just can't wait until I finish reading the entire book before I post this review because this is the best PowerBuilder book I have ever read. This book leads you through the steps on how to develop a distributed PowerBuilder applications. This is a must have and the only book you need to learn how to write DPB applications. Well done, Michael !!

This book cover all aspects of Powerbuilder Distributed components. It is clear, informative, well written and contain many examples. Although covering what is generally considered an advanced topic, this book should be understandable by Powerbuilder beginners. Most technical books covering a product are bad. This is a welcome exception. Overall an excellent book.

This book is very helpful in covering all of the details of building an Distributed PB Application. I recommend it for others to read for it is very helpful and informative.

If you are a Powerbuilder Guru, you must read this book, otherwise you'd take the risk to know less than your apprentices. If you are a novice, you must read it to become a Guru. Don't loose time with me, go to buy one!

Distributed Application Development with PowerBuilder 6 is dedicated to distributed application development in the PowerBuilder environment. It focuses on Distributed PowerBuilder. This text is packed with code samples to guide you every step of the way. Also included is a robust server framework I have used on real-world projects. A "must buy" for anyone preparing to go to the next level of PB development!

All the information you need in one place to quickly and efficently secure your networks and computers . Easy to read and understand but yet very technical in nature. Highly recommended for all levels of users from students to professionals.

This is a very comprehensive Internet security book that details the nuts and bolts of the problems and solutions in elbow-deep detail. It also addresses specific causes of the issues we face; from government interventions and plans to terrorism and crime motivations. Great book, I highly recommend it.

Internet security is critical to most modern organizations--which have systems links across enterprisewide networks and VPNs, as well as exposure to customers, competitors, browsers, and hackers. This practical guide to Internet security provides the means for such organizations to effectively protect their sites from internal and external threats. It provides real-life scenarios and examples, as well as hands-on instruction for securing Internet communications.

So many Internet security books focus on theory and concepts but miss the practical aspects of security. This book gives it all to you, theory, concepts and practical steps you can take to deal with Internet security. I highly recommend it.

John Vacca has done it again. He has not only made a complex technology easy to understand, he also identifies the pitfalls and solutions that one has to be aware of in order to survive in this ever increasing world of network hacking, terrorism and identify theft. The book is extremely well organized and very consistent in the way it describes the various Internet and Intranet technologies, and the security issues and solutions associated with them. This book is a must for operating system and network managers, as well as information technology specialists that must develop and maintain distributed data management applications that operate in secure environments.

I am very carefull about the books I buy simply because most books just teach you the alphabet again. This one is a rare exception. Very exhaustive coverage and an important reference book in my collection.

If you are experienced in IT governance and processes, this book is a great reference. This is a great tool when combined with other frameworks such as CMM, ITIL, and COBIT.

This book is really good.It gives clear picture of software developement methdologies. I really enjoyed reading this book.This will be my one of the favorite books.

Excelente para el desarrollo de grandes proyectos tanto en Web como de todo tipo de sistemas.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading Roger Fournier's book. I am a voracious reader with many books on Client-Server, Web technology, systems development, etc.; however, Mr. Fournier's methodology is a welcome addition to my library. This may be the most practical book that I have seen for systematically approaching the development of complex systems. I plan on incorporating much of his methodology and ideas in my future projects. I would recommend it for anyone interested in learning about client-server or web technology and it is a great reference for professionals involved in project development (both large and small).

I am encouraged by the books honesty in stressing that building large systems is hard work. Too often the literature touts "sure-fire" success if you follow a particular "cook book" sequence or employ specific technology. As anyone in the business knows, good preparation, realistic goals, teamwork and attention to detail are more important than choosing the latest "hot" technology. The book walks through the stages of a projects life cycle and provides much "food for thought" in how to get each stage right. But it never deceives one into thinking the process is easy and it never implies that the proposed methods are the only logical approach to take.

Although the title focuses on C/S and Web Application development, the methodology presented has a much broader application. It provides an excellent framework for development of any complex system. The book is well written. It provides broad coverage from requirements discovery through project deployment. The book contains so much information that the reader may want to focus on specific areas of high personal interest at first- such as Web architecture or systems analysis. Fortunately, Mr. Fournier's style is such that you can concentrate on the chapters that are most relevant to your needs first and later read the other sections without a significant loss of continuity.

As an Enterprise Architect, I have found the book very helpful. It contains useful information for project managers, enterprise and system architects, analysts, developers and test engineers. Without going into details I'll say that the tables, checklists and web-references presented throughout the book have been very useful.

I believe the survey, analysis and joint facilitated session chapters are well presented and offer a lot of information on project definition and scoping. They certainly make clear the importance of up-front planning to a projects success. For my purposes, the C/S and Web Architecture chapter was of high interest and was well presented. I was glad to see a chapter devoted to software re-use. However, I would like to see this chapter expanded to include more information on infrastructure, middleware and components. I would recommend anyone interested in the book to quickly scan the table of contents to see the wide range of information that can be found.

