Book: The Art of VA Filter Design 2.1.2

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Thank you very much for the updates ! We might be able to see each other at Audio Developer Conference ;)

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Now that the book has exceeded 500 pages (wow!), is there any chance going to print form some day?

Would be an instabuy for me :hihi:

Richard
Synapse Audio Software - www.synapse-audio.com

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Richard_Synapse wrote: Mon Nov 05, 2018 3:22 pm Now that the book has exceeded 500 pages (wow!), is there any chance going to print form some day?

Would be an instabuy for me :hihi:

Richard
Oh, thank you! ;)

I guess at the moment I'm not going to do that, but who knows?
This question has already been asked here:
https://lists.columbia.edu/pipermail/mu ... 02224.html

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Great update for a great book. Thanks, Vadim! :)

Some feedback/suggestion to make the reading/understanding the book easier:

Some DSP/math/etc. books use repetition to keep most important formulas in the mind of the reader. If a formula is officially presented in one chapter and it is needed again in some later chapter, it's usually written down/shown again for example like this:

"Then we use the formula X to solve the value of Y. As a reminder X(t) = A(t) + B + 5*C."

...and then those books go on from there to show how exactly that formula is used to derive some further formulas etc. In otherwords, reshowing the formula doesn't need to be as classy as the first time it's shown. I.e. no need to put frames around it or separate it clearly form all the surrounding text or anything.

Same goes for some of the graphs. For example filter topologies and such might benefit if they were occasionally shown again visually instead of just referencing them as "graph 1.4" or such in later chapters. The core problem is that it would make reading/following the book more effortless if the reader didn't always have to browse lots of pages backwards while trying to find the correct graph/formula. This doesn't mean that the graphs/formulas would need to be shown every time they are mentioned. If they were shown again in well selected locations in the book, that would work great.

Just my 2c. Hopefully this helps structuring the book :)

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Kraku wrote: Tue Nov 06, 2018 12:19 pm Great update for a great book. Thanks, Vadim! :)
You're welcome!
Kraku wrote: Tue Nov 06, 2018 12:19 pm Some feedback/suggestion to make the reading/understanding the book easier:

Some DSP/math/etc. books use repetition to keep most important formulas in the mind of the reader. If a formula is officially presented in one chapter and it is needed again in some later chapter, it's usually written down/shown again for example like this:
That's a reasonable suggestion, which I will definitely keep in mind. Thank you. Although, a couple of points to be put on the other side of the scales:
- The book is primarily intended to be read in electronic format, which is anyway hyperlinked
- Having to browse back forces the reader to memorize the important formulas and graphs ;)

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Ivan_C wrote: Fri Nov 02, 2018 7:04 am Thank you very much for the updates ! We might be able to see each other at Audio Developer Conference ;)
Would be great indeed!

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Z1202 wrote: Tue Nov 06, 2018 1:51 pm - Having to browse back forces the reader to memorize the important formulas and graphs ;)
I find that most of the time when I'm reading some mathematically oriented stuff, I find myself looking back references, not because I wouldn't remember the equations, but because I don't remember their numbering in that specific text. So if I see something like "by equation (123)" and want to try to follow which equation the author is actually talking about, I have no choice but to browse back.

So your argument that you're forcing people to memorise important formulas and graphs is in my opinion not quite right, because really what you are forcing people to memorise is the (arbitrary) numbering of them in this particular text. This information is completely useless the moment you put the book down, so I'm not entirely sure why you feel it's worth memorising. ;)

[edit: I'm not saying that your book is necessarily the worst example of this, but it's the main reason I quite often end up printing scientific papers, since the practice is a lot more tolerable on paper]

Also hyperlinks in PDFs don't necessarily accumulate history (eg. in Chrome they don't) so you can't really hit "back" once you've taken the hyper-link to see what it's about. You can't open PDF-internal hyperlinks in "new tab" either. So even if you can lookup an equation fast, you can't really get back to what you were reading previously, without having to browse manually.

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mystran wrote: Tue Nov 06, 2018 3:36 pm
Z1202 wrote: Tue Nov 06, 2018 1:51 pm - Having to browse back forces the reader to memorize the important formulas and graphs ;)
I find that most of the time when I'm reading some mathematically oriented stuff, I find myself looking back references, not because I wouldn't remember the equations, but because I don't remember their numbering in that specific text. So if I see something like "by equation (123)" and want to try to follow which equation the author is actually talking about, I have no choice but to browse back.
Point taken, but then I don't think Kraku suggested repeating every referenced equation either ;)

