Re: Absolute FreeBSD

2007-12-14 Thread Aryeh M. Friedman
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 Although I haven't looked much into any FreeBSD book, I wouldn't be
  surprised at all if FreeBSD's documentation combined with
 freebsd-questions would outweigh it.


By definition they would since the amount of collective knowledge is
always greater then the knowledge of a indivual
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RE: Absolute FreeBSD

2007-12-14 Thread Ted Mittelstaedt


 -Original Message-
 From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
 [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Behalf Of Joshua Isom
 Sent: Thursday, December 13, 2007 11:46 PM
 To: Chad Perrin
 Cc: FreeBSD Mailing List
 Subject: Re: Absolute FreeBSD



 On Dec 14, 2007, at 1:12 AM, Chad Perrin wrote:
  For the record . . . title changes for new editions like that annoy me.
  It can make it pretty difficult at times trying to determine whether or
  not I'm about to buy a duplicate.  The switch from Learning Perl
  Objects,
  References, and Modules to Intermediate Perl was another example of
  that
  sort of annoyance.
 

 Perhaps you should look in /usr/local/lib/perl5/5.8.8/pod, which from
 my experience, has been better than any book I've ever seen for perl.
 Try running `perldoc perlintro` and `perldoc perllol`.  With exceptions
 such as old standard languages, most free documentation that comes
 with the interpreter/compiler tends to be better than any book.  A
 print out of perl's documentation would be far more valuable than
 almost any perl book on the market.

 Although I haven't looked much into any FreeBSD book, I wouldn't be
 surprised at all if FreeBSD's documentation combined with
 freebsd-questions would outweigh it.


It's not the raw knowledge that is the power.  It's the presentation.
Newbies cannot digest the FreeBSD docs since the docs assume the
user isn't a newbie.

Ted
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Re: Absolute FreeBSD

2007-12-14 Thread cpghost
On Fri, 14 Dec 2007 00:48:19 -0800
Ted Mittelstaedt [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:

  [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Behalf Of Joshua Isom
  Although I haven't looked much into any FreeBSD book, I wouldn't be
  surprised at all if FreeBSD's documentation combined with
  freebsd-questions would outweigh it.
 
 It's not the raw knowledge that is the power.  It's the presentation.
 Newbies cannot digest the FreeBSD docs since the docs assume the
 user isn't a newbie.

Right! One can't emphasize this enough.

IMHO, computer books should be time savers, i.e. a guide highlighting
the most important aspects of some topic in a unique way. Authors of
such books shouldn't be afraid to tell readers to go RTFM after
presenting an overview... unless it's a very narrowly focused book.

A good tutorial beats a 350 pages book anytime; and a 350 pages
book with the right mix of selected topics beats an 800+ pages
reference-style all-rounder book as well, most of the time.

-cpghost.

-- 
Cordula's Web. http://www.cordula.ws/
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Re: Absolute FreeBSD

2007-12-14 Thread Sam I Am

cpghost wrote:

On Fri, 14 Dec 2007 00:48:19 -0800
Ted Mittelstaedt [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:

  

[mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Behalf Of Joshua Isom
Although I haven't looked much into any FreeBSD book, I wouldn't be
surprised at all if FreeBSD's documentation combined with
freebsd-questions would outweigh it.
  

It's not the raw knowledge that is the power.  It's the presentation.
Newbies cannot digest the FreeBSD docs since the docs assume the
user isn't a newbie.



Right! One can't emphasize this enough.

IMHO, computer books should be time savers, i.e. a guide highlighting
the most important aspects of some topic in a unique way. Authors of
such books shouldn't be afraid to tell readers to go RTFM after
presenting an overview... unless it's a very narrowly focused book.

A good tutorial beats a 350 pages book anytime; and a 350 pages
book with the right mix of selected topics beats an 800+ pages
reference-style all-rounder book as well, most of the time.

-cpghost.
  


The book announcement says that the book is completely revised.

(http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/9781593271510/#top)

I am interested if this book covers mostly FreeBSD 6 or 7.  I also would 
like to see the table of contents online.

