It’s a good sign for a framework when books are being published in it’s name. Along with the expanding list of official resources and blogs discussing CakePHP, several books have been published to help newcomers and intermediate level programmers learn and use Cake to there advantage.

Daniel Hofstetter published an article several months back with books that are available covering CakePHP. His list has last been updated on August. Maybe you didn’t get any of these books in your Christmas stocking, but with the New Year coming up perhaps it’s time for you to buy yourself one and dedicate 2009 to upgrading your development skills.

The guys behind CakePHP Application Development have just released 2 lengthy articles which give you an idea of what you would get.

The first article covers simple associations, while the second article dives into more complex associations. Jonathan Snook has also written a review that you may want to check out.

Learning model associations is critical in using CakePHP to your advantage and I suggest anyone who is learning Cake to get a good grasp of how associations work and how they’ll speed up your development time.  Even if you don’t plan on buying the book, check out those articles because I’ve seen a lot of questions on IRC showing lack of understanding on how associations work.

Another book review was written on Daniel Hofstetter on Beginning CakePHP: From Novice to Professional.

So, with the new year coming you may want to pickup a book to help yourself learn CakePHP. After learning the basic concepts, you’ll be surprised at how easy it is.

Update: Daniel Hofstetter has just recently reviewed Practical CakePHP Projects. Check it out.