Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

The Little Typer

mitpress.mit.edu

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

61–70 of 138 posts

Re: The Little Typer

#61

Post by mi_lk »

sillysaurus3 wrote: post #11

Sad to say the book isn't on Library Genesis, so you'll have to drop $40 if you want the knowledge. http://libgen.io/search.php?req=little+typer Also Library Genesis is amazing: http://libgen.io/search.php?req=knuth It's everything I dreamed of when I was a kid. I used to spend hours at the local library scouring through crummy "Learn C++ in 24 hours" type books. http://custodians.online/ is worth a read too.

Sad because it's not available for free? What is this attitude?

At least local libraries actually buy the book to support the authors.

Re: The Little Typer

#62

Post by mjfl »

sillysaurus3 wrote: post #59
mjfl wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The harm is less people writing books like this in the future. Every dollar this book gets in revenue not only goes partly to the author, but goes into the record as profits for that "genre" of books. Every dollar of revenue for this book increases the value of the advance the author receives for the next book, increases the probability that another author writing the same kind of material will get accepted for publi…

Technology destroyed the market, not users of it. I think you could've made the same sort of argument against movies or music before netflix and napster, but here we are, and the markets still seem thirsty for new content.

Content is stolen if and only if a user tries to steal it, so I don't understand how you are absolving them of responsibility. People pay for Netflix and I guarantee you that if people stopped paying for it, Netflix originals would stop being made.

Re: The Little Typer

#63

Post by billsix »

sillysaurus3 wrote: post #59
mjfl wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The harm is less people writing books like this in the future. Every dollar this book gets in revenue not only goes partly to the author, but goes into the record as profits for that "genre" of books. Every dollar of revenue for this book increases the value of the advance the author receives for the next book, increases the probability that another author writing the same kind of material will get accepted for publi…

Technology destroyed the market, not users of it. I think you could've made the same sort of argument against movies or music before netflix and napster, but here we are, and the markets still seem thirsty for new content.

> I think you could've made the same sort of argument against movies or music before netflix and napster, but here we are, and the markets still seem thirsty for new content.

Because reasonable adults are paying for content which they want, directly via movie tickets, indirectly via e.g. Netflix and Spotify.

Re: The Little Typer

#64

Post by sriram_malhar »

sillysaurus3 wrote: post #11

Sad to say the book isn't on Library Genesis, so you'll have to drop $40 if you want the knowledge. http://libgen.io/search.php?req=little+typer Also Library Genesis is amazing: http://libgen.io/search.php?req=knuth It's everything I dreamed of when I was a kid. I used to spend hours at the local library scouring through crummy "Learn C++ in 24 hours" type books. http://custodians.online/ is worth a read too.

As an author of a book on which I worked incredibly hard, FUCK you. If you want it so bad, buy it. Or wait a few years, buy it used. Or borrow it from a library. Don't fucking steal it.

Carpenters and other craftspeople who earn far less than the denizens of Hacker News buy whatever they need to further their business. They don't steal others' tools.

Re: The Little Typer

#65

Post by sillysaurus3 »

sriram_malhar wrote: post #64
sillysaurus3 wrote: post #11

Sad to say the book isn't on Library Genesis, so you'll have to drop $40 if you want the knowledge. http://libgen.io/search.php?req=little+typer Also Library Genesis is amazing: http://libgen.io/search.php?req=knuth It's everything I dreamed of when I was a kid. I used to spend hours at the local library scouring through crummy "Learn C++ in 24 hours" type books. http://custodians.online/ is worth a read too.

As an author of a book on which I worked incredibly hard, FUCK you. If you want it so bad, buy it. Or wait a few years, buy it used. Or borrow it from a library. Don't fucking steal it. Carpenters and other craftspeople who earn far less than the denizens of Hacker News buy whatever they need to further their business. They don't steal others' tools.

I'd be happy to debate, if you're interested. But in the meantime it appears that the anger is misplaced; direct it at the fact that we have this wonderful tool that destroys class barriers and makes knowledge free to all.

You act as if I have $40. Would it surprise you to learn my power was cut off within the last few months?

Another point: "Stealing" implies something was lost. The words are still there, even if I have copied them.

The game industry and the iPhone app store have proven that when you price something closer to $1, it will generate exponentially more revenue than $40.