Maybe, I will just have to go to Borders or some place like that.



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Re: Absolute FreeBSD

2007-12-14 Thread Barnaby Scott

cpghost wrote:

On Fri, 14 Dec 2007 00:48:19 -0800
Ted Mittelstaedt [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:


[mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Behalf Of Joshua Isom
Although I haven't looked much into any FreeBSD book, I wouldn't be
surprised at all if FreeBSD's documentation combined with
freebsd-questions would outweigh it.

It's not the raw knowledge that is the power.  It's the presentation.
Newbies cannot digest the FreeBSD docs since the docs assume the
user isn't a newbie.


Right! One can't emphasize this enough.

IMHO, computer books should be time savers, i.e. a guide highlighting
the most important aspects of some topic in a unique way. Authors of
such books shouldn't be afraid to tell readers to go RTFM after
presenting an overview... unless it's a very narrowly focused book.

A good tutorial beats a 350 pages book anytime; and a 350 pages
book with the right mix of selected topics beats an 800+ pages
reference-style all-rounder book as well, most of the time.

-cpghost.

I wasn't going to reply to this thread because I cannot answer the 
specific question - i.e. is this book worth it for someone who has read 
the first one - because I haven't read the first one. However, since 
no-one who has read the new one seems to have given an opinion of the 
book, I can at least do that.


I have just finished it and I would say it does exactly what what Ted 
and cpghost suggests it should - there are plenty of sections where the 
author introduces what can be done with a particular tool or part of the 
OS, and suggests to the reader to investigate further options in the 
approriate manuals. It also quite openly acknowledges that there is 
plenty that is not covered at all.


As someone with very limited experience (I'm not sure if I still 
classify as a *complete* newbie) I found the book an excellent and even 
entertaining read, which serves it purpose extremely well: to give an 
overview and introduction, but with enough detail in relevant places to 
be able to get real, useful stuff done.


The detail is important because it provides enough 'immersion' in actual 
 configurations, commands, protocols etc to begin to see patterns 
emerging, and to start to develop an instinct for how something you 
haven't seen yet is likely to hang together. However the overview aspect 
is also vital - I have always found it much easier to unearth detailed 
how-tos than to know which direction to go in in the first place! I 
would say he had the balance just about right.


It is aimed pretty squarely at budding sysadmins, not desktop users (X 
is hardly even mentioned), but managed to be far from stodgy. As for the 
version covered, there are a few bits that explicitly mention version 7, 
but everything else seemed totally relevant to me on 6.2.


Barnaby Scott
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Re: Absolute FreeBSD

2007-12-14 Thread Wojciech Puchar

isn't /usr/share/doc good?


On Thu, 13 Dec 2007, Michael S wrote:


Good evening all,

I was wondering if anyone bought M. Lucas' new FreeBSD
book. How would you rate it?
I already have the first edition, is it worth the
money buying the second one?

Thanks in advance,
Michael

Michael Sherman
http://msherman77.blogspot.com/
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Re: Absolute FreeBSD

2007-12-14 Thread Michael S
Here's the toc:
http://www.tinker.tv/download/afreebsd2_toc.pdf

--- Sam I Am [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:

 cpghost wrote:
  On Fri, 14 Dec 2007 00:48:19 -0800
  Ted Mittelstaedt [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
 

  [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
 Behalf Of Joshua Isom
  Although I haven't looked much into any FreeBSD
 book, I wouldn't be
  surprised at all if FreeBSD's documentation
 combined with
  freebsd-questions would outweigh it.

  It's not the raw knowledge that is the power. 
 It's the presentation.
  Newbies cannot digest the FreeBSD docs since the
 docs assume the
  user isn't a newbie.
  
 
  Right! One can't emphasize this enough.
 
  IMHO, computer books should be time savers, i.e. a
 guide highlighting
  the most important aspects of some topic in a
 unique way. Authors of
  such books shouldn't be afraid to tell readers to
 go RTFM after
  presenting an overview... unless it's a very
 narrowly focused book.
 
