Product Description
A complete guide to designing and implementing an Internet database server for a site discusses ways to provide and charge for data and covers World Wide Web data delivery, Telnet access, and Infobots advertising tools. Original. (Advanced). ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

The book is good, most useful to beginners.
I strongly agree with the author's comments here, and disagree with the 'synopsis'.The book presents some useful and interesting techniques, and is a broad overview of relevant material.It is not (nor does it try to be) a comprehensive introduction to SQL, Databases, Perl, HTTP, or CGI.It does tell you why those topics are useful and gives you pointers to more specific resources.

I didn't get as much out of this book as I'd hoped, but that's more because I already knew much of the material, rather than through any fault of the author.I would recommend this to a beginner to databases and web design, or to a manager questioning what is reasonable to attempt in putting a system onto the web. ... Read more

Product Description
Checking links, batch editing HTML files, tracking users, and writing CGIscripts--these common web tasks can be done easily with Perl, the scriptinglanguage that runs on almost all computing platforms. Although becoming a Perlexpert is hard, most Perl scripts are fairly simple. Perl for Web SiteManagement is not so much about learning Perl as it is about using Perlscripts to do everyday tasks on your web site, even if you have no programmingbackground. With the help of Perl and other open source tools, you'll be ableto write CGI scripts, incorporate search engines, convert multiple text filesinto HTML, monitor log files, and track users as they navigate your site. Whether you're a developer, a designer, or simply a dabbler on the Web, thisbook is the practical, hands-on introduction to Perl you've been waiting for. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

Good, but mis-describes the target audience
As a very experienced programmer, and familiar with Perl already, but not CGI programming, I found this book to be useful for its coverage of the necessary aspects in preparing and managing a website. Callender provides a good example, he writes well, and covers a lot of material in the 21 chapters.

The text correctly guides you through much of the arcana of developing CGIs with Perl. I will keep the book nearby as I prepare my own web site.

However, throughout the time I was reading the book, I had a deep suspicion that the self-described target audience of "Accidental programmer" would find this book far too fast paced or insufficient in background material. I got a sense that this book preaches to the already-converted. True beginners or non-programmer web developers should first work through introductory texts such as "Learning Perl". Also, almost no discussion of debugging beyond a few early pages. An approach to debug some of the ambitious scripts presented would be useful.

The basic treatment through most of the chapters is to present a scenario, provide an initial script, then discuss the elements line by line. Then improve on it, and present the new, more detailed script. This method of exposition struck me as very repetitious, with lots of pages filled with similar looking scripts--each one with the statement: "Like all the examples in this book, you can download it from the book's web site, ...".

My opinion of how best to use the book is to identify a task that is similar to an example in the book, and try to work through it on your own. Have the book and example source code at hand for reference, along with a copy of "Learning Perl", "Programming Perl", "Official Guide to Programming with CGI.pm", and/or the "Perl Cookbook".

Useful insights I got from the book:
1. Use the perldoc pages for in depth explanation of perl functions and concepts.
2. How to use the regex substitution operator with matching brackets and expressions
(i.e. the s{ pattern }{ code; }gex form)
3. Nice how-to-do-it section on basic http authentication and a form-based registration system.

Great Introduction to Perl for "Accidental" Programmers
First things first. This isn't the book that I thought it was going to be. I was expecting to read a book that taught experienced programmers some Perl tricks that made it easier to manage a web site - something like a companion piece to O'Reilly's Perl for System Administration by David Blank-Edelman. Turns out that's not what this book is at all.

Instead, it's an introduction to Perl for someone who runs a web site and decides that they need to take their computer knowledge to the next level and learn some programming skills. Callender calls these people "accidental programmers" and he is very understanding of their needs having been one himself only a few years ago.

So immediately this book has a completely different target audience to the majority of O'Reilly's Perl books. It's competing against all the brightly coloured books with titles like Perl for Morons or Learn Perl in 30 Seconds. These books are, almost without exception, written by people with minimal Perl knowledge, to it should come as no surprise that Callender's book is vastly superior to all of them.

The first major advantage that this book has is that it doesn't simply try to sell Perl as "the CGI language". Callender is at pains to point out that Perl can be useful for any number of other tasks involved in running a web site. Very early on we are looking at updating the links in an HTML file using regular expressions (and there's even a discussion on the fragility of this approach and pointers to better solutions using CPAN modules). A little later on we are looking at writing reports on web site hits by parsing the access logs. This is the kind of work that Perl excels at - the fact that you can you use the same language to write CGI programs as well should be seen as a bonus.

As I mentioned before, Callender is not a programmer by training (this is sometimes obvious from his code examples) but he has obviously learned from good sources. He encourages all the good habits that are missing from most of his competitors books - all of his examples use -w and use strict and all of CGI programs are written using CGI.pm. There's even a far more detailed explaination of the importance of security and taint mode than I've seen in any book aimed at this audience. Another bonus is the discussion of the necessity and mechanics of file locking.

Another topic that often missing from beginners books is the huge library of ready-written Perl modules called the CPAN. Many authors seem to think that this concept is beyond their audience and thereby many newcomers to Perl never discover this treasure chest and spend their entire programming life studiously reinventing wheels unnecessarily. Callender has no time for this point of view and in the middle of chapter 11 he has use downloading and installing modules from CPAN. This approach is bound to lead to more productive Perl programmers.

I mentioned that Callender was himself an accidental programmer. This means that the chapters are full of anecdotes of the kind of problems he experienced when first starting to program in Perl. As well as learning about programming in general, Perl and CGI, most of the book's target audience will be Windows or Mac users who have no knowledge of Unix and, in most cases, that's the operating system that their web server will be running on. Once again, Callender has already made this journey and he proves to be a most able guide.

So, all in all, I think this is a great book. If you're thinking that you need to learn some Perl in order to add CGI programs to your web site, then please consider this book before any of the other beginners Perl and CGI books. You'll end up with a much better understanding after reading this book. But this leads me to my only problem with the book. I'm really not convinced that the people who are in the target audience will pick up this book when they are browsing in a bookstore. I think that O'Reilly books are seen as being for experts and I also think that the title doesn't explain the contents of the book very well.

I could, of course, be wrong. I hope I am.

Excellent perl problem solving tool.
The author does an excellent job of walking you through just some of the things you can do with Perl to automate web management.

Very well written, enjoyable and easy to comprehend.

Good for Web Designers New to Perl
Although the title gave the impression that it would cover very complex web-mastering techniques, the book actually is an excellent introduction to extending your website's usefulness by using Perl. Web designers that have conquered Javascript, and maybe explored some proprietary server-side techniques would benefit greatly from this clearly written task-based tutorial.

I would recommend the reader pickup Learning Perl and/or CGI Programming with Perl as well. They compliment each other well!

Great resource for learning Perl!
If you are just beginning to learn Perl and want to know where to go after O'Reilly's Learning Perl, this is the book for you. There is nothing like seeing Perl do useful things, AND understanding how it works, to get excited about using a new programming language.

Perl, being such a great first language, is useful right away. The author's clear and amusing style allows for easy reading and quick results. Wait until you complete chapter six and watch as directories fill up with well-formed HTML pages generated from multiple text files and you'll be hooked on this book, and Perl too!

Geared towards a beginner or mid-level programmer with lots of useful code samples. A very good book. ... Read more

Product Description
Domino 5 Web Programming with XML, Java, and JavaScript provides the latest information about the newest technologies in the Domino Designer. Learn how to program client interfaces with the Domino Designer. Use JavaScript to enhance your Web user experience and access back-end database systems with Domino Java servlets or agents. Each of the Domino Object classes is described, making this a handy reference for Domino Java programmers. You'll learn advanced techniques such as how Notes and Domino interact with Java threads and how to create Java Server Pages by integrating the IBM WebSphere Application server with Domino. You'll learn secrets of component programming with Java Applets and JavaBeans. Each chapter ends with a set of questions that can be used to test your understanding.Amazon.com Review
Few platforms for content and service delivery over Internet-standard networks have built upon open programming languages to the extent that Domino has. IBM's flagship server product, with support for its own object models as well as those generally supported by Web browsers, has a remarkable capacity to support platform-independent clients. Domino 5 Web Programming with XML, Java, and JavaScript shows how to create server-side applications by using Domino Designer, and then how to communicate with those programs from the client side by a variety of means.

