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Internet Books sorted by Average customer review: high to low .

Internet
Practical Web 2.0 Applications with PHP
Published in Kindle Edition by Apress (2007-12-20)
Author: Quentin Zervaas
List price: $44.99
New price: $26.72

Average review score:

Outstanding
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2008-10-04
This book is outstanding. Not only does it guide you through on building online applications but it also drags you through the Zend PHP framework. I would recommend this book to anyone is going down the path of becoming a fantastic PHP developer. It is a good resource.

Excellent, but why implement your own Db Table pattern
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2008-09-11
This is an excellent book and I have enjoyed reading it over the past day. For someone trying to piece together the various technologies like Auth, ACL, Config, Logging and Session it's a great resource for the first several chapters, going into detail about the configuration and setup of this simple environment without any of that padding and guff that a lot of other authors include. The book doesn't treat you like an idiot, which I certainly appreciated.

The only issue I would raise is that the Author has used his own classes for database Table access instead of employing the frameworks standard Zend_Db_Table and Zend_Db_Table_Row bases. This means that anyone wanting to adhere closely to the Zend Framework (for corporate reasons) will have to reverse engineer the approaches used. An odd choice for a book almost entirely based on the Zend Framework.

Good book after slow start
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2008-08-15
I have been working with PHP for several years now yet the first part of this book had me pulling my hair out (whats left of it). Setting up the environment is tricky and it probably would of helped me if I had a stronger background in OO programming. With that said, this is a good book and I would recommend it to any intermediate level PHP developer.

Highly Recommended!
Helpful Votes: 1 out of 1 total.
Review Date: 2008-08-12
This book is easily the most useful and well-written PHP book I've ever read. It runs you through the complete development of a web application using PHP5, Zend Framework, Smarty, Ajax (via Prototype and Scriptaculous). It also includes a useful section on Deployment and Maintenance, which includes error handling/logging/reporting, database backup and restoration, and application deployment (dev, staging, production).

The book has a heavy focus on the Zend Framework, and does a better job of explaining (and using) the intricacies of it then any other book or online resources I've come across.

I would highly recommend this book to anyone looking to use PHP5 with the Zend Framework.

Great... once you get going
Helpful Votes: 1 out of 1 total.
Review Date: 2008-08-04
I won't repeat what the others have said about how great this book is other than to say I agree with them. In addition, as what follows will prove, I am relatively new to PHP. What follows below is answers to two hurdles that I had troubles with 'getting going' - the first having to do with php configuration, and the second concerning Smarty. I simply hope, if you are new like me, the following will save you some head scratching.

First - php settings... While the author does go to extraordinary length to try to spell things out for the reader, one gotcha centers around your 'include_path' settings. The author failed to mention that his default include_path includes a '../include' entry. Without that, any attempt to run the application will report an error with the Zend Loader. A work-around is to simply use ini_set to add '../include' to the index.php file.

Second - Smarty. Installation of Smarty for this project is demonstrated for a unix environment. Being ignorant of that environment, I missed the fact that the author was copying 'Smarty/libs/smarty.class.php' and the rest to 'Smarty/smarty.class.php', etc... In that I already had Smarty installed in php5/include/Smarty/libs, I missed the elimination of the libs folder. So, if you are going to buy this book AND already have Smarty installed, you can do what I did... Go to line 11 in Templater.php to change the require_once to point to where your installation is. In my case, 'Smarty/libs/smarty.class.php'.

Internet
Pro Ajax and the .NET 2.0 Platform
Published in Kindle Edition by Apress (2006-07-14)
Author: Daniel Woolston
List price: $49.99
New price: $23.18

Average review score:

Best Ajax Book I've Read
Helpful Votes: 20 out of 20 total.
Review Date: 2006-08-16
Pro Ajax and the .NET 2.0 Platform gets high marks from me because it is concise, informative and easy to follow. After reading the first three chapters I had a clear understanding of what Ajax really is. Author Dan Woolston has extensive experience with AJAX and he seemed to share it all here without overwhelming this reader.

Woolston did not waste my time in getting me up to speed. In the first three chapters I learned how to write my own reusable (cross browser) JavaScript functions that will work together to execute an Ajax call.

