Computer and Science Books

I love reading technology and since research is my life this book was among the many subjects I covered for my thesis in the creation of my watermark project. The book is highly didactic and the essential algorithm along with its elemental principles cite a uniformed approach when designing software. This is remarkably a great book.

This is a very good introduction to steganography and watermarking. The book is well organized. Moreover, many researchers who have been studied in this field contribute to this book. I think this book gives a comprehensive understanding to people who want to study on watermarking.

Great introduction for tech or non-tech readers into the field.

Excellent introduction and reference on information hiding. Covers very well the various aspects of the subject. With this book and the procedeeings of the information hiding conferences, the subject is pretty much covered. This research area is relatively young, and no other serious text is available.

A very good book, explicit with examples of how to integrate technology into the classroom for young learners and especially K-12 students. A great choice.

The Lengels obviously know technology and how it should be used in schools. For example, instead of agreeing that schools should prohibit use of iPods, MP3 players, cell phones, etc., in their classrooms, the Lengels suggest that teachers put all those digital gadgets that kids love to work for learning. The book is filled with how-tos on just about everything a teacher needs to know and also includes an online resource that complements the book's content .

This is such an easy to read book for the educator or reader interested in understanding the why of technology and some of the ways it can be used in the classroom to enhance student learning. Jim and Kathi Lengel have drawn on an extensive background of using technology to put into one place ideas, answers to questions and step-by-step guides called "How to". All educators or other interested parties will find something in this book for them. This book truly is a practical guide. There are many urls referenced in the chapters for the reader to seek further information and understanding.

Just finished reviewing a new book written by Jim and Kathleen Lengel "Integrating Technology - A Practical Guide". I believe we need to meet folks where that are, not where we think they should be. Yes, lot's of folks in the know are right about not teaching applications in my humble view, but away about the book.

They start with an interesting question " Why should we Intergrate Technology?" and then provide three chaphters of thoughts, bits and bytes of research, and URLs to get the reader focused. Each chaphter uses a different lens to sharpen the readers vison: Kids, Techers, and Classroom. There are interactive components, short surveys and "how to's", you can stop and try!

From there it gets into the real fiber ( was going to say meat, but....) of intergration for the rest of book, but not theory, truely a practical guide. Yes, it names applications! From Webquestd to Word and beyond, into all these new Right Brain, visually, gobal, hunter- gather media stuff!

This book entitled "Intelligent Broadband Multimedia Networks" is volume 1 of the two volume set. The authors Prof. Syed V. Ahamed (CUNY) and Dr. Victor Lawrence (Bell Labs) have presented the topics in this book in a very easy to read manner without much mathematical treatment.

The book covers in depth about the evolution of intelligent networks with its systems design and architecture. Topics such as IN/1, IN/2 and advanced intelligent networks (AIN) are presented very well. The book also touches upon certain aspects of ISDN elements, wireless networks, knowledge processing systems, intelligent multimedia networks, educational and medical networks.

This book is recommended for graduate students in computer science, electrical and telecommunication engineering. Scientists and engineers would certainly find certain advanced topics covered in this book to be interesting.

The companion book for this book is entitled "Design and Engineering of Intelligent Communication Systems" (Vol. 2)

This is an era of Information Superhighway and emerging Global Intelligent Networks that is encompassing almost every aspect of human life. Whether we are at home, in an office, at friend's home, or in between, we want to stay connected irrespective of time and place.

Prof Syed Ahamed and Victor Lawrence have written two volumes on the topics: "Intelligent Broadband Multimedia Networks" and "Design and Engineering of Intelligent Communication Systems" illustrating the architectural designs, software and hardware requirements of these systems.

First, this is the first attempt by these authors to present the material combining data networks, computer networks, and different communication technologies with algorithmic and adaptive intelligence leading to Intelligent Broadband Multimedia Networks and Intelligent Communication Systems, and perhaps that is the solution of our ever growing desires for variety of services.

