Hi,
I recently bought two books on the processing language and I realized there were at least 10 books I could have chosen from. As far as I know, pd has only two books about itself ("bang" and "loadbang") How come ? Is this only a userbase issue? having a pd book like "getting started with processing" would be great to get new people to use the language. It should be real beginner level, teach you the basic programming skills and show you all you can do... is anyone working in that field?
D.S
http://www.flickr.com/photos/schafferdavid/ http://audioblog.arteradio.com/David_Schaffer/
Hey David
I think it's probably an open-source thing as much as anything. There's a lot of resources out there for Pd which are freely available. (For a 'getting started' guide, I'd recommend the floss manual). It's a bit of a paradox in the open-source community that free resources tend to inhibit more traditional forms.
Having said that, if someone wants to pay for 'PD for dummies' I'd gladly get writing tomorrow. Perhaps an e-mail to the publishers?
Andrew
From: schafferdavid@hotmail.com To: pd-list@iem.at Date: Wed, 18 Aug 2010 09:06:01 +0000 Subject: [PD] pd books...
Hi,
I recently bought two books on the processing language and I realized there were at least 10 books I could have chosen from. As far as I know, pd has only two books about itself ("bang" and "loadbang") How come ? Is this only a userbase issue? having a pd book like "getting started with processing" would be great to get new people to use the language. It should be real beginner level, teach you the basic programming skills and show you all you can do... is anyone working in that field?
D.S
http://www.flickr.com/photos/schafferdavid/ http://audioblog.arteradio.com/David_Schaffer/
Pd-list@iem.at mailing list UNSUBSCRIBE and account-management -> http://lists.puredata.info/listinfo/pd-list
These tutorials on Youtube really helped me:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rtgGol-I4gA
I downloaded them to my iPhone and watched them whenever I could.
Philip
On Wed, Aug 18, 2010 at 10:13 AM, Andrew Faraday jbturgid@hotmail.com wrote:
Hey David
I think it's probably an open-source thing as much as anything. There's a lot of resources out there for Pd which are freely available. (For a 'getting started' guide, I'd recommend the floss manual). It's a bit of a paradox in the open-source community that free resources tend to inhibit more traditional forms.
Having said that, if someone wants to pay for 'PD for dummies' I'd gladly get writing tomorrow. Perhaps an e-mail to the publishers?
Andrew
From: schafferdavid@hotmail.com To: pd-list@iem.at Date: Wed, 18 Aug 2010 09:06:01 +0000 Subject: [PD] pd books...
Hi,
I recently bought two books on the processing language and I realized there were at least 10 books I could have chosen from. As far as I know, pd has only two books about itself ("bang" and "loadbang") How come ? Is this only a userbase issue? having a pd book like "getting started with processing" would be great to get new people to use the language. It should be real beginner level, teach you the basic programming skills and show you all you can do... is anyone working in that field?
D.S
http://www.flickr.com/photos/schafferdavid/
http://audioblog.arteradio.com/David_Schaffer/
_______________________________________________ Pd-list@iem.at mailing list UNSUBSCRIBE and account-management -> http://lists.puredata.info/listinfo/pd-list _______________________________________________ Pd-list@iem.at mailing list UNSUBSCRIBE and account-management -> http://lists.puredata.info/listinfo/pd-list
The University where I teach would gladly buy several copies of any PD book, and I know for sure that many students would buy such a book too. I am sure there are a number of other institutions who would too.
I'm not saying that there is necessarily great demand, but there is some demand.
Just to give you an idea, one of my modules is very PD-based, and Miller's book is first on the reading list; that justified buying several copies for the library, and that encouraged several students to buy it.
In my opinion, published books dealing with open-source subjects also contribute a perception that it is not just a fringe curiosity.
- martin
On 18 August 2010 10:13, Andrew Faraday jbturgid@hotmail.com wrote:
Hey David
I think it's probably an open-source thing as much as anything. There's a lot of resources out there for Pd which are freely available. (For a 'getting started' guide, I'd recommend the floss manual). It's a bit of a paradox in the open-source community that free resources tend to inhibit more traditional forms.
Having said that, if someone wants to pay for 'PD for dummies' I'd gladly get writing tomorrow. Perhaps an e-mail to the publishers?
Andrew
From: schafferdavid@hotmail.com To: pd-list@iem.at Date: Wed, 18 Aug 2010 09:06:01 +0000 Subject: [PD] pd books...
Hi,
I recently bought two books on the processing language and I realizedthere were at least 10 books I could have chosen from. As far as I know, pd has only two books about itself ("bang" and "loadbang") How come ? Is this only a userbase issue? having a pd book like "getting started with processing" would be great to get new people to use the language. It should be real beginner level, teach you the basic programming skills and show you all you can do... is anyone working in that field?
D.S
http://www.flickr.com/photos/schafferdavid/
http://audioblog.arteradio.com/David_Schaffer/
_______________________________________________ Pd-list@iem.at mailing list UNSUBSCRIBE and account-management -> http://lists.puredata.info/listinfo/pd-list
Pd-list@iem.at mailing list UNSUBSCRIBE and account-management -> http://lists.puredata.info/listinfo/pd-list
On Sat, 21 Aug 2010, Martin Dupras wrote:
In my opinion, published books dealing with open-source subjects also contribute a perception that it is not just a fringe curiosity.
