Computing Internet Books

The book was exactly what I expected. It is very helpful, and I received it quickly.

It's too bad that Amazon doesn't include reviews for previous editions of textbooks. The previous editions of this book had forty-two total reviews, and they average out to 4.5 stars. Unfortunately, this edition's rating is skewed by some students who appear to attributing their poor grade to the book.

I'm a fan of these authors. If you look at a previous edition of Computer Networking you'll see just how great this book's reviews are.

This is a very good textbook for students and practitioners, who want to understand the stratum on which many modern applications are built: the Internet. For such readers, this book will be a very good source of information. If you want to build Internet-based applications, the knowledge that you can acquire from this book is indispensable.

If you are interested in networks other than the Internet, or if you are interested in network theory, or in network engineering, this book is not for you.

"Computer Networking" by Kurose and Ross is an excellent introduction to the topic of computer networking as it relates to the largest and arguably most important network of them all: the internet. As stated in the title, the authors take a top-down approach that, in my opinion, is very well suited to CS or SE majors who are typically already familiar with aspects of the application and transport layers, but who often have had little or no training (or interest) at the physical layer. In this way Kurose's text distinguishes itself from other popular texts such as those by Stallings ("Data and Computer Communications") or Tanenbaum ("Computer Networks").

There are a total of nine chapters, the first of which paints the big picture and lays out the plan for the book. The book presents a analysis of each layer of the 5-layer TCP/IP model. The decision to use the TCP/IP model over the OSI model is appropriate considering the authors' intentions of focusing on the internet. To accomplish their goal the authors next provide chapters on the application, transport, network and data-link layers respectively. The coverage of the application and transport layers are where the book seperates itself from both Tanenbaum and (especially) Stallings. In addition to providing the theory Kurose and Ross also inject practical demonstrations such as introducing the reader to socket programming in Java. The coverage of the network and datalink layers is somewhat more standard, but still very good and complete. Following these are chapters on wireless and mobile networks, multi-media networking, network security, and a small chapter on network management. Coverage of the physical layer is spread throughout all of the chapters in the book and presented on a "need-to-know" basis. Each chapter presents ample details about the protocols, technologies, algorithms and standards that are used by each layer as it relates to the internet. All of these chapters are quite long (between 70-120 pages) which may give readers the impression that the text drags on. It would be wise for readers to treat the major sub-headings in each chapter as single entities, rather than attempting to plow through each chapter in a single sitting.

The style of the writing would be best described as clear and accessible. The authors make use of analogy and repetition to drive home the content, particularly in the first three chapters. Students who are new to the subject and have not had much experience thinking about things such as protocols and algorithms will likely appreciate this approach.

Like any book, this book will be useful only to a subset of people who want to study computer networks. I think this book provides the best introduction for CS/SE students who have not had much exposure to network theory and are looking for a practical introduction to the subject. For CS/SE students who feel they want a more formal, terse, and dense introduction to the subject, they should try Tanenbaum's "Computer Networks" instead. Be aware that while Tanenbaum does provide more complete coverage he also assumes more "maturity" from the reader. Kurose can thus be thought of as a "gentle" verion of Tanenbaum's book. For EE/CE majors I would recommend Stallings or Tanenbaum over Kurose. Although Kurose does cover topics such as physical media and signaling, his treatment is cursory and assumes that the reader is not particularly interested in the fine theoretical details. Stallings, in contradistinction to Kurose, assumes the reader is not particularly interested in the transport and application layers and spends many pages covering the fine details of the physical theory. Stallings coverage is also much more broad than Kurose's, as he does not give particular preference to the internet, an approach that will probably just bore CS/SE students. Tanenbaum provides the most balanced and uniform coverage of the three books, and can be used successfully and fruitfully by anyone who has a solid background in computer science or computer engineering.

