On Sat, 06 Dec 2008 12:28:13 -0500 jh@physics.ucf.edu wrote:
I don't expect we'll start on this volume until at least two years from now, based on our rate of progress on the docstrings, but I propose we use the academic process outlined here. For our case, we don't need to have a commercial publisher (but could, with appropriate license), and we can put the chapter drafts online for a public review in addition to getting expert reviews.
--jh--
I wonder if O'Reilly would have any interest in helping support such a project at some level. I've recently been reading the Subversion manual, which is published online for free (and in paperback) by O'Reilly. http://svnbook.red-bean.com/ I know that O'Reilly has a long history of supporting open-source. Perhaps a little professional editing could be contributed... There is also (at least in my mind) a huge degree of legitimacy a project gains when I see an O'Reilly book. If there is an O'Reilly book it must be real. 8-) BTW - the forward to the subversion book has some really good ideas in it about how to write such a manual - in terms of mining user questions for a FAQ sort of approach on top of the usual exposition. -- ----------------------------------------------------------------------- | Alan K. Jackson | To see a World in a Grain of Sand | | alan@ajackson.org | And a Heaven in a Wild Flower, | | www.ajackson.org | Hold Infinity in the palm of your hand | | Houston, Texas | And Eternity in an hour. - Blake | -----------------------------------------------------------------------