  A good tutorial beats a 350 pages book anytime;
 and a 350 pages
  book with the right mix of selected topics beats
 an 800+ pages
  reference-style all-rounder book as well, most
 of the time.
 
  -cpghost.

 
 The book announcement says that the book is
 completely revised.
 
 (http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/9781593271510/#top)
 
 I am interested if this book covers mostly FreeBSD 6
 or 7.  I also would 
 like to see the table of contents online.
 Maybe, I will just have to go to Borders or some
 place like that.
 
 
 
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Michael Sherman
http://msherman77.blogspot.com/
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RE: Absolute FreeBSD

2007-12-14 Thread Michael S
The authors never fail to mention that their book is
useful to new and experienced users alike. :)

It does have some new topics in there.

http://www.tinker.tv/download/afreebsd2_toc.pdf

But I think I will hold off the purchase, at least for
some time.

Thanks for your reply.
Michael



--- Ted Mittelstaedt [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:

 
 
  -Original Message-
  From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
  [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
 Behalf Of Michael S
  Sent: Thursday, December 13, 2007 6:40 PM
  To: FreeBSD Mailing List
  Subject: Absolute FreeBSD
 
 
  Good evening all,
 
  I was wondering if anyone bought M. Lucas' new
 FreeBSD
  book. How would you rate it?
  I already have the first edition, is it worth the
  money buying the second one?
 
 If you bought and grokked the first book and have
 been using
 FreeBSD ever since, do you really need a book of any
 kind at
 this point?  Don't you have enough experience under
 your
 belt to get by without a book?
 
 The operating system books - be it FreeBSD, Linux or
 Windows,
 serve an important function of helping people go
 from zero to
 60 in getting up and going with their operating
 system of
 choice.  But eventually you are going to outgrow
 them.  There
 are always lots more people at 0 so the authors of
 these
 books will never starve, but you need to eventually
 strike
 out on your own.
 
 Ted Mittelstaedt
 Author:  The FreeBSD Corporate Networker's Guide
 published 2000, Addison-Wesley
 No virus found in this outgoing message.
 Checked by AVG Free Edition.
 Version: 7.5.503 / Virus Database: 269.17.1/1183 -
 Release Date: 12/13/2007
 9:15 AM
 
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http://msherman77.blogspot.com/
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Re: Absolute FreeBSD

2007-12-14 Thread Chad Perrin
On Fri, Dec 14, 2007 at 01:46:17AM -0600, Joshua Isom wrote:
 
 On Dec 14, 2007, at 1:12 AM, Chad Perrin wrote:
 For the record . . . title changes for new editions like that annoy me.
 It can make it pretty difficult at times trying to determine whether or
 not I'm about to buy a duplicate.  The switch from Learning Perl 
 Objects,
 References, and Modules to Intermediate Perl was another example of 
 that
 sort of annoyance.
 
 
 Perhaps you should look in /usr/local/lib/perl5/5.8.8/pod, which from 
 my experience, has been better than any book I've ever seen for perl.  
 Try running `perldoc perlintro` and `perldoc perllol`.  With exceptions 
 such as old standard languages, most free documentation that comes 
 with the interpreter/compiler tends to be better than any book.  A 
 print out of perl's documentation would be far more valuable than 
 almost any perl book on the market.

I use the hell out of perldoc.  There was a time when I wanted to read
the latest edition of PORM, aka Intermediate Perl, though, in part
because of the presentation of information (and not just the information
itself).  I also find it a lot easier to read huge chunks of technical
text in dead tree format than on-screen, and easier to read bound books
than printed pages (to say nothing of the cost of replacing toner and
drum in my laser printer if I use it all up printing out perldoc pages).


 
 Although I haven't looked much into any FreeBSD book, I wouldn't be 
 surprised at all if FreeBSD's documentation combined with 
 freebsd-questions would outweigh it.

Yes and no.  For some purposes, it's easier to find what I need with
something like The Complete FreeBSD than freebsd-questions.  For others,
freebsd-questions makes it easier.  I'm not a One True Answer kind of
guy when it comes to different means of researching -- I prefer to use
the method best suited to what I need at a given moment.