A word needs to be said about the problem sets at the end of each chapter. Some of the problems can be difficult to solve unless you have really mastered the material in the chapter. There are not tons of examples given within the text itself. Thus, it is fair to say that the authors implicitly assume a certain amount of mathematical maturity. You must be fairly comfortable thinking algebraically, and with calculating values and solving basic equations. CS and SE students should not have any problems here. There is very little advanced algebra, no trigonometry, and no calculus. While the lack of examples may frustrate some readers, compared to both Tanenbaum and Stallings, Kurose's problem sets are very straight-forward and elementary.

In conclusion, Kurose and Ross provide an excellent introduction to networking and the internet for CS/SE majors or anyone who is at least somewhat computer saavy. Highly recommended overall.

As an introductory textbook, the homework in the fourth edition of "Computer Networking: A Top-Down Approach" by James F. Kurose relies to a degree on the PowerPoint slides available on the textbook's website. Some homework questions cannot be answered from the textbook alone. Those homework questions can only be answered by reading through the PowerPoint slides or using an outside source (such as the relevant RFCs).

Example: A homework question gave that an HTTP message was version 1.1 and did not mention anything else about the connection. That homework question then asked if the HTTP connection was persistent or non-persistent. The PowerPoint slides go into HTTP versions and persistence; however, the textbook doesn't mention that HTTP 1.1 defaults to a persistent connection . . . it only mentions persistence in general while discussing HTTP.

IMO, it would be better to have all the information relevant to a homework question in the textbook . . . or clearly indicate, that a student needs to search outside of the text or attain the answer.

All in all, the 4th edition is a good book . . . that could be better.

Hope This Helps,
Joshua Burkholder

Excellent book, a lot of information. However knows about Networking it is not easy to understand and learn. This is a very good intro book. No a lot of coding but a lot of info how networks work. You can also download Power Point Presentations of each chapter, very well done. The authors put a lot of time on this book. Excersises are a little challenge, it didn't get five stars because this book has no answers of the questions (authors should put odd answers)

Technologies evolve, but the PROCESS by which we should collect and analyze online data in order to gain solid, actionable insights will remain constant for the foreseeable future.

I have been fortunate enough to work with some of the smartest online marketers in the business, and, to say the very least, most of these people -- especially those in the analytics community -- seem content to share their expertise in the most confusing and theoretical manner possible. But not Avinash Kaushik. And in "An Hour a Day," Avinash proves why he is the world's most trusted name in analytics: he brings us up to his level without unnecessary jargon, so we can actually understand how to do this stuff!

Without question, this book is required reading for ANY online marketer, business owner, or anyone currently outsourcing their web analytics. (Warning: You may become better at this than the people you're paying to do it for you!)

Have a website you're not properly tracking? You're not alone! Less than a third of e-commerce and B2B sites have sufficient web analytics tracking -- let alone a process by which to glean insight from it -- and it's not the technology's fault. The problem is that most people don't understand the VALUE and NECESSITY of web analytics. They don't realize it's the difference between sink or swim. For most organizations, web analytics is an afterthought; something pawned off to those with technical knowledge when it should really be understood by those who need to use this data to make serious business decisions. Well, folks, those days are over. If all you know about your site is how many page views, uniques, or (*yikes*) "hits" it's getting, you're in much worse shape than you currently realize, simply because you have no idea how much money and attention you're missing out on if you have no clear goals in mind or a system by which to quantify it.

If you're not measuring it properly, how can you ever claim to have an online strategy that's working? How else will you know how successful your campaign is? How else will you know which elements to test and optimize?

Whether you're a beginner or you know just enough about web analytics to be dangerous, you should absolutely buy this book today. The book pays for itself a hundred fold in the very first hour of the very first day.

My only issue is that the book doesn't address how to use google analytics more. He gives a lot of suggestions, but there isn't enough guidance in actually how to use GA to pull the data he recommends.

This book is amazing. If you think you knew everything or are in an analysis slump, just flip through this book and you'll find something new to analyze.

I have used Web Side Story...moved to Omniture....also work with Google Analytics.....This book does a good job of getting away from the mountains of data, to provide a clear cut "THINK ABOUT WHAT THE ANALYTICS MEAN" on a business basis- definitely worth the time investment.

