Re: [DOCS] Re: [HACKERS] Outline for PostgreSQL book

Bruce Momjian wrote:

> > OTOH an entry-level book is probably required to get as big a user-base as
> > possible.
>
> Publishers have already talked to me about multiple books.  I think we
> need to start with an newbie book, with the chapters clearly arranged so
> experienced people can skip newbie chapters.

    I  don't  think it really matters that much if the first book
    about PostgreSQL is more for a newbie than a professional  or
    vice  versa.  What  count's  is  that  it  is  up to date and
    correct. If I go to a book store and find only one book on  a
    topic,  it's  usually  not  the one "I" was looking for.  But
    what would make other authors write another book on the  same
    topic  -  most likely the authors who write details I haven't
    known before? It's the success of the former one.

    Think about it a little.

    The first book has to be  successful.  Therefore  it  has  to
    address  most of the interested people. Those who know how to
    get the information they need out of manpages, RFC's and  W3C
    recommendations  aren't  the ppl who to address in this case.
    So let it please be a newbie book, and  the  hard  ones  will
    follow.

    Another  problem  is  that during the last release cycles, it
    wasn't  that  easy  to  follow  all  the   changes   in   the
    capabilities  of  PostgreSQL.   Not  even for me, and I'm not
    counting myself to the outermost circle.  Now what chance  do
    you  give a book that's written based on v6.5 if we are about
    to release v7.1 some months ahead? And more important, if  it
    happens  this  way,  does our "aggressive" development invite
    other authors to take a chance on the  same  topic?  I  don't
    think so.

    If  we  really  want professional publishing about PostgreSQL
    (we want - no?), the core team has  to  co-operate  with  the
    authors  of  those  books in a way, that they can write their
    book based on the upcoming release and  sell  it  with  a  CD
    where that release is included.  At the time it is published,
    there should only be bugfixes available  on  the  net  -  not
    already two newer releases.


Jan

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