3 ms·
Why the title?
by Ericson2314 7y ago
Why the title?
- throwawayjava 7y agoI think it's meant in a humble way rather than a self-important way. "Here's a treatment that will be useful for any smart-enough person [even if they aren't a phd in math/theoretical CS]". Perhaps a better title could be "for Any Intelligent Person".
- js8 7y agoI had a similar feeling as OP at first, and then I realized the same as you. I would personally suggest a title "for curious people".
- llamaz 7y agoI thought it was ironic, because it starts out almost like a children's story and is very approachable. I'd rather read this than a textbook, that's for sure.
- jldugger 7y agoYou know the book series 'Computers for Dummies?' It's a play on that. See also Zytrax's 'X for Rocket Scientists' which covers complicated stuff like LDAP and DNS and explains why they are the way they are.
- dredmorbius 7y agoJoe Celko's SQL for Smarties (https://www.oreilly.com/library/view/joe-celkos-sql/9780128007617/ https://www.oreilly.com/library/view/joe-celkos-sql/97801280...) and "Learn X the Hard Way" (Python, Java, C/C++, etc.) also play on the "for idiots/dummies" motif.
- Myrmornis 7y agoI didn't even make the "for dummies" connection! The name is a huge fail but it looks like the author meant it well, perhaps someone should tell him that it comes across as intellectual elitism and exclusionary to people who perhaps feel a little insecure reading material on the internet that is associated with fancy universities and graduate schools.