Useful Books and Software

New Price: $9.99 / Used Price: n.a.

And you can find many of those answers right here in "Perl Hacks," Like all books in O'Reilly's Hacks Series, "Perl Hacks" appeals to a variety of programmers, whether you're an experienced developer or a dabbler who simply enjoys exploring technology. Each hack is a short lesson--some are practical exercises that teach you essential skills, while others merely illustrate some of the fun things that Perl can do. Most hacks have two parts: a direct answer to the immediate problem you need to solve right now and a deeper, subtler technique that you can adapt to other situations. Learn how to add CPAN shortcuts to the Firefox web browser, read files backwards, write graphical games in Perl, and much more.

For your convenience, "Perl Hacks" is divided by topic--not according to any sense of relative difficulty--so you can skip around and stop at any hack you like. Chapters include: Productivity Hacks User Interaction Data Munging Working with Modules Object Hacks Debugging

Whether you're a newcomer or an expert, you'll find great value in "Perl Hacks," the only Perl guide that offers something useful and fun for everyone.

Publisher: O'Reilly Media, Inc.
Authors: chromatic, Damian Conway, Curtis "Ovid" Poe
Release Date: 2006-05-08
ISBN/EAN: 0596526741 / 9780596526740

New Price: $10.00 / Used Price: $9.99

Pro PHP XML and Web Services is the authoritative guide to using the XML features of PHP 5 and PHP 6. No other book covers XML and Web Services in PHP as deeply as this title. The first four chapters introduce the core concepts of XML required for proficiency, and will bring you up to speed on the terminology and key concepts you need to proceed with the rest of the book. Next, the book explores utilizing XML and Web Services with PHP5. Topics include DOM, SimpleXML, SAX, xmlReader, XSLT, RDF, RSS, WDDX, XML-RPC, REST, SOAP, and UDDI.

Author Robert Richards, a major contributor to the PHP XML codebase, is a leading expert in the PHP community. In this book, Richards covers all topics in depth, blending theory with practical examples. Youll find case studies for the most popular web services like Amazon, Google, eBay, and Yahoo. The book also covers XML capabilities, demonstrated through informative examples, in the PEAR libraries.

New Price: n.a. / Used Price: $74.72

New Price: $11.84 / Used Price: $11.90

Form processing is addressed early on, followed by searching and sorting techniques, illustrations of how to use server-side includes (SSI), and other critical issues. There's also a chapter on using MySQL--an open-source SQL database. In general, if you want to get the most out of this book, you'll be better off having some programming experience, be it in BASIC or C++.

The only element missing from this introductory course is an appendix containing Perl's reserved characters, operators, and functions; instead, this material is presented throughout the book. But CGI Programming 101 is still one of the most efficient ways to get up to speed with Perl CGI. --Stephen W. Plain

Topics covered: Perl variables, CGI environment variables, form processing, data file I/O, searching/sorting, server-side includes (SSI), random number generation, strings, date and time manipulation, HTTP cookies, e-mail processing, securing scripts, Perl modules, database programming, and custom Perl modules.

If you build web pages you may eventually want to add a guestbook, order form, page counter, or other interactive elements to your website. CGI Programming 101 explains how to do this in simple, easy-to-understand terms. The book shows you how to write useful, real-world web programs, starting with simple guestbook forms and building up to more advanced applications.

You'll learn:

* The Basics: where to write your CGI programs; how to upload them and set file permissions; how to run them, and how to debug them when things go wrong

* How to decode form data and save it to a file or e-mail it to yourself

* How to create, read, write, and search data files

* How to use Server-Side Includes to add dynamic content to your web site, plus a complete list of Apache SSI directives

* How to use random numbers for displaying banner ads and random images

* How to redirect visitors to another site

* How to extend your programs by using modules

* How to create a MySQL database, and write programs that interact with databases using the DBI module

* How to build an online shopping cart program

* How to e-mail attachments using a CGI program

* How to write secure programs, and protect your programs against hackers and spammers

* How to password-protect an area of your website

...and more.

The second edition has been substantially revised, with 100 pages of new material. It teaches good programming practices from the beginning, including use of the industry-standard CGI.pm Perl module. You'll learn how to protect your form-to-mail programs from being hijacked by spammers, how to build a cookie-based shopping cart, and how to develop a password-protected website. Quick-reference pages and an improved index help you find information easily.

There are also several online tutorials to help you set up your own web server and write CGI programs on any computer system - including Windows, Mac OS X, and Unix.

