Languages/Frameworks

Agile Web Development with Rails, Third Edition

by Sam Ruby, Dave Thomas, David Heinemeier Hansson, et al

Rails just keeps on changing. Rails 2, released in 2008, brings hundreds of improvements, including new support for RESTful applications, new generator options, and so on. And, as importantly, we’ve all learned a lot more about writing Rails applications in the last few years.

So here’s the Third Edition of the Jolt Award winning book that shows you a new approach to web development, updated for Rails 2. Sam Ruby joins the team to add his world-class knowledge of web application development, making this the most up-to-date and authoritative Rails book out there.

You can buy the combo pack of the third edition (which gets the PDF now and the paper book when it’s ready).

If you need a paper book now, we have a special offer. While stocks last, we’re selling the paper version of the second edition at half price.

Why do ship dates change on beta books?

Cocoa Programming: A Quick-Start Guide for Developers

by Daniel H Steinberg

Apple’s Cocoa frameworks let you write powerful and attractive applications for Mac OS X or the iPhone. With this book plus your existing knowledge of object-oriented programming you can take advantage of Cocoa and create compelling, feature rich, compliant Mac applications for this industry-leading environment.

Core Animation for Mac OS X and the iPhone: Creating Compelling Dynamic User Interfaces

by Bill Dudney

Have you seen Apple’s Front Row application and Cover Flow effects? Then you’ve seen Core Animation at work. It’s about making applications that give strong visual feedback through movement and morphing, rather than repainting panels. This comprehensive guide will get you up to speed quickly and take you into the depths of this new technology.

Core Data: Apple's API for Persisting Data under Mac OS X

by Marcus S. Zarra

Learn the Apple Core Data APIs from the ground up. You can concentrate on designing the model for your application, and use the power of Core Data to do the rest. This book will take you from beginning with Core Data through to expert level configurations that you will not find anywhere else. Learn why you should be using Core Data for your next Cocoa project, and how to use it most effectively.

Creating a Compelling User Interface with Core Animation

by Bill Dudney

What better way to learn how to create an animated and cinematic user interface than seeing it in action! In these screencasts, experienced Objective-C developer Bill Dudney incrementally builds a Cover Flow application using Core Animation. You’ll learn how to get started with Xcode and use the Core Animation API to add stunning animations to your Cocoa applications.

Developing Facebook Platform Applications with Rails

by Michael J. Mangino

With more than 60 million users, Facebook provides a captive audience for developers. More than 12,000 Facebook applications have been launched so far: Is yours next? It could be, with this book. You’ll see how to develop Facebook Platform applications quickly, using the popular Ruby on Rails framework. You’ll learn to use Facebook technologies such as FBML and FQL, and you’ll see how to leverage Rails and the Facebook Platform to make your application a success.

Everyday Active Record

by Ryan Bates

Active Record models are the foundation of every good Rails application. Learn how to get the most out of the Active Record features that you use on a day-to-day basis from a popular Rails developer and screencaster. In these screencasts, Ryan Bates incrementally builds the models for a Rails application and refactors them over time to address new features. All the code is based on Rails 2.1 features.

FXRuby: Create Lean and Mean GUIs with Ruby

by Lyle Johnson

FXRuby is one of the most popular libraries for developing graphical user interface applications in Ruby. This book is the quickest and easiest way to get started developing GUI applications using FXRuby. With a combination of tutorial exercises and focused, technical information, this book goes beyond the basics to equip you with proven, practical knowledge and techniques for developing real-world FXRuby applications. Learn directly from the lead developer of FXRuby and you’ll be writing powerful and sophisticated GUIs in your favorite programming language.

Read an interview with the author and excerpt at InfoQ.com

Getting Started with XQuery

by Ron Hitchens

If you’re thinking of XML as hard-to-read text files, it’s time to start thinking in terms of XML as content.

This Friday will show you what XQuery is, how it’s different from other approaches, the new possibilities it opens up—and how to harness its power,

Google Maps API, V2: Adding Where to Your Applications

by Scott Davis

This is the second edition of this Friday, which has been rewritten to use the Google Maps V2 API.

Google Web Toolkit: Taking the Pain Out of Ajax

by Ed Burnette

Google Web Toolkit unifies client and server code into a single application written in one language: Java. GWT lets you create a web application in much the same way as you would create a Swing application—creating visual components, setting up event handlers, debugging, and so forth—all within a familiar IDE.

Groovy Recipes: Greasing the Wheels of Java

by Scott Davis

If you’re a busy Java professional who needs quick solutions to everyday problems, then Groovy Recipes is for you. The Groovy language and Grails web framework give you seamless integration with your legacy Java code while adding the flexibility and dynamism of a scripting language and giving you modern, agile, time-saving techniques. Groovy allows you to write code the way you always thought you should—you’ll never look at Java the same way again.

Mastering Dojo: JavaScript and Ajax Tools for Great Web Experiences

by Craig Riecke, Rawld Gill, Alex Russell

Imagine a true thin-client web application environment, with no browser incompatibilities, no plugins, and an interface that’s closer to a desktop app. You can have it all, today. Welcome to The Dojo Toolkit.

Mastering Dojo walks you through the whole range of modern web programming problems, from bringing simple web pages to life with widgets and animation, to designing and building an enterprise-class, single-page Rich Internet Application (RIA).

