FutureWare's Review Of Technical Books From Our Library

It's not really possible to keep track of all of this whizbang software technology as it evolves, not only because there's too much, but also because all too little documentation is actually readable. We've certainly noticed that the less readable the technical books are on a given subject, the quicker that technology becomes irrelevant.

We get printed books for their manifest convenience, and generally on a project basis. Here are some of the books we use whose technology focus is fairly steady and still in demand. All of them are readable and very useful, not only for their printed content, but also for the sample code that comes with them as well, most of which actually works.

Flash on Devices By Elad Elrom, Scott Janousek and Thomas Joos Publisher  friendsofED ISBN 9781430219040 Flash’s ubiquity is in its presence on the vast majority of PC desktops, laptops and netbooks. It is also in a surprising, and growing, percentage of mobile devices. Software developers who want to tap this rapidly expanding market face many challenges that have not existed in the PC world for quite some time. This book is virtually encyclopedic in its review of the pitfalls and dangers for mobile development and how they can be avoided, even for the iPhone. It provides rich information detail on how to address mobile software development now, along with a preview of how it can be done easier when what is in the oven finishes baking. Full book review at Amazon

Flex 3 Component Solutions By Jack Herrington Publisher  friendsofED ISBN 9781430215981 Using encapsulated components instead of reinventing wheels in code have been around from some time, for both GUI elements and nonvisible functional blocks such as communications protocol handlers. Here is a brief sampler of some for Adobes Flex 3 development tool. Full book review at Amazon

Papervision3D Essentials By Paul Tondeur and Jeff Winder Publisher  Packt Publishing ISBN 1847195725 Learning how to use 3D in Flash and Flex can be daunting. The open source Papervision3D offers the potential of accomplishing some great things, quickly and easily, but the learning curve is steep, involving a lot of trials and, usually, more than a few errors. Full book review at Amazon and our weblog

Twitterville: How Business Can Thrive In The New Global Neighborhoods By Shel Isreal Publisher  Penguin ISBN 9781591842798 Twitter was an accidental tool built to solve an internal business problem. It took a while for the builders to realize that it was really a business tool that other businesses could use. Here are some specific real world examples of how that is done. Full book review at Amazon

ActionScript 3.0 Bible By Roger Braunstein, Mims Wright and Joshua Noble Publisher  Wiley ISBN 9780470135600 Adobes ActionScript 3 has many things in common with regular compiled languages, with a specialized focus on the Flash player and engine. Heres a good desk reference to avoid drowning in the online help that often times is a hindrance for here and now how to use it information. Full book review at Amazon

Foundation ActionScript 3.0 for Flash and Flex By Darren Richardson with Paul Milbourne Publisher  friendsofED, an Apress company ISBN 9781430219187 Anyone who wants to do anything really interesting with Adobe Flash or Flex will, sooner or later, have to do some coding. This is particularly true with 3D presentations, either natively within Flash, or with any of the 3D libraries such as Papervision3D. For maximum effect, not to mention ease of development, that coding will have to be done with Action Script 3 (or AS3 for short). Full book review at Amazon and our weblog

Foundation ActionScript 3.0 Image Effects By Todd Yard Publisher  friendsofED, an Apress Company ISBN 9781430218715 If digital image manipulation is like painting, then this book is like listening to a painter describes a desired artistic effect, using Actionscript as a set of brushes, the classes as a palette, and Flash as the canvas. Full book review at Amazon and our weblog

Pro JavaScript RIA Techniques By Den Odell Publisher  Apress ISBN 9781430219347 Rich Internet Applications are often the basis for Web 2.0 sites, where increased functionality comes at the price of more extensive development and coding efforts. Heres an excellent overview from a JavaScript perspective that will help anyone and everyone who wants to master this, from beginners to seasoned professionals. Full book review at Amazon and our weblog

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