If you've recently walked into any computer store, you can't help but notice that the CD-ROM wave has become a flood. Currently, there are over 5000 different CD-ROM titles on the market, including a database--available on CD, of course--that lists these titles. Considering all this activity, it's a bit of a suprise that only a hundred or so CD-ROM titles are specifically oriented for developers. Still, what's there for developers is nonetheless good material.
One reason for the paucity of developer titles is that a CD-ROM can hold so darn much data. Compared to writing source code or text, it's relatively easy to shovel out the mounds of data needed for a multimedia entertainment title (uncompressed, a CD holds 120,000 pages of text, an hour of audio tracks, or six minutes worth of full-motion, full-resolution video). This means that the entire 10 million lines of source code for the Space Shuttle program, if available on CD, would take up about as much room as a "Tom & Jerry" cartoon.
Many of the developer titles are compilations of existing databases, mostly from long-standing Internet nodes that serve as repositories for source code. One major supplier of this kind of material is Walnut Creek CD-ROM (Concord, CA). One title from Walnut Creek, the Simtel MS-DOS CD, holds the contents of a popular Internet repository that recently fell victim to military budget cutbacks, but which lives on in this snapshot. We were surprised (and pleased) to find a directory of DDJ archive files going back to 1986. Also present is a directory containing about five years worth of Microsoft Systems Journal code. In addition to these files, the disc contains about 9000 other files, containing 630 Mbytes of compressed code. At $29.95, the disc is a bargain.
Another valuable title is the recently updated (December 1993) edition of the C Users Group Library CD-ROM from R&D Publications (Lawrence, KS). This $49.95 disc contains 280 "volumes" of CUG source code. Mostly for MS-DOS, the codebase includes source for text editors, compilers, interpreters, communications libraries, and other similar tools. Likewise, the $39.95 Language/OS CD-ROM from Knowledge Media (Paradise, CA) contains the source code for compilers, libraries, and the like for languages ranging from Ada to Sather. Other vendors selling similar compilations of source code for a relatively low cost include ImageSoft (Port Washington, NY), Alde (Minneapolis, MN), Chestnut Software (Cambridge, MA) and Prime Time Freeware (Sunnyvale, CA).
For the most part, the titles mentioned here, although representing an excellent value (in terms of lines of code per dollar), can also be termed "shovelware"--no slight intended, just an accurate description of how a pre-existing database has been shoveled onto a new storage medium. The discs contain information in its original archived form, which makes it impossible to browse through the code without copying a package to your hard disk and uncompressing it. There is rarely any kind of search engine or retrieval program. Usually the description of the contents is limited to a one-line entry in a summary file. Nevertheless, at such rock-bottom prices, these discs are well worth obtaining.
Other titles are more useful, though, as you might expect, they cost quite a bit more. The most expensive title comes from Microsoft--the Developer Network CD (MSDN CD). This title was several years in the making and probably represents a multimillion dollar investment. The MSDN disc contains most of the product documentation for Microsoft languages and tools, such as Visual C++ and Visual Basic. In addition, there is the full text to some programming books (by Charles Petzold and Ray Duncan), most back issues of Microsoft Systems Journal, and tech notes and sample programs from the Microsoft Software Library on CompuServe (GO MSL). In addition, the MSDN group has some full-time programmers and documenters who have created sample code and tech notes especially for this CD. Though pricey, this disc is a must-have for Windows programmers. The recently announced MSDN Level II subscription takes the concept further. This four-disc set contains many current systems and toolkits. However, we found the contents to be uneven and incomplete, and probably not essential for most developers, unlike its predecessor.