Second, the language used is bejewled, lucid, engaging, and appealing with penetrating metodologies, simplifying the complexity of the material by diagrams and flowcarts wherever necessary.

Third, the subject matter is designed specifically for the graduate students involved in research at Master or Ph.D level.

Fourth, the chapter on Knowledge Processing in Educational, Medical, and other networks is a unique and an elaborate exposition of the subject that is still unexplored.

Finally, I strongly recommend these volumes for the graguate students involved in research in order to benefit from the material as I myself did.

Prof Tasneem H Kazmi
City University of New York (CUNY)
September 25, 2001.

"Intelligent Broadband Multimedia Networks" is an excellent book about new emerging technologies and the future of data- and tele- communications. That's why it's a reference book of choice for many research scientists and network professionals at a well known R&D company like Bell Labs. And I strongly believe that it will still be for the next decade!
Prof. Syed Ahamed and Dr. Victor Lawrence put together a reference book presenting, in a systematic way, all aspects of modern communication networks, with emphasis in intelligent telecommunications networks (IN).
The book has 3 parts: - In the first part is presented the transition from classical networks to the more advanced intelligent networks. The approach of Bellcore (now Telcordia) and AT&T Labs, the 2 major players in the area of Intelligent Networks, is further investigated. Also the ITU-T standard for IN is presented, to better understand the current status and the evolution of IN.
- In the second part AT&T's Universal Intelligent Services Network and Bellcore's IN-1, IN-1+, IN-2 and AIN(Advanced Intelligent Networks) are analyzed in full detail: the architecture, functional resources, as well as supporting hardware and software. Intimate connections between IN and ISDN or wireless networks are also explored.
ITU-T's IN Conceptual Model is analyzed here in detail and a systematic presentation of Global Intelligent Networks, detailed for several country specifics, are given.
- The third part explores in many details the future evolution and applications of Intelligent Networks. The impact of IN on educational and medical environments are explored in full detail. In this third part the reader is also introduced to the very new concepts of "Knowledge Machines" and "Knowledge Processing Systems" as well as their connection with a "Multifunctional Intelligent Network". At the end the social and cultural impact of Broadband Intelligent Networks is analyzed.
The book has a very high density of useful information, introduces in all detail many new concepts in the field of communications networks, and it's intellectually challenging. Always, the systematic way of presentation makes it easy to follow complex technical concepts and their interrelation.
I clearly see this book and its companion second volume "Design and Engineering of Intelligent Communication Systems" as an excellent support book for graduate courses in communications networks as well as a main reference book for any research scientist as well as other specialists in the field of data- and tele- communications networks. Other categories of engineering professionals, eager to better understand new emerging communications technologies, could find valuable information in this book and its companion volume.
Also, philosophers can find a refined analysis about the evolving Knowledge Society, the impact of it onto the personal life, and the changes it may imply in the family structure, public sector, and corporate sector. Social workers can find in the book an authoritative voice in the social and cultural impact of future modern communications networks.

Dr. Anthony Malczanek
Sr. Network Consultant

Intelligent Broadband Multimedia Networks by Dr. Ahamed and Dr. Lawrence is a graduate level textbook. The material covered in this book ranges from defining intelligent networks to more specific coverage of educational, medical, and knowledge-based networks. This book is in three major parts and twenty chapters; each part contains several chapters. Part I has four chapters and discusses generic aspects of networks. It focuses on communication networks and computer systems. It describes fundamental concepts. It presents similarities and differences between intelligent networks and conventional networks. It also discusses signaling networks, data networking and communication networking, and evolution of phased intelligence in American public-switched networks. Part I covers the seven layers of the OSI model and their functions and X.25 public-switched network standards. Part II has nine chapters and focuses on recent and evolving networks. It defines wireless communication networks and intelligent networks (IN). It presents in great detail the three versions of IN/1, IN/1+, and IN/2 and their building blocks. It also presents global intelligent networks and advanced intelligent networks (AIN). An entire chapter is dedicated to ISDN. It covers other topics in great detail such as BRISDN, PRISDN, BISDN and ATM technologies. Part III in seven chapters focuses on future intelligent networks- educational, medical, knowledge-based, and intelligent home networks.

