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• Half of chapter 9 on Testing & Monitoring
• Examples of simple, intermediate, and somewhat more advanced recipes.

Yes, they imported the IP stack implementation from BSD, therefore promoting the countersuit that caused the whole thing to be resolved. USL didn't want to lose the IP stack (as what was becoming known as "The Internet" was being built on it), and Ray Noorda from Novell can be looked at as the "good guy" in all this. Sometimes during the battle Novell bought USL and Ray Noorda handed down an edict telling them to settle.

Kirk McKusick has a lot to say about this is in the section "Twenty Years of Berkeley UNIX, From AT&T Owned to Freely Redistributable" in Chris DiBona's Compilation Open Sources.

Yes, they imported the IP stack implementation from BSD, therefore promoting the countersuit that caused the whole thing to be resolved. USL didn't want to lose the IP stack (as what was becoming known as "The Internet" was being built on it), and Ray Noorda from Novell can be looked at as the "good guy" in all this. Sometimes during the battle Novell bought USL and Ray Noorda handed down an edict telling them to settle.

Kirk McKusick has a lot to say about this is in the section "Twenty Years of Berkeley UNIX, From AT&T Owned to Freely Redistributable" in Chris DiBona's Compilation Open Sources.

So, like Safari on a larger scale?

I don't know that I'd pay $50/month ... but I use Safari at work, and I like the idea of an expanded version of it ...

YS

Would this be like OReilly's Safari online books on steroids? Safari is my favorite bookstore for a while now.

1. Interactive Mapping: Imagine going to a SVG-enabled Mapquest where once you give them the address, they will deliver a SVG map of the area. You will be able to pan and zoom the map using client-side JavaScript offline. No more downloading another GIF or PNG or whatever they're using. Also, you could toggle street names, or layers (like gas stations, hotels, Starbucks) the same way. The only reason you would need to be on-line again is if you had 'gone off the end of the map'.
   
   
2. Accessibility: It's not just for the blind any more. Phones, PDAs and voice browsers would be able to make sense of a properly-constructed SVG document. Like a webpage using web standards, 'degrading gracefully' is part of the SVG motto. Also, since visual elements can be gouped logically and described with the equivalent of an alt tag, a SVG image of an org chart could turn to an ascii drawing in Lynx or a text description in a braille reader or a phone browser.
   

Since SVG is an XML application, it works well with CSS, XSL, DOM, and JavaScript. Many good drawing programs already output SVG, it's adding the organization and intelligence to the document which is harder. IMHO, the O'Reilly book SVG Essentials is one of the better books for interested self-starters.

Although Linus chose BitKeeper because he thought it fit the need better then CVS, what's specifically are the problems with CVS that he didn't like?

I'm new to coding, and am just starting to tinker around with CVS (in fact, O'Reilly just published Essential CVS, which just came available under Safari). Since I am not competant enough of a coder yet to even justify using a Revision Control System, maybe some of the guru's here can translate for us neophites this main arguments.

Although Linus chose BitKeeper because he thought it fit the need better then CVS, what's specifically are the problems with CVS that he didn't like?

I'm new to coding, and am just starting to tinker around with CVS (in fact, O'Reilly just published Essential CVS, which just came available under Safari). Since I am not competant enough of a coder yet to even justify using a Revision Control System, maybe some of the guru's here can translate for us neophites this main arguments.

I agree with your logic. I guess individual choice of license comes down to an individual's priorities. One could also argue that choice of license is part of an opinion and so part of an artistic work! (maybe I'm stretching it here?!?)

(I can't get through to your article at the moment. Might be all those Cisco routers crashing! :-) )

I tested this book by handing it to my other half; she figured out at least 3 serious errors and put in errata for them; you'll find the errata at O'Reilly.

It'll be a much better book, and recommedable for beginners in the second printing/edition when these are fixed.

The Cookbook is good for snippets of code. To really learn Java, though, you need to read complete examples. That's where Java Examples in a Nutshell comes in.

"For the server-side, no GUI needed at all... we're just processing more or less straight numerical data, except for strings on names, account ID's etc."

