Re: TDPL is an Amazon Kindle bestseller

2011-06-19 Thread Walter Bright

On 6/18/2011 5:36 PM, Andrei Alexandrescu wrote:

I'm very happy to announce that TDPL has entered the Amazon Kindle bestsellers
list for Computer Programming, starting at position 94:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/bestsellers/digital-text/156140011/ref=pd_zg_hrsr_kinc_1_5_last


Congrats!


Re: TDPL is an Amazon Kindle bestseller

2011-06-19 Thread Jonathan M Davis
On 2011-06-18 17:36, Andrei Alexandrescu wrote:
 I'm very happy to announce that TDPL has entered the Amazon Kindle
 bestsellers list for Computer Programming, starting at position 94:
 http://www.amazon.com/gp/bestsellers/digital-text/156140011/ref=pd_zg_hrsr_
 kinc_1_5_last
 
Well, I'm still not buying a Kindle. Death to e-books! ;)

Definitely good news. Now if we could only finish getting the issues where the 
compiler is behind TDPL fixed...

- Jonathan M Davis


Re: TDPL is an Amazon Kindle bestseller

2011-06-19 Thread Walter Bright

On 6/19/2011 12:29 PM, Jonathan M Davis wrote:

Well, I'm still not buying a Kindle. Death to e-books! ;)


I just bought a Kindle and I'm running my unread paperbacks through the scanner 
and then trashing them!


Re: TDPL is an Amazon Kindle bestseller

2011-06-19 Thread Jonathan M Davis
On 2011-06-19 13:26, Walter Bright wrote:
 On 6/19/2011 12:29 PM, Jonathan M Davis wrote:
  Well, I'm still not buying a Kindle. Death to e-books! ;)
 
 I just bought a Kindle and I'm running my unread paperbacks through the
 scanner and then trashing them!

I _much_ prefer reading actual, solid, paper books. I don't particularly like 
reading books in electronic form at all. It works well for documentation and 
searchability, but beyond that, I don't see it as an advantage at all. And in 
those cases, I'd be reading them on the computer, not an e-book reader. And of 
course, then there's the issue of DRM and all that

So, I don't own an e-book reader and I hope that e-books never become so 
prominent that I'm forced to.

- Jonathan M Davis


I'll give a talk at Strange Loop 2011

2011-06-19 Thread Andrei Alexandrescu

Generic Programming Galore using D. Hope to see you there!

http://erdani.com/index.php/news/andrei-will-talk-at-the-strange-loop-conference-2011/


Andrei


Re: TDPL is an Amazon Kindle bestseller

2011-06-19 Thread Walter Bright

On 6/19/2011 2:18 PM, Jonathan M Davis wrote:

On 2011-06-19 13:26, Walter Bright wrote:

I just bought a Kindle and I'm running my unread paperbacks through the
scanner and then trashing them!


I _much_ prefer reading actual, solid, paper books. I don't particularly like
reading books in electronic form at all. It works well for documentation and
searchability, but beyond that, I don't see it as an advantage at all. And in
those cases, I'd be reading them on the computer, not an e-book reader. And of
course, then there's the issue of DRM and all that

So, I don't own an e-book reader and I hope that e-books never become so
prominent that I'm forced to.



Your last sentence is interesting. I've read many accounts by people who had 
such a sentiment, and then skeptically thought they'd give an ebook a fair try. 
After a year, they completely changed their minds.


Anyhow, I hear you.

I've been buying books my whole life. I have shelves creaking with them, boxes 
of books in the basement, etc. They've simply become a burden. I'd simply like 
to get all my information properties - pictures, books, papers, music, movies, 
letters, documents - onto a disk. They'll be always there, sorted, categorized, 
instantly available, weighing nothing, and taking up no space.


The advent of enormous and cheap disks has finally made this practical.

The migration of my books to the computer has awaited an easy way to read them. 
The Kindle has finally solved that problem, at least for paperbacks. It doesn't 
work well for larger books (I presume the Kindle DX will, but I think I'd prefer 
an ipad for large format books.)


I'm scanning my paperbacks to PDFs, and the Kindle will display them one page 
image at a time. DRM is not an issue for that. After a bit of a learning curve, 
I've got it where it doesn't take much time at all to whack off the binding and 
run a paperback through my sheet fed scanner.


