Software Books

I've bought a copy of the translation of this book to Hebrew, which covers Hebrew contents in HTML pages, and it's my favourite and recommended HTML book.

Actually, I have two copies - one is always loaned to a family member or co-worker who wants to study HTML quickly and easily, and I'm surprised this book is out of print without a newer edition (e.g. HTML 4.0) coming out.

This small book covers everything about HTML in a concise manner. For someone who knows the very basics of HTML, every chapter is stand alone - no need to read half a book to get a specific topic.

The coverage is very good. e.g. many CGI manuals assume the reader knows the HTML side of forms and continue straight to code, even though most people want to learn both subjects together (how much can you do with a form that has no script begind it ?) - this book covers the HTML side of forms clearly, complementing those manuals.

Though a few of the chapters that dont deal directly with HTML (e.g. finding a home to your pages) are a bit weak, those dont make the core of the book.

I hope a new edition of this book comes out covering HTML 4.0 and fixing the weak chapters (e.g. giving URLs to sites such as geocities and giving a short hands-on manual on uploading pages).

If you use HTML or any related technology (JavaScript, CGI, etc), I recommend you put your hands on a copy of this book and stick to it.

I hope this book is reprinted. It is the single source book of code that I keep on my desk. I have recommended it everyone who asks and I am sorry to see it is gone!!

This book is probably the best and easiest-to-use HTML books out there. It's a little out of date now, since browsers have been updated, but I still use it and recommend it for quick reference.

I also use this book as a text, even though it is a bit dated compared to Castro's Visual Quickstart Guide (which I also use). The layout of the book is the reason it remains of value, and will so for years. For someone learning the basics of HTML, each two-page spread covers an HTML tag. The lefthand page describes the tag and dissects it, describing all attributes and values they can take. The right side shows an example of the code and how it looks in a browser. There is no clearer way to explain HTML for beginners than this. One caveat, though ... the appendix with the numeric codes for special and reserved characters is seriously flawed. If there is an edition for HTML4.x, the editor of that book had best make sure the errors in that table are corrected.

I've really enjoyed this book very much. This book provides a disection of each tag and a picture of the source code and the outcome. As a reference it's helpful, because it provides a clear and consise format. Plus, it'a a great size to carry around. Can't wait for the next edition!

You should not try reading this book from start to finish - that may be a little too much. As a reference, it is the best HTTP book I was able to find. Clear and concise information compiled from multiple sources.

I,as a university student with great interest to HTTP,borrow this book from school library. This book gives me basic and clear concept about http operations between client and server and stuff behind the scene. a list of explanation of http message and header is heleful too. later, the author writes very detail about proxy server,caching server and how the webserver are build for serious commercial use.
I am able to finish 2/3 of this book in 3 days. it's so interesting and keeps me reading on.

This is definitely a book to get you start with all kind of term for HTTP and a grasp for HTTP/Webserver concept.

for ppl with solid backgroud on HTTP, i would recommend the "HTTP: The Definitive Guide".

If you work in web development you can't miss this book. Two words: complete and clear. Buy IT!

Get this book. It reads a whole lot better than the spec. The language is so straightforward that your grandmother might enjoy reading it too. It comes with a dictionary of exception codes too, so you'll never be left scratching your head if a few important message packets begin to burp on their way to Paris via Kuala Lumpur.

An excellent book for learning HTTP and much more about how web servers work at the protocol level. What you can learn in a few hours from this book is amazing because it is organized so well, the author is a gifted teacher with an excellent roadmap of what he wants to present, and the hierarchy of overview and detail is so well designed. The book covers the context in which the HTTP protocol resides, the details of HTTP itself, and then branches into important usages of HTTP for creating secure, reliable and scalable web sites.

I got Human Japanese as a demo from its website. Within a week I knew I had to purchase it, and it's one of the best programs I have on my entire computer.

HJ eases you into the Japanese language, beginning with the hiragana alphabet. It doesn't just show you the character, it demonstrates HOW to write it, with proper stroke order. Also, you can click on any Japanese characters, and it will pronounce them for you very clearly. There is even a quick demonstration on how to pronounce words properly as opposed to the "foreign" way.

There are many quizzes as you progress through the hiragana and katakana to help you remember. (Although I also made my own flash cards to assist me - that was enormously helpful.) You will also learn Japanese vocabulary and grammar in an easy-to-understand way.

It is now June of 2008 and I can confidently write all of the kana, as well as write and properly pronounce many sentences. It's inspired me to try to find Japanese pen pals, and makes me want to visit Japan as soon as I can!

This is a very, very user-friendly program, and makes learning Japanese very rewarding and easy, even without a classroom.