I can consider myself as pretty noobish in the field of web analytics. I know SEO and usability, but web analytics has always been just looking at the number of visitors and pageviews. Until I received this book, because this book is a real eye-opener for the new comers to web analytics. It totally change your way of thinking about what web analytics is and how you can pull the best out of it.

I can't wait to finish it, which costs a lot of time by the way.

And students, you can consider this as a good step up to web analytics with theory plus hands on stuff. Like a real school book you learn everything you need from what to why. More than 400 pages long.

P.S. There is also a cd included with some nice stuff like a presentation from the writer, pdf and mp3 files with valuable information.

I traveled 6000 miles from Scotland to the USA to further fulfil my passion for doing Search Engine Marketing for my Scottish client base. I got the chance to actually meet the people behind the books who in our business are seen as the mastering mentors of our profession. through me being an Optimiser in the UK. I had the opportunity to meet Tim Ash, who is a very pleasant and knowledgeable person and this inspired me to buy his book. I have since read cover to cover, and the book is like the person. Since that meeting and reading of his Book Tim even went out his way to answer an email on a burning question I had - now that's commitment! It was an honour getting the chance to meet Tim Ash, the positive reviews here sum him up, so go ahead - get the book and get your website tuned up - today.

Amazingly enough, virtually everything you need to know about optimizing the commercial efficiency of a website (not just a "landing page") is included, concisely, in Landing Page Optimization. In addition to the motivation for doing optimization, how to select what to optimize, and, in detail, how to measure and analyze your optimizations, Tim Ash includes helpful summaries of the psychology of users and even of how to navigate corporate politics to get buy-in for your optimization project. There is very little about creating a successful commercial website that I did not feel more knowledgeable after reading this book.

The author no doubt knows his subject and I suspect he's good at what he

His discussion on testing is good and important. And he does answer some important questions. For example, should a landing page have lots of navigation or just enough? This book will help you in increasing your conversions. There's no doubt about that. But most of the information is available on the Web at this time. And I personally felt a lot was left unwritten and unanswered.

- Susanna K. Hutcheson

As a small business owner reading a book about Landing Page Optimization I thought it would be more than I could handle. After just a few chapters I got the hang of what he was talking about. Its a tough subject that would over shadow many web designers, but I think it is a valuable subject once you have a website operational. Thanks Tim for you research and hard work.

[...]

I am owner of unoptimized website and I found this book to be invaluable. My website was not performing as it should, but I didn't know how to correct the problems. Landing Page Optimization showed me why my website sucked and what to do about it.

If you own a website and you are paying for clicks, you had better read this book, because if your site is not optimized, you are losing money and lots of it.

1. If you are already a Web Developer with knowledge of HTML, Form, URL etc, then this book wont add anything more to your knowledge.
2. Most often Web Developers (not Web Designers) lack knowledge about image/icon creation, CSS, DOCTYPE types, XHTML etc. This book gives a good explanation of those concepts.
3. The best part of book is the Part III (chapter 11 to 17) that explains the concepts of CSS. Anyone who liked 2 and 3 will also like Head First HTML with CSS & XHTML (Head First) that seems to be structured similarly and provides similar knowledge.

I have had limited experience creating web pages. Learning Web Design has made the task so much easier. This book is very clearly written with great examples. I would highly recommend if you are just starting out or looking for a text to use in the classroom.

This is an excellent book if you are a novice looking to learn HTML and CSS.
The book is easy to read and follow, and includes a companion website which has downloadable code examples with which you can practice.
I purchased this book with the intention of using it as an easy CSS reference, but ended up learning some excellent HTML skills, as well.

This is, by far, the most useful and easy-to-read book on web design that I have seen / purchased so far.

