“Sponsored products related to this item”

I happened to look up the classic programming book Code Complete (fully, “Code Complete: A Practical Handbook of Software Construction, Second Edition,” by Steve McConnell) and I learned two amusing things when scrolling down the page:

1. It says, “You last purchased this item on September 9, 2004.” Wow! I bought it, probably on Bob Carpenter’s recommendation, but never read it. Maybe it’s still sitting in my office somewhere? I should really read the damn book already.

2. Also this:

“The Dating Playbook For Men,” huh? I guess the kind of people who would buy a book on coding might buy this one too! Nothing wrong with dating advice; it’s just amusing to see it here. I clicked through, and this Dating Advice book seems controversial. 69% of its ratings are positive, but the three top reviews are very negative. Code Complete seems to be more universally loved.

16 thoughts on ““Sponsored products related to this item”

  1. I don’t love (or like) Code Complete. McConnell usually discusses all the ways of doing something, but doesn’t figure out which is the best way. I think people love it because one of the ways will usually be the way the reader does it, so you can read it, then be happy that you were doing it well all along.

    • > but doesn’t figure out which is the best way

      Going by the Wikipedia page the topics seem broad enough that a little vagueness would be appropriate. 900 pages seems excessive though.

      • When I read the book, it was easy for me to pick which of McConnell’s options was superior to the others. But, I’d already read some good books on programming and also had a good deal of experience writing code. If you read a good book on programming, you should then want to rewrite your code to improve it. If instead you pat yourself on the back that your code is already fine, then either you are very good or the book is not good. I have read a few books on programming that made me rewrite my code.

  2. In the theme of programming books, someone told me Refactoring (Martin Fowler) was good.

    I bought a chess programming book from the chess thread a few days back (Jackson Jules linked a website that had a bunch on it). I’m hoping it is fun enough to trick me into to learn some new algos. Also it’s written in the 90s, so maybe there will be cool archaic code examples.

  3. Perhaps the publisher uses an AI algorithm to determine the best products to offer someone looking for a particular book. The dating book may reflect the AI mined information about Dr. Gelman’s browsing history.

  4. When I looked up Peskin & Schroeder’s /Introduction to Quantum Field Theory/ once, the recommendations were all for other textbooks in theoretical physics except for one, which was for /How to Be the Perfect Lover/ (it could have been /How to Be a Perfect Lover/: I just checked, and both titles exist).

  5. Could be something around willingness to pay as well or a really bad algorithm for advertisers: when I look at mine for Code Complete, the top hit is for MCAT prep, I got my PhD in 2009 and my eldest child is 9, not exactly relevant. The EMT Crash Course recommendation I got is also pretty priceless.

    • I get that MCAT and EMT stuff as well. That is once I figured out where the hell these suggestions were supposed to be (uBlock in Firefox completely removed all that crap from the page, I had to disable it and reload)

      On the other hand under Books You May Like: I have stuff about martial arts, D&D, dog training, and Sailing… sounds about right ;-)

  6. Don’t sponsored as have an option for buyers to choose keywords for the item they wish to sell? I could imagine a seller wanting to target college age men (i.e, it’s a required required textbook) and maybe making some assumptions about CS students?

  7. Andrew, when I replicate your search on Amazon I am also getting:
    -Dewalt guide to residential construction codes
    -Professional sign language interpreter’s guide
    -A complete practical handbook to reloading ammunition, and
    -The Practical Preppers Complete Guide to Disaster Preparedness

    ymmv :)

    • Sounds like a good task for “explainable AI.” No doubt the recommendations bring in all sorts of data about you, but good luck trying to explain it intelligibly.

  8. This is fun. In addition to some sponsored items that seem related, I got “Weight lifting is a waste of time” and “EMT crash course with online practice test.”

  9. We assume that Amazon is making the recommendation, but suppose instead someone is bidding on putting something particular into that slot for you, just to drop you an anonymous hint. Such a system could be lucrative for Amazon, and good clean fun for everyone else.

    Anyway, at least it’s not “Coping with Huntington’s Disease.”

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