Useful Webmaster's eBooks

Useful eBooks for Webmasters, Web Designers, and Web Programmers

Listed on this page are some ebooks for webmasters, web designers, and web programmers that are either frequently recommended by others as being good books or books that I myself have found useful. Although it is possible to learn many things about web site and server management and programming from the Internet itself (witness the many learning resources available from our Affiliated-Business.com) website, I actually do keep a few books handy for reference.

Note that the books listed below are not free. For free tutorials for webmasters check out Affiliated-Business.com: Free Webmaster Guides and Tutorials. The books listed here are printed (ie, hardcopy) books that you have to buy from either a local bookstore or order from an online store like Amazon.com .

Disclaimer

The information provided on this page comes without any warranty whatsoever. Use it at your own risk. Just because a program, book or service is listed here or has a good review does not mean that I endorse or approve of the program or of any of its contents. All the other standard disclaimers also apply.

General Books for Webmasters

Although I seldom bother with desktop quick reference guides, I made an exception with this O'Reilly Nutshell book. In fact, the worn-out state of my copy is a testimony of its usefulness to me. The guide deals with HTML (including things like forms, frames and tables), PHP, CGI programming, XML, cascading style sheets (CSS), JavaScript, and the Apache modules. I like this guide because it not only covers all the topics I want for web design (except Perl), it has sufficient coverage for each topic to make it actually useful. For example, it is not just a reference guide - it actually has a short tutorial on each topic to help get you started. In fact, it's my only HTML and PHP book (at the time I write this).

PHP Books

Of the "cookbooks" in the O'Reilly series on my bookshelf, I find this the most useful. It has information snippets about how you perform certain tasks in PHP that is useful for someone who has learned basically how to program in PHP but is not sure how a particular task is done. For example, in the section on encryption, there is information about how you can encrypt your mail with GPG using PHP (among other things, of course), something useful if you're designing an order form (or the like) for your website. To give you an idea of the scope of this book, there are chapters on creating graphics, encryption and security, regular expressions, XML, internet services (eg sending mail, sending MIME messages, reading mail with IMAP or POP3, reading Usenet news, performing DNS lookups, checking if a host is alive, etc), dealing with files and directories, PEAR, internationalization and localization, web automaton (eg, fetching URLs, converting ASCII to HTML, finding stale links, etc), database access, handling forms, dealing with cookies, using HTTP authentication, flushing output to the browser, date and time management, arrays, dealing with numbers (and mathematics), strings, etc (too many to list here).

Perl and CGI Books

This is my personal favourite on Perl and is also the most frequently recommended book on writing Perl programs. This is hardly surprising, since the authors of this book are heavyweights in the Perl scene and include the creator of Perl itself, Larry Wall. The other authors are Tom Christiansen, Randal L Schwartz and Stephen Potter. Programming Perl functions both as an introduction to the language and a reference for it. I like the tutorial at the start of the book because it's concise: it does not belabour the obvious nor is it tediously long-winded before getting to the crux of the matter. It should be noted though that the tutorial is probably more useful if you have had some prior programming experience. If you don't, you might want to look for one of the other tutorials listed on this page. You should still however get this book as a reference. A must-have for Perl programmers.

This book describes how you can write CGI scripts using Perl. It has many handy examples on a whole range of topics that are directly relevant to CGI programmers. For example, it deals with (and provides code on) how to handle form input, environment variables, CGI.pm, sending email, security, HTML templates, databases (SQL), cookies, searching, creating graphics, debugging, etc. I find it a useful book to have around if you're writing scripts.

Written by Randal L Schwatz, Tom Christiansen and Larry Wall (Forward), this well-written book has served as an easy and frequently recommended tutorial, introducing Perl programming, to countless programmers. It is designed for the Unix user; if you use Perl on Win32 (Windows 95, 98, NT, 2000, whatever), you might prefer Learning Perl on Win32 Systems instead, which is basically the same book with adjustments to suit the Windows user.

