Which Book? Looking for advice for new dev.

insane42 · 01/12/2010, 09:35 PM

Hi folks. I've finally been bitten by the webOS bug, and have decided to dive in and develop a couple of my own apps. Already have a few ideas in mind.

My programming experience has been VB/VB.NET, ASP/ASP.NET, JavaScript, and HTML mainly.

There doesn't really seem to be many choices out there for books (yet). I'll be running through the tutorials and such (starting w/ Ares), but would really like a reference book.

Which of these two books would you folks recommend (or neither)? The O'Reilly book has pretty bad reviews (even here on PreCentral from the big guys), and the other has none.

Amazon.com: Palm webOS (9780596155254): Mitch Allen, Allen Mitch: Books

or

Amazon.com: Practical Palm Pre WebOS Projects (Beginning) (9781430226741): Frank Zammetti: Books

TIA for your thoughts!

abegee · 01/12/2010, 10:19 PM

i havent read franks book yet but he seems to now alot about js,html,css he has 13 years xperiance, and has helped out alot on the palm dev forums.

insane42 · 01/12/2010, 11:58 PM

Thanks for the input! I just started hacking away w/ Ares, and am impressed so far. Learning tons already!

Preene · 01/13/2010, 10:45 AM

I have read both, and honestly they are equally ****.

Just take a look through weboshelp, look through the SDK docs on the website and so on. I have very little experience of JS but have progressed nicely in the past week or so just by reading palm's docs.

I wouldn't use ares just because it makes it too easy to focus on the GUI at the expense of code

Tibfib · 01/13/2010, 04:36 PM

developer.palm.com has decent documentation now... It isn't amazing, but it is free.

Spydrbutt · 01/13/2010, 05:00 PM

I came across this - webOS School

sudoer · 01/13/2010, 05:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by insane42

Amazon.com: Palm webOS (9780596155254): Mitch Allen, Allen Mitch: Books

Amazon.com: Practical Palm Pre WebOS Projects (Beginning) (9781430226741): Frank Zammetti: Books

Here are links to where you can buy eBook versions:
Practical Palm Pre WebOS Projects

Palm webOS, 1st Edition

I haven't bought the Apress book. I didn't really like the O'Reilly book (and it is probably more out of date by comparison).

Thanks for asking. Hopefully someone here can write a review (or at least first impressions here for us).

Arcticus · 01/13/2010, 08:35 PM

I have read both books and to be fair and full disclosure I was the technical reviewer for Franks book. Between the two I felt Franks book was more practical and gave you more of an understanding of how things worked versus a rehash of the documentation on the website which is what a felt Mitch's book was. I was very frustrated with Mitch's book because the source code was for the final product and it changes drastically through out the book so you are left on your own to figure out whats wrong. Since in Frank's book each chapter is its own project the source code matches what you are trying to develop to. I also enjoyed Frank's humor which made it read much easier and not so much like a text book. So all things being equal and if I was learning WebOs for the first time all over I would go with Frank's book.

sudoer · 01/13/2010, 08:40 PM

Knowing simply that you were a technical reviewer is enough to tell me that it will be better then the Palm book. Thanks for your comment.

01/12/2010, 09:35 PM	#1 (permalink)
insane42 Member Join Date: Jul 2009 Posts: 655 Likes Received: 6 Thanks: 37 Thanked 49 Times in 37 Posts	Which Book? Looking for advice for new dev. Hi folks. I've finally been bitten by the webOS bug, and have decided to dive in and develop a couple of my own apps. Already have a few ideas in mind. My programming experience has been VB/VB.NET, ASP/ASP.NET, JavaScript, and HTML mainly. There doesn't really seem to be many choices out there for books (yet). I'll be running through the tutorials and such (starting w/ Ares), but would really like a reference book. Which of these two books would you folks recommend (or neither)? The O'Reilly book has pretty bad reviews (even here on PreCentral from the big guys), and the other has none. Amazon.com: Palm webOS (9780596155254): Mitch Allen, Allen Mitch: Books or Amazon.com: Practical Palm Pre WebOS Projects (Beginning) (9781430226741): Frank Zammetti: Books TIA for your thoughts!
	Liked by

01/12/2010, 10:19 PM	#2 (permalink)
abegee Member Join Date: Aug 2009 Posts: 830 Likes Received: 3 Thanks: 19 Thanked 249 Times in 131 Posts	i havent read franks book yet but he seems to now alot about js,html,css he has 13 years xperiance, and has helped out alot on the palm dev forums.
	Liked by

01/12/2010, 11:58 PM	#3 (permalink)
insane42 Member Join Date: Jul 2009 Posts: 655 Likes Received: 6 Thanks: 37 Thanked 49 Times in 37 Posts	Thanks for the input! I just started hacking away w/ Ares, and am impressed so far. Learning tons already!
	Liked by

01/13/2010, 10:45 AM	#4 (permalink)
Preene Member Join Date: Jan 2010 Posts: 25 Likes Received: 0 Thanks: 0 Thanked 1 Time in 1 Post	I have read both, and honestly they are equally ****. Just take a look through weboshelp, look through the SDK docs on the website and so on. I have very little experience of JS but have progressed nicely in the past week or so just by reading palm's docs. I wouldn't use ares just because it makes it too easy to focus on the GUI at the expense of code
	Liked by

01/13/2010, 04:36 PM	#5 (permalink)
Tibfib Homebrew Developer Join Date: Apr 2009 Posts: 346 Likes Received: 2 Thanks: 102 Thanked 67 Times in 45 Posts	developer.palm.com has decent documentation now... It isn't amazing, but it is free. __________________ Countdown Puzzles \| Koto Player \| Spaz HD
	Liked by

01/13/2010, 05:00 PM	#6 (permalink)
Spydrbutt Member Join Date: Jun 2009 Location: Denver, Co. Posts: 59 Likes Received: 0 Thanks: 35 Thanked 7 Times in 5 Posts	I came across this - webOS School
	Liked by

01/13/2010, 08:35 PM	#8 (permalink)
Arcticus Member Join Date: Jun 2009 Location: Melbourne, FL Posts: 798 Likes Received: 1 Thanks: 6 Thanked 303 Times in 121 Posts	I have read both books and to be fair and full disclosure I was the technical reviewer for Franks book. Between the two I felt Franks book was more practical and gave you more of an understanding of how things worked versus a rehash of the documentation on the website which is what a felt Mitch's book was. I was very frustrated with Mitch's book because the source code was for the final product and it changes drastically through out the book so you are left on your own to figure out whats wrong. Since in Frank's book each chapter is its own project the source code matches what you are trying to develop to. I also enjoyed Frank's humor which made it read much easier and not so much like a text book. So all things being equal and if I was learning WebOs for the first time all over I would go with Frank's book. __________________ - Arcticus Syntactix LLC Syntactix Developer Forum Applications: Pack 'n' Track, YouView, Jewels, Metrix Developer Tools, TripThat, Mobile Florist. Follow development on Twitter Please support developers by purchasing their app(s) or donating.
	Liked by Thanked By: sudoer

01/13/2010, 08:40 PM	#9 (permalink)
sudoer Member Join Date: Nov 2002 Location: Boston, MA, USA (but in America's Dairyland for an extended visit) Posts: 1,727 Likes Received: 0 Thanks: 1,508 Thanked 369 Times in 302 Posts	Knowing simply that you were a technical reviewer is enough to tell me that it will be better then the Palm book. Thanks for your comment. __________________ I'm both super! ... and a doer!
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