This is the first language software that I have purchased and I love it! The way in which the information is organized makes it easy to learn. I have not even gotten far in the chapters but feel confident in what I have learned already. I was watching an episode of Naruto with my boyfried and was pleased when I recognied the syllables for the "key word" or "word clue" just as easily as I recognize ABC. I highly recommend this product!

Human japanese is the best pc program for learning japanese. Easy to juse and good quises to help you remember. 10/10

If you want to learn or teach Japanese I would highly recommend Human Japanese. I was hooked after the first chapter and have made great progress. A nice user interface that includes excellent tools to make learning more productive and the high-quality audio is extremely helpful. Five Stars!

My first experience with Human Japanese was the very first version released. It was a simple program that, while not very attractive to look at, presented Japanese in a simple way that anyone could really understand.When I heard that there was a Human Japanese 2.0, I rushed to get the demo and eventually the full version.

Well, first let me talk about Human Japanese in general. As the name implies, the program tries to teach you Japanese in a "Human" way. Without fancy terminology or complicated explanations, but rather doing it in a way that a tutor might teach you. Giving you little hints to remember writing, or making silly acronyms to remember concepts, this program tries to do things like that. It certainly is refreshing to see that kind of teaching being used in a computer program.

Human Japanese 2.0 is broken up into 40 lessons, some focused on grammar while others try to steer the reader towards learning new words and expressions along with writing. At the end of each lesson, there is usually a quiz to test your knowledge of the things learned in that chapter. These can range from small multiple choice quizzes, matching games, and an "Endless" type quiz which tests your vocab.

Stuck in between every seven or so lessons are chapters devoted entirely to culture. These small 4-7 page bits are a treat to read. They talk about things like Geography, Prices in Japan, and Bathing among other things. Many more of these for Human Japanese 3.0 would certainly be nice.

The changes from Human Japanese 1 are certainly noticeable at first glance. The interface is changed from the plain white background of 1.0 to a nice background with shades of green and silhouettes of trees. There is now a small search bar on the right side of the screen to look up any vocab term that has appeared in the program. There are also visual aids added to the lessons which, while probably not amazingly helpful, do look nice.

Unfortunately, the changes from Human Japanese 1 are mainly visual. Although there are now 40 lessons, they are mostly just each of the 20 lessons from the previous version split into two lessons. This means that most of the 40 lessons are identical to content in the last version, although they tend to have a bit more meat on them (They are a bit longer, and most have a few extra vocab added).

The interface change is nice, but when making Human Japanese 3.0, I'd urge them to take the time to make up more lessons to further the readers knowledge.

Must have for reference. Great shop manual. I hope author keeps writing good Illustrator manuals. Well done.

For some reason, books on Adobe Illustrator are always terrible: they either pander to new users, recycle out-of-date content, or rehash the same boring techniques as every other book. Steve Kurth's Illustrator 10 Shop Manual puts the competition to shame, digging deeper in a single page than the other hacks do in a whole chapter.

Kurth has actually documented EVERY LAST feature in the program, down to the tiniest checkmark in each dialog box. He understands how I need to use the software, and offers the most specific and helpful advice I've ever seen.

A perfect example: a designer in my company needed to convert all the shapes of an expanded gradient from CMYK values to a single spot ink. If you think you know the answer, guess again -- it's not as easy as it sounds, and I've used Illustrator professionally for 8 years. The Shop Manual gave me an answer in less than five minutes.

And that's the key -- notice how I said "it gave me the answer," and not "I found the answer." No book could ever predict the above scenario and give clear-cut steps to the reader -- and that's why the others fail. Because it covers so much so well, the Shop Manual actually LEADS you to the connections you need, using Kurth's experience and a surprisingly intelligent layout.

I bought two copies: one for work, and one for home.

There's not much to say: I picked it up off the shelf, everything I needed to know is in there and it's easy to use. Simple praise, but rare praise indeed for today's often obtuse computer manuals.

This book is very good. I read it and learned a lot about the program. No nonsense. Later, I ask him questoin from his web site and he knew the answer right away. I look forward to other books by the author

I find these shop manual books amongst the most useful in my bookshelf. For an experinced user most often all that you need is to quickly look up the features and settings of a particuliar tool or dialog box.
This is a complete reference manual to the whole package, forgotten how to do something it will be in here somewhere. There is also a useful how-to section at the back covering common techniques.
These books make a designers life soo much easier.

Bold statement, I know, but in my opinion Jeff has done what many have not been able to do in the past; develop a guide that is both easy to follow and very complete. I would not hesitate to recommend this guide to my IT guys as well as someone looking to learn about Wi-Fi that may not even know where to start. Both would find this guide book the most valuable book on their shelf.

