Matthew Jackson and his family leave NY and move to Deposit, Ohio. Matthew wants to start all over again and he has a lot of fears. He wants to be a tough kid. This book made me crack up laughing. He meets a funny kid named JP, his next-door neighbor, and a hilarious, red-headed, tough kid. JP tells him about The Wall, a neighborhood bully. Then Matthew becomes really scared...

I'll agree with the many other reviews that rate this book as an extremely knowledgeable reference on ASP, perhaps the definitive reference.

However, there are several points that make this book somewhat unappealing from a practical perspective.

First, note that it was written by 15 different authors. This incorporates many different writing styles, making it unwieldy. The previous edition was written by 8 people. Do not attempt to use either book as a cover-to-cover tutorial.

Second, the code examples are written almost exclusively in VBScript, although the book acknowledges that Javascript (also known as JScript) would work just as effectively. From a real-world perspective, I have found that many ASP programmers prefer to use Javascript for both server-side and client-side development.

The use of 2 scripting languages in one application is simply impractical. VBScript persists mainly because it is a Microsoft invention, as is ASP itself. However, Javascript (or ECMA Script) has become the industry-standard scripting language for web-based applications.

Another issue with the code examples is that they are not line-numbered. For short examples, this is not an issue. But for larger code modules (as one would encounter in the real world), line-numbering is considered part of best practices in explaining and debugging code before it is deployed.

For readers with any ASP background, this book would be a useful desktop reference. Carrying it around in your briefcase may cause lower back strain.

Professional Active Server Pages 3.0, by Alex Homer, is
a book on developing web applications using Active
Server Pages 3.0. This book goes in depth into
developing web applications with discussions and
examples on advanced topics such as, CDO/Microsoft
Exchange Server, ADO/Microsoft SQL Server, and
ADSI/Active Directory. Homer presents the reader with a
wealth of information on advanced enterprise level
topics based on Microsoft technologies. This book is
excellent for intermediate/advanced users who wish to
learn about Active Server Pages using Microsoft
technologies, however due to the fact Homer does not
goes in depth with fundamentals of programming Visual
Basic Script, this book should not be recommended to
novice developers.

Throughout the book, Homer discusses the importance of
COM/COM+ and what that technology can do for your web
application. He writes examples of a COM+ component in
Visual Basic and shows the user how to register/load
the component into memory along with utilizing the
functionality of them in an Active Server Page. Homer
further explores the features of Windows 2000 by
introducing the features of Active Directory and
explaining/demonstrating how ADSI can connect an Active
Server Page to the Active Directory. The book goes into
further detail on enterprise level topics by discussing
how CDO interfaces with Microsoft Exchange Server.
Using CDO, a developer can access all of users Exchange
account information including mail, contacts, calendar,
etc. The book ends with performance and security issues
for web applications running on a Windows 2000 Server
and how an administrator should configure a Windows
2000 Server for maximum performance and security.

The software/technologies the book uses are based on
products/technologies developed by Microsoft. Since
Active Server Pages is a Microsoft technology, it would
be reasonable to use only Microsoft
products/technologies. However, in the real world, many
businesses have heterogeneous environments with Oracle
database servers and JavaScript web developers. The
fact that this book only exposes the reader to vendor-
specific technologies could be a down fall, however
creates a centralized focus for the reader.

This book covers a wide spectrum of advanced knowledge
with Active Server Pages, however is completely based
around Microsoft technologies. Several other authors
composed this book, which helps the reader get a
dynamic flavor of knowledge from chapter to chapter as
one can see. Any intermediate/advanced web developer,
interested in enterprise web application development,
should purchase a copy of this book for reference
purposes.

Being an enterprise web developer, I found this book to be the absolute best in its field. It covers a very wide spectrum of fields any web developer working with Microsoft web technology should know, including ADO, ADSI, ASP, CDO, COM+, error handling, MSMQ, Windows DNA, XML, and a whole lot more (note that this book is primarily oriented at web developers who's target platform is Windows 2000 and IIS 5.0, but I also found it to be extremely useful for use on Windows NT 4.0 and IIS 4.0, since the authors clearly indicate features that are new to Windows 2000 and IIS 5.0). The writing style is absolutely excellent and gives clear tips on code optimization and performance. I have read literally dozens of different books on these subjects, and none has come close to this one. Although this book is not for beginners, it is, in my opinion, good for anyone who wants to advance their career on the web or become an web developer. This is definitely a book you will want to read from cover to cover, and use as a reference. At just about any price, it's a steal.

