Tag: Errata

Errors in Writing

This is an update of a post that originally appeared on March 18, 2011.

I get upwards of 65 e-mails about my books on most days. Some of the conversations I have with readers are amazing and many readers have continued to write me for years. It’s gratifying to know that my books are helping people—it’s the reason I continue writing. Although I make a living from writing, I could easily make more money doing just about anything else. The thought that I might help someone do something special is why I stay in this business. When I actually hear about some bit of information that has really helped someone, it makes my day. I just can’t get the smile off my face afterward.

Of course, I’m constantly striving to improve my writing and I do everything I can to help the editors that work with me do a better job too. Good editors are the author’s friend and keep the author from looking like an idiot to the reading public. In fact, it’s the search for better ways to accomplish tasks that led me to create the beta reader program so many years ago. Essentially, a beta reader is someone who reads my books as I write them and provides feedback. The extra pair of eyes can make a big difference. Beta readers receive my thanks in the book’s Acknowledgments. Sometimes I provide other perks, such as a free copy of the book, depending on the level of beta reader input. (If you’d like to be a beta reader, please contact me at [email protected] for additional details.)

A typical book has five beta readers, but sometimes there are more or less of them. They provide all sorts of input that ranges from finding grammatical, spelling, and technical errors, to providing advice on how to approach a particular topic for readers from other nations or those with disabilities. Some of my beta readers are critical thinkers and play devil’s advocate, others are great at pointing out inconsistencies, especially in my artwork. So, there is no typical beta reader; they have a very wide range of experiences and provide me with a wide range of insights.

You’d think that with all the pairs of eyes looking at my books, they’d come out error free. After all, it isn’t just me looking at the book, but several editors and the beta readers as well. Unfortunate as it might seem, my books still come out with an error or two in them. The more technical the topic, the greater the opportunity for errors to creep in. Naturally, the errors are amazingly easy for just about everyone else to pick up! (I must admit to asking myself how I could have missed something so utterly obvious.) When there is an error found in the book, I’ll provide the information to the publisher so it’s fixed in the next printing. The error will also appear on the book’s errata page on the publisher’s site. If the error is significant enough, I’ll blog about it as well. In short, I want you to have a good reading experience so I’ll do everything I can to hunt the errors down and correct them.

However, not every seeming error is actually an error. There are times where an apparent error is simply a difference of opinion or possibly a configuration difference between my system and the reader’s system. I’ll still try to figure these errors out, but I can’t always guarantee that I’ll fix things in your favor. After all, another reader has probably found still other results or has yet another opinion on how I should present material in the book.

The long and short of things is that despite my best efforts, you’ll probably encounter an error or two in my books and I apologize for them in advance. We’ll also continue have differences of opinion and that’s usually the source for new ideas and new ways of viewing things. I’m honest enough to admit that I do need your help in creating better books, so I’ll always listen to you and think about what you have to say. I hope that you’ll continue to read my books and do amazing things with the information you find therein. The results of your researches are truly the reason I remain in this business and I realize that we’re in this together. Thanks for your continued support!

Damaged Books

I spend a good deal of time reviewing comments about my books online and also responding to reader questions sent to my email. It’s important to me that you feel you receive the full value of your hard earned money when buying one of my books, so I continually seek to improve them. However, one issue I can’t control is the damaged book. When reading one series of comments lately, I found that the readers weren’t complaining about the quality of the content, but rather the quality of the book materials, which is not something I can control.

The problem is made worse because I often have no way to contact readers who leave a comment on places like Amazon.com. In the interest of customer privacy, I’m unable to obtain an email address for these readers so that I might address their needs. This is why you should always contact me at [email protected] when you have any issues with my books.

The publisher isn’t able to obtain your email address either. So, the publisher is equally unable to help you when you post a book material complaint on websites, rather than contact the publisher. One of the publishers I work with most often is Wiley. Here is the advice I received from my editor there regarding book damage:

In cases of damage or misprinting, it depends on the specific issue, cause of the damage, and the seller whether Wiley can replace a copy or not. For example, if purchased from a third-party seller on Amazon and damaged in transit, that’s out of our control, as third-party sellers are not direct partners or buyers from Wiley. If it’s a printing issue like this one [referring to spotting in one of my books], that is a manufacturing issue within our control, and Wiley would very likely replace the copy. Here is a link customers can visit https://support.dummies.com/s/. They can also email [email protected].

In cases of possible errata: The readers should fill out an Errata PDF form available here: https://support.dummies.com/s/article/reporting-a-wiley-book-error and email it to the Customer Service Team at [email protected] with the subject line “Possible Book Errata Submission”.

The bottom line is that the publisher and I want you to be happy. Make this possible by contacting us about any book damage, rather than posting a public comment that we can’t address.

