this book's organization

This book is not organized along the lines of "how to set up a development project." This book presumes the reader is moderately proficient in the skills of software development. Instead, the chapters are grouped by areas of relevance and ordered to the extent that if one chapter depends upon knowledge from another, it will generally follow the other chapter.

That said, this book does not need to be read sequentially. In fact, I don't recommend it. Each chapter will introduce you to one or a few tools that make up the core of the GDE and will not rely heavily on material from preceeding chapters. The first (this) chapter and the last chapter are the only departures from this scheme. The last chapter will be used to help guide you to and through the labyrinth of GDE software not covered here, but available on the net.

A reasonable approach to this book might be to skim the introductory paragraphs of each chapter, getting a clearer picture of what you can learn from each. Then, as you acquire, install or have need of specific tools, go back and read the chapter as you concurrently work with the tool. Instant feedback is a great way to reinforce learning and comprehension.