Of course I might rely on one of the various existing frameworks to do this for me. However, now I know what's going on under the covers and I can make an informed decision about what Ajax to use and when. I know exactly what is happening when Ajax is implemented and why.The book also does a nice job of covering CSS and the DOM (document object model). As you know (or will know after reading), these combine with JavaScript to create the foundation of Ajax! Once you understand how they work together you'll know more about Ajax than 90% of your developer friends.

Excellent Feature #1: The overview of JavaScript, CSS and the DOM is fantastic. I really appreciated the fact that it was concise and dead-on accurate in addressing the specific elements that a .NET developer needs to understand in order to code Ajax.

Continuing on, after the book had me up to speed with Ajax, it went into n-tier design. This is important because, in theory, a programmer can go hog wild on Ajax and break tons of rules regarding sound application architecture. So I was impressed that Woolston transitioned directly into best-practices for how and when to use Ajax.

The first third of the book covers Ajax theory and best-practices. With Ajax, one size does not fit all. Therefore, chapter seven includes overviews of many popular Ajax frameworks including non .NET frameworks such as Ruby on Rails, WebORB, xajax (PHP) and Direct Web Remoting (Java). It also covers .NET frameworks including Ajax.NET, Anthem and Atlas.

The other two thirds of the book are devoted to Ajax programming concepts. The author uses the Anthem framework for most of this coding. Anthem is an open-source, .NET framework in C# that is compatible with ASP.NET 1.1 and 2.0. It is extremely lightweight, requiring only one class file for core functionality.

Excellent Feature #2: The book's code walkthroughs are based on a fully functional n-tier sample application that you can download free. The sample application uses the AdventureWorks database which is also a free download from Microsoft if you don't already have access to it.

You might think that some .NET features and topics lend themselves to Ajax technology and therefore should be covered in more detail. You'd be right. Woolston sets aside complete chapters on Web services, Custom Controls, ASP.NET Security and Web Parts.

Excellent Feature #3: When you're done learning how to build your own Ajax, there are two chapters devoted to debugging and testing Ajax.

One of the last chapters was my favorite. Chapter 19 is all about usability. As you may know, Ajax solves many usability problems. But can also create new ones. Woolston addresses the good, the bad and the ugly.

The book provides ideas and examples of good Ajax. The author has test-driven many Ajax controls and shares his trials and tribulations. This feedback no doubt will save developers valuable time.

The book also discusses potential pitfalls of using Ajax. Woolston tackles cross-browser compatibility issues and how to best overcome them. He also talks about how to deal with the browser's back button. How to handle browsers with disabled JavaScript and how to work past the problem of pageshifting.

Some of the other usability topics covered in Chapter 19 include Ajax menus, bookmarking, type-aheads, connected controls, code visibility and page paradigms.

Suffices to say this book packs a big Ajax punch. I highly recommend it to any of my peers who are interested in building Ajax functionality into their web applications. This book is applicable to .NET developers who are working with ASP.NET 1.1 or 2.0. In my opinion, web developers of any skill level will find it helpful.

Great book
Helpful Votes: 3 out of 6 total.
Review Date: 2006-08-18
About 3/4 done with this book. Today I just built my 1st Ajax feature in a few hours at work with the suff I learned. This books is a quick read with great examples works in both 1.1 and 2.0. Buy it!

Best of Apress
Helpful Votes: 5 out of 5 total.
Review Date: 2006-09-12
i didnot think that i would like this book because for me apress is famous with their books having lacking style of examples. Normally you find yourself lost in the examples eventough the topic is covered very well.
This book is different than others absolutely; it starts with what is ajax; and why ajax and with simple examples.
if you dont know javascript; it is still ok because one of the chapters covers javascript; so you can learn enough javascript to handle the simple ajax pages.
Before diving into ajax; it tells you about different ajax libraries; so i like this part too; you will have an idea about other ajax libraries too.
I could not run the first example which is the easiest one and i struggle a lot to solve it;but most of the codes in the book is easy to implement.
And guess what; as you can see from the title; the book is for .NET developers; so if you are a .NET developer; this is right book to buy.
It is not like other apress books that have coding examples problem. the sequence for the chapter makes the book easy to follow.
After reading this book; i start reading some tutorials about Atlas ( which is basically Microsoft's Ajax ) and it really helps you to understand atlas too;
If you like google maps; or virtual maps; this books has a suprise for you :)
i read 4-5 different books from apress and this one is the best; i will highly recommend this book to all .net developers who want to learn ajax with .net

Very Nice Book for Overall AJAX Introduction
Helpful Votes: 7 out of 7 total.
Review Date: 2006-11-11
I hardly ever review books and probably wouldn't have bothered this time if it were not for an email from Amazon seeking one. I decided to go ahead with a review because this book really filled a need I had for working with AJAX for the first time. It had me up and running in very short order. Did it go over a couple things along the way that I already knew? Yes. But I didn't mind it in that it treated all topics in an intelligent manner and helped explain where AJAX fit into the broader world of web development. Definitely geared for .NET. That's what I wanted. If that's what you're looking for, you won't be disappointed.

