6 ms·

Any published authors here? I once went through a cheaper international edition of a large computer science text, and built a massive errata of all the mistakes

Any published authors here? I once went through a cheaper international edition of a large computer science text, and built a massive errata of all the mistakes (primarily found in the exercises) then submitted it to the authors who basically told me 'Thanks but we don't give a shit about that version, only the US edition'. Any reason there would be that many mistakes in the international version? Does Pearson publishers just use incompetent printers for these sell at cost books? It's not trivial errata, about 20+ major mistakes per chapter I found. Edit: My version is "an authorized adaption, global edition" overseen by two Malaysian professors and printed in Malaysia by Pearson Global. I'm not sure what adaption means in the printing industry. Edit2: One of the author's acknowledges the terrible amount of errors on their personal page https://www.amazon.com/gp/customer-reviews/RK8QVG9TMSUIF/ref=cm_cr_dp_d_rvw_ttl?ie=UTF8&ASIN=013409266X https://www.amazon.com/gp/customer-reviews/RK8QVG9TMSUIF/ref... which I just discovered and did not know at the time I read the book (I bought this so I could understand MIXAL in TAOCP, Vol 1).

wodenokoto 7y ago
I’m sorry you got such a shitty reply to what must have been a lot of hard work. Did you try to contact the Malaysian professors? Regardless, thank you for the warning about international editions.
- hackermailman 7y ago
  I probably should have contacted them. The completely untrustworthy answers/exercises turned out to be somewhat of a blessing in disguise as I ended up really learning the material being that I had to figure out everything myself and carefully step through exercises to find the error. However I had luxury of free time to do so and wasn't panicking under pressure of a class schedule and this text is used for a lot of undergrad courses.
edge17 7y ago
International Editions differ often in the problems at the ends of the chapters in order to protect US and other western markets. Differences in the problems means it discourages students from buying things that may lead to incorrect answers to assigned problem sets. As for things just being flat out wrong, I can only imagine this discourages US/western students from buying International Editions to save money.
- Leace 7y ago
  > International Editions differ often in the problems at the ends of the chapters in order to protect US and other western markets. Protect in what way? By not disclosing secret problems based on US-centric data?
  - hackermailman 7y ago
    I believe edge17 means changing the exercises for the cheaper global edition, so students in western markets are forced to buy the expensive version as they may be assigned these end of chapter problem sets.
    - edge17 7y ago
      Yup, protecting in that the majority of the revenue for the publishers comes from the western markets (US/Europe). It's the same reason companies like Apple don't sell less expensive phones less affluent markets - if they did the price spread would create an opportunity for arbitrageurs. Google et al however, does create less expensive alternative versions of their products for other markets.
- deathanatos 7y ago
  I bought an international edition of a text in college because it was priced significantly cheaper. And indeed, it had all the same problems, but they had been re-arranged, so when the professor assigned problems "5-15", I needed to know the mapping from the US 5-15 to the international version's numbers. Which, by quickly thumbing through another student's copy, I could generate pretty rapidly, but boy was that annoying. (I might have reconsidered purchasing the international edition had this been disclosed at the time of sale…)
  - WrtCdEvrydy 7y ago
    We had a professor that kept mappings for 2-3 versions behind and basically allowed you to buy the used book on Amazon for about $12 compared to $200 for the new one. It's these little things that make your professors stand out.
blub 7y ago
The international edition of that book costs almost 1/4th of the US edition and is still pretty expensive as books go.
giancarlostoro 7y ago
It likely means they dont have a direct contract with the authors and you are better off contacting them directly instead.
userbinator 7y ago
That book seems quite highly recommended but I remember glancing through it and even the US edition had lots of seemingly random but consistent capitalisation errors in the code examples, like someone had autocorrect/autoformat turned on throughout, which IMHO is enough to make me not recommend it --- it's already hard enough for a beginner to use correct code, nevermind code with such errors.
- hackermailman 7y ago
  It worked well for my goal of satisfying the prereqs of Knuth that the reader is expected to have written a few programs already, which I presume means writing in an assembly language. Another book that could be used instead is 'Computer Organization and Design: The Hardware Software Interface (RISC-V Edition)' and MIT has lectures for it on youtube https://6004.mit.edu/web/spring19/resources/lectures https://6004.mit.edu/web/spring19/resources/lectures should anybody else want to learn.
chx 7y ago
Editing is incredibly hard -- your brain tends to see what should be there and not what's there. Good copyeditors read syllable by syllable to break this up. (I am a tech editor, not a copy editor.)
smartday11 7y ago
●ɢᴏᴏɢʟᴇ ᴘᴀʏ 𝟿𝟻$ ᴄᴏɴsɪsᴛᴇɴᴛʟʏ ᴍʏ ʟᴀsᴛ ᴘᴀʏ ᴄʜᴇᴄᴋ ᴡᴀs $𝟾𝟸𝟶𝟶 ᴡᴏʀᴋɪɴɢ 𝟷𝟶 ʜᴏᴜʀs ᴏᴜᴛ ᴏғ ᴇᴠᴇʀʏ ᴡᴇᴇᴋ ᴏɴ ᴛʜᴇ ᴡᴇʙ. ᴍʏ ᴍᴏʀᴇ ʏᴏᴜɴɢ ᴋɪɴ ʙᴜᴅᴅʏ ʜᴀs ʙᴇᴇɴ ᴀᴠᴇʀᴀɢɪɴɢ 𝟷𝟻ᴋ ᴀʟʟ ᴛʜʀᴏᴜɢʜ ᴏɴɢᴏɪɴɢ ᴍᴏɴᴛʜs ᴀɴᴅ ʜᴇ ᴡᴏʀᴋs ᴀʀᴏᴜɴᴅ 𝟸𝟺 ʜᴏᴜʀs ᴄᴏɴsɪsᴛᴇɴᴛʟʏ. ɪ ᴄᴀɴ'ᴛ ᴄᴏɴғɪᴅᴇ ɪɴ ʜᴏᴡ sᴛʀᴀɪɢʜᴛғᴏʀᴡᴀʀᴅ ɪᴛ ᴡᴀs ᴏɴᴄᴇ ɪ ᴇɴᴅᴇᴀᴠᴏʀᴇᴅ ɪᴛ ᴏᴜᴛ.ᴛʜɪs ɪs ᴍʏ ᴘʀɪᴍᴀʀʏ ᴄᴏɴᴄᴇʀɴ...ɢᴏᴏᴅ ʟᴜᴄᴋ . http://BesteJob.Com http://BesteJob.Com
kc3 7y ago
I published a technical book in the late 90s and the publisher (Pearson) opted to have it translated into a number of other (non-English) languages. I was never told anything about the translations. My assumption was that they used some sort of "contract translation people/service" and just "crank them out". My guess is they aren't that focused on quality. When my book was first published, technical books were much more profitable, but since then publishers have really struggled. The publisher I worked with was fantastic at the time, but since then has repeatedly stated they just want to "get books out there" regardless of the quality. And, I think the market was already tanking by the time my book was translated, so I'm pretty sure quality wasn't a priority for them. They sent me an after-the-fact sample copy of 2-3 of the languages it was translated into, but it was a total surprise to me and I never received any information about the process or that it was happening. In fact, it was so hands off that I have no idea if they translated it into more languages and never sent me a copy. Another factor why the authors the OP contacted may not care could be that the royalty rates were dramatically lower for International sales -- at least that was the case for my book -- I essentially made nothing. I'm not saying people write books only for profit, but the combination of "not even knowing they were translated" with "zero profit motive" makes a potent combination. :-) That being said, I don't believe anyone every contacted me with errata on a translated edition... I guess I should consider myself lucky. :-)
- hackermailman 7y ago
  Interesting, I know nothing about publishing but this some good insight to having your text manipulated by said publishers. Thanks for comment

