Amazon's Best Computer Books of 2004

theodp writes "Amazon.com's Editors have announced their selections for the Best Books of 2004 in the Computers and Internet category. Their favorite book of the year? Excel Hacks, which edged out Head First Servlets & JSP (#3), a Grand Theft Auto Strategy Guide (#5) and The Data Warehouse ETL Toolkit (#8). Can Slashdot readers offer some more inspired choices?"

That wardriving book

[Spy Handler]

that wardriving book by that Russian dude.... I wanna get that.

Re:That wardriving book

[mordors9]

After you get done with that one, perhaps Hacking for Dummies, another soon to be timeless classic. :-)

"Write Great Code: Understanding the Machine"

[strider5]

"Write Great Code: Understanding the Machine"

Unbelievably interesting book. the premise being that the current generation of coders is among the first who were not *required* to learn Assembly Language, thus do not truly understand what is going on under the hood. Because of this, they are unable to create "great" code in high-level languages because they simply don't understand the inherent costs of various routines.

One of the secondary premises focuses on the fact that, while hardware power is advancing at Moore's Law pace, software is requiring more power at nearly the same rate, many times for no reason other than the developer(s) not knowing how to write truly efficient code.

Re:"Write Great Code: Understanding the Machine"

[Kadoo]

I agree with both of those comments but assembly was a required course in my computer science degree. I believe it's still a part of the computer science program. That class is used to weed people most likely. It was easy to tell who was in Computer Science to learn and who was there for the money.

Re:"Write Great Code: Understanding the Machine"

[Welpa]

I'm not sure that knowing assembly helps you to write good code -- at least that's what my friends who are reasearchers in compiler optimisation tell me.

Compilers these days are pretty smart. In fact, it seems like they do a better job on optimising code than people think. For example, I remember that the profs at uni used to teach us that binary shifting by one to the left was **way** more efficient than simply multiplying by 2. Indeed, this was true in 1997 (when I was an undergrad). However, with the cu

Best computer book of the year - 1979

[Realistic_Dragon]

Valves - why they are better than transistors.
Transistors - why they are better than valves.
The Transputer - computing the future in paralell.
Pong - strategy guide.

And the number one computing book of 1979.

Miss DEC - the pagent.

Re:Best computer book of the year - 1979

[Jorkapp]

Best magazines of 1979:

* Circuit diagrams - Schematics that leave nothing to the imagination! (With included 3 page fold out)

* Computing Enthusiast - How to build a computer with only $165,348! Step by step guide included.

* Electronics and more - The latest Gaming machine - now with a CRT display! Wow! (Included Tic-Tac-Toe Punch-card game)

Re:Best computer book of the year - 1979

[igny]

Mod the parent as insightful! In 2029 people will likely ridicule this list of the best computer books.

Re:Best computer book of the year - 1979

[Quixote]

The Transputer - computing the future in paralell.

I don't think Transputers were around in 1979. The first announcement was in 1983 [wikipedia.org].

You probably mean this title instead:
The 8086: Supercomputer in a box!

Best computer book of 1987

[hockpatooie]

Compute!'s third book of Commodore 64 Games.

Type in hex code like mad!
Actually, this is the best computer book *ever*.

I've got one for you.

[Anonymous Coward]

It's called "Hide The Fact You're On AOL By Using A Free Webmail Service." I just wrote it.

PHP

[Fuzzie Viking]

Doesn't stand against the classics, but since this is for this year only... PHP 5 Power Programming [amazon.com]

Eigenpolls

[AeiwiMaster]

Alternative to Amazon I have some computer related eigenpolls.

Agile Software Development Books [all-technology.com]
Best Practices for Software Development [all-technology.com]
Favorit websites [all-technology.com]
Spam Fighting Software [all-technology.com]

other books related eigenpoll are:

Alternative Science Books [all-technology.com]
Real Estate Investment books [all-technology.com]
Books on Accelerated Learning Techniques [all-technology.com]
Books for Automatic Trading Systems [slashdot.org]

Re:Eigenpolls

[PornMaster]

eigenpolls [all-technology.com] a way to gather knowledge from a crowed.

From a crowed what?

Re:Eigenpolls

[AeiwiMaster]

ups, the last link should be
Books for Automatic Trading Systems [all-technology.com]

How did they choose?

[Nos.]

I flipped through a bit and couldn't find what criteria they used to decide which were the best books. Out of the top 10 only 2 have any customer reviews. Is this a bestseller list, or just which publisher(s) paid the most to be on it?

