Embedded Internet Design (TAB Electronics Technical Library) [Paperback]

Al Williams (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0071374361 | ISBN-13: 978-0071374361 | Publication Date: March 12, 2003 | Edition: 1

This book explores how to make microcontroller systems that are Internet-active. It covers both Java-enabled modules and stand-alone microcontroller designs. It is an excellent introduction to web technology basics for hardware designers.

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

Best choice for getting started

Embedded Internet Design is the no-hassle way to make your devices Internet-active.

* Demystifies the job of making devices Internet-aware
* Covers Ethernet and dial up connections
* A short course in Java, network protocols and Internet applications

This one-of-a-kind guide helps you:
* Learn networking details essential to convergence developers
* Practice with several practical projects
* Build the skills and experience to design for production
* Provide Internet activation through PCs or microprocessors
* Follow detailed examples to project success

Why struggle to reinvent Internet software? Al Williams's EMBEDDED INTERNET DESIGN is the easy way to get your devices Internet enabled!

Open Embedded Internet Design for:
* Under-the-hood Net explanations
* Complete coverage of the TINI microcontroller and Parallax's new Javelin Stamp
* Dozens of source code listings
* The best short course there is in hooking devices to the Net

Great for conquering convergence--the buzzword for the meeting of consumer electronics and the Internet--Al Williams's guide takes you beyond Internet-integrated phones and TV set-top boxes to the Internet-connected future of all kinds of appliances, entire homes, factories, and even automobiles.

About the Author

Al Williams is an electrical engineer best known for writing a wide range of programming books, from DOS 5: A Developer’s Guide and Commando Windows Programming, to Windows 2000 Systems Programming Black Book, and MFC Black Book. A frequent contributor to Dr. Dobb’s Journal, the Java columnist for Web Techniques, and formerly the C++ columnist for Visual Developer magazine, he is also the author of the recent book Microcontroller Projects with Basic Stamps and of structured teaching courses on SX programming that many universities have selected to satisfy ABET requirements.

Product Details

• Paperback: 318 pages
• Publisher: McGraw-Hill/TAB Electronics; 1 edition (March 12, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0071374361
• ISBN-13: 978-0071374361
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 7.5 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,259,182 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Better title: "Connecting TINI and Javelin to the Internet", August 14, 2003

By 

Joseph S. Wood (Andover, MA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Embedded Internet Design (TAB Electronics Technical Library) (Paperback)

This book provides excellent examples of linking TINI and Javelin-based systems to the Internet; however, the title ("Embedded Internet Design") is slightly misleading. The book discusses connecting two specific embedded systems (TINI [website] and Javelin [[website]]) to the Internet. It does not deal with designing embedded Internet-aware systems, nor does it deal with embedded systems other than the aforementioned two - except in abstract terms. However, I suspect that most people looking to buy this book are interested in exactly what it discusses and won't buy it believing that they will learn how to design embedded systems. I'm not even sure what "Embedded Internet Design" actually means...

The user is initially presented with an overview of how the Internet works and how to use Java, both of which are sufficient as an introduction, but readers who need to learn more about either subject would be well advised to obtain books dedicated to those topics. These introductions occupy about 1/5 of the book.

The rest of the book does serve nicely as a cookbook for connecting TINI and Javelin-based systems to the Internet (i.e., connecting to POP servers, using UDP and TCP packets, etc.). Other reviews have mentioned a competing book for information on using TINI-based systems, and I haven't read that book as a comparison. However, the TINI section is certainly sufficient, as is the Javelin section. This book will show you how to use either chip to connect directly or indirectly to the Internet, and, if that's what you want to do, then you'll be happy with this book...with one exception. As mentioned in, I think, EVERY other review, this book LACKS ONLINE SOURCE CODE! To me, that's an unforgiveable sin, and drops a couple of stars from my rating.

I bought this book because, as a professional Java programmer who is just now experimenting with hardware, I wanted to learn how to make my designs accessible to the 'net. I feel like I know how to do that now. However, as mentioned, I am very disappointed that I need to type in all of the code, which, by the way, seems to occupy about a fifth of the 318 pages of the book. That is a LOT of code to type in manually. It's great to have all of that code as examples; it just should be a matter of cut-and-paste to actually use it.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Very Good Introduction to a complex topic, April 7, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Embedded Internet Design (TAB Electronics Technical Library) (Paperback)

I think soon every device you can imagine will be internet enabled. This book is a good introduction for people like me that aren't internet gurus. It isn't really about the hardware. It is about the internet protocols and how to work with them using small hardware.

Another review said it wasn't a TINI tutorial. That's true. It doesn't say that it is. You do need to RTFM this book is more about internet concepts and less about the specific tools although it uses the TINI and the Stamp thing. I don't have either of these chips yet, but the ideas were useful.

That same review said the code wasn't well commented. That depends... there aren't a lot of simple comments in the code but I found comments where they were necessary. And the text in the chapter explains the code in a lot of detail. So if you are just skimming the listings, yes the code might seem hard to follow. But if you read the text the code is explained in great detail.

I do wish the code were on a disk or on the net. I may buy a TINI or a Stamp and try some of the projects. If the code were available I'd have given it a 5.

I'm about 1/2 through the book and how the internet works at a detailed level is much clearer to me now. If you want a good introduction to networking a micro you will enjoy this book.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars lightweight introduction, not for practical use, April 3, 2003

By 

Frederik Van Goolen (Belgium) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Embedded Internet Design (TAB Electronics Technical Library) (Paperback)

If you are looking for a lightweight introduction to embedded internet this is not a bad book.
If you have plans to internet enable your javelin stamp, this is your only source.
But if you plan to use TINI to do the job, you will be much better off with the book "Designing Embedded Internet Devices" from NewNess press (ISBN: 1878707981).
The book lacks a decent introduction to the TINI development environment. Also the source code is not documented at all. There is just a bit of wrap text around each code example, not explaining what is happening in the code.
And if you finally want to use the source code you will have to retype it, cause there's neither a cdrom or a website of the book available.
My advice (if not interested in javelin stamp): Buy the 'other' book !