Well, Perl was successfully used to power the sweedish pension systems on linux (among others), so there's plenty of pedigree for these types of applications.

With the screen down the Yopy is about the same depth as a paperback book

Like this?

Or Like this?

With the screen down the Yopy is about the same depth as a paperback book

Like this?

Or Like this?

Grunts like monkey and bashes Oisin with Camel book

Linux was influenced heavily by Minix, yes. But Linus never had access to Minix source code when he began writing what would end up being called Linux, so your conspiracy theory of Linus borrowing code from Minix is non-viable.

Well, considering that the Minix code was included with a book written by Tannenbaum, I think you're a little wide of the mark there. What Linus wasn't allowed to do, or anyone else for that matter, was contribute code back to Tannebaum's OS.

Anyway, it's well-known Linux is a from-scratch implementation, which apparently started as a terminal emulator (and that possibly explains why the console handling code still sucks so much, but there you go). Andy Tannenbaum has had plenty of time to complain about any plagiarism, if Linus indulged in it, and trust me, he would have.

Modern C++ is a wonderful language, at least I think so. But it is much different than the "old" C++, almost to the point of being a different language. So if you've had bad experiences with C++ in the past, perhaps you should give it another look. And C++ is not dead, there are a lot of interesting advancements in the language, and more properly how to use it. There are a whole lot of generic programming and template patterns which are comming out which show that C++ has a lot more power than people ever thought.

Of course C++ does tend to have some problems with Open Source projects, which C usually doesn't have. So I certainly don't frown on C development either. And plain old C is usually very easy to integrate into other languages/environments.

1. C++ compilers are just now catching up to the standard. gcc 3.3 for instance is pretty darn good now, but lots of compilers have lots of problems.
2. C++ can be very slow to compile (or more technically to link), especially as you use lots of templates.
3. The binary ABI is not universal. It's hard to write shared libraries in C++, so it's not as useful for components as it is an entire application.
4. Dynamic linking in of C++ is next to impossible (dynamic linking often uses the dlopen() system calls, and it how most run-time plugin architectures, such as in Apache or Python work).
5. Although in theory C++ is very portable, in practice that is still difficult (usually a victim of poor linkers). C++ which works fine under Linux may have serious problems under say AIX or HP-UX, unless you test on those platforms.

However, C++ is certainly still alive and very viable on a whole. And O'Reilly just published the new C++ in a Nutshell book which covers the ISO standard C++ very well. Also you should look at the Boost Project if you're looking for more advanced C++ libraries (many of the Boost developers actively participate in the C++ standardaization effort, and Boost is often thought of as the testbed for possible language additions for the next round of standardization).

But I do agree, that you need to pick the language according to the project. There is no one best language. When I look for other open source projects with the intent of being able to take advantage of the openness (i.e., modify the code), I tend to look for projects written in Python. I particularly avoid Perl, becuase it is much harder for me to understand. I also avoid Java because it's a proprietary language with no open source JDE/JDK and I think the language sucks when compared to ISO C++. But again, those are my preferences.

How long does it take to get new O'Reilly books on Safari?

From the abstract it is clear that this book is intended to describe the Perl 6 project including the reasons for rewriting the language, the desing philosophy, some of the roadblocks along the way, etc. It sounds like a real interesting read for those who are interested in the process of designing and implementing a full scale computer language, regardless of how you feel about the particular results.

You can find many links related to Struts on Ted Husted's page ... the author of the O'Reilly thereon.

Ted wrote Struts in Action actually.

Chuck Cavaness wrote the Oreilly book.

I'm sorry, but when did the point of Linux become 'to destroy MS'?

With Linux users it seems to be a conversion of holy nature like they are becoming a shaolin priest and can't look back....why?

You haven't read how it all started, have you?

If I were him [RMS] I'd probably kill myself because I'd think the world was just too ignorant to "get it".

In fact, RMS once had the thought of killing himself, as described in his biography Free as in Freedom . To find the paragraph, search Chapter 7 for the word "dynamite".

