Pragmatic Programmers Entire Catalog on Medium | Hacker News Reader

Pragmatic Programmers Entire Catalog on Medium

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56 pointskangman18 comments

I find Medium to be the worst way to consume content. Page loads are really slow (regardless of internet speed). Most content publishers don't have a custom domain so it's difficult to differentiate levels of quality in search results. The constant requests to be tracked (i.e. sign in) are frustrating. I used to cave to the nagging and sign in but after so many times finding out someone was gaming the search engine results to post a mediocre or pointless article, I've given up and never sign in.

My muscle memory when I'm searching now includes -site: medium.com and I've found that helps bubble up more well thought out and detailed solutions to technical issues I'm investigating.

I really enjoy PragProg books, they switched their eBook catalog backend in recent memory (last year?). I don't remember exactly what my issue was but I recall having an experience that ultimately had me abandon my shopping cart. I find the Manning catalog and eBook ownership experience to be top-notch, I'm not sure why PragProg has struggled with this. It's as if they don't read their own books.

I've never found page speeds to be slow, including through a VPN. You can also get Google AMP versions of Medium pages if you find the articles that way on a mobile device. AMP will prevent React from loading so that should fix any page load speed issues.

There's an AMP extension for Chrome that does the same thing https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/amp-browser-extens...

I think the searchability of the textbooks via Google is a big pro in favor of them going to Medium. And personally I like the interface, but to each their own I guess.

"Mazes are everywhere. From psychology experiments where mice scamper in search of cheese, to robotics demonstrations, to movies (Labyrinth, anyone?) and video games (Pac-Man? The Legend of Zelda? Doom?), to books and books of puzzles to be traced by finger or pencil, you’ve almost certainly encountered them at some point in your life.

What you’re reading now is not a collection of mazes for you to solve. No, this is something much more exciting. This is a collection of ideas to inspire you.

You’re about to learn how to generate your own mazes. Random mazes, unique, each one different than the one before. It’s a voyage of discovery where you never know quite what you’ll find when you crest the next hill." Mazes for Programmers by Jamis Buck — Pragmatic Programmers (3 / 121)

Coincidently, I just started reading the "The Pragmatic Programmer, 20th Anniversary Edition, 2nd Edition" on O'Reilly [1]. I read the original book many years ago and the second edition is completely updated and just as good. For those not familiar with the original, it's a refreshing take on programming as a craft as opposed to just "coding."

[1] https://learning.oreilly.com/library/view/the-pragmatic-prog...

Why do the PragPros do this? what is the advantage over ebooks?

Medium is on its way to become the one stop place for long form content consumption. Bringing Pragmatic Programming onboard is certainly a step in the right direction!

I worked on this project to get the Prags over to Medium, so I think I can answer. It's not an either or. They still do ebooks and also print books. For a lot of people, the proper book format is still going to be preferred.

However, there's some things being on the web does that ebooks don't do. The top is that being on Medium makes them Google searchable and that unlocks the reference value of each of these books. You can come in, find your answer, and leave. Most people won't ever buy an ebook just to read one section.

It asks me to download an app to read them. Is there a way to read the medium page without having to do that?

I'm expecting just that you need an account or need to login. These are all behind the Medium subscription paywall which should allow a couple for free.

Here's the entire directory of books https://medium.com/pragmatic-programmers/directory-of-pragma...

Seems to require a Medium membership?

It does-ish.

The -ish is that Medium uses a Metered paywall where three subscriber articles per month are free if you are logged in. So if you end up on one of these books because of a Google search, you'll probably end up getting your answer for free.

But if you want to read more you have to be a subscriber. Launching the Prags is part of upgrading the subscription to make it stronger for programmers. There were already a lot of programmers subscribed, but I think the Prags makes the value of a Medium subscription a lot more clear cut.

That's a pretty big "-ish". Every chapter is an article. Try to read more than three chapters, and you're done.

I look at Medium as fundamentally a subscription service that happens to be accessible by Google. The Prags are a big upgrade for anyone interested in programming and it's a lot to include in a $5/month service. If Google and social media links only send you to Medium 1 or 2 times a month then it might not yet be a subscription for you. (Yet, because this isn't the last upgrade). It's not fundamentally anyone's goal to put the Prag books online for free (AFAIK). Those books took a lot of author time to write and a lot of paid work to edit and produce. And without the financial piece, I don't think these books would exist, let alone be online.

I don't disagree, but my point is, they are not even free-ish. That's fine. I have no problem paying $5/mo. for access to content like this. I mean, one of these books would cost me $30. That's 6 months worth of Medium access.

Looks like my ANTLR 4 reference book is available, if anybody is interested.

This is awesome.

I think this is a great opportunity for programmers to be able to find a lot more answers through organic search.

Previously you'd have to know that the topic was covered in _ textbook, then you'd have to buy and read said textbook.

Now you can find it just from a Google search. And then you can read the whole textbook if you want. Seems worth it for $5.

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