From: Dave Thomas <dave@...>
Date: 2004-03-23T23:01:19+09:00
Subject: Re: Need some advice on PickAxe II


On Mar 23, 2004, at 1:40, Charles Hixson wrote:

> My thought would be the best approach would be, after the initial
> language definitions and discussions, to take a series of common
> tasks, and show how to do them.   A good addition would be a
> cross-index of task and class, but that might be quite difficult, as
> people describe the tasks so differently.
>

I see that as the role of books such as The Ruby Way and the Developers 
Guide. The Pickaxe is really intended to be a guide to Ruby, The 
Language. We mention other major libraries briefly, but not in the kind 
of depth that other go into. Again, it's a question of space and 
pagecount.

> P.S.:  You seem to have settled on FOX as the display kit, so I don't
> know if what I was suggesting is practical.  As usual, a discussion of
> alternatives, and why you are choosing the direction you are choosing
> is helpful.
>

I'm not sure where that impression came from: as it stands right now 
I've actually removed the Tk chapter from the book. The Ruby GUI 
picture is frankly something os a mess, and I didn't want to go there. 
I'd welcome advice here.

> P.P.S:  Is Ruby2 in the offing?  I seem to recall publishers as having
> slow turn arounds...so perhaps you had better be covering that, though
> whether as a "soon to appear" or as the standard version I don't know.

The publisher we're using has the fastest turnaround in the industry... 
:)

Cheers

Dave
The Pragmatic Bookshelf