Re: London Community News 30/01/00
Dean S Wilson wrote: GLLUG Hm, I wonder whether this acronym reflects what one of their meetings sounds like. Cheers, Philip
Re: Meeting Reminder
On Tue, Jan 30, 2001 at 11:18:24PM +, Leon Brocard wrote: Simon Wistow sent the following bits through the ether: Conveniently close to Cynthia's Cyberbar. No, please god, no! Can't we just try and forget this excuse for a bar?[1] But the mirrors! Don't forget the mirrors!
the list
It's oh so quiet. After recent activity this is somewhat disconcerting. Michael
RE: the list
It's oh so quiet. After recent activity this is somewhat disconcerting. OK, just in the interests of making traffic, then, here's a picture of me as a baby: http://website.lineone.net/~vineleaf/sands/gfx/mattjones.jpg You see, you have ot get your priorities right at an early age. -- matt you said it wasn't art, so now we're gonna rip you apart
Re: the list
* Michael Stevens ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) wrote: It's oh so quiet. After recent activity this is somewhat disconcerting. everyone is probably reading up on ruby in preparation for it taking over the world -- Greg McCarroll http://www.mccarroll.uklinux.net
Re: the list
On Wed, Jan 31, 2001 at 12:04:54PM +, Greg McCarroll wrote: * Michael Stevens ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) wrote: It's oh so quiet. After recent activity this is somewhat disconcerting. everyone is probably reading up on ruby in preparation for it taking over the world Surely you mean python? (I kinda like python) Michael
Re: the list
On Wed, Jan 31, 2001 at 11:50:45AM +, Michael Stevens wrote: It's oh so quiet. After recent activity this is somewhat disconcerting. I don't know, before it was fast as lightning. Which was a little bit frightening. -- Richard Clamp [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: Perl Books
On Wed, Jan 31, 2001 at 09:24:20AM -0500, Dave Cross wrote: Here's an interesting page[1] Have a URL for that, guv? -Dom
Re: Perl Books
* at 31/01 14:28 + Dominic Mitchell said: On Wed, Jan 31, 2001 at 09:24:20AM -0500, Dave Cross wrote: Here's an interesting page[1] Have a URL for that, guv? er... this unweldy thing would seem to be it: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/browse/-/4045/107-2581489-8245353 struan
Re: Perl Books
On Wed, Jan 31, 2001 at 02:32:21PM +, Struan Donald wrote: er... this unweldy thing would seem to be it: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/browse/-/4045/107-2581489-8245353 A handy hint for amazon URLs: you can knock off the long number on the end, and the thing will still work. http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/browse/-/4045 The same trick works for any amazon URL. This has been a public service announcement. .robin. -- Satan, oscillate my metallic sonatas!
Re: Perl Books
On Wed, 31 Jan 2001, you wrote: It's at http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/browse/-/4045/ Crickey! That book by Ms Castro that's been slated everywhere is at number 5!!! no one ever said the buying public were intelligent ... in fact it has been said (by some famoose newspaper tycoon ISTR) that no one ever lost money by underestimating the intelligence of their readership. -- Robin Szemeti The box said "requires windows 95 or better" So I installed Linux!
