[erlang-questions] Lets build a stock exchange!

[YC]

Agreed that cool factor shouldn't be it for a book (since Joel confirmed
that book is the first priority), but there probably is an element of
marketing there :)

IMO the relevance depends on the depth and intimacy the system is explained
and covered, and whether author places emphasis on knowledge transfer.  I
never find much use of the abundant trivial bank examples, and even the
shoucast example popularized by Practical Lisp etc.

On the other hand, books such as Norvig's PAIP covers examples that are not
in common use, but because the author focuses so much more on teaching the
subject matter and how to use Lisp to solve them, I found myself walking
learning something without ever using the example.

Without getting to that level of detail, then best examples are relevant
ones - i.e. examples that can be immediately of use by simply copy and
paste.  To do that would mean narrowing the target audience, but that might
actually be a good thing.

If going with a relevant angle - then a lot of people today are working on
web-based applications and database related applications, so if the example
solves at least some of the web and database problems than it won't hurt ;)

My 2 cents,
yc


On Nov 11, 2007 1:10 PM, Torben Hoffmann <torben.lehoff@REDACTED>
wrote:

>
> It may very well be the case that a stock exchange is cooler than poker,
> but I think that the poker server has some interesting aspects that could
> inspire others. E.g., the dynamic allocation of a server to run a new
> table as well as the handling of the messages between the players is similar
> in nature to some of the challenges there is in telecom with regards to
> group calls and where to "host" the call.
>
> Furthermore, I would rather see a well-written book on hard-core Erlang
> hit its window of opportunity than see the whole thing turn into "let's make
> the coolest application that will never run in real life just in order to
> spice up a programming book"-kind of projects.
>
> A well written book with a clear example of usage including discussions
> about where the general ideas can be applied is what I would bet my money
> on. If a potential buyer of the hard-core Erlang book cannot abstract from
> the specific case study used to teach the principles then it is time to
> utter "Joe, We have a problem!" ;-)
>
> Cheers,
> Torben
>
> P.S. My first reaction to the stock exchange idea was "Wow!! Cool!!!", but
> then my analytical side issued a kill to that process for the reason listed
> above.
>
>
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