O'Reilly User Group Program
Newsletter
July 18, 2003


Please share the information your members would be interested in....


Highlights This Week:
----------------------------------------------------------------
Book News
----------------------------------------------------------------
-ActionScript Cookbook
-Secure Programming Cookbook for C and C++
-iPod: The Missing Manual
-UML Pocket Reference
----------------------------------------------------------------
Upcoming Events
----------------------------------------------------------------
David Pogue (Missing Manual series) will be at the Apple Store, 
North Michigan Avenue, Chicago--August 9
----------------------------------------------------------------
Conferences
----------------------------------------------------------------
-Call For Participation: 2004 O'Reilly Life Science Informatics
Conference
-An Invitation to Attend the Second Annual O'Reilly Mac OS X Conference
-Put Up an O'Reilly Mac OS X Conference Banner, Get a Free Book
----------------------------------------------------------------
Safari
----------------------------------------------------------------
-"Go On Safari" Tip of the Week Winner--Claudia Bousquet,
Manager Worcester Macromedia User Group
----------------------------------------------------------------
News
----------------------------------------------------------------
-An O'Reilly Focus on System Administration
-25 Years of Animal Magnetism
-Free Shipping on O'Reilly Orders
-State of the Onion 2003
-The Essence of OpenBSD
-Putting XML in LDAP with LDAPHttp
-SLT Performance in .NET
-An XML Fragment Reader
-In Sync with CVS

================================================
Book News
================================================
Review books are available--email me for a copy.

***Please include the book order number on your requests.

Let me know if you need your books by a certain date.
Allow at least four weeks for shipping. 
Send or email me copies of your newsletters and book reviews.

Don't forget, your members get 20% off any O'Reilly book they purchase
directly from O'Reilly. Just use code DSUG when ordering.
http://www.oreilly.com/

***Group purchases with better discounts are available***
Please let me know if you are interested.

Press releases are available on our press page:
http://press.oreilly.com/


***ActionScript Cookbook
Order Number: 4907
ActionScript's sheer volume of capabilities can be daunting. The
"ActionScript Cookbook" breaks it all down into tasks that are
relevant, practical, and insightful. On top of hundreds of atomic
recipes, it offers seven full chapters of larger sample applications.
Appealing to all levels of ActionScript coders, this book offers
concrete solutions to the most common ActionScript needs and problems.
http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/actscptckbk/?CMP=NLC-V4F415829818

Chapter 16, "Storing Persistent Information," is available online:
http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/actscptckbk/chapter/index.html


***Secure Programming Cookbook for C and C++ 
Order Number: 3943
"Secure Programming Cookbook for C and C++" is an important new
resource for developers serious about writing secure code for Unix
(including Linux) and Windows environments. This essential code
companion covers a wide range of topics, including safe initialization,
access control, input validation, symmetric and public key
cryptography, cryptographic hashes and MACs, authentication and key
exchange, PKI, random numbers, and anti-tampering. Protect your systems
from attackers and reduce the risks you face.
http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/secureprgckbk/

Sample Chapter 11, "Random Numbers, " is available online:
http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/secureprgckbk/chapter/index.html


***iPod: The Missing Manual
Order Number: 477X
"iPod: The Missing Manual" not only covers all iPod models for both Mac
and Windows, including the super-slim 2003 series, it's also the
ultimate guide to iTunes, MusicMatch Jukebox Plus, and even the new
iTunes Music Store. With humor and authority, "New York Times"
technology columnist J. D. Biersdorfer lays bare an astonishing
collection of useful tips, tricks, and shortcuts. No matter what kind
of music moves you, "iPod: The Missing Manual" will help you get much
more out of your iPod--and much more into it.
http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/ipodtmm/


***UML Pocket Reference
Order Number: 4974
The Unified Modeling Language (UML) is rich and expressive, one of the
most important languages for anyone in the software industry to know.
But it's next to impossible to memorize all aspects of UML. Clear and
concise, "UML Pocket Reference" will become your UML dictionary. You'll
never again be stymied by an unfamiliar UML symbol, a line-ending you
don't recognize, or the use of an unfamiliar diagram type.
http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/umlpr/

