Computers and Internet Books

As a relative beginner to the world of embedded systems I was very pleased with the readability and accessibility of this book. From coding examples provided in so many languages, anyone with coding experience can find one they identify with, to real world usage examples that make sense. This book is a great place to start for anyone looking for information on how to use, integrate, or program for, the Rabbit processor. It's also a great place to start for anyone looking for information about how embedded processors can be used.

It's extremely rare for me to find a technical book that is as captivating as this one. I'm truly shocked at how well written it is and how inspiring the words are. I literally can't put this book down. Strongly recommended.

The book has been written by people with a lot of experience in the industry.... in various sections, it goes beyond just building hardware or writing code and offers practical advice that one gains only after a couple of decades in the industry.

Although the title may lead the reader to think the book is focused only on the Rabbit microprocessor, there is useful and practical advice in there for just about any embedded systems designer.

Excellent reference on all there is to know about the Rabbit 3000. I found the chapters on interrupts and interfacing to the external world especially usefull resources. Overall, the book is well researched and written and enjoyable to read. I wish all technical books were this good.

I have been using Rabbit microprocessors for years. I started out with the Rabbit 2000 and now use the Rabbit 3000. This book addresses a lot of the problems I came across while developing software and integrating hardware for the Rabbit. I truly appreciate the authors taking the time to put together such a great book. The CD that came with the book includes all of their project's sample code and compiles the first time (unlike other publishers which require modification to compile and run properly). This book is also a great reference and will not collect dust on my bookshelf!

FYI: My last robot was powered by a Rabbit 2000:

http://www.robotdirectory.org/details.cfm?id=194&cat=4

Have fun developing for the Rabbit 3000!

Simply put: This guy talks too much. I want a book that can show me how to do things and move along. This author likes using acronyms in his writings (LOL, FWIW, AFAIC, etc.) without providing a glossary for them. Some I know, but not all. I'm sure there is good information in it, but I just don't have a year to read this. I need to develop now! Does anyone want to buy my copy of this book? I'll be happy to sell it to you!

I have been programming for years and didn't really realize how much I didn't know.

Mr. Vaughn has been building databases and writing code against them since the beginning. His explanations of DB and ADO evolution is something that every webApp/dba should know.

The book is a fast read, imformative with lots of .Net examples.

Thanks for writing such a great book. I am excited to get the next version.

I am very inmpressed with this book! This is one that will be dog earred.

This is truly an outstanding book. Not only is it extremely well written and "readable" (unfortunately many a tech book is not these days), I feel it begins a dialog of sorts between the developer side of the fence and the database side of the fence (were that there were no fences, alas).

I've visited far too many organizations that work in near complete isolation when developing applications. For those types of organizations, no tool like Team System will improve things: if they don't collaborate already, a tool won't get them to do so.

We need more books like this in the market. Today's technology is so complex you simply can not perform your role properly without understanding the larger picture.

I'm a C programmer, new to SQL and Windows programming.

Bill's book has gotten me up to speed on SQL Server and Visual Studio in record time.

I looked at a number of books on these subjects and this one definitely stands out as being the most comprehensive. At the same time, it is easy to follow.

I highly recommend the book.

The best kid/hacker (no, not the dudes who vanadlize) series i have ever seen! bruce ballan rocks!!

This is one of the best books that I have ever read. It is filled with action, has a great story line, and developes charactors really well. I would highly recomend it to anyone who is into hi-tech mysteries and internet stuff.

Jeremy

This series contains the best books you will ever read. I love them because they are all about kids on computers, like me! I just love this series and I recommend that you buy every single one because these are great, edge-of-seat books!!!

This is a great book and i will continue buying the series

I thought "In Search of Scum" was a great start to the Cyber.kdz series. It has great action, suspence, and yet still developes charactors very well.

