Computing Internet Books

Despite the new title, Wireshark & Ethereal Protocol Analyzer Toolkit (WEPAT) is a second edition of Ethereal Packet Sniffing (EPS). I reviewed that book almost three years ago, in May 2004. WEPAT has replaced all of the earlier screen captures with Wireshark replacements. Unfortunately, WEPAT is largely a repeat of EPS, really only featuring a new wireless chapter. If you own EPS, you don't need to upgrade. If you don't own EPS but want to learn how to use Wireshark, I recommend buying WEPAT.

One new feature of WEPAT that helped me in production work was the coverage of Tshark statistics in ch 9. I used the advice for displaying top destinations to help me better understand traffic distribution in an unfamiliar network. I also liked the new wireless section, Ch 6, especially the coverage of protocols. The tip that packet details could be launched in a new window via View -> Show Packet in New Window was also cool. I liked the regex summary in Ch 5. I thought it was a great idea to explain why "not tcp.port == 80" is the right way to avoid all traffic where port 80 TCP is the source or destination port.

Three aspects of WEPAT bugged me. First, WEPAT includes updates to nearly all chapters. In adding material, however, the authors ended up repeating certain topics all over the place. Detecting remote hosts operating NICs in promiscuous mode (a nearly hopeless endeavor in reality) appears in Ch 1, Ch 2, and AGAIN in Ch 4. Ch 2 repeats many of the same concepts from Ch 1, like protection against sniffers and other sniffing tools. Small tools packaged with Wireshark like Tshark, Editcap, Mergecap, and Text2pcap are covered in Ch 2 and Ch 9. There is no need for all this redundancy.

The second disappointment in WEPAT is the inclusion of really old material. SubSeven, last updated four years ago, is called "one of the most common Windows backdoor trojans" (p 377). NetBus (last active in 1999), BackOrifice (2000), T0rn (2000), and Rst.b (2002) are other outdated programs mentioned in WEPAT. Ch 7 uses SQL Slammer (2003), Code Red (2001) and Ramen (2001) as examples of malware for analysis. To add insult to injury, the Wireshark screen captures for displaying relevant traffic are all far too small and fuzzy to be helpful.

Third, I didn't learn that much reading WEPAT. I am not a Wireshark ninja, but I didn't see much in WEPAT that differed from EPS. For example, I would really have liked more emphasis placed on using Wireshark display filters to control capture at the command line using the -R switch. That is a really powerful technique that was mentioned only in passing on p 177. On a minor note, Ch 4 was way too long; at 90 pages, it seems reasonable to not try to cover everything in a single chapter.

Overall, you need to read WEPAT if you're a Wireshark newbie to intermediary user and you don't have a copy of EPS. If you have EPS, you've already got all the relevant information you need in WEPAT. In fact, the wireless sniffing coverage in 802.11 Wireless Networks: The Definitive Guide, 2nd Ed by Matthew Gast is better. Add that to EPS and then wait to see wait to see what a third edition Syngress Wireshark book looks like.

For the most part this book is an updated version of Ethereal Packet Sniffing. The title has been changed to more accurately reflect that it's about using Wireshark and not so much about analyzing traffic (although that's covered some), and also to denote that the project changed the name of the software recently. That said, it's an improvement over Ethereal Packet Sniffing with some new material and some reorganization.

Chapter 1 is an intro to network analysis, specifically with packet sniffing. It's very cursory, and they could do a better job of teaching this subject, but honestly that's a whole book unto itself and years of practice. The chapter is reasonably comprehensive and accurate.

Chapter 2 introduces Wireshark and how to begin using it. This chapter is very short given what it says it will cover, but most of that is brought up in the following chapters. There's a brief bit about Wireshark security, but again it's too cursory (2 paragraphs for a program that ha sa constant stream of security issues). Also, the authors keep calling it Etehreal in places and Wireshark in others. This inconsistency doesn't instill a great amount of trust in me that everything was reviewed well.

Chapter 3 covers getting and installing Wireshark for Windows, Linux, OS X, and how to build it from source. It also covers packet capture drivers (ie on Windows). A very straightforward, direct chapter.

Using Wireshark is the next chapter, and this is where we start the meat of the book. It's about 80 pages long and covers the UI and the command line options. The screen captures are better than the previous version of the book (and they often times use just a portion of the screen), but they could still be improved for legibility and for usefulness. This chapter covers the uncommon graphing and stats sections, and also following streams.

