No comments about Smartphone Operating System Concepts with Symbian OS: A Tutorial Guide (Symbian Press).

5 comments about WAP Development with WML and WMLScript (With CD-ROM).

1. In the computer trade journals that I read, a common topic over the last year or so has been the progress (often lack) of Wireless Application Protocol (WAP). The common phrase always seems to be "poised to take off." However, despite the problems with bandwidth, valuable applications and security it does appear that it is the next area of rapid expansion of the Internet. The English speaking North American market is leveling off in the advent of new web users and while the market for the rest of the world continues to expand, it seems likely that will do so at a slow rate for the near future. Therefore, it is a good idea to learn at least the basics of what WAP can and cannot do.
   When I received a request from a corporate client to offer a short course in Wireless Markup Language (WML), I looked around for a book with an adequate coverage of the basics of WAP. I chose this book because it was filled with basic examples that demonstrated the fundamental topics and moved on to some more advanced topics that were reasonable uses for WAP. This was of course necessary, as some of the hyped potential uses for WAP are pie in the airwaves. I cannot conceive of any circumstances where a large number of people are going to want their cell phones to constantly broadcast their geophysical position so that they can receive coupons from merchants in the area.
   In working through the projects in preparation for the courses, my reaction was one of the best possible. My thinking through the exercises led to additional thoughts and ideas for teaching projects for the course. This is a solid introductory book in the basics of WAP, WML and WMLScript and I recommended it to the students.



2. This book from Ben Forta is a real guide for beginners as well as a reference book for advanced users. I bought this book and Professional WAP from wrox both of them helped me to come out in flying colours in my bachelor degree thesis.



3. I've searched a lot for a good book on how to make WAP pages with WML and interactive wireless applications for mobile phones and PDA computers. This is the one - you will learn everything ther is, with this easy writen and well arranged guide. You need some knowladge on HTML and how Internet and client/server model works, but as far as WAP, WML and WMLScript is conserd, from a total begginer, you'll become an expert in a week.



4. This book is by far the best!!!The author explains all the important details of WML and WMLScripting. This book is easy to read. Great for the experienced developer. A great reference. I would recommend this book to anyone who wants learn WML andWMLScripting. Knowledge of JavaScript will help the reader termondously. Knowledge of HTML and XML will also help. The authors assume the reader has knowledge of HTML, XML, and JavaScript. A great investment!!!



5. I really enjoyed reading this book. The examples are clear. Programming experience will help you. If you know JavaScript, WMLScript will be a breeze. Chapters are easy to read. I would recommend this book to anyone who wants to learn WML and WMLScripting!!! It is probably the best book on the market.

No comments about Ole 2 Programmer's Reference: Creating Programmable Applications With Ole Automation (Microsoft Professional Editions).

4 comments about CNE Update to NetWare 6 Study Guide.

1. Clarke hits every topic on the exam without all the silly 'Super Hero' metaphors (thank you, DJ). If you're not familiar with the utilities (iManager, Migration Wizard, ICE Utility, etc...) there are whitepapers on the Novell Support Site you'll need as well. Also keep in mind that the NW6 support pack (currently 3) will supply minor discrepancies with the text in the book (really not a big deal). Armed with this book as well as the info above, you can probably pass this exam without STS or Transcender (I bought Transcender anyway 'cause it was cheaper than taking the exam again: insurance).

   So, for what it's worth, I HIGHLY recommend this study guide!

   Rob Huelga,
   Netware 6 CNE




2. I've never read a technical book that would contain so many inaccuracies and even false information, not to mention numerous minor incorrect or doubtful statements.
   I'm now just in the middle of the book but I feel fed up with having to go to Novell's official NetWare 6 documentation in order to verify accuracy or just to make sense of what the author talks about in his book.
   In some cases like, for example, in the section called Solving eDirectory Migration Problems (p.129-133), it's obvious to every educated, experienced NDS/NetWare administrator that the author speaks non-sense. God forbid you to follow what this "NetWare guru" advises !
   I can't believe that Mr. Clarke is a Certified Novell Instructor who wrote so many books about NetWare and that Novell approved them with the "Novell Authorized" stamp. Well, I'm not so sure about other his books (I guess, I was lucky not to buy them) but I would definitely never recommend this one to anybody.

   Whoever is going to use this "Study Guide", either to prepare for an exam or, even more importantly, in real life projects and daily administration, be sure to double-check correctness of all the info it provides that sounds suspicious or makes a little sense.




