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I Got a Knuth Check for 0x$3.00

nickdrozd.github.io

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Re: I Got a Knuth Check for 0x$3.00

#111

Post by kc3 »

hackermailman wrote: post #24

Any published authors here? I once went through a cheaper international edition of a large computer science text, and built a massive errata of all the mistakes (primarily found in the exercises) then submitted it to the authors who basically told me 'Thanks but we don't give a shit about that version, only the US edition'. Any reason there would be that many mistakes in the international version? Does Pearson publis…

I published a technical book in the late 90s and the publisher (Pearson) opted to have it translated into a number of other (non-English) languages. I was never told anything about the translations. My assumption was that they used some sort of "contract translation people/service" and just "crank them out". My guess is they aren't that focused on quality. When my book was first published, technical books were much more profitable, but since then publishers have really struggled. The publisher I worked with was fantastic at the time, but since then has repeatedly stated they just want to "get books out there" regardless of the quality. And, I think the market was already tanking by the time my book was translated, so I'm pretty sure quality wasn't a priority for them. They sent me an after-the-fact sample copy of 2-3 of the languages it was translated into, but it was a total surprise to me and I never received any information about the process or that it was happening. In fact, it was so hands off that I have no idea if they translated it into more languages and never sent me a copy.

Another factor why the authors the OP contacted may not care could be that the royalty rates were dramatically lower for International sales -- at least that was the case for my book -- I essentially made nothing. I'm not saying people write books only for profit, but the combination of "not even knowing they were translated" with "zero profit motive" makes a potent combination. :-)

That being said, I don't believe anyone every contacted me with errata on a translated edition... I guess I should consider myself lucky. :-)

Re: I Got a Knuth Check for 0x$3.00

#112

Post by hackermailman »

kc3 wrote: post #111
hackermailman wrote: post #24

Any published authors here? I once went through a cheaper international edition of a large computer science text, and built a massive errata of all the mistakes (primarily found in the exercises) then submitted it to the authors who basically told me 'Thanks but we don't give a shit about that version, only the US edition'. Any reason there would be that many mistakes in the international version? Does Pearson publis…

I published a technical book in the late 90s and the publisher (Pearson) opted to have it translated into a number of other (non-English) languages. I was never told anything about the translations. My assumption was that they used some sort of "contract translation people/service" and just "crank them out". My guess is they aren't that focused on quality. When my book was first published, technical books were much m…

Interesting, I know nothing about publishing but this some good insight to having your text manipulated by said publishers. Thanks for comment

Re: I Got a Knuth Check for 0x$3.00

#114

Post by nraynaud »

edge17 wrote: post #38
hackermailman wrote: post #24

Any published authors here? I once went through a cheaper international edition of a large computer science text, and built a massive errata of all the mistakes (primarily found in the exercises) then submitted it to the authors who basically told me 'Thanks but we don't give a shit about that version, only the US edition'. Any reason there would be that many mistakes in the international version? Does Pearson publis…

International Editions differ often in the problems at the ends of the chapters in order to protect US and other western markets. Differences in the problems means it discourages students from buying things that may lead to incorrect answers to assigned problem sets. As for things just being flat out wrong, I can only imagine this discourages US/western students from buying International Editions to save money.

I bought a mechanical engineering book, and I found the rent seeking quite clever: the international version(this one was targeted for the Indian market) did not have American units, only SI.

Re: I Got a Knuth Check for 0x$3.00

#115

Post by renox »

Arnavion wrote: post #73
lisper wrote: post #72

> People also say that TAOCP is irrelevant or outdated or otherwise inapplicable to “real programming”. This also wrong. For instance, the first section after the chapter intro deals with the basic problem of searching for an item in an unsorted array. The simplest algorithm should be familiar to all programmers. Start your pointer at the head of the array, then do the following in a loop: Check if the current item i…

It's already questionable for a search algorithm to require the ability to write to the array it's searching in, but it's even worse if it wants to be able to extend and shrink the array to do so. Edit: I haven't read the book. Presumably it gives some context for the algorithm that you only bring it out in the specific situation where it makes sense to use it.

Extending the array is not needed: you can store the last element in a variable, then overwrite the last element with the searched value, do the search then restore the last element. I remember a talk from Alexei Andrulescu(sp?) where he talk about this optimisation but I don't remember if there was benchmarks.

Re: I Got a Knuth Check for 0x$3.00

#116

Post by sjf »

nraynaud wrote: post #114
edge17 wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

International Editions differ often in the problems at the ends of the chapters in order to protect US and other western markets. Differences in the problems means it discourages students from buying things that may lead to incorrect answers to assigned problem sets. As for things just being flat out wrong, I can only imagine this discourages US/western students from buying International Editions to save money.

I bought a mechanical engineering book, and I found the rent seeking quite clever: the international version(this one was targeted for the Indian market) did not have American units, only SI.

The rest of the world uses SI units, why would you expect anything else in the international edition?

Re: I Got a Knuth Check for 0x$3.00

#117

Post by hueving »

sjf wrote: post #116
nraynaud wrote: post #114

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I bought a mechanical engineering book, and I found the rent seeking quite clever: the international version(this one was targeted for the Indian market) did not have American units, only SI.

The rest of the world uses SI units, why would you expect anything else in the international edition?

Because any competent engineer should be able to work with both interchangeably.

Re: I Got a Knuth Check for 0x$3.00

#118

Post by dannyw »

hueving wrote: post #117
sjf wrote: post #116

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The rest of the world uses SI units, why would you expect anything else in the international edition?

Because any competent engineer should be able to work with both interchangeably.

If you ask any competent engineer in Australia to work with imperial units, they will go whaaat.

Re: I Got a Knuth Check for 0x$3.00

#119

Post by lugg »

hueving wrote: post #117
sjf wrote: post #116

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The rest of the world uses SI units, why would you expect anything else in the international edition?

Because any competent engineer should be able to work with both interchangeably.

And almost all of the world uses SI units, so why would you expect anything else in the international edition?

I.e, all you've given us is a reason to only ever use SI. Which isn't really what your intention was, was it?

(I'm aware non SI is useful in some contexts.)

Re: I Got a Knuth Check for 0x$3.00

#120

Post by peter303 »

Frame it. It will be a classic. Some banks allow you cash a check by cellphone photo instead of turning it in.

Donald was one of the original crowdsourcers. He employed the public to improve his already high quality publications.

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