Due to formatting constraints of the e-book format, there are advantages and disadvantages. The main advanges of the e-book format are price, hyperkinks, and keyword searching. The disadvantage is that the font is exactly the same throughout the e-book, while the printed book uses font family and background color and enclosing boxes to highlight.
The e-book makes a good companion to the printed book, as it can be carried on portable devices, and it's got the searching and hyperlink features. It's also a good substitute entirely for the printed book, for students who complete the book in one language and want to do it all over again in another language. The series supports C++, Java, and Python.
Code samples can be hard to read, due to small print, but touch or click any of them to see a full, copy/pasteable version in a browser window.
The e-book format also supports font resizing, and easy moving among pages.
Robert Burns, Diablo Valley College
rburns@dvc.edu