Thursday, November 19, 2009

Where is "Breaking Up The Monolith"?

Over the last couple of years, more and more people have been asking when Breaking Up The Monolith is going to be published. My inadequate answers of "soon", or "next year", are no doubt running a bit dry. (My editor's got to the point where he no longer asks, which is kind of sad.)

For the last 2yrs I've been fighting with the Preface, in terms of how to frame the issues/problems that the book seeks to address/answer without coming across as arrogant/embittered/deranged. The thing is, I think there are problems with the way C++ has been used (since its creation) and that some parts of accepted practice and/or standard/popular libraries are just plain wrong. (Emperor's New Clothes type-stuff.)

My main problem has been how to phrase these issues, and how to frame the rest of the book in light of that. Needless to say, that problem has been harder for me to solve than the (hard technical) problems that are solved in the book! Thank you, irony.

The good news is that I've managed to solicit the help of one of my e-friends, Chris Oldwood, who is currently going through all my many prefaces and other material with a scythe. Chris is a switched-on guy and, it seems, unencumbered by all the circular-mental processes that beleaguer authors, or this one at least. It's going so well that I think I might start to be able to start putting dates on the writing again, and look to producing a book that's long on technical quality and short on bombast.

Watch this space ...

Saturday, November 7, 2009

Welcome to the "Breaking Up The Monolith" blog!

Just a first "hello" to all (potential) readers of Breaking Up The Monolith: Advanced C++ Design Without Compromise, and of this blog. "Monolith" has been in preparation for nearly four years now, and is in need of a hurry-up, so I've created this blog for three reasons:

  • To announce news regarding the book (such as progress) and other books (including the books I'm currently working on)
  • To road-test issues to be discussed in the book
  • To provide early-release of some of the concepts, practices, principles and techniques that will be covered in Breaking Up The Monolith: Advanced C++ Design Without Compromise
Thanks for listening

Matt