RE: Books

[Dave Cross]

At 19:58 04/04/2001, Doug Sparling wrote:
> > Dave...
> > [wondering how he gets to be a technical editor]
>
> >My experience suggests it may have something to do with being in the
> >right place at the right time... :)
>
>Same goes for authoring -:)

Oh, I know that :)

Dave...



-- 
  SMS: [EMAIL PROTECTED]

Data Munging with Perl 

Re: Books

[David H. Adler]

On Wed, Apr 04, 2001 at 01:58:22PM -0500, Doug Sparling wrote:
> > Dave...
> > [wondering how he gets to be a technical editor]
> 
> >My experience suggests it may have something to do with being in the
> >right place at the right time... :)
> 
> Same goes for authoring -:)

Oh, and about the editing - The authors just start following you
*everywhere*... :-)

dha
-- 
David H. Adler - <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> - http://www.panix.com/~dha/
"Hey you!  Don't watch dat!  Watch thees! This is the heavy, heavy
monster sound!" - Madness

Re: Books

[Simon Cozens]

On Wed, Apr 04, 2001 at 01:58:22PM -0500, Doug Sparling wrote:
> >My experience suggests it may have something to do with being in the
> >right place at the right time... :)
> 
> Same goes for authoring -:)

I'd dispute the use of the word "right" in that context.

-- 
The Messiah will come.  There will be a resurrection of the dead -- all
the things that Jews believed in before they got so damn sophisticated.
- Rabbi Meir Kahane

RE: Books

[Doug Sparling]

> Dave...
> [wondering how he gets to be a technical editor]

>My experience suggests it may have something to do with being in the
>right place at the right time... :)

Same goes for authoring -:)

Re: Books

[David H. Adler]

On Wed, Apr 04, 2001 at 07:15:04PM +0100, Dave Cross wrote:
> 
> Dave...
> [wondering how he gets to be a technical editor]

My experience suggests it may have something to do with being in the
right place at the right time... :)

dha
-- 
David H. Adler - <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> - http://www.panix.com/~dha/
I shall \0x0D   - Nathan Roberts

Re: Books

[Dave Cross]

At 19:01 04/04/2001, David H. Adler wrote:
>On Wed, Apr 04, 2001 at 09:26:02AM +0100, dcross - David Cross wrote:
> >
> > Wanderering around Charing Cross Road last night I picked up a couple 
> of new
> > Perl books, "Writing CGI Applications with Perl" by Kevin Meltzer & Brent
> > Michalski and "Instant Perl Modules" by Doug Sparling and Frank Wiles.
>
>That second one has an *excellent* acknowledgements page... :-)

Heh! I know, I saw it :)

Dave...
[wondering how he gets to be a technical editor]



-- 
  SMS: [EMAIL PROTECTED]

Data Munging with Perl 

Re: Books

[David H. Adler]

On Wed, Apr 04, 2001 at 09:26:02AM +0100, dcross - David Cross wrote:
> 
> Wanderering around Charing Cross Road last night I picked up a couple of new
> Perl books, "Writing CGI Applications with Perl" by Kevin Meltzer & Brent
> Michalski and "Instant Perl Modules" by Doug Sparling and Frank Wiles.

That second one has an *excellent* acknowledgements page... :-)

dha
-- 
David H. Adler - <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> - http://www.panix.com/~dha/
"I have no idea what that is.  Thank goodness we didn't order three!"
  - some nameless induhvidual quoted in Dilbert Newsletter 31.0

Re: Books

[Chris Devers]

At 09:26 AM 4.4.2001 +0100, Dave Cross wrote:
>Wanderering around Charing Cross Road last night I picked up a couple of 
>new Perl books, "Writing CGI Applications with Perl" by Kevin Meltzer & 
>Brent Michalski and "Instant Perl Modules" by Doug Sparling and Frank 
>Wiles.

Heh, check out _Perl How to Program_ by P. J. Deitel et al.:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0130284181/qid=986392068/sr=1-13/ref=sc_b_14/103-2989877-5270228

The cover blurb is great: 
"Perl How To Program
  Introducing CGI
and Python"

nack.

According to Amazon:

 Customers who bought titles by P. J. Deitel
also bought titles by these authors:
·   ·   Bruce Eckel 
·   ·   David Cross 
·   ·   Kevin Meltzer 
·   ·   Martin Brown 
·   ·   Ed Peschko 

Hmm.

Speaking of author David Cross, I'm told that SoftPro books (mostly a tech stuff 
store) in Burlington.ma.us has sold 17 copies of your book over February and March, as 
compared to roughly 3x as many copies of the Camel book. Not bad, considering how many 
Perl books are out there by now. 

Just so's you know.