Right book for me at the right time.
Helpful Votes: 8 out of 8 total.
Review Date: 2006-10-19
I had done some little test applications utilizing Ajax and/or Atlas prior to reading this book, and I wanted this book to really give a solid base from which to move forward with.

Mr. Woolston's writing style is personable but not too over the top. One thing I did not like about the writing style is the manner in which code is laid out at times. For instance, with many of the sample applications, Mr. Woolston will dump about 5-6 pages of code into the book and then work towards restating it in part afterwards with some explanation. I can see where it would be useful if not in front of the sample code/a PC, but in reality this book will not be useful if not in front of a computer working on the examples.

There are other times where some of the content is not really useful in furthering education about Ajax and certain examples it feels are stretched to make the chapters longer. I think there was likely a challenge in filling out a reasonable sized book because simply put - the fundamental elements of Ajax aren't that complex. I found myself done with the book in a period of less than a week.

Those things said, after reading the book I can certainly say the overall content has an excellent "perspective of the landscape". From a history of Ajax to a little primer on Javascript, CSS/DOM, and the XmlHttpRequest, he moves forward to examples of Ajax demonstrating the technology with an Ajax framework named Anthem. The main meat of the book are really these examples, where practice implements the ideas from the prior chapters.

Lastly, the book closes with a few chapters covering security, testing, usability, performance, and a token chapter on Atlas.

One other element that I appreciated in this book was the identification of a few free tools out there to aid in Ajax development. Those tools in their own right would have definitely contributed to some time savings a week or two ago when I was struggling with a couple DOM/CSS issues prior to reading this book!

In summary, perhaps a book stretched to fit it's cover but nevertheless a very useful read to me and I would certainly recommend it.

Internet
Pro WF: Windows Workflow in .NET 3.5 (Pro)
Published in Paperback by Apress (2008-06-23)
Author: Bruce Bukovics
List price: $52.99
New price: $29.99
Used price: $29.99

Average review score:

No-brainer on this book
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2008-09-22
I'm somewhat bewildered as to why such an important technology (WF) has produced an astounding dearth of good books on the subject. Thankfully, we have Mr. Bukovics' offering which would be a stand-out even if the book marketplace was full of options.

With this newer version of his book (yes, I did purchase the 3.0 version), we get very important information on (1) the two new additions to WF offered in 3.5 (2) WCF-WF integration and (3) advanced topics on Services. These topics smooth out the rough edges of WF 3.0. Comprehensive discussions of these topics, and others, are not readily available from any other source.

Therefore, this newer version of the book is a must-have; even for those, like myself, who purchased his first version.

Excellent presentation of Windows Workflow
Helpful Votes: 1 out of 1 total.
Review Date: 2008-09-22
I found this book to be an excellent introduction into Windows Workflow. I am very impressed with the author's detailed instruction yet easy to follow style. All the concepts are backed up with relevant examples. Very well prepared and executed piece of work. I have several other topics I would like this author to explore.

Helped me pass MCTS 70-504
Helpful Votes: 1 out of 1 total.
Review Date: 2008-09-12
Last Friday, I passed the WF-examination with 900 points!

I'm glad that I bought this book. WF is a huge framework
and this book does a good job in explaining every aspect of WF.
This book offers lots of examples which are documented very well.
At times, it is difficult not to get lost in the details.

Following chapters of "Pro WF" were especially helpful:

9: State Machine
11: Workflow Rules
14: Dynamic Workflow Updates
15: Workflow Tracking
19 Hosting the designer

I used this book to look up the parts of WF which
were poorly documented by its creator.