Filters are covered in Chapter 5, and the PCAP and Wireshark filter languages are covered. These are rich languages that allow for complex selectivity, and the chapter is clear and pretty comprehensive.

A new topic is introduced in Chapter 6, specifically wireless sniffing. This is a good addition to the book, and even topics such as decoding EAP and WEP are covered. This is a good, concise overview of the topic of sniffing wireless networks.

Real world packet captures are covered in Chapter 7, which is sadly too short (it could easily be a whole book). Several representative traces are included on the CD ROM that are good to study and review in this chapter. They include Linux worms and Windows malware, and also some coverage of active response packets is given.

Just like the corresponding chapter in Ethereal Packet Sniffing, Chapter 8 covers developing plugins for Wireshark, specifically new protocol decodes. Because Wireshark has a framework to extend, it supports dozens of application and network layer protocols. You can add your favorite new protocol with ease if you follow this chapter. Who knows, you may even get it included. This is a real gem of the book.

Finally, Chapter 9 covers many of the auxiliary programs that are included with Wireshark. These programs let you manage packet traces and marge them or cut them down to size. These are useful even outside of Wireshark if you work with packet traces at all.

This book is a good update to the Ethereal Packet Sniffing book and material. Sadly, in many places the editors didn't do a good job of auditing the book, so there are some mistakes and sometimes even references to the now obsolete name of Ethereal. However, the additions and improvements over the older version make this book worthwhile for anyone who needs to learn how to fully utilize this powerful sniffer.

I have only worked through the first few chapters but it seems to be a great resource.

I liked this book a lot. When I first pulled it from the bookstore shelf I thought it would be more involved. I thought it would be more like a treatise on the ins and outs of MySpace and how to customize a MySpace profile. It has 16 chapters and an appendix dealing primarily with HTML coding:

1. The basics of updating your profile
2. Using HTML to enhance your page
3. Using CSS to change your profile
4. Images and photos
5. Animate your profile with Flash and more
6. Make your profile multimedia ready
7. Finding third-party templates and plug-ins
8. Blogging
9. Nine more ways to update your profile
10. Growing your circle of friends
11. Contributing to the MySpace community
12. Unleash your inner artist
13. Developing an online following
14. Using MySpace classified advertising and more
15. Marketing your music on MySpace
16. Working the Net for your music group

As I read through the book I saw that it is a wonderful tutorial. It's kind of like a cookbook. Just start at the beginning and do what it tells you in setting up your MySpace profile and then do exactly what it tells you to do to customize your MySpace presence. What it tells you to do might not tweek your profile the way you want it to ultimately be. But you will learn by doing, and when you finish the book you should be knowledgeable and comfortable with the process so you can go back and redo your presence the way you want it to be.

The beauty of this book is it will ultimately teach you the process of putting together Web pages and Web sites if you let it. Then you will be in a great position to build your company's own Web site and blogs outside of the MySpace arena. 5 stars!

Pointless. There's absolutely nothing in the book that can't easily be found in the on-line manual. Luckely, I borrowed it at the library. Don't waste your money on this. Kelby has written a couple of good books (and some really bad ones too), this is not one of them.

Easy-to-follow instructions and photos make learning quick and easy especially if you're new to itunes. Highly recommended for those who wish to maximize use of their ipod. Great supplement to the on-line manual.

This was better than anticipated. Easy and concise and a must read by all Ipod users.

Honestly, I did not find this book to be one bit helpful. I personally thought it all to be redundant information. It may be of use if you are COMPLETELY technologically unaware... It's really just a waste of money. Go and buy yourself some lemonade instead. =]

I was very disappointed in this book, which really doesn't even contain as much information as the online manual. I bought it when I was having trouble with my iPod and needed to know more than the manual explained; I know there are good books out there with this information, but this is definitely not one of them. For example, there are five steps listed in the manual that you can go through in order to reset or restore an errant iPod; this book lists only the first, simplest step, and never even mentions the possibility that it might not fix the problem, much less what to do in that case. Don't waste your money on this one.

Great format - wish I had thought of it :-) If you are new to SharePoint and find the numerous resources overwhelming - then this is the perfect book for you. You will learn several of the foundational elements of SharePoint administration, in 24 easy lessons.

I just wanted to drop a line and recommend this book to all people who want to quickly get a glimpse into SharePoint and in particular functionalities that are not covered anywhere else. No fluff in the content , lots of screenshots and a clear path to follow for those who want to learn this great platform.

