Compilers 1991 annual: legend or myth?

Some comp.compilers readers may be wondering where the printed 1991
compilers annual is. Here's the story:


For the 1990 annual, I sorted all the messages and printed them just as
they'd appear on a screen, 80 columns across with typewriter type. This
minimized the editorial work required, but came up with a 600 page book
which was pretty bulky. For 1991, there were far more messages, so a
similar approach would have produced a 1000 page book or maybe a pair of
500 page ones, either way it'd be expensive and unwieldy.


So to save space (and also make a more readable book) I had to typeset it,
meaning each message has to be marked up to indicate what is plain text,
what it computer font, and so forth. This required considerably extra
work, so I talked to some real publishers about having them publish it,
still with my editing, since a publisher's economies of scale would allow
better book quality at lower cost and also make possible CD-ROMs. I've
found a publisher, but it got so late in the year that a a 1991 volume
couldn't be issued until sometime in 1993, which is kind of late.
Basically, I screwed up. Sorry.


So unless a lot of people (more than 80) tell me that they'd still pay $50
for a 1991 printed volume even if they couldn't get it until April of
1993, I'll drop the 1991 edition and pick up with a timely 1992 edition in
the spring of 1993.


By the way, the full text of all of the 1991 messages is as always
available for FTP at primost.cs.wisc.edu with no restrictions on
redistribution, so if someone else wants to print all or part of the 1991
messages, be my guest.


Regards,
John Levine, comp.compilers moderator
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