One of the most comprehensive guides I've found to date. Easy to follow with excellent detail, offering explanations for various methods. A bright light for Wi-Fi instruction, it's an extraordinary volume. Both the novice and expert alike, would certainly find benefit from it well structured format.

Jeff has put together a extremely useful guide to wireless networking. It is well organized, allowing quick access to specific topics, and broad enough to cover most relevant issues for smaller (and maybe some medium sized) networks. He wisely discusses that which is truly important, avoiding complexity when it is not needed.
There is a considerable amount of practical advice, product information and helpful hints regarding installation, setup and security.
This is not likely very usable for a novice, but would be helpful for anyone who has at minimum a basic understanding of networks.

Whether you're a newbie or a WiFi master, this book has something for you.
Jeff does a great job of taking the subject of Wi-Fi networking and breaking it down into basic, easy to understand elements. This book is a `must-read' for anyone interested in learning the ins and outs of the Wi-Fi world.

It's a toss-up for me between this book and O'Rielly's "Wi-Fi Hacks" book. Both books have up-to-date, well written content. The Hacks books is organized more aggressively into a set form that may or may not appeal to you. This book has a more traditional topic based organization.

Topics include antenna coverage and construction, operating system information and coverage of the different types of Wi-Fi security that are available.

I recommend this book for anyone serious about building their own Wi-Fi networks. I don't recommend this book, or O'Reilly Hacks, for someone just looking for how to get their computer on a wireless network. For that I would recommend a book specific to their operating system.

Excellent Book. Who said an old dog can't learn new tricks. Found several little tid-bits that have trimmed a number of my scripts or changed the way I've implemented services! A great desktop companion for advanced and intermediate admins.

This is a very good book. These remarks are for Linux users on the way up. If you are already an über-üser, well, you will probably like this book anyway.

If you don't have the first volume, you might want to start with it. It has some simple but very useful things that apply to just about anyone with their own Linux box and a command line.

This volume is much more advanced, and most of the tricks and techniques deal with much more specialized problem domains, ie. things you might not have run into yet. One advantage of this book over the first is that it is very up to date in its recommendations of existing software to use.

'Linux Server Hacks Volume Two' by William von Hagen is an outstanding companion guide for ALL Linux users and administrators. Packed with over 450 pages and 100 new hacks not in Volume 1, these aren't just known by everybody things that you can do with Linux, these are hot tips and tricks that most any Linux freak can excel from learning about.

Chapters Covered:

01. Linux Authentication
02. Remote GUI Connectivity
03. System Services
04. Cool Sysadmin Tools and Tips
05. Storage Management and Backups
06. Standardizing, Sharing, and Synchronizing Resources
07. Security
08. Troubleshooting and Performance
09. Logfiles and Monitoring
10. System Rescue, Recovery, and Repair

Pick this book up now, you will NOT be disappointed in this delcious Linux FEAST!!

***** HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

I can't say enough about the work done in Linux Server Hacks vII by the two Bs. Bill and Brian have hit the ball out of the ballpark with this one.

Just the section on LVM (Logical Volume Management) have saved my bacon!

Every single "hack" (read tip) is extremely practical, applicable and relevant to managing and administering Linux systems whether "servers" or not!

The absolute best part of this book is that you get really useful, insightful views into the experiences of seasoned veterans of Unix systems. If you sit in a NOC or if you're the 24x7 guy/gal on a server farm, this book is an occupational requirement! Everyone else will appreciate it if they're running Linux. In my modest network of perhaps 30 Linux systems, I can tell you that I saved hours of effort with just two of the hacks included in this volume. Considering the time savings, buying this book saved my company more than 300% on the cover price.

Are you a system administrator? If you are, then this book is for you! Authors Bill Von Hagen and Brian K Jones, have done an outstanding job of writing volume two of a book that focuses on cool hacks they developed or used in their server and system administration careers.

