Distributed

This is one of the few books that I've seen that actually discusses licensing issues and auto-update. Blunden provides a meticulous explanation of the tradeoffs between local license checking and remote license management. Not only does he look at these ideas from an abstract level, he also wades into the gory details of implementation. Licensing is presented in a "real-world" backdrop, such that I could take some of the fundamentals with me and use them at work.

Traditionally, licensing and auto-update have been, in-house, proprietary secrets. Blunden brings them into the spotlight to show you how they work. I haven't seen a book that really looked at these features in any depth before.

There have been a couple of other books on message passing, but most of them have been anchored to a particular operating system or language. This book is the first to offer a general treatment of messaging, as a way to merge disparate middleware installations.

At the end of the day, messaging technology is just another way to allow distributed code to interact. Blunden takes the time to compare and contrast messaging against other distributing computing techniques. The result is that the reader can understands the relative advantages and limitations of messaging, so that they can use the right tool for the right job.

At every turn, Blunden grounds his explanations using concrete examples, so that the reader has a solid frame of reference (I can appreciate the author's humorous 10-page implementation of a DCOM server, basically to demonstrate how awkward a distributed technology can be... it's no wonder DCOM faded away).

The author of this book has obviously seen combat in the trenches. The fact that he would discuss deployment requirements like auto-update and secure network communication is proof enough.

I particularly enjoyed the bits of storytelling that Blunden hides in between technical discussions. In one part, he talks about working at a company in the throes of Y2K conniptions: "Like a 15-year-old kid studying for an algebra test, the company that hired me had waited until the last minute to do its homework. In September of 1999, the CIO put down his copy of Fortune Magazine long enough to realize that something needed to be done. Angry customers might file lawsuits, which would ruin the CIO's plans for a weekend cottage in Bermuda."

This book is for anyone who wonders how security mechanisms function. What separates this book from every other book on security is that this book is not limited to computer or network security, it gets into the nitty gritty of digital security.

The author is nothing short of brilliant. He covers a great variety of security issues, from smart cards, power monitoring, cryptography, passwords, access control, EMF emission monitoring [Tempest], biometrics, banking security, the history of all the previous topics, etc., etc., etc..

The other impressive qualities of this book are its clear and amusing writing style, excellent references, and tieing all this together in a fashion that provides a cohesive strategy for implementing truly secure systems.

While this book purports not to be for hackers, they will doubtlessly find this book of immense interest as well, as it covers information that I have not seen addressed in any other book that I have come across. You will learn more from reading this book than reading three years worth of 2600 Magazine.

All in all, great reading, intensely valuable information, and more fun than a barrel of monkeys.

It is about time that this book has been written!

Ross Anderson has a unique perspective to offer. He explains complex information, such as the inner working of cryptographic functions, with a clear and precise manner, while at the same time always relating the content to the real world. He possess a rare combination of expertise in theory and experience in practice.

This book covers everything from security of ATM machines, to secure printing; from multi-level security to information warfare; from hardware security to e-commerce; from legal issues to intellectual property protection; from biometrics to tamper resistance. In short, Anderson's book basically covers the entire field of computer security. It is also refreshing that the book is as deep as it is broad.

I will use this book to teach and also to learn. It is a good read cover to cover, and I imagine it will make a fine textbook for many classes on computer security. Every chapter ends with suggestions for interesting research problems and further reading.

As I was reading this book, I kept asking myself how one person could have produced such a comprehensive and complete book. It is indeed a treasure.

Security Engineering is clearly one of the most definitive security books ever!

Ross Anderson writes on nearly every major security topic in great depth and with vast insight.

This book should be standard for computer programming language books. I have gone to several times and it has never failed me. It has very clear explanations and examples which almost write out the code for you. I carry it everywhere. It is the sole Oracle PL/SQL programming reference I use.

THIS BOOK IS A MUST FOR ALL PL/SQL PROGRAMMERS. THE EXPLANATIONS ARE VERY BRIEF AND EASY TO UNDERSTAND, AND THE EXAMPLES ARE VERY CLEAR TO GRASP THE MEANING OF..WITH THIS BOOK, I GET TO HAVE CONFIDENCE IN PL/SQL WHICH I THOUGHT WAS HARD TO MASTER. I STRONGLY RECOMMEND THIS BOOK..

I bought this book as a complete Oracle novice, transitioning from Microsoft T-SQL to PL/SQL. I was worried about the transition being difficult until I read this book.

It is one of those very rare books that presents advanced concepts in a context understandable by users of all experience levels. The author often throws in tips about Oracle PL/SQL quirks to watch out for, as well as some very applicable information about how Oracle works internally.

I've since become more comfortable with PL/SQL, and the book also serves as a great reference. I highly encourage you to read this book straight through.

