After a brief chapter on the most basic of GNU/Linux command-line tools, Ward dives right into Linux internals, starting with a lengthy walk-through oAfter a brief chapter on the most basic of GNU/Linux command-line tools, Ward dives right into Linux internals, starting with a lengthy walk-through of the boot process. followed by in-depth coverage of devices, file systems, and networking.
The final third of the book covers applications, the desktop, and development tools.
I can see this being useful as a thorough introduction to Linux for someone who plans to spend a lot of time doing Linux-y things; and also as a refresher/tutorial/quasi-reference if you want to do something like setup a samba server or figure out how to get a printer connected.
I hate to down-rate this book, because it is very well researched and well written, but I just wasn't able to be as excited about this as I have been I hate to down-rate this book, because it is very well researched and well written, but I just wasn't able to be as excited about this as I have been with Edward Tufte's books, to which this one is compared by one of the blurb writers. Part of the problem is that this book deals solely with visual representations of networks - an interesting genre, I'm sure, but one that stands more in the realm or art than science unless you drill down pretty far into the details of the network analysis and the techniques used to produce the visualization.
Lima does at one point present a 'syntax' of network representations - interesting, I suppose, but presented too superficially to be of actual use to the would-be practitioner.
By the latter part of the book I was just flipping pages, eager to get to the end, hoping to see something that would engage my attention. Didn't happen.
Update: after reading the other reviews of this book on goodreads, I want to add that, like them, I did not get any deeper knowledge or insight into the underlying data by looking at the visualizations. Contrast that with the graphics, and the approach to visualization, offered by Tufte, and you can understand my disappointment with this book. Tufte generally shows before and after representations of data, and has clear, consistent principles on which to evaluate or create a visualization. The foremost principle is that of conveying as much information as possible; aesthetics are important, but secondary, and artistic merit barely deserves consideration. But what are we to make of a network graph that allegedly represents millions of nodes and tens of millions of connections? Where is the information content? How does such a graph (represented visually) advance our understanding? I would claim that in nearly all cases, it does not....more
This is by far the best introduction to electrical engineering that I've seen. Very practical and down to earth, engagingly written, and a consistent This is by far the best introduction to electrical engineering that I've seen. Very practical and down to earth, engagingly written, and a consistent emphasis on fundamentals....more
In the interest of full disclosure, I got this book from the library and only read about 20% of it. However, I do plan to purchase a copy, because theIn the interest of full disclosure, I got this book from the library and only read about 20% of it. However, I do plan to purchase a copy, because the articles that I did read were dense with information, and I have every hope that the others will be just as good. This is a set of empirical studies of the practice of software engineering, bolstered with theoretical models in most cases....more
Besides being a very well-designed book (as one would expect), this is a very practical and down to earth handbook for graphic designers. The emphasisBesides being a very well-designed book (as one would expect), this is a very practical and down to earth handbook for graphic designers. The emphasis throughout is on the techniques needed to convey a message, as opposed to simply satisfying a designer's desire to be different or to stand out.
This book is obviously useful for aspiring or professional graphic designers, but I think it would be useful as well for anyone putting together a website, writing a brochure, putting out a newsletter, etc....more
Multi-column layout with css is hard. About 5 years ago there was a flurry of activity to find robust ways of doing two- and three-column layout, resuMulti-column layout with css is hard. About 5 years ago there was a flurry of activity to find robust ways of doing two- and three-column layout, resulting in a number of canonical techniques, and Meyer was one of the large contributors to that effort. This book covers those techniques in detail, and that section alone is worth the price of the book.
Meyer has for many years been consistently at the front of the pack in devising and writing about techniques of (what was long ago called) dynamic html and the creative use of css. This latest of his books is an excellent addition to his work and to any web developer's library. ...more
This is a reference manual for twitter. You might think that a twitter reference manual would be on the list of shortest books ever, but there is now This is a reference manual for twitter. You might think that a twitter reference manual would be on the list of shortest books ever, but there is now a substantial ecosystem built around twitter, well documented in this guide. As a casual and occasional user of twitter I found this to be a useful guide - assuming I ever decide to be more than a casual user.
The book starts with four chapters on the basics of using twitter: signing up, customizing your profile, sending updates, and following others. Then there is a longish chapter on how to use twitter from your mobile phone, covering both SMS and non-SMS interfaces, a nice summary of twitter text commands, twitter mobile applications, and external mobile-friendly sites. Then there's a chapter on twitter searches, including a nice discussion of hashtags, location searches, people search, how to turn searches into favorites, and numerous external twitter search sites.
The book concludes with two chapters on how to extend and improve the twitter experience, including desktop clients, gadgets and widgets, url shorteners and tools for previewing shortened urls, integration with facebook and linked-in, and twitter tracking and trending tools.
The book is well-indexed and has a detailed table of contents, making it easy to use as a reference manual. It also covers tools that you might not know about, suggesting ways of using twitter that are only obvious after you've seen them (much like twitter itself).
I would recommend this book if you plan to use twitter to drive traffic to your site, enhance your social network, or drive your consulting business. And on a more general level, the wealth of tools and uses that has grown up around such a simple concept - a concept so simple that most of us wondered early on why anyone would bother - is instructive at a deep level about the power of social networking. This book serves as a good introduction to that world....more
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