Written by Randal L Schwatz, Tom Christiansen and Larry Wall (Forward), this well-written book has served as an easy and frequently recommended tutorial, introducing Perl programming, to countless programmers. It is designed for the Win32 (Windows 95, 98, NT, 2000, whatever) user; if you use Perl on Unix, you might prefer Learning Perl instead, which is basically the same book with adjustments to suit the Unix user.

This book, written by Tom Christiansen, Nathan Torkington, and Larry Wall (Forward), provides a whole "cookbook" of Perl code snippets that do common tasks which you would probably need or want to do in your Perl scripts. These collection of solutions can be cut and pasted into your own code (or adapted where needed), thus providing you with a library of tested code, saving development time.

Javascript Books

The third edition of this well-known JavaScript guide written by David Flanagan functions well both as a tutorial to the language as well as a reference.

If you want JavaScript source code for complete applications as well as a library of useful functions, this may be a book you'd want to check out. Applications listed here include a search engine for your site (implemented completely in JavaScript), a shopping cart, context-sensitive help, online tester, interactive slideshow, a multiple search engine interface, a script that automates the generation of rollover images HTML code, setting of cookies, encryption, and greeting card and email designer. There is also a library of useful functions that you can use in your applications. Examples of functions provided in this library include those that deal with arrays, cookies, DHTML operations, navigation bars, strings, etc. Note that this is not a tutorial. It is a source code book with explanations. Although some people find this book helpful, I personally do not find this book useful in practice for me, since I rarely write massive JavaScripts and the small JavaScript snippets that I do write I tend to roll them out myself.

Running Your Own Web Server?

If you are setting up your own web server on a Unix based system (such as Linux, FreeBSD, OpenBSD, Solaris, etc), this is a book that you would do well to check out. It deals with setting up secure Unix systems contains practical pointers on Internet security, backups, firewalls, dealing with break-ins, cryptography, monitoring your system, integrity management, World Wide Web security, proxy programs, and so on. Even if there are many other books dealing with each of those areas in detail, this very practical book is probably a must-have and gives the reader a grasp of the basics of Unix and Internet security.

This guide by Ben Laurie, Peter Laurie and Robert Denn (editor), deals with all aspects of managing your own Apache web server, such as installation, configuration, security, MIME handling, CGI, and the Apache API. The CDROM included has the Apache source code as well. The book deals with both the Unix and the Win32 ports of the server (with a stronger emphasis on the Unix port).

This book, now in its third edition, is written by Paul Albitz, Cricket Liu and Mike Loukides (editor). It is well known as the book on running your own name server. You get to understand concepts such as domains, name servers, name resolution as well as specific information on setting up your own domain and DNS server using BIND.

Useful Books for Webmasters

Listed on this page are some books for webmasters, web designers, and web programmers that are either frequently recommended by others as being good books or books that I myself have found useful. Although it is possible to learn many things about web site and server management and programming from the Internet itself (witness the many learning resources available from our Affiliated-Business.com) website, I actually do keep a few books handy for reference.

Note that the books listed below are not free. For free tutorials for webmasters check out Free Webmaster Tutorials and Articles . The books listed here are printed (ie, hardcopy) books that you have to buy from either a local bookstore or order from an online store like Amazon.com .

Disclaimer

The information provided on this page comes without any warranty whatsoever. Use it at your own risk. Just because a program, book or service is listed here or has a good review does not mean that I endorse or approve of the program or of any of its contents. All the other standard disclaimers also apply.

General Books for Webmasters

Although I seldom bother with desktop quick reference guides, I made an exception with this O'Reilly Nutshell book. In fact, the worn-out state of my copy is a testimony of its usefulness to me. The guide deals with HTML (including things like forms, frames and tables), PHP, CGI programming, XML, cascading style sheets (CSS), JavaScript, and the Apache modules. I like this guide because it not only covers all the topics I want for web design (except Perl), it has sufficient coverage for each topic to make it actually useful. For example, it is not just a reference guide - it actually has a short tutorial on each topic to help get you started. In fact, it's my only HTML and PHP book (at the time I write this).