This is an excellent resource to learn modern W3C-standards-compliant web design from the ground up. It is up-to-date , well organized, well written, and easy to follow. By the time you're done with it, you will be well on your way to being able to call yourself a web designer with a straight face. My only complaint is that the book is physically fragile and the binding completely falls apart even with moderate use. And given how great this book is in all other respects, mere "moderate use" is pretty much out of the question - this will be your constant companion as you take your first steps in web design.

I rate this book with 5 stars for being a solid introduction to (X)HTML and CSS and for being clear, easy to follow, and colourful.

I disagree with the previous reviewer BB, who said the book was not for beginners and rated it with one star. He mentions Jennifer N. Robbins uses vocabulary she hasn't defined before. Well, if he's talking about terms like web browser, web server, or link, I might agree with him/her, but hey, those words are common vocabulary words for any Internet user. Perhaps if he had pointed out specific words, I might have said a bit more on his review.

Let me convince you: I'm not a native English speaker and I got the information perfectly well.

It is a shame this book has fallen into 4.5 stars just because of one 1 star rating review informing about problematic issues with no sort of justification or examples proving what the reviewer is complaining about.

In any case, we have to respect his/her opinion, though I didn't take his comments or rating into account when deciding whether to buy the book or not; the book turned out just fine, as I had expected based on the other reviews.

Jennifer Robins has done a great job introducing the reader to virtually all html elements (I guess all, but a professional might notice a few of them are missing).

The contents are colourful as hell, well organised, and they follow a static format scheme that allows for easy readability; the author uses sidebars every now and then to point out key information; the book shows she has a clear mind on how to get a beginner to digest the information presented.

I think the technique she used to introduce us to the different aspects of html/css is just the more appropiate for a starter book. She goes over every aspect, then she writes a sample code about that specific one, and then she shows the resulting page. Once again, she'll colour-code the html code, and then either encase the result in a box, or take a screenshot.

Where I want to get to here is, you aren't going to find a ten pages long html code combining every single element she's gone over and beating the crap out of everyone who tries to read it and point out each section in the resulting html page.

That being said, and bearing in mind the other reviews, I guess nothing else can be said about this great piece of work.

I bought and read this book while I was waiting for my new Dell XPS to arrive, and I thank my lucky stars every day since that I did. When my computer was installed, I already knew where everything was so I just fell into it with no problem whatsoever. I've told a lot of my friends, if you're thinking of getting Vista, do two things. Get your computer made with a LOT of ram, no less than three gigs, a good sound card, a good video card, big hard drive, and READ THIS BOOK FIRST before you ever open the computer. It'll save you a lot of angst over VISTA. I'm sure most of the problems people report having with it are because they went into it without any real preparation beforehand. Vista is different, but it's not impossible once you've gone through this book. It's very long, but you're not trying to memorize everything in it, you're trying to help yourself make your way around a brand new and very beautiful operating system. As long as you have this book in your house, you'll be fine. HIGHLY recommended.

The Missing Handbook is a great help in navigating the many complexities of Vista. It is written well and has an excellent index.

I purchased this book for a friend and he told me that it was very helpful

This is a great reference book. They're right, it should have been in the box. A must have to save time figuring out the little quirks Vista has. Very easy read.

My review is simply a 5 star rating. It more than did the job. thanks Richard A G.

Nutshell review - If you design interfaces for any software project you should read this book. It covers all the bases, is extensive, comprehensive, well written and easy to use as a resource or refresher in interface design techniques.

Designing Interfaces catalogs UI design patterns in use and provides guidance in using them, with plenty of examples. It takes a consistent approach to describing each pattern: What it is, when to use it, why to use it and how to use it. The book is both a good overview and a reference. If UI design is an area of interest to you, then read through this book and then keep it available as a reference.

For many years now, I have been coding web sites and applications. Through all that time, nothing has ever been as tough for me as coming up with a design that I am truly happy with. Attempting to create an optimized and stable algorithm or coming up with the answer to a problem that requires non-conventional coding practices; these are always challenges, but ones that are most often eventually solved. Creating that mythical eye catching never-been-done-before layout is something that I have attempted and, sadly to say, usually fell short on. I suppose you'd consider this a case of a programmer wanting an application to not look like a programmer designed it. This was my reason for picking up the Designing Interfaces book.