If I were him [RMS] I'd probably kill myself because I'd think the world was just too ignorant to "get it".

In fact, RMS once had the thought of killing himself, as described in his biography Free as in Freedom . To find the paragraph, search Chapter 7 for the word "dynamite".

Amazon Hacks

1. In this particular instance (SCO FUD) the use of the terms GNU/Linux, GNU, and Linux, to differentiate between the tools+kernel, the tools alone, and the kernel alone, is not just appropriate, it's probably one of the best ways to cut through SCO's FUD;
2. It's unfortunate that in many cases, standing up for your beliefs rather than "going with the flow", is sufficient excuse to be labeled a loon.
3. Many of us started with a version of this Linux in a Nutshell book. The first (and most important, IMNSHO) part was the GNU toolchain. Without mastering that (especially in the pre-everything-in-3-cds-and-a-fancy-installer days) you really couldn't do anything.

A sample chapters from the book, Java and .NET are available in PDF format from the book page on O'Reilly's site.

Which isn't a big deal, I guess.

Mastering Regular Expressions is now in its second edition. Mr. Friedl has posted a nice writeup about what's different in the second edition.

It would be a win-win situation for them, and they can use their trademark to protect the 'purity'. I.E. if it's not "Pure java" it can't be called "Pure java".

This sounds similar to the the way O'Reilly uses its branding / trademark stuff with respect to Perl. If it's not really truly Perl it can't use the Camel.

I wonder if a similar thing could be done with the Linux name & penguin? Does Linus have copyrights on those that could be used to smack down dodgy distros?

I feel for you - they look useful at first glance but I have browsed through several 'Unleashed' books and found them to unilaterally be just a shade north of useless. In fact the last time I was in Chapters I saw Red Hat 7.1 Unleashed, Red Hat 7.2 Unleashed and Red Hat 7.3 Unleashed all side by side on the shelf. It really smelled like a publisher rushing a book to the shelf just to have the latest and greatest version number on it.

O'Reilly's Running Linux doesn't need nearly that many updates and is filled with much more useful info. I'm you could also find a much better OS X alternative from them as well

I personally find A Portrait of J. Random Hacker by Eric Raymond, especially the part entitled Weaknesses of the Hacker Personality, very interesting. A Portrait of the Hacker as a Young Man, from Free as in Freedom by Sam Williams is also certainly worth suggesting. Most of people don't know that, but Richard Stallman, the author of GNU, considers himself afflicted, to some degree, by autism, which makes it difficult for him to interact with people. I can honestly say I understand him.

I personally find A Portrait of J. Random Hacker by Eric Raymond, especially the part entitled Weaknesses of the Hacker Personality, very interesting. A Portrait of the Hacker as a Young Man, from Free as in Freedom by Sam Williams is also certainly worth suggesting. Most of people don't know that, but Richard Stallman, the author of GNU, considers himself afflicted, to some degree, by autism, which makes it difficult for him to interact with people. I can honestly say I understand him.

They must have pretty good editors, because they do avoid the mistakes most computer publishers make, like sloppy revisions that leaves Windows 95 material in a book on Windows NT. And they seem to have put a lot of work into their publication workflow. But it's pretty obvious that nobody at O'Reilly is in a position to tell the author to watch the stream-of-consciousness prose or question the relevence of his material.

Funny that the reviews of the book look like this
So much for trusting reviews.........

In my mind, this is simple -- I have never read a worse O'Reilly book than Building Linux Clusters. There is a reason that ORA pulled this book out of print after only 6 months, and haven't even bothered to try to fix it and reprint a new edition. It was basically a commercial for the company the author ran, it read as if it hadn't been edited (spelling and grammar mistakes everywhere, included pictures were of the wrong thing that the text referred to), and the code included was so buggy it wouldn't work at all without a lot of fixing.

This was the first book on Linux Clustering I read, and I was hugely disappointed

How bad was it? It came with a CD-ROM that was supposed to automate the process of setting up a Beowulf cluster. None of the software on the CD-ROM worked. Running the install script printed out a message telling you to go to a Web site and download the newest beta version of the software. No such software was available ... ever. O'Reilly shortly withdrew the book ... and, reportedly at least, fired the editor who approved it for publication.

