Google Hacks O'Reilly, 2003
This is not the sort of book that you sit down and read from cover to cover. As the subtitle '100 Industrial-Strength Tips & Tools' suggests, it's designed for you to dip in and find the answer to a particular problem. Still, I found myself being drawn to read more and more, thinking: 'Wow, I'd no idea you could do that.' Things such as how to use Google to find a telephone number in the United States, or how to narrow down your search to a particular site (say, for instance, you want to look for an old article in the site of a specific newspaper or magazine). The first quarter of the book is filled with simple, but useful tips like this, but then it gets into more advanced territory - specialist searches, getting Google by email, and building a form to conduct searches within a specific date range. Most of the second half of the book is devoted to the Google API, which enables web developers to build their own customized search applications with Perl, PHP, XML and other programming languages. Unless you're familiar with programming, this section of the book will be less helpful, although it's still fascinating to read what can be done. The final eight tips look at Google from the point of view of a web designer - how to get that all-important position close to the top of Google's search results. It has to be pointed out that these are only educated guesses - Google does not reveal its secrets to outsiders - but they have a strong ring of truth about them. There's also advice on how to get back into Google's good books after being banned, and how to get Google to remove material you don't want the rest of the world to see. Even if you use only a handful of the tips contained in Google Hacks, I think you'll find it an entertaining and illuminating read. |
The Web Programming CD Bookshelf O'Reilly, 2003
The great attraction of the O'Reilly CD Bookshelf series is that you get a collection of top titles for much less than it would cost to buy the books individually. You can also search them rapidly, not just one at a time, but all together. In the case of the two "definitive guides" in this collection, that's a major plus. Together, they come to more than 2,250 pages - most of them reference material - so it should save a great deal of time when you need to look up JavaScript syntax. The downside is that you either have to fire up your CD-ROM or store it permanently on hard disk. An even bigger disadvantage from my viewpoint is that I don't really want to read 4,668 pages on my computer screen. With a different O'Reilly CD Bookshelf, I ended up buying the print editions of two of the books for the sheer convenience of flicking through physical pages. What about the content, though? The only book I don't have is "Web Database Applications with PHP and MySQL", so I can't comment on it, although I believe it has a solid reputation. Of the rest, "Webmaster in a Nutshell" is the only book I found rather disappointing. It's designed as a desktop quick reference, so it's more of a memory-jogger than a book to find solutions to problems in. Also, it seems to fall between two stools - web design and web administration - so fails to address either in much depth. The remaining four books are excellent, and reviewed individually on this site. I use "PHP Programming" and "PHP Cookbook" constantly, and would not be without them. The JavaScript and Dynamic HTML Definitive Guides are also both well written, and essential to anyone doing their own scripting. If space is at a premium or you like reading books on a computer screen, getting books bundled together like this certainly should save you money, but my preference would be to go for the individual books. |
Linux in a Nutshell, 4th Edition O'Reilly, 2003
The fourth edition has been updated to include commands related to CDs and music, as well as GRUB, which has become the default bootloader on several Linux distributions. There's also coverage of vim, the more user-friendly version of the vi text editor, and of new options to the iptables firewall command, DNSSEC and ssh. |
Perl for Web Site Management O'Reilly, 2002
Instead of assuming prior knowledge of Perl, John Callendar's approach is to explain things as he goes along. This certainly takes a lot of the pain out of learning, but has a major drawback - unless you already know Perl, you can't skip ahead and do just the projects that interest you. Best used in conjunction with another book, such as Learning Perl, as a way of seeing some of the many useful things Perl can do for you. |
Running Linux (4th Edition) O'Reilly, 2002
Note: this review is based on the 3rd edition. |
Web Security, Privacy & Commerce O'Reilly, 2002
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Google is already so easy to use, and so much part of my daily life, I was sceptical that anybody could write a book making it easier. I was wrong. Not only does it make things easier, Google Hacks opens up a whole new perspective on what you can do with this massive online index to the world's web pages.
I don't have a copy of this myself, but I've got the print version of all but one of the books, so feel more than qualified to comment. First of all, what it contains: a copy of "Webmaster in a Nutshell" (3rd edition), plus electronic versions of the following O'Reilly books on a single CD-ROM:
This is a desktop reference to all the main Linux commands, listed in alphabetical order, plus guides to the bash shell, emacs, vi, and other common Linux utilities. Excellent if you know what you're looking for, but you need to be familiar with Linux for it to be of any value. Definitely not one to try to learn how to run a Linux system from.
Approaches Perl through practical projects, rather than in the more traditional theoretical manner. Concentrates on the everyday tasks that a website administrator is most interested in, such as building a simple search engine, converting multiple text files to HTML, monitoring log files, and tracking users as they visit your site.
Good overall introduction to Linux written in straightforward language. Takes a neutral approach to the various distributions (distros) of Linux. As well as covering the philosophy of Linux and the Open Source movement, it explains basic commands and concepts, such as setting file ownership and permissions, essential system manageemnt, and other administrative tasks. Down-to-earth, sensible approach.
A very comprehensive guide to all aspects of internet security and privacy from the point of view of both users and web administrators. Although it goes into considerable detail about various software solutions to security problems, the main emphasis is on concepts and principles rather than "this is how you fix it". As a result, this book is less likely to go out of date than many others on the same subject. Armed with the knowledge it contains, users should be better prepared to deal with the dangers lurking on the web.