Education Forum

I have often written here about the prospects of publishing educational materials of the scope of a standard textbook on the Web. What I would really like to do is write such a hypertextbook rather than simply describe the prospects for writing such a book. Alas, in spite of the fact that Intel Pentium processors have been introduced and have evolved from 60 MHz to 800 MHz since I first wrote of the ideas, the software infrastructure for publishing serious scientific works, replete with interactive animations to engage the user in active learning exercises, has not kept pace. One Example I was reminded of the problems facing authors who hope to write for the Web again recently when I saw an announcement that the book Compilers and CompiZer Generators by P. D. Terry was being made available on the Web I. Originally published by International Thomson Computer Press, the book is no longer in print...at least not in the way we traditionally think of "in print." Since the copyright reverted to the author, the author has decided to make the book available at no cost in HTML form as well as through dowuloadable PDF and PostScript files. (Much has been made in the popular press recently about the fact that it is now possible to publish standard books without the benefit of standard publishers. For example, one can write a novel, promote it over the Web, and have it printed on demand and sold through venues such as Amazon.com. Of course, these same opportlmlties await the academic author as well, although I haven't heard of anyone trying yet.) Terry's compiler book shows what is possible if one's objective is to make a traditional textbook-with no animations and no special use of hyper]Jnl~s-available in various formats over the Web. It also underscores the problems involved in this seemingly straightforward task. There simply is no satisfactory way to provide such a book in a single HTML format that will be rendered the same by all browsers on all platforms. The primary problems are special fonts, particularly for the display of even the simplest mathematics, and illustrations. Thus, in this case, the author was forced to make the book available in a multitude of different formats. Creating and maintaining these different versions can be a real headache. Terry's site is worth a look if you have an interest in attempting such an endeavor. …