This latest addition to O'Reilly's "Cookbook" series might just make you want to learn yet another programming environment I have to admit that I just wasn’t interested in learning yet another programming environment, but the O’Reilly folks write a mean press release. The part that caught my eye was the part about developing Web-enabled applications without a browser. HUH?! This I’ve just got to see, and see I did — funny I’ve actually been using an Adobe AIR applications for a while now, and though I did notice the download of the AIR environment, it didn’t catch my eye.What Adobe AIR gives you is a wrapper environment that promises to allow you to write a single application to a programmatic abstraction layer so that your app has a chance of running on several platforms. The goal is to write once for Windows, Mac, and Linux without a huge amount of investment in different versions and massive amounts of regression testing. So while Adobe is promising lots of platforms (I sure hope mobile is a someday), there are those out there also hoping that Adobe actually comes through and isn’t just promising vaporware for the non-Windows world.Since I’m fond of JavaScript, I find these two O’Reilly books a nice starting point for the Adobe AIR environment, especially considering I’m a “cookbook learner.” So while the jury is still out on what Adobe will actually come through with, O’Reilly certainly hasn’t let us down with a mighty fine addition to its “Cookbook” collection. By David Tucker, Marco Casario, Koen De Weggheleire, Rich TretolaNovember 2008Pages: 446 Series: Adobe Developer LibraryISBN 10: 0-596-52250-9 | ISBN 13: 9780596522506Adobe AIR for JavaScript Developers Pocket Guide By Mike Chambers, Daniel Dura, Kevin Hoyt, Dragos GeorgitaApril 2008Pages: 204 Series: Adobe Developer LibraryISBN 10: 0-596-51837-4 | ISBN 13: 9780596518370 Technology Industry