Sams Teach Yourself PHP, MySQL and Apache in 24 Hours Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)Are you looking to buy Sams Teach Yourself PHP, MySQL and Apache in 24 Hours? Here is the right place to find the great deals. we can offer discounts of up to 90% on Sams Teach Yourself PHP, MySQL and Apache in 24 Hours. Check out the link below:

>> Click Here to See Compare Prices and Get the Best Offers

Sams Teach Yourself PHP, MySQL and Apache in 24 Hours ReviewI have been a mainframe programmer for 13 years and have done web design for the past year. The following is my experience with this book.
First the good news:

1. I was able to successfully install PHP, Apache & MySQL.
2. I was able to successfully complete all the projects in the book.
3. I published one of my projects on a website.
Now the bad news:
1. There were critical typos in the book--not just captions under the wrong pictures but incorrect code. I spent many hours debugging the PHP code for the projects. The code errors I found were not in the errata on the SAMS website OR on thickbook.com. I sent one code correction to the editors and received an acknowledgement, but I just checked and the code typo is not included in the errata. There are code errors on pp. 245, 406, 417. E-mail me if you are also having problems with the code on those pages as the SAMS people do not seem to be concerned or aware of these errors.
2. The installation of the products did not go as smoothly as I hoped either. The instructions on what to download did not match how the websites now look. There was some missing information. I was able to get it all working only with a lot of trial and error.
This book contained projects that I was interested in learning: address book, storefront, shopping cart. With a little more diligence on the part of the proofreaders and technical editors, this book would have been great and I would have given it 5 stars.Sams Teach Yourself PHP, MySQL and Apache in 24 Hours OverviewSams Teach Yourself PHP, MySQL, and Apache in 24 Hours combines coverage of these three popular open-source Web development tools into one easy-to-understand book -- and it comes with one easy-to-use Starter Kit CD-ROM for Windows or Linux.The book teaches the reader to install, configure and set up the PHP scripting language, the MySQL database system, and the Apache Web server.By the end of this book the reader will understand how these technologies work, and -- more importantly -- how they can work together to create a dynamic Web site.After creating a simple Web site using these tools, the reader will be able to manage a simple mailing list, and to create an online address book, shopping cart, and storefront.The book also teaches the reader how to fine tune Apache and MySQL, and covers simple Web server security.

Want to learn more information about Sams Teach Yourself PHP, MySQL and Apache in 24 Hours?

>> Click Here to See All Customer Reviews & Ratings Now

Read More...

Alfresco Enterprise Content Management Implementation: How to Install, use, and customize this powerful, free, Open Source Java-based Enterprise CMS Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)Are you looking to buy Alfresco Enterprise Content Management Implementation: How to Install, use, and customize this powerful, free, Open Source Java-based Enterprise CMS? Here is the right place to find the great deals. we can offer discounts of up to 90% on Alfresco Enterprise Content Management Implementation: How to Install, use, and customize this powerful, free, Open Source Java-based Enterprise CMS. Check out the link below:

>> Click Here to See Compare Prices and Get the Best Offers

Alfresco Enterprise Content Management Implementation: How to Install, use, and customize this powerful, free, Open Source Java-based Enterprise CMS ReviewThe target audience of the book appears to be a technical person who is evaluating and getting started with Alfresco. The core strength of this book is as an aid to explore the functionality of the Alfresco web client and to learn how to configure and extend it. As with most Java applications, most of Alfresco's behavior is managed through a series of XML files. The examples of how to manipulate these files in the book and as part of an accompanying download are very good. And when you go through these exercises and open up the files you can't help but notice other settings that might be useful to modify as well. I think it would be helpful to discuss the underlying technologies that support the Alfresco platform and also tips for tuning the software to meet the performance and availability demands of an actively used implementation. But those topics might be more appropriate for an advanced book. For an Alfresco beginner (and there are a lot of people who fit that description out there), this book is a great introduction.Alfresco Enterprise Content Management Implementation: How to Install, use, and customize this powerful, free, Open Source Java-based Enterprise CMS OverviewThis well-crafted and easy-to-use book is a complete guide to implementing enterprise content management in your business using Alfresco. It guides you through creating smart, collaborative content repositories, and shows how to use Alfresco to create more elegant document sharing, better collaborative working, and reliable automated workflow processes. This book is designed for system administrators, experienced users or developers who want to install and use Alfresco in their teams or businesses. Because Alfresco is free many teams can install and experiment with its ECM features without any upfront cost, often without management approval. The book assumes a degree of technical confidence but does not require specialist sysadmin or developer skills to get a basic system up and running. Alfresco is particularly suitable for IT consultants who want or need to set up a flexible enterprise content management system for their clients, be that for demonstration, development, or as a mission-critical platform. This book gets you to that result quickly and effectively.

Want to learn more information about Alfresco Enterprise Content Management Implementation: How to Install, use, and customize this powerful, free, Open Source Java-based Enterprise CMS?

>> Click Here to See All Customer Reviews & Ratings Now

Read More...