The first chapter talks about how users think. However, as I finished the chapter introduction, I realized that the author and I are definitely coming from two very different places. In my experience, I get very little hands-on with the user base, or the client that the application is being built for. Even if I do talk to the client directly, instead of going through the levels of proper channels, they usually have a set design in mind, limiting my choices. That's not to say, however, that a good designer couldn't be creative given these design constraints. On the other hand, the author mentions that building a user profile is something that eats up a lot of time though it is always worth it, and while I agree whole-heartedly, sometimes a deadline approaches too quickly or it's just not in the budget to give this the time it truly needs. Past this quibble and reading on, the patterns of human behavior in the first chapter give an almost checklist of things to keep in mind when designing, and even though you read and probably think, "common sense", it is very helpful to have in one place.

As the chapters passed one by one, I found the same patterns in my reading emerge. Read the introduction to the chapters the first time you pick up the book to get an idea behind why that particular chapter is important, or, at the very least, for posterity. After that, just skip to the section in each chapter marked as "Patterns" when you need them. These patterns are where the book really shines. Each of these patterns are laid out in a similar way letting you quickly see what it is, when you would use it, why it is used (as in why it is beneficial to your user), how you create the pattern, and then some examples of its use. Considering that there are nine chapters, each with about ten different patterns, this book contains a wealth of information.

I was originally hoping for more of a design lesson; color theory, placement with a hint of golden ratios, maybe a small college art class packed into 331 pages. Though I did not get much of that, at least until the last chapter or two, I definitely found an excellent reference to keep by my side. For example, if I'm building a layout, I'll open the book right up to chapter 4 to see what the common options are; for showing hierarchical data, I'm opening up to chapter 6 to see when and for what reason I might want to go with a tree map over a normal tree. I couldn't recommend it more to someone wanting a helpful component pocket guide of sorts for interfaces, but if you are looking for theory, I'd go with something more geared in that direction.

Jenifer Tidwell's pattern based approach is amazingly good! She carefully organizes and enumerates a wide variety of effective user interface options for both small screen (ie: Blackberry, cell phones) and larger screen forms. I am not an expert in UI design by any means (I have read Donald Norman, Tagnazzini, Shneiderman and Mayhew but I have no background in graphic design), but I do project reviews and this book has given me some insight into problems and potential fixes in a few areas. I was also able to pick up on a couple of "hidden" features in some of the software tools that I do use and to label and critique several "features" that weren't working well.

The style is easy to read. Tidwell explains, illustrates and covers the merits of each user interface. The research is solid. For example she notes that the Fisheye menu, while slightly favored by programmers and experienced users is considered confusing by and less effective for casual users and recommends a hierarchical approach.

I recommend this book for corporate libraries and as a reference for individuals and groups working on what might become overly complicated design.

While I don't own a physical copy of this book, I had used an electronic form of it in the course of my studies.

I will first forewarn those who are interested in Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) that this text does not heavily focus on the science of Psychological principles such as Gestalt Perception, nor does it concern itself with techniques/methodologies such as Threading and Model-View-Controller (MVC) to improve the performance of programs. The focus of this text falls strictly on the layout and/or graphical design in regards to interfaces and web pages.

As well, each principle has certain uses depending on the medium used, which the text does a good job of elaborating (for example, cell phone programs would not be designed the same as a full Windows Application).

A word to the wise though: Requirements must come before Design. There are certain design principles outlined in this text that cannot be realized if the very requirements of the program do not allow for it - For example, Microsoft Office 2007 has in many ways disregarded the principle of habituation/familiarity (as it looks much different from typical Windows Applications in general). One will still need the skill of compromise in order to apply the information presented here effectively in the real world.

