Computing Internet Books

I'm a HUGE fan of "How stuff works" kinda books. This is THE book I have been looking for. It's written in such an interesting way. Personally, I feel pictures and diagrams are ESSENTIAL to understanding something thoroughly, and this book delivers and executes on that matter. If you are a visual, hands-on kinda person, then chose this book over others. It's second only to a real hands-on experience and live teacher.

I use this book whenever I am explaining to a class a general overview of computer technology. The artwork and graphics are a fantastic talk point to depict how things are working inside the machine.

Secondly, the terminology is accurate and well organized / defined.

I'm a big fan of "For Dummies" books when giving someone a first pass of any topic. These are just a step up in complexity, in my opinion.

Rather than add to endless "This sucks!" "No it doesn't!" arguments, my review is simple - if you need an understanding of how computers work, give this book a try. THEN, and only then, make your own decision. Other people's opinions are great, but only you can determine a book's worth to you.

If you want to know the ins and outs of how computers work, beginning with the foundation, this is the book for you!

(My copy did not come with a CD, so I can only comment on the book itself.)

My edition (Ninth Edition) was clearly assembled and edited in a hurry. A couple of quick examples: the diagram on p. 12 shows a computer with numbered parts, and the accompanying text refers to the numbers and describes the respective parts. The diagram in my book has no #6 -- the text is there, but unless you already know where the part is, it's not helpful. Other little typos include the following text from p. 26: "See how a transistor works, p. XXX" (They forgot to replace the XXX with the actual page number).

Neither of these errors is a deal-breaker, of course, but it makes me wonder if I am unwittingly being misinformed by other typos. Much of the book, though -- because of the illustrations and simply worded text -- is quite helpful to a beginner.

Having said that, I would not pay full price for this. As I write this review, there is a used edition for $6.99, and that sounds about right.

Nutshell review - This is a great little book which ranks right up there with "Positioning, the Battle for your Mind" by Al Ries and Jack Trout. Get this book, find your Zag, and fire-up your brand.

This is a power-packed little volume. Lots of meat and very few trimmings. It offers action steps, and more important, suggests attitude changes. I passed it around to my leadership team.

Building brands is what my company does I have read MANY books on the subject and Marty, with runners on 1st, 2nd and 3rd base in the bottom of 9th inning, blasts one over the fence with his book! An easy and short read yet packed full of invaluable information on getting out of the starting blocks on the right track when it comes to building your brand. He speaks effecitvely on what that means and how to do it. It not only reads well but pictorially it's a winner. Visually he always brings the point home. Al Reis's the 22 Immutable laws of branding was my #1, now this has inched its way to the forefront of my favorite reference books in this area. Bravo Marty, bravo!

A very interesting book, shows everybody a different side of Marketing conceptualization. Gives the oportunity to go step by step in a creation of a brand in such a way that makes it different to all other brands, and create loyalty in consumers towards your brand.
Highly recommended.

You have to read Zag like you read the bible- it tells a great story but you often are better served not delving too deeply into the statements made by the author to support his points (i.e. the fact that 11 million people went to Europe in 2006 versus 8 million in 1964 as evidence of a shift in American society- though as a percent of the population it is almost no change at all in Americans traveling abroad).

Such is the nature of writing about a topic where 1) the author makes his money selling branding services; 2) he doesn't believe in hard numbers to prove points, harboring the predictable anti-research position that is both a great strength and weakness of this book and books like this (i.e. Blink). It also may be the most acceptable way to write a book that is not so dry and academic that nobody would want to read it.

But the story being told is a great one and it is really well told. Neumeier needs to get a lot of credit for presenting ideas simply (not simplistically) which many other authors would make very complicated. The book is also just really well thought out so that it is thoroughly enjoyable to read even as you get into some pretty important topics that others might get bogged down in jargon or overly long explanations. The book also gets high markst for not only discussing what a "zag" is but also showing you how you can get there if you follow his clearly outlined process.

So while the book is clearly a campaign for what he believes versus an objective look at branding, it is great read and I would recommend it for anyone working in marketing/branding that wants a refresher or reminder about what you should be thinking about in our ever-changing world.

Cyber_Reader compiled and edited by Neil Spiller is an impressive and erudite anthology of texts and essays on the theme of cyberspace. Most of the essays are from the 1990s, though a few appropriate excerpts from earlier cyberspace history are included. An amazing and eclectic selection of learned opinions and analysis make Cyber_Reader an engaging, informative, seminal, at times challenging, and always highly recommended study of how virtual reality shapes our living world to this very day.

If you've read about the basics of the semantic web online, you won't get much more from this book. There's only 6 pages devoted to SPARQL, and no mention of RDFa. Later chapters (especially "Ontology Engineering") are thin and weak. You learn the dirt basics, but not how to build anything meaningful with it.

I run Windows XP home. I'm happy with it generally, but I know that as my computer ages, I will have to move on to Mac or Vista. I suspect that Vista is probably a fine OS, but since I will retire my existing machine in the foreseeable future I decided to be cutting-edge and investigate Ubutu. I thought I had only ordered the book, and somehow overlooked the fact that the OS disc was included. A nice surprise to find the disc included. I have not tried installing the system yet (cold feet), but I can vouch for the fact that the manual is well written and lucid. One thing is never made clear; Can you run Windows programs in Linux-Ubutu? Well, there are three quick answers: First, much Windows software will work in Ubutu. Second, some will work with a bit of coaxing, or not at all. Finally, there is a LOT of good software (28,000 free programs!),that perform the same functions for free and are designed for Linux systems. My conclusion? Save Ubutu for your existing systems retirement. Still, if your not slavishly attached to Windows, you might be greatly pleased by what the Linux experience has to offer. There's good stuff there.