--
Chris Devers [EMAIL PROTECTED]

RE: Books

[dcross - David Cross]

From: Philip Newton <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Sent: 08 January 2001 14:53
 
> David Hodgkinson wrote:
> > Kieran Barry <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:
> > 
> > > And anyway, computing by publisher is getting a lot 
> better. You just
> > > browse O'Reilly, Addison Wesley and Prentice Hall.
> > 
> > Heretic. Manning publish Conway's OO Perl book.
> 
> And Dave's "I got to use 'Munging' in a book title" book, no?

Yep (well in a couple of weeks time :)

Dave...

-- 


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Re: Books

[Philip Newton]

David Hodgkinson wrote:
> Kieran Barry <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:
> 
> > And anyway, computing by publisher is getting a lot better. You just
> > browse O'Reilly, Addison Wesley and Prentice Hall.
> 
> Heretic. Manning publish Conway's OO Perl book.

And Dave's "I got to use 'Munging' in a book title" book, no?

Cheers,
Philip

Re: Books

[Kieran Barry]

On 7 Jan 2001, David Hodgkinson wrote:

> > And anyway, computing by publisher is getting a lot better. You just
> > browse O'Reilly, Addison Wesley and Prentice Hall.
> 
> Heretic. Manning publish Conway's OO Perl book.
> 
What? You browse for errors/ typos in Conway's book?

Anyway, the point was, you avoid the Osbourne, Sams etc books. Signal to
noise is too high in them.

Doh!

That, of course, means that my point was invalid, cos the talk was
about finding known books, rather than avoiding mining the dross.

Regards

kieran

Re: Books

[David Hodgkinson]

Kieran Barry <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:

> On Thu, 4 Jan 2001, David H. Adler wrote:
> 
> > On Thu, Jan 04, 2001 at 01:59:05PM +, David Hodgkinson wrote:
> > > Struan Donald <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:
> > > > 
> > > > er, what's wrong with foyles if it's not a silly question?
> > > 
> > > Insane filing system
> > 
> > They (used to, at least) file their Science Fiction (and some other
> > sections) by publisher rather than author or even title.  Good luck
> > finding a book if you don't know the publisher...
> > 
> The computing section is somewhat more sane these days.
> 
> And anyway, computing by publisher is getting a lot better. You just
> browse O'Reilly, Addison Wesley and Prentice Hall.

Heretic. Manning publish Conway's OO Perl book.

-- 
Dave Hodgkinson, http://www.hodgkinson.org
Editor-in-chief, The Highway Star   http://www.deep-purple.com
  Apache, mod_perl, MySQL, Sybase hired gun for, well, hire
  -

Re: Books

[Kieran Barry]

On Thu, 4 Jan 2001, David H. Adler wrote:

> On Thu, Jan 04, 2001 at 01:59:05PM +, David Hodgkinson wrote:
> > Struan Donald <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:
> > > 
> > > er, what's wrong with foyles if it's not a silly question?
> > 
> > Insane filing system
> 
> They (used to, at least) file their Science Fiction (and some other
> sections) by publisher rather than author or even title.  Good luck
> finding a book if you don't know the publisher...
> 
The computing section is somewhat more sane these days.

And anyway, computing by publisher is getting a lot better. You just
browse O'Reilly, Addison Wesley and Prentice Hall.


If they were to sort by Publisher, shouldn't they subsort by ISBN?


Thinking can definitely damage your health :(

Regards

Kieran

Re: Books

[Chris Benson]

On Fri, Jan 05, 2001 at 05:40:50PM +, David Hodgkinson wrote:
> Chris Benson <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:
> 
> > On Thu, Jan 04, 2001 at 01:26:25PM +, David Hodgkinson wrote:
> > > The bonus was a second edition of Jon Bentley's "Programming
> > > Pearls". A classic.
> > 
> Full-on second edition, couple of new columns and fundamental changes
> to reflect changes in technology since 1986.

Damn, another gbp20.00 blown :-)
 
> > 
> > Also, are you going to get them "More Programming Pearls, Confessions of
> > a Coder" as well?
> 
> It was for me!

:-)  

Happy Reading.
-- 
Chris Benson

Re: Books

[David Hodgkinson]

Chris Benson <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:

> On Thu, Jan 04, 2001 at 01:26:25PM +, David Hodgkinson wrote:
> > 
> > It took me three bookshops on Charing Cross Road to get a perl library
> > together for the guys I'm working with, but I managed it without
> > having to go into Foyle's. Yeah!
> > 
> > The bonus was a second edition of Jon Bentley's "Programming
> > Pearls". A classic.
> 
> Aha, you've left yourself open to pedants here: ...
> 
> Is that 2nd edition as in with updates?  Or as in "Reprinted with 
> corrections May, 1989"?

Full-on second edition, couple of new columns and fundamental changes
to reflect changes in technology since 1986.

