Computing Internet Books

Constantly refer to this book as a reference while coding. This book provides short, but well explainded "How To" on esssential Actionscript 3 coding topics. I own several Actionscript 3 books, but this is the one I refer to again and again.

When actionscript 3.0 (Flash CS3) came onto the scene, it caused great consternation among interactive designers who were used to working directly in the Flash IDE and coding AS 2.0 on the timeline. Almost all the new books/threads on the topic, including Moock's 'Essential 3.0', showed a bias in demonstrating AS 3.0 in the context of OOP and Flex. Granted, that is where the true power/purpose of AS 3.0 lies. BUT, this also created the sentiment in the non-developer camp that AS 3.0 is severely verbose and not as flexible and fun as AS2. This is simply not the case as AS 3.0 was created to embrace BOTH designers and developers.

I think Adobe was so preoccupied with wooing the developer crowd that it failed to reassure existing beginner/intermediate 2.0 users that 3.0 works just as well on the timeline and that you CAN still make a banner ad, personal portfolio site, microsite without building/executing your codes as Classes or authoring them in Flex/Components.

Having said that, if you are hardcore OOP developer and need to build an enterprise level web app using AS3, this book is NOT for you. In fact, you have no business using the Flash IDE or coding on the timeline.

Russell Chun takes nothing for granted and starts by giving a quick overview of the program's tools. Then you'll be taken through a series of exercises that is very easy to follow. By the end of the book, you will have learned enough to build a decent interactive web page. You will also have the foundation to move onto OOP.

I have owned a number of Russell Chun's books since MX2004 and will vouch for its effectiveness. Its generously illustrated, concise, clearly written examples will help beginners and intermediate 2.0 users EASE into 3.0.

Get this book and you'll see that AS 3.0 can be just as fun.

The Visual QuickPro Guide Flash CS3 Professional Advanced, the follow-up to the Flash 8 book*, is a great tool for anyone trying to make the transition from ActionScript 2 (Flash 8) to ActionScript 3 (Flash CS3). I am Flash 8 Certified, and as I make the push to re-certify for ActionScript 3, this is the book I am studying. It is more concise and compact than the Flash Bible, yet still contains the information needed to build great Flash apps and to pass the expert exam. It covers all the big differences between AS3 and AS2 in a clear, concise manner. But newbies shouldn't be put off by the title: beginner topics like 'what is a Movie Clip' and how to do timeline animation are also covered. The only complaint is the lack of a companion CD-ROM containing tutorial files. But even without a CD, this is still a fantastic resource for the Flash aficionado, professional or student. (*Anyone buying this book might also consider the Visual QuickPro guide for Flash 8, which is also excellent--and still relevant. The Flash 8 book deals with ActionScript 2, which is widely used for developing mobile / cell phone apps.)

This is a very good book. This line of book is great for learning Flash. It's important that you get the previous book first because this one gets Advanced in a hurry. Overall, I really like it.

I suppose this book may be fine for anyone wanting to learn a broad overview of AS3 ("Flash" is a misnomoer; Flash is ActionScript). But for anybody like myself trying to build a website with specific components, the book is worthless. This is because the author, instead of showing the steps to create a complete component (dropdown menus that LINK; scrolling thumbnails that LINK), shows you instead how to build shells that do nothing, and says, "we'll discuss the rest in a later chapter." Then doesn't, at least not in a way directly applicable to the previous instructions. Why not just show us how to create something that actually works, all in a single lesson? Forgive me if that's too much to ask.

Appendix A "teaches" you how to get the JDK (java development kit) configured. It is a night mare for someone like me, a beginner. Here are the problems:

1) It wasn't mentioned in the "Running Programs in MS-DOS" that you are supposed to restart your computer after configuring the environment variables, the only place it was mentioned was for Experienced users, and I'm not one of them! Do you know how long it took me to figure that out! I had to reread Appendix A three times! And guess!

2) No where in Appendix A was it mentioned for the "inexperienced user" that you need to include a period for the class path. It was only mentioned for the "experienced user" which, I am not! I skipped over the "experienced user" instructions, because the book said, "For inexperienced MS-DOS users, the following section covers in detail how to set the PATH and CLASSPATH variables on a Windows system" --FALSE!!!!

3)The website tutorial for appendix a touches on the period issue, but not well enough. It has this ".;" which I thought was a typo because no where else was it mentioned. And the picture on the site showed the period after the semi-colon. What the heck?

Please GOD, don't let the rest of the book be this way!

The only thing I like about the book is the one day at a time approach. Any one else know of a good alternative to this book?

