
The Offline Reader    \|/    by Lauren Willoughby
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~           Editor

"The latest book titles from the computer press"

Books reviewed:
   Prentice Hall's Illustrated Dictionary of Computing, 2nd Ed.
   Internet Mailing Lists Navigator for Windows Users
   Best of the Net


                            ON THE SHELF

   Did you know that Pascal was developed in 1971 by Swiss computer 
scientist Niklaus Wirth? Did you know MPEG1 was drafted in 1991? Or that 
the fastest information transfer speed for fiber optics was set by the 
Japanese at 445.8 megabits? (At that rate, the entire Encyclopedia 
Britannica could be pushed down the "wire" in about one second.) All 
these factoids and more are unearthed in Prentice Hall's Illustrated 
Dictionary of Computing, 2nd Ed., written by Jonar C. Nader and 
published in 1995. It's an immensely readable and pleasurably browsable 
dictionary that covers everything from ampere to X Windows.

   Fully revised and updated with 1000 new entries, the dictionary 
defines about 5000 terms -- some sporting photos and tables. Coverage 
extends from hardware to specific software titles, including dBASE and 
AutoCAD, to the occasional DOS command. Also, throw in elements of 
typography and a style manual for computer journalists. It's great for 
digging behind acronyms and getting up to speed on current technology. 
Even fad technology like morphing gets a write-up.

   The dictionary rehashes the milestones in PC history, even delivering 
the sordid history of OS/2. <G> (Well, actually, the fun, sordid 
Microsoft-IBM breakup dish was diplomatically left out. Hey, for sordid 
dish, check out Cringely's book, Accidental Empires!)

   It does a good job of explaining for the layperson such things as 
object-oriented programming. You can almost understand it! (I'm not 
being mean here: how many people, even programmers, *really* understand 
it?) According to the dictionary, object-oriented programming came about 
because programmers wanted a way of calling on "off the shelf parts" 
just as hardware engineers do. Even I get that analogy.

   The occasional "Newsflash" and "Fun Facts" boxes, which yield up 
interesting info, keep things interesting. Here's a fun fact: The United 
States produces an average of 74 percent of the total worldwide packaged 
software, but consumes only 44 percent; Europe consumes 37 percent.

   The dictionary misses on "niche" acronyms -- like RIP. In the BBS 
world, RIP means a graphical BBS look. The book gives nothing on the 
telecommunication aspect of RIP, describing it as "Raster Image 
Processor: the device that interprets the instructions of a page 
description language (such as PostScript) and composes the image to the 
photo-sensitive drum of a laser printer. See laser printer and 
PostScript." As for other telecommunications aspects, it gives mostly 
general talk about modems and online services. (Dow Jones, Prodigy and 
CompuServe rate mentions, but not Delphi or America OnLine.)

   Here's one last "did you know" courtesy of Prentice Hall's 
Illustrated Dictionary of Computing: Did you know that human brain cells 
work in parallel? Yep, the old soggy CPU gets its own page.

   I like this book. For computer junkies it's not only informative but 
entertaining. You might even want to keep it as reading material in a 
certain room of the house. That way, you'll pass the time, be up on the 
lingo -- and more importantly, gather ammo to win lots of bar bets. 
Yeah, right! (Who besides me needs to get a life? <G>)

{Prentice Hall's Illustrated Dictionary of Computing, 2nd Ed.: Prentice 
Hall, Englewood Cliffs, NJ 07632, (800) 947-7770 or (515) 284-6751. 
E-mail: orders@prenhall.}


>>[ All About Mailing Lists ]<<

   You never realize how much neat stuff is going on with the Internet 
until you pick up a book like Internet Mailing Lists Navigator for 
Windows Users, written by Vivian Neou and published in 1995 by Prentice 
Hall. This book offers a pretty comprehensive look at the Internet 
mailing-list scene, covering more than 1400 popular mailing lists. 
You'll find lists that let people keep in touch on a myriad of subjects: 
Star Trek, pet ferrets, exotic cars, Novell NetWare -- you name it.

   Mailing lists are exactly what they sound like: mailings that go out 
to interested people -- just like club newsletters that wend their way 
through the U.S. Postal Service (only faster). Some lists are 
distributed like regular newsletters in that someone compiles and edits 
them. Other lists provide an open forum for anyone who cares to yak. 
Imagine that you could have hundreds or thousands of "pen pals" who only 
want to talk about what interests you! Mailing lists are easy to join, 
and all it takes to get involved is an Internet mailbox. (For more info 
on mailing lists, check out the article "It's in the E-mail" over in 
this month's COLUMNS section.)

   The book Internet Mailing Lists Navigator describes the different 
kinds of list servers and shows you exactly what you have to type to 
join a list.