The Big Switch started out as one of the most interesting books I've read in a while. In part one Carr presents a terrific analogy between electricity and the Internet as general purpose technologies. Unfortunately part two is just as dull as part one is compelling. Part one succeeds in my view because it's an effective historical analogy rich in comparisons and historical insight. In part two Carr highlights the many of the issues raised by the development of Internet as a utility (i.e., loss of privacy). I think what's missing is the lack of solutions or unique insight. The first six chapters are stellar; I'd skim the rest.

For those who know or care about the infrastructure undergirding our technology revolution, this is a must-read book. The thesis is simple: we're at a tipping point where "utility computing" will quickly replace in-house data centers. It sounds simple, but the implications are not. The first half of the book lays out and describes the revolution, sometimes in breathless terms. The second half is much darker, however, detailing projected consequences. The author points out that a number of popular websites these days have nearly zero staff--the content comes from users and the infrastructure is rented utility computing from the likes of Google and Amazon. This means that huge online businesses do not translate to employment. In the past, when industries, such as electrical utilities, have undergone major transformation, people lost jobs, but new jobs were available using different skills. The author has a gloomy outlook here: the lost jobs may not be replaced. I suspect the real outcome will be a bit better. People are inventive and new technologies (perhaps not electronic) will need people. Overall, a great book, but I do think the second half is rather darker than it needs to be.

I found this book interesting when it covered the time period from 1870's to current day (2008). When the author began to discuss possible futures, I thought he was unrealistic and pessimistic. I do not think his forcasts are grounded in any sort of a good understanding of technology and are not to useful.

Overall this book is worth reading but the author should have stopped at the current time; his future views really distract from the quality of the book.

As a computer software professional, I took extra interest in this book and did find it interesting and thought-provoking but not that realistic and a bit pessimistic about the future of the knowledge worker.

The first half of the book is a history lesson about electrification and the impact it had on societies and on individuals.

The basic thesis of the first half of the book is the creation of the electric grid accelerated the concentration of wealth in large businesses. With electric light and power, businesses could build bigger and more productive plants, boosting their output and gaining advantages of scale over smaller businesses. Further, as the big companies expanded, they hired huge numbers of both skilled and unskilled workers and paid them good wages.

Since start of the Industrial Revolution, mechanization had been steadily reducing the demand for talented craftsmen - their work had been taken over by machines that required little skill to operate - and electricity accelerated this trend.

Part Two is about what Carr calls the "World Wide Computer" - the Internet as we know it. The WWC will displace private systems as the preferred platform for computing and traditional IT departments will be significantly downsized Carr writes.

The arrival of a universal computing grid portended a different kind of economic realignment, the author writes. Rather than concentrating wealth in the hands of a small number of companies, it may be concentrate the wealth in the hands of a small number of individuals.

Carr sees the power moving from many companies now that provide software to few with Google obviously being the main player with their growing suite of applications including YouTube.

Some examples of companies with smaller IT departments are provided to show that as much manpower isn't required to run services that operate over the Internet.

I agree with a lot of the comments made in the reviews already posted re there isn't a clear parallel between cloud computing and the electricity grid but it made for interesting reading nonetheless.

If there is or isn't a parallel does not matter too much to me as I was interested in how the author saw computing and computing over the Internet would change businesses and individual computing going forward.

As far as some of Carr's predictions, software as a service and cloud computing are here now (on a small scale) and I don't hear of mass downsizing of IT departments. If anything, different skills will be required to connect the disparate systems and Services Oriented Architecture will play a role in this.

Overall, I found it to be an interesting read but I enjoy reading about history and especially about technology.

A generally optimistic look at the cloud computing (under the auspices of remote processing/parallel or utility computing) future. Similar to Wikinomics, The Big Switch is a concept book that describes the World Wide Web using a myriad of hyperboles. Contrary to Wikinomics, The Big Switch repeats many of the same stories tech-history writers have been telling for years. To his credit, Nicholas Carr does include some insight and a few new stories, but overall those who have done any reading about, have background in, or follow technology headlines will find Carr's book less than satisfying.

