The editors mailing list at O'Reilly is the place where we discuss incoming proposals, book ideas we dream up ourselves, and the general direction of technology. Sometimes we argue over issues that may be useful to our readers, and we highlight them here. Remember that technology choices are rarely cut-and-dry, and our editors are opinionated.

Smartphones

Edited by chromatic
July 2005

Just when you think you've made sense of all of the new phones, calling plans, and options, along comes a new batch of hardware. If you're slogging along with old technology and expired calling plans, you're in the same boat as a few of the O'Reilly folks on the Editors List. Here's a recent conversation about smartphones.

Read this discussion.

Password Management

Edited by chromatic
May 2005

A recent thread on the Editors List started with surprise that our work made it to the New York Times attached to a juicy bit of celebrity gossip; then, as usual, it morphed into a discussion of practical uses of technology. Here's an idea for making your personal secrets more secret and less personal.

Read this discussion.

Error Checking

Edited by chromatic
March 2005

Should error checking be included in printed books that cover code? Is it worth adding an extra 10% of text in order to ensure that programmers will not forget to check for error conditions? And ultimately, who's responsibility is it to check for errors? These questions bear a multitude of implications. In a recent discussion on the Editor's List, four editors contemplated the pros and cons of including error checking in print texts.

Read this discussion.