4 ms·

I divide technical books in two categories: - Those explaining a programming language, framework or application with a specific version. These books clearly ha

by bzzzt 5y ago

I divide technical books in two categories: - Those explaining a programming language, framework or application with a specific version. These books clearly have a lifespan related to the thing they are explaining and will often end up in second hand or wholesale shops. - Books explaining principles. It doesn't matter if they are 2 or 20 years old since the things they are explaining don't really change.

bryanrasmussen 5y ago
Sure, but the greatest preponderance of programming books explain the first, also some books that seem to be explaining the second are really more tightly tied to a particular programming language or platform than they like to let on - like Clean Code with Java.
- II2II 5y ago
  Which is almost entirely unique to programming books. Take a book on electronics, and a book discussing principles and a 20 year old book will be nearly as relevant as one published today. Take a book on physics and a 100 year old book will be be nearly as relevant as one published today. That doesn't mean the fields are unchanging. Modern electronics is definitely more sophisticated and much of classical physics has been superseded by modern physics. One definitely needs more modern treatments in order to work at the frontiers of these fields. Yet the principles are less ephemeral. On the other hand, software development is much more fad driven. The most basic principles may still apply, yet the application of those principles change (sometimes subtly and sometimes dramatically) due to a tendency to throw the baby out with the bathwater.
  - bryanrasmussen 5y ago
    I'm used to that from math, but I wonder if math books have many urls as citations. I guess I haven't read any modern ones but I wouldn't expect it, so do modern electronics books have urls as citations?
    - II2II 5y ago
      From what I have seen, which is admittedly limited, textbooks tend to push additional services from the publisher but very little is lost if you don't use those services. Then again, the books I have seen are older (even though I may be reading a recent edition). Anything directed towards more casual learners, I would have a hard time commenting on since it tends to be more the history of science rather than being technical in nature (where references tend towards primary sources anyway), or embedded development (which seems to suffer from a similar mentality as software and web development since it has a software bias).

by bzzzt 5y ago

bryanrasmussen 5y ago

Sure, but the greatest preponderance of programming books explain the first, also some books that seem to be explaining the second are really more tightly tied to a particular programming language or platform than they like to let on - like Clean Code with Java.

II2II 5y ago
Which is almost entirely unique to programming books. Take a book on electronics, and a book discussing principles and a 20 year old book will be nearly as relevant as one published today. Take a book on physics and a 100 year old book will be be nearly as relevant as one published today. That doesn't mean the fields are unchanging. Modern electronics is definitely more sophisticated and much of classical physics has been superseded by modern physics. One definitely needs more modern treatments in order to work at the frontiers of these fields. Yet the principles are less ephemeral. On the other hand, software development is much more fad driven. The most basic principles may still apply, yet the application of those principles change (sometimes subtly and sometimes dramatically) due to a tendency to throw the baby out with the bathwater.
- bryanrasmussen 5y ago
  I'm used to that from math, but I wonder if math books have many urls as citations. I guess I haven't read any modern ones but I wouldn't expect it, so do modern electronics books have urls as citations?
  - II2II 5y ago
    From what I have seen, which is admittedly limited, textbooks tend to push additional services from the publisher but very little is lost if you don't use those services. Then again, the books I have seen are older (even though I may be reading a recent edition). Anything directed towards more casual learners, I would have a hard time commenting on since it tends to be more the history of science rather than being technical in nature (where references tend towards primary sources anyway), or embedded development (which seems to suffer from a similar mentality as software and web development since it has a software bias).