From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Return-Path: X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.1.3 (2006-06-01) on yquem.inria.fr X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=0.0 required=5.0 tests=none autolearn=disabled version=3.1.3 X-Original-To: caml-list@yquem.inria.fr Delivered-To: caml-list@yquem.inria.fr Received: from mail3-relais-sop.national.inria.fr (mail3-relais-sop.national.inria.fr [192.134.164.104]) by yquem.inria.fr (Postfix) with ESMTP id 65E95BBAF for ; Sun, 8 Mar 2009 14:52:22 +0100 (CET) X-IronPort-Anti-Spam-Filtered: true X-IronPort-Anti-Spam-Result: AqACANhqs0mAcIhIkWdsb2JhbACMcIg5AQEBAQkLCgcRBa9ChT+ITYQFBg X-IronPort-AV: E=Sophos;i="4.38,324,1233529200"; d="scan'208";a="24018102" Received: from redflag.cs.princeton.edu ([128.112.136.72]) by mail3-smtp-sop.national.inria.fr with ESMTP/TLS/DHE-RSA-AES256-SHA; 08 Mar 2009 14:52:21 +0100 Received: from [192.168.0.100] (ool-4355b33a.dyn.optonline.net [67.85.179.58]) (authenticated bits=0) by redflag.CS.Princeton.EDU (8.13.8/8.13.8) with ESMTP id n28DqGGX027605 (version=TLSv1/SSLv3 cipher=AES128-SHA bits=128 verify=NOT) for ; Sun, 8 Mar 2009 09:52:19 -0400 (EDT) Message-Id: <687CB72C-EBA6-4E1E-9B80-BBCED5825379@cs.princeton.edu> From: Yitzhak Mandelbaum To: List caml In-Reply-To: <200903080815.n288FigF019105@alumnus.caltech.edu> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII; format=flowed; delsp=yes Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Mime-Version: 1.0 (Apple Message framework v930.3) Subject: Re: [Caml-list] Re: Tim Rentsch & The Abscissa Book Date: Sun, 8 Mar 2009 09:52:14 -0400 References: <200903080815.n288FigF019105@alumnus.caltech.edu> X-Mailer: Apple Mail (2.930.3) X-Proofpoint-Virus-Version: vendor=nai engine=5.3.00 definitions=5546 signatures=505060 X-Proofpoint-Spam-Reason: safe X-Spam: no; 0.00; yitzhak:01 mandelbaum:01 cheers:01 yitzhak:01 co-author:01 co-author:01 beginner's:01 ocaml:01 bug:01 mandelbaum:01 2009:98 dated:98 19.:98 2007.:98 conducted:98 Dear list, I strongly advise people to read the letter to which Mr. Rentsch links before coming to any conclusions from Mr. Rentsch's quotes. Cheers, Yitzhak On Mar 8, 2009, at 4:15 AM, Tim Rentsch wrote: > Dear Caml-list readers: > > I have just read Jason Hickey's post of 3/6/2009 at the beginning of > this thread. Now that Jason has made this a public issue by trying it > in the court of public opinion I am forced to give a public response. > Jason's letter is false or misleading in important respects, as > demonstrated by a letter he himself wrote to my lawyer dated May 19, > 2008 [http://www.alumni.caltech.edu/~txr/tocpl/misc/ > jyh-2008_05_19.pdf]. > > In a prior post, Jason claimed not to have been aware of my book. The > truth is he and his publisher have exchanged multiple letters with me > and my lawyer for some time, and they have been well aware of my book > for roughly the last year, well before it was published. The clearest > example is in his own hand. Prof. Hickey's letter of May 19, 2008, is > two full pages devoted solely to the subject of my book. Among other > things, he stated: "I am pleased that Mr. Rentsch intends to publish a > book on Objective Caml based on joint work he did with me." He also > stated that his publisher's counsel, Kevin Taylor, had "proposed that > both authors simply publish their own books . . ." > > Jason claims of my book The Objective Caml Programming Language that I > wrote only chapters 14, 15, 17, and the Appendix, and that he wrote > everything else. That claim is false and Jason knows it. I have said > all along that my book is based on the joint work that Jason and I > prepared between 2004 and 2007. Jason tries to downplay my role in > the joint work, for example his comment about offering co-authorship > "on this basis" [for two chapters and an appendix]. In fact what he > said was "We have to make you a co-author!", or something very close > to that, and sounded more like it was made out of recognition of the > amount of work I'd put in, not just specific writings. Furthermore > most of the work I did in other parts of the book was done after that > point, after being made a co-author. > > It appears that Jason is guilty of doing himself what he's accusing > me of doing, making use of material developed for our joint work > without my permission. I've just conducted a very cursory > examination of Jason's online manuscript. For example, the earlier > course notes had no exercises. A comparison of exercises in his > manuscript and my book will show similarities in many cases, too many > to be just coincidental. I have not received any communication > either asking me for permission or attempting to make arrangements > so I could be paid royalties that I'm entitled to for use of > material developed for the joint work. > > Jason intimates in one posting that my manuscript was deliberately > withheld from him. The truth is an offer was made in a letter sent in > May of 2008 to Kevin Taylor, with a cc to Jason, to provide a copy of > that manuscript. No request for any such copy has been received. > > Jason implies in one posting that I asked CUP to delay publication of > his manuscript until after I reviewed it. I never made any such > request, nor did I expect that there would be any delay of this kind. > I did ask for an advance copy of the manuscript, but on later advice > decided not to look at it at all, and this decision was communicated > to CUP by letter in May of 2008 (the same letter mentioned above, > cc'ed to Jason). Since that time I'm not aware of any attempt, either > by Jason or by CUP, to try to get any kind of resolution on the matter > or to ask about any possibly missing communication. > > There are indications on reddit.com that Jason may be trying to add to > a set of comments accusing me of plagiarism; the charges of > plagiarism are absolutely false, and Jason knows it. > > The comments above reflect just some of the ways that Jason's remarks > are false or misleading; I haven't tried to tabulate them all. I > have, to the best of my understanding, a legal right to use material > from the joint work in the way that I'm using it. Furthermore I > invite everyone to compare my book against the earlier 2002 course > notes, not just at the level of words or phrases, but entire sections > and chapters, and see for themselves the extent to which I contributed > not just changes but value to all parts of any earlier material. > > At the end of his posting Jason makes some self-serving statements > related to further public discussion, moving on, etc. If he'd really > felt that way he could have written a short notice saying that he > would be taking the matter up with his publisher and would let people > know how things turned out. Of course, what he really wants is to > have it both ways -- make public accusations and then stop any further > public discussion. I encourage _all_ readers to gather facts on this > issue on _both_ sides, and convey any opinions to Jason's editor, and > also to appropriate public forums -- I don't know where else Jason > might have posted. I encourage reviewers of _both_ books to report > all the facts available to them, and for anyone who would recommend > Jason's book to consider whether they want to be associated with the > kind of intellectual dishonesty he has displayed in his postings here. > > _______________________________________________ > Caml-list mailing list. Subscription management: > http://yquem.inria.fr/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/caml-list > Archives: http://caml.inria.fr > Beginner's list: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ocaml_beginners > Bug reports: http://caml.inria.fr/bin/caml-bugs ----------------------------- Yitzhak Mandelbaum