The Definitive Guide to SQLite Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)Are you looking to buy The Definitive Guide to SQLite? Here is the right place to find the great deals. we can offer discounts of up to 90% on The Definitive Guide to SQLite. Check out the link below:

>> Click Here to See Compare Prices and Get the Best Offers

The Definitive Guide to SQLite ReviewMike Owens started writing about SQLite in Linux Magazine and C/C++ User's Journal, and he continues to show his clear and easy manner of explaining the features and use of this embedded database in this book, which Apress binds as a hardcover to show off its usefulness and longevity.
I run away from most books with "Definitive" in the title, especially when they aren't heavy enough to break toes if I drop them on my foot. However, the author doesn't waste any space or get distracted with long explanations. In the 440 pages, he effectively covers all of SQLite, including its various language bindings and APIs. Although he created the initial Python bindings, Perl gets the most coverage (if you don't count the third of the book that talks about the C API for completely embedding SQLite into your own programs).
The front of the book covers basic database concepts. At times the subject matter gets a bit complicated, but the author has a clear style and easily explains the tough subjects. Without his command of the topic (as you'll find lacking with many database books), the explanations could have spun wildly out of control, taking the author for a ride. There's no question who's in charge here, though.
I've been using SQLite for a couple years and regularly delve into its documentation, and even I learned several things from this book. The handy SQL reference will keep me from waiting for websites to load, and I expect to have this book close at hand when I'm working with SQLite. It's one of the best database books I've encountered in a long time.
If you need a book on SQLite, The Definitive Guide to SQLite is the only one you should even consider.The Definitive Guide to SQLite OverviewThese days, applications are expected to efficiently manage an ever growing range of data. Yet it's rarely practical to embed a traditional relational database such as Oracle or MySQL within an application, due to not only size constraints but also because of the additional administrative overhead these databases require. While embeddable databases are small enough to ensure little additional total increase in application size, they often have little to offer by way of capabilities and power. So what's a developer to do?For many, the answer is SQLite (http://www.sqlite.org/), an open source embeddable database with an amazingly small footprint (less than 250 Kb) but packing a powerful array of features. Capable of handling databases as large as 2 terabytes, SQLite offers a flexible set of datatypes, the ability to perform transactions, and is supported by languages such as C, PHP, Perl, and Python. Furthermore, because SQLite's databases are completely file-based, privileges are granted at the operating system-level, allowing for easy and fast user management.The Definitive Guide to SQLite is the first book to devote complete coverage to the latest version of this powerful database. Offering experienced database developers a thorough overview of its capabilities and APIs, yet cognizant of newcomers who may be making their first foray into the database environment with SQLite, this book acts as both an ideal tutorial and reference guide.

Want to learn more information about The Definitive Guide to SQLite?

>> Click Here to See All Customer Reviews & Ratings Now

Read More...

Beginning PHP and MySQL 5: From Novice to Professional (Beginning: From Novice to Professional) Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)Are you looking to buy Beginning PHP and MySQL 5: From Novice to Professional (Beginning: From Novice to Professional)? Here is the right place to find the great deals. we can offer discounts of up to 90% on Beginning PHP and MySQL 5: From Novice to Professional (Beginning: From Novice to Professional). Check out the link below:

>> Click Here to See Compare Prices and Get the Best Offers

Beginning PHP and MySQL 5: From Novice to Professional (Beginning: From Novice to Professional) Review[Updated for Second Edition]
A beginning PHP book, not a beginning programming book. The subtitle, 'From Novice to Professional', can be a tad misleading for the novice coder. A beginning programming book covers a lot of material that this book assumes the reader already understands. Many software books include a 'Who Is This Book For' section that offers some guidance on the suitable reader knowledge level, not this one.
That said, I found this book to be very helpful. The sections on installing and configuring Apache, PHP and MySQL certainly saved me many hours of reading the online documentation and tweaking of settings while setting up my local test bed. That, in itself, made me a very happy camper. The author goes on to cover the various aspects from the basics of the PHP language and class libraries to topics like Authentication, Security, Session Handlers and eMail functionality that help anyone new to PHP setup some fairly sophisticated site capabilities.
The second edition has been supplemented with an added 200 pages, including a new section on PEAR (PHP Extension and Application Repository). This is a wealth of prewritten classes and packages that can be used to add even more sophisticated functionality to the novice's web development toolbox. The author demonstrates several of the more prominent packages.
The second edition has greatly beefed up with additional coverage of MySQL 5, including chapters on stored procedures, triggers and the PHP mysqli extension (all missed in the first edition). Most of the examples offered are clean and general enough to be useful templates for the reader's tailoring.
My suggestion for novices to PHP is read through chapter 9, then skip to the various sections that solve specific problems being faced or are of particular interest, including installing and configuring your local test bed.
Bottom line, the first edition was a good book for intermediate to veteran programmers looking for a quick tutorial on PHP (circa version 5.0); the second edition is even better. Novice programmers should ensure that they have a full understanding of the basics of programming (and OOP) before attempting it. I would now use this book to teach a class on PHP.
P-)Beginning PHP and MySQL 5: From Novice to Professional (Beginning: From Novice to Professional) Overview

Written for the budding web developer searching for a powerful, low-cost solution for building flexible, dynamic web sites.
Essentially three books in one: provides thorough introductions to the PHP language and the MySQL database, and shows you how these two technologies can be effectively integrated to build powerful websites.
Provides over 500 code examples, including real-world tasks such as creating an auto-login feature, sending HTML-formatted e-mail, testing password guessability, and uploading files via a web interface.
Updated for MySQL 5, includes new chapters introducing triggers, stored procedures, and views.



Want to learn more information about Beginning PHP and MySQL 5: From Novice to Professional (Beginning: From Novice to Professional)?