Re: The Little Typer

#66

Post by xevb3k »

billsix wrote: post #55
xevb3k wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I feel like there’s so much to say about this comment, that I don’t even know where to start. So firstly I agree, $40 seems like a lot. I personally couldn’t justify it at the moment. Particularly when the reproduction cost is nearly zero. But $40 also doesn’t seem like a lot to pay for a book that will probably not sell more than a few thousand copies. Most likely revenue generated won’t fully cover the time and eff…

> In the end, I’m left morally confused. But it feels like something is wrong in the world when a book like this is available only to a select few, when for the same capital outlay it could be available to everybody. Only to a select few? For $40? The book costs less than most console video games.

When I grew up, we never ate at a restaurant... just would have been an extravagant expense. My parents probably earned This is in the western world... imagine how many people in the world can’t afford this book. On a global scale... very few people could afford this book (or a 40USD video game).

It makes me kind of sad that you’d so casually suggest that this is not the case. Makes me think that perhaps people in the tech world don’t have a great understanding of how poor many people are...

Re: The Little Typer

#67

Post by billsix »

sillysaurus3 wrote: post #65
sriram_malhar wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As an author of a book on which I worked incredibly hard, FUCK you. If you want it so bad, buy it. Or wait a few years, buy it used. Or borrow it from a library. Don't fucking steal it. Carpenters and other craftspeople who earn far less than the denizens of Hacker News buy whatever they need to further their business. They don't steal others' tools.

I'd be happy to debate, if you're interested. But in the meantime it appears that the anger is misplaced; direct it at the fact that we have this wonderful tool that destroys class barriers and makes knowledge free to all. You act as if I have $40. Would it surprise you to learn my power was cut off within the last few months? Another point: "Stealing" implies something was lost. The words are still there, even if I…

> Would it surprise you to learn my power was cut off

Passive verbs are weak (Mistakes were made, versus I made a mistake). You failed to pay your electric bill.

Re: The Little Typer

#68

Post by billsix »

xevb3k wrote: post #66
billsix wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> In the end, I’m left morally confused. But it feels like something is wrong in the world when a book like this is available only to a select few, when for the same capital outlay it could be available to everybody. Only to a select few? For $40? The book costs less than most console video games.

When I grew up, we never ate at a restaurant... just would have been an extravagant expense. My parents probably earned This is in the western world... imagine how many people in the world can’t afford this book. On a global scale... very few people could afford this book (or a 40USD video game). It makes me kind of sad that you’d so casually suggest that this is not the case. Makes me think that perhaps people in th…

there is an extraordinary amount of freely available content online for people who want to learn, improve themselves, and to make more money.

To those who cannot afford it, here’s 2.5 years of my side work for free http://billsix.github.io/bug

Re: The Little Typer

#69

Post by lylecubed »

danidiaz wrote: post #29
lylecubed wrote: post #3

> An introduction to dependent types, demonstrating the most beautiful aspects, one step at a time. Is there a companion book detailing the ugly downsides of dependent types and how to avoid them, one step at a time?

> the ugly downsides of dependent types and how to avoid them There's this Reddit answer from two years ago, and the subsequent comments https://www.reddit.com/r/haskell/comments/3zc81v/tradeoffs_o...

This is exactly what I'm looking for. Thanks!

Re: The Little Typer

#70

Post by sriram_malhar »

sillysaurus3 wrote: post #65
sriram_malhar wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As an author of a book on which I worked incredibly hard, FUCK you. If you want it so bad, buy it. Or wait a few years, buy it used. Or borrow it from a library. Don't fucking steal it. Carpenters and other craftspeople who earn far less than the denizens of Hacker News buy whatever they need to further their business. They don't steal others' tools.

I'd be happy to debate, if you're interested. But in the meantime it appears that the anger is misplaced; direct it at the fact that we have this wonderful tool that destroys class barriers and makes knowledge free to all. You act as if I have $40. Would it surprise you to learn my power was cut off within the last few months? Another point: "Stealing" implies something was lost. The words are still there, even if I…

My anger isn't misdirected. It is directed exactly at this sentiment of yours: "The words are still there". It is the same whether I came up with a new magic trick, or a song, or a film. Don't fucking steal it because you have this wonderful tool called "copy" that "destroys class barriers". There is plenty of stuff on the internet (mine included) that people have chosen to put up for free; go use those. Or wait 10 years. The words will still be there, and you can get it much cheaper.

There was a lot of energy put behind those words, and I expect to get paid a modest sum for it. The means of knowledge transmission aren't free, just as you discovered that while a river wants to be free, the mechanism of converting it to useful energy and transmitting it to you isn't free.

Post reply on HN