Re:How did they choose?

[mwood]

Probably by running a quick query:

SELECT quantityonhand FROM booksinwarehouse SORTED BY quantityonhand DESCENDING

and taking the first ten rows.

(Yes, I typed that off the top of my head, and I don't wallow in SQL 8x5 every week.)

Re:How did they choose?

[wwwojtek]

(Yes, I typed that off the top of my head, and I don't wallow in SQL 8x5 every week.)

Sure you don't. I ran your query and here is what I got
1032423
323234
323321
34422
32425
23443
23323
23421
10008
8777
not very interesting, isn't it?

Re:How did they choose?

[supergiovane]

1032423
323234
323321
34422
32425
23443
23323
23421
10008
8777

Hey, I knew you geeks are strange guys, but I would have never thought you could read books with such weird titles!

Actually it is interesting

[scovetta]

1032423
323234
323321
34422
32425
23443
2332 3 <--- they need a new
23421 <--- database engine
10008
8777

Re:How did they choose?

[minus_273]

nah it should be :
select top 10 name, sold from books order by sold :-p

Re:How did they choose?

[isometrick]

"select top"?! That's not ANSI-compliant, you insensitive clod!

Re:How did they choose?

[mobiGeek]

I think you missed your parent-post's point..."quantityonhand", not "sold". As in "what do we want to unload to the holiday-season-buying-masses?"

The only thing I could think of adding would be:

OUTPUT TO 'http://slashdot.org/submit.pl' FORMAT HTML_FORM

(though ASA [ianywhere.com] doesn't support URLs for its output location ... yet).

LIMIT

[ylikone]

You need to add "LIMIT 10" to the end of your sql statement.

Re:How did they choose?

[Stiletto]

More like:

SELECT bookname FROM booksinwarehouse SORTED BY howmuchdidthepublisherpayusinkickbacks DESCENDING

Re:How did they choose?

[zx75]

Obviously, because why would you be selecting the quantity on hand if you're sorting by it? Its just used as a criteria. You'd want something more along the lines of:

SELECT product.ISBN_number, product_description.title, product_description.author FROM product, product_description WHERE product.product_id = product_description.product_id ORDER BY product.quantityonhand DESCENDING;

Re:How did they choose?

[zx75]

Sorry, I was thinking multilingual descriptions for a minute there. But I guess books do have different numbers for different languages.

But still, you could have multiple language descriptions for a book written in English, but I'd have to add a specification for which description I wanted to retrieve.

Re:How did they choose?

[redivider]

SELECT nerds FROM slashdot_comments WHERE takes_a_joke='way too seriously'

Re:How did they choose?

[dgw1]

Amazon has staff members who review on the site. Their reviews show up under the "Editorial Reviews" section before you get to the customer reviews. My guess would be that this list is put together by the people who write the Editorial Reviews for this category.

Re:How did they choose?

[Smallpond]

Customer reviews should only be allowed for people who bought the book. They should call the reviews on Amazon: Reviews by people who have an interest in selling more of this book since some of them are clearly marketing fluff. You can tell because the positive comments are spellchecked.

Re:How did they choose?

[Phoe6]

Too many books in the stock. They just want them to sell them out.

Oh christ..

[Anonymous Coward]

Those are barely "Computer Books" Those are more acuratly described as "Books for idiots with an attention span of 5 seconds flat"

I was expecting to see real books on that list. Things like C Unleashed perhaps. Not that cornicopia of crap.

Re:Oh christ..

[mr_z_beeblebrox]

Those are barely "Computer Books" Those are more acuratly

I missed the second half of your post. Theres a lot going on here with all the... ooh shiny

Re:Oh christ..

[0racle]

Welcome to now. What differenciates now from then is administers and programmers don't actually know what they're doing, everything is done via a wizard. As such, people are only interested in games, quick little things, and pretty pictures of how to use the wizards. New admins and programmers are just glorified users.

Best computer book ever

[91degrees]

They didn't mention The story about ping [amazon.com] Clearly the best introduction to this network test tool.

Just look at the reviews, especially the one from John E. Fracisco.

Cover art

[base_chakra]

The Story About Ping [amazon.com]

Hmm, looks like O'Reilly used a different cover artist for that one.

Re:Best computer book ever

[alptraum]

Oh dear, slashdot will serious disrupt the Amazon review system, for the Fracisco comment mentioned above:

6963 of 7162 people found the following review helpful.