>> Click Here to See All Customer Reviews & Ratings Now

Read More...

Beginning Arduino Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)Are you looking to buy Beginning Arduino? Here is the right place to find the great deals. we can offer discounts of up to 90% on Beginning Arduino. Check out the link below:

>> Click Here to See Compare Prices and Get the Best Offers

Beginning Arduino ReviewFinally, somebody got it right! I have to agree with Mr. Young and Mr. Laefsky's reviews, but feel that I should add just a bit more.
There are plenty of books out there on Arduino and I own or have examined most of them, so I thought my Arduino Library was full. I was wrong, this one was under the tree for Christmas and it's definitely a keeper. I read the book all the way through and then I started working through the activities early yesterday morning. Having now completed the projects through Chapter 3, I feel competent to review it.
The bottom line is that if you are starting out with Arduino and have been trying to piece together your skills from web tutorials and a few of the popular books, but have felt either out of your depth reading Making Things Talk: Practical Methods for Connecting Physical Objects, or that the material in, for example Getting Started with Arduino (Make: Projects) is too basic, this is the book that will vault you to the next level.
Books and tutorials on Arduino generally seem to trend toward two extremes:
On the one hand there is the "box of crayons" approach- tutorials (see practically every website of every vendor that sells Arduino and variants) that give very short and specific instructions on how to wire one or two components to Arduino and interact with them via a brief, illustrative, but not especially useful code example. These examples are intended, I guess, to give the reader some general ideas of the creative uses for Arduino, and the code snippets and discrete components are treated individually like crayons in the box of 64, with little guidance as to how they can be combined and blended together to make amazing and wonderful creations, or why you might choose one method of blinking an LED over another.
On the other hand, there is the pet project approach. These present someone's grand idea for a complex interactive project, usually costly, usually inspirational, but usually ill suited as a learning platform. You indeed can learn a tremendous amount by following along and building the projects in, for example, Practical Arduino: Cool Projects for Open Source Hardware (Technology in Action), and I did. But unless you actually WANT an internet connected, GPS enabled, refrigerator monitor (I'm making that up), you will end up spending a lot of extra time and money to nail down the knowledge to design your data logging cell phone seeker robot (I'm making that up too).
Beginning Arduino takes a third path. The projects are designed to be wired up on a breadboard with mostly reusable, reasonably priced components. You will not end up soldering something together only to realize that you are going to have to buy another one for the next phase in your learning. Each project is a bit more complex than the one preceding, but in each case the code and the hardware added push off into new areas and new uses. Once you complete a particular project, and the suggested exercises, you have a clear understanding of how the new component works and what you can do with the new code you learned. For me this lead to a much clearer understanding of how I could approach the challenges in my own pet project.
Before I started reading and working through Beginning Arduino, I had about decided that I would never grok C programming, feel comfortable with Arduino, or meet my ultimate goal of embedding Atmel chips in a variety projects floating around in my imagination. But over the past few days my enthusiasm and confidence have returned and I thank Mr. McRoberts for that.
One final note, while there are a few minor typographical errors, I can report that so far there has not been a single error that has interfered with the completion of a functional project. This is, in my experience, rare in a book with such technical depth. I applaud Mr. McRoberts and his technical reviewer, Josh Adams for such a fine job.Beginning Arduino Overview
In Beginning Arduino, you will learn all about the popular Arduino microcontroller by working your way through an amazing set of 50 cool projects. You'll progress from a complete beginner regarding Arduino programming and electronics knowledge to intermediate skills and the confidence to create your own amazing Arduino projects. Absolutely no experience in programming or electronics required! Rather than requiring you to wade through pages of theory before you start making things, this book has a handson approach. You will dive into making projects right from the start, learning how to use various electronic components and how to program the Arduino to control or communicate with those components. Each project is designed to build upon the knowledge learned in earlier projects and to further your knowledge in programming as well as skills with electronics. By the end of the book you will be able create your own projects confidently and with creativity.

What you'll learn
Controlling LEDs
Displaying text and graphics on LCD displays
Making a line-following robot
Using touch screens
Using digital pressure sensors
Reading and writing data to SD cards
Connecting your Arduino to the Internet

Who this book is for
Electronics enthusiasts who are new to the Arduino as well as artists and hobbyists who want to learnthis very popular platform for physical computing and electronic art.

Table of Contents
Introduction
Light 'Em Up
LED Effects
Simple Sounders and Sensors
Driving a DC Motor
Binary Counters
LED Displays
Liquid Crystal Displays
Servos
Steppers and Robots
Pressure Sensors
Touch Screens
Temperature Sensors
Ultrasonic Rangefinders
Reading and Writing to an SD Card
Making an RFID Reader
Communicating over Ethernet


Want to learn more information about Beginning Arduino?

>> Click Here to See All Customer Reviews & Ratings Now

Read More...

SQLite Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)Are you looking to buy SQLite? Here is the right place to find the great deals. we can offer discounts of up to 90% on SQLite. Check out the link below:

>> Click Here to See Compare Prices and Get the Best Offers

SQLite ReviewThis is an old book, and doesn't cover the newer SQLite 3.x information.SQLite OverviewSQLite is a small, fast, embeddable database.What makes it popular is the combination of the database engine and interface into a single library as well as the ability to store all the data in a single file.Its functionality lies between MySQL and PostgreSQL, however it is faster than both databases.In SQLite, author Chris Newman provides a thorough, practical guide to using, administering and programming this up-and-coming database.If you want to learn about SQLite or about its use in conjunction with PHP this is the book for you.

