Thursday, 09/05/02

O'Reilly authors occasionally pen introductions to their books, sort of a literary debutante ball. The article a few months ago for the awe-inspiring second edition of Mastering Regular Expressions was a terrific pitch both for the book and the state of regular expressions, and I was curious about what Perl for Oracle DBAs would have to say for itself. Despite a hint in the article's blurb, I did not expect it to justify itself in terms of a loving paean to Ayn Rand. This is the first oreillynet piece I've ever read that made me want to hurl something nice and heavy through something big and shattery.

It absolutely did not put me in a frame of mind to buy books. I'd be reluctant to buy this one, partly because I don't much like the idea of putting money in the pocket of smugly oversimplifying markets-über-alles goons, but mostly because I'm afraid the book's full of the same rubbish. What's next, "Perl and Web Services for Scientologists"? "Kool-Aid in a Nutshell"?

I also wouldn't buy this one because it seems pitched at people coming the other direction. I find this a little odd. There have to be a lot more Perl hackers than Oracle DBAs out there, and with the economy in the dumper, more than a few formerly employed perl purveyors are probably looking to upgrade their skills. Why isn't it "Oracle for Perl Programmers"? For that matter, why isn't there a whole line of O'Reilly books aimed at the further education of the legions of Perl hackers they helped bring up? "C for Perl Programmers" would sell like chocolate puppies. 12:17PM «

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