Thoughts, ideas, tips, musings, and pontifications (not necessarily in that order) by Ben Forta ...
NOTE: This is my personal blog, and the opinions and statements voiced here are my own.
My Sams Teach Yourself SQL in 10 Minutes has been a top seller on Amazon.com for a long time, consistently in the top few hundred computer books and in the top couple of thousand across all books. But I was just informed that is #3 in the Databases category on Amazon.com, and #1 in Database Management Systems, Relational Databases, and MySQL categories. The MySQL version of the book, and the Kindle edition (I didn't even know there was a Kindle edition!) are also in the top 100 database books.
The ColdFusion 8 edition of the ColdFusion Web Application Construction Kit is now 1800 pages in 3 volumes. And that was not enough space for all we had cover. So, an additional 678 pages of content were published electronically in PDF form, and may be freely downloaded (whether or not you buy the books). You'll find Chapters 21-23 on the Volume 1 page, and Chapters 41-54 and Appendixes C and D on the Volume 2 page. Enjoy!
Posted At : 4:14 PM
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Books,
SQL
The Microsoft bookstore (on the Microsoft campus in Redmond, WA) has only sold Microsoft Press books to date. But, starting next week they will be selling select books published by other publishers. And apparently my Sams Teach Yourself Microsoft SQL Server T-SQL in 10 Minutes is one that they have selected to sell. So, any of you working for (or visiting) Microsoft, feel free to pick up a copy! :-)
Last night I said that CFWACK 8Volume 2 - Application Development would be shipping soon. Well, Volume 2 is now shipping, I received my copies this morning. Some of the new content includes coverage of working with images, PDF manipulation and processing, thread management, and Flex integration. More details on the book page.
We ran into some delays with the final volume of the updated ColdFusion Web Application Construction Kit. But, the good news is that Volume 3 is done, and should be available before the end of the year. (Volume 2 before that). Links to the new 3 volume series are online.
Oh, and I am not supposed to discuss this publicly yet, but ... I've just started work on a Flex 3 book. ;-) More details to follow.
Peachpit and Adobe Press are handing out flyers at MAX 2007 promoting the new ColdFusion Web Application Construction Kit books. For those of you not at MAX, the flyer announces that you can save 35% by pre-ordering volumes 2 and 3 from Peachpit directly. Use coupon code PPT-PBM-1145.
As previously mentioned, ColdFusion Web Application Construction Kit will be a 3 volume series this time around. And Volume 1 - Getting Started is now shipping (I got my copies this morning).
We're hard at work on updating the ColdFusion books for ColdFusion 8. Many of you have been asking for details about the updated books, and so here is the current table of contents for all three (yes, three) volumes.
Ray Camden returns as lead co-author on these books. And the contributing author team is made up of Charlie Arehart, Jeff Bouley, John C. Bland, Jeff Tapper, Ken Fricklas, Leon Chalnick, Mike Nimer, Matt Tatum, Paul Hastings, Robi Sen, and Sarge Sargent.
A while back I asked for your input on what to do with my ever-growing ColdFusion books. Lots of you responded, and your feedback was and is invaluable. I'm please to announce that we are indeed working on the 3 book plan that most of you supported. Ray Camden is once again joining me as a lead author, and the contributing author team is made up of all sorts of experts ensuring that you'll get quality coverage of topics, especially all that's new in ColdFusion Scorpio. More to follow.
My most recent book, MySQL Crash Course, has just been released in Italian by McGraw-Hill Informatica. Information on this book, and a link to the new Italian edition, are on the book page.
Posted At : 11:23 PM
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Stuff,
Books
Amazon.com is now excepting pre-orders for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (Book 7, due out July 21st, 2007), and I have already ordered my copies (yes, copies plural, there are several of us here who'll want to all read it immediately). The book is already the #1 seller on Amazon.com, incredible!
For about a decade now, my ColdFusion Web Application Construction Kit has been the de facto standard used by virtually all new ColdFusion developers, and by many who want to brush up their skills as ColdFusion is updated and enhanced. This book (and its Advanced sequel) in many ways helped define ColdFusion, played an important role in the growth and evolution of the product. Over the years I've pulled in respected, trusted, and well-known ColdFusion developers to help with the books (most notably Ray Camden who assumed the role of co-lead author on the most recent CFWACK, and who will be doing so again for the next edition). I am genuinely humbled at how important these books have become to the ColdFusion universe, and honored by how many of you have relied on these books to do what you do.
But now I am faced with dilemma, and I'd love any and all input.
