Computing Internet Books

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.

This book is the much needed update to the book on embedded systems also published by O'Reilly. This book assumes that the reader already has some programming experience and is at least familiar with the syntax of the C language. It also helps if you have some familiarity with basic data structures, such as linked lists. The book does not assume that you have a great deal of knowledge about computer hardware, but it does expect that you are willing to learn a little bit about hardware along the way. This is, after all, a part of the job of an embedded programmer.

The book contains 14 chapters and 5 appendixes. The chapters can be divided into two parts. The first part consists of Chapters 1 through 5 and is intended mainly for newcomers to embedded systems. These chapters should be read in their entirety and in the order that they appear. This will bring you up to speed quickly and introduce you to the basics of embedded software development. After completing Chapter 5, you will be ready to develop small pieces of embedded software on your own.

The second part of the book consists of Chapters 6 through 14 and discusses advanced topics that are of interest to inexperienced and experienced embedded programmers alike. These chapters are mostly self-contained and can be read in any order. In addition, Chapters 6 through 12 contain example programs that might be useful to you on a future embedded software project.

Throughout the book, the authors strike a balance between specific examples and general information. Minor details have been eliminated making the book more readable, at least in my opinion. You will gain the most from the book if you view the examples primarily as tools for understanding important concepts. Try not to get bogged down in the details of any one circuit board or chip. If you understand the general C programming concepts, you should be able to apply them to any embedded system you encounter. To focus the book's example code on specific concepts, these examples have been left intentionally incomplete. For example, certain include files and redundant variable declarations are omitted. For complete details about the code, you can refer to the full example source code on the book's web site. I discuss this book further in the context of its table of contents:

Chapter 1, Introduction - Explains the field of embedded programming and lays out the parameters of the book, including the reference hardware used for examples.

Chapter 2, Getting to Know the Hardware - Shows how to explore the documentation for your hardware and represent the components you need to interact with in C.

Chapter 3, Your First Embedded Program - Creates a simple blinking light application that illustrates basic principles of embedded programming.

Chapter 4, Compiling, Linking, and Locating - Goes over the ways that embedded systems differ from conventional computer systems during program building steps, covering such issues as cross-compilers.

Chapter 5, Downloading and Debugging - Introduces the tools you'll need in order to iron out problems in both hardware and software.

Chapter 6, Memory - Describes the different types of memory that developers choose for embedded systems and the issues involved in using each type.

Chapter 7, Peripherals - Introduces the notion of a device driver, along with other coding techniques for working with devices.

Chapter 8, Interrupts - Covers this central area of working with peripherals.

Chapter 9, Putting It All Together - Combines the concepts and code from the previous chapter with convenience functions and a main program, to create a loadable, testable application.

Chapter 10, Operating Systems - Introduces common operating system concepts, including tasks and synchronization mechanisms, along with the reasons for adding a real-time operating system.

Chapter 11, eCos Examples - Shows how to use some features of the eCos real-time operating system.

Chapter 12, Embedded Linux Examples - Accomplishes the same task as the previous chapter, but for the embedded Linux operating system.

Chapter 13, Extending Functionality - Describes options for adding buses, networking, and other communication features to a system.

Chapter 14, Optimization Techniques - Describes ways to decrease code size, reduce memory use, and conserve power.

Appendix A, The Arcom VIPER-Lite Development Kit - Describes the board used for the examples in this book and how to order one for yourself.

Appendix B, Setting Up Your Software Development Environment - Gives instructions for loading the software described in this book on your host Windows or Linux computer.

Appendix C, Building the GNU Software Tools - Shows you how to compile the GNU development tools

Appendix D, Setting Up the eCos Development Environment - Shows you how to build an eCos library appropriate for your embedded system so you can compile programs to run on your system.

Appendix E, Setting Up the Embedded Linux Development Environment - Describes how to install the embedded Linux tools for your Arcom system and build and run a program on it.

If you are just getting into embedded systems and you want to understand the myriad of interacting concepts, this book is a good start. You will get a solid overview of the basic elements, such as hardware, software tools and techniques, memory and peripherals, processing controls and design strategies.

As with any embedded systems book, there has to be some alignment with specific hardware and application examples. The author uses these examples to tie together embedded elements, but the integration is a bit choppy.

The book is organized as a general introduction to embedded systems. About half the book describes the system elements and about half provides full system examples. A single book cannot cover all topologies and development platforms, so I wouldn't recommend it for someone who is trying to solve a specific problem on his/her embedded application. For cases like that, your vendors and FAEs are probably your best bet.

