--0-583710027-1191805323 8715 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Hi, I think writing a book is a good idea. There are several topics and examples that can help students and developers in different applications; I am willing to assist in case you need help, beast, al_batuul ----- Original Message ---- From: Chad Perrin <perrin / apotheon.com> To:uby-talk ML <ruby-talk / ruby-lang.org> Sent: Monday, October 8, 2007 2:47:43 AM Subject: Re: considering writing a book on Ruby/Rails? Onon, Oct 08, 2007 at 08:31:54AM +0900, M. Edward (Ed) Borasky wrote: > John Joyce wrote: > >Far better suggestion is what topics to write books and chapters about! > > > >I suggest a GUI focused Ruby book that coverst, Tk, Wx, etc... > >A game / graphics focused Ruby book... (could easily be integrated or > >connected with the GUI book) > >A whole host ofuby topics could be entire books based on one or two > >classes or modules or gems. > >What we have enough of are books that are broad but not deep. > >As an example: Pro ActiveRecord is a nice one, but an Expert > >ActiveRecord would be better... > > > >Lots of topics to suggest. > > Agreed ... then again, there are some other good books that don't even > exist: > > "Up and Running with Nitro and Og" > "Up and Running with Iowa" > "Pragmatic RSpec" (although I hear that's due in beta byhe end of the > year) > "ZenTest and Heckle Primer" > "Selenium ..." > "Watir ..." > "Cerberus ..." > > There are some things Ruby has -- like Rails, Nitro, Iowa, RSpec, > ZenTest, Heckle and many others -- that don't exist in the Perl world. > So you can't say, as you can with Ruby/Tk, "Go learn from the O'Reilly > Perl/Tk book and just translate the syntax from Perl to Ruby and you'll > be on the air". > > I think the real problem is not that every book on Ruby tells you how to > install it. The real problem is that there doesn't seem to be an actual > paid market for much beyond books about Rails and core Ruby. The other > good stuff, like the things I've listed above, just isn't getting seen. > > Then again, as a potential author, I'm not going to spend any time > writing about things I don't use. So don't look to me for a Nitro or > Iowa book, or a book about everything you wanted to know about Ruby on > Windows systems. :) Actually, as a first step in that direction a "common useful libraries" book -- perhaps called "prospecting for gems", or something cleverer -- would be excellent. I don't mean a listing:ean an honest-to-goodness tutorial/primer on a bunch of great libraries/modules for common tasks. -- CCD CopyWrite Chad Perrin [ http://ccd.apotheon.org ] McCloctnick the Lucid: "The first rule of magic is simple. Don't waste your time waving your hands and hopping when a rock or alub will do." ____________________________________________________________________________________ Fussy? Opinionated? Impossible tolease? Perfect. Join Yahoo!'s user panel and lay it on us. http://surveylink.yahoo.com/gmrs/yahoo_panel_invite.asp?a=7 --0-583710027-1191805323 8715--