Online Books : Google Online Books

An extensive list of top programming books available for preview on Google Books. Google Books provides scans of thousands of textbooks. The scans are not the best, most books have visible scan defects in them.

Even though the scans are not the best, there are some features that just work well. Just like Google Maps, where you can send a link to a map (with a set size, address, etc), with Google Books you can send a link to a specific page in a certain book with specific words highlighted. Google also has handy links such as the table of contents, popular passages, and where to buy the book (perhaps in a better quality PDF format).

All the books listed here have a 'limited preview', meaning that some pages are not available for viewing but for the most part you can browse through most the the book. Google Books does indicate the pages that are not available.

Java

• The Java Language Specification

• Effective Java Programming language

• Java: The complete Reference

• Java In A Nutshell

• Head First Java

C/C++

• Practical C++ Programming

• C++ The Core Language

• The Concurrent C Programming Language

• C++ Primer Plus

.Net/C#

• The C# Programming Language

• The Visual Basic .NET Programming Language

• Pro C# 2005 and the .NET 2.0 Platform

• Learning Visual Basic .NET

• VB.NET Language in a Nutshell

Python

• Python in a Nutshell

• Learning Python

• Visual Quickstart Guide: Python

• Python Pocket Reference

• Python Cookbook

JavaScript/DOM

• JavaScript: The Definitive Guide

• Beginning JavaScript with DOM Scripting and AJAX

• The Book of JavaScript

• The Complete Reference JavaScript

• JavaScript Bible

• DOM Scripting

Ruby/Rails

• Ruby in a Nutshell

• The Ruby Way

• Beginning Ruby

• Ruby on Rails: Up and Running

• Rails Solutions: Ruby on Rails Made Easy

• Beginning Ruby on Rails E-Commerce

PHP

• PHP in a Nutshell

• Programming PHP

• PHP Cookbook

• Learning PHP and MySQL

• Learning PHP 5

Database

• Visual Quickstart Guide: MySQL

• MySQL Cookbook

• MySQL in a Nutshell

• MySQL Tutorial

• Programming SQL Server 2005

• SQL Server 2005: Developer's Guide

• SQL Server 2005: A Beginner's Guide

• Beginning SQL Server 2005 Express