Want more details? Here you go. Waiting for this book, and then discovering slowly just how awful it was, set back a clustering project at my workplace by several months, by the way.

Why is it so tough to find a decent book on this topic? Even O'Reilly failed here.

...reminds us that a teacher told Torvaldas he'd get a low grade for his creation

That teacher was Andy Tannebaum, creator of Minix! From the infamous Tannenbaum v Torvalds debate:

I still maintain the point that designing a monolithic kernel in 1991 is a fundamental error. Be thankful you are not my student. You would not get a high grade for such a design :-)
And:
My point is that writing a new operating system that is closely tied to any particular piece of hardware, especially a weird one like the Intel line, is basically wrong. (snip) Writing a new OS only for the 386 in 1991 gets you your second 'F' for this term.

It was hardly one of his teachers that "failed" him. It was just some usenet jousting over the merits of micro/monolithic kernels. Buy a clue, Forbes.

A "Nutshell" or "Definitive Guide" book isn't a learning resource; it's a reference.

If you can't be bothered to find out what a book is for before you buy it, that's your problem. O'Reilly have full details of all their books on their website, with sample chapters. Just check it out before you buy it; if you don't know enough about the subject to make use of the book, go elsewhere.

Java in a Nutshell is what it says - an encapsulation; not "Everything You Might Ever Want to Know About Java in 28 Days!!!". That's why it has that title, and is part of that series.

The Definitive Guides won't teach you the basics; that's why they aren't called "The Definitive Tutorial". They are the best reference books on their subjects, and the best to consult when you're most of the way there.

I believe some people do produce books with "For Dummies" in the title, but as you know enough to read O'Reilly books, they really should be beneath you ;-) But please don't expect a book to do something other than what it says it will. I use O'Reilly's books every day, but I go elsewhere when I'm beginning.

And to get back on topic: I have well-worn copies of the first and current editions of this book, and it is the book to look stuff up in. But it won't get you through the start of the learning curve. That's what the web is for.

A "Nutshell" or "Definitive Guide" book isn't a learning resource; it's a reference.

If you can't be bothered to find out what a book is for before you buy it, that's your problem. O'Reilly have full details of all their books on their website, with sample chapters. Just check it out before you buy it; if you don't know enough about the subject to make use of the book, go elsewhere.

Java in a Nutshell is what it says - an encapsulation; not "Everything You Might Ever Want to Know About Java in 28 Days!!!". That's why it has that title, and is part of that series.

The Definitive Guides won't teach you the basics; that's why they aren't called "The Definitive Tutorial". They are the best reference books on their subjects, and the best to consult when you're most of the way there.

I believe some people do produce books with "For Dummies" in the title, but as you know enough to read O'Reilly books, they really should be beneath you ;-) But please don't expect a book to do something other than what it says it will. I use O'Reilly's books every day, but I go elsewhere when I'm beginning.

And to get back on topic: I have well-worn copies of the first and current editions of this book, and it is the book to look stuff up in. But it won't get you through the start of the learning curve. That's what the web is for.

When I was first approached by O'Reilly to propose new covers for their books, I was immersed in the VAX/VMS world of Digital Equipment Corporation. I had heard of UNIX, but I had a very hazy idea of what it was. I had never met a UNIX programmer or tried to edit a document using vi. All of the terms associated with vi, sed and awk, uucp, lex, yacc, curses, to name just a few, sounded to me like words that might come out of a popular game called "Dungeons and Dragons." I developed a mental picture of the UNIX programmer as a "Dungeons and Dragons" player. As I started to look for imagery for the book covers, I came across some wonderful wood engravings from the 19th century. The strange animals I found seemed to be a perfect match for all those strange-sounding UNIX terms, and were esoteric enough to appeal to what I believed the UNIX programmer type to be.

When I presented the first animal covers to the people at O'Reilly, they were a bit taken aback.

"But they're so ugly!" said one.