wodenokoto 7y ago

I’m sorry you got such a shitty reply to what must have been a lot of hard work. Did you try to contact the Malaysian professors? Regardless, thank you for the warning about international editions.

hackermailman 7y ago
I probably should have contacted them. The completely untrustworthy answers/exercises turned out to be somewhat of a blessing in disguise as I ended up really learning the material being that I had to figure out everything myself and carefully step through exercises to find the error. However I had luxury of free time to do so and wasn't panicking under pressure of a class schedule and this text is used for a lot of undergrad courses.

edge17 7y ago

International Editions differ often in the problems at the ends of the chapters in order to protect US and other western markets. Differences in the problems means it discourages students from buying things that may lead to incorrect answers to assigned problem sets. As for things just being flat out wrong, I can only imagine this discourages US/western students from buying International Editions to save money.

Leace 7y ago
> International Editions differ often in the problems at the ends of the chapters in order to protect US and other western markets. Protect in what way? By not disclosing secret problems based on US-centric data?
- hackermailman 7y ago
  I believe edge17 means changing the exercises for the cheaper global edition, so students in western markets are forced to buy the expensive version as they may be assigned these end of chapter problem sets.
  - edge17 7y ago
    Yup, protecting in that the majority of the revenue for the publishers comes from the western markets (US/Europe). It's the same reason companies like Apple don't sell less expensive phones less affluent markets - if they did the price spread would create an opportunity for arbitrageurs. Google et al however, does create less expensive alternative versions of their products for other markets.
deathanatos 7y ago
I bought an international edition of a text in college because it was priced significantly cheaper. And indeed, it had all the same problems, but they had been re-arranged, so when the professor assigned problems "5-15", I needed to know the mapping from the US 5-15 to the international version's numbers. Which, by quickly thumbing through another student's copy, I could generate pretty rapidly, but boy was that annoying. (I might have reconsidered purchasing the international edition had this been disclosed at the time of sale…)
- WrtCdEvrydy 7y ago
  We had a professor that kept mappings for 2-3 versions behind and basically allowed you to buy the used book on Amazon for about $12 compared to $200 for the new one. It's these little things that make your professors stand out.

