|
Absolute Beginner's Guide to Networking (3rd Edition)
 |
Author: Joseph Habraken
List Price: $24.99
Our Price: Click to see the latest and low price
ISBN: 0789725452
Publisher: Que (13 June, 2001)
Edition: Paperback
Sales Rank: 81,116
Average Customer Rating: 2.54 out of 5
|
Customer ReviewsRating: 1 out of 5
Spend Your Money Elsewhere
Currently, I hold an MSCIS with emphasis in wide-area network (WAN) technology, and I was given the book as a gift nearly a year ago. About five days ago, I opened the book and began reading through the pages. I read the book from front to back, and I found many errors in the writing as well as difficult-to-grasp explanations that were not completely accurate. Additionally, Chapter 13 leaves the reader confused to say the least. Was the book intended to teach basic networking concepts or hypertext markup language (HTML) coding for beginners? In the same chapter, the reader is left wondering if he/she purchased a book on website design methods and techniques rather than networking. In my humble opinion, the book is not one that should be read by someone seriously interested in obtaining a higher degree in the field of networking as a subset of the information technology major of study. For one who knows nothing about information technology and recently purchased a computer, it might seem to be a wholesome read, but from my standpoint, I would preferred to have spent the time reading something a bit more substantial in both quality and content. Lastly, most end users rarely utilize the command shell, commonly referred to as the command prompt, to complete any task in the graphical user interface (GUI) environments of contemporary operating systems, so discussing ping and other such utilities does nothing to boost the learning curve of the beginner. If the book is given as a gift, then take my advice, donate it to the public library and ask for a tax deduction slip.
Rating: 1 out of 5
Very very poor checking
This book looked fine to me in the store but very shortly after I commenced to read it I discovered that it was obviously a rush job and very little care seems to have gone into checking it. Chapter two makes reference to material thats supposed to be in Chapter one but isnt while theres reference to stuff within Chapter two as being in chapter two (sorry it thats a bit complicated:) but it is obvious that this has just been cut and pasted in the revision from a later chapter. Given the poor quality of the checking it would make me lose confidence in the technical side of things. How can you trust a book where the poor quality of checking and proofreading is so obvious?
Rating: 4 out of 5
Good entry level material...
Review
I'm the type of developer who really doesn't know much about the networking side of things. I can follow instructions OK, but when you start talking about subnet masks and DHCP, you lose me quickly. While I don't want to become a networking engineer, I do want to understand a bit more about the technology. To that end, I read through this book. Good reading...The book starts with the basics of networks and protocols. From there, you will learn about the different types of networks (peer-to-peer and network operating systems), and how you can set up networking with three major NOS packages. With that basic foundation in place, the author branches out into how networking works with the Internet. Finally, the topic of network security is covered in order to be able to keep yourself safe. The material is a good mix of explanation and usable instructions. For example, if you are setting up Linux to work in a networked environment, you can use the information in this book to help you get it set up and running. There are a number of Tip and Note sidebars that add additional information (such as disk partitioning on Linux) that may not be exactly network related, but is important information to know within the context of networking. Each chapter ends with an "Absolute Minimum" section that recaps the chapter with a number of bullet points that were covered. Some people might find the cutesy graphics a bit too much. But remember, this is a beginner's book, not a comprehensive "how to" for running your network. Conclusion
If you are looking for an understandable introduction to networking that doesn't assume you want to become a certified networking engineer, this book will work well for you.
Similar Products
· Practical Microsoft Windows 2000 Server (Practical)
· The Essential Guide to Computing: The Story of Information Technology
· Database Design for Mere Mortals: A Hands-On Guide to Relational Database Design, Second Edition
· Sams Teach Yourself SQL in 24 Hours (3rd Edition)
|
