I tried this out with a tough search...one that has been driving me nuts for a few days now.
As some of you know, I run a
site that lists freely available programming related ebooks, at no cost. It's a labor of love that doesn't make me a dime.
I recently received a request to add some
ABAP related books, only I can't find any free ones.
I thought what better way to test ChaCha's service than to make that request there?
This was the results:
Spoiler
Status: Connecting ...
Status: Looking for a guide ...
Status: Connected to guide: KarenK
KarenK: Welcome to ChaCha!
You: hi
KarenK: Hi, how are you today?
KarenK: snowing here
You: good...u?
KarenK: great!
KarenK: here's a nice graphic of the ABAP language
You: i need ebooks only
KarenK: sounds like a great career choice
You: it's not for me
KarenK: lets see what I can find
You: i run a website that lists free programming ebooks...got an email request to add some ABAP books
KarenK: oh cool
You: but i can't find any
KarenK: would the language be close to any other language like ASP? anything that compares so I can look there as well.
You: no
KarenK: hmm, let me look further, I program in lots of lanugages if I had some I would give to you
You: lol
You: ty
You: i am a delphi programmer, myself
KarenK: that's cool
KarenK: any XML, XPATH, XLST?
You: I have those on my site already...not related
You: i had to look up on wikipedia to even know what ABAP was
KarenK: ok, just thinking what else I could give you
KarenK: it's pretty powerful
KarenK: I'm going to revise my search, hold on
You: this is harder than finding books for borland's c++ builder
KarenK: I agree
KarenK: I found syntax, reorts code opt and scripts
KarenK: reports
You: i only list full books on my site
You: it's for students that can't afford to buy books
KarenK: that is so cooll. what is your site name?
You: programmingebooks.tk
You: started as a text file in my chatroom targeted to self learners
KarenK: I'm gonna send this take a look, it's not what your looking for though
You: yeah, not exactly what i need
KarenK: there has to be a place.
You: I normally never list resource sites or tutorial sites...or partial books that are only sample chapters
KarenK: do you charge for these books?
You: no
You: they are intended to be freely available
You: i make nothing from my site
You: it's a labor of love
KarenK: wow
KarenK: good for you
KarenK: that's kinda what chacha is
You: i am also a donationware author...meaning my stuff is all freeware unless you feel like being generous
KarenK: I say that only because I find myself solving for XY and Z. helping student and folks who make big money programming sitting at work lookikng for answers
You: I deal with mostly college kids and younger looking for help to pass school assignments or for self learning as a hobby
KarenK: hey wiat
KarenK: wait
You: that looks promising
KarenK: sure does, even if it is $25.00
KarenK: not sure though
KarenK: I used to work for Siemens
You: I am not sure how i feel with their information gathering for something for free
You: sounds a bit fishy
KarenK: yeah, I know what you mean
KarenK: lots of scams out there
You: definately
You: one of the reasons for making my list
You: cut through the scams...and the illegal crap
KarenK: agree, you will be paid back for your efforts, you sound like a wonderful person
You: i am already paid over a million times just knowing i am helping people
KarenK: ah, that is beautiful
KarenK: ABAP used to be referenced as ABAP/4 in release 3. Might be something worth searching for
You: i have watched kids in my chatroom go from messing around with trojans & viruses to developing fantastic applications
You: changing their lives
KarenK: excellent!
You: things like that make it worth the effort
KarenK: okay, it's a scam. I selected the ABAP complete reference, went to check out and it costs $100
You: whoa!
You: and they have a paypal donate button on the site too?
You: they should be ashamed
KarenK: yup, unreal
KarenK: and there's no product reviews whatsoever
You: it's sad
You: I'll tell you what you can do if you want...
You: if you come across any books i don't have on my site...or later on find any really good ones, email me from my site and i can add them
KarenK: I have the complete sets on XML, HTML, lots of web stuff, and Visual Basic
You: you should see my list
You: it's over 300 books now
KarenK: programmingebooks.tk? that's the site?
You: yup
You: and that last link...not free...$61.25
KarenK: yup
You: thanks for the help though
You: much appreciated
KarenK: you are most welcome
You: have a great day
KarenK: you too
KarenK: Please RATE ME. Thanks for using ChaCha.
Status: Session ended.
Throughout the conversation,
KarenK was pushing me various links to try, making the ones she thought were better rise to the top of the list. I could tell that she wasn't just shoving results at me but was actually visiting some of the sites, too.
Although I didn't find what I wanted by using ChaCha, the person I spoke with went out of their way to try to find it for me....including signing up and checking out if one of the sites was a scam....something you would never get from Google. (unfortunately it was a scam site)
And yes, it was fun & enjoyable...more than the last 2 days of unsuccessful Google searching for the same thing.
Considering today's experiences, even though I didn't get what I wanted, I just might keep this link handy in case I have another tough search to do.
Edit: added link to KarenK's profile
