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From: ignatz@ucb-vax.ARPA
Newsgroups: net.micro
Subject: Pournelle Column this month
Message-ID: <8537@brl-tgr.ARPA>
Date: Sat, 23-Feb-85 13:30:24 EST
Article-I.D.: brl-tgr.8537
Posted: Sat Feb 23 13:30:24 1985
Date-Received: Wed, 27-Feb-85 05:46:59 EST
Sender: news@brl-tgr.ARPA
Lines: 44

Actually, I agree with Jerry on this.  It used to be that I could walk
into, say, Kroch's and Brentano's, even, and find Knuth's books.
True, the computer section was only one set of shelves, but at least
solid reference texts were available.

Today, any bookstore has a computer section that's longer than the
latest Cadillac, and just as senseless for me to peruse.  I *don't*
want to read any one of the 30 books on "Getting More From Your Apple
Basic", etc., ad nauseum.  Yes, yes--before you all come to the
defense of the poor beginner, I understand that everyone has to start
somewhere.  But so damn' many of these things are crap, and so many
are published, that relatively few solid reference texts for someone
like me ever seem to make it to the shelves.  I belong to the Computer
Science Book Club, mainly because they never pay any attention to my
cancellation letters.  Most books from them, while masquerading as
serious CS texts, are just one level above GMFYAB-- "How To Get More
From CICS".  Fer cripes sakes, I even saw a title the other day on
"Software Defect Removal".  Yep.  Good, old debugging now has a nice
title.  (All of this isn't even to mention how obsolete many of the
texts the LofCS offers tend to be...)  And what with the ACM and its
SIGS having an increasing S/N ration, only the IEEE Computer Society
journal seems to be publishing decent timely stuff anymore.

How about it??  Does anyone have a reasonable source for someone who's
years out of school, looking for treatises and reference texts in
areas such as AI, network theory, etc., that don't have assignment
problems in the back and the word "Elementary" tacked on the front?
Any other professional publications that aren't forums for someone to
publish minor, derivative works to satisfy their "Publish or Perish"
requirements??

Sheesh, this started out as a comment and ended up as a flame...ah,
well, I'll leave it in this group.  I haven't been in contact for a
while, so the mail telling me I'm posting this in the wrong place will
prove that I've still got two-way communication with the net...

	"The next contract requires you to use RSX-11-M..."
		"Uhhh...."

-- 
	Dave Ihnat
	Analysts International Corporation
	(312) 882-4673
	ihnp4!aicchi!ignatz