From: wizard-wannabe
To: ask_tim@oreilly.com
Subject: Chronological order?
Tim,
I want to become a "wizard" in ALL aspects of computing, but I want to become a wizard in an orderly fashion. Can you suggest a certain order in which to read ALL of your books so that I get the greatest benefit? It seems as if every time I pick up an O'Reilly book, I have to put it down because there is an O'Reilly book that I should have read before. thank you for your help . . .
That's a tough question. I think the days when someone could aspire to master all of the world's published knowledge passed sometime in the middle ages.
What's more, at O'Reilly, we've never tried to create a systematic set of books that would cover everything you need to know. What we've done is to create in-depth books on particular "high pain" topics. That being said, I sympathize with your plight. I don't know if I can do what you want, but I can give you a couple of pointers that might help you to navigate through our list of books. While we now do books on Windows and graphic design topics as well as on UNIX / Linux and Internet-related topics, I'll assume you're primarily interested in the latter, since "wizard" isn't a term that's often used in the Windows or design world.
First off, we do books for three classes of users: programmers, system administrators, and "power users." We generally don't do books for beginners (although we do have a few.) So the answer to your question first begins with which user class you fall into.
I think we've done the best job of creating an integrated set of books in the system administration space. There, you can start your reading with Essential System Administration, by Aeleen Frisch (or her Essential Windows NT System Administration if you are getting started with NT.) This book provides details on the universal tasks of system administration, and a bit of a tutorial on many of the more complex areas, such as sendmail, TCP/IP configuration, and DNS. From there, you can safely go to our more advanced books on each of those topics.
We have a similar overview book for Internet administrators in the works. It was originally published as Managing Internet Information Services (out of print). That edition is now quite out of date, but an updated version, retitled Essential Internet Administration, will be out later this year.
If you're interested in security, I'd start with Practical UNIX and Internet Security.
In the systems programming space, Dave Curry's UNIX Systems Programming is a good place to start. For Linux, see Running Linux, by Matt Welch.
For Java, you could start with either Exploring Java by Neimeyer and Peck, or with Java in a Nutshell (if you're already an experienced programmer). From there, you can branch out to any of the more specialized Java titles, such as Elliotte Harold's Java Network Programming, the upcoming Java Swing book, Rob Englander's book on Java Beans, and so on.
For Perl, there's a clear sequence, starting with Learning Perl or Learning Perl on Win32 Systems, going through Programming Perl and Advanced Perl Programming, and then branching out to more specialized books such as Mastering Regular Expressions, the Perl Cookbook (due out soon), Mastering Perl Algorithms (also due later this year).
In the power user space, we don't have as clear a sequence. UNIX Power Tools has a lot of great material in it, but it's hardly a place to start. Books like Learning the vi Editor, Learning GNU Emacs, or Learning the UNIX Operating System are good places to start, but there's not a clear sequence going from there.
--Tim