Every OS Sucks
Check out the latest from Three Dead Trolls in a Baggie (the people who bought you the Internet Helpdesk sketch). http://artists.mp3s.com/artists/37/three_dead_trolls_in_a_bag.html?lang=eng Most entertaining. Neil. -- Neil C. Ford [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.binky.ourshack.org
Fwd: [briant@earthweb.com: RE: New Perl Journal]
A... er... 'friend' of mine emailed customer services at TPJ to find out what the official story was on its future. Here's the response I, er, he got. Dave... - Forwarded message from Brian Todd [EMAIL PROTECTED] - From: Brian Todd [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: "'Mike Brown'" [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: RE: New Perl Journal Date: Wed, 31 Jan 2001 09:32:42 -0700 As of Dec 26 2000, EarthWeb has announced a strategic reorganization of its businesses. Essentially, EarthWeb will focus on Career Solutions, and will shed its content business. At this moment, the status for ITKnowledge and The Perl Journal is unclear so all new orders and current customer payment processes are on hold. We will however, keep your information and in the event that the product is sold, we will pass your information on to the new owners. We sincerely apologize for any inconvenience. Brian Todd Customer Support Team Lead EarthWeb Knowledge Products [EMAIL PROTECTED] -Original Message- From: Mike Brown [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] Sent: Wednesday, January 31, 2001 6:55 AM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: New Perl Journal Hello, I was expecting a new issue of the Perl Journal to be released about now, but none of the shops that I normally buy it from have copies and your web site is still giving details of the old issue. Can you tell me when the new issue will be out. Thanks, Mike. - End forwarded message - -- http://www.dave.org.uk | [EMAIL PROTECTED] | [EMAIL PROTECTED] plugData Munging with Perl http://www.manning.com/cross//plug
Re: Perl Books
Elaine -HFB- Ashton writes: On the plus side, Addison-Wesley has a new CGI Perl book coming out in early February that should be a major improvement in this particular genre. Hey, if she's allowed to plug, so am I :-) The 2nd edition of "CGI Programming with Perl" (O'Reilly of course) is pretty bloody good. I was midway through writing a CGI class when I got a tech-review copy of the book, and it was what I was going to teach and then some more. I like that :-) Nat
Re: Perl Books
On Wed, 31 Jan 2001, Elaine -HFB- Ashton wrote: Robin Szemeti [[EMAIL PROTECTED]] quoth: * *no one ever said the buying public were intelligent ... Well, people rise to meet expectations too. There is precious little in the way of good CGI books with a practical slant to them out there so out of the lot of them, this is probably one of the best. The same principle applies to Matt's famous archive...lots of people bitching and not much else. Hasnt the Castro book been around almost as long as Matt's Accursed Archive(tm) ? I think the thing about the both of them is that they both fill a particular niche that nobody higher up the food chain can particularly be both bothered to compete for. It's all just so, well, '96 really :) I still think we should get Larry King to promote the Lincoln Stein vs Matt Wright prize fight. /J\ -- Jonathan Stowe | http://www.gellyfish.com | I'm with Grep on this one http://www.tackleway.co.uk |
Re: Perl Books
On Wed, Jan 31, 2001 at 07:41:54PM +, Jonathan Stowe ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) wrote: On Wed, 31 Jan 2001, Elaine -HFB- Ashton wrote: Robin Szemeti [[EMAIL PROTECTED]] quoth: * *no one ever said the buying public were intelligent ... Well, people rise to meet expectations too. There is precious little in the way of good CGI books with a practical slant to them out there so out of the lot of them, this is probably one of the best. The same principle applies to Matt's famous archive...lots of people bitching and not much else. Hasnt the Castro book been around almost as long as Matt's Accursed Archive(tm) ? I think the thing about the both of them is that they both fill a particular niche that nobody higher up the food chain can particularly be both bothered to compete for. It's all just so, well, '96 really :) I wrote a very scathing review of Castro's book on amazon.com yesterday. In case it doesn't get published, here's the gist: For a technical book to be worth buying it needs to succeed on two fronts. It needs to have accurate and useful information and it also needs to get that information across in a manner that is understandable to its target audience. Castro's book obviously succeeds on the second front. Most of her readers go away thinking they can write CGI scripts. This is why she gets such good reader reviews. The problem with the book is that she fails on the first count. Her Perl is appalling, but because her audience are beginners they aren't qualified to cooment on this very important part of the book. Dave... -- http://www.dave.org.uk | [EMAIL PROTECTED] | [EMAIL PROTECTED] plugData Munging with Perl http://www.manning.com/cross//plug
Re: Bad Perl
"Elaine" == Elaine -HFB- Ashton [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: Elaine And speaking of bad books, who is this Martin Brown guy who has Elaine a new book every month these days, certainly he must have a Elaine ghostwriter. AFAIK he writes 'em all himself, forgoing sleep and suchlike. Jon