This book wouls be great if it was the year 2000 or something. It's outdated and therefor not a decent guide to implement any kind of .11 network unless you don't mind it being completely unsecured.

Get a sample chapter here and you be the judge:

...

Save Time and money by getting Syngress "Building a Cisco Wireless Network" or any other Syngress wireless book for that matter. They offer a 1 Year Buyer protection Plan that lets you get updates for your book if the technology changes within 12 months of your books purchase...very useful.

I manage a multi-level wireless outfit for a company in Seattle and have been testing 11a and 11b for almost a year now. This book is barely worth reading, unless it was free!

=)

kevin

This book starts off with six strong chapters that cover the 802.11 protocol specification, why WEP is vulnerable and some of the upcoming security specifications. The first six chapters are invaluable reading for any sysadmin that is planning/currently responsible for an 802.11 deployment.

Most of the book is right on the mark when it comes to the sysadmin audience, however chapters 8 (the PCF, for contention free service), 10 (the ISM PHYs), 11 (802.11a overview) are only of interest to folks who are implementing 802.11 hardware, IMHO. These chapters contain very low level material about the 802.11 transmisison protocol, and will not be generally useful since equipment manufacturers do not provide access to this layer. A dead giveaway that you can skip over chapter 8 is the phrase "The PCF has not been widely implemented." If it's not widely implemented, chances are you won't have the option of using it in a deployment.

The final 3 chapters address deployment, analysis and tuning of 802.11 networks. These chapters, combined with the first six are the heart of this book and the whole motivation for buying the book. The analysis chapter has a particularly wonderful section about gathering user requirements with respect to 802.11 specific issues (security requirements, roaming...) and a very practical section about physical installation that clearly illustrates the author's mastery of integrating 802.11 technologies into an existing infrastructure.

802.11 Wireless Networks: The Definitive Guide lives up to its title and provides virtually everything you could need to know about 802.11 networks.

802.11 is a family of specifications for wireless networks developed by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). There are currently four specifications in the family: 802.11, 802.11a, 802.11b, and 802.11g, all of which use the basic Ethernet protocols.

Within the last few years, wireless networks have become extremely popular. No longer must a physical cable be run (at both a time and monetary expense) to each network host. With wireless technology, impromptu meetings can be set up just about anywhere, from conference rooms to airplanes, hotel rooms, and more.

Anyone who has looked at network standards can attest to how boring they are to read. However, Gast does a wonderful job writing about wireless Ethernet in a way that is not only "not boring," but actually interesting. This is due to his expertise with the subject matter and the many real-world scenarios that he shares.

Gast acknowledges that most readers who simply want a methodical, but not all-inclusive, overview of 802.11 can skip chapters 3 through 11, as they deal with the low level details of 802.11. He clearly states that just as it is quite possible to build a wired network without a thorough and detailed understanding of the protocols, the same is true for wireless networks. Nonetheless, there are a number of situations where one may need a deeper knowledge of the underpinnings of 802.11, and those underpinning are exhaustively detailed in chapters 3 through 11.

Chapters 3 and 4 address the MAC layer and 802.11 framing. Chapter 5 deals with the greatest weakness of 802.11 -- namely its lack of security. Chapter 5 clearly states the problems and inadequacies associated with 802.11 security and use of the WEP (Wired Equivalent Privacy) authentication protocol. However, despite all of the security weaknesses in 802.11, Gast never directly advises security conscious organizations to stay clear of 802.11. He does provide information on a possible successor to WEP, the Extensible Authentication Protocol (EAP).

WEP has numerous public security flaws. The first critical weakness was detailed in the now seminal paper, "Weaknesses in the Key Scheduling Algorithm of RC4." One of the paper's authors is Adi Shamir (Shamir is the S in RSA). Shamir's findings were considered somewhat of a death blow to WEP.

