2 comments about C and Unix Programming: A Comprehensive Guide.

1. I baught this book about 2 months ago and i'm about half way through it. There are many great things to say about this book so i'll start from the beginning.
   this book shows almost everything (minus the ASM) from the ground up, it shows memory and how C uses them when variables are declared, and explains references to memory blocks aswell.. it also as the name states is for learning C in *nix based systems, which helped me with problems i have had in the past with writing programs trying to use a windows C or dos C book for my reference.
   
   the reason why i'm not giving it a 5 star rating is the fact that much of the source code has errors.. usually errors that a beginner in C wouldnt recognize like a missing curly brace or missing semicolon. thats why i say its for someone thats wanting to advance their knowlege in C rather than being just an introductory book.
   
   other than that definately great Highly recomended for those who dont have ADD and have plenty of time on their hands.



2. This is exactly what I was looking for! N.S. Kutti's "C and Unix Programming: A Comprehensive Guide" can be used as a formal text or as a reference. The book covers basic to advanced C concepts on Unix. ANSI and Posix Standards are included. In my opinion, this book is a good model of what a formal college text should be. The book is heavy on theory without a lot of fluff, filler, or baby steps. I would recommend this book to C programmers or former enthusiasts who need a comprehensive review. A comprehensive C programming review can easily be done in 30 days using this book.

No comments about Centralized and Distributed Operating Systems.

1 comments about Programming Under Mach (UNIX & Open Systems Series).

1. This book does not cover mach with the Apple Macintosh as the book appears to be out of date.
   It does, however, cover MIG which is available for the Mac.

4 comments about Wireless Java Programming for Enterprise Applications: Mobile Devices Go Corporate.

1. This book really saved me. Taking your applications wireless is a major headache, and it was driving me crazy. There is not a lot of help available out there, but in this book, I finally found good, readable information that shows how to integrate J2ME with J2EE.



2. This is the best Wireless programming book I have found. It helps enhance your Wireless skill set while leveraging your existing Java knowledge, and shows how to actually combine today's wireless technologies for real business applications. It takes a great, all-encompassing approach, and the end-to-end Campus Portal application pull everything together. This book gives you everything you need.



3. Just got this book and have read most of it. Finally a Wireless Java book that talks about something more than J2ME! The campus portal app is a nice touch and ties all of the previous discussions together. Great fluff-free chapters on MIDP, Web Services, and VoiceXML. I also liked the underlying theme of tying everything together with J2EE.



4. I would really recommend this book to anyone who wants to learn JAVA Wireless. The authors really explain the architecture of J2ME really well and better then the average book on J2ME. They have a good chapter on VXML, WML, and WMLSRIPT. You need to be an experienced developer to read this book.

2 comments about Operating Systems Theory (Prentice-Hall Series in Automatic Computation).

1. Well, where do I begin? There is so much to say about this glorious book, I might as well start at the beginning. 1010101111100101001101010010100000101010101010010001011101010111110010100110101001010000010101010101001000101110101011111001010011010100101000001010101010100100010111010101111100101001101010010100000101010101010010001011101010111110010100110101001010000010101010101001000101110101011111001010011010100101000001010101010100100010111010101111100101001101010010100000101010101010010001011. That about sums it up. See, the thing is, if you are in fact a robot with no emotions, Coffman will appeal to your every desire. His whimsical tone will make you truly believe that all earthly life has been extinguished and that the machines have finally taken over, as you already desire. However, if you are a human with a functioning brain, you will wish death upon this author and all those that will have marred your brain's landscape with unintelligible nomenclature. If you are revolted at the previous sentence I emplore you to order this book, and burn it at once, for the sake of humanity.



2. Where is the option for zero stars? This book is wretched. I took a graduate OS class two years ago and this was the book we used. Thankfully, it's been out of print for 20+ years which made getting a copy a snap. Imagine if you will a collection of unrelated research papers written by highly educated, but demented, monkeys, all of whom have no idea what any other monkey is doing. Throw all those papers into a book and have yet another monkey sort through them in an attempt to "edit" them into some sort of coherent order, failing miserably in the process. You might find that book more comprehensible than the one under review. Do yourself a favor and consider a full-frontal lobotomy if you intend to glean any useful information from this waste of paper.

