MBR: The Computer Shelf
Midwest Book Review
DerEngel
No Starch Press
555 DeHaro Street #250, San Francisco CA 94107
1593271018 $29.95 www.nostarch.com
Cable modem owners who want to do more than see it placidly sit
alongside a computer will want HACKING THE CABLE MODEM: WHAT CABLE
COMPANIES DON'T WANT YOU TO KNOW. What is there to know about the cable
modem? Plenty, according to underground hacker DerEngle, who began
hacking cable modems five years ago. Secrets of many popular cable
modem products include step-by-step tutorials with source code
examples, diagrams, and even schematics - something usually absent
from hacker's guides - to survey files, applications, and how to
unblock network ports, unlock hidden features, and modify a cable modem
system. While it's touted for all users at all skills levels, obviously
it's the curious and serious hacker who will best benefit from this
extensive, well-detailed coverage.
Programming Atlas
Christian Wentz
O'Reilly
1005 Gravenstein Highway North, Sebastopol, CA 95472
0596526725 $34.99 www.oreilly.com
If you're not already using Microsoft's new framework for building
Ajax-savvy web sites, you should be - and PROGRAMMING ATLAS is the
perfect vehicle to take you there. It may look like a 'cookbook' of
recipes, but it's not - it's a survey of the underlying technology
concepts that make Ajax work, from those most often associated with
Ajax to understanding its design and tool intentions. With these basics
in hand programmers will find Atlas a snap to master - thanks to
PROGRAMMING ATLAS.
ActionScript 3.0 Cookbook
Joey Lott, Darron Schnall & Keith Peters
O'Reilly
1005 Gravenstein Highway North, Sebastopol, CA 95472
0596526954 $39.99 www.oreilly.com
If you're using Adobe Flash or Flex software, you shouldn't be without
the program-specific 'recipes' in the ActionScript 3.0 Cookbook. Here
are the cross-referenced, quick look-up recipes for operating systems,
formatting, accessibility, and options and alternates for strings.
Solutions come from a leading consultant in the Flash arena, a Rich
Internet Applications consultant, and a freelance Flash developer and
pack in specific code suggestions and pros and cons of routines.
Photoshop Elements 5: The Missing Manual
Barbara Brundage
Pogue Press/O'Reilly
1005 Gravenstein Highway North, Sebastopol, CA 95472
0596527284 $39.99 www.oreilly.com
Photoshop Elements 5 is a powerful program that, surprisingly, comes
without a user's guide, so let the colorful Barbara Brundage 'bible'
PHOTOSHOP ELEMENTS 5: THE MISSING MANUAL substitute for the publisher's
lack. Here's a manual which goes beyond the usual tools overview to
survey timesaving elements, differences between Photoshop and Elements
tools, applications such as scrapbooking, and all the basics on
removing unwanted color, tweaking images for professional results, and
using filters and photo layouts. Photoshop 5 owners can't be without
this manual; especially newcomers - but also those with some basics
down who want to move easily to the next level.
Java Generics and Collections
Maurice Naftalin & Philip Wadler
O'Reilly
1005 Gravenstein Highway North, Sebastopol, CA 95472
0596527756 $34.99 www.oreilly.com
Java's had many changes since its initial release and programmers would
find it easy to fall behind on all these new collection libraries, so
Java Generics and Collections is an essential tool for any programmer
working in Java lready, who would keep up with the design and nature of
generics. From parameter basics and new features to using wildcards,
generic libraries and understanding performance implications of their
different options, Java Generics and Collections is a 'must' for any
working Java programmer.
PrenticeHall
One Lake Street, Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458
www.prenhallprofessional.com
These three excellent computer guides are recommended picks for
programmers and designers who want at-a-glance reference capabilities
combined with the ease of a primer. Christopher Hallinan's EMBEDDED
LINUX PRIMER: A PRACTICAL REAL-WORLD APPROACH (0131679848, $44.99)
covers all the basics for building efficient Linux-based embedded
products. Many Linux guides permeate the market, but few offer the
focus on embedded processing which includes everything from file
systems and bootloaders to cross-development and real time solutions.
It's this focus on advanced embedded applications which makes for a
unique reference. Wesley Chun's CORE PYTHON PROGRAMMING, 2ND EDITION
(0132269937, $49.99) provides developers with an in-depth survey of the
updated Python 2.5, comes from a leading Python developer and trainer,
and utilizes real-world code examples throughout to cover all the
basics of Python programming. Other books on Python don't cover nearly
as much - it's difficult to move smoothly from a basic introduction
to advanced applications - but developers will appreciate the easy
transitions here which focus on how to build more effective
applications and how to use Python toolkits alongside the program
itself. Alan Ezust and Paul Ezust's AN INTRODUCTION TO DESIGN PATTERNS
IN C++ WITH QT4 (0131879057, $49.99) goes beyond C++ guides to add
information on cross-platform development capabilities, offering up a
blend of tutorial and reference which, surprisingly, assumes no prior
knowledge of C, C++, objects or patterns. This enables newcomers to get
up to speed quickly, mastering the basics of design patterns and
objects and using QT and C++ together to understand many programming
basics, even to creating applications that access databases and
manipulate XML files. All are exceptional guides.
