Hall’s guide to designing distributed client/server applications is divided into 17 chapters and five appendices. The first chapter introduces client/server, distributed, and network computing. The second chapter goes into more depth about principles of client/server architecture and about enhanced client/server systems. Chapter 3 outlines TUXEDO’s architecture and applications for different environments. Chapter 4 covers the database and distributed application features of TUXEDO, including application management. Chapter 5 establishes principles for the design of a good TUXEDO application and makes recommendations for a solid implementation.

Chapter 6 provides the fundamental Application Programming Interface for building a TUXEDO application. Chapter 7 describes how to manage buffers in TUXEDO. Chapter 8 treats the client part of an application. Chapter 9 details the server part of the application, including communication within the application and database access. Chapters 10 and 11 outline the administrative issues of a TUXEDO application and explain how to get the maximum performance by fine-tuning the application. Chapter 12 deals with security aspects, which are paramount in today’s networking environment. Chapter 13 is dedicated to Cobol programmers who want to use a TUXEDO environment. Chapters 14, 15, and 16 deal with queue management, transaction processing, and using multiple domains. Chapter 17 discusses features of the latest release, TUXEDO 6.1.

The book is intended for intermediate and advanced programmers, client/server systems architects, and designers. To fully use the wealth of information included in this guide, one needs a solid background in database and communication applications design, a thorough knowledge of programming theory and networking architectures, and hands-on  programming  experience.

The book’s best features are the programming examples and the case study that takes the reader from the inception to the completion of a client/server application using TUXEDO. The entire book reflects the author’s programming experience and knowledge of client/server architecture design. The appendices provide supplementary programming information that is useful for more complex  applications. 

I appreciated the style of the presentation. The examples provide a lot of insight into the intricacies of TUXEDO programming. It would have been advisable to include a second, simpler case study, in order to make the complex case study more understandable. The work has good references and a thorough index. The graphics are clear and useful.