Want to learn more information about SQLite?

>> Click Here to See All Customer Reviews & Ratings Now

Read More...

PHP and MySQL Web Development (4th Edition) Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)Are you looking to buy PHP and MySQL Web Development (4th Edition)? Here is the right place to find the great deals. we can offer discounts of up to 90% on PHP and MySQL Web Development (4th Edition). Check out the link below:

>> Click Here to See Compare Prices and Get the Best Offers

PHP and MySQL Web Development (4th Edition) ReviewAlthough i love the book itself and would give it a 5 star rating, i have to say that the Kindle edition is a blatant rip off. First, its the same price as the paperback with a CD-Rom included, second, they did not bother to make the sources of the CD-Rom available (via a Website) to those who bought it electronically ... . Searched in vain for a link to an online resource for the examples until i got confirmation that this is not included in the electronic delivery (even though its full price) ...PHP and MySQL Web Development (4th Edition) OverviewPHP and MySQL are popular open-source technologies that are ideal for quickly developing database-driven Web applications. PHP is a powerful scripting language designed to enable developers to create highly featured Web applications quickly, and MySQL is a fast, reliable database that integrates well with PHP and is suited for dynamic Internet-based applications.
PHP and MySQL Web Development shows how to use these tools together to produce effective, interactive Web applications. It clearly describes the basics of the PHP language, explains how to set up and work with a MySQL database, and then shows how to use PHP to interact with the database and the server.

This practical, hands-on book includes numerous examples that demonstrate common tasks such as authenticating users, constructing a shopping cart, generating PDF documents and images dynamically, sending and managing email, facilitating user discussions, connecting to Web services using XML, and developing Web 2.0 applications with Ajax-based interactivity.

The fourth edition of PHP and MySQL Web Development has been thoroughly updated, revised, and expanded to cover developments in PHP 5 through version 5.3, such as namespaces and closures, as well as features introduced in MySQL 5.1.





Want to learn more information about PHP and MySQL Web Development (4th Edition)?

>> Click Here to See All Customer Reviews & Ratings Now

Read More...

PHP and MySQL by Example Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)Are you looking to buy PHP and MySQL by Example? Here is the right place to find the great deals. we can offer discounts of up to 90% on PHP and MySQL by Example. Check out the link below:

>> Click Here to See Compare Prices and Get the Best Offers

PHP and MySQL by Example ReviewThe book and cd code are error prone. The co-author writes a five star review trying to come off as an instructor in a php boot camp. Come on!! This book should not even have been published in this state.PHP and MySQL by Example Overview
Quickly master dynamic, database-driven Web development—no experience necessary!
Even if you're completely new to PHP, MySQL, and Web database development, this book will guide you through every step of building powerful, database-driven, dynamic Web sites. Direct from the world's top scripting instructor, Ellie Quigley, PHP and MySQL by Example illuminates every concept with tested code examples, screen shots showing program output, and clear, line-by-line explanations.

Classroom-tested in Ellie Quigley's Silicon Valley training courses and at Marko Gargenta's Marakana training company in San Francisco, this book takes you from the simplest PHP scripting and SQL querying techniques all the way to dynamic, database driven Web site construction with PHP and MySQL. From simple fill-in forms to program security and debugging, it's the only PHP/MySQL book you'll ever need!

This book covers

Complete PHP fundamentals, including operators, strings, conditionals, loops, arrays, functions, and more
PHP QuickStart for more advanced readers—makes you productive with PHP in the space of just fifteen book pages
Essential Web development techniques, from file handling to validating user input with regular expressions
Powerful PHP features, including user-defined functions and self-processing PHP Forms
Day-to-day MySQL administration
A complete SQL tutorial for creating queries, retrieving data, and writing data with MySQL
Session management and cookies
Object Oriented PHP
Best practices for using PHP and MySQL together

Nearly 100,000 professionals and power users have relied on Ellie Quigley's books to master scripting languages. With PHP and MySQL by Example, you can, too. And once you've become an expert, you'll turn to this book constantly as your go-to source for reliable answers, solutions, and code.

About the CD-ROM
The CD-ROM contains versions of PHP and MySQL for Windows and UNIX/Linux, plus a comprehensive code library for creating your own sites and database-enabled Web applications, including this book's powerful Art Gallery case study application.

Lab Solutions
Solutions to the end-of-chapter labs are available at www.prenhallprofessional.com/title/0131875086.


Want to learn more information about PHP and MySQL by Example?

>> Click Here to See All Customer Reviews & Ratings Now

Read More...