> 
> If the first, what's the difference?  Is it worth getting it if you've
> already got 1.ed?

Yes. It has a vert fetching taupe (fawn? beige?) cover. 

> 
> Also, are you going to get them "More Programming Pearls, Confessions of
> a Coder" as well?

It was for me!

-- 
Dave Hodgkinson, http://www.hodgkinson.org
Editor-in-chief, The Highway Star   http://www.deep-purple.com
  Apache, mod_perl, MySQL, Sybase hired gun for, well, hire
  -

Re: Books

[David H. Adler]

On Thu, Jan 04, 2001 at 01:59:05PM +, David Hodgkinson wrote:
> Struan Donald <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:
> > 
> > er, what's wrong with foyles if it's not a silly question?
> 
> Insane filing system

They (used to, at least) file their Science Fiction (and some other
sections) by publisher rather than author or even title.  Good luck
finding a book if you don't know the publisher...

dave, has had issues w/foyles for many years...

-- 
David H. Adler - <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> - http://www.panix.com/~dha/
Uh, yeah.  Well, that's my mistake for the year...
- Larry Wall

Re: Books

[David H. Adler]

On Thu, Jan 04, 2001 at 02:41:34PM -, dcross - David Cross wrote:
> 
> This lunchtime I picked up a copy of Martin Brown's 'Debugging Perl'. Anyone
> have any opinions on that yet?

I'm reading it at the moment.  My opinion at this point is Good Idea
Foiled by Mediocre Execution.  He doesn't do any serious discussion of
-w and strict until chapter 8, He says in the 2nd or 3rd paragraph of
the book that it's hard to write bug-free perl code as though this
were false for other languages, there are some inaccuracies that I
would have been less concerned about if they weren't in a book about
debugging... etc.

Overall, not bad, but the devil's in the details.  I'm trying to
figure out if I'm allowed to write a not overly positive review of a
book from a company that I'm currently tech editing another book
for... :-)

dha

-- 
David H. Adler - <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> - http://www.panix.com/~dha/
"Life is so hard, you know that sometimes it seems the good guys only
win, when the bad guys leave." - The Jim Basnight Thing

Re: Books

[Chris Benson]

On Thu, Jan 04, 2001 at 01:26:25PM +, David Hodgkinson wrote:
> 
> It took me three bookshops on Charing Cross Road to get a perl library
> together for the guys I'm working with, but I managed it without
> having to go into Foyle's. Yeah!
> 
> The bonus was a second edition of Jon Bentley's "Programming
> Pearls". A classic.

Aha, you've left yourself open to pedants here: ...

Is that 2nd edition as in with updates?  Or as in "Reprinted with 
corrections May, 1989"?

If the first, what's the difference?  Is it worth getting it if you've
already got 1.ed?

Also, are you going to get them "More Programming Pearls, Confessions of
a Coder" as well?
-- 
Chris Benson

Re: Books

[Greg McCarroll]

* dcross - David Cross ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) wrote:
> From: Struan Donald <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> Sent: 04 January 2001 14:50
>  
> > * at 04/01 13:26 + David Hodgkinson said:
> > > 
> > > It took me three bookshops on Charing Cross Road to get a 
> > > perl library together for the guys I'm working with, but 
> > > I managed it without having to go into Foyle's. Yeah!
> > 
> > er, what's wrong with foyles if it's not a silly question?
> 
> Typical customer enquiry in Foyles:
> 
> Customer: Can you tell me where your books on [insert random subject] are?
> Foyles Bod: Who are they published by?
> C: Huh?
> FB: All of our books are classified by publisher. We find that's easier for
> finding a specific book.
> C: But I don't know what book I want. I just want to look at all of the
> books on [insert random subject] and compare them.
> FB: Then you'll have to visit each publisher's section indiviudally.
> C (mutters to self): Or I could just go next door to Waterstones.
> 

yes, but it does have a certain beauty to it

-- 
Greg McCarroll  http://www.mccarroll.uklinux.net

Re: Books

[Paul Mison]

On 04/01/2001 at 13:59 +, David Hodgkinson wrote:
>Struan Donald <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:
>> er, what's wrong with foyles if it's not a silly question?
>
>Insane filing system
>
>Legendarily unhelpful staff
>
>It smells funny

No built in coffee shop.

Not that that's really that important of course, although I would like
to go the the 5th floor bar in Waterstones Piccadilly sometime.

--
:: paul :: oven :: lndn
:: gratuitous drum solo

Re: Books

[Michael Stevens]

On Thu, Jan 04, 2001 at 03:10:24PM +, Greg McCarroll wrote:
> That was Sili of you 

On the plus side, They Have Lots Of Books, which makes up for almost
all their faults.

