David Cantrell [[EMAIL PROTECTED]] quoth:
*>
*>Agreed. However, if "Programming Perl for Dummies" tells you things that
*>are Just Plain Wrong - like there's no need for strict, -w or -T - then
*>the book does more harm than good.
If I had a nickel for every person who whinged on about how horrible these
books are I'd have enough money to buy a publisher.
TELL THE PUBLISHERS. Offer your editorial services, send them errata, get
them involved. Whinging does absolutely nothing, actually, worse than
nothing as it gets my panties in a bunch. Attack the source, not the
choir. If they are so dangerous to the Perling public campaign to get
bookstores to remove them from the shelves, publishers to fix them or get
a different author to correct/rewrite them.
And, put things in perspective, noone is going to die from programming
poorly. So, their box might get rooted, hacked, etc. Unless you are a big
bank or somesuch where you can afford skilled people, it's probably not
mission critical either. In other words, do what you can to inform the
publishers how to fix their books, launch a campaign to explicitly
educate the buying public on various Perl books, submit errata, be a tech
editor, etc. the world is not coming to an end, please remain calm.
Someone could also begin by turning an eye to our very own FAQ, the Perl
FAQ that hasn't been really given a good going over in about a year or
more yet has languished in the unsexy domain of documentation you can
bitch about and not help fix since Perl6 will make everything magically
delicious.
The only thing more ignorant than ignorance is critical apathy.
*>Programming is not easy. Authors who make people think it is easy should
*>be hurt. A lot. Because the ignoramus pseudo-programmers for which they
*>are responsible cause me a lot of trouble.
Boy, you're going to love the upcoming title 'Instant Perl Modules'. I
wrote the publisher to ask if water would be included with the book and
the slogan 'just add water' on the front cover. :)
e.