Mr. Fournier mentions that there might be a follow-up book focusing on the project management aspects of building complex systems. I sincerely hope he writes this.

This book is in the same class as "Discrete mathematics" by Knuth and others. Important topic, extensive coverage, good English, zero vendor's propaganda. Super. An unexpected gift from up above (after struggling with reams of MS's (dis) information .) I am working on something distributed and ran into this book accidentally, while browsing in a bookstore--I'm glad I did. Btw, it's a few bucks cheaper in B&N store (here goes my review .)

At MIT, I took the course 6.852 Distributed Algorithms under Professor Nancy Lynch. It was an excellence course. This books is based on her lecture notes. Before this book, there is really no book that covers these material in rigorious and consistent matter. One usually have to read the actual published academic papers. Because different author may use different notations or models, sometimes it is hard to see the whole picture. This book shows exactly that. The algorithms are presented in a consistent notation, and the models and the assumptions all the explicit, clear and consistent. However, Professor Lynch's lecture style can get really dry and boring, sometimes I can't help felling asleep because the class was so early in the morning. For that, I decided to give it only 4 stars.

Together with Mrs. Lynch's other book "Atomic Transactions", this book has been my "Bible" for years already. And now that I am starting my own company in software development, I think about making this book obligatory reading for my first new employee. Not only because of the nature of its contents, but also because of the way these are presented, and the thought-work behind it. Ideas like the provability of algorithms, seeing the user as an automaton and showing that Lamport time >>really>> works, are rare to be found together in the same textbook. This book puts research back where it belongs: before practice, not over it. Mrs. Lynch has done a great job. It is upon this work of hers, together with "Atomic Transactions", that the IOA specification language is based, created in the LCS of MIT. IOA is now in near-operational working order, and puts into application almost all of the thoughts expressed in this book.

A must-read for any software engineer who takes him-/herself seriously.

I finally found a very nice compendium of concisely described distributed algorithms. The book is highly readable and I look forward to more books from the author. If you work with distributed systems or software problems, buy this book!

Professor's Nancy Lynch's "Distributed Algorithms" is a definite reference for theoretical treatments of many hard problems in distributed computing. It is a textbook, but written in such a clear style that makes it almost a pleasure read. Rarely have I seen something like that! The book has a right proportion of theoretical proofs, practical applications, philosophical appreciation of the problems, research questions, examples and study points.

"Distributed Algorithms" has 3 main parts - synchronous, asynchronous and partially synchronous network algorisms. Each part describes consensus resolution, mutual exclusion, resource allocation, leader election, termination detection and failure detection as main problems in distributed computing theory. Lynch has done a masterful job of leading us from simple to complex, from theoretically solvable to practically intractable problems.

For a practitioner of computer science, who is not necessarily involved in fundamental research, this book gives a clear appreciation of problems of 2PC, resource management, failure profiles in faulty and noisy networks, optimization and fault management in distributed networks. All those things are foundations of databases, network computing and enterprise scalability. It also helped me greatly in estimating the best and worst case boundaries in certain practical distributed system optimization problems.

COM is built on top of RPC. This book is a bit dated, but still a good guide for learning the technology that COM is based on. COM will make much more sense if you take a little time to learn RPC first.

using a microsoft rpc interfac

using a microsoft rpoc interfac

rpc programmin

The authors take the reader from the very first steps to rather complex applications of Remote Procedure Calls. Along the way, they explain how RPC works, and why it is one of the better tools for implementing true client/server systems.

Despite a very few factual errors (the page on memory allocation using RpcSs contains one) and despite a too-short description of when to use which memory allocator, I rate this book at nine out of ten. For a perfect ten, the authors will have to include material on secure, authenticated, RPC, too.

If you do serious DCE or MS RPC programming, or if you are trying to learn the ropes: Try to find a copy. And no, mine is not for sale. ;-)

Not a beginner's book: The technologies presented are relevant to (gasp) some real life problems. The treatment of Distributed Constraint Satisfaction problems was well written and usable. The initial treatment of all subjects was broad, delving into details after laying a sound foundation. Assumes a bit of mathematical sophistication on the part of the reader, but on the whole, well written, well organized and well worth it.

I have been using this book probably for an year now, and this has become indispensable to my work. The collection of authors in this book reads as an 'who's who' in multiagent systems and distributed AI research. Although, its' difficult to maintain continuity in edited books, the editor has done an commendable job. The authors provide a readable introduction to their area of expertise, and supplement them with an excellent bibliography...enough to get u started fast.

