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O'Reilly's "Cookbook" series can generally be thought of as a collection of recipes for different tech solutions. In the case of Albing's, Vossen's, and Newham's book, this applies to the bash (lower case "b" on purpose) or "bourne again shell" (hey, I don't name these things). bash is the default shell for most Linux distros and the most widely used UNIX shell. Even though many Linux distros have increasingly available and useful GUI utilities, the heart of Linux/UNIX administration still happens in the shell. There are plenty of "HOW TO" books on Linux. What makes the bash Cookbook unique?

The subtitle of Donahue's book immediately caught my eye; Everything You Need to Know That Wasn't on the CCNA Exam. Since most CCNA certification books advertise themselves as containing everything you need to know for the exam, why do you need to know information not relevant for the test? Perhaps because after having earned your CCNA, you still might not be in much of a position to administer Cisco-based networks. How could that be?

This isn't the first Flash CS3 book review I've written so I have an idea of what to look for in a text on this topic. The other book, published by Adobe Press, received some less than complementary reviews on Amazon based on the report that steps were missing, keeping the reader from being able to adequately learn the technology. This point has been contested since I've heard from the author and his review of the book found no such flaws. While I thought the Adobe Press book was pretty good all and all, it's time to find out if this "Missing Manual" can rival or better...stand above the competition.

I'll let you in on a little secret. Reviewing technical books is relatively easy for me. A lot of it has to do with discovering the basic premise of the book, the intended audience, and what it's supposed to accomplish. From there, it's a matter of seeing whether or not the book actually hits its goals. Ok, ok, it's a little more involved than that, but that's the nuts and bolts of it. Reviewing Devices of the Soul was more like slowly climbing a mountain trail, trying to notice and record the subtle nuances of the journey and communicating the flavor and color of the experience. Talbott's effort made me want to write an essay, not a review.

[Not really FOSS related but still of interest I think. - Scott]

To quote from the book's back cover: "How does a router switch a packet?" "What is the difference between routing a packet, switching a frame, and packet switching?" Ever wanted to know? Yes, at the CCNA level, we are all taught the differences between these processes but only to a superficial degree. The in-depth explanation lies in understanding Cisco Express Forwarding (CEF) which "is found in almost all Cisco routers and Catalyst switches..." Supposedly, Cisco Express Forwarding "demystifies the internal workings of Cisco routers and switches, making it easier for you (the reader) to optimize performance and troubleshoot issues..." Ok, enough of the back cover hype. Let's see what this book has between the covers.

Depending on what you plan on learning, "Programming Firefox" can provide for several different needs. XML technologies are hot, hot, hot these days and Firefox utilizes the XML User Interface Language or XUL (Pronounced "zool"...reminds me of the film "Ghostbusters", "There is no Dana, only XUL", but I digress). Perhaps that's enough to get your attention, but there's more. The text on the book's back cover promises in part to provide an "introduction to the graphical elements that compose a XUL application", "an introduction to Resource Description Files, and how the Firefox interface renders RDF", "displaying documents using the Scalable Vector Graphics standard and..." Well, you get the idea. Let's take a closer look and see what this text actually delivers.

Who should read this book? Well, you'd better know at least basic HTML and CSS. Adobe Photoshop knowledge would be a big plus, too. Hmmm...I'd throw in Flash experience. just for giggles. Ok, ok...let's cover what this book won't teach you. It won't teach you how to make a basic webpage with HTML and CSS. Shocked? So was I a little, until I realized what Jason Beaird's book is really all about. What it isn't about is teaching you HTML and CSS. Lots and lots of books teach that. Don't pick up this text until you've already created at least one site that works. So what is this book good for anyway? It's good for making more than just a website that "works".

What do you need to know to get the most out of this book? Practically nothing. What will you learn by using this book? Practically everything about JavaScript and AJAX. Ok, I'm exaggerating... but let me explain. You will need to know basic HTML but if you are planning to use JavaScript to liven up your tired, static website, that's a given. No, you won't learn everything there is to know about JavaScript, but you will learn more than the basics and in fact, if you are patient and stick with the book to the end, you'll be building JavaScript applications by the time you hit the appendix.

Can you say "under the hood"? That's what Understanding MySQL Internals is supposed to teach, "in a nutshell" to coin a phrase. To quote part of the back cover, "MySQL's source code is open in the sense of being publicly available, but it's essentially closed to you if you don't understand it". Good point and one we tend to forget in the context of "open source". MySQL or any other open source code might as well be locked up in a vault and administered by Microsoft if you don't know what the code is and how to work with it. As a former member of the MySQL Development Team, Sasha Pachev is (or should be) positioned to take the reader on a guided tour of the inner workings of MySQL. Let's see how he does.