-- 
CCD CopyWrite Chad Perrin [ http://ccd.apotheon.org ]
Baltasar Gracian: A wise man gets more from his enemies than a fool from
his friends.
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Re: Absolute FreeBSD

2007-12-14 Thread Chad Perrin
On Fri, Dec 14, 2007 at 07:01:20AM -0500, Sam I Am wrote:
 
 The book announcement says that the book is completely revised.
 
 (http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/9781593271510/#top)
 
 I am interested if this book covers mostly FreeBSD 6 or 7.  I also would 
 like to see the table of contents online.
 Maybe, I will just have to go to Borders or some place like that.

Assuming we're still talking about Absolute FreeBSD . . .

A review I found on Amazon indicates that it covers version 6, as well as
some information about the upcoming version 7 (since 7 isn't in stable
release yet).

-- 
CCD CopyWrite Chad Perrin [ http://ccd.apotheon.org ]
John Kenneth Galbraith: If all else fails, immortality can always be
assured through spectacular error.
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Re: Absolute FreeBSD

2007-12-14 Thread Chris
On Fri, 14 Dec 2007 13:26:19 -0700
Chad Perrin [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:

 On Fri, Dec 14, 2007 at 07:01:20AM -0500, Sam I Am wrote:
  
  The book announcement says that the book is completely revised.
  
  (http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/9781593271510/#top)
  
  I am interested if this book covers mostly FreeBSD 6 or 7.  I also
  would like to see the table of contents online.
  Maybe, I will just have to go to Borders or some place like that.
 
 Assuming we're still talking about Absolute FreeBSD . . .
 
 A review I found on Amazon indicates that it covers version 6, as
 well as some information about the upcoming version 7 (since 7 isn't
 in stable release yet).
 

I'm nearly done with this book - to me, I like reading many sources. As
we all have found out, there are many ways to do one thing. 

This is what I feel is a benefit to having/reading variations to a
similar topic. Additionally, I always find new things out that I didn't
know before I started reading something on the same subject-matter.

Of course even when the subject-matter covers the things I knew
already, it's still a nice feeling of confirmation.

Just my inflation-version of two cents.

-- 
Best regards,
Chris

Do not open shrink-wrap until you have read and agreed to the conditions
contained within.
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RE: Absolute FreeBSD

2007-12-14 Thread Ted Mittelstaedt


 -Original Message-
 From: Barnaby Scott [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
 Sent: Friday, December 14, 2007 7:22 AM
 To: cpghost
 Cc: Ted Mittelstaedt; FreeBSD Mailing List
 Subject: Re: Absolute FreeBSD


 It is aimed pretty squarely at budding sysadmins, not desktop users (X
 is hardly even mentioned),

We have many FreeBSD servers at my job that do many different things
for people.  Only 1 of them requires X in any form at all - and all it
uses are the X libraries to do some graphics processing.  It does not
run a window manager.  You can get a huge amount of useful work done
on FreeBD without having anything to do with X.

Ted
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Re: Absolute FreeBSD

2007-12-14 Thread Barnaby Scott

Ted Mittelstaedt wrote:



-Original Message-
From: Barnaby Scott [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Sent: Friday, December 14, 2007 7:22 AM
To: cpghost
Cc: Ted Mittelstaedt; FreeBSD Mailing List
Subject: Re: Absolute FreeBSD


It is aimed pretty squarely at budding sysadmins, not desktop users (X
is hardly even mentioned),


We have many FreeBSD servers at my job that do many different things
for people.  Only 1 of them requires X in any form at all - and all it
uses are the X libraries to do some graphics processing.  It does not
run a window manager.  You can get a huge amount of useful work done
on FreeBD without having anything to do with X.

Ted


It wasn't a criticism - I just wanted to point out the sort of audience 
the book speaks to: people who run servers - who, as you say, have 
little or no need for X. I wanted to learn exactly the sort of stuff the 
book focused on, and loved it.


