Rating: 
Summary: A long read with minimal value
Review: The errata for this book is thirteen pages. In some sections of the Errata are “web-links†to “See Detailed Descriptionsâ€. Fifty percent of these “web-links†pointing you to “See Detailed Descriptions†do not work. This book provides a multitude of errors that some people may not recognize. I will provide two examples. The first is not subtle and the second is.
These errors are NOT reported within the Errata. The authors David Groth and Dan Newland provide the following in their book to determine a hard disk’s capacity. 1) A not so subtle example. Please keep in mind that these types of errors are prevalent throughout the text. Text from page 158: “Let’s say we have 903 cylinders, 12 heads, and 63 sectors per track. A typical fixed disk has 512 bytes per sector (that’s 0.5 KB/sector). The capacity of the hard disk would be 341,334K, or 333MB (903 cyl x 12 heads x 63 sectors/tracks x 0.5 KB/sector).†Go ahead and do the math. It’s right. David Groth and Dan Newland ask you this question verbatim in the end of Chapter Review section. So much for having an original thought. The question is on page 190. The question is number twenty: If a typical hard disk has 903 cylinders, 12 heads, 63 sectors per track, and 512 bytes per sector, what is its capacity?
A. 333 MB
B. 350 MB
C. 323 MB
D. 373 MB You already know the answer is A because it’s directly from the text on page 158. What you don’t know is that the error below is one example of many not so subtle errors found in this book. Maybe you’ll find this answer as amusing as I did, too. The answer is on page 192: A. The way to solve this problem is to understand how the math works. Take ((903 x 12 x 63) / .5 / 1024 and the answer is roughly 333 MB. The editors use a “/†sign in place of the correct “x†sign. No big deal if this was the only time this type of error occurred but this type of error is prevalent throughout the text. 2) A more subtle example. Again these errors occur throughout the text. Page 80 table 2.3. Here’s the text: 386SX has a Data Bus Width (in bits) of 32. Here’s the reason it’s so subtle. The 386SX doesn’t have a Data Bus Width of 32. Still, it’s nice processor with a Data Bus Width of 16.
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