By Other Means (Hayden War Cycle, #5)
|
|
LIke mentioned before I am trying to write a book and ... well, I may be actually making progress? At least the generated PDF is about 170 pages long, which means I have written a bunch in this past month.
I have finished the second of four planned parts, which means I have done about half of it. Since I expect the next two parts to be shorter, it's actually more than that.
The target audience are people who have finished the python tutorial but are not exactly programmers yet. They have the syntax more or less in their heads, but how do you turn that into an actual piece of code?
Part 1 is about "prototyping", the process of dumping an idea into rough code.
Part 2 is about polishing that rough code into ... not so rough code. Includes a gentle introduction to testing, for example.
Part 3 (to be written) is about things that are not code:
Git / Gitlab
Issues
Packaging
Setting up a website
CI
Lots more
Part 4 is still to be thought but basically it will cover implementing a large feature from the ground up.
I much appreciate comments about it.
PD: Si, va a haber una traducciń al castellano. O mas bien al argentino. Una vez que lo termine.
|
Once upon a time, I tried to write a book. It did not end well. I was trying to dump a whole lot of knowledge at once. Knowledge I did not really have, to be honest. When I look at that book I see a failed thing.
So, of course, many years later, I am trying again, but with the lessons learned in my mind.
It will be a smaller book.
I am not also writing a whole tool chain for it.
It will be about things I know.
So, what is it?
The temporary title, right now, is something like "Boxes: your second Python book". It says your second Python book because you do need a working knowledge of Python syntax as provided by the official Python Tutorial, but not much else. When there is a particularly hairy piece of code it may link to the tutorial or the reference or something.
The "idea" of the book is to bridge a gap that exists between knowing the basics of reading and writing a language (specially if it's your first!) and being able to effectively using it to create a useful project.
It follows the growth of "Boxes", a simplistic text layout engine, from a vague idea to a fully working, useful, tested, and published piece of software.
It's not there yet, but it's about 25% of the way there.
You can read it here: https://ralsina.gitlab.io/boxes-book/ and the sources are at https://gitlab.com/ralsina/boxes-book
Comments much appreciated!