I recommend this well-written book to anybody wanting to learn PL/SQL, as well as anyone needing a great reference.

This hardback text is one of the best database API books that I have in my collection. It is well laid-out and it has examples.

This book is laid out in the order statements are used, with the necessary create and destroy statements together. It starts with connecting to the database, moves to statement execution, and rounds out with retrieving your results. There are of course necessary chapters on creating tables and dealing with transactions.

Each ODBC API call is accompanied with a list of appropriate parameters, return values, and errors.

ODBC Database API's are used in layers:

To Setup: Allocate Environment, Allocate Connection, Connect, ...

To Shutdown, reverse everything: ... Disconnect, Deallocate Connection, Deallocate Environment.

With the ODBC API you are given a whole lot of notes? But how do you combine those notes to write a symphony? This is the only book on the market which really shows you how. It consists of a detailed ODBC reference and highly useful sample code that shows how to take the API calls and make an application out of them.

The calls are grouped in logical sequences, each call is thoroughly described, and then an example of a program that uses that call (and other calls) is given.

The writing is extremely clear. The presentation is excellent. The book is extremely well organized.

It does not assume any prior knowledge of ODBC though it assumes you know how to program C.

C is the only language used in the book. The use of ODBC in other languages such as Visual Basic is not discussed.

Though this book is old; I cannot recommend it too highly. I've used it before and I'll use it again.

I had a situation come up where I needed to access an Oracle 7 stored procedure that returned output parameters and no results set. The Microsoft Visual C++ CRecordset classes don't handle that situation very well. The only solution was to drop down into ODBC API calls. I struggled until I found this book. It takes a lot of the mystery out of an extremely complex API. It pretty much rides around in my backpack everywhere I go now!

After looking at all the JINI books available except the O'Reilly one, I found this book to be best....by far!
If you want to learn peer to peer computing, start with this book at page one and read all the way through...you will not be dissapointed.
It has everything, great on code...it will show you how to code JINI, philosophy, ideas, implementations etc...

Sing...when are you going to publish again??? You are great!
If you do, I hope its a topic that I need..

Thanks
- Adam

I used this book in parallell with other books.

Chapters on networking and RMI were very useful.

It helped me to understand Jini, though I got a lot of help reading other textbooks in parallell.

Issues on agent techonology were very interesting.

Mr. Li starts out with a section focusing on advanced RMI and CORBA, and how they relate to Jini. The CORBA section includes examples for building a Java client/server using the ORB that comes with the JDK, as well as using a C client on Linux with the free ORBit ORB. An excellent overview of CORBA for people who have never used it or simply haven't used it with Java.

His writing is detailed, explaining how things are done and why they're done that way; after reading this book you will have an excellent understanding of Jini. For example, the detailed discussion and the several examples on UDP multicast and how it is used in the Discovery protocol was quite fascinating. I found the case study chapters, accounts of real-life applications of Jini and JavaSpaces, to be very interesting to read as well.

Overall, an inforative, highly readable book aimed at advanced developers.

Probably the best Samba book out there, not exactly a book you can sit down and read cover to cover, but after the first few chapters you will have a basic Samba server set up. The rest of the book is more reference material for more complex setups. I had no networking knowledge prior to this book and was able to set up a small Linux/Windows network at home using the contents of this book.

This book is now 2 years old but still the best reference available. I only say that because I have spent $$$ getting everything on the subject I can. With the recent changes in Microsoft licensing every sensible IT professional should be exploring alternatives. A SAMBA server is a great alternative. Mr. Litts book is all you need to go from knowing next to nothing to knowing enough to impress your geeky Network Admin friends.

This book is well written, clear and expansive. I didn't read it cover to cover (not at first anyway) I found pieces I needed, applied it, digested it, reviewed it and then went on to the next morsel I needed. If I missed something it was easy to find. By the way, it works with Win2K and WinXP neither of which is well documented by anyone anywhere.

I'm just glad they didn't charge me for what it was really worth! (most books I buy I quickly regret wasting the money unfortunately)

I don't setup a network without this book. It's as complete as any book I have on any subject.

This book was written for PowerBuilder 7 (now 7.03) and Jaguar CTS 3.0 (now Sybase Enterprise Application Server 3.6.1.08). While PowerBuilder hasn't changed much EAS most *certainly* has. When Jaguar 3.0 came out there was no database persistence standard for the Java platform, EJB was barely a spec (v 0.4), and a lot of things that we take very much for granted in the J2EE Specification simply didn't exist. Also, Jaguar 3.0 was a much 'clunkier' system to administer than that newer 3.6.1 release that Sybase has done. While many of the concepts discussed in this book from the PowerBuilder side are still applicable, some of the screen shots and processes are dated on the Jaguar side. Still, the book represents a good history lesson if nothing else. Being that this is the *only* book on the subject of using PowerBuilder as a front end to your Jaguar/EAS server-side code I'd say get it. But it's quickly become in *dire* need of a revamp. Are you listening, Mr. Barlotta??