This book is an essential addition to your library if you want to understand IPv6 networking beyond just the surface. Initially the book will serve as a detailed introduction to IPv6, but the biggest value is later when it serves as a trusted reference book in your networking library. As the authors intended, it will serve as an implementation reference for IPv6 like how the Stevens' book on TCP/IP from the nineties served as the bible for TCP/IP (and IPv4) implementations. I still go back to that book when I want to understand some aspects of the BSD TCP/IP stack (which is the ancestor to many contemporary TCP/IP stacks.) I expect to use this book as a reference in the same way for many years as we start migrating to IPv6.

Who better to write an implementation-oriented book on IPv6 than the developers involved in the KAME project and the lead architect on the IPv6 stack of VxWorks? The KAME developers wrote their code in close sync with the evolution of IPv6 in the IETF and were privy to not just the authoring of IPv6 RFCs but the hundreds of invaluable side discussions that typically happen at the IETF conferences and mailing lists. When reading the book you can make this out easily from the interesting insights the authors provide on various aspects of the IPv6 protocols design as well as reasons for some implementation choices versus others. I also like the several places in the book where the IPv6 design is compared and contrasted with similar aspects of IPv4. This is very useful since most of us that buy this book have been working for a while with IPv4 and understand its design.

The book assumes that the reader is reasonably familiar with TCP/IP IPv4 and BSD Sockets programming. If you're already familiar with IPv6 then you can jump straight into almost any place in the book. If you are new to IPv6 and want to use this book initially as an introduction I suggest that you read the book in two passes. In the first pass you should read all the chapters, stopping in each chapter before the "Code Introduction" subsection. This first pass will give you an introduction to the IPv6 protocol, IPv6 addressing, ICMPv6, Neighbor Discovery (ND), Autoconfiguration and the Sockets API for IPv6 - these constitute the core of what you need to know about IPv6. You could stop with this pass and then use the rest of the book as a reference. Or you could keep going and do a second pass of all chapters and go through the code sections. This second pass will now be much easier since you now have a good overall grasp of IPv6.

When it comes to the code walk-throughs and explanation of data structures I found that the authors have done a very meticulous job. Every interesting line of code is explained in detail and as I mentioned before there are many useful insights into "why's of the code" rather than dry comments on what it does. The book also comes with 2 CDROMs which contain all the referenced KAME source code and the FreeBSD 4.8 release. However, if you're like me and want only the latest/greatest release, I suggest going to the latest release of your choice of a BSD-based OS and browsing those source files instead. As a Mac guy I went with the latest kernel sources for Mac OS X 10.4. The Mac OS X Darwin kernel (a.k.a. XNU, not to be confused with Xinu OS from Comers' TCP/IP books) is a derivative of BSD built on top of a MACH microkernel. The IPv6 stack in Darwin/XNU is a port from KAME. I found it relative easy to follow the code explanations in the book with the XNU version of the IPv6 code. As you would expect, the line numbers from the book don't match the XNU line numbers, but the filenames are identical and it is relatively easy to find the corresponding code snippets referenced in the book. There were definitely some differences between the two code trees, but I did not run into anything that was substantially different in the sections I read.

All in all this book is a great addition to my networking library and I am looking forward to the second book from the authors that plans to cover the ancillary protocols to IPv6 such as IPv6 routing, multicasting, DNS, etc.

This is a very well written book that covers all aspects of the IPv6 protocol and theory. Chapters, although long, are well structured and thorough, covering not only current operational theory, but also implementation issues that arise in deployments. Of particular use are the annotated listings - and in-depth data structure layouts - of the relevant sections of the IPv6 KAME implementation that also refer to material previously discussed. All code listings and annotations followed the model used to great effect within Richard Steven's TCP/IP books. Of particular interest when reading through the chapter material and annotated listings are references to deprecated RFCs and historical rationals that help provide additional context to some of the more baroque parts of the KAME code.
This book assumes a fairly thorough knowledge of TCP/IP networking protocols - it is not intended to be a primer on networking or IPv6. That said, this reference book is ideal for anyone with good networking knowledge that wishes to expand or understand elements of either IPv6 or the KAME implementation.

