Tag: Writing

Is Email Dead?

This is an update of a post that originally appeared on March 4, 2011.

When I originally wrote this post, everyone was proclaiming the death of email, yet here we are 12 years later and I’m still using email to conduct almost all of my business. The original ComputerWorld that I cited describes a company that is moving from email to social media as an exclusive option. However, many current articles like Is email dying as a business communication channel? talk about the demise of email being premature. Currently, I don’t use any of the options mentioned in the ComputerWorld article and don’t have time (or the inclination) to start using them. Don’t get me wrong, social media probably solves problems for some part of the population, it just hasn’t worked out well for me. I can’t see myself outputting tweets about my daily activities and some of the articles I read about Facebook are just plain scary. The company that thinks your right to privacy is irrelevant is facing all sorts of legal problems these days, but it’s entrenched enough that I doubt we’ll see it go away anytime soon.

My main problem with most modern communication solutions is that they’re overly intrusive. I was in the bathroom the other day and a guy was engaging in business while sitting on the commode; he just couldn’t be bothered to turn his cellphone off to take care of personal matters. That’s just one of many scenarios I’d prefer to avoid. There is strong evidence to conclude that our society has become preoccupied with communication, to the detriment of all. Just how many people died last year from texting accidents? According to the The Zebra, texting causes 1.6 billion accidents per year (and the other statistics on the site are even scarier). The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) logged 3,142 texting-related deaths in 2020. I’m pretty sure I don’t want to talk with someone that badly.

All this said, I did have my first Zoom meeting this year. Except for being able to see the people I was talking with, I just don’t see any reason to use it. Actually, I don’t care what the people I talk to look like as long as they can “lift their end of the log.” Products like Zoom perpetuate bias by promoting impressions based on personal appearance—I consider them dangerous. There is even an issue with the stress and fatigue that using products like Zoom cause as described in On the stress potential of videoconferencing: definition and root causes of Zoom fatigue. All this would be bad enough, but email eliminates issues like people’s accents (given that I’m hard of hearing, accents cause me no end of woe in understanding someone’s conversation). It also provides a paper trail I don’t get with Zoom. So, unless someone is having a serious tantrum, I plan not to revisit Zoom.

I have to admit that in the past 12 years that social media has proven to provide some benefit to business, as described in 22 Benefits of Social Media for Business. As with anything, the disadvantages could outweigh the benefits, as described in 10 disadvantages of social media for business. Here are my personal reasons for choosing email over social media or other options like Zoom:

  • Social media assumes a level of connectivity that I’m simply not willing to allow.
  • Email works better because someone can send me a message and I can handle it later; at my convenience.
  • More importantly, I can handle the email at a time when I’m not distracted by something else.
  • I can provide a thoughtful answer; one that I’ve researched and thought through carefully.
  • Email also provides me with a permanent written record that I can reference later when I have questions about the discussion.
  • Most important to me is that email makes it possible for me to deal with other people without any bias—I don’t care what they look like, what they’re wearing as they type their response to me, where they live, whether they have an accent, or any of a number of other issues that seem to have the world in an uproar today. All I care about is whether they can do the required work.

Personally, I don’t see e-mail as a dead communication technology. If anything, it’s becoming more important to me as I age and my memory becomes less dependable. As far as I’m concerned, the always connected nature of most social media today simply isn’t a good solution if you want to be productive. So, what’s your take on social media? Let me know at [email protected].

Firefly Light

Firefly in the night,
growing dim, shining bright.

Sending messages, in insect code,
come and stay at my abode.

Flying here, flying there,
making art upon the air.

A beam of light, within the dark,
an ember glowing, like a spark.

Hypnotic visions, all aglow,
help me see your jagged flow.

Flights of fancy, are what I see,
as you continue, endlessly.

Until the dawn, grants you rest,
your endless dance, shows your quest.

Copyright 2016, John Paul Mueller

Paper or eBook?

This is an update of a post that originally appeared on February 17, 2011.