I've been developing applications for over ten years. This book stands out as one of the best I've ever owned. It's very honest about how familiar you'd better be with PowerBuilder if you expect to use this book. The author takes into consideration the probability that you're new to Jaguar and yet doesn't 'dumb down' his guidance. It takes you through an explanation of CORBA, distributed processing, and gets you using Jaguar immediately. Excellent coverage of the administration of and development using Jaguar. If you plan on using EAS to build distributed apps, I highly recommend you read this book.

The site was going to use PB7 and Jaguar - exciting! I ordered the book, read it, used the many fantastic code bits to get an n-tier PB7 app up and running. Fantastic book.

4 months later, the client decided to use Java, scrap PB development and sacked me without even a day's notice. Oh well. I still think Jaguar and the book and PB7 are tops! But the lesson learned is that Powerbuilder is on the way down and out!

Distributed Application Development with PowerBuilder 6 is dedicated to distributed application development in the PowerBuilder environment. It focuses on Distributed PowerBuilder. This text is packed with code samples to guide you every step of the way. Also included is a robust server framework I have used on real-world projects. A "must buy" for anyone preparing to go to the next level of PB development!

If you are a Powerbuilder Guru, you must read this book, otherwise you'd take the risk to know less than your apprentices. If you are a novice, you must read it to become a Guru. Don't loose time with me, go to buy one!

I just can't wait until I finish reading the entire book before I post this review because this is the best PowerBuilder book I have ever read. This book leads you through the steps on how to develop a distributed PowerBuilder applications. This is a must have and the only book you need to learn how to write DPB applications. Well done, Michael !!

I am not sure why this book gets such good reviews. I have read most of it (from front to back) and found myself skipping alot towards the end. Like you'd imagine, by doing both C++ and Java examples it ends up covering neither well. If Bolton absolutely had to have examples in both languages, I think he would have done better by splitting it up into two books and then going into the level of detail that Henning and Vinoski do in their seminal book. It's a bit ridiculous to buy a book this size and still feel like you are not getting enough information.

The main selling point that it has is it includes information on later CORBA features (like Components and Objects by Value) that aren't in other books. If you REALLY want to understand what is going on, go with the Advanced Corba Programming with C++, though it is starting to show its age a bit.

Over the past couple of years I've read a number of Corba books and found all of them lacking in either content or structure and sometimes both! This book by Fintan Boltan is absolutely superb and by far the best. I've yet to find any major weaknesses with it...

What a great book!! This is THE book to read if you want to begin writing applications in CORBA! It covers both C++ and Java programming with CORBA and each of these languages are given equal priority. I have this book as well as the books: Java programming with Corba 3rd Edition and the H&V Advanced Corba programming with C++. Corba is a bit confusing at first and in my opinion, this book gives you the best introduction to Corba which will allow you later to read any of the other Corba books easily (The others are a bit confusing at first). Chapter 7 which explains POA policies in detail is very delicious and highly important. POA policies in my opinion are the most confusing subject to a Corba beginner and this book explains them clearly. I am a Java programmer so I haven't done a lot of reading in the H&V book, but for anyone who is planning to program in Java with Corba, I highly suggest that you buy this book along with Java programming with Corba 3rd Edition by Brose, Vogel & Duddy which covers some very interesting Corba Services that are not in this book like the Notification service, Trading Service and the PSS. Also, you might be interested in the Enterprise Corba book by Slama, Garbis and Russell if you are planning on building a large scale Corba System. In conculsion this book is very clear with lots of good examples! Get it along with possibly another book, but don't forget to download the OMG specs which will come in handy as a reference.

The book contains:

a) An overview of evolutionary programming techniques.

b) An exposition of the argument that intelligent behavior has a large social component in addition to a genetically determined component.

c) The presentation of an optimisation technique whereby a swarm of possible solutions fly through a problem space and base their search trajectories not only on personal experience but also on the experiences of the group. ie- There is a social component to the search of the problem space.

The presentation of (a) and (b) was quite good and readable. The presentation of (c) I found to be a little bit unclear. The algorithm is quite simple, and can be expressed succinctly, but I ended up having to go to secondary sources (web site and PSO C code) to understand exactly what they were doing. The title of the book seems to suggest the swarm develops an emergent property of intelligence. This is over-reach, and is probably not an interpretation that the authors would place on the PSO algorithm. The PSO algorithm is an interesting numeric optimisation technique, and it seems to be a more organic approach to developing neural network weights than techniques like back-propagation of errors.

Overall, a good book that I would recommend. Points off for not being clearer in explaining the algorithm details.