On a positive note, the writing is easy to read and will be understandable for non-computer people. Also has the potential to get one enthused - if not slightly nervous - about the possibilities of technology.

A useful way to enjoy The Big Switch would be to borrow it from the library, skim, and copy out the few passages that will appeal.

EXCELLENT BOOK.

If your new to actionscript 3 or just new to actionscript period , this book will help you catch up with it. You will feel confident as you go through the book and practice examples.

What I really liked is that while the book is showing you how to code with actionscript 3, the examples will even apply to actionscript 2 or 1 ( with different coding of course, but the principle idea is great)

I would really recommend you pick up this book.

First off: if you havent written any code, ever, im pretty sure this book isnt for you.

If, however, youve written some AS2, or even AS3, and thrown up your hands in frustration, you've found the right title.
Before I read Learning AS3, I had read more complex books like Essential AS3 and AS3 Bible, and written some AS3 and some AS3/MXML and a bunch of procedural AS2 and AS1; not a novice. But the hard edges of the new version of the language were still unclear to me, as I'd read tons of theory and had less than enough practice.
This book is the one that combined these two areas oh so well. It takes the theoretical aspects of AS3 and applies them as no book I've read before does. And the authors explanation of what they are doing and WHY is way better than any flash book I've read since Foundation Flash 5 (published around 2000); There may be typos and code mistakes as mentioned in other reviews, but honestly that wasn't my takeaway from the book. Rather here's a book that gives you a much better understanding of the whys; a book that will help you build what you want to build as opposed to doing mindless tutorials; a really excellent book at getting you over the hump of AS3. Spend the money and read the book. Its the one i recommend to anyone at any level who asks; its that good.

I first became interested Learning ActionScript 3 after initially reading a few samples posted on Adobe's website. What I found was an excellent starting point that drove me to finally make the jump from ActionScript 1 and 2. In practice, most books I have read about ActionScript 3 focus on the Flex platform, which is outside of what I'm looking for. Rather, I needed something that focused on developing in the Flash IDE (Flash CS3 as of this review), which is exactly what this book is written for.

I picked it up as supplement material to aid me in programming a large game programming project. Basically, I've referenced this book to understand the key concepts needed for my game, borrowing code samples where needed and applying them to my own project. In practice, it's the application here that really teaches the concept, and I've found that this book is a great starting point as well as reference for grasping these concepts.

The authors have done a great job presenting the material in an easily-readable casual conversation style. Of these discussions, I particularly found their comparisons to the previous versions of the language most satisfying. As AS3 is very different from AS1/2, I appreciate learning what was changed and why.

I can not vouch for the beginner's guide level for this book. I came into this book as an intermediate ActionScript programmer and often found myself skimming over any discussion on the details of some of the programs. For the most part, the code is easy enough to read and get the point, and if I had questions, these were almost always addressed in the discussion. That said, I think this book is ideal for any intermediate programmer looking to make the jump to AS3.

I am aware that there are some errata in this book, and to that extent, I can simply comment that the website is well maintained, code samples there seem accurate. No problems here.

All in all, I would highly recommend Learning ActionScript 3 as a great companion book for anyone looking to get started programming with ActionScript 3.

If you're new to programming in general, as another reviewer said, "Look elsewhere."

But if you've got a little knowledge of javascript, C++, or even FORTRAN (yikes!), feel free to grab this book and jump in.

I'm in agreement with Lou Costello, regarding the drawbacks of this book. However, there are a lot of good things, too, like great examples and, as noted, the companion website.

If you can get around a pageful of code fairly well, are geek enough to enjoy debugging a few minor typos in the text, and if you're a fairly speedy typist, BUY THIS BOOK! Sit down with it and hammer out a few programs. The code examples are short and clearly demonstrate the concepts being discussed. And they will provide a TON of great ideas for your own projects. If you don't want to type the code examples yourself, download them from the website.

"A Beginner's Guide"? Naw, not really for beginning programmers.
A worthwhile purchase for anyone undaunted by code? Definitely YES.

