My Half Price Computer Books bundled arrived on Friday. Mel, John and myself managed to pickup some real bargins for $5 each, although I did have to pay $20 for Debugging Perl. It should make my next talk on debugging Perl a bit more insightful.
Got a review copy of the Slash book from O'Reilly a few weeks ago. I have been struggling over the review as although there are many reasons to buy it, there are some very obvious flaws with the book. I don't want the critiscism to be seen as bad, so am trying a rewrite. I think part of the problem is the audience the book has been aimed at. I would imagine the people who actually buy it are likely to be alot more experienced.
I often wondered whether I could write a technical book. I have been proposition by Wrox (who hasn't) in the past, but never had the time to do any research or writing. I have to hand it technical book writers as I imagine its not always an easy task. There are several experts out there who can spot the holes. For me anyone who can spot holes in my work, I welcome them to tell me about them so that I can try and fix them. When I try and review a book I try and give a good reason why I think something is bad or good. A good book, may still have gaps.
After reading Dave Cross journal entry I am surprised at Liz Castro response. I have seen Dave's postings here, on the message board and on London.pm and having met the man, I can honestly say he is probably one of the best placed reviewers in the Perl community. He is always helpful and tries to point people in the right direction without being derogatry. People like Dave are what the Perl community needs. His enthusiasm for the language inspired him to create London.pm and NMS among others and has helped to bring several hundred people together in the UK alone. If people like Dave are being banned from sites because they know too much and are being too helpful, then this is a sad day.
I regularly post on the Tek-Tips forum, which seems to be populated by mostly experience programmers, and have been pleasantly impressed by the number of "newbies" who have posed questions, who then later have chipped in with their own very constructive advice, when someone else has a similar problem. It makes reading and posting on there a lot easier when you know that script-kiddies are in the minority.