Barnaby
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re Absolute FreeBSD

2007-12-14 Thread jekillen

Hi:
I have the book and am reading it. It suits me, in that docs and
man pages can be intimidating and hard to translate into some
thing useful (for me). The one thing about books like this is
that there are a lot more in the way of theory and tutorial
practice. I could not expect anyone to give me specific
instruction on the situations I encounter and have to engineer
my way through, but analogous tutorial, or at least vaguely
comparable descriptions can prime the inductive and deductive
logic process. I work alone, as a hobbyist and spend a god awful
lot on fat paperbacks. The investment is worth it to me. And
the Lucas books hit the spot. I am reading about NanoBSD.
That is the first time I heard of it.  I started with FreeBSD 6.0
and the books up to that point, including the first Absolute
BSD only covered 5x, so I am anxious to get up to current
status. True, as some of the responses to this subject have
said, at some point you  would or should grow beyond needing
to have books at hand. But with webmastering, hostmastering,
learning shells, postmastering, general system admin, programming,
 there is A LOT  of ground to cover. To cover it all fast enough and
be good enough not to need a book occasionally, I think is a little in
the realm of delusion.
My two cents

Jeff K

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Re: Absolute FreeBSD

2007-12-14 Thread Giorgos Keramidas
On 2007-12-14 15:22, Barnaby Scott [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
 I have just finished it and I would say it does exactly what what Ted
 and cpghost suggests it should - there are plenty of sections where
 the author introduces what can be done with a particular tool or part
 of the OS, and suggests to the reader to investigate further options
 in the approriate manuals. It also quite openly acknowledges that
 there is plenty that is not covered at all.
 
 As someone with very limited experience (I'm not sure if I still
 classify as a *complete* newbie) I found the book an excellent and
 even entertaining read, which serves it purpose extremely well: to
 give an overview and introduction, but with enough detail in relevant
 places to be able to get real, useful stuff done.

Michael has a writing style which I like a lot, but I haven't had a
chance to read the second version yet.

I've read the first version cover to back, however, and it was written
in a very entertaining, elegant style.  Judging from my experience with
the first edition, I expect nothing less than what you just described :)

- Giorgos

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RE: re Absolute FreeBSD

2007-12-14 Thread Ted Mittelstaedt


 -Original Message-
 From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
 [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Behalf Of jekillen
 Sent: Friday, December 14, 2007 4:33 PM
 To: FreeBSD Mailing List
 Subject: re Absolute FreeBSD


 Hi:
 I have the book and am reading it. It suits me, in that docs and
 man pages can be intimidating and hard to translate into some
 thing useful (for me). The one thing about books like this is
 that there are a lot more in the way of theory and tutorial
 practice. I could not expect anyone to give me specific
 instruction on the situations I encounter and have to engineer
 my way through, but analogous tutorial, or at least vaguely
 comparable descriptions can prime the inductive and deductive
 logic process. I work alone, as a hobbyist and spend a god awful
 lot on fat paperbacks. The investment is worth it to me. And
 the Lucas books hit the spot. I am reading about NanoBSD.
 That is the first time I heard of it.  I started with FreeBSD 6.0
 and the books up to that point, including the first Absolute
 BSD only covered 5x, so I am anxious to get up to current
 status. True, as some of the responses to this subject have
 said, at some point you  would or should grow beyond needing
 to have books at hand. But with webmastering, hostmastering,
 learning shells, postmastering, general system admin, programming,
   there is A LOT  of ground to cover. To cover it all fast enough and
 be good enough not to need a book occasionally, I think is a little in
 the realm of delusion.

Your always going to need a book - the difference is that as you
get more and more experienced, the books you need end up being
the man pages, info documents, other documentation the developer
sees fit to write, postings on mailing lists and newsgroups,
articles, and of course, the source itself.

Ted
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Re: Absolute FreeBSD

2007-12-14 Thread David J Brooks
On Thursday 13 December 2007 11:36:35 pm Ted Mittelstaedt wrote:
 If you bought and grokked the first book and have been using
 FreeBSD ever since, do you really need a book of any kind at
 this point?  Don't you have enough experience under your
 belt to get by without a book?

