[Axiom-developer] [Axiom Book]

[billpage]

Changes http://wiki.axiom-developer.org/AxiomBook/diff
--

??changed:
-  Here is a summary of the first few emails that initiated this project.
-See the section titled **Process** below for a detailed discussion
-of the process that we plan to use to produce the final draft publication.
-
-**From**::
-
-  Bill Page
-  Thursday, November 25, 2004 8:04 PM
-
-Have you heard about Lulu, the new "print on demand" book
-publishers? They are for real and quite serious. I have a
-friend who is publishing some very serious physics monographs
-this way. Just to get an idea, see his books here:
-
-http://people.lulu.com/users/index.php?fHomepage=42530
-
-See more about Lulu at the end of this email.
-
-Anyway, so here is my idea:
-[307 more lines...]
  Since we've decided to make the book available using
www.lulu.com's print-on-demand services I've been setting up
a way we can work on it.

++added:
Process

  There is a new way to review and edit the Book drafts on-line.
See "Accessing and Updating the Axiom Book Online" below.

How to work on the Axiom book.

  **From**::
    Tim Daly
    Sunday, November 28, 2004 1:48 AM


??changed:
-There are various things that need to be cleaned up.
To Do List

  There are various things that need to be cleaned up.

??changed:
-Instructions
- 
-  Visit http://axiom.axiom-developer.org and click on the 
-![Developers] link or:
-
-Getting started with tla:
-
-  If you already have a tla command skip to the next section.
Splitting the Book into Volumes

  *From::
    Tim Daly
    Sunday, November 28, 2004 2:51 PM
 
I think we might consider the CD rom as part of the first volume
which just does the introduction work (Dunstan's tutorial). From
this book the users would be able to install and run Axiom. The
CD rom would contain all of the volumes anyway so nothing is lost.
We could have this volume out in short order as it just involves
cutting down the material and packaging the CD. If we minimize
our royalties on this volume we could get the most penetration
of the market.

Please check with lulu.com about CD pricing.

A second volume devoted to programming, both interactive and library
would be useful. Some work would have to be done to write up more
details of the compiler. I expect this is the high profit volume.

A third volume of library reference information. This could be a
medium to high profit volume. Most programmers have a "completion
mania", meaning they need to have all volumes even if they never
use them.

Well, we could always include a coupon in the first book for a free CD.
They are not that hard to make.

Accessing and Updating the Axiom Book Online

  It is now possible to access and edit the source pamphlet
files for the Axiom book volumes on-line throught the web
in the same way that other pages on this web site are edited.

At "book--main--1":http://wiki.axiom-developer.org/book--main--1
you will see a list of volumes of the draft of new Axiom book.
When you click on a volume the first page will be displayed in
graphic format. Click on 'pdf' or 'dvi' to access the full
document.

If you would like to comment on the text, please type your
message at the bottom of the page, the way you would on any
other page of this web site.

If you want to make improvements to the text, first you must
idendify yourself by clicking 'preferences' and entering your
name and email address. Then return to the document page and
click 'edit'. You many not edit the source text of the document.
When you click 'Save', the modified text will be automatically
processed by Latex and converted to the standard display
formats.

Changes made to these draft documents will be periodically
reviewed and applied to the final draft versions stored in
the archive..

Instructions for Access to Archive
 
  If you already have 'tla' installed skip to the next section.

??changed:
-Using tla to get any archive from axiom-developer.org
-
-This will allow you to fetch the axiom tla archives
- 
-If you already have set up your tla identity skip to the next section::
More details are availabe at ArchUsage.

Getting started with tla:

**Use tla to get the contents of any archive on
axiom-developer.org**

If you already have set up your tla identity skip to the next
section::

??changed:
-Using tla to get the book
Use tla to get the Book

  'tla get book--main--1'
 
Building the book

--removed:
- 
-  tla get book--main--1
- 
-Making the book
-
-::

??changed:
-  To change the book you have two choices.
-If you do not have write permission to the book archive::
  To change the book you have three choices. If you do not
have write permission to the main book archive, you can
still edit the draft volumes as described previous. Or you
can send patches as follows::