When I originally wrote this post 12 years ago, I thought I’d eventually go all digital. For me, there is still nothing better than sitting by my wood stove, coffee cup next to me, reading a favorite work of fiction. Of course, I’m talking about a hard cover or paperback book. Nothing quite matches the feel and smell of paper, especially when you’re reading a book for leisure. The hours I’ve spent reading books have been pleasurable to the extreme. I’m transported to worlds of mystery in some cases, worlds of the future in others. Fantasy, science fiction, techno-thriller; they all hold a certain thrill.

Actually, I have five reading stations in my house, one of which is on my tablet. Yes, I really do read some books now in digital format. Normally, these books are works of fiction that I read somewhere other than home, perhaps at a coffeeshop or restaurant. The easy chair and woodstove with their associated collection of paper books still call to me and I’m thinking now they always will.

It’s a different matter when I start working with technical material. I’ve whittled my collection of technical materials down to a few hundred essential books. Most of the material I read today is online in digital form and I read it at my computer desk so that I have tools like my Integrated Development Environment (IDE) available. In fact, I’d go so far as to say many of the materials I read are in article format, rather than book format now. Still, at this very moment, reading station 3, the dining room table, has a paperback technical book called Microservice Patterns on it. I’m finding it useful for brushing up on my Java as well as learning a few new techniques.

If I need historical information that I know appears in my paper tomes, finding what I need can be hard. Unfortunately, no book cataloging system in the world will solve my problem. I could catalog each of my hundreds of books and still not find the information I actually need with any speed. Of course, the ability search quickly is one of the benefits of digital format. If I had my books in electronic format, I might avoid the hours upon hours of search time for that one piece of information I actually need. Then again, I’ve accidentally found many pieces of useful subsidiary information during such searches, so it’s not possible to discount paper as unworthy. Still, speed is of the essence while I’m working on my next project.

For now, it appears that my future will rely on two media for books: paper for leisure and electronic for work related materials. It’s a sad thing for me to admit, but the paper book has become a bit too cumbersome for a world where search speed is prized above all.

The Owl Said Who

In the middle of the night,
when animals play and fight,
the darkness reigned supreme,
and I heard an owl scream,
Who!

The owl didn’t give a hoot,
or like a crow let out a whoot,
it wasn’t the screech owl’s scream,
but simply, as in a dream,
who.

With the rising of a fog,
I heard the croaking of a frog,
reverberate throughout the wood,
and then the owl, because he could,
said whooo.

As the moon reduced the pall,
It’s glare created shadows tall,
I looked upon the ground below,
for the subject of the low,
when the owl said who?

There he sat upon the limb,
with eyes aglow and visage grim,
his feathers puffed as if to fly,
upon some prey from perch on high,
but all he said was who.

I left him to his thoughts so deep,
of prey afoot that would not keep,
and went to lie upon my bed,
to let sweet dreams fill my head,
and all he said was who!

Copyright 2016, John Paul Mueller

Using Notes, Tips, and Warnings Effectively

This is an update of a post that originally appeared on March 18, 2016.

Writing is all about emotion—I’ve mentioned this need quite a few times in the past. There are many ways to create emotion in technical writing. Of course, word choice, sentence structure, and other tools of the trade come into play, just as they do for every other form of writing. However, one of the approaches that is truly different in technical writing is the use of notes, tips, and warnings. In all three cases, you create a single paragraph sidebar-like structure, but the emphasis and nuance of the inclusion is different from other sorts of writing:

  • Notes: Information that you want to include as an aside to the main text. You might choose to document the information source, the location of additional information, or augment parts of the main text in some way. The emotional impact of a note is the feeling of being special. When the reader sees a note, it should evoke a feeling that this is peculiar or extraordinary information that could impact the reader’s use of technology.
  • Tips: Information that is extra in nature. You might choose to include a personal technique that you haven’t seen documented anywhere else, the location of goodies that won’t necessarily affect the reader’s use of technology described in the book, but will add to the readers appreciation of that technology, or some sort of gift-like source, perhaps a free download. The emotional impact of a tip is one of surprise. When a reader sees a tip, it should evoke a sense of getting extra value from the book—something unexpected that adds value to the reading experience. A reader should get the tingly feeling that one gets when receiving an unexpected present.
  • Warnings: Information that is dire in nature. Reserve warnings for those times when a reader’s incorrect action could cause personal, data, or other sorts of damage. The emotional impact of the warning is dread. The reader should see a warning as a notification that incorrect actions are rewarded negatively—they’re the stick that goes with the carrot of notes and tips.