My original motivation for reading Swarm Intelligence was a desire to learn about the Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) algorithm -- in particular, to learn how to implement it in a Java program. To the credit of its authors, what I found in Swarm Intelligence was far more than that. The authors have taken on the rather daunting task of presenting a new paradigm -- a new way of thinking about mind and intelligence -- and they have succeeded.

PSO, itself, is deceptively simple. The heart of the algorithm can be written in a single line of code. Understanding the basis for its approach to intelligence isn't difficult, either. The authors begin their explanation using the old parable about the blind men and the elephant. You are most likely familiar with the story. In summary form, it is about a group of blind men standing around an elephant each declaring "what an elephant is like" based upon which part of the elephant they are touching -- and elephant is like: a wall (side); a tree trunk (leg); a hose (trunk); a fan (ear); and so on.

What is wrong with this story, the authors point out, is its implicit assumption that these blind men are also deaf. If not, as they each announced their impressions the individuals, as a group, would discover much more about what an elephant is. The significance here is easily missed. The capabilities of a group emerge from the individuals immersed in it. The group can do more (see more, discover more, experiment more) than the individuals from which it emerges and, by virtue of their immersion in it, the individuals benefit (and in turn, the group then benefits as it now emerges from these "benefited" individuals).

The authors view this emergent/immergent "cycle" as the driving force behind mind and intelligence. In contrast to the normal (phenomenological) view of mind as an internal, private "thing that thinks," the authors assert that mind is something requiring sociality. To put it bluntly (and the authors do), in the absence of social immersion there is no mind; mind is social. The majority of the book is focused on this: why it's true, how it's true and how it is implemented in the PSO algorithm.

It is easy to see how the book might have ended up a long philosophical argument. It isn't. Instead, the authors present a nicely written history of efforts to achieve "computational intelligence" (a much better phrase than the more familiar "artificial intelligence") including great summaries of evolutionary approaches, fuzzy logic, neural nets and artificial life. Along the way they point out recent advances in psychology and sociology. The net effect is that they don't need to argue their point. By the end of this part of the book the importance of sociality has become rather obvious. If you are interested in sociology, psychology, engineering and/or computer science you will enjoy this part of the book immensely, learn a lot and find a wealth of references to additional sources of information.

The second part of the book presents the PSO algorithm, compares its performance with other methodologies (in addition to being simpler to understand and implement, it's an order of magnitude faster when applied to certain problems -- training neural nets, for example), demonstrates how it is applied to some "real life" problems and discusses some implications of (and speculations about) the approach. As with the first part of the book, the presentation is clear, concise and informative. There is, though, indications here that the PSO approach is rather new (young). There isn't enough experience with PSO yet to give this part of the book the same feeling of depth one gets from the first part.

It's worth noting that the presentation (and description) of the PSO algorithm is done in mathematical terms. I would have much preferred a programming approach (using pseudo code) not because the math is too difficult (it's not) but because I haven't been "immersed in a mathematically minded social group" for many years. The almost exclusive use of Greek letters for symbols (variables) made reading difficult. Not only are they visually unfamiliar, I don't know their pronunciations (to illustrate the difficulty by way of analogy, consider the difference between reading "y equals b times x plus z" and "xgt equals kqj times yxf plus ktv"). I ended up rewriting the formulas in more familiar terms (using the text to figure out what the symbols represent when necessary) before I felt that I understood them.

Mentioning my problem with the math is not meant to criticize but to suggest that the book could have been made accessible to more people had it also contained a more readable (and retainable) form of the algorithm, perhaps in an appendix. A good analogy of the PSO approach (more detailed than the "blind men" story) would also have been helpful. The only real criticism I have of the book's content is a minor one. Being as it is focused on the social requirements for mind, it tends to overlook the degree of individuality required to make PSO work. The algorithm, itself, has variables which control the expression of individuality and without which it could not work (at least not well), but this flipside to the social nature of the algorithm is never discussed as such. PSO works well precisely because it maintains the rather chaotic balance between the effects of sociality and individuality. The book presents a rather one-sided view of this balance.

An aside for programmers: There is a companion site (of sorts) on the web for the book through which you can download Visual Basic and C source code of PSO implementations. There is also a Java applet which demonstrates PSO applied to a number of test functions but the source code for it is not available. There will also be an open source Java implementation as soon as I can make one available.

This book is fantastic!
It consists of two parts. In the first part, the main ideas behind Evolutionary Computation and social behavior are tangibly described. A brief review of the most known evolutionary computation algorithms is provided and social behavior modeling issues are reported to prepare the reader for the second part.

The second part is devoted to the Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) algorithm and its applications. Both binary and real variants of PSO are considered and several theoretical aspects are investigated. The book closes reporting several applications and insightful conclusions.

Perhaps the best book on collective intelligence and PSO.