Re: Use of first person in a book

On Fri, 09 Oct 2009 03:11:01 -0500, Andrei Alexandrescu seewebsiteforem...@erdani.org wrote: Thanks to all who answered! I wish there was such consensus in other matters as well :o). Allow me to put forth an excerpt from TDPL without any particular reason:

Re: Use of first person in a book

Phil Deets wrote: On Fri, 09 Oct 2009 03:11:01 -0500, Andrei Alexandrescu seewebsiteforem...@erdani.org wrote: Thanks to all who answered! I wish there was such consensus in other matters as well :o). Allow me to put forth an excerpt from TDPL without any particular reason:

Re: Use of first person in a book

JMNorris wrote: genius is a rare commodity. I grew up believing that everyone has genius in them waiting to awaken, most of us just stop searching for it. I still believe it to this day. Jeremie

Re: Use of first person in a book

JMNorris wrote: IIRC, KR did not used I, we, or the authors. KR were geniuses (even if they indent 8 instead of 4 spaces). There is a reason they are so rarely matched in technical writing: genius is a rare commodity. While KR's book is genius, I'd be hesitant to say it is because they

Re: Use of first person in a book

JMNorris wrote: I once had a student in a college course ask me if he was permited to use the first person in a term paper. Ugh. I heard a rumor that the Education Dept. at my school would automatically give an F for the use of I. Education Departments are generally the academically weakest

Re: Use of first person in a book

Thanks to all who answered! I wish there was such consensus in other matters as well :o). Allow me to put forth an excerpt from TDPL without any particular reason: http://erdani.com/tdpl/excerpt.pdf Andrei

Re: Use of first person in a book

Andrei Alexandrescu wrote: Thanks to all who answered! I wish there was such consensus in other matters as well :o). Allow me to put forth an excerpt from TDPL without any particular reason: http://erdani.com/tdpl/excerpt.pdf Andrei Nice! Humourous typo: Near the last page online

Re: Use of first person in a book

Don wrote: Andrei Alexandrescu wrote: Thanks to all who answered! I wish there was such consensus in other matters as well :o). Allow me to put forth an excerpt from TDPL without any particular reason: http://erdani.com/tdpl/excerpt.pdf Andrei Nice! Humourous typo: Near the last page

Re: Use of first person in a book [OT tangent]

On Fri, Oct 09, 2009 at 11:33:35AM -0500, Andrei Alexandrescu wrote: Humourous typo: Near the last page online assembler should be inline assembler. Thought it's true that online asm is forbidden too... Ha ha, now that's some involuntary humor. Thanks, Don! Also thanks for the patches that

Re: Use of first person in a book [OT tangent]

Adam D. Ruppe destructiona...@gmail.com wrote in message news:mailman.159.1255130283.20261.digitalmar...@puremagic.com... On Fri, Oct 09, 2009 at 11:33:35AM -0500, Andrei Alexandrescu wrote: Humourous typo: Near the last page online assembler should be inline assembler. Thought it's true that

Re: Use of first person in a book [OT tangent]

Nick Sabalausky wrote: Adam D. Ruppe destructiona...@gmail.com wrote in message news:mailman.159.1255130283.20261.digitalmar...@puremagic.com... On Fri, Oct 09, 2009 at 11:33:35AM -0500, Andrei Alexandrescu wrote: Humourous typo: Near the last page online assembler should be inline assembler.

Re: Use of first person in a book

Andrei Alexandrescu wrote: So I thought I'd ask a candid question in here. How do you feel about moderate use of the first person in a technical book? Do you find it comfortable, neutral, or cringeworthy? Andrei Comfortable, as long as you're not writing a Head First book. Avoiding first

Re: Use of first person in a book

Andrei Alexandrescu: How do you feel about moderate use of the first person in a technical book? Do you find it comfortable, neutral, or cringeworthy? I think it makes the book more like the product of a person, so I like it. I hate reading 10 research papers where most of them are written

