5 Jun
2013
5 Jun
'13
3:17 p.m.
> 7 years ago, when they discontinued all of the
"advanced" programming
> classes, I was re-assigned to be a librarian. I insisted on the library
> getting Knuth and K&R. The head librarian tried to veto them, "They are
> WAY TOO OLD! We should only get current stuff." I pushed it. Hard.
On Wed, 5 Jun 2013, Tony Duell wrote:
So presumably the Enlgish Literature course manages
without any works by
Shakespear. The religeous instruction course manages without a Bible.
Ho-hum...
The English Lit courses do not use the original editions. They use
whatever copy of Hamlet was published within the last 5 years. (He does
get reprinted a lot)
For Shakespeare or Bible, You can (and until my action HAD TO) get an
edition published this year.
Now, if a teacher wants to stick with an older edition or commentary, they
can, by parroting: "It is a CLASSIC WORK IN THE FIELD"
When I waged that battle, I used lots of examples in literature -
What's wrong with an old edition of "Moby Dick"?
What's wrong with an old edition of "Gulliver's Travels"?
I used to use astronomy, but the dissing of Pluto argued in their favor.
So, I switched to
What new has happened in history of the Roman Empire?
Are the dinosaurs no longer extinct?
Has the year 1066 changed much lately?
But, the argument that was most effective was:
"If you won't permit use of older editions,
then you must increase the budget for the library!"
Some months back a local chrity shop (what you cal la
thrift store) had
the 3-volume set (2nd and 3rd editions) in a slip case for \pounds 5.00.
Well, I am not a progranmmer .... But I bought them, of course. I might
even complete reading them one day.
Good.
On your advice, I bought a copy of "Art Of Electronics".
Good books are worthwhile even if for a field on which you have only a
casual interest.
--
Grumpy Ol' Fred cisin at xenosoft.com