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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