C++ All-in-One for Dummies Errata on Page 188

There is a mistake on page 188 of C++ All-in-One for Dummies, 4th Edition that is based on a supposed April Fool’s prank that was actually initiated on March 26, 2018 (see https://www.modernescpp.com/index.php/no-new-new) and spread throughout the Internet to sites such as: https://www.fluentcpp.com/2018/04/01/cpp-will-no-longer-have-pointers/.  The problem with pranks, especially pranks that linger because the people who perpetuate them haven’t removed them, is that other people tend to believe them, as in this post: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/59820879/are-new-and-delete-getting-deprecated-in-c#. Later, much later, as in the note on the Fluent C++ site, people admit that it was a joke, but still leave the errant material in place.

 After I had discovered that this information was a joke, I had meant to remove two sentences from the book, but somehow they stayed intact.  The two sentences in question appear in the “Understanding the Changes in Pointers for C++ 20” section:

Readers who already know something about pointers need to be aware of the changes in pointers for C++ 20, which is why it appears first. The essential thing to remember as you move to C++ 20 (where new is deprecated) and then to C++ 23 (where new is removed) is that pointers are going to change.

If you find any other references in the book that state that new is deprecated or removed, they too will be modified or eliminated during the next printing. I apologize for any problems that the error has caused, especially to readers who are new to C++, and have submitted an errata to the publisher so that the error is fixed during the next printing. If you have any questions at all about the book, please contact me at [email protected].

Python for Data Science for Dummies Errata on Page 221

The downloadable source for Python for Data Science for Dummies contains a problem that doesn’t actually appear in the book. If you look at page 221, the code block in the middle of the page contains a line saying import numpy as np. This line is essential because the code won’t run without it. The downloadable source for Chapter 12 is missing this line so the example doesn’t run. This P4DS4D; 12; Stretching Pythons Capabilities link provides you with a .ZIP file that contains the replacement source code. Simple remove the P4DS4D; 12; Stretching Pythons Capabilities.ipynb file from the archive and use it in place of your existing file.

Luca and I always want you to have a great experience with our book, so keep those emails coming. Please let me know if you have any questions about source code file update at [email protected]. I’m sorry about any errors that appear in the downloadable source and appreciate the readers who have pointed them out.

 

Python for Data Science for Dummies Errata on Page 145

Python for Data Science for Dummies contains two errors on page 145. The first error appears in the second paragraph on that page. You can safely disregard the sentence that reads, “The use_idf controls the use of inverse-document-frequency reweighting, which is turned off in this case.” The code doesn’t contain a reference to the use_idf parameter. However, you can read about it on the Scikit-Learn site. This parameter defaults to being turned on, which is how it’s used for the example.

The second error is also in the second paragraph. The discussion references the tf_transformer.transform() method call. The actual method call is tfidf.transform(), which does appear in the sample code. The discussion about how the method works is correct, just the name of the object is wrong.

Please let me know if you have any questions about either of these changes at [email protected]. I’m sorry about any errors that appear in the book and appreciate the readers who have pointed them out.

 

Python for Data Science for Dummies Errata on Page 124

Python for Data Science for Dummies contains an error in the example that appears on the top half of page 124. In the first of the two grey boxes, the code computes the results of four print statements. The bottom-most print statement, print x[1:2, 1:2], is supposed to compute a result based on rows 1 and 2 of columns 1 and 2, and the bottom grey box seems to confirm that interpretation by the showing the result as [[[14 15 16] [17 18 19]] [[24 25 26] [27 28 29]]]. However, the answer provided for this example in the downloadable source code is [[[14 15 16]]], which doesn’t agree with that in the text.

The good news is that the downloadable source contains the correct code. The error appears only in the book. The last print statement in the book is wrong. Here is the correct code (with output) for this example:

x = np.array([[[1, 2, 3], [4, 5, 6], [7, 8, 9],],
 [[11,12,13], [14,15,16], [17,18,19],],
 [[21,22,23], [24,25,26], [27,28,29]]])

print x[1,1]
print x[:,1,1]
print x[1,:,1]
print
print x[1:3, 1:3]
[14 15 16]
[ 5 15 25]
[12 15 18]

[[[14 15 16]
 [17 18 19]]

[[24 25 26]
 [27 28 29]]]

Please let me know if you have any questions about this example at [email protected]. I’m sorry about the error that appears in the book and appreciate the readers who have pointed it out.

 

Tip Error in Python for Data Science for Dummies

There is a small error on page 318 of Python for Data Science for Dummies. You can find it near the middle of the page in the Tip text. The current text on the second line of that paragraph says, “k as a number near the squared number of available observations.” However, the text should really read, “k as a number near the squared root number of available observations.” The word root is missing, which obviously changes the mathematical meaning of the text. Please accept our apologies for the typo. Let me know if you find any other errors of a technical nature in the book at [email protected] and I’ll be sure to provide a blog post about it here. Thank you for your support!