Dr. Ahamed and Dr. Lawrence have included design methodologies for putting intelligence into any communications systems. They include specific architectures that can be used by network designers/engineers and planners, telecommunications managers/professionals, and computer scientists. The breadth of the coverage of various topics makes this book suitable for use in advanced level courses on intelligent communications networks.

Intelligent Broadband Multimedia Networks (vol.1) and Design and Engineering of Intelligent Communication Systems (vol.2) were textbooks in two courses I took with Dr. Ahamed who was also my mentor at CUNY, Graduate Center, New York, NY. Both volumes are excellent textbooks for graduate courses.

C.S. Rani, Ph.D.

If you look for a empirical and graphic illustration of cyberspace, this is not your choice. This book is intended to contribute to theoretical founding of cyberspace. So most pages are devoted to reviewing and elaborating various existing theories, researches. That is, this is a meta-theorizing. His founding theoretical orientation is not fashionable postmodernist but Giddens¡¯s theory of structuration, particularly the knowledgability of actor, and modernity. The author manages to bring about a persuasive extension of Giddens¡¯s approach to cyberspace. He argues there is no reason to see that online community is not that different from offline day-to-day life from totally discrepant angle as postmodernists claim. Online community also assumes the development of the integrity, trust and shared stock of knowledge. What is needed to assess the experience of this brave new world is the proper theory of media and modernity.
The overall outline of the book is like this:
Ch.1: dealing with the nature of ¡®risk society¡¯ depending on Giddens and Habermas.
Ch.2: illustrating the technological and institutional features of internet.
Ch.3: theoretical founding of internet as media based on Thompson¡¯s conception.
Ch.4: arguing that the virtual community is not that far cry from actual (offline) community. So we can cope with it based on existing framework.
Ch.5 arguing that mobilizing IT into organizations like the enterprise, i.e., restructuring, should be reconsidered in the light that IT changes the settings of interaction for IT is a form of media. This chapter tackles the cases of government and NGO¡¯s IT adoption too.
Ch.6: focusing on how the internet enriches and transforms the nature of the self and experience in everyday life. His position is like this: ¡®the self is not being transformed by forces that operate exclusively behind the backs of individuals¡¯.
Below are comments I posted on the bulletin board of a graduate class. Most are complaints. Yep. It¡¯s not fair to the author. But the reader I presumed are those who already read the text. So there was not much reason to recapping the text and writing down praises. And some are not that relevant to the book directly. But I think it would be helpful to get what is like the real line of the book.

