In praise of ancient paper technology

I’m gearing up to comment on Tom Geller’s recent grumbles about the Drupal free documentation, but first I feel that I should point out the obvious: Drupal has some great paid documentation. Some highlights that I know about:

• People who want to know what all the fuss is about can pick up The Lullabots’ Using Drupal, which I’m using as light bedtime reading.

• Hard-core coders who contemplate deploying Drupal should definitely read Pro Drupal Development, a truly indispensable guide to Drupal’s innards.

• Javascript is a Drupal component, too. An increasingly important one, in fact. Which gives me an excuse to plug one of my favorite software books ever: Crockford’s Javascript: The Good Parts. A blessedly short but dense book. Just the sort of thing that Tom Geller might like, I suspect.

The open-source revolution has proceeded so swiftly that some people seem to have forgotten that all documentation used to come in big paper books that cost money. Yet that technology is still surprisingly useful! And it really isn’t that much money, compared to the medical expense of continually banging your head on your desk.