So if you are trying to learn embedded systems development, this is a great resource. If you intend to use it to guide a current project or debug an embedded problem, it may become more of a distraction.

Programming Embedded Systems with C and GNU Development Tools appears in its second updated edition to include even more real-world and Linux examples, and is a recommended pick for programmers with a familiarity with C. It's been used as a college textbook and covers everything from basic debugging skills to determining the applications and needs of real-time projects. In updating details and clarifying routines, the 2nd edition of Programming Embedded Systems should be considered both a classroom and lending collection standard.

Diane C. Donovan
California Bookwatch

This book gives an excellent overview of programming embedded systems. It provides numerous examples of real-world hands-on embedded programming. I'd recommend that you have experience in C. Experience with operating systems concepts (such as interrupt service routines) would also be helpful.

Unlike usual programming books, you won't be able to pick up the book, download something, and start working. You'll need to have an embedded system that you can use. The authors use a system from Arcom that will run you about $300. I've not used it and was very wary about it when I first started reading, but as I read through the various examples I gained a great appreciation for the system. It looks like a great way to gain hands-on experience with embedded programming.

Before getting this book I read through the Lego Mindstorm NXT documentation and felt very lost. I didn't understand the symbols on the schematics and they used strange acronyms (like I2C and PWM). I also have an Iguanaworks USB infrared transceiver. I bought it to use in a MythTV system I am building. This book has enabled me to understand the schematics of both the Mindstorm and the transceiver as well as the documentation of both systems. I now feel ready to do my own embedded systems programming.

That said, I did not like everything in this book. They gloss over areas that I felt would have helped me (such as how to use a JTAG adapter and how to create an interrupt service routine under Linux). There are areas where the writing does not flow well and is redundant. The book switched from using an embedded x86 processor in the first edition to using an ARM processor in the second and there are still references to the old processor.

Even with its faults I am glad I got this book. It filled in many of the gaps that I have as a software engineer who is wanting to learn about embedded systems programming. I feel a whole new world has just been opened up to me and I can't wait to jump in.

Many people are derisive about the "for Dummies" series, believing them to be too simplistic and sometimes even an insult to their intelligence. That can hardly apply to this book, as there is nothing "dummy" about it. You need a significant background in biology and chemistry in order to understand most of it. You need to understand the amino acid structure of proteins, the structure of DNA and many fundamental principles of data analysis. Some knowledge of the structure and operations of databases is also needed. The authors include a large number of web sites containing additional information and that can run analyses.
The coverage is so thorough and detailed that this is the only "for dummies" book that I have seen that could honestly be recommended as a college text. And not just at the freshman level either.

The first chapter is a short review of DNA and RNA sequences, amino acids, and protein. The other chapters teach you to use the free software found on the Internet to work with your research. Information is also given which helps explain some biochemicals. My skills are in Software Development using C++ language, and I need more information on biochemicals to understand the problems and to develop algorithms to solve them.
My only criticism is that I would like the book to give more biochemical theory before taking up the subject of Internet software.
Overall, this is a good beginner's book on biochemistry.

This book kind of blew me away. Bioinformatics is such a big word.

Then in the second chapter they tell you 'How Most People Use Bioinformatics.' And all of a sudden they have you on line to the National Library of Medicine at the National Institute of Health. They have you looking at protein sequences, and you even understand what they are saying.

This is a 'For Dummies' book. It is written in their traditional style, assuming that you know very little -- well to be sure they say they are making the assumption that 'You likely have a background in molecular biology. If you don't - or if you need to brush up on your molecular biology - Chapter 1 gives you a brief overview of the basics.'

I found that the first few chapters went down pretty easily. By part IV it had gone further than I wanted to go, and I quit reading.

BUT if I were going to be taking a course in bioinformatics, or even thinking about taking such a course, or just looking at a degree in biology, I'd spend a week or two getting around this book. It's written a hell of a lot better than any text you're likely to get assigned, and at its price it's quite a deal.

I am a couple years into a PhD in bioinformatics, but this is the book I started with. I knew some biology and some computer science, but I still found a lot of the databases, etc. confusing and the field has a decided lack of simplified documentation (though it is getting better).

Of course, bioinformatics is a pretty broad topic and no book could possibly cover everything.

If you do not know any biology at all you probably should also get a basic text on genetics/molecular biology (or read thema at the NCBI web site books section for free). You don't need anything in depth to read the dummies book, just at the level of an introductory biology book. Hint: DNA to RNA, RNA to Protein. And you want to know why proteins are similar because proteins with similar amino acid sequences often have similar chemical properties and therefore similar functions, so if you know what one protein does you can guess what a protein like it probably does.
:-)

And despite the name of the book the authors are REAL bioinformaticists (T-Coffee rocks!)