3. Since the purpose of this book is to teach the reader what is necessary to upgrade their Novell CNE 5 certification to a Novell CNE 6 the review is rather simple and to the point. I read through it, skimmed through it a second time, looked at the included CD and reviewed the questions at the end of each chapter, took the exam and passed it the first time. That makes it pretty clear that all the information is in here to pass the exam, all you have to do is study it. Since it made upgrading my certification a snap I would have to give it a very high recommendation to anyone seeking to do the same.



4. I used this book and Self Test software together to pass the test on Oct 22nd, just in time for the deadline. I liked this book better than his past super hero comic strip CNE guides. He covered the topics completely and provided good lab scenarios that were useful for the exam.

5 comments about Perl Resource Kit Win32 Edition.

1. All the stuff you need in one box.

   OK ... the documentation is not so great, but the ease of installing Perl and all those Modules is well worth the price.

   The update feature is great ... especially if you have a higher than 28k connection.

   The module install is fabulous for the NON-UNIX GURU TYPE WHO SPENDS ALL DAY PLAYING WITH SEMANTICS. In other words it is for those who do not want or need to figure out how to install modules and make them work.

   I found the installation easy and straight forward.

   Yes, you could spend your lifetime searching and downloading modules and figuring out how to set them up ---- OR ---- you could buy this and get productive real quick.

   I give it a 4 star rating. Not bad for a first cut.




2. The $120 bucks is money well-spent, especially if you program with perl modules. The collection of tools has made my life much easier, and the examples have opened my mind to things that I had no idea that perl could do. A good deal of space is dedicated to CGI programming (including Lincoln Stein's invaluable cgi.pm module) and Active Server Pages (perlScript). If you are serious about web programming, you will find these resources very useful. There is also a good deal of information about perl/Tk. Don't buy this if you have never looked at perl before: It is not intended for beginners. However, I strongly recommend it for intermediate to advanced perl users.



3. This is an excellent resource once you reach intermediate status. The PRK covers subjects that no other book does, such as, using PerlScript in ASP. Other areas covered: Perl and COM, writing extensions for Perl, module reference for win32 Perl, and programming Perl modules. The free debugger alone is worth the cost of the package.



4. I have bought many books from Amazon, but I have never come back to write a review. I found this purchase to be my best resource, yet. Lots of perl resources in one location and a terrific debugger too. The debugger has an interface that is similar to Visual C++ Developer. If you don't want to spend all your time looking up information on intermediate to advance perl subjects, get this resource kit. The books alone will save you a lot of time.



5. The Perl Utilities Guide, and Programming with Perl Modules books are very good. However, the reference to the modules is simply the perldoc pages neatly bound. The software is very good, and ActiveState continues to support it, so it was a good investment.

4 comments about Admin911: Windows 2000 Registry.

1. I buy any book about enterprise networks that has Kathy Ivens' name on it. Her writing is intelligent, clear, and a pleasure to read.

   This book is beautifully designed to be helpful. It explains the registry generically and specifically. The most helpful registry fixes and system tweaks are included, along with references to Group Policies that affect the registry item she's discussing.

   All Windows administrators should keep a copy of this book at hand, they'll use it constantly.




2. This book is essential if you admin SMS



3. Many IT books either address the absolute beginner or the advanced developer and completely ignore the implementer. No so with this book. Kathy Ivens wrote it for those who support networks and end users. Her writing style is straightforward and easy to comprehend. While containing no "fluff", she gives the reader plenty of useful information. She discusses how to backup and restore the registry, various registry tools, and countless tips for tweaking the registy. I used one of those tips the very day I received this book. I had just upgraded a user's operating system from Windows 95 to Windows 2000 Professional and she asked me if there was a way for the NumLock key to stay on when she was logging in. Sure enough, one of the tips in this book discusses that very thing. It took me a few seconds to modify the registry and gain a happy user! This book is a must have and I wish there were many more like it.



4. This book has no information that can't be found with either a quick search on MSDN or Google, books like that just make me upset.

4 comments about Sams Teach Yourself ATL Programming in 21 Days (Sams Teach Yourself).

1. Kenn Scribner's Teach Yourself Atl Programming In 21 Days provides would-be programmers with the fundamentals of using the Active Template Library system for programming. From using its many features to applying them to real-world business solutions, this provides a chapter-by-chapter study program of lessons which can be either followed methodically or browsed for maximum impact.