"No one will want to pick these up!" said another.

"They're scary!"

Tim liked the quirkiness of the animals, and thought it would help to make the books stand out from other publishers' offerings. Today, the O'Reilly animal brand is well known all over the world.

Taken verbatum from here

IMO "Dynamic HTML" is a vague term which is usually used by people who do not know about the subject. However, not letting that put me off, I think that this book might be useful to a professional web hacker; although they might be better off with the individual O'Reilly books on the different subjects (e.g.: DOM, CSS, HTML, XHTML, ECMAScript) (or just tree-killed standards (while learning techniques by example on the good ol' WWW or in tutorials) for those of us that can understand standards &c or cannot afford the books).

I looked at the first edition of this book in a shop and considered buying it, but decided against it due to its high price, the fact that I did not like the style (unlike most of the publisher's books which are IMO written excelently), and, mainly, my conclusion that HTML & XHTML: The Definitive Guide would be best for everyday design (as it has a little on other technologies (which are secondary to (X)HTML itself), and I can find about the details of these when I need them), though I'm not a professional.

I bought HTML & XHTML: The Defintive Guide, 5th Ed and it was a good read (as O'Reilly books always are), although I was a little dissapointed with a few aspects: quite a few mistakes (not just typos or such like, but the authors not actually understanding (X)HTML and giving false information in contradiction to the W3C standards), the attitude the authors took of saying "you should do foo but here is how to do bar instead", and the lack of many real-world tips, tricks and tutorials (the kind of stuff that you cannot get from the W3C). However, I found that much of the content (like extensions to HTML, browsers and history) was useful to some extent. The HTML & XHTML book is probably a good book for non-professionals and those who do not want to shell out for Dynamic HTML: The Definitive Reference , but still want a book. Maybe, there is an argument that to learn something well, it is best not using a book.

I am considering buying the CSS guide (and just bought XML in a Nutshell which is very comprehensive (yet reasonably concise) and well written so I it recommend highly).

IMO "Dynamic HTML" is a vague term which is usually used by people who do not know about the subject. However, not letting that put me off, I think that this book might be useful to a professional web hacker; although they might be better off with the individual O'Reilly books on the different subjects (e.g.: DOM, CSS, HTML, XHTML, ECMAScript) (or just tree-killed standards (while learning techniques by example on the good ol' WWW or in tutorials) for those of us that can understand standards &c or cannot afford the books).

I looked at the first edition of this book in a shop and considered buying it, but decided against it due to its high price, the fact that I did not like the style (unlike most of the publisher's books which are IMO written excelently), and, mainly, my conclusion that HTML & XHTML: The Definitive Guide would be best for everyday design (as it has a little on other technologies (which are secondary to (X)HTML itself), and I can find about the details of these when I need them), though I'm not a professional.

I bought HTML & XHTML: The Defintive Guide, 5th Ed and it was a good read (as O'Reilly books always are), although I was a little dissapointed with a few aspects: quite a few mistakes (not just typos or such like, but the authors not actually understanding (X)HTML and giving false information in contradiction to the W3C standards), the attitude the authors took of saying "you should do foo but here is how to do bar instead", and the lack of many real-world tips, tricks and tutorials (the kind of stuff that you cannot get from the W3C). However, I found that much of the content (like extensions to HTML, browsers and history) was useful to some extent. The HTML & XHTML book is probably a good book for non-professionals and those who do not want to shell out for Dynamic HTML: The Definitive Reference , but still want a book. Maybe, there is an argument that to learn something well, it is best not using a book.

I am considering buying the CSS guide (and just bought XML in a Nutshell which is very comprehensive (yet reasonably concise) and well written so I it recommend highly).

IMO "Dynamic HTML" is a vague term which is usually used by people who do not know about the subject. However, not letting that put me off, I think that this book might be useful to a professional web hacker; although they might be better off with the individual O'Reilly books on the different subjects (e.g.: DOM, CSS, HTML, XHTML, ECMAScript) (or just tree-killed standards (while learning techniques by example on the good ol' WWW or in tutorials) for those of us that can understand standards &c or cannot afford the books).

