litl_phil wrote: While it's nice that Google and Acer share the vision of cloud-based computing, it's also worth noting that we at litl already have a webbook on the market (available at litl.com) that runs our own cloud-based OS.
Unlike Chrome, litlOS is focused on creating a new and better web experience for the home, so we don't have the usual browser interface, we have our own innovative UI. In conjunction with easel mode (litl's inverted-V position) and our growing cohort of litl channels (special apps t...
We are expecting another baby, so I was just moving my office from the
second floor to our newly finished basement. I am not complaining since
the basement turned out to be quite awesome. Its big, bright. clean
and, most importantly, conducive to some major code cranking.
Moving the office means that I have to move my books, and I just love
doing that. These rare occasions gives me a chance to remind myself how
I got where I am now. The books bring memories, but more importantly
the books shape us no less than circumstances, family and friends.
Finding a good book is precious, it really is a rare gift.
The Web 2.0 mind set
Looking at my book stack made me think about recommending some good
books for software engineers who are starting to work in the Web 2.0
space. Since the field is relatively new, we do not have any classics
out there yet. But there are a few good books that should be on your
shelf. And so I wanted to put together a list of books that help me in
my daily work.
Over and over again, through my career, I find that books that help me
the most are not just the books about programming language or software.
I have been fortunate to draw the inspiration from a multitude of
disciplines ranging from arts like poetry and music to sciences like
ecology and economics. The patterns and beauty that exist in these
diverse subjects find important place in modern software engineering.
The new web is all about creativity, cross-pollination of concepts,
media and information. But what fuels this new web is networks. In his
recent article, Dion Hinchcliffe calls social networks the Web 2.0
secret sauce. Very rightly so, because networks are one of the
fundamental blocks or patterns occurring in nature. So the some of the
books that I assembled for the Web 2.0 bookshelf are about patterns in
nature and power of networks.
Know thy basics
It does not matter what language you are programming in, it does not
matter if you are working in United States or Europe and it does not
matter what system you are building, there is a set of basic
infrastructural knowledge that any successful software engineer must
have. On my bookshelf, the indispensable and universal knowledge
includes basic algorithms, understanding of programming language
concepts, design patterns, refactoring, unit testing and agile methods.
The books below give you the essential knowledge in these areas.
If interested, click: here forIntroduction to Algorithms here forDesign Patterns here for Refactoring
If interested, click: here for Java Programing Language here for Unit Testing in Java here for Agile Software Development
Know thy craft
Knowing the basics is important, but you also need to know the
specifics. Web 2.0 is not like J2EE or C++ worlds, it is idiosyncratic
and just plain different. To succeed in this world, you need to
understand its evolving principles, methods and tools. Here are the
books that I found useful for navigating the Web 2.0 jungle.
If interested in Cascading Style Sheets, please click here.
If interested, click: here for PHP Cookbook here for JavaScript here for XSLT Cookbook
If interested. click: here for Ruby on Rails here for Hacking Atom and RSS here for Lamp Know thy art
The books above give you strength and skills to build solid Web 2.0 applications. But to build truly great stuff you need passion and inspiration. The three books below have helped me to expand my mind and bring patterns from other disciplines into the code that I wrote. I cherish them dearly and hope you enjoy them as well.
If interested, click: here for Complexity here for Six Degrees here for Godel, Escher, Bach
Conclusion
Books are our companions. We read when we are happy and we are sad, we
read when we need to learn. The Web 2.0 world is fast changing. It
requires continuous learning. It requires good books. Lets learn
together! You can find more of my science and technology picks in this
entry on my blog. Please use the feedback section of this article to
share the Web 2.0 books that you liked with other readers.
