1 comments about Wireless Web Development, Second Edition.

1. I found this book to be very helpful in introducing the emerging world of WAP not just in technical terms, but in the significant and interesting paradigm differences between the wireless market and the established wired web marketplace. As one of the first books on the subject in a field that is very rapidly evolving, there exists the very likely possibility that the information becomes outdated quickly. Apparently mindful of this, the book steers clear from too many 'absolutes' and focuses instead on general 'how to do this' and 'follow this lead' sorts of examples. Very easy reading and clear writing style. Never condescending or elitist, a no-nonsense book for professionals written without pretense. Get this book, get the referenced standards and SDK materials and keep an eye out for updates to the state of the art, and you will have gotten a good primer on developing for this arena.

3 comments about The Windows® 98 Registry.

1. This book, while comprehensive, is not written for your average user. As a PC technician for over 10 years, this book had me reading paragraphs two or three times in order to understand what Mr. Woram is trying to communicate. The book is written as you would expect a government manual on rules and regulations to be written. Example: "So whenever bad things happen and the Registry is a prime suspect, you should start searching for evidence in Chapter 7. However, if a problem is polite enough to announce itself by displaying a message, then try Chapter 8, where such messages are lined up for inspection. Some messages are self-explanatory, while others border on the incomprehensible. If you encounter one of the latter, perhaps the explanation offered in this book will help. And if neither the message nor the explanation is enough to resolve the problem, then you'll find a reference to a section in the previous chapter, or to an earlier part of the book, where the required information can be found." HUH?? He also details a way of backing up the two main HKEYs in DOS. What he fails to mention, however, is that those files have attributes that you must reset before you can run his example commands. OH, and if your registry is very large, this exporting can take upwards of an hour or more. And when doing the restore in DOS, he fails to mention that a large registry may result in an Out Of Memory error, since DOS has such limited memory capacity. He tends to be a bit wordy, with things like: "The title bar at the top of the window contains the conventional Windows components: a Control menu icon, the title of the application, and the usual three buttons for minimize, restore, and close. No further explanation is offered here." So while he feels the need to tell us that a registry error may 'annouce itself', he feels the need to tell us that it does this by 'displaying a message', (see above), and then he says, in the other example that "no other information is offered here." Well, one could deduce that fact on ones own, without that frivolous information. He writes parts of the book as if the reader has never used Windows before, and then writes other parts of the book using Hexidecimal codes without an explanation of how to interpret them. Example: "Just add 10 to the hexidecimal..." If you see 5E, how do you add 10 to that? This would require previous knowledge of hexidecimal since no explanation is offered in this book. Definately not a cover-to-cover read. An excellent reference for a technician or power user. Not for your average Joe.



2. I agree with the previous review. Seemingly comprehensive but how do you get through it? Very poorly written. Compare his writing skills to Paul McFedries, for example, an excellent writer. A better book on the Win 98 Registry has to be out there.



3. I'll use the previous reviewers words... "This book, while comprehensive, is not written for your average user". Unfortunate for some, fortunate for others, this book presupposes a certain level of knowledge. If you don't have it then you may have difficulty with comprehension. The prior reviewer gives the perfect example; the first sentence quoted is meant as a joke! It humorously conveys the confusion most people run into while dealing with complex computer and computer resource issues. Mr. Woram's writing has an amusing witty bite that not everyone can appreciate. If you can, then you will find no better resource than this.

5 comments about Inside the Microsoft Windows 98 Registry (Mps).

1. syste



2. syste



3. This book is a good book, the problem is, is that is aimed at non-technical people. As a programmer, I was expecting a much more thorough review of the registry, in particular, the hardware section. The book does not touch on the Registry API functions enough, and assumes readers will make registry operations with windows (control panel etc..). For hardcore readers, Windows SDK and DDK provide much more thorough (albeit difficult) answers.



4. It is an excellent book with a lot of screenshots, which is a real plus especially if you're unsure of what you're doing. The step-by-step explanations are sure easy to understand. The author tried to unfold the mystery of win98 registry to casual users and he did it in this book. It's definitely a guide to know your win98 better than ever.

   I agree with the previous review, this book is not aimed at really technical person. For APIs, the win95 API programming book might be more appropriate.




5. I'd like to add my voice to the cumulative opinion that this is an excellent book for those who are first learning to delve into the registry. Mr. Born's explanations are clear, and he always gives several different ways to do everything. He shows the tradeoffs involved in doing something one way vs. another. I found the chapters on the Registry in Windows 9x Resource Kit, Expert Guide to Windows 9x, Mastering Windows 9x and Windows 9x Unleashed just did not teach me eonugh to know what I was looking at. Inside the Windows 9x Registry has done that. It even covers elementary .inf file programming. Helpful resources in appendices and tables explain cryptic commands; even the Shell32.dll icons are explained. One limit on my opinion: I have not read other books on the Registry, so I can't compare this book to those.

No comments about Novell Cluster Services for Linux and NetWare (Novell Press).

5 comments about Essential Winlnet: Developing Applications Using the Windows Internet API with RAS, ISAPI, ASP, and COM (Addison-Wesley Microsoft Technology Series).

1. This book gives you everything you need in order to effectively use the WinInet DLL. The coverage is very complete the explanations clear and the code examples relevant and nicely written. The HTTP, FTP, And Gopher protocols are covered using both the MFC wrapper classes and the WinInet DLL directly. An intermediate to advanced C++ windows programmer will have no trouble getting through this book, beginners stay away. You will also need to have a at least a basic understanding of MFC in order to get the most out of this book. A strong recommendation for those needing to use the communications capabilities of the WinInet DLL.