I looked at the first edition of this book in a shop and considered buying it, but decided against it due to its high price, the fact that I did not like the style (unlike most of the publisher's books which are IMO written excelently), and, mainly, my conclusion that HTML & XHTML: The Definitive Guide would be best for everyday design (as it has a little on other technologies (which are secondary to (X)HTML itself), and I can find about the details of these when I need them), though I'm not a professional.

I bought HTML & XHTML: The Defintive Guide, 5th Ed and it was a good read (as O'Reilly books always are), although I was a little dissapointed with a few aspects: quite a few mistakes (not just typos or such like, but the authors not actually understanding (X)HTML and giving false information in contradiction to the W3C standards), the attitude the authors took of saying "you should do foo but here is how to do bar instead", and the lack of many real-world tips, tricks and tutorials (the kind of stuff that you cannot get from the W3C). However, I found that much of the content (like extensions to HTML, browsers and history) was useful to some extent. The HTML & XHTML book is probably a good book for non-professionals and those who do not want to shell out for Dynamic HTML: The Definitive Reference , but still want a book. Maybe, there is an argument that to learn something well, it is best not using a book.

I am considering buying the CSS guide (and just bought XML in a Nutshell which is very comprehensive (yet reasonably concise) and well written so I it recommend highly).

IMO "Dynamic HTML" is a vague term which is usually used by people who do not know about the subject. However, not letting that put me off, I think that this book might be useful to a professional web hacker; although they might be better off with the individual O'Reilly books on the different subjects (e.g.: DOM, CSS, HTML, XHTML, ECMAScript) (or just tree-killed standards (while learning techniques by example on the good ol' WWW or in tutorials) for those of us that can understand standards &c or cannot afford the books).

I looked at the first edition of this book in a shop and considered buying it, but decided against it due to its high price, the fact that I did not like the style (unlike most of the publisher's books which are IMO written excelently), and, mainly, my conclusion that HTML & XHTML: The Definitive Guide would be best for everyday design (as it has a little on other technologies (which are secondary to (X)HTML itself), and I can find about the details of these when I need them), though I'm not a professional.

I bought HTML & XHTML: The Defintive Guide, 5th Ed and it was a good read (as O'Reilly books always are), although I was a little dissapointed with a few aspects: quite a few mistakes (not just typos or such like, but the authors not actually understanding (X)HTML and giving false information in contradiction to the W3C standards), the attitude the authors took of saying "you should do foo but here is how to do bar instead", and the lack of many real-world tips, tricks and tutorials (the kind of stuff that you cannot get from the W3C). However, I found that much of the content (like extensions to HTML, browsers and history) was useful to some extent. The HTML & XHTML book is probably a good book for non-professionals and those who do not want to shell out for Dynamic HTML: The Definitive Reference , but still want a book. Maybe, there is an argument that to learn something well, it is best not using a book.

I am considering buying the CSS guide (and just bought XML in a Nutshell which is very comprehensive (yet reasonably concise) and well written so I it recommend highly).

It's mirrored here courtesy of SurveyComplete.

Incedentally, I highly recommend the book Code Complete: A Practical Handbook of Software Construction by Steve C McConnell. It tought me more about programming than the rest of my computer book bookshelf!

Another great resource is Safari. It's a web service that for a fee, allows you to view O'reilly, Que, and Sams books online. I find the code search feature to be invaluable. Cheap way to read technical books.

Open source software has never been through a large scale court case before

You might be interested in the The Lawsuit section of the Open Sources: Voices from the Open Source Revolution book.

You can discuss about it that it was BIG vs small instead of small vs BIG, and that it was BSD and not Linux but yes, not everybody can and will spend money on such a long and expensive case.

In biology the past 50 years have seen both revolutions and evolutions that have brought biology to an even par with physics, which had been the "queen of science" up through the first half of this century.

Essential System administration by Aeleen Frisch. Covers Solaris, Aix, Linux, HPUX, SCO etc. Alas no OS X.

ThereÂs a review here.