Code Project or books
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I have found that a lot of the articles on CP cover rather useful things. I personally like to read books etc. when learning a new technique, but that is because CP does not provide great information for PHP devs (but if we had our own forum....), but I was wondering if you .Net guys prefer CP to books with regards to new techniques etc. I do make a point to read the C++ articles though.
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I am in the works of devising a devilishy evil plan, to make an offer Chris CAN'T refuse! I am thinking I will trade Kyle's head for a PHP forum.
Brad Australian - Christian Graus on "Best books for VBscript" A big thick one, so you can whack yourself on the head with it.
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I am in the works of devising a devilishy evil plan, to make an offer Chris CAN'T refuse! I am thinking I will trade Kyle's head for a PHP forum.
Brad Australian - Christian Graus on "Best books for VBscript" A big thick one, so you can whack yourself on the head with it.
Bradml wrote:
I am thinking I will trade Kyle's head for a PHP forum.
Sounds like a good deal to me!:)
Jonathan Wilkes Darka [Xanya.net]
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What is your prefernece though?
Brad Australian - Christian Graus on "Best books for VBscript" A big thick one, so you can whack yourself on the head with it.
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I have found that a lot of the articles on CP cover rather useful things. I personally like to read books etc. when learning a new technique, but that is because CP does not provide great information for PHP devs (but if we had our own forum....), but I was wondering if you .Net guys prefer CP to books with regards to new techniques etc. I do make a point to read the C++ articles though.
Bradml wrote:
but I was wondering if you .Net guys prefer CP to books with regards to new techniques etc.
I've found that most technical books are so dumbed down that they are worthless. I don't know who buys these things, and I don't know why publishers have decided that the primary audience is the neophyte. Actually, I do know why--because technical people aren't the best writers, but in my limited experience, publishers provide editors that are even less technical. The result is a useless book. But who buys them is a mystery to me still. So, I tend to look only at very technical books, typically written by the creator of the technology/language. Another disqualifier is books where half the print or more is page long code examples. It's pathetic how publishers use that technique to fluff up a book. I find the Internet in general a much better resource for technical information. I do however greatly miss the San Diego Technical Book Store, living here in farm land, NY! Marc
People are just notoriously impossible. --DavidCrow
There's NO excuse for not commenting your code. -- John Simmons / outlaw programmer
People who say that they will refactor their code later to make it "good" don't understand refactoring, nor the art and craft of programming. -- Josh Smith -
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Ok you are stuck on a deserted island......
Brad Australian - Christian Graus on "Best books for VBscript" A big thick one, so you can whack yourself on the head with it.
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I am in the works of devising a devilishy evil plan, to make an offer Chris CAN'T refuse! I am thinking I will trade Kyle's head for a PHP forum.
Brad Australian - Christian Graus on "Best books for VBscript" A big thick one, so you can whack yourself on the head with it.
Bradml wrote:
I am in the works of devising a devilishy evil plan, to make an offer Chris CAN'T refuse! I am thinking I will trade Kyle's head for a PHP forum.
Suddenly I feel the stirrings of an interest in PHP welling up.:-D
the last thing I want to see is some pasty-faced geek with skin so pale that it's almost translucent trying to bump parts with a partner - John Simmons / outlaw programmer
Deja View - the feeling that you've seen this post before. -
Bradml wrote:
I am in the works of devising a devilishy evil plan, to make an offer Chris CAN'T refuse! I am thinking I will trade Kyle's head for a PHP forum.
Suddenly I feel the stirrings of an interest in PHP welling up.:-D
the last thing I want to see is some pasty-faced geek with skin so pale that it's almost translucent trying to bump parts with a partner - John Simmons / outlaw programmer
Deja View - the feeling that you've seen this post before. -
Jon Sagara wrote:
Oh, well in that case, lots of hot women and cold beer.
Amen!
:josh: My WPF Blog[^]
We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence then, is not an act, but a habit. - Aristotle -
I have found that a lot of the articles on CP cover rather useful things. I personally like to read books etc. when learning a new technique, but that is because CP does not provide great information for PHP devs (but if we had our own forum....), but I was wondering if you .Net guys prefer CP to books with regards to new techniques etc. I do make a point to read the C++ articles though.
I use both. I tend to love the books for getting into a subject, but find the CP to be specifically technical. Also, when I commute, I cannot read CP, but can read a book. I think the important thing with tech books is taking time to get the right one. When I go to buy a new tech book I can spend hours just looking for one that meets my learning style and also does not gloss over the simple stuff I can find anywhere. I prefer it if it has "I did not know I could do that that way" material inside. I usually stick with Apress, sometimes WROX and anything in black and red by Microsoft (Usually). I stay away from Orielly as I think these books are way over rated and are sheer coffee leg replacements. Aaron
_____________________________________________________________________ Our developers never release code. Rather, it tends to escape, pillaging the countryside all around. The Enlightenment Project (paraphrased comment) Visit Me at GISDevCafe
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I have found that a lot of the articles on CP cover rather useful things. I personally like to read books etc. when learning a new technique, but that is because CP does not provide great information for PHP devs (but if we had our own forum....), but I was wondering if you .Net guys prefer CP to books with regards to new techniques etc. I do make a point to read the C++ articles though.
