Appendix A: Further Reading

Here are some resources that might help you out as you learn Akka and explore the fantastic world of Scala development.

Books on Scala

• Programming in Scala, Second Edition, Martin Odersky, Lex Spoon, and Bill Venners, Artima, 2010.
  
  There's simply no more complete book available for understanding the entirety of the Scala programming language.
  
  
• Scala for the Impatient, Cay Horstmann, Addison-Wesley, 2012.
  
  This is an excellent introduction to Scala for experienced programmers who just need to hit the ground running quickly. 
   
• Scala in Depth, Joshua D. Suereth, Manning, 2012.
  
  When you're ready to dig in to the true magic of Scala in a way that's clear and well-informed, you should not hesitate to pick up Josh's book to be your guide. 

Books on Akka

• Akka Concurrency: Building reliable software in a multi-core world, Derek Wyatt, Artima, 2013.
  
  This should probably be the next book you read, after you've had some time to explore Akka a bit more. Wyatt goes into great depth to explain the details you need to know, while informing it from hard-won experience.
   
• Akka in Action, Raymond Roestenburg and Rob Bakker, Manning, 2013.
  
  I have only read a few chapters of this upcoming book, but from what I've seen, it will be another valuable addition to any aspiring Akka engineers arsenal of knowledge.

Blogs, blog posts, and articles

• Scala for Java Refugees, Daniel Spiewak
  
  If you're coming from the Java world, this is a good place to start. It's a few years old, yet still relevant and useful for getting a quick taste of Scala.
  
  
• A Scala Tutorial for Java programmers, Michel Schinz and Philipp Haller
  
  This tutorial is also, as the title makes clear, intended for Java developers. It was my introduction to Scala and, while it still took me a while to get my full bearings, it laid the groundwork that I'm still building upon.
   
• Let it Crash, Akka Team
  
  This is the blog maintained by the Akka core team, featuring news about upcoming releases, highlights of new features, occasional guest posts, and all sorts of other goodness. You should definitely be keeping an eye on this site.