PHP Books

Of the "cookbooks" in the O'Reilly series on my bookshelf, I find this the most useful. It has information snippets about how you perform certain tasks in PHP that is useful for someone who has learned basically how to program in PHP but is not sure how a particular task is done. For example, in the section on encryption, there is information about how you can encrypt your mail with GPG using PHP (among other things, of course), something useful if you're designing an order form (or the like) for your website. To give you an idea of the scope of this book, there are chapters on creating graphics, encryption and security, regular expressions, XML, internet services (eg sending mail, sending MIME messages, reading mail with IMAP or POP3, reading Usenet news, performing DNS lookups, checking if a host is alive, etc), dealing with files and directories, PEAR, internationalization and localization, web automaton (eg, fetching URLs, converting ASCII to HTML, finding stale links, etc), database access, handling forms, dealing with cookies, using HTTP authentication, flushing output to the browser, date and time management, arrays, dealing with numbers (and mathematics), strings, etc (too many to list here).

Perl and CGI Books

This is my personal favourite on Perl and is also the most frequently recommended book on writing Perl programs. This is hardly surprising, since the authors of this book are heavyweights in the Perl scene and include the creator of Perl itself, Larry Wall. The other authors are Tom Christiansen, Randal L Schwartz and Stephen Potter. Programming Perl functions both as an introduction to the language and a reference for it. I like the tutorial at the start of the book because it's concise: it does not belabour the obvious nor is it tediously long-winded before getting to the crux of the matter. It should be noted though that the tutorial is probably more useful if you have had some prior programming experience. If you don't, you might want to look for one of the other tutorials listed on this page. You should still however get this book as a reference. A must-have for Perl programmers.

This book describes how you can write CGI scripts using Perl. It has many handy examples on a whole range of topics that are directly relevant to CGI programmers. For example, it deals with (and provides code on) how to handle form input, environment variables, CGI.pm, sending email, security, HTML templates, databases (SQL), cookies, searching, creating graphics, debugging, etc. I find it a useful book to have around if you're writing scripts.

Written by Randal L Schwatz, Tom Christiansen and Larry Wall (Forward), this well-written book has served as an easy and frequently recommended tutorial, introducing Perl programming, to countless programmers. It is designed for the Unix user; if you use Perl on Win32 (Windows 95, 98, NT, 2000, whatever), you might prefer Learning Perl on Win32 Systems instead, which is basically the same book with adjustments to suit the Windows user.

Written by Randal L Schwatz, Tom Christiansen and Larry Wall (Forward), this well-written book has served as an easy and frequently recommended tutorial, introducing Perl programming, to countless programmers. It is designed for the Win32 (Windows 95, 98, NT, 2000, whatever) user; if you use Perl on Unix, you might prefer Learning Perl instead, which is basically the same book with adjustments to suit the Unix user.

This book, written by Tom Christiansen, Nathan Torkington, and Larry Wall (Forward), provides a whole "cookbook" of Perl code snippets that do common tasks which you would probably need or want to do in your Perl scripts. These collection of solutions can be cut and pasted into your own code (or adapted where needed), thus providing you with a library of tested code, saving development time.

Javascript Books

The third edition of this well-known JavaScript guide written by David Flanagan functions well both as a tutorial to the language as well as a reference.

