1.3 Recommended Books

As we've said, this is a reference book for looking up things you already know. But what if you don't already know it?

Much of the material in this book is adapted from other books that are already published by O'Reilly & Associates, or that are very near publication. At the risk of blatant self-promotion, we really do recommend these books.

• Web content providers will find HTML: The Definitive Guide, written by Chuck Musciano and Bill Kennedy, to be an essential reference.

• Designers who are getting started on the Web will find the basics of creating graphics and simple Web pages in Designing for the Web, by Jennifer Niederst with Edie Freedman.

• Programmers on Web sites should flock to CGI Programming on the World Wide Web by Shishir Gundavaram, Java in a Nutshell by David Flanagan, and JavaScript: The Definitive Guide, also by David Flanagan. For a Perl tutorial, we recommend Learning Perl by Randal Schwartz, and for Perl reference and extensive examples, we recommend the classic "Camel" book, Programming Perl, Second Edition, by Larry Wall, Tom Christiansen, and Randal L. Schwartz. Programmers interested in working at the HTTP protocol itself might also be interested in Web Client Programming by Clinton Wong (December 1996), which shows how to write simple specialized Web clients.

• Administrators will want to refer to Managing Internet Information Services by Cricket Liu, Jerry Peek, Russ Jones, Bryan Buus, and Adrian Nye, and will want to keep an eye out for UNIX Web Server Administration by John Leavitt (due February 1997).