Categories
Uncategorized

For Sale: Even More Computer Books, $5 Each

That’s right, I’ve got even more books for sale. This set is a mish-mash of computer books — some are mine, some are from a company for whom I worked in 2002 that went under. As with the other books for sale I mentioned today, all are going for $5 each. I’d rather they went to a good home than the recycler.

Want any of ’em? Email me at joey@joeydevilla.com.

Python Essential Reference, Second Edition by David M. Beazley [Paperback][New Riders 2001]

Beginning PHP 4 by Wankyu Choi et. al. [Paperback][Wrox 2000]

Professional PHP Programming by Jesus Castagnetto et. al. [Paperback][Wrox 1999]

Instant SQL programming by Joe Celko [Paperback][Wrox 1995]

Wireless Web Development with PHP and WAP and Ray Rischpater [Paperback][Apress 2001]

JavaScript: The Definitive Guide, 4th Edition by David Flanagan [Paperback][O’Reilly 2002]

Palm Database Programming: The Complete Developer’s Guide by Eric Giguere [Paperback][Wiley 1999]

Palm OS Programming from the Ground Up by Robert Mykland [Paperback][Osborne 2000]

Programming Web Services with XML-RPC by Simon St. Laurent et. al. [Paperback][O’Reilly 2001]

Rapid Application Development with Mozilla by Nigel McFarlane [Paperback][Prentice-Hall 2004]

C# Design Patterns: A Tutorial by James W. Cooper [Paperback][Addison-Wesley 2003]

Microsoft ADO.NET by David Sceppa [Hardcover][Microsoft 2002]

Programming C# by Jesse Liberty (here’s the Amazon link to the latest edition) [Paperback][O’Reilly 2001]

Categories
Uncategorized

For Sale: Deadbeat Ex-Housemate’s C++ and Security Books, $5 Each

That’s right, there are even more books for sale from my deadbeat ex-housemate’s collection. This installment covers his C++ books plus a couple of extra security books I found; an earlier installment covers Java books, and an even earlier one covers information security and cryptography books.

Want any of them? They’re a mere $5. Come pick ’em up (I’m in the High Park area of Toronto), or pay for shipping and I’ll send them to you. Email me at joey@joeydevilla.com.

C++ Books

The Waite Group’s C++ How-To by Kalev et. al. [Paperback][Waite 1999]

C++ Primer, Third Edition by Stanley B. Lippman abd Josee Lajoie [Paperback][Addison-Wesley 1998]

C++ from Scratch by Jesse Liberty [Paperback][Que 1999]

The C++ Standard Library from Scratch by Pablo Halpern [Que 2000]

Using C++ by Rob McGregor [Paperback][Que 1999]

More Security Books

Hacking Exposed: Network Security Secrets and Solutions [First Edition] (here’s the Amazon link to the second edition) by Stuart McClure, Joel Scambray and George Kurtz [Paperback][McGraw-Hill 1999]

Hack Attacks Revealed by John Chirillo [Paperback][Wiley 2001]

Categories
Uncategorized

For Sale: Deadbeat Ex-Housemate’s Java Books, $5 Each

As you may have seen in the previous article, my deadbeat ex-housemate left a number of books at my house ages ago. It’s high time to sell them!

In this installment, I list some of his Java books for sale. Remember, they’re only $5 each. You can pick them up from my place (I live in the High Park area) or I can send them to you (but you pay shipping). Want one? Email me at joey@joeydevilla.com.

Smart Card Application Development Using Java by Uwe Hansmann et. al. [Paperback][Springer 2000]

Programming Wireless Devices with the Java 2 Platform, Micro Edition by Roger Riggs et. al. [Paperback][Sun 2001]

Java Cryptography by Jonathan Knudsen [Paperback][O’Reilly 1998]

Java Cookbook [First Edition] (here’s the Amazon link for the second edition) by Ian F. Darwin [Paperback][O’Reilly 2001]

Advanced JavaServer Pages by David M. Geary [Paperback][Sun 2001]

Core Swing Advanced Programming by Kim Topley [Paperback][Prentice-Hall 1999]

Thinking in Java [2nd Edition] (here’s the Amazon link to the 4th edition) by Bruce Eckel [Paperback][Prentice-Hall 2000]

The Jini Specifications, Second Edition by Ken Arnold (Ed.) [Paperback][Sun 2001]

Inside Java 2 Platform Security [First Edition] (here’s the Amazon link to the second edition) by Li Gong [Paperback][Sun 1999]

Data Structires and Algorithms with Object-Oriented Design Patterns in Java by Bruno R. Preiss [Hardcover][Wiley 2000]

Java Swing by Robert Eckstein et. al. [Paperback][O’Reilly 1998]

