Computer bookstores in GTA

[pking123-rieW9WUcm8FFJ04o6PK0Fg at public.gmane.org]

> First of all, why do you buy computer books when everything (or close
> to that) is on the Internet?

I don't think the internet would ever replace books for me, so it is 
not a valid comparison. First of all, the 'net is a fluid medium. Web 
content changes and rearranges itself all the time. Pages get 
deleted. Sites close down. Not so for books. I can rely on my books 
whether or not web pages exist for it. This is not to say that I 
exclude the internet. I make use of all available resources of 
learning that I can. Like William Park alluded to: I also am 
unwilling to shuck out $80 for a book where only a few pages will be 
useful, but if I can find it for less than $20 somewhere, I will 
often buy it if I think I can make some use of it.

I realise that Perl can be leared through the net, however, that 
wasn't so true when I had to learn it. I was given a book to learn 
from (O'Reilly's "Programming Perl" and one on the Perl DBI), and had 
to do even more learning from on-line docs, such as perldoc.

With books, I can dog-ear pages, underline or highlight key points, 
and take it with me anywhere, even to the lakeside near my house. And 
unlike a laptop, it doesn't need batteries. Books don't make a noise; 
they don't have power supplies that can malfunction; no mice that can 
clog up; no screen that gives off radiation. Books don't get 
destroyed if there's a power surge. You just read, and when you run 
out of stuff to read, you flip over the page, and hey! There's more! 
Then, all you have to do is keep repeating this process until you are 
done.

True, I find I don't need to do a lot of reading to feel that I know 
enough to do something with a language. I read a few pages of a book  
on CSS that I recently purchased at discount, and before I finished 
chapter 1, I already completed a CSS for my website. But the book has 
14 chapters, and why don't I consider it money wasted? Because it 
stays as a reference. I noticed that there are still some 
improvements I can add, so when I have some more time, I will refer 
back to the book and make my improvements. But while I do that, I am 
likely to cast out into the internet for further examples and 
explanations. I try to make use of all resources available to me.

To be fair, paper probably contains less than 1% radioactive carbon 
which will probably emit the odd alpha or beta particle which is 
0.0000000000001% likely to cause leukemia or skin cancer. :-)

Paul King



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