Both really. The problem that I've tended to find in books though is that they are very generic, and focus on very high level issues. Which is fine if you're skim-learning something. I find that the focussed approach to individual problems on CP is a much better approach for finding how to solve real issues though.
the last thing I want to see is some pasty-faced geek with skin so pale that it's almost translucent trying to bump parts with a partner - John Simmons / outlaw programmer
Deja View - the feeling that you've seen this post before. -
Bradml wrote:
but I was wondering if you .Net guys prefer CP to books with regards to new techniques etc.
I've found that most technical books are so dumbed down that they are worthless. I don't know who buys these things, and I don't know why publishers have decided that the primary audience is the neophyte. Actually, I do know why--because technical people aren't the best writers, but in my limited experience, publishers provide editors that are even less technical. The result is a useless book. But who buys them is a mystery to me still. So, I tend to look only at very technical books, typically written by the creator of the technology/language. Another disqualifier is books where half the print or more is page long code examples. It's pathetic how publishers use that technique to fluff up a book. I find the Internet in general a much better resource for technical information. I do however greatly miss the San Diego Technical Book Store, living here in farm land, NY! Marc
People are just notoriously impossible. --DavidCrow
There's NO excuse for not commenting your code. -- John Simmons / outlaw programmer
People who say that they will refactor their code later to make it "good" don't understand refactoring, nor the art and craft of programming. -- Josh SmithMarc, I agree with you that the bookshelves are flooded with "XYZ for Dummies" (whether the books are actually named like that is irrelevant). However, as you mentioned, there are diamonds in the rough. Those more than make up for the deluge of crappy books that teach morons how to be hackers. Here are some diamonds, to me: Design Patterns (Gamma, et al). Inside C# (Archer & Whitechapel). Applications = Code + Markup (Petzold). Advanced .NET Programming (Robinson). Essential .NET (Box & Sells). Those books have helped open my eyes to new worlds of software, and I'll never regret reading them. I regret wasting my time with other books, but that's life. The same goes for CP articles.
:josh: My WPF Blog[^]
We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence then, is not an act, but a habit. - Aristotle -
I use both. I tend to love the books for getting into a subject, but find the CP to be specifically technical. Also, when I commute, I cannot read CP, but can read a book. I think the important thing with tech books is taking time to get the right one. When I go to buy a new tech book I can spend hours just looking for one that meets my learning style and also does not gloss over the simple stuff I can find anywhere. I prefer it if it has "I did not know I could do that that way" material inside. I usually stick with Apress, sometimes WROX and anything in black and red by Microsoft (Usually). I stay away from Orielly as I think these books are way over rated and are sheer coffee leg replacements. Aaron
_____________________________________________________________________ Our developers never release code. Rather, it tends to escape, pillaging the countryside all around. The Enlightenment Project (paraphrased comment) Visit Me at GISDevCafe
Aaron VanWieren wrote:
I usually stick with Apress
I happen to have 8 different Apress books at the moment.
Aaron VanWieren wrote:
Orielly
X|
Brad Australian - Christian Graus on "Best books for VBscript" A big thick one, so you can whack yourself on the head with it.
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Both really. The problem that I've tended to find in books though is that they are very generic, and focus on very high level issues. Which is fine if you're skim-learning something. I find that the focussed approach to individual problems on CP is a much better approach for finding how to solve real issues though.
the last thing I want to see is some pasty-faced geek with skin so pale that it's almost translucent trying to bump parts with a partner - John Simmons / outlaw programmer
Deja View - the feeling that you've seen this post before. -
What is your prefernece though?
Brad Australian - Christian Graus on "Best books for VBscript" A big thick one, so you can whack yourself on the head with it.
I love books. But my wife hates them because I leave them sitting out and stacked around the furniture.
Mike in NH
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I love books. But my wife hates them because I leave them sitting out and stacked around the furniture.
Mike in NH
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Aaron VanWieren wrote:
I usually stick with Apress
I happen to have 8 different Apress books at the moment.
Aaron VanWieren wrote:
Orielly
X|
Brad Australian - Christian Graus on "Best books for VBscript" A big thick one, so you can whack yourself on the head with it.
I have got way to many books period. I was originally working in vb6 then c#. Built up large general and specialty libraries for both of those and then last year started to work with Java, spring, hibernate ect., So got another large slew of books on those topics. Now I am back in .Net land. I still occasionally pick up books, but these tend to be the ones that are extremely topic specialized and not so broad (CLR inside out Microsoft). The other book focus I have garnered lately is in architecture and general development, but most of these use java as their source. Just Rambling Aaron
_____________________________________________________________________ Our developers never release code. Rather, it tends to escape, pillaging the countryside all around. The Enlightenment Project (paraphrased comment) Visit Me at GISDevCafe
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Bradml wrote:
I am in the works of devising a devilishy evil plan, to make an offer Chris CAN'T refuse! I am thinking I will trade Kyle's head for a PHP forum.
Suddenly I feel the stirrings of an interest in PHP welling up.:-D
the last thing I want to see is some pasty-faced geek with skin so pale that it's almost translucent trying to bump parts with a partner - John Simmons / outlaw programmer
Deja View - the feeling that you've seen this post before. -
I have found that a lot of the articles on CP cover rather useful things. I personally like to read books etc. when learning a new technique, but that is because CP does not provide great information for PHP devs (but if we had our own forum....), but I was wondering if you .Net guys prefer CP to books with regards to new techniques etc. I do make a point to read the C++ articles though.