Please Vote: Exercises in TDPL?

[Steve Teale]

Andrei Alexandrescu Wrote:

> Steve Teale wrote:
> > Andrei Alexandrescu Wrote:
> > 
> >> A chunky fragment of TDPL will hit Rough Cuts soon enough. I'm pondering 
> >> whether I should be adding exercises to the book. Some books have them, 
> >> some don't.
> >>
> >> Pros: As I'm writing, I've come up with some pretty darn cool exercise 
> >> ideas.
> >>
> >> Cons: The book gets larger, takes longer to write, and I never solved 
> >> the exercises in the books I've read, but then I'm just weird.
> >>
> >> What do you think?
> >>
> >>
> >> Thanks,
> >>
> >> Andrei
> > 
> > Andrei,
> > 
> > Do you have a publisher yet? They will probably give you quite a definitive answer. They usually have quite strong ideas about the market they are aiming for.
> 
> The publisher, Addison-Wesley, is leaving such details to me.
> 
> > If is is to be a university text book, then Yes!
> > 
> > I realize that doing it is a pain in the ass. You have to test every little thing to the limit, which takes forever. But if you do it you will sort out bugs in the book.
> > 
> > Don't envy you, especially given the moving target of D2 ;=)
> > 
> > But the best of luck.
> 
> Thanks! One nice thing is I've written (in D!) a little script that 
> extracts the code from all of my examples, compiles it, and runs it 
> comparing the output with the expected output. The book will definitely 
> have a number of faults, but code that doesn't work will not be one of them.
> 
> It's amazing how much I need to rewrite in wake of recent improvements 
> to D and Phobos. My initial draft of Chapter 1 used char[] for strings! 
> I think D couldn't have claimed being much more than a step forward from 
> C if it stayed with that approach to strings. There's still stuff that 
> doesn't compile (Walter is working on that), and looking forward I'm so 
> excited about the forgotten __traits(allMembers) and the reflection 
> capabilities it begets, I can't stand myself.
> 
> 
> Andrei

Not being able to stand yourself goes with the job - there's worse to come.

Addison-Wesley must have got more relaxed since I dealt with them, or possibly you are better known than I was at the time.

Can I review? Even if only on an informal basis - I do speak the language from both sides of the pond, have some experience of the process, and I can be a real pain in the ass ;=)

Steve