[...]

Readers need to be aware this book is about WSS (Windows SharePoint Services), not MOSS (Microsoft Office SharePoint Server)2007. WSS is the "free from Microsoft" subset of MOSS 2007. This tome is oriented to an inexperienced systems administrator performing a WSS installation.

Even for a systems administrator the book lacks the granular details required to architect and implement a professional solution for one's company. Truly this book isn't much better than telling one to install the WSS software on a Windows server.

This book is so shallow on content that one would be hard pressed to recommend it to any reader let alone someone that wants to learn SharePoint. Everything in the book can be readily found on the Internet.

In an enterprise one is more likely to utilizing MOSS 2007. This is not a book for end users of WSS or MOSS 2007; at best it may provide some minor assistance to the first time installer of WSS.

Suppose you had never heard of SharePoint before, but you had some computer background, as a sysadmin or programmer, and you picked up this book. You wanted to quickly find out what exactly SharePoint does. The irony is that there appears to be no clear section around the start of the book that says this. As the Introduction says, the book is for beginners in SharePoint 2007. But what does it do?

The first chapter (called Hour 1) talks about the history of the product. Yet to a complete beginner, much of this has little meaning. The details in this chapter are too fine grained for the beginner.

So let's go back to the Introduction. We see statements like this - "Two main products fit the SharePoint 2007 description: Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 (WSS 3.0) ...". If I am a beginner, this does not mean anything to me. It just adds noise.

Now in the last section of the Introduction, there is a precis of each chapter. If you know nothing about SharePoint, here you can try to glean some kind of synopsis about it. But this is suboptimal. Better would have been to go back to the very start of the Introduction. Instead of commencing with the author describing his experience with an unknown (to the reader) product, it would have been better to describe in at least 1 paragraph the product. Not its history. Not current related offerings from Microsoft. Just in plain terms what it does right now. The reader needs to be motivated to keep reading, so she needs to be told at the very start.

Given those missing first paragraphs, then yeah, the rest of the Introduction could probably stand unchanged.

This would also be in keeping with the Sams 24 Hours series. Books in this series strive to be as simply written as possible, to garner a broad technical audience.

Mike Walsh's "WSSFAQ" site is a well-known resource for SharePoint developers, and this book reflects the same style and attention to detail. It contains a wealth of knowledge for anyone who is approaching the SharePoint platform for the first time. The 24-hour format is great because it lets you get down to the nitty-gritty right away. I especially like the quizzes at the end of each chapter.

I purchased this book for a college course I am taking titled "Web Design and Development". The instructor chose the the textbook but it is well written and has numerous examples of good web site and page design. Gets into some of the more advanced features of creating web pages using XHTML and CSS. I would recommend this book for a beginning web programmer or administrator.

This is one of the better written Web books I have read. Everything is well organized, with lots of relevant topics and useful examples. Even if you have prior experience with web design, it's not a bad idea to delve into these pages as a refresher and for guidelines on current HTML and XHTML standards.

The authors go the next step by introducing some of the more dynamic components of web design including client side Javascript and PHP for server-side scripts (along with a quick overview of ASP and JSP). These sections are quite brief for the most part (which should not come as a surprise in a book titled 'HTML and CSS'), but will help steer budding designers towards their next challenge.

I would certain recommend this book to anyone who is new to web design. It does much more than just teach you about HTML and CSS. The book progresses quickly, but not too quickly, and you will find yourself putting together your own interesting looking web pages in no time.

This Laura Lemay person is associated with a lot of well received books. This one, different in substance from her others, while there is not much in great depth, there is quite a bit of good stuff here. What is here, is well presented, good examples, and more for the beginning and intermediate reader. Good intro to CSS, some Javascript and ajax. This is a good buy (here at Amazon, I paid ~$22) . Get'em while they're hot.

I'm about 1/3 of the way through the book right now, and I am pleased with it so far. I'm pretty familiar with computers and the Internet already, but the authors include enough information for beginniers to get a good grasp on the terminology early on.

The book breaks down the material into 21 lessons, implying that each one should take one hour per day. A word of warning: you'll probably need more than an hour unless you're a really quick study. The early lessons are pretty basic and go by quickly, but by lessons 5 & 6 the terminology starts coming fast. The authors offer several suggestions for HTML editors to use while reading the book, and I highly recommend downloading one (I use the free HTML-Kit, and it works quite well).

