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Pro OpenSolaris

Another month, another book, but still an apress one ;-).

This time, my eyes were focused on the operation system side. It is sad but after reading this book, i can still feel and see the echo of the wounded heart that oracle made by stopping the open solaris development in 2010.
This os reads and feals really well structured and "like a fresh breeze".

But back to the book. If have already index the book with my sticky markers and from now on i have quick access to the following content.

  • CLI
  • SMF
  • ZFS
  • Zones
  • AMP
  • SVN
  • DTrace
  • Links

The book contains 240 pages, so can not bring you in that deep. But it at least it tries, or tries to show you the great world of this operation system.
While playing around in a VM, it still feals that fresh and easy way. The os is well structured and by scratching at the top, all works well. And of course, just for DTrace, SMF and ZFS ... you should give open solaris a try.

The book itselfs is short and well written and shows you the represents you the main benefits of this os.
Because of the fact that open solaris is currently not in well progress, the price is more than cheap. And if not using open solaris, it is good to read about the concepts and the way the os is structured.

Free Book - Pro Git

Git gets an even bigger impact to my daily pages from day to day. After a short conversation with some friends and teammates, it is hard to ignore git.

Thanks to apress (another time and once more ;-)), they released there book "Pro Git" to the web where you can read it.

This is the website for the Pro Git book, written by Scott Chacon and published by Apress. Here you can find the full content of the book, a blog with tips and updates about Git and the book and open source projects related to Git or referenced in the book.
source

Feel free to read it and do not forget to buy it, if it seams usefull for you :-).

MooTools Essentials

Another book from apress and another one i am impressed of. As easy as the cmd zend framework book written and with 276 pages full of knowledge, this book kickstarts your feelings for a java script framework.

From my point of view, this book is smart as the MooTools Framework. Especially if you consider that in my world, java script means always "double the work for a bit better of user experience". But as AJAX evolves, the java script frameworks sprouting out as fresh grass on a damp ground.

So back to the book. I have already "index" the book by using some stickers and it finaly covers all ... well as the book title labels it ... the essentials.

  1. More or less then 15 pages explain the philosophy of MooTools and of Java Script itselfs. Nice to know, the author writes about the pro's and con's of MooTools and on the major other java script frameworks (like jquery, prototype and so on). After this, the reader learns about the basic of java script and of using common techniques to implement the features you are searching for. There are some pages about the prototype concept in Java Script and also all about the MooTools Core.
  2. The Core is represented by a bunch of core files. Depending of how you are using the MooTools, here is the first part where you can downsize your whole Java Script library! After that, you learn about native objects, in particular for arrays and hashs (aka objects). Following this, there is a chapter about the elements and some methods and filters. When you have reached chapter seven. The basics and theoretical stuff starts to blur. As in the other apress book i have mention some weeks ago, the theory is implemented by real problems. This implementations are getting complexer and of course better, so you learn more by refactoring you code. You learn about requests, respons, json and cookies, swiff and classes and there inheritance concept, also about writing your own class and extend them with options, events and chains. The book also covers the basics of the fx.js (where all the wonderfull magic for effects are stored ;-) ). Even more, you read about plug-ins.
  3. Finally, the appendix is rounding off the book.

If you are interested in a robust and modern java script framework (or if you have to be concerning of request by customer ;-) ), mootools and this book is your way to dig in.

Building a cms with zend framework

Just by searching for a new technical book i stumbled over Pro Zend Framework Techniques: Build a Full CMS Project.

Well, the price in my local bookdealer was very cheap so i gave him a try. After finishing reading, i must admit that the book touches nearly all sticking points i was falling by learning using the zend framework. The book also shows me more ;-). I like the way the book is written. You begin with easy tasks and refactor the code if needed.

So what you get for your money? 230 Pages full of information. The number of pages guarantees that there is no place for boring stuff. This book presents you straight forward informations about:

  • application.ini
  • Template and Layout
  • Form, Form_Element
  • Working with Zend_Db_Table
  • Zend_Navigation
  • Zend_Auth
  • Zend_Acl
  • Zend_Search
  • Setup Modules
  • The use of DB_Profile
  • Zend_Cache
  • Zend_Translate

If the price fits to your pocket, give him a try :-).