This is an excellent introduction to Bioinformatics. It does assume some very basic knowledge of biology- perhaps a couple of paragraphs could help the total newbies.

Have you noticed that reviews of bioinformatics books tend to follow certain patterns? The Computer Scientists and mathematicians complain that there is not enough detail about the algorithms, the biologists complain that they could not get through the math, and everyone complains that there is not enough detail about their favorite programs! Let us face the fact that this is a very broad field, and most people that want to learn about it will never design algorithms.

This book is great, it covers all topics neccesary to pass the Exam 70-646. It also include real life situations that enrich your experience as IT Professional.
I recomend it.

Overall I give this book four stars. This is a REFERENCE book; not really intended for beginners. However, I read about some properties I did not know existed previously, so I learned a lot in addition to having one place to look up everything. I do like that it's hardcover--though I wish one of these days Sitepoint could make books that are able to lay flat!

I also like the fact that after every property, there is a little box that explains which browsers are compatible with it. The book even explains if the property is buggy (looking at you, IE), and then delves into why and if there is a fix. Unfortunately, this list will soon need additions to them, with the coming of IE8, Chrome, etc, etc. Still, very useful.

It doesn't receive a perfect five because I wish more example pictures could be displayed. I don't mean for the very basic things (like the height property). In some of the explanations, I was only 80 to 90% sure of what the paragraph was talking about, and with web I am very visual. I know this would have taken up more space, but I felt it was needed (but only for certain sections). I also didn't like how the "index" is set up. I think there should have been another index (keywords) in addition to the current, property-only one. For instance, div isn't even mentioned there. I know that's an HTML tag but it would have been nice to see all the keywords throughout the book regarding it, considering its interaction with CSS. I guess I'm not used to that sort of index, which is basically the Table of Contents but at the end of the book.

So yes, I would say if you want one book to look up all the different properties of CSS, this is it. Again, this is a reference, not a book with tutorials and explanations on how to create something specific (recommend the anthology book for that).

The ultimate CSS reference by Tommy Olsson and Paul O'Brien is exactly what it says, a reference guide. As with all books however I've read this one cover to cover. The book covers every single CSS keyword, selector, pseudo-class and corresponding attribute known (including some that aren't even in the official ratified W3C standard but are supported by certain browsers and some that are currently in the standard but aren't supported by any of the major browsers) from CSS version 1 right through to the latest CSS 3.

The book is very well laid out and easy to look up as a reference with chapters on layout, list styles, box properties etc. Next to this is a quick reference stating whether or not the attribute is inherited, it's initial value, which version of the official W3C specification it comes from and a quick browser support reference stating whether it's fully supported by the browser, partially supported, not supported at all or whether the implementation is buggy for a particular browser. This is followed by a description of what the attribute does, any values that it takes followed by a more complete browser compatibility list. The list covers the major browsers that are currently out from IE5.5 through IE7, Firefox 1.0 through 2.0, Safari 1.3 through 3.0 and Opera 9.2. Following this is a brief description of any compatibility issues as listed .

As with any book of this nature, basically it is out of date virtually as it's printed. With Firefox 3.0 and Opera 9.5 just being released and Internet Explorer 8.0 just around the corner. However this and it's companion Ultimate HTML reference are definitely two books that I'd love to see updated once the new set of browsers are out.

Scattered throughout the book are numerous references to W3C RFCs, web sites showing compatibility issues and differences between the way various browsers handle the CSS etc. that are very useful.

This book is a must for any web developer no matter which programming language you use to build your web sites. Combine it's sister book with this one and you really do have the ultimate web reference sitting at your fingertips. No more looking through obscure RFC's. When you're designing a web site and come across a quirk in how you thought something should have been laid out, or a CSS selector then simply reach for this book and it will tell you if indeed it is a bug or whether you are just implementing incorrectly.
Tommy and Paul should be proud of what they have produced and this book should grace every web developers desk and be within fingertip reach.

Any computer collection catering to programmers and covering CSS will find "The Ultimate CSS Refrence" to be the definitive work for mastering CSS, the building block of nearly every web site today. Written by two of the world's most renowned CSS experts, "The Ultimate CSS Reference" features extensive tips, facts, and detail. A perfect for college-level or advanced computer libraries.

§

In the ancient days of early 1999 I had to put together my own CSS reference. I had to figure out by trial and error what parts of CSS were implemented and which were most useful and least buggy. Back then it seemed most Web experts / lecturers were very wary of CSS because the leading browser company, Netscape, did not see the transformative potential of HTML stylesheets.

