On 6/26/05 6:37 PM, "Thomas Higgins" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > it was a thought out process by our docs team that was to arrange the > entries by object as opposed to by alpha.
Hi Tom, But the DMX 2004 Lingo *Dictionary* is *not* arranged by object... [+] As far as I recall, there always has been a "Lingo by Feature" section. In the DMX 2004 documentation, this has been remodelled into four chapters: Director Core Objects Media Types Scripting Objects 3D Objects In each of these chapters, you find a Method Summary and a Property Summary for each object. I like that arrangement. I find it useful. It puts items that are used together on the same page. The DMX treatment is more comprehensive than in earlier versions, and I applaud that. If the complete entries for each item had been placed with the summaries, I would have found that very helpful for beginners (of all ages and skill levels). Darrel Plant's Lingo Reference for Director 4, 5 and 6 was organised in that way, and I found that stimulating when I was learning Lingo. [-] I find it <understatement> less helpful </understatement> that the Dictionary itself has been split up into: Constants Events and Messages Methods Operators Properties Such distinctions are useful when thinking about the abstract structure of a language (as a docs team might) but not when thinking about practicalities of programming (as an Director developer must). Here's my recommendation for the Director 11 docs: Either * Create a continuous alphabetical listing and identify the type of item clearly (i.e. revert to the DMX and earlier layout) or * Arrange full entries (not just the summaries) by object. This would imply multiple entries for items that are used with more than one object (e.g. directToStage), but if each is accompanied by an object-specific example, that would be great. Since the index will provide a continuous alphabetical listing in any case, this would appear to me to be the more satisfactory solution. Thanks for listening, James [To remove yourself from this list, or to change to digest mode, go to http://www.penworks.com/lingo-l.cgi To post messages to the list, email lingo-l@penworks.com (Problems, email [EMAIL PROTECTED]). Lingo-L is for learning and helping with programming Lingo. Thanks!]