This book is the book to have for WF
Helpful Votes: 1 out of 1 total.
Review Date: 2008-09-07
This book is the book to have if you are going to get into Windows Workflow Foundation. There are no other books on WF out on the market that compare to the broad view and depth of this book.

I own the first version of the book and was reluctant to buy this version because there was not too much changing in .NET 3.5. I am glad I did. I like having the most current information on a technology I am working on at my finger tips. And not in electronic format. I have no idea how people can code all day and then read eBooks all night. Plus my other copy was pretty scribbled up with notes.

This version contain two new chapters. One titled Advanced Custom Activities, and the other titled Workflow Service and WCF Integration. Both new chapters contain a lot of valuable in-depth information.

The code samples are very well organized and add a lot of value to this book. However, as the author points out in the beginning of the book, he wrote it to be readable on the beach. Meaning the code is in the book, and you don't have to have it open on a computer to read the book.

The examples are simple yet he uses them to take you down into the weeds.

I highly recommend this book to anyone looking to get into WF. It is a great read!!!!

This is the one
Helpful Votes: 2 out of 2 total.
Review Date: 2008-09-05
Absolutely the best book on WWF out today. So much more content than the others that there's absolutely no reason to consider a different workflow book. Workflowservicehost? Writing your own persistence or tracking services? Rehosting the designer? All here.

Internet
Professional Java Fundamentals
Published in Paperback by John Wiley & Sons (1996-09)
Authors: Tom Mitchell, Andres Gonzalez, Kerry Hammil, and Larry Rodrigues
List price: $35.00
New price: $2.97
Used price: $0.44

Average review score:

Everything I know about Java I learned from...
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 1997-09-27
While I wouldn't recommend this book to beginning programmers, it's great for people who already know another language (preferably C/C++) and a little about object-oriented programming. It touches on many subjects, so you won't need a whole bookshelf of Java books ("Let's see...one for language reference...one for graphics and the AWT...one for networking..."). I take this book back and forth every day between work and home. What would I do without it?

BEST BOOK TO START WITH...
Helpful Votes: 1 out of 1 total.
Review Date: 1999-06-18
This is one of the first books I bought to get an understanding of Java and how it is comprable to what I already know of C/C++. This book is the perfect starting point, giving every comprable declaration to C/C++. Kudos to the authors, can't wait for a more up-to-date version though.

Good book - out of date now (1998)
Helpful Votes: 1 out of 1 total.
Review Date: 1998-12-04
Excellent book, but now that Swing is moving ahead of AWT, this book is useless for GUI. But as for the basics, it's an complete book. Good for someone who already knows a programming language

Excellent reference, no-nonsense summary
Helpful Votes: 3 out of 3 total.
Review Date: 2000-04-17
Fantastic book. Pithy style, very readable, no fluff, excellent as a reference. Anyone coming to Java from C++ should get this book. About the only thing I would do to improve it would be to have at least a short chapter on database access.

Old but good
Helpful Votes: 4 out of 4 total.
Review Date: 1999-01-12
Even though this is one of my oldest Java books I keep going back to it. I wish it would be updated for the new Event model and swing however. The coverage of the 1.0 JDK is very good and I still go back to the gridbag description and examples when I get confused.

Internet
Quality Web Systems: Performance, Security, and Usability
Published in Paperback by Addison-Wesley Professional (2001-09-02)
Authors: Elfriede Dustin, Jeff Rashka, and Douglas McDiarmid
List price: $49.99
New price: $21.62
Used price: $4.33

Average review score:

Excellent book on various quality topics
Helpful Votes: 12 out of 12 total.
Review Date: 2001-11-19
This book was a joy to read. It gives a great overview of quality issues within "Web systems" - meaning Web applications and architectures. The book balances a too-specific look with a too-general look and succeeds quite well in a balanced treatment that will make the whole worth the attention of any quality assurance or quality tester professional in the Information Technology industry.

In particular, the second chapter, on the RSI Approach, is a nice addition as this is something that most practitioners of quality subjects will not find elsewhere and the general subject matter is generally that which is avoided in books of this type. Another topic often avoided in these books is that of usability and accessibility concerns and yet these are covered here in good detail chapter six.

In general, I think the book offered a great amount of detail just where it was needed and gave a lot of "mini best-practices" in each chapter with the use of bulleted lists to highlight specific points. The detail of the book extends to various topics, like performance, compatibility, usability, and security - all topics that are of high concern in the current world of making qualitly Web systems that customers and user respond to. The appendices in the book are also excellent. The "Test Tool Evaluations" section will be a welcome addition to those who wish there are more concise evaluation forms for automated tool solutions.

