5 ms·

Do programmers still buy printed books?

5 points by acangiano 17y ago

yannis 17y ago
Programmers always spent their money on books and computers and they will forever! :)
bayareaguy 17y ago
For me the whole point of buying programming books is to save time and these days fewer and fewer printed books accomplish that. Before the web I used to drive 50 miles every other weekend to buy books from Computer Literacy to add to my personal library when I didn't have a need for them because of the time saved having them at hand later. I don't do this anymore, in part because for my needs the web is often sufficient but also because Computer Literacy eventually went out of business and there's no comparable store anymore worth that trip. These days I'm thrilled whenever I do find a printed programming book likely to save me time compared to searching the web. The last such book I found was Kurt Jung and Aaron Brown's "Beginning Lua Programming". It's full of well-organized time-saving details and an excellent companion to Roberto Ierusalimschy's "Programming in Lua", a book at the same quality level as K&R's "The C Programming Language". Unless the price is an absolute bargin, I won't bother buying a printed book unless it's as good as those.
erikstarck 17y ago
I do! Books are great for learning. You can tell how difficult something is simply by the weight of the book. Books have a linear structure suitable for learning. You always know how far you've got and how much you have left to learn by the number of pages left. You can even feel it with your fingers! No online tutorial comes close. Just wish they had a CTRL+F.
- pjonesdotca 17y ago
  I like that Pragprog gives you the option of buying both the deadtree and pdf versions. That way you CAN have your Ctl-F and something to read on holiday at the same time.
draegtun 17y ago
Perhaps the question should be "Do programmers still read printed books?". Because I still regularly buy printed books but a lot do seem to end up on the shelf unread or barely read collecting dust :(
DanielStraight 17y ago
Yes. I buy lots of printed books (and not just for programming). I've probably bought at least a dozen computer books this year alone. I've read several of them cover to cover, substantial portions of several, and used several just for occasional reference. My favorite type of computer books to buy is more theoretical books. Most books to learn a technology are not much better than tutorials online. Reference books don't really beat Google. However, books intended for READING are much better in print. There is no way I would read Code Complete on a computer screen. 800, or however many pages it is, is just way too much not to have paper and ink. Another point for books, you OWN them. Most digital content, you don't really own. If it has any DRM at all of any kind whatsoever, you don't own it. You're leasing it at best. Furthermore, accidental deletion and disk failure are much more likely than your house burning down or flooding to destroy your books. It's even worse if the content lives on someone else's servers. I don't want the availability of my books to be subject to some company's continued existence. If Honda goes out of business, I still have a car. If O'Reilly goes out of business, I should still have my books. There are other ways this comes up. If my internet access goes out, I should still have my books. Another point of books, you can resell or gift them. I bought a computer book recently that I didn't find very useful. I think I got it for like $30 used on Amazon. It's still going for about the same price. So basically I can sell it and have paid nothing for it. Try that with a PDF. Another advantage of books, you can go to a bookstore and browse through them all you want. If you really wanted, you could go to Barnes & Noble, get some coffee, pick up a computer book and read the whole thing there in the store. Sure, some places give previews, but they decide what part of the book the preview comes from and how much you can see. When you're shopping for books, you decide (assuming you're in a store, not on Amazon).
jrockway 17y ago
I sold more printed copies than electronic copies (of my Catalyst book). Personally, I buy ebooks whenever possible. Printed books are fine, but you have to wait for them to arrive. When you buy an ebook, you can start reading immediately. For technical books, I don't mind being forced to read in front of my computer. I am going to want to play with "real code" while I am reading anyway, so I am probably not going to be too far from my computer. (An exception; I read "Real World Haskell" on two very long flights. There was just a lot to play with when I got home...) For non-technical books, the Kindle is much nicer than a physical book. Smaller, lighter, cheaper content, and nobody knows what you are reading about.

5 points by acangiano 17y ago

Programmers always spent their money on books and computers and they will forever! :)

For me the whole point of buying programming books is to save time and these days fewer and fewer printed books accomplish that. Before the web I used to drive 50 miles every other weekend to buy books from Computer Literacy to add to my personal library when I didn't have a need for them because of the time saved having them at hand later. I don't do this anymore, in part because for my needs the web is often sufficient but also because Computer Literacy eventually went out of business and there's no comparable store anymore worth that trip. These days I'm thrilled whenever I do find a printed programming book likely to save me time compared to searching the web. The last such book I found was Kurt Jung and Aaron Brown's "Beginning Lua Programming". It's full of well-organized time-saving details and an excellent companion to Roberto Ierusalimschy's "Programming in Lua", a book at the same quality level as K&R's "The C Programming Language". Unless the price is an absolute bargin, I won't bother buying a printed book unless it's as good as those.

erikstarck 17y ago

I do! Books are great for learning. You can tell how difficult something is simply by the weight of the book. Books have a linear structure suitable for learning. You always know how far you've got and how much you have left to learn by the number of pages left. You can even feel it with your fingers! No online tutorial comes close. Just wish they had a CTRL+F.

pjonesdotca 17y ago
I like that Pragprog gives you the option of buying both the deadtree and pdf versions. That way you CAN have your Ctl-F and something to read on holiday at the same time.

draegtun 17y ago

Perhaps the question should be "Do programmers still read printed books?". Because I still regularly buy printed books but a lot do seem to end up on the shelf unread or barely read collecting dust :(

DanielStraight 17y ago

Yes. I buy lots of printed books (and not just for programming). I've probably bought at least a dozen computer books this year alone. I've read several of them cover to cover, substantial portions of several, and used several just for occasional reference. My favorite type of computer books to buy is more theoretical books. Most books to learn a technology are not much better than tutorials online. Reference books don't really beat Google. However, books intended for READING are much better in print. There is no way I would read Code Complete on a computer screen. 800, or however many pages it is, is just way too much not to have paper and ink. Another point for books, you OWN them. Most digital content, you don't really own. If it has any DRM at all of any kind whatsoever, you don't own it. You're leasing it at best. Furthermore, accidental deletion and disk failure are much more likely than your house burning down or flooding to destroy your books. It's even worse if the content lives on someone else's servers. I don't want the availability of my books to be subject to some company's continued existence. If Honda goes out of business, I still have a car. If O'Reilly goes out of business, I should still have my books. There are other ways this comes up. If my internet access goes out, I should still have my books. Another point of books, you can resell or gift them. I bought a computer book recently that I didn't find very useful. I think I got it for like $30 used on Amazon. It's still going for about the same price. So basically I can sell it and have paid nothing for it. Try that with a PDF. Another advantage of books, you can go to a bookstore and browse through them all you want. If you really wanted, you could go to Barnes & Noble, get some coffee, pick up a computer book and read the whole thing there in the store. Sure, some places give previews, but they decide what part of the book the preview comes from and how much you can see. When you're shopping for books, you decide (assuming you're in a store, not on Amazon).

jrockway 17y ago

I sold more printed copies than electronic copies (of my Catalyst book). Personally, I buy ebooks whenever possible. Printed books are fine, but you have to wait for them to arrive. When you buy an ebook, you can start reading immediately. For technical books, I don't mind being forced to read in front of my computer. I am going to want to play with "real code" while I am reading anyway, so I am probably not going to be too far from my computer. (An exception; I read "Real World Haskell" on two very long flights. There was just a lot to play with when I got home...) For non-technical books, the Kindle is much nicer than a physical book. Smaller, lighter, cheaper content, and nobody knows what you are reading about.