Are your web pages becoming more and more complex, with hundreds of lines of sprawling JavaScript as clients demand modern Ajax designs? Or maybe you’re about to enter the new world of single-page, Rich Internet Applications? Dojo is the unified toolkit that you need to get the job done.

Pragmatic Ajax: A Web 2.0 Primer

by Justin Gehtland, Ben Galbraith, and Dion Almaer

Now there’s no need for you to choose between the ease of deployment of a web page and the interactive features of a rich desktop application. Ajax redefines the user experience for web applications. Your application can provide a compelling user interface delivered plug-in free using modern web browsers. This book shows you how to make Ajax magic, exploring both the fundamental technologies and the emerging frameworks that make it easy.

Programming Clojure

by Stuart Halloway

If you’re a Java programmer, if you care about concurrency, or if you enjoy working in low-ceremony language such as Ruby or Python, Programming Clojure is for you. Clojure is a general-purpose language with direct support for Java, a modern Lisp dialect, and support in both the language and data structures for functional programming. Programming Clojure shows you how to write applications that have the beauty and elegance of a good scripting language, the power and reach of the JVM, and a modern, concurrency-safe functional style. Now you can write beautiful code that runs fast and scales well.

Programming Erlang: Software for a Concurrent World

by Joe Armstrong

Learn how to write truly concurrent programs—programs that run on dozens or even hundreds of local and remote processors. See how to write high reliability applications—even in the face of network and hardware failure—using the Erlang programming language.

Programming Groovy: Dynamic Productivity for the Java Developer

by Venkat Subramaniam

Groovy brings you the best of both worlds: a flexible, highly productive, agile, dynamic language that runs on the rich framework of the Java Platform. Groovy preserves the Java semantics and extends the JDK to give you true dynamic language capabilities⎯programming in Groovy feels like you’re using an augmented Java. Programming Groovy will help you learn and take advantage of the latest version of this rich dynamic language, so you can be a more productive Java Platform developer.

Programming Ruby 1.9: The Pragmatic Programmers' Guide

by Dave Thomas, with Chad Fowler and Andy Hunt

This is the Pickaxe book, named for the tool on the cover. The original PickAxe was the first English-language book on Ruby. Each edition of the book tracks the latest Ruby release, and each is the definitive reference to Ruby. This time we’ve broken with tradition. This isn’t a third edition. It’s technically a separate book. That’s because it reflects all the new features of Ruby 1.9, and we want both it and the second edition (which covers 1.8) to be available at the same time.

Ruby is the fastest growing and most exciting dynamic language out there. If you need to get working programs delivered fast, you should add Ruby to your toolbox.

Why do ship dates change on beta books?

Did You Buy the Second Edition of the Original PickAxe from Us?

If you bought the second edition book or PDF from us, we have some significant savings for you. Visit your home page for details.

Programming Scala: Tackle Multi-Core Complexity on the Java Virtual Machine

by Venkat Subramaniam

Scala is an exciting, modern, multi-paradigm language for the JVM. You can use it to write traditional, imperative, object-oriented code. But you can also leverage its higher level of abstraction to take full advantage of modern, multicore systems. Programming Scala will show you how to use this powerful functional programming language to create highly scalable, highly concurrent applications on the Java Platform.

IN BETA THIS FALL!

Prototype and script.aculo.us: You never knew JavaScript could do this!

by Christophe Porteneuve

Tired of getting swamped in the nitty-gritty of cross-browser, Web 2.0-grade JavaScript? Get back in the game with Prototype and script.aculo.us, two extremely popular JavaScript libraries, that make it a walk in the park. Be it AJAX, drag and drop, auto-completion, advanced visual effects, or many other great features, all you need is to write one or two lines of script that look so good they could almost pass for Ruby code!

Rails for PHP Developers

by Derek DeVries and Mike Naberezny

Are you a PHP developer interested in the Ruby on Rails framework? Rails for PHP Developers kick-starts your Rails experience by guiding you through learning both Ruby and Rails from a PHP developer’s perspective. Written by developers with deep experience using PHP, Ruby, and Rails, this book leverages your existing knowledge of PHP to learn Rails application development quickly and effectively.

NEW: PHP to Rails reference. See how to write the most common PHP functions in Ruby and Rails. Now online at: railsforphp.com/reference

Stripes: ...and Java web development is fun again

by Frederic Daoud

Tired of complicated Java web frameworks that just get in your way? Stripes is a lightweight, practical framework that lets you write lean and mean code without a bunch of XML configuration files. Stripes is designed to do a lot of the common work for you, while being flexible enough to adapt to your requirements. This book will show you how to use Stripes to its full potential, so that you can easily develop professional, full-featured web applications. As a bonus, you’ll also get expert advice from the creator of Stripes, Tim Fennell.

The Definitive ANTLR Reference: Building Domain-Specific Languages

by Terence Parr

ANTLR v3 is the most powerful, easy-to-use parser generator built to date, and represents the culmination of more than 15 years of research by Terence Parr. This book is the essential reference guide to using this completely rebuilt version of ANTLR, with its amazing new LL(*) parsing technology, tree construction facilities, StringTemplate code generation template engine, and sophisticated ANTLRWorks GUI development environment. Learn to use ANTLR directly from the author!