In large part, this book is an object reference. It includes a complete directory of the Document Object Model (DOM) with which JavaScript works, plus reference material on the Domino objects for Java. The DOM and JavaScript material--to the extent that it documents the standard, non-Domino-specific scripting environment--isn't especially valuable; better references exist in print and on the Web. The portions of the reference that deal with Domino's own object model, however, are very good and worth including in the library of any Domino shop. Explanatory material is excellent, such as a play-by-play description of what happens when a user submits a form. Examples also make this book worthwhile. For example, you can turn to this book for a quick demonstration of how to use CORBA to mediate communications between a Java applet and a Domino server. Randall Tamura's work shows you several ways to solve most client/server application problems under Domino. --David Wall

Topics covered: Creating custom Domino and Notes applications through the use of Java, JavaScript, HTML, and XML. Coverage of Domino Designer explains the server side of the development equation, while tutorials on HTML, JavaScript, the Document Object Model (DOM), and Java applets take care of the client side. Database access and forms management get special attention. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (12)

Good coverage of some advanced topics but better books available now
This was a highly anticipated book when it came out because it covered some very hot topics; namely XML and Java.The book probably didn't quite live up to expectations but still provided a load of useful information about those topics.

Today you're probably better off with purchasing Lotus Notes and Domino 6 Programming Bible. Brian Benz and Rocky Oliver have done a great job with that book.

Useful
I have read this book and found it useful. As a beginner on Domino Web Development this book has realy helped me in developing adequate skills in XML, Javascript and Java.

About as bad as they come
Don't waste your time or money with this book.I thought for sure with a title like this that it would skip all the what is Notes junk (like how to create views and forms, etc.) that all Notes books seem obligated to include.It is just a bunch of a filler in an otherwise useless book.I was looking forward to seeing some good JavaScript examples as it is used in common Notes situations.Well, no such luck.I struggled to find anything on something as basic and useful as the onChange event.This book is also not organized very well and is very confusing to learn follow.I am not sure the author has a good grasp of what he is writing.VERY DISAPPOINTING!!!!

reference book written with little care and effort
At page 682 of 836 Tamura introduces Chapter 22 with the phrase "What is XML?". At page 808 Chapter 27 begins with "What is a servlet?". Introducing fundamental terms of web technology near the end of the book should make it obvious that something with the concept of this book went fundamentally wrong. From a modern book on Domino Web programming I'd expect some information about how to implement a multitier architecture, scalability,maintainability , perfomance and security etc... You won't find anything useful about these things in the whole book. So what does Tamura consider important then? The book is a collection of reference sections, e.g. Notes Design elements (Chapter 2 to 6) found in numerous other books including the Designer online help in better quality. It is especially annoying, though, that he also explaines design elements that can be used in the notes client only but not in a webclient (e.g. layout regions). So why mention it at all here? It looks to me as if large amounts of this book have been inserted via copy and paste from other resources and other contexts. The html/Javascript reference sections do not contain any Domino specific information and can be found in other books in much better quality as well. The examples given (checking for blank fields etc)are extremely trivial and of no practical use. On the other hand Tamura dosnt tell the reader how to implement a nice looking navigation with DHTML views but only shows the ugly domino standard views and the performance critical view applet. XML: Tamura doesn't even mention the SAX or other modern APIs like JDOM. He just keeps talking about the rather old fasihioned DOM API. This is the worst book on domino development I've read so far and what makes it especially annoying from my point of view is the little care and effort with which it has been written. I think it's getting time to stand up against the black sheep in the business and name them explicitely. Hopefully this will enable other authors of better quality bring their books to the market.

Good book for reviewing What Notes/Domino can do
This is the book that let me keep reading all the times. As a As400 RPG programmer and Notes Developer, I like to know what Domino/Notes can do and looking for the way of directions and the key elements to bring back-end database to the Internet thru Domino. I like this book because it gives me the directions and shows me the ways to apply Java,JavaScript and Servlet to the Domino Server either from inside Domino Agents or outside Domino.Especially, the topics for Notes Java classes really shows me the way to java coding in Notes Agents. Though it is not complete to cover all these area, it is definitely a excelent book to keep.The writing is good and author always get to the point right away for each topic. Maybe it is a waste of money for people who knows all these topics already but it is certainly a key door to the people like me who has been wondering how to get to these area for years. After reading all of it, I definitely know where to go and how to do to be a cutting edge programmer. ... Read more

Product Description
For the hundreds of thousands of Web enthusiasts who madetheir first foray into programming with the simple tagging language ofHTML, JavaScript is the next step. JavaScript is a programminglanguage designed to be used in conjunction with HTML, making HTMLmore powerful and interactive. It is now fully supported in NetscapeNavigator 3. With JavaScript, Web page creators without deep technicalexperience can embed commands into their HTML pages that call uppre-cooked Java animations, add clocks and other time-based features ,allow web pages to ask questions and gather information from visitorsto the page, and provide other simple controls. While other JavaScriptbooks are intended for experienced programmers, this one is for thevast majority of HTML coders who are less technically sophisticatedbut still would like to get their feet wet. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (16)

Jeremy Schneider went on to notoriety!
This book is no indication of his future, but the contributor Jeremy Schneider apparently went on to get involved with some shady internet operations. See howtoburn.com

Great Book!
This book is great for people with a background in other programming languages.It lets you dive right in with clear concise definitions and examples.

It is not for people who want in depth explanations.The bookcuts out most of this fluff.

I wish he had an advanced book out.Somemore in depth explanations would be nice on some coding techniquesparticular to JavaScript.

This Javascript book disappoints me.
I'm ususally quite satisfied with the Visual Quickstart Guide Seriesbecause they are easy to read and most of the examples work.But thisJavascript book disappoints me in a big way.Most of the examples do notwork and it's frustrating to find out after typing them in. How can someonepublish a book on a scripting language without testing whether the exampleswork?Plus, the book really doesn't do a good job on explaining the syntaxso one can't learn how a script is constructed.

Great Book!
This is a great intro to Javascript, but it is not for everyone. If you like to learn to program by reading books, or if you like those 1000 page volumes, then this is not the book for you. But if you learn by doing, and you want to start coding Javascript NOW, then get this book.

spend the extra dough
save your money and by a book that doesn't just show you a couple of rollover and slideshow tricks. Seems to be thrown together in a hurry. Start on Chapter 3 or you'll fall asleep ... Read more

Product Description
Provides a practical, step-by-step guide to building media-rich, interactive, dynamic Web applications using Java, JavaScript, and Informix. Softcover.CD-ROM included. DLC: Internet programming. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

A wonderful book
I found this book to be extremely helpful in setting up a website recently. It is well written, and easy to understand. To be fair, I am an employee of Informix. However, I have used this book extensively and havefound it wonderfully helpful. If you plan on using the Informix webdatablade, you'll want this book on your desk. ... Read more

Product Description
The Web doesn't stand still—not even for a minute—and neither do the languages that Web pages are based on. That's why you need this eagerly anticipated update to the popular JavaScript for the World Wide Web: Visual QuickStart Guide. Through a combination of task-based instruction and strong visuals, best-selling authors and Web gurus Tom Negrino and Dori Smith take you step by step through all of today's JavaScript essentials: creating navigation bars and other user interface elements, producing dynamic images and smart forms, controlling and detecting browsers, creating and manipulating windows, validating user entries in Web forms, and more. Whether you're a beginning scripter who wants a thorough introduction to the topic or a more advanced scripter who needs a convenient reference, you'll find what you need here—in straightforward language peppered with tips and techniques drawn from the authors' years of experience. By the end of the volume, you'll be able to smoothly integrate HTML, JavaScript, and CSS to bring your Web sites to life.Amazon.com Review
JavaScript is great, but at best it is a complementarylanguage for Web development. JavaScript for the World Wide Weboffers a productive, how-to style that lets you solve a problem orpick up a trick and then move on with the rest of your work.

Consistent with other members of Peachpit's Visual QuickStart Guideseries, this title makes wise use of side-by-side explanations andscreen shots, as well as code snippets and their analysis. Thisapproach gives readers the feeling that the authors are sitting bytheir side and showing them how to code scripts. Most subjects arehandled with numbered steps, such as "Validating Zip Codes," anduseful tips punctuate the text.