I uploaded my "Cascading Style Cheatsheet" (http://home.tampabay.rr.com/bmerkey/cheatsheet.htm) and over the years it has become a popular link. We really don't need attempts of that sort anymore when we have books like this one.

Like its companion volume (The Ultimate HTML Reference) this book is simply but elegantly laid out in a way that makes it easy to use. The language is clear and the examples are directed to the most useful aspects of serious Web page and Web application implementations.

Because I make my living designing Web applications based upon the Internet Explorer browser, I was pleased to see excellent coverage of the proprietary (but very useful) CSS properties and values. Many books do not mention these because they are not part of the W3C specification. For good measure, a sprinkling of the -moz extensions of Firefox are also covered.

This book, sitting alongside its HTML companion, should be a solid (hard-backed!) addition to your technical library.

§

Every part of CSS is covered. The browser support and compatibility is given for every property. The layout is extremely well thought out and makes finding information incredibly easy. And to top it all off, Sitepoint makes the book available on-line as well, for free. It is fully searchable. This is just a great tool for anyone working on site design.

As others have mentioned, if one is looking for lots of tutorials or help in learning how to do CSS, they may want to supplement this with something else. This is mostly just reference with brief introductory information. But that is what makes it great. A person who already knows what they are doing does not have to wade through a bunch of explanation and teaching. This is just the facts.

I highly recommend this to any serious web developer or designer.

This book was an incredible waste of time. I felt that the essays were a) far too dated (a rambling discourse on the dangers of cookies) or b) too out of touch (Rape in cyberspace was NOT a real rape in cyberspace, folks) The authors seem to be mainly scholars without a tech background than technical folks and I have to agree that the thesaurus was in heavy use during the writing of most of the these essays. Finally the book contains very little practical information on cyberethics. Not even a single case study.

After starting this book, I found it difficult to put down or avoid engaging others with the questions the book raised both explicitly and implicitly. The murky waters of online ethics are aptly navigated by Spinello in this brief work. The presentational format of providing background and then analyzing each side of an issue enhances the understanding of the material while provoking further thought for the reader. Case studies are also interlaced into the material, providing ample ground for discussion. This would serve well as a college supplemental reading for any truly in-depth analysis of morality and cyberspace. It also remains enjoyable and understandable for the pleasure reader who has little background in this field. A must-read for anyone hoping to understand where government and society stands on difficult ethical and legal dilemmas created by cyberspace.

The content of this book is nothing short of a diaster! I had to read this book for my Ethics in the Information Age class here at the Rochester Institute of Technology and I must say that this is the worst textbook I ever had to read. It felt more like a highschool essay thats 155 pages long. The book is plagued with wordy sentences that can confused and bemuddle anyone who isn't an english major. Practically every sentence is littered with words that a bare few of us remember from the SATs (perhaps to lengthen the book?). The book's content doesn't provide a sense of contraversy about ethics in cyberspace. I beleive that he tried to stay neutral in the arguments but it only seemed to confuse me. The auther included a lot of references to other sources suggesting that he too doesn't even know a thing about Cyber Ethics, resorting to other people's works. The writng is too abstract and at most times I ended up rereading the book several times just to make sense of it. If I didn't need this for class, I recommend not buying this book. I am sure there are plenty of other well written Cyber Ethics books than this.

I teach a computing ethics course at an area University. I did not select this book as my text when I reviewed texts for use in the Fall 2004 semester. I did choose Spinello and Tavani's new reader; but this book--like most of the predecessors Spinello has written--would drive my students nuts -- and they wouldn't know why. Bottom line: poorly written and not easy to read -- lots of tough sentence choices made. However, as with Spinello's other books, there are some points he makes that no other computing ethics texts' authors do make! So, I'll glean those points out of his text and present them to my students rather than force them to work their way through and around his prose.

While taking one of my design courses last semester, I was very enthusiastically recommended this book by a professor of mine. Since it was in my school's library, I decided to check it out. The book is, simply put, flat-out amazing. I have read it several times since, and would recommend it to anybody in the field of graphic or web design. There is so much fantastic information and insight, and it's all laid out beautifully and extremely easy to understand (and read!). Phenomenal.

I bought this, flipped through it a couple of times, then tossed it aside. A few years later, I decided to look through it again. This time, after about 15 pages in, I started to get inspired. I was concurrently redesigning my website, and it spoke to that process and, and also of collaboration. This book may reinvigorate your motivation and inspiration for new media design.

Self appointed maestro trys to teach common sense! If you don't inherently know this then you probably have no business being in this business!

