SIP: Understanding the Session Initiation Protocol, Second Edition

Rating:
Summary: Not bad, but not the best
Review: I found the book useful as a backup reference to the spec, but not the best explanation I have seen. It was at times slightly confusing, and found that I was constantly referring back to the SIP overview in D. Collins "Carrier Grade Voice over IP" (which is very well written). From an education perspective, it was a little like a dictionary for SIP that explained concepts such as what a given header was for, but gave little info on how it is used, or what the industry is doing.

There were some call flows, but they were sparse with a few mistakes. Further, they were either very base, or very comprehensive, and did not cover many of the questions I had.

In summary, if you are looking for a readable reference to help with the not so reader friendly RFC, this is pretty good. For learning how SIP is being imlemented beyond basic call handling, keep looking.

As an option, also look at the book by Collins noted above. It is a good overview reference, and tries to address where the industry is moving from an implementation perspective

Rating:
Summary: An Excellent Primer
Review: I've read and reviewed a great deal of technical literature, and found Dr. Johnston's book to be a detailed and well-written introduction to an extremely complex protocol. Without over-simplifying, Dr. Johnston, manages to convey a great deal of information in a style of writing that is lively and engaging (and that's a real breath of fresh air, compared to similar books on the topic). I plan to put this on the required reading list for my next class on the subject.

Rating:
Summary: Costly, but a great introduction to SIP
Review: Really enjoyed this book - easy to read, and the examples emphasized the points he was trying to make. The only negative is the cost of the book ... I got mine from the library, and was shocked to see how much this was selling for. After you understand SIP, this would be a decent reference book, but not the best.

Rating:
Summary: OK but could be much better written
Review: The information contains in the book makes it a pretty good primer on SIP. The organization of the book and its content is very good. The language and ways in which the author explains certain things are confusing. I think the author should be able to do a much better job in explaining things. I often find myself having to re-read certain explainations twice and much carefully when I feel I shouldn't have to -- the topics are not complicated but not well explained. Someone like Doug Comer or Richard Stevens would probably be able to make it a much easier read.

Rating:
Summary: Just an introduction to the SIP RFC
Review: This book simply summarizes some of the SIP RFC into more user-friendly english. It consists mostly of lists of SIP headers and error codes, lifted from the RFC. There is no sample code or discussion of SIP applications or architecture. Of course, the RFC is pretty hefty, so this book has been a useful introduction. I still use the RFC as my real reference, though, because there are some minor discrepancies between the book and the RFC, such as some error code names.