Rapid Application Development with Mozilla (Bruce Perens' Open Source) [Paperback]

This book, unfortunately, decided to take the examples and the Appendix and shuffle them together.

Code examples for the 'Note Taker' application are hard to follow on first read through. Too much detail is given for tag options (that should have been in appendices), and the example app is never displayed in full.

It may just be me, but I learn quicker if I can see something practical and then have it explained. I can identify pieces of a puzzle much better if I know the context of each piece beforehand.

It may be "Rapid Application" Development, but I'm afraid it isn't Rapid "Application Development" in my opinion. It's obviously written by someone with a deep understanding of Mozilla application development - I just wished that they had tested it on some Mozilla newbies and taken on board feedback before publishing!

Nigel McFarlane's book offers an introduction to the vast of the capabilities of the Mozilla browser. Want to build an application? Download and install a copy of Mozilla (it's free), get this book, and start exploring Mozilla's vastly sophisticated application development framework. You don't need deep expertise in Mozilla internals to get applications started. I am working on a project for a client that will emphasize graphics. This book is helping me get started with it, even though I have no deep knowledge of Mozilla's workings. I'm now dabbling with XML User Interface Language (XUL), XML Binding Language (XBL), and Resource Description Framework (RDF), thanks to this book. I'm also getting indirect exposure to Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG), MathML, and Chemistry Markup Language (CML), as an unexpected side benefit. The Mozilla.org developers have implemented to some degree these interesting and deeply complex XML-related standards.

The book is easy to read. McFarlane is able to take extremely complex material and explain it in a way most people will understand. Go ahead, read the first few of Chapters 1 and 15: they will draw your interest and bring you into the next paragraph and the next. You can pick up this book, read the introductory material, and go right into Mozilla and start working. You will understand what McFarlane is talking about. The writing format should sustain your interest in experimenting and learning more and then going on to do your own applications.

I personally appreciate the choice of font, line spacing and font size. It seems easier on bifocal equipped older folks such as me. Each chapter begins with interesting diagrams referred to as "Not Perfectly Accurate (NPA) diagrams". They help you see how the chapter topic fits in to the application class object framework being discussed. There are all the things you come to expect of a good tech book: numerous screenshots, well-laid out tables, plenty of source code to dabble with. The publisher has done an excellent job of laying out and producing the book. There are very few typos compared to those littering many other technical books.

This book is going to give programmers using the Mozilla platform for applications a competitive edge. Mozilla, today, is available in many forms and is widely deployed. AOL deploys Mozilla in those stupid tin CD cans, and that gives Mozilla enormous critical mass. You can download Mozilla Firebird and Mozilla Thunderbird right now if you would like lighter-weight browser or email clients, respectively. Mozilla is catching on, and it is getting better every day. I highly recommend that you buy and read this book and then do some apps with Mozilla.

McFarlane suggests you visit his web site http://www.nigelmcfarlane.com/ , and it doesn't exist. Some readers might buy a book on the strength of the topic, the book examples, and the author's promise of downloadable source code. It can be disappointing not to see the promised web site and source code. But don't worry, the publisher offers downloadable source code through http://authors.phptr.com/mcfarlane. My other concern is that I wish this book were physically a bit larger in size. I like 8.5 inch X 11 inch page formats for books with a lot of screen shots and tabular data.

An overall must-have book.