Chapter 8 deals with an unimplemented aspect of 802.11 -- the PCF (Point Coordination Function). Like PCF itself, much of chapters 3 through 11 are quite dry. The book includes relevant diversions into such topics as RF physics and issues such as the nonexistent microwave absorption peak of water.

Chapter 11 concludes the theory portion of the book, and chapters 12 and 13 deal with the very real issue of using 802.11 on Windows and Linux. Although most 802.11 installations are fairly straightforward, there are a number of specific configuration parameters that must be set correctly if the wireless network is to operate at peak efficiency.

Perhaps the most important chapter of the book is Chapter 15, "802.11 Network Deployment." As a security professional, I have seen many companies hastily deploy wireless technology, oblivious to the many wireless security weaknesses. The ease with which 802.11 can be deployed has allowed many organizations to overlook such critical issues as eavesdropping, scaling, radio interference, stability, and topology. Gast points out that proper deployment of a wireless LAN is a considerable undertaking, and that significant planning is required before one should even start thinking about the hardware.

Chapters 16 and 17 deal with network analysis and performance tuning. Gast describes what to look for when using a protocol analyzer on an 802.11 network and how to ensure its effective use. Chapter 16 includes three case studies using actual output from a sniffer. This chapter is quite valuable and also covers the use of AirSnort. AirSnort (http://airsnort.shmoo.com) is a wireless network tool used to recover WEP encryption keys. It works by passively monitoring network transmissions and then computing the WEP encryption key. AirSnort was one of the first publicly available tools to implement the attack described in the "Weaknesses in the Key Scheduling Algorithm of RC4" paper.

Overall, 802.11 Wireless Networks: The Definitive Guide is an excellent guide for any network administrator or architect who needs to understand the ins and outs of 802.11 networking. It has all the necessary information for design and deployment of wireless networks in an easy to read and enjoyable style.

Matt Reilly has written a very good action story but with a little restraint he could have written a great one. The action jumps off the page. The initial gunfight is among the best I have ever read and I read a ton, believe me. Many books are described as "un-put-downable" but so few of them really are. This one certainly is up to a point. I don't go searching for realism in my entertainment,be it book or movie form,but ICE STATION just gets to a point where you stop and say "What are you kidding me?!?! Reilly's hero is only missing the red cape to be Superman. The guy is so resilient it's laughable. Still, for all the criticism I'm throwing at it I must admit, ICE STATION was an incredibly fun read. It won't be the last Matt Reilly novel I'll read. Take this book to the beach with you.

Matthew Reilly's Ice Station is a full-on gas, as long as you are willing to enter it with the right attitude: namely, the same kind of willingness to sit back and enjoy the action that makes "Raiders of the Lost Ark" and old fashioned cliffhanger serials so much fun. You have to suspend disbelief, because many of the issues of realism, history, biology, and coincidence WILL otherwise undermine your enjoyment. Reilly has been compared to Crichton, but I think a better comparison are the scripts of George Lucas - both understand formula action, and while Reilly's style is still maturing, both also deliver the goods: two to three hours of full bore thrill ride. Crichton, on the other hand, is known for his intense research and science based style. This book "reads" very visually - clearly thoughts of screenplay were in the author's head. One thing that does set "Ice Station" above of the rest of the action pack, for me, was the lead character - Scarecrow. Reilly has created a unique, thinking-man lead that spares us most of the usual required macho B.S. that populates such novels. I think it promises well for future books, and look forward to reading more of the author's work. Bring it on! One final note: if you are a Marine, you're going to have some challenges here - it's the "Hollywood" USMC that is depicted, big-time, but take it in the spirit of admiration that is intended.

I've read hundreds of books defined as page-turners, but I never really appreciated the phrase before this one. This truly is an action-packed, non-stop thriller that truly invites you to stick around and see what happens next. Whatever the hour at night. I read it in four evenings (fast for me) and desparately wished it was twice its length.

