It's a shame they put that layout on the cover. I mean is this how poor all the layouts in a book about designing pcbs are going to be? Surely you would pick a nice looking layout for the cover. I really like eagle but the autorouter is not the best (basically unusable for any quality work), and it appears that's how the cover photo was routed.

Those traces at the top center. It makes me cringe.

Bought book for niece off of Amazon, as she uses this silly program. Book is a bit dated and not complete.

Do not understand why the FOSS community pushing this closed and marginal program. Should be supporting stuff like KiCad (and there are many other decent OS systems for EDA). Last year, the PCB designers at my employers reviewed several low-end and FOSS systems, because Mentor Graphics and Cadence/Allegro licenses are getting too expensive. The only low-end package they considered usable and reliable was KiCad - which is my preference for both home and work. Their analysis became important when we layed off the drafting dept, and the engineers and techs had to do our own stuff. Am most happy we did not get stuck using Eagle. FWIW, we bought Eagle's hi-end commercial package for our evaluation, so the Mentor/Allegro comparison is valid.

I have not read the book and only react on the cover. It is a pity that a book targeting beginners show such an awful layout on its front cover... Right angles, poor escape from the pads, part placement ... Good habits are easy if you catch them when you start.

While you can't beat Eagle for compatibility with the OSH community, I think it deserves the honor of being crowned Worst UI Ever. There are countless threads where people get stuck and shy away from creating PCBs because they just can't wrap their head around the software, so I'm glad to see somebody developing resources to help tame the learning curve.

That said, IMO, the best kept secret in PCB design software is Robot Room Copper Connection. It supports ExpressPCB files, for those that were lured in to the ultra simple design apps but want to graduate to Gerbers, fab houses, and more complex designs. While it isn't quite as simple as ExpressPCB, it doesn't take long to pick up - certainly easier than Eagle. Downside: You'll have to make most of your own parts library, as the stock lib is pretty minimal.