The book introduces the wholeconcept of JavaScript in a fast-moving but readable chapter and thenmoves into solving real-world challenges. The authors do a good job ofcovering JavaScript's capabilities, from eye-catching graphics tricksto data-entry form processing and cookie management. Particularlyenjoyable is the way the book spells out many of the differencesbetween Netscape and Microsoft dynamic HTML approaches.

TheJavaScript object model is laid out in an appendix, along with objectcompatibility between various browser flavors. To complement the book,the publisher offers a Web site that makes all of the example codeeasily downloadable for your use. This is a great little guide forboth busy coders and JavaScript novices. --Stephen W. Plain ... Read more

Customer Reviews (232)

Uses examples to explain how JavaScript works
Has examples with side bar notes on what each line does. Typical of this publishers other guides, but works really easy with JavaScript samples. Good and informative introduction of JavaScript and its applications in the real world. Reviewed 5th edition and 5th ed. Student Edition, student edition was nice because of the review sections, but basically the same book.

Good Quick Start
This book is as the cover states;"Visual QuickStart Guide....pictures rather than lengthy explanations."It was a great help in getting started with JavaScript.It is not an in-depth tutorial, but then, it doesn't claim to be.

I liked it.

Bo

do not even think about buying it
It's downloads don't work, and the book requires that they be used.
the examples will not run as written in the book.
They do not conform to the w3schools standards.
it cannot be used outside Microsoft products.
Like Firefox.

Excellent Material
This book was well packaged for delivery. I like it for the clarity with which the authors present the various lessons.

I hope to derive a lot from it and to add to my skills.

I am still going through it and so far it has been very exciting. Thank you for the good business. A value for the money.

Useful
This is useful as a reference book or to learn JavaScript.I do not use it often, but when I need it I am very glad to have it on my shelf.Good examples. ... Read more

Product Description
Provides a definitive reference on Cascading Style Sheets (CSS), the efficient way to add and manage elements of style within web documents.Contains complete coverage of CSS1 and CSS2, background information and practical examples. Softcover.Amazon.com Review
For readers looking for a one-stop read for all they need toknow about cascading style sheets (CSS), Cascading Style Sheets,Second Edition: Designing for the Web really hits the nail on thehead. One of the authors--Hakon Wium Lie--was the originator of CSSand is in charge of the technology among the World Wide Web Consortium(W3C). His writing partner is Bert Bos--another key member of the W3Ccurrently focusing on style sheets and the Extensible Markup Language(XML). Together, they deliver a truly educational guide to thesubject.

This book wisely includes numerous color screen shots anddiagrams, as well as many typographic examples, to augment thediscussion of the inherently visual topic of CSS. The authors'graphical expertise comes through clearly with visuals that clarifytopics without cluttering the presentation.

The coverage goesbeyond--or shall we say behind--that found in many other CSS booksthat focus primarily on the technical features of browsers. Forexample, the authors take the time to discuss typesetting terminologyand font families in order to build a well-rounded knowledge. Despitethe presentation of the precise details of the CSS1 and CSS2specifications, the text is quite easy to read and intriguing tofollow. Even if you are familiar with CSS--this is an excellent titleto own. --Stephen W. Plain

Topics covered: CSS(levels 1 and 2), HTML, and XML tutorials; plus coverage of whichbrowsers support which CSS elements. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (22)

Poorly oragnized, but not totally useless
There are some issues with this book that are purely the publisher's fault. (I am sure the authors are just as annoyed as I am.) Let's get them out of the way first.

Inside the back and front covers are what appears to be a handy quick reference. Great idea - except almost all the page numbers are wrong! That makes it completely useless. I have scratched in corrections in my copy, but I am not about to do a complete revision. The first edition had this same flaw, and I had hoped that the second would fix the problem.

The index is iffy. That's probably a clue right there to the wishy-washy structure of the book. It seems to be all over the place, with crucial bits of information about a topic filed away under some other topic, often in an example. As a reference work, it's very, very poor. It's written as if the reader is going to read it from start to finish and remember its entire contents. Yeah right.

Finally, the complete lack of real-world information about just how badly the various browsers support CSS is rather annoying. Sure, I understand that that stuff gets out of date quickly, but for designers who are targeting NS 4.7, it's useful to know what works and what doesn't.

Its sole saving grace (those two stars) is that is does in fact cover most of CSS - by hook or by crook. The examples, though contrived (and again, unrelated to the real world) do illustrate the concepts to a greater or lesser degree.

So so... Probably not for an absolute beginner
This book is so so. It's got me through some tight spots while designing. The down side is that it has no real structure to it. It is all over the place when looking for specific topics and doesn't seem to have any coherent order to it. The index could be better. There are also not a lot of good examples. If you are an absolute beginner, you should pass this one by and get O'reily's CSS Definitive Guide instead.

Buy this book if you are new to CSS.
That's what I did and I'm glad I did. This is not the only book you'll need but it is the one you must have. If you are new to CSS, you'll also be new to it's structure and syntax and this book explains this better than any others I've read. The classification of HTML elements into CSS element types (ie. block vs. inline) is hardly seen elsewhere.

I think the extensive discussion on fonts was interesting and required for understanding how to code CSS so the browsers will display what you want or as close as you can get. I also enjoyed the style and look of the book itself.

I wouldn't have a job without this book
This book is absolutely indispensable.I don't have any other CSS books and I knew nothing of CSS before I started, but now I know it like the back of my hand.It's not only a great book to learn CSS, but it's also invaluable as a reference tool once you progress.Not one of those books you read then end up only to have to buy a more in-depth book for reference once you have progressed.It's good for everyone, beginner or advanced. Absolutely worth every penny.

An excellent CSS tutorial and valuable reference.
Prior to purchasing this book, the only things I knew how to do were make links so that they weren't underlined and change the color of some text. The basic, commonplace implementations of Cascading Style Sheets. Well, after hearing more about this rising development in web deisgn, I took an interest in CSS and decided to buy this book. I was not disappointed. It covers every aspect of CSS in a simple yet thorough manner. The quick reference inside the covers is also extremely helpful when you need to find the right CSS tag.

In regard to previous reviewers who say most of this will not be supported in the near future or ever, my response is that yes, it is true true that many of CSS' features will never be fully developed and implemented but if you browse through the actual body of the book, you will find that the bulk of the material covered is either already supported by the major browsers or will be in their next release. Therefore, I feel that it will not be long before the vast majority of this book becomes incredibly useful.

I have borrowed the O'Reilly CSS book and it is also quite good but I feel that this book goes into better detail about each tag and parameter.

I wish I could give it 4 1/2 stars but the reason I have given this book 4 stars instead of 5 is because the author is also the main developer of CSS. Him being so closely involved has both advantages and disadvantages. The advantage is obvious: this guy knows more about CSS than probably anyone in the world. But, due to the same fact, I would say he has a less neutral, more idealistic approach of CSS. That is why several features covered are a few browser versions ahead of their time, which has been the main argument of most people who didn't like this book.

All in all, this book does a superb job at covering every nook and crannie of CSS, from the widely supported to the underdeveloped. One day, technology will catch up to this book and it will be indespensible but until then, it is still the most useful guide to Cascading Style Sheets. ... Read more

Product Description

“Ryan clearly understands the GWT value proposition and how GWT integrates into a diverse web technology stack–and not just in a theoretical way. With the popularity of gpokr.com and kdice.com, Ryan can speak with the authority of concrete success.”

–Bruce Johnson, creator of Google Web Toolkit

“This book distinguishes itself from other books on GWT in that it walks through the entire process of building several nontrivial GWT applications, not the toy applications that most books present.”

–R. Mark Volkmann, Object Computing, Inc.

“Google™ Web Toolkit Applications is an excellent resource for any GWT developer. Solutions to challenges commonly encountered in GWT are presented through the design and development of actual applications. The applications developed throughout the text demonstrate best practices from simple UI design all the way to custom code generation, and are presented with little pretext about the amount of Java knowledge a given developer may have. Advanced concepts are not withheld but are presented in a way that will be understood by both novice and seasoned developers alike. Good application development practices and proper Model View Controller design is reinforced throughout the book, nearly guaranteeing that the reader will come away a better programmer. “

–Jason Essington, Senior Web/Java Engineer, Green River Computing

“Dewsbury’s Google™ Web Toolkit Applications is a book for both experts and beginner programmers who want to discover this open source Java software development framework, as well as write Ajax applications. A very detailed book!”