Thogh edited the book looks like a single authored text. The definitions are clearly presented with illustrations. The presentation is highly comprehensive. The book is thus highly readable with minimum effort. I liked the chapters on distributed problem solving and planning (Chapter 3),Learning in multiagent systems (chapter 6), Formal methods in DAI: Logic based representation and reasoning (chapter 8)and Groupware and computer supported cooperative work (chapter 10) very much.Readers of diverse interest in distributed artificial intelligence will find the other chapters equally interesting and useful.The book should be on the desk of anyone interested to learn the concepts of multiagent systems and technology.

While perhaps this should not be your first book in AI, it should definitely be your first book on agents. It took me years to accumulate the knowledge present in this book, and it's a great survey of the field for the beginning investigator. However, while this is a great way to get started in agents, understand how agents can be used in intelligent applications (from distributed AI type problem solving, to resource optimization problems), and "get the agent paradigm," coverage of agent software engineering techniques is light. This is not a fault of this book - you will simply need other resources to understand the difficulties and current research in engineering multi agent systems (or indeed any concurrent distributed system). So if you are trying to figure out what to do with agents, or how agent systems work, this is the book for you. If you already know that and want help with formal specification of an agent, verifying your agents meet the specifications, etc. this is not the book for you. Understand that to build systems you will need both!

This is one out of very few books that exist on multiagent systems and distributed artificial intelligence which won't take for granted the reader. It has really taken me from elementary concepts up to industrial applications, passing over the actual "nitty gritty" of programming an agent. Many papers on artificial intelligence are just too mathematical for many readers, and those which have any application would describe what the program does, but only sometimes you get into knowing *how* the program does the trick. I personally would say the book is a "must-have-it", not only for those seeking to understand in concrete distributed artificial intelligence or multiagent systems, but also for any mathematician, physicists, computer scientists and engineer whose background touches somehow the concepts of artificial intelligence as a whole. Come to think of it, even any cunning philosopher of science could take real advantage of this book. Now then, concerning those industries which would like to have this book on their shelves, they would have to take in mind that this book is a departure point. A good one, but nevertheless only the start for deepening towards a concrete application the industry would have in mind.

Very practical, helpfull and easy to follow book. What is more important it gives you possibility to easily make your own templates for analysis and design.

Easy to read and understand. Good and practical methodology. Cover most essential parts of Software Analysis and Design.

I agree with every words that printed on the back cover i.e. the analysis and design techniques that really work.

An excellent book and well worth the price! Basic concepts that are often overlooked in real world projects are impressively presented.

I have read this book three times, and each I learn something new. It is nice to have a book that is independent of any development platform, and in PLAIN ENGLISH to boot. This book is more valuable than the course I had taken in college.

This book is for people who want to be productive. It is not for people who like sitting in all day meetings trying to come up with the CUTEST idea.

To get a straight forward answer on associative entities/relationships was like a breath of fresh air. I was told once that you should never have to use association tables. You should maintain the integrity of the database via code - yeah right.

I have recommended this book to every developer I know. This book should purge your mind of every piece of useless information that anyone has ever told you on how to approach building and designing applications.

This book is exactly what the title says. It's the best book I've ever read about analysis and design techniques for building systems quickly and effectively. The techniques Dave teaches in this book include how to scope the project, define context, event, information, database design and architecture models, prototype, and design interfaces and internal components. What is just as important, Dave tells us how these techniques relate to and impact one another, and how they each fit into the emerging picture of the complete system. Dave also puts today's methods into historical perspective to provide some "Ah ha's" as to how we got to where we are today in systems design.

Dave writes in a terse, easy-to-read, plain English style. All jargon, theories and concepts are explained in a simple, straightforward words, emphasizing their practical use. I've been studying this stuff for years, and Dave has written the clearest explanation of event modeling I've ever read. Humorous examples and analogies are used to lighten up abstract concepts. The "Chicken Crossing the Road" example used to explain associative entities is unforgettable. Lots of delightful cartoons, diagrams, screens and models drawn by the author also underscore important points and keep the pace moving from cover to cover.

As an instructor, I would highly recommend using this as a text in systems analysis and design courses. Each chapter concludes with a quiz and there is case study that brings all the tools and techniques together in a system design for a veterinary practice.

If you're reviewing system design techniques or learning them for the first time, Dave's concise descriptions and humor will keep you engaged and moving along at a rapid pace.

Very readable and highly useful book. One major hit. It is ironic that the author complains about the symbols in other books. For queueing he invents his own, instead of sticking with standard practices. This is very fustrating to readers that have other books on queueing and need to compare.

The book is well written and "user friendly". As Dr. Gunther said during a class I recently attended which is based on this book, "You will not look at performance analysis the same after taking class." -- or reading the book. He was correct ... I don't. My views have changed for the better.

The only mark against the book I have is it doesn't have an example section (with answers for each example as an appendix) at the end of each chapter to help people apply the concepts they learned reading the chapter.

The author provides good practical coverage of queuing concepts and then goes on to show how to use queuing models.

