I did borrow it from the library but eventually found more up to date knowledge on internet.
I prefer book.
Ask HN: Do you still buy physical tech books like “Learn Rust” or “Learn Go”?
121–130 of 184 posts
Re: Ask HN: Do you still buy physical tech books like “Learn Rust” or “Learn Go”?
#122If there isn't a free PDF of it online then yeah
Re: Ask HN: Do you still buy physical tech books like “Learn Rust” or “Learn Go”?
#123Yes. It's mildly embarrassing but I've learned most languages and tech in the same way: buy a book, leave it in the bathroom and whenever I pee or poop I open it at a random page and read. If it's a new page, good if not then it's a good refresh. With ebooks it just doesn't work, with mobile devices I get distracted.
I usually read hn on the loo (not a shitpost pun/joke) as idle reading, and sometimes I discover interesting products or news. Aside: it feels like being on the toilet is the most "me time" I get lately, so maybe I should change that lol. Do you read the book first start to finish, and then add it to your bathroom library after for this random reading, or do you go straight to random loo reads?
Usually it goes directly too loo reads except maybe the first evening where I'm "excited" of the new toy and read it outside, or if I need it as a reference for some reason.
If I don't have a basic understanding of the topic I read the first few chapters sequentially before starting the random picking, though.
Re: Ask HN: Do you still buy physical tech books like “Learn Rust” or “Learn Go”?
#124I have some ebooks (on general, steady, topics like "domain driven development" and "event sourcing" and the like), and I am still grabbing some nice bundles on Humble every now and then but I source most of my reading material from Safari / O'Reilly since a few years.
My main reason to do this is because tech is moving extremely fast and you do not longer have to throw books away on topics which are no longer relevant.
And a yearly sub at O'Reilly also prevents buying e-books on [enter the latest version of your favorite programming language/database/other tool here] over and over again...
Re: Ask HN: Do you still buy physical tech books like “Learn Rust” or “Learn Go”?
#125https://libgen.is/ is good for sampling books
Re: Ask HN: Do you still buy physical tech books like “Learn Rust” or “Learn Go”?
#126I love physical books. E-books are a good supplement because of the searchability, but I don't enjoy reading e-books nearly as much as paper.
Humans are very tactile, and the book is a visual cue that sits there and reminds one that "I wanted to finish reading this." It's also easy to skim-read and navigate in a physical volume.
To me, even the order of books on the shelf is important, as they reflect the order of the material in my mind (e.g. computer science > programming languages > Rust).
What is perhaps no longer worth buying are "how to" guides that have been superseded by Google + StackExchange.
Re: Ask HN: Do you still buy physical tech books like “Learn Rust” or “Learn Go”?
#127I have to. I definitely buy some tech books on Kindle and follow web tutorials too. I'm not against doing those things. But when I care to really understand a topic in tech, for reasons I'm not even sure I can explain, I need a real, physical textbook. Strangely enough, a lot of it has to do with my brain's need to mark important sections with a pencil (yes, I know I can highlight sections on the Kindle app too...but there's something about physically circling/underlining/drawing a star near a section with a pencil that helps me to recall it later).
Re: Ask HN: Do you still buy physical tech books like “Learn Rust” or “Learn Go”?
#128Yes. I read fiction as ebooks (basically exclusively since days of palm pilot and Treo, then kindle and phone and tablets), but far prefer physical books when learning a new topic including tech. Few reasons but I think it's at least partially because: 1. It's easier to mark or hold with my finger e.g. A table or reference or definition page, then return or glance at it as I progress next few pages of that topic. I f…
I agree completely. I'd like to expand on your #1. I think that physical books make it much easier to have multiple books all open on your desk as you look between all of them, and also to have bookmarks within a single book that you flip between. As you say, I love ebooks for fiction. But the folks building these apps and devices still haven't hit on an interaction model that works well for non-fiction.
In Star Trek they're always carrying around their PADDs while working, and when they've been shown to be really busy they'd have a bunch of PADDs laid out on the desk in front of them. You obviously need a bunch of Kindles.
Re: Ask HN: Do you still buy physical tech books like “Learn Rust” or “Learn Go”?
#129Yes, because there is no replacement for paper books that has the same features.
Re: Ask HN: Do you still buy physical tech books like “Learn Rust” or “Learn Go”?
#130Completely to ebooks. I got tired of lugging tons of physical books around when I move, and also needing to store them somewhere.