Books, books, books. And PHP frameworks

The world of php frameworks never stops. New frameworks arise, as well as new and (sometimes radically) different version of popular frameworks.

I’ve always found good books a great asset when starting a project using a new framework; or improving the knowledge of a familiar one.

While old school manuals are somewhat less needed today (as the pace of development of frameworks core is very high, some books may become obsolete really fast – and great online up-to-date official documentation is very common), a lot of tutorial style guides, recipes, advanced techniques by examples, and other “Practical” books are filling the gaps.

I love the feel of printed books – but more and more of my technical library is actually in my tablet or laptop.

Most of those books are from Packt Publishing (I like the quality and the usual 50% discount for buying 2 eBooks)

Here is my actual desk at home. Almost my whole collection of technical books is in this picture. No, the paper ones are just a small part, a memory of a past era when usually a door bell marked the end of the “download” from abroad..

I know, I didn’t list books about great choices like Yii, Kohana, Symfony.

I’m just listing books I’m personally interested in at the moment, because CakePHP is (and will be for the next months) my main tool, but other might come handy – because they represent the industry standard that simply cannot be ignored, or offer new approaches and new solutions, different enough to catch my attention and become a viable alternative, depending on the project.

So, here we are.

Let’s start with.. well, see the tagline of my blog?

CakePHP. Not many books about version 2.x around. Well, the official documentation is good (and comes as an ebook also), and there are many online resources and blogs.

“Instant CakePHP Starter” is the only CakePHP 2 books I’m aware of. A fast and practical introduction to the framework, made of several tutorials.

Then, here comes.. Zend. Well, I was not so fond of Zend Framework (version 1), probably because of a couple legacy projects I didn’t enjoy much. Will ZF 2 be a different story?

As a PHP developer it’s simply hard to ignore it. And

“this version has considerably eased the process of building complex web applications with minimal development effort using plug and play components. ZF2 also provides a highly robust and scalable framework for developing web applications”.

This sounds like something that could bring my interest back. Or even a starting point to use ZF 2 components in a CakePHP Project.

There is also an “Instant” book, but I’d probably opt for a wider text for this.

“Zend Framework 2.0 by Example” seems the to me the best way to approach the framework.

And then, another one that catches my attention. Sailing to the discovery of new world of PHP frameworks on board of a.. Laravel. Ok, bad joke.

Laravel, with its fresh approach to MVC in PHP, has gained attention – and an active community – quickly. It’s on top of my list of “alternatives to CakePHP” I’ll probably try.

Laravel Application Development Cookbook and (the apparently more advanced) Laravel Application Development Blueprints are probably the perfect fit in my case.

I’ll let you know.

Now, tell me about you: what’s your preferred approach to new frameworks? Which one to go deeper in a framework you already know? Do you use books, online resources or both?

Let us know your recommendations!