what would you like to see in a 2nd edition Nutshell?

[Alex Martelli]

Russell E. Owen <rowen at cesmail.net> wrote:

> In article <1gpjz0o.umrpws1pjdekyN%aleaxit at yahoo.com>,
>  aleaxit at yahoo.com (Alex Martelli) wrote:
> 
> >I'm considering proposing to O'Reilly a 2nd edition of "Python in a
> >Nutshell", that I'd write in 2005, essentially to cover Python 2.3 and
> >2.4 (the current 1st edition only covers Python up to 2.2).
> >...
> 
> Since you were kind enough to ask...what I'd really like is a better 
> better index and better organization, so I can more quickly and easily
> locate info on a particular topic.

Thanks for the advice!  What I have now is the best organization I was
able to conceive -- and I have no current ideas on how to enhance it.
Any _suggestions_ will be truly welcome; somehow, I don't see "make it
better" as a _suggestion_... if I _knew_ how to organize it better, I
would, of course.

Indexing is a completely separate issue, mostly done by O'Reilly outside
of my control; can we please focus on _organization_, which _is_ almost
entirely in my hands...

> Nutshell has some wonderful in-depth discussions of certain topics and
> I'm glad I own it, but I find it too hard to use for everyday questions
> (which was not at all what I expected for a "nutshell" book). I usually

Indeed, this is definitely not what I was aiming for, and if it's a
widespread issue which all reviews of the book I read managed to hide
it's crucial for it to come out -- whence my thanks.  But I need more
help to understand what makes the book's organization so feeble for you,
and whether the issue is widespread so that I need to revolutionize the
book's organization... or whether such a revolution wouldn't hurt the
many readers who appeared sort of OK with the current structure...

Thanks in advance for any further input -- and that applies to others
just as much as to you (meaning: o future potential readers, if you find
the current organization of the book ok, please do speak up -- if only
those who prefer changes are gonna speak, then changes are likely!-).


Alex