1. (On Ch.1) This introductory chapter on founding concepts borrowed from Giddens and Beck, in the tint of Frankfurt¡¯s conception of life world, is much more graphic than Castells¡¯s. But the sketch of time-space distanciation or modernization, in the light of uncertainty and risk is not figurative. And that, there is no definition of ¡®risk¡¯. Yep. Risk is well known concept and widely used. But the writer mixes it with life world in the sense of Frankfurt¡¯s. he should have suggest the definition of those concepts to place in the context. And worse, he omits various ancillary concepts like danger vs. security, disembedding vs. reembedding, ontological security and so forth. Yep. Recapping whole line of ¡®The Consequences of Modernity¡¯ is not reasonable. But such a skipping causes confusion.
2. (On Ch.3) I can¡¯t understand why the author uses the ambiguous concept of culture, while he devoted a few pages to theoretical problems of that concept. He doesn¡¯t substantiates the intangible word at all. I¡¯m not sure what would be his object in this chapter. Frankly, I couldn't distinguish Geertz¡¯s conception from functionalist¡¯s. For that reason, Giddens expelled that word from his theorizing. I couldn't see any benefit to use that word. Culture is no more than a conceptual umbrella, at least in sociology, which unjustifiably conflate seemingly compatible phenomena, though actually discrepant in practical research. Its notoriety doesn¡¯t fall short of one of ¡®society¡¯. For this reason, Giddens restrains himself from the temptation to sue that word, rather confined it only to ¡®the locale of interaction¡¯. Thompson¡¯s analytic framework of ¡®cultural transmission¡¯ is awesome. In my opinion, his framework is wholly compatible to Giddens¡¯s. For Giddens himself doesn¡¯t offer sufficient theorizing on media or technology, his framework could complement the shortfall. But I don¡¯t think Giddens¡¯s stratification model, especially power, could go hand in hand with culture. Instead, why not replace ¡®modality of cultural transmission¡¯ with ¡®media¡¯ ? I suspect author¡¯s use of ¡®culture¡¯ is no more than the inflation of concept.
Besides the conceptual glitch, the intention of ch.3 seems successful: to link the internet to publicness or public sphere. It has been discussed for long. But the author¡¯s attempt to theoretically found it has a point in sketching out the field.
3. (On Ch.4) On the first section of ch.4, I wonder why the author simply ignore the very condition of those various citations he bombarded. Didn¡¯t he fail to be reminded that it could cause confusion? I won¡¯t say he should have reproduced the emptiness of postmodernists, but he should have sensitized, at least, and articulated what is his opponent. It¡¯s the way of discussion. Yep. He illustrates their position in ch.6. but ch.6 is not ch.4.
4. (OnCh.4) the author follows the line of Giddens to attack the babbles of postmodernists. As well known, postmodernists take the stance of poststructuralists in the conception of the self. It has some points in the sphere of philosophy. But it¡¯s hard to be so in sociology. As Giddens puts it, the agency should be conceived as knowledgable actor. This is the point of late Wittgenstein too. In this vein, the babble of postmodernist should be rejected. In this regard, author¡¯s sketching out of IRC, in the fashion of Goffman, is much more persuasive than empty discussion of postmodernists.

To the first-time users of both the Arpanet and Milnet in the birthing days of the Internet, it was clear pretty early on that this new technological development could very well become a potent force in society's processes. Sadly, academic exploration lagged in its tracking over the years, apparently favoring instead a focus on technological advances in the new medium.

Slevin's work goes far in correcting the shortfall between books that teach us how to approach the Internet and those that speak of how the Internet approaches-and changes-us. He feels the Internet is a new media that informs certain social forces transforming modern society, and that our human relationships re-sculpt themselves in an emerging arena of "manufactured uncertainty" and "manufactured risk."

From this thesis, Slevin goes on to do something quite valuable. He creates a new vocabulary, perhaps even a language, which names these often contradictory forces that push and pull our communities with new social tensions and technological innovations. We respond to these tidal flows, of course, both consciously and unconsciously. The point Slevin makes in this is, "we ignore them at our peril."

While Slevin's book certainly cannot be described as a fireplace-and--shawl reader, it is, nevertheless, eminently readable for both the specialist and interested layperson. The textual flow is relentlessly outlined, tracking the changes in society from the early days of hand shaking computers through the emergence of today's world wide web. With the careful introduction and naming of each social development, a mental game board emerges, on which one can see how each transforming force dynamically plays out in our human uncertainties.

Slevin carefully negotiates the quagmire of describing the Internet in moral terms. He turns away from the battle between doomsday prophets and ecstatic acolytes of the electronic altar. True to the post-modern dilemma, he views the Internet through a multiplicity of lenses. His diopter may not always be accurate, but his focus is unusually clear, particularly on a swirling subject that refuses to be interpreted in linear fashion.