I was impressed with how the characters were leaping from the frying pan to the fire, and surviving - every two pages. The excitement was terrific and relentless. The hero pulled a hidden rabbit out of the hat now and then, but the pure entertainment factor warrants the five star review and the pacing was set at one speed: full ahead !

Sure, there were some lines and words of dialogue that made me groan, but was the book fun ? Entertaining ? A page-turner ? Hell, yes !!!

I've got to buy his others now and add them to my collection. This thriller BEGS to be made into a movie, and you will enjoy it immensely.

Highly recommended.

Area 7 is a flat out, pedal to the floor action novel. And it works well if you don't think about the story.
Rielly brings back Shane Scholfield, from his earlier book Ice Station. This time out Scholfield and his team are guarding the President on a visit to a top secret military base.
Granted nobody really reads this kind of book for its literary merit, but a bomb attached to the President's heart? Come on!
But on the plus side, Rielly does a great job with the action scenes. Which is pretty much all the book is.
Reilly doesn't bother with character development either...

Capt. Shane Schofield is settled into his new assignment, after his Ice Station adventures, as head of the President's Marine Corp escort when the poopy hits the fan again...and the reader is pulled along into another rip roaring, action packed Reilly thriller.

Readers of Ice Station will be happy to see that Schofield is joined by Mother and Fox along with the almost return of Book. Together they must defend the President, the country and the world for that matter, from a renegade group of Air Force personnel. If the Prez's heart should stop beating it all goes to hell. Though out-numbered, out-gunned and taken almost completely by surprise, Scarecrow and his crew make a game of it. Reilly strength is in his descriptions of combat. There is a firefight that lasts about 70 pages. Taking place on several fronts and different levels you won't welcome interuptions. Sure Reilly's books break the laws of military strategy, physics, gravity and logic but so what. You pick up books like this to be entertained and if you aren't too much of a stickler for details you will be.

I admit it. I've read all three of Reilly's books. They are fast and fun. If you're willing to completely suspend your disbelief and just go along for the ride, they're a great time.

It seems that, in each novel, Reilly raises the stakes a bit. More daring escapes, more gunplay, more impossible situations. Possible spoiler ahead: This book includes improbable escapes from water, air, biohazards, and space. A few of these escapes were a little hard to swallow, even with the brain in auto-mode.

The books are written in near-screenplay style. The writing style would improve quite a bit if he would just stop using italics in every other sentence. We all know they're meant to show emphasis; but in an action novel, it's pretty obvious where the emphasis belongs. The italics get quite annoying after a while.

Reilly's books are not great literature. That's ok. He's not trying for great literature. He's going for your basic mindless action-movie book. Escapes, explosions, gun battles, winning against impossible odds. If you're looking for a fun read, try Reilly.

This is my third Matt Reilly novel, and it was exactly what I expected: fast-paced, lots of action, and little character development. While I enjoyed the pace and the in-your-face Sci-Fi storyline, I felt some of the story required a bit too much suspension of belief. Without giving anything away, I found it very difficult to imagine a learned man like the lead character simply taking HOW he got into the library in stride, and then just accepting his situation just as easily. If it weren't for this, I would have given the book 4 stars. Other than this issue, and a few other plot holes, CONTEST was a great way to spend two evenings. If you haven't read any of Reilly's work, then CONTEST is as good a place as any to begin to experience this young author.