Actually, when I started writing the book, I wanted to use no referencing whatsoever, either referring to the equations by their meaning or repeating them, if necessary. I quickly found out that it quickly stops working in areas with heavier math, and then switched to the standard procedure of referencing by numbers ;)
mystran wrote: Tue Nov 06, 2018 3:36 pm So your argument that you're forcing people to memorise important formulas and graphs is in my opinion not quite right, because really what you are forcing people to memorise is the (arbitrary) numbering of them in this particular text. This information is completely useless the moment you put the book down, so I'm not entirely sure why you feel it's worth memorising. ;)
This statement was made in the context of Kraku's suggestion to repeat the important equations ;)
mystran wrote: Tue Nov 06, 2018 3:36 pmAlso hyperlinks in PDFs don't necessarily accumulate history (eg. in Chrome they don't) so you can't really hit "back" once you've taken the hyper-link to see what it's about. You can't open PDF-internal hyperlinks in "new tab" either. So even if you can lookup an equation fast, you can't really get back to what you were reading previously, without having to browse manually.
Is there any special reason to stick to a PDF viewer without basic hyperlinking functionality (where history belongs to IMHO)? ;)

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Z1202 wrote: Tue Nov 06, 2018 3:47 pm Is there any special reason to stick to a PDF viewer without basic hyperlinking functionality (where history belongs to IMHO)? ;)
Well, all the readers suck in one way or another.

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One good thing about wide-screen formats is you can easily fit two or three pages of text on screen at once. So it's possible to view either in double-paged or triple-paged format as well as from multiple points of the document (same page or random pages) at the same time.

I've always liked the papers which are formatted with all graphs in logical order (order of appearance) sequentially by section. So for example if common equations or graphs are re-used many times throughout a document these could appear in a dedicated "equations, tables and graphs" or "figures" chapter.

If they're specific to a section or group of chapters they might appear in a chapter leading that group.

Only if they're specific to a single chapter or page should they occur inline, and almost always arranged such that left = figures, right = content or similar. "Within reach."

Links within the document itself are fine of course assuming they work correctly. Editing and formatting should never rely upon those features though.

What happens when you print out the document?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aXV-yaFmQNk
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I think Mystran had really good explanation about the various issues with the current way of using the links/images/formulas. The missing "back" button when using hyperlinks is probably the biggest issue here. I'm personally using OSX's Preview, which is operating system's built in feature. No PDF reader installation necessary. I would imagine most people with Macs also use the very same viewer for all PDF reading purposes.

I would assume the way to improve this in the book is to find a balance between repeating the formulas/images and using regular hyperlinks.

:shrug:

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You can open the same document multiple times and tile it on screen with MacOS preview. I'd also need to check to be sure but can't you click "open in new window" on a link?

Repeating the same content in a PDF has a major flaw: PDF doesn't have shared resources and including the same content will multiply the size.

While there are genuine issues with links I believe this is an example of having a very narrow focus and ignorant of the bigger picture. Nobody forces you to click a link if the link says "(fig. 6 pg. 35)" or similar. In a printed copy of the document your thumb would be on pg. 35 and you could quickly page back and forth: no back button required!
Free plug-ins for Windows, MacOS and Linux. Xhip Synthesizer v8.0 and Xhip Effects Bundle v6.7.
The coder's credo: We believe our work is neither clever nor difficult; it is done because we thought it would be easy.
Work less; get more done.

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This DSP and plug-in development forum is the only one where people discuss about the PDF format in a topic related to an e-book about DSP :)

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mystran wrote: Tue Nov 06, 2018 4:31 pm
Z1202 wrote: Tue Nov 06, 2018 3:47 pm Is there any special reason to stick to a PDF viewer without basic hyperlinking functionality (where history belongs to IMHO)? ;)
Well, all the readers suck in one way or another.
Foxit Reader has no problems in following links in the PDF and keeping history... It's just Ctrl+left to go back where you've been before clicking on the link. Easy.

Seems it works exactly the same in Edge. So Chrome is shit I suppose, at least in this particular thing. :P

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aciddose wrote: Wed Nov 07, 2018 6:59 pm You can open the same document multiple times and tile it on screen with MacOS preview. I'd also need to check to be sure but can't you click "open in new window" on a link?
Nope. Apple's design isn't up to date after Steve passed away... :evil:
aciddose wrote:Repeating the same content in a PDF has a major flaw: PDF doesn't have shared resources and including the same content will multiply the size.

While there are genuine issues with links I believe this is an example of having a very narrow focus and ignorant of the bigger picture. Nobody forces you to click a link if the link says "(fig. 6 pg. 35)" or similar. In a printed copy of the document your thumb would be on pg. 35 and you could quickly page back and forth: no back button required!
That's the problem:
I want to click it to understand which formula/graph the link refers to. Now I can't because I have to try and find the original location where I pressed the hyperlink. It's cumbersome and after having to do it once, I highly prefer not to if I can. This has been mostly solved in printed books by finding an OK balance between repeating the formula/graph and just referring to it.

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