Books for/about - Broadband

Publisher: SitePoint
Authors: Matthew Eernisse

ISBN: 0975841947
List Price: $39.95
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Summary: Nice walkthrough, but a little too shallow
I like the writing in this book. The author definitely knows his stuff. The design of the book is a set of case studies that show how AJAX is used in various applications. And through those examples you learn not just AJAX but also the DOM and CSS.

My only gripe with the book is that it didn't go far enough. It's deep enough to get your toe wet. But when you want to get deeper you will need to get other books like the excellent "Dynamic HTML" book from O'Reilly.

Summary: Great Ajax book
The craze of Ajax has publishers rushing their own Ajax books to market to get a piece of the Ajax pie so to speak. This book sets itself apart from the other Ajax books for one reason...Clear, concise explanations with no confusing terminology! The author uses code snippets, browser results snapshots, and nice white space to allow the reader to digest what the author is talking about without getting overloading with techno-babble.

In my opinion, the most important part in learning Ajax is not the fancy DOM effects or the server-side coding to pull the data; it is understanding how you need to use the XMLHttpRequest object in sending and receiving requests from the server. The way we program our web applications to send and receive data from the server has changed with Ajax and this book shows the reader in gradual steps how to utilize the Ajax pieces in creating some useful editions to your website.

This book assumes you have knowledge of CSS and JavaScript, but that's it. You don't have to be a guru in either, just have a good basic understanding of each. The rest will be supplied by the author's code examples. Actually reading this book and learning Ajax will help you create better accessible website (even if you don't use Ajax), because it focuses on using technologies where they can degrade nicely if the user of the site does not have the most up-to-date browser or is using a screen reader which would definitely hinder on the web experience.

The most important chapter(s) in my opinion are Chapters 2, 3 and 4 where the author explains in great detail the XMLHttpRequest object and how is it is used to send a request asynchronously in getting requests from the server. I really like (as mentioned before) how the author stresses graceful degradation in case the object is not supported in the user's browser. Most of the other books that I have read through on Ajax do not even mention this and is a vital part in creating accessible web sites. Chapter 3 continues the theme on understanding the basics of asynchronous server requests with some useful examples that can be used right away in most websites. IE issues on memory leaks (hopefully eliminated with IE7), CSS and JavaScript differences are also discussed. Of course most other books slip other these simple things that can cause you hours of debugging and research on your part. Chapter 4 is the meat and potatoes of using GET and POST and how different salutations would lead you to using either one. Some nice useful, "real-world" examples are show and I have already incorporated one of these already. The author shows you how to incorporate Ajax in a simple login page to make it look more professional. Another topic in this chapter that I have never seen in another Ajax book is how Ajax is can be used with screen readers and has information on how to test it for (JAWS, IBM Home Page, Windows-Eyes, and Hal). That is another great addition that should be in every Ajax book (and actually most other web design and development books). I never knew how to test my web pages in screen readers until I read this chapter on it. Great Job!

The rest of the book focuses on incorporating different web services, how to not loose the Back button, and creating some fancy DOM-based effects with Ajax.

This should be your first book you get on Ajax (maybe not your last --- unless the author writes another book), and hopefully you will become a better web designer/developer because of it, I know I have.

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OFDM and MC-CDMA for Broadband Multi-User Communications, WLANs and Broadcasting

Publisher: Wiley-IEEE Press
Authors: Lajos Hanzo M. M�nster B.J. Choi Thomas Keller

ISBN: 0470858796
List Price: $200.00
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Summary: A bible for OFDM/MC-CDMA and Multiuser Detection
This is an excellent reference for studying OFDM, MC-CDMA and multiuser detection techniques with detailed explanations and analyses.

Summary: Most Informative Textbook on The OFDM Systems!!!!!
Dr. Hanzo is one of greatest experts in the wireless communications. He wrote many technical papers and textbooks in this field. This OFDM textbook provides an excellent overview for wireless communication scholars and engineers. In every aspect of OFDM research, the authors always have illustrative introduction.

This book is excellent for university professors and graduate students to explore the state-of-the-art OFDM technology.