The book was in really good condition, although I did not recieve my book on time. Thanks.

I'm just starting to learn about design, reading online and checking some books at the library of my college. This book is a great help because it does tell you the key fact that all ideas are there, borrowing is ok to transform something into a new well crafted thing,and you can find inspiration in many, many ways. Many useful information, tips, quotes, in general, I'm gonna buy this book for my collection.

This book is great for CMOs or marketing decision makers who are looking to incorporate web analytics into their business and have no idea where to start. It walks the reader through the entire process of finding and organizing the right team, how to define your metrics of success with your website, and how to contract the right partners to work with. It should really be titled implementing a web metrics plan for dummies. Since working for a company that had all of these measures in place, the first eight chapters were useless to me personally. I did find chapters six through nine helpful in which it explains what key performance indicators to consider to determine your web sites success and collecting the right data to consider. Buy this only if you're a corporate type that needs a game plan of implementing web analytics plan from scratch.

The book's a little long winded and the points get a bit repetitive...Luckily they're all pretty much on the money. It's a great tool to help people understand the limitations of analytics and the value of using the right analytics. I've already recommended it.

The authors of Actionable Web Analytics clearly understand the technical intricacies of Web analytics. More importantly, they clearly understand the challenges faced by Web marketers and managers in distilling and communicating the value and ROI of Web sites and interactive campaigns. Given the critical need for cost-effective marketing integration across all media, I believe this is a must-read for everyone from Web analytics gurus to corporate CMOs.

This book presents an easy to understand overview of analytics as a whole. It is not a "how to" book on the latest analytics software. The authors forgo the typical pretense associated with this kind of "technical" material, presenting the information in a tone that makes analytics quite fun.

If you are looking for "Actionable Web Analytics" or how to "Use Data to Make Smart Business Decisions", then look somewhere else. The title of this book and the 5 star reviews given by some people here has misled me. I have red 75% of this book and finally decided to stop waisting my time. The book goes around web analytics and never gets into the point or give any specific practical recommendation.

It was a total waist of time and If there is a way I can return it back I will do so immediately.

The book is well written by an author who knows how to make effective presentations. This is not a "how to" book for mastering PowerPoint. It is a guide for how to use PowerPoint to enhance presentations. People who suffer through tedious presentations and yearn not to inflict the same on others will benefit from reading this book.

Although I am a certified Power Point Professional I don't use Power Point anymore. Let me explain. Since Apple came out with Keynote it is far better so I left Power Point in the dust and has never been easier. For Power Point I will agree with the other commenters this book is one of the best I have seen even better than the "Dummy" books I used to recommend to my Community College classes. I would love to have seem a CD with some sample complete presentations.
The main thing I disliked about the book is the fact the illustrations are in Black & white. The only color is on the covers. I believe the book would be better if they were color and what is there would have better resolution.
I am a full time Minister and would love to see something from the stand point of when you have a lot of material you need to give the audience. I speak to the same audience 52 weeks a year and roughly do 110 presentations. I do pickup some points out of every book and this one is no exception.
I am waiting for a book, probably by a preacher who does as many presentations as a do to the same audience, dealing with how to deal with a lot of text putting full Scripture passages in the presentations.
This one is ok but I find it written more to the fellow that does business presentations. There is another audience unless I am the only Preacher that uses Power Point or Keynote.
Great job though Rick.

Why Most PowerPoint Presentations Suck
Altman's writing sets a new standard for "computer" books. I use the quotation marks because this book doesn't just cover PowerPoint, but also provides solid teachings on delivering more effective presentations, making it more of a "professional" book than one just on computing subjects. That aside, this is the best-written computer-oriented book I've read. Altman has an entertaining style while also clearly demonstrating his expertise on the subject through genuine tips and techniques that are easy to understand and use. If the title doesn't grab you the content certainly will.

I did not like this book as much as the other five-star reviewers on this page seemed to have liked it. And since someone else has already said something similar, I found my voice too.

This book tries to do too much in a series of unrelated chapters and is not too suitable for simple PowerPoint users. It also assumes too much from the reader and gets into technical PowerPoint jargon without considering if the readers knows what it means.

One of my friends on the PowerPoint newsgroup was not too happy with this book, but I disregarded her opinion and got this one based on the opinions from all the other reviewers here. I wonder why these reviews don't say more.

The author is more interested about his own life, events, and contacts than about PowerPoint. Almost everything is unoriginal and the author says that he learned this trick from this friend, and that friend. No wonder all the info comes up as half the info and although the writing style is good, the content is not deep enough. I'm sorry but that's my opinion.