The one thing I'm not ripping are movies. Netflix has changed everything for me. 
With so much available to watch, I don't care to rewatch any old movies. There's 
no reason to buy, own, archive, or collect a DVD anymore.


Re: TDPL is an Amazon Kindle bestseller

2011-06-19 Thread Jonathan M Davis
On 2011-06-19 20:43, Ary Manzana wrote:
 On 6/20/11 4:18 AM, Jonathan M Davis wrote:
  On 2011-06-19 13:26, Walter Bright wrote:
  On 6/19/2011 12:29 PM, Jonathan M Davis wrote:
  Well, I'm still not buying a Kindle. Death to e-books! ;)
  
  I just bought a Kindle and I'm running my unread paperbacks through the
  scanner and then trashing them!
  
  I _much_ prefer reading actual, solid, paper books. I don't particularly
  like reading books in electronic form at all. It works well for
  documentation and searchability, but beyond that, I don't see it as an
  advantage at all. And in those cases, I'd be reading them on the
  computer, not an e-book reader. And of course, then there's the issue of
  DRM and all that
  
  So, I don't own an e-book reader and I hope that e-books never become so
  prominent that I'm forced to.
  
  - Jonathan M Davis
 
 Say that to the trees :-)

Honestly, I don't care. As long as people are smart about logging, trees are a 
completely renewable resource. But I don't want to turn this into an 
environment debate.

I don't like reading off screens - especially small screens. I much prefer 
actual books. And I have no problem with other people wanting e-books just so 
long as it doesn't result in my not being to get physical books anymore. I'm 
just afraid that the general trend will lead to physical books dying out, 
which I would consider to be horrible for reading - especially for novels.

- Jonathan M Davis


Re: TDPL is an Amazon Kindle bestseller

2011-06-19 Thread Andrej Mitrovic
They won't die out. They'll just become rarer. Just like vinyl (and
you can still buy vinyl!).


Re: TDPL is an Amazon Kindle bestseller

2011-06-19 Thread Charles Hixson
Considering that Amazon has the proven capability of removing a book 
from your Kindle after you've bought it, I don't expect that I'll EVER 
decide to invest in a Kindle.  Some other e-book reader is a 
possibility.  The Nook has certain interesting features, and there's one 
that would be a good choice if it weren't twice as expensive as the 
competition.


But until I feel safe investing in an e-book reader, I don't expect to 
buy one.  (And invest is the term.  It's not so much the cost of the 
reader, as the cost of the things read...that can't easily and reliably 
be either read or transferred to another reader.)


On 06/19/2011 06:57 PM, Walter Bright wrote:

On 6/19/2011 2:18 PM, Jonathan M Davis wrote:

On 2011-06-19 13:26, Walter Bright wrote:

I just bought a Kindle and I'm running my unread paperbacks through the
scanner and then trashing them!


I _much_ prefer reading actual, solid, paper books. I don't
particularly like
reading books in electronic form at all. It works well for
documentation and
searchability, but beyond that, I don't see it as an advantage at all.
And in
those cases, I'd be reading them on the computer, not an e-book
reader. And of
course, then there's the issue of DRM and all that

So, I don't own an e-book reader and I hope that e-books never become so
prominent that I'm forced to.



Your last sentence is interesting. I've read many accounts by people who
had such a sentiment, and then skeptically thought they'd give an ebook
a fair try. After a year, they completely changed their minds.

Anyhow, I hear you.

I've been buying books my whole life. I have shelves creaking with them,
boxes of books in the basement, etc. They've simply become a burden. I'd
simply like to get all my information properties - pictures, books,
papers, music, movies, letters, documents - onto a disk. They'll be
always there, sorted, categorized, instantly available, weighing
nothing, and taking up no space.

The advent of enormous and cheap disks has finally made this practical.

The migration of my books to the computer has awaited an easy way to
read them. The Kindle has finally solved that problem, at least for
paperbacks. It doesn't work well for larger books (I presume the Kindle
DX will, but I think I'd prefer an ipad for large format books.)

I'm scanning my paperbacks to PDFs, and the Kindle will display them one
page image at a time. DRM is not an issue for that. After a bit of a
learning curve, I've got it where it doesn't take much time at all to
whack off the binding and run a paperback through my sheet fed scanner.

The one thing I'm not ripping are movies. Netflix has changed everything
for me. With so much available to watch, I don't care to rewatch any old
movies. There's no reason to buy, own, archive, or collect a DVD anymore.