I just conquered a HUGE psychological barrier by completing chapter 1 of the new book. I know it doesn't sound much but until Chapter 1 is out of the way I never really feel that the book is really underway. I tend to do all my research up front and then dive in, so completing chapter 1 for me means that my research is complete, I know my stuff pretty well, and the book is actually moving forward. It's a big deal.
I got to thinking through writing this one about what it means to write Beginner books. I've had it thrown at me a few times that "Beginner" titles are easy, that maybe I should try something really tough and complex to test my mettle and show I really know what I'm talking about. Not having written a Beginner's guide for a few years I had started to take that on board, but now with this chapter out of the way I can honestly say that the nay-sayers out there having got a fried-chicken clue what they are talking about. Think about it. Think about a technology you know really well. It probably took you a few years to get to the point you are at now. To write a beginner's guide you need to step back in time with the benefit of hindsight an walk a reader through all the pitfalls you came up against, assume absolutely nothing about their level knowledge and lead them on an upbeat interesting voyage of discovery. If you can instill the same excitement that you had when you went through the process then that's fantastic too and you're well on your way to writing something people will value.
Writing about something highly technical AND complex on the other hand does have similarities but you can assume so much more of the reader. You can assume that they know about the programming language in question, that they have developed large scale systems themselves, that they know the basic tenets of computing in general. You can use the common language and idioms inherent in the computing arena to convey your knowledge. In a beginner book, you can't. How would you explain a variable for example, including how to define one, and scoping of variables to a complete novice that has never ever written any code before in their life. Want a challenge - try and write it out right now. It's hard. Very hard.
I'm proud of having a long list of Beginner titles behind me. I'm proud that I can learn the technologies well enough to write in an enjoyable (I hope) tone, and I'm really proud of the responsibility that comes with introducing a whole new generation of programmers out there to the world of ... ooops, better not say.
I still envy the likes of Box, Richter and Prosise though.
11:26:55 PM 
|