   Bundled with the book is a CD-ROM disc containing List Navigator 
software -- it's a database of the lists mentioned in the book. This 
program not only lets you search for lists by subject or keyword, it 
also SUBSCRIBES you to lists of your choice! Just point and click. It's 
able to do this because a whole suite of Internet tools is also packed 
thoughtfully on the disc. You get a trial version of Internet Chameleon 
($125 retail), which lets you connect to an Internet service provider 
and start burnin' rubber on the Infobahn. The Chameleon kit includes 
WebSurfer (a World Wide Web browser), Gopher, NEWTNews Internet News 
Reader, Archie and the expected utilities: FTP, Telnet, Ping, Finger, 
Whois and the industry-standard WinSock TCP/IP.

   At $39.95, this book is a steal.

{Internet Mailing Lists Navigator for Windows Users: Prentice Hall, 
Englewood Cliffs, NJ 07632, (800) 947-7770 or (515) 284-6751, E-mail: 
orders@prenhall; $39.95. List Navigator software requires a 386+ CPU 
running Windows 3.1 with 4MB of RAM, a CD-ROM drive, and a 14.4Kbps+ 
modem.}


>>[ Where Are Those Light Bulb Jokes Again? ]<<

   We go from neat stuff on the Internet to the *neatest* in the book 
Best of the Net, edited by Seth Goodin and published in 1995 by IDG 
Books. Goodin polled a huge group of Internet travelers for their 
favorite spots on the Net -- be they Web sites, gopher holes, e-mail 
addresses, newsgroups, mailing lists or FTP warehouses. *Anything* on 
the Net deemed "the best" was fair game. A flood of responses poured in, 
and Goodin's team of editors arranged them in 208 categories.

   The result is a must-read romp through some wild and woolly sites. 
It's not just-the-facts Internet addresses but also a sampling of what 
you may find on a site. For example, on the Beer pages, you'll learn 
what "dry hopping" is as well find the address for a beer newsgroup: 
rec.crafts.brewing. (Dry hopping? It's the practice of adding dry hops 
to beer some time after the boil, to increase the hop aroma.) You'll 
want to read this book at your keyboard with your modem locked and 
loaded.

   Read on for some of the things the book mentions that got my 
attention.

   I had no clue the "Answers" newsgroups existed. Their purpose is to 
answer your questions about what the heck all those other newsgroups are 
about, and they do it by maintaining exhaustive lists of FAQ files from 
other newsgroups. Tell the truth, haven't you wondered about 
alt.cows.moo.moo.moo? Check out these "answers" newsgroups: alt.answers, 
comp.answers and misc.answers, along with the FTP site rtfm.mit.edu in 
the directories /pub/usenet/*answers.

   Do you know what all the varieties of kryptonite can do to an 
unfortunate Superman? Green can kill him; gold can remove his powers 
completely. This from the Comics pages of the book. Relevant newsgroup 
addresses: rec.arts.comics.info and rec.arts.comics.misc. Want to write 
your favorite comics publishers? Take down these e-mail addresses: 
dc.comics@genie.geis.com and marvelcomics@genie.geis.com.

   Whom do you contact if you want your head or body frozen after you 
die? The Cryonics page points the way with this newsgroup address: 
sci.cryonics. (But can you afford annual liquid nitrogen costs of 
$140,000?)

   Cat owners will want to check out the Web site 
http://www.ai.mit.edu/fanciers/fanciers.html, or perhaps even join a 
mailing list by sending a request to LISTSERV@NETCOM.COM. The book's cat 
chapter reprints popular queries from cat owners ("Should I declaw my 
cat?") as well as observations on the funny things cats do ("My parents' 
cats sit on the back of the neck of whomever is driving the car. Do 
*all* cats do this?")

   Practical jokers will find a home on the pranks pages. For 
suggestions on how to "get somebody really good," try the newsgroups 
rec.humor.funny and alt.humor.best-of-usenet. You might learn how to 
construct a fizzing salt shaker and other diabolical props!

   Like most books on the Internet, this one offers an introduction to 
various aspects of the Net, shows diagrams of the most common smileys, 
and explains popular acronymns. Well, I *guess* they're popular or they 
wouldn't be here. Some I haven't seen before but plan to use! I 
especially like BIOYIOP -- Blow It Out Your Input Output Port.

   I hope I've whet your appetite for Best of the Net, because there's 
enough material here to keep your hotlist or bookmark, or whatever you 
use, busy for a long time. Oh, and if you discover "the best" of 
something on the Net, be sure to let the editors know by sending e-mail 
to BEST@SPG.COM. Your picks just might make it into the next edition.

{Best of the Net: IDG Books, 919 E. Hillsdale Blvd., Suite 400, Foster 
City, CA 94404-9691, (800) 762-2974 or (415) 655-3000; $22.99.}

                                 -=*=-

              Lauren Willoughby, a self-proclaimed computer
           nerd, lives in Louisville, Kentucky, and admits to
           these weaknesses: science-fiction novels (Heinlein,
           Brin, Bujold, Sterling, Varley), pizza (anything but
           anchovies) and tennis. She can be reached on the 
           Internet at laurenw@delphi.com or pcm@shivasys.com.

