Re: 4GL Book in FAQ - Don't do it!

I have already corresponded off-line with Daniel, but some of my comments to him might be of interest to the general forum. The list of books in question started out as a list that was being passed around which contained comments about some of the books on the list. When I put the list in the FTP archive, I felt the fairest approach was to strip out the critiques, even though I agreed with most (though not all) of them. The primary consideration that swayed me in this decision was that, since I wanted to be the maintainer of the archive and not its moderator or editor, I wouldn't have the resources to give all books an equal review. This was difficult for me to do, since I felt some of the books on the list were clearly not very good. In fact, the main book that was out when I was first learning 4GL is rather dangerous, at least in the edition that was available at the time. Anyway, in the end I decided to lean toward being relatively non-editorial with respect to the book list. This may be the fairest approach (perhaps to a fault), but it doesn't make things easier if you're just starting out. The only statement that I can think to make that is close enough to being true that it will be of some help is that, *in general*, 4GL books and manuals have gotten better as time has gone by. Thus, I would investigate books with newer publication dates first. I always supply those dates when I know them. Also, if you have access to the Web, I would suggest you check the version of the book list at the IIUG Web site. The URL is "http://www.iiug.org/techinfo/books.html";. It contains links to the publisher Web sites for some of the books. There, you will find synopses and the usual P/R info that might help you decide which book(s) to try first. And of course, once you settle on a book you want to try, you can ask about it first in this forum. Good luck, Walt. -- Walt Hultgren Internet: walt@rmy.emory.edu (IP 170.140.97.4) Emory University UUCP: {...,gatech,rutgers,uunet}!emory!rmy!walt 954 Gatewood Road, NE BITNET: walt@EMORY Atlanta, GA 30329 USA Voice: +1 404 727 0648