Starling Handbook launched

Daniel Sperl on May 19, 2017

My dear friends,

it is with the greatest satisfaction that I can finally announce:
The Starling Handbook is available. It’s just a click on the big red button away! And, honestly: who can resist clicking on a big red button?!

Giveaway Winner

In the previous blog post, I started something you might call a “poetry contest”. All users who posted a rhyme in the comment section had the chance to win a paperback version of the handbook. Thanks a lot to all who took part! I’ve always known that we have lots of creative people in the Starling community, but some of the posts were really hilarious! :-D

In any case: my little giveaway-script (written in ActionScript, of course!) picked the following user as the lucky winner: enguez! Congratulations! Please contact me via starling-handbook@gamua.com with the address you’d like the book to be delivered to.

For all the others: I know how you’re feeling, because I never win anything in these contests, either. ;-) But the launch deal is still standing!

Launch Deal: 20% off

Remember: today and tomorrow (May 19th and May 20th), the book is 20% off.
Don’t miss it!

Epilogue

This book project was really special to me. About a year ago, I received several complaints from Starling users, telling me they found it difficult to get started with the framework. The available documentation was just too difficult to find, or even outdated. Since I always regarded good documentation the most important feature of any framework, this really hit me! I decided, after years of pushing out new versions, that I’d rather take a step back and finally fix this situation.

With the Starling Manual and the Starling Handbook, I think I have succeeded in this task. And today, finally, all of you have access to those resources.

This project would never have been possible, though, without the help from the community. It’s your continuing usage of Starling that motivates me – and I really needed a lot of motivation to get this huge book finished, believe me! ;)

Special thanks goes to Josh Tynjala for providing the section about Feathers, and to Johann Huang for the one about Starling Builder. The book wouldn’t be complete without your help, guys!

Three courageous volunteers accepted the challenge of proof-reading the book: Jeff Adams, Alexandre Madurell, and Devon O. Wolfgang. Through your feedback and suggestions, my draft finally transformed into something I felt confident enough to actually turn into print. I’m forever in your debt!

But enough talk: head over to the shop page and get yourself a copy! In the meantime, I can finally go back to doing what I love most: programming. Stay tuned for the upcoming Starling 2.2 release!