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

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

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

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

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

This book is written in the same style as Stevens' TCP/IP Illustrated Volume
II and serves as The replacement of Stevens' books for IPv6. This book blends
in-depth discussion of the IPv6 protocols and standards with line-by-line
code annotation and design digest of the KAME implementation. As the WIDE
project board member and the original core KAME developer, I approve the
technical accuracy of this book and certify the content of this book
represents the KAME implementation well. I fully endorse this book and
personally recommend it to every programmer as the IPv6 network programming
book.

IPv6 Core Protocols Implementation addresses with technical depth and clarity an IPv6 implementation on University California Berkeley Source Code Distribution (BSD), from the KAME project that was based in Japan, which is both a commercial and academic success in the world wide networking implementation market. The book begins with an overview of the KAME project and source code distribution, and then provides a concise, but thorough overview of the BSD network implementation. Then the book provides the architecture and an implementation code base component for IPv6 added to the current BSD TCP/IP Internet Protocol layer code base, the implications of the changes to the Transport Layer, and then provides a review of the BSD Socket Application Interface changes for IPv6. The authors did a very good job of representing the source code implementation and it was easy to read and comprehend, with discussion for each programmatic presentation of the code base functions and data structures. This book will be valuable to both networking architects and programmers that have to absorb and understand the implementation of IPv6 within the TCP/IP network implementation and reference model. The book was a pleasure to read and reminded me of the TCP/IP technical books by the late Dr. Richard Stevens, and afforded me the same technical depth. CTO IPv6 Forum www.ipv6forum.com Jim Bound.

This is a great book to start with for those who want to learn JavaScript. It has excellent discussion of the basics of the language with plenty of examples to follow along with. Most of the example scripts are small and basic in nature. But, they can still make useful additions to any website that might need image rollovers, cookies or pop-up windows. In the later chapters there are a few larger and slightly more complicated scripts like an image slide show. The book also has thorough coverage of basic programming concepts like variables, arrays, loops and such. Therefore, any prior programming or scripting knowledge is not an absolute requirement. All the code in this book worked smoothly with errors found only in the HTML code. The minor, and somewhat strange, errors in the HTML code really didn't create any problems. The multiple choice final exam did provide a descent review of the material at the end of the book. However, I would have preferred answers with a little explanation rather than just the correct letter.

The only issue I had with this book is the final chapters. I did expect a little more exposure to advanced scripts and concepts. There were only a few examples and most were scripts from dynamicdrive.com with little or no discussion of new concepts. Much of the final two chapters were just descriptions with URL's of sophisticated scripts that can be downloaded from Dynamic Drive. This was a bit disappointing since most designers/developers probably know how to find and install scripts from the many code libraries on the web.

Overall, JavaScript Demystified is a great book for a true beginner with no prior experience with scripting or programming. This is not the best book for those who just want to copy scripts or who are expecting advanced topics. This is a book for those who want to actually learn JavaScript. I definitely would look forward to a new book by the same author in the same format that covers advanced JavaScript.

Clear and concise, done with not one wit of 'speaking down' to you, and the explanations are straightforward. The material is introduced a piece at a time, and with reasonable review questions that are surprisingly thorough.
I would suggest it to anyone who wants a good reference to JavaScript as well. Buy it you won't be disappointed.

I felt that this book was very good for beginners as well as a good reference for those that have a strong background in html and JavaScript.

I recently attended a JavaScript course where the instruct have a difficult time explaining JavaScript in clear Englishing. I'm not a programmer, so I needed someone to explain this in simple English. This book make JavaScript clear enough so that I passed the course.

I you ever wondered how the professional web page developers dress up their web pages, then take a look at this book. Every trick that I've seen on commercial web pages are revealed in this book. I easily copied code from the book into my web pages and made mine work like a pro web page. Good book.

"Keeping Found Things Found", is a must buy, an essential tool, as we all struggle to keep on top of, rather than be buried by, information. The book's premise is excellent, explaining as it does how to organize web information into our lives in ways that help rather than just adding to the clutter.

