Learning development with Force platform. Any good books?

Advanced Apex Programming for Salesforce.com and Force.com is a great book. The author is very knowledgeable and the book is well-written. I think it is a great read for all Apex skill levels - beginner to expert.

You are going to want to start with Force.com Fundamentals. This doesn't focus on Apex/Visualforce, but rather than base platform. Coding in Salesforce doesn't happen right away. You need to have a great understanding of the platform before you jump into the code, otherwise you will code things that you really don't need to code.

Once you do that, you can begin to learn Apex using Salesforce's provider instructional material. Specifically, the Force.com Workbook, Apex Workbook, and then supplimenting that with the Cookbook.

As well as learning Apex, take some time to figure out Visualforce as well, the two go hand in hand.

For reference:

• Visualforce Developer's Guide
• Apex Developer's Guide

Just as a final note, check out Clean Code by Robert Martin. It has nothing to do with Apex/Visualforce, but it is a great read for any programmer.