Lessons in Grid Computing
Stuart Robbins
John Wiley & Sons
111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030
0471790109 $34.95 www.wiley.com
Lessons in Grid Computing: The System Is a Mirror blends storytelling
with IT analysis and business insights to attract any with affection
for computer systems and management alike. The author believes IT
systems are mirrors reflecting the dysfunctions and concepts of those
who design and manage technology: chapters use fictional surveys to
chart real struggles to overcome technical and management issues as a
result of such a focus. The idea that computer and social systems are
entwined isn't new: what is new is the identification of 'grid
computing' to allow readers to understand how this affects
organizational structure and achievement.
Overselling the Web?
Charles Kenny
Lynne Rienner Publishers
1800 - 30th Street Suite 315, Boulder CO 80301-1026
1588264580 $45.00 www.reinner.com
OVERSELLING THE WEB? DEVELOPMENT AND THE INTERNET considers how the
internet has and will continue to impact the world - and why it may
be oversold as a result. Chapters survey the presence and evolution of
the technology in both developing and under-developed nations with an
eye to explaining business control of applications, cultural
influences, differences within nations on how the Internet is promoted,
marketed, and controlled, and more. An excellent college-level survey
IT classes will appreciate.
ESRI Publishers
380 New York Street, Redlands, CA 92373-8100
www.esri.com
Two new GIS titles deserve a spot in any serious college-level
collection: they cover analysis and evolutionary processes and provide
both historical background and keys to future changes. Ayse Pamuk's
MAPPING GLOBAL CITIES: GIS METHODS IN URBAN ANALYSIS (1589481437,
$49.95) surveys modern urban policymaking processes and the impact of
GIS results on the planning process. Important connections between data
obtained from GIS and its strengths in spatial analysis makes for
chapters which review how spatial data contributes to GIS analysis and
the decision-making process as a whole. Nick Chrisman's CHARTING THE
UNKNOWN: HOW COMPUTER MAPPING AT HARVARD BECAME GIS (1589481186,
$34.95) narrows the focus to the Harvard Laboratory for Computer
Graphics and Spatial Analysis, the origin of the birth of the modern
GIS system. The history surveys early programming efforts, the
evolution of Odyssey, the prototype for modern GIS software, and the
influence of individuals and businesses on GIS development. An
excellent background pick for any studying the history of GIS.
A to Z GIS
Tasha Wade and Shelly Sommer
ESRI
380 New York Street, Redlands, CA 92373-8100
1589481402 $24.95 www.esri.com
Books about GIS are usually quite technical, surveying the applications
and computer potentials of geographic information systems, so it's
refreshing to note that A TO Z GIS: AN ILLUSTRATED DICTIONARY OF
GEOGEPHIC INFORMATION SYSTEMS is something different: a simple set of
geography and cartography definitions designed to defines values,
coordinates, reference systems, representations, and GIS data
processing methods and routines. Students of GIS will find this
essential to understanding the terminology of both computer and
geography worlds.
Online Marketing Success Stories
Rene V. Richards
Atlantic Publishing Group
1210 S.W. 23rd Place, Ocala, FL 34474-7014
0910627657 $21.95 www.atlantic-pub.com
E-commerce is expected to increase by 500 percent through 2010, so any
business anticipating success must have more than a retail brick n
mortar presence: that's the message of a title which gathers over sixty
true stories from those who have evolved successful businesses on the
internet today. Learn from the culmination of hundreds of tips, which
here represent the best, most successful advice. There are many books
covering Internet strategies - but few packed with real-world success
stories, as this provides.
Programming Python, 3rd Edition
Mark Lutz
O'Reilly Publishing
1005 Gravenstein Highway North, Sebastopol, CA 95472
0596009259 $59.99 www.oreilly.com
The wonderful thing about a thick reference such as Programming Python,
now in its updated third edition, is that it offers a virtual manual in
book form which can quickly be consulted by novices and pros alike
while in the middle of a programming quandry. This means no exiting or
turning to a different computer for lengthy online support, but a quick
glance at an appropriate chapter covering real problems from parallel
processing and networking snafus to considering Java integration within
the Python language. Here are chapters offering everything from
troubleshooting to design specs, with an eye to realistically scaled
problems and avoiding common hurdles. The author is an independent
Python trainer and software developer who has worked with Python since
1992 and teaches classes in it: this dual expertise lends well to a
popular 'bible' packed with solutions.
Visual Basic 2005 Cookbook
Tim Patrick & John Clark Craig
O'Reilly Publishing
1005 Gravenstein Highway North, Sebastopol, CA 95472
0596101775 $49.99 www.oreilly.com
Over 300 common and uncommon tasks Visual Basic 2005 programmers face
often are arranged in a solution-oriented set of examples which is
based on 'recipes' and formulas but includes code, examples, complete
solutions and even advanced projects. Particularly valuable for .NET
developers as well as novice Visual Basic students, the Visual Basic
2005 Cookbook offers up a set of recipes for solving a wide swatch of
common problems - and imparts the basics of pros and cons to the
solving process.
Programming Embedded Systems
Michael Barr & Anthony Massa
O'Reilly
1005 Gravenstein Highway North, Sebastopol, CA 95472
05960098936 $49.99 www.oreilly.com
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.
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