I highly recommend this book to quality assurance/testing professionals, quality assurance managers, and even those who work more in the project management and development spheres. Those latter will get benefit from the book because the book manages to highlight topics of concern to both groups and also gives them insight into the quality aspects of the projects and products that are developed within an organization.

Covers all of the major issues and factors
Helpful Votes: 20 out of 20 total.
Review Date: 2001-09-23
Although the authors of this book are noted experts in software testing this book goes far beyond testing by addressing the full range of quality and design issues for web-based systems.

All of the major elements of web-engineering and quality are addressed, including SECURITY (this is the first test or quality book that fully acknowledges the relationship between quality and security, which is a cornerstone of the Reliability-Availability-Support triad for systems in production), PERFORMANCE (I especially liked this section because it got into the guts of performance and scalability), COMPATIBILITY (essential for ensuring that your system works with the world of users over whom you have no control - web-based systems can and usually do extend into the great unknown), and USABILITY (this will make or break a commercial web site).

Aside for the complete coverage of all of the important topics that need to be considered, and the life cycle approach to quality and testing this book contained a real gem: RSI approach to use cases. RSI (Requirements-Service-Interface) is an interesting and highly useful approach to use cases. Some key strengths of using the RSI paradigm is that you will ensure traceability between requirements and the services and interfaces that are implemented. Moreover, this approach partitions services and interfaces, which allows you to manage the complexities when developing a test strategy and associated test cases. To me the chapter on RSI was worth the price of the book.

Overall, this is a solid book that covers testing, as well as the larger domain of systems quality. It gives some unique insights of issues and factors related to testing, but is not solely about web testing. It should be read by all key team members including requirements analysts, architects, developers, test engineers and project managers *before* a web project is initiated.

A must-have for any web systems tester
Helpful Votes: 4 out of 5 total.
Review Date: 2002-01-19
This book is excellent for any web systems tester. It covers all areas of functional and non-functional testing related to the Web.
It covers how to most efficiently model a web application using a specific use case approach, in addition it covers how to test for security, performance, usability of a web site. The book has been very useful in our testing efforts.

Thorough and practical
Helpful Votes: 5 out of 6 total.
Review Date: 2002-01-30
This book covers quality assurance of web systems beyond merely testing. It offers practical insight for designers, developers, project managers and quality assurance team members. A big bonus is the appendix which details and compares automated test tools.

Once again another blockbuster!
Helpful Votes: 7 out of 8 total.
Review Date: 2001-09-25
This is one of the best quality assurance books in a while... Thinner than Automated Software Testing, but as informative! If you are doing any kind of web testing, this one's a must have for your library. Talks about all aspects of software testing on the web. I give it 5 stars hands down!

Internet
Real Digital Forensics: Computer Security and In Response
Published in Paperback by Addison-Wesley Professional (2005-10-03)
Authors: Keith J. Jones, Richard Bejtlich, and Curtis W. Rose
List price: $59.99
New price: $32.97
Used price: $35.86

Average review score:

Great computer forensics book written by the experts!
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2008-07-01
OK. What more do you need to know? This book is written by three gentlemen who live, eat and breathe computer incident response & forensics. The fact that they present the information in a well written and easy to follow format is just a bonus! If you're one of those "I wanna do it" types like me, you'll read through the material and then tackle the provided data to see if you can solve the crime. A great starting point for future incident responders and folks who want to know more about computer forensics.

super
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 3 total.
Review Date: 2007-03-08
Thanks a lot, we are very happy to have this book in our library!

A very good Book.
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 7 total.
Review Date: 2006-11-09
I took this book because it was told to me by my professor to purchase it.
But after reading its content I feel its really worth buying this book.

This one is a keeper!
Helpful Votes: 5 out of 5 total.
Review Date: 2006-01-26
As an author and instructor, I tend to be pretty picky about the books I choose to read and use in my classes. The authors present the material in a good logical progression. I especially like that it also provides sample evidence on the DVD. Most of the computer forensic books that currently exist contain mostly theory. This is the first good hands-on text that I have seen.

