rescorla@rtnmr.chem.yale.edu (Eric Rescorla) (06/04/91)
Does anyone out there have a machine readable form of K+R's C book? Could I FTP it? thanks, -ekr -- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Eric Rescorla rescorla@rtnmr.chem.yale.edu Yale University Department of Chemistry rescorla@psun.chem.yale.edu "No his mind is not for rent--to any God or government." Peart/Dubois
henry@zoo.toronto.edu (Henry Spencer) (06/04/91)
In article <1991Jun4.155924.13499@cs.yale.edu> rescorla@rtnmr.chem.yale.edu (Eric Rescorla) writes: >Does anyone out there have a machine readable form of K+R's C book? >Could I FTP it? K&R presumably do... but it's *not* likely to be available for FTP any time soon, because of this little matter known as "copyright". Anyone trying to make it available for FTP is likely to get a visit from Prentice-Hall's lawyers. -- "We're thinking about upgrading from | Henry Spencer @ U of Toronto Zoology SunOS 4.1.1 to SunOS 3.5." | henry@zoo.toronto.edu utzoo!henry
rescorla@rtnmr.chem.yale.edu (Eric Rescorla) (06/05/91)
In article <1991Jun4.162608.487@zoo.toronto.edu> henry@zoo.toronto.edu (Henry Spencer) writes: >In article <1991Jun4.155924.13499@cs.yale.edu> rescorla@rtnmr.chem.yale.edu (Eric Rescorla) writes: >>Does anyone out there have a machine readable form of K+R's C book? >>Could I FTP it? > >K&R presumably do... but it's *not* likely to be available for FTP any >time soon, because of this little matter known as "copyright". Anyone >trying to make it available for FTP is likely to get a visit from >Prentice-Hall's lawyers. >-- Well, if I remember, the book says "available in machine readable form" What exactly does this mean if it is not available in machine readable form. I.e. if K+R have not made it available for FTP, how IS it available if not in paper? -Ekr -- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Eric Rescorla rescorla@rtnmr.chem.yale.edu Yale University Department of Chemistry rescorla@psun.chem.yale.edu "No his mind is not for rent--to any God or government." Peart/Dubois
henry@zoo.toronto.edu (Henry Spencer) (06/05/91)
In article <1991Jun4.203054.16201@cs.yale.edu> rescorla@rtnmr.chem.yale.edu (Eric Rescorla) writes: >Well, if I remember, the book says "available in machine readable form" Where, exactly, does it say that? >...I.e. if K+R have not made it available for FTP, how IS it available >if not in paper? It's not, as far as I know. Even the C Reference Manual, once shipped with every Unix distribution, stopped being available except in paper once K&R1 came out. I would be extremely suprised to see a book that sells briskly and looks to continue doing so for a long time made available for (free!) FTP. -- "We're thinking about upgrading from | Henry Spencer @ U of Toronto Zoology SunOS 4.1.1 to SunOS 3.5." | henry@zoo.toronto.edu utzoo!henry
barmar@think.com (Barry Margolin) (06/05/91)
In article <1991Jun4.203054.16201@cs.yale.edu> rescorla@rtnmr.chem.yale.edu (Eric Rescorla) writes: >Well, if I remember, the book says "available in machine readable form" >What exactly does this mean if it is not available in machine readable >form. I.e. if K+R have not made it available for FTP, how IS it available >if not in paper? What this may mean is that the publisher is willing to *sell* it in machine-readable form, and perhaps to license it for further distribution. For instance, Symbolics includes an online version of Harbison&Steele with their C compiler for Lisp Machines (however, it's not in a simple text file format, it's in a binary format intended to be accessed by their hypertext online documentation system). Loading the online H&S also loads patches to the documentation reader, which I believe make it reject attempts to print hardcopy of the H&S stuff (the publisher probably made them do this -- any reasonably competent Lisp programmer should be able to bypass the checks). -- Barry Margolin, Thinking Machines Corp. barmar@think.com {uunet,harvard}!think!barmar
