I was recently given the opportunity to fly to Florida and hire people to clean up oil from the BP spill. Given that I had some long flights (I live in Salt Lake City, UT) I picked up a Nook from Barnes and Noble and had on my computer a copy of jQuery: Novice to Ninja. What better way to spend my flight time than reading a jQuery book! So I dug in.

I have been using jQuery both professionally and personally for about a year now but this book still brought a lot to the table.

Earle Castedine and Craig Sharkie have a great sense of humor, and obviously know their way around jQuery, CSS, HTML and the likes. The book uses some real world examples of creating image galleries and user interfaces. They break down the jQuery code to it’s basic forms, and then explain why things work the way they do. They don’t get too deep into Javascript except to note that jQuery is nothing more than a fancy framework on top of Javascript and uses Javascript for everything! I thought it particularly neat when they would show the “hard” way to do things, then the better way to do them, and then finally a plugin that made all the work you had just done seem useless, but it isn’t useless because you now understand how the plugin works better than if you had just slapped it in place in the beginning.

The book is quite deep about animations, AJAX actions, DOM manipulation and the sort. Even if you know Javascript and you have been using jQuery there is something in here that will make you go “ah ha!”.

To the folks over at SitePoint (an O’reilly company) good work!

I was looking through the No Starch Press catalog today to see what books Utahcon.com will be reviewing in the near future and there are so many I am excited for. In case I don’t get to them all I wanted to give No Starch a little love and post the books I think look exciting!

Network Flow Analysis

You know that servers have log files and performance measuring tools and that traditional network devices have LEDs that blink when a port does something. You may have tools that tell you how busy an interface is, but mostly a network device is a black box. Network Flow Analysis opens that black box, demonstrating how to use industry-standard software and your existing hardware to assess, analyze, and debug your network.

Unlike packet sniffers that require you to reproduce network problems in order to analyze them, flow analysis lets you turn back time as you analyze your network. You’ll learn how to use open source software to build a flow-based network awareness system and how to use network analysis and auditing to address problems and improve network reliability. You’ll also learn how to use a flow analysis system; collect flow records; view, filter, and report flows; present flow records graphically; and use flow records to proactively improve your network.Network Flow Analysis will show you how to:

• Identify network, server, router, and firewall problems before they become critical
• Find defective and misconfigured software
• Quickly find virus-spewing machines, even if they’re on a different continent
• Determine whether your problem stems from the network or a server
• Automatically graph the most useful data

And much more. Stop asking your users to reproduce problems. Network Flow Analysis gives you the tools and real-world examples you need to effectively analyze your network flow data. Now you can determine what the network problem is long before your customers report it, and you can make that silly phone stop ringing.

Ubuntu for Non-Geeks, 4th Edition

The Ubuntu Linux distribution makes Linux easy, and Ubuntu for Non-Geeks makes it even easier. Full of tips, tricks, and helpful pointers, this pain-free guide is perfect for those interested in—but nervous about—switching to the Linux operating system.

This revised and expanded fourth edition is packed with new material that covers all the latest features of Ubuntu 10.04, Lucid Lynx. It includes five new chapters that take you step-by-step through common tasks like installing and playing games, accessing your favorite social networks, troubleshooting common hardware and software problems, connecting with the Ubuntu community, interacting with your Windows installation, and more.

By following along with the book’s straightforward explanations and step-by-step projects, you’ll learn how to:

• Install Ubuntu and keep it updated
• Set up printers, scanners, USB flash drives, and other hardware
• Install and play free games like Frets on Fire, Frozen Bubble, and Warzone 2100
• Watch DVDs, listen to music, and sync your iPod, iPhone, or other mobile devices
• Edit and share digital photos and videos
• Create documents, spreadsheets, and presentations
• Customize the look and feel of your system
• Work with the command line (or avoid it altogether!)

If you’re looking for a pain-free way to learn Linux, Ubuntu for Non-Geeks is just what you need to get started.