Re: Perl Books
On Wed, 31 Jan 2001, you wrote: Robin Szemeti [[EMAIL PROTECTED]] quoth: * *no one ever said the buying public were intelligent ... Well, people rise to meet expectations too. There is precious little in the way of good CGI books with a practical slant to them out there so out of the lot of them, this is probably one of the best. The same principle applies to Matt's famous archive...lots of people bitching and not much else. err .. nope. people take the easiest route possible, people rarely rise to my expectations .. but there are exceptions. *in fact it has been said (by some famoose newspaper tycoon ISTR) that no *one ever lost money by underestimating the intelligence of their *readership. That would have been Mr. Hearst whose empire is but a mere shadow of what it once was. If you treat people like idiots, that's all you get are idiots. his personal empire may have crumbled but there are many more who are making plenty of $$ (and pounds) by catering to a buying public whose major feature is stupidity. trust me, we have a major genre of newspaper here in the UK that caters to a readership that sees earthworms as a superior being. i think we get a slanted view on what a 'normal level of intelligence' is, because in general, we work with exceptional people. I spent the last 14 years working for the BBC, I thought I worked with some good people, and some clueballs. Then I did jury service. 12 'good men (or women) and true' ... a random sample of the great unwashed. I doubt any of them would have known a reasoned argument if one ran up to them in the street and bit them. About then I reallised that I worked with a small slice of the top of the pile (except journalists, who are pond life) and really I should begin to worry about the future of the planet. Maybe I'm elitist, maybe I have a overly inflated view of my own (and indeed all of our) position in the food chain, but somehow I don't think I'm wrong on this one. On the plus side, Addison-Wesley has a new CGI Perl book coming out in early February that should be a major improvement in this particular genre. goodo ... time to buy a bigger bookcase. :) -- Robin Szemeti The box said "requires windows 95 or better" So I installed Linux!
Re: Perl Books
Nathan Torkington [[EMAIL PROTECTED]] quoth: * Also L Steins Network Programming with Perl is a good book. I'm only a * chunk into it buts its a good read on its own and an even better one * if your not from a Unix background. * *Yup, it's a bloody impressive book. And it's an Addison-Wesley book :) e.
Re: Perl Books
Robin Szemeti [[EMAIL PROTECTED]] quoth: * *i think we get a slanted view on what a 'normal level of intelligence' *is, because in general, we work with exceptional people. I spent the last I know at least 2 nobel laureates who wouldn't know jack about CGI or about selecting which book might be a better buy. Hell, I installed Microsoft BOB for one of them way back when the GUI of windows vs. the beauty of TeX was a bit much. Something new is a challenge, even if you are a rocket scientist. It's not a matter of pandering to the stupid, it's a matter of presenting the information in a format that is easy to read and understand without treating the reader to sanskrit. Of course, even the brilliant are often stupid especially when it comes to applied v. theory. The great unwashed masses of CGI are probably not the brightest bulbs, but I don't think it's so much an esoteric subject to justify such a dearth in good documentation for them. e.
Re: Perl Books
Nathan Torkington [[EMAIL PROTECTED]] quoth: * *Hey, if she's allowed to plug, so am I :-) The 2nd edition of "CGI *Programming with Perl" (O'Reilly of course) is pretty bloody good. I *was midway through writing a CGI class when I got a tech-review copy *of the book, and it was what I was going to teach and then some more. *I like that :-) Well, anything would be an improvement over the 1st edition :D e.
Re: Perl Books
On Wed, Jan 31, 2001 at 09:05:25PM +, Dave Cross ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) wrote: [Liz Castro's appalling Perl/CGI book] I wrote a very scathing review of Castro's book on amazon.com yesterday. In case it doesn't get published, here's the gist: For a technical book to be worth buying it needs to succeed on two fronts. It needs to have accurate and useful information and it also needs to get that information across in a manner that is understandable to its target audience. Castro's book obviously succeeds on the second front. Most of her readers go away thinking they can write CGI scripts. This is why she gets such good reader reviews. The problem with the book is that she fails on the first count. Her Perl is appalling, but because her audience are beginners they aren't qualified to cooment on this very important part of the book. Interestingly, I've received an email from Ms Castro in response to my Amazon review (which was published last night). She's not particularly happy about it. I won't forward her private correspondance to the list, but I may well have a copy with me this evening. Dave... -- http://www.dave.org.uk | [EMAIL PROTECTED] | [EMAIL PROTECTED] plugData Munging with Perl http://www.manning.com/cross//plug