–Massimo Nardone, Advisory IT Security Architect

Accelerate and Simplify Ajax Development with Google Web Toolkit

Get the edge you need to deliver exceptional user experiences with Google™ Web Toolkit Applications, a guidebook that provides web developers with core information and instructions for creating rich web applications. Whether you’re a developer who needs to build a high-performance front end for Java, PHP, or Ruby applications, or to integrate with external web services, this resource from expert Google Web Toolkit (GWT) developer Ryan Dewsbury delivers the in-depth coverage you’ll need.

In this valuable book, insider Ryan Dewsbury provides instructions for using the robust tool set and gets you on your way to creating first-class web applications by providing a comprehensive overview of GWT technology. In addition, he shares his “in-the-trenches” insights on

• Building elegant and responsive user interfaces with Cascading Style Sheets and GWT’s Widgets and Panels

• Creating seamless user experiences through asynchronous communication with HTTP, REST, JSON/JSONP, and RPC Interoperating with web standards–such as XML, RSS, and Atom–and web services–such as Google Maps, Amazon Books, Yahoo! Search, Flickr, and Blogger

• Overcoming browser security restrictions, such as HTTP’s two-connection limit and the Same-Origin policy

• Accelerating development, using software engineering, code generation, internationalization, application patterns, and Java tools

• Deploying for optimal performance with resource compression and caching

• Building five non-trivial applications: a gadget application with a rich drag-and-drop interface, a multi-search application that makes requests to many search engines, a blog editor application for managing entries across multiple blogs, a web-based instant messenger, and a database manager for a traditional web page

This practical guide to GWT introduces you to the technology; provides techniques, tips, and examples; and puts you on the road to delivering top-notch user experiences for your web applications.

Customer Reviews (14)

Well Written Book!
This book is a very good resource for a GWT developer. It covers the basics well and goes on to develop usable real world examples. I liked the fact that it didn't regurgitate the Javadocs for the GWT classes, but includes a good discussion on the classes and widgets available as well as providing a good reference for CSS. Coming from a Java background this book really helped me tie it all together.

Excellent Book
This is one of the better books I have read to learn about a new IT technology. This would still be true, even if the other books did not set the bar so low. This is written well, easy to follow, well planned.It appears to be a book by someone who has a very thorough understanding of not just GWT, but related technologies as well.

Not worth the money
This book didn't have anything spectacular that couldn't be found through a quick search for gwt on the internet.Online samples are easier to follow than the book's examples.

This book is great!!
What makes this book great is that it sets the tone for beginners and makes it easy to step to the next levels. Advanced GWT and Ajax programmers (and designers) can jump right to the examples and learn to maximize the benefits of GWT. Highly recommended for professionals of all levels.

Source code examples troublesome
The source code examples on the book are incompatable with GWT version 1.5 because of the use of the GWT gears project in the examples. You also have to go hunting around for the examples by going to the authors page, then the book forum. Not a good starter book. ... Read more

Product Description
The JavaScript SourceBook is a complete tutorial and reference for using JavaScript, teaching developers how to create JavaScripts and integrate them into HTML pages. With up-to-the-minute tips on creating JavaScript applications that take full advantage of new features in NetScape 3.0, the book explores JavaScript basics and features extensive discussions of advanced techniques, including JavaScript workarounds and Java applet construction for JavaScript.

Includes CD-ROM with... A library of ready to use JavaScript Applications and routines, plus a selection of reusable Java Components that readers can build into their JavaScript programs.

JavaScript allows programmers to build Web sites nearly as sophisticated as a Java Web site without having to do the actual programming. This will enable non-programmers to create Web sites with animation, 3D graphics, and more.Amazon.com Review
For the HTML expert who wants to expand his or her knowledge into a thorough understanding of JavaScript, JavaScript Sourcebook is an excellent choice. This book opens with generalities about programming doctrine, appropriate use of JavaScript, and discussions of such programming concepts as variables, operators, strings, and loops. It then launches into in-depth coverage of every object, property, function, operator, expression, data type, and event handler in the JavaScript 1.1 language specification.

JavaScript Sourcebook wraps up with practical JavaScript information, including a handy "Fixing Broken JavaScript Programs" chapter that lists the 11 most common JavaScript programming errors and the methods for correcting them. There is also good documentation of JavaScript's capacity for working with HTML frames and outstanding information about advanced client-side topics, such as pull-based updates and image maps.

Computer-book authors frequently load their companion CD-ROMs with the source code from the chapters and leave it at that. McComb has arranged for permission to include Bill Dortch's useful hIdaho frameset functions on the CD-ROM that accompanies JavaScript Sourcebook. Though the functions are available on the Web, having them at hand is a plus for programmers. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (9)

Buggy examples
The source code has lots of bugs, and generally uses mediocre software engineering practices.

The provided CD examples (when zipped) would fit on a 1.44 floppy, so don't get your hopes up that there are lots of examples.

JavaScript Source(of Madness)book
This book would have been nice to keep on my bookshelf. But, at the verybeginning I could see the inconsistencies of the programming examples. Itdrove me mad. So, I had to return it.

Amazing guide!
This book offers detailed descriptions of JavaScript commands, and can also be used as a reference guide by programmers. You are able to learn about object-oriented programming.

A good book for beginners.
The author has done a good book for beginners. If you are confused reading the first chapters, try reading from the middle of the book first! Then you will understand expressions, variables, and more programming basics.

Good in many ways but confusing in others
This is the first and only book I've read on JavaScript. Though I have some programming experience I knew little about object oriented programming. I thought the explaination was good and the book in well organized - chapters on objects, properties, methods and functions, etc.My complaint is this: there is some confusing stuff here. Programming elements are used in examples before they are explained. Though some of this is necessary, he could have used simpler examples in many places. Also, he used different ways to call functions in the examples. For example, to call a function from a mouse event, he used no arguments one time and used arguments in another example. Both ways work, but it confused me.It is a pretty good reference book. Following the table of contents most instructions are listed alphabetically with page numbers. The explainations are in sections with the program elements in easy to spot bold type. ... Read more

Product Description

Customer Reviews (8)

Good coverage of programmatically implementing Dojo functionality
I used the book to help me get over the learning curve of using Dojo to implement a user interface with tabs and layout.

I needed to be able to create tabs programatically and remove them the same way.

This book helped me to do that.It also does a good job of helping make sense of the Library.

I found it useful.

It is the only Dojo book I have.

Not enough advanced topics covered
I find that the book contains mostly beginner and intermediate information. Not enough advanced topics or talking about creation the programmatic way.The layout of the book is a bit odd (Drag and Drop is only talked about for a few pages within the context of working with the Tree widget).For more advanced developers looking for more of a reference book, consider looking elsewhere.

Wow. How mediocre...
This book is good for explaining basic Dojo concepts, but it's really biased and not objective. It reads like a piece of Dojo propaganda.

Also, it spends a certain amount of time explaining things that aren't really helpful. For example, the fact that "Templates are nothing new" and that macros in the C programming language are template based doesn't really help the reader at all. If the readers are familiar with the C programming language, you don't need to tell them that templates have been around for a while. More to the point, it doesn't really matter if templates are new or old. Just explain how Dojo works. Sigh.

This thing could have been a hundred pages shorter. Kill a tree: buy this book.

An outstanding, detailed account filled with real-world examples
MASTERING DOJO: JAVASCRIPT AND AJAX TOOLS FOR GREAT WEB EXPERIENCES is an essential key to modern web programming problems resolvable by Dojo. From basic usage of Dojo to advanced tutorials, MASTERING DOJO takes the form of a class in the program with chapters building a foundation of knowledge and discussing scripting, searches, and Dojo systems alike. It's an outstanding, detailed account filled with real-world examples and perfect for students and programmers applying Dojo to web problems.