I found it interesting that he gives an example of typical computer time periods scaled up to human proportions. If a computer clock speed in nanoseconds were analagous to seconds then a main memory access of 100 cpu cycles would be like some minutes and a disk access would be like some months.

His coverage of queuing concepts is very accessible with a minimum of math.

Scalability is frequently discussed concept that often is not very well quantified. He has the most original approach to quantifying scalability that I have seen.

A queuing modeling package called PDQ is also provided with the book. The source code in C is provided for the PDQ package.
There are some PDQ examples within the book. This is a real bargain because certainly the PDQ software is worth much more than the cost of the book.

If you have and interest in capacity planning and performance analysis (especially if you work in this area) this is a must have book.

If understanding and managing computer systems performance is in your job description and you can only buy two books, this is one of the two (the other is Raj Jain's, "The Art of Computer Systems Performance..."). Neil Gunther's book is not just another tome on queueing theory. Immediately useful methods and formulas are presented in the context of real problems. The two chapters on instability in systems and scaling of multiprocessor systems alone make the book worth its price. Readers need to know that there is some math in the book (there is just no escaping it) and that some of the cited vendor products are becoming dated. The Web site associated with the book contains many items of current interest, an errata sheet correcting minor errors in the book, and downloadable programs related to performance evaluation.

Although this book's full value will be realized if you understand the C programming language (he uses source code it illustrate points throughout the book and provides a C library for performance analysis on the accompanying disk), anyone with good math skills will gain much from this outstanding book.

The core approach is Performance By Design, which is aligned to product development. His approach, if used properly, will ensure that performance goals are established in the design phase, and are met as a system or software evolves through the development life cycle.

Highlights of the book are:
(1) Through introduction to the foundation of performance: queuing, parallelism and multiprocessor systems.
(2) Coverage of contemporary issues, such as client/server and web system performance,
(3) Unexpected forays into performance characteristics and considerations that I've encountered in no other book. For example, Part 3 of this book addresses subtle issues such as transient analysis, scaling behavior and similar topics. Here the author integrates theoretical physics into performance analysis - while this may seem odd, it only reinforces that much can be added to the performance analysis body of knowledge by drawing from sources outside of computer science. His qualifications for this material includes a Ph.D in theoretical physics, and his ability to clearly explain concepts that are foreign to the average computer scientist or performance practitioner is excellent.

I like the conversation style that the author employs, the way he starts with the basics and builds upon them and the thoroughness in which all aspects of performance are discussed. More importantly, although advanced math concepts are introduced the way they are presented can be understood by anyone with high school or college freshman knowledge of probability and calculus.

I don't setup a network without this book. It's as complete as any book I have on any subject.

Excellent. Plenty of examples with notes about the differences in the major flavors of Linux. Also, good background information on TCP/IP and basic strategy for including SAMBA in your network.

This book is now 2 years old but still the best reference available. I only say that because I have spent $$$ getting everything on the subject I can. With the recent changes in Microsoft licensing every sensible IT professional should be exploring alternatives. A SAMBA server is a great alternative. Mr. Litts book is all you need to go from knowing next to nothing to knowing enough to impress your geeky Network Admin friends.

This book is well written, clear and expansive. I didn't read it cover to cover (not at first anyway) I found pieces I needed, applied it, digested it, reviewed it and then went on to the next morsel I needed. If I missed something it was easy to find. By the way, it works with Win2K and WinXP neither of which is well documented by anyone anywhere.

I'm just glad they didn't charge me for what it was really worth! (most books I buy I quickly regret wasting the money unfortunately)

I recently installed Samba on a couple of Solaris servers in my organization to integrate these servers with our Windows NT domain. I needed a good reference book that could fill in the gaps left by the "man" pages, and other online docs. I looked at just about every other Samba book around but found something to my disliking with each of them. Even the O'Reiley book, which is very well rated, seemed disjointed and too cursory on some topics that were important to me. Then I saw Samba Unleashed and it was a solid winner! This book is EXTREMELY thorough and guides you through various configuration scenarios from beginning to end in great detail. Additionally, this book does an excellent job of explaining the underlying networking and communication principles involved. One could almost argue that this book is TOO inclusive because at 1200 pages, it's a monster! But I like a little hand-holding now and then and this book does exactly that. I also enjoyed the "special interest" sections one of which covered the nuances of Samba in a Solaris environment. This is the best Samba book out there right now, IMHO of course!

This book is awesome. Covers all of the basic Samba configuration as well as the "sticky" NT domain issues & Win2000 as well. Also provides real-world examples as well as some pretty complex issues I was never able to solve before. Holds your hand if you need it, but is also an outstanding reference book if you don't. Definitely recommended for anyone considering using Samba to replace WinNT servers on their network & needs real-world examples of interoperability does & don'ts and how-to's.