Here's the deal. The books have grown to be huge. We started with a single volume in ColdFusion 2 and 3 days, and quickly had to move to two volumes as of ColdFusion 4. And then two volumes were not enough, so we tried moving the language reference appendixes to a dedicated little third volume in ColdFusion 5 (a decision that did not go over well with most readers, although some loved it and have asked for that book to be revised and updated). For ColdFusion 6 and 7 we put the appendixes back into the book, and thus had no choice but to remove some lesser used chapters, and also made the very painful decision to make some chapters only available electronically (as PDFs on the accompanying CD).
But now things have gotten worse. The books are now several thousands pages combined (taking into account CFWACK and CFADV as well as all of the electronic chapters). And as I work on the Scorpio updates (Scorpio has so many new features that there are lots of updates, and even more new chapters needed) it is becoming apparent that page count is going to be a massive problem. Consider the following:
We've reached about the maximum page count that can be physically bound as a single volume.
Printing costs industry wide have gone up. I have fought hard against book price increases before, but I am being told that there is no way we can continue to print books of this size at the current price.
And, as already stated, I really don't like electronic only chapters. I am fine with chapters being made available in print AND electronic, heck, I'd like for the whole book to be made available as an e-book on the CD. But I don't like electronic chapters in lieu of printed chapters.
So, what to do?
We can eliminate the language reference appendixes (tags, functions, Verity language, etc.). Those ran about 400 pages in CFWCK7, and will be even bigger in the Scorpio edition. We can consider making those electronic chapters, or perhaps try a separate reference volume as we did back in CF5 days. My big concern with this one is that many users tell me that these are the most used parts of the books, and I regularly see copies with colored tabs and the like plastered all over these sections.
We can make additional chapters electronic only. Deciding which ones to pick is painful and never what all users will want. Plus, as already said, I really don't like this idea.
Some users have asked me to do away with the intro material, the first several hundred pages of CFWACK. And the truth is, for all but new readers, those are unnecessary. But, at the same time, I get several e-mails every single week from readers thanking me for just those chapters, in particular the ones that explain basic relational database theory and review SQL language basics.
For ColdFusion 7 I had chatted with the publisher about breaking the books into three volumes. That would solve lots of problems by allowing us to create three thinner books with a greater total page count. But, three thinner books will cost readers more than two thicker books, and so I decided not to go with this idea because I felt guilty charging readers more money (especially those who only buy CFWACK who would now need to buy two books to replace it).
As you can see, we have no great ideas, just lots of imperfect options. So, I'd love to hear your thoughts on the subject. If any of these ideas make sense, tell me. If any are flat out wrong, tell me that too. And if you have other ideas we've not thought of, please share those as well.
The 3rd edition of my Sams Teach Yourself SQL in 10 Minutes has just been rereleased in Swedish in a new format by pagina.se. Information on this book (which has been translated into nine languages), and a link to the new Swedish edition, are on the book page.
My Sams Teach Yourself Regular Expressions in 10 Minutes uses a little RegEx Tester utility to aid study, and versions of this utility have been posted for multiple languages. The next most requested language is PHP, and I just posted a PHP port of the utility created by my co-worker Charles Bihis. Thanks, Charles!
Carsten Pedersen is MySQL Certification Manager, and he recently reviewed my MySQL Crash Course. He says that "book certainly lives up to it's name and does not waste the reader's time with any gentle introductions or long explanations" and concludes:
Highly recommended for the beginning MySQL user who needs a concise introduction to MySQL, as well as the intermediate user who wants a good reference for developing MySQL applications.
Posted At : 7:15 AM
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Books,
SQL
Mike Hillyer is a member of the MySQL AB documentation team. He just posted a short review on my MySQL Crash Course, stating that it is "an excellent book for the beginning users just getting started with MySQL and perhaps SQL in general." Thanks, Mike!
Posted At : 12:51 AM
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Books,
SQL
TechBookReport has posted a review of my MySQL Crash Course, and concluded that "If you want to learn SQL and aim to implement your database using MySQL then this is definitely the book to use".
Posted At : 11:22 AM
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Books,
SQL
Amazon.com has been paying for Google AdWords for my name for quite some time now. And now they are also paying for the AdWords "MySQL Crash Course" (and linking to that search term which find my new MySQL book). Cool!
And in addition, my Tip-of-the-Day (which has not been updated in a couple of years, ever since I moved all of the content over to my blog, and which probably should not have even been a nominee in this category) won as Best CF Web Services. Humm.
