I haven't looked at this in over a year and I must say there is a lot of
good stuff in here. Thanks to Dan and Zoltan and everyone else who has
contributed. I think you are on the right track. Thanks also to Cecelia
for going to the trouble to draft a new outline for Chapter 1.
Dusting off my 30 years of developmental editing skills... here are my
first impressions about the first 3 chapters and the draft outline.
Note: when I read the chapters and previous email correspondence in more
detail, I might change my mind. I often do. ;-)
1) The topics in Section 2 in Cecelia's outline ("A Database system") do
not belong in Chapter 1, but they would probably fit well into Chapter
2, if they are not already there.
2) Some of Cecelia's section 3 ("Base") fits in Chapter 1; the general
topic is already there.
3) Cecelia's section 5 ("Case studies") may not belong in Ch1, unless
you mean a very brief (one paragraph) description of some typical uses;
e.g., keeping track of vacation expenses (Dan's example in the Getting
Started guide) or the examples used in this book, to give readers an
idea of what can be done with Base.
4) Dan's/Zoltan's draft chapter 1 seems to me, on a first look, to go
into too much detail for an intro chapter in a few sections, such as the
bit on relational databases. Because many of the topics in this chapter
are covered in detail in other chapters, I think some of them can be
shortened here, with a reference to the detailed chapter. Also, the
reader should be referred (probably in the first section,
"Introduction") to the Getting Started with Base chapter for a more
detailed overview and example, and to Mariano's Mid-Level Tutorial for
more advanced readers.
5) Chapter 2 might need some reorganisation, but IMO the topics covered
are appropriate for this chapter, because people do need to know some
database theory before they design a database. The trick is to tell them
as much as they need to know at this point, but not too much. (I haven't
read this closely enough to form an opinion on whether the chapter is
about right or too much or too little.) More advanced theory could be
introduced in other chapters as needed. Also, references to other
documents, websites, books, etc (if not already there) could be useful
to the reader. For example, Mariano's Mid-Level Tutorial for more
advanced readers.
6) Chapter 3 seems about right to me. It's a bit long but sometimes one
just can't cover a topic properly in fewer pages. Some of the details
(pictures) about using the Wizard may not be needed, if they were
covered in Chapter 1, but that's a minor detail. And of course it needs
copyediting, but that comes later.
Here is my suggestion: Dan and Zoltan, please carry on with your work on
Chapter 4. I think you are on the right track, and I do not think major
surgery will be needed. Meanwhile I will do a bit of reshuffling of the
material in Chapters 1 and 2 and come up with a proposal for your
consideration.
--Jean
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