RE: Books

[dcross - David Cross]

From: Struan Donald <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Sent: 04 January 2001 14:50
 
> * at 04/01 13:26 + David Hodgkinson said:
> > 
> > It took me three bookshops on Charing Cross Road to get a 
> > perl library together for the guys I'm working with, but 
> > I managed it without having to go into Foyle's. Yeah!
> 
> er, what's wrong with foyles if it's not a silly question?

Typical customer enquiry in Foyles:

Customer: Can you tell me where your books on [insert random subject] are?
Foyles Bod: Who are they published by?
C: Huh?
FB: All of our books are classified by publisher. We find that's easier for
finding a specific book.
C: But I don't know what book I want. I just want to look at all of the
books on [insert random subject] and compare them.
FB: Then you'll have to visit each publisher's section indiviudally.
C (mutters to self): Or I could just go next door to Waterstones.


Dave...


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Re: Books

[Greg McCarroll]

* Michael Stevens ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) wrote:
> On Thu, Jan 04, 2001 at 01:59:05PM +, David Hodgkinson wrote:
> > > er, what's wrong with foyles if it's not a silly question?
> > 
> > Insane filing system
> > 
> > Legendarily unhelpful staff
> > 
> > It smells funny
> 
> I spent several minutes once trying to teach one of the staff in their
> computing section how to spell the word 'silicon'. So he could put it into
> their computer and find the book I wanted, for which I knew both title
> and author.
> 

That was Sili of you 

-- 
Greg McCarroll  http://www.mccarroll.uklinux.net

Re: Books

[Struan Donald]

* at 04/01 13:59 + David Hodgkinson said:
> Struan Donald <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:
> 
> > er, what's wrong with foyles if it's not a silly question?
> 
> Insane filing system

it has a certain random quality
 
> Legendarily unhelpful staff

really? they've always been fine anytime i was in there.

on the other hand they're not waterstones and therefore to be
encouraged.

s
-- 
Struan Donald
mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Code Flunky, 365 Plc.
http://www.365corp.com/

Re: Books

[Piers Cawley]

David Hodgkinson <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:

> Struan Donald <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:
> 
> > * at 04/01 13:26 + David Hodgkinson said:
> > >
> > > It took me three bookshops on Charing Cross Road to get a perl
> > > library together for the guys I'm working with, but I managed it
> > > without having to go into Foyle's. Yeah!
> >
> > er, what's wrong with foyles if it's not a silly question?
> 
> Insane filing system
> 
> Legendarily unhelpful staff

Much better than it was now the old lady's gone. Heck, they even have
barcode scanners now...

> It smells funny

Hmm... can't say I'd noticed that, but I have a cold.

-- 
Piers

Re: Books

[Michael Stevens]

On Thu, Jan 04, 2001 at 01:59:05PM +, David Hodgkinson wrote:
> > er, what's wrong with foyles if it's not a silly question?
> 
> Insane filing system
> 
> Legendarily unhelpful staff
> 
> It smells funny

I spent several minutes once trying to teach one of the staff in their
computing section how to spell the word 'silicon'. So he could put it into
their computer and find the book I wanted, for which I knew both title
and author.

Michael

Re: Books

[David Hodgkinson]

Struan Donald <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:

> * at 04/01 13:26 + David Hodgkinson said:
> > 
> > It took me three bookshops on Charing Cross Road to get a perl library
> > together for the guys I'm working with, but I managed it without
> > having to go into Foyle's. Yeah!
> 
> er, what's wrong with foyles if it's not a silly question?

Insane filing system

Legendarily unhelpful staff

It smells funny

-- 
Dave Hodgkinson, http://www.hodgkinson.org
Editor-in-chief, The Highway Star   http://www.deep-purple.com
  Apache, mod_perl, MySQL, Sybase hired gun for, well, hire
  -

Re: Books

[Struan Donald]

* at 04/01 13:26 + David Hodgkinson said:
> 
> It took me three bookshops on Charing Cross Road to get a perl library
> together for the guys I'm working with, but I managed it without
> having to go into Foyle's. Yeah!

er, what's wrong with foyles if it's not a silly question?

s
-- 
Struan Donald
mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Code Flunky, 365 Plc.
http://www.365corp.com/

RE: Books

[dcross - David Cross]

From: David Hodgkinson <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Sent: 04 January 2001 13:26

> It took me three bookshops on Charing Cross Road to get a perl library
> together for the guys I'm working with, but I managed it without
> having to go into Foyle's. Yeah!

I generally find that Blackwell's computer section is the best on Charing X
Road. For example, it's the only shop that has LaTeX books on the shelves.

Mind you, the Perl books are in their web section :(

> The bonus was a second edition of Jon Bentley's "Programming
> Pearls". A classic.

A great book.

This lunchtime I picked up a copy of Martin Brown's 'Debugging Perl'. Anyone
have any opinions on that yet?

Dave...


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