In today's frenetic pace, when we are swamped with information, this book gave me highly valuable suggestions. But, as importantly, it also gave me some very useful questions to ask. It seems as though every day I run across new Web initiatives or gadgets or software tools. Which are worth my time and trouble (and money)? The book gives a checklist of questions to consider.

"Keeping Found Things Found" is thorough and extremely readable.

This book is a great introduction and a consummate summary of the field of personal information management. Its comprehensive nature makes it useful for people familiar with the field, while at the same time it's a great primer for someone new to this area.

When the author of this book invited me, based on some of my web illustrations, to create some illustrations for this book I was interested in the project because it spoke directly to my own experience. I teach design for instructional media in a university setting and struggle every day, not only with my own deluge of personal information and how to manage it -- but with helping my students recognize that the end result of their own design efforts will be contributing to the personal information overload faced by their clients and their students. This book maps out the dimensions of our current personal information problems, and should be a required read for everyone who is engaged in adding to those problems, trying to solve them, or studying them in any detail. In particular, students of Information Technology, Information Design, Informatics, Instructional Systems, Human Performance and any other discipline with ties to personal information management -- and Jones makes clear how many of us that really is! -- needs to view the complexity of users' lives in this kind of comprehensive detail. Too many of us only think about what we are asking people to use or to do or to remember. This view of their lives may be daunting, but it is critical!

I'm a college dropout(Information Studies), now working in IT as a Systems Admin at a fair sized hotel. When I left college to pursue other at that time more interesting things. I couldn't really see the big picture in why we had to learn what they wanted us to.
Now I do, thanks to this book.

I keep feeling inspired about the management of my information. Both as PIM in my own department, but mostly also for my users. I can suddenly see some meaning in the way they manage their PIM. I as the IT department have to facilitate their professional PIM. I have to give them the tools to make sure they don't lose stuff, but also so they don't drown in information. Suddenly I have a much more nuanced view of my job. Being the geek who loves his tech stuff, can do everything to keep servers and computer running, is not really enough. I have to know my place in the business of managing information and information flow in the company.

This book could teach many programmers, much on how they can make their products more usable to the users. Make them understand some of how people look at the information being processed, stored, shared, pushed by the programs they write. We have to facilitate more styles of PIM than just our own, not everyone works like we do.

I have to stop myself, I just love this book and the ideas it keeps inspiring to pop up in my head.
There is so much for so many people in this book..

I helped to review this book and contributed a number of sidebars to it. In working with William, I came to appreciate the depth and breadth of his thinking on PIM. His job in writing this book was really hard. It was, in part, the job of inventing a discipline. Information management is just coming on the radar of large organizations. There are now products to buy and methods to use to make sure that your information repays the effort it takes to collect, organize and deliver it. But for most individuals, information management still means no more than creating folders and making sure you back up. William has done more than anyone to define the concepts and methods individuals can use to make maximum use of their information. He carefully applies his own research and the work of others to helping you sort out your personal information wheat from chaff.

Personal information is everything from your address book to the story you heard on the radio the other day that you decide later you want to share with a friend. Most of us have a hard enough time with our address books, let alone managing the bits and pieces that we don't even know we need! William makes sense out of this mess using his fascinating research and deep knowledge of the field. It's too much to say that William has figured it all out for you, but he can sure enough get you started!

The author explains vendor independent concepts of load balancers and discusses their (dis)advantages.

He is dividing them into four major applications:

* Server Load Balancing (63p)
* Global Server Load Balancing (19p)
* Firewall Load Balancing and (15p)
* Transparent cache Switching (8p)

additions:

* application examples (4p)
* future outlook (2p)

What makes the book so enjoyable to read is the authors love to the details. The story just flows very smooth.

Especially the thorough explanation, screenshots and technical details deserve the mark "distinction" (Very good). While I read the book it was like puzzle peaces suddenly falling all together to show me the bigger picture.

I did like the follow up of technical issues like session persistency (server affinity), URL switching, system design vs. functionality considerations and the limitations that come with the chosen solutions. The described issues are exactly those that system designers will face in real life and it doesnt stop there of course. The book is laying a good groundwork for development of advanced concepts.

