Originally sent as an email to registered students on 2012/06/27
Dear All,
I hope you're enjoying the summer months.
I have a few books that I hope you will start reading in preparation for the Web Application Development class this fall. I've also included below the entire reading list for the course if you're extra motivated or just can't wait to spend money on books.
The summer reading titles will give you two learn-to-program books, one done in Ruby and the other in JavaScript. Focus on the concepts & the vocab. We'll use both languages, with a twist, in Web App Dev: our primary framework will be Rails, and we'll be doing some neato UI/AJAX things with JavaScript (actually CoffeeScript). And then if you want to just see something awesome that your CSS background will prepare you for, start working with Sassy CSS/SCSS/"Syntactically Awesome Style Sheets". You can even redo your existing website's CSS as SCSS, compile it, and be awesome yourself.
I also have two additional books for those of you who think you need them; if your Git skills are lacking, or you just want to beef them up, check out Pragmatic Version Control Using Git. And if you've not yet read Jeremy Keith's HTML5 for Web Designers, you should check that out, too, as all of our markup will be HTML5 in this class.
In all cases, you should also prep your computer for Ruby/Rails development; I have instructions from a summer workshop I lead posted here: https://gist.github.com/2495142 (both Windows and Mac instrux available).
OK. Book lists below. Let me know if you have any questions.
--Karl
These also appear under Required Titles below
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Learn to Program (2nd edition) http://pragprog.com/book/ltp2/learn-to-program
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Eloquent JavaScript HTML version (free): http://eloquentjavascript.net/
Print version/Kindle version (not free, but updated & worth it, IMO):
http://www.amazon.com/Eloquent-JavaScript-Marijn-Haverbeke/dp/1593272820 -
Pragmatic Guide to Sass http://pragprog.com/book/pg_sass/pragmatic-guide-to-sass
These also appear under Optional Titles below
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HTML5 for Web Designers: HTML version (free; TOC at right): http://html5forwebdesigners.com/
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Pragmatic Version Control Using Git: http://pragprog.com/book/tsgit/pragmatic-version-control-using-git
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Learn to Program (2nd edition) http://pragprog.com/book/ltp2/learn-to-program
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Eloquent JavaScript HTML version (free): http://eloquentjavascript.net/
Print version/Kindle version (not free, but updated & worth it, IMO):
http://www.amazon.com/Eloquent-JavaScript-Marijn-Haverbeke/dp/1593272820 -
Agile Web Development with Rails (4th edition) http://pragprog.com/book/rails4/agile-web-development-with-rails
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The Rails View http://pragprog.com/book/warv/the-rails-view
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Rails Recipes: Rails 3 Edition http://pragprog.com/book/rr2/rails-recipes
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Pragmatic Guide to Sass http://pragprog.com/book/pg_sass/pragmatic-guide-to-sass
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CoffeeScript: Accelerated JavaScript Development http://pragprog.com/book/tbcoffee/coffeescript
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HTML5 for Web Designers: HTML version (free; TOC at right): http://html5forwebdesigners.com/
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Pragmatic Version Control Using Git: http://pragprog.com/book/tsgit/pragmatic-version-control-using-git
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Programming Ruby 1.9 (3rd edition; aka 'The Pickaxe'): http://pragprog.com/book/ruby3/programming-ruby-1-9
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The Rails 3 Way http://www.amazon.com/Rails-Way-Addison-Wesley-Professional-Ruby/dp/0321601661