I’m putting the final touches on the “Chapter 1 Quickstart” for Grails in Action, and I think the trickiest part of a Chapter 1 is the pedagogy. Exactly how much should you cover? I’ve given this a bit of thought, and I’m convinced that most development books I read start too slow.
I’m just guessing, but the average readership of Grails in Action is probably (1) Java developers keen to explore what all the fuss is about; and (2) Groovy and Grails enthusiasts wanting an “in the trenches” book diving deep into the practical roadblocks they might face. I’m assuming (2) will be skipping the first few chapters, so we can probably skip them for Chapter 1. Which leaves us with all those Java developers. How fast is too fast?
Most Java developers that I know that buy books are pretty sharp. They’re keen to hone their craft, learn new skills, explore. So I figure that Chapter 1 should be a sip from a fire hose. Here’s a taste of the Chapter 1 QOTD application (still in need of some CSS tweaks):
So, what do you learn in chapter 1:
And it’s not a long chapter :-). You basically get a taste of all the core features of Grails over 25 pages. Along the way you build a simple, deployable Quote Of The Day application. Not rocket science stuff, but a good taste to whet your appetite. I hope it’s not too much to take in for a “Chapter 1”, but this whole book is about hitting the ground running, so I hope developers appreciate the pragmatic “Leeroy Jenkins“ approach.
But given this is my first book, this might all be just crazy talk… If you have a favourite “Chapter 1” style, let me know. We’ll see what survives editorial…