Re:Best computer book ever

[slaker]

Sometime, when you have a moment, take a look at Amazon.com customer reviews for "Family Circus" cartoon collections.

One objection

[gowen]

If you're including "Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas Official Strategy Guide" as a computing book, "101 Tips for Winning At Monopoly" in the list for Business/Management.

Games are cool, but they're not computing.

Simplebits

[ViceClown]

Web Standards Solutions: The Markup and Style Handbook [amazon.com]by Dan Cederholm [simplebits.com] Great book about designing web sites using proper xhtml and web standards. Great examples and practicle recipes!

Particle Physics

[JamesD_UK]

The practicle? Is this the elementry particle that makes some of us experts at DIY whilst others struggle to tell the differrence between screw drivers and hammers?

Re:Particle Physics

[ViceClown]

Wups :-)

"practical"

Good one, though. Gave me a chuckle.

Cheers :-)

Game Strategy Guide Makes the Top Ten?

[WolfPup]

I find it disturbing that #5 was the GTA: San Andreas strategy guide. Is the selection of computer and internet books so meager, that a strategy guide makes the top ten. I think that choice really shows the lack of serious consideration on this list. I can understand that Amazon is trying to appeal to a large audience and not the computer power user, but there are better choices even for the casual user other game strategy guides.

Re:Game Strategy Guide Makes the Top Ten?

[Eric Giguere]

Different mindset. We see "Computers and Internet" and think "programming", others see "Computers and Internet" and see "games, browsing, and chatting". "Computers and Internet" is now a very broad category.

Eric

Usability

[RAMMS+EIN]

Probably they felt that GNUCash is so easy you don't need a book with it, whereas Excel is such a beast you absolutely need a manual.

Re:Usability

[DogDude]

Probably they felt that GNUCash is so easy you don't need a book with it, whereas Excel is such a beast you absolutely need a manual.

Not that the two programs are at all related, but there can't be more than a few hundred active users of GnuCash, and even if every one of those people bought a book, it still wouldn't end up anywhere near Amazon's Top 10.

Programming Ruby

[Anonymous Coward]

Programming Ruby [rubycentral.com] by by Dave Thomas, Chad Fowler, Andy Hunt

Re:Programming Ruby

[jarich]

Second edition was released this year...

http://pragmaticprogrammer.com/titles/ruby/index.h tml [pragmaticprogrammer.com]

Consumer books are hot

[Eric Giguere]

More proof that consumer-oriented books are gaining traction, now that computers and related technologies are in the mainstream. Much bigger potential audience. A lot of developer info is available for free these days, too, which makes a developer-oriented book a harder sell. It will be interesting to see what the bestsellers are in the next few years.

Of course, there will always be developer-oriented material, especially innovative series like "Head First" that buck convention. (You either love or hate that series.)

Eric
Palm Database Programming: The Free Electronic Version [ericgiguere.com]

Re:Consumer books are hot

[Timesprout]

Jesus what planet have you been living on. Consumer orientated books have always been 'hot'. Why do you think there are million books in the stores on do xxx with excel, access, word, photoshop. Have you never heard of the XXX for dummies series?

Re:Consumer books are hot

[Eric Giguere]

My point was that these kinds of books are increasing significantly in popularity, and they're going beyond simple "intro to technology" type books. I expect that at some point "programming" books will be a small subset of the larger "computer book" category. Maybe they won't even be called "computer books" anymore.

Eric

Any of the Orielly "Hacks" books are cool

[ylikone]

I own the following, and I find them great:

Linux Server Hacks [amazon.com], Knoppix Hacks [amazon.com], and Network Security Hacks [amazon.com].

Also the "Cookbook" series

[ylikone]

I feel I should also mention the awesome "Cookbook" series of books, the following are good:

Linux Cookbook [amazon.com], CSS Cookbook [amazon.com], and Java Cookbook [amazon.com].

Out of all the computer books I own, I keep coming back to the Cookbooks over and over.

Sales volume

[MadFarmAnimalz]

This [amazon.com] might be more logical an indicator of what the buying public considers a good book.

Also windows and gaming heavy though. Erh... And why's there a book called "Windows XP for Dummies"? How dumb do you have to be to not only use XP but to require a book for it? And furthermore, a book slagging you off for being such a dummy? The mentally retarded mascochist niche must be bigger than I thought.

