Re: A Basic Programming Book for the Internet

Hi Susan,

Please don't cross post the same question to more than one list. Not
everyone is subscribed to both the lists, so what may happen is the thread
may carry on in both the lists, with most of us hearing only one side of the
argument. In essence, it is bad netiquette.

That done, we can now examine your question.

Note: I'm answering this question with the narrative style that would be
suitable for a beginner.

I used "HTML & Web Publishing secrets" from Comdex / IDG Books. This was
back in 1997, I'm not sure if this is still in print or even if you get a
back copy, if it is still relevant. So, if this book is available in a new
version, maybe it is worth a shot.

There must be other books, like the dummies series which can get you
started. The most basic thing that you need to learn is good HTML. That's
ground zero, and it does not require prior knowledge of computing. A book
that I'd heartily recommend is "HTML - The Complete Reference", by Thomas .
A. Powell. Again I'm sorry, but it has been a long time since I read this
book, so I'm not sure if it has been updated to cover XHTML / XML. Anyway it
is the best book you'll find on the subject.
Buy it even if it hasn't been updated.
It is extremely well written with an exhaustive coverage of the fundamentals
of web publishing, and a comparison of technologies like DHTML / HTML etc.

For XML there is a very small book by O'Reilly - it's got a peacock on its
cover, I don't know if it's any good, but considering that it is from
O'Reilly it just might be. Try reading the reviews on Amazon or some place
similar.

Now, I can hear you saying, that's all fine, but tell me something that'll
get me upto speed in a day or two. Hmmm....

Ok, here's the deal. There is no shortcut. Join the "HWG - basics" list.
Look up the archives - the questions that you have asked, like "Why
ColdFusion instead of ASP?" would have definitely been asked & answered. If
you want a more technical discussion, look up the archives of the
"HWG-Languages" list.

Plus, there are bound to be a lot of white papers out there that compare &
contrast technologies like ASP Vs. PHP or Java Vs. ColdFusion etc. In fact
most websites of the language designers will feature a very favourable
review of their technology Vs. others. Like PHP.net may feature a white
paper like "7 reasons why PHP is better than ASP!" etc.

Finally, the web has grown into a huge mix of technologies. It is not as
easy as it used to be, to get a bird's eye view of the industry. 5 years ago
it was enough to pick up a book like "CGI programming for the WWW" and get a
fair idea of the marketplace. Today each technology is complex, and has a
huge amount of material written on it. So, if you really want to get the big
picture, hanging around on this list is a good place to start.


-Srini

----- Original Message -----
From: "Susan C. Schwam" <suzis(at)i-2000.com>
To: "Hwg-Languages" <hwg-languages(at)hwg.org>
Cc: "Hwg-Techniques" <hwg-techniques(at)hwg.org>
Sent: Wednesday, February 21, 2001 6:37 AM
Subject: A Basic Programming Book for the Internet


: Does anyone know of a basic book on programming for the internet? I am not
: so much interested in code as I am in an explanation of HTML, XHTML, XML,
: Perl 5, Perl CG1 scripts, JavaScript, ASP, Cold Fusion, Java Servlets,
etc.
: I want to know how each is used. Why, for instance, would one use Cold
: Fusion instead of ASP?
:
: ==============================
: Susan C. Schwam
: Long Island Web Developers Guild
: www.liwdg.org
: ==============================
:
:

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