Dr. Dobb's Journal March 2003
The Linux Development Platform, by Rafeeq Ur Rehman and Christopher Paul, is about how to program in general on Linux, what languages are available, how to edit, compile, and debug a program—you know the drill. As such, it is an invaluable book for newbies. It's generally well executed, too, a glossy, modern book explaining GNU with attractive screen shots, meticulous diagrams, and examples. There surely must be more, but I've only noticed one formatting typo, the "H" of a long element ending in "_PATH" jumped the line wrap. This level of typographical accuracy is Good Production.
The information is well targeted and relevant. The authors lead you along the easier paths—tackling vim rather than vi and offering Jed and XEmacs alongside Emacs, for instance. The GNU compilation toolchain fills about half of the book, followed by CVS and the other main GNU utilities such as the binutils and ldd. Then, in tried-and-true programming book fashion, the last two chapters are speculative and peer charmingly, but all too briefly, into embedded systems Linux programming and Java development.
The Linux Development Platform is theologically clearly in the free software camp. GNU is mentioned on the cover, albeit the authors don't go quite as far as calling the platform GNU Linux, and, wonderfully, the book itself is Open Source licensed. The minor flaw I see is that a broader treatment of Java is appropriate here. It's important to give primary and unequivocal priority to the free software toolchain—I'm all for this—but having broached the embarrassing topic of the importance of licensed code such as the JDK to the GNU Linux development environment, the authors should have given play to the IBM Linux VM. Kaffee is mentioned, which, while darling, is not very important in the real world, while the IBM VM outperforms both Sun and Blackdown.
It also seems a flaw to shovel in the entire list of options to the gcc compiler—no explanations, just a list of all options occupying 20 paper pages. This is excusable only on a CD-ROM or online where no trees were harmed to provide binary bits.
I have little to say about DNS & BIND Cookbook, by Cricket Liu, other than it is a gem. The book is a catechism of most of the questions I've heard on the Internet and mailing lists about DNS and BIND on UNIX and UNIX-like operating systems (including MS Windows client issues). If you already know the basics of running your own nameserver but get stumped on the advanced stuff like allowing updates, not forwarding certain queries, delegating a subdomain of a reverse-mapping zone, and about 165 other such issues ranging from simple to sublime, this is your book. I kind of think it should have been priced at $29.95 instead of $34.95, but then I get crotchety remembering when a loaf of bread cost $0.18.
When I showed David Karp's Windows XP Annoyances to my wife, the primary Windows user in the household, she asked "Shouldn't that be a much longer book?" Possibly so, but Karp has certainly encountered and solved enough irritating problems that Windows XP Annoyances appears worthwhile.
I still occasionally use and even more occasionally program Windows, but long-distance surgery on my father's XP installation 2000 miles away has cost me about $100 in phone calls in the past two months. I now know a lot more about XP than previously, but it would have been cheaper to buy the book.
The book's table of contents can be browsed at http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/ winxpannoy/toc.html. As you can see, the material is nicely balanced between things it would be nice if everybody understood, such as nuances of Explorer usage, and things only the experts need to know, such as going beyond Internet connection sharing and other TCP/IP finesses. The text never strays into irrelevancy, theology, or nerd muscle flexing despite encountering minefield topics such as scripting Windows XP.
Of course, the primary annoyance of Windows XP is that Microsoft's plans for XP rival Sauron's plans for the One Ring of Power—you know, one operating system to bring us all and bind us, and the like. For instance, when it comes to topics such as avoiding .NET passport accounts, Karp offers observations like:
The point is to try to make .NET passports seem as ubiquitous as the My Documents folder, so that customers will feel more comfortable using the service. That way, Microsoft can try to push its MSN online service and much-hyped .NET technology onto other companies so that soon any web site you visit and every program you start will require a .NET passport password...
demonstrating that he understands not only annoying features, but also the more organic annoyances of the soon-to-be-nearly-ubiquitous-like-nearly-every-previous-release-of-Windows XP.
Choosing Windows XP Annoyances is a case of pay now or pay later. Ask my Dad.
DDJ