The Java Programming Language, Third Edition (here’s the Amazon link to the 4th edition) by Ken Arnold et. al. [Paperback][Sun 2000]

Building Parsers with Java by Steven John Metsker [Paperback][Addison-Wesley 2001]

Graphic Java: Mastering the JFC, Third Edition by David M. Geary [Paperback][Sun 1999]

The Java Native Interface by Sheng Liang [Paperback][Sun 1999]

Developing Java Enterprise Applications [First Edition] (here’s the Amazon link for the second edition) by Stephen Asbury and Scott R. Weiner [Paperback][Wiley 1999]

Categories
Uncategorized

For Sale: Deadbeat Ex-Housemate’s Cryptography and Security Books, $5 each

As I mentioned in the previous article — in which I announced that I had a Symbolics XL1200 Lisp Machine for sale — I also have a number of my deadbeat ex-housemate’s books. After having held onto them for five years in the expectation that I would send them to him once he paid me back, I have decided to sell his books.

All of them, regardless of original price, are going for five bucks apiece. If you live in Toronto, come pick ’em up (I live in the High Park area). If you need them shipped to you, you’ll have to cover shipping. All are in decent to good condition, all with their covers intact.

Want one? Want ’em all? Contact me at joey@joeydevilla.com.

It’s going to take me a while to catalogue all the books for sale, so I’m going to do them in installments. Here’s the first installment: books on cryptography and information security.

The Cryptography and Information Security Books

Among the books is a set of silver-and-red paperbacks of Lecture Notes in Computer Science. This set features proceedings from various information security and cryptography conferences in 1999, suitable for citations in you upcoming dissertation:

  • Lecture Notes in Computer Science 1560: Public Key Cryptography – Hideki Imai and Yulian Zheng (Eds.)

    Second International Workshop on Practice and Theory in Public Key Cryptography, PKC ’99, Kamakura, Japan, March 1999 – Proceedings [Paperback][Springer]

  • Lecture Notes in Computer Science 1648: Financial Cryptography – Matthew Franklin (Ed.)

    Third Internation Conference, FC ’99, Anguilla, British West Indies, February 1999 – Proceedings [Paperback][Springer]

  • Lecture Notes in Computer Science 1726: Information and Communication Security – Vijay Varadharajan and Yi Mu (Eds.)

    Second International Conference, ICICS ’99, Sydney, Australia, November 1999 – Proceedings [Paperback][Springer]

  • Lecture Notes in Computer Science 1729: Information Security – Masahiro Mambo and Yulian Zheng (Eds.)

    Second International Workshop, ISW ’99, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, November 1999 – Proceedings [Paperback][Springer]

  • Lecture Notes in Computer Science 1787: Information Security and Cryptology ICISC ’99 – JooSeok Song (Ed.)

    Second International Conference, Seoul, Korea, December 1999 – Proceedings [Paperback][Springer]

  • Lecture Notes in Computer Science 1796: Security Protocols – Bruce Christianson et. al. (Eds.)

    7th International Workshop, Cambridge, UK, April 1999, – Proceedings [Paperback][Springer]

There are also the following security books:

Intrusion Signatures and Analysis by Stephen Northcutt, Mark Cooper, Matt Fearnow and Karen Frederick [Paperback][New Riders 2001]

Network Intrusion Detection: An Analyst’s Handbook, Second Edition by Stephen Northcutt and Judy Novak [Paperback][New Riders 2001]

Modelling and Analysis of Security Protocols by Peter Ryan and Steve Schneider [Paperback][Pearson 2001]

Information Security Management Handbook, 4th Edition (here’s the Amazon link for the 5th edition) by Harold F. Tipton and Micki Krause (Eds.) [Hardcover][Auerbach 2000]

Cryptography Theory and Practice [First Edition] (here’s the Amazon link for the 2nd edition) by Douglas R. Stinson [Hardcover][CRC 1995]

Rethinking Public Key Infrastructures and Digital Certificates: Building in Privacy by Stefan A. Brands [Hardcover][MIT Press 2000]

Cryptography in C and C++ [First Edition] (here’s the Amazon link to the second edition) by Michael Welschenbach [Paperback][Apress 2001]

As I said earlier, if you want to buy any of these, contact me!

Categories
It Happened to Me

For Sale: Symbolics XL1200 Lisp Machine (Backstory Included)

Symbolics XL1200 Lisp Machine

Flashback

November 2001: “There’s the matter of these $1200 in long-distance calls to London, England, Mr. deVilla,” said the Bell Canada rep.

I looked over my shoulder at my housemate, who was already three months behind with his share of the rent. Three months, three thousand dollars. Luckily, I’d been good at saving money, so I wasn’t in dire straits just yet.