I'm a long-time Linux user, somewhat new to Ubuntu, and I was interested to see what this book brought to the table so I looked at it. This is a GREAT book if you have never used Linux before, or have little Linux experience and zero Ubuntu experience. However, for everyone else, this book is a waste of money, unless it is just to support the project (which is a very noble cause). The first part of the book tells you about the history of Ubuntu, which is interesting but not why I would buy this book. Then it goes over the install process, which to the credit of the distribution is so simple that if you've ever successfully installed Linux before, you don't need. Once you get to chapters 7 - 11 it talks about related projects in quick summary form, as well as the online forums and projects. Appendix B - E talks about licensing and other documents, as well as more forum information. So in the end, you're left with chapters 3 - 6 of information that you'd ever want to refer to more than once, plus Appendix A which gives you 10 pages on the command line, for a total of 134 (out of 497) pages. The rest is either available in a more ideal format on the internet or something you'd only want to read once. I think a better idea would have been to release two books: #1 "The Ubuntu Way" detailing the history, etc., and #2 a usage guide tailored to this distro.

I think a better way to learn Linux with Ubuntu for those who want a physical book would be to read the Ubuntu wiki and pick up the latest edition of Linux in a Nutshell. Or Ubuntu for Non-Geeks.

This book combined with the LINUX bible are a must have for anyone just beginning to learn LINUX. They will walk you through the whole transition from VISTA (viruses, intruders, spyware, Trojans, and adware) or any other MS products.

Very easy reading, although I thought the history was a bit too long. Everything explained not just in Linux/Ubuntu but also the comparison phrasing from windows.

Good first book for new to computer and Linux types. Lots of history, purpose, flavors and what they do. Touches on most subjects well enough to get you started and help you focus on what you will need help on next. As a long term computer/system user I've ordered more specific books already. Looking online will get you most of what's here, but this concentrates it.
Also you will find lots of info online and most of it is excellent.
Good book to recommend to decision making users/managers to help them decide Windows isn't the only choice. Has a ver 7.04 CD.

This is a good reference book, but don't count on it to teach you how to set up a Cisco device or any networking. Even though it is fairly current, I have found a few differences between it and IOS 12.4 T.

this is another all in one book that i have, the other one is cisco ios cookbook. what i found that this book is very good after using it for some time, and also the writing style makes me easy to understand it very well.

i like the part where the author give comment on each line after a command to tell the reader what does that command do.

this book cover wide variety of things, and honestly i haven't read and tried all of the parts, but from what i have read and tried, this book gives very good detail in setting up tunnel and its security, it did help me understand how to set it up from scratch while i didn't know about it at all before.

in qos part, this is why i give this book 4/5, it just tell you briefly what each type of qos method does what it doesn't really give you an example of working configuration. i would like to see the author give an example from a real life configuration, suggestion to choose which type that we should use for particular case or even maybe combining few different type.

another suggestion is maybe to update the book with more information, and more commands that newer ios supports.

my recommendation is to get this book along with cisco ios cookbook, i am pretty sure it will cover the part where this book is missing and vise versa. you might also find this book is easier to read and understand than cookbook as well.

I bought this book for my Master's research paper on Cisco IOS.

I have found this book to be a good source on IOS's architecture. It has approximately 120 pages dedicated to general internetworking fundamentals such as differences betwen RIP, OSPF, and EIGRP.

The rest of the book is dedicated to IOS commands and proper syntax usages. This is a great reference book and good overview of networking concepts.

This is a great book. It covers the basics of IOS and will give the intermediate and advance users more than they have bargained for.

What can I say. Nutshell books are great. I own dozens of them and they are almost always great refererence manuals. This one is pretty good too.

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.

Again very briefly. The book is needed for all the people who design in UML. It is a reality that every architect has its own design style and thus it is good to have the same basics. Martin Fowler, author of the book, he is more than warranty of this need. Besides that everybody sometimes needs to look into the master reference.

With just about 200 pages, this little big book covers the most common features of UML in a clear, crisp and fun way. No other book has given so much to so many in so few pages.

This is a good book to have as a reference and to get an introductory understanding into UML. Many engineers at the company that I work at have this book and also at previous companies that I've worked at.

This book is not the ideal UML book for the business analyst (and I now work as one). There is reference to OO programming concepts that will probably always be lost on me. However, it is the ideal overview of the UML for starters, and I suspect I will be using it as a reference for quite some time to come. Enough detail to do some serious work with, concise enough to allow me to find what I need. After reading this book I was curious for more and ordered four more books from the Object Technology series. Hope they are equally good.

This is a handy reference book for UML diagrams. I like the quick summary on the inside covers, useful when you want to a quick reminder of which UML diagram is the one you want to use. I find it helpful that instead of spending pages and pages describing some of the hardly used notations, it actually concentrates on describing the essentials and the typical. If I then find I need more information on a certain diagram, I just go find it in the internet. It is not an in-depth explanation of object modeling.

This book is an excellent resource for those interested in Online Searching. I am a graduate student in Library Science and have found this book to be a valuable tool for learning to use online databases, such as Dialogue and Lexis-Nexis. Very helpful. I recommend this book for academic librarians and others interested in internet searching.