I do have a few complaints. The authors seem to spend a lot of time covering "deprecated" HTML tags, which are considered outdated in favor of CSS. They say that it these tags are good ot know if you find them in older websites, but for someone like me who is new to HTML, including the old tags with the new is a bit confusing, and I frequently have to check the appendix to make sure that the tag I'm using is not obsolete. CSS has not been covered extensively yet (it looks like lesson 9 will do that), but it looks pretty different from HTML. If a new edition of this book is made, the authors need to ditch the outdated HTML and include the CSS right from the beginning.

My other complaint is that, for a book on HTML, the examples aren't that well edited. I just finished lesson 7 and was having a difficult time adding color to my pages until I realized that the author(s) had accidentally used a comma instead of a semicolon. That tiny mistake made a huge difference, and it's not the only tiny mistake they made.

and then the bottom falls out. This book is fantastic as far as a beginner or review course for html and basic CSS. However . . . the chapter on CSS layouts and positioning (lesson 9) leaves ALOT to be desired. I became completely lost when I reached this chapter. I don't know which one of the authors handled this lesson but I'm hoping they'll fix it for future editions. They assume that the audience knows more than they should about class and IDs without ever providing adequate examples. The examples that are provided seem to skip steps. Still a good book but if you're new to CSS layouts and positioning like me, you're better off googling a CSS tutorial for beginners.

very satisfied with this purchase. didn't take long for item to ship and looked as good as new.

it's a great book to begin in-class discussions

This was used as my text book for a graduate level ethics course. I read it cover to cover and found to be well-organized, informative and enlightening. Highly recommended.

Because the author's ethics class at SDSU uses this text as a primary source, I may be a bit biased in my judgment of this book. For the class, it was an excellent reference, bringing up interesting points for discussion and showcasing these points with anecdotes -- some humorous, some downright frightening. Baase's writing style is accessible to a wide audience, and even the parts that, by virtue of being part of a textbook, are dry and only mildly interesting are digestible.

If you're looking for a book that will give you a general overview of problems associated with computing, this book will hit the spot. Without any noticable bias, it provides information from different perspectives, and even gives fair treatment to Luddites.

A good, solid choice.

This book is an incredible waste of time to read. If you must, I recommend briefly scanning the topic sentence of each paragraph. The book is tedious because Baase attempts to wring every idea possible from the subject material, whether it is significant or not. She does this because:

1. The book would only be 50 pages if all of the fluffy hand-holding were removed.

2. None of the ideas presented in the book are original or exciting, and must be trumped up with a lot of "high level" discussion. You know it well; it's the kind that only career academics would enjoy.

3. She has to dilute the terrible writing and editing that went into the book. I particularly enjoy this gem:

"A subsequent version of the product, known as Windows NT, a high-end system that incorporated networking technology and allowed users to link PCs together."

The only thing I like more than paying for common knowledge is paying for sentences that lack a predicate.

2 stars for an uninspired money-grab.

WPF is a remarkably inconsistent tool including contradictory settings, rules that only work some of the time, confusing shortcuts, and other inconsistencies. This book covers so much detail, that the many quirks of WPF sometimes get in the way. It might have been better if the book ignored some of the more arcane details. At times it gives so much information that things are more confusing than necessary.

Still, the book does cover a vast amount of information. If you just want an introduction to WPF, it may be a lot more than you're looking for, but if you want to know all about the weird details, this book includes a lot.

I have read this book. This book is very informative. The author has explained the concepts in detail and in good way. It covers the .NET Framework 3.0. So i don't know is there any changes from .NET 3.0 to .NET 3.5.

This book was the easiest book I have ever read. It kept me interested and awake. Not to mention the information was given in a way that was easy to understand. The extra sidebars that were included added very useful linformation as well. They really helped to drive the point home as well as well as provide more functionality to whatever was being discussed. I highly recommend this book to anyone.

Book gives an excellent introduction of WPF. However, I think that the 2D/3D-part of the book is a bit over the top if you are looking for basics.

Money well spent.

On first opening this book you are struck by the beautiful full colour pictures and syntax-highlighted code samples. [Though the experience was slightly marred by the tears and damage to the front cover which occurred during shipping, as was also the case with another book in the order.]

I did a quick flip through and thought... "Beautiful presentation, but the content looks a bit over-simplified. Maybe all the reviewers were seduced by the full colour pages."

Then I started working my way through the book. I was blown away. The writing style is simple and to the point. But it doesn't lack depth. There are indications of the little things that are likely to catch you out, as well as discussions of some pretty advanced topics too.