In reading through Slevin's careful foundation necessary for a useful vocabulary, one can sometimes lose the sense of raw power for transformation the Internet carries within itself. Slevin seems to counter this by describing how our core institutions, never big fans of any kind of change, creak and groan at their very roots. In fact, he makes a good case that certain organizations are responding to the Internet in a fitful reflex of denial or embrace, perhaps even an odd combination of both, unconsciously sowing the seeds for their own destruction or transformation.

On the other hand, his views on emerging virtual communities are quite tantalizing. While he agrees it is not productive to trade a real life for a virtual world, the Internet does offer the potential for relating to one another through continually changing social practices. If so, one consequence of the Internet might be a whole new sense of community as both real and imagined. This thought is crucial as Slevin considers what groups of people might find themselves qualified or marginalized in the new cultural arena.

On the whole, Slevin articulates an understanding of our emerging future as carefully as a medical student lays out a skeleton in anatomy class. Generally, he succeeds by offering the reader a number of "windows" (the allusion is intentional and well explained in the book) through which one can view the Internet and the new social experience it mediates.

One doubts this is a book for the ages, but it certainly is one for the present and immediate future. As one who is fast wearing out a perfectly good pair of eyes on fuzzy fonts, I approached the book through a weary ennui. I found myself quickly captivated by a rigorous and perceptive thinker offering a new language for interpreting what is for many of us an anxious experience. While Slevin sometimes falls into jargon, he quickly gets back to a thought that is fresh and original. The writing of this book was a wonderful effort, and well worth the read.

Terrell Seaton is a student in the Ph.D. program for Leadership Studies at Gonzaga University in Spokane, WA.

As a doctoral student in Mass Communcation at the University of Texas in Austin studying the social impact of the Internet, I was glad to find a text that discussed the Internet from a social and cultural perspective. It was so refreshing to find that someone recognizes that the impacts of technology are broader than just the "online culture."

I was also inspired by Dr. Slevin's active approach recommendation to technology, rather than the passive approach or wait-and-see approach, or the technozealot/technophobe approaches that are prevalent in current literature. I, too, feel that the impact will be the sum total of various pros, cons and indifferences of the medium and that only through a coherent study of technology and an analysis of communication and sociological theory will we be able to grasp its opportunities and consequences. I plan to refer to this book and the resources on the associated Web site as a key resource in my dissertation process.

The focus on the arguments of Giddens, Thompson and Baumann strengthened the position of the author and grounded the work in sociological theory. Slevin realizes that we must not assume that traditional theory will apply in this new medium, but that we must analyze existing theory and understand that the unique dynamics of the Internet might modify or even rewrite theory. This work is powerful and insightful in its ability to integrate and apply multiple perspectives. I only wish that I could have written this book myself!

Good books about the Internet are rare, but Slevin's book is certainly one of them. It approaches the Internet from a social point of view, and describes the Net as a completely new medium, which covers aspects of all other existing media, and which, being so varied, has some major advantages over single, separate media (like newspapers or television). As Slevin argues, the Internet differs from a single, separate medium in that it does not merely have a push role, but can give people so much information as to make a real difference and a huge impact on society. Slevin might, as such, have named his book 'Internet is Society' rather than 'Internet and Society'.

The book is a good introduction to the origins and definitions of the Internet. It describes how young people basically grow up with the medium and how other people are spending more and more time and money to explore the Net. The book also deals with the Internet's possibilities and, not unimportantly, with the risks that are involved. These risks being a hot issue in society at the moment (risk management in organizations), Slevin's book provides some new insights into handling the Internet, both online as well as offline. So the book is a kind of a SWOT analysis of the Net and I am very impressed by this book!

René Kalsbeek M.A.Communication Studies, University of Amsterdam

This is a very good java programming book, especially for beginning programmers. I've used it for both my java classes in college and it has helped me immensely in laying the foundations of my knowledge about java. It is very well organized and there is a nice flow to the book (the illustrations and examples are really helpful).

The best thing about this book is that it explains each new concept in detail, so that it would make perfect sense to somebody who has never had any prior programming experience.

