[Book review] "Practical WebObjects" by Charles Hill and Sacha Mallais
[Book review] "Practical WebObjects" by Charles Hill and Sacha Mallais
- Subject: [Book review] "Practical WebObjects" by Charles Hill and Sacha Mallais
- From: Pierre Bernard <email@hidden>
- Date: Sun, 7 Nov 2004 16:49:58 +0100
I just finished reading "Practical WebObjects" by Charles Hill and
Sacha Mallais. Well, I am not much of a fan of books on programming.
Learning from book just doesn't work for me. I advocate learning by
doing: grasp the basics and then set yourself challenges to resolve
with the documentation at hand.
Nonetheless I recommend this book to everyone who is serious about
WebObjects. I have read this book cover to cover. Admittedly I
practiced 'accelerated reading' on parts I know inside and out. This
book is an interesting read as it tries neither being a reference nor
tutorial. It is more of a guide and mainly a problem solver.
The authors do an excellent job of explaining crucial concepts like the
request-response loop, the EOF stack, object graph concepts,
validation, etc. Unlike other books this one cuts directly to the
chase. For beginners some chapters act as road map through Apple's
documentation. Mind you, this book does not target the complete novice.
Alongside the usual prerequisite of strong knowledge of OO and web
application concepts, some WebObjects experience is required. Those who
bring this along can expect a substantial boost up the learning curve.
To more advanced user this book is more than an excellent way to recap
core WebObjects concepts. Its a problem solver - the WebObjects edition
of the Swiss army knife. The authors present ready-made solutions to
many common tasks. This is book will save you hours if not weeks. And
it does so while completely explaining not only the solution but also
the reasonings and techniques behind it. This makes the book an
interesting read and it just may spark the idea needed to solve even
problems not covered.
Unfortunately the book's strongest points also make for its weaknesses.
For one, I find the book to be a bit too confined in the current state
of things. It discusses bugs in both the current incarnation of the
frameworks and the developer tools. Such information is bound to become
outdated rather sooner than later. While helpful I don't think a
printed book is the appropriate media to vehicle such volatile
information.
My other gripe is that the authors don't make it sufficiently clear
that the proposed solutions and approaches are not the only ones out
there. They were chosen based on the authors personal preferences.
Diverging opinions exist and the reader would do well - and should be
advised by the book - to dig for further views.
All in all "Practical WebObjects" is an excellent book. It belongs on
the shelf of every WebObjects developer. Novice or expert.
---
Spinning WebObjects or cooking up Cocoa in Switzlerland?
Let me know: http://homepage.mac.com/I_love_my/
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