Re: C++ n00b
From: Tabrez Iqbal (tabrez19_i_at_rediffmail.com)
Date: 09/08/04
- Next message: Francis Glassborow: "Re: Problems reversing strings"
- Previous message: David White: "Re: C++ n00b"
- In reply to: Alwyn: "Re: C++ n00b"
- Next in thread: Jerry Coffin: "Re: C++ n00b"
- Messages sorted by: [ date ] [ thread ] [ subject ] [ author ]
Date: 7 Sep 2004 23:44:06 -0700
Alwyn <dt015a1979@mac.com.invalid> wrote in message news:<070920042132428740%dt015a1979@mac.com.invalid>...
> In article <qvPll8nsZgPBFwhP@robinton.demon.co.uk>, Francis Glassborow
> <francis@robinton.demon.co.uk> wrote:
>
> > In article <070920041858455219%dt015a1979@mac.com.invalid>, Alwyn
> > <dt015a1979@mac.com.invalid> writes
> > >Which is just a collection of opinions, like yours or mine. I would
> > >prefer to balance those out against those of readers at:
> > ><http://www.amazon.com>
> >
> > Not a problem, but it is probably worth remembering that in the case of
> > books for novices the ACCU reviews are written by people who actually do
> > usually spot authors who, however elegantly and readably, write books
> > that have numerous technical errors. It is in the nature of Amazon
> > reviews that most of them are written by people in the target readership
> > who probably cannot spot the errors (if they could they would not be
> > spending time and money reading the book. Amazon reviews for leisure
> > reading are great, but when it comes to technical books on any subject
> > they are much more suspect.
>
> That's a serious point, but I have to ask myself: If I am approaching a
> subject as a beginner, do I trust the opinion of experts about reading
> material, or do I trust other beginners who claim to have learnt from
> it? - bearing in mind that the 'experts' presumably know the stuff
> already and have little feeling for the 'pedagogical' aspect of the
> work.
If a beginner is considered more suitable to recommend the books for
other beginners, then students should start teaching the other
students, trainees should start training the other trainees. The
experts should also have gone through initial stages of learning at
some point of time and hence should know what kind of a treatment to a
subject is suitable for the beginners. For a beginner its so difficult
to judge which review on amazom.com is trustworthy and which one is
not.
> I think I would split the weight of the opinion half and half:
> the beginners tend not to know much about the technical mistakes (which
> can, in any case, be remedied later), and the experts may overlook the
> fact that what they are reading may well be impenetrable to people who
> don't already have a 'background' in the subject.
This is true for some experts but not all. For example Francis
Glassborow is favourite in my circle, we(beginners) feel we can trust
him. I still prefer to give the 'benefit of doubt' to experts rather
than beginner programmers at amazon.com
> At the end of the day, the main question is: How much do we learn? How
> useful did we find that book? That's something that people who knew it
> all already cannot answer.
This is debatable.
tabrez
tabrez
- Next message: Francis Glassborow: "Re: Problems reversing strings"
- Previous message: David White: "Re: C++ n00b"
- In reply to: Alwyn: "Re: C++ n00b"
- Next in thread: Jerry Coffin: "Re: C++ n00b"
- Messages sorted by: [ date ] [ thread ] [ subject ] [ author ]
Relevant Pages
|
