Lots of you have asked me about books being updated for Blackstone, so here is the scoop …
The update to ColdFusion MX Web Application Construction Kit will be out at about the time that Blackstone ships (sorry, I can’t give you that exact date yet). One exciting change this time around, Ray Camden has joined the team as lead co-author, and he is hard at work improving many of the advanced chapters in the book.
Advanced ColdFusion MX Application Development and Certified Macromedia ColdFusion MX Developer Study Guide are also being updated, and will be out after Blackstone ships.
Books on Blackstone
16 responses to “Books on Blackstone”
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Ahhh…..the sweet smell of capitalism.
I’ve got every edition of the CF WACK, as well as the "Reality" series of ColdFusion books.
Keep ’em coming! -
Alex, my kids thank you. 😉
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Does this mean they got RAZRs and WiFi Hotspotters for Chanukah?! 😉
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Ray is a great addition. I find the "Mastering ColdFusion MX" book he did with Danesh, Bainum and Rush an indispensible help, both for through-reading and for "crisis" spot help through the index for those niggling issues.
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What is the "Reality" Series???
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So let me get this straight:
The Certified Coldfusion MX Developer study guide is coming out after the Blackstone release. Am I to assume that it will just have content about Blackstone features added to the book (since Blackstone is on top of Coldfusion MX). Thanks -
Nicholas, yes, it will be the current content updated as needed, and new content added to it.
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Ben,
When will CF WACK be available on Audio CD??
… Wishful thinking 🙂 -
Hi Ben, my CF WACKs are just about a year old, do I get an upgrade 😉
And sincerely, I think you need to jump into the Flex books boat, I find it easier understanding your drifts. Everytime I see how you guys developed the concept of OWS (Orange Whip Studios, a comical non-existent FORTAWOOD studio, for those of you who have been skimping on good books) to follow application development principles, I just break into a smile. MM hasn’t been able to pull that off. I wonder if they have a sense of humor. Even their penguins on the christmas game ain’t smilling. -
What can I say? The WACK books are the only books you need. They’re the reason why Rob Brooks-Bilson has such a hard time getting the go ahead with the ColdFusion O’Reilly books. I wish someone would dominate the Java/J2EE book market so I wouldn’t have to buy multiple Java books.
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John, while I appreciate that compliment, I don’t quite agree with you. Rob’s books are superb, and are the only ones I have recommended. Unlike the Sybex, New Riders, and other books, Rob wrote for an audience that I had not directly targeted, and did a great job at it. I also think that O’Reilly has made a big mistake in not revising Rob’s book (and told them that). The problem is this, pre CF4 I was the only game in town, then Sybex joined the party, but there will still very few books on the market, and so they all did well and the publishers were happy. When CFMX shipped there were 40 books available, including 10 (I believe) from New Riders who had never done a CF book before, they went from 0 to 10, not smart. As such, all sales were diluted (mine included), and so most publishers, seeing sales in the very low thousands (if that) have opted not to revise their titles. I tried to explain to O’Reilly that they’d be one of a few this time, but to no avail. It’s a shame though.
Adedeji, glad you like OWS. Nate and I had tons of fun coming up with those examples. 🙂 -
Ben,
Before releasing any more books, you should seriously consider some kind of program where you get near-final versions of them to real users like those that are reading your website for feedback and corrections.
I own several of your books. The one that I have read cover-to-cover, the CFMX Developer Study Guide, left me annoyed. Even after marking the 20+ corrections listed in the errata portion of your website, I found about 10 more on my own. As you probably know, this is a big problem with technical books so I hope in the future you will try a different approach to producing ones that have the best possible explanations, examples and code.
Thanks.
Grant -
Grant,
You raise a very good point, and one that I don’t have a good answer for. It is true, computer books in general tend to be released with more typos than most other books. This is primarily because a) they need to get to market quickly because they have such a short shelf life, b) even with additional reading typos fall through the cracks (it would require far more checking than casual reading by users), c) there is so little money made in computer books that publishers need to keep costs down.
As such, books that are not tied to specific software releases and versions tend to be of better initial quality than those that are.
This is painful, and as already stated, I don’t have a good solution (and in truth, it is the publisher who controls this, not the author). But, I’ll give it some more thought. -
Is it too late to make a stylistic suggestion for the next edition of WACK?
In chapters B & C, the tag and function references, it is a bit difficult to find the entry one wants while quickly flipping pages because the headings are difficult to pick out against all the other text on the page. C is easer to use than B.
Perhaps a grayed bar background is needed for each tag or function entry’s header. I now use Pocket Accent markers 😉
BTW, I am a new CFMX developer from a C/C++ programming background and I am going to school on WACK 5ed. Thank you, Sensei, for such a comprehensive reference! Everything CFMX is there. -
It’s fantastic that these titles are going to be updated. I gave CFWACK 5 to a Java developer so he could work with me on a CFMX app and he was programming in a few days. His "it’s so easy to get things done in CF!" comments were also good to hear 🙂
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Hey ben,
now that blackstone has been released, any news yet on when we can expect the newest wack books?
thanks
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