Von Hagen and Jones, begin by exploring the authentication options that are available to you in heterogeneous networked computing environments and simplify administering user accounts and passwords. Then, the authors explore ways of connecting to remote systems. Next, the authors explain how to set up central servers that do things like synchronize the time on all the systems in your environment, deliver IP addresses to newly connected hosts, and integrate these services with existing ones. The authors then present a variety of cool sysadmin tips and techniques that they've accumulated over the years, including how to keep processes running without writing a daemon or staying logged in, how to use PXE to netboot Linux, how to share information with fellow sysadmins in a centralized fashion, how to get the most out of classic but incredibly useful terminal-oriented applications, and so on. They continue to explore some cool ways of making it easier for you to manage storage, deploy new systems, do backups of today's huge disks, and even reduce the need for some of the restore requests that occasionally clog every sysadmin's inbox. Then, the authors provide some tips and tricks for managing distributed storage and making sure the administrative environments on your servers are synchronized. They then discuss a wide range of security tools and techniques that can help you sleep at night and protect your systems at the same time. Next, they provide techniques for optimizing system performance, whether by figuring out who's hogging the entire CPU and shooting down that user's network sessions or by using cool knobs in the /proc filesystem to tweak system performance or using journaling filesystems to minimize system restart time. Then, they include hacks that enable you to centralize log information in a variety of ways, be warned when problems arise, and get the most out of system status information, whether it's log information, internal disk controller status data, or remote hardware status information that you can collect via SNMP. Finally, the authors show you how to boot crippled systems so that you can diagnose problems, repair munged filesystems, and even recover deleted files of data that was stored on disks that have gone belly up.

This most excellent book has presented hacks that are techniques that the authors have used at various times. More importantly, they view these techniques as time- and hassle-savers that are usually downright fun and cool.

This book gives you a broad scope of the to be used topics when creating elearning sites. You will get a quick tutorial of the most important Macromedia features to get the process done. In a clear way building up from using templates, attaching stylesheets, showing and hiding layers with Dreamweaver and using Flash for simulation and user-interactivity the book introduces the interaction with databases by using Coldfusion.

I thought Coldfusion was rather difficult to learn, because the tips of the week by Macromedia were a little to quick for me. But Jeffrey Bardzell proved it is easy. In a straight-forward way you are taken by the hand to take all the basic steps for building a data-driven website.

I'm an assoc. prof. of New Testament currently working to produce an interactive web workbook for teaching/learning skills for New Testament interpretation. I want to give students practice developing close reading skills rather than ask them simply to drill content. For a couple of years, I have had a dream for such a site, and I felt sure it was buildable, but didn't know how. I care enough about how the interactions work and the relationship of content to design that I wanted to design the interactions myself if possible. Yet I didn't know anything but a little Dreamweaver and its CourseBuilder extension.

Working my way through a copy of Macromedia MX eLearning is changing all that. Wow! The book teaches how to develop interactions in Dreamweaver and Flash as well as offering several chapters on putting ColdFusion to work in eLearning. Each chapter includes a fine combination of hands-on work and explanation for why we are being asked to do what we're doing, especially at those places where some task is counter-intuitive. The book is also free of mistakes, typos and muddled language, a welcome plus when so many computer books seem to have been rushed to press without having been edited or proofed.

Bardzell's book is giving me two things: (1) hands on work with the software that introduces and reinforces learning without devolving into busywork and (2) a model for developing materials (like the book itself) that teach effectively from a distance. A+

I am a trainer and instructional designer at a university. I thought this book was very useful in helping me to use Flash MX for education. You would likely need some introductory training in Flash and Dreamweaver basics before using this book.

This is an excellent book where you learn how to integrate ColdFusion MX, Dreamweaver MX, and Flash MX by building interactive learning applications. The exercises are explained in great details and contain many tips and techniques especially for Dreamweaver and Flash. The newer aspects of interacting ColdFusion MX with Flash MX are not covered, but for those of us still using ColdFusion 5 there is a good coverage of LoadVars. I recommend this book without any reservation as it is one of the best technical books I have read so far.

Jeffrey Bardzell's book is intelligently written with plenty easy-to-understand examples. He engages, inspires, and motivates learners throughout. His Dante's Inferno project makes learning fun. He breaks subject matter down into comprehendible pieces, using Aristotelian logic in places. This guy knows what he's doing. Of several computer books that I have purchased over the years, this is the first time I have written a review. You can learn eLearning and website design, and this book will teach you how-even if you are a motivated beginner, technical type, or humanities person-this book is suited for most everyone.

Mark Kistler's books are wonderful, entertaining books that canteach anyone (of any age) how to draw! I bought his books for my sons,and I quickly became a devoted fan and an avid drawing maniac myself! The book is packed with pages of fun drawings, as well as 'story starters' in which kids are asked to complete the story. Mark's enthusiasm for drawing and story-telling just bubbles up out of the pages of this book. As a mom, I appreciate his encouragement for kids to watch less tv, say NO to violent video games and drugs, and to expand their brain power by getting involved in art. This book is a 'must have' for all teachers and parents who would like to see their kids motivated to express their creativity and feel good about their drawing ability.