Using Drupal Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)Are you looking to buy Using Drupal? Here is the right place to find the great deals. we can offer discounts of up to 90% on Using Drupal. Check out the link below:

>> Click Here to See Compare Prices and Get the Best Offers

Using Drupal ReviewThis book has been eagerly awaited as the first O'Reilly volume covering Drupal, and having been written by such a rockstar team of Drupal pros.
It's also the first book to focus on a wide range of third party contributed modules rather than just Drupal core, or a narrow subject area of modules. It's written for Drupal 6, although the book would be fairly applicable to Drupal 5 (with the caveat that one of the major modules, Views, is completely different for Drupal 6 - the underlying concepts are similar though).
The first thing that struck me about this book is its fundamentally different approach from most early Drupal books, as well as the kinds of books you find in the early stages of any new technology's mainstream acceptance. It's not simply a higher quality rehashing of handbook pages and technical how-tos, but it has an incredibly cohesive and clever process through the entire book.
Every main chapter of the book will:
* Introduce an example scenario that's easy to relate to. For example, an early chapter that covers creating a simple site for a Mom & Pop shop has this sample case study: "in order to update the web page content each week, they currently pay their next-door neighbor Goldie to hand-edit the page"
* Outline what you're going to be building
* Explain why certain decisions or trade-offs were made when creating this site, and highlight alternative choices depending on your particular situation
* Explains step-by-step how to complete the site with lots of tables and screenshots, pointing out gotchas and important concepts along the way
* Ends with a "Taking It Further" section with suggestions for other features or future modules to watch that are related to the site recipe
The hands-on approach of this book takes you through a single, cohesive example in each chapter. This gets you building a site to completion at every step. This approach reminds me of the different ways to learn a musical instrument such as piano or guitar - you can start with theory and technique and practice your scales first, or you can just learn some chords and be able to whip out a few simple pop songs your first afternoon. This book is the chords.
It also has some great moments of explaining fuzzy concepts that are difficult to understand without significant Drupal experience. The Using Drupal team shows their years of expertise training users and implementing Drupal sites in gems such as this, describing whether you should use taxonomy or a CCK field for content categorization:
A general rule of thumb is that if you can remove the field and the content type still makes sense, use Taxonomy. An article filed under a "Technology" category is still an article if you remove the category association, so Taxonomy is a good fit. If the field is part of a piece of content, such as an album's recording artist, then CCK is generally a better choice.

Using Drupal will take you through building a:
* Simple website with blog for a mom & pop grocery store, including a WYSIWYG editor and uploading images to content
* Job posting board for a university, which introduces the key CCK and Views modules
* Product reviews site with user ratings, Amazon product data importing, some simple CSS tweaks using the CSS Injector module, and more CCK/Views
* Wiki, which brings in revisions, input formats, and Pathauto module
* Local arts news site, which takes you into Actions, Triggers, Workspace, Workflow (both as a concept and module), and Views Bulk Operations to create an administration page
* Photo gallery, with ImageField, ImageCache, much more Views and some site display tweaks
* Multilingual website with a strong overview of concepts, then Locale, i18n, and the Localization Client
* Event management site with calendar and attendees
* Online store using Ubercart (focuses on basic store setup, products, attributes, and orders - you'll still need to set up payment methods)
It also covers a few additional topics:
* An overview of Drupal, and where to get help
* Basic theming (this is the only time you'll see code!)
* Installing and upgrading Drupal and modules
* How to choose modules and participate in the community
So what's it missing?
Obviously Using Drupal only scratches the surface of the many, many types of sites you can build with Drupal. There are a few major topics you won't find covered in here - membership sites with protected user access, Organic Groups (a chapter that didn't quite make it due to module readiness for D6), more advanced magazine/newspaper-style sites with modules like Node Queue and Panels, multimedia (there's another book for that!), or social networking sites. However, I think they picked a great selection of site recipes to cover in a relatively small amount of space, and each recipe will get you a solid site built.
The book will also direct you to two additional resources available online: the finished demo site for each chapter for you to browse, and a download package containing installation profiles with the same versions of modules and themes used on each site. The installation profiles will set you up with a clean slate with your modules all prepared for you to start following along step-by-step in each chapter.
Other things I really love about this book:
* It isn't afraid to recommend helpful modules early, such as Administration Menu
* It highlights common newbie gotchas, such as using the blog module when you really want a story
* It points out future modules or alternatives to watch, for example, the WYSIWYG API
* It gives contrib modules such as CCK and Views the foregrounding they deserve when learning Drupal
This is the book I wish I had when learning Drupal. We're even giving away copies of it at [...] because we love it so much. I would recommend it wholeheartedly to anyone new to Drupal, intermediate users who want to take their skills to the next level or brush up on Drupal 6/Views 2, or anyone who actually needs to build a site similar to the recipes listed above. And, y'know, anyone else who's ever built or wanted to build a website :)Using Drupal Overview
With the recipes in this book, you can take full advantage of the vast collection of community-contributed modules that make the Drupal web framework useful and unique. You'll get the information you need about how to combine modules in interesting ways (with a minimum of code-wrangling) to develop a variety of community-driven websites. Each chapter describes a case study and outlines specific requirements for one of several projects included in the book -- a wiki, publishing workflow site, photo gallery, product review site, online store, user group site, and more. With Using Drupal, you will:

Get an overview of Drupal concepts and key modules introduced in each chapter, with a bird's-eye view of each module's specialty and how it works
Explore various solutions within Drupal that meet the requirements for the project, with details about which modules are selected and why
Learn how to configure modules, with step-by-step recipes for building the precise functionality the project requires
Get information on additional modules that will make the project even more powerful
Be able to access the modules used in the chapter, along with other resources

Newcomers will find a thorough introduction to the framework, while experienced Drupal developers will learn best practices for building powerful websites. With Using Drupal, you'll find concrete and creative solutions for developing the exact community website you have in mind.


Want to learn more information about Using Drupal?

>> Click Here to See All Customer Reviews & Ratings Now

Read More...