--removed:
-Graphics in Axiom
-
-  You need the latest version of Axiom from the Savannah CVS::
- 
-    cd /tmp                     <-- or someplace where you want axiom
-    export CVS_RSH=ssh
-    cvs -z3 -d:ext:address@hidden/cvsroot/axiom co axiom
-    cd axiom
-    export AXIOM=/tmp/axiom/mnt/linux
-    export PATH=$AXIOM/bin:$PATH
-    make
-    .... (get coffee)
-    sman  (lots of warnings but the axiom interpreter should start)
-    draw(sin(x), x=-10..10)
-    draw(sin(x*y), x=-10..10, y=-10..10)
- 
-The sman process will eventually be merged into the axiom command
-as soon as I finish up the graphics integration. The sman (superman)
-process is used to communicate between the axiom interpreter and the
-[25 more lines...]

++added:

  **From**:
  Bill Page
  Sunday, November 28, 2004 2:01 PM

--removed:
-**From**:
-  Bill Page
-  Sunday, November 28, 2004 2:01 PM

??changed:
- It would be nice if we could figure out a way to get lulu.com
- to either create and ship CDs with the book or possibly just
- ship CDs we make for them. I don't see anything on their site
- about it but it's always fun to be the first, right?
  It would be nice if we could figure out a way to get lulu.com
  to either create and ship CDs with the book or possibly just
  ship CDs we make for them. I don't see anything on their site
  about it but it's always fun to be the first, right?

--removed:
-splitting
-
-  *From::
-    Tim Daly
-    Sunday, November 28, 2004 2:51 PM
- 
-I think we might consider the CD rom as part of the first volume
-which just does the introduction work (Dunstan's tutorial). From
-this book the users would be able to install and run Axiom. The
-CD rom would contain all of the volumes anyway so nothing is lost.
-We could have this volume out in short order as it just involves
-cutting down the material and packaging the CD. If we minimize
-our royalties on this volume we could get the most penetration
-of the market.
-
-Please check with lulu.com about CD pricing.
-
-A second volume devoted to programming, both interactive and library
-would be useful. Some work would have to be done to write up more
-[9 more lines...]

??changed:
-I would like to here more from subscribers to axiom-developer
I would like to hear more from subscribers to axiom-developer

++added:
Background

  Here is a summary of the first few emails that initiated this project.
See the section titled **Process** below for a detailed discussion
of the process that we plan to use to produce the final draft publication.

**From**::

  Bill Page
  Thursday, November 25, 2004 8:04 PM

Have you heard about Lulu, the new "print on demand" book
publishers? They are for real and quite serious. I have a
friend who is publishing some very serious physics monographs
this way. Just to get an idea, see his books here:

http://people.lulu.com/users/index.php?fHomepage=42530

See more about Lulu at the end of this email.

Anyway, so here is my idea:

I think the Axiom Foundation should publish the book that Tim
Daly has recently finished updating and revising:
"AXIOM - The 30 Year 
Horizon":http://page.axiom-developer.org/zope/Plone/refs/books/axiom-book2.pdf

This book is the essential replacement for the original book:
"AXIOM - The Scientific Computation System"
by Richard Jenks and Robert Sutor and published by the
Numerical Algorithms Group, in Springer-Verlag, (c) 1992.

The new book weighs in at over 1000 pages and a dauntingly big
download and print job of anyone! But Lulu to the rescue...
Now anyone can order a convenient printed copy of the book
for a very reasonable price.

The Axiom Foundation (with Tim's and possibly NAG's approval
of course) could offer the new book for sale through Lulu.
Profits from the sale of the book could go to help fund the
Axiom Foundation initiatives that we have only just begun
to consider such as Bounty incentives for Axiom development
work.

Based on the cost and commission figures at:
http://www.lulu.com/static/on-demand-books2.php

I think that setting a price of say $50 per book (quantity 1)
could yield a net royalty of about $20 for each book sold.
This could help promote Axiom is more than one way at the
same time.

Now, that is not all! Lulu now also sells software. (See more
below.)

So, the Foundation could also use Lulu to offer Axiom CDrom
"boxed sets" for end-user installation. Ok, so maybe that is
a bit premature right now, but I think we will get to that
stage pretty soon now.

