[CMake] 4th Edition CMake book now in stock

Brandon Van Every bvanevery at gmail.com
Tue Feb 5 19:50:33 EST 2008


On Feb 5, 2008 6:49 PM, Alan W. Irwin <irwin at beluga.phys.uvic.ca> wrote:
> On 2008-02-05 17:08-0500 Brandon Van Every wrote:
>
> > On Feb 5, 2008 4:28 PM, Alan W. Irwin <irwin at beluga.phys.uvic.ca> wrote:
> >>
> >> I looked at that site, and there was no mention of an electronic (PDF)
> >> version.  I far prefer that format since it is friendlier to trees, takes up
> >> no space in my office, is much easier to search, and I can adjust the size
> >> of the text when my eyes get tired.
> >
> > Here's to dead trees!  They rest my eyes, they carry to any physical
> > location I wish.
>
> Brandon, I can visualize you strongly arguing for the quill pen when the
> first printing presses came out.  :-)

Absolutely, just as I would today.  I usually design things using pen,
paper, and an engineering notebook.  This is the original laptop, it
goes anywhere and allows me to visualize anything with instant
feedback.  Letter setting would have been *extremely* tedious back in
the day by comparison.  The advantage of letter setting is economy of
scale for reproduction, not ease of initial drafting.  It is only
fairly recently that I used the computer as any kind of a prototyping
tool, mostly for CMake code snippets.  I have contemplated using
computer diagramming tools for all the mathematical things I devise,
but that's only useful if I actually need to evaluate them.  Usually
when I get bogged down into thinking I need to evaluate some equation,
I end up saying, ok, I'm overthinking this, I should either write some
code or *assume* there's an answer rather than wearing myself out
trying to pin down the exact answer.  Then the problem tends to go
away because I have some more pressing priority.  If I get into the
business of making money on math, then I'll reconsider.

I also paint and have felt no affinity for digital tools.  I think
that's because nobody has commodified a tablet computer.

> > My opinion is that Kitware doesn't need to provide the entire book in
> > an easily pirated medium.
>
> Please think of what real piracy implies (rape, murder, looting, slavery)
> before using the term so casually.

"Piracy" is a technical term that everyone in the software industry is
familiar with, and that most consumers are now familiar with as well,
thanks to their something-for-nothing habits with MP3s, DVDs, and
P2Ps.

> Of course, Hollywood and the RIAA likes
> to use such overblown terms for use of any of their products in any way they
> don't like (whether legal or not),

Hardly.  Those are new kids on the block.  People talked about
software piracy back in the days of my Atari 800, in 1981.  That's why
all those Infocom text adventure games had sliding puzzle wheels and
"look at page 3 of the manual" and collectible wizard cards and
whatnot.  It is far too late for you to reinterpret the commonly
accepted term "piracy" according to some kind of cockamany PC
sensibility.

And while you're reinterpreting stuff, you might take a historical
look at "piracy" vs. "privateering."  Where do you think pirates came
from?  From the Brits deciding they didn't need the privateers
anymore, that's where.

> but that doesn't mean you have to ape their misuse of the language.

Throw out the entire computer lexicon while you're at it then.  Or
rather: don't teach your Grandma how to suck eggs.  That said, I think
you're older than me, so maybe: [...] your Grandson [...] ?


Cheers,
Brandon Van Every


More information about the CMake mailing list