wirzeniu@klaava.Helsinki.FI (Lars Wirzenius) (06/05/91)
In article <1991Jun4.211119.13531@zoo.toronto.edu> henry@zoo.toronto.edu (Henry Spencer) writes: >In article <1991Jun4.203054.16201@cs.yale.edu> rescorla@rtnmr.chem.yale.edu (Eric Rescorla) writes: >>Well, if I remember, the book says "available in machine readable form" > >Where, exactly, does it say that? In the Preface (page x in my copy of the second edition, first paragraph), it says: "As before, all examples have been tested directly from the text, which is in machine-readable form." From the Preface to the First Edition (page xi, third paragraph): "All examples have been tested directly from the text, which is in machine-readable form." I have not been able to find anything about availability. I have always assumed that the authors wanted to reduce the suspicions of typographical errors in typeset code, which are all too common in some books. -- Lars Wirzenius wirzeniu@cc.helsinki.fi
rescorla@rtnmr.chem.yale.edu (Eric Rescorla) (06/06/91)
In article <1991Jun5.080706.17275@klaava.Helsinki.FI> wirzeniu@klaava.Helsinki.FI (Lars Wirzenius) writes: >In article <1991Jun4.211119.13531@zoo.toronto.edu> henry@zoo.toronto.edu (Henry Spencer) writes: >I have not been able to find anything about availability. I have always >assumed that the authors wanted to reduce the suspicions of >typographical errors in typeset code, which are all too common in some >books. I have since spoken to DR. He says that--as many have suspected, the text is not available, nor are the examples alone. Oh well. -Ekr -- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Eric Rescorla rescorla@rtnmr.chem.yale.edu Yale University Department of Chemistry rescorla@psun.chem.yale.edu "No his mind is not for rent--to any God or government." Peart/Dubois
aaron@fern.ucsc.edu (Aaron Emigh) (06/06/91)
In article <1991Jun4.211119.13531@zoo.toronto.edu>, henry@zoo.toronto.edu (Henry Spencer) writes: |> I would be extremely suprised to see a book that sells briskly and looks |> to continue doing so for a long time made available for (free!) FTP. Actually, I believe Knuth's TeXbook still comes (in TeX format, naturally) with the TeX dist. It's intended for instructional use, to see how it was formatted using TeX. |> -- |> "We're thinking about upgrading from | Henry Spencer @ U of Toronto Zoology |> SunOS 4.1.1 to SunOS 3.5." | henry@zoo.toronto.edu utzoo!henry Aaron Emigh, aaron@oak.ucsc.edu "...I did it 'cause I'm just plain mean."
smbrush@lims01.lerc.nasa.gov (ANDREW BRUSH) (06/11/91)
In article <676362087.62@egsgate.FidoNet.Org>, Lars.Wirzenius@f98.n250.z1.FidoNet.Org (Lars Wirzenius) writes... > >In article <1991Jun4.211119.13531@zoo.toronto.edu> henry@zoo.toronto.edu >(Henry Spencer) writes: >>In article <1991Jun4.203054.16201@cs.yale.edu> rescorla@rtnmr.chem.yale.edu >(Eric Rescorla) writes: >>>Well, if I remember, the book says "available in machine readable form" >> >>Where, exactly, does it say that? > >In the Preface (page x in my copy of the second edition, first paragraph), >it says: > > "As before, all examples have been tested directly from the > text, which is in machine-readable form." > >From the Preface to the First Edition (page xi, third paragraph): > > "All examples have been tested directly from the text, which is > in machine-readable form." > >I have not been able to find anything about availability. I have always >assumed that the authors wanted to reduce the suspicions of >typographical errors in typeset code, which are all too common in some >books. >-- >Lars Wirzenius wirzeniu@cc.helsinki.fi > I think I see a misunderstanding here... A machine can READ the *program examples* in K&R, since they are typeset in an evenly-spaced courier-like font. This seems like a logical way of checking the examples. If you aren't interested in copyright laws, you can scan them into your machine. Like most others who responded to this thread, I'd be very surprised if such a successful book was available in ELECTRONIC form. Andrew S. Brush | SMBRUSH@EARTH.lerc.nasa.gov Sverdrup Technology | 2001 Aerospace Parkway NASA LeRC Group | Brook Park, OH 44142 "Opinions are Mine, Only" | (216) 826-6770