The authors have captured a good cross section of scenarios and then guide you through each case in-depth, offering practical solutions when faced with obstacles. The content provides methodologies, techniques, and tools that anyone can use. In addition it covers a variety of media such as USB memory and Palm devices.

This is a book that I will definitely keep. It is one of the best forensic investigations books currently on the market and would be a great asset to anyone wishing to enhance their skills.

Excellent Read
Helpful Votes: 7 out of 8 total.
Review Date: 2006-02-11
This book is written in such a style that is easy to understand, yet technical and detailed enough to maintain your interest and attention all the way through.

The book presents several ways of accomplishing the same tasks in a non-biased, non-vendor-specific way. It explores the use of free, open-source tools as well as commercial offerings, and drills down into forensic analysis of both Windows and Unix/Linux Operating Systems.

The included CD contains actual forensic data and a few tools, which is both interesting and exciting to use while following along with the lessons in the book.

After receiving this book and opening it to the first page, I was almost unable to set it down until I finished it. I received it on a Friday afternoon and I had completed reading it by the end of the weekend. I highly recommend this book to anyone with an interest in Computer or Network Security.

Internet
The Root of All Evil
Published in Paperback by O'Reilly Media, Inc. (2001-08)
Authors: JD Frazer, Illiad, and Bob Herbstman
List price: $12.95
New price: $4.00
Used price: $0.01
Collectible price: $44.95

Average review score:

A little dated now, but funny nonetheless...
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2004-04-27
Although a bit dated, containing strips related to the Y2K craze here and there, this little book is still otherwise as funny and timely as any commentary on the computer industry could be. The X-Men and Borg references are absolutely hysterical. If you work in a tech job, you should be reading User Friendly.

Amusing, but not for everyone (not even all geeks :-)
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 4 total.
Review Date: 2001-12-28
It's a good book, but I think previous books have been funnier.

The 3rd USER FRIENDLY collection: strips from 2000
Helpful Votes: 1 out of 1 total.
Review Date: 2005-06-21
"Am thinkink. Erwin, to fight such big powerful company as AOL, am to be fightink fire with fire. Da?"
"Umm...what did you have in mind?"
"Am to becomink half computer, half human, like Borg. Then to become super administrator of all Borg functions."
"That means...you'll become..."
"Da. I will becomink root of all evil."
"Don't do it, Pitr! Don't go to the bad place!"
- Pitr the techie and Erwin the AI, in conversation

After opening with a few post-Y2K-bust strips, the Columbia Internet crew having stockpiled lots of soda and pork rinds for the occasion, the book settles into its more usual long-running plot threads.

Stef's been given the title "Manager: S&M." ("It stands for SALES AND MARKETING you depraved monkeys.") In his efforts to sell a line of products the same way that the Pokemon empire does their stuff, he persuades Pitr to make collectible Unix text editors. Pitr, in fact, goes through several evil little anti-Unix projects in the book to keep his hand in as a budding Evil Genius.

Other developments in the continuing story:
- AJ struggles to figure out how to court Miranda properly (badly timed in light of the "I love you" virus).
- Stef (who as a Windows user sees Unix holy wars as an added bonus of his job) makes the mistake of interfering in Miranda's life, which leads to a lot of Matrix crossover references.
- Mike becomes a Sims addict. ("Hey! Are you *allowed* to have four wives?")
- Greg's tech support calls turn into a game-help hotline.
- Pitr has an evil twin brother in Sales who affects the same fake accent.
- Introducing Sid Dabster, the aging ex-HP tech who becomes something of a blood enemy of Pitr's.

And, of course, the fantasy elements, such as:
- Parallels between Steve Case of AOL and Anakin Skywalker.
- Greg's Linux daemons (think "shoulder angel" here).

For computer geeks only, but in that niche excellent
Helpful Votes: 2 out of 2 total.
Review Date: 2005-10-02
You have to be a computer geek to understand the humor. If you are, and especially if you have a unix/linux background and/or have worked with internet or other computer support you will find this one of the most hysterical comics around.

Very funny stuff
Helpful Votes: 2 out of 3 total.
Review Date: 2004-02-29
If you don't find at least some of the strips very funny, you should have your geek status removed. :)

Internet
Sams Teach Yourself XSLT in 21 Days (Sams Teach Yourself)
Published in Paperback by Sams (2002-02-10)
Author: Michiel Van Otegem
List price: $39.99
New price: $24.30
Used price: $9.95

Average review score:

Very good book!
Helpful Votes: 1 out of 1 total.
Review Date: 2008-08-27
This is the XSLT book I look for when I have an XSLT question. While the title makes it sound like a beginner's book (and it certainly can fill that role), I find it very useful as an advanced user's reference as well.

