Open Books

The book is divided into four distinct parts and organized in an unexpected way. Instead of giving each part of LAMP its own section the four sections focus on structure (getting them all up and working together), static web pages (creating and using them), dynamic web pages (getting the pages to do something via Perl and MySQL), and embedded programs (to make the whole system run quicker). Each section covers all the components of LAMP as applied to that section. For example, the structural section examines installation, configuration, security, and basic usage of Linux, Apache, MySQL, and Perl. For Perl it includes a discussion of variables, arrays, operators, flow-control, regular expressions, functions, and file input/output. For MySQL it includes working with tables, insert, select, update, and similar basic commands. This is a very well done section and gives all the basic information necessary to get each of the components up and working with each other. The section on static web pages mainly covers the use of Website META Language (WML) to generate a consistent look and feel across all the web pages on the server. The part on dynamic web pages covers CGI and mod-perl so you can process information submitted by an html page or other CGI script. It also includes information on using Perl to access the MySQL server and generate dynamic information. The final section examines embedded programs such as Server Side Includes (SSI), embedded Perl, MASON, and PHP and how they are used to make a faster dynamic web site.

I have to say that I really liked this structure. Once a system is set up it is rare to have to refer to the installation information again. If it were organized by Linux, Apache, MySQL and Perl then I would have to flip to what I assume is the appropriate section turn past the installation portion and try to locate what I am looking for. This way, since it is organized by the various stages of getting the system up and running it is easier to find what I want.

The text includes lots of example coding so you can actually write and test it right away. This is a great way to learn the basics. It is not a thorough course in any of the four components but it does give you enough of a background to do most of what you might need to do. Of course, what makes it really valuable is the fact that it covers how to get each of the components to work together without problems. There are good books on each of these components but it is rare to find one that focuses on the interrelationships between them. "Open Source Web Development with LAMP" is highly recommended for anyone who wants to set up a LAMP server or needing to work with one.

Open Source Web Development with LAMP is a very long title, but an absolutely killer book. LAMP is Linux (OS), Apache (web server) MySQL (database), Perl and PHP (scripting). This book also includes many languages not covered in other titles. I was particularly glad to see WML (Website Meta Language) which is useful for generating static pages through a robust programming construct. Static pages load faster and without any security concerns that you have with dynamic scripting languages like perl, php, embperl, or mason, all of which are covered extreemly well in this book.

I've been doing web development for about 8 years, which probably makes me pretty old in the business. I've seen the dynamic web content languages from infancy, but I've never seen a good way of learning them until now. OSWD w/ LAMP is absolutely fabulous.

I was one of the technical editors of this book, and was able to watch it evolve as they wrote. The authors have made a huge effort to make the book appropriate for multiple Linux distributions, and they have achieved the highest degree of technical accuracy.

OSWB covers many different technologies, some complementary, some discreet. By showing you many of the possible tools, this book lets you decide which is best for the job at hand.

The theory behind OSWB is that knowledge of 20% of a tool's capabilities will let you accomplish 80% of the tasks you face. OSWB does a superb job of giving the user a sizable introduction to webserver technologies that will be sufficient for most rojects, and tells you where you can get information for advanced needs...This is the first book I know of that has written their website with the exact same tools they teach you in the book, and they offer the entire source of their website for download for your investigation and reference.

The gold in this book is not just the descriptions of how the languages work, but how you can use them singly or together to create interactive websites. Their are many sample projects which let you see how everything fits together, and much of the ode can be adapted immediately to your needs. The book is extremely well integrated and organized.

I have used some of the languages described in this book, while others were completely new to me. I am definitely not a web design person, preferring to write back-end server software. owever while reading OSWB, I was charged with creating a MySQL database with a customizable web interface for my alumni organization. Using only this book and a few perldoc commands, I was able to create an interactive mod_perl website in a few days.

This book offers something to everyone, even advanced web designers. If you are starting out in Web technologies, or are curious about other ways you can get the job done, this is the book for you.

The title is appropriate: this 426 page book and accompanying CD ROM is a toolbox of techniques that can be applied in any environment or within the context of any methodology. It is, literally, an encyclopedia of techniques that consultants and business analysts can use to perform a variety of tasks or produce associated deliverables.

If you are using this book as a generic compendium of tools and techniques, or you are not interested in OPEN, you can safely skip the first chapter that is an overview of OPEN. If you work within an object-oriented environment you may find chapters 2 through 4 useful. These chapters describe OPEN and how it relates to other O-O approaches. If not, you can also skip these and jump to Appendix A, which is the heart of the book.

Appendix A is a collection of core techniques in alphabetical order ranging from abstract class identification to workshops. There are over one hundred core techniques, each of which is presented using the following format: Technique Name and Star rating - 1 star = well tried, 2 stars = reasonably well validated, 3 stars = experimental. Focus, typical tasks for which the technique is used, related techniques, entry criteria and underpinning concepts. This header information is followed by: Technique description Technique useage Deliverables and output

The CD ROM contains additional techniques that make this one of the most comprehensive resources available to a consultant. The content on the CD ROM is in PDF format and is divided into three additional appendices. Additional techniques are in two of these appendices, with the third covering supporting reference material.