It’s important to remember that these three constructs aren’t the main event. Your body text is still the main event and these three elements serve only to emphasize that material in some way. Depending on the book you write, you may have other specialized paragraphs at your disposal. Each of these unique paragraph types should evoke a particular emotion. Unfortunately, the emotion they should evoke is seldom documented, so you need to figure it out for yourself. It’s essential that you do take the time to discover what emotion the paragraph is supposed to evoke (or simply not use the special paragraph in your writing).

Keep notes of what you do and why you do it. When working with various kinds of special writing, you want to be sure that the emotions you evoke with unique paragraph types is consistent across your various publications, especially if those publications are all from the same publisher. Create a style guide of a sort for yourself that contains these notes to yourself so that you can find them easily. Organizing your style guide for easy access is also a plus (which means your style guide should appear in digital, rather than paper, format.

Unlike sidebars, notes, tips, and warnings are rarely more than a paragraph long. You could possibly make an argument for two paragraphs in rare circumstances. The paragraph should contain two or three sentences with the first sentence providing a summary and the second providing details. A third sentence provides ancillary information as needed. The structure and content of your special paragraph should reflect the kind of paragraph you’re creating—as with a good actor, keep your paragraph in character. After all, it’s a performer on the stage of your book and presents the reader with a special feature that is unavailable elsewhere.

Using the special paragraphs at your disposal in the correct way can mean the difference between communicating effectively with your reader and losing the reader’s attention completely. Let me know your thoughts about the use of notes, tips, warnings, and other special paragraphs at [email protected].

Supporting Creative People

This is an update of a post that originally appeared on March 28, 2016.

Authors get tired of hearing from the Information Wants To Be Free (IWTBF) crowd who thinks it’s terrible that they charge for their books. Somehow, authors and other creative people are supposed to exist by taking sustenance from the air. There is an interesting discussion of the topic at Should Information Be Free? in which the author says the information should be free from the perspective of everyone getting to use it, but that the people who write and print books should still get paid. Obviously, if I didn’t want to freely share information with others, I wouldn’t have created this blog and not charged for it. The point is, when someone steals Intellectual Property (IP), the person who created it isn’t being supported.

I work really hard to support my readers and so do many other authors. In fact, most creative people are in creative trades because they like to communicate with others using a variety of methods. The simplest goal is to provide something of intangible value to others—be it a painting, sculpture, dance, music, or writing. It’s well known that creative people are often underpaid (hence the cliché, starving artist). Because the starving artist (and most of them truly are starving) makes little money, it’s important that people do support them whenever possible. That’s why the piracy of IP is such a problem. IP theft has become a serious enough problem that we’re beginning to lose many good creative people simply because they no longer have enough money coming in to make a living.

The problem is that many people would support the creative people whose IP they use, but they don’t really understand that they need to pay for this material. For example, there are many sites online now that offer my books free of charge. Just viewing the site doesn’t provide a clue that anyone is stealing anything. These sites have a clean appearance and simply offer IP in the form of downloadable music, books, and so on. In fact, many of these sites are fully searchable. The reasons that someone would do something like this varies, but it pays to employ some critical thinking when you see something free that possibly looks a bit too good to be true. Many people download viruses, spyware, and other sorts of malware along with their free download. In the long run, it’s actually less expensive to buy the IP, than to have a computer compromised by some of the crud that comes with these free downloads.

For the record, my books are never free. You need to pay for your copy of my book in order to support the various things of value that I provide to you as a reader, including this free blog. It isn’t my goal to become rich—if that were my goal, I’d be in some other line of work (believe me when I say authors aren’t paid particularly well), but I do need to make enough to pay my expenses, just as you do. Even though I know many people do download my books free, I still support everyone that I can with good advice on how to get the most from the books I write. To me, coming in each day and working with all of you is one of the benefits of being an author. I truly do want people to use my books to get ahead in life. If you’d like to discuss the effects of piracy on you as a consumer of IP, please write me at [email protected].

