Hobuss tells what it takes to develop Web sites. This book is a good introduction for developers and an easy read for decision makers (if they skip some of the details), who will learn what the major issues are and how to deal with them. This is a practical book, drawing on the author’s more than 20 years of experience in developing applications. The book is well organized. Each chapter contains helpful introductory and summary paragraphs. Lists of Internet sites, books, and other references point to additional information. This structure maintains the book’s focus and enables readers to tailor the information to their needs.

Hobuss is an experienced user of PowerBuilder, Sybase’s rapid application development system, and he explains this product in detail. The major enhancements of version 6.0 (too new to have been mentioned in the book) are geared to Web application development. Hobuss has collected information from manufacturers of other tools and gives Web addresses for them.

The first third of the book is introductory, while the remainder details interfacing with a Sybase database. Even if you are working with other databases, you will find much of the material here useful. The chapter “Accessing Sybase Databases Using CGI (Common Gateway Interface) Programs” is the most important in the book. It covers the components (browser, server, CGI program, database, and other applications) in a Web database application and explains how they work together.

The book consists of four parts. The part on “Planning” provides overviews of the Web, Web commerce, application development environments, Java, HTML, and CGI. The author gives a good perspective on Java and JavaScript. “Internet Web Design” discusses Web application development, design, tools and security, as well as Sybase tools and System 11 database capabilities, in detail. This part includes a good treatment of SQL for building advanced queries. “Interfacing with the Internet User” contains chapters on HTML forms and database access; using CGI programs when more functionality is required for database access; the Multipurpose Internet Mail Extension (MIME) for presenting data; managing access using hidden fields, cookies, and database tables; and improving performance. The last part, “Advanced Topics in Internet Database Publishing,” briefly discusses replication and migration of data, firewalls, and security, but includes good references. The concluding chapters explain the design of one application and the implementation of another, simple application.

The appendix contains comments and brief descriptions of software on the accompanying CD-ROM (which includes evaluation copies of the software tools, and shareware for the design and development of applications that use Sybase databases); Web addresses; answers to 24 frequently asked questions; and Web database development resources.