Re: Use of first person in a book

Jarrett Billingsley wrote On Thu, Oct 8, 2009 at 12:04 AM, Andrei Alexandrescu seewebsiteforem...@erdani.org wrote: I'd decided to not use the first person at all in TDPL, but now I find myself a bit constrained by that decision. I personally think a small amount of meta-references and

Re: Use of first person in a book

On Thu, Oct 8, 2009 at 10:50 AM, Jeremie Pelletier jerem...@gmail.com wrote: What the first person does to me is make it easier to make links with authors since it makes it much easier to convey emotion, the third person just sounds like a robot making statements. I know there isn't much room

Re: Use of first person in a book

Andrei Alexandrescu wrote: Jarrett Billingsley wrote: On Thu, Oct 8, 2009 at 10:50 AM, Jeremie Pelletier jerem...@gmail.com wrote: What the first person does to me is make it easier to make links with authors since it makes it much easier to convey emotion, the third person just sounds like

Re: Use of first person in a book

On Thu, Oct 8, 2009 at 12:37 PM, Andrei Alexandrescu seewebsiteforem...@erdani.org wrote: Jarrett Billingsley wrote: On Thu, Oct 8, 2009 at 10:50 AM, Jeremie Pelletier jerem...@gmail.com wrote: What the first person does to me is make it easier to make links with authors since it makes it

Re: Use of first person in a book

Jeremie Pelletier jerem...@gmail.com wrote in message news:hal5r3$t3...@digitalmars.com... Andrei Alexandrescu wrote: I think I need to give a read to that book, although I've heard it's rather controversial due to the gratuitous sexual references. Controversy is sometimes good for its

Re: Use of first person in a book

I use first person when I make side notes like - I've chosen to do it this way, because ... - I will deviate from my decision of not using any feature that is not yet explained ... - Because of a bug in Phobos, I had to use the .dup property with the format strings in the following samples. I

Re: Use of first person in a book

Lutger wrote: Jeremie Pelletier wrote: bearophile wrote: Andrei Alexandrescu: How do you feel about moderate use of the first person in a technical book? Do you find it comfortable, neutral, or cringeworthy? I think it makes the book more like the product of a person, so I like it. I

Re: Use of first person in a book

Chad J chadj...@__spam.is.bad__gmail.com wrote in message news:hambm5$uk...@digitalmars.com... Interesting. As I read this thread I conjectured that this rule was to help newbie authors avoid pitfalls that are easier to hit if they use first person. I'm at a loss for examples. And even

Re: Use of first person in a book

I once had a student in a college course ask me if he was permited to use the first person in a term paper. Ugh. I heard a rumor that the Education Dept. at my school would automatically give an F for the use of I. Education Departments are generally the academically weakest in any university.

Use of first person in a book

I'd decided to not use the first person at all in TDPL, but now I find myself a bit constrained by that decision. I personally think a small amount of meta-references and asides prevents boredom and brings a more personal note to the communication, but such devices should be used very

Re: Use of first person in a book

Andrei Alexandrescu wrote: I'd decided to not use the first person at all in TDPL, but now I find myself a bit constrained by that decision. I personally think a small amount of meta-references and asides prevents boredom and brings a more personal note to the communication, but such devices

Re: Use of first person in a book

Andrei Alexandrescu seewebsiteforem...@erdani.org wrote in message news:hajod7$fm...@digitalmars.com... I'd decided to not use the first person at all in TDPL, but now I find myself a bit constrained by that decision. I personally think a small amount of meta-references and asides prevents

Re: Use of first person in a book

On Thu, Oct 8, 2009 at 12:04 AM, Andrei Alexandrescu seewebsiteforem...@erdani.org wrote: I'd decided to not use the first person at all in TDPL, but now I find myself a bit constrained by that decision. I personally think a small amount of meta-references and asides prevents boredom and brings

Re: Use of first person in a book

Andrei Alexandrescu wrote: So I thought I'd ask a candid question in here. How do you feel about moderate use of the first person in a technical book? Do you find it comfortable, neutral, or cringeworthy? Occasionally a technical author finds that a personal anecdote or opinion is useful for