Some time ago I reviewed iPhone in Action from Manning. While there are other "starter" books out there, if you know how to code and you want to get up-to-speed on everything from web apps to the SDK, this book is a great primer. Of course, the pending 3.0 update to the iPhone's OS will add many new features, and the book's authors are hard at work with an update that I'm told will be available as a downloadable e-chapter. The authors will first serialize it on their blog, so you can keep up there as well.

Until the update is ready the good folks at Manning have provided a code that'll get you 50% off iPhone in Action until April 30, 2009. To get the discount, just go to the site and when you order use this code: tuaw50. Remember, this is only for the current edition of iPhone in Action.

Last month I reviewed iPhone in Action for our TUAW Bookshelf series. Since then iPhone OS 3.0 has been unveiled, and developers have access, but the basics haven't changed. iPhone in Action covers more than the SDK, with the first half of the book dedicated to creating iPhone-tuned websites and web apps. We're giving away two fresh copies of the book this week, and all you have to do is tell us what category of app you'd create: Books, Business, Education, Entertainment, Finance, Games, Healthcare & Fitness, Lifestyle, Medical, Music, Navigation, News, Photography, Productivity, Reference, Social Networking, Sports, Travel, Utilities or Weather.

• Open to legal US residents of the 50 United States and the District of Columbia and Canada (excluding Quebec) who are 18 and older.
• To enter leave a comment telling us what category of iPhone app you'd like to make.
• The comment must be left before March 27, 11:59PM Eastern Time.
• You may enter only once.
• Two winners will be selected in a random drawing.
• Prize: one copy of iPhone in Action printed book ($39.99).
• Click Here for complete Official Rules.

I've never found book reviews to be terribly helpful -- technical book reviews even less so, as how one learns differs from person to person. Some iPhone devs out there learned simply by poring over Apple's copious documentation. Others have been poking at the iPhone's innards since pre-SDK days, learning as they went from forums and good old hacking. But once the NDA lifted, the floodgates of iPhone dev books opened.

Each book and each publisher has a different angle both in content and presentation. Each book may appeal to different people and different learning styles with different backgrounds (not to mention the numerous sites, blogs and video resources out there beyond what Apple provides). Over the course of 2009 we'll be taking a look at some books in a new series called TUAW Bookshelf. We won't just be covering developer resources, either. There's a wide world of Apple-related reading out there, so stay tuned as we pull from our personal libraries and share our thoughts on what's available.

To kick things off I read iPhone in Action by Christopher Allen and Shannon Appelcline, published by Manning. I wound up reading this first because one of the authors threw a few copies at me while at Macworld (sorry, I don't know who you are and I can't seem to find your business card!). We've got a few to give away, but look for that in another post this month.

iPhone in Action is designed to be a soup-to-nuts intro to almost everything you can develop for the iPhone. This includes web apps, which was the book's main focus until the SDK was announced while they were writing. I don't think shifting focus to the SDK is a bad thing, and as near as I can tell it didn't hurt the content. In fact, I thought this book would make an excellent primer to Apple's mobile platform efforts. Having taught technology for six years, I can say this is the book I'd use for a 100-level course in developing for the iPhone. I'm not saying it will make you into an expert overnight, and I'm not saying you can't come to the table with zero dev experience, but as a starting point, it is wonderful. To find out why, keep reading...