If you want JavaScript source code for complete applications as well as a library of useful functions, this may be a book you'd want to check out. Applications listed here include a search engine for your site (implemented completely in JavaScript), a shopping cart, context-sensitive help, online tester, interactive slideshow, a multiple search engine interface, a script that automates the generation of rollover images HTML code, setting of cookies, encryption, and greeting card and email designer. There is also a library of useful functions that you can use in your applications. Examples of functions provided in this library include those that deal with arrays, cookies, DHTML operations, navigation bars, strings, etc. Note that this is not a tutorial. It is a source code book with explanations. Although some people find this book helpful, I personally do not find this book useful in practice for me, since I rarely write massive JavaScripts and the small JavaScript snippets that I do write I tend to roll them out myself.

Running Your Own Web Server?

If you are setting up your own web server on a Unix based system (such as Linux, FreeBSD, OpenBSD, Solaris, etc), this is a book that you would do well to check out. It deals with setting up secure Unix systems contains practical pointers on Internet security, backups, firewalls, dealing with break-ins, cryptography, monitoring your system, integrity management, World Wide Web security, proxy programs, and so on. Even if there are many other books dealing with each of those areas in detail, this very practical book is probably a must-have and gives the reader a grasp of the basics of Unix and Internet security.

This guide by Ben Laurie, Peter Laurie and Robert Denn (editor), deals with all aspects of managing your own Apache web server, such as installation, configuration, security, MIME handling, CGI, and the Apache API. The CDROM included has the Apache source code as well. The book deals with both the Unix and the Win32 ports of the server (with a stronger emphasis on the Unix port).

This book, now in its third edition, is written by Paul Albitz, Cricket Liu and Mike Loukides (editor). It is well known as the book on running your own name server. You get to understand concepts such as domains, name servers, name resolution as well as specific information on setting up your own domain and DNS server using BIND.

Frequently Recommended Internet Programming Books

In today's world, few programmers can ignore the Internet. Many applications today need to interact with the Internet in some way, even if it is merely to send bug reports, or to download a newer version of itself for upgrading purposes. Other programs are full fledged Internet programs, requiring the use of the various Internet protocols such as HTTP, FTP, POP3, SMTP, NNTP, etc. Check out these frequently recommended books for tutorials and references on this topic.

Note that these books are (obviously) not free. You may obtain them from any local bookstore or order them from an online store like Amazon.com. The links below point to the same item in the Amazon website, where there are typically some reviews from other readers too.

Frequently Recommended Sockets and Winsock Books

Written by W Richard Stevens, the second edition of his famous book deals with sockets programming, and covers not just Internet Protocol version 4 (IPv4) but also the new Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6). If you want to write client/server programs, or any program that use sockets (such as programs that access the Internet) you can't afford not to have this book. The first edition probably trained a whole generation of Internet programmers. While the book is primarily written for the Unix programmer, most of the stuff written here are directly relevant for other platforms (including Windows) as well. It's a "must-have" for its value as both a tutorial and detailed reference.

Douglas E Comer's and David L Stevens' second edition of this book is a very readable book, making it an excellent tutorial for the person trying to get started on writing applications that use TCP/IP. It is a good companion to W Richard Steven's Unix Network Programming (see elsewhere on this page) which covers essentially the same ground in greater detail. This edition is for the Unix programmer. If you are writing for Windows, check elsewhere on this page for his Windows edition .

Like its Unix counterpart , this volume, by Douglas E Comer and David L Stevens deals with the writing of software that uses TCP/IP. It is very readable, making it an excellent tutorial for learning how to program Windows sockets.

This book by W Richard Stevens is useful to people who wish to write programs for the Internet dealing with protocols like HTTP, NNTP, UDP, etc. Unlike volumes I and II, which dealt with low level stuff, this book deals with application level protocols. As you have probably guessed by now, I'm quite a fan of W Richard Stevens' books. They have solid content, good examples, clear explanations, etc.

This massive tome by W Richard Stevens on the TCP/IP protocol suite describes the protocols and what they do. It uses a diagnostic tool to allow the reader to watch the protocols in action and thus gain a better understanding of them. It is the book to get if you want to understand the innards of TCP/IP. If you find this useful, you will probably also want to read Volume 2 as well.