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Postings from September 2009
Hi Fudmer, I didn't think my comments would have piqued your interest so much. :-) Well, we're off-topic from Perl, but let me add just the following: fudmer rieley wrote: > The need is for a problem book with real explained answers [producing > such a problem book would be a massive undertaking]. Such a > questions and answers server project would advance programming, and > it would probably extend the need for books of all types of computer > knowledge. the idea would advance programmer knowledge base. Each I somewhat wrote my comments with one particular book in mind: http://www.amazon.com/Programming-Challenges-Steven-S-Skiena/dp/0387001638/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1252369122&sr=8-1 Though I'm sure there are many others out there. I think you can browse the pages on Amazon. There are of course two other questions. How would such a book differ from (say) the Perl Cookbook? And how can such a book work with something like the ACM Programming Contest? > Teaching like this needs to become open source and be available for > no charge and it needs to be created by those who are still learning. > The knowledge involved in Instructional design is a Phd in and of its > self. I have to admit that I'm in support of open source, but I think there are limits to it. An excellent (IMHO) example is Wikipedia. It's open and I do use it often; but there are certain topics which I would not rely on. The quality control is good in some cases but very poor in others. Likewise, a resource that is as open as you say is no different from (say) a blog by Perl experts. In other words, what is the difference between an O'Reilly book on Perl and a blog by the same authors? The people who wrote it are the same, but the publisher adds quality checking, support for authors in standardizing, etc. Also, I think an author would put more care into something that is going "in print" [on paper or on-line] than something that is going into a blog. As the saying goes, "You get what you pay for...". RayThread Previous | Thread Next