TCP/IP Lean: Web Servers for Embedded Systems (2nd Edition)

Rating:
Summary: Not as great as anticipated
Review: I bought this book based on the reviews here, and the fact that the author popped up in several Usenet groups and seemed to know what he was talking about. The title and subtitle would indicate that this was exactly the book I was looking for, and the fact that it included source was a bonus.

Unfortunately, after having the book for two weeks now, I can tell you that I've gotten far more value out of Stevens' "TCP/IP Illustrated" series.

The source code included on the CD-ROM is licensed for personal use only, and it appears that probably %90 of the code is included in hardcopy format inside the book.

Finally, the network traces are practically unreadable: it would have been easier to read if the author had used tcpdump, instead of his own style of printf's.

What I wanted was a concise guide to how to strip down TCP/IP to get it running on small systems: what I could delete, what I had to keep, and the tradeoffs of doing so. When I finish filtering through all the source code and simply focus on the text, that may be what I end up with.

But since I don't have much time, the book will probably sit on the floor, and I'll keep Stevens on the desk.

Rating:
Summary: This is an exciting book!
Review: I have had this book for two days, and it is a pleasure to have working, compilable source code! The writing style is very clear, without being too terse, like so many technical books. It assumes that the reader has a certain degree of sophistication; The author knows his target audience well! This book may end up being one of those programmer's gems like W.R. Steven's APUE and TCP/IP Illustrated... series of books. The source code is a book unto itself, presenting well-written code (no overly-clever "tricks"; I appreciate that!) . Good Job, JPB, can't wait for other books that you may be writing

Rating:
Summary: Ideal for anyone who must understand the internals of TCP/IP
Review: I would highly recommend this book to anyone who needs to implement a complete embedded webserver, but has no prior knowledge of ethernet, ip, tcp, or http. There are a few good state diagram pictures, and snippits of C source to walk through every state. It goes above and beyond a raw technical RFC explaination and mentions features and techniques common in other implementions. This book does not cover HTTP as completely as it does the lower level protocols, but it does cover it well enough to implement a small, simple embedded webserver. Combine this book with UNIX Network Programming / W. Richard Stevens. And you have an ideal combination. TCP/IP Lean works from the bottom on up (over-the-wire transmissions) and UNIX Network Programming works from the top on down (high-level API). This book also covers SLIP, Ethernet, ARP, and other protocols. If you have to implement your own TCP/IP stack, or only want to learn the guts of what SYN, FIN, ACK, and RST mean in your packet captures, then this is a well written book.

This book does not describe BSD Sockets or any APIs. It really only covers the author's thin "API" which is really a kernel interface. That is why it's best as a low-level book, as I mentioned before UNIX Network Programming is the book you want if you need a high-level view of TCP/IP and networking in general.

Perhaps the most important feature of this book is that it tries to take you from nothing to having a TCP/IP stack in the most direct route possible. It does not try to insert all possible optimization, and infact it recommends ignoring various TCP/IP features for your first pass because they are rarely used. (For example, It mentions that without additional handling, the implementation presented can only handle 4.3Gb of data transfer per connection. This is when the sequence number address space wraps around). I consider this a good thing, keeping it simple so you can get a workable system as quickly as possible is the best route. You can bog yourself down in the details after you get a rough draft working.

I'd recommend this book as a text book for undergrad courses in TCP/IP and networking implementation, especially as a complement to any other low-level Operating Systems courses.

Rating:
Summary: Disjointed documentation of the Author's Software
Review: The second edition of the book is an expanded version of the first edition with the same, lazy, writing style. The author seems to have a problem collecting his thoughts and tends to jump around topics. The writing style is that of a technician with limited technical writing skills. CMP Books could use a good copy reviewer/editor team.

If you are attempting to learn networking protocols in general, there are higher quality books available. If your goal is to learn a network stack on an embedded processor (In particular the PIC), this is not a bad book as source code is included. To be successful and focused on the software, you'll need to invest another [$] for the PCW version of CCS's compiler, and another [$] for the Microchip PIC.net demo board (Unless you have very good prototyping skills). Note that the first edition of this book comes with the Microchip PIC.net demo board which is sufficent.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent Introduction to embedded TCP/IP
Review: This book is an excellent introduction to TCP/IP on embedded systems and webservers. The author is very clear and divided the book in a very smart way. The last few chapters which talk about the low level codes are excellent. This book will be one day recogized as the ultimate reference of embedded TCP/IP.

Rating:
Summary: TCP/IP for Embedded Systems with Invaluable Sample Code
Review: This is an invaluable text for anyone wishing to implement TCP/IP in an embedded system and would also be ideal as an undergraduate text for the practical aspects of Computer Networks & Communications. The first chapter gives a brief overview of networking hardware and software, SLIP over RS232 and Ethernet protocols, device drivers and timing as well as state machines and buffering considerations. The second chapter discusses the OSI model & demonstrates the fundamentals of a networking protocol with sample program fragments written in the 'C' programming language. Chapters 3 through 7 give detailed coverage of the core networking protocols including ARP, IP and ICMP, UDP, TCP, Telnet and finally HTTP. These protocols are exercised, tested and explained with 'C' sample code and explanations of test results. The sample code effectively forms a library of low level networking source code written in 'C'. Chapters 8 through 11 demonstrate various working applications based on a PIC microcontroller - a real embedded system. The really nice thing about this book is the source code and utilities provided on the CD for virtually all 'C' compilers including Microsoft VisualC++ 6.0, Borland and the FREE GNU C (+IDE). I have given this text a five star rating and would recommend it to embedded systems programmers needing to implement TCP/IP as well as undergraduate students studying networking.