Diane C. Donovan
California Bookwatch

Skip the "Book Of Dojo" and go straight to this
I haven't read the other Dojo books so I can't compare them.They may be very good too.This book is well orgainsed and well written.My advise to anyone starting from scratch is not to bother with the free online documentation, "The Book of Dojo", which is a spotty and unsystematic and start with this. ... Read more

Product Description
(Prentice Hall PTR. World Association of Webmasters) A compact, example-rich guide for Web developers, teaching exactly the skills needed to build dynamic Web sites and applications with Microsoft's ASP and JavaScript. Filled with real-world examples, practical overviews of key concepts, usable code, and other quick solutions. Softcover. DLC: Internet programming.Amazon.com Review
Although at least half as long as other titles on the subject, Essential ASP for Web Professionals is probably just as valuable for getting started with ASP. Aimed at the beginning or intermediate Web developer, this is an extremely useful, cookbook-style tutorial that helps readers of all levels use ASP (and JavaScript) to create Web pages dynamically by concisely offering a series of simple, effective ASP examples. The full source code is included, along with extensive annotations and suggestions for extending the code in custom projects. This approach is ideal for anyone who appreciates a hands-on approach to learning.

The examples themselves are immediately practical. First off, a date-time script--and an example--gives out a random "tip of the day" read from a text file on the server. Then it's on to basic database programming with ADO and ASP. After a quick tour of database basics, readers learn some expert techniques for generating forms based on any database table without changing ASP code. (Not only will you be able to easily generate HTML forms on the fly, you'll also find out how to update databases from forms automatically--again without changing ASP code.) This flexible, "soft" approach to working with databases will help you write ASP code that's a lot easier to maintain.

The book culminates in a full-featured shopping cart example for an e-commerce site. Techniques demonstrated include maintaining state with cookies. Throughout, the book does a fine job of showing how ASPs often work together to get the job done, instead of creating monolithic (and unmaintainable) scripts. For instance, the shopping cart example uses no less than 11 ASP files. (A quick "site map" diagram shows the organization.) Besides the basics, Essential ASP also offers a guide to some best practices, ensuring you'll learn the right way to do things, as well as pick up the basics quickly.

Efficiently packaged, yet filled with some very useful code, this is a truly worthwhile tutorial for ASP development that's exactly what the busy Web professional needs to get started with this powerful standard. --Richard Dragan

Topics covered:

• Example-based ASP programming tutorial
• Introduction to Active Server Pages (ASP) created with JavaScript
• Programming with JavaScript date and time functions
• Working with text files
• Introduction to databases
• Tables and records
• Writing form data to text files (using ADO with ASP) and data-driven Web pages
• Editing, updating, and deleting database records
• Techniques and tips for building data-driven forms
• Implementing an e-commerce shopping cart with ASP (complete sample code and programming tips)
• Managing sessions with cookies
• Sending e-mail with CDONTS and ASP
• Short reference guide to JavaScript

Customer Reviews (6)

if you're looking to write in javascript and not vbscript...
this book seems to be written well, but it didn't suit my needs. maybe i didn't look hard enough but this book has examples in javascript, not the typical vbscript for classic asp. although i really have no preferance for either if you're in a team environment and suddenly pages switch languages, that could be a problem to maintain. if you're just wanting to learn classic asp and you want simple, useful examples (like random quotes) then this is a really good book!

Great ASP book for JavaScripters
This was the only book I could find that focused ONLY on ASP written in JavaScript. So I crossed my fingers and hoped it was good. I was not at all disappointed.

***You will not learn JavaScript in this book!***
It is after all an ASP book, not a JS book. If, however, you already know JavaScript (at least the basic concepts), it's great. It gives you just enough information without overexplaining. The examples are nicely laid out and based on REAL WORLD problems (the likes of which I was/am dealing with).

I wouldn't hesitate to recommend this book at all. It can be easily read on the bus to/from work in a not many days (how I did it) and is not at all dry...or too *cute* either.

If you want to make ASP work for you in a variety of circumstances and are already familiar with JavaScript, this is the book for you. Best for ASP newbies who want a quick start.

Compact and helpful. Only examples but full of hints.
I bought this book because I needed to know what ASP was and what it could do for me. I am pretty good with JavaScript and this book is the only one which combines ASP and JavaScript. All other ASP books only deal with VBScript.

One for the good-old JavaScripters!

I agree it may be only a cut-and -paste thing, but while you cut-and paste you also see how things work. I since have created many compact, stable and useful codes using ideas and excerpts from the examples in this book.

From the simple guest book to shopping cart to database access, all are there for you to dissect and learn. No lengthy discussions on stupid things like the history of the internet, how JavaScript was named after Java, how MS Jscript wasa copy of JavaScript ,etc, etc,...Without these useless information, the book is small but full of stuffs! I got the guest book code working on my ASP personal site in one hour!

Very practical, very useful and yet very "light".
I paid for the book and I liked it!
I'll by Lovejoy's next ASP book when it came out...

Kien

Disappointed
They say if you give a man a fish he'll eat for a day. This book let's you eat for a day. If you're just looking to copy and paste without any real understanding of what you're doing, you may get something out of this book. If you want to be able to write ASP on your own, you won't like this book. I would suggest "Sams Teach Yourself Active Server Pages 3.0 in 21 Days", an excellent resource. Also, checkout msdn.microsoft.com.

Very Pleased With My Purchase : )
I liked this book - not one for absolute beginners to ASP, nor does it claim to be, but for a seasoned developer with a Visual Basic background, I found it very helpful in giving me the 'bunk-up' into understanding ASP without wallowing through 300 pages of explanations of 'if..then...else' and loops. Lots of practical, to the point, ***useful***, real-world (rather than 'Hello World') examples to get you off to a flying start with a new technology. I liked the way the code examples are line-numbered, with an explanation following line-by-line what each part of the code does, so you can easily skip the explanations of the parts you already understand - why don't more authors do this? Also has a very good companion website with all the code from the book (thus keeping the price down as there's no CD to tax...:) ), and the latest errata. Highly recommended. ... Read more

Product Description
This task-based, visual reference guide has been fully revised. It uses step-by-step instructions and plenty of screenshots to give beginning and intermediate Web designers what they need to know to learn JavaScript. Readers can start from the beginning to get a tour of the programming language, or look up specific tasks to learn just what they need to know. In this updated seventh edition, readers will find new information on Ajax design and modern coding techniques. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (40)

Terrible for Beginners
I was required to purchase this book for a JavaScript/Ajax course I am taking at my local college.I find this book absolutely terrible in its presentation.

I have been a programmer for over 16 years so I have a very good concept of what programming is about.I don't consider myself an absolute "beginner".However, I am struggling terribly with this book and its content presentation.

For instance.The book will list sample HTML and JavaScript code.The HTML code will reference the JavaScript file as something like script04.js.However, the sample JavaScript code does not show that it is named script04.js.It will only be referenced as something like 'Script 5.8'.This isn't too bad when we only have one HTML script and one JavaScript on the page.But when there are multiple, it gets confusing as to what they are referring to.

Also, there are often times where there is a reference to an HTML or JavaScript file which is not even displayed on the screen.It is assumed that you know they are calling a different file that is not shown.

There have been several chapters that I have had to read and reread several times and I'm still not clear on some of the code references.

This book may be good for someone at a different level of object oriented programming than I am.Or someone who has done some very basic JavaScripting before and is wanting to learn more.But it is not a good text book for a beginning JavaScript class.I do not recommend it.

An easy to follow introduction for javascript-Ajax
The book has more a learn by example approach than a basic theory of javascript flavor which you will appreciate if you want to write code right away. I took the book without any previous javascript and a little php previous experience, if you know the basics of HTML and previous programming experience you don't need many fundamentals to fill the gaps in the examples, the way javascript is organized is not difficult to grasp from the examples provided. The book is pretty useful if you have a previous web programming experience and you don't mind learning by example instead of knowing the basic philosophy of AJAX or javascript.

I found the style pretty easy to follow and the fact that they explain every line of every example particularly useful. A truly exceptional book in the subject and recommended if you have a clear idea of how HTML works with scripting.

The book leaves you in a good position to explore more in-depth AJAX books or to browse for examples in the web on how to do more complex stuff.

Quick Start JavaScript
This book is excellent for beginners learning javascripting language.it's great as it breaks the information down into digestible segments.making it easy to spend a lot of time on a particular chapter and absorbing the codes.i am a better designer than writing code and i think this book is great.thanks.