Fantastic Examples
Helpful Votes: 13 out of 13 total.
Review Date: 2006-01-08
Some PROs and CONs...

Pros:
Topic flows very well. Author was able to explain each topic without asking reader to refer to upcoming forward chapters. Best part of this book are the examples. They are relevant and short and sweet enough to understand. Best of all, there are lots of examples. The author doesn't just slap them on the page and tell you to figure it out yourself. The author walks the reader thru them.

Cons:
Some areas reads like a technical manual.. causing me to reread sentences over and again. But that said, the book still comes across as tutorial friendly (You figure that out.).

Comparisons:
I rate the book 5 stars. I own Beginnning XSLT 2.0 by Tennison, XSLT 2.0 by Kay, and Mastering XSLT by White. My opinion is that XSLT in 21 days is the best book to get you to learn it the quickest because of the author's superb examples.

Great way to learn XSLT
Helpful Votes: 2 out of 3 total.
Review Date: 2007-12-18
The book is easy to understand. There are plenty of examples and the exercise help reinforce what you learnt. The two negatives are: it's not XSLT 2.0 and the printing and binding of the book is poor. It is still a good way to learn XSLT. It would be great to have a study group guide.

Excellent place to start
Helpful Votes: 5 out of 9 total.
Review Date: 2004-07-21
This book works. It does, however, assume that you have a meaningful level of computer proficiency. This is probably a safe assumption for anyone intending to go spelunking in XML files and performing transformations on same.

To complete the book's lessons, you'll need to download and install one of the free XSLT parsing engines listed in the book. Alternatively, I used the jEdit free text browser and its associated XSLT plugin to run the examples.

I don't believe in assigning five stars, or I would have for this book.

Great Book for Beginners
Helpful Votes: 6 out of 6 total.
Review Date: 2006-07-25
If you know absolutely nothing about XSLT, this is the book for you. Very straightforward. I got through the first week (7 chapters) in about a day. You could easily read and understand most of the content in this book in less than a few days. Great for anyone wanting to pick up the language quickly. For advanced users, this is probably not your book.

Internet
Scaling for E-Business: Technologies, Models, Performance, and Capacity Planning
Published in Paperback by Prentice Hall PTR (2000-05-07)
Authors: Daniel A. Menasce and Virgilio A.F. Almeida
List price: $49.99
New price: $19.99
Used price: $11.08

Average review score:

Good to improve already existing sites
Helpful Votes: 11 out of 12 total.
Review Date: 2001-06-27
This book is an excellent application of formal methodologies for e-business cases. The examples are useful according to the explanations. I was expecting more emphasis on cost of IT resources or methods in order to calculate. But, the authors guide the book in the resource and performance chapters showing an approach on how to measure from regular sites not from new e-business projects which begin from nothing, without any data from logs or similar metrics. However, the estrict compliance with the methodology presented and the explanation about security provided me with a good reason to have it.

Highly recommended
Helpful Votes: 17 out of 19 total.
Review Date: 2000-10-11
I think it is the only book that deals with the e-business implementation methodocally and lays down a formal procedure. It is very well written and contains appropriate examples. It is recommendable not only for designers but also for managers.

Still current, even as 2004 approaches
Helpful Votes: 2 out of 2 total.
Review Date: 2003-11-03
There's not much else I can add to the string of reviews before mine, which ALL give full marks. The words in this review's title are the only that might add value.

This is one of those rare works which does not care to have one eye for the wannabe market. Suitable for both technicians & those folk needing to see the "big picture" (e.g. Managers)

Excellent performance &n capacity approach for app layer
Helpful Votes: 23 out of 24 total.
Review Date: 2002-07-20
This is one of a series of books about performance and capacity metrics by the authors. Each of their books covers a specific environment (client/server, mainframes, web services), and each explains the theory, quantitative methods and practical approaches using common tools like Microsoft Excel.

This book's focus is on performance and capacity of applications in the e-commerce infrastructure, and like the other books by the authors, it covers every facet while explaining the what's and why's. More importantly, this book will not overwhelm readers who are rusty in math because the authors weave in refresher material as they go along.