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	MPLS Configuration on Cisco IOS Software Publisher: Cisco Press Authors: Umesh Lakshman Lancy Lobo
ISBN: 1587051990 List Price: $75.00 Amazon Price: $64.53 Usually ships in 24 hours Buy this book from amazon.com or from amazon.co.uk	Avg Cusomer Rating: Reviews: Summary:

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Fixed Broadband Wireless System Design

Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
Authors: Harry R. Anderson

ISBN: 0470844388
List Price: $135.00
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Summary: Comprehensive, new engineering material
As well as being a good overall book covering many traditional wireless topics, this book also offers detailed information on several subjects like propagation databases (terrain, buildings, etc), traffic loading models for cell sectors and spectrum utlization that are not found in any other books I've seen on wireless engineering. Other books I have on propagation modeling (like Rappaport's or Bertoni's) don't treat the subject of database construction and potential errors. This book also brings together traditional microwave link design (rain fades,etc.) with design of multipoint systems using new CDMA and OFDM technologies - again, not found together in other books. Even the stuff of WiFi is useful, but I would have liked more included on this subject. Highly recommended if you're involved in fixed wireless design.

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Designing Storage Area Networks: A Practical Reference for Implementing Fibre Channel and IP SANs, Second Edition

Publisher: Addison-Wesley Professional
Authors: Tom Clark

ISBN: 0321136500
List Price: $54.99
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Summary: Understand technology behind without reading T11 standards
This book is quite dry, no question about that, but not as dry as the standards published by organizations in charge with Fibre Channel standards. Yet, as a SAN designer or SAN administrator you can find in it all the information you need to understand the inner details of a Loop Insertion Primitive or how an Alternate buffer-to-buffer credit model works. Compared with other books on the subject is remarcably error free and I was nicely impressed by Mr. Clark's considerations upon what should be the customer' role in steering vendors in developing products that are more open and interoperate better.

Summary: Very detailed description of SAN technology
This was a very good overview of the many varied components and technologies that make up a storage area network. It goes into a lot of detail about things like standards, protocols, speeds, etc. If you want to understand the differences between iSCSI and FCIP, for example, this is the book for you. The word "Reference" in the subtitle is accurate. It's not a guide on how to administer a SAN day-to-day in the real-world; it's about the concepts and details of what a SAN really is. The writing style is a little dry, but I didn't expect it to be a page-turner. My only disappointment was when I realized that over 1/4 of the book is devoted to appendices, glossary and index instead of written content.

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	VoIP Hacks: Tips & Tools for Internet Telephony (Hacks) Publisher: O'Reilly Media Authors: Ted Wallingford
ISBN: 0596101333 List Price: $29.95 Amazon Price: $19.77 Usually ships in 24 hours Buy this book from amazon.com or from amazon.co.uk	Avg Cusomer Rating: 4 Reviews: Summary: VOIP : for the serious home user or enterprise deployment Voice over IP, as with most emerging technologies, in the process of shaking up the world, in this case Public Switched Telephone Network and Plain Old Telephony Service. The author starts of the book off at the most basic entry point for most consumers into the world of VoIP, which is background about the main commerical carriers such as Vonage. The introductary chapters continue to build on the most elementary approach, giving the reader advice on modifying the soft phone[s] that the respective carriers will allow or provide to the consumers, such as alternating ring tones. It isn't long before Ted is explaining how to compeletly re-wire the house over to a pure VoIP infastructure using the existing wiring in your home as well as an, or the ATA provided by the carrier. While this is undoubtly over the casual readers head and possibly comfort level it is good see that this option is explored and explained for those that might not be aware of this solution. Of course, other VoIP solutions are explored. Skype, is mentioned and basic features are explored, although the detail provided on Skype is not as detailed as those of other solutions, which maybe due to the coverage for Skype under the Skype Hacks book. However, the coverage for building your own VoIP via Asterisk is quite detailed and in-depth. Options that explored for this approach, are call forwarding, hold music, voice mail applications and distinctive ring as well as basic advice on setting up and compiling the application. The process appears to be able to easy to implement, but alas was not tried due to this reviewers use of Skype for his VoIP needs. Also in the closing chapters of the book, issues of improving QoS are addressed as is the legacy signalling protocol that H.323 is since the adoption of SIP. Since QoS is vital to ensuring that VoIP traffic receives the bandwidth that it needs Ted gives us some basic commands to find out if there is jitter [dropped datagrams] and some ways to fix this issue. However, it should be noted that this chapter, as with most of the later half of the book is more in line for larger scale operations that use Linux/Unix and building their own office VoIP solutions. To summarize, VoIP hacks does offer something for everyone, although the hacks provided in the latter chapters are geared to the enterprise level deployment of VoIP. That's not to say that the information is not relevant or even eye opening, just the average home user will find little to apply this to. Summary: VERY VERY HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!! Do you love to tinker and optimize? If you do, then this book is for you! Author Ted Wallingford, has done an outstanding job of writing a book that contains only a small subset of VoIP knowledge; but, enough to serve as an introduction to the world of VoIP and teach you how to use it to save money, be more productive, or just impress your friends. Wallingford, begins by introducing you to some Internet based VoIP phone service providers who can help you replace your traditional phone line with a cost-saving, feature-rich VoIP line. Then, the author shows you how to customize and maximize productivity-enhancing telephony applications. He also introduces you to Skype and Skyping. Next, the author shows you how to install, configure, and hack Asterisk, an open source PBX. Then, he continues by showing you how to add hardware hacks to your VoIP setup--and how to customize them. The author also explains how you can monitor VoIP and troubleshoot it using traditional admin tools. Finally, the author shows you how to use hard-core voice. In this most excellent practical guide, the author provides dozens of hands-on projects for building a VoIP network. More importantly, he shows you how to tweak and customize hardware and software to get the job done. Summary: Both fun and informative I enjoyed reading this book. It's got great information on the different VoIP services and how they work. And it has a bunch of fun recipes that you can use to play with the services. I really enjoyed the one about altering your voice. As well as the information on how to record iChat and Skype. That is really handy. Summary:

