Archive for the 'Books' Category

Grails is an open source Web application framework written for Java platform. It is based on the Groovy programming language and is a competitor to Ruby on Rails.

Grails boost programmer productivity by eliminating configuration effort using the "coding by convention" paradigm.

Grails eliminates the need for downloading and configuring multiple sets of applications for starting development of a Java Web application. Grails provides a single package which contains test application server, ORM tool (Hibernate) etc. So in a nutshell, Grails is J2EE on steroids.

Books on Groovy

In order to be an expert on Grails, you need to learn Groovy. Groovy is a scripting language based on Java. Following are some of the good books available in Groovy.

Groovy in Action - This takes a detailed look at the Java scripting language Groovy. This is the favorite book on Groovy.

Groovy Recipes: Greasing the Wheels of Java- Groovy recipes one programming problem at a time and explores how it can be done in Groovy. This is a must have book if you want to be quickly productive in Groovy. This book also looks at Grails.

Programming Groovy: Dynamic Productivity for the Java Developer - This book is not yet released. This is intended for new programmers and will contain both Groovy fundamentals and advanced Groovy topics such as meta programming, unit testing and domain specific language creation.

Books on Grails

The Definitive Guide to Grails (Definitive Guide) - This is a comprehensive reference to Grails. It takes you through the complete Grails development lifecycle such as project configuration and automatic ORM mapping. This also contains a quick introduction to Groovy.

Getting Started with Grails - This book is available as a free Grails book download (PDF). This is a quick introduction to Grails platform. It takes you through the framework step by step. It also explores how a Web application is turned into concrete code from abstract code.

Ruby language is one of the most elegant computer languages out there. You can write highly efficient code with Ruby. It is also very popular and bagged the programming language of the year award in 2006! In this post, I will look at the free ebooks available for Ruby.

1. Programming Ruby, The Pragmatic Programmer’s Guide - This is one of the best free ebooks available for Ruby. The first edition of this book is available online. A copy of this book is also included in the Ruby language download. I would suggest this as the first book for learning Ruby.

2. Mr. Neighborly’s Humble Little Ruby Book - This is a short treatise on the Ruby language, covering language basics and some library functions. PDF version of this ebook (144 pages) can be downloaded after registering at the site.

3. Why’s (Poignant) Guide to Ruby - This is an interesting Ruby book and is available online. This e-book covers Ruby in deep, but not everyone may like the novel type style used. It is also the funniest book I have read so far. You can also download a PDF version here.

4. The Little Book of Ruby - Supposed to be the “fastest and the easiest way to learn Ruby by example”, this book is available as a PDF download. You can also download sample code used in the book. Data structures are explained in detail.

5. Learning Ruby - This book is still in development and covers the basics. You can read the book online or download a zipped version.

6. Ruby user’s guide - The ultimate reference to the Ruby language and covers the language in depth. This can be read online.

7. Ruby Quick Reference - This is a single page quick reference guide to Ruby. This is an ideal reference to keep beside your desk.

8. A little ruby, a lot of objects - This is a Ruby book under construction. The chapters are available as PDF. This book covers the language from the object oriented viewpoint.

9. Data Structures and Algorithms with Object-Oriented Design Patterns in Ruby - This is a book on data structures and algorithms. The language used for examples is Ruby. Use this book once you have learned the basics of Ruby language. You can read this book online.

1. Mythical man month Frederick P Brooks - This classic book looks at the human elements of software engineering. I know some of you will scream, “not this book again!”. But this is a must read book if you are a programmer and many of the conclusions in the book are still very valid after all these years.

2. The pragmatic programmer: From Journeyman to Master by Andrew Hunt and David Thomas - This book explores the “apprentice” way of becoming a master programmer. I found this very informative look at programmer evolution.

3. Code Complete by Steve McConnell - An instructive book on programming by a Microsoft engineer. But there is nothing specific about Microsoft in this. It is a pleasure to read this book and you will find yourself reading it again and again.

