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Yes, computer books age quickly.
But then: Maybe computer/programming fashions change (far) too rapidly. I have a good share of old computer books, and every now and then I flip through them, asking myself (because noone else want to listen  ): Why did we abandon that idea? And this one? How much better is really that new methodology, compared to the four or five preceding it?
Some times, there really were good reasons for ditching this or that technique. Surprisingly often, the major "good" reason was that something new had been proposed and strongly promoted. In hindsight (and after two or three even more revolutionary new methodologies) we may have difficulties realizing what was so great about #2. Especially considering the strongholds of #1 that we ditched, which were actually good ideas! #3 wasn't that much of an improvement over #2, and #4 none at all. So fortunately we today have alternative #5 that will really improve things! (At least until #6 comes and tell us that it #5 is old thrash.)
Some times, when I point out to some younger guy how we did that very elegantly with now abandoned tools, I am told "We can achieve the same, at least approximately, by doing this, and that, and then this ... no, that ..." Yes, you can. But not with the same simplicity and lucidity. In principle, we could have retained the old stuff, but the developers of #2 and #3 and #4 and #5 wanted to stand out as something radically new, not just another extension to some old stuff.
So I do read my old computer books, to recall methodologies, techniques and tools that we let go much too easily. And to better understand the reasons why it was definitely right to let some other techniques go forever.
Religious freedom is the freedom to say that two plus two make five.
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Greetings Kind Regards
Here is a story I've been waiting to tell. My master's thesis involved the FORTRAN simulation of random functions for the purpose of testing my advisor's mathematical model. In an effort to learn more I stole a text on the subject of random function theory from the University of Illinois library. In attempting to read it I could not get passed the 1st few pages. I found them incomprehensible. I had great hopes of unlocking the great mathematical secrets I assumed it contained as it was authored by a Russian and as we all know they are great mathematicians. In a subsequent meeting w/ my advisor I held up the text stating my attempt to study it. I was surprised by his reaction as he seemed to be intimidated by its presumed "advanced stuff" as he stated as he was held in high regard in the department w/ the standard and common saying "George is correct by definition." I completed the thesis w/o discerning the presumed magical mathematics contained therein. The text sat on my book shelf for many years and I often thought of it as a treasure chest if only I had the key to opening it. Subsequent for no particular reason I attempted again to study it. Upon reading again the 1st few mysterious pages I realized why I could not previously make sense of them. They were gibberish! Mathematical gibberish. As near as I could discern it was the author's or perhaps the translator's attempt to provide a mathematics of the symbology utilized in describing the mathematics of the subject at hand id est a mathematics of the mathematics. Ugh. I merely ignored these pages and continued reading further finding this introductory "information" not even referenced and quickly learned in only a few pages the great secret all powerful mathematics was precisely the same as my advisor had utilized in his own work. The remaining hundred or so pages of the text were of no use despite impressive chapter titles.
As for texts in general I have high regard. A.M. Yaglom being the exception.
- Best
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Back in the 90s I literally went through 100s of tech books. Not an exaggeration. Everything is digital these days though. I still have books on trading, etc. but the volume of books I buy has dropped. These days you can use online courses like Udemy or YouTube, etc.
Would I read a tech book again? Sure. But, not nearly as much as I did as a kid.
Jeremy Falcon
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...will trade "python (for dummies) " for "all you wanted to know about Bluetooth..."
must exclude 2000 plus pages of "spec" and "bluez" ....
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I recently had a clear out and relegated "Undocumented DOS" and "MSDOS 6.0", plus several others to the garage. They'll probably just get trashed as I can't think of anyone I know who'd want obscure details of a system nearly 30 years old!
In fact, I can't remember the last time I actually looked at a tech book for information...
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I recently purchased Code by Charles Petzold, but that is only for personal amusement.
The last programming book I actually got any use out of was the manual for Turbo Pascal - now that was a good manual.
For image processing the book Machine Vision Algorithms and Application by Carsten Steger, Markus Ulrich and Christian Weidemann was very useful when I was starting out. A little dated now in the 3D world, but still worth a read.
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I was trying to remember the name of one of my favorite books - Code Complete by Petzold McConnell. Just some good common sense coding information. lol, mixing up my old time writers.
Thanks for the reminder.
Charlie Gilley
“They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.” BF, 1759
Has never been more appropriate.
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I had the idea that the written books would come in PDF or something like that, in a very very economical format, because so many books or courses are generated that the bookstores simply do not sell any more, they all have old books on the counter, so for the programmers It would be great to have a book delivery point somewhere in the city where it could be printed at a low cost PER UNIT (paying minimum copyright), in reality printed books are much better than pdfs for learning.
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Gave up on them years ago. As for actual documentation, Microsoft's is good compared to Java and Android.
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Not sure about Microsoft. Every time I look up a subject, they have segmented it so badly that each little portion is nigh useless. So I click and I click. Best documentation I have ever had to use was from Digital Equipment back in their haydays.
Charlie Gilley
“They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.” BF, 1759
Has never been more appropriate.
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charlieg wrote: Going to donate them to the local high school...
I sent a pile of old programming books about 4 feet tall to the recycling bin last year. Most of them in excellent condition. I'm still saddened by that, but I honestly had more use for the space they were taking than the actual books.
My local library wouldn't accept any technical book if it was published more than 4 years ago.
Snobs. Their loss.
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I assume that open source has removed some of the demand for great documentation. If you need that last bit of information, they probably expect you to open the source code.