Publisher: CGI101.com
Author: Jacqueline D. Hamilton
Release Date: 2004-03-01
ISBN/EAN: 0966942612 / 9780966942613

New Price: $29.95 / Used Price: $25.00

mod_perl is a unique piece of software that wholly integrates the power of Perl with the flexibility and stability of the Apache Web server. With mod_perl, developers can harness the power of the full Apache API and develop Web applications quickly and without sacrificing performance.

The mod_perl Developer's Cookbook teaches programming with the mod_perl API by example. The book takes developers from the basics of mod_perl to the development advanced Web applications. Developers will learn tricks, solutions, and mod_perl idioms gleaned from the authors' experience as developers and expert users of mod_perl.

Geoffrey Young is a frequent contributor to the mod_perl community and has written scores of mod_perl handlers, the most useful of which can be found on CPAN.

Paul Lindner manages, designs, and implements mod_perl applications at Critical Path. He is a long-time Internet and open-source developer, and was one of the founders of the Internet Gopher at the University of Minnesota.

Randy Kobes is a professor of physics at the University of Winnipeg who conducts research on chaos and fractals. He used mod_perl to establish a search engine for CPAN.

New Price: $19.99 / Used Price: $17.85

Each new Rails application showing up on the web adds yet more to the collective wisdom of the Rails development community. Yesterday's best practices yield to today's latest and greatest techniques, as the state of the art is continually refined in kitchens all across the Internet. Indeed, these are times of great progress.

At the same time, it's easy to get left behind in the wake of progress. Advanced Rails Recipes keeps you on the cutting edge of Rails development and, more importantly, continues to turn this fast-paced framework to your advantage.

Advanced Rails Recipes is filled with pragmatic recipes you'll use on every Rails project. And by taking the code in these recipes and slipping it into your application you'll not only deliver your application quicker, you'll do so with the confidence that it's done right.

The current beta includes contributions from Aaron Batalion, Adam Keys, Adam Wiggins, Andre Lewis, Andrew Kappen, Benjamin Curtis, Ben Smith, Chris Bernard, Chris Haupt, Chris Wanstrath, Cody Fauser, Dan Benjamin, Dan Manges, Daniel Fischer, David Bock, David Chelimsky, David Heinemeier Hansson, Erik Hatcher, Ezra Zygmuntowicz, Geoffrey Grosenbach, Giles Bowkett, Greg Hansen, Gregg Pollack, Hemant Kumar, Hugh Bien, Jamie Orchard-Hays, Jamis Buck, Jared Haworth, Jarkko Laine, Jason LaPier, Jay Fields, John Dewey, Jonathan Dahl, Josep Blanquer, Josh Stephenson, Josh Susser, Kevin Clark, Luke Francl, Mark Bates, Marty Haught, Matthew Bass, Michael Slater, Mike Clark, Mike Hagedorn, Mike Mangino, Mike Naberezny, Mike Subelsky, Nathaniel Talbott, PJ Hyett, Patrick Reagan, Peter Marklund, Pierre-Alexandre Meyer, Rick Olson, Ryan Bates, Scott Barron, Tony Primerano, Val Aleksenko, and Warren Konkel.

Publisher: Pragmatic Bookshelf
Author: Mike Clark
Release Date: 2008-05-15
ISBN/EAN: 0978739221 / 9780978739225

New Price: $20.65 / Used Price: $20.89

New Price: $10.15 / Used Price: $10.32

This book should also prove useful to programmers interested in integrating their products with Active Directory. Fellinge takes care to document his scripts in detail--he does not commit the popular sin of presenting the user with giant, unexplained code listings--and it's usually easy to figure out why he's designed his code as he as. Combined with a reference that details JScript for WSH, this book will prove especially valuable. --David Wall

Topics covered: How to use JScript and the Windows Script Host (WSH) to write time-saving administrative scripts for Microsoft Windows 2000, Windows Server 2003, and (to a far lesser extent) Windows NT.

The IT Administrator's Top 10 Introductory Scripts for Windows helps administrators learn, and quickly implement, new scripting tools to increase productivity and reduce redundancy. It teaches readers scripting basics by explaining and breaking down real-world examples, and focuses on harnessing scripting power for IT systems administrators and systems engineers. The book is built around 10 fully-functional scripts that will help IT administrators manage their environment right "out of the box." Administrators also learn the strategies and tactics surrounding the development and implementation of these real-world scripts. Additionally, the chapters cover hypothetical, real-world business needs and explain how to map a script-based solution, including a discussion of the preferred language, tools, and technologies.

Publisher: Charles River Media
Author: Jeff Fellinge
Release Date: 2004-01-13
ISBN/EAN: 1584502126 / 9781584502128

New Price: $6.19 / Used Price: $0.87

New Price: $20.00 / Used Price: $17.56