Erlang Books...WAS Re: Where to get Concurrent Programming in Erlang (2nd Edition)

[Joe Armstrong (AL/EAB)]

> >  > At 11:19 2001-10-18, Joe Armstrong wrote:
> >  > >At the last erlang conferense the idea of a new erlang 
> book  > was 
> > discussed.
> >  > >
> >  > >I mailed O'reilly they wern't interested - not a big 
> enough market.
> >
> > Why not try A-Press? They've been publishing lisp books, 
> sowhy not an Erlang on?
> >
> >
> 
> 
> Why not just put the entire book on the web? ;) Lik the "On 
> Lisp" book?

Because there is no book (yet).

Putting a book on the web is sometimes done at the end of the book's
life cycle,
this occures when the publisher is no longer earning any significant
money from the book but
while there is some continued interested in the work.

The On Lisp book is only on the web since prentice hall
gave the copyright back to Paul Graham and he made it available on the
web.

We want a new book as part of an attempt 
to get Erlang into the mainstream.

PHP *is* mainstream - mainstream means there are huge piles of
PHP books in my local bookstore - mainstream means there are
jobs for people who know PHP. Mainstream means that consultants can
earn money from PHP.

Erlang is popular in it's niche, but is definatly not mainstream.

Now one of the things you have to do to move from niche to mainstream is
be visible in the bookstores.

A lot of people (me included) like books - they boot quicky
and are convenient to read on subways etc.

Reading on-screen or reading a printout of a PDF file is
just not as convenient as reading a book.

Cheers

/Joe