(Does all this sound like a "too-good-to-be-true" sales pitch?
maybe I am getting just a little too enthusiastic, but I do
think that this might work.

References:
 
-  http://www.lulu.com/static/pr/11_03.php

-  http://www.lulu.com/static/on-demand-books1.php

**From**::

  Page, Bill
  Friday, November 26, 2004 9:47 AM

Members, et al.

Ok in my official capacity as Secretary to the Foundation, since
both Tim Daly and NAG (aka Mike Dewar) apparently agree to the
idea of publishing the new Axiom book at http://www.lulu.com ,
I would like to seek approval from the members of the Axiom
Foundation to proceed with making the necessary arrangements.

Would the members please let me know at least *positive* or
*negative* as soon as you get a chance? Thanks.

... And of course I was wondering if there were any volunteers
who would like to step forward to help me with doing this? :))

One issue that will have to be decided is what price to attach
to the sale of the book. I did a quick calculation based on
a size of 1000 pages and a royalty of $20 based on the information
at

- http://www.lulu.com/static/on-demand-books2.php

and I got a price of just under $50 per single copy. The
Foundation would recieve $20 from each sale. Does that sound
reasonable? Do you think I did the calculation correctly?

**From**::

  Mike Dewar
  On Friday, November 26, 2004 5:17 AM

I don't think that NAG would object, provided that the terms
of the license were complied with (which is only that the copyright
notices and license text appear in the book, e.g. on the same page
as the Library of Congress/ISBN metadata).

I would also hope that the original contributors, particularly the
principle authors Dick Jenks and Bob Sutor, were acknowledged in
an appropriate way.

**From**::

  Tim Daly wrote:
  On Thu, Nov 25, 2004 at 09:15:32PM -0500
 
Not a bad idea, actually.

The book is partially composed of text released under the
Modifed-BSD license, partially composed of some text by
Martin Dunstan (the tutorial), who gave me permission to use
and freely republish it under the Modified-BSD.

The picture on the front (Blue Bayou) is by Jocelyn Guidry
(http://www.jocelynguidry.com) and I have her permission to freely
distribute it under the Modified-BSD.

The rest of the text, including composing it into tex, typesetting
the equations, etc. was written by me and I give the same permission
to use work under the Modified-BSD.

Of course, the graphics chapter needs work as does the 
cross reference
information in the back.  There is no such thing as a simple job.
 
Perhaps we could even cut a deal with the cheap CD place to include
a CD with Axiom on it. 

**From**::

  Bill Page
  Friday, November 26, 2004 11:15 AM

One thing we should seriously consider I think is to
purchase an ISBN (International Standard Book Number)
for the new Axiom book. See:

http://www.lulu.com/services/isbn.php

This is important because I can seriously imagine that
some universities *might* be interested in using the
Axiom book in a course on Computer Algebra and although
the book will still be available for free downloading
I expect that most university book stores would prefer
to be able to order copies of the book through the usual
channels.

What do you think?

**From**::

  Tim Daly
  Friday, November 26, 2004 5:22 PM

I read the ISBN section and it seems reasonable. Before we order one
we should probably be sure we have a printable book worth buying.

Some work needs to be applied to make the book "publication ready".
I'll create a axiom--book--1 branch so we can work on it. 

We need to :

* know what format they accept 

* look at how cover art

* work on an index

* work on chapter 8 (graphics)

* work on the algebra reference information

**From**::

  Tim Daly
  Friday, November 26, 2004 5:28 PM

There isn't an ISBN/Metadata page at the moment but there will be.
We'll add the license terms there as well as a statement that 
copyright
resides with the original holders (rather redundant but why not?).

Currently all of the original authors are listed on the cover, plus
Martin Dunstan (the tutorial section) and Jocelyn Guidry (the artist).

It's been policy to give credit to all contributors so any additional
people who work on the book would be added to that list.
[118 more lines...]

??changed:
-This all sounds fascinating and I wish you the best of luck with the project. 
It's nice to see that the old book still has life to it and is living on and 
evolving.
This all sounds fascinating and I wish you the best of luck with
the project. It's nice to see that the old book still has life to
it and is living on and evolving.

--
forwarded from http://wiki.axiom-developer.org/address@hidden