blub 7y ago

The international edition of that book costs almost 1/4th of the US edition and is still pretty expensive as books go.

giancarlostoro 7y ago

It likely means they dont have a direct contract with the authors and you are better off contacting them directly instead.

userbinator 7y ago

That book seems quite highly recommended but I remember glancing through it and even the US edition had lots of seemingly random but consistent capitalisation errors in the code examples, like someone had autocorrect/autoformat turned on throughout, which IMHO is enough to make me not recommend it --- it's already hard enough for a beginner to use correct code, nevermind code with such errors.

hackermailman 7y ago
It worked well for my goal of satisfying the prereqs of Knuth that the reader is expected to have written a few programs already, which I presume means writing in an assembly language. Another book that could be used instead is 'Computer Organization and Design: The Hardware Software Interface (RISC-V Edition)' and MIT has lectures for it on youtube https://6004.mit.edu/web/spring19/resources/lectures https://6004.mit.edu/web/spring19/resources/lectures should anybody else want to learn.

chx 7y ago

Editing is incredibly hard -- your brain tends to see what should be there and not what's there. Good copyeditors read syllable by syllable to break this up. (I am a tech editor, not a copy editor.)

smartday11 7y ago

●ɢᴏᴏɢʟᴇ ᴘᴀʏ 𝟿𝟻$ ᴄᴏɴsɪsᴛᴇɴᴛʟʏ ᴍʏ ʟᴀsᴛ ᴘᴀʏ ᴄʜᴇᴄᴋ ᴡᴀs $𝟾𝟸𝟶𝟶 ᴡᴏʀᴋɪɴɢ 𝟷𝟶 ʜᴏᴜʀs ᴏᴜᴛ ᴏғ ᴇᴠᴇʀʏ ᴡᴇᴇᴋ ᴏɴ ᴛʜᴇ ᴡᴇʙ. ᴍʏ ᴍᴏʀᴇ ʏᴏᴜɴɢ ᴋɪɴ ʙᴜᴅᴅʏ ʜᴀs ʙᴇᴇɴ ᴀᴠᴇʀᴀɢɪɴɢ 𝟷𝟻ᴋ ᴀʟʟ ᴛʜʀᴏᴜɢʜ ᴏɴɢᴏɪɴɢ ᴍᴏɴᴛʜs ᴀɴᴅ ʜᴇ ᴡᴏʀᴋs ᴀʀᴏᴜɴᴅ 𝟸𝟺 ʜᴏᴜʀs ᴄᴏɴsɪsᴛᴇɴᴛʟʏ. ɪ ᴄᴀɴ'ᴛ ᴄᴏɴғɪᴅᴇ ɪɴ ʜᴏᴡ sᴛʀᴀɪɢʜᴛғᴏʀᴡᴀʀᴅ ɪᴛ ᴡᴀs ᴏɴᴄᴇ ɪ ᴇɴᴅᴇᴀᴠᴏʀᴇᴅ ɪᴛ ᴏᴜᴛ.ᴛʜɪs ɪs ᴍʏ ᴘʀɪᴍᴀʀʏ ᴄᴏɴᴄᴇʀɴ...ɢᴏᴏᴅ ʟᴜᴄᴋ . http://BesteJob.Com http://BesteJob.Com

kc3 7y ago

I published a technical book in the late 90s and the publisher (Pearson) opted to have it translated into a number of other (non-English) languages. I was never told anything about the translations. My assumption was that they used some sort of "contract translation people/service" and just "crank them out". My guess is they aren't that focused on quality. When my book was first published, technical books were much more profitable, but since then publishers have really struggled. The publisher I worked with was fantastic at the time, but since then has repeatedly stated they just want to "get books out there" regardless of the quality. And, I think the market was already tanking by the time my book was translated, so I'm pretty sure quality wasn't a priority for them. They sent me an after-the-fact sample copy of 2-3 of the languages it was translated into, but it was a total surprise to me and I never received any information about the process or that it was happening. In fact, it was so hands off that I have no idea if they translated it into more languages and never sent me a copy. Another factor why the authors the OP contacted may not care could be that the royalty rates were dramatically lower for International sales -- at least that was the case for my book -- I essentially made nothing. I'm not saying people write books only for profit, but the combination of "not even knowing they were translated" with "zero profit motive" makes a potent combination. :-) That being said, I don't believe anyone every contacted me with errata on a translated edition... I guess I should consider myself lucky. :-)

hackermailman 7y ago
Interesting, I know nothing about publishing but this some good insight to having your text manipulated by said publishers. Thanks for comment