Customer Reviews

Internet Email Protocols: A Developer's Guide

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Programming and administering email applications can be a daunting task. There are so many standards and different approaches that it's difficult to understand the relationships between protocols, much less keep them straight.

This book addresses that very problem by bringing these topics together into a single volume. It covers fields as mundane as the SMTP standard and other RFCs, everyday topics like mailing lists and email filtering, and recently popularized areas like authentication mechanisms and message security.

With it's big picture view coupled with an attention to detail, this book is a must-read for anyone considering any kind of programming or administration related to email, whether they're just a novice or a grizzled programmer who's experienced it all.

Kevin Johnson's new book fills a longstanding gap in Internet texts -- a comprehensive pedagogical description of the various email protocols (RFC 822, MIME, SMTP, POP, IMAP) and technologies (filtering, mailing lists, security). I particularly liked the in-depth coverage of the IMAP protocol.

Abundant examples appear throughout the book, along with practical observations and detailed explanations "why".

This book is all you need if you want to understand the various email protocols, e.g. to analyze a transcript of a protocol negotiation session. If you're planning on writing software using these protocols, you'll need to read the standards documents for the precise "nuts and bolts" details; but if you read Kevin Johnson's book first, you'll have a much easier time at understanding the standards documents.

This book is a very complete and comprehensive explanation, with plenty of illustrations and plenty of references, of the main email protocols in use today. Email is one of the three or four big, BIG apps on the 'net and if you want to know about email from the inside or, especially, if you need to implement some email protocol(s), either on the client or on the server, then this is the book for you. It's indispensable for an implementor: looks to me like it could be the "email bible," in the same way that Stevens is the bible for Unix programming and Comer is the bible for TCP/IP. This is the book for you if you need/want the nitty-gritty.

This is an exceptional book. It doesn't bother with the details of DNS and TCP like other books on the subject, which are best left to their own separate references. My favorite thing about this book is that information from numerous different RFCs are in one place, along with comments clarifying what is in the RFCs. Even the errors are pointed out. This is a must have for anyone doing email development.

This is one of those rare occasions where the booktitle is spot-on. As a developer, I needed some guidance into the world of Email protocols (without ploughing through these tedious RFC's and standards) and this book delivered. Clear, easy to read and to-the-point.

Tip for the author: The book is time-sensitive, be sure to have a V2.0 somewhere next year.

Tip for the publisher: How about a similar book on Web-protocols (http, ftp, nntp)?

. . . a very challenging combination. I recommend this for everyone developing an e-mail application. Every standard that it covers is done in a thorough fashion. It is much more readable and comprehensible than the RFCs themselves, but no less accurate. The author obviously speaks from experience when writing about specific traps, and how the protocols are used in the real world.

Six months ago there were no books on how to program email using standard protocols. Now there are three! Kevin Johnson, John Rhoton and David Wood have all brought out excellent books on the subject. My only gripes with this book are that it leaves out in-depth explanations, scatters material through the chapters and contains too many errors. If your budget is tight just get Rhoton's book and a copy of the RFCs, but if you are serious about this stuff you are going to need all three books as well as all the mail RFCs.

I found this book to be informative, but confusingly written. The author also makes assumptions on the reader's knowledge which people already not familar with programming e-mail apps will find annoying. Not for the beginner.

This book is a great resource of knowledge on DBI - in all respects. The topics are covered in a thorough manner, and a plethera of code exists for DBI.
This is a good book for programmers who want to know WHAT they are doing, HOW it works, and WHY it works. Although it has all the information to do database transactions with Perl, it is not a "DBI for dummies" book, and will not function as such. Those looking for a easy way to do SQL from Perl can use the online assistance if they are very familiar with database connections and want to learn by trial and error. Else, grab this book, a cup of your favorite thought-inducing beverage, and enjoy! (Don't get the beverage in the keyboard!)

This book disappointed me. I hoped a good overview but this only just repeated the RFCs without value added. Anyway it is useful for an introduction if your expectations are low.