4 comments about Novell's CNE Study Guide for NetWare 5.1 (with CD-ROM).

1. Novell's CNE Study Guide for NetWare 5.1 really hits the mark. It contains all the information needed to pass the Novell exams. Just by reading this book I was able to pass each required exam in an average of two weeks. I thought the chapters on NDS especially hit the mark. It is a tremendous value considering it covers 4 exams for the price of 1 text.



2. After passing NetWare Administration 5.1 using the companion CNA 5.1 book as my primary study resource, I was hoping for a similar experience with this book. I am finding that while the CNE 5.1 book does cover much of the material for the remainder of the CNE examinations, it is a bit light in some critical areas. I have expanded my studies with another CNE series from Novell Press, a set of third party CBT's, and even broke down and took the official Advanced Administration 5.1 course. I'm not at all certain that I would have passed Advanced Admin or NDS Design if I had trusted just this book to get me prepared.

   My other frustration is that for a new book, it does not attempt to cover the latest version of the NDS Design and Implementation test or the Service and Support exam. Why not? The latest tests have been out there for a while. Like the CNA book, I get the feeling that this book is a slight re-write of the previous 5.0 version and was rushed to publication without attempting to cover everything in the most current versions of these exams.

   While I still find this book valuable for CNE test preparation, I do not feel comfortable using it as the main resource for my studies. It certainly is a good secondary resource.

   All I have left for my CNE certification is Service and Support and an elective. I will definitely keep using this book to help prepare for S&S, but I am already lining up other resources to fill in the anticipated gaps.

   I hope when this book gets updated for Netware 6, the publisher will allow the author to take the time to provide a comprehensive text for those of us who prefer the relaxed pace and flexibility of self study over the shotgun (boom, here it is, we're done) authorized courses - and make certain that all of the objectives from the most recent courses and exams at that time are covered in depth. Perhaps it is time to break this book up into more than one volume to allow room for the needed detail.

   BTW, lose the crossword puzzles and the word searches at the end of the chapters. They are next to worthless in helping to make the information stick and pretty much a waste of time. How about putting that effort into a set of sample test questions on one of the companion CD's?

   Again, all in all, this is a good book, but for me, it just isn't enough to make me feel totally prepared for the tests.




3. I started seriosly my study with this book.The good one is, the style he (the author)talk to us in the book, I really like it!
   But some thinks are logical and I understand easierly, but some others really difficult. And if your head is burning, and still you don't understand the meaning, your are demotivated. A little bit later, you find out that not you are mistaken,there are explanations in the book, the can 't be true! That are not translation-mistakes, like from english to german. I compared it with an original english book. And? The it 's the same! How can a Leaf-Object recieve "C" as an Object-Right. Check it under the capital:Netware-Security. Where you can make your own test! The other mistakes are softer, but enough to make you confus.
   I wouldn`'t explain everything here, if I could find out who is responsible, to give a chance to modify the book.



4. Having learned most of what I know about Netware 4.11 from Clarke's books, I took a leap and bought both the admin and CNE books that he authored for Netware 5.1. I was disappointed. The books lack the anecdotes that break up the monotonous material, and it's evident that Clarke wasn't enthused with writing this book.

   Much of the material isn't fully explained. For instance, in the Advanced Administration section, Clarke mentions subordinate reference partitions, but doesn't go on to explain what a subordinate reference is. His explanation of b-trees for NSS volumes is likewise lacking. It could be summed up as a replacement for FAT that allows the volume to mount faster, but instead he concentrates on explaining it's heirarchical properties, losing the reader in the process. A full 100 pages of information new to Netware 5.1 was lost upon me for this very reason.

   But in the absense of other study materials for Netware 5.1, you probably don't have much choice but to buy this book if your aim is to obtain a CNE via self-study. If you can get your hands on the Exam Cram books, I highly recommend them as a supplement (good luck getting the exam cram for Advanced Admin, which is out of print). If you use Transcender exams in conjuntion with these books and set up a netware 5.1 server to practice with, you should have absolutely no problem passing the tests. But don't depend on this book alone, because it probably won't suffice.