“Dude, those calls were for a big job interview. I’ll make so much money on this security gig that I can pay you back with my first paycheque.”

“So,” I said, turning my attention back to the Bell Canada rep on my cellphone, “how do I get my land-line reactivated?”

“You’ll have to pay all outstanding charges and we’d also like you to leave us a $500 deposit.”

“Okay,” I grumbled, giving my housemate the evil eye as I reached for my wallet. “Here’s my credit card number…”


January 2002: I got two long distance phone calls on the day I got fired from OpenCola. The first was from my friend and co-worker Cory Doctorow, who was slowly being pushed out of the company he founded by the new regime himself. He wasn’t involved in my firing, and he didn’t owe me a call all the way from San Francisco, but he did it anyway. It was a nice gesture, and I was grateful.

The second call came from my deadbeat housemate, who had gone home for Christmas. He was overdue to return.

“Dude,” he said, “I’m so short money I can’t even afford to come back.”

I imagined even more months of unpaid back rent, and the warning from OpenCola founder John Henson kept playing over and over in my head: “I don’t think you’ll ever get that rent money back.”

Faced with the prospect of having to live on my severance pay and savings, the last thing I wanted to deal with was this parasite.

“I don’t think you should come back,” I said.

There was a moment of silence from the other end of the line, followed by an “I understand,” which was then followed by “Can you send me my stuff?”

“How ’bout sending me the laptop you borrowed from me?”

“I need it to help find work.”

“Well, I’m not sending your stuff. It’s my guarantee that you’ll eventually pay me.”


An old alarm clock with wings, flying

February 2002: “Dude, I think I can get you a cheque shortly.” No cheque appears.

March 2002: “Dude, I think I can get you a cheque shortly.” No cheque appears.

April 2002: “Dude, I think I can get you a cheque shortly.” No cheque appears.

May 2002: “Dude, I think I can get you a cheque shortly.” No cheque appears.

June 2002: “Dude, I think I can get you a cheque shortly.” No cheque appears.

July 2002: “Dude, I think I can get you a cheque shortly.” No cheque appears.

August 2002: “Dude, I think I can get you a cheque shortly.” No cheque appears.

September 2002: “Dude, I think I can get you a cheque shortly.” No cheque appears.

October 2002: “Dude, I think I can get you a cheque shortly.” No cheque appears.


November 2002: Although I’d landed a job while on a date back in May, the company had run out of money by August, and clients were few and far between. Over a year had passed since my deadbeat ex-housemate had started defaulting on the rent.

I gathered the stuff he’d left behind in the dining room. It filled the room: software, books, computer peripherals, and even expensive little techno-trinkets such as a Sony MiniDisc player and an iPaq PDA, complete with folding keyboard.

“Time to kill the hostages,” I said to myself as I announced the “Save Joey’s Christmas” sale online. I made a quick $2000.

I didn’t sell everything — I held on to what I thought he’d value most: his collection of computer security books and what was probably a prized possession: a Symbolics XL1200 Lisp machine.

A Little Background

When I was in high school back in the 1980s, one of the big tech buzzwords was “Fifth Generation Computing”. If vacuum tube computers like ENIAC were first-generation computers and microcomputers (computers with microprocessors, which were relatively new back then) were the fourth generation, the fifth generation represented the next generation of computers, as envisioned at the time.

The Japanese were the first to use the term “fifth generation”, and they used it to name an initiative to develop next-gen computers. You must remember at the time that it seemed as if the Japanese could achieve anything they wanted to: they’d gone from humbled war loser and surpassed the American at their own games of autos and electronics. It even looked as if they were making cultural inroads, with businessmen latching onto Japanese management practices, anime making its first forays onto our TV screens with the Transformers, Star Blazers and Robotech and sushi. AI was going to be yet another Japanese success story.

Molly Ringwald eats sushi for lunch in 'The Breakfast Club'.(In these times, when it’s not unusual to find sushi for sale at your neighbourhood convenience store, sushi is no longer considered to be really exotic. That wasn’t the case back then. Go rent The Breakfast Club and watch for the scene in which Molly Ringwald pulls out her sushi lunch — everyone looks at her as if she’s crazy.)

One of the big features of fifth generation computing was artificial intelligence, or “AI” for short. It was expected that with the new generation of computers and software that the Japanese were going to build, we’d be able to communicate and program our computers using what we geeks call “natural language” — that is, the way we speak every day, as opposed to using cryptic commands or programming languages. For a while, AI was considered to be a hot field, and AI classes at university were always the first computer science classes to fill up.