Great book, i was migrating from DBXL (dont laugh) to Java 6 and this was the first book i read. The structure is sometimes out of whack and i found myself reading chapters out of order on 2 occasions but asside from this i found it to be an EXCELLENT way to upgrade my knowledge!

Likes:
A co-worker recommended the book to me and let me borrow it briefly. I found I liked the pacing in the book and the attempt by the authors to modularize each of the chapters making them correspond to days in a week. Due to other "life" distractions I found myself not necessarily able to keep up with the Java in 21 days but I still found it easier to progress through this book as opposed to other similar "[Insert language, application, software, etc., here] in X number of days" books. The examples are good and the authors get the book text to correspond well with the examples. I felt I understood the general concept of what the authors were trying to convey and I enjoyed working through the examples and exercises at my own pace. I felt that the modular chapters of the book would allow me to read through the chapters in most any sequence with the same ease as reading from beginning to end.

I found the website more convenient to use than the CD and the author seems to keep the book's online portion fairly current.

Dislikes:
The installation of Java instructions in Appendix A are aimed more at Windows and UNIX users but little or no mention is given to Mac OS X users. I would have preferred some assistance with upgrading Java on the Mac with help from the book or CD. I managed to get by however with Java 5 in Mac OS X. Some Mac users not familiar with installing/updating Java may encounter difficulty if they rely on the book and/or CD alone, particularly the CLASSPATH used in Mac OS X.

There are a couple of typos and errors that need to be fixed (i.e., for some odd reason the references in the book to signed/unsigned data-types are incorrect).

Overall:
I'm still going through the book and the things I like about the book, CD and website outweigh what I dislike about each of these items. Despite my dislikes I felt the book deserved 4 out of 5 starts (well 3.5 out of 5 but I can't give half a star).

The book does a pretty good job introducing the fundamentals of Java. It took me about 4 days to go through it. It's not very good as a reference, but then again there are the Java docs at Sun which are comprehensive.

I am a certified programmer for java 1.4, and I bought this book on the title alone to get me up to date with the upgrades to version 6. What a disappointment to find that annotations are not covered at all, and generics only partially. Furthermore the collections framework is largely ignored. I looks like a java 1.3 book with some added examples to make it look like a version 6 book, but it is NOT. So if you need a book to study for the certification exam, this book is definitely NOT the one to get.
I found it a complete waste of money.

The average person in the US now uses a computer. Typically running a Microsoft operating system or unix or linux. Yet there is an entire ecosystem of embedded computers out there, invisible to most people. Wolf's text explains how you can program such computers as well as design the circuitry in which they might exist. Here, "computer" in the book essentially means microprocessor plus some off-chip memory. The book surveys two main microprocessor families - ARM and SHARC. These are not the most common microprocessors. (Which might be by Motorola.). But Wolf chooses them to illustrate different design ideals for their instruction sets.

One nice thing about the book is that you get a direct grasp of the hierarchy of design and logic. Climbing from the low level devices of latches, gates, flip-flops and the like, to the microprocessor and its machine language, to the corresponding and far easier to use assembly language. Then, upwards to an operating system.

Do you know what percentage of all computers run Windows or some kind of Unix? Guess. I'll give you the answer later.

This book is about all the other computers out there - the ones in your car's airbags and antilock brakes; in your watch, cellphone, TV and its remote, CD player, and computer keyboard; in your implanted defibrillator.

Wolf starts with an introduction in terms of a personal-scale, practical example. Next he goes into what a CPU is in lots more detail than most programmers ever think about - the kind of detail you need when the CPU interacts so intimately with the other components in the system. Maybe you never heard of the ARM or SHARC processors (unless you already do embedded work), but they're good representative choices. ARM is an incredibly common core architecture, with supervisor mode and memory mapping, what it takes to run a "real" OS, whether it does or not. SHARC is a signal processor - a real processor, but with extras for fast artihmetic processing. Together, the two stand adequately for a large fraction of the embedded processors in use.The next chapter goes over hardware basics: the bus, memory mapped IO, interface issues, and in-circuit debugging.

The rest of the book generally covers higher level issues: software design, embedded and real-time OSs, coprocessors, and networks. Although coverage of IIC and similar board-level communication is good, I found the ethernet discussion weak. Anyone working at this level is likely to need 802.2 protocols, which I did not see mentioned. The book's strengths far outnumber its occasional soft spots, though.

Embedded computing is a huge, many faceted field, so no book can cover more than a tiny fraction of what it means. Still, this addresses a broad, useful range what you need to program 99% of the computers out there - because only about 1% run Windows or Unix.

