Chapter 1. On the Purpose of an Example

An example is a promise kept small. It shows, in the least space it can, exactly what a larger thing would do, so that anyone can check their understanding before committing to the real work.

A good example hides nothing. It states its shape, its size, and its intent, and it behaves the same way every time you open it. That reliability is the whole point: you are testing your tools against a known quantity, not a mystery.

Chapter 2. Formats and Their Shapes

Every file format is a small agreement about where things go. Some keep their text in plain view; others fold it into compressed containers or binary tables. None of that changes the words a reader finally sees.

This book is one such agreement. It is a package of chapters, a stylesheet, a cover, and a table of contents, zipped together and labelled so a reader knows what to do with each part. Take it apart and you will find nothing surprising inside — only the pieces named in its manifest.

Chapter 3. A Note to the Reader

You are free to use this file for any purpose: to test a reader, a converter, or a parser, or simply to confirm that a chapter renders the way you expected.

When you are done, you will know a little more about how e-books are built, and you will have a dependable fixture to return to. That is all an example ever hopes to be.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1. On the Purpose of an Example

Chapter 2. Formats and Their Shapes

Chapter 3. A Note to the Reader