Thank goodness...

[eeg3]

That the Grand Theft Auto Guide is getting it's due. I don't know what I would've done without it.

Re:Thank goodness...

[Tyler Eaves]

Spent 5 minutes on GameFAQs? Seriously, it amazes me that anyone actually still buys strategy guides.

Re:Thank goodness...

[Tyler Eaves]

Dead god. Has it come to this? Why do you need a strategy guide for a fscking FOOTBALL game?

'LaTeX companion' should definitely be on the list

[sombragris]

Frank Mittelbach, Michel Goossens <em>et al.</em>, <a href="http://www.awprofessional.com/titles/0201362 996">The LaTeX Companion</a>, 2nd edition.

This book, launched in June 2004, is a <em>major</em> rewrite of the old book and for every LaTeX user its worth its price in gold. I have a dog-eared copy at my desk and I can attest to it.

Re:'LaTeX companion' should definitely be on the l

[Timesprout]

Hmmm is the formatting of you post testament to its teaching prowess?

Re:'LaTeX companion' should definitely be on the l

[Anonymous Coward]

\documentclass{slashdot}
\usepackage{url}

\title{Re:'LaTeX companion' should definitely be on the l}
\author{Anonymous Coward}

\begin{Document}

No, this formatting would be a testament to its teaching prowess. Except, I didn't use a book. I've pieced together my knowledge from various sites. \url{http://www.tug.org/tex-archive/info/lshort/} was helpful, but now I wish I had just bought a book. Seriously, don't try to tackle \LaTeX{} without a good book.

\end{document}

how about us dummies?

[koi88]

I don't buy no book that doesn't have "for dummies" in the title.
So I wanna preorder

• Excel Hacks: 100 Industrial-Strength Tips and Tools for dummies
• The World's 20 Greatest Unsolved Problems for dummies

But really interesting sounds No. 4:

• On Intelligence for dummies

Well, I'm reading

[mwood]

Booch's _Object Oriented Analysis and Design_, but I didn't get it at Amazon so that could explain their error. :-)

Quote from "Excel Hacks" review...

[beeglebug]

"The spreadsheet is the software tool that turns everyone into a hacker"

Riiiiiight...

Re:Quote from "Excel Hacks" review...

[tverbeek]

"The spreadsheet is the software tool that turns everyone into a hacker"

Sure, it's a silly statement, but Lotus 1-2-3 was the playground in which I (and a lot of other people) did much of my early hacking. Kids of the Excel generation may not be familiar with all the hacks that surrounded 1-2-3, including copy-protection-defeating tricks, add-ins for using it as a word processor (4-Word) or a mathematical solution seeker or a DOS WYSIWYG publishing tool (Allways), data compression to fit big files on lit

Mono

[JanneM]

I really liked Edd Dumbbill's book on Mono - clear, concise and with no filler. It's sad that those traits are so unusual in most technical publishing.

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0596007922/ qid=1101219728/sr=2-1/ref=pd_ka_b_2_1/102-0124431- 0374516/ [amazon.com]

'LaTeX Companion' should definitely be on the list

[sombragris]

Oh well, resubmitted with proper formatting...

Frank Mittelbach, Michel Goossens et al., The LaTeX Companion [awprofessional.com], 2nd edition.

This book, launched in June 2004, is a major rewrite of the old book and for every LaTeX user its worth its price in gold. I have a dog-eared copy at my desk and I can attest to it.

Code Complete, 2nd Edition

[BRSQUIRRL]

I was mentored in my first job out of college by a guy who helped McConnell write the new edition...the first edition did more to make me a better developer than any book on a specific language, technology, etc. and the second edition refreshed the code examples with current programming language, incorporated class and OO design, refactoring, and more modern development methods. Good stuff, check it out [amazon.com].

Re:Code Complete, 2nd Edition

[blackmonday]

As usual, Bookpool.com [bookpool.com] has it for less than Amazon, although shipping is only free with a $40 purchase. Not advertising, but I've saved cash with them before, and always liked their service.

Excel Hacks?

[tod_miller]

Now I am not exactly a pro-M$ person, but to call them hacks, that is a bit harsh no?? :-) Wow, check out the cover of Head First Servlets & JSP

Hot chick alert! [amazon.com]

Man I could pool her connections, service her ports... *public thinking alert* shit I did it again *cough* nice lass. :-)

Re:Excel Hacks?