Producing Open Source Software: How to Run a Successful Free Software Project Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)Are you looking to buy Producing Open Source Software: How to Run a Successful Free Software Project? Here is the right place to find the great deals. we can offer discounts of up to 90% on Producing Open Source Software: How to Run a Successful Free Software Project. Check out the link below:

>> Click Here to See Compare Prices and Get the Best Offers

Producing Open Source Software: How to Run a Successful Free Software Project ReviewSeems like everyone wants to have a open source project these days. But it's not as easy to run a successful project as you might think. In order to get started on the right foot and increase your chance of success, I would recommend reading Karl Fogel's Producing Open Source Software - How To Run A Successful Free Software Project.
Contents: Introduction; Getting Started; Technical Infrastructure; Social and Political Infrastructure; Money; Communications; Packaging, Releasing, and Daily Development; Managing Volunteers; Licenses, Copyrights, and Patents; Free Version Control Systems; Free Bug Trackers; Why Should I Care What Color the Bikeshed Is?; Example Instructions for Reporting Bugs; Index
Fogel definitely has the "cred" to write this book. He's spent five years working on the Subversion open source version control system. While not (yet?) the default open source version control system out there, it's rapidly gaining traction. As a result, you figure that Fogel and company must have done a few things right along the way. He does a very nice job in explaining what makes for a successful open source project in terms of tools, structure, and most importantly, culture. He identifies open source projects that have successfully created a culture that encourages participation without dictatorial control. He even addresses how to deal with people issues like monopolizing discussion boards. Those are items that most techies aren't good at, and having a guide like this is priceless.
At times the book seems to be rather dense, as in a lot of text with little to break it up. I think it's because there's no real use of graphics or code samples to a large degree. I wouldn't expect it in a book like this, either. But still, it's just one of those things that came to mind as I was reading it. If you have the same nagging feeling and can quickly identify it, then it's easy to deal with the problem.
Very valuable information, all condensed into a single volume for easy reference. I'd maintain that anyone looking to start an open source project with hopes of long-term viability would do well to read and digest this book before starting. You'll make fewer false starts and raise your chances of success...Producing Open Source Software: How to Run a Successful Free Software Project Overview
The corporate market is now embracing free, "open source" software like never before, as evidenced by the recent success of the technologies underlying LAMP (Linux, Apache, MySQL, and PHP).Each is the result of a publicly collaborative process among numerous developers who volunteer their time and energy to create better software.

The truth is, however, that the overwhelming majority of free software projects fail.To help you beat the odds, O'Reilly has put together Producing Open Source Software, a guide that recommends tried and true steps to help free software developers work together toward a common goal.Not just for developers who are considering starting their own free software project, this book will also help those who want to participate in the process at any level.

The book tackles this very complex topic by distilling it down into easily understandable parts.Starting with the basics of project management, it details specific tools used in free software projects, including version control, IRC, bug tracking, and Wikis.Author Karl Fogel, known for his work on CVS and Subversion, offers practical advice on how to set up and use a range of tools in combination with open mailing lists and archives.He also provides several chapters on the essentials of recruiting and motivating developers, as well as how to gain much-needed publicity for your project.

While managing a team of enthusiastic developers -- most of whom you've never even met -- can be challenging, it can also be fun.Producing Open Source Software takes this into account, too, as it speaks of the sheer pleasure to be had from working with a motivated team of free software developers.


Want to learn more information about Producing Open Source Software: How to Run a Successful Free Software Project?

>> Click Here to See All Customer Reviews & Ratings Now

Read More...

Automating Linux and Unix System Administration (Expert's Voice in Linux) Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)Are you looking to buy Automating Linux and Unix System Administration (Expert's Voice in Linux)? Here is the right place to find the great deals. we can offer discounts of up to 90% on Automating Linux and Unix System Administration (Expert's Voice in Linux). Check out the link below:

>> Click Here to See Compare Prices and Get the Best Offers

Automating Linux and Unix System Administration (Expert's Voice in Linux) ReviewI bought this book expecting it would describe and demonstrate a variety of automation methods and tools. The book surprised me -- pleasantly. The majority of the book focuses on CFEngine (www.cfengine.org) and how to use it to manage server configurations, deliver applications automatically to those servers, and enforce a consist policy across the servers.
The book goes into some depth demonstrating how cfengine works. It has chapters on configuration, setting up a production environment, setting up automated installations, and delivering applications using cfengine.
There are smaller chapters on SSH, Nagios (and using CFengine to deliver it), and improving server security using cfengine.
The book is about 400 pages and is packed with content. There are interesting facts and config bits in every chapter.
With the exception of the cfengine manuals, there are no other books on the market today which provide a detailed, comprehensive look at cfengine...until now. If you are using, will use, or have questions about what CFengine can do, get this book. I'm happy I did.
Automating Linux and Unix System Administration (Expert's Voice in Linux) OverviewThis is the second edition of a title that succeeded before its time - this second edition comes at a timely juncture for Linux administrators and will become a key reference.If Linux administrators want to build a small or medium-sized network or datacenter, this is the book to show them how to do it by automating the build process. Linux datacenters have multiplied over the last 5 years and literally thousands of Linux system administrators on all 5 continents need this information.

Want to learn more information about Automating Linux and Unix System Administration (Expert's Voice in Linux)?

>> Click Here to See All Customer Reviews & Ratings Now

Read More...

