Programming books and other resources
June 15, 2011 8:05 AM Subscribe
We have about $2000 to spend on educational material at work. Any suggestions on sites with ebooks, tutorials, knowledge bases that we can subscribe to? any paid expert forums?
We are a bunch of programmers working mainly on php, mysql, ajax, etc... Have projects on java and perl too. New projects on Ruby on Rails might be coming our way.
I can't testify to its efficacy personally, but I've heard good things about Lynda.com. They have various tutorials on development/programming languages.
posted by parilous at 8:18 AM on June 15, 2011
posted by parilous at 8:18 AM on June 15, 2011
I like SitePoint's books and courses. They also do a 24-day 1-a-day sale in December, and you can get some really great deals on books during that time. I particularly like having their ebooks.
posted by specialagentwebb at 8:27 AM on June 15, 2011 [1 favorite]
posted by specialagentwebb at 8:27 AM on June 15, 2011 [1 favorite]
Lynda is awesome! Also check out O'Reilly's online library. I think it is like $10-$20/month for an online subscription.
posted by frecklefaerie at 8:39 AM on June 15, 2011
posted by frecklefaerie at 8:39 AM on June 15, 2011
How about a subscription to Safari Books Online? They have current content from a bunch of different tech related publishers, and a couple of price points.
posted by activitystory at 8:41 AM on June 15, 2011 [1 favorite]
posted by activitystory at 8:41 AM on June 15, 2011 [1 favorite]
Response by poster: Thanks for all the answers so far.
I should probably add that we are more interested in thing that we can subscribed to (before the end of the financial year) than one time purchases. But don't let that keep you from your suggestions :-)
posted by WizKid at 8:45 AM on June 15, 2011
I should probably add that we are more interested in thing that we can subscribed to (before the end of the financial year) than one time purchases. But don't let that keep you from your suggestions :-)
posted by WizKid at 8:45 AM on June 15, 2011
Oh man... Repeating others, but if I had that money to burn my first stop would be the Safari Books online as linked to a couple times upthread. $43/month for unlimited searchable web access to their library, 5 free downloads per month, and up to 35% off the dead-tree versions. I sound like an advertisement for them...
posted by cgg at 9:31 AM on June 15, 2011
posted by cgg at 9:31 AM on June 15, 2011
Response by poster: Safari Books online looks good, we'll probably get it. Lynda seems to carry very basic entry level content.
Any other suggestions?
posted by WizKid at 11:47 AM on June 15, 2011
Any other suggestions?
posted by WizKid at 11:47 AM on June 15, 2011
If you have the time, O'Reilly do lots of video seminars and tutorials, there is always a selection of ebooks and sometimes videos for sale at about 50% off on their site (though I presume these might be for personal use only) . This would make your money go a lot further.
posted by epo at 12:30 PM on June 15, 2011
posted by epo at 12:30 PM on June 15, 2011
I've been a member of ThinkVitamin's video tutorials for a few months now, they're run by Carsonified who have a high standing in the web/design community.
I really enjoy them, they're a good introduction to most web technologies, well filmed and new videos every couple of weeks, which tend to take you deeper in. A good community too.
I just use the Silver package, which has all the main videos. The Gold one has long project orientated masterclasses but I'm still digging through the standard ones first, so I'll probably upgrade only when I've absorbed all the standard stuff.
They offer corporate accounts, so it might be a really good fit-- they're structured in chapters, so you can just watch a couple when you're having a coffee etc.
posted by Static Vagabond at 12:38 PM on June 15, 2011
I really enjoy them, they're a good introduction to most web technologies, well filmed and new videos every couple of weeks, which tend to take you deeper in. A good community too.
I just use the Silver package, which has all the main videos. The Gold one has long project orientated masterclasses but I'm still digging through the standard ones first, so I'll probably upgrade only when I've absorbed all the standard stuff.
They offer corporate accounts, so it might be a really good fit-- they're structured in chapters, so you can just watch a couple when you're having a coffee etc.
posted by Static Vagabond at 12:38 PM on June 15, 2011
How about some usenix memberships? You get access to their conference archives, discounts on conferences, etc. Or perhaps IEEE or ACM memberships. Being attached to a research uni, I love being able to find papers on damn near everything.
posted by pwnguin at 5:41 PM on June 15, 2011
posted by pwnguin at 5:41 PM on June 15, 2011
Being beaten to Safari Books, how about magazine subscriptions - Linux format is a great one for Linux - they put the magazine online with downloadable pdfs - I'm sure there are others you could make use of. link
posted by quaisi at 11:29 AM on June 16, 2011
posted by quaisi at 11:29 AM on June 16, 2011
I am rather partial to Industrial Logic's eLearning system.
posted by godisdad at 1:30 PM on June 21, 2011
posted by godisdad at 1:30 PM on June 21, 2011
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