Greetings!

First of all, thank you to everyone who wrote in congratulating us on our fifth anniversary this month. We really appreciate all the kind words and encouragement. Don’t forget that those birthday coupons are good for one purchase until the end of the year.

This week we’ve got two books shipping in paperback: Developing Facebook Platform Applications with Rails and Rails for .NET Developers, as well as a new podcast with Jeff Cohen and Brian Eng on Rails in the .NET environment.

Developing Facebook Platform Applications now in Print

Developing Facebook Platform Applications with Rails leads you through the steps necessary to build your first application. You’ll get hands-on experience with Facebook technologies such as FBML and FQL, and master messaging and news feeds.

You’ll do more than just study the Facebook API—you’ll get practical tips from an experienced Facebook developer. We’ll cover advanced techniques such as AJAX and asynchronous messaging, and you’ll see how to slash development time with facebooker, the leading Ruby library for Facebook Platform development.

Together, we’ll build Karate Poke, a real Facebook Platform application, from configuration to deployment. You’ll get deep into Facebook requests right off the bat. From there, you’ll build the core of Karate Poke and then get a detailed look at the Facebook canvas and social features. We’ll finish by looking at advanced features and tips for handling millions of users.

Developing for the Facebook Platform can seem like a different world at first. Developing Facebook Platform Applications with Rails is your tour guide.

Now available at pragprog.com/titles/mmfacer

Rails for .NET Developers now in Print

Learning a new language and a new framework can be daunting. What you need is a guide to help leverage your existing knowledge and skills, and show you just what you need to know to get up and running with a new system quickly.

If you’re already a .NET developer; we’ll help you get up and running as a Ruby on Rails developer on any operating system: Windows, Mac, or Linux. We start with a gentle introduction to the object-oriented Ruby language with examples and direct comparisons to C#, so you’ll quickly feel at home writing Ruby code for the first time.

We then get to the heart of Rails development by showing how to tackle everyday tasks in Rails compared with typical ASP.NET implementations, with a tutorial focus. You’ll build a sample airline reservation system using Rails, learning essential techniques along the way. You’ll come to learn the joy and power inherent in the “convention over configuration” philosophy, the natural elegance of the MVC architecture, and the essence of REST-based design as you develop applications that accommodate web browsers, handheld devices, and even XML web service clients with unparalleled ease.

Along the way, you’ll see good agile development practices, explore test-driven development with Rails. You’ll be prepared for real-world application deployment, and we’ll give you a taste of how Ruby and Rails are reshaping the Microsoft application landscape, including a look at IronRuby.

Now available at pragprog.com/titles/cerailn

New podcast: Jeff Cohen and Brian Eng on Rails for .Net Developers

Pragmatic editor Susannah Pfalzer interviews authors Jeff Cohen and Brian Eng, asking “what do .NET developers find so compelling about Rails?” Jeff and Brian go on to explain the key differences between the .NET environment and the open source environment of traditional Ruby and Rails, the importance (and adoption) of MVC, unit tests, and differences in development styles. They’ll also explain how to use the right tool for the job and take a quick look at IronRuby, and Ruby’s interoperability with .NET.

Now available at pragprog.com/podcasts

Coming Soon:

Recently Released:

Thanks for your continued support,

Andy & Dave

www.PragProg.com