2. I arrived at this book when I was doing searches on a refrence to help me use WinInet with Visual Basic. The book is not really a VB book at all. It barely mentions how to accomplish the tasks of their projects in VB. Everything is aimed at C++.



3. I just got the book. I skimmed all chapters and read selected chapters. Note, this book is pretty old, but I think it still has practical value. The book talks about Windows 95 and NT 4, but more importantly, it talks about IE 4, which is the foundation of IE 5 and 6. I think the WinInet functionality began w/ IE4 and has not changed much, if at all.

   The book does illustrate all examples in C++; however, there are enough non-language-specific *explanations* throughout the book to give it some value to everyone--I say this mainly because there are no other books on WinInet, at present, and clear explanations are not easily found on the Web. I know C++ so I cannot say how easy or hard it is to follow the examples if you don't know C++.

   I'd love to see a newer book on this topic that would cover VB/C# .Net and IE 6, but until then, this book is my primary source for WinInet info.




4. A handy book covering various aspects of the Internet protocols; sample application simple enough to illustrate the concepts.

   If you want to learn WinInet programming, this will be a great start.

   I bought this book while I had to research ISAPI but found coverage on ISAPI just adequate. Wish the author comes up with a second edition or print with more alternatives to ISAPI.




5. I used this book to navigate around the Windows Internet API and managed to put together a decent desk top application in C++.NET. Great. But the COM examples are so full of errors that they can not be compiled from the source code provided from the publisher. Now I'm not a super COM programmer but have put together COM applications with some success. However, it seems the author slapped together the COM chapter with little or no thought.

No comments about Netware 5.1 Administrator Courseware.

No comments about Advanced Concepts in Operating Systems.

5 comments about COM/DCOM Blue Book: The Essential Learning Guide for Component-Oriented Application Development for Windows.

1. If you want to know more about SAFEARRAY, VARIANT, and BSTR how to write codes as associating with objects, you MUST buy that book! I would recommend that.



2. The fact the Mr. Wallace dedicated two big chapters to ActiveX, which includes builds in both ATL and MFC makes this book a definite addition in my reference library. If you read this book from cover to cover you kind of get lost in the process but as a programmer how reads cover to cover you just read the section you need.



3. Here's a little blurb from the "Why is COM Needed" section:

   "... Each compiler produces a set of machine language instructions (binary numbers) that are designed to be fed by the operating system into the CPU of the computer in structured ways to produce program behavior....".

   With gems like that early in the book, how could I take the rest of the book seriously as a technical work? I pressed on, but basically the rest of the book seemed disorganized and filled more with studying example output from "wizards" and such.

   Maybe if you're looking to study micros~1 Visual Studio "wizard" output, then this book is for you. If you're looking for a solid understanding of the basics, stay away.

   BTW, ALL authors should lay off the lame attempts at humor. Readnig bad attempts at humor are much worse than reading a technical book that is dry.




4. Yet another example of how dangerous it is to impulse buy a computer book at a bookstore based on it's potential.

   It's a great concept, but the depth of the errors and inconsistency in the language make it clear much of the content is surface level regurgation and not the teaching of someone who really gets it. There is much more wrong here than typos and cut and paste oversights; some of the errors are fundamental, and grievously misleading. Furthermore, I've tried to contact the publisher about corrections or explanations of specific issues and gotten no response.

   The bright side is you will actually learn something as you struggle to understand how to make the examples work. It was painfull but I made progress using MSDN info and ATL source. I've also formed plenty of questions that I'm sure I'll now better apreciate expert answers for.

   Beware, don't let it's potential suck you in. It took me way to long to give up on this book.

   Other lessons learned:

   1) Resist the bookstore computer book section, the odds are worse than the lotery. 2) Look for author's that stand behind their work with a personal email address for comments, questions, and suggestions. 3) Be extra suspicious of this publisher.




5. Even though this Book might not be the Best book to learn every thing about COM/DCOM/Automation, atleast it will great foundation about the basic programming and the History of evolution of the same. Probably you can build on basic Practical programming in these areas.

5 comments about Distributed COM Application Development Using Visual Basic 6.0 and MTS.

1. I had read "Beginning VB6 Objects" by Wrox...mistake. Thankfully I was re-programmed by this book on vb com and able to distribute an n-tier app across a large network. Without Jim's book I don't know how it would have happened. There could have been more MTS material since it is a pretty big part of distributing an app, but the MTS chapters in here give you enough to get by.



2. Very poor book. A lot of useless for VB programmer theory; several chapters on VB controls and technics that have no connection to the book topic - Distributed COM; too little about MTS, nothing practical about Distributed COM without MTS.



3. This book is a breath of fresh air, not only because it's chock full of real-world examples, but because it's written clearly, concisely and doesn't take up 3 feet of bookshelf space. Perhaps more importantly, it also manages to explain the kind of subject matter that is usually reserved for experienced programmers, but in a way that a novice will embrace and understand.

   It covers all the major topics that VB programmers encounter, with useful examples (not just theoretical applications of the information), and without waffle or padding. It's so hard to find a book that cuts out all the junk and gets straight to the point, but Mr. Maloney has done it. I think this book is absolutely priceless.




4. The book is well written and reads easily however the lab is one long program on a video store. I have found that books with these examples tend to get bogged down. Using "one long program" instead of different examples with each chapter, makes it difficult for the reader to skip a chapter because you have to pick up the program where the skipped chapter ended. If you are one who likes the one lab/program, then I think you will like this book better than I did. Otherwise try the Wrox series.



5. Jim Maloney covers allot of ground and he does it without being cute, like some other authors. It sounds like he's been dealing with students in many seminars. This book is a very good introduction to many important subjects. It's a great place to start learning about VB6.

No comments about Applescript Scripting Additions Guide (ATL).