D Programming Language Specification ebook

[Steven Schveighoffer]

On Sun, 03 Jul 2011 22:11:10 -0400, Walter Bright  
<newshound2 at digitalmars.com> wrote:

> I think it would be a good move to make a kindle ebook out of the  
> specification on the web site. Not only will it be convenient for those  
> who wish to peruse the spec using a kindle, it will be helpful for  
> marketing etc.
>
> The difficulty is that if I put the ebook up on Amazon for free, people  
> tend to equate free with "crap". It needs to have a price on it to be  
> taken seriously.

This notion is outdated.  There are multiple free ebooks available on  
iBook (the iPad/iPhone book store) and some of them are classics.

The thing is, the vast majority of people are not going to discover D via  
Amazon, read the ebook spec, then go play with D by downloading the  
compiler.  The most likely scenario is:

1. Discovering D via word of mouth, or looking for alternatives to other  
languages that have design flaws (like C++!)
2. Playing with the compiler, building programs, reading the online docs.
3. Wishing there was an ebook form of the documentation, and seeing one  
exists via some link on the home page, or asking on the newsgroups.

At this point, do you really think that such a coder cares whether the  
ebook is free?  IMO making it *NOT* free is likely to turn off that coder  
 from D, since they likely are already familiar with the site, and they  
will instantly know the ebook is just an automated reprint of the web site.

> But if I put a price on it, people will be demotivated to continue  
> contributing to it, because they'll perceive someone else profiting from  
> their work.

This is not a big concern for me.  I'd be more worried about D's  
reputation being sullied by trying to make a profit out of obviously  
freely available information.

My biggest concern with publishing a non-free book based on the web site  
is that the *website changes with every release*!

Who wants to pay $5 every time the compiler is released just so you can  
have an ebook-style copy of the web data?

Is it difficult to make an ebook for kindle?  If it's automated, would the  
automation be available as open source code?  If so, why wouldn't people  
just make their own ebook for kindle?

Technically, you could not stop someone else from doing this, since the  
license is Boost, so what would you do if someone created a free version  
with *exactly the same information* to compete with your non-free one?

My recommendation -- release it for free.  There are zero reasons to  
charge money for it.

-Steve