I recently ordered the book + PDF bundle of Programming Ruby, 2nd ed. This is a great tutorial and reference.
But, what I really want to talk about is the PDF file. It has proved to be a great reference. The page numbers in the index are hyperlinked, so I usually just skip to the index and click the page number and it takes me right where I need to go.
I'd like to encourage all book authors to provide this. It's not only very convenient from a user's perspective, I think it's a good marketing tool. Some folks may not want to shell out $50 for a new book, so you offer them a PDF at half the price.
Re:But it brings up the possibility
djberg96 on 2004-10-26T14:51:10
It's not impossible, but I think the authors would have legal recourse if such an event were to occur. I suspect that social pressure from the programming community itself, rather than the threat of legal action, is what would prevent this from becoming a serious issue.Besides, there's nothing to prevent someone from scanning the Camel into their computer, generating a PDF from that, and then slapping it on the internet. Yet, it simply doesn't happen.
Re:But it brings up the possibility
itsme on 2004-10-27T16:11:48
You can't be that naive, can't you?
Search for "Perl Bookshelf" on the eDonkey or Fasttrack network. You will find all versions (1.0-4.0, each of them includes the camel book). You can find _every_ o'reilly book on the net, sometimes even before amazon delivers your pre-order.
You can find an old version (1.0) online here: http://iis1.cps.unizar.es/Oreilly/perl/
Its actually the first match in google if you search for "perl bookshelf".
A newer version is here:
http://www.hn.edu.cn/book/Perl/Perl%20Bookshelf%20%5B3rd%20Ed%5D/Perl%20B ookshel f%20%5B3rd%20Ed%5D.html
Including "Programming Perl, 3rd Edition".
Everything is online nowadays, there are whole communities scanning and trading every new computer book!
Re:But it brings up the possibility
djberg96 on 2004-10-27T16:47:54
Sad. And, unless O'Reilly has put these in the public domain, illegal.Re:But it brings up the possibility
rooneg on 2004-10-26T15:47:19
Actually, the PDF is custom generated for you, and has your name on every page. If you spread it around at least they can track down where it came from.Re:But it brings up the possibility
djberg96 on 2004-10-26T17:41:22
Oh, that's right - I totally forgot. Yeah, that's another safeguard.:)