A sample excerpt, "Use Case Diagrams." is available online:
http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/umlpr/chapter/index.html

================================================
Upcoming Events
================================================
***For more events, please see:
http://events.oreilly.com/

***David Pogue (Missing Manual series) will be at the Apple Store, 
North Michigan Avenue, Chicago--August 9
With his brand new book, "iMovie 3 & iDVD: The Missing Manual" in hand,
Pogue will create a real-live movie, featuring the on-camera talents of
audience volunteers.  Call 312-981-4104 for more information.

Saturday, August 9, at 5pm
Apple Store
679 North Michigan Ave.
Chicago, IL
http://www.apple.com/retail/northmichiganavenue/
================================================
Conference News
================================================
***Call For Participation: The 2004 O'Reilly Life Science Informatics
Conference
O'Reilly & Associates invites biologists, computer scientists, software
engineers, mathematicians, and experts in other related fields to
submit proposals to lead tutorial and conference sessions at the
O'Reilly Life Science Informatics Conference, slated for February 9-12,
2004 at the Westin Horton Plaza in San Diego, CA. Proposals are due
September 1, 2003.

For the past two years, the annual O'Reilly informatics conference has
focused on bioinformatics as the theme. This year, we're expanding the
scope of this conference to reflect the evolutionary changes happening
in the field of life science informatics. The conference will explore
topics in life science--from the fundamental levels to the
advanced--and will focus on the technologies, techniques, and tools
used to understand and analyze that biological data.  For more
information, go to:  http://conferences.oreillynet.com/lsi2004/


**An Invitation to Attend The Second Annual O'Reilly Mac OS X
Conference
Read why you can't afford to miss the 2003 Mac OS X Conference from
Convention Chairs Rael Dornfest and Derrick Story, and O'Reilly &
Associates President Tim O'Reilly.

O'Reilly Mac OS X Conference
October 27-30, 2003
Westin Santa Clara, Santa Clara, CA
http://conferences.oreilly.com/macosxcon/

User Group members who register before September 12, 2003 get a double
discount. Use code DSUG when you register, and receive 20% off the
"Early Bird" price.

To register, go to:
http://conferences.oreillynet.com/cs/macosx2003/create/ord_mac03


***Put Up an O'Reilly Mac OS X Conference Banner, Get a Free Book
We are looking for user groups to display our conference banners on
their web sites. If you send me the link to your user group site with
our O'Reilly Mac OS X Conference banner, I will send you the
O'Reilly book of your choice.

O'Reilly Mac OS X Conference Banners:
http://ug.oreilly.com/banners/macosx2003/
================================================
Safari News
================================================
***"Go On Safari" Tip of the Week Winner--Claudia Bousquet, 
Manager Worcester Macromedia User Group

"I was recently trying to find the answer to a simple question about a
function within one of my design software packages. After a frustrating
struggle with the "help" feature, I remembered that I had just signed
up for Safari. I went online and within two minutes I had found my
answer. I wish I had started there in the first place!"

Your group can also participate in this introductory program just for
user group members. To "Go on Safari," any of your members who sign up
for our Safari 14-day free trial can send comments on their
experiences, or tips and tricks for how they used Safari  (it only
needs to be 2 sentences long, but it may be longer) to
safari_talk@oreilly.com.  (Please include your UG name in the email.)

Every week someone will be chosen from the tips or comments submitted
to receive fun stuff from O'Reilly (T-shirts, book bags, or other
surprises). If a member of your user group is selected, your group
receives free gifts, too. Whatever the individual member receives, your
UG will get one, too, to give away at your next meeting, or use however
you see fit. Recipients--and their comments--will be announced in the
User Group Newsletter.

