Everyone likes to think of creating a book to cover the things that the standard book is not covering. This problem causes even the simple plans to write a simple "Tell All" tutorial to become massive. The best "Self-Teaching" guide to programming book I ever used was written in the Mid 1980s covering the then Pascal Language.

I do not recall the title but it covered Turbo Pascal 5.5. To me, it was the Layout of the book that allowed it to be concise and useful.

It was laid out like a dictionary/reference book. Each Keyword had it own little section in alphabetical order in the book. Words Like Private and Public were in separate sections entitled Private and Public. Although Similar their purposes are different. After reading about 1 the reader was directed to the next logical step in learning the Language.

Once it was time to learn about graphics, the reader was then directed to each section in progression to learn all the graphical commands

Again the book was laid out as a reference book, so anytime the reader need a refresher they could simply turn to the section Titled Graphics or Put, Get, Class or any other command for a quick refresher.

this format also seem to cut out allot of the un-needed author conversation and did present straight forward code demonstrating the Command in use.

Maybe try this approach

Show a little appreciation LOL!! - If your book is to be about Basics of programming, then Save your Chapters 2 through 5 for another book, Every other author seems to want to cover these subjects in their books, thus wasting a lot of pages. Those items would be good for a college 1-2 day seminar, and when I am wanting to learn a language, I skip those subjects anyway. ( However - Chapter 3 Tools could be a good Chapter 1 in your book ONLY if those items covered pertained directly to your language and Samples)

A little food for thought, organize your book in 2 parts. Part 1 > Cover items such as algorithms and syntax etc., Part 2 Cover Coding Keywords Such as Function and Class.

I think you will find this to be more concise and an effective method for bestowing your knowledge unto others.

Theres like, a gazillion Learn to Program books that follow approximately the format you've described, including numerous "For Dummies" for different domains.

Thanks Gerretke. I am getting more ideas now after a message someone sent me.

I like the idea of the Wiki. It is a collaborate way to present information. If I could start a wiki, then all sorts of people can contribute to it. All I would have to do is set guidelines and formats for the wiki beforehand. I would also want the wiki to be downloadable as either .mobi or .epub.

Hmm, now I might be changing direction. We will see.