About Alex Iskold Alex Iskold is the Founder and CEO of adaptiveblue (http://www.adaptiveblue.com), where he is developing browser personalization technology. His previous startup, Information Laboratory, created innovative software analysis and visualization tool called Small Worlds. After Information Laboratory was acquired by IBM, Alex worked as the architect of IBM Rational Software Analysis tools. Before starting adaptiveblue, Alex was the Chief Architect at DataSynapse, where he developed GridServer and FabricServer virtualization platforms. He holds M.S. in Computer Science from New York University, where he taught an award-winning software engineering class for undergraduate students. He can be reached at alex.iskold@gmail.com.
I think the O'Reilly Javascript book is terrible, certainly not O'Reilly brand quality. Instead get 'Javascript for Web Developers' by Nicholas Zakas
#5
AJAX News Desk commented on 21 Jul 2006
The new web is all about creativity, cross-pollination of concepts, media and information. But what fuels this new web is networks. In his recent article, Dion Hinchcliffe calls social networks the Web 2.0 secret sauce. Very rightly so, because networks are one of the fundamental blocks or patterns occurring in nature. So the some of the books that I assembled for the Web 2.0 bookshelf are about patterns in nature and power of networks.
#4
news desk commented on 21 Jul 2006
The new web is all about creativity, cross-pollination of concepts, media and information. But what fuels this new web is networks. In his recent article, Dion Hinchcliffe calls social networks the Web 2.0 secret sauce. Very rightly so, because networks are one of the fundamental blocks or patterns occurring in nature. So the some of the books that I assembled for the Web 2.0 bookshelf are about patterns in nature and power of networks.
#3
news desk commented on 21 Jul 2006
The new web is all about creativity, cross-pollination of concepts, media and information. But what fuels this new web is networks. In his recent article, Dion Hinchcliffe calls social networks the Web 2.0 secret sauce. Very rightly so, because networks are one of the fundamental blocks or patterns occurring in nature. So the some of the books that I assembled for the Web 2.0 bookshelf are about patterns in nature and power of networks.
#2
Web 2.0 News Desk commented on 21 Jul 2006
The new web is all about creativity, cross-pollination of concepts, media and information. But what fuels this new web is networks. In his recent article, Dion Hinchcliffe calls social networks the Web 2.0 secret sauce. Very rightly so, because networks are one of the fundamental blocks or patterns occurring in nature. So the some of the books that I assembled for the Web 2.0 bookshelf are about patterns in nature and power of networks.
#1
AJAX News Desk commented on 21 Jul 2006
The new web is all about creativity, cross-pollination of concepts, media and information. But what fuels this new web is networks. In his recent article, Dion Hinchcliffe calls social networks the Web 2.0 secret sauce. Very rightly so, because networks are one of the fundamental blocks or patterns occurring in nature. So the some of the books that I assembled for the Web 2.0 bookshelf are about patterns in nature and power of networks.
Student Organization Guy wrote: I think the O'Reilly Javascript book is terrible, certainly not O'Reilly brand quality. Instead get 'Javascript for Web Developers' by Nicholas Zakas
AJAX News Desk wrote: The new web is all about creativity, cross-pollination of concepts, media and information. But what fuels this new web is networks. In his recent article, Dion Hinchcliffe calls social networks the Web 2.0 secret sauce. Very rightly so, because networks are one of the fundamental blocks or patterns occurring in nature. So the some of the books that I assembled for the Web 2.0 bookshelf are about patterns in nature and power of networks.
news desk wrote: The new web is all about creativity, cross-pollination of concepts, media and information. But what fuels this new web is networks. In his recent article, Dion Hinchcliffe calls social networks the Web 2.0 secret sauce. Very rightly so, because networks are one of the fundamental blocks or patterns occurring in nature. So the some of the books that I assembled for the Web 2.0 bookshelf are about patterns in nature and power of networks.
news desk wrote: The new web is all about creativity, cross-pollination of concepts, media and information. But what fuels this new web is networks. In his recent article, Dion Hinchcliffe calls social networks the Web 2.0 secret sauce. Very rightly so, because networks are one of the fundamental blocks or patterns occurring in nature. So the some of the books that I assembled for the Web 2.0 bookshelf are about patterns in nature and power of networks.
