Re: Free computer books

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From	Lew <lewbloch@gmail.com>
Newsgroups	comp.lang.java.help
Subject	Re: Free computer books
Date	Fri, 7 Oct 2011 17:38:25 -0700 (PDT)
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Roedy Green wrote:
> Lew wrote, quoted or indirectly quoted someone who said :
> >The problem isn't its lack of coverage, the problem is the part that isn't "most of Java" 
> will be wrong, misleading and conducive to bad programming in the
> post-5 world.
> 
> I think if you were teaching, you would do collections without
> generics, then add the complication of the genericity.
> So long as you don't STOP,

Well, not me personally.  You might be right about the generalized "you", but what you suggest is not consistent with my pedagogical style.

> Perhaps I should put some notes in the front of each book about what
> is obsolete and incomplete.

I suppose it's better to put lipstick on a pig than to kiss its unadorned mouth.

I am seriously worried about the effect of out-of-date training materials on new programmers.  I've seen so much evidence that bad habits from early texts infect a programmer for years, even decades.  I really don't think pre-Java 5 texts do a new programmer any favors.

I was also serious about the jibe about you being a champion of newbies.  I strongly suggest that these out-of-date texts, particularly if they promote things that were out of date even 7 or 8 years ago as many did, do more harm than good to new programmers.  We should put effort into materials that will *properly* train new programmers (and weed out the incompetents), not ones that infect them out of some misguided attempt to be soft or something.

It really does a lot of harm to teach people wrong under the guise of "simplifying".

So don't do that.

-- 
Lew

-- 
Lew

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Free computer books Roedy Green <see_website@mindprod.com.invalid> - 2011-10-05 13:15 -0700
  Re: Free computer books markspace <-@.> - 2011-10-05 15:26 -0700
    Re: Free computer books Roedy Green <see_website@mindprod.com.invalid> - 2011-10-05 23:37 -0700
      Re: Free computer books Lew <lewbloch@gmail.com> - 2011-10-06 06:37 -0700
        Re: Free computer books Roedy Green <see_website@mindprod.com.invalid> - 2011-10-07 11:00 -0700
          Re: Free computer books markspace <-@.> - 2011-10-07 11:37 -0700
          Re: Free computer books Lew <lewbloch@gmail.com> - 2011-10-07 17:38 -0700
            Re: Free computer books Arved Sandstrom <asandstrom3minus1@eastlink.ca> - 2011-10-07 23:03 -0300
              Re: Free computer books Gene Wirchenko <genew@ocis.net> - 2011-10-09 19:59 -0700
                Re: Free computer books Arved Sandstrom <asandstrom3minus1@eastlink.ca> - 2011-10-10 14:06 -0300
                Re: Free computer books Gene Wirchenko <genew@ocis.net> - 2011-10-10 11:11 -0700
            Re: Free computer books Roedy Green <see_website@mindprod.com.invalid> - 2011-10-15 18:12 -0700
      Re: Free computer books Jeff Higgins <jeff@invalid.invalid> - 2011-10-10 14:37 -0400
        Re: Free computer books Jeff Higgins <jeff@invalid.invalid> - 2011-10-10 15:17 -0400
  Re: Free computer books Jeff Higgins <jeff@invalid.invalid> - 2011-10-10 15:54 -0400

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