Re: [MacPerl] Programming Perl (2nd ed)

[Matthias Ulrich Neeracher <neeri@iis.ee.ethz.ch>]

[This whole discussion is not quite on topic for this mailing list, but
 it is about an issue vital to Perl itself.]

Vicki Brown <vlb@cfcl.com> writes:
>A friend of mine, who gets press releases from O'Reilly and Assoc, has
>received notice of the second edition of Larry Wall's "Programming Perl":
>
>>Co-authored by Larry Wall, the creator of Perl, "Programming Perl" is
>>the authoritative guide to Perl version 5.  O'Reilly expects
>>"Programming Perl, second edition," to grow into an approximately
>>800-page Nutshell Handbook by the time it's completed in October.

Oops, on ORA's web site it still says 700 pages and September :-)

>I don't know about you folks, but in my opinion, an 800-pager is not a
>handbook, it is a weighty TOME.  It may look nice on a shelf but it's not a
>good desk reference.

If I interpreted recent subscription requests correctly, Larry Wall is now
listening to this mailing list (Hi Larry!), and maybe he will comment. In
my personal opinion, 800 pages are not unreasonable at all:

 - If Camel II is to cover Perl5 in the same depth as Camel 1 covered Perl4,
   800 pages sound about right, in particular because the library has grown
   enormously.
 - 800 page books are not impossible to handle at all. Several volumes of
   New Inside Macintosh have that many pages (The 2000+ pages of Inside Mac
   VI, on the other hand, were not very pleasant).
 - Now that O'Reilly has good binding technology (as opposed to the original 
   Camel "fall-apart" binding), their ability to publish 800 page books is
   proven: The sendmail book is 830 pages, and due to their small format
   does not feel unwieldy at all.

>I'd much rather see this broken into 2 volumes, possibly packaged as a set.

There is a somewhat logical division of material between the core language
and libraries. However, sepparating these topics IMHO would jeopardize
one of the most important objectives or Perl5 evangelists: To convince 
people to learn about the library instead of constantly reinventing their
own solutions.

Furthermore, the poor huddled masses yearning to learn Perl5 want a new 
Camel *now*. Any changes which might further push back the delivery date 
are bound to be unpopular.

Matthias

-----
Matthias Neeracher   <neeri@iis.ee.ethz.ch>   http://www.iis.ee.ethz.ch/~neeri
  "Then anyone who leaves behind him a written manual, and likewise
   anyone who receives it, in the belief that such writing will be
   clear and certain, must be exceedingly simple-minded..."
                                                -- Plato, _Phaedrus_