2. This book provides a tight, insightful introduction to ATL programming for the windows programmer moving to COM via ATL. Its also extremely useful as a reference tool.

   A won't regret purchase and addition to the programmer's bookshelf.




3. I have recently started learning ATL (having read Inside COM by Dale Rogerson and some of Don Box). Teach Yourself ATL was my first ATL book. Bad Move...

   His overall approach is, in my opinion, inappropriate. After having read 8 chapters I found myself thinking what do I know? I understand how to use the Wizards, but I still have no idea how the IUknown interface is implemented, or how objects are instantiated. In my opinion the only way to COM/ATL success is to understand what the Wizards are doing. Sure they're great in incredibly speeding up the COM development time but if you don't understand what their doing, your hardly any better off.

   Kenn gives you the concepts well enough but concept after concept after concept eventually becomes meaningless unless you can see the dirty detail in action. The book is not a write-off but as a beginners text it didn't suit me.

   Personally I found Tom Armstrongs "ATL Developers guide" much better. Instead of developing clients in MFC with all the extra messy details, he used bare-bones console apps which allow you to focus purely on COM/ATL. He talks about what ATL is doing and how the basics of COM is implemented. ATL at this level is dirty, messy stuff but its fundamental.




4. Very good good book. It's really tech you the basic block of the ATL programming and the background that you need to move from Regular Visual c++ applications to ATL. The writer is going step by step How ever this book it not for Visual c++ beginners or if you are looking to become an expert in ATL. I was more interested in the DB and IIS aspects using ATL but it only give you the general idea.

No comments about Operating Systems : Design and Implementation - Textbook Only.

4 comments about Palm OS Cobalt Programming From the Ground Up, Second Edition (From the Ground Up).

1. As an experienced programmer, I wanted a book that wouldn't waste my time teaching me C/C++ or explaining event loops in lots of detail. I also wanted comparison between Garnet and Cobalt versions of the Palm OS.
   
   This book does provide some of that information.
   
   It does not provide valid examples. The first code examples are in chapter 3. They claim to build on the Draw application from chapter 2, and assume the reader has details about the event loop from chapter 2. Chapter 2, however, contains neither code nor a description of the event loop used in Palm software. There is no reference to the Draw application in the index, either.
   
   After studying sample code from Palm's web site and trying lots of things in the development environment, I was able to get something that worked.
   
   Other examples mix Garnet and Cobalt veriable types so they wouldn't compile on either system or contain other errors that prevent them from compiling.
   
   A less-experienced programmer would probably give up on page 25 where the text tells the reader to modify a resource file that does not exist. Such a programmer would probably rate the book with one star.
   
   I have not completed the book yet although I intend to do so. I felt compelled to warn other readers about its inaccuracies.
   
   A CD or web site (with working examples!) would be useful to copy and paste tutorial information instead of requiring lots of typing.



2. 50% of book contents are code listing, even resource files in xml. The explanation of the code and techniques are inexistent and the code comments are 50% of the total code lines but they are irrelevant, a representative example (page 183):
   
   // CH 7. Display the time
   displayTime();
   
   They present one program example that evolves accross the book, and they print the COMPLETE code of the modified files in every chapter. When you take out the unnecesary repetitions the book loses an important percentage of the pages.
   
   I live in Europe and the shipping charges are similar to the cost of the book, if I lived in the USA, I will return the book at once.



3. Excellent book ordered before printing and arrived weeks before expected.
   Great service, thanks.



4. Since Palm has cancelled the release of Cobalt, and there appears to be no devices that will ever come out with this OS loaded on them, this book is only useful for those folks that like learning how to program vaporware. Like a book for making custom levels in Duke Nukem Forever.

5 comments about Novell(r)'s Guide to NetWare 6 Networks.

1. Having been a CNE since 1993, I needed to refresh, and update my NetWare skills, so I purchased this book. It was my first choice because it comes from Novell Press.

   The first chapter had plenty of errors, not just one. I gave the authors the benefit of doubt, and read into chapter two. Mistake, errors there too. So I decided not to continue. Just as when Mark Furman told one inconsistent statement on the jury stand, his entire testimony was called to question, I became suspicious of all content.

   Oh well, I thought, at least I have the 5-user NW 6 demo disk. I installed the demo disk, and discovered the license expired on 12-31-2001, so its usefulness is limited to administrator login only.

   There is a lot of information, and I'm sure the overwhelming majority of information is correct, but I am the network guy, not a detective.

   Do what you will, but I am quite disappointed.




