Been messing with iPhone development for a bit and since I’m a web developer figured I’d take a hard look at writing web applications for the iPhone vs going the SDK Objective-C route.

I’m really glad I picked this book up. They do an excellent job of reminding me how cool Dashcode is for developing web applications for the iPhone. My only knock on Dashcode in the past was the lack of documentation, but this book does a decent job of covering it. Still wish there was more documentation on Dashcode if anyone is reading this.

The book covers both using the QuickConnect and PhoneGap frameworks for developing hybrid iPhone apps. It’s a fairly easy read and they do cover most of the iPhone functionality that would be used in the majority of projects. While the SDK and Objective-C are still the best way to go, sometimes web applications or hybrid applications do make sense, and that’s where this book was very handy. Just for me to rediscover Dashcode alone justified the purchase.

So I went looking to see if any books had been published recently on extension development. Learning Joomla! 1.5 Extension Development got some decent review online, and I was really stumped with creating my component. So a copy was ordered.

The book does an excellent job of building an extension that makes use of most of the features that would be found in a typical extension. Covering, components, modules, as well as plugins.

With it’s focus on MVC practices, this at first seemed like overkill to me, but once all the features were piling up, it really paid off.

The chapters on creating the admin end of a component were extremely valuable to me. My client now has an easy to use custom component that makes use of the Joomla! admin interface for a seemless CMS experience.

Tech books for me almost always written for a complete beginner or an expert in the field. It’s rare that you find one written for someone who already has a basic understanding, but wants to learn a bit more. Head First SQL did a really good job of explaining the basics of SQL as well as the more complex aspects of SQL.

The chapters on subqueries and joins was great for me. Those are areas that I can always get better with. Also some of the early chapters reminded me of IN and BETWEEN both of which I’d pretty much forgotten about over the years.

Another cool thing about this book is that not only is it a guide, but it also serves pretty well as a reference as well. Explaining SQL isn’t always the easiest thing to do, but Head First SQL has done the best job that I’ve read to date.

More so than in his previous books, this one really pushes the envelop of CSS and urges the act of rewarding browsers that support the latest CSS features. This is a stance that I’ve always agreed with, but can be hard to get a client to follow. Not all parts of a site have to look the same across all browsers.

My  favorite sections were regarding rounded corners with border-radius and flexible color with RGBA. His examples really sold me that it is now a good time to begin implementing these features for browsers that take advantage of them.

An extremely well written book, that’s also designed very well too. Highly recommended for anyone looking to push CSS boundaries, and pick up a few tricks along the way.

I’m guessing I would’ve hated the original Pride & Prejudice, as the only parts I really enjoyed involved the fighting of zombies. It was kinda funny how it’s taking a well regarded literary piece, and throwing in zombies to the mix.

It did work however. But the whole sisters stuff was rather boring to me. If I didn’t have a rule that I really should finish whatever I start reading I’m not sure I’d of made it through the first few chapters.