Found in Translation

In recent months two books I have been involved in have been translated. One consequence is that these books have a broader reach than they might otherwise have had just in English, even given the anglophonic nature of software development. Another is that I now have books with my name on that I am unable to read.

Last month I received the translation to simplified Chinese of POSA4, Pattern-Oriented Software Architecture, Volume 4: A Pattern Language for Distributed Computing, which I co-authored with Frank Buschmann and Doug Schmidt. I have been informed via Twitter that it's a decent translation, better than previous books in the series. I'll take this on trust, but if you have an informed view — one way or the other — please let me know.

And just before Christmas — pretty much the last post before Christmas — I received the Japanese and Czech translations of 97 Things Every Programmer Should Know, which I edited. I had been told that the production quality on the Japanese editions is quite something. Now I have it in my hands, I can confirm: yes, it is. From the dust cover to the page design to the quality of the paper to the supplementary content, it is an exemplary model for paperback books everywhere. I have also had the pleasure of a brief email exchange with the translator, Takuto Wada. As I understand it, Korean and Russian translations are in the pipeline — let's see what the new year brings.