Paul A. Watters PhD CITP

Welcome!

The purpose of this page is to provide support information for the trade books written by Dr. Paul A. Watters. Dr. Watters has written many information technology books designed to be used by the working IT professional, ranging from system administration of UNIX and Sun Solaris systems, through to XML Web Services and web applications, security, and software testing. Please select one of the book categories to the left to review support information.

Dr. Watters is currently working on an exciting new project - Statistics in a Nutshell - with Sarah Boslaugh, to be published by O'Reilly in 2008.

What Books Have I Written?

My philosophy in writing books has been strongly influenced by my college teaching experience in information technology and software engineering - clear descriptions of basic principles, philosophy and motivation for using a specific technology, and then clear examples of how to use it in practice. In a book with limited pages, it's not always possible to cover every topic, or to provide all information on a specific topic in the detail required to perform a particular task. I see the role of trade books as "breadth first, depth second" - these books provide orientation, but if you need intimate detail on a specific application, function or method, then you will almost certainly need to consult vendor documentation. For example, the Sun administration reference collection for Solaris contains many thousands of pages of detail, which can be daunting at first, but very useful in the long term.

Solaris 10: The Complete Reference Maximize all the capabilities of Sun Microsystems', innovative, and powerful UNIX-based operating system with help from this authoritative guide. Get full details on installation, process and device management, access control and security, networking, services, directories, and applications.	Web Services in Finance If you are a .NET or J2EE developer working in the financial industry, and you are currently migrating applications to become Web Services, or writing new Web Services, then this book is your ideal companion. Reading it, you will acquire necessary skills to develop secure applications quickly.
Solaris Administration: A Beginner's Guide New to Solaris? Stuck with a box that has no manual or documentation? Designed for Windows or Linux administrators looking to learn Solaris, this beginner's guide covers the basics of Solaris single host administration and explains how to manage Internet and intranet services.	Sun Certified Solaris 8 System Administrator Designed as a preparation tool for parts I & II of the Solaris 8 Certified System Administrator exam, mapping out objectives for both parts of the exam. Each chapter contains numerous practice questions, examples, and test-taking tips, which makes this book a premier study tool.
Sun Certified Solaris 9 System and Network Administrator This book covers material on the Sun Certified Solaris 9 System and Network Administrator exams. You'll find exam objectives at the beginning of each chapter, helpful exam tips, end-of-chapter practice questions, and more. The bonus CD-ROM contains full practice tests, hundreds of questions, and video clips. This comprehensive guide not only helps you pass this challenging certification exams.	Solaris 8: The Complete Reference This book covers the Solaris operating system generally, with presentation of the features that were new in release 8. A large section covers installation, user and software administration, file-system management and backup planning, and process management. Networking comes next--with sections on routing, the DNS, and DHCP. Samba and the Network File System (NFS).
WebGuru Guide to JavaScript A book about the most widely-used power tool on the World Wide Web, Guide to JavaScript is an excellent resource that teaches how to implement image rollovers and customize pages for users or browsers among hundreds of other tasks. With its focus on the limitations and capabilities of JavaScript, readers will know after using this resource whether and when JavaScript is the right tool for the right job, as well as when real-world solutions are necessary to achieve the desired results.	Solaris 8 Administrator's Guide This Guide covers all aspects of deploying Solaris as a network server, including both basic and advanced network services. Given newfound interest in Solaris as an enterprise network operating system, this guide is aimed squarely at supporting enterprise-level services. It's written for experienced network administrators who want an objective guide to networking with Solaris, and covers installation on both the Intel and Sparc platforms.
Solaris 9 Administration: A Beginner's Guide Learn to set up, run, and support Solaris 9 across your network using this hands-on introductory guide. Beginning with an overview of this powerful operating system, this practical resource will show you how to install the SPARC version of Solaris 9 and manage Internet and intranet services, and will help you become familiar with the new features of Solaris 9--including role-based access control, Kerberos 5, and the LDAP directory service. You'll also learn how to integrate Windows NT/2000 or Linux with the Solaris platform.	Integrated Test Design and Automation Zero-defect software is the holy grail of all development projects, and sophisticated techniques have now emerged to automate the testing process so that high-quality software can be delivered on time and on budget. This practical guide enables readers to understand and apply the TestFrame method -- an open method developed by the authors and their colleagues that is rapidly becoming a standard in the testing industry.