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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A valuable reference for the many internet file formats., February 7, 1997
By A Customer
The Internet is a virtual bazaar of file formats, some rare and
exotic species sharing space with the commonly known ones.
Apart from curiosity about the unusual, users sometimes find themselves
confronted with incoming files of some unknown type, or being
required to generate files in a particular format. Graphics, video,
sound, and other related file formats especially require some
kind of reference to assist in finding the right tools for creation,
conversion, or viewing/playing.
File format literature is limited and, because of the limited
market, those books that are published do not seem to be candidates
for new editions. We have to be thankful to Coriolis for Internet
File Formats, even though there have been some changes since
its publication in 1995. However, the author includes plenty of
information about Internet sites where the latest information
is likely to be found.
Professional application developers and programmers should find
it a useful reference, especially for tracking down detailed technical
information, but the book's real audience is users: those engaged
in the graphics arts, or who are involved in activities such as
constructing a Web site with state-of-the-art applications, and
those who find themselves confronted with strange file formats.
The book covers UNIX, Mac, DOS, and Windows platforms and is accompanied
by a hybrid CD with software and documentation.
A chapter in the introductory section, Researching File Formats,
discusses the problem of determining the format of a given file
and lists URLs and ftp sites where information is to be found.
The chapter is brief, but covers the topic well.
The main part of the book is divided into six parts:
Text and document formats, Graphics formats, Compression and archiving formats, Encoding formats, Sound formats, Movie formats
The Text & Document Format part opens with a chapter on the
nature of text, discussing the problems of character set variation
and the use of markup languages. That is followed by chapters
on HTML, TeX and LaTeX, SGML, TROFF (and other ROFF variants),
PostScript, Acrobat, and formats used by word processors (such
as RTF). Some of the discussions include useful manual-style information
(about TROFF in particular), and all deal with how each one works,
its strengths and weaknesses, and alternatives. The information
is not designed to be definitive, but to provide a description
in sufficient depth for an understanding of each format and its
suitability for various applications.
The Graphics part opens with a general discussion on colour and
resolution, kinds of colours, kinds of images, and compression.
It is useful background for those without any previous technical
knowledge of digital images. A brief, but interesting, chapter
deals with ASCII graphics (an almost lost art). Then follow chapters
on GIF, PNG, TIFF, JPEG, VRML, and other formats (XBM, BMP, PICT,
IFF, and PBM/PGM/PPM/PNM. The main formats are discussed in terms
of when-to-use, how-to-use, strengths-and-weakness, brief technical
descriptions, and legal issues. The reader is told how to recognise
the formats, how they work, what information is in the headers,
and where to find further information.
The description of PBM/PGM/PPM/PNM utilities, used for conversion
from one format to another, are sufficient for a general understanding.
Compression and Archiving includes a brief history and warnings
about exaggerated claims for compression utilities. I don't agree
with the author's comments on encryption or his advice on data
security, but the real issue is compression and the overview of
that is well done. Chapters cover TAR, Compress, ARC, ZIP, GZIP,
SHAR, ZOO, StuffIt, and "other formats" (SEA, LHA, ARJ,
RAR, etc.). Some of the programs grouped under "other formats"
are - in my opinion - superior to many that the book treats as
mainstream. Of the mainstream group, each is discussed in reasonable
depth and there are observations about drawbacks of using some
compression programs.
Encoding Formats covers those programs (such as UUENCODE) used
for moving binary data over e-mail channels. The discussion is
useful in enabling readers to make an informed choice of the format
best suited to particular purposes. The author explains how they
work, gives a timely warning about security issues (the transfer
of scripts that automatically execute can be dangerous), and explains
how to use each. A useful resource.
Sound Formats includes a chapter on sound that describes various
technical aspects; brief, but a surprisingly comprehensive introduction.
The AU, WAVE, MIDI, and other formats are described; information
is not as extensive as that provided in other parts of the book,
but Internet sources for further data are included.
Video formats (AVI, QUICKTIME, and MPEG video) are covered in
the last part of the book. The discussion deals with how they
work and the importance of compression.
The companion CD contains a selection of tools and documentation
for UNIX, Mac, Windows, and DOS. They include editing software,
compression/decompression utilities, viewing software, and player
programs.
The files are generally pre-1995 and many are likely to have been
re-issued in new versions. However, they are generally accompanied
with information about Internet sites where latest versions can
be found.
The book is a useful resource and deserves a place in libraries.
It is not a definitive description of every file format one might
encounter on the Internet; what it does very well is to bring
a considerable amount of technical information about file formats
and their respective uses into the one place. The book should
enable users to make informed assessments of what is best for
particular purposes.
Reviewed by Major Keary
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