Using TinyURL in Books

At one point in my career I avoided the use of URL shortening sources because readers complained that they couldn’t be sure where the URL would take them. For example, a TinyURL URL has the tinyurl.com host in it. The TinyURL for my blog is https://tinyurl.com/2p9xw5u7. The article, Secure Options for URL Shortening, discusses the whole matter of URL shortening security in more detail, but at least some organizations still don’t trust the process.

The problem I’m encountering as both a writer and a reader is that URLs, especially technical URLs, are getting progressively longer. I’m reading one book right now where some URLs are spreading over multiple lines in the text and typing them by hand is a nightmare. Some of my readers are starting to complain to me as well. They don’t want to type a URL that extends over multiple lines in the book, so they’re not looking at that really cool resource I found that explains some technical detail in a manner that I can’t really include in the book due to space limitations.

The way around the URL shortening problem is to use a site like TinyURL that has a trick you can apply to verify where a URL goes. In this case, you simply add the word preview to the URL like this: https://preview.tinyurl.com/2p9xw5u7. Now you can see where the URL goes before you go there, making the use of TinyURL significantly safer.

What I need to know before I start adopting TinyURL in my books for all URLs is whether this would produce major discontent among my readers or you would welcome the change with relief. Personally, I think the use of TinyURL will spare everyone a lot of frustration. However, I need to know what you think. Please write with your thoughts and concerns to [email protected].

In Praise of Dual Monitors

This is an update of a post that originally appeared on February 5, 2014.

In reading many of my old blog posts, I’m finding that many of the things I said way back when apply equally well today. I’ve received email from budding developers who use their smartphone to code. Just how they perform this trick is beyond me because I squint at the screen performing the simplest of tasks and often find that my fingers are two sizes too big. I have tried coding on a tablet, a laptop, and (oddly enough) my television. While they do work, they’re not particularly efficient, so I’ll stick with my dual-monitor desktop system for coding.

Yes, I know that some developers use more than just two monitors, but I find that two monitors work just fine. The first monitor is my work monitor—the monitor I use for actually typing code. The second monitor is my view monitor. When I run the application, the output appears on the second monitor so that I can see the result of changes I’ve made. Using two monitors lets me easily correlate the change in code to the changes in application design. Otherwise, I’d be wasting time switching between the application output and my IDE.

I also use two monitors when writing my books. The work monitor contains my word processor, while my view monitor contains the application I’m writing about. This is possibly one time when a third monitor could be helpful—one to hold the word processor, one to hold the IDE, and one to view the application output. However, in this case, a third monitor could actually slow things down because the time spent viewing the output of an example is small when compared to creating a production application.

The concept of separating work from the source of information used to perform the work isn’t new. People have used the idea for thousands of years, in fact. For example, when people employed typewriters to output printed text, the typist employed a special stand to hold the manuscript being typed. The idea of having a view of your work and then another surface to actually work on is used quite often throughout history because it’s a convenient way to perform tasks quickly. By employing dual monitors, I commonly get between a 15 percent to 33 percent increase in output, simply because I can see my work and its associated view at the same time.

Working with dual monitors not only saves time, but can also reduce errors. By typing as I view the output of applications, I can more reliably relate the text of labels and other information the application provides. The same holds true when viewing information sources found in other locations. Seeing the information as I type it is always less likely to produce errors.

Don’t get the idea that I support using dual monitors in every situation. Many consumer-oriented computer uses are served just fine with a single monitor. For example, there isn’t a good reason to use two monitors when viewing e-mail in many cases—at least, not at the consumer level (you could make a case for using dual monitors when working with e-mails and a calendar to manage tasks, for example). Dual monitors commonly see use in the business environment because people aren’t necessarily creating their own information source—the information comes from a variety of sources that the user must view in order to use reliably.

Do you see yourself using dual monitors? If you use such a setup now, how do you employ it? Let me know at [email protected].

Sending Comments on My Books

This is an update of a post that originally appeared on February 23, 2012.

I regularly receive a stack of e-mail about my books. Readers question everything and it makes me happy to see that they’re reviewing my books so closely. It means that I’m accomplishing my principle goal, helping you understand computers in every possible way so that you can be more productive and accomplish tasks with less effort. When I make something easier for someone and they tell me about it, the grin extends from one side of my face to another. It really makes my day.

