Thread

As I’ve mentioned on my CodeIgniter-y Blog, I’m writing a CodeIgniter Book, which should be availble some time around late August.

And, just so you guys can see a little bit about what it’s about, I’ve posted the beginning of the preface for you guys to read.

Have a quick look, and let me know what you think!

Also, I’ll be posting an Akismet CodeIgniter Library soon, so let subscribe to the RSS Feed if this sort of things interests you.

Looks good, good luck with it. I hope you focus a lot on OOP and good MVC practices, since that seems to be the hardest thing to learn on the Internets.

I read the “other” CI book. It’s worth keeping in mind that the CI User Guide is simply outstanding. Another book on CI would hopefully step two steps ahead and be more in the O’Reilly Cookbook or Hacks format. Covering installation and the like could be done in one sentence: Please see the User Guide.

Hey, thanks for the comments…

The book is aimed at covering the full scale of skill levels, and the first chapter is installing xammp/mamp and then on to all the LAMP components individually for those who don’t know how to get a development environment set up…

The later chapters will include stuff on caching, authentication, ajax, and some pretty advanced topics.

Elliot,
Best of luck - publishing a book is a big deal, imho.  Here’s a little food for thought, I hope you find it useful.

We picked CI because it’s a crap shield - the framework does nuts-and-bolts stuff that I could write myself, but I don’t want to.  CI makes me faster and that’s what matters, and that’s probably quite typical for most users.

So, my big question - how will your book make me faster to get the features out?  I’d be looking for ideas and approaches not in the user guide.  I’d look for examples of how to get stuff working quickly (i.e. multiple apps, multiple dbs, integrate some JS tools).  For example, don’t point me at jQuery - show me how to get it into my CI app, why I would want it, what it can do for me, and some working examples.

Share wisdom that would otherwise only be achieved by repeatedly doing it wrong (i.e. Effective Java by Block is a great example of how to elevate a good programmer).  That is, save me time by saving me from pitfalls.

Lastly, a little sales.  Test-market your “why codeigniter” portion of the preface on some developers to fine-tune how to sell them on CI.  This is a critical paragraph for success - if you don’t convince someone to try CI, they won’t want your book.  Also, for the forums, the big questions you’ll face are “why do I need a book” and “if I’m buying a book, why Elliot’s”.  Second Q, of course, calls for diplomacy. 😊

Thanks for the feedback MadZad.

Firstly, I think the key to using any framework effectively is to know how it works inside out… I really mean that, what order the core libraries are loaded in, how to twist and manipulate every part of the framework, if you need to.
One thing that I’ve noticed about the CI community in general, is that there are a lot of people who use CI, but very few who truly understand it.

To start with, the book is for someone completely new to CI, and wants to learn how to write a basic application from start to finish with CI. And, along the way having all the steps explained… like ‘why do we use the active record, and what does it actually do in the background.

Then, the book moves on to more advanced topics, and how to ‘get things done’ that aren’t covered extensively in the User Guide. For example, a chapter on user authentication will explain some of the options that are already out there, pre-built by the community - what they do, and their pros/cons. Then it’ll explain how to roll your own, and some of the best practices when it comes to User Auth in CI.

The idea is that by part-way through the book, you should have a bunch of libraries, helpers, and hooks that make your life easier, and you’ll probably use in most of your applications.

By the end of the book, you should be able to build almost anything in CI, and know how to do it efficiently, quickly, and most importantly: understand your application’s entire run-cycle, and what goes on at every step of the way.

This in-depth understand helps you scale, troubleshoot, refactor, and tune your applications to really kick ass.

Or something along those lines.

Elliot,
Ah.  Personality of the book better understood, now I’m looking forward to it!

Firstly, I think the key to using any framework effectively is to know how it works inside out…

Agreed, but not necessary for users with straightforward needs.  Just be mindful not to scare off those folk.

I really mean that, what order the core libraries are loaded in, how to twist and manipulate every part of the framework, if you need to.

Indeed.  A big selling point for CI was the utter lack of bad smells from the core code, the understandability the core, and the option of either extending or changing it.  When you need to do it, there is no substitute and you don’t want to discover a rat’s nest.

One thing that I’ve noticed about the CI community in general, is that there are a lot of people who use CI, but very few who truly understand it.

Yea, and I’m part of the first lot. 😖

Good luck again.

    Gene

Not to hijack Elliot’s thread (hopefully he won’t mind, we’ve discussed much of this privately). For those of you looking for a straight-forward, “How do I do this?” (ala Rails Recipes) style book - be patient.

That is all.

You guys do realize that with the upcoming release of EE 2.0, there’s going to be another group of book-buyers.

Those who want a cookbook for working with CI and EE. 😊

Ahh, the old EE tech support people longing us to write books to answer their support requests!
Lovely :D

Well, I’ve yet to see what EE2 is like and how exactly the CI base works, but I’m sure my blog will have plenty of content over the next few months.

In this forum, I’m just an enduser.

It’s not just for me, but it would be nice to say… go get Elliot’s book or Michael’s book…

I only answer questions in the EE side of the house, and only the ones that are deemed to be technical support questions. But I do often answer HowTo questions and the like. One reason I have over 8000 posts.

So how many crates of beer will it take to get ones authentication application in 😊, hehe

lol, maybe I’ll release a free drunken version

The book is aimed at covering the full scale of skill levels, and the first chapter is installing xammp/mamp and then on to all the LAMP components individually for those who don’t know how to get a development environment set up…

Sounds like a waste of a chapter. Are you going to teach PHP also. :lol:

I think you guys should write two books: one for newbies and another one for professional developers. Maybe Michael write one and Elliot write another, what do you think?

A book for professionals don’t need to teach how to install a development environment, nor basic PHP things. It can start right on CI installation and go as far as teach AJAX with CI. Of course, it must be written to people who knows PHP.

The first book could be called “The Complete Idiots Guide on CodeIgniter” or “CodeIgniter for Dummies”, and the second could be “Mastering Web Development with CodeIgniter” or “CodeIgniter: the Bible”. :lol: