[TOS] Another few steps along the textbook path

[Greg DeKoenigsberg]

On Wed, 17 Jun 2009, Clif Kussmaul wrote:

> Hi Greg and others,
>
> 1. Many coherent chapters with loose coupling is a great idea.
> That makes it easier to distribute the writing & editing,
> avoids the need to impose a consistent style/voice, etc.
> and makes it easier to adapt the content to different courses.
> Another good book with this model is Beautiful Code (Oram & Wilson).
>
> A related idea - should we have peer review of chapters? That would help 
> give the academics "credit" for the project, esp. if we can get 
> academic, FOSS, & industry reviewers who aren't directly involved in the 
> project, rather than just reviewing each others' work.

Absolutely we should.  This is the kind of thing that I will rely upon the 
professors to help drive.  I know how to write HOWTOs for geeks, and dare 
say I'm pretty good at it; when it comes to running a peer review process 
for professors, I could use some guidance.

> 2. I think we need both types of case studies:
> a. a few chapters that dig into representative projects,
>  especially if those projects are referenced often in other chapters.
>  Include a range of small, large, and mega-projects.
> b. many sidebars that relate other topics to specific projects

Thanks.  I'll bear that in mind.

--g

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