I just received three new translations of my books, two into Simplified Chinese and one into Korean:

• Sams Teach Yourself Microsoft SQL Server T-SQL In 10 Minutes is now available in Simplified Chinese
• MySQL Crash Course is now available in Simplified Chinese
• Sams Teach Yourself SQL In 10 Minutes is now available in Korean

Links to the new translated versions, as well as all other translations, are on the specific book pages.

I am particularity excited about the Korean translation, as this is my first book in Korean, bringing the number of languages that my books have been translated into to 16. Here is a full list of all the translations (that I am aware of).

The 2009 Community Achievement Awards were announced today at CFUnited, and the ColdFusion Web Application Construction Kit series won in the Best Book category. Here is the full slide deck of nominees and awards.

My Sams Teach Yourself Regular Expressions in 10 Minutes has proven to be a very popular book, and tens of thousands of developers have used it to get started with Regular Expressions. The book teaches RegEx incrementally, and for each example a block of text is used, and matching text is shaded to clearly demonstrate what the Regular Expression is doing.

Sams Teach Yourself Regular Expressions in 10 Minutes has apparently now been released for the Amazon Kindle. I've not seen the Kindle version yet (as I don't have a Kindle yet), but readers are reporting to me that the Kindle version is missing the shading, making all of the examples rather useless!

I've contacted the publisher about this problem, and hope they'll correct it quickly. But for now, I suggest you avoid the Kindle version of the book, and stick with the print version.

My Sams Teach Yourself SQL In 10 Minutes and Sams Teach Yourself Regular Expressions In 10 Minutes have both been published in Chinese by Turing Book. Links are on the books pages. And here is a full list of all book translations.

It's been two and a half years since I published my MySQL Crash Course (a MySQL specific adaptation of my Sams Teach Yourself SQL in 10 Minutes), and during this time the book has proven to be incredibly popular, especially with MySQL beginners. And today I was informed that MySQL Crash Course is now in its seventh printing! Seven printings in two and a half years, I think that's my new personal record.

(BTW, it's the same edition, so no need to buy another copy if you have one already).

Several years ago I noted that each time I release a new book, my publisher sends boxes of copies for my own use. I hang on to several, and send copies to some folks, but the rest sit in boxes in my office. I had lots of books stacked away, copies of my ColdFusion books, SQL books, and more. Back then I offered to get them in to the hands of teachers and students and school libraries, making them available to those who might otherwise not have access to copies, individuals who (hopefully) could benefit from them. All in all I gave away over 250 books back then, and I hope the recipients found them useful.

And now the books have piled up again, and so it's time for round 2. If you work for (or attend) a school or college or educational institution, and can use copies of my books on ColdFusion, SQL, MySQL, SQL Server, CF/Flash, CF/J2EE, and more, please e-mail me.

Please note that I can't promise to honor requests for specific books. Also note that some of these books are on older versions of products (I won't send books on CF4 and CF5, for example, as they are not that useful anymore, but books on CFMX and CF7 are indeed useful even to CF8 users, and so I will send those). And finally, it's first come first served.

Oh, and please share this post with others who you think may be interested, thanks!

Long time ColdFusion developer and community member John Farrar has written ColdFusion 8 Developer Tutorial which is due to be published in August 2008. Congratulations John, it's great to see another ColdFusion title, and I can't wait to see a copy.

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.

Get started with ColdFusion 8 and join Adobe Evangelist Adam Lehman for a FREE 2-hour training webinar on new ColdFusion 8 features. You'll also get the chance to win one of 10 copies of my ColdFusion 8 Web Application Construction Kit - Volume 1. Details posted online.

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!

CFWACK 8 Volume 3 - Advanced Application Development is now shipping (I received my copies a few days ago). Some of the new content includes server monitoring, .NET integration, working with data feeds, and more. More details on the book page.

Amazon.com has created a feature page highlighting the 3 new ColdFusion Web Application Construction Kit books (as well as SQL books that may be of interest to ColdFusion developers).

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 8 Volume 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.