So, Yay! The content of the book was just as good as the way it was presented, if not better. My only criticism is that in some cases there could have been more code examples.

On the other hand this would probably have made the book very bloated and not as useful as a reference book. There's enough information to point you in the right direction, and from there google will get you to all the code samples you need.

So let O'Reilly do the cookbook style books with lots of code snippets. They do that so well. This book takes a novel approach, and it works brilliantly!

This is a great handbook for starting up a blog (corporate or private for that matter). There is a lot of great info backed into this little book. I would highly recommend getting it for your team if you are starting a blog that requires a lot of support and buy-in. Nice work Byron & Steve.

BTW: If you ever get a chance to hear them speak on the topic, take it.

I have already been blogging, but this book helped me focus my efforts in a way that may help my business. Lots of great insightful info, and common sense explanations in this book. I found it very helpful and easy to read.

I need a blog for the homebuilt aircraft community, particularly those working with composite (fiberglass) technology. I work alone and will require additional help with developing a good active blog. This book has helped me to ask the right questions of the professional IT type who must help me get the blog going.

DL Byron and Steve Broback have really done an excellent job in writing this very thorough primer on blogging for business. The book, actually, is more than a mere primer: its breadth is surprising. They've managed to cover virtually every aspect of business blogging in a mere 180 pages. Quite an accomplishment and one the authors can certainly take pride in.

The approach is linear, beginning with an explanation of what a blog is, determining the focus of your business blog, the varieties of blog, design, tools for blogging, writing the blog, getting noticed, monitoring and managing and ending chapter on syndication and other fine points they refer to as "beyond blogging".

What is impressive is how much solid information the authors manage to convey without overwhelming the reader. The writing style is comfortable and spare. They avoid technical language and do a good job of explaining each point.

Overall this is one of the best books on blogging I've seen. It is practical, not theoretical and the authors left dogma and cant at the door. They are clear that blogs are not miraculous but can certainly help a company advance toward its goals.

Well done and a worthwhile read that will serve as a quick reference after you've read it.

Jerry

Blogging isn't just for the chatty consumer: not with the appearance of PUBLISH & PROSPER: BLOGGING FOR YOUR BUSINESS. Here it turns into a viable approach for furthering business, coming from business owners who offer real-world techniques and ideas to blog to improve business. Learn how to start such a blog and build momentum and interest to promote a brand, products, or customer relations. The authors have extensive background in the blogging world and in business alike and have put their premises to the test, so this offers realistic ideas already applied to solid business pursuits.

Diane C. Donovan
California Bookwatch

For anyone that tells you that you can't so solid code and script development on a Mac, they haven't been introduced to the application TextMate. There are several good options for doing power editing on the Macintosh and TextMate is one of those POWER options.

'TextMate: Power Editing for the Mac' by James Gray is a perfect companion manual for all TextMate users that want to lift the hood off of this power app and get to the nuts and bolts. If you develop on a Macintosh on a daily basis for work or fun and want to learn more about what you can do to make your life easier, pick up this book and you won't be disappointed. Written well and coming in at ~200 pages, there are 12 chapters which will teach you goodies in TextMate like how to create and use Macros, using Find & Replace to quickly edit text, and much, much more!!

The Mac is a great tool for developing code and TextMate is a great app for writing it, make yourself a more efficient coder today!!

***** HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

Books on editors are tricky things... I'm (still) a big fan and user of vi, but textmate is my tool of choice for more project level work for its capabilties. This book has brought me closer to to the keyboard level of productivity that vi allows for with its two modes.

Visuals:
The font size in the Pragmatic Programmers books is a little larger than say the O'Reilly books, which I personally like. Easy on the eyes. Screenshots are clearly printed.

Readability:
I found the reading style conversational and easy to follow. Of course, with this type of book which includes many keyboard short-cuts you really need to be at your computer and using them to commit them to memory. Even a reading of the book will give you insights into the power available at your finger tips with Textmate.

Practicality:
If you spend any amount of time in Textmate, this is really a no-brainer. This book will help you be more productive and get more out of your chosen text editing tool.

Audience:
The book does not list an intended target audience, but if you use Textmate at all I would say you have a bulls-eye right on you.

Overall:
If you use Textmate get this book.

"TextMate is actually a thin shell over a personalized team of robot ninjas ready to do your bidding."