I read 'Contest' after reading the explosive 'Temple'. Forgetting the opening author's explanation for the novel which might be seen as a potential apology should the reader not enjoy the pages within, Contest comes across as Running Man meets a Library.
The premise is simple, Dr Stephen Swain has been selected to participate in the Presidion - a thousand year ultimate Games in which the seven species in the Universe participate for the ultimate prize (though we're never told what it is). By sheer fortune for the author, the human race (though having participated twice previously through the centurion Aurelius and Sir Alfred Hayes of Palmerton in eleventh century england) is unaware of this contest (not too much of a disadvantage) but are forced to participate. So, the seven nominated warriors are teleported to Earth (the venue for the seventh Presidion) the New York State Library, to be exact, where they are sealed in with an electric field, have a bomb stapped to their wrist in case of accidental escape and are told to fight to the death.
Each contestant has a guide who is not allowed to participate, only to observe and advise. Swain's, Selexin, turns out to be extremely helpful whilst going through the 'humans are more complex that we originally thought' epiphany phase so favoured whenever authors introduce an alien into the mix. Swain's task is to be the last survivor and reach the teleport before the Karanadon beast catches him. To inspire him, the last two human contestants died first.
Several anomalities are thrown in. Namely, Swain's daughter, Holly, is transported in. The contestant Bellos cheats, by introducing his hunting 'hoods' to the battle, there are two New York policemen who are unlucky enough to be in the Library when it is sealed, Parker (who doesn't last long) and Hawkins and we get the introduction of a somewhat exaggerated US alien hunting agency who manage to get into the building only to get to add to the casualty list fairly quickly.
What follows is a claustrophobic hunt to the death around the State Library resulting in major destruction, fires, multiple near-death escapes (usually in the elevators) and a general 'human kicks alien backside'. All very screenplay. By the end, Swain has escaped the building, had a brief trip through the subway and got back in with a second to spare using his phone (very E.T). The Presidion is called off when it is realised that Bellos has cheated and we neatly wrap up with Selexin leaving via an illegal teleporter, the Karandon and various other alien contestants being vaporised in mini-nuclear explosions thus leaving our dishevelled human hero to climb out of the dusty rubble....
I must confess I found this novel marvellous. A simple premise yet fast-actioned, good enough characterisation, developed plot, it delivers everything the author promised. No more no less. It had no pretensions of grandeur but provided a constant barrage of thrilling action. You could probably pick holes in its accuracy but that's not what it's about.
If you like incredibly fast paced, plausibility-is-irrelevant, action novels, then this is for you.

As Matthew Reilly has explained, this book was intended to be a no holds barred action adventure. Its very nature is to entertain and no apologies are made for the outrageous escapes or impossibly feats of heroics. I think he has met his goal in no uncertain terms.

Dr Stephen Swain has been handed one of the most sought after and prestigious opportunities in the universe. He has been chosen to represent Earth in the Presidian, a game played against the other 6 inhabited worlds. What an honour! What an opportunity! There's only 1 catch, the game is actually a fight to the death. Seven participants enter a labyrinth but only one leaves. Oh yeah, and Earth's participants have all performed remarkably poorly in past events.

Swain is afforded an advantage albeit a small one. This Presidian will be fought on his home ground or, more specifically, inside the New York Public Library. But any advantage he may have begins and ends there. Apparently, because previous representatives from Earth who were chosen based on their warrior backgrounds have performed so badly, Swain's selection was based solely on his ability to think his way around problems. So he enters a deadly fight to the death armed with - his wits.

So the battle begins after a quick rundown of the rules and the action becomes frenetic. It's a frantic bid for survival against the odds that doesn't fail in it's number one objective - namely to provide edge of the seat thrills.

This book is directed at users of AppForge for VB6. AppForge is an excellent VB add-in that lets you quickly develop Palm apps in VB. You don't need a book to help you develop in App Forge.
AppForge is very weak, however, in the Conduit and installer areas since it offers no help unless you buy the Professional version for [price] which includes the Universal Conduit. Again, if you've got that, you don't need this book to develop the conduit.
Writing a Conduit on your own is tough and I was hoping this OReilly book would help. Sadly, all the relevant conduit info. from chapter 4 is available for free on the OReilly web site [URL]. Chapter 4 is poorly written and organized, has typos and errors and the sample code you download from the web site will not load or compile in VB6.
I was hoping the book had much more than the sample chapter I saw on the web site. I was disappointed. If you're looking for help with Palm Conduit development in VB6, look elsehwere.

Good book from two perspectives: if you use AppForge for Palm development then this is a complete (slightly dated) book, or if you use MS VB6 for conduits or Palm-flavored web applications with IIS. Almost everything in the book is backed up with running code.

As an aside, I am not sure if the previous reviewer actually read the book or tried to run the code. There are very few typos in the chapter mentioned (which is online) and I didn't see any errors. For me, the code worked fine; the book specifically mentions VB6 and service pack 3.