Beginning CakePHP: From Novice to Professional (Expert's Voice in Web Development) Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)Are you looking to buy Beginning CakePHP: From Novice to Professional (Expert's Voice in Web Development)? Here is the right place to find the great deals. we can offer discounts of up to 90% on Beginning CakePHP: From Novice to Professional (Expert's Voice in Web Development). Check out the link below:

>> Click Here to See Compare Prices and Get the Best Offers

Beginning CakePHP: From Novice to Professional (Expert's Voice in Web Development) ReviewThe book is overall well written, however the series title is misleading. I could have easily labeled this 3 stars.
PROS:
- Well written. (Few tech authors have this skill)
- Overall good cover of the basics
- Full code is provided, author has a forum where he answers some questions.
- He shows good code practices
CONS:
- This book should be in the series: "From Novice to having some understanding". It does not cover ACL at all, and the cover of the basic Auth component is incredibly basic and lacking. Most of the examples are very simple, so you won't be getting to be a "Professional" with this book. The tile is ok "Beginning CakePHP" but by no means expect this book to cover in depth topics of challenging issues.
- The book is one big project that keeps adding on things - which is good. But the author decided to go for a Blog... Please another application? Pretty please? There are about a million blog tutorials out there, he could have gone the extra mile by giving us an interesting (i.e realistic) project. There is already a good blog tutorial on the cakephp.org site. Yes, the author does take the blog further in this book (he better, it's 300 pages) but still.
- Not the author's fault - but be warned that the book is for RC1 - and believe me, you will struggle figuring out why the provided code is not working and why so many errors (if you are using RC2 or beyond).
- All the examples except 1 are straight out of the box CAKEPHP built in things - which is fine, but real projects usually require you to stretch things, change some models to be used differently.
- The "Advanced features" chapter is a joke. It spends less than 1 page in most of those advance features. Basically, you are on your own. And a whopping of 6 pages on the forms helper. (Web applications live on forms, a whole book could be written on the topic).
I gave it 4 stars for being a clearly written book on CakePHP, but don't expect this book will be more than an introduction, with a few nice gems.Beginning CakePHP: From Novice to Professional (Expert's Voice in Web Development) OverviewAll other attempts at translating CakePHP for new users are either too technical or lack enough information. This book is tailored for those new to Cake and who want a thorough tutorial. The biggest advantage for reading this book is that it really stands alone in the repertoire of CakePHP documentation, and little work is scheduled to become available anytime soon.It's to a PHP developer's advantage to try out Cake and to get a favorable introduction to the framework, which is precisely what this book provides.Beginning CakePHP is one of the first if not the first book in the market that leads the reader through extensive web application development in CakePHP, one of the leading popular growing open source Web frameworks. It gives a how-to approach to Cake rather than a dictionary-type reference, that culminates in an extensive practical blogging application example.

Want to learn more information about Beginning CakePHP: From Novice to Professional (Expert's Voice in Web Development)?

>> Click Here to See All Customer Reviews & Ratings Now

Read More...

PHP 5 Objects, Patterns and Practice Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)Are you looking to buy PHP 5 Objects, Patterns and Practice? Here is the right place to find the great deals. we can offer discounts of up to 90% on PHP 5 Objects, Patterns and Practice. Check out the link below:

>> Click Here to See Compare Prices and Get the Best Offers

PHP 5 Objects, Patterns and Practice ReviewFact of the matter is that PHP5 is a serious enterprise level development system. This book takes it seriously and presents both practical and architectural material at a level that used to be reserved for J2EE and .NET works. This relatively short book is packed full of well written and insightful content. It stars with the basics of PHP5 OO programming with detail about the mistakes in PHP4 that have now been rectified. That is taken all the way through advanced topics like reflection.
The author then switches gears and gets into the design of object oriented applications. Now that we have the right tools, how we should use them to make better systems, right? UML is covered, and so are design patterns.
The later chapters of the book cover solid software engineering practices, like version control and unit testing, amongst other.
Not only will this book give you new ideas at a coding level, it will also open your mind as an engineer and get you headed in a direction toward architecture and large scale application design.
An excellent book. A must have for any serious PHP developer.PHP 5 Objects, Patterns and Practice OverviewPHP 5 Objects, Patterns, Practice is a practical design and management book. It explains object-oriented programming in PHP 5, the latest version of PHP. This book explores the principles underlying design patterns (principally those patterns collected by the 'Gang of Four') and presents a range of patterns in a PHP context. This book also examines tools and practices that exist which underpin good software design, including unit testing, documentation, version control and automated build.

Want to learn more information about PHP 5 Objects, Patterns and Practice?

>> Click Here to See All Customer Reviews & Ratings Now

Read More...

