I haven’t managed to keep the promise of reviewing the book in due time, but suddenly I realised that every now and then I return to the book to uncover a new programming style that makes me say: “Ahaaa”.
The term “Cookbook” is really a very good description for this title. At first sight it doesn’t seem to tell you too much about programming in Codeigniter, but if you have the time to look at what you think you already know, you’re in for a surprise. If you read the “recipes” of this book, you find yourself saying: “Wow, I didn’t think there’s an easier and faster solution for that!”
For the first few days after I received the book I made the mistake to look at the table of contents and say: “Well, I do know how to do this… I do know how to do that… and that… and that…”; and just closed the book concluding that this is another book that brings nothing new. But after the first impression, I thought: what if I actually look at the code? And what a revelation that was! With simple and to the point recipes that you find in this book, you can do whatever you think of: from user management, to working with images, and extending the core.
I was not big on the writing style used in this book. I like a more personal approach (think of a book like Dayle Rees’ Code Bright about Laravel). But then again, something is good if it takes you to your destination. You need this? Do that! Simple. Or, as you can read on the cover: “Quick answers to common problems”.
With over 80 recipes, Rob Foster manages to explain every single thing about developing with Codeigniter without talking too much about anything else.