[TopShelf]

You really need to get out more!

Re:Excel Hacks?

[TopShelf]

We are talking about books still right? From your nick I can see it must be a top-shelf publication.

No, you're thinking of these guys [topshelfcomix.com]. I really do need to have my lawyer contact them about using my nick without due authorization or compensation...

topshelfcomix

[tod_miller]

Why was I mildly dissapointed I didn't get any hardcore anime popups?

Still it is a funky site, and I realise I haven't read dilbert of get fuzzy for 4 days now... see you on comics.com...

I have a $20 suggestion

[antifoidulus]

Best career book you can buy [amazon.com]

Missing from the list

[Eric Giguere]

Check out the hilarious Dating Design Patterns [datingdesignpatterns.com]. (Your spouse may wonder why you're reading it, though.)

Eric

J2EE Development without EJB

[Anonymous Coward]

Expert One-on-One J2EE Development without EJB [amazon.com] by Rod Johnson, Juergen Hoeller.

This is an excellent book with great advice about many aspects of software development. As the title suggests, it describes how EJB is not necessary for most J2EE projects, and offers alternative solutions to many of the problems EJB's solve. It does center around the Spring framework [springframework.org], as the authors are the creators of that framework, but it does give other technologies a fair chance.

I've personally found the strategies and technologies discussed in this book to be very useful. My new projects are developed in a manner largely based on this book and they've been pretty successful so far.

My two picks for this year

[mrmargolis]

-Programming Ruby the second edition. An excellent book for an excellent language. The second edition is packed full of useful advice and has a huge number of pages devoted to the standard library. I have both the PDF and the actual book. I like the PDF a bit more because it is easily searchable and has some color to it.
-The updated Code Complete. All around good update of a great book.

I am not Dave Thomas, Andy Hunt or Mr. McConnell

Code Complete: Second...

[emilng]

I'd like to second the recommendation for Code Complete: Second Edition.

I'm not Mr. McConnell either.

Tell me again why we are taking this seriously?

[pmike_bauer]

[Amazon's splurb on Excel Hacks...] "The spreadsheet is the software tool that turns everyone into a hacker" Whoda thunk it. Microsoft Excel provides the true path to hacker enlightenment. Amazon said!

Re:Tell me again why we are taking this seriously?

[Timesprout]

Actually excel does qualify as a hacker tool is the most correct sense of the word because it allows people with little or no programming experience to quickly hack together small timesaving data manipulation programs. The no of corporate depts alone I have seen where they all have their own little excel apps to this that and the other is staggering. I hate having to clean up all the data islands but I have to admit excel is great tool for these people.

Favorite computer books of 2004...

[teknurd]

IMHO

• C++ Primer Plus - Stephen Prata (4th edition)
• Adobe Photoshop CS Classroom in a Book
• Designing with Web Standards - Jeffery Zeldman
• Beggining PHP5 and MySql - Jason Gilmore

Re:Favorite computer books of 2004...

[mmaddox]

Thanks! I'm was technical editor and a contributor for C++ Primer Plus. Unfortunately, this book wouldn't be eligible for 2004. It came out a couple of years ago.

There is a Fifth edition coming out this year, however. Make sure to check it out.

I can't believe "Deep C Secrets" ...

[torpor]

.. didn't make it.

Okay, maybe C is passé (I personally don't think so), but this book gives a lot of great insight into this wonderful language .. highly recommended, even if it isn't current!

Re:I can't believe "Deep C Secrets" ...

[mmaddox]

Again, not a 2004 book (unless there's a new edition I didn't see).

Still, a truly excellent book.

Design Patterns

[loconet]

Design Patterns Elements of Object Oriented Design [amazon.com] by Erich Gamma, Richard Helm, Ralph Johnson, John Vlissides. This "classic" is one of my favorite books at the moment. I'll recommend it to the countless college grads and self taught OOP programmers who only know OOP at a syntax/functionality level. It will give you an insight on how to properly design OO systems instead of the common beginners mistake of using OOP as a thin layer on top of more procedural programming. This book will give you a good kickstart on how to properly think and use Object Orientation the way it was meant to be used.

Re:Design Patterns

[dnoyeb]

Yea, you gotta have that one on your shelf. And if your a Java programmer you need

Effective Java, by Joshua Bloch.

Recommendation

[loginx]

Design Patterns Explained, by Alan Shalloway and James R. Trott.

The authors are extremely intelligent and the book offers a very direct and simple approach to the material.