**Please use this special UG URL to sign up for the 14-day trial**
http://www.oreilly.com/safari/ug

For more information on Safari:
http://safari.oreilly.com/
================================================
News From O'Reilly & Beyond
================================================
---------------------
General News
---------------------
***An O'Reilly Focus on System Administration 
System administrators find their responsibilities lying somewhere
between deity and janitor. Having the right tools and resources at hand
can make deity status easier to attain. O'Reilly author and system
administrator Rob Flickenger has collected our best books, columns, and
articles in this "Focus on System Administration."
http://networking.oreilly.com/sysadmin/?CMP=NLC-86L47I806826


***25 Years of Animal Magnetism
Join us in celebrating our 25th anniversary.
http://www.oreilly.com/25anniversary/ 

We've heard lots of wonderful stories and reflections from our readers.
Take this haiku, for example: "Animals on front / Information on inside
/ Makes heart go boom boom." If you haven't already, send us your
thoughts. We're all ears.
http://www.oreillynet.com/cs/25stories/create/c


***Free Shipping on O'Reilly Orders
Free ground shipping is available for online orders of at least $29.95
that go to a single U.S. address. This offer applies to U.S. delivery
addresses in the 50 states and Puerto Rico. This free ground shipping
offer may be used in conjunction with other promotional offers
including the 20% User Group discount code DSUG. The qualifying amount
is the total purchase amount before any discount is applied.

If your order qualifies for free ground shipping and you are shipping
to Alaska, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, a P.O Box, or an APO address, you'll
need to contact our customer service group to complete the order. Email
order@oreilly.com or call 800-998-9938 or 707-827-7019.

For more information, go to:
http://www.oreilly.com/news/freeshipping_0703.html

---------------------
Open Source
---------------------
***State of the Onion 2003
In this full-length transcript of Larry Wall's annual report on the
state of Perl, Larry talks about being unreasonable, unwilling, and
impossible.  
http://www.perl.com/pub/a/2003/07/16/soto2003.html


***The Essence of OpenBSD
A thousand open source projects quietly produce excellent code under
the radar. What goes on in these projects? How do new people join? What
motivation is there? Cameron Laird and George Peter Staplin interview
several core OpenBSD developers.
http://www.onlamp.com/pub/a/bsd/2003/07/17/openbsd_core_team.html

---------------------
Java
---------------------
***Putting XML in LDAP with LDAPHttp  
XML is great for transferring information, but it really falls down as
a searchable store. Mapping XML into a relational database is, well,
tricky. Jon Roberts demonstrates that a directory database (LDAP, for
example) makes a nice compromise while building a weblog commentary
system.  
http://www.onjava.com/pub/a/onjava/2003/07/16/ldaphttp.html

---------------------
.NET
---------------------
***SLT Performance in .NET
The Microsoft .NET Framework brings with it many new tools and
improvements for developers. Among them is a very rich and powerful set
of XML classes that allow the developer to tap into XML and XSLT in
their applications. Before the Microsoft .NET Framework was released,
Microsoft published the XML SDK, now in version 4.0. Which raises the
question: how do these two engines compare to each other in
performance? Dan Furmin shows you the results of his performance
comparison.
http://www.ondotnet.com/pub/a/dotnet/2003/07/14/xsltperf.html

---------------------
XML
---------------------
***An XML Fragment Reader
Despite many potential uses of XML using fragments of XML text, not
complete documents, XML parsers require complete documents to do their
jobs properly. This article develops an XML fragment reading class for
Java.  
http://www.xml.com/pub/a/2003/07/16/fragmentreader.html

---------------------
Mac
---------------------
***In Sync with CVS
Apple's Backup and iSync applications are great for Dot-Mac
subscribers, but some folks prefer to "roll their own" when
synchronizing data among machines. The open source tool, CVS, is a good
solution for "do it yourself" types. James Duncan Davidson shows you
how to set it up.
http://www.macdevcenter.com/pub/a/mac/2003/07/15/cvs.html?CMP=


Until next time--

Marsee