While aimed at kids, this is a great place to start at any age. If you have been looking at other drawing books, and the books you have seen before only make it harder, your search is over. Mark makes it easy for anyone at any age to get basic drawing skills, the building blocks you need to get started. He teaches the skills that other books make seem complex, without the stress or making it go over your head. His way of teaching is simply the easiest method a person can have to start drawing. And if the books are good, his old show on PBS and his videos are even better. Mark makes drawing so fun kids beg to use the book again and again. He does not start by intimidating you with the completed project, in fact you don't always know what you are drawing until you are done. He takes you one line, circle, or square at a time and before you know it you have a fun drawing. I also reccommend you try the books from Ed Emberly, or check my lists on Amazon for kids that want to learn to draw, or be a cartoonist or animator.

If you think you stink at drawing, think again! Mark Kistler shows you how, step by step, to draw pictures that really look like something and tell a story besides!

I bought this book to relearn how to draw properly. While the book is directed at a young audience, adults-at-heart like me will benefit from the drawing principles such as foreshortening, placement, size, overlapping, shading and shadowing, contour and horizon (plus 1 and 2 point perspectives). My disappointments were that a few later lessons repeat previous lessons and that it uses blank pages after each lesson for you to practice on. I suggest you use a separate sheet of paper to do this so you can pass this book to your kids and their kids and so on and so forth. Despite these, I still rate it 5 stars.

I can now draw simple everyday objects both as cartoons and as realistically as I can. They're not professional quality yet, the book recommends daily practice until they are and that's exactly what I'm doing.

This isn't the only book you should buy though if you want to draw artistically. In my case, I'd like to draw comics-style characters and objects so I can move on to animating them later. I got Tom Alvarez's "How to Create Action, Fantasy and Adventure Comics" (separately reviewed) which is also an excellent how-to book.

Mark Kistler's books are EXCELLENT for anyone who want to learn to draw. The layout of the book is fun easy to follow. Although it is geared toward children it is appropriate for a beginner adult. It starts with simple concepts and gradually builds on what you've already learned. Anyone at any age will be impressed by what you will be drawing in a short amount of time. I bought this book for my children and was so impressed , I started drawing myself. My children love this book and so do I.

All needed I to become MCP and start getting benefits. Exam now questions 15 with adaptive format. Know the material here well and you pass first time out.

If you've ever seen a large sponge that someone has sucked all the water from and seen how small it can get and still be a sponge, then you understand the premise of what is here. All the other NT Workstation books have had the fluff sucked from them to make this book - what is left has no wasted space/thoughts/text.

I spent a lot of looking over the coverage of key topics in half-a-dozen Workstation books. This one covered them in as much or more detail than any other. The small size comes from the fact that the non-critical nonsense has been removed, which saves me from having to jump over a dozen pages here and there.

I found the book to be easy to read, easy to understand, and all that it was advertised to be, and then some.

After years of struggle, NT Workstation won the client war in my workplace and it was decided that 1000 users had to be changed over from every other thinkable operating system to NTW.

I knew some about the OS, but not much. I also knew that someone would have to become an MCP in order to convince corporate that IT knew what is was doing and to leave us alone. In order to accomplish those goals, I needed a quick solution, and the Fast Track seemed like it.

To make a long story short, I learned more about the OS from this book that I ever imagined, and passed the new adaptive exam (much less questions) with flying colors.

Not only is this an excellent book for certification study, but it is one of the best technical books I've ever read on NT Workstation. I typically buy three or four books on a topic when studying for an exam to avoid wasting time if I get a junk one. In this case, I read only the one and intend to buy only one now for any study topic the fast track is available for.

I always start with reading a MCSE for dummies when I am preparing for an exam. This one is the best so far and after taking the exam I can say that this book is all you need.
I used other materials as well because there were some objectives that I did not have experience with.
I scored 790 and that was more than I expected.

I found this book full of information without drowning it's readers in useless jargon. Some of the content was covered only briefly, but with some hands on learning and this book, passing the test was a breaze!

As a Microsoft Instructor, I recommend this book to all of my students. It cuts through the fluff and crud that Microsoft usually tacks on to the courses and gets to the meat and potatoes of what Active Directory is all about. Several students have used this besides my class and have blown the test away. Check out the author's exam tips to save yourself some headaches.

This book does a fantastic job preparing you for the exam 70-217. I am currently an NT 4.0 MCSE aspiring to be a Windows 2000 MCSE and wouldn't of been able to pass this exam with out this book. The author did an wonderful job helping me understand the complex features of Active Directory like group policies and remote install services. Which by the way are hit hard on the exam. I recommend this book to everyone looking to get certified in Windows 2000.

I passed 70-217 today using this book. I scored an 800 and something. This book did a great job of covering the material that MS tests about.