Some readers are still asking me if it’s OK to send me comments. I definitely want to see any constructive comment that you have. Anything that helps me understand your needs better makes it possible for me to write better books. I really do want to hear from you. The main element that I need to obtain a usable comment is that it’s constructive. A comment that lacks details isn’t helpful because I’ve written so many books. Emotional comments without any substance are especially hard to deal with because they leave me wondering what you need from me. Here are some of the things you can do to create a constructive comment:

  • What is the title of the book you’re reading (be sure to include the edition number, which is usually right on the cover unless it’s a first edition)?
  • Are you using the downloadable source code if this is a programming book?
  • Did you install the recommended version of any required software using the instructions found in the book?
  • Which page contains the error (if you’re using Kindle or other electronic media, please provide a chapter number and section title as a minimum)?
  • What do you view as an error on that page?
  • How would you fix the error?
  • What sort of system are you running?
  • When did you encounter the problem?

The more information you provide, the easier it is for me to understand the issue and provide you with feedback. In many cases, I’ll upload the fix to my blog so that everyone can benefit from the response (so be sure you keep an eye on my blog for new entries). I work hard to ensure that my books are as error free as possible, but everyone makes mistakes. Also remember that sometimes mitigating factors, such as differences in software versions or anticipated hardware, make it appear that there is an error in the book when you’re really looking at a different in environment. Help me provide you with better books—send me comments!

There are a few things that I won’t do for you. I won’t help you pass an exam at school. Your learning experience is important to me, which means that I want you to continue your education by working through the instruction on your own. I also don’t provide free consulting. This means I won’t check the code that you created on your own for errors. In addition, if you don’t use the downloadable source, be sure to read Verifying Your Hand Typed Code for restrictions on the level of support that I provide. I’ll help you with any book-specific question, but I draw the line at that point. Let me know if you have any input or insights on my books at [email protected].

Book Reviews – Doing Your Part

This is an update of a post that originally appeared on October 4, 2013.

Readers contact me quite a lot about my books. On an average day, I receive around 65 reader e-mails about a wide range of book-related topics. Many of them are complimentary about my books and it’s hard to put down in words just how much I appreciate the positive feedback. Often, I’m humbled to think that people would take time to write.

There is another part to reader participation in books, however, and it doesn’t have anything to do with me—it has to do with other readers. When you read one of my books and find the information useful, it’s helpful to write a review about it so that others can know what to expect. I want to be sure that every reader who purchases one of my books is happy with that purchase and gets the most possible out of the book. The wording that the publisher’s marketing staff and I use to describe a book represents our viewpoint of that book and not necessarily the viewpoint of the reader. The only way that other readers will know how a book presents information from the reader perspective is for other readers to write reviews. A good review will tell:

  • What you liked about the book
  • How it met your needs
  • What it provides in the way of usable content
  • Whether you liked any intangibles, such as the author’s writing style
  • When you used the content to obtain a new job or learn a new skill
  • Who recommended the book to you

    The review should also present any negatives (obviously, I want to know about the flaws, too, so that I can correct them in the next edition of the book and also discuss them on my blog):

    • Did the book provide enough detailed procedures needed to accomplish a task?
    • Are significant technical flaws and why do you feel they’re an issue?
    • Are there enough graphics to augment the text and make it clearer?
    • Is the source code useful?

    Many reviewing venues, such as the one found on Amazon, also ask you to provide a rating for the book. You should rate the book based on your experience with other books and on how this particular book met your needs in learning a new topic. The kind of review to avoid writing is a rant or one that isn’t actually based on reading the whole book. As always, I’m here (at [email protected]) to answer any questions you have and many of your questions have appeared as blog posts when the situation warrants.

    So, just where do you make these reviews? The publishers sometimes provide a venue for expressing your opinion and you can certainly go to the publisher site to create such a review. I personally prefer to upload my reviews to Amazon because it’s a location that many people frequent to find out more about books. You can go to the site, click Write a Customer Review (near the bottom of the page), and then provide your viewpoint about the book.

    Thank you in advance for taking the time and effort required to write a review. I know it’s time consuming, but it’s an important task that only you can perform.