Re: SQL For Smarties 3rd Edition - ATTN Joe Celko

>> I thought I'd point them out so that corrections can be made before the fourth edition is printed. <<

In the old days, with metal type or even cold type, we did a big press run and stored the physical books in warehouses. There were all kinds of problems in New York about inventory taxes based on the value of the goods, but that is another issue. Changes were not possible until a new edition.

These days, thanks to technology, we can do short print runs from a digital source (and only be taxed on blank paper!). The first runs go to pre-orders from national bookstore chains -- the US book market does not have the number of small independent bookstore that the UK does. For example, Barnes & Noble loves me and always starts with a few thousand copies as soon as a publication date is announced.

But the technology also means that we can get a correction done between printings, if it does not change the pagination and indexing. By the third printing, 99% of the errata have been found. Any errata that cannot be handled that way can be posted on the website. Example: I gave SQL Server 2005 credit for having the MERGE statement because at the time of writing it was in a Beta version. They pulled in the production version. Received on Sun Oct 29 2006 - 13:31:19 CET