When that wasn't an option, the documentation was essential.
Dave B
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Without books how will we survive the oncoming nuclear war?
- No internet
- All DRM things lock up because they can not check our subscription
... ?
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No matter what I want to study or have a reference for, I look for a good manual.
And I have always preferred a good technical manual to all this online crap, most of which is not all that good.
The problem with a lot of the online documentation is that much of it is simply a reflection of all the sloppiness that has been invested into our daily lives from having it too good with all the smart-devices and online capabilities that the Internet provides.
This is not to say that there aren't any good online sources for technical material; there are (ie: W3Schools) but no online source can provide the quality in depth engagement that a manual can provide. This has also been proven scientifically years ago.
I believe the youngest generation of new developers are quite screwed as you have stated since many of them do not have the research skills necessary for our profession...
Steve Naidamast
Sr. Software Engineer
Black Falcon Software, Inc.
blackfalconsoftware@outlook.com
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It depends...
With the advent of StackOverflow and sites like this, coupled with the decreasing quality of mainstream tech books, I found them to be a waste of money.
But...
When it comes to more narrow topics e.g. writing kernel drivers or data pipelining, that's where the tech books shine, if you can find one on the narrow subject you seek.
Gone are the days of tech books for the sake of the craft, such as Andrew Schulman's Undocumented Windows and its ilk. How I miss those days...
Also, I used to love going to tech bookstores to browse books. Not only mainstream store like B&N and Borders, but more focused stores like the McGraw Hill bookstore on 6th Avenue in Manhattan.
Sigh...
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Stacy Dudovitz wrote: With the advent of StackOverflow
With the advent of Stack Overflow, I went back to printed books.
I do not like to be yelled at, 9 out of 10 times, because I phrased the question incorrectly. Or, my question was answered six years ago, so why do I have to ask it again? Or, ... I don't enjoy being treated as a silly fool, no matter how I phrase my question.
SO is the most unfriendly web site I have ever accessed. At least books don't yell at me. Sometimes, a Google search leads me to some useful information at SO, but I never, ever any more ask questions there.
Religious freedom is the freedom to say that two plus two make five.
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I had sent a comment earlier but it was marked as spam. Why? It was a valid comment on the state of eBooks. Can you tell me why it was marked as spam?
[Tim]
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Heck I still print out old books (so much ink the office laser printer). Most of the documentation for the C libraries in RiscOS are in PDFs but I can't deal with looking at them constantly from my iPad or the screen, so I print them out, even if it's 600 pages long.
Did the same with the SDL 1.2 tutorial (I know I can get it from amazon but they no longer send it with the CD, so I might as well just print the PDF)
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I bought two O'Reilly books in the past 6 months.
Just like all the others I have they are informative and easy to read.
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In just the last couple of months, I have spent several hundred dollars on tech books. I probably spend several thousand yearly -- and have done so for the last half century. I own around 20,000 books -- not all tech (around 1/3 to 1/2 were my late wife's books). Unfortunately, most are currently in storage. Just on the bookcases near me, there are probably between 600 and 1000 tech books. These are not manuals, technical documentation, cooking books, and very little has anything to do with Microsoft.
What you find on the internet is typically low level, and random stuff someone felt like putting up. But, especially for tech, there is a huge amount that still only in books -- and that is likely to be true for a very long time.
Good luck on donating books. I have more than the local public library. There is no way in hell that they would accept my books if I died. They would try to sell some, most of the rest would be donated somewhere like Habitats for Humanity, who in turn would eventually burn them. Fortunately, the tech books probably could be donated to a local public university. They might even take some of the fiction. I suspect cooking books are going to be homeless.
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I got it as a reclaim with the cover torn off so i never remembered the title.
Recently someone mentioned Choose Your Own Adventure books to me, and I immediately thought of the book I'm trying to remember, because it was a puzzle book in a similar vein, but much more in depth. You had to solve things, you even had combat at points if I remember? (but no dice to play - you just needed the book)
If you died you went to the astral plane, and you could solve/play to get back into the story, but I never solved it. There was a great wyrm. (Dragon - maybe more than one) I think there was a wizard.
It was darker than choose your own adventure stories, and had a bit of dark humor at points.
I remember the spine and the back of the book being greenish in paperback form.
I wish I could remember the name of it. It really was exemplar of the form.
If anyone has an inkling of the book I'm referring to suggest it here. I'll google it because I'll definitely know it when I see it.
Check out my IoT graphics library here:
https://honeythecodewitch.com/gfx
And my IoT UI/User Experience library here:
https://honeythecodewitch.com/uix
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I read many of those types of books in my younger days. I don't recall any that meet all of your description. Sorry.
Bond
Keep all things as simple as possible, but no simpler. -said someone, somewhere
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at the level of stupidity I'm capable of.
I had been soldering a circuit board and before putting chips in place I hooked up power supply and got weird results, so I started tracking problem only to find out I had reversed leads on power supply. Duh
Have spent many hours residing our house and I'm exhausted. Replacing vinyl siding with Hardi Plank...big job but it's the last of the large house projects. Thank god!
Definition of a burocrate; Delegate, Take Credit, shift blame.
PartsBin an Electronics Part Organizer - Release Version 1.3.1 JaxCoder.com
Latest Article: EventAggregator
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Looking at the title, I was almost certain it had to do with gasoline
Charlie Gilley
“They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.” BF, 1759
Has never been more appropriate.
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