The part of the book that I enjoyed most was the chapter about firewall solution concepts. As the author points out correctly the traffic flow in both directions must be managed. This is also why the setup from a redundant firewall to a load balanced redundant firewall must justify multiple complex issues.

In this case the author went through the analysis of the traffic flow, a stateful vs. stateless discussion, a layer2 vs. layer3 discussion, proxy firewalls, synchronized firewalls, multizone firewalls, VPN load balancing, active-active vs. active-standby discussion and the interaction between routers, load balancers and firewalls. While some topics could only be scratched on the surface the concepts and ideas behind it are explained very clear.

There is no doubt for me that a 2nd edition can easily just pickup where this edition left off. The author clearly shows that there are more scenarios to be discovered and discussed.

On the one side I would love to see a updated 2nd edition from the same author, on the other side I guess it's been hold back to keep the competitions products in a distance ;-)

Also the book was published 6+ years ago I felt that the concepts did not loose any of its value. Which leads me to the point that this must have been " THE Technical Book of the Year 2002"

This book still receives well deserved full marks.

Bravo !!

if you are new to load balancing, get this book. Clear concept explanation, with diagrams. Highly recommend.

With his background in server products and networking products, this author is uniquely qualified with the product experience to present these topics.

From the simple beginnings of DNS server load balancing Kopparapu explains the driving forces behind and solutions presented to load balancing. The majority of the book is an introduction to the concepts and solutions available for server load balancing suitable for everyone from business casual to advanced technical users.

In addition to detailed explanations, the author demonstrates load balancing techniques through a number of illustrations. The illustrations are detailed enough to explain the concepts, but occasionally lack enough practical detail to go out and bulid in a lab or on a network without further understanding.

In combination with a good manual from a load balancing product, any reader would have enough information to implement sophisticated load balancing configurations.

In addition to server load balancing, the text covers caching techniques available through the use of some layer 4-7 devices. Of all the topics this one is the least detailed in the text. The author understandably covers only that part of cache technology related to layer 4-7 devices. A great deal of the technology required to put together an entire cache system resides in other parts of the system outside of the scope of this book. The implications for the architecture of a network are far reaching and worthy of at one more dedicated book on the topic.

Finally, the author presents the topic of firewall load balancing. Like caching, this is a complex topic. A complete understanding of network security and firewalls would require at least a few other books.

For those that already understand caches or firewalls though, this book provides detailed information on how to scale those systems with layer 4-7 technology.

This is certainly the most comprehensive and easy to read text on the topic. Anyone who reads this will also look forward to future texts from the author on emergning challenges in layer 4-7 network security and streaming content and distribution.

Compared with Tony Bourke's book, this one depicts more on technical details such as how packets flow, how health check is done and etc.. On the other hand, Bourke's book mentions more about the basic concept and the introduction to current available products.

If you are interested in how load balancers are designed, this is the right book for you. However, if you are just shopping around and only want to know what load balancers are, get Brouke's one.

Btw, I was a bit disappointed at chapter 9. I expected to see more opinions on the future development of load balancers but it was not mentioned too much.

This book is a very well written and nicely organised introduction to server load balancing. The author describes the basics of load balancing, including NAT, session persistence, and network architectures. A discussion on application-layer parsing was quite good. There is also a chapter on global server load balancing (including incorporating load-balancing into the authoritative DNS server) which I found to be very detailed and interesting.

Much of the book is centered on how to load balance TCP (and to a lesser extent UDP), and the author uses HTTP and FTP as his primary driving examples. Throughout the book, the author provides some insight regarding what approaches real companies use (e.g. "this method is what Foundry and Cisco uses."), which I liked very much. Also, the illustrations were plentiful (although a bit primitive-looking).

There are only a few negatives about this book. The english writing is a bit stilted at times, and the chapters on firewalls and caches were basically rehashes of earlier chapters. Finally, I was hoping the author would have provided more detail on the load-distribution heuristics (which server to choose) with more metrics and actual real-world results.

