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The Architecture of Open Source Applications
jrepin writes "In new free book the authors of twenty-five open source applications explain how their software is structured, and why. What are each program's major components? How do they interact? And what did their builders learn during their development? In answering these questions, the contributors to this book provide unique insights into how they think." Note: the whole text of the book, under a Creative Commons license, is available on the site.
I don't understand why so many people put "Free Book" on the web, but put it in an HTML page with links to the various chapters. Is it too much to ask for the convenience of a single PDF, MOBI, or EPUB I can download to an eReader? They went to the trouble of publishing on Lulu, could they take the additional step of checking the "Make my book available as a free ebook" checkbox so I could download the PDF that Lulu uses to print it?
Other than that, this sounds like something I look forward to reading, after I copy and paste each chapter into a Word Document and convert it myself. : )
I'm sorry, I thought you were a programmer.
postmodernsideshow.com
I'm not going to mod it, but those mods would have a point. The implication that the GP is making is that commercial vendors don't slap together code like a bunch of cowboys. The problem is that some outfits will and others won't, at least with the open source option you can take a quick look and see. Granted a non-coder isn't going to know conclusively, but if the comments are there and the formatting looks good, the chances are also good that whoever it was that coded the program was taking at least some pride in their work.
Indeed, I'd say that it's a fair compromise. Probably the other option would be a dynamically created PDF complete with ads. It's generous to give away a book, even with advertising.
I'll reply to you.
FOSS take a long-haul view.
It bypasses random manager's quarterly bonuses, and says "what can we do if we have better foundations to start with and learn on"? There's a theory somewhere that it takes a pyramid of enthusiastic amateurs to produce a few experts per field. When you restrict the base, you get fewer experts. The secret is that "level 7 fans" teach "level 2 fans" with the knowledge perpetuating.
So this kind of book is neat. It may not have all the answers. If some magical funding were to appear, someone could compile Volume 2 with the missing essentials. But it is important to get mid-grade fans like me into the act to build mometum.
My first Journal Entry ever, in 8 years! http://slashdot.org/journal/365947/aphelion-scifi-fantasy-horror-poetry-webzine
I don't understand why so many people put "Free Book" on the web, but put it in an HTML page with links to the various chapters. Is it too much to ask for the convenience of a single PDF, MOBI, or EPUB I can download to an eReader?
I don't understand why so many people, when given good content for free, moan that it is not in the format they prefer. Is it too much to ask that they pony up for the print version, or make a modicum of effort to convert the content if they so desire?
On a less factious note: this is how I sometimes prefer to read such content. A good PDF (by "good" I mean "properly formatted as pages", not just the HTML hastily thrown at a PDF generating virtual printer) is nice for printing sections or the whole document, but HTML is usually better for on-screen reading IMO. Different stroke an' all that.
Dozens of volunteers worked hard to create this book, but there is still lots to do. You can help by reporting errors, by helping to translate the content into other languages, or by describing the architecture of other open source projects. Please contact us at aosa@aosabook.org if you would like to get involved.
FTFA, not sure if you read that far.
I don't understand why so many people put "Free Book" on the web, but put it in an HTML page with links to the various chapters. Is it too much to ask for the convenience of a single PDF, MOBI, or EPUB I can download to an eReader?
Since it's Creative Commons, Derivative works should be allowed. I took a stab at pulling down all the files with wget and then generating an EPUB using Calibre. Don't claim the format is perfect, this is the first time I've ever tried anything like this. However, it should be readable. If you interested, I've put it up on Google Docs.
The stereotypical image of an open source developer is that of an altruistic person toiling late into night fixing bugs and implementing fantastic new features to address their own personal interests. In contrast, if you look back at the early history of the Eclipse project, some of the initial code that was donated was based on VisualAge for Java, developed by IBM. The first committers who worked on this open source project were employees of an IBM subsidiary called Object Technology International (OTI). These committers were paid to work full time on the open source project, to answer questions on newsgroups, address bugs, and implement new features. A consortium of interested software vendors was formed to expand this open tooling effort. The initial members of the Eclipse consortium were Borland, IBM, Merant, QNX Software Systems, Rational Software, RedHat, SuSE, and TogetherSoft. By investing in this effort, these companies would have the expertise to ship commercial products based on Eclipse. This is similar to investments that corporations make in contributing to the Linux kernel because it is in their self-interest to have employees improving the open source software that underlies their commercial offerings.
The point of all economic activity is to increase production. That's what for-profit businesses do, by definition. Making large profits (in a legal way) is proof that a business is satisfying its customers in a very efficient way (high revenue = satisfied customers, low costs = efficient use of resources). Conversely, needless jobs, by definition, are created without any respect to profit. Therefore, they are very inefficient; they represent capital that could be put to much better use.
Furthermore, the fact that needless jobs put money in the hands of consumers is irrelevant. The economy is driven by production, not spending. If we doubled everyone's bank account, what would that do? Nothing. Prices would simply double. But what if we doubled the supply of goods in the economy? Then everyone would be wealthier. That's the difference between spending and production.
The right question isn't, "How do we create more jobs?" The right question is, "Why isn't the market naturally creating more jobs?" And the answer is always that it has been distorted by the government. The government attempts to slow down the adjustment process by propping up falling industries (e.g. housing, banking, etc.), but that just drags out the depression. If we just allowed businesses to fail, liquidated everything, stopped paying unemployment insurance, etc., then the economy would be fixed very quickly. That's exactly what happened in 1921. Unemployment shot up to 12%, the government did nothing, and we recovered in less than a year.