What would you think of a book form of something such as the help files of GridFlow ? If only to achieve the double goal of having one more book about Pd and having a set of helpfiles polished enough and proofread enough to become something we'd be proud to call a book.
_ _ __ ___ _____ ________ _____________ _____________________ ... | Mathieu Bouchard, Montréal, Québec. téléphone: +1.514.383.3801
The more books the better, in my err... book. (pun intended.)
What follows is just my opinion.
<rant>I think that books are really very helpful for a number of reasons, not least of which because they give you a chance to think more conceptually, away from the screen. That is a double-edged sword, however, because many books are not very useful away from the screen (e.g. "for dummies" books) and they soon become obsolete.
There's a second-hand book store in Bristol where all the computer books are £1. The rationale is that demand for a book on, say, Photoshop 5.0 is low. I think it's very important that printed books retain a conceptual element.
For something like GridFlow, I think it would be really, really great if there was a book which spent some time explaining how it works. I'd certainly buy that. I'd find it very hard to justify the purchase of a printer set of help files on their own.
In my experience, books tend to be used where a student seeks further explanation on something that was covered superficially; when they really struggle with a concept and need a different and more detailed explanation; and when I point them specifically to a chapter or section of a book. The book becomes a resource in the learning process, rather than a compendium of knowledge.
</rant>
- martin
On 21 August 2010 18:25, Mathieu Bouchard matju@artengine.ca wrote:
On Sat, 21 Aug 2010, Martin Dupras wrote:
In my opinion, published books dealing with open-source subjects also
contribute a perception that it is not just a fringe curiosity.
What would you think of a book form of something such as the help files of GridFlow ? If only to achieve the double goal of having one more book about Pd and having a set of helpfiles polished enough and proofread enough to become something we'd be proud to call a book.
_ _ __ ___ _____ ________ _____________ _____________________ ... | Mathieu Bouchard, Montréal, Québec. téléphone: +1.514.383.3801
On Sat, 21 Aug 2010, Martin Dupras wrote:
For something like GridFlow, I think it would be really, really great if there was a book which spent some time explaining how it works. I'd certainly buy that. I'd find it very hard to justify the purchase of a printer set of help files on their own.
Ok, then nevermind the book because, in the end, the only way I'm going to write "how it works" is by sufficiently expanding the set of help files until it covers the ground I want to cover.
With the copyrights I will receive an amount of money that is peanuts and doesn't quite compensate for the low popularity caused by an incomplete set of help files. (unless you can show me that I can make at least 10,000 piastres directly or indirectly from selling a paper book ?)
I think I will just keep on expanding help files.
Meanwhile, your problem is still that you need to justify the software using paper books that have to be paid for and have original content in them that can't be given away for free. The perception that pd is a fringe curiousity is fueled by the unreasonable expectation that printed manuals need to exist. (You and I have been talking about similar issues in the past, but I don't really know how I could solve any of them, in the end).
OTOH, Pd doesn't have that many contributors, and they're all very part time. In that sense, Pd is somewhat fringy, and more so when getting into specific libraries, even the large ones such as GEM, MTL, GF, PDP/PiDiP.
_ _ __ ___ _____ ________ _____________ _____________________ ... | Mathieu Bouchard, Montréal, Québec. téléphone: +1.514.383.3801
On 2010-08-18 11:06, David Schaffer wrote:
Hi,
I recently bought two books on the processing language and I realized there were at least 10 books I could have chosen from. As far as I know, pd has only two books about itself ("bang" and "loadbang") How come ? Is this only a userbase issue? having a pd book like "getting started with processing" would be great to get new people to use the language. It should be real beginner level, teach you the basic programming skills and show you all you can do... is anyone working in that field?
well, there are more; two come immediately to my mind
- M.S.Puckette: "The Theory and Technique of Electronic Music"
- A.Farnell: "Designing Sound"
mfgasr IOhannes
On Aug 18, 2010, at 5:27 AM, IOhannes m zmoelnig wrote:
On 2010-08-18 11:06, David Schaffer wrote:
Hi,
I recently bought two books on the processing language and I
realized there were at least 10 books I could have chosen from. As
far as I know, pd has only two books about itself ("bang" and
"loadbang") How come ? Is this only a userbase issue? having a pd
book like "getting started with processing" would be great to get
new people to use the language. It should be real beginner level,
teach you the basic programming skills and show you all you can
do... is anyone working in that field?well, there are more; two come immediately to my mind
- M.S.Puckette: "The Theory and Technique of Electronic Music"
- A.Farnell: "Designing Sound"
And also http://pd-tutorial.com
.hc
If you are not part of the solution, you are part of the problem.
-
Andrew Faraday -
David Schaffer -
Hans-Christoph Steiner -
IOhannes m zmoelnig -
IOhannes zmölnig
-
Martin Dupras -
Mathieu Bouchard -
Philip Cunningham