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Re: Oracle Documentation

From: Jonathan Gennick <jonathan_at_gennick.com>
Date: Thu, 14 Oct 1999 21:09:23 GMT
Message-ID: <386743f2.171804993@netnews.worldnet.att.net>


On Wed, 13 Oct 1999 Kenneth Stahl said:
>I even have one book whose complete explanation of
>SqlLoader is limited to two sentences - and yet the book's title implies
>that it is a comprehensive reference.

Then On Wed, 13 Oct 1999 14:33:04 +0100, "Jonathan Lewis" <jonathan_at_jlcomp.demon.co.uk> wrote:
>Still - with the 8.1.5 documentation covering 20,000 pages
>and the typical book covering 300 - 600 pages it's not
>surprising that the books have to be a little selective.

This is as much a function of what publishers perceive the market to be, as it is what authors want to write about. To go in depth, a book has to be narrowly focused. Too narrow a focus can result in a book with no market. Would there be enough of a market to support a book focused on SQL*Loader? I'd sure like to know, because I have a proposal for one sitting on an editor's desk now.

Some publishers, such as O'Reilly & Associates and Wrox Press, will go after in depth books on highly focused topics. Many other publishers will not, and instead will aim for books with broad appeal. So you end seeing a lot of books about "Oracle" or "PL/SQL" or "SQL", but fewer books on specific utilties and tools such as "SQL*Loader", "Advanced Queueing", and so forth.

Given that a publisher decides to do a book on Oracle, they are going to want that book to "cover" the whole range of that space. Obviously, you can't do a 1000 page book that covers in-depth the same material that Oracle needs 20,000 pages to explain. The result is a thick book that "surfaces" through a lot of material.

Other things factor into depth of coverage as well: what the author knows vs what he doesn't know, the amount of time allocated for research, the author's and publisher's likes and dislikes, their perception of what people want to read about -- these are just a few examples.

Jonathan



jonathan_at_gennick.com
http://gennick.com
Brighten the Corner Where You Are Received on Thu Oct 14 1999 - 16:09:23 CDT

Original text of this message

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