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The Computer 50

This is a list of some of the 50 top-sellers in the Amazon.com Computers and Internet category. I own some of these books, and I'll write reviews as time permits. Those I don't own are on my wish-list. If our bookstore makes enough sales this quarter, maybe I'll be able to buy a few of the ones I want.

• Learning Perl (2nd Edition) (review)
• Programming Perl (2nd Edition) (review)
• PalmPilot: The Ultimate Guide (review)
• The Practical SQL Handbook : Using Structured Query Language
• The C++ Programming Language by Bjarne Stroustrup, the inventor of the language
• HTML 4 for the World Wide Web: Visual QuickStart Guide
• Steal This Computer Book
• Oracle 8 : The Complete Reference (Oracle Series)
• Unix in a Nutshell : System V v 2.0 (review)
• The Art of Computer Programming : Sorting and Searching (Vol 3, 2nd Ed) by Knuth
• Information Architecture for the World Wide Web
• Creating Killer Web Sites, Second Edition
• JavaScript : The Definitive Guide (review)
• Java in a Nutshell : A Desktop Quick Reference (The Java Series) (review)
• Core Java Foundation Classes (Core Series)

Learning Perl (2nd Edition) by Randal L. Schwartz, Tom Christiansen, Larry Wall (Foreward)
O'Reilly & Associates

Almost all of the books published by O'Reilly & Associates are very well written. Learning Perl is no exception. This book introduces some concepts that are not quite the same as other programming languages. "Scalar data," lists, arrays, hashes -- how do you tell them apart? They go on to explain most of the important concepts new to Perl programming. One of the most important of course, is "regular expressions" which are well covered here.

This book is written for UNIX programmers, but there is a Win32 version available also. Other related books:

• Learning Perl on Win32 Systems
• Mastering Regular Expressions : Powerful Techniques for Perl and Other Tools (Nutshell Handbook) -- This book is a valuable companion to Learning Perl. It will greatly extend your understanding of regular expressions.

Programming Perl (2nd Edition) by Larry Wall, Tom Christiansen, Randal L. Schwartz
O'Reilly & Associates

A great followup to Learning Perl. If still want to know more, then pick up this book. It covers some of the more complex aspects of the language. It also goes into depth about the "standard" Perl libraries.

Other related books:

• Advanced Perl Programming (Nutshell Handbook)
• Perl Cookbook

Larry Wall: The father of Perl talks about XML, Unicode, the Win32 port, and the philosophy behind the language. Read amazon.com's interview

PalmPilot: The Ultimate Guide by David Pogue
O'Reilly & Associates

Now that I have a color printer, the new object of my "Techno-Lust" is a PalmPilot III. I didn't get one last Christmas , maybe this year. As soon as I get one, this will be the first book I buy. The best section in the book is a directory of all the Freeware/Shareware available for the PalmPilot.

Other related books:

• Palm Programming : The Developer's Guide

Unix in a Nutshell : A Desktop Quick Reference for System V & Solaris 2.0 by Daniel Gilly
O'Reilly & Associates

I believe that one of the first O'Reilly books ever published was UNIX in a Nutshell . It was certainly the first one of their books that I bought. Now my bookshelf is full of those "animal" books.

This book is an update of the original UNIX in a Nutshell. It provides a complete overview of UNIX commands, the Bourne shell, the Korn Shell, the C shell (UNIX has a lot of shells), text editing, text formatting and software development. This book will speed you on your way to learning all you need to know about my favorite operating system.

You can also get this book with a great CD that contains the hypertext editions of several other popular UNIX titles. The Unix CD Bookshelf (Contains 6 books and software) . If you need to know more about UNIX, check out these books:

• Learning the Unix Operating System (Nutshell Handbook)
• UNIX Power Tools
• Sed and Awk (Nutshell Handbook)

JavaScript: The Definitive Guide by David Flanagan
O'Reilly & Associates

JavaScript is one of the key elements for creating pages with Dynamic HTML. It can also be used to verify/process fields on a form before it is submitted for processing. Free home pages like FreeServers do not allow you to create your own CGI scripts using something like Perl. JavaScript does not completely make up for this short-coming, but it does allow you do some of the things that a CGI script can do.

This book teaches you almost everything you need to accomplish these things. It also contains a good reference about the objects on a web page, and the attributes/methods associated with the objects. If you need to "activate" your web pages, then get this book now.

• Dynamic HTML : The Definitive Reference
• HTML : The Definitive Guide
• Javascript Pocket Reference
• Javascript Bible, 3rd Edition

Java in a Nutshell : A Desktop Quick Reference (The Java Series) by David Flanagan, Mike Loukides (Editor)
O'Reilly & Associates

Java seems to be the hottest programming language on the block these days. For C++ programmers, it's really nothing new. The syntax of the language is almost the same. What makes Java unique is the "portability" of the code. You should be able to run a Java program on any computer with Java Virtual Machine capabilities.

As usual, the folks at O'Reilly have picked two very good authors to write this book. This is definitely just a reference book. You should know something about Java before getting this book, or it won't make much sense to you. An understanding of Object Oriented Programming concepts is also helpful.

• Java Examples in a Nutshell : A Tutorial Companion to Java in a Nutshell (Nutshell Handbooks)
• Core Java 1.1 Volume II Advanced Features
• Developing Java Beans (Java Series)

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