It's very easy read and teaches very fundamental concepts involved in the architecture and design of applications with a focus on eXtreme Programming.

Pragmatic Project Automation

[jarich]

It's a great book on Java project automation, from compiles to builds to testing.

Also has cool lava lamp sections! ;) http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=04/08/26/15502 5 5 [slashdot.org]

The book link is here... http://pragmaticprogrammer.com/starter_kit/au/inde x.html [pragmaticprogrammer.com]

Advanced PHP Programming

[21chrisp]

I recently picked up Advanced PHP Programming by George Schlossnagle just the other day and (although I haven't had a chance to dig deeply into it) am very impressed with the content. Unlike so many PHP books, it shows some of the best methods for large scale PHP designs. It covers all of the new features of PHP 5 and explains other advanced topics , such as caching. I was already doing many of these things, but just seeing a different perspective opened a world of possibilities to me (and pointed out where my methodology could use improvement). I'm sure there will be much more to learn as I work through it.

Here's a link:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0672 325616/qid=1101225806/sr=8-1/ref=pd_csp_1/002-7967 212-9844018?v=glance&s=books&n=507846 [amazon.com]

As for the top books on Amazon.. I'm not sure many self-respecting developers would have many of them...

some taste for sure

[l3v1]

[...]avorite book of the year? Excel Hacks, which edged out Head First Servlets & JSP (#3), a Grand Theft Auto Strategy Guide (#5) and[...]

Excel Hacks as #1 ? :) Oh come on, get a life, really :) For me it would be The Lord of the Rings (50th Anniversary Edition) (2004 edition, that is).

Yeah, I know, now you will be on me to have a life myself :) - Sorry, better a looser on LOTR than anything else on ExcelHacks (wow, we should name a dope variant like this :) ).

I don't trust their review process...

[ayjay29]

... when their top rated music CD is this [amazon.com].

Hackery: linking to Amazon

[base_chakra]

Since lots of people are linking to books on Amazon, it seems a good time to mention a useful trick mention in O'Reilly's Amazon Hacks [amazon.com]: you can link to Amazon products in a much friendlier way, like so:

http://www.amazon.com/o/ASIN/059600542

Where the numeric parameter is the product's ASIN (which, for most books, is also the ISBN). This hack is also detailed on Oreilly.com [oreilly.com].

Nice tip, wrongly used (bad link)

[z1d0v]

The ISBN of "Amazon Hacks" is 0596005423, so the link is, in fact, http://www.amazon.com/o/ASIN/0596005423 [amazon.com]. The last digit was wrong...

Code Reading: The Open Source Perspective

[Refried Beans]

Code Reading: The Open Source Perspective [amazon.com]

This was the only book I bought and read in the last year. I think it was a great book and I wish I had it for a text book in college.

Mac OS X: The Missing Manual, Panther Edition

[Vandil X]

Mac OS X: The Missing Manual, Panther Edition by David Pogue [amazon.com] is an excellent book for Mac OS X users, both new and pro.

You mean "Amazon's overstocked items 2004"

[Ars-Fartsica]

These lists are cobbled up to unload excess inventory on easily duped consumers. Come on folks, this is Retailing 101.

Refactoring to Patterns

[DrEasy]

"Refactoring to Patterns" gotta be my favorite software book of the year (assuming it was indeed published in 2004). Finally someone who makes the connection between test-driven development and design patterns!

Re:Question about C book.

[PornMaster]

C *doesn't* work behind the scenes. Compilers work behind the scenes and then give you executable machine code. The only "scene" would be your OS.

Javascript is an interpreted language. It runs within a Javascript interpreter. There's a "scene" in which it runs.

Re:Question about C book.

[mr_z_beeblebrox]

Can any one recommend a book that discusses more about how C works behind the scenes like the Javascipt book does?

Kernighan and Ritchies (sp? C book is good, though the K & R style is considered obsolete. Also, a lot of assembler books will devote a chapter to C which if you actually go through the book prior to the chapter will guartee you at least partial enlightenment.

Re:ESR's book is missing...

[Taladar]

I second that. It is a truly interesting read. It is also available online at http://www.catb.org/~esr/writings/taoup/ [catb.org]

Re:Dive Into Python

[Taladar]

I read it recently and the author did a great job in explaining the strong points of the language instead of writing just another boring introduction to beginner level programming tools like if, for,... like so many other books on programming languages do.