I found the book to be extremely well organised. You will not get lost while reading this book, but you will need a university-level understanding of TCP/IP (and probably the link layer as well to get the NAT material) and networks in general to fully appreciate the matieral. Overall, a great book.

Excellent product for anyone just starting to learn the guitar. It is everything it said it was and more. We are loving the book. Detail oriented.

I have all my students buy this book. Pictures and explanations are top notch.

I had a few lessons from a friend to get started many years ago. But I hadn't picked up the guitar much since. I was given a Les Paul electric guitar recently and picked up a copy of this book. Excellent resource for a visual learner. Tight integration of hundreds of photos and 'to the point', simple instruction. Maran recruited a top flight instructor (veteran college instructor and session musician) to put the content together. I'm going through it COVER TO COVER.

I have several guitar books as I have been learning to play for the past 2 years. I have alot of instructional books and learned bits and pieces. This book is an excellent resource and covers almost every topic in great detail. Everything from chords, picking, blues, rock and country guitar, guitar effects, amps, etc. Also includes instruction and pictures on repairing and maintaining your guitar, adjusting the action, changing strings, etc. A valuable resource and worth owning yourself.

Want to learn guitar from a book? There are plenty of slimmer guides on the market - but none with the depth and detail of Moran Illustrated Guitar, which packs in color illustrations of techniques. From playing different kinds of chords to power rock, single notes, slides, string muting and much more, Moran Illustrated Guitar packs in the step-by-step close-up color photos so it's hard to go wrong. An outstanding instructional which stands apart from similar-sounding guitar 'how-to' guides.

The book got to me in a timely manner. I'm very pleased and hope to do well on the exam.

I used this book together with the corresponding Training Guide, by the same authors (this was redundant because the two books essentially repeat each other - I could have just used the Training Guide.) I think these authors are amazing - they have ability to present everything in such an easy understandable way, that I didn't just memorize the stuff for the exam but actually understood it. Now my next one is 70-229 - SQL server exam, I wish Kalani had a book for that one as well...

This book is pretty good at explaining the needed topics. I only used this book to pass the exam and found it compact and accurate.

Two bad notes are since coriolis was bought out it is tough to get errata for this book and there are a few problems. The securit section is a bit weak so read some online stuff to fill it in.

Good luck ZoOnI

I skipped reviewing the Microsoft study guide and used this book as my primary reference in passing the exam. Each component on this exam (web services, windows services, enterprise services) has its own architecture and interface. This book did a great job of distilling that information in a way that was easy to understand. I especially liked how the chapters were organized to introduce a concept, and then show you the code for implementing it. I simply wrote my own example for each chapter and did well on the exam. I didn't get much use out of the study guide or CD, but the practice tests in the book are very useful.

This certification study-resource from Author Amit Kalani, served as a rather indispensable part of the revision portfolio for Exam 70-320 (XML Web Services and Server Components with C# .NET ).

Simply put, it is a very useful & sound comprehensive reference for Exam 70-320. It served me greatly in gaining both an overview of all the elements that would appear on the 320 exam, but also served well in my overall review and revision endeavours for the 70-320 Exam.

using this resource got me to the place where i felt i had covered the core objectives for the exam and was ready to move on to the next phase ie: having a go at tackling past question scenarios.

i was glad i bought it.

what i liked about this book :
- it is a comprehensive read at 344 pages -(ie: the 2 Testing chapters non factored)
- there are exam questions after every chapter, relating to that chapter and the exam objectives the chapter tackles
- Answers with explanations are provided with every question featured in the book.
- there is a CD with questions set in an application that simulates the exam room scenario
- The CD also comes with a .pdf, e-version of the book.

I purchased the book in question as a pair with the companion Exam Training guide -(equally written by the same authors: Amit Kalani + Priti Kalani) from Que press ISBN: 0789728249; and i basically have'nt looked back one second since taking that decison.

the two books complement each other very well and provide a very fine balance between the need to train & equip the reader with the strong hands-on .NET XML Web-services development skills he/she will require in order to thrive as a C#.NET web developper; whilst at the same time fully framing these necessary hands-on expertise , in the context & framework of the exam the reader probably seeks to take at the end of working/ploughing his/her way through the book.

