Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!husc6!uwvax!dogie!uwmcsd1!ig!agate!ucbvax!A.ISI.EDU!LYNCH
From: LYNCH@A.ISI.EDU (Dan Lynch)
Newsgroups: comp.protocols.tcp-ip
Subject: Re: Third TCP-IP Book?
Message-ID: <12398287383.24.LYNCH@A.ISI.EDU>
Date: 14 May 88 17:06:41 GMT
References: <craig@NNSC.NSF.NET>
Sender: daemon@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU
Organization: The Internet
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The supposed "Complete Guide to TCP/IP ..." will not be out this
spring.  I talked to one of the purported authors about it
this week and he said that he had to back out of th eproject
because of overload, but that the project was still being pursued.
I did'nt get a date, but my reading is summer/fall.  All these books
on TCP/IP are wonderful.  Finally we have something(s) to give to people
that expalins what we have been doing for the past decade.  I have reviewed
all three extant books and each has it merits and faults.  I may as well
go on record, so to speak, about my views on them to help others decide
which to get for which purpose.  These views are my own (who else???).

Comer's book is extremely thorough on the lower layers (up through TCP).
It gives an outstanding exposition of th eneed for internetting and addresses
the common and ugly cases in a clear style.  An excellent book for the
technically inclined.  This book is weak on the application protocols.It
explains them, but does not delve very deeply into them.

Stalling's book is very thorough on the application layer protocols and
not very strong on the lower layers.  I think of it as trying to 
explain Ip and TCP from an ISO viewpoint.  While technically clean,
it lacks motivation.  

Davidson's book is good material to give to a marketing person.  It explains
al the terms, much of the history, and does not dig too deeply.  It is
a short book (around 100 pages) and is essentially an annotated glossary.

So, all three books have their place.  

Dan
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