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'PHP 5 Power Programming' Available for Download
OneSeventeen writes "As mentioned earlier on slashdot, the Bruce Perens Open Source series has expanded its selection with PHP 5 Power Programming. As with all of the books in this series, electronic copies are offered free of charge several months after its printed release. While it is always nice to have even more PHP books on the bookshelves, this has been officially released on the Bruce Perens' Open Source Series for download in the form of a 720 page PDF file. Better PHP programming is only 9.3MB away!"
Here is a link to said pdf: PDF
Everyone uses PDF.
There are 2 formats that I download almost constantly (reading academic papers) postscript and pdf.
Everyone uses PDF.
I asked "Why PDF?" I didn't ask "How many people use PDF?" And you are wrong, I've read plenty of online books in HTML.
There are 2 formats that I download almost constantly (reading academic papers) postscript and pdf.
I asked "Why PDF?" I didn't ask "Do you read PDF?".
Since you seem to prefer it, would you mind answering my question? What's the benefit of PDF?
Part of being a good programmer is using the best tools for the job.
For many contracts, to act in the client's best interests, you have to build code that they can get up and running on a typical web hosting package. Practically all hosts offer PHP support. I have yet to see one offer Ruby support.
For many contracts, to act in the client's best interests, you have to develop something that other developers will be able to work on. This entails using commonplace languages like PHP, not obscure Japanese ones like Ruby.
Even if you hate the language, there are lots of reasons to pick PHP over Ruby. Posting comments like yours just gives the impression you are some student who likes to think you're better than everyone else because you've jumped on the latest trendy bandwagon. Grow up.
Just that everyone uses it :-)
Citeseer doesn't offer HTML, and many academic papers are difficult to find in that format. Mostly people pass around tex files and process them into whatever format is appropriate, since we don't want to process the tex, we pass around a nice looking PDF or PS.
As for benefits... eh, it looks the same to everyone who reads it. Essentially that's the benefit.
I don't work for the company. I just like the software as its light, fast and no-install and it might be useful if you don't want to wait for acrobat.
Foxit reader
Get paid to search..It's geniune and
Isn't it as simple as:
Chapter 1:
Use Perl
Index
Perl, 1
-Bill
SlashSig Karma: Excellent (mostly affected by moderatio
Looking the same isn't a benefit. The optimal width of the page, the optimal size of the font, etc, depend on things like screen DPI, viewport size and even things like how far away the reader is sitting from the screen.
Looking the same under all circumstances is what bugs me the most about PDF.
You're right.
What we were thinking.
Let me go tell everyone to change real quick.
pdf is stupid AND proprietary !
It's not proprietary.
Find free books.
What is this obsession you have with "everybody"? First you state that "everybody" uses PDFs - wrong. Then you keep implying that since "everybody" does it, it absolutely must be the best solution.
PDF sucks for reading stuff off the screen, and I'm not going to print out 700 pages.
Wow, check out the Perens series' web page -- I hadn't realized they'd brought out so many titles. This is really impressively enlightened for a traditional print publisher. Note that all the books are available under a real free-as-in-speech license. Of the publishers that have tried making books free in digital form, almost all have made them free as in beer only. Prentice-Hall has really gone out on a limb for free information with the Perens series; it's even legal for their competitors to bring out competing editions of the same books! I hope this experiment turns out to be a commercial success, because that would be a big victory for free-as-in-speech books, and it would also help some of these writers to make a living while doing free information. BTW, all the books in the series are available for reviewing on theassayer.org.
Find free books.
What is the obsession you have with being so fractious.
Take it down a notch man.
Shit, the guy published his book in PDF format, and gave it away, and every post on this topic has been about the fact that he did it as PDF (guess nobody gives a shit about PHP).
Ok, fine. Nobody uses PDF, but you need a PDF reader to get that book, and any academic paper out of citeseer.
I asked an honest question without any malice whatsoever. I honestly want to know why this was published as a PDF, since I can't see any benefit.
Your reply completely ignored my question in order to tell me how popular PDF is. Then you just told me how popular it is again and again, and the only reason you gave for it being actually advantageous isn't a reason at all.
If you don't have anything to add to a discussion, just don't say anything. Constantly harping on about how "everybody uses it", which is far from the truth, is just annoying.
I know downloadable PDFs are commonplace. I also know that most people are irritated by them, hence the original, perfectly reasonable question, that I still don't have an adequate answer to.
Ok, I gave you an answer with as much data as I have.
I have seen very few academic papers put out as HTML.
I have seen very many put out as PDF.
People put their paper into TeX, and then pop out a PDF. They do this so it looks the same way it did in the journal in which it was published.
As for the benefit, that's the benefit, that's why the do it. I'm sorry that you don't think that it's a benefit. If I read 2 or 3 papers, it helps me to have a hard copy that I can write on with a pen and a highlighter. That's what many other people do, as to actual numbers, I haven't taken a survey, but I'm sure it's a pretty high number, since I'm looking at about 10 people doing the same thing right now.
Bruce
Bruce Perens.
Bruce
Bruce Perens.
Well, the PDF format is not proprietary. What I do with book PDFs like this is print 'em out on the monster copy machine at work, and put 'em in a ring binder! Tech books and ring binders: a combination made in heaven...
"Who are in control, they are not in control of anything - they don't even control themselves!" - Glen Beck
Adobe Acrobat Reader shows that the document was created using Frame Maker 7.0 and AdobePS 8.8.0, and the PDF was created using Adobe Distiller 6.0.1 for Macintosh! I don't understand where DocBook and a command-line tool fit into the picture as Bruce claims. -bg-
--- Baishampayan Ghose b.ghose gmail com
Why would you use something like HTML, which is limited in it's layout abilities when you have PDF, which most formats can be converted to and distributed in a more managable package. PDF can be viewed on almost every system and it makes the most sense to use something that will be accessible by the most people. If you have such an issue with PDF, download it and take the text and convert it to HTML. When you are done, submit it back to the author and let him release it. Have fun typing argumentative ass.