purchasing C FAQs book is a good idea ?

[arnuld]

i see C FAQs are very important part of learning C. whole C FAQs are
available as a book (1st edition) in my area at a little cost.

is it a good idea to purchase C FAQs book, published in 1996 ?

i am asking because my experience says hard-copies are better than
online copies but this one was published 10 years ago.

 

[Flash Gordon]

arnuld wrote, On 08/03/07 13:26:

i see C FAQs are very important part of learning C. whole C FAQs are
available as a book (1st edition) in my area at a little cost.

is it a good idea to purchase C FAQs book, published in 1996 ?

i am asking because my experience says hard-copies are better than
online copies but this one was published 10 years ago.

If it's new, it benefits Steve Summit and that's no bad thing for all
the effort he put in to it.

My personal feeling is that it is often easier to work with books than
online resources, and I'm sure that the book version is well worth it.
It will also still be extremely relevant. Although you should be aware
that Steve fairly recently updated the online version so it is also
worth keeping that bookmarked.

 

[arnuld]

If it's new, it benefits Steve Summit and that's no bad thing for all
the effort he put in to it.

i do not know but i think publishers provide royalty-income to the
author of the book only for 3-4 years and after that they eat up the
money alone. it has been 10 years, since C FAQS published hence i
doubt if Steve makes any income from it.

i do not know about USA BTW, i am talking about Indian Publishers.

My personal feeling is that it is often easier to work with books than
online resources,

that is not a personal-feeling. i have observed it too. it is a common-
sense/experience kind of thing i guess. you got lots of common-sense,
i know it because i know you.

 

[Flash Gordon]

arnuld wrote, On 08/03/07 15:16:

i do not know but i think publishers provide royalty-income to the
author of the book only for 3-4 years and after that they eat up the
money alone. it has been 10 years, since C FAQS published hence i
doubt if Steve makes any income from it.

i do not know about USA BTW, i am talking about Indian Publishers.

It may be true here in India (all apearances to the contrary I am
actually in Hyderabad until tomorrow evening, when I fly to India,
before flying back home first thing Sunday) but it is certainly not try
in the UK and I doubt it is true in the USA. My dad was getting a small
amount of money for libraries lending out his book more than 4 years
after it was published!

that is not a personal-feeling. i have observed it too. it is a common-
sense/experience kind of thing i guess. you got lots of common-sense,
i know it because i know you.

I also have a lot of common nonsense, some uncommon-sense and definitely
some uncommon nonsense.

 

[Richard Heathfield]

arnuld said:

i do not know but i think publishers provide royalty-income to the
author of the book only for 3-4 years and after that they eat up the
money alone.

That is not the case. If anything, it's the reverse of the truth
because, when the book first appears on the market, any royalties are
set off against the advance.

<snip>

 

[arnuld]

arnuld said:



That is not the case. If anything, it's the reverse of the truth
because, when the book first appears on the market, any royalties are
set off against the advance.

yes, you are right. the % is set like 12% for 2 years and 10% for 3rd
year and later it depends on the publisher.

this is really a worse situation. after gaining large sums of money i
will create a publishing house where Authors will get lifetime-royalty
but my publishing will only publish technically good quality books. to
just give an example:

K&R2, Practical Common Lisp, GNU Emacs Manual, etc.

did i forget one more example, YEP,

C Unleashed

;-)

it is really a very good one, IMVHO. such authors deserve lifetime-
royalty

they deserve it. this what exactly i think.

 

[santosh]

[ ... ]

this is really a worse situation. after gaining large sums of money i
will create a publishing house where Authors will get lifetime-royalty
but my publishing will only publish technically good quality books. to
just give an example:

K&R2, Practical Common Lisp, GNU Emacs Manual, etc.

did i forget one more example, YEP,

C Unleashed

;-)

it is really a very good one, IMVHO. such authors deserve lifetime-
royalty

they deserve it. this what exactly i think.

Very admirable intentions, but it's getting a bit OT for this group.

 

[user923005]

i see C FAQs are very important part of learning C. whole C FAQs are
available as a book (1st edition) in my area at a little cost.

is it a good idea to purchase C FAQs book, published in 1996 ?

i am asking because my experience says hard-copies are better than
online copies but this one was published 10 years ago.

The book has stuff in it that the online version does not have.
I have the book and I would recommend it.

 

[jaysome]

i see C FAQs are very important part of learning C. whole C FAQs are
available as a book (1st edition) in my area at a little cost.

is it a good idea to purchase C FAQs book, published in 1996 ?

i am asking because my experience says hard-copies are better than
online copies but this one was published 10 years ago.

That's one of my favorite books. My advice is to buy it. Read it
cover-to-cover and you'll learn a lot. If there's anything you have a
question about, I'm sure this newsgroup would be happy to provide
help.

Best regards

 

[Richard Heathfield]

arnuld said:

yes, you are right. the % is set like 12% for 2 years and 10% for 3rd
year and later it depends on the publisher.

I don't know where you get your figures, but they don't look even
remotely accurate.

