Path: utzoo!utgpu!water!watmath!clyde!att!rutgers!apple!bloom-beacon!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!mailrus!ames!amdcad!sun!pitstop!sundc!seismo!uunet!mcvax!cernvax!pan!jw From: jw@pan.UUCP (Jamie Watson) Newsgroups: comp.windows.x Subject: Re: O'Reilly X Books Message-ID: <479@pan.UUCP> Date: 18 Sep 88 21:59:24 GMT References: <469@pan.UUCP> <137@tityus.UUCP> <1625@daisy.UUCP> <1165@ora.UUCP> <3611@encore.UUCP> Reply-To: jw@pan.UUCP (Jamie Watson) Organization: Adasoft AG, Solothurn, Switzerland Lines: 31 I think I started this discussion of the O'Reilly X books. I'm not sure that I would call my posting "wild-eyed frothing", but I did say that I was not thrilled with the books. On further reflection, and after seeing some of what has subsequently been posted, I would like to make a few more comments. First, I hope that it was clear from my first posting that I don't find these books to be terrible. I have some problems with the author's depth of understanding of the subject matter. But in general I agree with Barry Shein's comment; considering the state of the X Window System right now, O'Reilly has done a commendable job of getting something that is fairly useful out already. Another thought occured to me when I was thinking about these being the very first X books available. I think the first commercial Unix book was Yates & Thomas', and compared to that the O'Reilly X books are real masterpieces. We should all be thankful that Jean Yates didn't decide to write an X book or two... Finally, I would imagine that O'Reilly has made an admirable gesture in upgrading the first edition for only $15; they could have stuck people for a lot more than that it they had wanted to. My overall opinion is that the first volume is marginally useful for an X novice, but I doubt that it would be of tremendous use to anyone who has been working with X for very long. The second volume would be worth the price of the pair all by itself, if they would just change the blasted binding... jw