This is one book that keeps you glued to the pages and makes learning a new language seem almost simple! I highly recommend buying this book!!!

I've used this book in my Java 2 class and found it very useful and accessible. I also used it as a reference when grading other homeworks. Either way the book was extremely good. This book shows clearly the authors knowledge of the subject and mentality of meeting the students at least halfway as they learn programming.

Heartily recommend this to anyone!

The Dean's emphasis on readability make this book very easy for someone who is not experienced with the philosophies of programming (OOP) and the Java language. Having used the materials for my own use, the content definitely help pave the way for mastery of other languages (c++, objective-c, javascript, etc) - thanks to the fundamentals from this book.

I would definitely recommend this book to those wanting to pick up Java or build a good foundation for understanding the principles of software development!!

This is the best Java book I ever seen. It explains all topics in a simple and efficient way. You can start knowing nothing about programming and you will finish with the first steps to be an expert. Reading this book helped me get 2nd place on the ACM Regional Programming Contest last year and several other awards. I've read some other Java books and this the best. I recommend this book to anyone!!!

If one wants to learn S-PLUS, there couldn't be a better book than this. Similar in style to Kernighan and Ritchie's books, this book is brief but covers a lot of ground. Lot of care and thought has gone into professor Phil Spector's writing and in my professional life I have always turned to this book whenever I was unable to solve any S-PLUS problem myself.

Some of the readers who have never programmed before or have been used to 1000+ pages books with zillions of screen shots and similar page fillers will find that this book will require a somewhat slower reading in the beginning to fully comprehend it. But it will be a worthwhile effort.

I have taken statistical computing courses under Phil Spector and they have been fun and this book is no different. My only regret is that he has not written books on other programming languages. (He just does not have time.) However, currently I am relearning SAS from reading his free notes (downloadable from his webpage at UCB, and I have picked up a lot in a short period of time.

Thanks Professor Spector.

The book "An Introduction to S and S-Plus" by Phil Spector is an excellent text for anyone who wants to get things done with the S/S-Plus statistical package. The book covers the basics of loading data into the system, how to manipulate datasets using the various operators and functions of S-Plus, as well as how to make full use of the graphics subsystem. Advanced topics such as how to dynamically load object code into S are also covered. The best part of the book is that it offers very useful examples of how to do things. Unlike many other computer books, the examples aren't contrived expository devices that the author cooked up in a minute. I've found that, even after using S-Plus for many years, I come back to this book over and over again for guidance on how to get things done. I give the book my highest recommendation.

Clear, concise, and to the point. Dr. Spector teaches statistics courses at UC Berkeley, and it shows.

This is a great book for the S-Plus novice. While it doesn't cover every topic it does explain a lot of basics in easy to understand English. The examples and explanations are very informative.

network engineerin

network engineerin

network engineerin

Strong points:

This book covers a quite complete issues of all telecommunication world. The author seemed put a quite effort in writing this book. I think he collected and read a lot of references to build up the book. Also, this book is design for everybody (especially entry levels) in telecommunication industry. The book is written in order, start from PSTN to data communication and private network.

As a non-American, he emphasized international telecommunication issues as always as he could, especially the interconneting between North American and European systems. This, I think, could open and broaden some American readers' view of international telecommunication issues.

Weak points:

I do not think that the author knew exactly every issue he brought up. Several quite important issues were left unanswered. Another thing that although this book covers a quite complete telecommunication issues, the explainations are sometimes "skin deep". I think this emphasizes that the author is not really an expert in his field. I think he just read issues from some references and put them in the book without effort to answer or solve. I think this should be obvious from the book dimension. There is no way that such a small book could cover a lot of explanations to every telecommunication issues.

My recommendations:

I think this book is more suitable for a quite reference rather than a book to read for a search of complete understanding. If you need a book that covers a complete fundamental telecommunication knowledge, I suggest that you read "Voice & Data Communications Handbook" by Regis J. "Bud" Bates and Donald W. Gregory.

although this isn't my favorite pascal book, it's a good textbook without any major flaws.

