World of Warcraft Programming

[Cairenn]

Written by three of the WoW addon community’s superstars, WORLD OF WARCRAFT PROGRAMMING: A GUIDE AND REFERENCE FOR CREATING WoW ADDONS (Wiley Publishing, Inc.; May 2008; $39.99) is an all-in-one guide to writing addons for World of Warcraft. Addons can take various forms, from simple changes to the functionality and appearance of toolbars and hotkeys to sophisticated suites that perform statistical analysis of in-game economies and trade.

This guide is geared towards using Lua, a popular programming language used in video game development. Specifically, Lua is used for in-game scripting and creating addons for World of Warcraft. The authors cover the most relevant material, as well as a number of pitfalls and common mistakes that the reader may experience in development. No prior programming experience is assumed, although familiarity with languages such as PHP or JavaScript may be useful to the reader in picking up the Lua language. WORLD OF WARCRAFT PROGRAMMING also includes complete instructions on how to implement a number of specific addon concepts such as:

• Unit frames
• Secure templates
• Dynamic frames
• Parsing tooltips
• Dropdown menus
• Scroll frames

The final section of WORLD OF WARCRAFT PROGRAMMING is a comprehensive reference guide to the World of Warcraft API. Having a fully indexed, consistent set of reference documentation makes finding the specific function developers need much easier.

With comprehensive coverage, this book guides aspiring developers through learning Lua and XML, creating several example addons, and provides them with an indexed reference for the API. WORLD OF WARCRAFT PROGRAMMING is perfect for those users who are interested in learning how to script and write addons, and will appeal to established addon authors looking for definitive reference material for the World of Warcraft API.


You can pre-order the book at Amazon.com. They are offering an additional 5% discount on pre-orders, but that is only until they start shipping it. It is due to be available on shelves at your favourite book retailers May 5th (in the US).


About the Authors:

James Whitehead II is the author of LightHeaded, PerfectRaid, Clique, TomTom, and other addons available at WoWInterface. He is also coauthor of Hacking World of Warcraft.

Bryan McLemore joined the UI community in early 2005 and cofounded the Ace Project and WowAce.com. His "day job" is in Web development.

Matthew Orlando is the author of BuyEmAll, CogsBar, MacroTalk, and other popular WoW addons. He's a programmer and maintains Cogwheel's Complete Macro Guide.

The book’s cover art was created by Lar Desouza and it’s based on the characters of Looking for Group, a popular Word of Warcraft-based webcomic: LFGComic

[Dreadlorde]

I'll be checking for this Can't wait for it.

[Mera]

Sound cool , I will buy it

[ravagernl]

What is the forum nickname of Bryan McLemore?

[Cairenn]

Originally Posted by mrruben5 What is the forum nickname of Bryan McLemore?

Head of Ace is kind of a give away. Kaelten.

[robthedude]

Got mine on order! Considering the names on the author list, I expect this to be of the highest quality.

[Cairenn]

Just heard from the publisher again. Apparently Amazon has started shipping the pre-orders now.

[Mera]

It is not the 5th May the release date Cairen?
Also

IIm in europe, does amazon.uk ship it right now so?

I really need that book, Im bored to read tons of codes to learn step at step :>

[Cairenn]

The on-shelf date in the US is supposed to be 5 May. Not the pre-orders from Amazon. When it'll ship to elsewhere than the US I also can't say. All I can say is what I've heard from the publisher (the emails they've been sending me). When I mentioned in the IRC channel what I'd heard from the publisher, one of the guys who pre-ordered from Amazon went and checked his confirmation email, this is what he posted into the channel: "The item(s) listed below will actually ship sooner than we expected [...] Estimated arrival date: 5/1/2008 - 5/5/2008"

Just relaying the news as I hear it.

[Mera]

I have checked and looks like only amazon.com has it in stock now, release date in europe is 15th may, wont buy it finally i think, too much wait for something I can learn in codes..

[seebs]

I'm so sold on that.

[ScytheBlade1]

I see that Cairenn has been ninja'ing my IRC chat. So, instead of pasting it in channel, I'll simply post it here .

Shipped via USPS (estimated arrival date: 03-May-2008).

[Seerah]

I bought mine on Saturday or Sunday, and have an estimated arrival of the 5th.

[DSanai]

Wow, sounds great! I'm tired of Googling for bits and pieces and reading Wiki's. To have even half of the available information out there in a book written by Kael and folks should be worth every penny.

Also, the discount is much greater than 5% -- I only paid 26 bucks and change (that's what, 33% off?).

[Dreadlorde]

1056 pages

Good book

[Layrajha]

Originally Posted by Dreadlorde 1056 pages Good book

Not 1024? WTH?!

/disappointed

[jonathon]

got mine today... it's a solid read so far...

[Cogwheel]

Originally Posted by Layrajha Not 1024? WTH?! /disappointed

Y2K bug anyone?

[epitome]

Shall be buying this myself when I'm in the US next week
Looks like a good solid book both to reference and begin creating addons with.

[Flarin]

Excellent read so far. I am very impressed.