That's a good review, Iain. I've been reading the book and have had many of the same observations.
Some specific topics that I'd like more information on: 1. Application specific widgets. For instance, if I've got a type of record that I need to display on lots of templates, what's the best way to proceed? Should I create a widget's package and include the widgets like I do forms? Or should I use <?python ...?> and directly import the widget? 2. Extending and using the identity packages. We've had some great questions on the discussion group lately, like how to detect a first login. I know I've got a fair number of questions on extending the identity system for both generic sites (gee, how can I trigger that it's time to change your password...) and application specific stuff (and my mind just went completely blank on what I was thinking was a really nifty example of this need... :-P) Still, I'd say that the book is a must read for anyone doing more than trivial playing with TG. I found the chapter on models particularly useful. The way that we can have data layer triggers and stored procedures with the ORM didn't occur to me before, but now that I've seen it it just seems like a beautiful and elegant solution to a whole host of problems.... Chris On 12/3/06, iain duncan <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > > People been asking about it, so here are my thoughts on the book, from > someone new to gears with no affiliation with authors/publishers/etc. > > Overall, well worth buying, though rough around the edges. If you are > developing with Gears seriously, it's totally worth having. Good job on > the writing and clarity. Needed to be better edited, perhaps seems a bit > rushed. I bet the second edition will be excellent. > > Pros: > - I really like the way the content is organized. It's nice to have the > content structured around two sequential projects followed by components > with a zeroing in kind of style. > - Writing is good, tone is easy to read and helpful > - Great coverage of a real life biggish app ( what what ). This is nice > because it helps you see *how* you would use the components. > - I like the pen annotations on code style. For some reason this only > starts about a third of the way in though, would be good at the > beginning too. > - Lots of idiomatic examples. These alone make the book worthwhile > because reading the separate online docs on components don't show you > examples of tying them together. > > Cons: > - Too many typos in the code examples. These should have been rigorously > edited. > - I wish it were longer. I think the chapters on individual components > are decent, but not in depth enough. This is especially true for some of > the contributed chapters which are sketchy compared to the rest of the > book and not up to the same standard. ( deployment, etc ) I think again > the main authors should have edited those and required a higher standard > of explanation and clarity. > - Needs more on the new components, obviously this is caused by events > and not really the authors faults. > > Warnings: > - You will need a decent understanding of python, javascript, RDBMs, and > CSS to get a lot out of it. If you don't know python, some typos could > be really annoying. > > Further Wish List: > - expanded best practices with turbogears stuff. > - even more real world examples. > - a lot more deployment examples > > So yeah, go buy it! =) > Iain > > > > > > > -- "A little government and a little luck are necessary in life, but only a fool trusts either of them." -- P. J. O'Rourke --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "TurboGears" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/turbogears?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