Not what I expected.
I ordered the HTML, XHTML, CSS Visual QuickStart Guide some time ago and was very pleased.My web development skill grew exponentially, so naturally I chose peachpit press for JavaScript and PHP.The PHP book was pretty good, though I haven't done focused study yet because I want to learn JavaScript first.However, this JavaScript & Ajax book is just too vague.I went through the whole first part of building the bingo game and at the end, still didn't have a clear understanding of just about anything I did.How do you build a whole program and not know what's going on.This quickstart guide is too quick.I even typed the code by hand to reinforce the syntax in my mind.The book suggests the web counterpart to help you through, but in my experience the copy and paste technique doesn't help the information stick... does anyone remember why you were asked to take notes in high school?Apparently not.Anyway, I went with the JavaScript Bible instead.1400+ pages and a full digital copy of the book on CD with extra content.In depth explanations of what the code means and when and why you should use it.The JavaScript quick guide may prove useful after I have a better understanding of JavaScript but I was disappointed with this book.

Frustrating
Sometimes I can't determine which figure on the page contains what script. The examples/scripts are only labeled with a Figure number.It is frustrating. ... Read more

Product Description
JavaScript allows more interactivity on otherwise static Web pages.It is the perfect language for users who are ready to move on from HTML.Learn JavaScript In a Weekend can help you do that.Prima’s In a Weekend series promises to get you up to speed with breaking technology in a minimal amount of time.This book is no exception as it delivers information on topics such as what you can do with JavaScript, coding and syntax basics, object-oriented programming using the JavaScript Object Model, and how to do cool things with Web pages.In addition to the fundamentals, advanced JavaScripting elements like cascading style sheets, making portions of a Web site dynamic, and troubleshooting and debugging tips are also included in this project-oriented book. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

This could have been a much better book.
Following the pattern of the "In a Weekend" books, this book is divided into a Friday night session followed by morning, afernoon and evening sessions for Saturday and Sunday. The author suggests a familiarity with HTML before undertaking this book and recommends "Learn HTML In a Weekend"by Steve Callihan (I've read the Mac edition). He then spends around thirty pages on a review of HTML. Among JavaScript topics covered are objects, strings, functions, controlling the browser status bar, and creating roll-over effects. Along the way you will leaarn to make a JavaScript "clock" and how to "bake" and check for a cookie. Surprisingly I don't think Mr. Ford ever makes a really convincing argument for the use of JavaScript. Add to that "typos" and the fact that the CD ROM won't work as advertised on the Mac (although it does seem to run with out incident on a PC) and you get the idea the book could have been better. Other issues I have with this book are: 1.A good case is made by the author for using Netscape Navigator along with this "course" with most of the examples illustrating Navigator but his "Nav" preference is not mentioned until later in the book. It would have been better to state this earlier. 2.Mr Ford says you should explicitly declare variables, but in most of his examples he does not. Finally, if the example set by the book he recommends ("...HTML In a Weekend") was followed--that of diagraming each command as it is introduced and walking the reader through each example this book would be less frustrating. All in all I think this book might be suited to a classroom enviroment where an instructor couldanswer questions and point out errors. You can learn some JavaScript from this book, but is more frustrating than it needs to be. I was disappointed. ... Read more

Product Description

Customer Reviews (4)

SEO for Flash and non-Flash sites
There is something special about a Flash website. I don't mean a site that has a Flash header or gallery slide show. I mean a website made totally with Flash such as the beautiful site created by Lightmaker for the author of the Harry Potter books, JK Rowling. Her site is an "experience" due to the interactive elements but still manages to get the information to the viewer.

Many people shy away from a site created totally in Flash because of the problems search engines had in the past when indexing a Flash site. Well, things have improved over the last few years and this book, Search Engine Optimization for Flash by Todd Perkins, dispels these old notions and teaches you the new methods to optimize your Flash site. When Perkins talks about SEO, he considers the techniques used to optimize a non-Flash website as important to optimizing a Flash website as Flash SEO techniques. Therefore, this book has a dual purpose. It not only teaches SEO for Flash but for non-Flash sites as well.

Perkins starts with an overview of what you need to know to get the most from the techniques in his book and how the major search engines Google and Yahoo index websites. Next, he discusses how to optimize the non-Flash aspects of your site with proven techniques such as XML sitemaps and web standards for the separation of content and presentation with CSS and XHTML. He also covers the most common pitfalls such as too much JavaScript or dynamic text and how to correct these mistakes. The reader then completes an exercise for creating a simple SEO site.

Moving on to Flash specific SEO, he discusses each Flash SEO technique in depth, including sample code. He follows each discussion with practical exercises. He discusses techniques such as how to use SWF and XMP metadata and the importance of HTML in Flash to increase your SEO. He also covers Flash SEO JavaScript including flashvars, SWFObjects and SWFAddress deep linking. After installing a test server, you learn about dynamic Flash applications and related SEO challenges. He then moves into the Flex framework SEO and how it relates to Flash SEO. He discusses when and where to apply the same techniques you have learn for Flash to your Flex applications. Finally, he uses two sample websites to teach ways to evaluate and improve Flash SEO.

Todd Perkins is a web developer and consultant. As a Certified Flash Instructor, he has authored three books on Flash and many hours of video training.

Excellent book on SEO
I recommend this book highly for anyone that wants to make a web site more search engine friendly. The concepts are explained clearly and the code examples help show how to implement SEO concepts. Although the focus of the book is making Flash sites more search engine friendly, this book is so helpful with SEO that it is a valuable resource even if you don't have a Flash site. I also appreciated that the book is concise; the author gets to the point and it is not padded with non-essential details.

Any Flash programmer needs this
Search engines are fully capable of indexing all content in Flash-based websites, if the site is set up properly for search engine optimization. That's where Search Engine Optimization for Flash comes in: it discusses what content in searchable, how to place HTML content in a Flash application, and how to understanding limitations and potentials. Any Flash programmer needs this.

Nothing new for advanced Flash developers
This book spends a lot of time explaining to users what SEO is and how search engines work and with some good info on how you can use HTML or PHP to add searchable text.But being a Flash book, it only touches very little actual techniques that would help advanced Flash developers.It talks about SWFObject and SWFAddress but fails to dive deeper in how you might address the biggest issue of searching multi-page (or deep-linkable) Flash sites and using other techniques like XHTML or Javascript to dynamically change the metadata or noFlash div content so search engines can search each "page" with the Flash sites.

Good for Flash developers just started to learn about SEO but there is noting much new for advanced Flash developers ... Read more

Product Description
From access counters and log-report graphs to scientific plots and on-the-fly animated GIFs, graphics scripting is within the grasp of most Web authors. However, it is a poorly documented field. Programming Web Graphics with Perl & GNU Software shows intermediate and advancedWeb designers how to use CGI scripts to generate dynamic graphic content anddemystifies the manipulation of graphics formats for newcomers to the Web.This book includes:

• A tour through the most popular Web graphics file formats by implementing parsers for GIF, JPEG, and PNG files
• Descriptions of the PNG, JPEG, and giflib libraries, as well as many other free and proprietary libraries and SDKs
• Extensive documentation and examples using the Perl graphicsmodules GD and GIFgraph, and the Perl interface to the powerfulImageMagick libraries
• Documentation on the Gnu Image Manipulation Program (GIMP)and the Perl interface that allows you to easily script plug-ins orinterface to the GIMP via the Web
• The implementation of several new Perl modules for creating formattedPostScript files and animated GIFs on-the-fly

This guide reads more like a braindump from the author than a comprehensive discussion of Web graphics;however, there's much to be gleaned from his knowledge. --Stephen WPlain ... Read more

Customer Reviews (15)

A great introduction - readable and not overwhelming
Freeware graphics tools for web development are abundant, if you know where to look. This book provides detailed examples of thier use with perl - and excellent text parsing language and defacto standard for cgi programming. With the proper extensions (all available free via GNU Software download) perl can provide "on the fly" rendering of web graphics.

Beginning with a proper understanding of graphics formats (gif, png, jpeg) commonly used on the web and detailing the differences between them, the reader quickly becomes an expert in thier differences and the advantages of each.

