New PGAE for 2014, Early Release now available

June 24, 2014

I'm pleased to announce that Programming Google App Engine is being revised for 2014, and you can purchase Early Release access starting today. For this revision, I'm splitting the book into two versions, one for Python and one for Java. The Early Release gets you ebooks of the draft in progress, and all updates up to the final text. You can also pre-order a print copy.

Go get your copy today:

Check out the new animal covers!

Today's Early Release draft includes the new language-specific edits, with minor updates and corrections throughout. Some chapters that are being replaced are missing, and some information may still be out of date. Pardon our dust. We have an aggressive writing schedule and intend to push regular updates.

Reader survey

Please take a moment and complete this brief reader survey. Responses are anonymous. I can use survey data to prioritize the writing schedule and justify deadline extensions for new material.

What's new?

The new drafts are still being written, and I don't want to promise too much until the material has been finalized. I have tentative plans for these new subjects:

Python's ndb library
The Search service
Google Cloud Storage
Google Cloud SQL
Google Cloud Endpoints
A fully updated introductory tutorial based on the new Cloud SDK and Cloud Console
Updates throughout covering the latest best practices and tools

Google Cloud Platform and App Engine have grown substantially since the 2nd edition, and the Platform as a whole is too large to cover properly in one book. My goal is to balance the writing schedule with new features that are ready to be written about in book form, and focus on features for web applications built primarily for App Engine's automatic scaling model.

Don't miss Google Compute Engine: Managing secure and scalable cloud computing by Marc Cohen et al., currently in Early Release from O'Reilly.

What about PHP and Go?

One of the goals for rewriting the book into separate language-specific versions is to open up the possibility for additional versions for the newer languages and APIs. We're still figuring out the right approach for covering App Engine's support for PHP and Go, and publishing contracts have not yet been signed.

If you'd like to see PHP and Go versions of the book, please complete the reader survey.

What about Blobstore and ext.db?

The features of the Blobstore service are now available in the more general Google Cloud Storage service. The Blobstore is still actively supported and used by many apps, but it doesn't make sense to cover both services in the book. Similarly, Python has a new datastore library called ndb, which replaces the ext.db library. I have decided to replace the material on these features from the 2nd edition with new material on the correpsonding new features.

But good news! Since both Blobstore and ext.db are still in active use by many apps, we are making the 2nd edition text of these chapters available for free online. I'm even throwing in the chapter on bulk data operations from the 1st edition, which some people missed when I removed it for the 2nd edition.

Data Modeling with Python and ext.db (2nd ed., 2012)
Large Data and the Blobstore (2nd ed., 2012)
Bulk Data Operations and Remote Access (1st ed., 2010)

These free bonus chapters come with caveats. The text is known to be old, may be out of date, and will not be updated or supported. Enjoy at your own risk!

Google I/O; OSCON

Google I/O starts tomorrow. If you're not there in person, don't miss the live video stream of the keynote presentation, starting at 9:00 am Pacific Time on June 25th. I won't be in San Francisco this year, but I'll be following the presentations eagerly from the Seattle office.

I will be at OSCON 2014 in Portland, Oregon, July 20-24. I'll be doing a book signing at the O'Reilly booth with freshly printed Early Release drafts, and I'll also be hanging around the Google booth. Tickets are still available. Come say hi!

Thanks all! Let me know what you think.