 The operating system books - be it FreeBSD, Linux or Windows,
 serve an important function of helping people go from zero to
 60 in getting up and going with their operating system of
 choice.  But eventually you are going to outgrow them.  There
 are always lots more people at 0 so the authors of these
 books will never starve, but you need to eventually strike
 out on your own.

Well, to an extent, yes. My copy of The FreeBSD Corporate Networker's Guide 
came with discs for FreeBSD 4.2. I read it cover to cover at the time and 
found it very helpful. But now, even when it is largely obsolete, I still 
find myself referencing it from time to time. Though I'll admit, it resides 
on a shelf in the smallest room in the house, where it primarily serves as 
impromptu light reading material. ;)

David
-- 
This message has been foretold by Nostradamus.
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RE: Absolute FreeBSD

2007-12-13 Thread Ted Mittelstaedt


 -Original Message-
 From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
 [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Behalf Of Michael S
 Sent: Thursday, December 13, 2007 6:40 PM
 To: FreeBSD Mailing List
 Subject: Absolute FreeBSD


 Good evening all,

 I was wondering if anyone bought M. Lucas' new FreeBSD
 book. How would you rate it?
 I already have the first edition, is it worth the
 money buying the second one?

If you bought and grokked the first book and have been using
FreeBSD ever since, do you really need a book of any kind at
this point?  Don't you have enough experience under your
belt to get by without a book?

The operating system books - be it FreeBSD, Linux or Windows,
serve an important function of helping people go from zero to
60 in getting up and going with their operating system of
choice.  But eventually you are going to outgrow them.  There
are always lots more people at 0 so the authors of these
books will never starve, but you need to eventually strike
out on your own.

Ted Mittelstaedt
Author:  The FreeBSD Corporate Networker's Guide
published 2000, Addison-Wesley
No virus found in this outgoing message.
Checked by AVG Free Edition.
Version: 7.5.503 / Virus Database: 269.17.1/1183 - Release Date: 12/13/2007
9:15 AM

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Re: Absolute FreeBSD

2007-12-13 Thread Chad Perrin
On Thu, Dec 13, 2007 at 09:40:23PM -0500, Michael S wrote:
 Good evening all,
 
 I was wondering if anyone bought M. Lucas' new FreeBSD
 book. How would you rate it?
 I already have the first edition, is it worth the
 money buying the second one?

Is the first edition Lucas' Absolute BSD, or was it also titled
Absolute FreeBSD?  From what I've seen on Amazon, it looks like
Absolute FreeBSD is a follow-up to Absolute BSD.

For the record . . . title changes for new editions like that annoy me.
It can make it pretty difficult at times trying to determine whether or
not I'm about to buy a duplicate.  The switch from Learning Perl Objects,
References, and Modules to Intermediate Perl was another example of that
sort of annoyance.

-- 
CCD CopyWrite Chad Perrin [ http://ccd.apotheon.org ]
Sen. Dick Durbin, D-IL, to an RIAA executive: Are you headed to junior
high schools to round up the usual suspects?
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Re: Absolute FreeBSD

2007-12-13 Thread Joshua Isom


On Dec 14, 2007, at 1:12 AM, Chad Perrin wrote:

For the record . . . title changes for new editions like that annoy me.
It can make it pretty difficult at times trying to determine whether or
not I'm about to buy a duplicate.  The switch from Learning Perl 
Objects,
References, and Modules to Intermediate Perl was another example of 
that

sort of annoyance.



Perhaps you should look in /usr/local/lib/perl5/5.8.8/pod, which from 
my experience, has been better than any book I've ever seen for perl.  
Try running `perldoc perlintro` and `perldoc perllol`.  With exceptions 
such as old standard languages, most free documentation that comes 
with the interpreter/compiler tends to be better than any book.  A 
print out of perl's documentation would be far more valuable than 
almost any perl book on the market.


Although I haven't looked much into any FreeBSD book, I wouldn't be 
surprised at all if FreeBSD's documentation combined with 
freebsd-questions would outweigh it.


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