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Comment by RexRollman | Hacker News Reader

Zed,

May I suggest making it available in other formats, assuming that it is possible, once it is finished? Perhaps as text or HTML files in a tarball? Or even as an epub (for Nooks and iPad)?

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The source files are written in rst(ReStructured Text) format, the standard documentation format for Python. Specifically using [Sphinx](http://sphinx.pocoo.org).

One of the default output formats IS HTML.

Build instructions on *nix:

    $ fossil clone http://learnpythonthehardway.org lpthw.fossil 
    $ mkdir lpthw
    $ cd lpthw
    $ fossil open ../lpthw.fossil 
    $ make html
    $ open _build/html/index.html

To install sphinx:

    $ easy_install sphinx

    $ pip install sphinx

Here you go: a zipped file containing HTML files on google docs. https://docs.google.com/leaf?id=0BzdipdlNhpRrNWNmYjFlNmMtZTl...

Thanks. And thanks for showing how to do this as well.

Please don't put it online in HTML just yet. I need to get it edited, and I'm afraid people will put versions of the book up in HTML format with errors and problems. Once the book is 1.0 then I'll have it online and anyone else can put it online. Can you take your link down please?

I've taken down the doc.

Thanks. I appreciate it.

Yep, the plan is to create a better site, offer the book on lulu.com in dead tree and ereader formats, and put it up in HTML format.

I won't do any of that yet though because I need to edit it and don't want people getting bad web pages from caches or places.

In the absence of an epub, GoodReader on the ipad is very handy for reading PDFs as books. The type is a little small on this document, but I am able to read it without zooming and panning.

What does GoodReader have over using iBooks? I've mostly just used it for storing manuals for tech products so far, but it seems like a reasonable way to read PDFs.

Mainly performance and options. Page turns, navigation, zooming are all faster. iBooks is my favorite eBook reader but GoodReader is noticeably better for reading pdfs. A mandatory app for iPad, along with Dropbox, SimpleNote and Instapaper.

Also you can crop the margins of pages so that they fit better without zooming in. It can convert pdf to text on the fly too, though of course there are formatting issues.

Also, how about translating to other (programming) languages? Would you be interested in people porting the book, Zed?

He said before he's got a generic domain as well, and would be interested in porting it to other languages, or helping others to do so.

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