“Building Internet Firewalls is a classic book for network
administrators, because it contains a wealth of information about
securing a network. Like 3D graphics programming or device driver
writing, security is its own specialty in the larger field of
computing, with its own areas of specialization and jargon. This
book provides a window into this specialty.”
“…Linux Assembly Language Programming covers what used to be a
middle-ish year computer science class, which includes numbering
systems (base 8, 10, 16, etc.), hardware (logic circuits and binary
logic), and assembly language. The processor this book centers on
is the venerable x86. Although it does not have the most elegant
instruction set, it’s always easier to go from hard to easy (such
as from C++ to Java) rather than the reverse, so the x86 programmer
would have little trouble picking up the assembly language of the
68000, or any RISC processor. On the other hand, those who know
simpler instruction sets are often thrown a curve by the overall
ugliness of the x86.”
“…There’s more than one book to do it, to paraphrase the Perl
motto. Each book in the O’Reilly Perl series tackles some slice of
Perl that the others don’t, and so far there has been surprisingly
little overlap. I was interested in this book, because it puts the
emphasis back on what Perl does best: keep systems and networks
running. Although the title is “system” administration, the
distinction between system and network administration has
practically disappeared. The book mostly concerns networking.”