ColdFusion 8 Web Application Construction Kit Volume 1: Getting Started

• Introduction
• PART I: Getting Started
• 1: Introducing ColdFusion
• 2: Choosing A Development Environment
• 3: Accessing the ColdFusion Administrator
• 4: Previewing ColdFusion
• 5: Building the Databases
• 6: Introducing SQL
• 7: SQL Data Manipulation
• PART II: Using ColdFusion
• 8: The Basics Of CFML
• 9: Programming With CFML
• 10: Creating Data-Driven Pages
• 11: The Basics of Structured Development
• 12: ColdFusion Forms
• 13: Form Data Validation
• 14: Using Forms to Add or Change Data
• 15: Beyond HTML Forms, ColdFusion Powered Ajax
• 16: Graphing, Printing, and Reporting
• 17: Debugging and Troubleshooting
• PART III: Building ColdFusion Applications
• 18: Planning an Application
• 19: Introducing the Web Application Framework
• 20: Working with Sessions
• 21: Interacting with E-Mail
• 22: Online Commerce
• 23: Securing Your Applications
• PART IV: Appendices
• A: Installing ColdFusion & Development Environments
• B: Sample Application Data Files

ColdFusion 8 Web Application Construction Kit Volume 2: Application Development

• Introduction
• PART V: Creating Functions, Tags, And Components
• 24: Building User-Defined Functions
• 25: Creating Custom Tags
• 26: Building Reusable Components
• 27: Creating Advanced ColdFusion Components
• PART VI: ColdFusion Configuration And Performance
• 28: ColdFusion Server Configuration
• 29: Improving the User Experience
• 30: Managing Threads
• 31: Improving Performance
• PART VII: Integrating With ColdFusion
• 32: Working With PDF Files
• 33: ColdFusion Image Processing
• 34: Advanced ColdFusion Powered Ajax
• 35: Understanding Flex Integration
• 36: Integrating With Flex
• 37: Creating Presentations
• 38: Generating Non-HTML Content
• 39: Full-Text Searching
• 40: Event Scheduling
• PART VIII: Advanced ColdFusion Development
• 41: More On SQL and Queries
• 42: Working with Stored Procedures
• 43: Using Regular Expressions
• 44: ColdFusion Scripting
• 45: Working with XML
• 46: Manipulating XML with XSLT and XPath
• 47: Using WDDX
• 48: Using JavaScript and ColdFusion Together
• 49: Using XForms
• 50: Internationalization and Localization
• 51: Error Handling
• 52: Using The Debugger
• 53: Managing Your Code
• 54: Development Methodologies

ColdFusion 8 Web Application Construction Kit Volume 3: Advanced Application Development

• Introduction
• PART IX: Creating High Availability Applications
• 55: Understanding High Availability
• 56: Monitoring System Performance
• 57: Scaling with ColdFusion
• 58: Scaling with J2EE
• 59: Managing Session State in Clusters
• 60: Deploying Applications
• PART X: Ensuring Security
• 61: Understanding Security
• 62: Securing The ColdFusion Administrator
• 63: ColdFusion Security Options
• 64: Creating Server Sandboxes
• 65: Security in Shared and Hosted Environments
• 66: Using the Administration API
• PART XI: Extending ColdFusion
• 67: Using Server-Side HTTP and FTP
• 68: Creating and Consuming Web Services
• 69: Working With Feeds
• 70: Interacting With the Operating System
• 71: Server Side Printing
• 72: Interacting with Directory Services
• 73: Integrating With Microsoft Exchange
• 74: Integrating with .NET
• 75: Extending ColdFusion with COM
• 76: Integrating with Microsoft Office
• 77: Extending ColdFusion with CORBA
• 78: Extending ColdFusion with Java
• 79: Extending ColdFusion with CFX
• 80: Working with Gateways
• 81: Integrating with SMS and IM
• PART XII: Appendices
• C: ICU4J Supported Locales
• D: Locale Differences Between ColdFusion & ICU4J

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.

After lots of rather painful delays, my new book Sams Teach Yourself SQL Server T-SQL in 10 Minutes is ready to ship. This book (which is the SQL Server version of my MySQL Crash Course) is based on my best-selling Sams Teach Yourself SQL in 10 Minutes and goes in to far more detail than the generic SQL book, and even includes coverage of new SQL Server 2005 functionality. Details, and a chapter listing, can be found on the book page.

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.

The full list of non-English editions of my books is at http://forta.com/books/intl.cfm.

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.

Thanks!

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.

The full list of non-English editions of my books is at http://forta.com/books/intl.cfm.

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!