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ATM Theory and Applications

Publisher: McGraw-Hill Companies
Authors: David E. McDysan Darren L. Spohn

ISBN: 0070453462
List Price: $69.99
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Summary: Definitive reference on ATM
This book is packed with everything. It is the definitive reference on ATM. If you just want an overview, the book is not for you. If you want to understand ATM in depth, this is it. It is valuable not only for network engineers, but also for product engineers designing new equipment or software. However, McDysan has also come out with a new book titled ATM & MPLS Theory and Application. Unless you are certain you will never need to know about MPLS, I would suggest getting the newer book. I haven't had a chance to read that one yet, but I would expect it is the excellent equivalent of this book with additional coverage of MPLS.

Summary: What a great book!
If you work with ATM or need to design networks for ATM, you need to have this book on your shelf. It is the argument-settler and really the best reference on ATM available (that can be understood). Matter of fact, I would go as far to say that this is the only ATM book worth buying.

Summary: Tedious, pompous...but good on certain select topics
I turned to this book to understand how the various ATM functions work. I had quite a bit of both practical and conceptual networking background prior to opening this book. As such, I've read quite a number of good and bad technical books on various networking topics.

If you'd rather not read the rest of this review here's the gist. Don't buy this book. Instead, buy Oliver C. Ibe's 'Essentials of ATM Networks and Services'. After you've mastered that, use Mark Miller's 'Analyzing Broadband Networks' to see how ATM Layer PDUs are put together and exchanged in various situations like call setup/teardown etc.

Here's the rest of the review.

Within minutes of reading, I got that old My-Head-Is-Swimming feeling. Not because I couldn't understand what the authors were saying, but more so because I couldn't figure out why on earth I was reading stuff that was irrelevant. Here are a few cases in point:

Every ATM book I've thumbed through religiously talks about the B-ISDN model. And when it starts explaining how something in ATM acutally works (say SSCOP), there is no reference to any of the terms that were introduced and defined in talking about the B-ISDN model. Why talk about the model at all then? This book is no exception.

The vast number of initial pages (285 in fact!) dedicated to talking about things like X.25, FR, multiplexing schemes etc. are useless. If you don't know this stuff, you have no business reading a book dedicated to ATM. And if you're just learning this stuff, there's no way you're going to really understand ATM. And of course, these authors couldn't resist the whole 'business drivers for ATM' nonsense.

The only redeeeming part about the book was Chapter 25 on Traffic Engineering. Just goes to show what technical authors can do when they're talking about stuff they know really really well. This is also the chapter where the authors use language relatively more precisely and concisely - a rare blessing in this overall tedious and pompous book.

Someone ask these guys to check out (...)!

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Compact and Broadband Microstrip Antennas

Publisher: Wiley-Interscience
Authors: Kin-Lu Wong

ISBN: 0471417173
List Price: $110.00
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Summary: Great book, very useful
The book is very practical. Design examples are detailed and well explained.

Summary: Valuable collection of patch antennas
This book is a collection of patch antennas for different kinds of applications. It is mainly based on the research of the author's research group. In my opinion it is a very valuable first source for antenna designers looking for a patch antenna toplogy to start their design. I have used some of these designs as a starting point for my own designs. It is too bad these 'collection books' aren't frequently published.

Summary: A zoology of Patch Antennas
Not bad if you are just looking for a large collection of different types of patch antennas at a set frequency. This is a book for someone wanting to see what exists with references. It is not a book for those that want equations for the design of these antennas. You will need to find the reference and go find the design equations. The antennas size and performance info is realized for a set frequency.

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