Amit Kalani is a very good author. he is well known in the C#.NET world. and he has a way of making a typically difficult material to teach, clearly explained, and he reinforces this with ample examples and practise, so it sinks in and becomes proper knowledge. So for those starting out on C#.NET or others looking for a place to start the preparation for the MCAD.NET with C# or 70-320 exam, these Books could easily serve as the spot to take it from.

However, i would add but the small proviso that depending on where you are along the previous "C#" programming-experience scale, i'd say you'd do well to buy yourself a good companion C# programming language text to accompany you on your journey.

There are lots of books on Amazon that would serve you well in this function/capacity . the text i used to give me a helping hand is called the: "C# Bible" by author: jeff ferguson (et al); it has for ISBN:0764548344.i found this easy to read and got through the first 20 chapters of concise, easy to follow, C# language basics, with relative ease.

After working through the 70-320 ExamCram resource in question and using the Training guide counterpart to acquire deeper hands-on practise to cement the interface between :( knowledge of the .Net Framework1.0 XML Web-services development concepts as treated in the books), with that of proper programming competence;(ie:knowing your stuff); I was ready for the next phase ie: going on to tackle past exam questions

using Transcender and the Testking more than sufficed to ensure & assure success at the exam;

Take & Ace the exam with ease: 150minutes & 43 questions.

Success at the exam-level is assured by appropriate preparation; ie: tackling past questions regarding .NET programming & C# XML Web-services development related problem scenarios in order to sharpen your wits about choosing the right solution in any given problem scenario. this is the crunch of it. do that ,and u pass.

End of.

The passing mark is 700 ie: 70%. i sat the exam on Tuesday (31st October 2006); scored 98% ie: 984.

MCAD.NET requirements accomplished!

Good luck.

cheers :-)

This book has saved me a lot of time that I would have otherwise spent combing through huge Exchage reference books. As an Exchange Administrator, I have already found this book to be an invaluable asset in my reference library. Answers to many common administrative questions and "How To's" are easily found in this handy little volume. You gotta love its size.

Out of all the Exchange 2000 Server books I purchased, this one is the only one I used regularly. I have since purchased Stanek's Exchange Server 2003 book and it is equally as good if not better. For admins, it provides the essential details with clear, precise steps for implementing common features. For devs, it provides the cut to the chase info you need to get in there and get out quickly. I would recommend this very highly.

I bought this book for our Exchange admin when we were moving to Exchange 2000 from 5.5. Two months later I was going to be the one implementing Exchange and this book came to the rescue in a big way. As a total Exchange newbie I learned everything I needed (and now know) about Exchange from this book. Sure there are bigger books but not better books. If you are a Exchange guru, this book will be a little on the basic side for you. However, if you are anything less than a guru or if you are a new I would highly recommend this book.

I had a need to quickly resolve a problem with Exchange 2000 Server, having never worked with it before. This book was an excellent resource for that purpose. Not because it gave me the exact answer I needed (which I doubt many books would do) but because it clearly and concisely explained what you can do with Exchange 2000 Server and how to do it. It showed how to do things properly and from that it was fairly easy to deduce what was wrong.

Because the book is well structured (no excess verbage, no "chattiness") it's easy to read, clear and to the point. It gets to the point and stays on target.

All in all an excellent reference you'll use over and over and, I think, an excellent place to start learning Exchange 2000 Server. I find that this book tells what Exchange 2000 Server can do and how to do it. With that knowledge I think you'll be better grounded if and when you go for more in depth understanding of architecture and the like. After this book, if you want more in depth information you can move on to other (bigger) books but I think you'll get the biggest bang for the buck from this one..

This is excellent when used for quick reference and only for the experienced and knowledgeable. This is inappropriate for beginners since Exchange is intertwined with Active Directory. Without knowing all the implications of performing the various tasks outlined in the book, it can be detrimental to a company.