I had the pleasure to read Boydlee's cookbook on Appcelerator Titanium and boy(d) I was glad to find the book very extensive, from simple examples to working with social media API as well as writing custom modules. This book is a must buy for diehard HTML5 developers and over-the-night app developers and for anyone still thinking over the million dollar question "Html5-vs-Native for app development"
Chapter 1 explores the UI components available within Titanium, some other highlights include
1)Option Dialog box is a good topic, gives the perfect native feel.
2)Raphael.JS example is awesome - Example shows how easy it is to integrate external JavaScript libraries in Appcelerator and yet feel Native!!
Chapter 2 deals with Local Data and WebServices, highlights of this chapter
1)XML, JSON and SQLite - All methods of data parsing and storage explored.
2)TableView and Search filter.
3)Pull Down to refresh - Excellent example depicting the use of twitter client like "Pull down to refresh" logic.
A very big advantage of Appcelerator Titanium over other HTML5 solutions like PhoneGap is the ability to "Load a pre-populated database within your app", which is again nicely explained in the book, so now you can build a prepackaged SQLite database with PHP or any language and install that database in your mobile app.
Chapter 3 deals with Maps, not much circling here J , examples are straightforward. The routes example is good way to depict distance calculation using Google API.
Chapter 4 involves Audio, Video and Camera: Capturing, Viewing and playing Photos, Audio and Video is covered in great detail, including the ability to store the recorded media on the device.
Chapter 5 teaches us sending emails, Facebook integration, twitter OAuth and few more recipes. Chapter 6 covers application properties, events in appcelerator including custom events.
Chapter 7 covers Animation and drag and drop; however I didn't dig in much on it, so would skip to chapter 8 which is more interesting since it covers background service, local notifications and accessing the contacts address book. What I like most about the book is the attention to details while dealing with individual platforms (Android / iPhone) and letting the users know beforehand. Kudos to the author for covering Android App storage on the devices SD Card.
Further down the book, the author teaches how to create custom modules in Appcelerator Titanium, integrating the Paypal module and some excellent tips for cross platform app development.
Overall, this is an excellent book any App developer needs to keep on his bookshelf/ebook reader. The only part I think missing is the "Mobile Web" feature in Appcelerator Titanium, that also allows titanium apps to run on the browser, think it is still a beta-stage feature, so also debatable to be covered in print book. Still another thing that would have been great would be "Theming" the applications.
I would advise anyone knowing an iota of HTML/CSS/JS know-how, to go ahead buy the book, it has everything to get you started to reach App Store glory.