 

[jaysome]

[ ... ]

this is really a worse situation. after gaining large sums of money i
will create a publishing house where Authors will get lifetime-royalty
but my publishing will only publish technically good quality books. to
just give an example:

K&R2, Practical Common Lisp, GNU Emacs Manual, etc.

did i forget one more example, YEP,

C Unleashed

;-)

it is really a very good one, IMVHO. such authors deserve lifetime-
royalty

they deserve it. this what exactly i think.

Very admirable intentions, but it's getting a bit OT for this group.

Perhaps a bit, if a bit equates to %50.

I see nothing wrong with putting a plug in for K&R2 or C Unleashed.
The former is considered a bible by some (no religious connotations
intended), while the latter is the work of many respected past and
present regulars of this newsgroup. I'm sure a lot if not all of those
regulars have read and learned from K&R2.

K&R2 is a pretty good jump start to tell you how to program in
portable, ANSI/ISO 9899-1990 C, while C Unleashed touches on practical
examples of what you can accomplish in portable, ANSI/ISO 9899-1990 C.

IMHO, recommending good C books has value, just as recommending bad C
books, like almost anything written by Schildt, has value.

Ironically, one of my favorite books--if not my favorite book--was
written by Herbert:

The Annotated ANSI C Standard, ISBN 0-07-881952-0

Best regards

 

[santosh]

arnuld said:


If it's new, it benefits Steve Summit and that's no bad thing for all
the effort he put in to it.

i do not know but i think publishers provide royalty-income to the
author of the book only for 3-4 years and after that they eat up the
money alone.

That is not the case. If anything, it's the reverse of the truth
because, when the book first appears on the market, any royalties are
set off against the advance.

[ ... ]

this is really a worse situation. after gaining large sums of money i
will create a publishing house where Authors will get lifetime-royalty
but my publishing will only publish technically good quality books. to
just give an example:

K&R2, Practical Common Lisp, GNU Emacs Manual, etc.

did i forget one more example, YEP,

C Unleashed

;-)

it is really a very good one, IMVHO. such authors deserve lifetime-
royalty

they deserve it. this what exactly i think.

Very admirable intentions, but it's getting a bit OT for this group.

Perhaps a bit, if a bit equates to %50.

I see nothing wrong with putting a plug in for K&R2 or C Unleashed.

<snip>

I was not referring to the recommendations for K&R and C Unleashed,
but rather, arnuld's subsequent comments, which you've snipped away,
about starting a publishing concern for technical books with the
intention of helping authors of good technical books. It's, as I said,
admirable, but a bit OT for this group, (more OT than recommending K&R
and C Unleashed.)

 

[jaysome]

arnuld wrote:

arnuld said:


If it's new, it benefits Steve Summit and that's no bad thing for all
the effort he put in to it.

i do not know but i think publishers provide royalty-income to the
author of the book only for 3-4 years and after that they eat up the
money alone.

That is not the case. If anything, it's the reverse of the truth
because, when the book first appears on the market, any royalties are
set off against the advance.
[ ... ]

this is really a worse situation. after gaining large sums of money i
will create a publishing house where Authors will get lifetime-royalty
but my publishing will only publish technically good quality books. to
just give an example:

K&R2, Practical Common Lisp, GNU Emacs Manual, etc.

did i forget one more example, YEP,

C Unleashed

;-)

it is really a very good one, IMVHO. such authors deserve lifetime-
royalty

they deserve it. this what exactly i think.

Very admirable intentions, but it's getting a bit OT for this group.

Perhaps a bit, if a bit equates to %50.

I see nothing wrong with putting a plug in for K&R2 or C Unleashed.

<snip>

I was not referring to the recommendations for K&R and C Unleashed,
but rather, arnuld's subsequent comments, which you've snipped away,
about starting a publishing concern for technical books with the
intention of helping authors of good technical books. It's, as I said,
admirable, but a bit OT for this group, (more OT than recommending K&R
and C Unleashed.)

Fair enough.

One of the things I liked about arnuld's post was not the he mentioned
two good C books, but that he mentioned two other alternative books.

I have no interest in learning EMACS--I use a single editor (VC++ 6.0)
for all my source code development (Windows VC++, Windows CVI, Windows
drivers, QNX 4.x and 6.x, AVR, Microchip HITEC and C30, TI DSP, and
even Linux), and I don't need anything else. YMMV.

On the other hand, I've always been curious about languages other than
C--and LISP is one of those. I think it has a lot to do with
researching what ever happened to one of my favorite posters (Kaz) to
c.l.c and finding out that he frequents comp.lang.lisp.

A Google search for "Practical Common Lisp" yields this as the first
hit:

http://www.gigamonkeys.com/book/

It appears to be good reading material. I suspect that reading this
book will help me to become a better programmer in general and a
better programmer C programmer in specific. I'm stopping at the
Powell's Technical Book store this weekend in the hopes of picking up
this book.

Thanks arnuld

 

[Default User]

arnuld said:



I don't know where you get your figures, but they don't look even
remotely accurate.

Not every author agrees to take his royalties in tea.




Brian