Books about Utility from Amazon.com

An eye-opening look at the new computer revolution and the coming transformation of our economy, society, and culture

A hundred years ago, companies stopped producing their own power with steam engines and generators and plugged into the newly built electric grid. The cheap power pumped out by electric utilities not only changed how businesses operated but also brought the modern world into existence. Today a similar revolution is under way. Companies are dismantling their private computer systems and tapping into rich services delivered over the Internet. This time it's computing that's turning into a utility. The shift is already remaking the computer industry, bringing new competitors like Google to the fore and threatening traditional stalwarts like Microsoft and Dell. But the effects will reach much further. Cheap computing will ultimately change society as profoundly as cheap electricity did. In this lucid and compelling book, Nicholas Carr weaves together history, economics, and technology to explain why computing is changing—and what it means for all of us..
Price: $12.12 [Notify me when price goes down.]

From a highly decorated general, a brilliant new way of understanding war and its role in the twenty-first century

Drawing on his vast experience as a commander during the first Gulf War, and in Bosnia, Kosovo, and Northern Ireland, General Rupert Smith gives us a probing analysis of modern war. He demonstrates why today’s conflicts must be understood as intertwined political and military events, and makes clear why the current model of total war has failed in Iraq, Afghanistan, and other recent campaigns. Smith offers a compelling contemporary vision for how to secure our world and the consequences of ignoring the new, shifting face of war..
Price: $7.29 [Notify me when price goes down.]

Emphasizing graphing technology and business applications, this user-friendly book is the perfect reference for everyday and business mathematics. Solves problems using both algebra and a graphing utility, with the benefits of each illustrated. Uses real data to help readers make connections between the mathematics learned and familiar situations. Uses up-to-date technology including the more powerful features of ZERO(ROOT) and INTERSECT, with minimal use of TRACE. Helps readers quickly identify key points in the book with a vivid new full-color design. For anyone who needs to brush up on everyday or business-related mathematics..
Price: $74.99 [Notify me when price goes down.]

The book begins with an overview and a tutorial that demonstrate a progression in functionality from grep to sed to awk. sed and awk share a similar command-line syntax, accepting user instructions in the form of a script. Because all three programs use UNIX regular expressions, an entire chapter is devoted to understanding UNIX regular expression syntax. Next, the book describes how to write sed scripts. After getting started by writing a few simple scripts, you'll learn other basic commands that parallel manual editing actions, as well as advanced commands that introduce simple programming constructs. Among the advanced commands are those that manipulate the hold space, a set-aside temporary buffer. The second part of the book has been extensively revised to include POSIX awk as well as coverage of three freely available and three commercial versions of awk. The book introduces the primary features of the awk language and how to write simple scripts. You'll also learn: common programming constructs; how to use awk's built-in functions; how to write user-defined functions; debugging techniques for awk programs; how to develop an application that processes an index, demonstrating much of the power of awk; and FTP and contact information for obtaining various versions of awk. Also included is a miscellany of user-contributed scripts that demonstrate a wide range of sed and awk scripting styles and techniques..
Price: $9.00 [Notify me when price goes down.]

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Price: $12.45 [Notify me when price goes down.]

The Problem of Increasing Human Energy is a work written by inventor and physicist, Nikola Tesla. This work was developed largely based on his acquired knowledge as both a mechanical and electrical engineer, and focuses on his ideas for the survival of the human race. Today with the fears of global warming, this Tesla work has been used as a starting point for understanding the problems that the human race could be facing. The Problem of Increasing Human Energy is highly recommended for individuals who are interested in scientific ideas toward the longevity of the human race and those interested in key writings of Nikola Tesla..
Price: $7.98 [Notify me when price goes down.]

The utility simply known as make is one of the most enduring features of both Unix and other operating systems. First invented in the 1970s, make still turns up to this day as the central engine in most programming projects; it even builds the Linux kernel. In the third edition of the classic Managing Projects with GNU make, readers will learn why this utility continues to hold its top position in project build software, despite many younger competitors. The premise behind make is simple: after you change source files and want to rebuild your program or other output files, make checks timestamps to see what has changed and rebuilds just what you need, without wasting time rebuilding other files. But on top of this simple principle, make layers a rich collection of options that lets you manipulate multiple directories, build different versions of programs for different platforms, and customize your builds in other ways. This edition focuses on the GNU version of make, which has deservedly become the industry standard. GNU make contains powerful extensions that are explored in this book. It is also popular because it is free software and provides a version for almost every platform, including a version for Microsoft Windows as part of the free Cygwin project. Managing Projects with GNU make, 3rd Edition provides guidelines on meeting the needs of large, modern projects. Also added are a number of interesting advanced topics such as portability, parallelism, and use with Java. Robert Mecklenburg, author of the third edition, has used make for decades with a variety of platforms and languages. In this book he zealously lays forth how to get your builds to be as efficient as possible, reduce maintenance, avoid errors, and thoroughly understand what make is doing. Chapters on C++ and Java provide makefile entries optimized for projects in those languages. The author even includes a discussion of the makefile used to build the book..
Price: $16.77 [Notify me when price goes down.]

To help you be more efficient in your work, this handy pocket reference gives you instant reminders on how to use important MySQL functions, especially in conjunction with key parts of the LAMP open source infrastructure. This powerful database system is so rich in features that no administrator or programmer can stay familiar with all of them. MySQL Pocket Reference is an ideal on-the-job companion, well organized to help you find and adapt the statements you need -- quickly.

Updated for the latest versions of this popular database, this edition covers many complex features that have been added to MySQL 5.0 and 5.1, including a section dedicated to stored procedures and triggers. After a brief introduction on installation and initial setup, the book explains:

• How to configure MySQL, such as setting the root password
• MySQL data types, including numerics, strings, dates, and complex types
• SQL syntax, commands, data types, operators, and functions
• Arithmetic, comparison and logical operators
• Aggregate and general functions
• Stored procedures and triggers, including procedure definition, procedure calls, procedure management, cursors, and triggers

You don't have time to stop and thumb through an exhaustive reference when you're hard at work. This portable and affordable guide is small enough to fit into your pocket, and gives you a convenient reference that you can consult anywhere. When you reach a sticking point and need to get to a solution quickly, the MySQL Pocket Reference is the book you want to have..
Price: $8.74 [Notify me when price goes down.]