Coffee-Stained Resources
I'm frequently asked to recommend resources. Some of the most helpful online resources are blogs. I've included all the ones I subscribe to in my blogroll. Other online resources I use include the Adobe Flex Cookbook, the Adobe Developer Connection and lynda.com.
I also like to have a good book or two within reach when I'm working. I know that makes me old school to some but I like the tangible experience of highlighting text, jotting notes in the margins, "dog-earing" pages, and having multiple books open on my desk to compare explanations, sample code, etc. And I can spill coffee on a book without doing any serious damage.
Here are the books I tend to reach for while building a database driven RIA. Many of these books are also required or recommended reading for my classes. This is by no means an exhaustive list or a list of the "best" books. Its simply a list of books you are likely to find me using while I work.
- Professional Adobe Flex 3 (Wrox Programmer to Programmer) by Joseph Balderson
- Flex 3 Bible by David Gassner
- Essential ActionScript 3.0 (Essential) by Colin Moock
- ActionScript 3.0 Bible by Roger Braunstein
- Head First Object-Oriented Analysis and Design by Brett D. McLaughlin
- Head First Software Development by Dan Pilone
- Head First Design Patterns by Elisabeth Freeman
- ActionScript 3.0 Design Patterns: Object Oriented Programming Techniques (Adobe Developer Library) by William Sanders
- Advanced ActionScript 3 with Design Patterns by Joey Lott
- Object-Oriented Design and Patterns by Cay S. Horstmann
- Head First PHP & MySQL by Lynn Beighley
- Beginning Database Design (Wrox Beginning Guides) by Gavin Powell
- Learning MySQL by Seyed M.M. (Saied) Tahaghoghi
- Beginning PHP and MySQL 5: From Novice to Professional, Second Edition (Beginning from Novice to Professional) by W. Jason Gilmore
What do you use?
August 8th, 2009 - 09:39
I have a copy of Moock’s “Essential ActionScript 3″ in my desk drawer at work. I bookmarked both a local copy of and the online version of the Flex 3 APIs (local is faster, but online has comments and is more likely to be updated). I’m fortunate to have smart colleagues. Other than the occasional Google search, not much else for resources. Although Stack Overflow is a great resource.
December 10th, 2009 - 14:07
Here is a book that describes how to read “actively.” I am due to read it again.
http://www.amazon.com/How-Read-Book-Touchstone-book/dp/0671212095/ref=sr_1_1/184-9496254-4323155?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1260471867&sr=1-1