The library is back in action! If anyone has any recommendations, please let me know and I'll get them in there. Most of the books in the library now are books that I have on my shelves now, or books that have helped in the past, that are worth recommending.
On those lines, I often get asked what books I have on my desk now, and 'why' do I still buy books since alot of the information is on the web any way (and books are commonly out of date with the speed of technology and methologies growing on a daily basis).
First question: "What books do I have on my desk now".
Well, I'm way into AJaX (Asynchronus Javascript and XML) lately, and with the movement of Web2.0, interactive web applications acting like software apps is the hot style right now. So I have two books with coffee ring stains..
Professional Ajax (Wrox) - Zakas, McPeak, Fawcett
Bruce Perry's Ajax Hacks (O'Reilly)
Along with that, I seem to always pull out a few reference books. I personally hate MySQL's site and their search (in my opinion sucks) and not to mention doing a keyword search on 'SELECT' is tough. I often find myself cracking open a very old MySQL book for quick references:
Paul Dubois' MySQL (New Riders)
I also use a Regular Expression book, I often use online resources more, but when I need to 'understand' why the RegEx works, I like to read about it in a book to get a solid understanding for it.
Jeffrey Friedl's Mastering Regular Expressions (O'Reilly)
Second question: "Why do you still buy books, when this information is available for free on the internet, and by the time the book is published it'll be out of date?"
That logic is understandable. I'll address each point.
The information is online, and is easy to get, but usually they are only providing solutions behind the question, and don't provide the background of 'why' it works. I really like to understand the concept and point of view of why to use process A vs. process B.
I also like to get away from the computer as well. It's refreshing to go on a trip and 'read' from paper vs from a screen, since I stare at a monitor ALL DAY LONG. I also find myself getting distracted when I'm on the computer as well, where if I'm reading a book, I tend to pay more attention when it comes to the higher concepts.
As for the out of date issue. This is true, to a point, but the bottom line is the foundation will remain current (usually) and when I'm doing heavy learning with a book, it's about the foundation of language.
Like I mentioned above, I do like to use the MySQL reference book vs. Google and MySQL.com because of the hard search terms, etc.
Books are good, online research is good, why can't we use them both to maximize our knowledge base and take our coding to the next level!
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