An Introduction to Programming in Go - Book Review

I finished this book a long time ago...but somehow...I never wrote a review for it...sorry about that -:P

This was the first book I read about Go...and I have to say...I totally love it -;)

It's very concise and to the point with only 165 pages...more than enough to get your feet wet and nurture your interest in learning Go -;)

In a fast and nicely explained way, this book guide through Arrays, Slices, Maps, Functions, Concurrency, Pointers, and the Core Packages...

A good programming book doesn't have to be huge...doesn't need to teach you about every single command or technique...a good programming book should give you the basics...the elements that you need to start grasping the language itself and slowly build up so you can gain confidence and the start to move forward on your own...

I totally recommend this book to anyone learning Go...and I wish every programming language had a book like this...it would make beginners life much easier -;)

Greetings,

Blag.

Development Culture.

The Way to Go - Book Review

I finished this book a long time ago...but somehow...I never wrote a review for it...sorry about that -:P

This book has 629 pages, so it's really big...

The book is really good and it's a really nice and comprehensive guide for anyone learning Go...

It's full...and I mean it...full of examples! -:D

And I might be getting picky here...but I would have appreciate more images -:)

The books of course goes along installing Go, explain it's syntax and touch interesting topics like Interfaces and Reflection, Error-Handling and Testing and hooking up with Google App Engine.

I would like to say more about it...but sadly...it's been a while since I finished it...so my last words are only...if you're new to Go...this is really good book to begin with...if you have some Go experience...it's up to you...

Greetings,

Blag.
Development Culture.

Real World OCaml - Book Review

I finally finished reading the Real World OCaml book...and I really enjoyed it -:)

This book, just like all the "Real World" series gives you a deep introduction into the language and allow you to start coding pretty fast...of course...if you have used any Functional programming language before...that really helps and OCaml has of course some aspects that makes it not so easy to learn...

The more you read this book, the more you're going to like OCaml...it's a really nice language -:)

The book covers the basics like Lists and Patterns, Records, Variants and Error-Handling.  But of course it goes beyond with Functors, Objects and Command-Line Parsing...not letting important concepts like JSON handling Concurrent Programming aside. So...it's a pretty complete reference to start out.

By the way...the book is 509 pages...so it's pretty long...but full of examples and demonstrations...

Here's a little code that I wrote to flat out lists -;)

Flat_List.ml
open Core.Std let rec flat list = match list with | [] -> "" | head :: tail -> head ^ (flat tail) let () = printf "%s" (flat ["1";"2";"3"])

Here's the result...

As you can see...OCaml is fun...so go ahead...read this book and expand your knowledge -;)

Greetings,

Blag.
Development Culture.

How to Design Programs - Book Review

I just finished reading How to Design Programs, a book meant for beginners that want to get into the wonderful world of programming...and for that they use Scheme and DrScheme (which is now called Racket).

Of course, they don't focus on Scheme but on the design principles of programming...which makes this one a really important book.

The book itself is pretty big...with 565 pages...

There's a lot of really nice examples ranging from really basic to somehow complex, so there's a good learning curve attached to it.

Using Scheme as a starting point for learning programming is in my opinion a really smart choice...the syntax might be kind of weird sometimes but the good thing is that there are not so many keywords so learning it it's not a hard task...

Even if you have experience in programming...this book is really helpful and it goes beyond the simple act of programming as it teaches you how to design, build and test your application...making it more robust and less error prone...

If you have the chance...read this book...you will not regret it -;)

Greetings,

Blag.
Development Culture.

10 years of Pack Publishing!

My good friends at Packt Publishing are turning 10 years old and they are celebrating it with an awesome promotion!

All ebooks and videos for just $10 dollars each...hurry up! This wonderful offer end on July 5th...so go ahead and grab as many as you can -:D

10 years of Packt - $10 all Ebooks and Videos

Greetings,

Blag.

Development Culture.

Buy one...get one free...Packt Publishing 2000 titles!

My good friends at Packt Publish just released an awesome campaign, celebrating their 2000 titles!

From March 18 to March 26, 2014 you will be able to have unlimited purchases and also the offer is added automatically at checkout...

Not to be missed! Get some books and start learning!

Greetings,

Blag.
Development Culture.

Packt Publishing Book Bonanza!

My friends at Packt Publishing had release a cool campaign!

From December 19th, 2013 to January 3rd, 2014...all books and videos are just $5...without a limit!

Cool, huh? Just follow this link http://bit.ly/1jdCr2W and fill your library -;)

Greetings,

Blag.
Developer Empowerment and Culture.

PhoneGap 3 Beginner's Guide - Book review

This week...I read PhoneGap 3 Beginner's Guide which is a nice book, so here goes my review...

To begin with...in my opinion...this is not a beginner's book at all...it's a book that will walk you through the new and cool things implemented on PhoneGap 3...so if you haven't used PhoneGap before, I will recommend you to choose another book like PhoneGap 2.x Mobile Application Development Hotshot...

If you have previous PhoneGap experience...then this a good book for you...as it cover many cool things like:

• App Templates
• JavaScript compression
• Web DB
• Sensor
• GeoLocation
• Files
• PhoneGap Plug-Ins.  

There are many examples but they are used to achieve certain things, like using the Camera or dealing with GeoLocation...so no end to end examples are given...but if you have previous PhoneGap experience...that shouldn't be so much of a problem...

One good thing about the book is that it takes care of showing how to achieve things on Mac OS, Linux and Windows, including alternatives when a certain tool can be used only on one of the Operating Systems...giving everyone the ability to try it out.

Let's look at some pictures...

The book also comes with exercises and pop up quizzes, so that's a good way to improve our knowledge and keep coding.

In a overall...I have to say this again...if you're a newbie...be aware that this book is not meant for you...if you have previous experience...then this book is good enough to put you on the right track and show you some PhoneGap goodies...

Greetings,

Blag.

Developer Empowerment and Culture. 

Columbus Day on Packt Publishing!

Get a 50% discount on Packt Publishing books http://bit.ly/1bqvB29  #COL50

Greetings,

Blag.
Developer Experience.

Regular Expressions Book

My newest book is ready to be bought -;)


Printed Book
PDF
Ebook

Enjoy!

Greetings,

Blag.

Chrstimas Sale!

Starting today and for all December...get a 25% discount in all my books!

Blag en Lulu.com

Go get this awesome sale!

Greetings,

Blag.

Good resumes...bad resumes...and resumes from Hell?

While attending SAP Inside Track Newton Square 2010, my good friend Jon Reed from Jonerp.com told me about this book "Resumes from Hell". At first...I didn't knew what to expect, but the name really caught my attention...I was decided to buy it, but as the SAP Community and The Fellowship of the SAP Mentors in so strong, Jon gave me the book for free...along with his signature and a great message -:)



So, I read the book...and it really blown my mind away...those are real resumes created but real people...and as reality is stranger than fiction...those resumes are the worst I have ever seen...some of them are going to make smile, other are going to make you laugh and some others are going to want you to pick up the guy and punch him in the face (You can't hit a lady you know...).

I really enjoyed reading the book, because by seeing how crappy some resumes can be, you can actually took your own and start doing some gardening that would lead to at least...a decent one -:)

You can...sorry...you must buy this book...so here's the link:

Buy Resumes from Hell!

Greetings,

Blag.