Re: Cost of printed books (was Re: Online Books)

> Just curious what readers of this group feel about availability,
> prices, and ergonomics of the current printed books. Do current prices
> on the Oracle store prevent you from ordering, or result in ordering
> one copy for a group rather than individual copies?

SET RANT MODE ON;
The prices for Oracle books are ridiculous here in the UK because of the almost unity dollar sterling exchange rate.

> primarily from PDF printouts? Would 8.5 x 11 size be too cumbersome,
> or is it more important to have fewer pages (resulting also in fewer
> 2-volume and 3-volume books)?

A few years ago now I used Nantucket Clipper. What I remember of the Clipper books was the layout and ease of use of finding information. For instance, each function was given a page or more to itself, with each new function entry starting at the top of the page, regardless of the amount of white space that resulted (which BTW I used for notes ). Eventually these functions ran into several books but were non the worse for that as they were categorised properly.
The size and number of pages are totally irrelevant, ease of use as a reference is what is important.

Now, well...., I have a number of Oracle books, some are downright poor. Others are written by obviously very knowledgeable people, some who inhabit this very newsgroup, these books have very valuable information in them, and can teach you more than you ever need about Oracle, but boy, do they ramble. The Oracle docset is one of the worst, and its incomplete. And what is it about indexes? I quote from an otherwise excellent book, from a superb and well respected author ( hopefully that should keep his lawyers at bay).
INDEX

• Data buffer hit ratio, 31, 47,69, 218, 240-245, 461 499 - That tells me didley-squat about where to look for anything about the data buffer hit ratio without trawling through all the references.

These was, maybe there still is, a piece of software called Easyflow, written by HavenTree Software Ltd. The software was good and performed well. But the manual, the manual, certainly the 1989 version, which I still cherish, created a standard which has never been beaten. If you wish to see how it should be done, get a copy. They even had a lost manual committee. The index is an education in itself. This book should be compulsory reading by software manual writers.

SET RANT MODE OFF;
 .... well you asked.......... I am not an author, ...... I'm allowed to ramble.

George Barbour.
<let the flames begin> Received on Thu Jan 17 2002 - 04:17:34 CST