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Java in the Trenches

Submitted by: CyberCerberus
Created: Mar 11, 2007, 10:59 pm

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The Idea

I've found that, in my daily experiences working with Java, I've developed a sort of mental toolbox of tips and tricks, some even just stylistic or "forward thinking designs", that I share with friends and coworkers when I can, or when appropriate, but that I often wish I could share with a larger audience. It's nice to be a mentor, but I'm just one man and without going into the formal art of being an "author" or a "professor" I have no real way to share this potentially valuable information.

Basically, I could write a bunch of individual articles on very narrow topics with which I've specifically dealt, but I don't have the time or breadth of knowledge to write a complete book by myself. And much of the stuff I'd write as "style suggestions" or whatnot would just get lost if I published it as an article online, because who searches for style suggestions? Nobody.

This book will pull together the experiences of many developers to convey these types of real-world experiences.

I thought of this idea when I was...

...trying to think of a great idea for a book that I could crowdsource.

Comments Posted

rep_movsd Posted: March 25, 2007, 5:35 am

Nice, I too have a large "lore" of C++ programming / debugging knowledge , this type of knowledge comes only with experience and is essential to transfer to younger folks, to give them a head start.

Brenden Posted: April 16, 2007, 5:17 am

when dose this come out? and how are you planning to release it?

CyberCerberus Posted: April 16, 2007, 9:37 pm

It was due to come out early this summer, but moving it to CH has put all the deadlines on hold. As far as how it'll be released, I'm hoping CH itself will provide some mechanism to help with that. The original plan was to print it on demand using lulu.com or a similar service. I expect this business to help push the bounds of CH's capabilities.

CyberCerberus Posted: May 2, 2007, 1:28 pm

I should note that this project already advanced quite far before being moved to CH. I have a team of 13 authors including myself assembled outside of Cambrian House. We have around 300 pages of articles already written, and are ready to move into the editing and commenting stages. If we win IdeaWarz, the money will be used to promote the book.

All of the profits from the book are to be distributed evenly among all the authors.

For more information, here's our website:
http://brandon.frank...googlepages.com/home

CyberCerberus Posted: May 4, 2007, 2:41 pm

I mis-stated the way the profits will be distributed. The distribution is not "even". It is contribution-based. The more that an author contributes to the book, the more he will receive in the sharing of the profits.

cRitter Posted: September 6, 2007, 7:29 am

Sounds like you're ready to print! Why did you submit it here?

CyberCerberus Posted: September 26, 2007, 2:48 pm

When I submitted it, we were nowhere near ready to print. Having a bunch of articles and text does not mean you're ready to start spitting out copies. Not even close.

zentropy Posted: September 26, 2007, 4:30 pm

Before books are printed their layout is ussually designed in a desktop publishing application and then exported to .pdf format for industrial printing.
If you want help with that, i have a desktop publishing application and have done projects in it before. All that is needed is all the content. (text + images + index + cover(design), etc etc, everything)
If you are interested, you may message me.

JustMe Posted: September 27, 2007, 4:02 am

Nice idea but make mine a mocha.

findelfin Posted: September 27, 2007, 8:20 am

You're entering the world of computer book publishing where the fiercest competition is in Java-based books. I've seen many Tips and Tricks computer books over the years. What would separate this one from the rest to get you published?

PhilipH Posted: September 27, 2007, 11:23 am

I can see this working online, if you can come up with some standard format/template such that each entry is easy to find and follow. Perhaps worth thinking about if you don't want to compete in the Java books market.

CyberCerberus Posted: September 29, 2007, 6:51 pm

I think our book is unique because of a few factors:
1) it is written by multiple authors, all of whom are "real" Java programmers who work in the industry
2) the authors are from all over the world, which gives the book a uniquely diverse flavor
3) the book includes a "comments" aspect (inspired by blogs) where each article can be commented on by some of the other authors. I've never seen this in any other book and I think it's a unique result of the multi-author approach.

These aspects give the book its own advantages in the marketplace IMO.

doublelibra Posted: October 1, 2007, 8:47 pm

yeah why the dead-tree route? why not just a searchable online infinitely-scalable universally-accessible knowledge-base? (that's a lot of hyphens..)

bcforrester Posted: October 2, 2007, 11:44 am

Check out http://www.oreilly.com/pub/topic/java they have lots of small articles and pdfs that are either free of under 10 bucks. Could be a way to share your wealth.

CyberCerberus Posted: October 3, 2007, 6:35 am

Searchable knowledge-bases are fine but don't have the same audience. If they did, then there wouldn't be any Java books at all, really.

You can't read a searchable knowledge base on the bus on the way to work. And while you CAN read a PDF that way, it's pretty annoying (I've done it).

Oldschool paper books still have their place.

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