| >I believe you mentioned somewhere "The Jacobian is a m x n matrix containing the 1st order partial derivatives of vectors with respect to vectors." -- Since I have a math background I can understand what you write. But for someone with little to no math background (e.g. a software practitioner) this may throw them off. This makes sense. However, there will always be requirements to understand any given topic. It is recursive and dangerous to assume otherwise because knowledge builds on previous knowledge. Knowledge gaps for requirements should be an exception handled by the reader, not by the author because it penalizes everyone who doesn't have that gap. I understand the effort of authors wanting their books to be self contained and inclusive, bringing everyone up to speed, but this brings up awful college memories and students having to wait for the one person who doesn't know matrix multiplication asking a question in a class that is not about linear algebra. This person was the exception and instead of learning it on his own time, he was willing to penalize everyone. Similarly, in the context of books, this is the reason 600 pages is the norm with the same first 400 pages "bringing everyone up to speed" (100 pages for a Python introduction, 70 pages for elementary linear algebra, etc). The overlap is just staggering and it is safe to assume that a 600 pages book does not cost the same as a 200 pages book. In other words, everyone is paying the price for the one guy who wants to do the sexy Machine Learning/Deep Learning/Pattern Recognition, but doesn't want to bother looking up the Jacobian on his own. We're paying for the 400 pages we'll never read. A large percentage of books caters to the beginner/neophyte knowing that being a beginner is a relatively short step for someone who has a long road ahead. There's an assumption of non-evolution/improvement, an everlasting tutorial 0. Imagine how frustrating it would be to have every item in the world being designed for crawling babies and disregarding the facts that they're on their way to be adults. |
The interviews the authors give paint the picture this book is for the 'practitioner'. If Chapter 1 is meant for a brief review then don't advertise the book for a complete practitioner/beginner. Either make the book for the practitioner or not. If you do, then don't pretend to serve introductory math in it that the unfamiliarized reader will read and understand. They fail at their purpose there. So either make that chapter useful for the practitioner or leave it out and assume the mathematicians already know it. Maybe put it in an appendix and let us get to the meat quicker. It honestly does not take much time to define what a matrix is, give an example, define matrix multiplication, give examples etc. Same applies with basic definition and examples of derivatives. These are mindless mechanical procedures anyone can learn. It wouldn't take too much extra space to include some thoughtful examples. Maybe I should write an 'introductory group theory' textbook and start discussing geometric group theory 2 pages in if we want to get into not serving an intended audience's purpose.
I like what the author's are doing. I'm on their side, but I'm making suggestions that could serve a wider audience.