4. Object-Oriented Software Construction, Second Edition by Bertrand Meyer - This book is a complete reference on the object oriented software design. I don’t think there is any other exhaustive book on the object oriented topic. Only drawback is that this book is too academic. Still a must have item for a programmer.

5. Design Patterns: Elements of Reusable Object-Oriented Software - This is a gold mine of programming wisdom. But you need some solid coding experience before you can appreciate this book. Don’t just memorize the pattern names in the book, but try to understand the real motivation for each of the patterns presented in this book.

Are you too busy to read books? Then here is a perfect solution for you. Read the books as email! We do spent a lot of time reading emails right? So the guys at Dailylit has provided over 250 free books which can be read as emails

You can subscribe to a book in 3 easy steps.

• Find a book you want to read
• Enter your email address
• Click subscribe

Here is a bit of history behind this idea,

We got the idea for DailyLit after the New York Times serialized a few classic works in special supplements a few summers ago. We wound up reading books that we had always meant to simply by virtue of making them part of our daily routine of reading the newspaper. The only thing we do more consistenly than read the paper is read email. Bingo! We put together a first version and began reading “War of the Worlds” and “Pride and Prejudice”. We showed it to friends, added more books at their request, and launched the site publicly in September of 2006.

Plone is a content management system built on Zope application server. Learning Plone is tough. What I have learned so far is that in order to be a successful Plone developer, first you need have to solid understanding of Zope concepts and Python programming language. Once that is taken care, you can jump into Plone!

One of the best references out there for Plone is the Plone Book by Andy McKay. This is a bit outdated (2004) but is ok to learn Plone.

Another good Plone resource is the Plone Howtos. Common questions such as “How do I remove footer or header” is answered there.

I have a nagging feeling that even Plone is getting outdated!

C# is very similar to Java language. So if you are a Java language expert it hardly takes a week to learn C#. Here are a list of free C# (csharp) books I was able to find on the net. Unlike Java there aren’t many good quality free books on csharp. Let me know if you know of any good books not included here.

1.Wiki book on Csharp programming -  A work in progress.

2. Sams Teach Yourself C# in 24 Hours - This is in HTML form and hence downloading is a pain.

3. Vijay mukhi’s csharp basics. HTML book can be downloaded as a zip file.

4. Data Structures and Algorithms with Object-Oriented Design Patterns in C# by Bruno R. Preiss - This is a bit old (2001) but still useful.

5. Programming the .NET Compact Framework in C#Â - Â Can downloaded as PDF. Focuses on .NET framework.

6. Dissecting a C# Application: Inside SharpDevelop - This looks at SharpDevelop IDE and its source code.

7. C# in detail by Jon Jagger -Â Can be downloaded as a zip file.

Books offer the best way to learn Java programming. On any programming topic you can find thousands of books. The only problem is that most of them are not cheap. Here are some free (and legal!)Â Java programming ebook resources I found useful.

One of the first free ebooks I read was Bruce Eckel’s Thinking in Java. This book was very good and helped me a lot in my career.

Do you know a good free ebook on Java? Please post them in the comments.

Free Java programming  ebook resources

Java tutorial by Sun - This is the best resource to start learning Java.

Thinking in Java, Thinking in C++ - Very good books by Bruce Eckel.

Introduction to programming in Java - A work in progress by David. J. Eck.

Data structures & design patterns in Java - Online html based book by Bruno.

Java design pattern companion - An excellent work by James W. Cooper.

Java data Structures - Download free ebook on Java data structures. Last update on 2002.

Java performance tips - Java performance tips by Peter sestoft.

1000 Java tips! - I haven’t read this yet, it sounds good

How to think like a computer scientist - A good computer science book based on Java.

Processing XML with Java - Online version of the huge book.

Securing Java - An online book dealing with Java security.

Java lanugage specification - An online book from Sun.