Readers - I apologize for not having been on this list for a few years. My email address changed a while ago, and I didn't think to update my subscription!
Anyway, two things you should be aware of: 1) I just released a new book, this one for newer programmers, called "New Programmers Start here". You can find the book here: http://www.amazon.com/New-Programmers-Start-Here-Introduction/dp/097528388X While PGU assumed little or no programming background, most readers have some programming experience. The goal of New Programmers Start Here is to reach people who have absolutely no experience, and just have a computer with a web browser. The first half of the book just covers how computers work, not any programming at all. Additionally, while the book focuses on JavaScript (so that the user doesn't have to download or install anything, and it can work on any computer), I actually put in a section on assembly language! I wrote a super-basic fake assembly language that the person can do on paper to help them understand how the computer actually processes data. If any of you want to point someone to a book that will bootstrap new programmers (or people who deal with programmers - like designers and project managers), this book is probably the best book for that. The book was written in conjunction with a homeschool co-op class that I was teaching, so the book is filled with exercises, reviews, and activities. My second announcement is that (hopefully) later this year I am putting out a new edition of PGU under a different title, probably "Programming Under the Hood". The assembly language intro will be the first part, and then there will be additional chapters on how garbage collection works, reference counting, how object-oriented function calls work, etc. I may update it to include 64-bit instructions and maybe a few vector instructions, though I haven't decided on that yet. I will likely remove a few small parts that make it try to be a full intro to programming. Also, most importantly, I will actually have an editor edit the book. There was an editor listed in the original PGU, but he got deathly ill during the writing of the book, so I left his name on it, but there was very little actual editing that occurred. Anyway, thank you all for being faithful readers, and for staying with the list all these years! Sincerely, Jonathan Bartlett
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