EDIT: pascal is a dead language. for a simple but useful language, try Delphi (based on pascl) or Visual Basic.

This was my textbook for Pascal at the University at Central Florida. It has helped me through Computer Science I and II. It is well written and easy to understand. It helps for both the beginner and advanced programmers. This is a need for anyone who programs in Pascal.

I will definitely be purchasing other books from this author. He has a very direct, and extremely clear way of explaining what would have otherwise been confusing principles.

The High School I attended used this book for its first-year programming course. It is well written, and clearly explains all of the basic concepts, without leaving out any of the more complex parts of the language

I've read the book a couple of times now, and find it very helpful. The book is filled with good advice. I would have found it more useful if it had more suggestions and best practices, instead of just explaining the various options. I found the Terminal Services and Citrix chapter very confusing. The most transparent way to run Citrix under windows is using the CTS service with a Resource Profile when running with a Citrix Web Interface server. For Mac, I find running Network Connect with an limited ACL to allow running directly with the Citrix Web Interface works best. It would be helpful to give some "best practices" of when to use each deployment method.

One area that took a while for me to understand was executing Host Checker policies in the realm. Page 89 doesn't stress this, but you MUST "Evaluate Policy" in the realm to use that policy in a role. I found it much better to enforce a HC policy in the role, NOT in the realm. This is especially true if you have multiple realms on a signin page. Getting remediation to work the way you want it to is not trivial.

The authentication section was very good. Missing was information on properly setting up LDAP group settings such as recommended setting of Reverse Group Search and Nested Group Level. JTAC suggested turning off Reverse Search and maxing nesting between 5 and 7 but no more than 7. The whole thing with the Server Catalog is confusing and could be explained.

Finally, I would have liked a lot more emphasis on User Session Policy Tracing, and more real life suggestions on what to look for. Also, I have never successfully used Simulation in a meaningful way. If it is useful, examples of how to set it up would be helpful.

Again, a very useful book with a lot of great info. I'd just like to see a little more "Cookbook" style examples of real world setup issues.

-=Dan=-

This is an excellent book. It provides a lot of helpful information on how to set up a Juniper SA appliance. The information in this book has helped us organize the user and resource profiles in our installation, as well as set up remote access to Citrix applications. I recommend this book to anyone setting up or administering a Juniper Secure Access SSL VPN.

Very comprehensive, has lots of tips which are not in the manual. It also talks about some of the next-generation technologies, and other offerings traditional VPNs just cannot do. Highly recommended!

So I realize my rating is a little biased, but I had some things to say and I couldn't find a place for an author to leave their remarks, so here they are. If you could pick a rating that didn't count I would have done that, but alas you can not, and I'm not going to ding myself or my co-authors for that.

First, if you're looking at buying this book, or have already purchased this book, then I'd like to say thank you. So, Thank You. I hope you enjoy the book and I hope you find what you're looking for inside its pages.

Let me start off by saying that as the title states, this is a configuration guide. It always bothers me when I see someone review a book complaining about how some of the information is too basic. This book is meant to be a guide for beginners to experts, it will obviously cover some things that are basic but hopefully has enough advanced material to keep seasoned users happy as well.

To the beginners, you're going to love it. I would have loved to have had this book when I first started working with this device, which is why this book exists now; I couldn't find what I needed, so I got a few friends together and we did something about that. It covers everything you need to hit the ground running and walks you through how to do it. We've got enough screenshots in here that you should be able to find any menu you're looking for or just verify that you're on the right screen when you see it.