The meat of this book includes chapters on popular extensions to perl for graphics, GD, PerlMagick, GIFgraph, and the GIMP. I have always been amazed at the features in GIMP, but until this book did not realize that such features could be scripted in perl. The book list all the methods available through GD with a discussion of each.

Although the included web graphics cookbook is a bit short on recipes, the section on postscript makes up for the loss. If you have ever wanted to generate publisher quality postscript files from your web data the "Everything I Needed to Know About PostScript I learned Here" section is for you.

O'Reilly has a knack for generating 'must have' perl books that stand the test of time. This one is a must for the bookshelf of anyone who parses text with perl. Although a full treatise on this subject would encompasse thousands of pages, this book provides the essentials in an easy to use format. It should be considered an introductory text that will serve as an excellent starting point for the advanced web graphics user.

Not an "O Really!" reaction by O'Reilly
I have no other option but accepting most of the negative reviews submitted to this book ( Graphics Programming with Perl and GNU software ). The book is definitely one of the horrible books that O'reilly was ever unfortunate enough to publish. I believe a similar title by "Manning" publication does a better job than this one. If you need the facts, read on.

If you want to purchase this book to learn how to program web graphics with Perl, stop right here and go to CPAN.org. Search for GD, GD::Graph and ImageMagick and read their manuals. That's all this book does any ways.

The only chapter I enjoyed was chapter one, "Image File Formats", which at least taught me something I hadn't known before.

Outlines of the chapters follow.

Chapter one - "Image File Formats" covers most of the basics you need to know to understand the anatomy of graphics, their compression algorithms and different formats available for the web, as well as their pros and cons. This is the chapter I enjoyed most. The chapter lasts over 30 pages.

Chapter two - "Serving graphics on the Web" talks a bit about serving images from within Perl. Talks how the browser loads the images, image load time and image caching. Shows the tag, and its attributes. Lasts another 30 pages.

Chapter 3 - "A Litany of Libraries" lists references to some of the graphics libraries available on the web. I would expect to see this chapter as an appendix.

Starting chapter 4 - "On-the-Fly graphics with GD" is the start of all the disappointment, and to some extent, annoyance. After a clumsy introduction to GD and some of its classes and methods, starts coding a chess board. The application itself is not so useful, but the code is worth consideration. The chapter also lists all the methods available through GD classes with some description of each.

Chapter 5, 6 and 7 are written in the same style as the above sibling. They concentrate on Image::Magic (also known as PerlMagick), GD::Graph (previously known as GIFgraph ) and Gimp respectively. Chapter 7 teaches how to write Gimp Plug-ins. You might consider this chapter if you're a Gimp user/fan.

Save your money
This book offers nothing but the documentation found at the CPAN website. They dont even go as far as to suggest any use (other than the obvious) for any function.So, I will give you one:When printing a string in an image, do @bounds=GD::Image->stringTTF(...) first.It will give you the string dimensions without actually graphing the string.You can then use the bounds array to see what the width and size of the string is so that you can center it.Want to know what the bounds array holds?Spend the money for the book, or go look it up at CPAN.org for free.Oh, by the way, this book does not even tell you that you can call stringTTF as a package subroutine, let alone the numerous reasons why you would want to use it as such....Like I said - save your money.

Disappointing
Although the subject matter is great, it lacks a lot when it comes to substance. It is very sad when you have to trouble shoot the example source code from a book that was written to teach you. I am only halfway through the book and the two of example scripts failed do to coding problems with the modules.
The Biorhythm example fails even when you copy it from the author's web site. If you are going to write a book proof your code.

Wallace does it again
Mr. Shawn Wallace has once again transformed the graphics programming genre. With this tour-de-force, Wallace sews up perl in a neat little package. His deft use of the English language combined with an a priori understanding of computing graphicae has made this a must-have for all with the need-to-know. By far this is Mr. Wallace's most accessable work to date. Buy this book, if it's the only thing you do for the next ten years ... Read more

Product Description
XHTML is a flexible XML based markup language for designing Web sites. In January 2000, the W3C announced that it was supporting the development of XHTML as a replacement to HTML. HTML will continue to be around for a while, but if you want to develop Web sites for the future you need to switch to XHTML. Designers who make the change find that they can develop faster, better sites using XHTML. Most Web sites are interactive, responding to the viewer. To do this you need to use a scripting language - JavaScript is the most popular scripting language and interfaces easily with XHTML. To develop powerful interactive Web sites you need to understand these technologies and how they work together. Essential XHTML fast gives you everything you need to develop great Web sites in XHTML, including an introduction to scripting with JavaScript so that you can create dynamic interactive Web pages. There are many step-by-step examples, which you can download from the series Web site. ... Read more

Product Description
Web designers and developers live in a visual world -- and now there's a visual way to master Active Server Pages: Elijah Lovejoy's ASP Training Course! Your personal instructor is Elijah Lovejoy -- award-winning site builder, Prepay.com Chief Technology Officer, and best-selling Web design author. Watch as he builds dynamic Web applications with ASP and JavaScript right before your eyes -- and listen, as he explains every step. Through fully-functional scripts and working applications, you'll master a broad range of essential ASP and JavaScript skills and techniques -- from embedding ASP code in HTML pages, to full-blown Web database integration. Using JavaScript, you'll master reading from and writing to the file system; creating forms and shopping carts; sending email from an HTML form; and much more. There's even a preview of Microsoft's next-generation ASP.NET. Your CD-ROM contains all the source files you'll need to follow along. You also get a 250-page printed workbook -- plus a complete eBook, Essential ASP for Web Professionals, accessible from anywhere in the course.As you practice, test yourself with exercises -- and extend your knowledge with the CD-ROM's extensive resource center, full of additional readings and Web links. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Rambiling Video
Mr. Lovejoyobviously knows a great deal about ASP and JavaScript but someone needs to showhim how to EDIT video. A large portion of the "Instructional " video is nothing more than him rambling, stumbling and making statements that he then takes back or tells you to ignore.

Man, EDIT THAT STUFF OUT.Think about getting a professional to do the video. I can't believe I paid this much to watch something that looks like it was done with a desktop cam and unedited.

This is not for a newbie.

Missing software
Some software that the product offer is missing like acrobat reader an other.

Whe I try to install this software the proces fail. I hope so dont't have more mistakes like this because this mistake show that the setup aplication doesn't tested carefully

Missing some software
I don't rate now but I warning about the bonus software as Acrobat reader and other software that show in the box and in the setup program, but wen you try to install the software is missing and the setup fail.

I hope I don't find more missing things in the product because this things show that the CD are not tested carefully. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (33)

Perl How to program
It is advertised for 2 book set, but I only received 1 book part A. However, after contact the seller, i get half of the cost refund.

Perl - How To Program
I like software program book written by Dietel. It has an excellence of illustration and easy to understand step-by-step.

This book was not written by Perl programmers
A Perl novice picking this book up will be impressed. It's big, the prose is good, and it seems to have a command of the subject.

This is all misleading. The book was written by professional authors who pick up a language as they write a book. Perl isn't like other langauges - the mindset and featureset are completely different. Writing effective Perl means getting a grasp on ideas taken from awk, sed, Lisp, C++, sh, and a dozen other places. This book teaches Perl as if it were another C dielect with a funny syntax. This certainly makes it easy to "leaern Perl", but after reading over 800 pages, you'll actually learn very little Perl. And no wonder - large amounts of this book were cut and paste verbatum from other books Dietel wrote about C++ and Visual Basic! Nothing unique to Perl is discussed, such as Perl's excellent date manipulation fascilities, object serialization, or indeed any module beyond the CGI module (on which a thousand books have been written).

Descriptions of features are vague and half hearted showing lack of a clear understanding. To someone who knows Perl, this book sounds like a homework assignment where someone read about Perl and then wrote about their findings, uncertainties and all.

Throughout the book, code listings basically work (I worked hard on that as a paid technical reviewer - my name is in the credits - and this was no small task) but they too completely miss the style, spirit, and indeed the point of programming Perl. They're riddled with security holes. They don't leverage modules, and Perl's CPAN repository is probably it's greatest strength.

