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Ask HN: Do you still buy physical tech books like “Learn Rust” or “Learn Go”?

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Re: Ask HN: Do you still buy physical tech books like “Learn Rust” or “Learn Go”?

#71

Post by j_kao »

To be honest, I don't think using programming language (e.g. learn Go) books is a great way to approach learning as it's a bit too passive and often ends up as coffee table material. I'd argue trying to build a project and using the latest documentation helps things stick better. Obviously better if you have to do it for work.

On the other hand, programming and architecture concepts (e.g. designing data intensive applications) make a lot more sense as books, since they are high level concepts. In that case, use whatever medium reduces distraction. That's often in physical book form.

Re: Ask HN: Do you still buy physical tech books like “Learn Rust” or “Learn Go”?

#72

Post by UnpossibleJim »

NikolaNovak wrote: post #24

Yes. 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 am a voracious physical note taker when learning, personally. There's something about the physicality of it that helps it stay in my brain. I rarely have to read my notes, once I've written them. That's part if the reason I enjoy hard copies so much, I find scribbling in the margins can have much the same effect, if not as well. Just a small summation of the paragraph in scribble form, to cut through the jargon, of possible and underlining the actionable phraseology keeps it locked in =[

Re: Ask HN: Do you still buy physical tech books like “Learn Rust” or “Learn Go”?

#73

Post by skydhash »

After years learning from e-books (the only physical book I owned was "The C Programming Language"), I decided to go back to physical books because I just can't look at an LCD screen that long. I have a Kindle I read fiction books on, and it's great, but for EPUBs, not PDFs.

I've only bought textbooks in the beginning, just to have something that can last months or years of study, but just bought a few related to programming languages. Sometimes I would rather not open my laptop or tablet (tons of distractions waiting to happen) just to revisit a few concepts or to do a cursory glance at a few pages.

Re: Ask HN: Do you still buy physical tech books like “Learn Rust” or “Learn Go”?

#74

Post by flashgordon »

I still buy physical books just not for technical stuff (for learning stacks, languages etc I do it by building and stackoverflow-ing and building my person collection of recipes). Once exception to this is theoretical stuff which I feel I get a lot out of from textbooks (eg the dragon book, Tanenbaum's X, Ben Pierce's books on type theory etc). Too bad text books are expensive as F though!

For non-tech stuff (fiction, leadership etc) I find lying down with a good physical book unbeatable for me.

Logically eReaders are supposed to be superior with not taking and bookmarking and all that but I just have not been able extract the same satisfaction from them sadly.

Re: Ask HN: Do you still buy physical tech books like “Learn Rust” or “Learn Go”?

#75

Post by neilv »

eBooks. An annoying thing is price: I want to be able to read on my Linux laptop (without DRM, and without reading through some ridiculous Web site), but I'll see the book for less money in paper format than it is in legitimate ebook format.

I also buy a lot fewer books than I used to. Early in my career, I was a "books person", and would line my office/cubicle shelves with a large collection of books. Today, I can get a lot of information for free on the Web. When I go to buy a technical book now, it's because I have an important major need of info on a topic, and a particular book is known to be especially valuable collection/presentation for that.

Re: Ask HN: Do you still buy physical tech books like “Learn Rust” or “Learn Go”?

#78

Post by sakras »

I definitely prefer physical books for technical stuff since it’s easier to look back at stuff I’d read before. On the other hand, I never buy books about programming languages, mostly about algorithmic stuff. If I am trying to learn a programming language I usually find some electronic material just so I can copy-paste code examples.

Re: Ask HN: Do you still buy physical tech books like “Learn Rust” or “Learn Go”?

#79

Post by runjake »

I still like paper books for hard tech.

If I'm glancing or lightly learning, I use the Apple Books app on my iPad. Kindle is for novels only -- it doesn't handle tech book layouts well.

Right now, I'm reading a paper Go book, but a Docker ebook.

Re: Ask HN: Do you still buy physical tech books like “Learn Rust” or “Learn Go”?

#80

Post by omgmajk »

I do buy physical tech books still but I tend to not use them as much as before. However, I still find value in having it on the table and using it as a reference at times, I think mostly because it forces me to switch focus from my screen to something else and that makes it easier to focus on learning rather than staring at my code.
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