database lesson for the day...

Wouldn’t it be nice that if when you plop down 50 something bucks for a database book the dunces that published it actually reviewed the copy before they shipped the damn thing? It's irritating enough in normal reading to encounter a misspelling, but finding a typo in a computer book is simple unforgivable. Code, be it HTML, PERL or Morse Code is exacting. It has to be correct, to the letter, or things go wrong. Sometimes way wrong.

Trying to learn new things is hard enough. Trying to learn new things while tripping over code that won’t work because the publishers printed it wrong is impossible. Having a misspelling in a IT book is like having the wrong number in a math problem or like having a frog when you need a wrench. Huh? Oh, nevermind... Let's stick with the math analogy.

Let’s say they give you an example problem like "4+3 = some answer" and you set about working it out. You are going to come up with 7 every time. But now let’s say the writer really meant "4 + 4" not “4 + 3” and not only that but all the problems thereafter rely on the idea that “4 + 4 = 8” and assumes you know the 'real' answer is '8.' To put it mildly, you're screwed!

Your answer doesn't jibe with the authors and you can't figure out why because you've looked at the problem every which way and no matter how many times you try “4 + 3” is still = to 7. It doesn't make sense and you pop a cork.

But after you settle down, put the lighter fluid away and promise not to burn your book You come to realize the AUTHOR not you is the one who has a made a mistake. It's a misspelling, they meant to write "4 + 4." Now it all makes sense.

Now the code works the way it’s supposed too. Now you can get back to doing what you had started doing umpteen hours ago, trying to learn something. (Besides learning about hack editing)

Computer book after computer book I've bought has had code mistakes and it really pisses me off. There is special place in heck for all the authors, editors and book publishers who rush work to the streets without someone, any one, a monkey for Pete's sake, sitting down and working through all the problems presented in the book. If the answers don't add up, FIX THE BOOK BEFORE YOU SHIP IT, MORONS!

I'm starting a database of these losers with my new-found (and error-free) knowledge.

select losers
from targets natural join idiots
where idiots = "editor"
and targets.morons = iditots.morons