Web Development Book Reviews
Get an insider look at web development books and more before you buy them. Developer Tutorials Reviews covers various topics such as Linux, Security, Administration and other areas for books and other useful developer resources.Unix to Linux Porting
The major issues with porting to Linux from other Unixes include compiler and library differences, differences in system calls, and entirely missing system calls. There's also the issue of code that never was right to start with, but that's outside of the scope of this book.
Saturday, 29th April 2006
Self-Service Linux : Mastering the Art of Problem Determination
This has to be the best book I've read in a long time. I've written articles on general troubleshooting, but this book takes the subject to a whole new level. It is Linux specific, though some of the knowledge is applicable to any system.
Wednesday, 19th October 2005
The Linux Kernel Primer
I've been less than happy with other kernel books I've read. Admittedly, it's a difficult subject: there's a lot to cover, and you really need quite a bit of programming and general Unix knowledge before you could even consider jumping into this area.
Thursday, 13th October 2005
The Symantec Guide to Home Internet Security
I'm not sure about this book. It's not something most of the readers of this site would be interested in, but it is something you might want to point out to other people.
Thursday, 15th September 2005
Pro Perl Parsing
I thoroughly enjoyed this. It may not be everyone's cup of tea; the subject matter is a bit esoteric. However, I write and maintain a fair amount of Perl, and matching and parsing patterns is often the largest part of the work. I'd guess that I have a medium grasp on the details of parsing regular expressions, but I'm very weak in the grammar area that this book also covers.
Tuesday, 13th September 2005
Linux Cookbook Second Edition
When this book fell out of its shipping envelope, it made quite a thunk as it hit my desk. No wonder: at almost 800 pages, this is quite a chunk of reading material.
Wednesday, 3rd August 2005
Mac OS X 10.3 Panther Little Black Book
Actually, there's nothing "little" about this. It's over 500 pages of very precise and specific Panther detail. Don't let the redundant title (OS Ten 10.3 ???) set you back: this is a good guide to Panther.
Wednesday, 3rd August 2005
Wicked Cool Shell Scripts
I often take a dim view of books that use superlatives in their titles. I also don't think there is anything "wicked cool" about shell scripting in general: if you need anything complex at all, Perl or something else is probably a much better way to to it.
Wednesday, 3rd August 2005
Postfix: The Definitive Guide
I have been wanting to take a peek at Postscript for some time now, especially since it has become the default for Mac OS X. The man page didn't look like a lot of fun, so I was happy to see this book come out.
Wednesday, 3rd August 2005
The Design of the Unix Operating System
This is another book that is getting old, but at least it's focus is System V Unix, so it still has a lot of value.
Wednesday, 3rd August 2005
SCO Companion
really don't want to say anything negative about this book. SCO Companion is a tremendously ambitious book, attempting to cover just about anything and everything you would ever want or need to know.
Wednesday, 3rd August 2005
Linux Security Cookbook
Enjoyable and useful. I didn't really expect to learn a whole lot from this, but surprisingly (and happily), I did. It's jam packed with practical advice, and avoids the too often seen slant of many security books that don't understand the concept of "good enough".
Wednesday, 3rd August 2005
Halting the Hacker
This isn't a heavily technical book. Unlike many of the other security books I've reviewed, this isn't full of tcpdump traces and the like. It is, however, a really excellent overview of security that can introduce a system administrator or a general manager to the subject.
Wednesday, 3rd August 2005
Hacking Linux Exposed: Linux Security Secrets & Solutions
This is the Linux specific companion for Hacking Exposed. Note that I said companion: if you are serious about Linux security, you'll want both of these.
Wednesday, 3rd August 2005
Network Intrusion Detection
This is NOT a general security book. It is very specifically what the title says it is: a book about detecting network activity.
Wednesday, 3rd August 2005
SSH - The Secure Shell
Everything you'd ever need to know about SSH. Well written, very complete- I liked this book! Some of the Amazon reviwers weren't quite so happy with it...
Wednesday, 3rd August 2005
Hacking Exposed (Second Edition)
Some reviewers have called this a "scary" book. I guess it is that, but more importantly it is an upsetting book, a gnawing pit of the stomach uneasy book, a book that will wake you up from a cold sleep with that awful feeling of dread.
Wednesday, 3rd August 2005
Linux Firewalls
This is undoubtedly the best introductory security book I've read. Note that I specifically didn't say "best introductory Linux security book". Yes, the focus is on Linux, and the packet filter examples are all ipchains, but more than 99% of the advice and explanation here applies to any Unix system...
Wednesday, 3rd August 2005
Maximum Linux Security
have really mixed feelings about this book. In the first place, security is, by its nature, a constantly moving target. You can't expect any book to really cover security well, because everything changes all the time.
Wednesday, 3rd August 2005
Practical Unix and Internet Security
This was originally published in 1991, but this 1996 2nd edition is much larger and of course completely updated.
Wednesday, 3rd August 2005
Fundamentals of Computer Security Technology
This is a mathematical treatment of security. As such, it is probably of interest to students and security professionals.
Wednesday, 3rd August 2005
Internet Security - Risk Analysis, Strategies and Firewalls
This is an excellent introduction to Internet security. It is well written, even entertaining, and does a very good overview of the entire subject from the first underground hackers to the current state of the internet.
Wednesday, 3rd August 2005
Intrusion Detection - Network Security Beyond the Firewall
This book makes the case that no matter what security measures are in place, no matter how many firewalls, no matter what design of SmartCards for login, no matter what level of OS security, you still need to watch for and detect intrusions and other breaches.
Wednesday, 3rd August 2005
Sendmail Performance Tuning
When I first picked this up I really didn't expect much. I expected that this would be a rather ordinary rehash of typical performance tuning advice. How much could you possibly have to say about sendmail specifically?
Wednesday, 3rd August 2005
TCP/IP Network Administration
The third edition of this O'Reilly classic has been extensively updated. Examples are now given for both Sun and Linux systems, and both Samba and Apache get good attention.
Wednesday, 3rd August 2005