5 comments about Practical Linux Programming: Device Drivers, Embedded systems, and the Internet (with CD- ROM) (Programming Series).

1. There aren't enough politically correct words to describe how awful this book was. I wasted money on books before, and this is another to add to the pile. Jim Carey (as Ace Ventura) might say "Editor's Mmmuch?"

   The type-o's in the book are one thing, but the amount are strictly appaullyng (<-purpose). I couldn't recommend this book to a guru nor a beginner. It takes a spreadshot approach to a web server setup, and the postgresql setup section didn't work on RedHat platforms 6.x through 8.x .

   You /will/ have an awful time with this onslaught of what more practiced authors only joke about. I think you get my drift, don't buy it. Sadly, i did.




2. A complete waste of money. Bad exposition coupled with some blatant textual errors point towards a very shoddy authorship.



3. terrible...look at my review on
   the linux journal.
   
   

   My review was too generous -- should have just said:
   "feh, phooey"




4. This book does have lots of typo's. you will find it somewhat frustrating.BUT- do not worry. Once you are familiar with Linux then you can overcome them. What the books strong point is:
   It shows what commands/files/procedures you need to use to set up a linux embedded system.That alone is worth its Used price. You will need another such as the linux desk reference to get around better.but really, this is not so bad of a book as to be forgotten. You might consider it a good mid level computer science elective type book that needs someone like an instructor(or a google search engine) to clear up certain issues.



5. *
   Update to my reveiw: This book is now out of date. I hope the author will write an updated new edition.
   *
   
   This book will be useful to you as a beginner lab book for Linux. There are a few typos and the material is becoming outdated. But that is the nature of Linux in that anything written will soon be out of date by the time it is published.
   
   One of the things I've noticed is that a lot of people can install Linux on their home systems, but then don't know what to do with it once it is there. This book can be usefully used as a lab book that gives you projects to work on and working though the typos and out dated material gives you a more in depth understanding of how Linux and the related tools work. It is the problem solving ability that will help you the most. (I have never seen a computer book that was completely up to date, error free, and completely told me the steps to do what I wanted to do.)
   
   I recommend this book as a lab book to be used along with other books to demonstrate the multiple uses and capabilities of a Linux system.
   
   So bottom line is:
   If you are looking for an unchallenging step by step cook book, this is not the book for you.
   If you are looking for a challenging lab book at the beginner level that shows you an overview of Linux systems and related tools work and that will develop your problem solving abilities, then you will find this book interesting.

2 comments about The First Week with My New Digital Organizer: A Very Basic Guide to Palm OS PDAs (Capital First Week).

1. I received this book when I got a digital organizer as a gift. I don't know what I would have done without Pamela Lessing's book! She gives easy to understand instructions to everything you need to know to get up and running with your digital organizer. Most importantly, she doesn't talk down to you.



2. If you're looking at any more than the absolute basic info, don't waste your time. I wish the author had spent a little time and effort on how to manage files, how to use expansion memory, how to display spreadsheets, etc.......nothing!!
   If you already own the PDA, and have a user's manual, you should be able to turn the unit on without buying a "Very Basic Guide".

1 comments about Novell's Guide to Storage Area N and Cluster Services.

1. Stephen Payne and Robert Wipfel have done an outstanding job of explaining the concepts and benefits of both Storage Area Networks (SANs) and clustering servers and applications for high availability. The book is intended to be a detailed hands-on guide to installing and using clusters with shared storage in a NetWare environment, but the first part of the book is also an excellent source for the less-technical reader.

   As you might expect from the title of the book, the chapter on backing up cluster volumes is again Novell specific , but the basic introduction of the concepts and challenges of backup is excellent and another unexpected plus.

   For the more technical reader, I am sure you will also be pleased, but the amount of information that I gleaned was beyond my expectations.

No comments about Common Design Patterns for Symbian OS: The Foundations of Smartphone Software (Symbian Press).