A "beginner's guide" will disappoint you if you are completely new to learning ActionScript 3.0. I am sure it is a great book, but not enough for a beginner to grasp the fundamentals. Too sad I read this confession only after I was going through the first chapter.

While most people who have worked in the internet space are familiar with these concepts, especially for entrepreneurs, reading this book and thinking through all the end of chapter questions is extremely helpful. All startups can revisit these questions again and again. I think despite the fact that this book sits squarely in the time of web 2.0, it will remain useful and relevant even when web 2.0 seems 'old-school.'
The questions at the end of each chapter are so, so great.

As a non-techie, this book has been like a field guide in helping me fully understand how our generation's most successful web companies evolved. Leveraging on the best practices of web pioneers such as Facebook, Flickr, LinkedIn and Amazon, Amy provides a practical guide into understanding the strategies behind the success and continued evolution of these great companies.

I found the format and structure of this book to be particularly useful because each chapter ends with a concise summary of the critical points, followed by a thorough set of questions that will help you internalize the lessons learned. Obviously the key to a successful web 2.0 business is a profitable business model - and Amy clearly describes how companies, large and small are capitalizing on the opportunities and monetizing their technological advances.

In the final chapter, Amy distills her message into a 5-step blueprint for building a web 2.0 business. Build on collective user value - Activate network effects - work through social networks - dynamically syndicate competence and Recombine innovations. The genius behind this book is its clarity and strategy focus. These 5 steps may appear challenging to execute, but if you look closely you'll find a lot strategies that have already proven successful.

I am excited to explore these topics in greater depth with Amy on one of LearnFromMyLife.com's upcoming short talk podcast series.

This is a great book that puts Web 2.0 in business terms. Normally, I read books that deal in gory technical details--not books that speak in business terms. But given that caveat, I felt this did a really good job describing Web 2.0 concepts and illustrating how they can be monetized.

The book illustrates the various points it makes through referring to sites that everyone now knows about: eBay, Amazon.com, Flikr, LinkedIn, Facebook, and of course Google. Each of these success stories show how some traditional business thinking was turned on its head in favor of this new Web 2.0 business model. Throughout the 6 chapters of the book, the author provides lots of market analysis, charts, and graphs. This information is combined with some interesting studies in sociology to create a read that is well-researched and informative.

While not a casual read, I'd recommend this book to managers or executives interesting in learning about how Web 2.0 principles can be applied to their business.

Web 2.0 provides a business focused follow-up to many of technical concepts discussed in Collective Intelligence. Conceptually I believe Web 2.0 provides the underlying justifications for "why" an organization wants to be pursue a new knowledge management strategy that uses the basically limitless resources of the many Internet users to create value. Collective Intelligence describes the how and Web 2.0 discusses the why. This book is essential for those who are interested in the technical side of the web 2.0, Web 2.0 provides the business justifications that the reader can wrap his or her technical vision in a Web 2.0 business strategy.

Relying on case studies ranging from Flickr and Facebook to Netflix and LinkedIn, "Web 2.0: A Strategy Guide" provides entrepreneurs, corporations and business administration students equally with a resource to make sense of the business side of all things Web 2.0.

The book doesn't go into technicalities or spend time on design matters as they typically appear in Web 2.0 applications today: as a matter of fact, it abstracts itself from look and feel of the sites analyzed, focusing on how the different sites make money.

The result is a five step action plan that starts with building on collective user value (users no longer are mere consumers of content, but rather active contributors and creators); activating network effects (seeking the ways in which a business can leverage the multiple connections between the layers, places and groups and how they can grow your offering); working through social networks (the fundamental building block of the Web 2.0 economy); dynamically syndicating competence (picking your battles and doing what you do best faster, making it accessible to more people); and recombining innovations (looking for ways to connect the online with the offline, the new with the old).

The result is a book that is highly recommended if you are looking to take your business to the next level of the social web: a place where being social is not merely an option but a requirement.