Path: csiph.com!x330-a1.tempe.blueboxinc.net!usenet.pasdenom.info!news.albasani.net!fu-berlin.de!uni-berlin.de!individual.net!not-for-mail From: blmblm@myrealbox.com Newsgroups: comp.lang.java.help Subject: Re: How far back can we go? Date: 29 Aug 2011 16:03:01 GMT Organization: None Lines: 41 Message-ID: <9c1rhlFn25U1@mid.individual.net> References: <4e58a696$0$828$e4fe514c@dreader28.news.xs4all.nl> <1351725e-58c3-4395-b93d-ff0ab9264945@glegroupsg2000goo.googlegroups.com> <9c1do9F1tcU1@mid.individual.net> X-Trace: individual.net +i1E9PpJ3BlibJq5/qDQ5gKNkbcLhs6OtuCWslRpEQCXBfDDk3 X-Orig-Path: not-for-mail Cancel-Lock: sha1:y9dzgOYbk05/s7vYM7LsWKJP+9o= X-Newsreader: trn 4.0-test76 (Apr 2, 2001) Xref: x330-a1.tempe.blueboxinc.net comp.lang.java.help:980 In article , Lew wrote: > blmblm @ myrealbox. com wrote: > > Lew wrote: > >> If the books were good, they've been updated and you can use the new > >> editions. > > > > I'm far from convinced that the correlation between quality and > > updates is as strong as you seem to be saying it is. It seems to > > me that whether a book gets updated depends not so much on quality > > as on whether the author is interested in doing an update and the > > publisher is interested in publishing it. ? > > > > [ snip ] > > Fair enough, but if the book hasn't been updated to at least Java > 5 then its quality, which I define as usefulness to someone > wanting to program in Java today, is near nil. Agreed. > So our disagreement rests on the definition of "quality". It may > have been a great book in its day, but if that day doesn't help > this day then it's no longer a great book by the pragmatic > definition of, "What has it done for me lately?" Well, no, with all due respect I don't think that's at all the point I was trying to make. You said "if the books *were* [emphasis mine] good, they've been updated", and that's what I'm skeptical about -- whether a lack of updates necessarily indicates that the book wasn't very good to begin with. > The fact remains that books teaching pre-1.5 Java will cause > difficulties for someone learning the language now. That's just > not "quality" enough. Agreed. -- B. L. Massingill ObDisclaimer: I don't speak for my employers; they return the favor.