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Great work. Sorry side track totally. as part of my degree is under a Chicago School professor, who I respect but still his work find puzzling. Can this be a

Great work. Sorry side track totally. as part of my degree is under a Chicago School professor, who I respect but still his work find puzzling. Can this be a counter-example … just like many others open source project. The problem of public good i.e. those unlike fish cannot be eaten. He went on to do work on trademark, copyright and patent. Well copyright is what open source rely upon he would say. But what is the incentive of doing it. Would the total output less because of this … he would ask. The question as normal here: why not say sell it and give the money to something you like, like charity.

michaelsbradley 4y ago
why not say sell it and give the money to something you like, like charity. Per the author's website ( https://cs.brown.edu/~sk/ https://cs.brown.edu/~sk/ ), he is a dedicated educator. Maybe he explicitly or implicitly intended the publication of this work under a Creative Commons license to be an exercise of charity (in the "love your neighbor" sense), kindness, goodness, and/or generosity.
OkayPhysicist 4y ago
At the end of the day, somebody needs to do the work in order to create good. Adding layers of transactions can only reduce, not increase efficiency. If you, a person who knows something, want to achieve a public good in educating others on that thing, then the most efficient way of achieving that is just spreading the knowledge yourself. If you sold your knowledge in a book, and then used the money to pay someone else to write a book teaching the same thing, and then distributed that for free, you can only have lost efficiency. It's like asking "Why should I pay for college instead of working to make money to pay someone else to go to college and then teach that information to me": It's absurd, because it introduces entirely unnecessary transactions.
skrishnamurthi 4y ago
I'm afraid I don't really understand this question. I am interpreting it as, "Why is the author giving it away for free instead of charging money for it". If that is not what you meant to ask, sorry! Anyway, if that is what you meant to ask: Well, I'm the author, so my answer may have some substance (-:. I have a good job and it pays me to have impact. I can have much more impact by giving away the book to people interested in learning. [º] [º] This is not 100% true. Over the years, people have told me they value a book more if it costs something. I am not looking to please them. In particular, I grew up in India and we could not afford fancy (but great) Western textbooks. If there's a student like me right now (whether in India or Indiana) who wants to learn from my book but for whom its cost is an obstacle, that would make me very sad. That's why all the books I have (co-)authored have been available for free. On the first edition's site [https://cs.brown.edu/~sk/Publications/Books/ProgLangs/2007-04-26/ https://cs.brown.edu/~sk/Publications/Books/ProgLangs/2007-0...] you can see the different models by which I have made the book available. They have netted me some modest revenue. But there's always a free option.
- j33zusjuice 4y ago
  I haven’t read any of your books yet, but I can’t overstate how much I respect your stance on pricing and impact. Thank you!
- UncleEntity 4y ago
  I’d buy a paper edition if it were available to “support the cause”. The last programming language book I bought the author got two sales because Amazon didn’t follow the delivery notes where I specifically said don’t leave it on the porch or it will get stolen and one of my sketchy neighbors got a free copy. Almost got a third sale as well but I happened to be home and tracking the delivery driver so managed to get it off my porch before the neighbors saw it.
  - melagonster 4y ago
    I can't understand why anyone try to stolen a programming book...
bawolff 4y ago
Imagine if he sold the book to raise money for a charity that publishes books for free.
naasking 4y ago
> The question as normal here: why not say sell it and give the money to something you like, like charity. Giving away the book is a charitable donation to the entire software industry. That is giving his money away to something he likes.
- skrishnamurthi 4y ago
  That's a lovely way to put it.

michaelsbradley 4y ago

why not say sell it and give the money to something you like, like charity. Per the author's website ( https://cs.brown.edu/~sk/ https://cs.brown.edu/~sk/ ), he is a dedicated educator. Maybe he explicitly or implicitly intended the publication of this work under a Creative Commons license to be an exercise of charity (in the "love your neighbor" sense), kindness, goodness, and/or generosity.

OkayPhysicist 4y ago

At the end of the day, somebody needs to do the work in order to create good. Adding layers of transactions can only reduce, not increase efficiency. If you, a person who knows something, want to achieve a public good in educating others on that thing, then the most efficient way of achieving that is just spreading the knowledge yourself. If you sold your knowledge in a book, and then used the money to pay someone else to write a book teaching the same thing, and then distributed that for free, you can only have lost efficiency. It's like asking "Why should I pay for college instead of working to make money to pay someone else to go to college and then teach that information to me": It's absurd, because it introduces entirely unnecessary transactions.

skrishnamurthi 4y ago

I'm afraid I don't really understand this question. I am interpreting it as, "Why is the author giving it away for free instead of charging money for it". If that is not what you meant to ask, sorry! Anyway, if that is what you meant to ask: Well, I'm the author, so my answer may have some substance (-:. I have a good job and it pays me to have impact. I can have much more impact by giving away the book to people interested in learning. [º] [º] This is not 100% true. Over the years, people have told me they value a book more if it costs something. I am not looking to please them. In particular, I grew up in India and we could not afford fancy (but great) Western textbooks. If there's a student like me right now (whether in India or Indiana) who wants to learn from my book but for whom its cost is an obstacle, that would make me very sad. That's why all the books I have (co-)authored have been available for free. On the first edition's site [https://cs.brown.edu/~sk/Publications/Books/ProgLangs/2007-04-26/ https://cs.brown.edu/~sk/Publications/Books/ProgLangs/2007-0...] you can see the different models by which I have made the book available. They have netted me some modest revenue. But there's always a free option.

j33zusjuice 4y ago
I haven’t read any of your books yet, but I can’t overstate how much I respect your stance on pricing and impact. Thank you!
UncleEntity 4y ago
I’d buy a paper edition if it were available to “support the cause”. The last programming language book I bought the author got two sales because Amazon didn’t follow the delivery notes where I specifically said don’t leave it on the porch or it will get stolen and one of my sketchy neighbors got a free copy. Almost got a third sale as well but I happened to be home and tracking the delivery driver so managed to get it off my porch before the neighbors saw it.
- melagonster 4y ago
  I can't understand why anyone try to stolen a programming book...

bawolff 4y ago

Imagine if he sold the book to raise money for a charity that publishes books for free.

naasking 4y ago

> The question as normal here: why not say sell it and give the money to something you like, like charity. Giving away the book is a charitable donation to the entire software industry. That is giving his money away to something he likes.

skrishnamurthi 4y ago
That's a lovely way to put it.