RE: eyes opened (tail recursion)

["Brett Kapilik" <brett@...>]

Selling it now with the promise of a free "upgrade" to the final version would be fine for me.  I wouldn't bother with the donation system, if I were you.  You worked hard on that book and I think that you should be compensated for it.  Every hour that you worked on the book you sacrificed something else in your life (time with friends, loved ones, etc.) and I think that is worth something.  I think that for an electonic book US$20-40 would be a bargain and you would get a lot of sells at that price.  When you get up into US$50+ you might make people think twice.

If you want to donate a portion of the proceeds to the Lua cause as a sort of fundraiser, that is up to you and might not be a bad idea.

The bottom line is that I would rather reward you for a providing valuable resource that helps me in business so that it is worth your time to make more valuable resources for me.  If this book was a collaborative effort or was produced by the entire Lua community then I would feel different about charging for it, but assuming it was a solo effort, I hope you do well with it.  Just my thoughts.

- Brett

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Roberto Ierusalimschy [mailto:roberto@inf.puc-rio.br]
> Sent: Tuesday, June 24, 2003 4:34 PM
> To: Lua list
> Subject: Re: eyes opened (tail recursion) 
> 
> 
> > > Which brings me -again- back to the book...  Either Roberto will
> > > educate us infinately here, or, get the book out. :) Or 
> someone else?
> > 
> > Alternatively, I'd be willing to pay for an electronic copy 
> of the book.
> 
> The book is almost ready (as always?). I estimate one more month to
> finish it all. What is missing?
> 
> * A quick explanation about tail calls ;)
> * A section about using coroutines for colaborative multithreading
> * A section with a larger example of a C library (it is a simple
> binding to expat)
> * a revision
> 
> One problem with "selling" it now is that soon it will be out-dated by
> the final version. Maybe I could track buyers so they could have free
> updates?
> 
> Another question: how much would be a fair price for an 
> eletronic book?
> (and unfinished! But then you could be buying in advance the final
> version...)
> 
> Another question: should I put the book free and ask for donations,
> instead of selling it?
> 
> (BTW: those willing to pay a little to help Lua please do not forget
> John's lottery.)
> 
> -- Roberto
> 
>