I don't like writing bad reviews. I don't like having failed to have persuaded the authors to address security. I wanted to like this book since it was the first I've worked on. With lots of help from people who truly grasp Perl this book could have been medicore but Dietel's production-line like business model doesn't allow for this. Books need to be written by experts or at least senior members of the community. Rank novices cannot just read other books and repeat back their findings and call it a book. Or perhaps you honestly believe that Dietel has mastered every language on the sun and had plenty of time left over to write an 800 page book about the language they learned last month.

As with any bad review, you should be asking what motivated the bad review. Often it's a frustrated novice. Sometimes it's pure snobbery. Other times it's religion or a burnt employee. I'm not a Perl novice; I've been programming for 21 years now and I've been programming in Perl quite heavily for about 6 of those. I'm a bit of a Perl snob but only because there are so many really excellent books like Programming Perl, Learning Perl, Beginning Perl, CGI Programming with Perl, and scores of others. Dietel treated me very well and paid me fairly (again, I wish I could give an average review). I'm just writing this review to temper the initial impressions of those first learning Perl with a slightly more educated assessment.

If you want one massive book with loads and loads of Perl knowledge, Computer Science & Perl Programming was collectively written by about 20 of the best known Perl hackers who have developed the most important modules, worked on the core, and spoke and written more often than anyone else. And while CS&PP has nearly the same page count, it costs half as much. Besides being more thorough, more insightful, more interesting, and in better style, it's a heck of a lot of fun.

In short, Perl: How to Program is just another in-it-for-the-money amaturely written Perl+CGI book with a lot of padding and little insight.

Poor CD installation ...dies in the middle
I have only read the first chapter. Looks okay. However, I bought it with CD rom at original price (not from amazon) and I have such a hard time installing it. The Damn thing doesn't install on either of my win2k machines nor on Red hat 9 which I dual boot with one of my win2k.

I am really frustrated.

I'm falling asleep
Because of my school, I own 4 of these hideous beasts. While the books contain a rich assortment of information on their particular subjects, they can be verbose in the extreme. Additionally, they seem to be poorly organized as some other reviewers have mentioned. It is very difficult to pick up these books and stay interested for more than 5 minutes. I've had to purchase other books to actually learn the languages and utilize the Deitel books as references. Some people may find these books to be fine; I suspect we all learn differently. If you enjoy books that get right to the point and with better organization, look elsewhere. ... Read more

Product Description
What is this book about?

Teaching programming basics from the ground up, this book helps even those with no prior programming knowledge learn JavaScript and use this knowledge for practical purposes on their Web sites to create interesting, useful, and dynamic sites. The primary focus is on practical application of JavaScript to Web site creation. The ultimate aim is that a reader having finished the book should be able to go it alone and create their own scripts and move forward and learn more advanced techniques. They will have a very broad base of knowledge of JavaScript and its application to Web development. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (12)

Very big book
Extremely huge book. Great for a blank introduction to the language. Very extremely thorough. Not so much of a quick reference book, but great for learning the basic and advanced commands of JavaScript. It is so big I've had it for a while and still have not finished reading it.. You create a JavaScript quiz throughout the book that tells you how many you got wrong and your score. Great introduction book, it does have advanced stuff at the end of it.

Its a great book for beginners and helps you grow in the field as it moves on
Its a great book one I think should always be there even when you have moved on to advanced levels of Java scripting. The language is simple great examples help you put your knowledge at work.

Beginning JavaScript- a great place to start
I have experience programming Java, C++, Q-Basic, CSS, HTML, PHP and started to learn JavaScript from free resources on the internet. The problem is that the internet is full of sales pitches and just free code. I wanted to get a good understanding to write my own code. The Beginning JavaScript gave me a great understanding of the basics. The reading was very easy- for someone with programming experience, there was too much of the basic programming info and far too many examples to help understand the basics. If you have NO programming experience, then this book is perfect for you because it will teach you everything you need to get started. After reading this book I was able to do some pretty cool dymanic website stuff on my websites.

I did want to learn more JavaScript though, so I checked out the Professional JavaScript by the same publisher. The Professional JavaScript book is great (especially if you read the Beginning JavaScript or already now programming or a little JavaScript). I was affraid that after reading the Beginning JavaScript book I would see a lot of repeat stuff in the Professional JavaScript book- that is NOT the case. There is a little over lap, but the Professional book does not spend as much time on the easy stuff. To make a long review short... I recommend the Beginning for beginners and I recommend the Professional to those who finished the Beginning book and to those that are already good at programming!

good overview
For a beginning JavaScript book, this covers a lot of topics. The trade-off naturally is that some topics aren't covered as thoroughly as they might be. As an example, it only mentions one form of commenting code, with 2 slashes:

//this comment must fit on one line

without mentioning comments surrounded by /* and */, as in

/* this comment can extend over
* many lines */

On the other hand, it also covers topics beginning books might omit, like using the free Microsoft Script Debugger, and embedding RealPlayer content.

The book is a bit dated, spending quite a bit of time discussing Netscape 4.x, when most NN users have navigated to Firefox by now. It also uses a lot of deprecated HTML, so tweaking is necessary if you want to validate the examples with the W3C Validator.

A feature I liked were the problems at the end of each chapter, with a solution provided in the appendix. Also, it explains every code example *very* thoroughly--maybe even a bit too much at times when the explanations become repetitious. However, the trivia game application it develops over the course of many chapters is too simplistic to provide much of a real world example, and while there is a support website, it doesn't seem too up to date. I've submitted several errors, but have yet to see them posted.

All in all, I'd rate this 3 1/2 stars, but since I can't do that, I rounded up to 4 stars.

Excellent Book
I learnt Javascript for the first time from this book and the experience is really great.The examples are beneficial to solve real world problems.
Highly recommended for first time Javascript users ... Read more

Product Description
Apress has been profuse in both its quantity and quality of releases&emdash;and (this book is) surely worth adding to your technical reading budget for skills development.I stayed up clear past my 'bedtime' several nights while implementing the covered modules in my program, unable to pull myself away.From Pear packages to parsing XML files, this book is a huge time-saver to developing your own solutions.

— Richard Testani, Apple-Sauce.com

This book is an essential guide to some of the best free add-ons to PHP. These add-ons, or tools, provide invaluable functionality for improving your PHP Web applications, including accessing databases, generating robust Web forms, using page templating systems, creating and parsing XML documents, authenticating users, and much more.

In response tothe existing shortage of documentation about the tools, Sklar packs this book with details about installing, configuring, and using each tool&emdash;along with plenty of examples tailored to PHP 4 and 5.

Sklar also lays out the details of Auth and HTML_QuickForm&emdash;two hard working PEAR modules&emdash;so you don't have to code your own authentication system or Web form construction set! Also included are chapters on debugging programs, and increasing Web server speed. In short, you will learn to eliminate inefficiencies in PHP, and enhance performance without any code modification. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (8)

Extensions? What extensions?
You would think that a PHP book that actually mentioned "Extensions" as part of the title would cover extensions wouldn't you? Well in the case of this book you would be wrong. The index has exactly 1 entry for 'extensions' and even that is a 1 sentence footnote! Compare that to the 45 pages devoted to the subject in George Schlossnagle's book "Advanced PHP Programming" and you can get an idea of actually how deficient this book is in this aspect.

Not for beginners
This is really only for advanced PHP programmers. If you are one, it maybe will render in 5 star.

Good, but not great
I bought this book with high expectations.

It is a very good book, well written, and David Sklar really has done a good job writing it.However, I didn't find it that useful.It wasn't even remotely close to comprehensive about what it covered, and made only footnote mention of other tools that are out there.

I ended up returning it -- something I rarely do.I didn't think it was worth the money.Most of this info is available for free online anyways.

Helpful but not comprehensive
This book does alert you to many useful modues, extensions and accelerators and given that many of these are open source and their documentation can be skimpy, it's good to have examples and documentation from another source.

However, this book is not comprehensive in it's coverage of said modules, extensions and accelerators and in areas where it covers material already explained in the documentation, I preferred the original documentation's style and explanations. The book does mention things that the original documention does not, but the original documentation talks about things that the book does not.

In short, I had to read both the documentation and the book to fully understand the code.

Good book for add-on tools
I have found HTML & Smarty chapter very useful. You will also find other chapter useful if you have to work on them in real life projects. Overall very practical book. ... Read more