wonderings

[James Hague]

>- Many people would like a more example-driven replacement for the
>  "Erlang book". This would contain an up-to-date description of
>  Erlang, contain different (and more) examples, choosing things
>  which people are more likely to have come up against, e.g. a
>  satellite control system seems pretty irrelevant, but a simple
>  WWW server is something many of us have tried or at least thought
>  about. 

I like the current Erlang book quite a bit.  Part of the reason is that 
it's simply about the language itself, and doesn't muddle the waters with 
OTP issues.  The existing book is well-written and a pleasant read.  The 
only real omissions are the new features of Erlang, such as funs and list 
comprehensions.

Rather than another book, I think it would informative to read some 
detailed tutorials on practical subjects, such as those you suggest.  A 
WWW server would be interesting, as would be a simple mail reader.  
Something along the lines of a literate programming document might make a 
good format, with code and commentary interspersed.  This works well for 
Erlang, because very little code is needed.

James