[TAG] an idea

Thu Apr 20 05:56:28 MSD 2006

On Thu, Apr 20, 2006 at 02:32:11AM +0100, Thomas Adam wrote:
> > On Wed, Apr 19, 2006 at 05:49:17PM -0700, Pablo Jadzinsky wrote:
> > > I think it would be great to have a 'homework' forum where every  
> > > month a script or task can be suggested and then we (the readers)  
> > > work on in during say 2 weeks. Some of us can send solutions to you  
> 
> Been done before via various means --- some people (including myself) tried
> setting various exercises in articles.  But then this is only targetting a
> specific audience:  the people reading that specific article.  (Ben's Perl
> series at least had some reader feedback in this way).

Speaking of titles - "Thomas Adam, Linux Gazette cynic-in-residence."
Think of the fame, the... oh, right. :)

My articles were intended as lessons in basic Perl for those who wanted
an easy start. The exercises were purely incidental. I believe that a
column of the sort that Pablo suggested would garner an audience over
time - it may even get a good jump-start right away. 

> Sometimes allusions were made in the earlier editions of TAG for readers' to
> try out ideas if they were so inclined, and do post their results in.  Some
> did, but not many.
> 
> It's worth a try, for sure.  I am greatly cynical though, so do not be
> surprised if the response you get from it is low at best.  You never know,
> you might get a 'good' month in it.

Why not leave off the discouraging grumbling, and see what happens?
Thomas, there are *no* positive outcomes to be served by carping in this
case, and lots of negative ones. Why do it?

> I assume (since it's your suggestion) you'll be detailing to us in more
> detail the sorts of things you were meaning, with an example?  Yes? 
> Excellent.

In fact, if Pablo does decide to undertake this, I would rather he
_didn't_ detail them. Granting him the same courtesy that we do to any
author means leaving the details to him up until the moment that he
submits the finished article. There's no reason whatsoever to demand
them until that point.

* Ben Okopnik * Editor-in-Chief, Linux Gazette * http://linuxgazette.net *