Well… The RIA Cowboy is now a published author! As of today you can purchase First Steps in Flex!
It was a great privilege to work on this book with Bruce Eckel. Much of my foundation in OO programming came from reading Bruce’s Thinking in Java book. Writing about Flex with him is like an amateur golfer being able to play a round with Tiger Woods. Luckily Bruce is patient and willing to teach novices like myself. Starting with a short book was a good way for me to begin learning about the process of writing books as well as learn about the significant time commitment required to finish a book. While First Steps in Flex is only 140 pages, I now have a much greater appreciation for those who have written much larger technical books!
Bruce and I enjoyed the experience of writing together but we couldn’t have polished the book without the help from a number of very helpful reviewers. I’m very thankful for those of you who helped review the book and test all of the code!
Writings was a great experience – one that I might try again. Please let us know what you think of the book! We hope that what we have created will allow many developers to take those First Steps in Flex!
16 Comments
definitely not a good habit, but judging the book by the cover, it should be great ;)
Congrats on the book! What’s even more impressive is that you actually got it finished without a publisher breathing down your neck with deadlines :)
Are you planning to sell a pdf version for download as well. I don’t need a physical book, nor the shipping cost :-)
Congrats!
BTW, I like a lot the new L&F of your blog.
Nice work. Congrats James!!!
Hmm… also just noticed we have the same L&F for our blogs. Well you know what they say “great minds think a like.” Happy holidays!
Hey James! Congrats! Count me as a buyer. What an awesome cover pic! The dolomites?
Good stuff James. Congratulations on the book!
@JP Revel
Yes! That is the Dolomites in northern Italy. A very beautiful place!
-James
Great news, thanks a lot.
Too bad, there does not seem to be any way to buy the PDF to read the book right away…!
According to the free sample, it seems that pages are short too, so the 140 pages could be read really fast! I can’t wait !!!
Gilles
Looks like a great book – I’ve been waiting for it to publish and am definitely going to pick up a copy. In the PDF intro there’s a statement that says:
As a bonus, you can find free screencasts of Bruce
and James covering every chapter in this book at
http://www.FirstStepsInFlex.com.
Are those screencasts available yet? Haven’t been able to find them…
Thanks
@Mark Truman
We are still working on the screencasts. They will hopefully be available in the next few months.
Wow — a vision finally realized. So..how much fun was it writing a book!
Good News. Will definitely like to read it.
Congrats James!!! Look forward to picking it up. Did you pick the cover art?