Timeline for What's "the archetypal book" called?
Current License: CC BY-SA 4.0
6 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
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| Sep 5 at 18:25 | comment | added | Nuclear Hoagie | @MichaelSeifert "Classic" to me implies a sense of timelessness, often backward-looking, but sometimes forward-looking. It seems a little odd when applied to a practical guide to a technology which is both relatively recent and which has a decent chance of becoming obsolete in the future. Classics will almost always be considered classics, but C# in Depth won't be considered anything at all when people stop using C#. People read Gray's Anatomy 100 years ago and likely will 100 years from now, but I find it unlikely people will be reading C# in Depth in the year 2224. | |
| Sep 4 at 20:37 | comment | added | MackM | @MichaelSeifert It implies that to me as well. Recognition takes time. I've heard works described as 'instant classics' soon after they were released, though. I've also heard that later revised to 'classics of their time/era/etc.' when it was called it too early :-D. | |
| Sep 4 at 20:21 | comment | added | Michael Seifert | To me "classic" implies a certain amount of age. If C# in Depth was only a few years old it would feel strange to me to describe it as a "classic", even if it was the most authoritative text on the subject. | |
| Sep 4 at 19:34 | comment | added | MackM | @NuclearHoagie That is usage in the sense of 'classics of antiquity', I am using it as a simple word without special artistic context. Gray's Anatomy is a classic on my shelf, as is Working Effectively with Legacy Code and The Joy of Cooking. I have the collected works of Edgar Allen Poe too, which is all considered Classic Literature, but The Tell-Tale Heart is also a plain old classic short story. "Pull my finger" - That's a classic that I am sure predates literature itself. | |
| Sep 4 at 19:22 | comment | added | Nuclear Hoagie | Simply referring to a text as "a classic" usually implies it is a high-quality piece of literature, usually fiction, which deals with broadly accessible themes. It strikes me as a bit odd to use it in the context of a piece of very specific non-fictional technical writing. Most people would consider Moby Dick to be a classic, but not C# in Depth. | |
| Sep 4 at 19:01 | history | answered | MackM | CC BY-SA 4.0 |