A few people noticed that the PDF for Common Java Cookbook was removed from the site a few months ago, and I've been getting a steady stream of emails requesting access to these file. If you want to download the PDF for the Common Java Cookbook, sign up for an Account on this site, and go to the book download page. You can also signup for a mailing list if you are interested in updates. Happy reading.

Here's a graph of the traffic breakdown by OS from Google Analytics of the Common Java Cookbook:

Can you guess which colors represent which operating systems?

Edition 0.7 is out. You can read it on Scribd or online at the Sonatype site. This edition saw a marked improvement in the rendering of the PDF version of the book with the move to the newer docbkx plugin and the integration of the fop-images-pdf library to allow direct embedding of PDF vector art as figures.

As a co-author of Harnessing Hibernate, I get to hear about some of the feedback the book has received from time to time. James recently shared a letter he received about the book, a real "letter": signed, sealed, and delivered by the United States Postal Service. How archaic? Someone decided to read a computer book, type up a letter, and mail a physical artifact.

When I hear that someone has blogged about some general Maven hatred, I cringe and expect to read a post that consists of 30% incorrect assumptions about how Maven should be used, 50% ignorance of the most basic concepts, and 20% truth. What can be done:

• The Maven Users lists needs to become a bit more opinionated for first time users. If someone enters into the discussion asking the following question:
  
  

  "I'm attempting to publish a directory full of JARs to my local repository using the Install plugin."