Preface
Thank you for buying Level Up with Earthly, our first book on the Leanpub platform! We greatly appreciate the support and faith that you’ve shown in us, and we promise to do our very best to make sure that that faith has not been misplaced!
Why should I buy this book now?
Our approach is to publish new content on a regular basis with a preference for little and often. This might mean we release a half written chapter (clearly marked as such) because we believe the content is already useful and it could be just the thing you’ve been waiting for!
We’ll also release updates and fixes (such as for typos or errors in example code) as soon as they’ve been identified and fixed. We are avid readers ourselves and we are all too familiar with how frustrating a poorly edited book can be. Even if you find a single typo, we definitely want to hear from you!
Although Earthly is already mature enough for production use, it is under heavy development with new features being added constantly. We keep track of these developments and update the book as those features are released. You’ll get ever evolving content that’s always hot on Earthly’s heels.
How can I be sure that the content is fresh and accurate?
We are honoured to be able to share that we are collaborating closely with the Earthly core team on this book. This means that we will be aware of new features and can publish new content on them shortly after release. We also actively seek their guidance and advice which helps capture their deep knowledge of Earthly in these pages for you to enjoy.
The Earthly core team has also offered to provide the technical review for this book. That means that before this book can be finalised, it must receive their seal of approval for quality and correctness.
We are extremely excited to be working with the core team and we already know that their contributions are going to be super valuable!
How can I be sure you’ll finish the book?
There’s always a risk with these sorts of projects, but both of us are experienced writers with a passion for tech and sharing what we’ve learned. We have everything we need to ensure our success.
However, despite our best efforts, things might not go according to plan. If this is a concern for you, you might want to wait until the final book is published before buying.
What sort of feedback do you value?
All feedback! Seriously, the more feedback the better! We want to know where we’re doing a great job, what you’d like to see more of and conversely what you would like to see less of. Your feedback doesn’t have to be an essay or a detailed bug report. A simple note of “There’s a typo on line 10” is immensely valuable.
We use Earthly almost every day but because we toil away in our own little corner of the universe, it is inevitable that we’re going to miss things. Some of the things we miss will be cringe worthy. So, if you’ve spotted a gap or have any anecdotes, awesome ideas or even an example that you think just has to be covered, then please please please don’t keep that to yourself! Get in touch!
As a small token of our appreciation (and only with your permission of course) we will include your name in an Appendix of contributors. For cool quotes, example files or anecdotes we’ll also cite you as the source (again, with your permission).
Why are you writing this book?
We’re writing this book because when we were introduced to Earthly, we wanted to buy a book and learn more about it. Alas no one had written one yet. Earthly is so new and fast paced that it is not yet a good fit for traditional publishers (we know, we asked them). Two of those publishers that we have a great deal of respect for both independently recommended Leanpub, and it seemed to us like a perfect match. We could move fast, but also keep the quality bar high.
Does it replace the online documentation?
Definitely not. Earthly’s documentation is exceptional and the quality and depth of the examples is first rate. It’s mostly how we learned Earthly ourselves and this book will be very much influenced by its content.
But as good as that documentation is, it’s more of a reference, the place you go when you have a pretty good idea of what you’re looking for. This book on the other hand is the grandfather sitting in a high backed chair next to a crackling fire in the hearth whilst he reads about the myths and legends of Earthly to those who have gathered round. Okay, that’s a rather flowery way of saying that this book will help you get the most of the online documentation.