The funny thing is, to people who have never used TextMate for more than a few minutes the above phrase sounds like an exaggeration. It's not. (As long as you can accept the analogy of "really awesome code running on a Mac" = "robot ninjas"...)

Anyway, this book targets a pretty specific market: 1) Humans, 2) who own Macs, 3) and use TextMate. I'm here to tell you that, if you're human you should have a Mac; and if you have a Mac you should buy TextMate; and if you have TextMate you should buy this book. So there, now it covers everyone.

As with all of the Pragmatic Programmer books, I found this book to be concise without missing anything important. You may be thinking, "200 pages about a text editor!? That's crazy talk!" But you would be wrong, my friend. The amount of functionality built into TextMate is incredible, but I didn't even know the half of it until I started reading this book!

I don't want to give away the ending, but:

Three of my favorite simple features I didn't know about until I read this book:
- Pressing [ESC] to complete the word you're typing.
- The built in TODO list functionality (so crucial!!)
- [Cmd-Enter] to add a new line below this one and go to the beginning of it.

Things I wouldn't have been able to do without TextMate and this book:
- Edit some of my Bundles to make TextMate work even more how *I* like
- Complete an after-hours Web Site project *way* under time and budget

Seriously. TextMate is the One True Editor for Mac (it makes me loath using any other editor on any platform) and this is a great book for learning how to *really* take hold of its power.

This book is the perfect primer for what I have found to be one of the most indispensible Mac OS X applications - TextMate. If you are a software developer or web designer or anyone else that edits text on a frequent basis and you have not already discovered TextMate, stop right now and visit http://www.macromates.com.

The Pragmatic Programmers' book, TextMate Power Editing for the Mac is a thorough introduction to TextMate. Edward Gray II has written a very accessible book, that covers the product very well.

The first third of the book is devoted to the basics - things you do every day in your text editor. The second third of the book dives into the details of some really sweet features of TextMate that you'll find yourself using all the time: bundles, snippets, macros and UNIX shell commands.

TextMate ships with over thirty 'bundles'. Each bundle is a directory of related files that provide additional functionality to TextMate. Let's say you're working on an HTML file. The HTML bundle will help you with loads of things related to your document: validate the syntax of the document, open the document in the default browser, refresh the document in the current browser session, insert open/close tags for the current word, strip all HTML tags from the document - just to name a few. Each bundle provides functionality that applies not only to the syntax of the language you're currently working with, but repetitive tasks that would apply as well.

As I mentioned, a couple dozen bundles ship with TextMate and many more are available for free download from various websites. You can even create your own bundles to extend the product in ways that only you can imagine. Here are a few of the bundles that ship with TextMate: Blogging, CSS, HTML, Java, Markdown, Objective-C, Python, Rails, Ruby, SQL, Subversion, Text, Textile, Xcode and XML. Bundles provide you with lots of help editing files and performing related tasks.

Snippets are a smart completion mechanism that go way beyond the simple concept of 'finish this word'. For example, if you are editing a Ruby file and you type array_object.ea followed by the TAB key (where 'array_object' is an arbitrary Array object), the snippet feature will automatically fill in the skeleton of the 'each' iterator, including the opening and closing curly braces, the text '|e|' with the letter 'e' highlighted. You simply type the name of the variable you want to represent the next element (or simply leave it as it is), hit the TAB key again and the cursor will be placed between the closing '|' character and the closing '}' character, ready for you to type in an expression. Very cool. This same trick works for dozens of different scenarios in your Ruby code. And that's just the snippets that apply to Ruby code. There are snippets that apply to a large number of file types.

You've probably seen macros in other editors and TextMate's macro facility works as you might expect: you start recording a macro, perform some actions and save the macro. TextMate saves the macros as XML files, so it's a snap to edit a macro after recording if you need to tweak it a bit.

The ability to fire off UNIX shell commands from within TextMate gives you another powerful tool to use while editing files. You can fire off one-liner shell commands by simply pressing the ^R key on a line containing a shell command. You can also use shell commands to act on all or part of the current document.

For the advanced TextMate user, the tail end of the book shows you how to create your own language syntax for use in TextMate, including how to describe the grammar of the language in terms TextMate will understand. So, if you program in some far out funky language that TextMate doesn't support out of the box, you can add the language grammar to TextMate and program away!

Overall, I found this book extremely useful and easy to read. TextMate ships with an excellent help system that will answer many of your questions. The TextMate Power Editing for the Mac book will take you beyond the built-in help and give you an in-depth guide for this great Mac application.