Web 2.0 News Desk wrote: The new web is all about creativity, cross-pollination of concepts, media and information. But what fuels this new web is networks. In his recent article, Dion Hinchcliffe calls social networks the Web 2.0 secret sauce. Very rightly so, because networks are one of the fundamental blocks or patterns occurring in nature. So the some of the books that I assembled for the Web 2.0 bookshelf are about patterns in nature and power of networks.
AJAX News Desk wrote: The new web is all about creativity, cross-pollination of concepts, media and information. But what fuels this new web is networks. In his recent article, Dion Hinchcliffe calls social networks the Web 2.0 secret sauce. Very rightly so, because networks are one of the fundamental blocks or patterns occurring in nature. So the some of the books that I assembled for the Web 2.0 bookshelf are about patterns in nature and power of networks.
Oracle seems to have divided the open source ranks over the MySQL delay it’s having closing its acquisition of Sun. Eben Moglin, the GPL’s most ardent defender and delineator, the lawyer who has worked hand in glove for years with the Free Software Foundation’s founder Richard Stallman...
Cloud computing is a game changer. The cloud is disrupting traditional software and hardware business models by disrupting how IT service gets delivered. Entrepreneurial opportunities abound as this classic disruptive technology begins to proliferate, so it is no surprise that SYS-CON'...
The irony is that Oracle has advanced MySQL, lost money in the process, and helped its competitors - all at the same time. When Oracle buys Sun and controls MySQL the gift (other than to Microsoft SQL Server) keeps on giving as the existential threat to RDBs is managed by Redwood Shore...
WSO2, the open source SOA company, today announced the launch of the WSO2 Cloud Platform. Available today, the new WSO2 Cloud Platform features a family of WSO2 Cloud Virtual Machines; WSO2 Cloud Connectors for enabling fast, secure cloud services; and the multi-tenant WSO2 Governance-...
Now, the open source Mozilla Thunderbird client software can be used with Open-Xchange collaboration software. The "Community OXtender for Thunderbird" software connector gives users full access to appointments and contacts stored in the Open-Xchange Server and enables them to use Thun...
Morph Labs, a leading provider of enterprise cloud computing technology, today announced an introductory trial of the Morph CloudServer, an open, standards-based server IT organizations can use to rapidly model and evaluate their cloud implementations. A miniature "Cloud Environment in...
.gif)
Oracle seems to have divided the open source ranks over the MySQL delay it’s having closing its acquisition of Sun. Eben Moglin, the GPL’s most ardent defender and delineator, the lawyer who has worked hand in glove for years with the Free Software Foundation’s founder Richard Stallman...
Cloud computing is a game changer. The cloud is disrupting traditional software and hardware business models by disrupting how IT service gets delivered. Entrepreneurial opportunities abound as this classic disruptive technology begins to proliferate, so it is no surprise that SYS-CON'...
The irony is that Oracle has advanced MySQL, lost money in the process, and helped its competitors - all at the same time. When Oracle buys Sun and controls MySQL the gift (other than to Microsoft SQL Server) keeps on giving as the existential threat to RDBs is managed by Redwood Shore...
WSO2, the open source SOA company, today announced the launch of the WSO2 Cloud Platform. Available today, the new WSO2 Cloud Platform features a family of WSO2 Cloud Virtual Machines; WSO2 Cloud Connectors for enabling fast, secure cloud services; and the multi-tenant WSO2 Governance-...
Now, the open source Mozilla Thunderbird client software can be used with Open-Xchange collaboration software. The "Community OXtender for Thunderbird" software connector gives users full access to appointments and contacts stored in the Open-Xchange Server and enables them to use Thun...
Morph Labs, a leading provider of enterprise cloud computing technology, today announced an introductory trial of the Morph CloudServer, an open, standards-based server IT organizations can use to rapidly model and evaluate their cloud implementations. A miniature "Cloud Environment in...