Symbolics was a company that attempted to capitalize on the AI craze of the 1980s. A a commercial spin-off of the AI lab at MIT, it produced state-of-the-art computers that used a programming language called Lisp as their core programming language. Because Lisp is such an advanced programming language — so advanced that even today’s programming langauges are still stealing tricks from it — and because it’s so flexible, it was often used for artificial intelligence work. The XL1200, released some time in the late 1980s, was probably the top-of-the-line machine produced by Symbolics until they got out of the stand-alone machine business. It had windows and a mouse back when most of us were still looking at DOS screens, and megabytes of RAM back when home machine RAM was measured in kilobytes.

The Symbolics XL1200 Lisp Machine

The Symbolics XL1200 is the machine pictured at the top of this article.

According to this page, its main case has a height of 64cm (about 2 feet), width of 24cm (about 9.5 inches) and a depth of 81 cm (about 32 inches); this page says that it weighed 150 pounds in its crate, not counting the 19″ monitor, keyboard (so solidly built and encased in steel; you could easily bludgeon someone with it) and other components, which weighed 90 pounds on their own. It certainly felt that heavy the time I had to move it.

When my deadbeat ex-housemate last booted up the machine, a little icon and the words “HARDWARE ERROR” appeared on the screen. The fact that it displays a diagnostic message suggests that all is not lost; if someone were willing to go over its numerous circuit boards with a logic probe, he or she may be able to diagnose and fix the problem. Alternately, someone out there who already owns an XL1200 could use it as a source for replacement parts.

It sat safely in a closet in my old house for three years and it’s been sitting in the storage locker of my condo for the past 18 months. It is in good condition, and aside from being put into the storage locker when I moved to the condo, it hasn’t been touched.

It’s For Sale

Five and a half years have passed since my deadbeat ex-housemate defaulted on paying the rent. I’ve accepted the fact that he’s very unlikely to pay me, so it’s time to sell off the last of his stuff. First up on the selling block is the XL1200.

This machine, while rare and of considerable historic value, isn’t of much use to me. I’ve never been able to wrap my brains around Lisp, but should I choose to do so, I think I’d rather download a Lisp interpreter into my laptop than work on this big beast. However, I know that somewhere out there, a Lisp maestro or computer historian (or someone’s who’s both) is looking for such an XL1200.

If you’re interested in getting a look at this beast of a machine, please drop me a line at joey@joeydevilla.com. If you know someone who might be interested in such a thing, send them my way. Spread the word far and wide: Joey deVilla has a Symbolics XL1200 for sale.

Categories
Music

Was It THAT Long Ago?

While listening to iTunes at work in “shuffle” mode, the Propellerheads’ cover of the theme from On Her Majesty’s Secret Service (from their album Decksanddrumsandrockandroll) came on. Like many of you, hearing a particular tune can take me back to a particular time, and that’s what this tune did.

Then it hit me — I was listening to this album during the less-than-fun summer of 1998 (chronicled partially in this blog entry) — almost nine years ago.

Damn, how time flies.

Categories
Uncategorized

How Would You Answer this Question? (Part 2)

Cover of 'The Onion's' 'Weekender' magazine: 'They Tried to Teach My Baby Science'.

In a previous post, I asked how you would respond to the following:

Are their [sic] any Godly uses for higher math?

I’ve come to realize that probably one reason I struggled with algebra, geometry et.al., was that

it seemed to me that these were basically atheistic academic disciplines, useful for promoting evolution or

other Godless leftist sciences, but not with any obvious Christ-centered or positive, conservative uses.

If I’m wrong about this, I’d appreciate it if people could show me how this discipline can have Godly uses.

I also feel this could be useful in developing better ways of teaching higher mathematics

if such uses could be found.

The statements above are the sort of thing that we’ve come to expect from a certain portion of the

political right: less educated yokels, mistrustful of science or any sort of empirical analysis, preferring

to go with their gut and a literalist interpretation of the Bible.

For the comedy writer (or even a sarcastic blogger, such as Yours Truly), it’s a gold mine of

material.

And Now, a Twist…

However, the statements above were never made (hence the phrasing of my question).

Well, they were made, but I did a little search-and-replace

of some key words.

The actual statements, made by one Ken Burch, come from this thread on Babble,

the discussion forum for Rabble, a strongly left-leaning Canadian

political site.

Here’s the item as it really appears, with the words I changed highlighted:

Are their [sic] any progressive uses for higher math?

I’ve come to realize that probably one reason I struggled with algebra, geometry et.al., was that

it seemed to me that these were basically reactionary academic disciplines, useful for

designing weaponry or potentially repressive computer technology, but

not with any obvious humanistic or social positive uses.

If I’m wrong about this, I’d appreciate it if people could show me how this discipline

can have progressive uses.

I also feel this could be useful in developing better ways of teaching higher mathematics

if such uses could be found.

Now how would you respond to the statements?

(My thanks to Colby Cosh, from whom I found out about the Babble thread.)