My name is Dave and I'm starting a publishing business. I've decided to narrow my focus on what I know...software engineering. I don't have a website yet, but I'm compiling a list topics/categories/books that I think are missing in the market but I'd like to hear from you if there's a book that you'd like to see.<p>Some topics I've come up with so far:<p>* Project based books. By the end of the book you will have built a complete application. Things like simple databases, operating systems, compilers/interpreters, shells, build your own framework, blockchain.<p>* Career focused books. Making the jump from junior to senior engineer, soft skills, navigating office politics, etc.<p>* Remote working - pros/cons of remote working, how to make the transition, etc<p>My plan is to identify compelling writers and programmers who specialize in these areas and work with them to publish books on these topics. I'd love to get any feedback on other topics you'd like to read about.<p>Thanks!
To me, nowadays, the hardest part of learning a new technology or language is not the “thing” itself but the environment around it.<p>Make content about environments.<p>Example: I want to start doing Ruby. There are probably 49 ways to setup a decent working environment and hundreds of people putting a lot of tools together to get it started. They all conflict with each other and almost none are clear. Any material that can explain environments in a way that make sense and help you get started as efficient and completely as possible is gold.<p>This is true for all platforms today.
IMO , focus on the project based books. I think this next decade will only see more self educated and meritocratically qualified folks who actively seek out accessible material akin in approach to how they learnt to programme.<p>IMO, focus on where the industry is going:<p>1. Cloud infra<p>2. ML.<p>3. SPAs<p>4. IoT
I always have trouble finding books that describe the "internals" of some technologies I want to learn in a decent and technical way. Some O'reilly books do a good job when they work with the actual people that invented the tools but there are many more out there that don't have good books on that.
There's no satisfactory book on how to read substantial code. The result is that everyone is a writer and no one is a reader. Can you imagine a situation where almost anyone can write literary novels, but very few can read them?