I've been doing a fair amount of documenting on Flash related technologies and have considered dabbling in ActionScript (if you know JavaScript, you have at least a leg up on learning ActionScript) so I thought it was time to stretch into the arena of Flex 2. I found the concept of Flex to be a bit confusing at first. After all, if Flex builds Flash applications and Flash CS3 Professional builds Flash applications, why use one over the other? Since ActionScript is the scripting language underneath both development platforms, what's the difference? Naive questions I know, but they're answered in Programming Flex 2.

I've been doing an awful lot of writing about Flash lately. Not that I'm an expert, which is one of the reasons I'm reviewing this book. I find myself thrown into situations that require more of me than I currently possess; at least in terms of certain experiences. Like most people, I have an idea what Flash is and what it does, but am (or was) not so sure how Flash works. To answer my questions and to learn more, I decided to go to school.

A lot of why I requested this book for review was sheer curiosity. Like many people, I'm used to thinking "Rootkit = bad". Why the heck would any author or publisher want to take on the liability of teaching their readers how to behave unethically and criminally? The little voodoo doll on the cover did nothing to allay my concerns. However, once I had the book in my hands and began to work through it, I saw it with different eyes.

The book assumes a few things about the reader, which is good. If you aren't part of the "assumed" group, this book won't be very interesting or at least not very useful. Here they are...there are only two: The first assumption is that you know how to program. There are no details about to what degree, so I'll assume that basic programming skills will be sufficient. The second assumption is a little more specific. You'll need to have at least a basic understanding of PHP. If you need help in these areas, try reading books like Beginning PHP5, Learning PHP5, and perhaps some other beginner's programming book.

I know it's probably just a matter of timing and deadlines, but it's kind of interesting that Professional XML was released a full month before Wrox's Beginning XML. After all, being a linear sort of fellow, reviewing "beginning" before "professional" makes more sense to me...particularly since this book suggests reading Beginning XML if you are totally unfamiliar with this markup language.

Once upon a time (or should that be "Long, long ago in a..." but I digress), I worked for a software startup company where time and man-(people)-power were limited. At one point or another, we all wore a variety of hats including tech support and (gasp) software testers. It's an incredibly daunting and involved task and the company was always struggling to define just when they could/should release the next version of their product. They eventually went under (not because the product was bad but because of more "administrative issues"...but that's another story) and I was released from the responsibility of wearing many hats. Still, the fascination of designing, testing, and deploying software has never really left me.

Normally, I see "Unleashed" books with titles Like Fedora Core 6 Unleashed or OpenSUSE 10.2 Unleashed, not something like Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 Administration Unleashed. An "administration" Unleashed book? Very interesting...and written by a single (and very highly qualified) author to boot. A peek at the Intro assured me that this book was written as much for Linux administration in general as for RHEL 5 administration. Fox said her focus was to help admins who oversee from one to a thousand systems, so I started to think "big".

To paraphrase Mr. Rogers, "can you say whirlwind tour?" That's what the latest offering in the "In a Nutshell" series from O'Reilly reads like. That's not a pejorative statement; there's just a ton of information crammed in between the covers of this book. Actually, it is something of an experiment and doesn't quite follow the traditional pattern of this series.

Just for giggles, I started by using the enclosed CD to see how it performed. I tried it on Ubuntu first but although the system mounted the CD, it couldn't read the information. Thus I resorted to using Windows XP. The disk has the entire book on it in pdf format in case you want to store it on your hard drive. I tried out the flash cards and test engine next. Unless I was using them wrong, they seemed to be demos rather than full-fledged software. They also included demos covering a wide variety of Microsoft, Cisco, CompTIA, and other cert exams. They performed well enough, but from the description on the back cover, I was expecting flash cards and exams focused on the 70-620 test (and if someone can point out my error and direct me to the full-fledged mock tests on the disk, I'll be glad to amend my comments).

Geier's book covers largely the planning and deployment of voice over WLAN as well as the software involved. In fact, you don't get to the nuts and bolts of actually installing a VoWLAN System until Chapter 8. I'm kind of "hands on" so naturally, it was my favorite chapter.

Stop! There's no way in the world that this book alone is going to help you pass the 70-290 exam unless you already know Windows Server 2003 backwards and forwards. The good news is that it isn't supposed to be your one-stop-shopping guide for this exam. Exam Cram books are designed to be what Reader's Digest is to full-length novels. Buy this book but as a backup to other more complete tomes and resources on the subject.