I can't find it for an affordable price anywhere. Is this book made of gold or something? I hate reading on my PC. Sorry /prog/, but I won't be reading it.
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Anonymous2009-08-02 13:25
>>1
Write a mail to The Sussman ans explain your situation, you might get a free autographed copy.
But seriously, yeah, it's pretty expensive, but it's worth it. sicp sicp sicp.
Just print the pdf black and white. About $3 worth of printer paper + about $5-$10 worth of ink, then hole punch it and put it in a binder, or take it to Kinko's and get it comb-bound or something.
Or if you have an awesome stapler that can do 50 sheets at a time, you can just staple together individual chapters.
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Anonymous2009-08-02 22:03
learn to read on your PC.
you get much more used to it over time
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Anonymous2009-08-02 22:45
I agree with OP that reading on a PC sucks, if you're actually reading a book cover-to-cover and not just looking something up. A physical book is so much more convenient to handle than a laptop, especially for long periods of time. You can take it anywhere, the battery doesn't run down, it's physically much lighter and less fragile, etc. etc.
>>22
It's also much less flexible when it comes to seeking, scaling, copy-pasting.
Do you also print your language/OS's documentation?
The major advantage is portability and availability at any time, which is important if you move a lot, but if you have a good LCD screen, reading books and documentation at your computer is very nice.
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Anonymous2009-08-02 22:58
>>22
But the book is less versatile.
An ebook has no weight. You can take it anywhere in a flash drive, so you can, for example, read it during lunch at work. If you want to read it on the way to work or don't want to read it off the screen, you can print a few pages and read it like that.
With a physical book, you have no choice but to carry the whole thing (if you don't want rip out pages). You can make copies of the pages, but that's also less convenient.
In any case, why is a programmer worried about reading off a screen? You're already staring at a screen for hours while working.
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Anonymous2009-08-02 23:38
Reading from a book is pleasant. There's a paperback edition of SICP which is usually much cheaper than a hardcover. But because it's SICP, I would go the extra effort of using more susscoins to purchase the hardcover edition. But that's just me.
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Anonymous2009-08-03 0:21
I don't like reading from hard-copy books very much because it's hard to find a comfortable position with good lighting, whereas I never need to worry about good lighting with my computer screen, and I've already set up my computer desk to be comfortable
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Anonymous2009-08-03 0:37
>>23 seeking
It's called an index. Also, trying to flip backwards and find a section again that you remember reading sucks balls in an ebook, unless you can remember an exact phrase that was used.
scaling
It's called an elbow. Or if your elbow joints are fused, I guess you could get a magnifying glass.
copy-pasting
If I need to do that, I'm obviously already at my computer, so THEN I gb2 gigapedia, load up the ebook, find what I need, and c&p.
>>24 An ebook has no weight. You can take it anywhere in a flash drive, so you can, for example, read it during lunch at work.
And how exactly do you read an ebook using *just* a flash drive? Ebooks are *less* portable because they tie you to either a desktop computer, which isn't portable at all, or a laptop, which is generally a lot heavier and more awkward than a book.
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Anonymous2009-08-03 0:57
>>27 And how exactly do you read an ebook using *just* a flash drive? you can print a few pages and read it like that.
But this only works if you're reading something sequentially, obviously.
Are you forgetting about Palms? A friend of mine has been reading ebooks from a Palm for years, now. Are you saying a book is lighter than a Palm?
You can always make an ebook lighter and/or smaller. A book is of a fixed size and weight.
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Anonymous2009-08-03 1:00
>>28
I prefer books because it's the "traditional" way, grown used to it.
>>30
Wouldn't a bubble full of helium float because it's lighter than the water, and thus be unable to remain underwater?
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Anonymous2009-08-03 3:02
>>31
He didn't say what the bubble itself was made of. It could be that the weight of the bubble plus the weight of the helium is greater than the weight of an equivalent volume of water.
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Anonymous2009-08-03 3:24
I don't know. I think even a bubble made of steel could float. The space needed to hold a person inside would remove quite a bit of density. Maybe if it had some weights.
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Anonymous2009-08-03 3:36
>>33
If the bubble was five feet thick, and the inner chamber 10 feet wide, the density of the bubble would be
(volume of the steel) * (density of steel) / (volume of bubble)=
[4/3 * pi * (10^3 - 5^3) ft^3] * [500 lbs/ft^3] / [4/3 * pi * 10
^3] =
437.5 pounds / ft^3
which is much higher than the density of water, 62 lb/ft^3.
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Anonymous2009-08-03 4:02
>>22
Incorrect. A laptop will happily sit on your belly for hours, while a paper book must be held open manually.
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Anonymous2009-08-03 4:05
>>34
Wait, what? The "bubble" is half as thick as it is wide on the inside? That doesn't make any sense. Why would you make a steel bubble that thick when only a few inches would be enough?