To the experts, you should enjoy this too. Hey, we all love the Admin Guide that Juniper provides us with, but lets be honest, it's unbelievably huge and can sometimes be a little hard to understand. This book puts things in plain English and explains them so you only have to read them once, not ten times, before you get the "Aha!" you're looking for. It should also be a great quick reference guide for you when you can't recall how to configure something, though you've done it a thousand times. And last, but certainly not least, you can hand it to the new guy and tell him to read it rather than having to explain everything to him.

Now of course a book wouldn't be a book without errors, and we have ours too. Does this bother me? Yes. Does this make me insane? You bet. Is this a reality of the publishing world? I'm quickly learning that it is.

Chapter 1 is "Defining a Firewall". What the heck is a firewall chapter doing as Chapter 1 of a VPN book? I asked the same question, nay, I yelled it at the top of my lungs(Though my language was more colorful). This chapter was used by the publisher as a placeholder for the original Chapter 1 material, which is the current Introduction. Somewhere in the formation of the book, as the deadlines loomed and were surpassed(Sorry about that pre-orderers), things were getting rushed to the printer and the placeholder ended up more than just a placeholder. I assumed(Silly me) as the book went to print that this was not the case. So what does this mean?

It means there's extra information in the book that doesn't exactly fit its theme. Is this bad information? Not at all, the chapter is sound information, it just doesn't quite belong, and in future revisions of the book it will not be there. I think the current Introduction of the book does a far better job of introducing it, and in future prints will take the place of Chapter 1.

I want to stress that the rest of the book is SOLID! We work with these devices every day, many of us at Juniper Networks, or working directly for Juniper Networks. Will this book have everything you want? I hope so, I sincerely do. If it doesn't, I'm sorry, all I can say is drop me a line and we'll see what we can do in the Second Edition. So thanks again for reading our book, and thank you for taking the time to read my comments as well.

This book is not pretentious about what it tries to do. It has no grandiose notions of explaining theories behind architecture, capturing history of the field, how to select architecture to enhance certain architectural qualities, trade offs to consider or patterns to choose from.

It is simply a guide on what architectural views are more relevant than others when trying to build large scale systems, what the view points guiding the generation of those views are, how to use these views effectively when guiding software projects. This it does admirably well, to the point.

It does point to other reference material of relevance for other topics on architecture that is useful for deeper knowledge.

Apart from avoiding pitfalls, this is a good book to help train senior developers and leads who want to move to architect roles. Also helps in developing shared vision on architectural deliverables to be generated among stakeholders.

4 Stars since it is rather pricey.

An excellent reference on what UML diagrams to use to capture the achitecture of a large software project. And this isn't based on the authors' ivory-tower opinions, but on their actual experience of using these diagrams in the real world. We have since used their approach to successfully capture (and thereby communicate to others) the architecture of software projects at our company.

The writing style is a bit dry (there are no humorous anecdotes), but this is more than made up for by being concise.

The book also includes an excellent primer of the various roles a software architect (and other software managers) should take within a large project.

This book presents a very practical guide to designing and developing large-scale software systems. I've been involved in a number of large-scale projects and this is the first book I've found that includes many of the things you usually find out the hard way. Things like how to effectively communicate the design to the team, how to manage iterations and how to document designs and changes to the design.

Since the topic is large-scale systems, the book focuses more on techniques than on specific examples, but it more than makes up for that by providing practical tips and recommended reading references. If you are leading a software development team or plan to, this book will help you on a very practical level.

[Review duplicated from Amazon.co.uk]

Jeff Garland and Richard Anthony have written a very practical and accessible explanation of the process of designing and describing the software architecture for a large information system. All of the major architectural structures are covered and the depth of experience of the authors is evident from the solid, practical advice given throughout. There is also a huge amount of practical advice as to how architectural structures can be described using UML, which is particularly valuable.

The only significant criticism I've have is that they don't talk about the quality properties of the architecture all that explicitly. The focus in most of the book is about capturing architectural structures rather than talking about the required architectural qualities that led to the structures being selected. The reader is left to discern this for themselves.

This said though, I'd still recommend the book to any practicing information systems architect.