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Physical libraries (was: Python and p2p)

A.M. Kuchling amk at amk.ca
Thu Feb 6 08:23:06 EST 2003 
On Thu, 06 Feb 2003 11:39:30 -0000, 
	Cameron Laird <claird at lairds.com> wrote:
> ... if not for learning computing.  The two models of infor-
> mation flow are just too different for old-style libraries.

At least in my area, the public libraries are reasonably good for currently
fashionable computing topics.  I recently read O'Reilly's "C# Essentials" by
borrowing a copy from the tiny little library near my home, and they're not
bad for Java, XML, and Web-related books.  (How tiny?
Three shelves of Shakespeare, compared to the 20 or so shelves at the main
library -- that may give an idea.)

They're not suitable for learning *computer science*, on the other hand; all
of the computer titles are how-to guides, not texts.  The catalog lists
Knuth's TAoCP, but not Foley/van Dam, Cormen/Leiserson/Rivest, or
Gray/Reuter, to pick three well-known texts off the top of my head. I'd need
to find a university library for that sort of thing.

--amk                                                    (www.amk.ca)
Absence makes the nose grow longer.
      -- The Doctor, in "Time and the Rani"
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