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List:       postgresql-general
Subject:    Re: [GENERAL] postgresql book - practical or something newer?
From:       Guy Rouillier <guyr-ml1 () burntmail ! com>
Date:       2008-01-31 21:40:11
Message-ID: 47A2403B.5020007 () burntmail ! com
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Robert Treat wrote:

> Just so you know, I approached OReally about writing a PostgreSQL Cookbook, 
> and they turned it down. They did offer me some other titles, but those don't 
> seem to have gone anywhere. 

As someone else pointed out in this thread, very much of what you need 
to know has been previously discussed at one point; the hard part is 
finding it.

What we need is for some of the people with the big brains ;) to come up 
with some new kind of "hyperbook".  That would be the documentation in 
some form similar to what it is today, but somehow connected to the 
discussions that happen in the mailing lists.  That way, when something 
really insightful or helpful gets said in the mailing lists, it can get 
connected to a particular place in the documentation.  Then over time, 
the doc maintainers can take the best of those and incorporate them 
directly into the docs at the appropriate place.

This would not only benefit those looking for information, but also 
those hearty and knowledgeable souls (like Tom) who patiently provide it 
repeatedly as the same questions pop up every couple weeks/months. 
Plus, the documentation would grow and become much more useful over 
time.  Then, instead of repeating answers to repeating questions, we can 
just point to the appropriate place in the docs.  The "unattached" 
discussions could identify sections lacking in the docs; i.e., if enough 
unattached discussions accumulate for a particular topic, then that 
probably indicates the need for a new section in the docs on that topic.

To be honest, I think a hyperbook would be easier to implement with 
forums than with mailing lists.  The former are permanently resident in 
a known place, while the latter are out there in the ether (or in some 
unorganized archive that is notoriously hard to link to.)

-- 
Guy Rouillier

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