2. We are embarking on a complete redo of the NOS infrastructure at a medium size tier one automotive supplier. We have many high performance machines in the lab at the moment to provide a mock environment. Netware is the only well supported NOS that can scale practically to larger environments, and Netware 6 has compelling features over previous versions. Since we are building a mission critical 24/7 system to upgrade the existing one, we get 1 shot at getting a design right that they will have to live with for the next 7 to 10 years. Over the past 6 weeks we've read thousands of pages of Netware 6 documentation, and discussed, and designed. At the beginning of the project, a guy who works with me purchased this book without looking at any reviews. I had purchased Mastering Netware 6 by Gaskin based on the reviews here. I mentioned some of the comments made in the reviews of this book, and at length he felt a little foolish. However today, the book with the sticky note tabs and yellow highlights, is this book. It's the one reference that goes into enough detail to make intelligent decisions for design and implementation.

   I confess what got me to look at the book was a thirst for sadistic glee to verify the comments made about its inaccuracies. Sure enough I found one. On page 541 of the Gaskin book it says that iManage is the only option for managing DNS/DHCP in Netware 6. Page 1328 of this book mentions the DNS/DHCP management console, obviously a cut and paste from 5.1. But just to prove it, I got out the CD. Well OK, so this book was right. It was there. This book shows setting up using it, instead of the newer iManage. I thought it odd since even the Netware docs use iManage. Initially I attributed this to this book being behind the times. Later, I was having quite a time with DNS/DHCP and values changing automatically. I installed the DNS/DHCP management console, and learned the hard way that iManage is buggy, and retrieves information from other DNS servers into the one you are currently working on. We easily solved the problem using the tool recommended by this book. SLP is another area where this book takes a road less traveled. This is but a couple of instances of many we encountered while prototyping the network.
   
   In the end, my co-worker and I switched books. He likes the style and humor of the Gaskin book. I like full context discussions of how things work under the hood, the planning considerations, and the right implementation information to get up and running as designed. It also covers all of the new internet utilities as well as a 75 page chapter on integrating ZENWorks with Netware 6. You can go as deep as you want to with this book. It will even tell you how NDS works inside. Once you understand how it works internally, which is key to knowing whether or not you have an efficient tree design, you'll immediately recognize that a lot of advice out there comes from people "blowing smoke". Everything becomes crystal clear when you use this book. That knowlege will translate into confidence that your design and implementaion will match the needs of the organization, and that you have leveraged all of the applicable strengths of Netware 6 in the process. With the other books, there was never quite enough or the right information.

   If I could pick only one book to go along with the Netware docs, this would be the book, hands down. (Actually this is the only one I reach for now.) I normally wouldn't spend my precious time writing a review like this, but this book is incredible. This book wasn't written for the reader, it was written for the doer. You will not recognize the strength of this book until you have to deliver. With the Netware docs, and this book, you can deliver!

   BTW, I'm not a book reviewer. I'm a guy with grease under his finger nails.




3. I was excited with the 5-user license trial CDROM of Netware 6 that comes with this book, but we soon found out that it actually IS crippleware! It expired last year in 2001, though we tried installing the trial CD only this year Nov2002! So the CD that comes with it is practically useless!. The book itself we found is not detailed enough, lacking in depth of information, as if it was written before Netware 6 was finally released and as if the author was not quite certain of all the details thereby ommitting many of them and leaving the reader in the dark.
   But seeing that its been about one year after Netware 6 was released but yet there is still a lack of detailed and user-friendly Novell-authorised Netware 6 books available in the world market right now, this book serves as a can-do, in-the-meantime, reference book we can get. Not the best so far though.



4. I am a current Master CNE and have been a CNE for many versions of Netware (also an MCSE, CCNA, CCDA, CCSA). The book is filled with wrong information and problems. I'm not being overly critical, I'm talking basic information that's just plain wrong. It was right for NetWare 5, but not NetWare 6. In fact in several places, the book accidently says NetWare 5 when it means NetWare 6 - I think they were cutting and pasting from the NetWare 5 book. I virtually always buy the Novell Press books and this is the first time I have ever been this disappointed. The information that is correct is frequently woefully light on content. It's amazing how little of value a 1500 page book can actually say.



5. and clearly a cut-and-paste rush conversion job from the NW 5.1 book.

   There are dangerous omissions and advice here. Do not purchase this book unless you already know NW 6 and just need a quick reminder occasionally (and thus can recognize likely errors)