Learn.js: a guidebook to building projects with javascript. | Hacker News Reader

Learn.js: a guidebook to building projects with javascript.

leanpub.com

29 pointssethvincent8 comments

~10% complete and already looking for payment seems a little preemptive to me, guess you can always refund. Other than that the overview of content looks very relevant, will be interested to see the finished product.

Rather, as per the page: "Show your support by saying what you'd like to pay for it!"

yup, sounds more like the lean startup prototype demo where you ask someone "so how much would you pay for this?" to determine your price :)

I know these kind of strategies (get early engagement / validation) are promoted in this lean startup era but it leaves me a bit disappointed (and I think the more people use this strategy, the less accepted/effective it will become). But that is me and if it works for you and enough others, the democratic process of HN should prevail :)

I do like the idea, also because you plan to explore (in a fashion that does not require full serial 'consumption' of the book) various JavaScript toolboxes and libraries and even server-side stuff. I can't put any sensible price tag on it though.

Side note: in a 80/20 world, 10% finished would mean that roughly half of the draft is written ;)

This has definitely been useful as a way of determining interest – based on reaction so far it seems like the book premise is good.

I decided to remove the percentage for now since it was an arbitrary number. I'm not even sure what will make the book 100% if I plan to go back and add/revise chapters as js libraries are updated/released. Using semantic version numbers and a roadmap would be better.

I'll add a list of completed/started/planned chapters to the book description soon, which will be much more useful than a percentage.

Given that there was nothing to actually read I said I would be willing to pay $0 for it. Can't expect me to estimate what something that is little more than an idea, from someone whose work I am not already familiar with, at this point is worth to me.

That's reasonable. I hoped the description would be enough info for people to decide if they are interested, but it makes sense to at least expect a sample chapter or two. I'll be adding a sample and probably doing the first release within the next week.

The first comment is an a-hole comment. Basically you are trying to get an idea/range of what people would be willing to pay for a book that contains all of the relevant information listed and/or as described and I don't see anything wrong with that.

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