//wiredweird

Greg Smith has done a very good job of providing a comprehensive and comprehensible resource. While Greg's approach to parenting might sound autocratic to some parents, but the fact is that it is ultimately a parent's responsibility to protect his kid (not that school and society at large are not responsible to protect our kids). While it educates technically non-savvy parents with the innards of the technology, it also provides a clear strategy to adopt the technical tools, corresponding to each age group. It is not a high level book, rather a hands-on approach book. He mentions many tools for monitoring, filtering and blocking purposes and one such tool is familyarmor.com.

Excellent Job!

The Internet and Web have so much to offer for both adults and children. I use it everyday and my children are also online daily. I check the news, email, and do research. I even met my spouse online. Also, my kids play games, chat with friends and explore. It's a great learning tool and allows them some freedoms to explore their interests. However, as the Web and Internet continue to impact our lives, there are very real dangers that I want to know about so that I can be sure my kids are safe when they are online.

What Greg Smith has been able to provide in his book are the specifics of how you can take the necessary steps to make sure that the Internet and Web is a safe place for your kids. Many books and guides speak in terms of general rules and ideas, but what Mr. Smith provides is real details and tools that you can put into action. He identifies the risks and issues being exploited and provides the leading tools, his experiences, and recommendations to protect you and your children. Even experienced technology professionals will find the comprehensive list of tools and technologies in his book a huge help. I have been using the Internet and Web for a long time and there are several things in his book that I did not know about, and that I want to keep my kids from knowing about.

Excellent book.

Greg Smith has written an important book for parents. Using his experience as a senior IT leader and a parent, he lets parents know the risks of children being connected and how to protect them.

The author makes the reader aware of the many dangers of connected electronic devices, not only computers but also cell phones. At a very young age, children are using computers and the age when children have their own cell phones seems to creep down every year. Many parents are not as technically sophisticated as their children, especially parents of teenagers. He urges parents to take control by learning about technology, using the tools available to safeguard and monitor children's activities on-line, and talking with your kids. His easy to understand recommendations let parents know what they need to do, going as far as recommending specific products and providing "How-to" instructions, customized for the age of your child.

As Mr. Smith states in his book, "You're just two clicks away from just about anything." Make sure your children are safe.

This book provides useful and easily understandable information for parents regarding protecting their children on the Internet. Even if you think your kids aren't using the Internet, they are. Statistics show that 96% of 13 yr olds use the Internet on a regular basis. So as parents, and as a teacher, it's important to know and understand how to keep your child safe.

I highly recommend this book for all parents. Even if you think your child is safe or that you know all there is to know, you can never be to safe when it comes to your children.

This book goes into great detail of what you, as a parent, need to do to keep your kids safe on the Internet.

I highly recommend this book to anyone that has children on the Internet.

Buy this book! It is well explained, easy and fun to work with it. In one word it is wonderful.

My daughter Myriam recommended to me, I recommend it to you!
Gloria Orjuela

I just finished reading "A Kid's Guide to Creating Web Pages" by Benjamin and Peter Selfridge and I highly recommend it for the following reasons:

1. It is written in crystal clear and friendly language.

2. You will be able to create a web page easily and successfully.

3. You will understand what you did to create the web page (in other words, the authors try to explain what each step accomplishes).

4. The guide is just the right length (not a 1,000 page computer language text) and is laid out in a pleasant fashion with lots of examples and explanations.

5. Once you create a simple web page, the authors gently introduce many other exciting things you can do to enhance your design.

6. This book accomplishes what it promises and in addition it wets your appetite for more!

7. This is a perfect beginners guide for young and old (the prose is not infantilizing or obnoxious)

Buy it and try the examples when you have time and when you do not have a lot of distractions or interruptions--the more success you have the first time out, the more you will want to keep trying.

I'd been meaning to buy this book for over a year and was not disappointed. It is very well written, easy to understand and goes quite into depth regarding OS X.

I enjoyed the writing style of the author, well presented information with bits of humor to keep it interesting. I enjoyed reading the history of OS X and learning how all the parts were brought together to create the most enjoyable computing experience I have ever had. The technical information and programming examples are extremely helpful in better understanding how things work under the elegant aqua interface.

It's enormous! And every page has information useful to someone who develops on the Mac. This book is the ultimate tome of reference for the serious Mac developer. It's also a significant contender as a tome of reference for IT support for the Mac. Finally, it is the best reference for someone with a Windows background who's wondering if Mac OS might be superior technically (leaving aside user interface). (it is.)

All the gory details of how a Mac OS is put together from Mach to Cocoa are covered and then some. The author is a hard-core expert who put a lot into this book. Well worth the price!