What I like about this book is the wide coverage of techniques. All of the standard fare is covered, and a lot of esoteric ones are also included. I use it as a memory jogger or idea book when I an trying to find that "perfect" approach to performing a task or creating a deliverable. Some minor irritations include the star ratings - I found them to be somewhat ambiguous, and the fact that the techniques are presented in alphabetical order instead of grouped by class. A cross-reference in the front of the book would remedy that complaint.

However, this book deserves a solid five stars because it is comprehensive and packs a lot of information into 426 pages and a CD ROM. If you are a consultant or analyst this book is money well spent, and will make a great addition to your short list of everyday tools and references.

The principle here is very simple- instead of your company or division relying on only the handful of minds at the top of the organization to improve the company, it treats all the employees as adults with brains and encourages everyone to work for the company's benefit. This also has the effect of reducing or eliminating office politics since everyone's pulling in the same direction.

How? Fortunately the process is pretty simple, though it needs to be tailored to each business. The pieces are:
1. Giving employees all relevant financial information,
2. Giving employees training to understand the financial information,
3. Giving employees appropriate responsibility for the numbers under their control, and
4. Giving employees appropriate stakes in the outcomes (through bonuses, stock, options, etc.).

Ultimately, the measurable value of open-book principles will be determined by several factors: The extent to which a company modifies them to accommodate its own circumstances; the extent to which employees in that company (top to bottom) commit to the program, once devised; and the extent to which everyone involved shares equitably (NOT equally) in the rewards.

Those who admire this book as much as I do will presumably want to read (if they have not already read) The Open-Book Field Book and The Open-Book Experience. These two books develop in much greater detail the material first introduced in Open-Book Management. Also, they provide an absolutely essential guide to deriving maximum benefit from John Case's wisdom and experience.

I bought this book almost a year ago and it collected dust on my shelf because I lacked the level of philosophical sophistication required to attack it directly. Over the past year, I became more acquainted with philosophy and its history, most especially the works of Brand Blanshard and Laurence Bonjour.

I was arguing the case for psychophysical dualism on a website recently. I was already an epistemological dualist, having come to the conclusion that even the best-developed forms of rational and objective idealism were essentially dualistic. This is even more obviously the case if one incorporates the insights of modern physics about the constituents of matter, and its insights into time and space. However, psychophysical dualism, mostly because it is related to interactionist/dualist beliefs about interaction between the mind and the body or the mind and the brain, is associated with mysticism.

To see if I could find anything to make or break my belief in psychophysical dualism, I picked up this book, which I hadn't picked up in a while, having being frightened by such terms as the *cognescendum* a year ago. It was a great joy to read, as Lovejoy carefully laid out the secular and rational case for epistemic dualism and the related psychophysical dualism, while refuting philosophers that are far more famous that he was. Lovejoy explained that illusions and dreams, amongst other factors, created a problem that was best handled by the separation of the physical from the mental and the development of a gradually developed epistemology to make the causal connections work.

Bertrand Russell's realist position was criticized so devastatingly by Lovejoy that Russell because a dualist, with the belief (shared by most epistemic dualists) that the objects of our immediate perception are fundamentally mind-related. The trick, as Lovejoy noted, is to draw the right causal connections from the objects presented in perception to the subject matter of the physical sciences while being wary of the mind's ability to fall into error.

Epistemological monism has been slaughtered. As Brand Blanshard said, _The Revolt against Dualism_ is their `tombstone'. Anyone wishing to argue uncritically against the bifurcation of mental objects and physical reality should read some philosophy, and then pick up this book. In fact, I might one day make an attempt to make its insights far more accessible to the common reader. However, common people sometimes know far more about these things than some so-called "great philosophers" - they just get carried away by the first philosopher that floats an idea around them.

The ideas in this book are a great antidote to such a problem. Lovejoy discusses a problem of great importance, especially to those who practice any field that involves epistemology.

Highly recommended.

Although this issue of epistemological dualism and distinguishing between perceptions of objects and the objects themselves may seem to be a mere technical problem without any real world significance, it nevertheless is one of the most important issues in philosophy. Confusion concerning the relation between ideas and the their objects in reality has probably given rise to more errors in philosophy than any other issue. All doctrines of philosophical idealism, whether skeptical or mystical in nature, are rooted in the failure to understand the duality between perceptions and the things perceived. The belief in what one philosopher called the "efficacy of consciousness" (i.e., the belief that consciousness can be regarded as a power in and of itself) can also be traced to this revolt against dualism. And so, although the issue of epistemological dualism may be a mere technical problem without any immediate practical significance, it is not without importance in philosophy. If a philosopher is confused or mistaken on this issue, he is likely to be confused or mistaken on a great many others. Hence, the significance of Lovejoy's masterful analysis of the revolt against dualism.