IIS6 Programming Handbook

Rating:
Summary: bloody horrible.
Review: Christopher Ambler et al., IIS6 Programming Handbook (Wrox, 2003)

Maybe it's just me. But when I see the words "Programming Handbook" in a title, I expect code. Lots of code. Pages of stuff on how to use code, how to write code, how to apply code to a specific application, you name it. But it's all about the code.

The IIS6 Programming Handbook is a reference manual that could have been written by Microsoft itself. In other words, it's needlessly abstruse, unhelpful, suffering from an almost complete lack of examples or explanations of the things it's trying to illuminate, and in other words, is all-around unhelpful to, I suspect, anyone but those who already know what the book's talking about. And if you do, you probably don't need this book. The first computer book in my collection about current technology that's going to Half price Books before the tech becomes obsolete. *, because I finished it (though I was reduced to skimming the last hundred pages or so).

Rating:
Summary: Excellent
Review: I eagerly gobbled up this work... the first of its kind on IIS. Unfortunately, when it arrived I realized what it was: a five-author collaboration totalling a mere 200 pages. And these are 200 small (handbook size) pages, with a lengthy intro! Despite containing some good information, this one is definitely not worth the price.

Rating:
Summary: Simply awful.
Review: It's amazing that a book so short can be so repetitive. I lost track of how many times I was told that IIS 6 installs in a sepcial "locked down" state. Somehow, the book manage to avoid getting in any real detail about other security issues, like certificates and how to install SSL. What's worse, sometimes the repetition isn't even in agreement. For example, early in the chapter we're told that setting ODBC logging disables the kernel cache automatically. Later on, we're warned that if we enable ODBC logging, the kernel cache feature will still work and hits won't be logged. I'm still waiting for a third chapter to weigh in with the tie-breaking vote.

Perhaps the most entertaining part of this book is it's puzzling Confucius like sentences and complete disregard for grammar. Chapter 5 (Administering IIS) is particularly notable--it includes sentences like "Since ABO can't be used in scripts, we cannot use it to investigate ABO since they'll not be handy for us to do stuff quickly" (page 129) and "MMC is the most famous way to administrate" (page 102). No, I'm not making this up, and yes, I could continue, but I don't have time--I have to find a new IIS 6 book to make up for the time I've wasted reading this one.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent
Review: The Book is really handy and provides a nice insight of the new features offered by IIS6. It was right to the point and a nice value addition to my tech book collection. Its really worth it....