[Mathnerd314]

> Unexpected tidbit: If you abbreviate the term 'interrupt descriptor table'. Then reverse it - You get 'TDI', which stands for Turbo Charged Diesel Injection, an engine developed by Volkswagen fo- Okay. Ethically, believe it or not but computers emit more CO2 than cars.

Does this really help people learn the material? I am doing a presentation on networking in a week or two for a high school group. Certainly I could include stuff like this, but to me it seems more like a distraction. If I was writing this I would rather include something like a sample table of how IDT's were used by old DOS video games. (Disclaimer: I'm 30)

[pvg]

There's a huge difference between an adult talking to a bunch of teens and a teen addressing a bunch of teens. I'm not saying this would be the case with this particular thing but it's not hard to imagine something delivered by a peer which could at worst come across as dorky vs outright cringe when adopted by someone else.

[-mlv]

If I were to include such a digression, I'd probably keep it as a footnote.

But all in all, great work, OP!

[ILyesMk2]

My pleasure, happy that you liked it

[jprete]

I think it's audience-dependent. For readers with less background and less pre-existing motivation to learn the material, I think it helps to cut down on the density a little. It's kind of a cruddy experience to have to pause and digest every sentence as you go and it makes it physically hard to read a book that way since you have to constantly track where you were.

If the audience has more background in the material and a stronger pre-existing motivation to read it, then it is probably a distraction, and they need a higher density of information to keep flow.

[ILyesMk2]

So true.

Especially with term highlighting, makes it 2x easier to read and keep the information flow to process (and funnier?).

[f1shy]

My 2 cts: in Germany yes, in the rest of the world, absolutely leave it out.

[ILyesMk2]

> Disclaimer: I'm 30

This says it all- jokes aside, i couldn't resist writing a book without including combustion engines.

[Mathnerd314]

> I couldn't resist

The common refrain of a teenager... https://www.npr.org/2016/04/15/474348291/why-teens-are-impul... honestly at that age I never went out of my room, and I still got in trouble. If you do develop some self-control, you could look at https://blog.benjojo.co.uk/post/dive-into-the-world-of-dos-v... or https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/B97801... (c.f. also https://hackmd.io/@_01X9rimQmWH33Djf8QhoA/SkygF9WdP which is based on that book)

[ILyesMk2]

These are some of the useful link that i wish came up when googling, and DOS is fairly interesting in itself knowing it's behind everything from medical equipment to today's common refrain of teenagers.

[ViktorRay]

I’m going to disagree with that other guy.

It’s your book. If you want to have a lighthearted fun digression about combustion engines then I think that’s fine.

When I read textbooks a fun little digression now and then doesn’t bother me at all. Usually it puts a smile on my face.

I am also in my 30’s like that guy and that’s my 2 cents.