Friday 27 December 2019

computer science - Textbook has two different versions, which to use?



I've recently enrolled in an Introduction to Computer Science II course in which the professor allowed me to skip the prerequisites.The problem is, I don't have the textbook from the previous course, Java How to Program 10th Edition Late Objects - Deitel & Deitel. The course and the one before it both encompass the same book, so I would like to catch up before the course starts.


While browsing on online stores, this led me to two different books, the 'Global Edition', and the US edition. Seeing that the Global Edition was half the price of the US version and I was on a budget, I thought it was a steal. There are many choices online with international editions at around $60 and the US at $150.



Why would the global textbook be lower than half the price than the US edition? What's the difference? I've read around that there is not much of a difference except for the cover, but why would that call for such a lowered price? The US book comes with access codes and other features, will the Global also come with those exact features?



Answer



Often if not almost always, "International Editions" (the monicker I know them under) are copies of expensive text books printed in emerging market countries (often India), whose legality I question...at least they are not licensed by the publisher for all I know. Someone here might have more substantial comments on the legal aspect - in fact, StrongBad does in his answer to an earlier question.


From the one I bought before understanding this, I would, in the future, stay away from them for their quality alone. I kept noticing that there were seeming errors where the text diverged in most cases from a supporting graphic; and there were graphics on almost every page. I carefully made a list of errata for the first 100 pages, and submitted them to the author. He was kind enough to reply fast, expressing that he was puzzled: none seemed to be true. I eventually figured out that the graphics and text of my book were from different editions of the original book...my version is essentially useless.


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