What makes this book valuable is the blend of business and technical topics, particularly in Part I where business models are thoroughly discussed. I personally believe that this material is as important as the more technically focused material in subsequent chapters because it wakes up the technical reader as to why their job of developing scalable solutions is important by linking the technical aspects to business imperatives.

Parts II (Evaluating E-Business Infrastructure and Services) and III (Capacity Planning for E-Business) are the heart of the technical matter, and the chapters systematically dissect each aspect of an e-commerce infrastructure from the application layer point of view. This is where quantitative methods are introduced and where the value of the spreadsheets on the CD ROM increase. Note that there are more up-to-date versions of these spreadsheets on the book's associated website, as well as errata for the book.

Practical considerations that blend the business and technical perspectives are presented in Part IV (Models of Specific E-Business Segments). This chapter consists of case studies that tie together all of the preceding material using real world examples.

Because this book is more focused on performance and capacity at the application and business model layer, you should read the authors' newest book, "Capacity Planning for Web Services: Metrics, Models, and Methods". That book covers the lower level details of the infrastructure
to round out the picture of an end-to-end view of performance and capacity management.

Excellent Book
Helpful Votes: 7 out of 12 total.
Review Date: 2002-05-02
A Excellent Book witht a lot of examples and mathematical models that will help to found the correct way to implant a dot com business, Every IT must read it

Internet
Scientific Advertising
Published in Kindle Edition by MSI Publishing (2008-07-23)
Author: Claude Hopkins
List price: $0.99
New price: $0.99

Average review score:

Before you purchase you must know...
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2008-09-30
Before you purchase this book, you must know that it was written so long ago that the english used is, well... old school for lack of a better cliche.

With that being said, this is the book that started marketing. Before this book and Claude Hopkins, there was no discipline called marketing. So you have to give the man the respect he deserves. In his day, Claude Hopkins revolutionized the world with his ideas on marketing. In particular, he created the science of marketing by applying the scientific principle to advertising. The very definition of marketing which is the ability to quantify and measure your advertising efforts (if you aren't measuring how well your ads are doing then you are not doing marketing at all but instead PR) came from this man, in this book.

If Claude Hopkins was alive today, he would absolutely dominate Internet marketing.

Yes, the concepts are way dated. Yes, the english used is hard to understand and follow at certain points. No, this book will not cause your sales to triple by giving you an easy, step by step roadmap to follow. But does that mean it isn't worth reading? I think not. Anyone who is on a quest to become a master marketer must buy this book. As the cliche goes, if you don't know where you've been, then how do you know where you are going?

From the author of Internet Marketing-Profits That Lie Hidden In Your Website: How To Triple Your Web Sales In 25 Days

A classic that can be applied to online marketing
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2008-09-09
This book is great! I read it cover to cover and found many good techniques and strategy's that i applied to PPC marketing.

amazing insight from an old book
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2008-08-28
this book is a quick read and stays clear and concise in all its arguments. the book is almost 100 years old, but the points made are applicable to everything today. it was written when mass mail marketing was first being developed, and when statistics were first being integrated into marketing. the lessons shared could have saved many companies in the first internet boom, and despite the change in medium, are still extremely applicable to every type of marketing today.

there are hysterical examples as well (egg incubators!), that, although outdated in content, are still prime examples for marketing today's products and services.

Best of the Best!!
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2008-06-18
This book change our perspective about our business strategies. If you are serious about making profits in your business you need to read this book.

The King Still Lives
Helpful Votes: 2 out of 3 total.
Review Date: 2008-03-05
There is an old saying that goes, "there is nothing new but what has been forgotten." Advertising is about 100 years old, but the science and art behind what appears to buying psychology, really hasn't changed that much. If you study this work of Claude C. Hopkins, you will understand that he pioneered methods that are still used today. David Ogilvy was another one of these pioneers, and he said, "no one should be in advertising that has not read Scientific Advertising at least seven times." If you study any of the notable marketing gurus today (e.g. - Dan Kennedy), they are just positioning what Claude has said in a contemporary format. And even marketing for the Internet - if you look beyond the HTML bells and whistles - is still utilizing the basic psychology of sales letter generation, and copywriting, that Claude pioneered.
www.randykempcopywriting.com


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