[Phys-l] recommendations

[John Denker <jsd@av8n.com>]

On 10/11/2006 12:39 AM, Bernard Cleyet wrote:

> bc, who remembers JD recommends Bevington

Oh, plllleeeeease.

One of the "recommendations" I actually made was:

> > I would also like to remind people to avoid the book by
> > Bevington.  The programs in the book are macabre object
> > lessons in how not to write software.  And the other parts
> > of the book are not particularly good, either. 

I went on to say:

> > The _Numerical Recipes_ book by Press et al. has reasonable
> > programs.  Gonick's book _The Cartoon Guide to Statistics_
> > is a very reasonable introduction to the subject; don't be
> > put off by the title.

===========================

At a higher level, I have another recommendation.  I am reminded of a quote
from Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade:
    -- You don't remember!?!?!?
    -- I wrote it in the diary so I wouldn't /have/ to remember.

Mark and Dan have gone to a lot of trouble to make the phys-l archives
available and searchable.  Why not check the archives?  Then you won't
have to remember exactly what was said.  Example:

  https://carnot.physics.buffalo.edu/cgi-bin/namazu.cgi?query=%2BFrom%3Ajsd+bevington

Before posting, reflect on the fact that there are hundreds of people
who read this list.  It's worth a bit of your time to check the facts,
so that you don't waste everybody else's time with bogus facts.  It's
a way of showing respect for other people.