Collaboratively written by computer experts Matthew Holmes, Patrick Burton, and Roger Knoell, Programming Visual Basic for Palm OS is a solid and reliable programmer's guide to designing effective applications, transferring data to the PDA, building security through data encryption, and much more. Focusing especially on using AppForge to write programs, Visual Basic for Palm OS also covers SQL databases, Piedmont, and a great deal more. Step-by-step instructions, sample programs, excellent diagrams and comprehensible flowcharts make Programming Visual Basic for Palm OS a first-class reference and a highly recommended self-teaching tool.

William Race, a mild mannered linguistics professor, is called to duty by his country to decipher an ancient manuscript which holds the secret location of an Incan idol which could be the power source for a super weapon capable of actually destroying the earth and all life as we know it. What we have here is a strange concoction with elements of Indiana Jones, Dirk Pitt and healthy scoops of Jurassic Park and Sergeant Rock thrown in for good measure. The end result, while sometimes exhilarating and enjoyable, leaves a strange aftertaste with the reader. "Temple" can be classified as a "guilty pleasure"-- a tale we are a little hesitant to recommend, but one almost satisfying in spite of itself.

Matt Reilly has a real talent for writing action sequences. He has a way to go (give him a few more attempts, he's only twenty-six) before he can be grouped with the likes of Cussler and Du Brul, but the potential is there. And his enthusiasm for the story jumps from the page. I can't recall reading a novel in recent memory where the writer's exuberance reached out and grabbed you with such convincing energy. I am sure Reilly had a great time writing this book. But in the end (actually about half-way through), the miraculous escapes, the totally unbelievable plot-twists, and the inability of the reader to suspend the good ole disbelief, become expected and pedestrian. In this tale the only group on the face of the earth NOT building a Supernova weapon seems to be Boy Scout Troop 23 of Fresno, California. And I'm sure if "Temple" had gone on for a few more chapters those devilish youths would have appeared with evil in mind.

Reilly is a good writer, with a terrific imagination. If meant to be a satire on techno-thrillers, "Temple" would be a raging success. As it is, I do not believe the author's tongue was in cheek as he wrote passages where the professor's derring-do make Dirk Pitt seem like a bookish pantywaist in comparison.

"Temple" is a roller coaster ride of a novel, with action, turns and twists aplenty. But after a few initial thrills, the ride turns out to be kind of boring. Let's hope Matt Reilly applies his talents to developing a better plot, with less reliance on unbelievable, super-human escapades and narrow escapes, in his next effort. He has the potential.

OK so Matt Reilly isn't exactly Shakespeare but if you want a good read, with action, adventure, attention to technical detail (mostly...) and just generally good escapism then this is the book for you. Reilly keeps the pace fast and furious thoughout the novel and the characters and story are familiar if you have read Reilly's other book - Ice Station (which I suspect Dreck hasn't). Reilly has obviously read a lot of Tom Clancy, Clive Cussler and Frederick Forsyth and incorporates the key elements of their style of writing into his books. OK so he needs practise and refinement in doing this but for a 3rd novel this is a pretty good effort. At least he doesn't ramble on and on for hundreds of unnecessary pages like Tom Clancy's more recent efforts...

Matthew Reilly's second book, "Temple", is part Indiana Jones, part James Bond, part Clive Cussler hero, and part Tom Clancy hero. Other reviewers have deemed this a "fun" read and I whole-heartedly agree. The novel is not deep on character development, but that doesn't seem out of place here.

The novel hits the ground running with the massacre of monks at a monastery. The novel continues at a quick pace for the next 500 pages and never lets up. There are many twists and turns, surprises, double agents, etc. By then end, the reader wonders who is the more prominent villain in the grand scheme of things. Many mysteries abound ranging from creatures inside the temple, the history of the sought idol, why everyone wants the idol, etc.

Unfortunately, it's difficult to go into much detail as there are a number of surprises the reader must discover for himself/herself. If you're a fan of Clive Cussler, James Rollins, or Tom Clancy, this is a "must-read". While there is little to no character development, the non-stop (and sometimes very far-fetched) action will keep the reader enthralled for many hours.