Advanced Apex Programming for Salesforce.com and Force.com

Note - The second edition of this book is now available ISBN 978-1936754076 in both paper and ebook editions.

Beyond the Force.com documentation

Advanced Apex Programming for Salesforce.com and Force.com is neither a tutorial nor a book for beginners. Intended for developers who are already familiar with the Apex language, and experienced Java and C# developers who are moving to Apex, this book starts where the Force.com documentation leaves off.
Instead of trying to cover all of the features of the platform, Advanced Apex programming focuses entirely on the Apex language and core design patterns. You€ll learn how to truly think in Apex €“ to embrace limits and bulk patterns. You€ll see how to develop architectures for efficient and reliable trigger handling, and for asynchronous operations. You€ll discover that best practices differ radically depending on whether you are building software for a specific organization or for a managed package. And you€ll find approaches for incorporating testing and diagnostic code that can dramatically improve the reliability and deployment of Apex software, and reduce your lifecycle and support costs.
Based on his experience both as a consultant and as architect of a major AppExchange package, Dan Appleman focuses on the real-world problems and issues that are faced by Apex developers every day, along with the obscure problems and surprises that can sneak up on you if you are unprepared.