I bought Zend Framework in Action yesterday because the short tutorial isn’t quite enough to know how to architect an big application. I’m building an enterprise app at work for a client and picked ZF and YUI as core platforms. I’m pleased with the content of the book. Rob Allen is a fine writer and the organization of the text is logical.
Now that I’m about 80 pages into the book, I thought I’d grab a copy of the PDF version for easy reference whichever desk I’m sitting at. The print edition comes with a “free” ebook. There are two ways to get this free ebook.
The way they want you to do it is as follows.
- Cut open a folded paper in the front of the book.
- Go to the URL printed on the paper.
- Type in a code they ask you for out of 9×20 grid.
- Type in another code from the grid.
- Type in your name and email address.
- Wait for the email to arrive.
- Find the email in your spam folder.
- Click on a link to start the download.
- Rename the file from “gi” (wtf?) to something rational, such as “Zend_Framework_In_Action.pdf”.
However, you could do the following.
- Enter “zend framework in action pdf” into Google Search.
- Click to some blog.
- Click the link into RapidShare.
- Wait for your 30 seconds to expire since you are a “free” user.
- Download the .rar file.
- Expand whatever’s in the rar file. (I didn’t actually go this far).
Typing in codes from a grid is pretty annoying. I threw down $45 to get the book. Maybe they should just trust me and print a direct download link inside the text of the book. After all, we’re all only a couple of links away from downloading it from RapidShare. What would have been really cool was if I could have downloaded the PDF for free first and then bought the print version when I decided that the book was of great value. I had that exact experience with another author recently.
If you are going to buy Zend Framework in Action (and you aren’t in a rush like I was), you might use the Amazon.com link above. It’s a lot cheaper than buying it off the shelf at B&N.