This well written books contains everything you need to know about the internals of Max OS X. This book is enormous and really goes deep into the internal of the OS.
This reading gave me the satisfaction of understanding the inner working of Mac OS X which now make my work as a software engineer much easier because I know what is going on.
The book is well balanced in that it cover all the different aspects of the operating system without getting into unecessary details.
One small complaint is that the chapter describing the hardware architecture focus on PowerPC systems. I would of course have rather have a detail explanation of the Intel platform. Maybe in a second edition.

This is analogous to the Windows Resource Kits for OS X, only better. The many examples, most using some sort of code to make their point, combined with the depth of topics covered, makes this the one book really serious OS X coders and admins need to have.

Like it's cousin, the MS ResKit, it's dry, concise, and may scare off some folks. And like the ResKit, it's just as essential as a learning tool and reference book rolled into one.

I've seen many reviews that talk about this book as a book for programmers. I don't believe that for one second. I've heard many references to the old days when all admins were programmers and heard tell of greybeard hackers who are equally proficient at both coding and admin work. This book does a similar job of blending the lines between the two tasks, illustrating concepts and giving examples using C and scripting as well as using human readable english. As a non-coding UNIX and OS X aficionado, I look forward to broadening my knowledge of both programming and unix administration as it applies to OS X via this awe-inspiring book.

If you are new to Affiliate Marketing and got the job to manage your companies Affiliate Program or want to get this job, you should buy this book. It is also an item that should be in the library of a bigger company with a large in-house managed Affiliate Program as reference for new Employees but also for your Veterans.

Marketing and/or technical skills and background certainly help with the job as Affiliate Manager, but most important are communication skills and the knowledge about what makes affiliates "tick".

This book, although in certain areas a bit outdated, holds up as being the most comprehensive print work available to this day, with everything you need to know to start, manage and grow a successful Affiliate Program.

You will never get as much condensed knowledge and practical experiences made by the authors in one book for such a low price.

The only additional Item I can recommend is the just recently released product called "Affiliate Manager 1st Edition" which has a steep price tag but provides tons of video, audio and print material. Amazon does not carry it (yet) as I am writing this, but you can find it on the Internet.

You can't do anything wrong if you get both.

Well-written "How to" guide to building an affiliate program. A must read for new Internet entrepreneurs.

While there is some useful information in this book it is pretty outdated.

When it was released in 2001 I believe it was the definitive work on the subject.

However, now over 4 years later, most of the links to sites the book refer's to as resources you want to visit are now dead links.

If it was updated, and brought up to date with live links for the same subjects, maybe.

As is, a waste of time.

If you're in the Affiliate business, or want to be, you must read this book. Can you become a priest without reading the Bible? Probably not. So why do you think you can be a successful Affiliate Marketer without reading THE book on the subject?

Since I'm in the Affiliate Marketing Industry, I carry this book around with me everywhere I go with my laptop and business cards, just in case I need a reference or idea. Albiet a bit outdated by now, it is still the definitive piece of material on the matter.

Not too many things change faster than the internet. This book is chock full of good information and it is the only serious book on the subject available. Please issue a new edition! It is a couple of years out of date, which is a lifetime in web years.

En título del libro realmente se cumple, ya que SERÁ EL ÚNICO LIBRO DE ACCESS QUE NECESITES, y si efectivamente así es.
Explicada detalladamente cada tema, tienes imagenes y muchos temas interesantes.
Sinceramente lo recomiendo ampliamente.
Desde MID MX.

Otra recomendacion es: Access 2007: The Missing Manual

This is the summary review of four Access 2007 books:
"Special Edition: Using Access 2007" (Special)
"Access 2007 Bible" (Bible)
"The missing Manual of Access 2007" (Manual)
"Access 2007 for dummies" (Dummies)

In sum, the special edition is the best. Buy the special edition. Even you are a fresh beginner on Access.

(My story? Well, I read the dummies first. Then looked at Manual, doesn't like it. So I got the bible. Still unsatisfied. Finally, I got the special edition.)I know some basics on Access 2003 and only use Access when Excel is not enough to handle my data. I started with "Access 2007 for dummies" and finished it in a couple of hours. Then I turned to "Access 2007 Bible" and "The missing Manual", the manual is the worst one and the bible just provides basics, well, maybe a bit more than, that the dummies book already covers.

The special edition provides more examples and detailed explanation on: Query, Forms, Reports, Pivot table.Not sure about the VBA part.

I also like very much the reader-friendly layout and enjoy its "what is in real world" sections at the end of several chapters.

This book also provides a good summary of basic database concepts like normalized, the importance of index, joints. The summary is very helpful especially you are a beginner.

The cover of the special edition claims that the special edition is the only Access book you need. Well, maybe not the only one, but if you have the special edition, you definitely don't need the Access 2007 Bible, The missing manual and the dummies book.