[ale] [Fwd: James Gosling will be speaking at the Sept. AJUG meeting]

[JK]

Rev. Johnny Healey wrote:

> On 8/30/06, Step <random4444 at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
>> You've hit on a big problem: how the heck do newbies know where to get
>> good code examples?  The only relatively safe approach I can think of 
>> is to
>> buy expensive books, but even that doesn't approach a guarantee.  The 
>> other
>> option is to hang out in IRC or sitepoint.com or something and ask 
>> people,
>> but then the person who doesn't know any better has to wade through 
>> people's
>> opinions and try to make a decision on something they're not qualified to
>> understand....ah well, so much for the information age.  ;)
>>
>>
> Price has nothing to do with the quality of computer books.  Usually the
> best gauge is age.  Books that still have staying power after 20 years are
> generally a safe bet.  You'll easily learn more from SICP, K&R C, and
> Programming Pearls (not a typo) than from any titled "idiot's guide to $X
> for dummies in 24 hours".

Amen, brother!

Though "expensive" is a relative term. K&R goes for about $45
nowadays, and not every budding programmer can afford even that.
Don't even talk to me about the prices of Lisp books.

Incidentally, safari.oreilly.com is a really nice deal, if you
can come to terms with reading books online.  $20/month gets
you access to essentially all of the O'Reilly and Addison-Wesley
catalog, plus some other publishers that escape me right
now. Sure, thats $240 a year, but I could probably only
actually afford to *buy* five of those books for that
amount. You also get really nice discounts on paper
copies.

-- JK