The Byte Stops Here

I was fortunate enough to be asked to perform an early access review (unedited) of Tariq Ahmed's Flex 3 in Action. While I read through the book, I was side-tracked, and its definitely my bad I didn't get this review out earlier.

The version I have is 648 pages. Yes, its massive. While this can be a bit overwhelming to newbies, the "in Action" part of the title should give you an indication that this book is full of example, and thats a good thing.

The book does a good job of covering some of the history behind traditional web development and where Rich Internet Applications are headed. As Ray Camden mentions in his review of the book, that its also "to see many comparisons between Flex and ColdFusion concepts". Ray's review can be found here.

Take for example, Chapter 1: Introduction to Flex. Some of the topics this chapter covers is:

• The problems that Web developers face
• What Flex is and how it solves those problems
• What are RIAs (Rich Internet Applications)?
• The difference between RIAs and RWAs (Rich Web Applications)
• How Flex differs from the competition (i.e. how to sell Flex to your boss)
• The Flex Ecosystem

As you can see from just the first chapter, that this book lays some solid groundwork for the developer.

Plusses:

• Its written by developers for developers
• Tariq Ahmed's written several great books in the past
• Lots of examples and diagrams
• Provides good foundational and historical background
• Provides a step by step approach
• Talks high-level AND low-level, like Chapter 3: Working with ActionScript, which covers variables, operators, conditions, etc.
• Covers end to end development, from basics to reusability to customization to testing to deployment
• Appendix points you to dozens of forums, intiatives and developer resources

Minuses:

• Size, it may take a while to get through it.
• There is some incohesion between writing styles between authors (typical complaint), which I'm hoping would be resolved in the final version

So go out, and grab a pre-order of the book. More details here.