We’ve noticed that one of the signs that a language is becoming mainstream (and perhaps being abandoned by the cutting edge developers) is that the For Dummies book becomes the top seller.
I was reviewing data about PHP in our Bookscan data mart the other day, and was really struck by how much the sales mix has changed in the past year. Here are the top ten PHP books in the first quarter of this year vs. the first quarter of last year. (Apologies for the quick screen shot — those aren’t really links you can click for more info — but I don’t have time to create a proper table with more info.)
In Q1 of 2005, the Dummies book was #7; in Q1 2006, #5; in Q1 2007 it’s #1. Not only is the Dummies book now #1, four of the top five titles are now introductory.