afoiani@nmsu.edu (Anthony "Tkil" Foiani) (06/11/91)
In article <1991Jun11.120938.8196@eagle.lerc.nasa.gov>, smbrush@lims01.lerc.nasa.gov (ANDREW BRUSH) writes: A machine can READ the *program examples* in K&R, since they are typeset in an evenly-spaced courier-like font. This seems like a logical way of checking the examples. If so, you have a much better OCR setup than I've ever seen. I suspect that the actual explaination is that they took the code directly from the troff input for the book, and tested that. As for machine-readable, I don't see anything wrong with me typing in all the examples in the book - that's what they're for [fair use, I hope. Otherwise I've been breaking copyright law for a few years now]. Letting others copy that, however, is not a good idea. Cheers, Tony -- Tony Foiani a.k.a. Tkil (afoiani@nmsu.edu) or (mcsajf@nmsuvm1.bitnet) Supporting: Unix / DOS / VMS / Macintosh / "What's this?" "As the water flows over the bridge, | As we walk on the Floodland | "Rain From Heaven" As we walk on the water, we forget | _Gift_ We forget. Rain from Heaven." | The Sisterhood
wirzeniu@klaava.Helsinki.FI (Lars Wirzenius) (06/12/91)
In article <1991Jun11.120938.8196@eagle.lerc.nasa.gov> smbrush@lims01.lerc.nasa.gov writes: >In article <676362087.62@egsgate.FidoNet.Org>, Lars.Wirzenius@f98.n250.z1.FidoNet.Org (Lars Wirzenius) writes... ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ It seems this article was reposted by somebody else. I wish they wouldn't do that. >> "All examples have been tested directly from the text, which is >> in machine-readable form." > >A machine can READ the *program examples* in K&R, since they are typeset >in an evenly-spaced courier-like font. This seems like a logical way >of checking the examples. No, in fact the book probably was written using a computer, and the examples were tested by extracting them from the manuscript (no doubt using automated tools), or perhaps they were developed independently and merged into the document later. If you mean (as I assume you do) that the authors meant that the examples are to be read into a computer using some kind of OCR-equipment, then you should remember that the first edition was published in 1978, when such devices weren't widely available. >Like most others who responded to this thread, I'd be very surprised >if such a successful book was available in ELECTRONIC form. It isn't. The book exists in electronic form, but it isn't generally available. -- Lars Wirzenius wirzeniu@cc.helsinki.fi
dbrooks@osf.org (David Brooks) (06/12/91)
Lars.Wirzenius@f98.n250.z1.FidoNet.Org (Lars Wirzenius) writes: |> In the Preface (page x in my copy of the second edition, first paragraph), |> it says: |> |> "As before, all examples have been tested directly from the |> text, which is in machine-readable form." |> |> I have always |> assumed that the authors wanted to reduce the suspicions of |> typographical errors in typeset code, which are all too common in some |> books. Me, too. Or, indeed, of the code being typed in off the top of their collective head, which is all too common in many environments. Perhaps the problem is this: in 1978, the idea of book authors using anything like a word processor was still fairly novel. By 1988, it was the default assumption. Thus, the phrase, "which is in machine-readable form", copied verbatim from Preface 1 to Preface 2, has acquired undue emphasis simply by being mentioned. -- David Brooks dbrooks@osf.org Systems Engineering, OSF uunet!osf.org!dbrooks