Open Source Licensing: Software Freedom and Intellectual Property Law Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)Are you looking to buy Open Source Licensing: Software Freedom and Intellectual Property Law? Here is the right place to find the great deals. we can offer discounts of up to 90% on Open Source Licensing: Software Freedom and Intellectual Property Law. Check out the link below:

>> Click Here to See Compare Prices and Get the Best Offers

Open Source Licensing: Software Freedom and Intellectual Property Law ReviewIf you're looking to get an in-depth understanding of open source licensing and all the issues surrounding it, you should read Open Source Licensing by Lawrence Rosen (Prentice Hall).
Chapter list: Freedom and Open Source; Intellectual Property; Distribution of Software; Taxonomy of Licenses; Academic Licenses; Reciprocity and the GPL; The Mozilla Public License (MPL); The Common Public License (CPL); The OSL and the AFL; Choosing an Open Source License; Shared Source, Eventual Source, and Other Licensing Models; Open Source Litigation; Open Standards; The Open Source Paradigm; Appendices; Index
On the positive side, this book will teach you more about licensing than you thought existed. This book deals with all the legal issues that either have arisen or could become a problem as open source continues to make inroads against commercial software. The analysis is detailed as only a lawyer can do it. Another positive aspect of the book is that the author covers how different open source licenses mesh with each other. You may be forced into choosing a certain type of license if you've incorporated software that already uses a license that you're expected to apply to your software. All good stuff.
On the negative side, I don't think the book delivers on its promise to present "a plain-English guide to open source law for developers, managers, users, and lawyers". I see this as a book by a lawyer for lawyers needing to understand software licensing and how open source licensing fits into that. Companies that are building a business model around open source will need this material, but the typical developer and nearly all users will be bored to death as individual words are pulled out and dissected as for potential legal interpretations that could be applied.
I'm inclined to rank this a little higher than I'd like just because there's not a lot of material about this subject, and the author *does* cover it in great detail. But if you think you're going to get an easy-to-digest explanation of open source licensing, you will probably be disappointed.Open Source Licensing: Software Freedom and Intellectual Property Law Overview"I have studied Rosen's book in detail and am impressed with its scope and content. I strongly recommend it to anybody interested in the current controversies surrounding open source licensing."—John Terpstra, Samba.org; cofounder, Samba-Team"Linux and open source software have forever altered the computing landscape. The important conversations no longer revolve around the technology but rather the business and legal issues. Rosen's book is must reading for anyone using or providing open source solutions."—Stuart Open Source Development Labs
A Complete Guide to the Law of Open Source for Developers, Managers, and Lawyers
Now that open source software is blossoming around the world, it is crucial to understand how open source licenses work—and their solid legal foundations. Open Source Initiative general counsel Lawrence Rosen presents a plain-English guide to open source law for developers, managers, users, and lawyers. Rosen clearly explains the intellectual property laws that support open source licensing, carefully reviews today's leading licenses, and helps you make the best choices for your project or organization. Coverage includes:

Explanation of why the SCO litigation and other attacks won't derail open source
Dispelling the myths of open source licensing
Intellectual property law for nonlawyers: ownership and licensing of copyrights, patents, and trademarks
"Academic licenses": BSD, MIT, Apache, and beyond
The "reciprocal bargain" at the heart of the GPL
Alternative licenses: Mozilla, CPL, OSL and AFL
Benefits of open source, and the obligations and risks facing businesses that deploy open source software
Choosing the right license: considering business models, product architecture, IP ownership, license compatibility issues, relicensing, and more
Enforcing the terms and conditions of open source licenses
Shared source, eventual source, and other alternative models to open source
Protecting yourself against lawsuits


Want to learn more information about Open Source Licensing: Software Freedom and Intellectual Property Law?

>> Click Here to See All Customer Reviews & Ratings Now

Read More...

The Definitive Guide to symfony (Expert's Voice in Open Source) Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)Are you looking to buy The Definitive Guide to symfony (Expert's Voice in Open Source)? Here is the right place to find the great deals. we can offer discounts of up to 90% on The Definitive Guide to symfony (Expert's Voice in Open Source). Check out the link below:

>> Click Here to See Compare Prices and Get the Best Offers

The Definitive Guide to symfony (Expert's Voice in Open Source) ReviewThe power of this amazing framework is truly revealed after you see how much thought has gone into its planning and documentation. I have been using the Symfony framework for six months with great success, but this book has given me a new perspective on Symfony's capabilities. PHP has been a mainstay in my web design business for almost 10 years, and I've used a number of different libraries and frameworks over the years. But nothing I've tried has come close to Symfony. The framework takes out the drudgery of common tasks like form processing and database/object interactions; and it does it in a way that is highly configurable. This book and framework have made web programming fun again.
Each chapter walks you through an important framework element from installation and setup to advanced features (cache control, plugin development, optimizing applications). It's written by two of the framework's lead developers. I would consider it a must-have for anyone using the Symfony framework.The Definitive Guide to symfony (Expert's Voice in Open Source) OverviewWeb application frameworks are one of the today's hottest topics, presenting developers with proven solutions for building applications faster than ever. Spurred on by the enormous success of Ruby on Rails, frameworks are being built in a variety of other languages, with the bulk of activity surrounding PHP. While numerous framework projects are well under way, none are as mature nor as popular as Symfony (http://www.symfony-project.com/). Bundled with numerous tools for helping document, debug, and test your applications, and developed in a manner encouraging agile development principles, Symfony is sparking the imagination of thousands of developers around the globe.Authored by project and documentation leads Fabien Potencier and François Zaninotto, The Definitive Guide to Symfony serves as a complete guide to all aspects of Symfony. Readers are guided through fundamental concepts such as installation, configuration, and security, followed by thorough discussion of advanced concepts such as scaffolding, routing, caching, and internationalization. Accompanied by hundreds of practical code examples, this book will help readers quickly master rapid application development using this popular framework.

Want to learn more information about The Definitive Guide to symfony (Expert's Voice in Open Source)?

>> Click Here to See All Customer Reviews & Ratings Now

Read More...